History of Salt Lake City, Part 138

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

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Mr. Musser .- "Your honor's explanations are certainly very lucid, very logical, and very conclu-

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sive. I have three wives, as I have admitted here in this communication. Now, am I at liberty to choose which one of the three I may continue to live with ?

" The Court .- You may live with either one, as you choose, provided you live with her as your wife. Unlawful cchabitation corsists in living with more than one woman as your wives. It would not be a violation of this law forbidding unlawful cchabitation if you were to live with one, and only one, even though she might not be your lawful wife.

" Mr. Musser .- May I ask the judge how intimate my relations may be with the other wives with whom I have made covenants the same-all of them alike, in fact. I mean outside of illicit rc - lations- what must be my conduct and deportment in relation to the other two ? I want to do what is right in regard to these matters ; for in view of the evidence that was presented here in my case I thought I had been living pretty circumspectly ; but it does seem, let the evidence be ever so frivol . ous and irrelevant, that a man is committed-indicted, in the first place, on a mere shadow-and convicted and punished when, to my mind, the evidence has been very insignificant, Now, I do not want to be entrapped again ; I desire to keep out of this trouble and difficulty ; and if the court will please define with a little more minuteness than it has done respecting my future course, habits, man- ners, customs and deportment, etc .. I will be exceedingly pleased and gratified. 1 mean no disre- spect whatever to the court in asking these questions.

" The Court .- I undertook to state the general course as to what conduct you may indulge in towards your wives. I stated that you might live with one of them as your wife ; and-

" Mr. Musser,-Pardon the interruption, judge. May I visit the others and be on familiar and fraternal terms with them ?

" The Court .- You may treat your other wives as your friends.

" Mr Musser .- Would you suggest that I should divorce them ?

" The Court .- You must divorce them so far as living with them is concerned.

" Mr. Musser .- No; I mean a legal divorce.

" The Court .- I do not understand that it is absolutely necessary-having married them long before this law came into effect-that you should obtain a divorce But in order to-

" Mr. Musser .- If you will excuse me just one moment. If the ladies to whom I am married -or rather sealed to me-they having made covenants with me and I with them-and these cove- nants, as I have stated in this communication. are of a very sacred character ; now, if I am not per- mitted to be a husband to them in everything that that implies, they, in turn, might proceed against me for a violation of contract, and claim that I was not performing my part of the obligation that I took when we were married.

" The Court .- Any covenant you may have made with your wives that was polygamous, or would require you to violate the law forbidding unlawful cohabitation, of course would be invalid, not binding ; and I will state to be a little more explicit that you cannot live in the same house with two or more of your wives and treat them apparently to the world as your wives-that is to say, it would be almost impossible. I presume, for you to live in the same house with them and occupy the middle room, with one wife on either side, and the door opening out of your room into their sleep- ing apartments-I think it would be impossible to live in that way. The only safe way to live is to let these other women live by thems lves, as all of us have to do, and if you have any means and wish to assist them, why, you can assist them ; but of course you cannot associate with them and live in the same house with them as your'wives. It would be impossible to lay down every act that you might do and that you might not do ; it would be impossible for the human mind to anticipate all these acts. I think it is not difficult to understand now what is required.

" Mr. Musser .- Well, I am a little woody in my understanding ; and I mean no disrespect in asking whether attending, taking these ladies to the theatre, or to the meetings, or to any public cele- bration or public exhibition-whether this would be construed as unlawful cohabitation under the law ?

"The Court. - Well, if you was living with them in the same house, the fact that you took them to the theatre without your wife, taking them around in public places would be strong circum- stantial evidence against you.

" Mr. Musser .- It is this circumstantial evidence that I want to avoid appearing against me hereafter, and it is for these reasons that I have respectfully submitted the questions, both verbally and in writing, which I have done. But I must admit that my obtuseness is still so great that I do not clearly and definitely understand my duties in regard to these ladies. Yet for fear I may be en- trapped, as I have already been, (and I expect to be fined and imprisoned for doing what I supposed

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was strictly right and proper, and honorable in relation to my wives and children) I ask these ques- tions.

" The Court .- There will be no danger of your being entrapped if you treat one of these women as your wife-and treat the others as though they were not your wives.

