wit HBI Mtmf^ tfHvA Z POLYGAMY OR, THE MYSTERIES AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM BEING A Full and Authentic History of this Strange Sect From its Origin to the Present Time WITH A THRILLING ACCOUNT OF THE INNER LIFE AND TEACH- INGS OF THE MORMONS AND AN EXPOSE OF THE SECRET RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE DELUDED FOLLOWERS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG It Formerly Editor of the Salt Lake Reporter, and Clerk of the Supreme Court for Utah Assisted by Hon. O. J. HOLLISTER, United States Revenue Collector for Utah WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY . MURAT HALSTEAD, the renowned author ILLUSTRATED WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF STRIKING SCENES OF LIFE AMONG THE MORMONS WORLD BIBLE HOUSE PHILADELPHIA, PA. ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1882. BY J. R. JONES W THE OFFICE OF THE. LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON D. C , U 8. A. ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE YEAR 1904, BY D. Z. HOWELL IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, 0. C. U. 8. A. ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1904 BY J. R. JONES IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. U. S. A Bancroft Ubnu> TO .WOMEN OF AMERICA, Whose Sympathies are ever active in behalf of their Suffering and Oppressed Sisters, THIS IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED In the hope that it will interest them in the condi tion of the Women who are living in Moral Bondage in U^h. INTRODUCTION BY MURAT HALSTEAD. THE Mormon field has had attractions for genera- tions to curious travelers, writers studying social problems, and politicians investigating popular phe- nomena. The State of Utah has other interests, but the Mormon questions surpass all that may be described as sensational. Among the newspaper historians, Mr. J. H. Beadle, author of " Polygamy, or The Mysteries and Crimes of Mormonism," who was well known to me person- ally, and for several years a correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, while that paper was con- ducted under my direction, was a fearless man, largely and well-informed, a close observer, a searcher for and student of facts, with a trained reporter's talent and taste for finding the truth. He rarely had an equal in the art of investigation, and always fortified himself when he accepted the responsibility of presenting matters that caused con- troversy, as his Mormon writings did. He did more to bring before the country that which was odious among the Mormons than any other writer, and he was a firm believer in the conditions of the social shame he described. It is due to him to say that the testimony taken by the Senatorial Investigating Committee, who this year summoned witnesses and rigorously examined them, did not disturb the investigations by Beadle, that had appeared in his famous book ; but in a great degree ill iv INTRODUCTION. supported him, giving the Mormon story an increase of disrepute and warning of danger. Beadle's writings were the most downright and convincing of the relentless antagonists of Mormoii- isrn, and the developments in the case of Senator Smoot will renew the emphasis of his severities and revive interest in his writings. Miss Kate Field also visited Utah, and had the advantage of being a brave woman with true womanly sympathies ; but her warfare, though brilliant and forcible, was not fought to a finish, for she was called away to be historian of the Hawaiian Islands during the agitation that preceded the annexation of the Archipelago. Exposure in an exploring expedition caused her death in Honolulu. Her analysis, from personal observation, as that of Beadle, of the testi- mony found in the Senate documents, would have been an increase of electric light on a dark subject. The Book of Mormon was found, according to believ- ers, in the " sacred soil " of Central New York, not very remote from the burial place of the Cardiff Giant. The origin of the book in which the divine spirit was declared to have been manifest, has not been quite as satisfactorily accounted for as the sUnry giant, which was the practical joke of a stone cutter, who hid himself with a big stone, created the mon- ster, buried it himself " darkly at dead of night," and discovered it, when, with the aid of acids, it became ancient. It was not a lot of golden plates upon which the word of the Lord was written. The alleged litera- ture on yellow plates was a case of the old-fashioned INTRODUCTION. v " Gold Brick," only the brick was a book ; and the only chance for a true story is that the production was the work of an anonymous writer, who was to himself a self-evident genius and a failure as a novelist, and, in a state of starvation, had the sagacity to prefer a small fee and security to the fame of a crank, and passed the manuscript as a fresh volume of scripture, with which mankind was freshly endowed. The Imposter, whatever form it took, found a patron who preached the preposterous, and after a while it pre- vailed mightily. The " Holy Book '' was, it seems, when prepared for the conquest of the world, the offspring of squalor. It was an evolution of the enthusiastic idiocy, that causes the fennentation of the special brand of ignor- ance that is fruitful, bearing a crop of superstition, the realization of imposition upon meagerness of mind and poverty in worldly goods. Great loads of folly are carried by Pretenders, who have the cunning to understand that it is the impossible that is easy, if there is enough agony used in the effrontery of criminal cheating. The first lesson, when choice of a career is made, is the profession of imposture ; and a talent for the super- natural is self-confidence and self-deception, reaching the blissful elevation " where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise." Wisam did not cry loud and long in the streets or the wheat fields of the Mohawk Valley for the Book of Mormon, gold plated with invisible gold. The true story, after the wretched, fraudulent tale met skepticism, is a long and curious one, showing d INTRODUCTION. miraculous power of impudence an example of the wonders wrought with the magic wand that awakens faith in the foolish and credulous It was resolved to found a Church of an old sort, and to " build upon the Gold Brick " that was found and lost, according to speculation. The founder who used the Brick as a corner-stone, did not err in asking his converts small sacrifices, but giving them doses of doctrine for a colossal capacity to accept the incredible and cling to it strenuously. That is the receipt, restrained by no patent, for the conversion of the savage and the imbecile, to cling to any fraud who says he has a commission to speak for God. Throw in a muddle of mystery and promise of oriental indulgences, self sufficient special privileges of sensuality, and follow the fanatical teachings of Mohammed, with the promise of an alluring paradise to those who die for a fad ; and reap the harvests that wait upon ambitious and unscrupulous adventure. The " Book of Mormon " must have been unknown by the producer or the promoter, who wrote the first novel and prefaced it with the a find " of golden plates, that were to redeem the plain prose of exist- ence with the fantastic. It was a clouded romance the Tittlebat Titmouse member of Parliament, who introduced the great and gifted bill, " To Do Everything for Everybody," and the charm was potent that exposed the hardships even of abounding America, to contrast with the voluptuous blandish- ments of Asiatic dreamers. It was a captivating creed to propose that there . INTRODUCTION. vii was a religion, lovely and Holy, that called not for self denial, but turned to virtue the sins of youth. The peccadillos, for which deeds of repentance in the old way are required, were to be superceded by commands of the Book of the Gold Brick, with spirit- ualism and harems in Oriental palaces and temples. There were converts, devotees, soldiers, a restoration of the days of religious crusaders ; and presently the world was to be conquered in flowery beds of ease. It was necessary to move on when the call came, even though it was winter time and there were women and children. The place selected for such a Church, it turned out was not the spot to flourish. The first of the hegira was to Illinois, and the hard headed common sense of the people of that part of the country presently developed into intolerance and forced further movements, until the New Church, and the Society of the people that were the rulers, passed through varied excitements that aroused mobs, and there were the requisite martyrdoms. Lynch law was tried, and irregular punishments inflicted. The slaughter of the Prophet followed, and the Mormons, claiming all the honors of persecution, began a long pilgrimage, a far greater journey than that of Israel. There was the blood of the Prophet and the going forth from Egypt, and the victims were taught that they were victors. It was an imitation and an advertisement. Far away at last Was found the promised land, that was as an Eden restoration, and where there was a Dead Sea, into which the Jor- dan rolls. The movement was one of privation and viii INTRODUCTION. suffering extraordinary, and many of the pilgrims perished. Then a truly wonderful work was performed. The desert blossomed. It was a strange story to tell, and the fancy that passed for history and aired a theory that these were the favored people of the Lord. The imagination of the world was kindled. The claim was that here was a chosen people, and that the Pres- ident of the United States was a pursuing Pharaoh. The discovery of the goodly land of Utah was a sur- prise, even to the people of the nation. Mormonism increased and multiplied. Missiona- ries were sent forth by them, and swarms of illiterate persons and patient, laborious peasants of Europe sought the new land with a flavor of spiritualism, that takes root in stolid races transplanted to volcanic soil. The organization of those who braved the dread- ful journey was admirably ordered, and there was magic in the walls of the city that arose as at a touch, and the fertile lands that blossomed. The peculiar distinguishing institution of the Mormons was that of polygamy. The Church was responsible for it ; the Church was founded on polyg- amy ; the Church proclaimed the plural wives doc- rine and the apostles performed accordingly. Disor- der and troubles increased as the years passed, until General Albert Sydney Johnson led a force of United States regulars to the distant colony, whose attrac- tions were so strangely mingled with its distraction. This was the appearance of the sword and the iron hand. The great civil war followed and Mormonism was almost forgotten. It was thought they would INTRODUCTION. ix shed their hard shell peculiarities if they were not given the qualification of excessive observation. There had been two generations of Mormondom, and after some years of comparative order, though there was occasional warfare and bloodshed, between others than Mormons and Indians, with the polyga- mists and savages. In 1860, one of the great political parties engaged in the politics of the Presidential year denounced the Mormon Church and city as a relic of barbarism ; and slavery passed away finally, with the approval of all classes and parties in our country. The case of the Utah Senator-elect, Mr. Reed Smoot, is in the highest degree a matter of con- sequence. The crafty Mormon priesthood have understood and provided the possible line of his defense. The Senator-elect is liable to get a com- mand from God any day after he is, if he is to be, a Senator in his seat. Indeed, according to the Mor- mon creed, he is one of the self-appointed masters of that great community. He is- expected to walk and talk with God daily, and he can have a revelation direct at any time, that in the Mormon lingo for marriage with a plural wife, he can " take a virgin " to be his second wife, or as happy as Mr. Smith is after taking five wives ; and there