THE UTAH CRISIS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1176, 6 May 1872, Page 2

THE UTAH CRISIS.

Thomas Hawkins, the husband of three , Mormon wives; by all of whom he has children, ■■•'has been convicted of adultery by a jury of anti-Mormons. It is understood, and has been for some weeks, that his punishment will cover imprisonment for several -" years, and whatever :fine his property will supply,. Mrs Hawkins "number orte/" formerly a devoted Mormon, but,. since, her quarrel with her husba'id fi ve" "years since, an apostate-from the faith— manifested great shrewdness in * her examination before the jury, and pleaded the cause of the prosecution with no little ingenuity. She . testified to the general good conduct of her husband, the father of her seven -living and five dead children, up to the period of her employ-,, ment of a Mormon servant girl, for whom. the man Hawkins speedily .confessed an attachment, and to whom he was at leiigch "sealed" by the, ceremonial of the church. Against this proceeding the original Mrs Hawkins felt inclinedtoprotest, but she confesses to have been finally ; talked into it. The servant became Mrs Hawkins No; 2, and the equal of "Mrs . Hawuins No. 1. • ; ' *'■■-' . :• • ; y ■ "With eye unmoved and forehead Unabashed, ■ ;.,,•, i She dined from off the plate she lately ;. ! . washed." This promotion was far from agreeable to the first wife. She found herself occupying a place no higher than that of her late servant iv the esteem and affec- ' tion of her husband. Society,. jtbp, gave the servant. an equal place with the wife. : At the table the husband sat with the 1 first wife on his right hand, and the second on his left. Sad hours were passed; •by the wife and mother, especially during the many nights of watchful loneliness when the husband was missing from her side. Clearly she was deserted for the fresh young serving woman by whom this devoted " saint" must "raise up seed tp. Israel." . r . . , . . ;, Evidently Mrs Hawkins number one managed to make the life of the saintly Hawkins anything but. pleasant from this time forth. To this fact: she testified in open court. In the presence of learned judges and eminent, barristers, this good , and' much abused woman swore, not -only in a technical sense,, but in the. sense as ascribed to "our army in Flanders," that she lost her faith hxthe" damned doctrine of plurality" from the "moment when she found herself deserted by her husband for the superior charm 3of that youthful. hewer of the domestic wood and drawer of the family dish-water, Elizabeth Mears. Still . she held on, concealing her grief from all but the husband— whose life, it is believed, this . : amiable lady managed to make sufficiently.. ; miserable — until the terrible day when number three — one \ Sarah Davis — succumbed to the charms of the irresistible Hawkins. This damsel was quite ; attractive in ap*. pearances, and although far from diminutive in stature, she yet proved to be the last feather in the polygamous cap of this bird of prey, Hawkins, as well as the last one required to break the back and heart of that not too patient camel, number one. For five years .she lived on alone, supported by her much- wedding husband, but no longer sustaining toward him the wifely relation. All this; time she lived in the hope and expectation that the man would yet abandon the recent fractions of himself, "and cleave once more unto that now. forlorn fragment with whom he had dwelt not unhappily for more than fifteen years. When at last she had sufficiently realised the heart-sickness . of a hope deferred, . she soHght.at. once the lawyers and the aweet revenge whioh courts and juries hold in store. Then followed the complaint, the indictment and the conviction. Her husband's lawyers suggested a compromise, and pictured the desolation of the family when the property should all be wasted in defending the rejoiner that she would prefer to enrich the lawyers rather than allow her husband to support hia '* outside woman" on an equality with herself, not only a match for Hawkins and an army of plural wives, but for bench and bar alike. Her triumph is complete, ;,