" Mr. Musser .- Well, you can see, Judge Zane, from my communication, that I could not make such concessions, I will not, in a defiant manner-I have not the spirit of defiance upon me-or in a threatening, ostentatious manner, say what I will do in regard to these matters. But my family is too dear to me to accept any terms of the character that your suggestions seem to impose. With all due respect to your honor and your honor's judgment and opinion, and the respect I have for the members of the court and bar, it would be impossible for me to comply with such, or to make such, concessions or demands. If a gentleman were to meet me in the street and were to ask me to make concessions of that character, I should tell him without hesitation it was a personal insult ; 1 should feel insulted, and I should tell him so. I do not mean any disrespect-pardon me for using the language. I mean no disrespect-I mean that if a gentleman on the street-I see Mr. Dickson nodding as well as taking snuff-if a gentleman was to meet me in the street and propose that I should abandon my wives-divorce them, either by implication or aet, legal or otherwise-I should tell him-I would feel as though it was a personal insult, and that he might as well ask me how much money I would take for my mother, or how much money I would take for one of my sons, or for one of my daughters, or for how much money I would sell one of my wives. I cannot consent to anything of the kind, and am willing to meet any consequences that the court feels in duty bound to impose.

"The Court .- Mr. Musser, as you cannot consent to obey and respect the laws of your country you must take the consequences of your disobedience.

" Mr. Musser,-I am willing to do so.

" The Court .- This punishment is not for the purpose of persecution, neither for punishment alone, but for the purpose of protecting society and against polgyamy and unlawful cohabitation, and-

" Mr. Musser .- I am aware of that.

" The Court .- And in imposing the punishment I impose it for that purpose ; not out of ill-will towards you or any other man, or any sect or creed, for you have just as good a right to your belic! as anybody ; but you have no right to adopt a practice contrary to the laws of your country. And I must say that, inasmuch as you do not propose to submit to the law in the future, you will prob- ably, when your term expires, if you live that long, be involved in trouble again.

" Mr. Musser .- I anticipate that, judge,

"The Court .- I think that it would be-according to my standpoint-better for you, and bet- ter for everybody else, if you would just stand up, as every good citizen would do, and say you will obey the laws of your country and place your influence on the side of your country ; and, further, it would be better if that venerable man at the head of your church would stand up and say he will support the laws of his country, and if he did so he never could get into the penitentiary, neither could you. You go there because you will not submit to the laws of your country, and it is not for persecution or anything of that kind. The sentence in your case will be a fine of $300 and impris- onment in the penitentiary for the term of six months.

" Mr. Musser then sat down amid considerable hubbub in the court."

Amos Milton Musser, the son of Samuel Musser and Anna Barr, was born in Donegal Town- ship, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of May, 1830. His father died in 1832, leaving his mother with four children, two sons and two daughters, Three years after the death of his father, the mother married Abraham Bitner, who, with his family, in 1837, moved to Illinois and located near Quincy, in Adams County, where the family remained three years, then returned to Washington Borough, on the Susquehanna River, Lancaster County, where, in 1841, the step- father died, Three years after this event the family moved to Bart Township, below Lancaster City, Here the gospel taught by the Latter-day Saints was first heard and embraced by Milton's mother and eldest sister, also by some members of his uncle John Neff 's family.

In 1846 the widow Bitner and the Neff family moved to Nauvoo, and joined their destinies with the Mormon people. They found that city deserted, the main body of the Saints having started for the Rocky Mountains. While in Nauvoo, preparing for their long westward journey, an army of mobocrats laid siege to the city. During the three days' siege of Nauvoo young Musser took an active part, and on two occasions narrowly escaped being killed. He was very near young

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Anderson (about Milton's age) when that young man was almost cut in two by a cannon ball. The few remaining families were brutally hurried across the Mississippi River at the point of bayonet and pistol, and while the aged, the sick and the helpless lay at Montrose, Iowa, opposite Nauvoo, the inhuman wretches planted their cannon in front of the beautiful temple which they had dese- crated, and fired six-pound balls into the camp of the helpless Saints.

