Show OGDEN occurrences the first district DI court trial of bishop wm X E klassett Itaas ett charged A with polygamy other matters OGDEN jan 4 on tuesday morning the district court was opened in the customary way after dispo disposing sigg of the minutes of the previous day the case of the united states against bishop wm E bassett CHARGED WITH POLYGAMY was called the following j jurors brors were accepted to try the case edward sewell temple short andrew larson wm Win beeton mark fletcher charles jay C A eklund john germer john allen alien A I 1 stone george burrows and joseph jenkins dickson and hites hiles prosecuted and shek sheeks rawlins and richards were engaged for the ds tense during the examination the defense objected to mr andrew larson on the ground that he be had been a polygamist and had not been legally divorced from his blural plural wife he was formerly a member er of the mormon church A discussion arose as to his qualification under the edmunds law but the juror produced a document showing that he HAD RECANTED and had accepted the conditional pardon of deat cleveland this settled the matter tie the court ruled that larson was competent and was thereupon sworn on the panel the examination of the jurors occupied the time till 1130 30 a am in the indictment was then read which charged that on may mav ad 1872 he married sarah williams in cardiff wales great britain Brita inand and that while she was still livio living gaud and he on abe of august 1884 married kate smith the first witness was sarah wil williams lams babbett Bas bett she was married to defendant may 2nd and 1872 in cardiff wales G B ane came to utah in 18 she knew kate smith she was asked if she had any conversation with defendant relative to kate smith the DEFENSE OBJECTED to the question as the conversation if any was badwi had was is confidential between witness and her husband and wits was held between those two alone witness was then asked if s se cje hagny objections to being sworn as v witness in the cue case to tea testify I 1 ity against her husband husa busa band she replies replie no mr rawlins rawlin then argued at some consider considerable abi length leng ti showing I 1 thai she was incompetent as a wi witness t DESS as among other things it was against public policy for either husband or wife to testify against each other and under the common law rule she he would not be permitted to dibase disclose a confidential communication made by her husband to her and this that mat the utmost confide ita might exist between them and thus promote the greatest amount of happiness for them in their marital relations counsel read a number of legal authorities ties Lies in support of the position he be hart had taken in opposition to the witness being sworn alq in this case this is one of the most important questions which have been sprung in this court the arguments of counsel were lengthy in which he cited the laws and on this subject in very many of the states slates in the union and which exclude the husband and wife from testifying in court I 1 AGAINST EACH OTHER in criminal crim rhal cases the laws also prevent the wife from being compelled to disclose any communication made by him tu to her in the marriage relation she might testify against him with his consent but she could not so testify without his consent counsel also showed that both bus band and wife may testify for each other in certa certain iii cases under the codes but in all cases of if a criminal nature I 1 in it which both are part parties lets neither one n nor ar the other is a competent witness at 1230 p in the abe court took a recess and at 2 0 cluck mr rawlins continued continue his argument quotin gat length many authorities rulings of the supreme and other courts on the subject and enactments enact meats of legislatures all of which support the stand the gentleman has taken against the legi legal wife being compelled to testify a ainest her husband hubband in criminal cases without his consent I 1 AD aa ten minutes to three mr rawlins closed his main maia ar argument ament and MR DICKS N REPLIED citing cases in the B J third district court in which the first or legal wife was permitted to testify against hert her husband in a cohabitation case in which counsel was prosecuting actor ney md aud mr rawlins was defending the case and la in which mr dickson was allowed to and did ask the wife for what were claimed to be confidential communications and she answered and judge zane ruled that she was a competent witness for that and all purposes mr dickson further said it was highly essential that there should be an authoritative fulir g on thia subject that the understanding and practice in ia the courts in these cases may be uniform counsel argued that the witness was competent to testify for this and for all purposes he reread read authorities to sustain him in his views of the case now in dispute he argued that the defendant had committed au offense a crime against his wife when he be took to his heart his home aud affections he I 1 designated as a strumpet a ili aal 1 he comi commits tits a crime against his hi lawful wife for which she Is competent and should be COMPELLED against him in the courts when she is required to do so on the other hand he said a wife commits a flagrant crime against her husband when she violates her marriage vows and commits adultery with another map and tuis this grievous wrong makes the husband a competent witness against his wife e when the lie man walks nto into his house and tells his bis wife he has married another woman he be has violated her feelings dest destroyed roved her happi bess and put an end to the peace of his household counsel said this bis was a heinous crime against her for which the law provides her a remedy he cited a case in minnesota in which a wife was permitted ermit ted to testify against husbands her husband to PROVE HIS ADULTERY with another woman he said in this territory the people became dissatisfied with the common law rule against the husband or wife testifying against each other and the legislature changed it by bv statute in 1882 the defense in rejoinder jo bider however claims that that statute enacted enache badelt and enforced enforce i the rule and made it more express this law contained all the laws and rules heretofore in force in this territory on this subject they were codified and made mad e easy for reference at 5 p in the jury was excused till 1 10 a m on wednesday and the arguments of counsel were ere continued until p m when mark bigler of collingston collinston Col linston box elder county way was arraigned on a one count indictment charging unlawful cohabitation he took the statutory time to plead he was brou brought gatin in this afternoon by Deputy marshal Ste steele eleAf after this arraignment the court adjourned jour ned miscellaneous presiding patriarch john smith arrived here this morning and was la the be district courtroom court room the open log ing of the proceedings until the even I 1 lug there was no business in the police court today to day the judgeship was a sin the police are almost hard up for a job not a drunk petty theft fisticuff nor a dog fight the dramatic association of the second ward will on friday night the ath dinst present an original drama in a prologue and three acts entitled I 1 conde condemned in udd to death of course it is not the product production IoL of ay ary one liere here or in utah but is the work of an english lis author hauthor etisa it is a beautiful play mr rollin bullin P saxe whose advertisement rl ent is forwarded by this mail will remain ain in ogden with his bis holstein friesian cattle a short time longer they are in the tithing yard in this city and part of them are tor lor sale they consist of choice two year old heffers heifers hei fers some two year old bulls and some one year old bull and heifer calves they are all recorded corden re in herd book their grees are perfect and all are warranted the rhe 1 temporary suspension of the work at the new union depot has caused a little tr trepidation e pi dation among some of our citizens here h ere but there is no DO real cause for the teapot tempest or any apprehension whatever tac 1 tween now and early spring the f tron 0 n work which is essential to the f urther further prosecution prose cation of the works will arrive and labor will be again resumed and the erection of the buildings will be pushed forward as rapidly as possible |