The Russellville Democrat., 1886-06-02

At sAlt 7.xke CIty Inst week Judge HAyes of the Third District Court sentenced to imprlsonment at the House of Correction It Detroit ten persora for unlawful coIabitation.
 RED.Hor BExARxs.
 In passing on the polygamists Judge Hayes said:
 ssIt is never a pleasant duty to in-1 fliet punishment upon fellow man. But when men commit crime, and are duly convicted, 1t becomes du- ty from which this Court must not shrink. I regret that any set ot
 men are so unwsae e think they can psose5te their criminal conduct by seeking to pose as martyrs, and thus defiantly Haunt their infamy in the face of society. You are erring at present as you have erred Tn the
 past. The Government has been ex |cecdingly lenient with you. It has sought to reclaim you by kindness. You have failed to appreciate this, and have boldly defied it's laws. You have been misled by your lead ere. You have been told that the Have could not be enforced. You have not dared to think for your selves, but have followed as blindiy as slaves. You say if you do not cling to the crime of polygamy you will be severed from the church. PoLYGAMy NOT A RELIGIOUS KITE. Some of you tell me privately that you would be but too glad to abandon polygamy and obey the laws, if your leaders would but permit you to do SO. Isubmit to you, are you free men? Are you fit to be Ameri- can citizens7 Answer by your con duct. You. demand of the Govern ment that all your rights be secured. That demand has been honored. Yet
 you refuse to obey the laws of the country, whose protection you claim
 and you base your right to commit
 crime on the ground that it is partof your religion to do so. If that was
 an excuse, then every class of crlmi-
 nals could justify themselves by simply banding together and claim ing as a religious duty the right to practice crime. To illustrate: Sup
 pose some band of thieves should
 claim as a religious duty the right to-
 steal your property: if they were caught and committed and intcrpos. ed such claim, and asked for suspcn
 slon of sentence on that ground,
 would you not ask of me to enforce
 the law and protect your property?
 Certainly you would have a right to- So in your case. All law-abiding
 members of society have right to ask rigid enforcement of the laws, to the end that your crimes shall be
 punished, and that your evil exam pie shall not be Haunted in the face of society.
 DON'T FOOL YOURSELVES. Be not deceived. You are but criminals, and as such shall receive the punishment your crime merits. Your crime is not new one. At one time it had somefoothold In Greece, but was by them abolished, and by them it was looked down upon as tue practice of barbarians. It was for bidden by the Romans through the
 whole period of their history. Christ
 Ian Europe, as . rule, spurned it. It
 was sought at one time to be replant-
 ed in England. but they wiped 1t out by law, going so far at one time as
 to make it capital offense. Many years ago, in speaking oi this crime, Chancellor Bent said:
 Polygamy may be regarded as ex- clusively the feature of Asiatic manners and of half civilized life, and to be in- comparable with civilization, refine-
 ment and domestic felicity.
 Equally truthful were the words of Leitzer in his Political Ethics, wherein he says:
 Polygamy leads to a patriarchal prin- clple, ana when appleu 70 large cOm-
 munities letters the people in station- ary despotism, while that principle can
 not long exist in connection with mos nogamy.
 This Asiatic plant cannot flourish in Anglo Saxon soil. This relic of
 basbarism must give way before q higher civilization. Your crimes
 must be abandoned and higher grade
 of morality adopted if you expect to
 prosper iu this country. The safety,
 the happiness of families, the good
 order of society, the preservation of public morals and due regard to public decencv demand rigid en- forcement of tho law"
 Leading merchants of Little Rock testified before the Congress.