History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

CHIEF JUSTICE STILES. 489
insulted the judge, threatening him with violence un-
Stiles appealed to
less he decided in their favor. 18
the governor, but was told that if he could not sustain
and enforce the laws, the sooner he adjourned his
court the better. A short time afterward the records
of the United States district courts were taken from
the judge's office during his absence, and a few moments
before his return a bonfire was made of the
books and papers in his office. He, of course, supposed
that the records were also consumed, and so
made affidavit on his return to Washington in the
spring of 1857. Meanwhile the business of the courts
was suspended. The records had, in fact, been removed,
and were in safe-keeping; but this silly freak
was noised abroad throughout the land with manyexaggerations,
and excited much adverse comment.
The chief justice was a more popular magistrate
than either of his colleagues. In Iowa, where he
resided before receiving his appointment, he was better
known as a tradesman than as a jurist, and on
account of his traffic with the saints at Kanesville
was called a jack Mormon. On his arrival at Salt
Lake City he added to his judicial functions the occupations
of store-keeper and boarding-house proprietor.
He never lost the good-will of his patrons, and never
refused to drink with them. Rotund, of vinous
aspect, and of medium height, dull-witted, brusque in
manner, and pompous in mien, he was a man whom
Brigham knew well how to use; before taking leave
of the Mormons he became an open apologist for
polygamy. He remained in the territory until 1856,
18 The names of the lawyers were James Ferguson, Hosea Stout, and J. C.
Little. Id., 37. In Dec. 1858 a Mormon grand jury found that 'James Ferguson
of Salt Lake City did use language and threats calculated to intimidate
Judge George P. Stiles.' S. E. Sinclair, who succeeded Stiles after the arrival
of the troops under Johnston, did his utmost to bring to justice those who
had intimidated his predecessor. Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 283, note.
Beadle states that Thomas Williams, also a Mormon lawyer, protested against
the insult offered to the judge, that his life was threatened in consequence,
and that he was murdered while attempting to escape to California. Life in
Utah, 175.