| Show SUGGESTED jUG BY THE CRIMINAL CALENDAR Os ON monday last sept we published the settings of criminal cases to be called bd for trial during the present present term teim of the third district court that calendar tells a tale of cruelty and aid suffering infinitely more broad and deep than ean can be comprehended by the uninitiated it opens up a theme for contemplation which is a blot upon the civilization of the age it is capable of recalling to the minds of the 1 informed J D upon the subject an epoch of barbaric treatment of an honorable and nd devoted people that should cause i reaction in their favor without delay for the moment however we will confine our consideration to the list in question in number the cases are 56 of these 38 88 are with a few exceptions those of latter day saints charged with unlawful cohabitation under the edmunds law these cases are double in lu number all others combined in all excepting those in which the charge la is unlawful cohabitation the defendants are so far as we know non mormons cormons Mor mons this applies even to the two iwo cases of elf polygamy there I 1 is not a solitary case of what some people call mormon I 1 polygamy the solitary charge against any latter day saint faint so be far as we have information is that first named in this paragraph what is exhibited in the calendar of the third district is a fair index of the situation in the other judicial divisions of the territory there being practically or at least comparatively speaking no cases of polygamy in the territory they are so lew few and far between that in comparison they are numerically not worthy of mention it into IB to be presumed that the legal raid inaugurated in 1884 and conducted with great ferocity was instituted tor for the purpose of suppressing my M in the future f the penalty tor lor that offense is d very heavy whether or not tae pains involved in a breach of the statute has had the effect of checking infractions of it may be inferred from the paucity of the number of cases they have for a considerable time past beetso been so few that aney have practically hadano had BO place upon tue calendars of the district courts people outside of this territory have scarcely a remote conception of the situation hert here in a legal sense and as relates to the condition and attitude of the people when they hear of lat ter day saints being herded into the rin penitentiary by scores they no DO k know now led g the facts jump at the conclusion that the victims haye have all 91 been guilty of polygamy in ill the ike full fall sense of the term and that the offenses of which they have belenco n ticked relate wholly to the present it to Is naturally inferred from this that the offense against which a popular sentiment has been planted worked up and noH ribbed is rampant in utah this Is a false view the great bulk of the brethren cast into prison have been ahns treated on account of relation ships that have been formed from periods running down from forty years dick therefore they are being mercilessly lessly punished if not for conduct that transpired years before the enactment ot of the statute fatute under which they are convict edat least for actions resultant from past associations This being the cas eithe elthe element of ex post facto punishment enters into cases of that nature the vi tims of this mistaken and barbaric policy have asked in every Wees sable e quarter including the court of last r re sort ort what was the scope of the law I 1 deduct i i relation to cohabitation and what conduct c on their part would conform with its requirements their appeals have been la in vain The they have aked for bread and nave have been given tones bones notwithstanding that some hundreds of men have been thrust into loathsome prisons primous for unlawful lawful wi cohabitation no olear clear and authoritative definition of the offense has ever been riven oven as a guide to people who had in years assumed the polygamous tetus arttus families have h ave been dragged into court to testify against bus husbands bands and aad tethers re tender leader women and children have been been terrified and insulted their health injured and death hastened edin in this cruel crusade and tor for what purpose has it been to prevent increase of polygamy ostensibly go but in reality the idea is pry pre poster if polygamy increases it can only be by the multiplication of new cases the consummation of fresh plural marriages finding that practically ao cases of that kind could be fou found 1 in the cruel warfare has been conducted condu e ta associations formed in the ion long and which cannot be sundered W bitout the production of shocks and suffering raft ering that it is inhuman to inflict but bui notoriety and fees and political 00 capital PItal have been furnished by those proceedings take a glance at the calendar and there here will be found evidence of the strained and vindictive ap liu cation of the law that has ob bied in the local courts during the last three years there will be found traces of malice that should bring an uncomfortable comfortable ua sensation to those who exhibited it it suggests the cases of men who were thrust into prison tor for terms in which the penalty presented by the law was doubled tripled and and even quadrupled some cases of th that atkind kind nave have not yet gone aone to trial anal and the multiplied counts for one offense are upon the calendar all but one in each case awaiting dismissal on call sure enough as some prominent journals assert it is time that a q kinder and more persuasive policy were adopted toward the mormons cormons Mor mons who wh 0 are entitled to better treatment than they have been receiving it is about time for a reaction to set in that there may be a reciprocity of more sympathetic sentiments than those that have prevailed for sometime some time past |
