"Judge Dent, the mission which God has called upon me to perform in Utah, is as much above the duties of other courts and judges as the heavens are above the earth, and whenever or wherever I may find the local or federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's blessing I shall trample them under my feet." While it seems too monstrous for belief that a United States judge should make such remarks as these, it is a stubborn fact, borne out by the records of the proceedings of his court, that James B. McKean did all he threatened to do in the above reported conversation. His first attack was upon the Territorial attorney-general and marshal, both of whom, without the authority of law, were pushed out of office and their duties performed by the United States district attorney and marshal. The next step was to ignore the Territorial statutes providing for the impanelling of grand and petit jurors; and authorizing the United States marshal to select them at his own pleasure. The result was packed juries of pronounced anti-Mormons, chosen to convict the Church leaders. One more step and the machinery of the court was ready for the evidently contemplated judicial crusade; the United States prosecuting attorney having resigned, Judge McKean appointed as his successor R. N. Baskin, a man as bitter in his hatred of the Church of Jesus Christ and its chief officers as the judge himself; and not one whit behind him in recklessness. This appointment was made in violation of law, since only the President of the United States with the consent of the senate, has power to appoint that officer. The machinery all being ready, a number of indictments were found against men high in authority in the Church, under an old Territorial statute defining and punishing adultery. It was notorious throughout the United States that if these men in their polygamous relations were guilty of any offense at all, it must have been the violation of the anti-polygamy laws of Congress, and not the aforesaid Territorial law enacted by a legislature the members of which were chiefly polygamists. Among those indicated under this _regime_ was President Brigham Young, against whom an indictment with sixteen separate counts was found. Each count constituting a separate offense. He appeared in court to answer to these charges; and the judge in over-ruling a motion to quash the indictment took occasion to say: "Courts are bound to take notice of the political and social condition of the country which they judicially rule. It is therefore proper to say, that while the case at bar is called 'The People _versus_ Brigham Young,' its other and real name is 'Federal Authority _versus_ Polygamous Theocracy."'