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Show ALBERT GEDDES IS DECLARED TO BE I ENTITLED TO PART OP ECCLES ESTATE I ATTORNEY J. H. DEW DECLARES I DEFENSE WILL-RESIST THE VERDICT New Trial Will Be Asked For and, If Necessary the Case Will H Be Taken to the Supreme Court Mrs. Margaret Geddes lH and Her Son Albert Embrace and Weep in Court jH Members of Eccles Family Are Not Discouraged. After being out since 6:30 last evening, ev-ening, the jury In the Geddes-Eccles case came into court at noon today and returned a verdict declaring Albert Al-bert Geddes to be the son of David Eccles, the deceased millionaire, whom Margaret Geddes, the mother of Albert, alleges was united to her in plural marriage iu August, 1898, by M. W. Merrill, an apostle of the Mormon church. A .poll disclosed that the durors stood 7 to 1 in favor of the boy who claims a one-thirty-third interest In the millions of the Eccles estate. The case has been on trial since Jun& 21 and has held widespread at-tentiQn, at-tentiQn, receiving editorial comment by nearly all the leading newspapers of the country owing to the relation of the case to the Senator Reed Smoot investigation in Washington in 1901, Mrs. Geddes at that time having hav-ing testified before the senate committee com-mittee that she was not the plural wife of David Eccles. and furthermore, further-more, because it involved the question ques-tion as to whether plural marriages had been performed within the Mormon Mor-mon church since the Woodruff manifesto mani-festo in 1890, declaring against the practice of polygamy. Six Mormons and two non-Mormons made up the jury. The text of the verdict is as follows fol-lows ' "We, the jury empaneled in the above entitled action, findthe issues joined In favor of the ploiritiff-tbat the said David Eccles, ""deceased, in his life time, acknowledged himself to be the father of petitioner, and that said petitioner is an heir of deceased." deceas-ed." The case came before the district court, with Judge J. A. Howell presiding, pre-siding, on a protest against issuance of an order for final distribution petitioned pe-titioned for by the administrator, David Dav-id C. Eccles, of the estate of the late millionaire, David Eccles, who died intestate in the early part of December Decem-ber 1912, leaving an estate valued at more than $7,000,000, the net valuation valua-tion being placed at $6,054,000 In I the protest by Albert Geddes-Eccles, by his guardian Thomas Sloan, it was claimed that Albert was one of the heirs and that final distribution would be irregular unless ho be named as an heir Tho issues were joint purely on the question of the rights of the boy to heirship and the case was fought bitterly on both sides, the heirs and recognized families of David Eccles, deceased, contending that Mrs Margaret Mar-garet Geddes, mother of the boy, who claimed a plural marriage with .Mr. Eccles, was an impostor and had fabricated fab-ricated a case against the large estate. es-tate. On the other hand Mrs. Geddes stood firmly in her statements that she had married David Eccles in the UIUqUU UUXUUC1 UUlmil,,1 wili-WwO aa Ogden in the latter part of August. 1S9S, and that Albert, her son, was the offspring of that marriage, marri-age, the dav of the boy's birth being May 21, 1S99 When the jury came into court at noon with the Hon. T. D. Johnson presiding as judge protein, there weie but few in the court room, mostly interested in-terested parties. Mrs. Margaret Geddes, Ged-des, with her two daughters. Mrs. Margaret Head and Mrs. Winnie Niel-son Niel-son and husband, Carl Nielsou, and her sou Albert were in attendance. They had remained in the court during dur-ing most of the morning hours, anxiously anx-iously waiting. When the verdict was rendered, Mrs. Geddes showed great emotion and, with her arms around the neck of her boy, she gave vent to her feelings and wept. Other members of the family also cried and Albert who had remained in court much of the time ot the trial, permitted toars to course down his cheeks and he caressed his mother. John Davis was the only attorney for the plaintiff present, Judge W. 11. King and Judge Thomns Marioneaux having absented themselves from the court room since Judge King made his closing argument to the jury last evening. Frank J. Gustin and J. H. DoVino, attorneys for the heirs, wore present when tho verdict was given. Members of tqe Eccles family in court at tho time were U R. Eccles, manager mana-ger of the Amalgamated Sugar company, com-pany, David C. Eccles. administrator of the David Eccles estate and Joseph Eccles. one of the heirs. Outside the court railing, there were not more than six or eight people. The Eccles attorneys and members of the family exhibited no great surprise, and yet they said they expected that a verdict ver-dict would be given in favor of the heirs. They have contented that their defense was just and that they put forth their best honorable efforts to uphold their cause. Speaking or' the verdict, soon after it had been rendered, ren-dered, Attorney DeVine aaid: "While we were not especially surprised sur-prised when the verdict for the plaintiff plain-tiff was read, yet we felt that we would win. Our cause was a Just one and the case was presented cleanly to tho jury. Tho equally divided opinion of tho jurors was indicated in, the first ballot of four to four. We have just begun in this battle and it will H not end until every possible legal step shall have been taken. We will im- jH mediately ask for a new trial, and, if it is denied, the case will bo ap- pealed to the supreme court." H As soon as the jury had presented H its verdict to the court, and it had IH been read Judge Johnson released H them from further service and each H juror immediately went his way. When the verdict was read seven of the jurors said it was their verdict. flH juror W. N. Baker nodding his djs- H sent. The jurors signing the verdict H Nils Lofgren, foreman; H. H. Mc- H Cool, John Parry, George Timmer- man, Joseph Higley, Robert O. Bybee H and John Warren. H Under the law, a two-thirds major- H ity vote of a jury is sufficient to de- fk clare a verdict in a civil case, but H there was one more than that in this M case. In criminal cases the vote for M a verdict must be unanimous. M The jury spent a strenuous night H Argument was concluded at 6:22 last H evening, and, even before getting din- ll ner, a ballot was taken. The first IH vote was four for the plaintiff and jH four for the defendant. After the IH first ballot the jury went to dinner, M returning to the jury room at about M 8 o'clock. From that time until about H 1 o'clock In the morning, ballot after H ballot was taken without any change H Four men were standing firmly for H one side and four others were just as H firm for the opposite. H At six o'clock this morning the jury- H men arose and took a little walk, un- H der the surveillance of baiHff J. G. H Crompton. At about 7 o'clock they I H went to breakfast and returned to the H jury room shortly after 8. Then the jH balloting and discussion again began JH and It appeared as though a deadlock lH was certain, but at about 10 o'clock iH oue of the jurymen favoring the de- 9H fendant voted for the plaintiff. This 9H made five of the eight favoring the H plaintiff. From that time on balloting iH and discussion came rapidly until a JH few minutes before 12 o'clock, when HH the ballot showed seven for the plain- fH tiff and one for the defendant, after jH two jurors for the defendant had IjH yielded. tll Judge W, H. King closed the argu- HH ment for the plaintiff yesterday aft- iH ernoon, beginning at a few minutes jH before three o'clock and continuing JH until after 6 o'clock. He steadfastly H maintained the high standing and in- H tegrity of the late David Eccles and H scored the imputations of anything H but correct association with Mrs. Ged- des. He frequently appealed to the JH jury to give Albert Geddes a name o l respectability. jH (Continued 0n Page Two.) H no H ' Albert Geddes Is Declared to Be Entitled to Part of Eccles Estate l (Continued ,From Page Two) ; the Constitution block! What a tragedy! trag-edy! What a travesty! What a direct contradiction! "When David Eccles married his j second, his plural wife, he bought her -' a home in Oregon, then a $40,000 5 mansion at Logan. The first wife ij . has a most magnificent home in Og- ) den. Yet here is the woman he loved in his mature years, the light "t , an3 comfort of his declining years, kept in doggerel surroundings' What I ' brutish man was he to do such a j thing? "Ah, here is a refutation of the sto- 1 ry of Margaret Geddes more strong than Holy Writ. The conduct of David Eccles through the entire fourteen four-teen years of this alleged plural marriage mar-riage speaks louder than the lip service ser-vice of Maggie Geddes upon this wit-uess-stand. "But we are told there was a collusion. collu-sion. We ard told this relation was I kept a profound secret. The evidence in this case was exactly the opposite The visits of David Eccles to Maggie Geddes' home, were always open and above board. Indeed, the witnesses witness-es of Maggie Geddes was ever used as a trysting place whereat the world was advised of the love this man, 50 odd years old, bore for his third wife. "But to return to the ceremony. There are some things about this case that are absolutely revolting. We all know that every religion is based on some semblance of decency. In my experience among the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I have learned to respect re-spect their church and Its teachings. And I don't believe, and I don,t think that you believe, that there is anything any-thing in the religion of the Mormon church that so filled Maggie Geddes and David Eccles with the lust of the flesh that they couldn't leave the lumber lum-ber yard before they satisfied their lustful desires. "You can't tell nie that the Mormon Mor-mon church demands of its members that lustfulness that her story indicate?. indi-cate?. It is a story that would make the flesh and blood of any high-minded woman revolt. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints never nev-er taught that. You can't make me believe that David Eccles ever believed believ-ed in any such lust, even if Maggie Geddes did. The 'Mormon church, even under the doctrine of plural marriage, mar-riage, has always regarded children as heaven-sent It never taught that they should be brought Into this wnrlrl in cln nrwl chnmo Explanation is Made. "Counsel asks us why we have not connected the name of Maggie Geddes Ged-des with anyone else. Why should we attack her? Why should" we join with her as a character assassin? Why should we besmirch her charac-ter"' charac-ter"' She has d,one all that when she comes here and says her child is Illegitimate and she wants this jury to give him a name. What have we to add? We regard this case as a prosecution, with Maggie Geddes as prosecuting witness, with the name of David Eccles as the defendant and all the heirs of David Eccles as defenders de-fenders of that good name. "You've had before you for four long weeks the children of the two families of David Eccles, the acknowl. edged children of David Eccles. He was proud of all of them. But what of Albert? There Is no evidence that he ever crossed the threshold of the home of David Eccles But that was because this union was to be kept se cret, they say. Ah, but they say he loved him openly before the wide world, yet never permitted him to enter his own home. "We have scores of letters in this case You will remember, for three long and tedious days I tried to get Mrs. Geddes to admit writing these, letters tried to have them admitted into evidence in this case. She denied de-nied them positively and emphatically. emphatic-ally. There was no equivocation about her denial. "I never wrote such a letter before in all mylife." Yet we have conclusively and absolutely abso-lutely proven that she wrote each and every one of them. Refers to Letters. "These letters were written before she had conceived the damnable scheme of giving Albert a name and taking a share in the estate by this claim that she and David Eccles were parties to a polygamous marriage. If it had not bedn for the act of God in striking down David Eccles. the estate of some other innocent citizen might now be the object of her attack at-tack "Why does she wait for fourteen long years after taking her martial vows before making any claim for recognition? Her church wanted to know who was the father of her child. Don't you suppose the church would see that she was recognized and well treated? Why not tell the church, to her the best church in all the world, her secret? "Why doesn't she mention her tender ten-der relations with David Eccles in these letters? Because there was a collusion, they say, they wanted to disarm dis-arm suspicion. The name of Albert is mentioned in more than 25 per cent of these letters. Let me tell you If there was a collusion and David Eccles Ec-cles was the father of Albert, the name of Albert would never have been mentioned in a single letter. Calls Her a Perjurer. "Here's a letter in which she says she has no the means to put In a pane of glass. What, impossible to i pay 'for putting in a two-bit pane of glass! What, impossible, and she the loved and trusted wife of a millionaire! million-aire! "She never dropped in all those letters let-ters a line of genuine affection and love. Not one in all that procession of letters for fourteen long years. If she -had that consuming passion of love for this man, could she have hidden it In the correspondence of fourteen years? It that human nature? na-ture? Ah, human nature has Its marks and elements and you can't conceal them. And you, gentlemen of the jury, cannot find a verdict for the son of this mother who has come here and perjured herself. Never Says "Ours." in all these letters' she refers constantly con-stantly to ,"hor son" "her children, her .house," "her plans." Isn't it singular that In writing to her husband hus-band she never uses the word "ours?" You can't find it once In these eighty-odd eighty-odd letters. "Every letter tells of poverty. Every Ev-ery letter describes heart-rending conditions. con-ditions. This, too, as mv associate says, when, as she testified, she was living' in affluence, living on tho fat of the land, living on milk and honey. Surely, they say, but this was also the result of collusion. She was dissembling dissemb-ling when she spoke of poverty. "If that be true, then what of Grant Geddes? In every letter to Grant Geddes she also speaks of her poverty. pover-ty. Was she lying to Grant Geddes, also, about her poverty? There iB no reason for any collusion, any deceit, any intrigue with Grant Geddes, is there?. "Here's one where she says her pump is out of order and she has no money with which to gef it fixed. What, the pump of a millionaire oqt of order! Here's another in which she tells of carrying sacks of coal on her "back to her home. This is one written to Grant Geddes. What, the wife of a millionaire, .the pride and joy of his declining year?, carrying coal on her back! "Here's one telling