The Mormon Prophet and His Harem / Or, An Authentic History of Brigham Young, His Numerous Wives and Children

by C. V. Waite

Steptoe was greatly alarmed, and, as a compromise, offered to recommend Brigham for the appointment which had just been tendered to himself. With ill-concealed satisfaction on the part of Brigham and his friends, the proposition was accepted, and "the matter arranged."

Soon after, a petition was sent to the President, dated December 30, 1854, and asking for the reappointment of Young as Governor. This was signed by Col. Steptoe and most of his officers, and by all the federal officers then in Utah.

This array of gentile names was not to be disregarded, and Brigham Young was reappointed Governor of Utah.

In 1854 John F. Kinney was appointed, by Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice of Utah, and came to the valley with his family and a large stock of goods the same year. He was known in Iowa as a "Jack Mormon," and subsequent events have proven that he was such. He sold goods and kept a boarding-house; and at once entered into favor with the Mormon administration. He was pecuniarily interested in keeping the good-will of his trading customers; and this fact, together with his undoubted sympathy with the church, will satisfactorily account for the course pursued by him in the complicated condition of the Territory.

It is not our purpose to detract from the merits of any one. We desire to do justice to all. But the impartial truth of history requires us to say that the uniform course of Judge Kinney has been to aid and abet Brigham Young in his ambitious schemes, with but little regard to the advancement of the interests of the whole country, or the requirements of indiscriminate justice.

As to his merits as a jurist, the writer of these pages cannot undertake to decide. But it would seem, to one uninitiated, that a Judge cannot be very profound who will try, convict, and sentence men not within the jurisdiction of his court, and even men not in the land of the living. This was done by Judge Kinney, in the case of the Morrisites,—dissenters or apostates from the Mormon Church.

In the spring of 1863 a large number of these men were tried, convicted, and fined $100 each. Many of them were out of the Territory at the time, and one was dead. This statement is fully substantiated by affidavits which were taken at the time. Over ninety were tried and convicted, about twenty of whom were out of the Territory, and one had died before the trial commenced.

When the cases were called on for trial, it was stated that some of the accused were absent. The Judge remarked, it made no difference; he was gratified that so many had made their appearance, and directed the trial to proceed. All were found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 each, except a few of the leaders, who were sentenced to the penitentiary,—one of them for fifteen years.

These men were accused of resisting the Mormon officers who came to arrest them. Robert T. Burton, the sheriff of Salt Lake County, who was the principal one thus "resisted," had shot Morris, their Prophet, in cold blood, after he and his party had surrendered; and yet, while the Morrisites were so severely punished, Burton went scot free. The grand jury of Salt Lake County would not even find a bill of indictment against him. Burton stands high in the community, and was afterwards appointed Collector of Internal Revenue.

But this is not all. Not only were all of the accused tried and convicted, but the bonds of those absent were declared by the clerk to be forfeited, and execution was issued against those resident in Utah, to collect the penalty of the bonds. At the same time, the records showed no judgments against the delinquents. One of these Morrisites, named Abraham Taylor, found his property, worth $2500, suddenly levied upon, under one of these executions. There being no gentile lawyer at Salt Lake, he applied to Judge Waite, who investigated the matter, and found there was no judgment of record. He then advised Mr. Taylor to apply to Judge Kinney for an injunction against the officer. This was done; but the application was refused by Judge K. on the ground that if there was no judgment he could render one, as the court had not permanently adjourned, but only to meet on his own motion. This response to the application of a suitor is a sufficient indication of the ability of Judge Kinney, and of his desire to administer impartial justice.