USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > History of Salt Lake City > Part 144
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"It is not asked that certain offices be set apart for either sex. We are simply requested to remove this ugly and staring brand of woman's politicial inferiority from our statute book. To render it possible for women to fill such offices as they may be fitted to occupy with honor to them- selves and profit to the people.
" Now, I do not cite these as sample offices to which women should be elected, but merely to refer to these facts in illustration of the subject and to show reasons why the discriminating and egotistic.il word ' male ' should be expunged from the statutes relating to qualifications for office. Used in this light, it is a slur on our wives and sisters and mothers. It is a vestige of the barbaric estimate of the gentler sex. Away with it! Blot it out with the pen of a progressive age and the ink of advanced ideas! Let it go with its companion that once stood in the way of wom.in suffrage, but was swept into the limbo of antiquated measures by the besom of the act of 1870. Give to the women of Utah-there are no better in the world-fu'l, perfect and complete political liberty."
Mr. Penrose was re-elected and served in the Legislative session of 1882 ; he was chairman of the committee on claims, and did a great deal of work on various committees; being particularly useful in drafting publie documents and correcting errors in the framing of bills. He was elected to the constitutional convention and helped to frame the Constitution of the State of Utah, which was making another effort-under a change of name from 'Deseret '-for its long withheld right of admission into the Union. He also assisted to prepare the memorial to Congress. All this time he was performing editorial work for the Deseret News.
The death of David O. Calder, in the summer of 1884 caused a vacancy in the Presidency of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, which was filled August 2d, 1884, Elder Penrose being then appointed.
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at the quarterly stake conference, second counselor to President Angus M. Cannon. His voice was often heard in the Tabernacle and in other congregations of the Saints; he was an ever ready and apparently unfailing fountain of instruction. As one of the Presidency of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion it was also a part of his duty and labors to sit in the High Council in judgment upon all matters before that tribunal.
In the fall of 1883, in order to recuperate his energies, which were sorely taxed by overwork, he took a trip, in company with C. R. Savage, Esq., over the D. and R. G. Railway to Denver, thence through Colorado, south to New Mexico. Arizona and California, returning to Utah via the Central Pacific route. He now resumed his manifold duties. He had previously written a valuabic work entitled " Mormon Doctrine." In the fall of 1884, he delivered several Sunday evening lec- tures in the Twelfth Ward Assembly Hall, answering anti-Mormon objections and charges against the faith and practice of the Latter-day Saints. Chief of these lectures were those on " Blood Atone- ment" and the " Mountain Meadows Massacre," completely refuting the common stories in relation thereto Both lectures were published at the Juvenile lastructor office. He continued to defend the " Mormon " cause politically and religiously, by press discussions as well as public speeches and private interviews with strangers. These vigorous labors excited the hostility of the anti-Mormon ring, and he was singled out, in the erusade under the Edmunds law, as a conspienous target for their animosity. In the beginning of January, 1885, he was sent on a brief mission to the States, and during his absence his legal wife and family, down to a boy eight years old, were compelled to go before the grand jury. The wife relused to testify against her husband, but the evidence desired was extorted from the children.
While in the States Elder Penrose was appointed on a mission to England, and forthwith bade farewell, by letter, to those he held most dear this side of the water, and once more crossed the bosom of the mighty deep. After a rough passage and sife landing at Liverpool, he was appointed by President D. H. Wells to preside over the London Conference, and assist editorially on the Mil- lennial Star." He revived the work in London, his old field of labor, was gladly hailed by former acquaintances, wrote several articles for London papers, helped to ship emigrants of every company from Liverpool, and attended conferences with President Wells all over England Scotland and Wales. He also visited Ireland and preached in the open air in the city of Belf ist to three thou- sand people. A great uproar ensued, followed by a spirited discussion in the Belfast papers. He visited Dublin and the Isle of Man, and from there went to the Lake District of England. He accom- pinied President Wells on his continental tour through Denmark, Sweden, Norway. Garminy and Switzerland, preaching in Copenhagen, Christiania, Stockholm, Berlin and Berne, returning to Eng- land by way of Paris. He made a stir in several English towns and brought miny persons into the Church, besides writing articles for the Star and also for the Deseret News to the interest of which he is devoted though in " exile."
