The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-12-12

present the alternative to religious be-
lievers OF being consigned TO peniten-
ttary II they should attempt TO obey law
Of God which would deliver them from
damnation?
We find in this epistle denunciatory
of the ,Edmunds law a reassertion of
the dogma Of polygamy that 1T was of
divine origin and believed in and prac-
ticed as a part of the Utah Mormon
creed. The act of 1882. designed to
suppress these crimes. continued to be
openly or secretly violated, and the
practice of polygamy and polygamouss
cohabitation among this sect continued
unabated, and every device which the
ingenuity Of man could discover was
employed to prevent the enforcement
of the law and shield its violators from
punishment.
Edmunds Tucker Act.
After another FIVE years of forbear-
ance and national humiliation il be
came manifest that some more drastic
measure must be enacted to insure the
suppression of these crimes, To which
end. in 1887, Congress passed what
was known as the Edmunds- Tucker
law, strengthening and charging the
acts of 1862 and 1882 by providing,
among other things, that in any pros
ecutlon for bigamy, polygamY, or un-
lawful cohabitation, under any statutes
of the United States, the lawful nus
band or wife of the person accused
shall be a competent witness; that in
any such prosecution an attachment for
witnesses may be issued in the first in
stance without a previous subpoena
it punished persons convicted Of adul-
terry by Imprisonment in the peniten-
tiary: 1t defined the crime Of incest
Il al In. Il.
therefor. IL annulled all laws of the
legislative assembly of the Territory
of Utah which provided that prosocu-
tions for adultery could only be com.
menced on complaint of the husband or
wife; II empowered tho marshal of the
Territory and his deputy TO cause all
offenders against the law, in his view,
10 enter into recoenizance to keep the
peace and appear nt the next term of
court having jurisdiction of the case;
it required every ceremony of marriage
of any kind to be authenticated by n
certificate stating the fact and nature
of the ceremony, the full names of the
parties and Of every officer, priest. or
person taking part in the performance
of such ceremony, and signed by the
parties to such ceremony, and by every
person taking part IN the same, such
certificate to be fled in the Office of
the probate court aud Immediately re-
corded. and a failure TO comply with
the requirements Of this act to be pun
ished by fine aud Imprisonment: il
made it the duty of the Attorney Cen
cral Of the United States TO institute
and prosecute proceedings TO forfeit
and escbeat to the United States the
property of corporations obtained or
held in violation of the act of 1862
(Which act, it will he remembered,
made The holding in excess of $4,000
of real estate unlawfuD such property
so forfeited and escheated TO be dis
posed Of and the proceeds applied to
the use and for tho benefit of the com
mon schools in the Territory; it disap-
proved and annulled all laws of the
legislative assembly Of the State Of
Deseret. creating the % Perpetual Emil
grafton Fund company and prohibited
the legislative assembly Of the State Of
Utah from reviving such corporation,
or passing any law to accomplish the
bringing Of persons into the Territory