On the statement of William A. Hickman, a self-confessed murderer, who had been excommunicated from the Church for his crimes, charges were made against Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells and others, as accessories to Hickman’s crimes. President Young knew that he would also face this charge when he returned to Salt Lake City. Nevertheless he returned, and on the 2nd day of January, appeared in court to the astonishment of his enemies and asked to be admitted to bail. District Attorney Bates was willing that bail should be given if it should be fixed at the unreasonable sum of five hundred thousand dollars, but Judge McKean refused on any terms to release the defendant. However, out of consideration for the condition of his health he permitted him to be a prisoner in his own house guarded by deputy marshals. Daniel H. Wells, who was mayor of Salt Lake City, had previously been admitted to bail in the sum of fifty thousand dollars. This was looked upon as an act of Providence —almost a miracle. A quarrel arising between the judge and the district attorney, both went to Washington and the trial of the accused brethren was postponed.
The Englebrecht Decision
The case never came to trial, for from the supreme court of the United States there came a decision which overturned the rulings of the tyrannical judges. It was the decision in the Englebrecht liquor case. The dispatch announcing it, which came over the wire April 15, 1872, was as follows: “Jury unlawfully drawn: summons invalid; proceedings ordered dismissed. Decision unanimous. All indictments quashed.” This decision put an end to these petty persecutions for the time, and about one hundred and twenty individuals, many of whom had been imprisoned many months, were released.
The Poland Law
In 1874, Congress passed a measure repealing certain Utah statutes relating to the territorial marshal and attorney general, and vesting their duties in the federal officers. The probate courts were also limited in their jurisdiction to matters of estates, guardianship and divorce. This, in part, is what the anti-“Mormon” element had been contending for in Utah. While this legislation was much less radical than that previously proposed, yet it curtailed the civil and political rights of the people, which had guaranteed their protection against tyranny in the past.
The Case of Ann Eliza Webb Young
In July, 1873, a divorce suit was filed before Judge McKean, by Ann Eliza Webb Young, against President Brigham Young. This woman, a plural wife, besides asking for a decree of separation also sued for alimony pending the litigation, and for permanent support for herself and two children by a former marriage. The case dragged along until February, 1875, when Judge McKean ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff three thousand dollars attorney’s fees and five hundred dollars a month for her support and the education of her children. President Young was given ten days in which to pay the fees, and twenty days to pay the alimony, which amounted for the nineteen months to nine thousand five hundred dollars.
An appeal was taken to the supreme court of the territory, but before a decision could be reached the time limit had expired, and the defendant was again dragged before the remarkable tribunal of Judge McKean to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt of court. He denied that he had any intention of showing contempt and was merely seeking the benefit of an appeal. Judge McKean held that he was guilty of contempt and sentenced him to twenty-four hours’ imprisonment in the penitentiary. He was accompanied to prison by a number of friends and spent the night in comparative comfort in a room adjoining the warden’s quarters.
Removal of Judge McKean
The news of this strange trial and the actions of Judge McKean spread throughout the country. There was a great deal of unfavorable comment. The San Francisco Bulletin said: “When Judge McKean assumes that this woman is the wife of Young, makes an interlocutory degree granting her three thousand dollars to maintain a suit for divorce, when there never was a legal marriage, and commits Young for contempt because he hesitates long enough to raise the question of the legality of the order, he burns some strange fire on the altar of justice.” A Chicago paper stated: “This summary method of dealing with the Prophet looks very much like persecution, and will awaken sympathy for him instead of aiding the cause of justice.” Even the President of the United States, who had stood by Judge McKean through all his dealings, when others protested and favored his removal, was forced to take some action. Five days after he sent President Young to prison, Judge McKean was removed from office for “several acts,” which the dispatch stated, were deemed “ill advised and tyrannical, and in excess of his powers as a judge.”