History of Salt Lake City, Part 13

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > History of Salt Lake City > Part 13

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" Your motive, action, or design, you wholly concealed, or you could never have gained a hearing on such an occasion.

"As presiding officer in said Conference, did I permit any man to accept your challenge? No, sir, you know I did not ; and could you, as a gentleman, ask the privilege to defend your challenge before it was accepted? Don Quixote should not be named in such a farce. No, sir, out of mercy to you I prohibited any man from accepting your challenge. And until the challenge was accepted you had nothing to reply to. When, then, was the proper time you refer to, when you would have replied, and the privilege was denied you? No such time as you sup- posed, existed.

" And now, sir, as it appears from the whole face of the subject, that to- morrow might have been the first ‹proper time' that might have given you the ' privilege of explaining,' and as this courtesy you have utterly refused, and thereby manifest a choice to leave an incensed public incensed still, against your (as they now view it) dishonorable course, I shall take the liberty of doing my duty, by adverting still further to your reply of yesterday. Charity would have induced me hope, at least, that your speech, in part, was prompted by the impulse of the moment ; but I am forbid this pleasing reflection by your note, wherein you state that 'my speech, in all its parts, was the result of deliberation and care, proceeding from a heated imagination or a maddened impulse.' ' I intended to say what I did say.' Now, if you did actually ' intend to say what you did say,' it is pretty strong presumptive testimony that you were not ignorant, for if you had been ignorant, from whence arose your intentions ? And if you were not ignorant you must have been willfully wicked; and I cannot conceive of a more charitable construction to put upon your conduct on that occasion than to believe you designedly and deliberately planned a speech to excite the indignation of your hearers to an extent that would cause them to break the bonds of propriety by pulling your hair or cutting your throat, willing, no doubt, in the utmost of your benevolence to die a martyr's death, if you could only get occasion to raise the hue and cry, and re-murder a virtuous people, as Missouri and Illinois have so often done before you. Glorious philanthropy this; and corresponds most

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

fully with the declaration which, it is reported, on pretty good authority, that Judge Brocchus made while on his journey to the valley, substantially as follows : " If the citizens of Utah do not send me as their delegate to Washington, by God, I'll use all my influence against them, and will crush them. I have the influence and the power to do it, and I will accomplish it if they do not make me their delegate.'

" Now, sir, I will not stop to argue the point whether your honor made those observations that rumor says you did ; but I will leave it to an intelligent world, or so much of that world as are acquainted with the facts in the case, to decide whether your conduct has not fully proved that you harbored these ma- licious feelings in your heart, when you deliberately planned a speech calculated in its nature to rouse this community to violence, and that, too, on a day conse- crated to religious duties, your declaration to the contrary notwithstanding, that you 'did not design to offer indignity or insult.' When a man's words are set in direct opposition to his acts, which will men believe? His acts all the time. Where, then, is the force of your denial ?

" One item more from your note reads thus : ' My sole design in the branch of my remarks which seems to be the source of offence, was to vindicate the government of the United States from those feelings of prejudice, and that spirit of defection which seemed to pervade the public sentiment, &c." Let me inquire what 'public sentiment' you referred to? Was it the sentiments of the States at large? If so, your honor missed his aim, most widely, when he left the city of Washington to become the author of such remarks. You left home when you left Washington. If such 'prejudice and defection' as you represent, there existed, there you should have thundered your anathemas, and made the people feel your 'patriotic allegiance ;' but, if ever you believed for a moment-if ever an idea entered your soul that the citizens of Utah, the people generally whom you addressed on the 8th, were possessed of a spirit of defection towards the gen- eral government, or that they harboured prejudices against it unjustly, so far you proved yourself ' profoundly ignorant' of the subject in which you were engaged, and of the views and feelings of the people whom you addressed ; and this ignor- ance alone might have been sufficient to lead you into all the errors and fooleries you were guilty of on that occasion. But had you known your hearers, you would have known, and understood, and felt that you were addressing the most enlight- ened and patriotic assembly, and the one furthest removed from 'prejudice and defection " to the general government that you had ever seen, that you had ever addressed, or that would be possible for you or any other being to find on the face of the whole earth. Then, sir, how would it have been possible for you to have offered your hearers on that occasion a greater insult than you did? The most re- fined and delicate ladies were justly incensed to wrath against you for intimating that their husbands were ever capable of being guilty of such baseness as you rep- resented, "prejudice and defection" towards a constitution which they firmly believe emanated from the heavens, and was given by a revelation, to lay the foundation of religious and political freedom in this age-a constitution and union which this people love as they do the gospel of salvation. And when you, sir, shall attempt to fasten the false and odious appellation of treason to this commu-

