The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-09
HE FLItS FROM JUSTICE
TOOK PoLYGAMOUS WIVES IN
DEFIANCE OF LAW.
CHARGES OF ADULTERY AGAINST HIM
Itis Claimed That 1000 PoIygamons House.
holds Exist in Utah nd That 1000 Child
rem Have Been Born to Polygamous
Wives Since Statehood.
Wives Since Statehood.

Wives Since Statehood.
Washington, Dec. S.--An answer to
Mr.. Brigham Roberts address to the
American people, was issued today by a
delegation representing the Gentle ele-
ment i'm Utah who are here to oppose
MIR. Roberts. The answer is as follows:
In this mornings papers MIR. Roberts
makes an appeal for sympathy in which
were many statements needing correction,
while many facts are suppressed. Mr..
Roberts says he has not been convicted
since Statehood. 1t does not follow that
he is innocent. He is now a fugitive
from justice in Salt Lake county on a
charge of unlawful cohabitation, and in
Davis county, Utah, where resides one of
his polygamous wives with her illegiti-
hate twins born August 11th, 1897, a
charge of adultery Ga felony under the
laws of Utah) has been for two months
pigeon=holed by a Mormon prosecuting att
torney.
MIR. Roberts in his attempt to be1ittle
cd with a misdealneanor He knows
better. He knows that he has been,
under oath and before the proper prose-
cutting officers, charged with the felony of
adultery ais well as the misdemeanor of
unlawful cohabitation.
ssAIany sentimental people are being
Iilisled by MIR. Roberts very ingenious
suggestions from which some people infer
4t fx,<ly whom
it was lawful to do so. This is a mis-
take. Adultery was q crime in Utah
when Mr. Roberts was born, and at the
time OF the passage of the Cullom Anti
Polyganly Act, Mr.. Roberts was only
six years Old His plea for sympathy,
therefore amounts only to this, that ne
should be allowed to continue his Grim
inal practice notwithstanding he took his
polygamous wives in defiance of law. We
demand that he should support his fami-
lies, but also demand that he shall cease
the begetting of further illegitimate off
spring, and this is our only bone of con-
telltion the only thing demanded which
lie refuses to yield In this matter we
disclaim any desire to have him declared
ineligible because he is q Mormon, but
solely because he is violating and defying
States and of common decency.
ExlCongressman W. Ell. King was and
is q Mormon and no claim of inehgibility
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 entertained by him,
but because of his criminal practices.
Neither lis this a 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. Roberts denies and we assert that
the compact between Utah and the other
States has been violated.
..As evidence that this compact has
been broken, we point to the following:
.First-That in Utah ] 900 illegitimate
children have been born to polygamous
wives since Statehood.
Second That about two thousand
polygam0us households now exist in Utah
and that the attempt to secure punish
nIent Of these offenders is denounced by
the majority, as we believe, of Utah's
citizens.
'.Tlmrd-That the cirslssnstantial evil
dence Enthusiastically points to the exist
ence of new wives in polygamous house
holds the most conspicuous example of
which arc the cases of Apostles Abraham
III. Cannon. John w. Taylor and Apostle
Tellsdale. in at least the first OF which
the church organ of the dominant church
refuses to deny the marriage and the
new polygamons wife il employed as
teacher in church academy.
''Fourth-That the very men who iIl-
terpreted the manifesto Of 1890 to pro
hibit unlawful co-habftation with prior
acquired wives now publicly Justify its
continuance.
.ENifth-That 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 ey-
ample and precept encouraging the COM
mission of the crime of unlawful co-habi,
tation.
.'SiXth--As a further evidence of this
bad faith we call attention TO the fact
that men holding high church office have
plead guilty to the crime Of unlawful
cohabitation before the State courts with
out having their church standing affect
cd. even in some cases having their fines
paid by sympathetic friends.
..Seventh-All this is by necessary inn
plicatiOn endorsed by q majority of
Ttah's people I'M the election OF Brigham
IL. Roberts, who during his campaign for
election was publicly charged with being
Il violator of the laws, as evidenced by
his illegitimate progeney, and in spite Of