The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-11-12
One Of the Tribune Clique
in Leadville.
HOW HE KEPT HIS HAND. IN"
a Victim of the Danites-A Con-
temptible Cur.

y
Goodwin, P. H. Lannan, and the other
American gentlemen" who conduct
the paper which Mr.. NJ Goodwin was
representing when he told the Internal
falsehoOds which the article contains:
Mr.. J. NJ. Goodwin, of the Salt Lake
Tribune, is in the city, spending the day
here on mingled business and pleasure.
Mr.. Goodwin is perhaps as sadly cognl-
zant OF the state of affairs in the Nor
mon question as any one alive. 1t was
he whose son was undoubtedly murder
ed by the Danites about month ago.
The circumstances are particularly har-
rowing. His son was an emplove of the
Denver and Rio Grande railroad and
had come TO Salt Lake on the 18th of
August to visit his father. About a
week prior the Tribune had published an
account OF the massacre by MormOns in
Tennessee, and the church was highly
incensed and had vowed vengeance.
Little did he suspect, however, how
awfully it was to fall.
The son never arrived. Nearly e
month after his body was found in a
lonely mountain gulch, with a bullet
hole through his head. A Mormon cor
oner's jury spared nothing to make it
appear to be a case of suicide. but the
facts were too palpable. 1t is doubtful
II any OF the assassins can ever be
brought to justice.
Mr.. Goodwin is visibly broken by this
fearful tragedy, but discusses the Nor
mon question coOlly and without bitter
ness.
Hewas asked in regard to the Clawson
pOlygamy case, which went to the Jury
at Salt Lake City yesterday morning
and said:
"There was in the first place the great
est difficulty imaginable in procuring a
grand jury to return the indictment.
and then jury to try the man. Under
the old ruling OF courts the grand and
petit juries were drawn from a venire
OF one hundred names presented by the
clerk OF the county court, and another
OF one hundred names handed in by
the clerk OF the criminal court. If these
were exhausted without securing a Jury,
there was no provision to summon any
more. The consequence was that all the
Mormon officials had to do was to sum
mon enough men on the venire who
would swear that they believed in the
institution of pOlygamy, and it was ina
possible TO get jury, as all such, under
the Edmunds law, were Ineligible. Our
new chief justice, Mr.. Zane, inaugurated
a new proceeding. He had the matter
argued by the Salt Lake bar and render
ed a sound decision, in which he held
that the court was ordered to hold four
sittings a month and that as without
jurles 1t was impossible TO carry out this
order, it was empowered to issue special
venires after the original hundred was
exhausted. In this way Elder Clawson,
who was an old and notorious offender,
was finally brought to trial. On that
trial, which took place last week, dozens
of Mormons deliberately perjured them
selves. Important witnesses were spirit
ed away, including the pOlygamCus
woman herself. One young Mormon
however, testified point blank that Claw
son had admitted his second marriage
TO MN. ana the state may make out a
case"
g polygamy generally practiced there
Yes, and to a much greater extent
than before the EdmundS bill became q
law. l can give you good illustration.
A few days ago Mormon named Muer
who lives about eight miles north OF
Salt Lake City and has openly practiced
polygamy for years, took the Denver
and Rio Grande agent, who, by the way,
is brother of the receiver of the road
to see his place. While there he pointed
out six houses. There he said, are
where my six wives live. l am married
to each of them and they all have
children by me, and yet if the matter
were to get into the courts it would be
impossible to prove that was married
to a single one of them, or that any OF
the children were mine Such was
doubtless the fact, for it has been repeat
edly shown that the Mormon women
will go into court and swear that they
are prostitutes and their children
illegitimate rather than reveal the secrets
of the church."
as there much of a system of intimi-
dation there at PRESENT."
Perfectly appalling. There are in
the city twenty-one wards. The chief
Mormon authority is the president of
state. Under him are two assistants or
deputies, then innumera able underlings.
and finally in each ward two or more of
what are termed teachers These are
spies, who exercise a system of espion-
age not only over the Mormon families,
but over the Gentiles as we'll In this
latter they are very crafty. They will
IlSNCI NlSlI OCllblICS tuCl1StlhcS, DlL
order the next-dOor neighbors to do so,
and gradually they find out everything
possible about their history and belief
In this manner Gentle may never see
a teacher but at the same time his
life's record is probably entered on that
officials book. If a man is unfavOrab'e
10 the church and so expresses himself,
he is subjected TO every sort of annoy
ance. The persecution is of a variety
and extent impossible to describe, but IL
will drive almost any man wild. The
MOrmOns themselves are in perfect ter
rOr of the church authorities, and are
their willing slaves and spies"
us much personal violence resorted
to-"
Yes, and mysterious disappearance
are common. AbOuta year ago a negro
named Webster shot and killed the city
who was Mormon. All the
police force are Mormons, also, and when
they arrested the negro they beat him to
death in the City Hall. and three
other GentileS were present and saw the
The Tribune published full |
account of IL, and the other witnesses I
told OF the matter freely. Both OF those I
men have been logged ever since. One (
Of them has been thrown in Jail several I
times OnfictitiOuS charges, and the other (
has not Jared any better. One night not
-ong ago he was going home and noticed T
Il -