1899-02-20-New York Sun-Van Dyke Scores Polygamy

New York Sun, February 20, 1899, p. 3.

Van Dyke Scores Polygamy

He Asks the Men of His Church to Sign the Petition Against Seating Roberts.

The Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke announced from the pulpit of the Brick Presbyterian Church yesterday that he had received a copy of a petition which the Christian women of the church and of other churches throughout the country requested Christian men to sign.

"Its object," he said, "is to prevent the seating in the highest legislative body of this land of a man who is a criminal and a covenant breaker; one who is unfit to represent any part of our country; who is not only a Mormon, but also an open and convicted polygamist."

He said that he thought the women were right in the position they had taken, and that the men ought to help them, as their voting representatives. He said the petition might be signed in the vestry after the service, and recommended that all the men present should sign it.