The Governors of Utah, Eli H. Murray

IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. IV. JULY, 1901. No 9.

THE GOVERNORS OF UTAH.

ELI H. MURRAY.

General Eli H. Murray, the twelfth governor of Utah, was born in Cloverport, Breckenridge county, Kentucky, on the 10th day of February, 1843. At the age of eighteen years, he joined the Union army, organizing a company of the Third United States Cavalry, entering as captain, but being later made colonel and then brigadier-general. march to the sea, In Sherman's famous he commanded the Fifth corps. He was still a young man of twenty-two years when he received his discharge from the army as brigadier-general; and had then made an exceptionally bright record in the service of our country. Entering school, he studied law, graduating from the Louis- ville, Kentucky, Law School in 1866. Following this, President Grant appointed him marshal for his native state. In Louisville, in the late 70's, he also labored in the newspaper business. Presi- dent Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him to the Utah governor- ship, in February, 1880; and at the close of his first term, he was

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re-appointed by President Chester A. Arthur, shortly after the death of President Garfield. He arrived in Salt Lake City first, on February 29, 1880, the year of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the organi- zation of The Church. He occupied the executive chair for a period of about six years, being succeeded on May 6, 1886, by Caleb W. West, who was the appointee of President Grover Cleve- land. Upon suggestion from the secretary of the interior, Gov- ernor Murray had tendered his resignation in March of that year. During the latter years of General Murray's incumbency as governor, the people witnessed the most turbulent times, com- bined with the most acrimonious feelings between the "Mormon" and the Gentile population, that bad ever been known in the annals of the territory. The passage of the Edmunds bill, and other such measures, by Congress; the legal prosecutions which followed, and the resulting unfortunate conditions, need only be referred to here, since they are still fresh in the minds of the people. The part which the governor played in this drama is a matter of his- tory, and whatever else may be said of his actions, it is very clear that he neither said nor did anything which in any way favored the wishes or interests of the Latter-day Saints; but, on the con- trary, he was always found arrayed against them. In January, 1887, he was admitted to the bar of the territo- rial supreme court. Later he removed to San Diego, California, where he became interested in land business, and where, also, he edited a paper. Shortly before his death, he removed to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he died, after a three weeks' illness of diabetes, on the 18 th of November, 1897. He was a man fairly well edu- cated; and he had a commanding physical appearance, as the ex- cellent portrait of "the handsome Kentuckian," which is presented by the Era herewith, will testify.