Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-14
POLYGAMY IN UTAH
CLAIMED THAT IT Is GRADUALLY
PASSING AWAY.
Testimony Yesterday Afternoon Before
the Senate Committee Investigate
ing the Smoot Case.

the custom which prevails generally on the
subject of marriage relations he would be
eternally damned" Mr.. Whitecotton said
he had never heard that statement, but 1t
would not surprise him. because he was of
the opinion that Smith is d thorough
fanatic"
Judge Tayler referred indirectly to the
case of Apostle Merrill who is the husband
OF several wives, performing the ceremony
uniting his son to plural wife. The wit
ness said that act met with his hearty dis
APPRECIATION, and that the whole outfit
ought to be prosecuted"
Attention of the witness was called also
20 the marriage of Apostle Cannon to Lii
liam Hamlin. and he said he had no doubt
of the marriage, ard that the controversy
waged was not whether there had been
such a marriage. but who performed the
ceremony.
The witness said that If eleven of the
twelve apostles should perform plural mar
rage ceremonies on the highways or in out
)f-the-way places, and that Mr., Smoot, the
other apostle, did not, 1t would not involve
him in moral, legal or any sort of culpa-
bflity. He said he understood that Presi-
dents Woodruff and Snow continued to live
In pOlygamOuS cohabitation after 1890, and
too that the basis of the plea
for amnesty was a promise not to continue
In polygamous relations. He gave the opin-
Ion that the Mormons were responsible for
issued there would have been a revolt; that
now, If the apostleate should bring out a
revelation saying polygamy should be re-
sumed, there was not an apostle who could
be sustained by his conference.
View of Gentle Lawyer.
The next witness called was H. E. Booth
Of Salt Lake, non-Mormon lawyer. He
went to Utah from Iowa in 1885. and has
been active in the politics of his state. He
asserted that the Mormon Church, as a
church. did not interfere in political affairs,
but that individuals took interest in pol
Itics in the same way that other citizens
did. He said he believed the Mormon peo-
pie were true to their political convic-
tions any people in the world. and he
gave a number of instances of popular
church members being defeated by candi-
dates who had been responsible for anti
Mormon agitation.
On the subject of Mormons obtaining con-
sent to run for political office Mr.. Booths
was that all apostles were on
a salary to serve the church and had duties
to perform and owed something to the
church He said he believed that the church
opposed the election of Moses Thatcher for
Congress and he was glad of it. because
Thatcher was a pOlygamist. The witness
said it was his judgment that President
Joseph F. Smith had kept the church out
of politics. AS to polygamy the witness
said: Il believe polygamy is as dead as
mons themselves are opposed to plural mar
riages." He said that prominent Mormons,
Il number of them polygamists, were his
close neighbors.
Sympathy With the Women.
Mr. Booth testified that the sympathy
was with the women who were married in
and that there was a disinclina-
ton to prosecute the polygamists for that
reason. He said he thought polygamy would
die out soon of itself and that it was better
to permit this rather than to prosecute hus-
bands and leave their plural wives as out
casts
He said his observation was that there had
been no plural marriages with the sanction
or the church, except perhaps the case of
a BRAN Cannon. On this subject he said he
was not sure. He asserted there would be
an immediate revolution in the church if
the president of it should sanction plural
and that polygamy would die out
very rapidly without regard to the law.
Senator Shoots Standing.
Mr. Booth said that Mr. Smooth had been
so prominent a republican since the people
of Utah divided on party lines that he
could have been elected to any Office from
1895 until he was elected United States
senator. The witness said that Senator
Shoots candidates for the legisla ture would
have been defeated had it not been for the
Gentiles, and that there had been no
church interference He said there was no
question that Mr.. Smoot received church
consent to run for senator, but he believed
Mr.. Smoot would have been nominated and
elected had that consent been refused He
thought If conditions wera allowed to go
on as they were now, In a few years
nothing would be heard of the Mormon
question.
A number of instances were given by Mr..
Booth where even suspicion of polyg
; m daf rn6 rhar Of Co.,
Senator Dubois asked the witness what
was the legal status of children born in
polygamy.
Il believe every legislature since state
hood has legitimatized them" was the
reply. Continuing he expressed sympathy
for the children born in this manner.
is your sympathy great enough to put
a stop to bringing them into the world?''
the senator asked.
1T is, if a stop could be put to it without
vesting penalties and hardships on those
women who bring them into the world. If
you can suggest a way to meet this prob
lem l will adopt it and carry it out
Chairman Burrows asked Mr.. Booth if
an amendment to the Constitution of the
United States prohibiting polygamy would
be effective, and received the answer that
1t was not necessary. The witness said,
however, that he thought 1t would put an
end to polygamy.
you think that Utah is unable to put
a stop to polygamy?" asked the chairman.
The witness said he condo mned polygamy,
but said that polygamists should not be
prosecuted because of the disgrace to their
wives. He said he had been q candidate
for public Office and that he had never
made a move to determine whether he
would get church support, though he adj
mitted that some candidates did go TO the
On cross-examination by Mr. Tayler Mr.
Booth admitted that the prosecutions of
some MormOns were regarded by many
members of the church an especial badge
of honor. His testimony in a long line
or cross-eNamination was in defense of the
MormonS and against prosecutions as a
means of prohibiting polygamous relations.
Arrests of Wardens.
Arthur Pratt, warden of the Utah peni-
Tertiary, and son of Orson Pratt who
was an authority on church affairs. was
called to the stand. He testified that he
never had been a member of the Mormon
church. He declared that from 1875. when
he arrested George Reynolds, and down to
1890. he had arrested more Mormons on
charges of polygamous cohabitation than
than any other officer He said the arrests
entatled great deal of suffering among
the Mormon people, and that 1t was the
women and children who got the worst
OF the prosecutions
lie said that there could be no question as
20 the decrease of polygamy since 1880. and