is no limit. Mr. Sinoot may ascertain any day that God com- mands him, or he may in his own holiness call unto God and command him to express His satisfaction that the good man may take many virgins for wives, and the Holy Mormon Book settles it that he can not commit adultery, though he may marry all the x INTRODUCTION. women of half a dozen families, including mothers and daughters and mothers-in-law. Why was Mr. Smoot selected to act as an entering wedge, as it were, for the Priesthood of Mormondom into High Politics ? There are certain superficial reasons that we may state with confidence. Mr. Smoot is a Republican, and has, according to conventionalities, the accomplishments and education, dress, manners and courtesies, of a gentleman. That is not all, however. He is, in his family relations a monogamist. He was picked out that he might not be embarrassed with a harem, to get into the Senate ; but if he desires, he could, with the key for entrance into Washington society that his social position as Senator means he might even negotiate hopefully for a dozen ladies of Washington to become his wives ; and on reception day at the White House, if he got cards of invitation, he could have the roll called with a resonant voice, as he passed the Presi- dent ; or, to avoid mistakes, he could call the roll himself; or state the number of the wife taken, as she passed, so that her matrimonial standing place, unless the last shall become the first, would be known. There is no widow in Washington who in case the command of God, liable to be given at any moment, might not be married to the monogamist, if she would consent, with all her daughters and also her aged mother, if Providence benignly lengthened out her days, that she might come down to us from a former generation to these happy times. Senator Smoot might, as there could be no doubt of his calling, if he should get a revelation from God INTRODUCTION. xi and the Senator's word of honor might be obtained that he had received not the word of God exactly, but God's command, to comfort the widows and the fatherless, according to the means of the Senator and his power of persuasion. In the course of a little time, if the Senator elect from Utah ' becomes the Senator in fact, and a word of that sort from the god of the Mormon scriptures is a command, of course and no one would be so depraved as to question or to dispute the word of a gentleman under such circumstances the Senator could communicate with his beloved sovereign State, that he had married many estimable ladies, and saved them from the possibility of ever going wrong, and needed not only a State flag, but an appropria- tion, for domestic purposes, for the ladies of the District of Columbia who had consented to be his wives ; and Solomon in all his glory had not such a household as he when the Queen of Sheba called, and lo, the half had not been told her until she had made the personal acquaintance of the mighty monarch. It follows, of course, that if Senator Smoot elect becomes Senator, all forms arranged, and he should get a command from the L/ord and find favor in the eyes of the ladies of all ages and conditions, " with- out regard to color or previous condition of servi- tude," the dignity of the State of plural marriages would demand that the Senator should have an Endowment House in Washington ; and, indeed, it was once proposed by one of our most illustrious Presidents that each State should find Senators xii INTRODUCTION. mansion houses in Washington for their convenience and as a tribute to their States. The idea was that each sovereign State should be regarded as a government, and provide Ambas- sadors with accommodations. If Utah sets the fashion in that respect, it would seem to be in order that the elder States should overlook the disabilities of youth in the State, and follow the precedent of the State of largest liberality in expanding domestic facilities and providing home accommodations, according to the large mindedness of Senators, and their extraordinary social and official standing. It would probably not take thirty days for a Mormon Apostle of the United States these two in combina- tion one man with two dignities, could get a reve- lation from the Divine Source, that all Senators should be taking plural wives into Washington society, and shed upon them the beatitudes, as in the case of Mormon Senators and gentlemen and each of the named Senators would have to fight for his marriage vows. The measure of Holiness given to Utah might be rendered unto all the States, and through the States extended to the Senators. The Senate of the United States should not be insensible to the privileges and problems for Senators the period affords, and take time by the forelock to adjust a code of domestic rules, that is if the Mormons make an Apostle Senator, and fashion turns that way. The apparent truth is that the Mormon rulers have planned the matter of uniting their Church with the State, and setting the example to all the United INTRODUCTION. xiii States. They trained up Mr. Sinoot, so that there should be found no personal objections, and no spot or smirch on his admission to the Senate. Then the truth of the doctrines and the Holy habits of the Saints, who take virgins, as they say, in their official language, for wives, and " seal " them forever from the sins of ordinary creatures ; and hence the re- markable, and we may say radical testimony that has been given, was under the protection of sovereign State- hood ; and this is a State question, and a matter of national and international distinction. The volume of testimony that has been taken in course of the Senate investigation, proves that the Mormons, with very scant ceremony indeed, marry their own mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law, and no matter how many beloved sisters ; and that the High Priests themselves have many and costly families, though the poor ones risk the luxury of plural wives, housekeeping in single rooms, light house- keeping at that. It is so common as to be almost a fixed rule that the Mormon priest gets the money and the wives, and that their invaluable authority for their enlarged lives is direct communication of a per- sonal and confidential character, with the Author of the Universe. They wish to " seal " their State sovereignty with the " seal " of the Church, that Church and State shall be under the broad seal and extended wings of the American eagle and State Sovereignty, even as one. That is what they have designed and are doing, so far as they have not done it, or have not been caught at it up to date. xiv INTRODUCTION. The most material and instructive part of the volume of which this is the Introduction is in this history of Mormon mystery and crime ; and it proves the things here set down and much more. Taken as a whole, considering the advance of the world, it is astonishing as well as an abomination. The programme set forth by the Mormon Church is that they feel themselves the u predominant factor" in a vSovereign State, and propose to use it for all it is worth ; and that is the meaning of Mr. Snioot's elec- tion the reason for exploiting his exceptional per- sonal character. It is a test case, and is wanted by the Church as representative that it may overcome and appropriate the State. The Church goes into politics to seek safety for its u mysteries and crimes." The Church and State are to be a joint fortification, if not presently obliterated. There is nothing of the gross or grotesque sug- gested in this paper, we trust. The intent of the "Apostles " is that the State shall be within the scope of the jurisdiction of the Mormon Church. The sanction of the hideous situations evolved in the Church, that the Senate investigation discloses the sworn testimony officially reported and printed does not warrant and demand a sense of humor or spirit of levity, but it is impossible to omit to mention the dramatic situations, hideous and lamentable, far- cical and tragical. It is Shakspearian in its ming- ling of comedy and tragedy. It ' is the play of a Church with its State in the interest of an intoler- able superstition and imposition. The Mormon idea is that with the sovereign State INTRODUCTION. xv in the grasp of the Church, the State becomes their defence, and that they will be the only State Church in the Union, unless others for other reasons follow their example. They have committed the capital error of believing in their ignorance of American states manship, that they can find solid friends in Southern States, because in the South there is so great a rev- erence for the sovereignty of States, that they might on theory champion Utah on that ground, and make the Church a Citadel of the State the Sword and Shield of the State ! It is sufficient to say this would not be American, and could not, therefore, have being. The character and education of our people at large will not have it, for many competent reasons. The pity of it and the shame is that it shall be thrust upon our country. There is another error in the church conspiracy against the State, and it is in figuring that the Republican party once denounced u slavery and poly- gamy " as the u twin relics of barbarism," and now the false influence that there is somewhere resent- ment over the extinction of slavery that would give aid and comfort to the church, that is to an enemy of the United States. They have forgotten that there is no public man and no public opinion in the States where slavery was abolished by war, that would restore slavery. The South would not call slavery back nor permit it, if the question was their own exclusively. It is an im- possible thing to revive, North or South, a sentiment for slavery, and Mormonism will join the procession of doom. xvi INTRODUCTION. The Mormon Church has made a mistake that will wipe out their church ultimately, and never harm the State. The popular presumption is speedily the last of the u twin relics, " and the people in their power and their gracious good sense will say Amen. Many years ago, Cassius M. Clay was a guest at a public banquet in Philadelphia, and many old citi- zens assembled to meet him as the guest of honor, many men who had many views, radicals of all sorts, with daring ideals and freedom of speech. Mr. Clay's character stimulated adventure in speaking with unaccustomed breadth and vigor, and he was deeply interested ; but, near the close of the feast, arose, moved by the frankness that prevailed, and gave a humorous final turn to the occasion, saying : " Gentlemen, may I ask, is there a Mormon pres- ent ? " There was no affirmative response, but cries of, "None in the city of Brotherly Love." The Snioot case will abolish Mormonism without war. The scandalous blemish will be wiped out by the irresistible abrasion of the public intelligence, judgment, conscience and indignation. The oppor- tunity to do this in peace is fortunate, and the time auspicious for cleansing the country of one of the barbarous relics for which the people of the United States had no one to blame but themselves, for we had to accept from our forefathers the " colored labor " forced upon us, just as in South Africa is Chinese labor now demanded. z UJ oc Q _J I o CM CO Tt Q Z CO UJ i o O I CO z o 2 DC O UJ > LL INDIANS OF UTAH, SHOWING THEIR DRESS AND MODE OF CARRYINQ CHILDREN. MRS. KENNEDY TESTIFYING THAT SHE WAS A PLURAL WIFE SEE PAGE 544. THE PAVILION AT GARFIELD BEACH, SALT LAKE, UTAH GARFIELD BEACH, GREAT SALT LAKE, UTAH PREFACE. AMERICA is the paradise of heterodoxy. All sorts of wild, strange and even abominable religions flour- ish unchecked, side by side, and generally without violent collision. The wild dreams of the fervid Oriental imagination ; the vague shadowings of Gothic mysticism ; the coarse materialism of French infidelity, and the ideal fancies of Greek and Asiatic, all the errors and worn out theories of the Old World, of schisms in the early Church, the monkish age and the rationalistic period, find here a free air, a fertile soil, a more con- genial clime and a second native country, as it were, in which new and more luxuriant growths spring rapidly from the old and half dead stocks of pseudo- theology. But the inventive American mind is not content merely with old errors, and the Yankee is nothing if not practical ; hence we see that to every new or purely American phase of religous error, there is always tacked a feature of political power, commun- ism of property, social license or moral perversion, a general revolt against accepted theories in law, medicine, marriage, and social relations. ** 1 PREFACE. Let the extreme tend which way it will, it is equally an extreme ; whether of the anti-marriage Shakers, the Celibate Harmonists, the wife-communists of Oneida, or the Polygamous Mormons. All this is, perhaps, a necessary evil. In the perfect liberty of conscience guaranteed, the perverted or diseased conscience is equally free with the pure or healthy ; and where every man is free to choose as he will, it is reasonable to suppose that many will choose but poorly. Like all good principles this liberty of conscience is strangely liable to abuse ; but a careful examina- tion will show, I think, that the present condition is far better, with all its evil outgrowths, than would be any aiming at repression. Suppose either of the prominent sects to be made the Established Church if indeed the mind can possi- bly conceive of an Established Church in America the Methodist, for instance : then would that church at once lose many of its communicants ; most people would avoid it to the farthest extent allowed by law, not from any particular hostility to that one church, but simply because it was established. We may, indeed, congratulate ourselves, that with such perfect liberty of choice so few have adopted beliefs at all dangerous either to the State or to society; for these last are the only questions with which we have a right to deal. But certain forms of belief cannot possibly confine PREFACE. 3 themselves to speculative errors ; the perversion of moral and ethical principles is too radical to be con- fined to the heart, and the hideous moral gangrene, starting from 'the soul and center, works outwardly through the life in all manner of corruption, confusion and abomination. When the faith is perfectly inwrought, it cannot but show itself in acts, and with these the State has a right to deal. Perfect toleration is due to all beliefs, and these gross forms of error only demand attention when endeavoring, against the good of the State, to make a peculiar moral condition the general law for a whole people, and still more as laboring to radically pervert the Christian idea of marriage. If the experience of all civilized nations for three thousand years, and the best judgment of the best minds in law founded upon that experience, have proved any one fact more than another, it is that the marriage relation should be strictly regulated by law, that the State has an absolute right to prescribe the civil conditions accompanying and the civil rights resulting from it ; and that the human passions, whether excited by mere lust or by religious fanaticism, must be controlled by positive law. It matters not if an individual esteem it his natural right to act contrary to express law, or if several individuals constituting a community believe it to be a religious right ; they are equally subject thereto, and must take the legal consequence of disobedience. 4 PREFACE. It is then a gratifying fact, that so few have adopted beliefs tending to pervert the marriage relation. Of the more than seventy millions in America less than half a million are included in all of such sects. In this light liberty of conscience in America is almost a perfect success. The vast majority of our people have founded their religious belief on theories not inimical to the public good; and the .scores of varying sects which have arisen only to run a brief and meteor-like race, and sink like dissolved exhalations in the bogs and mire of ignorance from which they arose. But occasionally we see one of these parasitic growths upon the body of religious freedom, which, from peculiar and special causes, extends its exist- ence beyond what we would naturally look for ; and a few, originally transplanted from Europe where the parent organization has long since expired, maintain a sort of sickly life through two or three generations in America. Of such are the Shakers from England and the Harmonists from Germany. But where in contact with vital Christianity, they must sooner or later yield ; their wild enthusiasm is sufficient for rise and growth, but lacks the virtuous energy to direct and continue. To such, comparatively innocent and harm- less, the public direct little attention. But there are a few which manage to preserve a sort of isolation even in the midst of other sects. 01 PREFACE. 5 in extreme cases, to get apart and aside, and maintain for a long period an independent existence. Of these none have attained to such prominence as the sect called Mormons. Having leaders at once sagacious and unscrupulous, they have long managed to avoid whatever contact would weaken their organi- zation. We have seen them, from small and obscure be- ginnings, rise to a strength sufficient to create a local rebellion in Missouri ; transplanted thence to Illinois, rise to a threatening power ; transplanted again, flourish rapidly for a while, and though now evi- dently on the decline, yet -strong enough to create a difficult and delicate political problem, and like the Bohon Upas, overshadow a whole Territory with a deadly influence. Scattered through the nation Mormonism would be the weakest of all religions ; collected in one State, and ruling there with almost absolute power, they present a painfully interesting problem. Comparatively, their numbers are trifling ; locally, they are of great importance. In the light of the principles, here .enunciated, and with perfect confidence in their correctness, this work has been prepared ; with a view to the better enlight- enment of the American public on this question and if possible, to make the duty of Government and people more plain, to set forth the most salient points in the- progress of religious imposture, and to invite 6 PREFACE. the attention of the reader to a State rich in natural resources. This work contains all the material facts of interest in regard to Utah and the Mormons ; whether of the climate and resources of the former, or the history, theology and peculiar social practices of the latter. The history of the sect is drawn from many sources : from their own works, from personal records of several who have spent many years among them, from evidence published by the State of Missouri, from official documents of States or the General Gov- ernment, from previous compilations and other accred- ited sources. The author's unusual opportunities for personal observations of the lives and teachings of the Mor- mon leaders will be understood when it is remem- bered that for many years he resided in Salt Lake City as editor of the Salt Lake Reporter and Clerk of the Supreme Court of the Territory before Utah was admitted into the Union as a State: J. H. BEADLE. A CONCISE ESTIMATE OF MORMONISM. The following able article, written by Louis N. Megargee and published in his weekly magazine, " Seen and Heard, " gives a good insight into Mormonism in a condensed form. "The question of admission of Smoot, the Mormon, to a Congressional seat being a matter of public discussion, it might not be amiss to take a dip into the history of the inner and secret part of that religious organization known as the 'Danites,' or ' Destroying Angels.' u Readers of Joaquin Miller's famous novel, 'The Danites,' will remember what silent gloom the mere men- tion of that dreaded association cast over even the hardy pioneers of the Far West. This secret society of Mormon devotees was organized in 1839, ostensibly for the defense of the Mormons against those who opposed their religious tenets, and its members were always supposed by the Gen- tiles to have acted by authority of the officers of the Mor- mon Church. Originally this band of thugs was about 300 in number, and its members were bound by blood-curdling oaths and fatal penalties to sustain one another in all things. Numerous assassinations and outrages were laid at their door. " Defenders of the Mormon Church, however, have always insisted orally and in public prints which make up the history of the Latter Day Saints, that the Danites had no connection with the religious body of which they were individually members, and that they were organized by one Sampson Avard on his own responsibility and for the pur- poses of rapine and plunder. They contended further that as soon as the practices of the c Destroying Angels ' became known to the elders of the Tabernacle, Avard and all who persisted in remaining in association with him were cut off from membership in the Mormon Church. "Unfortunately, however, for this contention there is 7 A CONCISE ESTIMATE OF MORMONISM. testimony on record which robs it of the color of truth. When the Mormons had fled into Missouri they became involved in numerous quarrels with the inhabitants of that State, who accused them of acts of plunder of incen- diarism, and of secret assassination. They were driven from Jackson County into Clay County, and thence into Caldwell County, where they settled at the town of Far West. " Conflicts between the Saints and the Gentiles still con- tinued, many being killed on both sides, and in the midst of these dire troubles internal dissensions broke out among prominent members of the sect. Several of their chief elders apostasized and openly accused President Joseph Smith of gross crimes and frauds. "On October 24, 1838, Thomas B. March, President of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Hyde, also one of the Apostles, made, before a Justice of the Peace, in Ray County, Missouri, an affidavit in which March, cor- roborated by Hyde, said : ' They have among them a company consisting of all that are considered true Mor- mons, called the " Danites," who have taken an oath to support the heads of the Church in all things that they say or do whether right or wrong. The plan of said Smith, the Prophet, is to take this State (Missouri), and he pro- fesses to his people to intend taking the United States, and ultimately the whole world.' " The defiant and menacing tone of the Mormon leaders at that time did much to confirm the public belief, which exists to this day and will probably never be erased that the Danites were an inner sect of the Church dedicated to acts of assassination. In a sermon preached in 1838, at Far West, Sidney Rigdon, then one of the three Presidents of the Church, said : * We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day that we warn all men, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. " 4 The men, or set of men, who attempt it do it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on us to A CONCISE ESTIMATE OF MORMONISM. 9 disturb us it shall be between them and us a war of exter- mination, for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us. Or we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.' "Talk such as this naturally led to defiance of the law, and the militia of the State being called out, the Mormons were driven from Missouri and across the Mississippi River into Illinois, where they were joined by Smith, who had broken out of jail, where he had been confined with Rig- don, charged with treason, murder and felony. In Illinois the L/atter Day Saints were kindly received and were given a large tract of land in the hope that they would improve the value of the adjoining property. u There they created the famous city of Nauvoo, for which the Legislature of Illinois granted a charter and extended to Smith extraordinary privileges and power. It was there that he first secretly broached the doctrine of polygamy, although publicly declaiming against it. His solicitation, however, for spiritual wives became so open and notorious that a number of men, whose spouses had been approached, renounced Mormonism and began in Nau- voo the publication of a newspaper named the Expositor. * ' In its first number they printed the affidavits of sixteen women to the effect that Smith, Rigdon and others had en- deavored to convert them to the spiritual wife doctrine and to seduce them from their husbands on the pleas of special revelations from heaven. This publication created great excitement, and on May 6, 1844, Smith and a number of his adherents razed the Expositor office to the ground, de- stroying the presses and all the contents of the building. Its publishers fled to Carthage, where they obtained war- rants of arrest for Smith, his brother and sixteen others. When this document was served upon the Mormon presi- dent, he refused to obey and the constable was driven from Nauvoo. 