He is still engaged in laboring and writing for the cause to which he has consecrated his time and talents for so many years. He has a firm and thorough belief in the truth and triumph of Mor- monism, and is kept from the society of a loving family and a wide circle of cordial friends by the same merciless persecution which has thrust so many good men behind prison doors.
At the age of fifty-four he retains apparently all his original activity of mind and physical en- ergies. Time and toil have made but moderate inroads upon his extraordinary vitality. This is all the more remarkable from his not being of a robust constitution-though of healthy physique and strietly temperate habits-and his persistent and almost incessant mental activity. It exemplifies anew the truth of the proverb that it is better to wear out than to rust away. Mr. Penr se is of a highly sensitive and nervous organization ; quick to think, speak and act. His tilents are so versa- tile it is almost a question as to "wherein kind nature meant him to excel." He is poeticit, mu- sical, has fine spiritual perceptions, and also leans to science and law. His forte is generally thought to be journalism, in which he shines with lustre, while as a preacher and polemical writer and debater he has but few equals. ILstudents and energy fit him eminently for a missionary, in which impor- tant ealling he meets invariably with success. His practical experience in various walks of life gives him an insight into the thoughts and workings of all classes of society ; his advice is sought in diffi- culty and doubt, and he wins his way easily to the hearts of his fellow-men. Charles W. Penrose is a rem irkable man. Nature stamped him as such, and his life work, thus far, confirms the truth of her decree.
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GEORGE REYNOLDS. '
GEORGE REYNOLDS.
To Mr. George Reynolds must be given the honors of being the first among the polygamous martyrs. The narrative is thus given in the Contributor under the caption of "A Living Martyr :"
" In the summer and fall of 1874, while James B. Mckean was Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court and Judge of the Third District Court, and William Carey was United States Pros- ecuting Attorney for Utah, efforts were made to find indictments, under the Congressional law of 1862, against polygamy and bigamy, and the arrest and trial of several of the leading authorities was threatened. As those whom the prosecuting attorney had set upon, were known not to have violated that law, their so-called offenses, having been committed previous to its passage, it was ap- parent that any effort to convict them would be futile and their trials would simply amount to an- noyance and persecution. It was therefore agreed by the prosecuting attorney, and others, that if a suitable person were provided, the contemplated prosecutions would be abandoned, a fair trial would be given him, as a test case, and the constitutionality of the law would be tested. Our peo- ple believing that the act of 1862 would be annulled on appeal to the Supreme Court.
"After this arrangement had been made, the selection of some one to stand the trial was considered and Elder George Reynolds, who had not been thought of by the officers, was approached on the subject, and consented to be the victim. He furnished the witnesses and testimony to the grand jury, and his case was accepted by the attorney as a fair test case. Accordingly on Friday, October 23d, 1874, the grand jury, John Chislett, foreman, reported a true bill against him, and on the fol- lowing Monday he presented himself in court and plead not guilty to the felony alleged in the in- dictment. He was admitted to bail in the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars. On March 31st, 1875, the trial commenced and lasted two days. 'The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and on the Ioth of April, the prisoner was sentenced to one years' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of three hundred dollars An appeal to the Territorial Supreme Court was immediately taken, and Brother Reynolds was liberated on a five thousand dollar bond.
" The most intense feeling of emnity and persecution, was manifest during and immediately after this trial, by the prosecuting officers, William Carey and R. N. Baskin. They even went so far as to demand the imprisonment of the defendant, pending the appeal to the higher court. This was, however, overruled by the judge. On the 19th of June, the Supreme Court, comprised of Chief Justice Lowe and Associates Emerson and Boreman, reversed the decison of the lower court, set the indictment aside on the ground of the illegality of the grand jury which found it, (that body being composed of twenty-three instead of fifteen men, which the law requires,) and Elder Reynolds was released from his bonds.
