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Show (AN INVESTIGATION. Salt Lake City Cobpobation, ) Keooedee'b Office, r Sam Lake Crrx, Dec. 5th, lS.r. ! Esq. Sib: At a special meeting of the City Council of Salt Lake City, held Saturday, nth inst., it was decided that an official investigation in-vestigation of the rumors in circulation at the present time affecting the peace and welfare of the city and its inhabitants be . had, commencing Monday, Dec. 7th, at 10 a.m. I am directed to respectfully invite you to attend said investigation and to furnish the Council any information concerning the 1 matter that vou may be in possession of. Very respectfully, j Heeeb M. Wells, City Recorder. We are glad to see that the City Coun cil have awakened to a. sense of the situation situ-ation here, for we were beginning to think that nothing would ever awaken them save Gabriel's trumpet. So there is to be an investigation of the rumors in circulation at the present time affecting the peace and welfare of the city and its inhabitants. And this, too, when the New assures the world that our city is "as quiet as any New England village." The City Council may be acting on their own volition, but we doubt it. It may be doing the Council an injustice to say that they are acting under ordere, but still the impression is quite general that the City Council is more or less under the influence influ-ence of the church dominant of Utah. So strong is this impression, that only this very morning a prominent Mormon said to us, "I think Mr. Cannon has become alarmed on account of the sending in of j troops, and thinks somethins had better (be done to allay the excitement." Now, why is there any excitement in Utah and why does it increase instead of decrease? The position of Utah has been anomolous for many years, and is anomolous to-day. Utah Territory has been a political organization ruled by and in the interest of an ecclesiastical organization. organi-zation. In early years this was not so strange a thing as it has been of late years. In early years almost the entire population of Utah belonged to this ecclesiastical organization, and such being the case, there were few to object to such arrangement. But : times have changed, and the arrange ments of years ago are incompatible with ; - the condition of the Territory to-day; but the ecclesiastical organization still makes its claim to a right to rule. Along with the assertion of this right, this organization or-ganization assumes to found the family on a basis other than that upon which it I has been founded in every other part of j j the Union, and different from the basis j . upon which it has been founded in every i Cnristian country. In 18G2 the Congress j of the United States made the formation i of the family on this basis a crime, and ! did the same thing again in 1882. But the ! . Mormon people persisted in violating these laws. The Government, to enforce its laws and vindicate its authority, began a , vigorous prosecution of offenders against the Edmunds law, and though the number j convicted and punished under this Act have not been great, still the effect of these prosecutions lias been to spread consternation throughout the Territory, and to cause a great many to absent themselves temporarily, or perhaps per-. ; manently, because they were suspected of violating the Edmunds law, either by ! ; themselves or by others. Those who are j , liable to prosecution for polygamy and j ; unlawful cohabitation are very consider able in number, amounting to many j thousands, and these have the deep sympathy of their co-religionists who are not liable to prosecution. Those who are in sympathy with those who are being I prosecuted, or who may be prosecuted, are almost as much excited as those who are in danger. Here, then, is the first , great cause for the rumors referred to in i the letter of Recorder Wells, and which I i j the City Council have determined to I investigate. Let us enumerate the other ! immediate causes : I j On the Fourth of July last the national I j flag was placed at half-mast on many J j prominent buildings, including the City I ! Hall and the County Court House. The j I j ' placing of it so upon these two buildings j ; ; caused a just indignation on the j V Part of those citizens who do j l" , not deem it cause for mourning i when the laws of the country are being I enforced. The City Marshal when asked ' I ' why lie had placed the flag at half mast ! I on the flagstaff at the City Hall, replied mat it was a "mere whim." The Deputy i j Sheriff who placed it at half mast on the j County Court House never gave any ex- ! I planation. The matter assumed such a j I f shape that the City Council deemed it j r ' advisable to appoint a committee to in-! i vestigate the matter, and this committee 1 j : i reported favorably. Their rejwrt justified i f the act ia this language : . ' . j !s ! In the same spirit, and with the same f eel- : the Marshal of this citv, who had taken ; ' j j tu8 mto consideration, felt that in no better ! I: I way could the prevailing sentiment be ex- : ! i . pressed on this occasion than bv displaying ' t i our country's flag Rt half mast, thereby Big- i i t nifying that, as when people rejoioe they re- , I j joioe under the ling, so also when they mourn ' ! they mourn under the flag. Some of the if j citizens have expressed their indignation at ; P j the action of the Marshal. f. 1 The whim of the City Marshal was there- 1 ijj j by erected into the dignity of patriotism. I I Throughout the Territory the act of the J f Marshal was lauded from the pulpits of j f the people, and from the indnlger in i whims the Marshal became the standard-h standard-h bearer of the Mormoiv- church. The f Mayor of the city knew nothing of the j whim of the Marshal until he had in-I in-I ; dulged it. j Tw, weeks ago the city began the . prosecution of quite a number of persons ; for i lewd and lascivious conduct. The- ! Mayor knew nothing of this until the ! ? , arrests were made. These arrests put tlie ! ; ; town in a state of excitement, and a i : ! - Vt . - y ' ll . " . " " " " week following these arrests, to the - i day and almost to the hour, a man : j named McMurrin, without any provoca-5 provoca-5 j tion whatever, assaulted United States : i Deputy Marshal Collin ' who was on his j j way home., and Collin,: in. self-defense, . j shot him. We do not pretend to say why ' i nor how McMurrin assaulted Collin, nor , i whether he was alone or, in company, . but he did assault him and Collin shot ' j him. This put the town in a fever of ex-, ex-, ; ci.tement in which it has continued ever since. This is not alL The press of the j Mormon people have persisted in terming j Collin a murderer and an assassin, while j they have made of McMurrin a hero and martyr. The press of the anti-Mormon ! party have said that the assault upon j Collin was a prearranged affair, ; and prearranged by the Mormon j church for the purpose of murdering i Collin. And yet the City Council desire j to investigate "the rumors in circulation j at the, present time affecting the peace i and welfare of the city and its inhab-i inhab-i itants" We suggest that the Council attend a kindergarten object-lesson class as a necessary preparation for a comprehension compre-hension of the reasons whv the citv is filled with rumors. 1 There is no cordiality between the Federal Fed-eral officials in Utah and the local officials of the Territory. Each party looks upon the other as more or less a foe, and the vindication of the authority of 1 one official is looked upon by the other 1 as an infringement of that other's rights. The Federal officials are appointed to enforce Federal laws and Territorial laws, and hold their authority from the General Government. The local officials, Terri-1 torial, county and city, are elected by the people of the Territory, and their qualifications qualifi-cations for office are determined according to their standing in the Mormon church, and it isfar easier for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven than for a man to be elected to office in Utah without the sanction of the Mormon church. I This fact very easily and readily explains i whv DSODle here nut no trust, in nnr nitv officers for security and protection to life and property. They do not put trust in the city officials because they know that they pay more deference to their church than to the laws, and they believe that if there were to be any riot in ' Salt Lake City, or Utah, that the city officials would act solely in - the interests of their church, if the riot were to occur between Mormons and anti-Mormons; or that if they did not do this, they would remain neutral and let riot run its course. We presume it is a knowledge of all these facts that has caused the Federal officials here to ask that troops be sent here to preserve life and property in case of the excitement becoming so intan&e that it can only be allayed by blood. All may deprecate the fact that the Territory is in a state of -excitement that may be hard to control in future, but it is idle to deny the fact. Within ten days we have heard a person who came to this city "July 24, 1847, and who has always been a Mormon and always will be, say, "I do not think we shall ever see President Presi-dent Taylor or brother Cannon upon these streets again." The condition of things which could give rise to such a remark would surely justify many rumors. |