10 A CONCISE ESTIMATE OF MORMON1SM. " The militia was called upon to enforce the law. Civil war seemed imminent, when the Governor of Illinois in- duced the two Smiths to surrender and stand trial. They were imprisoned in the Carthage jail, which, on June 27, was attacked by an infuriated mob, the armed guard over- powered and a deadly fire directed through the windows of the prison upon the inmates. "Hyrum Smith was instantly killed. President Joseph Smith returned the fire of his assailants with a revolver and then attempted to escape through a window,- but as he leaped, a well directed missile reached his heart and he fell lifeless upon the ground. Smith was succeeded as the head of the Church by Brighani Young, a man of rare executive ability, for whom it is claimed that he cut off the Danites from membership in the Mormon Church. The ridiculous nature, however, of this claim is revealed in the fact that it was in 1857, thirteen years after the death of Joseph Smith, that the Mountain Meadows massacre was committed. u Certainly it is not necessary to recall that infamous deed of blood, whereby an Arkansas immigrant company, numbering one hundred and thirty- two souls men women and children was so thoroughly exterminated that none lived to tell the tale except a few children too young to have any knowledge of the tragedy. That deed was plotted and executed by the leaders of the Mormon Church^ and so disdainful were they of the law that it was not until 1877 that John D. Lee was executed for participation in the massacre of twenty years before. He was a Mormon elder, and the testimony upon which he was convicted indubitably proved that Brigham Young and his followers were guilty of the wholesale assassination. u These are historical facts. "Smoot should be kept out of Congress as a United States Senator." CONTENTS. CHAPTER I THE SEED-BED OF FANATICISM. The problem stated Religious movements of 1800-'30 Con- vulsions, trances, jerks and visions Sidney Rigdon's " Disciples " at Mentor, Ohio Hon. James A. Garfield's opinion Joseph Smith and family Origin of the fraud . 21 CHAPTER II. ZION IN MISSOURI. The Mormon church organized Conversion of the Pratts Rapid growth Sidney Rigdon's disciples come in en masse Kirtland headquarters Foundation of Zion in Missouri Threats against the Gentiles Gentile resistance War Mormons expelled from Jackson county . . .33 CHAPTER III. KIRTLAND COMMUNISM AND MISSOURI WAB. Gathering of the deluded Thorough organization of the new church Mill, store and bank established Communism inaugurated The great explosion Smith and Rigdon flee to Missouri War breaks out Horrible atrocities on both sides Governor Boggs' "exterminating order" Hawn's mill massacre Mormons driven from the State . 43 11 1- CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE NAUVOO WONDER. Alliance between the Prophet and the land speculator Sudden and astonishing growth of Nauvoo Political trickery - Mormons a power in Illinois The remarkable charters Malign influence in the courts Crime, trickery, and polygamy Intrigues of Dr. Bennett and the Prophet Outrageous treatment of Mrs. Orson Pratt Dark days at hand W CHAPTER V. THE ANTI-MORMONS' REVENGE. Hostility aroused Spiritual wifery exposed Martha Bro- therton's revelations The " Expositor " destroyed by a Mormon mob Civil war breaks out Flight of the Smiths Recalled by Emma Smith They surrender and are assassinated in jail 75 CHAPTER VI. THE MORMONS EXPELLED FROM ILLINOIS. Funeral of the Smiths Remarkable disposition of the bodies Arrest and trial of those accused of the killing Recon- struction of the church The Twelve Apostles take the reins Murder of Miller and Leiza "Perfect oneness" War renewed Murders of Worrall, Wilcox, McBrat- ney, Durfee and Daubeneyer Iowa and Western Illinois combine to expel the Mormons The "Wolf-Hunters" Closing scenes of war, murder and misery GentUe Nauvoo ... 92 CHAPTER VII. SETTLEMENT IN UTAH. The Via Dolorosa Orson Hyde and Bill Hickraan " regulate " bad characters Mormon battalion enlisted for Mexican CONTENTS. 13 war Colonel Kane's life among the Mormons Pioneer band goes to Utah State of Deseret Utah organized Governor Brigham Young Trouble with officials Gen- tiles fly the Territory Official account of Utah affairs Mormons in open rebellion . . . ' . . .113 CHAPTER VIIL THE REIGN OF TERROR. Epidemic madness All Utah goes crazy The Mormon em- pire projected ; 1,200 by 800 miles in area Outposts from British America to Mexico The hand-cart scheme Horrible suffering The "Reformation" Jeddy Grant Blood-atonement Mutilation and murder "Shed hi? blood and save his soul " Murder of the Parrishes, Potter, Henry Jones and mother, the bishop's wife, and many others Recovery from the madness Startling news from Washington War at hand and a fresh im- pulse of madness . 132 CHAPTER IX. THE MORMON WAR OP 1857. "Anniversary Day " in Big Cottonwood A. O. Smoot's start- ling news "I am ready for the devils" Approach of the United States army Captain Van Vliet's mission Brigham forbids the United States to trespass " Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion " " Du dah, du dah, day ! " Colonel Kane saves the Mormons Governor Cumming Commissioners Powell and McCullogh Entrance of the army Flight of the Saints Their misery and poverty End of the war 149 CHAPTER X. THE MORMON MURDERERS. CUuses of the Mountain Meadows massacre Death of Apostla Pratt Vengeance sworn against Arkansas The wealthy 14 CONTENTS. emigrants Their destruction decreed "Let the Al- mighty's arrows drink the blood of the accursed Gentiles" John D. Lee's council The emigrants treacherously captured The awful massacre The long delay of jus- tice The author visits Lee and hears his confession Lee arrested National interest Lee's trial and execu- tion . . ; m 166 CHAPTER XL THE GOVERNMENT TAKES A HAND IN UTAH. The Judges make inquiry into "blood-atonement" Investi- gation of the crimes of 1856-'57 A fresh outbreak Murders of Drown, Arnold, Sergeant Pike, Franklin Mc- Neil and others Civil war in the States and Mormon glee Departure of Johnston's army Profits to the Prophets Brigham's despotism restored Governors Dawson, Harding, Doty and Durkee Secretaries Wooton, Fuller, Reed and Higgins Murders of Potter, Wilson, Walker and Black Tom Of Brassfield and Robinson Panic of the Gentiles Peace restored The author ar- rives in Utah ......... 188 CHAPTER XII. MY FIRST YEAR IN UTAH. First impressions The Holy City Topography Mormon leaders Travels in Utah "Pulling hair" Beastly cases of polygamy Mormon conference Votes non-in- tercourse with Gentiles A dreary winter Corinne The Sevier mines The author mobbed Sent to Wash- ington Signs of a better day 206 CHAPTER XIII. THE DEBATE ON POLYGAMY. Dr. J. P. Newman Debate at long range Debate in Salt Lake City Example of the Israelites The author's ob- CONTENTS. 15 servations Hypocrisy on the subject A broken heart Nameless horrors Marries his nieces Marriage of half- brother and sister Brigham justifies incest Hepworth Dixon's testimony Misery of women Infant mortality Degradation of all General effects .... 239 CHAPTER XIV. MORMON DOCTRINES. A theologic conglomerate Sidney Rigdon's part Joseph Smith's Orson and Parley Pratt's Brigham Young's Wonderful growth of Mormonism in England Analysis of the faith Gods, angels, spirits, and men Birth of spirits Adam falls uphill" The Holy Oil " Prayer cures Josephites on polygamy Their able arguments Gross perversions of Scripture by Brighamites Eclectic theology v 274 CHAPTER XV. MORMON SOCIETY. A supposition Collection of the queer ones A few sharp managers The unfortunate and criminal "Sydney Coves " " Hickory Mormons " Broad humor Poet- esses, as it were A rich field for satire The badly tithed victim Lying for one's religion .... 30$ CHAPTER XVI. MORMON GOVERNMENT. Absolutism An ancient model Three governments in Utah Church officials First President First Presidency " The worst man in Utah "Quorum of Apostles" The Twelve " A dozen men with fifty-two wives President of Seventies Patriarch "A blessing for a dollar" Bishops High Council Judge and jury Ward teacher CONTENTS. The confessional Evangelists Secret police or " Dan- ites " Civil government only an appendage Excessive power of the Mormon Courts Perversions of law and justice Organic Act defective Federal Judges Their weakness and disgrace Verdicts dictated from the pulpit Probate Judges really appointed by Brigham Young Voting system " Protecting the ballot " The Hooper- McGroarty race Plurality of offices as well as wives Tyranny of the Church The Mormon vs. the American idea The evils of which Gentiles complain . . . 329 CHAPTER XVIL THE MORMON TERRITORY. Territorial limits" Basins " " Sinks " " Flats "Rain and evaporation Elemental action and reaction Potamology Jordan Kay's Creek Weber Bear River Cache Valley Timber Blue Creek Promontory Great Desert Utah Lake Spanish Fork Salt Creek Tim- panogos Sevier River Colorado System Fish Ther- mal and Chemical Springs Healing Waters Hotwater plants Analysis by Dr. Gale Mineral Springs Salt beds Alkali flats Native Salts GREAT SALT LAKE First accounts FREMONT STANSBURY Amount of salt Valleys Rise of the Lake Islands Bear Lake " Ginasticutis" Utah Lake Climate Increase of rain Singular phenomena Fine air Relief for pulmonary complaints Natural wealth of Utah Game Indians and Mormons 353 CHAPTER XVIII. MORMON MYSTERIES AND SECRET MARRIAGES. The endowment Actors Scenery and dress Prerequisite? Adam and Eve, The Devil and Michael, Jehovah and THE MAGNIFICENT MORMON TEMPLE, SALT LAKE CITY, FAVORITE WIFE OF A WELL-KNOWN MORMON APOSTLE CARDO PALACE-THE RESIDENCE OF AMELIA, WHO WAS FOR MANY YEARS THE HAVORITE WIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. CONTENTS. 1 7 Eloheim A new version Blasphemous assumptions Terrible oaths Barbarous penalties Origin Scriptures and " Paradise Lost " Eleusinian mysteries " Morgan's Freemasonry " The witnesses Probabilities Their reasons Changes Secret marriages No proof Beating the Gentile courts .... ... 393 CHAPTER XIX. UTAH UNDER GRANT I. The forward movement Attack on the entire Mormon posi- tion Judges Wilson, Hawley, and Strickland Chief- Justice McKean Governor J. W. Shaffer Secretary and Governor Vaughan Secretary Black and the Nau- voo Legion Movement for a State government Judge McKean's court overthrown His character . .416 CHAPTER XX. UTAH UNDER GRANT II. AND HAYES. The author's researches in Southern Utah John D. Lee, Jacob Hamlin, Bishop Windsor, Bishop Haight and other worthies Campaign of 1872 The Poland bill Prosecutions under it Frightful perjury Some polyga- mists convicted at last Renewed action against polygamy Mrs. Froiseth's Anti-Polygamy Standard President Hayes' views ... . . 444 CHAPTER XXI. BRIGHAM YOUNG. His remarkable position Compared with Queen Victoria and the Pope His birth, conversion and rise i. Mormonism Marries Mary Ann Angell, Lucy Decker Seely, Clara Decker, Clara Chase, Harriet Bowker, Lucy Bigelow, Harriet Barney e.t a I. Death and funeral ceremonies *** 18 CONTENTS. His will Church reorganized John W. Young left out Brigham's character Was he a success? .... 