of riding to Ogden Og-den on(a load of potatoes. What, the Wife of a millionaire, the petted favorite fav-orite of a polygamist, riding to town on a load of common, country potatoes, pota-toes, a load of potatoes going to market! mar-ket! Why had she no coach and four? Why had she no automobile? Money Is Sole Theme. "Through all these letters, whether to David Eccles, Grant Geddes or who not, there Is onlj one theme. It is money, money, money. The minor and the major note that rings down through this fourteen years of correspondence corre-spondence Is the jingle and the jangle of gold from someone, from anyone. "If there was a collusion in writing these letters, if these lettors were written to deceive, why write them at all? If David Eccles were calling scores and hundreds of times on Maggie Mag-gie Geddes, always with his pockets well lined with greenbacks and gold, which he was constantly bestowing on her. why write at all? Why should he send her checks through the mail, if there were anything to conceal about their relations? "In 1902 she writes there was no coal and she was freezing. The winter blasts came down from the north through the cracks in her humble abode and chilled her through; There was no coal for the cook stove and she coul cook no meals for Albert What, the wife of a millionaire suffering suf-fering with bitter cold! What, the child of a millionaire starving for lack of food! She had bought some soda crackers, and that was all she had in the house for Albert to eat. What, crackers for the hungry mouth of this heir to millions Here Is a letter after the Smoot investigation in-vestigation in which she says that she was asked if "Mr. Eccles" were the father of her child, and she spells it "Eccles." It was characteristic of her evasion, deceit, misrepresentation and devilment that she told you that she was asked if Mr. "E-koIs" was the father of her child. She didn't think of that then. This change In spelling and pronunciation has come since then. "We put Senator Smoot on the stand and he told you that the name was pronounced "Eccles" at Washington. Washing-ton. But without Senator Smoot's testimony we have it here in her own handwriting, in this letter which phe had denied and which we have absolutely ab-solutely proven to be hers. Sne wrote that letter before she made her plans to come here arid strike from her assassin's as-sassin's heart the name of the man whose hand fed her. "I honor motherhood and I honor womanhood, yet I say to you that the testimony of Maggie Geddes as we have it in this case Is unworthy oi belief not entitled to consideration. Maggie Geddes may have been married mar-ried in pplygamy a dozen times for aught I know and care, but I do know that it would be an outrage on justice, jus-tice, a rank reflection on honor to say that she was ever married in polygamy to David Ecclec. "Unfortunately the assertions of the deceased man whose name we defend de-fend cannot be permitted in evidence. On the contrary only those assertions made contrary to his interest are permissible. "And so we have Gibbs. this patriot from the south, this servant of the church, a volunteer witness. George F Gibbs stands here under a cloud so heavy, so deep and so black that nothing can protect him. His perfidy is greater than that of Maggie Geddes, Ged-des, for Maggie Geddes is but a lay member of a church, while Gibbs comes here from the eacred precincts of the office of the presidency of the Mormon church. "Gibbs comes here to violate, according ac-cording to his own story, a confidence of a feilowman given In the cloister of his church. No one was present but George F.' Gibbs, Almighty God and David Eccles, and David Eccles is dead. Calls It Perfidy. "The most priceless thing In all humanity hu-manity is honor and Integrity, not only honor to God, but honor to a fellow creature. If George F. Gibbs In his confidential capacity In the Mormon church does the same for the church as he says he has done for David Eccles then the wonder is how the church Is able to maintain. "They ask us why we don't contradict contra-dict the story of George F- Gibbs. How could we? David Eccles is dead. And we can't bring God to testify to you of the perfidy of Gibbs. "What would yoU think pf a friend In whom you had reposed a confidence confi-dence who, the moment of your death, went to your home and put aside your confidence, told your wife that her husband was a libertine, that you were the father of a bastard child. Aye, Gibbs did more. He added In-iamy In-iamy to Infamy and proposed that Mrs. Bertha "M Eccles compromise her husband's good name. He asked her to play the sneak that he was, asked her to violate the confidence of her own children and make a settlement set-tlement to avoid this suit. He opened up the wound caused by the loss of her husband and told the widow to compromise her husband's name and memory. "The widow rojeoted his perfidious proposition. She and the Eccles heirs are here fighting for the name of Eccles Ec-cles that they love. These sous and daughters are fighting for