Robert H. Rimmer - The Rebellion of Yale Marratt

AN AVON GIANT/W143/400,000 COPIES IN PRINTROBERT H. RIMMERauthor ofTHE HARRAD EXPERIMENTThe shocking novel that explores a new kind of sexual relationshipTHE REBELLION OFYALE MARRATTPAPERS DARED TO REVIEWTHE REBELLION OF YALE MARRATT!"SENSATIONAL... Rimmer is candid about sexual mat-ters and presents a new code of ethics which is aimedat bolstering a social structure which in the past 50 yearsis breaking into smaller and smaller family units." -- Los Angeles Herald-Examiner"A SHOCKER, lots of sex, lots of wild parties, lots of freethinking. Its merits will be debated quite a while." -- Long Beach Press-Telegram"A novel on bigamy which is causing shocked reaction insome quarters and stimulating provocative debate inothers." -- San Francisco ExaminerTHE REBELLION OFYALE MARRATTROBERT H.RIMMERAN AVON BOOKFOR ALL WOMEN, ESPECIALLY TWOAll characters and situations in this novel are entirely fictionaland any resemblance to any persons living or deadis purely coincidental.AVON BOOKSA division ofThe Hearst Corporation959 Eighth AvenueNew York, N. Y. 10019Copyright 1964 by Robert H. Rimmer.Published by arrangement with Challenge Press.Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-16411.All rights reserved, which includes the rightto reproduce this book or portions thereof inany form whatsoever. For information addressChallenge Press, Inc., 63 Summer Street,Boston, Mass. 02110.First Printing. June, 1967.Fifth Printing, March, 1969.Cover photo by Morgan KaneAVON TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. ANDFOREIGN COUNTRIES, REGISTERED TRADEMARK --MARCA REGISTRADA, HECHO EN CHICAGO, U.S.A.Printed in the U.S.A.NoteIn the last portion of this novel, Yale Marratt createsa foundation called Challenge Incorporated. The similarityin name to that of the original publisher of The Rebellionof Yale Marratt is purely coincidental. In neither fact norfiction does any familiarity exist.
Prologue
The trial started promptly at nine thirty in the morning. The courtroomwas packed five minutes after it opened with a jabbering mob of the curiousand prurient. They had waited in the chill October fog with more thana thousand others for a glimpse of Cynthia and Anne, and the man, YaleMarratt, who lived so disgustingly with two women. The freak of a man... who had been headlined in the morning papers with that queer one,Agatha Latham, who was going to leave him her entire fortune. The manwho it was said had founded a multi-million dollar religion using somestrange and weird power he exerted over women both young and old.
When Ralph Weeks drove the Buick in front of the Buxton County Courthouse,Yale, Anne, Cynthia, and Agatha were immediately surrounded by a mob ofexcited women who shoved and pushed at each other, yelling and screaming.Some seemed friendly, others stared disdainfully. The police broke apath through the crowd up the steps toward the courthouse.
Anne grinned at Yale for a fleeting second. "There's no half-way, Yale,"she said, "they either love you or hate you."
Walking side by side, following Agatha who was being helped up the longstairs to the courthouse by Yale and Ralph Weeks, Cynthia and Anne ignoredthe jibes. For some curious reason many of the women who stared at themseemed to like Yale but were angry at the girls. One woman, slipping bythe police, said, "Pay no attention to them, dearies. They're just putout because you two got him and not them. I don't blame you a bit. Ifhe asked me, I'd marry him. You hang onto him." The police pushed thewoman back but Anne and Cynthia couldn't help smiling at each other.
Anne and Cynthia tried to conceal their nervousness. Here and there themilling crowd would feel the impact of their contrasting beauty and theyouthful grace in their clean young faces, and would become silent fora moment. It was as if the people staring at them suddenly realizedthat these were not sordid females championing an unholy alliance,but two lovely girls with a fresh ardor and wonder for life. Were thesespectators aware for a second of the proud strength of these women?