474 CHAPTER XXII. DISSENTING MORMON SECTS. Natural tendency to dissent The Nauvoo breakup James Jesse Strang Reappearance of Dr. John C. Bennett Voree Kingdom on Beaver Island Murder of Strang Joseph Morris Trouble with the law Murder of Morris, Banks and the women Dispersion of the Mor- risites '* Reorganized Church " Young Joe Smith David Hyrum Smith William Alexander Smith Raid of 1869 Present Condition Ggdbeites Changes in the Brighamite Church 499 CHAPTER XXIII. CONTROVERSY OVER REED SMOOT, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM UTAH. Member of the Mormon Church Son of a Pioneer Polyga- mous Marriage Leading Banker Protest from Citizens of Utah Agitation throughout the country Senate Investigating Committee President Joseph T. Smith on the Witness Stand Mormon Leaders Defy the Law of the Land Smith declares himself a polygamist Admits having many Wives Refuses to obey the Law of the Land Marriages for Eternity Rights of Women Wife's consent not asked Witness not a " Spotter or Informer *' Revelation above Law. 525 CHAPTER XXIV. STARTLING DISCLOSURES BY LEADING MORMONS. President Smith Confesses Himself Guilty An Interesting Patriarch Personal Appearance A Martyr in Mor- CONTENTS. 19 mon Eyes Sympathy Turns to Disgust Value of Revelation Consented to Smoot's Election Forty- two Children and Proud of All Traces Polygamy Back to Abraham Plural Wife when Seventeen Years Old Maltreated by Mormon Husband and Left Him Apos- tle Merrill Polygamous Marriage More than One Hundred Relatives Apostle Lyman on the Stand Surprising Confessions People's Voice above God's . 539 CHAPTER XXV. HIGH OFFICIALS STILL PRACTICING POLYGAMY. A Happy Family Dinners and Euchre Parties Favorite Wife Plural Marriages Again Sealing for Eternity Authority for Polygamy Mormons Perjure Them- selves in Court Mormon Sects Condemned by Admis- sions of Its Own Members Critchlow's Evidence The Hierarchy Responsible for Political Measures Celestial Marriage of Dr. Park Prominent Women Agitators Polygamy the u Seed and Glory " of Mor- monism- Mormons of Brooklyn in Conflict with Mor- mons of Utah Sentiment of American Pulpit . . . 553 CHAPTER XXVI. Story of a Woman who Relates her Disgusting Experiences when she was Initiated into the Secret Rites and Mysteries of Mormonism in the Endowment House . . 570 CHAPTER XXVII. Thrilling Experiences of a Woman who went from Nauvoo, 111., to Utah with the Mormons and Remained there Many Years While Brigham Young was President Narrow Escape from Becoming a " Spiritual Wife'' . 578 CHAPTER XXVIII. Brigham H. Roberts A Member of Congress until For- mally Expelled Testimony Before the Senate Investi- gating Committee Openly Avows his Disregard of the Law Against Polygamy Moral Obligations to Main- tain Polygamous Relations Outweigh the Civil Statutes Against Polygamy Commands of the Mormon Church are Superior to Duties Imposed by the Law .... 593 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. CHAPTER I. THE HOT-BED OF FANATACISM. The problem stated Religious movements of 1800-'30 Convulsions, trances, jerks and visions Sidney Kigdon's "Disciples", at Mentor, Ohio Hon. James A. Garfield's opinion Joseph Smith and family Origin of the fraud. UTAH is the great American contradiction. The world stands amazed that the great Republic tolerates in its domain a theocratic despotism. Christendom is scandalized that out of its bosom has come a sect which has rejected the lessons of ages, and gone back for a model to the childhood of faith. Economists are puzzled by a commonwealth in which virtue is counted as a heresy and plurality of wives a mark of religious perfec- tion. Politicians wonder at a government without political parties ; philosophy is confounded by a revival of heathenism in the nineteenth century, and social scientists are shocked by the defense of blood-atonement and the open, defiant practice of incest and polygamy. These are the features which make Mor- monism interesting ; for as a religious sect merely it would be beneath universal contempt. To trace its origin in the hot-bed of American fanaticism, to set forth the gross features imposed on it by the gross passions of a few men, to point out its real weaknesses and relate its erratic history, is the object of this work. 21 22 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES If the geologist, laboriously searching out the beginnings and development of life on this planet, could have brought before him one living representative of the Age of Monsters, what problems would be solved ! At best the reconstructed mylodon, and the plesiosaurus restored, are but plausible guesses at the life as it was the living creature would furnish an infallible guide to the secrets of that primeval day. What the revived monster might be to the comparative anatomist, Mormonism w to the comparative theologian. Here is a religion born and developed in our own day; here are prophets and apostles of our own race, revelations in the vulgar tongue reported by telegraph, and printed in daily papers, and withal a list of wonders rivalling the fruitful annals of Israel, and a roll of martyrs equal to that of the primitive church. We have seen this religion take shape, and can deduce therefrom some safe rules to judge of the origin of other religions now hoary with age. I shall begin, therefore, with a portrayal of the peculiar condition which made Mormonism possible, and follow its his- tory as it naturally unfolds through the five distinct phases it has exhibited. The War of 1812-'! 5 was followed, like most wars, by an era of great enterprise, ending in a terrible financial convulsion; this was succeeded in the natural order by a greatly increased emigration to the then West, and a marvelous religious excite- ment which swept the sparse settlements of Ohio and Kentucky like a hurricane. Pouring through the Alleghany passes came tens of thousands of men of broken or desperate fortunes, and spreading from Lakes to Gulf they went almost wild amid the prodigality of nature, The outlaw fled here as to a safer field for crime, the bankrupt came to get a fresh start far from his creditors, the young and adventurous came for what might offer. In combats with savage beasts and still more savage men, then with each other, they developed that fierce destructive energy which long distinguished the South and West. Close behind them came the pioneer preachers, men of the James Axel and Peter Cartwright type, unlearned and ardent, narrow but in- tense; and in log cabin or open grove painted the horrors of AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. hell and the delights of heaven in rude eloquence to rude con- gregations. The lonely life of the pioneers predisposed them to gloomy reverie; if they embraced religion, they became fanatically devout; if they resisted the prevailing spirit, they plunged only the deeper into desperate wickedness. If a young man was of bold and ardent temperament, it was but a chance whether he would turn one way and become a preacher or the other and become a horse-thief. The century opened with the great Cane Ridge Camp-Meeting, in upper Kentucky, where at least 20,000 people gathered on various days, a dozen preachers of different denominations were preaching, praying or exhorting at once, and people fell by dozens and scores, struck dumb, and with agonizing screams for mercy. Among the thousands of uneasy spirits and wild-eyed visionaries, half impostor and half fanatic, was one Sidney Rigdon, a printer's boy of Southwestern Pennsylvania. There and in the adjacent sections of Ohio and Virginia was the central field of fanaticism and battle-ground of the sects. Into all these discussions young Rigdon entered with keen relish. He was a born controversialist, gifted above his tribe with fluency of tongue, of most insinuating address and yet intensely in earnest in whatever he happened to believe at the time; with all the proof texts of Scripture at command and full of plausible arguments. Even to the last years of his life, when- ever he heard of any discussion between ministers, his eye would brighten with its early fire and he would exclaim, "Ah, if I were young again how easily I could upset all the arguing preachers of these days." For a while he roamed from con- gregation to congregation, disputing with all who would join issue with him ; then united himself with the Baptists, apparently because they were just then hard pressed and needed controversialists. But in a little while the severe simplicity of that sect wearied him ; his fancy was captivated by the great movement of Stone, Campbell and others, and he eagerly sought an alliance with them. For a while he called himself a follower of Campbell, but his flighty disposition and intriguing temper illy suited with the pure spirit of the Reformers, and 26 POLYGAMY. his family professed conversion ; but when the revival ceased there was great strife among the ministers of various denomina- tions as to who should secure most of the new converts; Joseph's soul was vexed, and he began to have serious doubts. In this frame of mind he opened the Bible, and his eye fell upon this text: " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." James, Chap. I. v. 5. He, therefore, retired to a secluded thicket near his father's house, and knelt in prayer, supplicating the Lord to show " which of all the sects was really right." AVhile pray- ing, the entire wood was illuminated with a great light, he was enveloped in the midst of it and caught away in a heavenly vision, he saw two glorious personages and was told that his sins were forgiven. He learned also that none of the sects was quite right, but that God had chosen him to restore the true priest- hood upon earth. Afterwards, he began again to doubt, and, being quite young, fell into sin, and it was not until September 23d, 1823, that God again heard his prayers, and sent heavenly messengers to tell him his sins were forgiven. His account of this novitiate reads like a feeble parody on the biographies of John Xewton, John Btinyan and other vision- ists, varied by a short imitation of the childhood of Samuel the prophet; and being more tedious than edifying may be omitted. But on the night of September 21st, 1823, came the crowning vision, in which the principal visitor looked and talked as follows: " Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him I was afraid, but the fear soon left me. He called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi ; that God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be heard for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues ; or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there w r as a book deposited, written upon gold plates^ *Mm 1 o g Q ** ~ O -. 11 .- fa co O w < s 5 4 Q a 5 W g H ^ w a > u 27 '2$ POLYGAMY; OB, THE MYSTERIES giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the ful- ness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also that there were two stones in silver bows (and these stones, fastened to a breast- plate, constituted what is called the Urirn and Thummim) de- posited with the plates, and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book." Thenceforward he was on very familiar terms with such beings as angels, spirits and devils; but can only relate one in- terview with Jesus Christ. Being at work among the neigh- boring farmers meanwhile, and meeting othen lads in a social way, he spoke of his peculiar privileges quite often, and became in consequence an object of general ridicule. Finally, on the 22d of September, 1826, the angel conducted him to the Hill Cumorah known to the citizens of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, as the Big Hill and there the chest and the plates were uncovered. Later revelations add that there was a mar- velous display of celestial machinery, devils struggling with angels to prevent the work ; and that the devils were captured and compelled to file in procession before him so he could know them thereafter. To this day, the common explanation among the Mormons of any opposition to the priesthood is, " It's the work of the devil." The plates were " of the thickness of tin, bound together like a book, fastened at one side by three rings which run through the whole, forming a volume about six inches thick." The record was engraved on the plates in " reformed Egyptian " characters, consisting of "the language of the Jews and the writing of the Egyptians." In the same box with the plates, were found two stones, " transparent and clear as crystal, the Urim and Thummim, used by seers in ancient times, the in- struments of revelations of things 'distant, past and future." When the news of this discovery spread abroad, " the Prophet was the sport of lies, slanders and mobs, and vain attempts to AND CRIMES OF MORMONiSM. 