Show FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH FOR the first time in its history the state of 0 new mew jersey has endeavored to put in force a statute against blasphemy dating away back to colonial times the prosecution has been incited by the doings of one charles B reynolds who was formerly a methodist minister but becoming disgusted with methodism and skeptical in regard to the bible he rebounded to the extreme of infidelity and became as anxious to disseminate his disbelief as he once was to propagate his bis faith last summer reynolds went to Bo bointon boonton Boon onton tea new jersey to hold what he be called free thought meetings it is singular what a notion agnostics and atheists have that they hold a monopoly on free thought As it a man cannot think wha believes in a supreme being as the grand architect of the universe the source of light and law and love I 1 he pitched his tent literally upon a piece of ground he had bad secured and invited the public to come and hear bear him some of them responded but they came with ancient eggs and I 1 tun un sound vegetables where wherewith witti to salute the speaker they were chiefly catholics and methodists we refer to the audience not their missiles reynolds was numer unmercifully ully pelted belted and his bis tent was slashed with knives he escaped in the contusion confusion and so avoided ted a ducking in a pond clothed with verdure an argument of that kind is not very intellectual but it m B one of the resorts of some people who go by the name of christians and claim to be in the van of nineteenth nineteen tk century civilization as many mormon elders can testify from personal experience and observation it had bad the effect of advertising reynolds and drawing to his ideas set forth ina in a he had published much more attention than they would have attracted if he had bad been let alone to enjoy that right of free speech which he accorded to every person in this free land reynolds went to morristown in the same ame state and circulated his bis pamphlet with the addition of a two page cut cat to illustrate the christianity and liberality of the boooton boonton believers and his adventures at that place at the back was the tent his own figure was the central one in front he carried a basket from which he be was scattering pearls before a lot of swine some marked with a cross and others with an AH IM M the appeared to be coming fron from pens marked M E coq hog pen andvig sty of the holy virgin and the pens were guarded by a priest whose bucket was labeled catholic swilland sw illand by a dominie with methodist slop painted on a 06 bucket he carried both of these 11 figures 9 ures carried bludgeons with which they menaced the hog feeder over the priests head was a guideboard naming boon ton as the spot near which this scene was supposed to take place morristown Morris towa was soon in an aa uproar but the people wiser or rather more cunning in their generation than the children of Bo onton resorted to the law instead of the egg box and swill barrel for weapons wherewith to fight the disturber an old and musty statute was brought out from the dust of the past and on its provisions the grand jury found an indictment against Reya reynolds olds the law is as follows it if any person shall willfully blaspheme the holy name of god by denying carsin cursing or contumeliously contumelious jy re g ro aching M his 1 is being or providence or y cursing or contumeliously reproaching pro ro jesus christ or 1 the he holy ghost host or the christian religion or the holy word ord of god that is the canonical scriptures contained I 1 in the books of the old and new testaments or by profane scoffing at or exposing them or any of them to contempt or ridicule then every person so offending shall on conviction thereof be punished by a fine out not exceeding or imprisonment at hard bard labor not exceeding 12 months or both on the lust the defendant was brought to trial before the circuit court prosecuting attorney wilder W cutler appearing for the state of new jersey and the celebrated robert G ingersoll for the defendant public feeling ran high over the issue liberal minded people deprecated the assault on en free speech the religious elements combined in resentment against the blasphemer A jury was secured after many challenges and the case was briefly presented sixteen witnesses testifying for the prosecution that they had received the pam ahlet though none admitted that they bad read it many of them were pres byte rians col ingersoll attacked the law on constitutional grounds thus going to the root of the matter he showed that the state constitution provided that no law should be passed to abaid abridge ge liberty i er 0 of speech speece or the e breedom ree om 0 of the e press ress an and that no person erson should ever be e dente denied any civil right on account of re religious principles lie he said this cowarde cowardly Is law was as passed assed when men dare argue r ue for or generations it slept on the statute books with its blips aps drawn tight over its cruel teeth I 1 any UV law designed to oppress and to deny liberty should never be awakened en here are some excerpts from his speech which we reproduce because they are pertinent to living issuer in utah and recommend them selves to every one but bigots tyrants and I 1 mormon Mor mons eaters A man has a right anywhere to speak disrespectfully of jupiter alt although hould several thousand years ago it won would have been unwholesome to say much against him in rome borne yet he be to is as p powerful as be was then it is the romans romano who are not alive the jews crucified christ because they th ey did ul t bellev believe e ia I 1 a free f ree speech we have passed too m many ny milestones on the shining road of human progress to turn back and wallow in the mire 44 suppose a man in morristown reads the bible through and makes up his bis mind that it to not true must he be clap lap his bis hand band over his mouth and run out of et the state before he can say so in that way hypocrites are made men who agree with you f from rom the teeth out and in their hearts hate bate you it is easy to float