Salt Lake City, Oct. 5th/85.
To His Excellency President of the United States.
President Cleveland Dear Sir;
I have been
anxiously waiting for an opportunity to state my circumstances to you. My husband Joseph H. Evans who was indicted
and convicted to prison last November, receiving the enormous sentence of three
years and six months, for the crime of bigamy, as charged in the indictment; a
charge which is shamfull and rediculous, because according to my
knowledge, which I have of my husbands past life - he never lived in bigamy,
nor polygamy with any woman. I am the
wife of his youth, the first, lawful, and only wife, and during my lifetime
with him I never knew him to acknowledge any woman as his wife but me. Your Excellency, he did not then, and he does
not now, and he never will, - while I live, for I never did believe in
polygamy. My husband has always been
known in the community to be a straight forward upright, law abiding citizen;
he has always set good moral examples before his family, taught them always to
abide the law of their beloved country, the country that gave them birth. Your Excellency, we have raised a large
family of twelve children -- boys and girls 3 girls and nine boys all of whom
have grown up men and women, most of them being married and have families of
their own to care for.
Now President
Cleveland take this in to consideration we are both getting old, our hair being
gray -- thus in our advanced and declining years, after being so faithful under
all circumstances together throughout life now to think that we have been torn
from each other in this manner is hard and heart rendering. My husband will be confined in the Utah
Penitentiary one year the 8th of next November; During all this time I have
lived, but very poorly: Everything is
going out and nothing coming in, and if it continues this way much longer, I
shall have to call upon you for assistence.
I have consulted the following gentlemen several times; Judge Zane, Mr. Dickson prosecution, &
also Governor Murry, who advised me to write to you, stating that it was not
within his power being a United States case. They all felt in
favor of granting him a pardon providing the President would sanction it. My husband being a first class Blacksmith,
& has done a great deal of work there in the prison, receiving no pay; He is a man who bears a good character &
is thought a great deal of wherever he goes.
I now bring my letter to a close with faith and hope that you will in reply to this letter grant
my husband a pardon. Yours Very
Respectfully, Mrs. Ruth Evans, North Temple St. No. 848 West, Salt Lake
City, Utah Territory.
On December 7, 1885, Ruth had written for her a petition
praying for a pardon and release. This
was undersigned by forty citizens of good repute, many of whom would later find
themselves behind prison bars as cohabs.
These letters were apparently to no
avail, but finally in January 1887, a note from the Justice Department got to
the desk of President Cleveland. It is
written in a combination of shorthand and scribbled long hand. The last sentence is legible: "I do not attach, under the
circumstances, much importance to his declining to make the promise asked of
him." President Cleveland wrote on
the other half of the page:
GRANTED
This convict is nearly seventy years old and was convicted of
polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. He
has been imprisoned more than two years and his pardon is prayed for by his
legal wife. Though he will not promise
to obey the law against polygamy yet I am determined that the hardship of his
case shall not be cited to show that the government is inclined to be
vindictive in its attempt to extirpate the practice of polygamy. Mar 4/87. G.C.
The Deseret News reported the pardon
of "Father Joseph H. Evans" claiming that President Cleveland's
remarks showed that "the mercilessness and cruelty exhibited by District
Attorney Dickson, Judge Zane, and other officials in the enforcement of the
laws against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation are opposed to the view and
sentiments of the administration."
It wasn't until March 15 that all
the paper work was completed and Joseph was released from prison. By that time, he was leaving behind so many
"cohab" friends that a new addition to the prison was being built to
accommodate them. It was not where the
men wanted to be, but it was quite a different atmosphere than when he was
greeted by the lone plural marriage inmate, Rudger Clawson. At Joseph's
release, he was greeted on the other side of those heavy wood and iron doors by
a grateful family, and taken to the little family home on North
Temple for a joyful reunion.
AUTUMN IN
THE LIFE OF JOSEPH AND RUTH
Joseph returned home to Ruth, who
apparently received him whole-heartedly.
He and Harriet had no more to do with each other, and he seems to have
had little to do with his son, Sterling.