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

nity, even ignorantly, as we had supposed you did it, you will find plenty, even among the ladies, to hurl the falsehood back to its dark origin, in tones of thunder; but if, as you say, you know, (or else how could the whole have been 'the result of deliberation and care,') the plea of ignorance ceases again to shield you, and you stand before the people in all the naked deformity of ' wilful wickedness,' who can plead your excuse? Who, under such circumstances, can make an apol- ogy? I wonder not that you should excuse yourself from the attempt, 'or de- cline appearing again in public on the subject.'

" Permit me sir, to subscribe myself, as ever,

Most respectfully, your servant,

BRIGHAM YOUNG. " Hon. P. E. Brocchus, Asste. Justice."

The speech of Judge Brocchus is not extant, nor is there to be found any report of that exciting conference, for it was before the existence of the Deseret News ; but the subject and offence appear well defined in the correspondence itself, which is strikingly illustrated in the following paragraph from Governor Young's third letter :

" Another important item in the course of your remarks, on the 8th instant, in connection with the expose of your own exalted virtue-you expressed a hope that the ladies you were addressing would 'become virtuous.' Let me ask you, most seriously, my dear sir, how could you hope thus? How could you hope that those dear creatures, some of whose acts of benevolence to the stranger drew tears from your eyes while you were yet speaking-how could you hope-what possible chance was there for you to hope-they would become virtuous? Had you ever proved them unvirtuous ? If so, you could have but a faint hope of their reform- ation. But, if you had not proved them unvirtuous, what testimony had you of their lack of virtue? And if they were unvirtuous, how could they ' become virtu- ous'? Sir, your hope was of the most damning dye, and your very expression tended to convey the assertion tha those ladies you then and there ad- dressed were prostitutes-unvirtuous-to that extent you could only hope, but the probabilty was they were so far gone in wickedness you dare not believe they ever could become virtuous. And now, sir, let your own good sense, if you have a spark left, answer-could you, had you mustered all the force that hell could lend you-could you have committed a greater indignity and outrage on the feel- ings of the most virtuous and sensible assemblage of ladies that your eyes ever beheld? If you could, tell me how. If you could not, you are at liberty to re- main silent. Shall such insults remain unrequited, unatoned for ?"

Judge Brocchus made no written reply to the review of his conduct, but in person acknowledged that it was unanswerable, and authorized the Governor to apologise for him to the community.

This very singular and suggestive correspondence, which itself is quite a chapter of the history of Great Salt Lake City, was published in the New York Herald, and was the commencement of a great sensation over Utah affairs.

Having rendered themselves unpopular, and being neither able to arraign a

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

whole community for their religious institutions, nor strong enough to set aside Governor Young and his three Federal colleagues, who stood with the people, Chief Justice Brandebury, Associate Justice Brocchus, and Secretary Harris re- solved to leave the Territory. But previous to their leaving, they called a Supreme Court, which was held in Great Salt Lake City, though no law had been passed fixing the time and place for holding it. At this court, as an original suit, an injunction was granted. Associate Justice Snow dissented. He said, the bill, he thought, was a good case for the injunction, yet he opposed it on two grounds :

" Ist .- There was not any law fixing the time and place of holding the Supreme Court.

" 2d .- The Supreme Court had not original jurisdiction, and the District Court had, which was provided for in the Governor's proclamation."