" On the 30th of the following October, however, the new grand jury, Horace Bliss, foreman, found another indictment against him, and he was again arrested November Ist, 1875, plead not guilty and was admitted to bail. On December 9th his second trial commenced, before Chief Jus- tice White, Lowe having removed, and the following jury : Henry Simons, foreman, Emanuel Kahn, Eli Ransohoff, B. F. Dewey, Charles Read, George Hogan, Ed. L. Butterfield, Frank Cis- ler, Samuel Woodard, Nathan J. Lang, John S. Barnes, Lucien Livingston.
" During this trial the unfair efforts of the prosecuting attorney, aided by the arbitrary rulings of the court against the prisoner, showed that Carey had departed from his agreement to try the case as a test on the constitutionality of the law, and that he was doing his utmost to fasten crimi- nality upon the prisoner and to secure his punishment. When this treachery was discovered, the defendant, of course, did his utmost to thwart the prosecution and to save himself. An incident of the trial will indicate to what extreme measures the zeal of the court and prosecuting attorney carried them. Mrs. Amelia Reynolds, Brother Reynolds' second wife, could not be found when the second trial came, and the vicious efforts of the court to punish her husband, instead of to pro- ceed as agreed upon before, were manifest. In consequence of the failure of the prosecution to produce this witness, the court permitted the attorney to call the lawyers and others in attendance on the first trial, and accepted their testimony of what Mrs. Reynolds said at that trial as pertinent evidence ; a most unheard of proceeding in any court. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and on December 21st, Brother Reynolds was sentenced to two years at hard labor in the Detroit House of Correction, and to pay a fine of five hundred dollars. An appcal was taken to the Territorial 19
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Supreme Court, pending which he was liberated under bonds of ten thousand dollars, W. H. Hooper and H. B. Clawson sureties.
" The case came up on appeal June 13, 1876, and was argued before the three judges, Judge Shaffer being now chief justice, the associates the same as before. They listened to the argument, and on July 6th, unanimously confirmed the decision of the District Court. An appeal was at once taken, as contemplated from the first, to the Supreme Court of the United States, the court of last resort. Over two years passed before the case came in its order before that august body, when, on the 14th of November, 1878, it was called up. The attorneys for the appellant were G. W. Biddle, of Philadelphia, and Ben Sheeks, of Salt Lake City. Solicitor General Phillips appeared for the United States. The arguments occupied two days, and the case was taken under advisement. On the 6th of January, 1879, Chief Justice Waite delivered the decision of the court, confirming the pre- vious decisions of the lower courts. It was unanimous but that Justice Field non-concurred on a ininor point.
" As soon as this decision became known efforts were made for a re-opening of the case, on the ground that the sentence rendered included " hard labor," which exceeded the law in this case and the authority of the judge to pronounce. When this matter came before the United States Supreme Court, instead of setting aside the verdict and ordering the proceedings to be quashed, that body issued the following order, dated May 5, 1879: " And that this cause be, and the same is hereby re- manded to the said Supreme Court [i.e. of the Territory.] with instructions to cause the sentence of the District Court to be set aside, and a new one entered on the verdict in all respects like that be- fore imposed, except so far as it requires the imprisonment to be at hard labor."
" During the time occupied in remanding from the higher courts to the Third District Court, where the case was tried and the sentence pronounced, a monster petition to the Executive at Wash- ington was prepared, setting forth that the prisoner's was a test case, and asking for his pardon. The petition was signed by over thirty-two thousand names but was unheeded by the President.
" On June 14, 1876, the corrected sentence of two years imprisonment and five hundred dollars fine was pronounced by Judge Emerson, and on the morning of the 16th, Brother Reynolds started in custody of Deputy Marshals Geo. A. Black and Wm. T. Shaughnessy for Nebraska State Prison at Lincoln, where he had been ordered by the Department of Justice. He arrived on the 19th, and was subjected to the usual indignities, which prisoners there must submit to : his beard being shaved, hair cut and clothes exchanged for the prison garb ; he was assigned the duties of bookkeeper in one of the industrial departments of the prison. He remained in Lincoln but twenty-five days, when he was ordered back to Utah. Arriving on the 17th of July, he was conveyed directly to the Penitentiary where he remained until the 20th of January, 1881, when with the remission of one hundred and forty-four days, provided by the good conduct act of 1880, his term of imprisonment expired.