29 rob him of his plates." He was ere long supplied with wit- nesses. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris make the following solemn certificate: u We have seen the plates which contain the records ; they were translated by the gift and power of God, for His voice hath declared it unto us, wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true ; and we declare with words of soberness that an angel of God came down from heaven, and brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates and the en- gravings thereon." The testimony of these three is prefixed to all printed copies of the " Book of Mormon/' for such is the name now given to the work. Oliver Cowdery was at that time a sort of wan- dering schoolmaster, rather noted as an elegant scribe. He as- sisted in translating the inscriptions, and took high rank in the infant church. He was disciplined, slightly, at Kirtland for living in open adultery with a servant girl, and was expelled from the church in Missouri on a charge of " lying, counter- feiting, and immorality," after which, if Hyrum Smith tells the truth, he and his brother Lyman robbed Hyrum's house while the latter was in jail. Cowdery died in Missouri, many years ago, a miserable drunkard. But no pressure could ever make him admit that his testimony was false. David Whitmer behaved much better; but when the first whisperings of polygamy and Danitism were heard, in 1835-7, he rebelled and was expelled, settling soon after in Richmond, Ray county, Missouri. For many years he maintained strict reticence about the plates ; but finally admitted to a neighbor that he did see an angel with them, viz. : Mr. John Angell. Within a few years Mr. Whitmer's grandson has taken high rank among the Missouri Mormons, and now the old gentleman swears his original testimony was true in every respect, adding, however, that Joseph himself fell away from the true faith. I visited him in 1878, and heard the whole story over again with new and amusing variations. Such was the story told and retold by these fanatics relative to the "Book of Mormon." < ft 30 AND CRIMES OF MORMONTSM. 31 The real origin of the work, however, is now shown by un- impeachable testimony. It was written by Solomon Spaulding, a superannuated preacher, who intended it for a historical romance after the style of "The Fair God" and " Malmistic, the last of the Toltecs." But the execution of his design was so feeble that he could never secure a publisher, and one of* the two manuscript copies fell into the hands of Smith and Cow- dery. The identity is proved by several persons who had heard Spauldfng read portions of the original ; but they all add that the long arguments on religion were not in the Spaulding work. These were doubtless supplied by Smith and Cowdery, as a critic can easily see in them a reflection of the debates on Universalism, Anti-Masonry and baptism prevalent at that time. The book attracted much attention, and while the many laughed the few were impressed ; Smith and Cowdery appear to have been agreeably surprised, but were at a loss what doc- trine to preach. They began with Anti-Masonry, then very popular, but soon dropped that and took up Millenarianism that the last days were at hand. This proved even more suc- cessful, for the country was full of disturbed intellects, the debris of the religious excitement of the day, and the Millena- rian idea at all times has a strange fascination for visionary minds. Nor is it confined to the ignorant; many intelligent men in every generation become impressed with the idea that " in our day the world has become so corrupt, that God Almighty is going to make a great change," and in spite of the plain declarations of Scripture, fanatics will wrest the mild precepts of the gospel, and force them to indicate that hell-fire and destruction are impending over everybody but their own particular sect. The speculators began as Millenarians, and that of the maddest sort, and soon the queer and crazy, the curious and the fanatic, even from a distance, flocked to hear the new gospel. PORTRAITS OF THE ORIGINAL MORMON LEADERS. 32 AND CHIMES OF MOKMONJSM. 33 CHAPTER II. ZION IN MISSOURI. The Mormon church organized Conversion of the Pratts Rapid growth Sidney Rigdon's disciples come in en masse Kirtland headquarters Foun- dation of Zion in Missouri Threats against the Gentiles Gentile resistance War Mormons expelled from Jackson county. TUESDAY, April 6th, 1830, the " Church of Christ" was or- ganized in Seneca county, New York, in the house of Peter Whitmer, township of Fayette. Such was the first designation of what is now called Mormonism ; even the name of Latter-day Saints was not adopted for some time after. The six original members were: Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrurn Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Samuel H. Smith, David Whitmer. The profane might have called it the church of Smith and Whitmer, though they varied the sameness a little by alternating names and adding that of Cowdery ; but the looks of the list would have been considerably improved by the addition of a few Browns and Joneses. Martin Harris had already lost caste by letting his wife have the manuscript, as aforesaid, and does not ppear with the Immortal Six. Of these two were murdered 'n jail, Samuel H. Smith, their brother, died soon after of ex- citement and over-exertion, two apostatized and one became an anti-Brighamite. Smith and Cowdery laid hands on and ordained each other, and the six entered into a covenant to serve God and convert the world. The next Sunday Oliver Cowdery preached the first public sermon on the new faith ; a few converts came in, active preaching followed, and before the month expired the first miracle was performed in Colesville, Broome county, New York. Newell Knight, who was under conviction, was seized and possessed by a devil, and in the presence of many witnesses 3 34 POLYGAMY. was lifted from the floor by uiiseen hands, knocked against the ceiling and otherwise diabolically treated. Joseph commanded the devil to depart, which it did at once; Newell was happily converted, and had a glorious vision of angels. He lived and died a faithful Saint. Newell swears to all this, as do many other Mormons; so it requires some skepticism to doubt it. Of course there was much excitement, and a few conver- sions. Joseph, in 1827, had married Emma Hale, who was now declared Elect Lady and Daughter of God. In August, the same year, Parley P. Pratt, a young Christian ("Camp- bellite") preacher, was converted, and soon after his brother Orson ; these two have done more than any others to make the new church respectable. Parley at once proceeded to Ohio and converted Sidney Rigdon, who took almost his entire congrega- tion with him; and now the new church had solid materials to build with. In December Rigdon came on a visit to the Smiths, and with his aid the crude doctrines so far announced were licked into shape. The " First Principles of the Gospel," so called, were adopted almost literally from the tenets of Alex- ander Campbell ; to these they added laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, a Millenarian creed, and the revival of the gifts of prophecy and healing. This constituted substan- tially the creed of the church till polygamy was introduced ; Brigham Young has since added the Adam-God theory, Parley and Orson Pratt the god-development and other idea*, and various other tenets have grown on or been added as occasion offered. Early in 1831 Smith and Rigdon proceeded to Ohio, preaching by the way, gathering up the loose materials of dying iftmsj and gaining many converts. And here it is proper to note the curious fact that all, or nearly all, Mormon converts were already members of some Christian church. I have never yet heard of any infidel being converted direct to Mormonism. and very rarely of any believer not already a professor. In short, the Mormon church is made up of apostates. A good-sized church was soon organized at Kirtland, Ohio, whither all the New York converts gathered; on the 6th of June, the Melchisedek, or Superior Priesthood, was first con- 93060 & A AH A\V long long long long long i of the Court-House in Independence, which spot was accord- ingly dedicated by religious exercises, which were followed by a great accession of gifts. On the 4th of August another large party arrived from Kirtland, a General Conference was held in the land of Zion, and another revelation vouchsafed to Joseph, lhat the whole land should be theirs, and should not be obtained u but by purclifisc or Inj M(,"d." I u the year 1831 Joseph Smith received thirty-seven full and explicit revelation-. U -i.lt>- a vast number of minor direc- tions about buying, selling, planting, building and organizing. He also preached and organized societies in three States, r.Mablished the ecclesiastical government of the church, had a mill erected for the Saints, opened a store and established a bank. The last was what Western men then called a wild-cat bank that is, it had no charter and deposited no bonds for security ; but as several wealthy men had joined the church, its credit wa< good and the notes circulated freely. Early in 1832 Brigham Young was converted, and hastened to Kirtland. For the next few years there was a constant ebb and flow between Kirtland and Missouri, the elders traveling back and forward in pairs preaching by the way; the more solid and reliable business men remaining at Kirtland, the more fanatical, daring and unscrupulous going to Zion. The Missouri Gentiles said that each new lot was apparently poorer and more unpromising than their predecessors; but land was cheap, the country wanted immigration and all went well for irhile. The AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 37 Kirtland society now assumed a communistic type, and we must leave it for a time to trace developments in Missouri. In 1832, April, Smith came again to Independence and established the Evening and Morning Star, with W. W. Phelps as editor, who had the express promise from Smith that he should not die before Christ's second coming. Early in 1833 the Mormons numbered 1,500 in Jackson county, Missouri. They had taken virtual possession of all the county west of 'Independence, and had a majority in the town; and their actions showed that the fanatical fury of 1820-'30 had left a precipitate of its worst materials in the new church. As they gathered in haste and poverty, and were supposed to preach as they went without purse or scrip, Joseph favored them, in September, 1831, with the following remarkable revelation, which is printed by the Mormons in their Book of Doctrines and Covenants: "Behold it is said in my laws or forbidden to get in debt to thine enemies; but behold it is not said at any time that the Lord should not take u-licn lie please- and p did our fathers, and we pledge this day to one another, our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honors, to be delivered from the persecutions which we have had to endure for the last nine years, or nearly that. Neither will we indulge any man or set of men in instituting vexatious law-suits against us, to cheat us out of our just rights ; if they attempt it, we say iroe be unto them. We this day, then, proclaim ourselves free f with a purpose and a determination that can never be broken. N'o. never ! No, never ! ! No, never ! ! ! ' ' August 6th the regular elections came on, the Mormons voting solidly as usual, and electing their own men to the im- portant offices. In the town of Gallatin, Daviess county, Dick Welding, a Missourian, reproached Sam Brown, a young Mor- mon, with the fact that the Mormons voted at command of Joe Smith ; Brown answered that it was a lie, and Welding promptly felled him to the ground. Both sides rushed into the fray, a desperate battle ensued, in which the Missourians were worsted, many being badly wounded, of whom two died. Civil war was now begun, and all over the country non-Mormons rushed together to concert measures of safety. The Prophet hastened to the battle-ground, and called on Justice Adam Black to preserve the peace. The Justice soon after made affi- davit that 154 armed Mormons surrounded his house and threatened him with death if he did not sign a paper agreeing to issue no warrants against the Saints; and the Prophet issued an order to that effect to Mormon justices. As soon as intelli- gence of these events reached Governor Boggs, he directed Major-General D. R. Atchison to call out 400 mounted militia to preserve the peace. Smith immediately employed General Atchison and his partner as his attorneys, and by their advice volunteered to appear before Judge Austin King, who held him and Lyman Wight to bail at $500 each. Joseph was so de- lighted at this that he immediately articled himself as a law student with Atchison and Doniphan, and announced his inten- tion to begin practicing law ! Two peculiar currents now set in opposite directions: one AND CRIMES OF MORMOXISM. 49 of apostates fleeing from Mormon towns, telling horrible stories of what they had seen and suffered ; another of scattered Mor- mons from Gentile territory fleeing into Far West with heart- rending stories of whipping, burning and robbery. The Mor- mons averred that every petty crime in ten counties was imputed to the Saints, and always falsely ; that every thief and coiner in the country was adding to the hue and cry to shield himself; that every man who ran away by night was counted as murdered by the Saints, and that persecutors had put their own horses in Mormon stables, or their own meat in Mormon smoke-house.s, to make evidence against the brethren. The Gentiles, on the other hand, charged that as long as a man was true to the Mormons no evidence could make them believe any- thing against him ; that as a consequence all the thieves in the district had turned Mormon, adding to the original priestly rascals; that no Mormon official would issue or execute a writ against a Mormon, and when issued by any other the accused was either rescued by his friends, or his confederates swore him clear? " What hope for justice," they indignantly asked, "have we in courts or laws against men who do not hesitate to swear that they are familiar with angels, have conversed with God and Christ, have seen the dead raised and the sick healed, and who, claim the same rights and divine authority toward us that the Jews claimed and exercised towards the Canaanites?" What truth there was in all this no man can now determine ; the evidence is such a mass of contradiction that the historian abandons it in despair. But back of it, underlying all the Mormon troubles, was and is this radical distinction : the Mor- mons are determined to have a government conducted by priests, a theocracy ; the Americans are just as determined to have a democracy. Neither party will yield to the other one inch farther than compelled to ; as soon as the minority gets strong enough it will rebel. Nine times has this occurred in Mor- mon history, and in some shape it will recur; the aboli- tion of polygamy will not even mitigate it. There is and must be inexpiable war between priestly government and democracy. 50 POLYGAMY; oil, THK MYSTERIES By (he 1;. ^ptember civil war was in full progress. It t necessary to follow the minor details or do more than note the main events. The governor continued to hurry tr to the disturbed districts, and the Mormons gradually concen- trated at and around Far West. Captain Bogart's company defeated a detachment of seventy Mormons ; another Mormon detachment was repulsed at Crooked river with the loss of two killed. The Mormons next drove the Gentiles from Gallatin vicinity, burning and plundering several houses. The Gentiles in large force attacked Adam-Ondi-Ahman, burned much of it. ran off the stock, shot several men and outraged some women. The Mormons were successively driven from the outer settle- ments, the same scenes of brutality being repeated. As aK happens in these cases, the men who raised the forces to clear their neighborhoods of what they considered a pest, could not control the storm ; all the lawless elements in the vicinity lis- tened to sack and plunder. Orson Hyde, Thomas B. Marsh and others abandoned the Saints and made affidavits ehar:inir them with murder and robbery. Part of the testimony related to the Danite Band, then just organized and under command of Dr. Sampson Avard. Smith afterwards repudiated him, but at this time Avard was in full fellowship in the church. The wit- ness reports the doctor's address to the band thus : My brethren, as you have been chosen to be our leading men, our captains to rule over this last Kingdom of J - - Christ, who have been organized after the ancient order, I have called upon you here to-day to teach you and instruct you in the things that pertain to your duty, and to show you what your privileges are, and what they soon will be. Know ye not, brethren, that it soon will be your privilege to take your re- spective companies and go out on a scout on the borders of the settlements and take to yourself spoils of the ungodly Gentiles? For it is written, 'The riches of the Gentiles shall be const- crated to my people, the house of Israel ;' and thu- vay the Gentiles by robbing and plundering them of their prope: and in this way we will build up the Kingdom of God, and roll forth the little stone that Daniel saw cut out of the rnouu- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 5l tain without hands until it shall fill the whole earth. For this is the very way that God destines to build up his Kingdom in the last days. If any of us should be recognized, who can harm us ? For we will stand by each other and defend one another in all things. If our enemies swear against us, we can swear also. [The captains were confounded at this, but Avard con- tinued.] Why do you startle at this, brethren? As 'the Lord' liveth, I would swear a lie to clear any of you ; and if this would not do, I would put them or him under the sand as Moses did the Egyptian, and in this way we will consecrate much unto 'the Lord/ and build up his Kingdom; and who can stand against us ? And if any of us transgress, we will deal with him amongst ourselves. And if any of this Danite Society reveals any of these things, I will put him where the dogs cannot bite him." The name was adopted from Genesis xlix. 17: " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heels so that his rider shall fall backward." On the 27th of October, Governor Boggs received dispatches that the Mormons were murdering on all sides, and immedi- ately wrote to General John B. Clarke to hasten forward with his force, adding these words : " The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public good." The information was soon proved to be exaggerated, but the order had gone, and three days after occurred the horrible tragedy of Hawn's Mill. There a body of Mormons, just arrived, were encamped, and on the 30th a large force of Missourians attacked them. The latter insist that they were fired upon before attacking; the best ver- sion for the Mormons is given by Joseph Young, brother of Brigham, and one of the survivors. He says : "It was about four o'clock, while sitting in my cabin, with my babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal Creek, and saw a large company of armed men on horses directing their course towards the mills with all possible sperd. As they advanced through the scattering trees that stood on the 52 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES side of the prairie, they seemed to form themselves into a three square position, forming a vanguard in front. "At this moment, David Evans, seeing the superiority of their numbers (there being two hundred and forty of them, according to their own account), swung his hat and cried for peace. This not being heeded, they continued to advance, and their leader, Mr. Xehemiah Comstock, fired a gun, which was followed by a solemn pause of ten or twelve seconds, when all at once they discharged about one hundred rifles, aiming at a blacksmith's shop into which our friends had fled for safety; and charged up to the shop, the cracks of which between the logs were sufficiently large to enable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had there fled for refuge from the fire of their murderers. There were several families tented in the rear of the shop, whose lives were exposed, and amidst a shower of bullets fled to the woods in different directions." In less time than it takes to relate it, eighteen persons were killed or mortally wounded. Sardius Smith, aged nine years, had hidden beneath the bellows of the blacksmith shop, whence he was dragged by a Missourian. The boy, it is said, never flinched ; but his mother fell upon her knees and frantically begged for his life. Slowly the Missourian drew up his rifle to his eye till the boy looked into the very muzzle, as if it were a mere threat to frighten him. Again the mother with the eloquence of maternal love poured forth her piteous appeal. " Kill the young wolves, and there will be no old ones ! " With this answer the Missourian fired ; the boy fell lifeless on the instant, his blood and brains spattering his mother's dress. But a minute before his father, Warren Smith, was shot dead, and his younger brother, not over seven years, was knocked down and feigning death, lying perfectly still in the midst of the havoc, escaped. He now lives in Utah, a very respectable itizen. At night the survivors returned and buried the bodies in an old well. Xo words can add to the horrors of thi> action, still less palliate it. It only shows that in the heat of civil war the worst elements on both sides come to the front. AM) CRIMES OF MOUMONISM. 53 When all the outposts were driven in, and it was supposed a bloody battle would come off next day, Colonel Hinkle, com- manding the Far West Mormons, came with flag of truce to the camp of Generals Doniphan, Lucas and Clarke, and proposed a surrender. He showed plainly by his altered manner that his faith was gone ; he was satisfied " the Lord " would not fight for the Saints, and the militia would fight against them. General Lucas stated the hard terms : that every gun and every man should be surrendered; that the army should take the leaders to prison, and the rest should leave the State. To all this Hinkle agreed, and next morning brought Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and others, and delivered them to the officers. Henceforth Hinkle was hated with a fanatical hatred by the Mormons. The Mormon army then surrendered at discretion ; the troops marched in, and a general revelry followed, in which much mischief was done in spite of the officers. Joseph and Hyrum Smith and forty others were held for trial, and the militia officers forthwith organized a Court Martial and condemned several of them to be shot! But General Doniphan, a sound lawyer and brave man, by a firm use of his authority and influence, prevented this foolishly illegal action. The prisoners were taken before the nearest Circuit Judge, and put upon trial " for treason, murder, robbery, arson, larceny, and breach of the peace." They could not well have been tried for more ; but it seems by the evidence that some of them were guilty on most of the charges. They were committed to jail to await their, final trial. The evidence in the case was printed by order of the Missouri Legislature, and presents a singular instance of how a few knaves may lead to their destruction a whole people, if sufficiently ignorant and fanatical. Comparative peace was restored, but the history of civil commotions shows that private revenge will seek such a period for its gratification, and in many neighborhoods fearful outrages were perpetrated upon individual Mormons by those who held a personal animosity against them. Their leaders had provoked a conflict for which the innocent suffered r arid 54 POLYGAMY. the most quiet and unoffending portion of the Mormons were hunted out and rudely hurried from their homes at the most inclement season of the year, often without a chance to supply themselves or dispose of their property, and much suffering was the result. They now numbered over twelve thousand, and in the month of December this large body began the journey into Illinois, which the most of them reached in January, 1839. The Missourians found, in the meantime, that they had "caught an elephant;" they had Joe Smith, his brother Hyrum, and forty others in jail on a multitude of charges; but many of the witnesses were gone, the trial would have been long and expensive, and it was probably the best policy to get them all out of the State in such a way that none would re-enter it, rather than condemn a few to the penitentiary. Accordingly, they were removed from place to place, loosely guarded, and on the 15th of April, Joseph and a few others c-raped from their guards, who were either drunk or pre- tended to be. They hastily made their way to Quincy, followed by the small remnant of Mormons which had been left at Far West. The remaining prisoners escaped and followed soon after, and in the language of Governor Boggs' next message, " the young and growing State was happily rid of the fanatical sect ; " but in the language of Mormon poetry, " Missouri, Like i whirlwind in her fury, Drove the Saints and spilled their blood." PROPHET STRANG INTRODUCES POLYGAMY. 