Letter from Franklin Snyder Richards, 26 January 1897
President Wilford Woodruff,
Dear Brother:
I have examined a copy of the deed from President Brigham Young
to Brigham Young, Jr., William B. Preston, Milton D. Hammond, Moses
Thatcher, Charles O. Card, George W. Thatcher and Ida Ione Cook, as
Trustees for the Brigham Young College, and find the following provi-
sions contained therein relative to the Trustees:
"The said Trustees shall hold their office as such during the
will and pleasure of the said party of the first part, his heirs or
assigns, and shall be subject at any time to removal by him or them, or
until the estate shall be fully settled up by the executors of the said
party of the first part and the executors be fully discharged from all
responsibility connected therewith, then said Trustees shall be appoint-
ed and hold their office during the will and pleasure of the President
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who believes in and
carries out all the revelations given by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.,
and President Brigham Young, and, in the event of said removal of either
or all of said Trustees, as aforesaid, the said party of the first part,
his heirs, assigns or successors in office as President of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, shall fill such vacancy or vacan-
cies so made, and the Trustee or Trustees so appointed shall on re-
ceiving and accepting said trust be vested with all the right, title and
authority that were held by the said Trustee or Trustees so removed."
I am of opinion that, inasmuch as the estate of President
Brigham Young has been "fully settled up" and the executors "discharged
from all responsibility connected therewith," the Trustees now hold
