Statement of the Case.

in the suit, and the appointment of a receiver, and alleges that the United States had filed in the District Court for the Third District of Utah a proceeding in the nature of an information against all the real property set out in the petition, for the purpose of having the same declared forfeited and escheated to the United States, which proceedings are now pending. And the answer alleges that said real property has become forfeited to the United States, as shown in said. information. The answer further states that the said corporation was a religious corporation for the purpose of promulgating, spreading and upholding the principles, practices, teachings and tenets of said church, and that it never had any other corporate objects, purposes or authority; never had any capital stock or stockholders, nor persons pecuniarily interested in its property, nor any natural persons authorized to take or hold any personal property or estate for said corporation, except such trustees as were provided for by its statute of incorporation, and that the power of appointing such trustees ceased and became extinct at the date of its dissolution; that up to that date said personal property had been used for and devoted exclusively to the promulgation, spread and maintenance of the principles, practices, teachings and tenets of said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, amongst which the doctrine and practice of polygamy, or plurality of wives, was a fundamental and essential doctrine, tenet and principle of said church, and the same was opposed and contrary to good morals, public policy and the laws of the United States, and that the use made of said personal property was largely for purposes of upholding and maintaining said doctrine and practice of polygamy, and violating the laws of the United States; that since said dissolution there has existed a voluntary and unincorporated sect known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, comprising the great body of individuals named in said intervention, who formerly formed the membership of the said corporation; that the organization and general government of said voluntary religious sect, and its principles, doctrines, teachings and tenets include the practice of polygamy, and have been substantially the same as

Statement of the Case.

those of the said corporation; that the said voluntary religious sect has upheld and maintained the unlawful and immoral practice and doctrine of polygamy as strongly as the said corporation did; and that any uses, purposes or trusts to which said personal property could be devoted in accordance with the original purposes and trusts to which it was dedicated would be opposed to good morals and public policy, and contrary to the laws of the United States. The answer further states that there are no natural persons or corporations entitled to any portion of the personal property thereof, as successors in interest to said corporation; that all definite and legal trusts to which said property was dedicated have totally failed and become extinct; and that by operation of law the said property has become escheated to the United States; that the allegation that said property was acquired by voluntary contributions, donations and dedications of the members of the corporation is not true, but that the late corporation carried on business to a wide extent, and whilst a large amount of personalty in the shape of tithes was paid to the church each year by the members thereof, yet the personalty now in the hands of the said receiver is in no part made up of voluntary contributions or tithes paid in as aforesaid, but is all of it property which was acquired by said corporation in the course of trade, by purchase, and for a valuable consideration; and it held the same in its corporate capacity, absolutely and entirely independent of any individual members of said corporation, and upon the trust and for the uses and purposes set out, which, as has been alleged, were in whole or in part immoral and illegal.

A replication was filed to this answer.

The last-mentioned petition of intervention and the answer thereto are in the nature of an original bill and answer, but serve to present the whole controversy in all its aspects, and for that purpose may properly be retained, as no objection is made thereto.

The cause came on to be heard upon the pleadings, proofs and an agreed statement of the facts. The court made a finding of facts, upon which a final decree was rendered. The facts found are as follows:

Statement of the Case.

"1st. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was, from the 19th day of January, 1855, to the 3d day of March, A.D. 1887, a corporation for religious and charitable purposes, duly organized and existing under and in pursuance of an ordinance enacted by the legislature of the Territory of Utah, and approved by the governor thereof on the said 19th day of January, A.D. 1855, a copy of which ordinance is made a part of the complaint herein.

"2. That on the 19th day of February, A.D. 1887, the Congress of the United States passed an act entitled An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,' approved March 22d, 1882, which purported to disapprove, repeal and annul the said charter and act of incorporation of the corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aforesaid and passed as aforesaid.

