The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-01-27
ROBERTS CASE RESUMED.
Continuation of the Debate in the
House on the Roberts Special
Committee Report.
6ALLELIES WERE AGAIN WELL FILLED,
Mr.. Powers, of Vermont, Supported
the Majority Report for Exclu-
sion. while MIR. Snodgrass, OF
Tennessee, Argued for Admission
and Then Expulsion.

Tenhchsee, argued for Admission
and Then Expulsion.
-
Washington, Jan. 24.-The house re
sumed the debate on the Roberts case
The galleries were again well filed
most of the occupants, as on Tuesday
being ladies'. Some minor business,
preceded the resumption of the de
bate. The senate bill to grant Ameri
can register to the steam whaler Bow.
head was passed.
Mr.. Powers (Vt.) was the first
speaker. He argued in behalf of ex.
clusion of Mr.. Roberts. The conten.
ton of the minority for expulsion, he
said, ran up against the very pre-.
cedents which were cited in it's SUP
port. 1t was the universal rule that a
member could not be expelled for an
offense committed prior to election.
While it might be argued, in Mr.. Rob-
ert's case, that polygamy was a con-
tinuing status, the crime itself, the mi
tial act, took place long before Mr..
Roberts was elected.
I'VE are not separating wife from
husband" said Mr.. Powers, comment
ing on Mr.. Roberts speech of Tuesday.
~"Polygamy has never been legal in
Utah, either before or after her adj
mission into the Union. Polygamy was
illegal under the common law of En-
gland. The moment he took wife
number two, the marriage was void.
Mr. Dnl,orfC Ennx- fhD lou. 49,
not now plead the baby act against
the law, and stern justice"
Mr.. Snodgrass (Tenn.) followed Mr..
Powers, supporting the views of the
minority in favor of seating and then
expelling Mr.. Roberts. eff we were
not to become opponents of the French
system of justice, which presumed
guilt until innocence was proven he
said, Mrs. Roberts must be accorded
his prima facie right to his seat before
being ousted."
MI. Lands 0nd.), a member of the
Roberts committee who signed the ma
jority report, argued that Utah had Vi
olated her compact with the United
States. There had been universal re-
joicing in the land in 1896, he, sand,
when Utah had been admitted into the
Union. The people of the United
States thought that the birth of the
state worked the death of the system
of polygamy. Yet they were startled
to learn, in 1898, that Utah had elected
as hel sole representative in the house
a polygamist, and that he was moving
upon Washington with a plurality of
wives and a multiplicity of children.
(Laughter.)
Mr.. lands went over the record of
the apostles of the Mormon church to
show that most of them were guilty of
continued polygamons practices. Some
Of his statements were sensational. He
scored the church for it's alleged
breach of faith, arousing great en-
enthusiasm by his s%cathing denuncia-
ton. At times he convulsed the house
with his sarcasm. OF the Is apostle
of the church when the proclamation
YVES issued, he said, II were open vio-
lators of the law, and three had I'M
donbtedly taken plural wives since it
was promulgated.
Mr.. Lands said he believed, and that
Mr.. Roberts had not denied, that Mar
&tret c. Ship had become his plural
wife since Utah was admitted in 1896.
He paid a high tribute to the Chris
tial, missionaries who had worked
among the people of Utah. Mr.. Rob-
erts, he said, had boosted that he had
received tho yOtac 0f A. Cz-xJ.- =.
his district. That, Mr.. Lands said. was |
because he ran as a democrat as well
as a Mormon,a and because his opponent |
had been a DANTE who had killed his |
In concluding, he adjured the 1000 |
in Utah to take care of |
their plural wives, but in Gods name
to refrain from multiplying their in
by bringing more children into
the world.
Mr.. Lands expressed his pity for the
poor women who ministered to the
and lustful notions of the Nor.
priesthood. He ridiculed the
proposition to admit MI. Roberts and
then turn him out. The trainers of the
in statuary hall would
get down off their pedestals and laugh
at such a procedure. 1t would be a
burlesque on law and precedent, and
an outrage On m sense. Not only
should MIR. Roberts be turned back, but
also Utah, whose people, he said, had
solemily lied to the congress of the
United States in 1896. In his perora-
t'on Mr.. Lands protested against Rob-
erts' admission in the name of the
motherhood of the land and of the
pitiful innocents doomed to the shame
Oh lliegitimacy. He got a whirlwind
OF applause when he sat down. The
created a sensation.
British Arsenal Burned.