Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1879-09-24
AMONG THE HORIZONS.

City, who has business relations which
take him there every year, states that
the present feeling between the Nor
mons and Gentiles is not fully under
stood in the East. The suit against
the executors of Brigham Young, one
of whom was the Mormon apostle and
delegate in Congress, Cannon, was
not instigated by any of the Gentiles,
but by the heirs of Brigham Young
themselves. The original mover in
the suit was one of the daughters of
| Brigham Young, a not altogether rep
utable person The suit has thus far
been successful, and the Court has
appointed Receiver The prospects
are that the heirs will recover large
amount Of improved real estate, which
yields large revenue. The proceed
ings in the Court and out of it show
that Brigham Young was either very
careless in the management of the
estate that he had held in trust for the
Church, or Intentionally mingled the
funds of the Church with his own
private estate. Equitably considered,
Elder Cannon, Apostle Taylor and
their associate Executors attempted to
divide the estate as it should be, sepa-
rating Brigham Young's private prop
erty from that which, it is we'll known
by the Executors themselves and by
the public generally, belonged to the
Church. 1t was easy for the Execu-
tors in many instances to make such
distribution, but the the law does not
recognize any such assumption of au-
thority as the Executors exercised
Brigham Young's estate stands plainly
in the nams of Brigham Young, with
out any mention of any trust, and no
trust can be implied The heirs of
Brigham Young-as varied in char
acter as they are in numbers-will be
benefited by this carelessness or crime
on the part of their polygamous SIRE
''But who," / asked, sis going to
tell who Brigham Young's heirs are ?
They are reputed to be as numerous as
the sands of the sea. Certainly the
law does not recognize the fruits of
polygamous marriage"
"Of course not. The children born
in polygamous marriage are certainly,
under the law, illegitimate Those
only can inherit who were born of the
first or lawfully welded wife. There
are a number of these-certainly three
sons and some daughters. The origi-
nal wife herself is still living, and
would, of course, under the legal dis
tribution of the estate, be entitled to
her homestead and dover share She
has suffered much and is still controlled
by the marvellous fanaticism which
covers all her troubles beneath the veil
of her libidinous faith.
"The end of the litigation about the
great estate is not yet The heirs will
not abandon the contest. They will
not be troubled by any scruples about
the dignity of the Church. The mo-
ment the pocket of a Mormon is touched
he is as keen in self-interest as other
mortal men. Indeed, the bonds of
Mormonism sit very lightly upon some
of the richest men who nominally
adhere to that faith. 1t is worthy of
notice, perhaps, that some of the rich
est Mormons are not polygamists
William Hooper. for instance, the dele
gate in Congress who preceded Can
non and now wealthy banker and
railroad man, never had more than one
wife. Nearly all the Welsh Mormons,
of whom there are a considerable
number, never had more than one wife.
The Welch women are notorious in
their opposition to polygamous mar
riage, although they adhere to the faith
in other respects"
''Do the Mormons interest them
selves in mining?"
Scarcely any. They devote them
selves principally to agriculture. There
can be little farming done in Utah,
except by the Mormons. Nothing can
be raised there except by irrigation,
and irrigation is dependent upon the
mountain streams. Wherever stream
comes down into the valley from the
mountains there the Mormons have
farm. They control the mouths of
nearly all these streams, but the min
ing business is almost entirly carried
on by Gentiles."
"What is to be the outcome of this
anomalous condition in our political
system ?"
"There is certainly more excitement
in Utah than there has been for many
years. The end of it will ultimately
be that polygamy must go. Then
Mormonism can remain, with its fol-
lies and fanaticisms, until the people
abandon it or it dies of its own weak
ness. There will be more attempts at
legislation this winter, of course. The
only effectual way of crushing polyg-
amy is to so amend the jury law as to
enable the United States Marshals to
draw all the jury. Under existing law
they can only draw half of it and the
remaining half is filled by the Nor
mons This, in criminal case, would
nearly always secure hung jury"