| Show AN interesting QUESTION THE f following lowing ol letter has been received in this city and we publish it verbatim suppressing only the date and same name and address of the writer son hon mayor SALT LAKE CITY utah ter dear sir I 1 write you for the following information to wit isay a man is married and wants to quit his wife can he be come lake city and bring another woman and live with her as man and wife without being molested fultner Fuit oer can he be live anywhere in utah territory with said woman and not be bothered there are several in this part of texas would make such a change it if they would be safe faeo in ao doing if isyou you have any legal information upon the subject you will confer a favor by furnishing me with baidin formation I 1 have been informed that such a thing can be done if I 1 am correctly firmed I 1 can be the means of a great many in I 1 n other states aswell as well as texas making such ac a change hauge please furnish me with such legal documents by return mail and oblige yours etc in answer to the above query fe we have to say that as the law is administered at present it is quite likely that scoundrels of the class represented by the writer of the question could live in utah without being bothered by the representatives ot pie national Govern government mM the edmunds law is understood to be framed specially against the mor mons it is not probable that such creatures as described in tire the letter letier would be molested particularly it il they agreed not to call the women wives but they need not think they would be looked upon with favor by the community they would be regarded by the mormons cormons Mor mons as moral lepers lebers until for the society of decent people the mormons cormons Mor mons believe that it Is right for some men under religious n regulations and principles to have more wives than thai one but they do not think it is ril hv for a man to discard and I 1 forsake r sake one wife tor for tile the purpose ot of taking or livin living with an another caber either in or out of the marriage arriage yn relation that they regard as bigamy arid bigamy is a crime if any affy man called a mormon mon I 1 acts in that way or in that spirit he does so in violation oi of the principles of his religion and is culpable according inato to the degree of his wrong the ille legal principle as latest laid down bythe by the supreme court of this territory which at present is ia the final judicial authority a man has IL a legal wite wife living and and cohabits or associates with another woman whom he acknowledges as nis his wife he Is guilty of unlawful conable tation and is liable to tines lines and imprisonment to an indefinite extent according to tho whims of a grand jury iv ID finding audin Indict indictments menti or rather the me degree or oi of the prosecuting attorney who arrau arranges es such matters thye there is no certainty however in the meaning sneaking of the law any more than ati au there is in ia its penalties they are subject to change according to such definitions and rulings us as the courts may please to make bat men ran van forsake their wives in texas or elsewhere and live with as aa many women as they please la in utah as aa man and wife if the marital relationship is not acknowledged it is not the offence offense against morality or decency or the c crime rime aminat aai nat a deserted deber ted wile that counts with those who pros prosecute ecate under the federal laws it is the recognition tion of the relation of husti hubrand and and wife that stirs their bile and excites their indignation ane admirable and delicate moral distinction cannot fail to be recognized by virtuous minds if the dishonorable texiana who want to forsake their wives cannot find a congenial spot in which to practice their unlawful anlauf ui desires and doings within the confines of their own state we would not advise them to come to utah there are enough scalawags scala wags here now who while of tile same kidney as the writer of the above let ter would like to put every mormon to prison or to death for marry marrying honoria ho honoring norin acknowledging and living with more wives than one by mutual free r consent the district of f columbia right under the noses nose of edmunds tucker and other auti anti mormon bill makers and promoters would be a far safer and mote moie suitable place for the wile wife and women de deavers than the territory of utah |