boat with the wind and tide but the man who swims against them with the fellows on shore ebore throwing rocks at him will get plenty of exercise in this world england put carwins Dar wins sacred dust in westminster abbey it ff he had lived in new jersey he would have gent spent a year in the penitentiary the spirit of this statute is that you shall open your mouth like a young robin and whatever comes swallow it worms or shingle nails if abraham had lived in new jersey he would have got into the div divorce orce courts IQ solomon to omon with or wives and offo of 0 ladies with wit h whom he was acquainted would have fallen under t the th e edmunds law and when david in order to possess himself of wife e had bad uriah uriab put in the f rout front ot of the battle that he be might be killed isit is it blasphemy if we say of david that at least he was no gentleman what light to is to the eyes and breath to the lungs liberty is to the soul of man if you say no man has a right to think you yoa have no right to think that he be thinks wrong without absolute liberty the idea of of conscience is absurd there can be no virtue no vice no real religion no ju justice custica stica no progress no love or joy in this world take tak it away and all words have a meaningless sound with it a man is a success 1 I sincerely kope hope that never again under the flag of the united states that flag for which has been shed the bravest and best blood for liberty way bay it be necessary for a man to stand before a I 1 lury ary pleading for the r right of h human u man speech 11 you can never wake make me believe that a god gracious and all wise holds in ab abb horence orence a man who has the courage of his bis opinions if the law is to be enforced against such men the prison will become a place tt lf honor the liberty of man is holler holier than any book the rights of man are more sacred than any creed man has made everything true noble and free makes up the bible of the world on the dinst the prosecuting attorney replied and the court summed d up in arguments that had bad the effect through the jury of convicting mr reynolds who was fined 25 the reasoning of mr ingersoll however on the points we have presented was not the case was presented in this way the law made blasphemy penal if the defendant bad committed that offense of which the pamphlet and the witnesses were evidence a verdict of guilty must be found the jury could nt decide upon the validity of the law they could only act upon its provisions the court said A man might hold what opinions he cho chose sebut but it if he uttered profane things a against 91 list god or the christian religion 1 in 1 a scoffing coffing or railing manner calculated to wound the religious sentiment of the community he was guilty of ef blasphemy under the law no jur ury y could do as it pleased it had to take the law as it found it not as it would have it we refer to this matler not out of any sympathy for the defendant personally so nally or with blasphemous langdale lang language in general but because a principle is involved in his trial that insist must be faced and decided upon everywhere in this land of liberty and of law we do not endorse any attack upon cherished doctrines or venerated ceremonies which purposely shocks and outrages sentiments centi ments that are sacred to religious souls freedom of speech should not be permitted to entrench upon any ones rights should not be allowed to go un checked in the domain of religious thought any more than in the practical walks of life but on the other hand orthodoxy must not be given the tre of arbitrary power nor entrusted with the lives and liberties of the heterodox opinion and the free expression thereof it it does doea inot not probed pro eed to abuse obscenity and personal insult must oe be forever fererer untrammeled in this government of the whole people bringing the matter home and to loc local tl libation li cation every human G inq ar r g t to ent re liberty of bellet belief and its advocacy on the question of p polygamy the e law aw on only y presumes resu ea to interfere n er with accio actio act lops 8 though 0 h the practice of poleg polygamy y may ay be e made ade a penal of fence ence belief beli in it is a as lawf lawful ua as rejection ot of it and d so is its defense by tongue and pen no law is valid which infringes of conscience and liberty of speech that refrains from invading human rights no court or judge oi or officer of any standing under the government of the united states has the legal right to question a citizen as to his bin belief and deny him or deprive him of any political right on account of that belief he who lias las the disposition to do this is unfit for an official position he has not learned to respect the rights of others he is not in harmony with the genius of american institutions he should not be permitted to wield any authority over his bis fellowmen fel he is an anachronism he belongs to bygone ages the light of the latter days to is too bright and strong for his vision he should be relegated to private life and be counted among the things that are ot obsolete solete the line between liberty and lawlessness can be easily and clearly defined in reference to language as well as more demonstrative actions it is the invasion of the rights of others that the law sucks seeks to te guard individuals and society mast be protected from ro I 1 improper W r assaults belief in any t theory however absurd or monstrous I 1 it t may ay a appear ear to the majority cannot b be e assailed by law nor can its possession or enter entertainment in ent be made a test of any kind under this government the advocacy of this belief is as free as ais the belief itself if its expression does not violate personal rights a or public decorum there to is no law of utah or of congress or of any state in the union against the advocacy of ef marriage in any form and every bar or impediment sought to be placed in the way of f tree ree thought and free speech on that question is not only a striking in mark or of gross intolerance but is a violation of the supreme law of the land for which there is 18 no legal or moral justification |