Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1882 — ANTT-POLYGAMY. [ARTICLE]

ANTT-POLYGAMY.

Text of the Beware Knaeted hr Ce«ftTeae for the dappreel#* of Plural Barrlagei la Ihe Territories. Following is the text of the Anti-Mormon biU as it passed Congress and received the dp nature of tbe President i A biU to amend section 5,352 of tbe Revised Statute* of tbe United States in reference to bigamy, and "SSKETSL. That section 5,352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows—namely: Every person who has a wife living, who, in a Territory Or other plaoe oVef whioh tbe United States haVe exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter marries another, whether married Or single, and anv man who hereafter, simultaneously or on the same day marries more than one woman in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall be punish ad by a fine of not more than 0500 and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years {hut this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage, whose husband or wife by snob marriage shut have been absent tot five successive years, and is not known to such person to be living and is believed by such person to be dead ( nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid decree of a competent court; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage whioh shall have been pronounced void by a valid decree of a Competent court on the grounds of nullity of the marriage contract Sec. 2. That the foregoing provisions shall not affect the prosecution or punishment of any offense already committed against the seotion amended by the first seotaon of this aot Sxo. 8. That if any male person in a Territory or other place over whioh the United States have exclusive jurisdiction hereafter cohabits with more than one woman he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than S3OO, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court. Seo. 4. That coants for any and all of the offenses named in sections 1 and 2 of this aot may bo joined in the same information or indictment Seo. 5. That m any proseoution for bigamy, polygamy or unlawful oohabitation, under any statute of the Untted States, it shall be sufficient cause of challenge to any person drawn or summoned as a juryman or talesman, first, that he is or has been living in the practice or bigamy, polygamy or unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman, or that ho is or has been guilty oi an offense punishable by either of the foregoing sections or by section 6,352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or the act of July 1, 1868, entitled "An act to punish and prevent the praotice of polygamy in the Territories of tbe United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling oertain aots of the Legislative Assembly in tbe Territory of Utah;” or, second, that he believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undivorced wife at the same lime, or to live in the practice of cohabiting with more than one woman; and any person appearing or offered as a juror or talesman, and challenged on either of the foregoing grounds, may be questioned on his oath as to the existence of any suoh cause of challenge, and other evidence may bo introduced bearing upon the question raised by suoh ohallonge; and this «ticstion shall be tried by the court. But as to tne first ground of challenge before mentioned, the; person challenged shall not bo bound to answer it if he shall say upon his oath that he declines on the ground that his answer may teudto criminate himself, and if he shall answer as to said first ground his answer shall not be given in evidence in any criminal prosecution against him for any offense named in Seo 1 or 3 of this aot, but if he declines to answer ou any ground he shall be rejected as incompetent

Seo 6. That the President is hereby authorized to grant amnesty to suoh classes of offenders guilty of bigamy, polygamy or unlawful oohabitation before the passage of this aot on suoh conditions and under such limitations as he shall think proper; but no such amnesty shall have effect, unless the conditions thereof shall bo oomplied with. Sec. 7. That the issue of bigamous or polygamous marriages, known as Mormon marriages, in cases in which suoh marriages have been solemnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect in any Territory of the United ■States, and such issue as shall have been born before the Ist day January, 1883, are hereby legitimated. oeo. 8. T hat no polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabiting with more than one woman, and no woman cohabiting with any of these persons described as aforesaid in this section, in any Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall be entitled to vote at any election held in any such Territory or other plaoo, or be eligible for election or appointment to or be entitled to hold any office or place of public trust, honor or emolument in, under or for any such Territory or place, or under the United States. Seo. 9. That all the registration and election offices of every description to the Territory of Utah arc hereby declared vacant, and each and every duty relative to the registration of voters. the conduct of elections, the reoeiving or rejection of votes, and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of oertiCoates or otner evidence of eleotion in said Territory, shall, until other provisions be mad* bv the Legislative Assembly of said Territory, as is hereinafter by this section provided, be performed under the existing laws of the United States and of said Territory, by proper persons, who shall be appointed to execute such offices and perform such duties by a board of five persons, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not more of whom than three shall be members of one political party, and a majority of whom shall be a quorum. The members of said board so appointed by the President shall each receive a salary at the rate of $3,000 per annum, and snail continue in office until the Legislative Assembly of said Territory shall make provision for filling said offioes as herein authorized. The Secretary of the Territory shall be the Secretary of said board,'and keep a jourml of its proceedings, and attest the action of said board under this section. The canvass and return of all the votes at elections in said Territory for members of the Legislative Assembly thereof shall also be returned to said board, wliich shall canvass all such return* uid issue certificates of eleotion to those persons who, being eligible for such electfbn, shall appear to have been lawfully elected, which certificates shall be the only evidence of the right of such persons to sit in such Assembly, provided that said board of fivo persons shall not exclude any person otherwise eligible to vote, from tho polls, on account of any opinion snch person may entertain on the subject of bigamy and polvgamy; nor shall they refuse to count any such vote on account of the opinion of the person casting it on the subject of bigamy or polygamy. But each house of such Assembly, after its organization, shall have the power to decide upon the elections and qualifications of its members, and at or alter tne first meeting of said Legislative Assembly, whose members shall have been elected and returned according to the provisions of this act, said Legislative Assembly may make such laws, oonformable to the organic act of said Territory, and not inconsistent with other laws of the United States, as it shall deem proper concerning the filling of any offices in said Territory declared vaoant by this act.