The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-06-12

| uerstanding In regard 10 that. But do know
| do not want TO stir up this thing and sct
~ TO smelling any moro, II has not good
| And there is another thing that they have
ThSen Ken INTO account In the neighborhood where
| this man who Is living In polygomy, put him
| IN IN prison, they take Into account somewhat
| lly. Now, the women who went into roIyo
| smy In Utah went into IL because although I
| religious duty. and they are bound by tho
obligation. They feel that why.
] on his further examination on this sub
/ Ject, tho following occurred;
The Chairman. What In tho sentiment in
| regard TO those who contracted plural mar
riaGeo before 1890 md arc now living with
,nei. wives and having new children by them
Mr Whltecotton. Tho sentiment ia that 1t
! is an awful condition.
| The Chairman That ls a lawful condition.
Mr.. Whitecotton. That is On awful con-
The Chairman Oh.
Mr.: Whitecotton. Leave off the Il" And
we wish wo werc out OF II. We do not know
Tho Chairman What ia the sentiment with
respect TO that class Of pcople-approval or
Mr.. Whltecotton. They have the dsap-
pTSNai pr, IL OF The people generally but that does
shoulder the responsibility OF setting the law
IN motion against that man.
The Chairman. SO that that class OF men
arc lct without Interference
Mr. Whltccotton. They are left practically
| without interference They have regrets,
put We do not know how get at them.
Senator Fornker. You have said that that ia
,arsey because of the regard tho people have
| Tor the condition In which the plural wives
and children would bn LEFT in case OF success
| ful prosecution.
Nr. Whitecotton. Yes sir think tha,
| otegard for plural wives ond chIldrcn) la tho
| chiei cause OF Withholding the hand OF prose-
tSsioh' ,SeI1 Those women are human and 30 arc
Siame' either. especially tho children q: e7s-
Hiram f. Booth, a practlcing lawyer OF
Salt Lake City and one OF the leading
| managers In the State OF the Republican
| party, upon being asked to explain why II
is tnat. N the people of Utah, including
large part OF the Mormon people. are so
| opposed TO polyeamys those who are liv-
| ing In polygamous relations are not inter-
| Tered with. snld,
| Well my explanation OF that lie that tho
principal hght OF the Gentiles haS been to
| do away with polyGnmous marriages. While
eutlons for unlawful cohabitatIon. IL wns not
| Tor the purpose OF punishment so much those
| people who lived in unlawful oohnbitetion, as
| IL was TO bring about ceRsatlon of poIygamous
| marriages Tint was the principle for which
| we etroye. 70 stop people from marrying In
| 1880 by the manifesto OF the president of the
church which was affirmed. or sustained.
1880, and again in 1891. We did not accept
that In good faith at that time.
| That is, We were somewhat skcptical about
It, but later we did; Now. there has been
since that time a dislneIinatIon TO prosecute
men and women who live in unlawful
hooitation. One OF my own reasons-the way
| look at twas this: My sympathy was with
the plural wife and her children. BY these
prosecutions she suffered moro really than
the husband did In nearly all OF the cases
may cay the plural wife is pure-mnded
woman woman who believed that It was
| right according TO the law Of God for her 10
accept that relation. and that she be
released from her obligations when they
Mr. Booth. should cav with Judge Pow
ers and Mr. Critchlow, that the general senti-
| he nz In tah IL
dis1nclnation 10 prosecute those cases.
Mr Worthngton. If understand you.
when Senator Smoot a candidate for SEN
etor. and when he became apostle which
was In April. 1900. things had settled down in
| Utah ythe general acquIscence OF the peo-
pie thot II thors would be no new poylgamous
marriages the people who hod entered into
DO dlsturbsd7
Mt Booth Should not b. disturbed: no. sir.
Mr. Worthington, And that was the stoto
Mr.. Booth. Tint tho state OF opinion
when he became an apostle.
Mr Worthlngton. And IL ne hnd gone
against that state OF opinion he would have
been going ngainst the public sentiment OF
the State, would he not7
Mr.. worthington. Gcntlies and Mormons7
Mr. Booth Gcntiles and Mormons / would
cay In that respect that where polygamous
relations were carried in such q way as
70 outrage public sentiment. In those cases
demanded e. IN. 7l5. 7ZD.
Arthur Pratt, who was deputy United
States Marshal In Utah from 1874 until
1852 and again from 1856 TO 1890 and who
probably arrested more Mormons charged
with polygamy or polyEamous cohablta-
ton than any other man, said that he had
heard Mr.. Whitecotton and Mr.. Booth
testify on this subject. and that he agreed
with them, for the reasons stated by
them-not out OF any pity or sympathy
for the men. but out of sympathy and out
OF the suffering that would be entalled on
the women and the children O. 74D.
p. d. r. Thompson. non-Mormon,
who has lived in Salt Lake City since 1889
never been q Mormon, and who has taken
a leading part in Republican politics In
that State. testified
Well, the general idea has been that this
condition OF things would gradually die away
by the lapse OF time. II has been generally
ropugnant TO moot people who take any posi-
which would imply either prosecution per
secution. In other words. they did not care
10 DO informors e. S9D,
Charles De Noisy IA non -Mormon). who
Is a commissioner of the State bureau OF
statistics OF Utah and has never been a
Mormon, says In regard TO tho sentiment
among Gentiles in Utah as TO the pun
ishment Of those who live in polygamous
cohabitation where the marriages were
celebrated before the manifesto, Il think
there Is a matter OF Indifference about IT.
that he himself thiaks-"the less said
about those things the better e.; 1893.
Glen Miller, non Mormon, who was
United States marshal In the Territory OF
Utah for four and a half years. and had
been n member OF the State senate for
two years after Jtnh had been admitted
into the Union. when asked what is the
sentiment Of Gentilcs in Utah in regard TO
prosecutions for polygamous cohabitation
between persons who were married before
the manifesto. answered:
Well. there has been sentiment nGnlnst
, that there has been against any inform
: ing against any OF the Infractions OF law
. | generally. They have felt that II only
|, a question OF time that tho practice would
die out through the death OF those who pruc-
i tocd IL and the removal OF that generation.
, | t3s 1907
( John W. Hughes. who mas never been n
Mormon. and ls the editor OF a weekly
paper In Salt Lake city. when asked the
l same question replied
Vol. the sentiment has been right along
: | that theae old fellows that In polygnmy
! . | to let them alone and they Will soon die
! out. Very OF them viii be left.
, | The grent point with the Gentiles ls that
! ! there will be new plural marriages %;
= l63).
Mrs. Mary c. Coulter a non Mormon
: whose husband ls a physician in Ogden
8 testified: