History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE EDMUNDS LAW. 683
stitutional by the supreme court of the United States.
Under the Poland bill only one conviction was made,
that of George Reynolds, private secretary to Brigham,
the man being sentenced to fine and imprisonment. 14
Both these measures were sufficiently ill-advised, and
rank, perhaps, among the clumsiest specimens of legislation
as yet devised by man; but it remained for the
Edmunds bill to cap the climax of absurdity by virtually
setting aside the statute of limitations, and providing
for the punishment of persons living at any
time with other than their legal wives.
By the provisions of this bill, approved March 22,
1882. and of which brief mention has already been
made, 15 polygamists were made liable to punishment
by fine not exceeding $500 and imprisonment not exceeding
five years, the president being authorized to
grant amnesty on such conditions as he saw fit to
those who might have offended before the passage of
the act, provided the conditions were afterward complied
with. Cohabitation with more than one woman
in any territory of the United States, whether in the
marriage relation or otherwise, was declared a misdemeanor,
punishable by a fine of not more than $300,
or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or
by both, at the discretion of the court. In all prosecutions
for bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation—the
three offenses being classed together, though
differing widely in law— it was to be deemed sufficient
cause for challenge that a jurymaD lived or had ever
lived in these practices, or believed it right for one so
to live. No polygamist was to be entitled to vote at
14 He was indicted and convicted at S. L. City in 1874. An appeal was
taken to the supreme court of Utah, and the case dismissed on the ground
that the grand jury had been illegally constituted. In October 1S75 lie was
again indicted, convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fine
of $500. After a long but useless struggle, the case being argued before the
supreme court by the attorney-general for the prosecution, and by Sheeks &
Rawlins of S. L. City for appellant, Reynolds was finally committed to jail
in Jan. 1879. For review of the decision of the supreme court by George Q.
Cannon, see Utah Pamphlets, Political, no. 19.
15 See p. 395, this volume.