The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-02
REsENTS THE INSINUATION.
The Mayor Of Lehi Objects to the
Charges Against His Town.


To the Editor of The Herald:
beg you will allow me space in your
paper to reply to an article which ap-
peared in the Tribune, July &C. headed
AN UnSaVory Town" Reason would
say, reply to the Tribune articles in
/ the Tribune, but having had occasion
some time ago to reply to a Tribune
article and my reply being ignored by
it, and having no reason to expect bet
| ter treatment on this occasion hence,
having been a reader of The Herald for
many years, and knowing its fairness,
/ appeal to you. I wish especially to
reply to the above named article and
incidentally to a series of articles that
have been appearing in the Salt Lake
papers of late. / have thus far alb
stained from intruding upon the papers
and the public, thinking that these
correspondents would find a stopping
place in their Misrepresentation Home-
where, but it seems to me that for
bearance has ceased to be a virtue and
people of other towns have begun to
ask, What's the matter with you peo-
pie down at Lehi? What kind of Of
ficers have you? They seem to be
in sympathy, if not in league with the
| hoCdlum element" Now, the facts de-
yeloped in the trial of the case re-
ferred to in the above named article
are DIS 1OllOMS- lie CQipillS lcAlSC III
age from II to Is years. One handful
of dust and two stale eggs were thrown.
1t was done in payment of childish
grudge against one of the occupants
of the rig (hinself scarcely more than
child boy-like, not thinking of the
injustice of making the innocent suf-
fer with the guilty. The rig was not
stopped as alleged, neither We're any
stones thrown, an attempt only was
do 70 or / do wish tn
belittle an occurrence that was bad
enough without magnifying it. The
correspondent concludes by saying, the
most provoking part Of the circum-
stance is that our peace officers have as
yet done nothing to bring the young
cuIprits to justice" thus inSinuating
that the officers knew of the affair, but
were neglecting their duty. L submit
that the correspondent should have
told the marshal of the affair and have
given him a chance to do something
before making such a charge. But no,
the marshal only heard of it accident
ally, the evening of the following day,
and being referred to the Tribune's
correspondent, he Immediately sought
him out and obtained the facts from
him, which enabled the peace officers
to prosecute the offenders the third
day after the affair occurred. None of
the youthful offenders could be identi-
fed by the victims except perhaps the
one VINO tried to stop the horse. Three
only were convicted ard that on their
own confession. One was given a fine
Of 81, or four days in jail, and his
father paid his fine. The other two
were fined So or five days and went
to jail. They were pardoned, after
serving three days, by me as a reward
for their truthfulness in court and
previous good character. The CORE
spondent speaks of the laXity with
which hoodlGms have been allowed to
do as they pleased of late in this city.
I apprehend that he has in mind an
occurrence which transpired not many
weeks ago and which was widely ad-
vertised and duly magnified at the
time wherein a young bridegroom was
roughly handled on the occasion of
his wedding reception. which I myself
felt was a most daStardly and unpro-
voked affair at the time. l have since
come to the conclusion that the assault
grew out of the bridegroom's attempt
to arrest the parties for peeping
through the windows at the festivities.
In this case the officers moved with
great promptitude. but unfortunately
no conviction could be had, which all
deplore, for what will convince will
not always convict. l am convinced
that Lehi is as peaceable and orderly
as any city of it's size in the state.
From newspaper reports it seems that
there are many things going on in
other cities as we'll as in Lehi. The
only difference is that in our case it is
made to appear that the officers are in
sympathy with the offenders by the
Tribune's correspondent merely for
political effect and for personal spite.
His methods seem to be in line with
those of the youthful throwers of stale
eggs in that he seems willing to throw
disrepute upon a whole community if
he can but crafty his personal spite
and serve his political ends.
JOHN S. WILLES, Mayor.