The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-09
Who Is Said to BE Guilty of Crimes
and to Lack Necessary Qualii-
cations for Citizenship.
A FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE
SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST HIM IN
THE COUNTY OF SALT LAKE.
Utah Arraigned for Not Keeping It's
COmpact-Two Thousand PlygamOus
Households in the State.

| WASHINGTON, Dec. S.-Brigham H.
Roberts's address to the American people
was answered to-day by delegation rep
resenting the gentle element in Utah
which is here to oppose Mr.. Roberts. The
answer follows
| makes an appeal for sympathy, in which
are many statements needing correction,
while many facts are suppressed. Mr.
| Roberts claims that the precedent made
| by his exclusion Is both new and danger
| Gus. That it is not new was conclusively
shown by Mr.. Tayler in his able legal ar
| gument before the House. and not a single
| precedent to the contrary was cited where
! the ground of objection was ineligibility.
| Neither is the precedent dangerous. When
| ever prima facie case is made against
a members citizenship by showing that
| under a conviction for felony against the
| laws of the United States he Is disfran-
| chised, and further that by reason of his
present maintenance of the status or a
| pOlygamiSt he is again suffering from civil
| disability under the Edmunds anti-polyg-
| amy act, such a member. refusing even TO
| deny the charge, he should be excluded
| Nor is this dangerous, for 1t is not likely,
| as Mr.. Roberts seems to assume, that an
| entire minority all representatives of
| a large State coming to Congress carry
| such a burden. In other States men who
| haunt their violations of these laws or de-
cency in the face of the public are sent
| to the penitentiary. 1t is only in Utah
where such indecency ever added to ones
| eligibility and served as Recommendation
| to political preferment.
| ''Mr. Roberts'S contention that no evil
| dence of his guilt can be received except
| a judicial record Of his conviction in Utah,
as a matter of law is erroneous and as d
matter Of practice dangerous, because Mr..
| Roberts and his all-powerful and powerful!
priesthood can prevent such conviction II
| they consider it worth while
ID lot, hot hat xxrnr
| his civil disabilities before statehood they
/ were removed by the adoption of the State
| Constitution. If, at the time OF the passage
/ of the enabling act. Mr.. Roberts was, as
/ he seems in his appeal to admit, disfran-
| chised by act of Congress and therefore
not full citizen Of the United States, as
by the Constitution he must be to become
| a member of Congress, then he is still
| in the same condition, because the Consti-
| tuition of Utah could not restore him to
| federal citizenship and the enabling act did
not do 1T. The enabling act or Utah, unlike
| that Of some other States, required cltl-
| zenship of the United States as a qualifoa-
| tion for voting, and did not confer that cit
| izenshp on those then not such citizens.
/ Hence Mr.. Roberts's statement that by
Utah becoming a State he was rehabili-
tated with the wanting attributes OF citi-
zenship is unwarranted
| FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE.
"Mr. Roberts says he has not been con-
victed since statehood. 1t does not follow
that he Is innocent. He is as a fugitive
from justice in Salt Lake county
charge of unlawful cohabitation, and
| in Davis county, Utah, where re-
sides one of his polygamous wives. with
| her illegitimate twins, born Aug. IL, 1897,
a charge of adultery. a felony under the
| laws of Utah, has been for two months
| pigeon-h -holed by Mormon prosecuting at
/ torney.
"Mr. Roberts in his attempt to belittle his
| crimes insists that he is only charged with
! a misdemeanOr. He knows better. lie
| knows that he has been, under oath and be-
| fore the proper prosecuting office, charged
| with the felony or adultery as we'll as the
misdeameanor of unlawful cohabitation He
| asserts that in 1889 he pleaded guilty to a
| misdemeanor only and also says that II he
were guilty Of the same acts in the District
of Columbia, fagrantly so, that as
| a member of Congress, he could not be ar
rested therefor, because 1t is only a mis-
| demeanor. Here again Mr.. Roberts states
| what is not true, and he ought to know 1t.
| Unlawful cohabitation, under the Edmunds
! act, under which he pleaded guilty, was
! felony. as also is adultery, with which Mr..
| Roberts is charged in Davis county, Utah.
| In the District of Columbia both unlawful
cohabitation and adultery are felonies, as
| defined by the Utah statutes, and 1t is only
| in Utah that the former is a misdemeanor.
These charges in view of the Edmunds
| and EdmundsTucker laws OF the United
! States. still in force, warrant Mr.. Roberts's
exclusion. They are aggravated, however,
| because his is not an isolated case, but one
| representative of a system.
MANY sentimental people are being misled
| by Mr.. Robertss very ingenious suggestions
| from which some people infer that he took
| his poygamous wives when 1t was lawful
| to do so. This is mistake. Adultery
a crime in Utah when Mr.. Roberts was
born. and at the time of the passage of
| the Cullom anti-polygamy act, Mr. Roberts
was only six years old. His plea for SYM
pathy, therefore, amounts only to this: That
he should be allowed to continue his GRIM
inal practices, notwithstanding he took his
polygamous wives in defiance of law. We
demand that he should support his famili-
lies but also demand that he shall cease the
begetting Of further illegitimate offsprings
and this is only bone of contention
the only thing demanded which he refuses
to yield. In this matter we disclaim any
desire to have him declared ineligible be-
cause he Is a Mormon, but solely because
he is violating and defying the laws of our
State. of the United States and of common
decency.
THE COMPACT VIOLATED.
"Ex-Congressman w H. King was. and
is, Mormon and no claim of ineligibility
was ever made against him. We point to
this fact showing that we oppose Rob-
erts not on the ground of any religious
opinions entertained by him. but because
OF his criminal practices. Neither is this
matter of religious or political persecution
or prejudice. The undersigned include men
of different churches and men who belong
to no church. those who are Republicans
and those who are Democrats Mr.. Rob
erts denies. and we assert, that the COM
pact between Utah and the other states
has been violated That compact evil
denced by many public acts as follows:
.First-By the manifesto OF the Mormon
Church In $780, which by their leading men