the honor of the name of their father. Volunteer Witness. "George F. Gibbs comes here a volunteer vol-unteer witness for the boy. He swears to tell the truth. Weigh this testimony In the scales of justice. It , is your duty to find tho truth. Place n George F. Gibbs on the one hand and Mrs. Bertha M. Eccles on the other. I Place motherhood and wifehood and I honor on tho one side and deceit, in- I gratitude and violations of confidence on the other. If we are to believe George F. Gibbs, then God save the mark, for sin and shame and dishonor! dis-honor! God save the mark for everything every-thing honorable in life! "Bear in mind what Gibbs said was the attitude of President Snow. David Eccles knew ho would be excommunicated ex-communicated if he entered Into any plural marriage and the church knew of it Yet he goes to a clerk in the outer office and unbosoms himself. He was a close friend of President Smith, hen counsellor to President Snow, of twenty years' standing a very intimate and confidential friend. Why didn't David Eccles go to President Pres-ident Smith? Why did he go to the clerk Instead of to the counsellor? They xsay this witness is unimpeachable. unimpeach-able. Why, everything is impeachable impeach-able save alone the pure and unde-fied unde-fied truth, aid that is not in Gibbs. "They point to Tanner. They tell us Tanner comes here .without guile, without sin and without shame. They tell us that Tanner must be believed. If that be true, then the scales of justice are growing rusty. Reference to the Dead. j He tells us of conversations with David Eccles, always alone or in the presence of someone also dead. And. by the way, have you ever observed such an array of dead people as have been paraded before us In this case7 I Tanner comes before us a hard work- j er. He worked on a biography for David Eccles for eight years, yet jie never did so much as put down a single sin-gle note. Every time he saw David Eccles he talked about the affairs of his life, yet never made a note. For cisM.nv. Innir -..no ... 1. nm r) rrntflnrr m.i. 1 oo ui IU115 .tuio 111; ao guiii material ma-terial for this monumental task of writing a biography, yet in ten minutes min-utes he comes here nnd by insinuation insinua-tion and inuendo he blackens and sullies sul-lies the work of seven years. "Let us glance at the probability of his story. David Eccles comes to Apostle Merrill and Tanner and tells them that Granf Geddes trusted employe em-ploye of David Eccles. mind you. is spreading evil reports about David Eccles and Maggie Geddes and Merrill Mer-rill must send Tanner 1000 miles to Oregon to set him right Grant Geddes, Ged-des, the trusted employe of David Eccles. the shield, as Maggie Geddes says, for David Eccles in her relations rela-tions with her husband in polygamy, the confidential friend of David Eccles. Ec-cles. and Tanner a mere casual acquaintance. ac-quaintance. Is that the way you would discipline an employe of yours, a friend, for telling stories about you9 Returns to Letters. "To return a moment to these letters. let-ters. I cannot understand the position posi-tion of the plaintiff. Mrs Margaret Geddes. the real plainjtlff In this case, denies with all the positiveness that she possesses the authorship of these letters, and then her attorneys read-ilv read-ilv admit them and try to draw some crumb of comfort from them. They read some portions of them which they think suit their purpose and they reject the rest You can't do that You en n't say 'Yes, I wrote this line but I didn't write that one down there or that one on the other side of the sheet' They can't take portions that please and discard those that displease. dis-please. Their witness, the real plaintiff plain-tiff in the action, has discarded all of them "These letters tell a tale of poverty not consistent with their theory of this case. They tell of moving from Plain City to the Constitution block, to Cannon street, to O street, to S street, back to Plain City, back to the Consitution block and where not These letters tell of a continuous round of moving. Vans and drays were constantly at the door and land-Jords land-Jords were constantly besieging her for the rent Think of it! For fourteen four-teen years this millionaire polygamous polygam-ous husband of this destitute wife permits per-mits her to be moved around, shifted shift-ed about from pillar to post. "They ask us to toll them who Is the lather of Albert We don't know Only God Almighty and possibly pos-sibly Maggie Geddes knows. If you wish to say that because a man has generous impulses, because he never did a dishonorable act In his life, because be-cause he was never unmanly, never irreligious that he must have been the father of this boy, then you may say that David Eccles was the father of the boy. We have only to place the reputation of David Eccles and of his lifetime against these insidious insidi-ous attacks on his name and memory which have developed since his death. Refutation of Charge. "When they say we are here for greed and avarice, I resent It The