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Show Ji . .. 't .rfi .!-, , ,h,ft , ;Mriii in -mi n 1 BISHOP SHARP'S STATEMENT. i A ."Notable Declaration That Has Knocked the Underpinning . From the More Fanatical Fanat-ical Itlormons. j The late hour at which Bishop John Sharp appeared before the Third District Court yesterday afternoon and the interesting inter-esting proceedings following thereon, prevented pre-vented more than a general statement in , last night's Democrat. Below we give the statement of Bishop Sharp to the Court, read b3 his attorney," P. L. Wil- j liams ; also the Court's interrogations nnd j Mr. Sharp's answers : I hold myself amenable to the laws of my country, and in whatever degree I may have infringed upon the provisions thereof, am j ready to meet the penalty. - 1 am the husband of more than one living wife and the father of a number of children by each of them. The most of my children have arrived at their majority. I respectfully submit to this Court that the marriage covenant that I entered into with each of my wives was made at a time when there existed no law upon the statute books which made an offense of the plural marriage relations as contemplated in our religion, and that we entered those marriage relations rela-tions and made those marriage covenants with the most profound conviction that we were obeying the law of God. Furthermore, from the time we made those sacred covenants coven-ants to the present, we have sustained the most devout reverence for the sanctity and divine origin of that law, and we have not designedly placed ourselves in oonflict with any of the laws of our adopted country in embracing this cardinal doctrine of our religion. re-ligion. Your Honor can readily conceive my discomfiture dis-comfiture and that of my wives when we learned that Congress had enacted what is known as the "Edmunds law," which not only subjected us to political disabilities, but also forbade U3 the right to live together as we had done for so many years. By this new law we are made transgressors and deprived de-prived of many of the privileges of citizenship; citizen-ship; and, while I consider this a harsh law, yet it does not, as I understand it, nor as I understand it to be construed by the courts, require that I shall disown the mothers of my children as my wives or abandon them to the charity of an unsympathizing world, j I expect to remain under the political disabilities dis-abilities placed upon me, but I nave so arranged ar-ranged my family relations as to conform to the requirements of the law, and I am now living in harmony with its provisions in relation re-lation to cohabitation, as construed bv this Court and the Supreme Court of the Territory, Terri-tory, and it is my intention to do so in the future until an overruling Providence shall decree greater religious toleration in the land. When Mr. Williams had finished reading read-ing the .statement, the Court asked the defendant if he had anything further to say. Defendant Nothing further, I believe. Court Am I to understand by your statement that you propose to hereafter obey the laws of the land? Defendant Yes, sir. Court And you do not propose to advise ad-vise other people to violate those laws? Defendant No, sir. Court It is gratif ying to the Court and to all law-abiding citizens to see men of influence in the community and the church which he is a member of take this stand. It will have the effect of influencing in-fluencing others to obey the law. In view of the statement made, I am disposed to exercise that discretion which the law gives me and not impose an imprisonment imprison-ment penalty. The example furnished Trill have a more beneficial effect on society than any imprisonment would have. The law authorizes the Court to impose a fine of $300 and . imprisonment for 6ix months. I shall simply impo?e the fine. |