History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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666 THE LAST DAYS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
The contest between Cannon and Maxwell was
sharp but decisive, a thorough canvass being made by
the latter, and its results showing how completely
the saints were in unison with their church leaders.
Many persons could have been found better qualified,
than the apostle, notwithstanding his great ability,
but Brigharn had so willed it. At this election, if
we can believe the chief magistrate, freedom of speech
was first used in Utah, and by Governor Woods.
Here as on other occasions 31 he intermeddled, playing
Doc, 43d Cong. 1st Sess., no. 49; House Com. Rept, 43d Cong. 1st Sess.,
484; Argument of Halbert E. Paine, in Utah Pamphlets, Political, no. 13;
Millennial Star, 99-100, 104-6; Paddock's La Tour, 292; S. L. C. Tribune,
Nov. 30, 1872. In 1SG7 Hooper's election was disputed by William McGrorty.
For papers in the case, see House Misc. Doc, 40th Cong. 2d Sess., no. 35;
for comments, Deseret News, May 27, 1868. At the opening of the 44th
congress Cannon's seat was also disputed by a man named Baskin.
William H. Hooper was bom at the old homestead known as Warwick
Manor, Eastern Shore, Md, in 1813, his father, who died during William's
iufancy, being of English descent, and his mother of Scotch extraction. When
14 years of age lie obtained a position in a store; and from this beginning rose
step by step, until in 1836 we rind him a member of a leading commercial firm
at Galena, 111. During the crash of 1838 the firm suspended, their debts,
amounting to $200,000, being afterward paid in full. In 1850 he moved to
Salt Lake City under engagement to Messrs Holliday & Warner, commencing
business on his own account some four years later. In 1856 he was temporarily
appointed secretary of the territory after the death of Almon W. Babbitt,
and in 1S59, as we have seen, was chosen delegate for Utah at the 36th
congress, serving in the same capacity during the 39th, 40th, and 41st congresses.
In 1868 Mr Hooper was appointed a director of Zion's Cooperative
Mercantile Institution, and in 1877 became its president, retaining that position
until his decease at the close of 18S2. For further particulars, see Tul-
Udge's Mag., i. 309-85, 427-30; Contributor, iv. 184-6, suppl. 25-7; Beadle's
Western Wilds, 91-2; Deseret News, Feb. 8, 1860. Hooper was an able
' speaker, terse, to the point, and forensic. If,' he replied in answer to a memorial
of the Salt Lake gentile lawyers, ' congress declined to enact a law
that would have enabled Chief Justice Chase to pick out a jury that should convict
Jefferson Davis of treason, ought it now to enable Chief Justice McKean
to pick out a jury to convict Brigharn Young of polygamy ? It seems to me
that the law would be a greater offence against the spirit of democratic republican
institutions than is the existence of the evil thus sought to be
reached.
31 In consequence of the military riot above mentioned, the police were
instructed to arrest disorderly or drunken soldiers on slight provocation, and
fine them or put them to work in chain-gangs. After protesting without
avail, Woods reported the matter to the war department, and thereupon
a general order was issued to the commanders of military posts, instructing
them not to allow the arrest of their men except for violation of the known
laws of the land. Soon afterward a soldier was arrested on a trifling charge,
whereat, his release being refused, the governor proceeded to the jail with
Major Gordon and a detachment of troops, knocked out the wall with a battering-ram,
and 'amid hurrahs for the American flag, set the prisoner free.'
Woods' Recoil., MS.. 53-5.