attitude of Bertha Eccles Wright upon the witness stand Is the only refutation of that charge we need. "Where is the greed and avarice in this case? It is on the other side There we hear ever the tinkle and the jingle and the cursedness and awfulness of gold. Suppose David Eccles had been poor, would they have been here in court for twenty-five twenty-five long days to get a name for the child? "Because David Eccles had money they would stab his name with the dagger of dishonor. They would place the bar sinister upon the family escutcheon es-cutcheon of the Eccles. They would hang the sword of Damocles above the heads of these children. We don't believe jou will let them do it. They are not entitled to do It "With absolute confidence we await your verdict We believe you will be true to your oath and that in the declining de-clining days of your life you may look back on this jury service as the performance per-formance of a duty well done. JUDGE KING'S STATEMENT Judge William II. King began his closing appeal to the jury in behalf of the plaintiff with expressing his gratitude grat-itude for the patience of the jurors and the court and his appreciation of the work of the officers of the court. Then he said: "I cannot hope in closing this case to reach the heights of fervid oratory of the eloquent and brilliant advocates of the other side. I cannot use such strong denunciatiatory language. I cannot call people, as they do, scoundrels, scoun-drels, liars, sneaks aud perjurers. I cannot hope to measure swords with them on nny battlefield. "But I feel that tho rectitude and righteousness of the case of my client is so strong that the imperfections of counsel for plaintiff will not weigh against it "My friends on the other side talk glibly about honor, Integrity, religious devotion and the greatness of David Eccles. 1 will not dispute them. I am not here(to assassinate the name and the memory of David Eccles. The plaintiff is here to defend the name of David Eccles. If anyone is here attempting to besmirch the name, the fame and the honor of David Eccles ft is not the plaintiff or the witnesses Lor the plaintiff. In Defense of Eccles. "What greater honor can there be In the light of the testimony in this case than to have it incontestably proven that there was a plural marriage mar-riage between David Eccles and Margaret Mar-garet Geddes? What more dishonor could there be in the light of the testimony tes-timony in this case than to have it established that .these visits in, the midnight hours were not sanctioned or made valid bj a plural marriage? "We ar.e defending the honor of David Eccles asainst the attacks of those who claim to be his friends. "This case must be tried in the light of conditions as we know them in Utah. It cannot be tried as it might be were it tried In Kentucky or New York, where polygamy as an institution institu-tion is unknown. We must remember that both David Eccles and Margaret Geddes were firm believers in the sanctity of plural marriage. "We must remember that for religion relig-ion persons sometimes do things not otherwise explainable David Eccles, so the evidence in this case bears out, took the registration oath and held office after he was married in polygamy poly-gamy and swore that he was not a polygamist and not cohabiting with more than one woman as his wife. Must Maggie Geddes then be excori-nted excori-nted and pilloried because she defended defend-ed the name and reputation of David Eccles in Washington and In so doing tailed to tell all the truth? Condones Woman's Act. "If David Eccles Is willing to swear falsely merely to hold office as councilman coun-cilman and mayor of Ogden, must we condemn Maggie Geddes for swearing falsely at Washington for the sake of husband and church.? History Is filled with women who have gone to their death as martyrs for religions sake, women who nave gone to the stake with the lie on their lips. "In the days of the prosecutions for polygamy in this section, as a judge on the bench, I observed women hold up their hands to Almighty God and swear to tell the truth, take their seat upon the witness stand, look the district attorney squarely in the eye and deny the paternity of their own chlldren'in order to defend their husbands. hus-bands. They had drunk the dregs of bitterness and sorrow, but in the storm and the darkness they tried to save their husbands from the gates of the penitentiary. "And who is there to cast stones upon them? There is something precious pre-cious beyond compare in the loyalty of women to those they love. A woman was last at the tomb of Christ. And It was a woman who was first to greot the risen Lord when the stone of the tomb had been rolled back As long as civilization endures, women will be the crowning glory of the human race. Their joys and sorrows, their travail and their pain will be the sanctifying thing in this world. "Look at Maggie Geddes. Look at that little woman. Think how she suffered. Have you ever read anything any-thing greater In fiction? Standing alone as a convert to her