Show 4 I A GOOD BEGINNING I William Felstcad Pleads Guilty and Gets Three Years Six Months and a 8300 Fine Blessed Are the Merciful For They Shall Obtain Mercy Brother Felstead Makes a Speech Miscellaneous Civil Cases The case against William Felstead charged with polygamy and unlawful cohabitation was taken up in the District Dis-trict Court this morning and the defendant de-fendant who pleaded guilty at the last term of the court stood up for sentence He was asked whether or not he had anything to say when he answered that he had not only he would say Blessed are they that are merciful for they shall obtain mercy and he then asked the Court to be lenient as possible In answer to the Judges questions he said he had three wives one of whom is in Detroit and he said he intends to give her a divorce He married his last wife about three years ago He knew that there was a law against polygamy at the time but he had made covenants with his Father in heaven to keep His commandments I com-mandments He said that ha had injured I in-jured no one to his knowledge defrauded no one and had never been guilty of thieving robbing or stealing The Judge explained that a man has I no right to enter into u covenant to violate the laws of his country which are paramount to all others These laws against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation cohabita-tion are such in substance as exist in every civilized country The Court explained ex-plained how such men as the defendant were enemies to their country Felstead then began to tell how willing he would be to take up arms for the United States but he was interrupted by the Court with an explanation to the effect that he had an opportunity now of obeying the laws of his country and that he could shoulder the musket should the nnnnfrir ever become invnlvprl in wnr At this juncture Prosecuting Attorney Dickson arose and said If your Honor please in this case there is a matter that I think very proper that I should call the attention of the court to before the judgment judg-ment is pronounced j The defendant has a wife living in Detroit Michigan to whom he was married in 1852 He left her and came here in 1879 or 1880 In the spring of 1883 he married his second wife and in October 1883 he married his third wife His lawful wife in Michigan Michi-gan has been corresponding with him up to the time of his arrest and was altogether alto-gether ignorant of the fact that he had any other wife than she One letter that one of his wives put into the hands of the officers a letter written in May last on the anniversary of his marriage or of the defendants birthday in which she speaks of enclosing some present to him in remembrance of the anniversary is avery a-very loving and wifely letter and on June 23d 1886 the Marshal in the meantime mean-time having telegraphed to the Marshal of Detroit to get the full name of the lawful wife and the Marshal there having made inquiries of her as to her full name and the date and place of her marriage her suspicions were aroused and she wrote to the Marshal of this Territory Ter-ritory inquiring as to whether or not her husband had taken unto himself other wives His course ever since he came here has been nne of fraud and deceit towards to-wards his first wife It is proper that he should be called to the attention of the court The Court then asked defendant whether or not he intended to obey the laws in the future when he immediately started to explain that he had not informed in-formed his first wife of his other mar raiges because she opposed polygamy He said that his wife had refused to come to Utah with him and that he had therefore left the property with her BO that she and her children verp well provided for He said H I didnt want to disturb her mind it wasnt simply that I wanted to leave her or that I did leave her in an unhandsome way in any shape or form I had always al-ways loved my wife and do now and love my children I love them and they love me Defendant said in answer to the questions by the Court that he had seven children by his first wife and none by either his second or third The CourtYour conceptions of your duties to your wife and to the laws of your country seem to be rather blunt perverted and incorrect I ask you now in order to give you the benefit of it if yon desire to state whether yon are willing will-ing to promise to obey the laws hereafter DefendantSo far as it does not come in contact with my conscience I dont think that any law has the right to bind a mans conscience say what he shall do and what he shall serve The United States The uourt xou think then your conscience con-science may impel you to marry another woman some time do you DefendantOh I dont know sir I dont know what I shall do I cant say what I should do I dont suppose a man of my age will bother himself any more about such things as those The CourtVell you have bothered yourself it seems very recently with two additional women when you had a wife and seven children living Felstead then stated that he lived alone for three years in hopes that his wife would come to him but she wouldnt come To this the Court replied Well its it-s better a man should be alone than to have two or three wives on his hands I and violate the laws of his country I I dont see anything to palliate your case whatever It seems that you wil fully violated the law knowing that there was a law against it after you had taken the oath of allegiancewilfully violated the laws of the country practiced fraud upon jour first wife by marrying two other women without even notifying her that you had done it Under these circumstances cir-cumstances I see nothing to excuse you whataer You will be sentenced on the first count in the indictment to imprisonment in the Penitentiary for a term of three years and to pay a finewhat means haVe you DefendantI have no means at all I have been working all through life a poor man I The CourtPay a fine of 150 and the 1 costs of the prosecution On the second j count unlawful cohabitation you are sentenced to the Penitentiary of this Territory for the term of six months ando and-o pay a fine of 150 and the costs of prosecution which are of course the costs of the case The second term will commence at the expiration of the first That is all MISCELLANEOUS i The following cases were disposed of i j during the morning I John Casey vs Snyderetal Demurrer I I withdrawn Respondent given twenty days to answer E J Travis vs Salt Lake lame and Flux Company Demurrer to complaint j overruled Respondent given ten days to answer I Charles Morrison et al vs Comet Min I e f ing Company Motion to discharge attachment at-tachment allowed Exception taken Loring E Ketchum vs Daniel Davidson David-son Demurred to complaint argued by Marshal Boyle for defendant and Hal and Marshal for plaintiff Submitted Morgan Mining Company vs John J Daly Demurrer to amended complaint argued and submitted Edward Theriot vs Park City Steam Laundr Company Default and judgment judg-ment I |