History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

490
THE GOVERNMENT IN ARMS.
and four years afterward was reappointed. We shall
hear of him later.
The official who did more than any other, and perhaps
more than all others, to bring about the Mormon
war was Associate Judge W. W. Drummond. Leaving
his wife and family in Illinois without the means
of support, he brought with him a harlot whom he
had picked up in the streets of Washington, and
introducing her as Mrs Drummond, seated her by his
side on the judicial bench. Gambler and bully, he
openly avowed that he had come to Utah to make
money, and in the presence of the chief justice declared:
"Money is my God" 19 When first he appeared
in court he insulted the community by mocking at
their laws and institutions, and especially at the institution
of polygamy. He also declared that he
would set aside the finding of the probate courts in
all cases other than those which lay strictly within
their jurisdiction. Here was a direct issue, and one
that was immediately taken up, for as yet none of
the federal judges had declared the powers granted
to these courts by the act of 1852 to be of no effect. 20
Nor had any such view of the matter been expressed
by the authorities at Washington.
When asking for admission as a state or territory,
the Mormons did not suppose that the majesty of the
11 Adding, 'And you may put this down in your journal if you like.'
Remy'a Journey to G. S. L. City, i. 469. Remy states that he was present
when the remark was made.
20 Judge Shaver tacitly admitted the jurisdiction of the probate courts,
but Chief Justice Kinney was the first to render decisions from the bench
confirming their jurisdiction. His interpretation of the organic act is noteworthy:
• The court holds that by virtue of that clause of the organic act
which provides that "the jurisdiction of the several courts provided for,"
including the probate courts, "shall be as limited by law," that the legislature
had the right to provide by law for the exercise by the probate courts
of jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases.' Burton's City of the Saints, 379.
The clause in section 9 of this act to which Kinney refers provides that
' the jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate
and original, and that of the probate courts, and of justices of the peace,
shall be as limited by law. ' If the phrase ' limited by law ' be so interpreted
as to extend the right of proving wills to jurisdiction in all other matters,
one fails to see the need of federal judges. As well indict a man for murder
before a justice of the peace.