The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-25
WHAT IS NECESSARY
TO GET A WARRANT
County Attorney Sidestepping
Upon the Matter Of Arrest
ing Smith.
DECLINES TO RECOGNIZE
THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE
What the People May Soon Look
for When They File a
Complaint.

Should President Joseph T. Smith of
the Mormon church, upon his return to
Salt Lake, be obliging enough to ap-
pear before County Attorney Farley P.
Christensen, take an oath as TO his own
identity, then swear that he is the
father of the now famous forty-third
kid, and that said forty-third kid was
born IN this city, of plural wife of
the aforesaid Joseph f. Smith, the as
tute County Attorney would, in all prob
ablllty, issue warrant for Smith IS
arrest.
In other words, according to the rule
being laid down by Mr. Christensen in
the Smith case, a man must hereafter
be proven guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt before warrant viii be issued
for his arrest. OF course, this rule has
not been. followed in the past by the
County Attorneys Office, and will not
be followed IN the future, except in
cases-like the Smith case-where Mr..
Christensen apparently does not want
TO prosecute.
Discourteous to owen.
When questioned by representative
of The Tribune. Monday, Mr. Christen-
sen intlmated that he would take no
further steps in the prosecution of
child in question was born in this city.
lie also asked The Tribune reporter If
the latter knew where "MuSty'' Owen
meaning Charles Mostyn Owep-could
be found, as he desired to learn from
MI Owen If there was any way of
ascertsinlng for a certainty whether or
not the child was born in this city
The County Attorney was asked if
the certificate of birth was not sufii-
..tnr 'kn .L.i
the birth certificate could not be intro
duced as evidence, inasmuch as DR..
Wilcox, who had fled 1T, had stated on
the certificate that he was not present
at the time of the birth The County
Attorney had no idea, so he informed
The Tribune when he would be ready
to make his decision in the matter, add
ing that many of the people wanted as
witnesses were away at the present
time.
What May Be Expected.
Should the rule be adopted, which
County Attorney Christensen is endeav-
oring to lay down in the case Of Joseph
+. Smith, the public may soon become
familiar with something like this:
Jones-Mr. Christensen. | want TO
swear to complaint charging Green
with killing my dog.
Farley P.-Certainly. my dear Mr.
Jones-the dignity Of the law must be
upheld-now for the facts, please.
Jones Well, the facts are that Green
blazed away at my dog from a window
of his residence
Farley P.-Let me interrupt you
there, please-was it from the dog s
residence or the residence of Green,
that the shot presume you mean shot
by ''blazed away was fred9
Jones-Green s residence, of course.
Well, when the shot was fired the dog
jumped into the air about three feet,
gave a yelp and fell back, dead.
Farley P.-Just a moment, please.
The distance that the canine-I should
say dog-jumped into the air is imma-
terial, as we learned lawyers say. But,
did you see Green fire the shot1
Jones-No, but it was fired from
Green's residence, and he had often
threatened to kill tho dog
Farley P.-Now, you see. there is
where your testimony is weak You
did not see Green fire the shot. You
do not know, in fact, that Green did
fire the shot. For all you know, from
what [ have cleaned from your conver-
sation, Green might have been in Provo
at the time and the shot may have
been fired by some other person. A gain,
are you sure it was shot? Might
the noise not have been made by the
bursting of water pipe, or the ex-
plosion of bombl We cannot be too
careful in case like this
Jones-I am sure it was shot from
n gun, for, as / said before, the dog
jumped about three feet into the air,
gave yelp and dropped back dead
Farley P,-Just another moment.
please. Did you examine the carcass
of the dog after the alleged shot was
fired, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether or not Il bullet penetrated a
vital spot, or, In fact, whether or not
the dog was struck by bullet at all
Jones-No; as I have said twice be-
fore, the dog jumped into the air about
three feet, gave a yelp and fell back
dead, He was as dead as door nail,
was bleeding profusely and disposed
of the body as quickly as possible.
More Fault With Testimony.
Farley P.-Now, there is where your
testimony is faulty again. You say that
the dog jumped about three feet into
the air-that point is immaterlal, as 1
have said before-and fell dead. The
only thing you are sure about is that
the dog is dead. But, you do not know
that Green fred the shot. For all you
may know Green, or the individual who
fired the shot, If. indeed, shot was
fred, might have been firing at mark
above the dog. and tine animal, acting
upon somo impulse or idiosyncrasy,