As the time is far spent, I do not think it wise to prolong this service; therefore I will say but little. I wish to endorse all that has been said, and thank one and all for the assistance which they have rendered on this occasion. I knew Brother Leslie Broadbent for twenty years. We have been together and studied together in his home, and I know that he was a faithful Latter-day Saint. He was the defender of the weak and oppressed, and a believer in works rather than in words. He was a man who could be depended upon, and I learned to love him. I was with him when he received his calling many years ago, and since then he has taught the plan, the true plan of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And his family can look back on his life and be grateful for such a man as a husband and a father.

Trial of Price Johnson and I. C. Spencer, Mohave County, Arizona, December 10, 1935, Testimony of President John Y. Barlow at the Trial of Price Johnson and I. C. Spencer (Defense attorney: Victor J. Hayek) (Prosecuting attorney: E. Elmo Bollinger) JOHN Y. BARLOW, a witness called by the defendant, being first duly sworn according to law, testified as follows: index_split_001.html ===== John Y Barlow.pdb DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. HAYEK: Q. You may state your name please. A. John Y. Barlow. Q. Where do you live Mr. Barlow? A. I live at Short Creek at present. Q. Is that in Mohave County, State of Arizona? A. Yes, sir. Q. How long have you resided there? A. About six months. Q. What was the occasion for you moving to Short Creek; for what reason did you go to Short Creek? A. Some of the boys wrote up and asked me to come down and help them out. Q. Who wrote to you? A. I believe Price Johnson mailed it. Q. Where were you living at the time you received the communication? A. Salt Lake City. Q. What purpose was set forth in the communication to you inviting you down there; for what reason were you asked to come down? A. I had lost my farm and things in Salt Lake and was on Relief and they were on relief and they wanted me to come down and help them get off relief. MR. BOLLINGER: May I call for the letter? MR. HAYEK: (continuing) Q. Do you have the letter sent to you from Short Creek asking you to come down; have you that letter in your possession? A. No, I don?t believe I have. I don?t remember what I did with it. Q. Don?t you think you can find it? A. I don?t know, I am sure. Q. Do you know the defendant, I. C. Spencer? A. I do. Q. How long have you known him? A. I first got acquainted with him in 1923 up at the Baldwin Radio Plant. Q. Where is that? A. In Salt Lake City. Q. Have you seen him during the last six months in Short Creek at regular intervals? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you know what his reputation is in Short Creek as applies to his moral character? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is that reputation? A. Good. Q. Are you a member of the Mormon Church? A. Yes, sir. Q. How long have you been a member of the Mormon Church? A. All my life. Q. Are your parents members of the Mormon Church? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is the United Order? A. The United Order is an order revealed by the prophet Joseph Smith for the saints to live economically and so that they could help one another. Q. Is the United Order an economic or is it a religious order? A. Both. Q. How does it function economically in Short Creek? A. By each one helping the other; it don?t make any difference what they are doing they all go in together and work to the good of all. For instance now, there was land there. We were buying and a saw mill. We all went into it together and paid twenty-five hundred dollars since we got there; bought the saw mill and the land and cleaned it up. Q. Since you have been in Short Creek, have you sought to influence families in Utah to come down and join the Short Creek community? A. On the contrary. I told them there was nothing there for them at present. Q. Do you know whether this defendant has ever tried to influence outside families or others to come in and join the Short Creek community? A. I don?t know as I have. Q. Do you know of anyone else in the Short Creek community who have sought to bring out citizens from another community to join the Short Creek community? A. I know of no one at present. Q. Is this defendant numbered among the men who have joined this United Order? A. He is. Q. Do you have any particular powers or membership fees or dues; is it an association; what is the nature; or does it have any particular ear marks you can identify it by? A. Largely, we form a common law trust. Q. Did you have any legal papers drawn by any one? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is the nature of the common law trust? A. Where we all will share alike. Q. How many men are in this common law trust? A. Maybe twenty. Q. Are there any women in it? A. I don?t know of any. Q. And do these men all live in Short Creek or around Short Creek? A. They don?t all live in Short Creek; some of them live in Salt Lake. Q. Are these men all Mormons? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you have any particular religious tenet that differs from the Mormon Church in any way? A. Not that I know of. Q. Is it one of the beliefs of the United Order that plural marriage should be adhered to? A. The United Order has nothing to do with plural marriage. Q. The United Order does not hold that form as a particular creed? A. No, sir. Q. Is that a creed of the Mormon church? A. Yes, sir. Q. By virtue of what law, or by virtue of what right, if you know, is that creed adhered to? THE COURT: The State is not objecting, but this matter of going into the law is not for a witness to answer. MR. HAYEK: I withdraw that question your Honor. (continuing) Q. What is meant by celestial marriage? I withdraw that question, and ask you this: Have you ever held any official position in the Mormon Church? A. Yes, sir. Q. What was that? A. President of the Conference in the Mission Field; Bishop Counsellor of the Stake; Sunday School Superintendent and Young Men?s Superintendent. Q. What is meant by the term ?celestial marriage?? A. It means a marriage restored by the Prophet Joseph to the Latter Day Saints. Q. Do you mean by the Latter Day Saints the Mormon people? A. Yes. Q. Was that a revelation by the Prophet Joseph Smith? A. Yes. Q. How do you know that was a revelation? A. It is in the doctrine of the covenant of the Mormon Church. Q. To your knowledge was the power of that revelation?I withdraw the question. I am through with this witness. CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. BOLLINGER: Q. Mr. Barlow, how long did you say you had lived in Short Creek? A. About six months. Q. And during that time have you known that I. C. Spencer has lived in Short Creek with Silva Alred [sic] as his plural wife? A. I have no knowledge of it first hand. Q. Well, do you know that they live in the same house? A. I saw them there. Q. Have they any children? A. I saw children there. Q. How big is the house? A. It is a small one-room house?I should judge. Q. And do you know either personally or by reputation that I. C. Spencer has a legal wife and nine children over in Glendale, Utah? A. I have heard he had. Q. How long have you known I. C. Spencer? A. I have known I. C. Spencer since 1923 or 1924 I think. Q. Did you know him when he lived at Lee?s Ferry? A I believe I visited him once. Q. Was Silva Alred there? A. I think so. Q. You don?t know his wife in Glendale, Utah? A. Yes, I have met her. Q. Do you know I. C. Spencer?s children? A. Yes, I have met some of his children. Q. Do you know how many he has? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know of an application to the Government for the Government to build a ditch at Short Creek? A. I heard some of the boys say something about them being up there lately. I don?t know of any other application. Q. You say you or some of the members of the United Order acquired some land; went into some joint holdings of twenty men or more who belong to this cult or whatever you call it? A. No they have no holdings in Short Creek yet. They all?that all belongs to the men and they have not turned it over to the common trust company at all. Q. Would the joint holdings of these members amount to two thousand acres or more? A. Hardly. I don?t think it would. Q. Now, how is it, you speak of acquiring a saw mill. How is the title to that saw mill held. A. It was held by one of the Johnson boys. Q. Is that Price Johnson? A. No, Elmer, I believe and I believe he got a deed to the land also. Q. Is it not true that one of the teachings and practice of this trust and members of the trust is polygamy and the acquiring of plural wives? A. No, sir, the trust has nothing to do with Polygamy or teachings of plural wives. Q. Well, is the trust and the members of the trust in favor of or against Polygamy and plural wives? A. Some are in favor and some don?t believe in it. Q. Is there any limit to the number of wives they may have? A. I don?t know anything about that. MR. BOLLINGER: Take the witness. RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. HAYEK: Q. Mr. Barlow is it your belief, as a member of the United Order that celestial marriage is a command? A. It is a direct revelation from God. Q. Can you tell the Jury just what ?celestial marriage? means? MR. BOLLINGER: We object if the Court please, we are trying a case of open and notorious cohabitation. MR. HAYEK: Counsel for the State has sought to solicit that same information. THE COURT: I do not recall that counsel for the State referred to that on direct examination. At any rate none of these matters appear to be material. There has been no objection offered by the parties and both parties have been putting it in. The objection is sustained. MR. HAYEK: I withdraw the question. I will ask you Mr. Barlow, is plural marriage a necessary tenet of the Mormon creed? MR. BOLLINGER: We interpose another objection. THE COURT: Objection sustained. MR. HAYEK: That is all. MR. BO