The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-03


investigation committee will reach the
joint assembly on Saturday at noon
and viii be then laid over until Mon
day, to be taken up as a special order
of business.
The case went to the committee at 4
o'clock yesterday afternoon, after a
four-hour harangue by David Evans
for the prosecution The committee
Immediately went into executive ses-
sion to arrange the plan of action in
the case. A half hour was devoted to
general discussion and then an ad-
iournment was taken until 1880. In the
evening the real work began. With
copies of The Herald's transcript of
the evidence before them, the commit
tee settled right down to business and
commenced to ana1yze the testimony.
Nearly every member has taken elab-
crate notes during the investigation,
and the work Of sitting out the good
wheat from the chaff will not take
long. Only the points bearing directly
upon the case will, in all probability,
be discussed. The plan followed last
evening was to have one member read
from The Herald transcript while the
others listened, and then vail took turns
IN passing their opinion upon the point
at issue.
1t is believed that the minor cases.
the Jackson charge, the LapiSh incl
be taken up and disposed Of, and that
then the committee win attack the
Law case. This matter agreed upon,
all that will be necessary will be TO
prepare a report.
And right here a. difficulty is encoun-
tered, for the committee is in somewhat
OF a Qu2ndary as to what its powers
are: whether it is to report that Mr..
McCune is guilty of the charges made
or that they are false, or whether. on
the other hand, they are to report what
they find from the evidence, that one
charge is proven and another not, and
so on. This matter has not yet been
settled among the members, but it is
understood that most of them favor a
eturn of a. verdict finding Mr.. McCune
either guilty or not guilty.
The committee viii work hard on the
ease all day today, beginning ct $3.50
this morning, and with three sessions
il is hoped that a result may be
reached so that a report may be ready
to present to the legislature at noon
tomorrow. 1t is not believed that any
action will be then taken, for the legis-
iature is scheduled TO pay a visit TO
Logan tomorrow. leaving at l o'clock,
and hence the discussion on the adop-
ton of the report Will probably be
made a special order for Monday.
EVANS CLOSING SPEECH
David Evans occupied just four hours
in his closing arguments for the prose-
cution. Adding to this the hour and a
half allowed to Judge Dey, it required
the prosecution five hours and a half
TO do all the talking they considered
the exfgencfes of their case demanded.
Mr. McCune's counsel respecting the re-
quest of the committee by limiting
themselves to a tTifle over three hours.
the period fixed by the committee.
Mr.. Evans argument hardly deserved
hat name. It was a good stump speech
the Eugene Debs- CoXey variety,
there the humble worhingman is eu-
9gfZed and lauded to the Skies while
he man who, by his industry and en-
.rgy and ability, has accumulated a
fortune. is howled at and anathemat-
ized as a. tyrant. oppressor and slave
driver. it was a speech in which the
phrases God of mammon,' rule of
gold" ''corroding influence of money"
appeared in every other sentence.
Mr. Evans wasted little time on the
evidence in the case. At the very start
he Dostulated the guilt of Mr.. McCune
and from then on he placed a Jack
son construction" on his every word
and every deed during the campaign.
He painted Law in seraphic colorS, so
pure, so good that he needed but pair
OF wings to fly away to the place where
good boys go. And starting with his
two characters thus drawn he proceed
ed to weave a beautiful fairy tale
through which his two characters glid-
ed; one at every turn growing blacller
and blacker and delving deeper into sin.
while the other floated along on pure
white clouds above all the sordid temp
tations of earth. There was little re-
sembiance to the facts in the case in
the way he recited the story of Mr..
5,,r, NTy.
Iye ran hurriediy through the tale, dis
torting and malreating the evidence
SO frequently that even the committee
had once or twice to tell him that he
was misstating the facts.
And when il came to the final hour
Of speaking Mr.. Evans outdid himself.
His own personal hatred of Mr.. Nc
Cune was evident in every word. No
epithet was too harsh, no simile too
gross, no expression too improper for
him. From insinuation he turned to
anathema. from anathema to abuse,
coarse and favored with Billingsgate.
He spoke of Nr. McCune's "hordes of
hired minions,' slaves of mammon."
purchased hirelings" He spoke of the
"hellish influences" and the damnable
crimes" of the man he was attacking.
he raved and ranted and yelled and
beat the air until the perspiration
streamed from his every pore and the
drums Of his auditors nearly snapped.
That was about all there was in the
sDeech. IT would have been a good
speech before a crowd of socialistic an
archists or anarchistic socialists, but
ii bored or angered most of the little
crowd in the committee room. 'Those
heads were aching from the noise and
who were most of them only praying
for the end. being compelled to endure.
Even his own friends said they thought
him too radical. considered he had been
too harsh and too bitter for the exigen-
cies Of the case and trembled constant
lv lest ne oYerstep the bounds and
strain the patience Of the committee to
the breaking point.
SENATOR WHITNEY INDICATED.
At the conclusion of Evans TRADE
Senator Whitney arose and said that
in view of the manner in which he had
been drawn into the case, he felt it in
cumbent upon him TO make a state
ment. He had not at any time denied
his friendship for Mr.. McCune, he said
hut it seemed by that that he had
fallen under suspicion. In his long ex-
perience as bishop of the Mormon
church he had many times been called
upon to sit in judgment upon many Sc
rious cases, but he felt that he had
always done his duty and hoped he
could in this case However, if friend