The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-01
Old DAYS IN UTAH.
Former Governor George W. Emery
INDUCES in "Reminiscences.

INDUCES IN "Reminiscences
Divorce in our eastern cities is car
ried on to about as great an extreme
now as polygamy in Utah. and is quite
| as demoralizing. The worst Of 1t Is
| that divorce is on the increase in the
east. while polygamy is OF the decrease
| in Utah."
This is the conclusion reached by the
| Hon. George w. Emery in his views of
the present situation in Utah as dis
closed by the Smoot investigation. Mr..
! Emery, now retired from active life,
was governor of Utah in President
| Grants time. Twenty-Five years ago
| he was one of the most conspicuous
men in the nation. The government
and the people of the United States
| looked to him to uphold the law and
the constitution in the territory that
| had created trouble 50 long
Governor Emery was the object of
| fierce partisan attacks, but he passed
| through the ordeal unscathed. and
| when the turmoil of his executive term
was over ne had the respect Of Nor
| mon and Gentle in Utah and OF the
whole country. He was called the Ben
| Butler Of Salt Lake City.
After a lapse OF a quarter of a CEN
| fury. Governor Emery has consented
| 10 discuss that period of Mormon af-
/ fairs and to give his views on the pres
ent situation in the review that follows:
=
| as supervisor of internal revenue, first
for the state OF Tennessee. to which
was afterward added Kentucky, Ala
bama, Mississippi, Louisiana and final
| ly Texas.
| When left the revenue service 1 i'm
mediateIy turned my attention to two
| large plantations which 1 had pur-
/ chased on the Cumberland river, some
| eighteen miles below Nashville. / was
contemplating growing large crop OF
/ corn and cotton. One day Internal
! Revenue Collector Peabody of Nash
Vile came down TO see me and saluted
| me as governor.
"Why do you call me GOVERNOR L
/ asked
J why the press dispatches in Nash
| Vile say You have been appointed gov
| ernor of Utah by President Grant he
said. ....-
As soon as could get around 10 it
/ I left Tennessee and went to Washing
| ton and called on President. Grant
When I left the president 1 thanked
| him for remembering me. but said that
from what I had been able to learn
| Of Utah it was q rough country.
Yes" said President Grant, Il reck-
on it is rather rough out there You
are only the fifth governor I have ap-
/ pointed for Utah so far. But YOU go
! out there and look around and / Will
come out and see you
IF you viii do that 1 said, lit Will
! give me great deal CT courage"
After Mrs. Emery had made fare
, we'll visit to Boston, she rejoined me
at Washington, and we started for Salt
| Lake City. That was in the spring of
1875;
Mormon and Gentle Hatred.
Things were red hot in Utah at that
| time. Brigham Young was alive and
/ the active head of the Mormon people.
J The bitterest hatred existed between
4 the MormonS and the Sentiles, as all
non ormonS were called.
Some years before had occurred the
/ Mountain Meadow massacre, in which
/ a caravan of Arks nsas emigrants had
! been slaughtered-men. women, whole
! families, with the exception of few
! children, who were saved. It was the
most atrocious crime in frontier his
| tory.
Lee. the leader of that massacre was
! still unpublished when j arrived in
/ Utah. He had been tried twice, but the
/ juries had failed to agree
/ Polygamy was flourishing without
/ any legal restrictions.
! The position which 1 occupied have
| heard compared with that of General
/ Butler at New Orleans, But that is
1 hardly correct. He was military gov
ernor of a city under martial law L
was only a civil governor. The mill
!
away. kept the peace.
Twice L had to call in the soldiers to
prevent conflicts between the MOrmons
and Gentiles.
On one occasion things had come to
( a white heat condition. A woman
/ newspaper correspondent, it was
! claimed, had interfered in the affairs
/ of a Mormon family. This enraged the
/ MOrmons and q Gentle who had been
/ arrested in connection with the affair
was in danger of being mobbed on the
/ day set for his trial.
| I called in the mayor of Salt Lake
| City and asked him if he could keep the
peace. He said he thought he could.
! IF there is any doubt in your mind
| on that point. Mr.. Mayor I said. II
| viii call in troops and keep the peace
| But If do. shall do it in such a man
ner that you will never want me to do
! iC again"
Salt Lake City was as quiet as New
| England village on the day of the trial.
1 was accused Of exercising arbitrary
/ power as governor of Utah. But It had
/ to be so. In the disturbed condition of
| things it was the only way that the
territory could be governed. 1t was
| impossible to attempt to please either
| of the factions.
From the outset 1 did what 1 thought
| was right, and what ought TO be done,
| without regard to whether It was in IA
/ vor Of Mormon or GENTLE. When a man
! entered a complaint or brought a petit
! ton to me I never even asked which
| faction he belonged to.
There were three Mormon papers and
| two Gentle papers. all conducted on
the most bitterly partisan lines. Every
! morning after an important case had
been disposed of I would have the Nor
mon or GENTLE press down on me with
| a column or two of invective. while the
J SlInDOSPd have hnnn
| favored would be praieing me to the
| skies.
Amid all the turmoil that was going
on about US, Mrs. Emery and I led a
very happy domestic life. We lived in
house near the business district and