From Nauvoo Mr. Musser went to Eddyville, Iowa, where he remained as a clerk in a store till 1851, in which year he came to Utah, where his mother, who had married Jared Starr, and her family had preceded him

During the brief outfitting stay at Council Bluffs Mr. Musser received baptism and confirma- tion at the hands of Father James Allred. After a weary march of three months over the Plains, Captain Allred's company-of which Mr. Musser was historian and aide-de-camp to the captain- reached Salt Lake City in September, 1851.

He remained here till October, 1852, when, with eight other elders, he started on a mission to Hindoostan, British India. These missionaries traveled by team south to San Barnardino and San Pedro, thence by sail to San Francisco, thenee in the ship Monsoon over the Pacific and China seas through the straits of Singapore into the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta, making the voyage in 87 days.

Elder Musser remained and labored as a missionary and historian for the mission, in Calcutta, Bombay and Kurrachee some three years, making but few converts. Returning to Calcutta from Kurrachee he sailed for England in the ship Viking, via Cape of Good, Hope and reached London in 130 days. He labored as a missionary in England and Wales till the spring of 1857, then re- turned to Utah. He sailed from Liverpool to Boston in the ship George Washington, in nominal charge of over 800 immigrating Saints. He remained at Boston to dispose of extra ship supplies and to settle the commutation of such emigrants as remained in Massachusetts ; thence to St. Louis to purchase supplies for the emigrants ; and thence to Florence by steamer with the supplies and a company of St. Louis emigrants. There he remained as the chief outfitting agent for the enii- grants, and crossed the Plains with the last company of that season. He reached this city in Sep- tember, 1857, having been absent five years, during which period he traveled in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand miles, literally encompassing and circumscribing the earth "without purse or scrip."

From 1857 to 1876, Elder Muster was engaged as general traveling agent of the Church in the varied and multiplied duties of its traveling bishop, under the direction of the First P'residency and Bishop Edward Hunter, as the following document attests :

" To Whom it may concern:

" It is my opinion that there is no man in Utali with as large a personal acquaintance with the people of this Territory and Southern and Southeastern Nevada, Northern Arizona, Southern Idaho and Southwestern Wyoming, as Elder A. Milton Musser, certainly no one of my knowledge has trav- eled among the people so extensively as he.

"For twenty years past he has maintained direct and general business relations with the citizens of these sections which has given him unequalled opportunities to become familiar with their social status.

"During this long period he has labored much with me personally, and under the direction of President Young, his counsellors and myself, in the multiplied interests of the Church and Territory; and so far as I know, to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.

" As a co-laborer, I have ever found Brother Musser active, thorough, courteous and reliable, and I esteem him entirely worthy of the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.

"This statement is cheerfully and voluntarily made.

"Salt Lake City, Utah, October 5th, 1878.

"EDW. HUNTER, "Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

During nine years of the period vouched for by the presiding bishop Mr. Musser was also sup- crintendent of the Deseret Telegraph Company, was the active manager of its business and lines and a director in the company. Under his superintendency lines were built from St. George, Utah, to Pioche, Nevada ; from Toquerville to Kanab ; from Moroni to the other settlements of Sanpete County, including Gunnison ; thence up to the Sevier to Monroe; from Payson to Tintic mines ; from Beaver to the Star Mining District; from Salt Lake City to Alta and Bingham ; from Brigham City to Corinne and to Logan via Mendon ; from Logan to Franklin and thence to Paris, Idaho.

In fact, Mr. Musser has been identified with a great many home industries and enterprises,

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which have materially added to the wealth of the community. When co-operation was first mooted he at once became a warm and earnest advocate and did much to give the system prominence and character. For many years he was a director of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing So- ciety of Utah, and is its secretary and treasurer. He is also president of the Territorial Bee Asso- ciation, a director, secretary and treasurer of the Deseret Silk Company, and for many years a di- rector of the Artificial Fish Raising Association, and is now general fish commissioner for Utah. Many yearsago when the necessity for introducing fine grades of stock was agitated, Bishop Musser took a lively interest in the movement, being on two of the stock committees and secretary of the organization, He has also been engaged in farming, milling and brick making, and has been an able aide-de-camp, as a historian, statistician, electrician, accountant and home missionary. The Bishop was the first to introduce the telephone (the Bell system) into Utah, also the phonograph.