Cynthia, Anne and Agatha were directed to a row of bench-like seatsalready partially occupied by Barbara and Liz Marratt. Cynthia sat nextto Liz, looked at her timidly, and smiled back when Liz squeezed her hand."Pat isn't coming," Liz said. "I'm sorry it has come to this. I reallydon't know...." Liz sighed. She looked distraught. "When people seeyou and Anne they get confused. You look like such nice kids. I think alot of people feel that if this is the way you want it... why doesanyone have to interfere? There are worse things. It would be nice ifthere were some simple solution...."
Cynthia smiled at her but didn't answer; her eyes were liquid withtears. She tried to grin at Yale who sat next to Saul Angle at thetable set aside for the defense. Yale's lips formed the words "stopworrying." But Cynthia couldn't help herself. She prayed by some miraclethat they would continue their lives together. The words of Saul Anglekept circling in her brain. "We could work this out, Yale," Saul hadsaid just last night. "It doesn't have to come to trial. Don't forgetthere are people in this city after you... not for bigamy, but forother things. You've stirred up a lot of rancor. People are afraid ofwhat you'll do next."
Yale had asked Saul just how he proposed to "work it out." Saul hadsuggested a closed hearing with Judge Rufus Small who would preside onthe case. Make an admission of guilt and pay the fine. If they wantedto stay together, then they could move to Mexico or South America.
Yale had looked at Saul unbelievingly. "Saul... you miss the point.Cynthia, Anne and I have work to do right here. We have discussed thisthoroughly. I believe that the anti-bigamy statutes in this country wereinstigated years ago by politicians who used the hatred they unleashedto get themselves elected. I believe that Challenge would be denying itsvalidity and its right to existence regardless of money, if it failed tocontest the law. I've told you that I am not proselytizing for bigamy anymore than I am for monogamy. In the area of marriage patterns, I believethat the only responsibility of the government is to insist on the kindof marriages and families that will contribute to the perpetuation ofsociety. In the case of my marriage to Anne and Cynthia society has thisassurance. Beyond this, society should not interfere."
While Cynthia could agree, she couldn't allay the fear that she might loseYale. Worse, she had no confidence that Yale would be able to force societyto conform to his views.
Judge Small entered the courtroom from his chambers and the clerk calledthe court to order. Ralph Baker, realizing the publicity value of thetrial, was prosecuting the case himself. Looking smug and righteousas he made his opening remarks, Baker dramatically let his eyes rovethe courtroom.
Then he turned to the jury. "Bigamy or polygamy is the name given tothe crime of unlawful cohabitation with two or more wives," he said,emphasizing each word. "Seventy-five years ago this country was plaguedby a group of egomaniacs who insisted that plural marriage, the taking ofmany wives, was a divine command of their religion. In defense of theirbeliefs, some of these misguided men went so far as to try to prove thatJesus himself was a polygamist and Martha and Mary Magdalene were hiswives...." Baker smiled at the gasp of disgust that he had evoked fromthe courtroom. He continued: "To prevent the growth of this perniciousdoctrine our fathers in their great wisdom agreed with these peoplethat they had the right under the First Amendment to the Constitutionto establish a religion. However, when they invoked the First Amendmentto the Constitution to protect their right to enslave women and destroythe morals of the state, then our fathers, in their great wisdom, deniedthat this Constitution would permit a foul doctrine of this kind to sapthe roots of the state itself.
"Polygamy is a heinous crime. In the words of John C. Bennett who in 1842made a study of life in a polygamous society, polygamists are guiltyof infidelity, deism, atheism; lying, deception, blasphemy; debauchery,lasciviousness, bestiality; madness, fraud, plunder; larceny, burglary,robbery, perjury; fornication, adultery, rape, incest; arson, treasonand murder...." Baker whipped the words like lashes at the jury whostared at him in horror, then he continued in a softer voice. "In 1882,aware that polygamy must be stamped out in this Christian country,the Congress of the United States clarified the issue for once and allwith the Edmunds-Tucker Act which has since become the law of the land,and is the law upon which our own state statutes against bigamy andpolygamy are based. Not only is polygamy clearly defined as a crime inthe Edmunds-Tucker law but the law in its insistence on eliminating thiscrime from the land takes away the right to vote of the polygamist thusdisenfranchising him as a citizen. The law also permits the husband orwives in a polygamous marriage to be called to the witness stand and,if they wish, they may testify against each other.
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