"On Brother Reynolds' return to Utah he was permitted, as are all of the prisoners here, to occupy his time as he chose. This liberty together with the privilege of seeing his family and friends, when they wished to call upon him, did much to mitigate the distress of his confinement. He being a student and writer spent much time in study and writing for the press, contributions from his pen being published in the Contributor, Juvenile Instructor, Millennial Star, News, and other papers. periodically, during the whole time of his imprisonment. During the last five months he has been engaged in preparing a concordance of the Book of Mormon, on the general plan of Cruden's con- cordance of the Bible. He has already compiled over twenty-five thousand references. It is to be hoped that we shall soon see this important work completed and published, as it will be of the great- est assistance to missionaries and all students or readers of the Book of Mormon.
" In the Utah Penitentiary there are an average of about fifty prisoners. Many of them, be- coming interested in the good advice and example of Elder Reynolds, were enrolled as pupils in a school, which he volunteered to teach, and in which he was quite successful for several months. The influence he exercised over the prisoners was most salutary. It was said that from the time of his advent among them until his departure, there was less difficulty or disturbance among them than would formerly be met with in a single week. General Butler, the warden remarked that ' Reynolds was worth more than all his guards in preserving good order among the prisoners.' Even among the wildest and most wicked it was noticed that they would not indulge in their evil pro- pensities, when he was around, as other times; thus showing the respect in which he was held. In consequence of this assistance to the officers and in appreciation of his deportment and bearing as a man, Marshal Shaughnessy and Warden Butler did all in their power, without depart- ing from the line of duty, to make him comfortable and help him in his writing. He had many
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difficulties to contend with in the winter time, having no shelter for his paper, or stand on which to write. We would think it a particular hardship to be obliged to nail our copy on the prison wall and, as we sat on a small stool facing it, write on a lap-board. In this manner Brother Reynolds has spent many a day in the preparation of matter for publication; the cold often benumbing his fingers, the dust blinding his eyes, and gusts of wind flurrying his paper all over the prison yard. For the last few months, the warden permitted him to occupy the guards' dining room, during the day, which very greatly promoted his comfort and enabled him to do much more work.
" His health was good all the time, and but for the nervousness, which nearly always acce m- panies confinement, no change can be detected in him ; from that a few days of liberty among fam- ily and friends will effect entire recovery. He says he was never happier, for he felt that he was suffering for a just cause, and had a living testimony that God was with him. Vet to a man of his temperament, fondly attached to home and family, the trial must have been a hard one; not only upon him but upon his heroic family, who suffered equally in all but the loss of physical liberty. The patient, forbearing, and uncomplaining manner in which they have helped to bear this cross, for Zion's sake, deserves the warmest praise from all. Their example of faith and integrity is an an undying one to those who believe as they do, and of itself forever refutes the wicked imputation of the Supreme Court of the United States, that the principle for which they have suffered is not a fundamental and sacred one of a pure religion.
" Efforts were made while Brother Reynolds was in prison to secure his pardon, Elder Gco Q Cannon doing all in his power in that direction, but the President turned a deaf ear to all petitions. Among those who have interested themselves in this respect, it is but just to record the manly effort of the marshal. Col. Shaughnessy prepared a petition, setting forth the good character of the prisoner, and the material assistance his deportment and teachings among the prisoners had been to the officers in preserving order, etc. To this he secured the signature of Chief Justice Hunter, Associate Emerson and Attorney Van Zile declining, and forwarded it to Washington. Though noth- ing resulted from it, it is creditable to the officers who prepared it. But petitions are now not nec- essary ; without executive clemency or special favors, Elder Reynolds has paid the penalty our country has imposed upon her children, who desire to serve God as well as the Constitution. He has proved himself a man of God; and though restricted in the exercise of citizenship, has mani- fested nobler qualifications for citizenship than those who have degraded themselves by persecuting him for conscience sake.
