Volume Nine Era: Questions and Answers; Convictions and Fines of the “Raid”

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

Convictions and Fines of the ^^Raid." What was the number of convictions for unlawful cohabitation and polygamy, in the so-called "raid" of the 80' s, and what the fines imposed? Different writers

give different figures, and I should like an authentic statement.

This question was submitted to Assistant Church Historian, A. Milton Musser, who replies as follows: I am pleased to answer the question submitted to me, for I believe that the data asked for, which I take from the official rec- ords of the courts and prisons, will prove to be absorbingly interest- ing, more especially to the survivors and their descendants of the -late crusade.

The summary covers a total of 885 Utah cases, from Oct. 24,

64 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

1884, to Dec. 27, 1891, prosecuted by the respective administra- tions of Presidents Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison. The recapit- ulation shows the number of persons prosecuted and what for; the fines and costs imposed; the periods and years served, etc. It will

be seen that under President Arthur there were four prosecutions, under President Cleveland, 615, and under President Harrison 266. Further details are as follows: President Arthur, to March 4, 1885: For polygamy, 2; for unlawful cohabita- tion, 1; for contempt, female, 1; total 4; fines imposed, $1,050. President Cleveland, to March 4, 1889: for unlawful cohabitation, 569; adult- ery, 23; for polygamy, 11; for contempt, females, 8, males 1; for bigamy, 1; for bribery, 1, held as a witness, 1; total, 615; fines imposed $98,513.55; costs taxed, estimated, $31,124.94, total, $129,638.49. President Harrison, to Dec. 27, 1891: for unlawful cohabitation, 170; for adultery, 89; for polygamy, 3; for fornication, 1; for alleged incest, 1; for alleged perjury, 1; for contempt, male 1; total, 266; fines imposed $13,125; costs taxed, estimated, $13,743.48; total, $26,868.48. The amount of costs assessed was not entered on the record from which the foregoing data was taken, except in twenty-four cases. In these cases the aggre- gate costs amounted to $1,616.68, which, if divided by twenty-four would make an average sum of $67.37 to the case. Under President Cleveland, costs were taxed against 462 cases. Now if we adopt the above average as a basis, we have a total of $31,124.94. Under President Harrison, costs were taxed against 204 cases, which, if mul- tiplied by $67.37, gives a total of $13,743.48.

Recapitulation and totals: for polygamy, 16; for bigamy, 1; for adultery, 112; for unlawful cohabitation, 740; for fornication, 1; for alleged incest, 1; for bribery, 1; for alleged perjury, 1; for contempt, (9 females and 2 males) 11; held as a witness, 1; total, 885. Total fines imposed, $112,688.55; total costs taxed, estimated, $44,868.42, total, $157,556.97. Total years served in the Utah penitentiary; Under President Arthur: Total sentences covered, 7 years, 6 months, 1 day. Under President Cleveland: Total sentences covered, 345 years, 8 months; add time served for fines, 9 years, 6 months total, 355 years, 2 months ; less time on ;

segregations 7 years, months; less time covered by pardons and commutations 9.

(14 years, 2 months, and 12 days) equals 21 years, 11 months and 12 days, which taken from 355 years, 2 months, leaves 333 years, 2 months, and 18 days. Under President Harrison: Total sentences covered, 136 years, 4 days. Add time served for fines, 5 months; total 136 years, 5 months, and 4 days, less time covered by pardons and commutations 8 years, 5 months, and 15 days; total 127 years, 11 months, and 19 days; grand total, 468 years, 8 months, and 8 days. It will be seen that the aggregate imprisonments of the Utah convictions covered 468 years, 8 months, and 8 days, and the fines

EDITORS TABLE. 65

and costs amounted to $157,566.97. As a rule, the persons con- victed were both progressive and representative, and if we credit them with an average income from all sources of six dollars per diem, we have the sum of $1,026,480, and by adding the above sum, the total on these two counts alone will be $1,184,036.97. Now if the estimated imprisonments imposed on the Idaho, Arizona, and other "Mormon" elders, since the organization of the Church, were added to the foregoing, the grand aggregate, as nearly as we can get at it, would sum total 520 years, or 189,800 days, over half a millennium! Additional and incalculable sums should be included to cover the time spent during trials by those convicted and those dis- charged, and by the witnesses, also by those driven into exile, and the consequent losses in business and property from forced neglect and absence of personal supervision, expenses incurred in traveling long distances to and from the courts and prisons; by fines imposed without imprisonments, by lawyers' fees, and in test cases before the superior courts, and by forfeitures, etc. To these may justly be added the confiscations of Church property; the loss of the elec- tive franchise, the numerous premature deaths from exposures and severe raids made under cover of night, often by drunken and profane deputies, and spotters, and the attendant destitution and untold hardships entailed on and endured by thousands of innocent and helpless women and children which are impossible to estimate. The foregoing, it may be stated, is a mere bagatelle of totals compared with the sufl^erings, hardships, losses, etc., incident to the mobbings and persecutions imposed upon the Saints in the eastern states, whence they were exiled, and in their heartrending experiences during the exodus, nor can the showing be considered complete without we add the startling and tragic item of about 300 martyrs which the great Gospel campaign has harvested, which have been sacrificed on the altar of truth, for the testimony of Jesus, since the organization of the Church, seventy-five years

ago. In conclusion, let me ask in all seriousness, what Latter-day Saint,with these and the cumulative evidences before him, can for a moment question the divinity of Joseph Smith's mission or the divine origin of the Church he organized so perfectly under the ira-