In 1876, Elder Musser was appointed a missionary to his native State. He reached Philadel- phia in time to see the great exposition. He labored zealously from pulpit and press to disabuse the public mind of anti-Mormon misrepresentations. While in Philadelphia he penned an able and seasonable epistle to the press and people of the United States. It went through two editions and was republished in pamphlet form in Liverpool, under the caption " Malicious Slanders Refuted," and received a wide circulation. He also published a work on the celestial order of marriage, which also passed through two editions. The late Orson Hyde, in referring to this brochure, said : "Your argument in favor of plural marriage is one of the most able I ever read. Ignorance can- not answer it, and intelligence will not try. It is multum in parvo." While in the cast, Elder Mus- ser visited Washington and was the guest of Hon. George Q. Cannon. He witnessed the delibera- tions of the Electoral Commission and of the two Houses of Congress while engaged in determining whether Hayes or Tilden should be President of the United States.

On the Bishop's return to Utah he published his famous tract-"Fruits of Mormonism"-which is regarded by the missionaries of the Church as being one of the best proselyting aids ever pub . lished. Of this paper Elders Orson Pratt and Jos. F. Smith wrote to him : "We are anxious that a copy of your pamphlet entitled ' Fruits of Mormonism,' by non-Mormon witnesses (read to us in manuscript), when published, be placed in the hands of every officer of the government, member of Congress, governor and ruler in Christendom. In the possession of our missionaries it will be a valuable work, and should be circulated as widely as possible."

In April, 1885, Bishop Musser was tried and convicted for unlawful cohabitation, under the Edmunds Act, as shown in the opening of this sketch.

Mr. Musser merged from the Penitentiary with the proud feeling that he had been imprisoned for conscience sake and the cause of his people. The question of separating from his family and abandoning them is not a debatable one with the Bishop. His wives and children, who are said to be of a superior type, one and all applaud his course and commend his example, and his aged mother, now in her 84th year, was exceedingly pleased with the reliant position of her son at the try- ing hour.

JOHN NICHOLSON.

John Nicholson was born at St. Boswells, Roxburgshire, Scotland, a small village near the English border, and reared in Edingburgh. He became identified with the Mormon Church in April, 1861. Since then he has been actively engaged in different capacities, in forwarding its in- terests. He came to Utah in 1866, and is a professional journalist.

He was one of the the earlier victims of the anti-Mormon legal crusade under the Edmunds law. He was arrested on a charge of unlawful cohabitation on the 17th of March, 1885, but was not indicted till the following June. When arraigned to plead he declined to make any plea. Judge Zane gave him one week to further consider his action. When he again appeared, he was asked what he had to say to the indictment ; he simply replied, "Nothing." The court then ordered a plea of not guilty to be entered.

Having great repugnance to the idea of having his family dragged into court and compelled to testify against him, he offered to supply all the evidence necessary to insure conviction, if the Dis- trict Attorney would not molest them. This proposition was accepted, and at the trial, early in October, 1885, he went upon the witness stand, and, in answers to questions, admitted to having

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lived with and acknowledged his wives. He was convicted within five minutes after the conclusion of the trial.

When called for sentence, on the 13th, of October, 1835, the Court said :

" Mr. Nicholson, I suppose it is hardly necessary for me to state to you-you are already ad- vised that the jury found you guilty of the crime of unlawful cohabitation. Have you anything further to say why sentence of the law should not be pronounced against you ?"

Elder Nicholson, whose manner was calm and deliberate, looked directly into the eye of Judge Zine and made the following response :

" If your Honor please, I will take advantage of the privilege that the Court affords me of stating my position before the Court from my own standpoint. I have been connected with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about a quarter of a century. I accepted its doc- trines, including the law that is called in the Church "celestial marriage," which includes plurality of wives. At the time I entered upon that relationship I had not the slightest iden that I was infringing upon or aeting in contravention to any law made in pursuance of the Constitution of the country, the supreme law of the land. I entered into that relation in 1871, and. to give the Court an idea of my position in reference to the law, I will illustrate it by stating that when the Reynolds ease was of- fered in order to test the constitutionality of the statute of 1852. enacted against polyg umy, at the request of the defendant in that suit, I went upon the stand and testified for the prosecution that a conviction might be obtained. There is no need for me to state to your Honor that the essence of a crime is the intent to commit it. There could be no intention on my part to commit a erime in en- tering into the relationship which 1 have mentioned.