"On the 20th of January, 1881, Elder George Reynolds was released from imprisonment, in the Utah Penitentiary, having served the legal term to which he was sentenced. He emerges from the prison walls a living martyr to the cause of Zion, with a history hardly paralleled in the lives of the martyrs of olden or modern times. He was not only a prisoner for conscience sake, but a repre- sentative prisoner suffering for the conscientious faith of the whole people. He has stood the test that God suffered to be put upon him, and has been found true and faithful, having never mur- mured or complained, but patiently endured the unholy persecution, which he was willing to suffer for the sake of his brethren, his religion and his God. We welcome him home again and feel to praise him in the gates. All Israel honors him. He will be held in remembrance forever for his heroic integrity in suffering martyrdom for conscience sake, and his example will nerve the faith of thousands in the day of similar trial."
George Reynolds was born in the Parish of St. Marylebone, London, England, January Ist, 1842. His father was George Reynolds, of Totnes, Devonshire ; his mother (nee) Julia Ann Tautz. He first heard Mormonism when nine and a half years old, and then desired baptism, but owing to the opposition of his parents it was deferred until he was fourteen. The date of baptism is May 4th, 1856.
In December, 1856, he was ordained a deacon, and in the May following, a priest ; and sent out to preach in the streets of London, being then only fifteen. When nineteen (May, 1861) he was called to succeed E. W. Tullidge in the charge of the branches in the western portion of the me- tropolis-comprising between eight and nine hundred members. He was called to act as emigra- tion clerk in the Liverpool office by President George Q. Cannon, in February, 1863, and the next year became chief clerk. During the greater portion of the time he was in Liverpool he acted as president of the Church in that town. He emigrated on Cunard steamship Persia, June, 1865, and crossed the Plains with Messrs. W. S. Godbe and W. II. Shearman as far as Denver, by stage. whence the mail company, on account of the Sioux Indian war, would take them no further. At Denver Mr. Godbe purchased a wagon and team, and the three travelers came on alone to Salt Lake City, making the journey from Denver in ten days.
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Elder Reynolds went on a mission to Great Britain in May, 1871, where he labored in the Liv- erpool office as assistant editor of the Millennial Star to Elder Albert Carrington. In the following September, when President Carrington was telegraphed to return to Utah he was left in charge of the spiritual concerns of the European Mission, being virtually its president until the return of President Carrington in the following May. During this mission Elder Reynolds had a severe at- tack of smallpox which left him in such a poor condition of health that on Carrington's return in Liverpool he was released to return home, where he arrived July, 1872.
He became secretary to President Brigham Young in 1868, and was again his secretary at the time of the President's death in 1877. He continued to act in the same capacity for the Twelve Apostles, and since his return from prison has acted as one of President John Taylor's secretaries.
George Reynolds was married July 22d, 1865, to Miss Mary Ann Tuddenham and on the 3d of August, 1874, to Miss Amelia Jane Schofield. He has occupied numerous positions : Regent of University of Deseret ; City Councilor ; director Z. C. M. I., Zion's Saving Bank, Deseret Tele- graph Company, treasurer of Deseret Sunday School Union and the chairman of its publication committee. He has written largely for the church publications, and is also the author of several small works: "The Myth of the Manuscript Found, "Are We of Israel?" "The Book of Abia- ham," etc. He acted for a considerable time as local editor of the Deseret News, and in 1872-3 was treasurer, manager, and lastly iessee (in connection with W. T. Harris) of the Salt Lake Theatre.
In the history of his church, undoubtedly George Reynolds is destined to rank as one of its rep- resentative Elders. His nature is highly spiritual and fervent and the organic quality of his mind is of the intellectual type. He is one of the most apostolic characters that the British mission has pro- duced.
GEORGE ROMNEY.
George Romney is a man of rather large frame. His height is 5 feet, 91/2 inches. His hair, well sprinkled with grey, was originally auburn. His face is large, and the features strongly marked, giving, in connection with its normal expression, an appearance of distinct individualism. His complexion tends to sallowness, and the eyes are a clear blue. While he is neighborly and genial, his countenance, while at rest, wears that thoughtful and almost sombre aspect that denotes the man impressed with an idea that life was not intended to be spent in frivolity, but its battles must be seriously met and resolutely handled. He is much more than ordinarily conscientious. While he is not specially reserved in expressing his repugnance to the wrong doings of men, yet were he in a position requiring him to pass judgment upon transgressors, it would, on account of his large sympathy, be a duty from which he would naturally shrink.
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