Chief Justice Brandebury and Associate Justice Brocchus left Great Salt Lake City together. Soon afterwards Secretary Harris followed their example, carry- ing away with him the $24,000 which had been appropriated by Congress for the per diem and mileage of the Legislature.

It would seem that these three Federal officers expected to be applauded by the public, and sustained by the Government, their assault being against polyg- amy, but they indiscreetly stated, in their communication to the Government, that " polygamy monopolized all the women, which made it very inconvenient for the Federal officers to reside there."

" Loose as people might suppose frontier life to be," observes Mr. Stenhouse in his Rocky Mountain Saints, "no one anticipated that representatives of the Federal Government would thus express themselves. That one sentence annihil- ated them. Over the signature of Jedediah M. Grant [the Mayor of Great Salt . Lake City] a series of letters was addressed to the New York Herald, under the title, 'Truth for the Mormons,' in which the Federal officers were turned into redicule and fiercely handled. The Herald gave the public only one letter ; but Grant, nothing daunted, published the whole series in pamphlet form, and scat- tered them broadcast. The Grant letters, from their forcible and pungent style, attracted the attention of literary men as gems of wit and vigorous English.

* In his moments of calm reflection, Judge Brocchus may have concluded that his zeal against polygamy had outstripped his prudence. The Government took that view of it, and quietly dropped the 'runaway judges and secretary.' "'

This view presented in the felicious vein of the New York Herald's special corespondent on Utah affairs, well describes the scandalized sense of the Ameri- can public over the conduct of the " runaway judges and secretary ; " but it does not sufficiently express the offended judgment of the United States Government over their conduct. Congress had only just created the new Territory. In do- ing this both the legislative and executive departments had a very clear pre- knowledge that the United States was extending its rule over a religious com- munity, whose institutions, though peculiar, were founded on the strict examples of the Bible. The President and his advisers, among whom was that gigantic

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

statesman, Daniel Webster, had with an intelligent intent appointed Brigham Young Governor, with three other of his co-religionists, to represent the Federal authority to their people ; while to the minority of the Federal officers was given the controling power of the judiciary, and the secretaryship, with the custody of the appropriations ; all of this had been done to bring the Mormon colony har- moniously into the Union under its supremacy ; yet ere they had held a single United States District Court in the new Territory, or its Legislature had assem- bled, or the Territorial government itself was fully set up, the Chief Justice, his Associate, and the Secretary deserted their posts. The General Government was reasonably incensed over such a case ; Congress was scarcely less offended ; and Daniel Webster, who was Secretary of State, peremptorily ordered the judges and secretary back to their deserted positions or to resign.

After the departure of these Federal officers from Great Salt Lake City, Governor Young appointed Willard Richards Secretary of the Territory pro tem. This appointment, and several other informal acts, which had become necessary in the absence of the regular officials in a newly organized Territory, was duly reported to the Department of State. Daniel Webster sustained them, and the bills of Willard Richards, which were signed "Secretary pro tem, appointed by the Governor," were allowed by the Department, and paid.

The Utah Legislature also, finding the United States Judiciary in the Terri- tory inoperative, passed the following act authorizing Associate Justice Zerub- babel Snow to hold the Courts in all the districts :

"AN ACT CONCERNING THE JUDICIARY, AND FOR JUDICIAL PURPOSES.

SEC. I. "Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Ter- ritory of Utah, That the first Judicial District for said Territory, shall consist of, and embrace the following counties and districts of country, to wit :- Great Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele, and Utah Counties, and all districts of country lying east, north, and west of said counties in said Territory. The Second Judicial District shall consist of Millard and San Pete Counties, and all districts of country lying south of the south line of latitude of Utah County, and north of the south line of latitude of Millard County, within said Territory. And the Third Judicial District shall consist of Iron County, and all districts of country lying south of the south line of latitude of Millard County, in said Territory.

