The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-09

| infer that he took his polygamous
wives when it was lawful to do so. This
! is mistake. Adultery was a crime in
Utah when Mr.. Roberts was born, and
at the time of the passage of the Cul-
/ lom anti-polygamy act Mr.. Roberts was
| only six years of age. His plea for
( sympathy, therefore, amounts only to
| this: That he should be allowed to
continue his criminal practices notwith-
standing he took his polygamous wives
in defiance OF law.
I'VE demand that he should support
his families, but also demand that he
shall cease the begetting of further il
legitimate offspring. and this is our
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 because
he is a Mormon, but solely because he
is violating and defying the laws of our
state of the United States, and of COM
mon decency.
Case of W. n. King.
''Ex-Congressman w. II. King was
and is a Mormon. and no claim of in
eligibility was ever made against him.
We point to this fact as showing that
we oppose Mr.. Roberts not upon the
ground of any religious opinions enter
tanned by him, but because of his Grim
inal practices.
sNeither is this matter of religious
or political persecution or prejudice.
The undersigned include men of differ
ent churches and men who belong to no
church, those who are Republicans and
those who are Democrats.
MIR. Roberts denies and We assert
that the compact between Utah and
the other states has been violated. That
compact was evidenced by many pub
lie acts as follows:
''First-By the manifesto of the Nor
mon church in 1890. which. by their
leading men. was interpreted. under
oath, to pronibit the continuance of
polygamous relations as we'll as the
contracting of new marriages.
Secondly the Utah legislature,
which, in 1892. made unlawful cohabi-
tation, as well as polygamy, crimes
against the territory.
Thirdly the solemn pledges of the
apostles of this alleged church that
those laws would be obeyed and en-
forced, which pledge was made in pc
tition to the president praying for a
general amnesty proclamation.
Prohibition of Plural Marriages
''Fourth-By the declarations made by
prominent citizens of Utah before the
congressional committee having the en-
abling act under consideration, where
dlSO lHc lOItSOlIS tNluGHCcS anu state
mentS were used to secure statehood
''Fifth-By the declaration in the con.
stitution of Utah that polygamous mar
riages shall be forever prohibited.
'-Sixth-The act of the constitutional
convention continuing in force the ter
ritorial laws Furnishing unlawful CO.
habitation as well as polygamy OF
which convention Mr.. Roberts was a
member.
''All these public acts combined show
themselves conclusively that the COM
pact includes the diScontinuance of old
polygamous relations. as we'll as the
prevention of new ones. As evidence
that this compact has been broken we
point to the following:
"First-That in Utah 1000 illegitimate
children have been born to polygamous
wives since statehood.
"Second-That about 1000 polyamous
households now exist in Utah, and that
the attempt to secure a punishment of
these offenders is denounced by the
majority, as we believe, of Utah's citi-
zenS.
'"Third-That the circumstancia1 evil
dence Enthusiastically points to the ex-
istence of new wives in polygamous
households, the most conspicuous ex-
ampleS of which are the cases of ApoS-
ties Abraham II. Cannon, John W.
Taylor and Apostle Teasdale. in at
Z y
gan of the dominant church refuses to
deny the marriage and the new polyg-
amous wife is employed as teacher in a
church academy
Polygamy Is Encouraged.
"Fourth-That the very men who in
terpreted the manifesto of 1890 to pro-
hibit unlawful cohabitation with prior
acquired wives, now publicly Justify its
continuance
"Fifth-The most of the same men
who. in a petition for amnesty, pledged
their sacred honor for the obedience OF
the law by their people, are now by
example and precept encouraging the
commission of the crime of unlawful CO.
habitation.
"Sixth-As a further evidence of this
bad faith we call attention to the fact
that the men holding high church
offices have pleaded guilty TO the crime
of unlawful cohabitation before the
state courts without having their
church standing affected, even in some
cases having their fines paid by SYM
pathetic friends.
Seventh-All this is by necessity i'm
plication. endorsed by a majority of
Utahs people in the election of Brig
ham H. Roberts. who. during his cam
paign for election, was publicly
charged with being violator of the
laws. as evidenced by his iiiegitimats
progeny, and in spite of these undenied
charges he was elected by an over
whelming majority.
THAT Mr.. Roberts himself under
stood that compact to mean the dis
continuance of. unlawful cohabitation.
we point 10 his registration oath OF
1895, in which he swore it to be his in