"Years afterwards the Edmunds law was enacted, which made my status criminal-that is to sy, from my standpoint-my conduct was made by it malum prohibitum, because in my opinion it cannot be made malum in se. That law requires that I should give up a vital principle of my re- ligion, and discard at least a portion of my family and consequently disrupt my family organiz ition.

" This places me, as your Honor will perceive, in a very painful position ; because I have a large family, and the ties which bind them to myself are sacred, and the affection which I entertain for them is as deep, and I do not think that these ties ean possibly be severed by any law of what- ever character it may be, or from whatever source it may spring; because there are sentiments and feelings that are engendered in the human heart that the law cannot touch. I will say herc, also, that the lady who would have been the principal witness in this case had I not testified against my- self, stated to me that she would decline to testify against me, or do anything that would have the ef- fect of sending me to prison. And now after such an exhibition of devotion to me on her part, the bare contemplation of cutting her adrift is revolting to my soul, and I could not do it.

"People's ideas differ in regard to what constitutes religion. Some hold that it is merely senti- ment and faith, and does not necessarily embody action. I differ from this view; and I have always been bold to express my opinions on every subjeet without fear, favor or hope of reward. I am of the opinion expressed by the Apostle James who stated that faith without works is dead. The religion that I believe in isa religion that finds expression in action.

" I am aware of the attitude of the Court and I presume of the country, towards the peculiar institution of religion in the Church with which I am identified, and which I have honestly ac- cepted and have honestly practiced. It is held that this conjugal relationship threatens the exist- tence of monogamous marriage. I must say that, judging from the attitude of this Court, which represents, I presume, the attitude of the nation, and in view of the assaults that are made on plural marriage, it appears to me that there is not very much ground for apprehension of danger in that respect.

" It is also true that some people hold that my relations in a family capreity are adulterous. From my point of view, however, I have the consoling reflection that I am in excellent company. including Moses, the enunciator, under God, of the principles which constitute the foundation of modern jurisprudence.

" Not to weary the Court I will simply say that my purpose is fixed and, I hope, unalterable. It is, that I shall stand by my allegiance to God, fidelity to my family, and what I conceive to be my duty to the constitution of the country, which guarantees the fullest religious liberty to the citizen.

" I thank your Honor for bearing with me, and will now simply conclude by stating that I am prepared to receive the pleasure of the Court."

While Mr. Nicholson was speaking a deep stillness pervaded the entire assemblage, who listened with almost breathless interest to his remarks.

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The court then said : " Mr. Nicholson, you have stated your belief and convictions and feelings very candidly and honestly. I am of the opinion that you are more sincere than many of your brethren are. You state that the essence of crime consists in the intent with which the acts are per- formed which constitute the offense. While that is so, yet when a person wilfully violates law he commits a crime against the law and is liable to be punished In regard to your allegiance to God, as I understand you, you place that above your allegiance to your country, the laws of your country. and you referred to the Constitution of the United States, and, as I infer from your remarks, you are acting in accordance with what your views as to your religious liberty and rights are under the Con- stitution of the United States. The sages of the day in which this great instrument was framed- and which instrument constitutes the foundation upon which this government stands with all of its institutions-believed in religious liberty ; but they defined their beliefs, some of them, at least, among others the immortal Jefferson and men of his time. They did not understand that that in- strument protected a man in committing overt acts against society, contrary to the public good ; they understood that it was confined to belief and worship. But their view was that when these internal states of the soul, of the human mind-when parties chose in pursuance of such beliefs to commit acts which were injurious to society, that instrument did not protect these acts as religion, and so the Congress of the United States interpreted that instrument in adopting the law under which you have been tried, and the courts of this Territory have interpreted that law as it was understood by the founders of this government, by the authors of the Constitution of the United States, and the Su- preme Court of the United States, which is the final judge, the final tribunal to determine all of these questions relating to the Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance of it, and it there is any one thing settled in this country it is that the Edmunds law is constitutional and valid. 'That being so, it won't do for this court, and it seems to me it won't do for anybody who claims the protection of the United States, who claims to be a citizen of the United States, to say that that law is no law and to set up his belief against it, and set it at defiance. (Waxing warm) the pathway of man through all ages is strewn with the errors and follies of those who have gone to their long account.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 138

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