"SEC. 2. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall reside within the First Judicial District, and hold Courts in the following order, viz : on the first Monday in January and July at Great Salt Lake City; on the first Monday of April at Ogden City, in Weber County ; and on the first Monday of October at Provo City, in Utah County, in each year : Provided, the said Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justice, shall hold his first Court on the first Monday of October in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, at Great Salt Lake City, and omit said Court during said year at Provo, in Utah County.

"SEC. 3. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow is hereby authorized and re- quired to hold two Courts in the Second Judicial District in each year, to-wit :

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

on the first Monday of November at Manti, in San Pete County ; and on the first Monday in May at Fillmore, in Millard County.

" SEC. 4. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow is further authorized and re- quired to hold one Court for the Third Judicial District, viz: on the first Mon- day in June of each year, at Parowan City, in Iron County ; and each session of said Court in its several districts shall be kept open at least one week, and may adjourn to any other place in each of said districts respectively : Provided, the business of said Court shall so require.

"SEC. 5. The foregoing acts are, and shall be in force until a full Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall be sup- plied by the President and Senate of the United States, after which the said Zerubbabel Snow shall serve only in the First Judicial District.

"Approved October 4, 1851."

This officer afterwards, in a letter upon the first United States Courts held in Utah, thus states :

" The Legislative Assembly met and, as the other Judges had returned to the States, a law was passed authorizing me to hold the courts in all the districts. At my first court I examined the proceedings of the Governor in calling the Legislative Assembly, and held them legal, though somewhat informal. This was reported to the Department of State, the Honorable Daniel Webster being Secretary, who sustained Governor Young and myself. This was the commence- ment of my judicial services."

That first United States District Court was held in Great Salt Lake City.

At the first term Judge Snow made use of the United States Attorney and the United States Marshal, for Territorial business, there having been at that time no Territorial fee bill passed, which led to a correspondence between the Judge and the Honorable Elisha Whittlesey, Comptroller of the Treasury, the former asking a number of questions relative to the practice of the United States in defraying the expenses of the Territorial courts, which was answered by the latter that the United States simply defrayed the expenses of its own business in the courts. The answers closed thus :

" Lastly, I will observe that if the clerk, marshal, or attorney render any. service in suits to which the Territory is a party the officer must obtain his pay from the Territory or from the county in which such suit may be prosecuted. It should appear affirmatively on the face of every account that every item of it is a legal and just claim against the United States; and the details and dates should be stated, as required by my circular of December 5th, otherwise the marshal should not pay it."

This led to the passage of a Territorial fee bill.

In 1852 the law was passed giving jurisdiction to the Probate courts in civil and criminal cases, and creating the offices of Attorney-General and Marshal for the Territory.

An historical note may here be made that the proceedings of the first United States District Court, held in Great Salt Lake City, were published in the Deseret

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

News, No. 1, Vol. I, November 15th, 1851, Willard Richards, editor and pro- prietor.

Under the censure of the great statesman, Daniel Webster, and with ex- Vice-President Dallis and Colonel Kane using their potent influence against them, and also Stephen A Douglass, (to whom Kane in his letter to Fillmore per- sonally refers as surety for Governor Young), Brandebury, Brocchus and Harris were forced to retire. They were succeeded by Chief Justice Reed, Associate Justice Shaver, and Secretary Ferris on August 31st, 1852.

On their arrival in Great Salt Lake City the new appointees received a cor- dial welcome from the Governor and citizens, which was reciprocated by the Chief Justice and his Associate, but Secretary Ferris approved the course of his predecessor and condemned the Mormons and their institutions. The new judges, however, turned the tide of public feeling for awhile in favor of this community, by the speeches which they delivered, and the very friendly letters which they wrote on Utah affairs. Shortly after his arrival in Great Salt Lake City, Chief Justice Reed wrote as follows :

" I waited on his Excellency, Governor Young, exhibited to him my com- mission, and by him was duly sworn and installed as Chief Justice of Utah. I was received by Governor Young with marked courtesy and respect. He has taken pains to make my residence here agreeable. The Governor, in manners and conversation, is a polished gentleman, very neat and tasty in dress, easy and pleasant in conversation, and I think, a man of decided talent and strong intel- lectual qualities. * *

