| Show JUSTICE A JOKE i and a arnel one oue iu in the tilo federal cou courts rt q As shown in ill the tile Pro serIt ullon ion of elder C L I 1 ke Kei in lile io f eider elder christian I 1 Kempe wr writes ites to the deseret news from the house hong of correction detroit michigan under dato date of feb F ch ath 1885 as follows lows I 1 consider myself incompetent to write for themes the new Mews but as it is 13 im possible for me to give satisfaction to ray my many friends and my family by writing once in 30 daya days I 1 feel it but just to devote this letter to the public and give a short account of my my history since september 1884 some time in ill that month deputy marshal donoyan came to my house at 12 in midnight 1 arrested me mo on a e r 9 e of polygamy and took me t to p cot t about miles distant where I 1 gave bonds in the sum of for my appearance in court in Noy cluber from thero there I 1 had to walk miles to get backham ing ing no dreans to pay forestage for stage fare at the same time there was a U S commissioner at st johns john only go 60 miles from my homo home 9 and find agn the road t fin tin in november I 1 attended court at which an indictment had been presented charging me with having on a certain date in 1883 married maliciously feloniously and with the force of arms two wives there cro ill abrec ree counts coun tsin in the indictment thethis the third d only ony ebar charging ging cohabitation the first witness examined was judge bunch who claimed to have at different times seen networking on oil it a farm where the alleged second wife was living and to havo have even heard her asame for torn a load of wood the tile second was mr postmaster who testified that hep her children naturally born fince since 1883 had frequently got my my mail and once ehe she had been in the store when I 1 happened to come in there the tile third was county Rec recorder ruiz who as averred had at divert divers times seen both of us but not at once or together the fourth was mr tf barth who had once very early in the morning at 10 a m seen me come from the farm where she lived mth aboid a load of the fifth was mr huble who testified that I 1 had eaid said so some me two 0 or il three years ago that my wife wanted c d some isome trimming the last witness was a mr lien Ilen esly who swore to several falsehoods none of which amounted to any evidence against me ho ile had only seen me on oil tho the farm and nearly all the wian witnesses said 1 I brought two with me from utah in 1880 1 by request of my attorneys L took tho the witness stand stating that I 1 was married to those two women some awen twenty ty acara rears ago in suit salt lake city wh which ich relation we cons con linued until december 1881 my aly attorneys rush and hern don did best and proved me positively innocent of the charge but the jury being of our bitterest enemies took no notice of them whatever while the declaration of the prosecuting attorney wells that it was impossible fl lor or him bim to be in n a house occupied by a woman ir with whom be he had once cohabited without doing so again f was accepted aa as conclusive proof that I 1 was guilty ni ns I 1 had admitted having been ibi MI her house prosecuting ng A attorney tt oriley Zabris kies argument wa wai nothing but a harangue it against the PH mormon ormon church aalthe all the members of which hia his eftim estimation aaion should le be punished judge howarda Howard 3 charge to th the jury was exceedingly Jn ingenious they had to find that I 1 wits matr riehm A rizpha nal nitice larcie 1882 but if there was circumstantial evidence to satisfy their minds that I 1 had been seen about the place where the alleged second wife livedis liv lived edit it win vai a sure sign of cohabitation according n to mr wells admission and c in id arizona constitutes hence I 1 was war married since 1882 tho tile facts th that it t thoc i 1011 youngest gest child odthe of the alleged second afe ufe if li ii past four of age and tafe elect eld ct is ried it nd has a child counted fur for nothing then vii on the pica plea that cohabitation constitutes marriage and on the supposition up position judging from the arn amorous orous pr propensities wells ells that I 1 nad had cohabited with the tile the jury found me rue guilty guilt W if tf marriage but not guilty on oil th the el third count cohabitation con coll seste is lency cy thou art a jewel P jud judge ge howard then 1 taking into consideration that for the last four years T had lost ray my crops almost entirely and had worked hard in in the day time on oil my farm aud and at night in my little mill that ill my y family was destitute that tha roy in y present wife with seven childr children were living in the mongolian Mo Alo golian mountains at least half a ill mile ile from any other house and a ni that their thor nearest neighbors even at tit t hat distance were farmers who whop like myself had poor lost all their crops through frost the le past season and were thus unable to render ren dermy nir wi wife if eau and d helpless children any assistance taking all these facts into consideration he enslo was EO extremely kind as to give ino inc only three and a half years imprisonment and fine me the small sum suni of now here I 1 am a criminal a prisoner with no friend to speak to or associate with but bat my dear friends must not think I 1 am despairing sp for though many an hour is is very dark with me and tears unconsciously will steal forward when I 1 think of my poor innocent little ones y yet et I 1 know wo we arc are all in tho the hall onesi hands 0 of a just god whom I 1 pray early and late to have mercy on the human family aa s long as there is a soul left who will listen to the message of his servants the servant is not greater than ins is ni aster and our master had t ti and die and not for his own sins sills either he ile gave his disciples to understand too that they must expect similar treatment I 1 fail to find the first instance in which wb ich a message from god has been favorably received by the world and hence we need not be surprised at the world reject rejecting in that which tho lord lias has repealed reye aled in this day the jews arc are blamed for reject ing tho the savior at his first coming yet the world to day have 20 testimonies tiro ti onies of the near approach of his ilis second comine coming for every one which th alie c jews had of his first and still their weapons their prisons and every means in their power are brought into we use to destroy those who bear the inspired te testimony all I 1 can say is I 1 am sorry for them I 1 have traveled through my native counte country v through nearly all of norway and sweden and suffered suffer cid imprisonment hunger li unger thirst cold and persecution 0 of ci almost every kind for tha the gospels sake for over s six years airs and though now called to t bear lar still more I 1 do not feel to give up my rny r religion clig iou in fact I 1 am more sorry for my enemies todal to dal dav 1 than I 1 am for myself and only ony hope that some day they may eee tee their error |
