"And there, in this ignominious position, he stands with every person who might possibly be his friend, excluded from the jury, without the possibility of a fair trial by his peers, not one of the panel being in the least sympathy with himself; by such people this unfortunate young gentleman has to be tried, judged, prosecuted, proscribed and condemned because of his firm and unswerving faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; of David, Solomon, and numerous other God-fearing and honorable men, who, like him, have despised the cant and hypocrisy of an ungodly world, and dared to obey the behests of Jehovah.
"Of these things he had learned from the Bible, in the Sunday School; no wonder then that our would-be reformers are so anxious to exclude the Bible from our district schools, as its teachings and examples so emphatically condemn the theories on which the acts and legislation of Congress are based, as well as the course pursued by those who seek to aid in the regeneration of Utah, by adding to or taking from the law as is best suited to shield their own corrupt practices; or, on the other hand, by extra judicial proceedings, under cover of law, they pervert, to prosecute and persecute the Mormons.
"Where was this scene enacted? In the gorgeous palaces of Belshazzar, surrounded by his wives, concubines, and nobles, and where was seen written on the walls 'Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin?' No. Was it at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, when ten righteous persons could not be found to avert the wrath of an offended God, or in Pompeii or Herculaneum, which, in their turn, for their libidinous and unrighteous practices, as Sodom and Gomorrah, suffered the vengeance of eternal fire? No. Was it at the Saturnalia of the Bacchanals of ancient Greece and Rome? No. Those nations have long been overthrown and are now only known to a few readers of ancient history. Was it during the reign of the first French Republic, when they elevated a prostitute as the goddess of reason? No. Was it in the days of the inquisition, when the rack, the gibbet, the faggot and the flames were brought into requisition to force unwilling victims to testify of things which their conscience forbade, and who perished by thousands for daring to think, and act, and believe in and worship God according to their own consciences? No. Was it under the influence of Bacchus, or in the midnight revelings as exhibited in Rome under Nero? No; this scene was enacted in mid-day, in the nineteenth century, in the year of our Lord, 1884, in the Federal court house, in Salt Lake City, at a court presided over by Judge Charles S. Zane, Chief Justice for the United States in the Territory of Utah, assisted by Prosecuting Attorney William H. Dickson, and the other adjuncts of the law, and in the presence of several hundred American citizens!"
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE STORM BURSTS UPON THE PEOPLE—THE MORALITY PLEA—WHO THE CRIMINALS ARE—TESTIMONY OF STATISTICS—A VISIT TO ARIZONA AND MEXICO—ASSAULT UPON THE PEOPLE IN ARIZONA—AN AMERICAN SIBERIA—SEEKING A PLACE OF REFUGE—IN SAN FRANCISCO—THREATENED WITH ARREST—RETURN TO UTAH—LAST SERMON—WARNING AND PROPHECY.
The "storm" increased in violence. Special appropriations were made in Washington to aid in the enforcement of the infamous Edmunds law. With those funds deputy marshals were multiplied, some of them being men of notoriously immoral lives. They usually went in squads, pouncing first upon one village and then another, raiding the homes of the most respected and honorable men in the community, who were suspected of living with their plural wives—with women they had honored with the name of wife in some instances for more than a quarter of a century, by whom they had reared large and respectable families: and because they would not abandon them—thrust them away like unclean, nameless things—this pack of human hounds were turned loose upon them, to dog their footsteps, to invade their homes and insult their families.
Spotters and spies were employed to betray their neighbors; children were hailed upon the streets and questioned about the affairs of their parents; wives—lawful wives—were dragged into the courts and compelled to testify against their husbands; shamefully indecent questions were put to modest maidens in jury rooms and in open court; juries were packed to convict; a Mormon accused of violation of the anti-polygamy laws stood before a jury of his avowed political and religious enemies; suspicion was equivalent to accusation; accusation to indictment; indictment to conviction; and conviction met almost invariably with the full penalty of the law, unless the victim was so recreant to every sense of honor as to push from him the women he had taken as wives for time and all eternity!
In the midst of this judicial "storm" which broke upon the Church in Utah and the surrounding territories, President Taylor moved calmly on, discharging his duties, counseling, encouraging and strengthening the people. At the same time he did not fail to rebuke and proclaim the hypocrisy of the men who were the prime movers in this unholy crusade, carried on, professedly, in the interests of morality. For this purpose he published the criminal statistics of Utah for the year 1883, by which he demonstrated that while the Gentile population was greatly in the minority, they furnished the overwhelming majority of criminals. Following are his statements:
"The population of Utah may be estimated at one hundred and sixty thousand in 1883.