I have heard him address the people once on the subject of man's free agency. He is a very excellent speaker. His ges- ture uncommonly graceful, articulation distinct, and speech pleasant. *

* The Governor is a first rate business man. As civil Governor of the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, we would naturally suppose he had as much to do as one man could well attend to; but in addition to those employments, he is also President of the Church-a station which is no sinecure by any means. His private business is extensive; he owns several grist and saw mills, is extensively engaged in farming operations, all of which he superintends personally. I have made up my mind that no man has been more grossly mis- represented than Governor Young, and that he is a man who will reciprocate kindness and good intentions as heartily and as freely as any one, but if abused, or crowded hard, I think he may be found exceedingly hard to handle."

But Secretary Ferris soon after published a book expressing sentiments and views, concerning Brigham Young and the Mormon community, the very an- tipodes of those uttered by his Federal associates. After a short residence in Great Salt Lake City Secretary Ferris retired and went to California ; Chief Jus- tice Reed returned to New York and died ; he was succeeded by Chief Justice John F. Kinney, August 24th, 1853. Associate Justice Zerubbabel Snow occupied his full term and was succeeded by Associate Justice George P. Stiles, August Ist, 1854. Almon W. Babbitt succeeded Ferris as Secretary, and District Attorney Hollman succeeded Seth M. Blair. John M. Bernhisel was Delegate to Congress. In 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Steptoe, with his command, arrived in

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

Great Salt Lake City, and the term of Governor Young's appointment expiring about this time, President Pierce tendered the office to Colonel Steptoe; but he was a gentleman, and a true republican, and he had too much wisdom withal to accept the honor, for he knew that Brigham was the choice of the people. The following document, expressive of the movement which he inspired, will be of interest at this point :

"To His Excellency, Franklin Pierce, President of the United States:

" Your petitioners would respectfully represent that, whereas Governor Brigham Young possesses the entire confidence of the people of this Territory, without distinction of party or sect ; and from personal acquaintance and social intercourse we find him to be a firm supporter of the constitution and laws of the United States, and a tried pillar of Republican institutions ; and having repeat- edly listened to his remarks, in private as well as in public assemblies, do know he is the warm friend and able supporter of constitutional liberty, the rumors published in the States notwithstanding ; and having canvassed to our satisfaction his doings ås Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs, and also the dispo- sition of the appropriation for public buildings for the Territory ; we do most cordially and cheerfully represent that the same has been expended to the best interest of the nation ; and whereas his re-appointment would subserve the Terri- torial interest better than the appointment of any other man, and would meet with the gratitude of the entire inhabitants of the Territory, and his removal would cause the deepest feeling of sorrow and regret ; and it being our unquali- fied opinion, based upon the personal acquaintance which we have formed with Governor Young, and from our observation of the results of his influence and administration in this Territory, that he possesses in an eminent degree every qualification necessary for the discharge of his official duties, and unquestioned integrity and ability, and he is decidedly the most suitable person that can be selected for that office.

"We therefore take pleasure in recommending him to your favorable consider- ation, and do earnestly request his re-appointment as Governor, and Superinten- dent of Indian affairs. for this Territory."

This document was signed by Colonel Steptoe and every other United States Army officer in the Territory, as well as by all of the Federal civil officials, and by every merchant and prominent citizen of Great Salt Lake City on the Gen- tile side. The petition was headed by Chief Justice Kinney, followed by Colonel Steptoe. Associate Justice Shaver's name was also to the document.

Not long after the signing of this document, which obtained from President Pierce the re-appointment of Governor Young, Judge Shaver, on the morning of the 29th of June, 1855, was found dead in his bed, in Great Salt Lake City. The judge the previous night was apparently in good health, but he had long suffered terribly from a wound, the pain of which he relieved by the constant ad- ministration of opiates, and occasionally by stimulants ; so that, though unexpected, the cause of his death required but little explanation. The citizens sincerely mourned the loss of Judge Shaver. He was buried by them with professional honors;

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Salt Lake City, Part 13

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194