"3. That immediately before the passage of said act of Congress of February 19th, 1887, the said John Taylor was, and for a long time prior thereto had been, the qualified and acting trustee in trust of said corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; that after the passage of said act of Congress of February 19th, 1887, the said John Taylor claimed to hold and continued to exercise the powers conferred upon said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by said act of incorporation until his death, which occurred on the 25th day of July, A.D. 1887.

"4. That at the date of the passage of said act of Congress of February 19th, A.D. 1887, and for a long time prior thereto, there were no assistant trustees of said corporation, none having been elected, appointed or qualified since the year 1887; that said Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor were, at the commencement of this suit, counsellors and advisers of the said John Taylor, and continued to his death counselling and advising him respecting the management, use and control of the property hereinafter described.

Statement of the Case.

"5. That since the passage of said act of Congress of February 19, 1887, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has existed as a voluntary religious sect, of which the said Wilford Woodruff is the acting president, and it has had duly designated and appointed by the Probate Court of Salt Lake County, in said Territory, in pursuance of the act of Congress aforesaid, the following-named trustees, William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, to take the title to and hold such real estate as shall be allowed said religious sect by law for the erection and use of houses of worship, parsonages and burial grounds.

"6. That at the time of the passage of said act of Congress of February 19, 1887, there were no outstanding debts of or claims against said corporation, so far as appears to the court from the evidence herein.

"7. That at the time of the passage of the act of Congress of February 19, 1887, the said corporation owned, held, and possessed the following real estate in said Territory, to wit."

The items of real estate were then enumerated, being substantially the same as those specified in the petition of George Romney and others, before referred to, with the addition of the valuation of each item or piece of property; the Temple Block being valued at $500,000; the Guardo house and grounds at $50,000; the Historian's office and grounds at $20,000; the Tithing-office and grounds, one portion at $50,000, and the other at $25,000; the Church farm at $110,000; and the seventh item, known as "coal lands in Summit County," valued at $30,000.

The court further found as follows:

"The legal title to the real estate, first above described, known as the Temple Block, at the time said act of February 19, 1887, went into effect was in John Taylor, as trustee in trust for the said corporation, which said trustee in trust subsequently and on the 30th day of June, 1887, attempted to convey the same to William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, as trustees, by a certain instrument in writing in the words and figures following, to wit:

"This indenture, made on this thirtieth day of June, in the

Statement of the Case.

year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, by and between John Taylor, trustee in trust of that certain body of religious worshippers called and known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, party of the first part, and William B. Preston, presiding bishop of said church, and his two counsellors, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, parties of the second part."

The indenture then recites the appointment of the parties of the second part, by probate court of Salt Lake County, as trustees to hold certain real property of the said church located in Salt Lake City, under and in pursuance of the 26th section of the act of March 3, 1887, and purports on the part of Taylor, the party of the first part, in consideration of one dollar, to convey to the parties of the second part and their successors duly appointed, upon trust, the property referred to, being all of block 87 in plat " A," Salt Lake City survey, for the use, benefit and behoof of that body of religious worshippers known and called the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints, and for such use as said church or its authorities should dictate and appoint, with provision for the devolution of the property in case of failure of the trustees.

The court further found as follows:

"The said Temple Block was taken possession of by the agents of the said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, then existing as a voluntary unincorporated religious sect, when Salt Lake City was first laid out and surveyed, in 1848, and since said date has been in possession of said church as a voluntary religious sect until it became incorporated as aforesaid, and then as a corporation; that at the time the same was taken possession of as aforesaid it was a part of the public domain and continued to be such until said land was entered by the mayor of said city, along with other lands, on the 21st day of November, 1871, under the town-site act of Congress entitled 'An act for the relief of cities and towns upon the public lands,' approved March 2, 1867; that on the 1st day of June, 1872, the same was conveyed by the mayor of said Salt Lake City to the trustee in trust of said corporation, in whom the title remained until the act of Congress of February 19, 1887, took effect.