The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-06-10
n ELOQUENT APPEAL.
Homer Stulrs Speech for
Humphreys.
. TRIBUTE TO THE PIONEERS
idaho Lawyer Pleads Warmly
An i0A :. the Jury for BIS
Client.

ny, ,ubIish the following aOie ~
We - tbe court in Blackfoot' by MT
Rads to s suS ' in behalf Of Samuel HIM
nbrevs. indicted on acharge Oh una " -
onao .1...-Tne accused is here be-
os''' om upon trial by jury OF his
loie .vmen Let us first see wha' Is
Gov gUah issne, The indictment charges tna !.
10 l-aI did l.unlawfully and willfully cohaOi'
nc t'T more than one woman" To this
o %,,- he pleads mot guilty" Remem
Ser. that by the law he is presumed 10 DC
o .onant Remember, that you are
hnnnd by your solemn oath+' by the
D sacred obligations which 1t Is pos
IIa formen to assume, to accord nun
this protection that our law gives 70 the
bumblest citizen.
What is the situation here To-Day oi
.bo one hand is a man living IN an OBJ
scure station. in a remote hamlet IN our
.ann+oins. a man against whom there
Las nover ND to this hour, been breath
af srsnicion. a man OF unblemished re,
q i, 3of bonored anu honorable IN all
10 reIations of life; man humoly
irving TO rear his family and proVlde
for its wants by the industry OF his
lands. man honestly and eagerly
striving day by day and year by year to
10 his duty. as God has given him TO
ooo Il IN ali men.-to his household and
- the commonwealth. 1t is upon the
bnmbIe labors of such men that govern
ments are founded; it is by the toll and
sacrifice of such men that civilization
wins its triumphs.l
I adiure you to remember. IN this
bour of his trial THAT butfor the humble,
unyayering, unceasing labors OF such
hands as his, our jurisprudence, our
commerce, our arts, our literature, our
religion everything that lends dignity
10 nation or a character to life, would
he impossible. He, and such as he
his friends and assOciates-frst pio-
neered these mountains and planted
homesl in the worst places. History
will vet do them justice. The time is
coming when a great commonwealth
will exist here in these valleys of the
mountains. She will be among the best
and brightest in the fair sisterhood of
States. In that day, students of the
past, with reYerent hands. will brush
aside the grass that grows above the
graves of this defendant and his associ-
ates, and say one to another, This is
sacred ground; here rest the pioneers !"
By a strange combination of circum-
stances, this honest and honorable man,
bo -. l.
science does not approve, which his re-
lgion (that is more to him than his
life) does not teach, is here charged with
crime For the first time in his life he
finds himself arraigned in COURT Who
are his accuSerS? Humble men like him
self? Men who are. like him, unac-
custOmed to the arts and wiies that
wait on the administration of our laws?
Oh, no. He is confronted here to-day
and he is surrounded by the officers
and retainerS of a great government!
BY cruel and relentless fate, this hon
est man, whose heart does not accuse
him, is prosecuted here by a nations
power. His only hope, gentlemen, is in
you and in the law which it is your
sacred duty to administer. See that this
charge Is proven strictly. When you
retire TO your room, to consider this
case, remember, / charge you upon your
honor, as men. net to forget that to him
belongs, under the law, the benefit of
every doubt! Let not the eloquence of
counsel, nor the pressure of public
ciamor, drive from your minds this
one great truth.
One witness appears here to sustain
Inc Indictment; only one! There is no
document, no letters of the accused
nor the slightest hint of anv evidence
whatever to sustain him. To find a
verdict against the accused upon such
proof would be to fly in the face of
Auman experience. Ali history iS
against such an act. The civil law. FIRST
gwen to the world by the great Roman
empire, pro yides, that in no case shall
prisoner be convicted of crime on the
IeStlmeny OF one witness. That rrIe
mas oeen IN force thousands of wears. It
mas been sustained and sanctioned hv q
Iarge experience among the most cnIt;-
Fated nations, the leaders in the wor1d;e
aIIS ana arms, IN countries and amonp
Reoples that were old and cultivated
.ile cherlshed homes of law and litera,
lure, when all America was a v;ISor-
ness. 1t prevails to-day as if has for
ages, in Italy, in Spain, in France nee in in
Germany. - "e' Al
human nature is, in its main cbsrac-
lerlstlcs, always and everywhere the
sShe. History, experience and reason
all teach US that it IS not safe to convict
any man of serious crime nnon tbe
1esnmony of one witness. And sncb a
witness! A man who comes oioeI1ng
ana chuckling before YOU when he at7
lempts to swear away the libertv IF h;s
own sisters husbandl What cares he
lor the awful consequences that 80
attend upon his act? More too that ~ |
nam laet testified to by him is an sd
MISSION, viz that the sister of tba S,;t
Ana as the woman" of the defendant.
In n were was this admission made?
inc 90 ASclal circle, on winters even
wI1t az Hls fathers house. Imagine
levi III iugnt IN the Bear Lake Val
VIZ, me S, ar IS cold, but hearts are
stead HI, me old couple at the home
cI; Lila lave been lonely of late. for their
and ,iG do ell nave grown up, been married
Tber oo.ilttela, TO homes of their own
ache "a me separation With is heart
FIRE 10 81 7''a AarI 10 bear. But now the
on the , Ia larger, the logs piled higher
family III neartn, Tor there is to be
bomc ig6I,nloh; the children are COMING
recnrr;n D'essed timel How the ever
yanisbaIs sorrow OF the lonely DAYS
L was - uIiuer It's cheerful influence
witness ta IGch ume-so this delectabIe
his fafber,iIis us-at family reunion at
the defendanou house, one evening, when
The witno.nn ana his WEBSTER of
were ali t.anq the witness himself.