Their little house, through the
years, had been made comfortable and beautiful for its time and place. They had some nice hand-made furniture,
including a round table and a cane-bottom chair that the grandchildren would
particularly remember. There was a porch
all the way around the house , which was situated deep in a big lot, probably
ten acres. There were fruit trees around
it, and a path that went to the street. When
their son, Jonathan, had taken his bride Janet Buchanan there to live in 1880
until they could find a place of their own, she thought it was the most
beautiful house she had ever been in.
Joseph's sons Jonathan and Oscar had
a blacksmith's shop on the North Temple frontage of
Joseph's lot. He spent a great deal of
time there in his later years. There
were benches for the men to relax and there was much lively conversation about
politics almost daily. Jonathan and
Oscar had political leanings toward the Socialist Party candidate Eugene V.
Debs, who was prominent in the socialist movement, and who was an unsuccessful
candidate for president of the United States five times from 1900-1920. Political rallies used to be held in the
blacksmith shop, and a piano was moved in to add to the spirit of those
occasions. Joseph said it was the only
blacksmith shop in the world with a piano.
When he would leave the blacksmith
shop in the evening, he would walk around the block and visit each of his
children. Oscar, Johnny and Annie all
lived on the same block. They had either
bought or had been given a portion of the land which had been granted to Joseph
by Brigham Young.
Ruth died January 1, 1900. Joseph continued to live in his own home and
he took care of himself. His children
and their families loved and respected him.
Johnny's young son, Thad, liked to go to his grandpa's house and have
prayer with him. The sons never gave up
teasing him about Harriet, saying they had all been out with her before he
married her and could have warned him.
In the winter when Joseph went into
Johnny's house to visit, his hob-nail boots would track snow into the house,
leaving muddy spots on the freshly scrubbed floors. Janet would never permit Lillie, who had just
scrubbed them, to let on that there was anything amiss.
Joseph died July 9, 1909 . He was laid out in the parlor at the home of
his daughter Annie Brown. Services were
held in the Sixteenth Ward, and he was laid to rest in the Salt Lake
City Cemetery beside Ruth
and the children who had preceded him in death in Salt Lake Valley.
A tribute to him was published
shortly afterwards in the Deseret News, signed only by JCL. It seems a fitting conclusion to his story to
quote most of it here:
To the Deseret News:
I attended the
funeral service of my old friend, Joseph H. Evans, yesterday, and listened to
the many good words that were well and truthfully spoken of him. I also thought of many things connected with
his life and character, of which no mention was made that might with propriety
have been told had time permitted.
Joseph H. Evans
was no commonplace individual. Indeed he
was a somewhat remarkable character. He
was a man of strong convictions and indomitable will; highly reverential and
willing to make any sacrifice for whatever cause he espoused; strong in his
friendships, and sympathetic, but not demonstrative; courageous as a lion, but
gentle as a child; always considerate of the feelings of others, but totally
indifferent as to the opinions of others concerning himself:; thoughtful in his
manner, deliberate in his speech, marvelous in his self control; capable of
smiling complacently when others would quail with terror or become wild with
excitement; with a keen sense of humor, but never hilarious; a capital
raconteur, but without the slightest pretension; a good listener and with a
retentive memory, but never garroulous nor given to volunteering opinions or
information.
His faith in his
religion was unbounded; his confidence in the Lord never admitted of a single
doubt. His sunny disposition never
deserted him even under the most trying circumstances. If those who endured imprisonment with him
for conscience sake had been asked to speak at his funeral (and many of them
were present) they would probably all have testified that he bore his
imprisonment with more complacency than any of his brethren, notwithstanding
his term was one of the longest, and that even in prison, as well as elsewhere,
he was a model of dignity, winning the respect and confidence of all with whom
he associated.
As a missionary
he was full of zeal, keenly appreciative of the value of a human soul and
tireless in his efforts to deliver his gospel message and leave all whom he met
without excuse in the day of judgment.
The writer recalls with pleasure his association with him in the mission
field as well as in other experience already alluded to; can testify of his
wonderful self-possession under varying conditions and will long remember the
laughable experiences related by him in his inimitable style while his features
betrayed no sign of the humor he must have felt, and which caused his hearers
to be convulsed with laughter.
. . . I am not
familiar with the children of Joseph H. Evans, but trust for their sake they
inherit the characteristics that so distinguished my old friend, whose memory I
shall ever honor. J.C.L.