faith, she left her home in the hills of Scotland, Scot-land, left behind the graves of her fathers, for religion's sake. The heroes of the world were those who left home for conscience sake and went into tho unconquered wilder-ncBs wilder-ncBs for religion, tor liberty and for the glory of exalted citizenship under un-der the Stars and Stripes. "She believed in the sanctity of plural plu-ral marriage and she became the wife of W. S. Gqddes. She didn't dare take the name of the father She had to shield him. And when the little children came she didn't dare to call them by their father's name as she kissed their lips, couldn't give them their father's name until he was cold and silent in the grave. I "That was the early life of this as-j sassln of character, this adventuress, this perjurer, this liar, this fallen woman, this poisonous, venomous serpent ser-pent "Ah, no, she was none of these. Prostitutes and 'assassins are not; made of that kind of stuff. 'Never,' never. J "Then came her life with David Ec-i cies. He came there to see her. He; married her A son was born and he' acknowledged it She didn't bear his name, but he took care of her as hisj wife. Refers to Sons' Brigade. "The defese comes In here with its "sons brigade." They tell it was David Da-vid Eccles's habit to call young men his "sons." But while they were on his habits why didn't they bring in someone to show that it was also his habit to take care of widows, to call at their homes at all hours of the day and night, and to give them money? "What of these visits? David Eccles Ec-cles wasn"t at Maggie Gaddes' home at midnight as a philanthropist He wasn't leaing her home at daybreak because he was a philanthropist "I ask you, gentlemen of the jury, on your consciense, who is the father of Albert if it was not the man whom Richardson saw leaving the home of Maggie Geddes at midnight, if it was not the man whom Forkman and H Hunt saw leaving at daybreak; if it H was not the man whom Mrs. Single- H ton and Mrs. Grieve saw time and M again at the home of Maggie Geddes.' fl Why? Maggie Geddes was the wife of M David Eccles and he had the right fl to be there at these times and places, fl Perhaps he had not the right under H the law to be there, but he had the M right under his conscience to be there i M "They both believed in plural mar- lH riage. True, the manifesto had been iJ issued, but it was differently con- strued. Many said it was directory and not mandatory, You will recall jH the language is not mandatory. It M did not in positive 'and mandatory H language forbid plural marriage. It M was understood there was no objec- H tion if the marriage were contracted H in Mexico. i Reviews Evidence. jH Continuing, Judge King briefly re- -W viewed the evidence in the case, de- iH fending Gibbs and Tanner from as- -M persions of the other side and partic- H uiarly excoriating Mrs. Bertha Eccles B Wright for her testimony. M Then he reviewed the letters which H Mrs. Geddes had denied. He went over B a large number of them and pointed jHI out the phrases he said tended to betray the relation of husband and jH wife through all the letters. He said H the more letters of that kind there H were the better it would fare with the M plaintiff. He closed with an appeal H to give to the boy attd his mother M the names of the father of the boy H and not to send him forth with the H stamp of illegitimacy on his brow. H Albert Geddes Is Declared to Be Entitled to Part of Eccles Estate (Continued from Page 1) COLONEL BOYD'S ARGUMENT Col. C. A. Boyd's address, which was summarized in yesterday's Standard, Stan-dard, is here given In full, as follows: "Wo see, gentlomen of tho jury, as tho chief actress in this drama that Is being enacted in this little mountain moun-tain city, Margaret Geddes. Upon this drama not only the eyes of this city, not only the eyes of this state, but the eyes of the nation are focused. fo-cused. This little spot is the chief point of interest in this nation this day. That fact does not add to your responsibility. You have nothing to do with tho magnitude of this case; you have only to do with its justice. "The suit is an attack upon tho honor and tho memory of David Eccles, Ec-cles, Of him we will only say that from tho time he came to this state until he dropped dead upon the streets of Salt Lake City he tried, at least, to live according to his honest belief in the honest, moral teachings of the church to which he belonged. "It is in evidence in this case that David Eccles came to this state a young man; came into the untried west In meager circumstances. By his industry and toll he amassed great wealth and at the time of his death was known aB the wealthiest man In this part of the country. "We have in evidence In this case tho crossing of the lives of Margaret Geddes, tho real plaintiff in this action, ac-tion, and David Eccles, the real defendant de-fendant In this suit. I wish you to bear In mind three binding considerations consider-ations in reviewing tho evidence that has been presented to you. Margaret Marga-ret Geddes was the widow of a trusted trust-ed employe of David Eccles; both i Bhe and David Eccles were members i of the Scotch race and the Scotch i race, with all duo respect to the race are clannish; and both she and David Eccles wero members of the I Mormon church. 