Litigation over President Young’s Estate
In June, 1879, a few of the heirs of President Brigham Young, in opposition to all the rest, entered suit against the executors of the estate, claiming property held in the name of the late president as trustee-in-trust for the Church, as his personal property. The sum in litigation amounted to nearly one million dollars. Application was made for an injunction restraining the executors from further performance of their duties, and enjoining President John Taylor from disposing of any property received by him as trustee-in-trust. Judge Emerson granted the injunction and appointed William S. McCornick and United States Marshal Shaughnessy, non-“Mormons,” to take charge of all the property. President Taylor asked that the injunction be dissolved, and the order appointing the receivers be revoked, on the ground that the claims against the estate were “a bona fide existing indebtedness,” so recognized by the late president, who authorized in his will the settling of such claims by his executors.
Imprisonment of the Executors
A warrant was issued by Judge Boreman, who was most bitter against the Church, for the arrest of President Taylor and the executors, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., and Albert Carrington. Showing that he had complied with the order of the court, President Taylor was discharged, but the executors were committed to the penitentiary, for refusing to furnish additional security, which was considered by them as nothing more or less than an attempt to levy blackmail. Their imprisonment extended from August 4 to 28, when they were released through the reversal of Judge Boreman’s decision by the supreme court of the territory— Judge Boreman dissenting.
Counter Suit and Settlement
A counter suit was brought against the heirs by the Church for the recovery of its property, The case came before Judge John A. Hunter, who had arrived in the territory the previous summer. The case was dismissed in October (1879), without coming to judgment, as the parties to the suit came to a mutual agreement. The litigant heirs, according to the agreement, were paid the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars and all charges were withdrawn. The receivers were dismissed. President Taylor presented the terms of the settlement before the general conference of the Church which convened two days after the decision was made, and it was endorsed by unanimous vote.
Secretary Evarts’ Circular Letter
William M. Evarts, secretary of state, in the cabinet of President Hayes, sent out a circular letter in October 1879, to the diplomatic officers of the United States in foreign countries, advising them that large numbers of persons from various lands were coming to the United States for the purpose of joining the “Mormons” in Utah; also that the marriage system of the “Mormons” was pronounced by the laws of the United States to be a crime against the statutes of the country. These immigrants, he said, came “to swell the numbers of the law-defying Mormons of Utah,” who were endeavoring to bring persons to the United States with the intent of violating laws punishable by fine and penitentiary imprisonment. The representatives of the government abroad were instructed to “check the organization of these criminal enterprises,” by calling the attention of the several governments to the situation. This was to be in the interest “not merely of a faithful execution of the laws of the United States, but of the peace, good order and morality which are cultivated and sought to be promoted by all civilized countries.”
Condemnation of Evarts’ Course
It was a time when condemnation of the “Mormons” was a popular amusement in the world, but this letter of Secretary Evarts brought down on his head a storm of ridicule, even from those unfriendly to the Latter-day Saints, in this country and also in foreign lands. The London Times was very caustic in its treatment of the letter, and the New York Sun stated: “Now let Mr. Evarts instruct his diplomatic agents abroad to ask the foreign powers—as a favor and a friendly act towards the United States— to hang any of their subjects who may become murderers after their arrival in this country. The foreign powers are said to have been astonished by Mr. Evarts’ circular. They had reason to be amazed.”