1 "Keeping these three considerations! ever in mind, there are only three possible explanations of their relations- "First There was a plural marriage between them, a marriage that was kept a dark secret until after the death of David Eccles. "Second David Eccles and Margaret Marga-ret Geddes were man and woman, living liv-ing in Improper relations "Third They were friends and he was assisting her as a rich man would assist a needy one. "You will recall that, following the death of W. S. Geddes and long prior to any alleged marriage, David Eccles Ec-cles was assisting not only Maggie Geddes, but Minnie Geddes, and, for all we know, perhaps other widows of employees of David Eccles. "You will recall that Maggie Geddea constantly recalls the patriarchal blessing of David Eccles, that he was to be endowed with the riches of the earth that he might care for the poor and the needy. All the evidence in this case shows that he was ever and always responding to the cry of the poor and the needy, giving not lavishly lav-ishly perhaps, not liberally, possibly, but nevertheless, making gifts to the poor that were thankfully received. "If David Eccles was not giving to Maggie Geddes as a friend, as a widow of a trusted employe, as a woman of his native land, as a woman wom-an of his loved faith, what were their relations? Denies Plural Marriage. "Was there a plural marriage in this case We think we have effectively effec-tively disposed of this question by the testimony In this case. And if the defense fails in the first premise it must certainly fail in the second premise. "Maggie Geddes knew she could not prove a plural marriage, yet sho comes Into court and alleges it. Why"' Because she wants to lend dignity and integrity to her cause. She wants to make her church a shield to hide her shame so that she might not come Into this courtroom discredited from the outset. "The whole case of the defense is based on the allegation of a plural marriage. If we have shown that there was no marriage, and we believe be-lieve we have, then the case of the defense must fail. "Let us look at the second premise. What is the evidence to show that they were living as woman and paramour? para-mour? There is no presumption that David Eccles was a lewd and a lascivious libertine He had entered into a plural marriage some years before, be-fore, it Is true, but he entered into it under his private, earnest, conscientious con-scientious Christian belief that he was doing right. Refers to Visits. "He visited Maggie Geddes and his visits were honorable visits. They must have been made either as the result of an honorable marriage to Maggie Geddes on they must have been made friendly visits inspired by a friendly interest in the welfare of this woman, a widow of his employe, a j member of his own nationality aud a member of his church. We don't deny that David Eccles visited the home of Maggie Geddes, of Minnie Geddes and perhaps others. But wo do say that every element of evidence evi-dence in this case justified the conclusion con-clusion that these visits were honorable. hon-orable. Men and women, village gossips, have been brought hero to tell of these visits. Some of these, wishing ' to throw somo spice into tholr testimony, testi-mony, say thoy saw David Eccles J leaving the home of Mrs Geddes m early in the forenoon But all of H them say that these visits were open H and above board. Mark you, open H and above board. He must have H cither visited as a friend of this worn- ( H an or, he must have visited her as the wmM proper religious husband of this worn H "Let's see whether or not they were H ever married. She began to receive JH the charity of David Eccles soon after , H her husband's death and Tor the past j W four years up to the time of his mar- H riage he had been her sole support. "H Sho knew he was a rich man, yet 'H sho tells us that she did not think of w his being rich it did not concern H her. Yet she had been reaping the "fl rewards of his bounty for more than H four years. - H "It is .a small thing, but a com- "1 raanding thing, an extraordinary H thing, that this woman did not re- H member the date of the marriage H ceremony. She knows only that it lH was in August, 189S. Here are some H sidelights: She started for the trys- H ting place in the lumber yard. She H stopped at a grocery store which did H not exist. After tho ceremony she jH went to the home of Mrs. Bertha Ec- "fl cles and later was driven to Plain H City by a traveling man who was not H here; and she was accompanied b H Bertha Eccles Wright, who was in Or- "fl "Anyway, she finally moves from "fl Plain City with her children and JwM takes rooms in the Constitution build- H ing. What, the wife of a million- "H aire occupying two hall bedrooms in H (Continued on Page 3.7 H |