55 56 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES CHAPTER TV. THE NAUYOO WONDER. Alliance between the Prophet and the land speculator Sudden and aston- ishing growth of Nauvoo Political trickery Mormons a power in Illinois The remarkable charters Malign influence in the courts Crime, trickery, and polygamy Intrigues of Dr. Bennett and the Prophet Outrageous treatment of Mrs. Orson Pratt Dark days at hand. Ix the early months of 1839 the residents of West Central Illinois were astonished and shocked by a peculiar invasion. Across the great river at all points from St. Louis to Keokuk came a motley array of forlorn humanity : foreigners, whose broad accent attracted twofold more attention then than now ; Yankees, whose nasal twang was scarcely more familiar; stal- wart men in rags, and women and children pinched with cold and hunger. The largest branch of the invasion struck Quimy and vicinity, where at least 5,000 were soon collected ; many went as far east as Springfield, and the rest were scattered in ten counties. The Illinois people only waited to hear that these were New England people and foreigners expelled by violence from a slave-holding State, and lavished sympathy upon them. They smiled at the idea that the Mormons were persecuted for righteousness sake, and made haste to assume that they were free-state people expelled from Missouri for free-state prin- ciples. All classes and parties contributed liberally for their relief: even the Indians then upon an adjacent reservation. All houses were open, and the people of several localities requested the Saints to settle among them. Politicians hastened to make friends of so important a body ; men with schemes to build up river towns solicited an alliance, while people of strong sympa- thies wept at their misfortunes, grasped them by the hand, and swore to stand by them to' the bitter end. They had not yet AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 57 caught sight of the cloven foot of the monster, or seen its mis- created front. Among the many negotiators was Dr. Isaac Gal land, a man accused of many doubtful transactions in early life, but now a respectable citizen of Hancock county an enterprising specu- lator and local politician of some influence. Hancock county had been mostly included in the so-called Military Tract, and in consequence many land titles were very doubtful ; and near the Des Moines Rapids a large strip had become the property of Dr. Galland. As early as 1832 Lieut. Robert E. Lee, after- wards the noted Southern general, had surveyed the rapids and predicted that a great city would grow up there. It was before the railroad era, and river navigation, with the water power of the rapids, and the necessity of transferring freight there, would insure a metropolis. Galland saw his chance in the coming of the Mormons, many of whom were from the manufacturing cities, and all at the command of the Prophet. Early in Mav he contracted with Joseph Smith to deed the latter part of the land on condition that all should be settled; a convenient revelation followed, the Saints came by thousands, and soon the Mormon star was again in the ascendant. A city rose as if by magic. The first house on the new site was erected June 11, 1839, and in eighteen months thereafter there were two thousand dwellings, besides school-houses and other public buildings. The new city was named NAUVOO, a word which has no signification in any known language, but in the "reformed Egyptian" of Smith's imaginary history, is said to mean " The Beautiful." The site was indeed beautiful, but not the most feasible they could have selected. Instead ol' locating immediately at the head of the rapids, where there was a convenient landing at all seasons, they chose a spot one mile below, only approachable by steamboats at high water. The temporary structures, in no long time, gave way to more permanent buildings; improvements multiplied on every hand, and Joe Smith had almost daily revelations directing how every work should be carried on. Here, it was foretold, was to be built a great city and temple, which should be the great gath- 58 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES ering place of " Zion," and central rendezvous of the sect, "until such time as the Lord should open the way for their return to Zion, indeed" Jackson county, Missouri; and from here were to spread gigantic operations for the conversion of the world. One by one most of the Missouri apostates came creeping back into the church : Orson Hyde was restored to his place as apostle, and was able to explain his apparent defec- tion. A missionary board was organized, and arrangements perfected for foreign missions embracing half the world. On the 29th of August, Orson Pratt and Parley P. Pratt set out on a mission to England, followed, September the 20th, by Elders Brigham Young, H. C. Kimball, George A. Smith, R. Hedlock, and T. Turley. Brigham had been appointed Presi- dent of the Twelve Apostles in 1838, in place of Thomas B. Marsh, the apostate. They landed at Liverpool the 6th of April, 1840, and entered with zeal upon their work. Brigham assumed entire control of the enterprise, established various missions, baptized numerous converts, labored among the common people, preached, prayed, wrote and argued, lived hard, and travelled hundreds of miles on foot. May the 29th, 1840, he established and issued the first number of the Latter- Day Xainttt 9 Millennial War, a periodical never suspended since. He organized a number of flourishing churches, and early in 1841 returned to Xauvoo with seven hundred and sixty-nine converts. Thereafter Brigham Young was the growing man in the church, every day standing closer to the Prophet, while in like proportion the power of Rigdon declined. In November, 1839, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Elias Higbee and Orrin Porter Rockwell reached Washington City a- a delegation to ask redress. They had an interview with President Van Buren, who condoled with them on their suffer- ings, but added : " It is a case for State courts ; the general government cannot interfere in the domestic concerns of Mis- souri." The Prophet reported him as saying, " I should lose the vote of Missouri." Of course he did not say it no man who knew Van Buren can believe that but he might have thought it; and Smith, according to Mormon standards of AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 59 truth, thought it all right to credit him with what it was be- lieved he would say if outspoken. Sidney Rigdoii also ad- dressed a memorial to the Legislature of his native Pennsyl- vania, praying for redress. Nothing resulted from either application, but they drew all the more attention to Nauvoo, and many curiosity hunters visited it. The apostles hastened to take advantage of this. One very common trick was to have some good Saint or well-paid Gentile start from New York as on a western tour, writing letters to the press ; he would repeat the horrible stories told of the Mormons as he drew near them, express some apprehensions for his safety, then suddenly change to long and eloquent eulogies on their enterprise, honesty and kindness when he did reach them. The magic city and the rising temple were brilliantly written up, and all who imputed evil to the Saints were set down as envious slanderers. In October, 1 840, a petition with many thousand names was forwarded to the Legislature for an act incorporating Nauvoo ; and on the 3d of that month ground was broken for a temple. Ambitious and unscrupulous men crowded into the sect from all sections, among them some of note. Dr. Isaac Gal land was baptized, and became a business elder. Jacob Backinistos, a Democratic politician of local power, came in and assisted their political schemes. General James Arlington Bennett, a literary adventurer of note at the time, wrote to Smith, proposing a re- ligious and political alliance, adding, with refreshing candor, "You know Mohammed had his right-hand man " Smith re- plied in a tone of good-humored sarcasm, adding, however, a sort of offer for Bennett to visit Nauvoo. The latter came soon after and was baptized into the church, but not being trusted to the extent he desired, soon departed. Another Bennett came who was not so easily shaken off. Dr. John Cooke Bennett is pronounced by Governor Ford "one of the greatest scamps in the Western country." He was a man of real talent, some ambition, overbearing zeal and all-engross- ing lust; at the same time rather good-looking, of smooth man- ners and easy address. Besides being a medical graduate and practising physician, he had acquired considerable military and 60 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES engineering skill, and had been Adjutant-General of the State of Illinois. He now brought his talents and rascality to an alliance with Joe Smith ; for a year and a-half he was his inti- mate friend and trusted counsellor, when, as has often happened before, a beautiful woman set them at outs, and forever put an riid to this touching friendship. These, and a score of others of like character, attached themselves to the rising sect and be- came Joe Smith's unscrupulous tools and allies. As for the common Saints, the pliable mass, though not nearly so foolish and fanatical as in Jackson county, they were quite as obse- quious, and worked steadily to build up the material interests of "Zion." The missions in England, Wales and Scotland prospered greatly, and many thousands of foreign Saints arrived in Xauvoo; some remained, but the majority were scattered in -cttlements through the country, which the Prophet called "' Stakes of Zion." They were not to rival the great city, but to be its feeders and tributaries. The swamp land adjacent to Nauvoo was drained, and the site rendered quite healthful ; the rapids wore surveyed by J. ('. Bennett, and a wing dam pro- jected which was to make a commodious harbor in front of Nauvoo, and secure driving power sufficient to turn all the fac- tory wheels of a vast commercial city. The Presidential campaign of 1840 opened with a fury un- equalled even in that era of furious politics, and long before its close the country was at a white heat of excitement. Joseph Smith was absolute master of 3,000 votes, and politicians flocked around him. His people had been driven from a Democratic State by order of a Democratic governor, and himself denied redrew- bv a Democratic President; while his memorial against Missouri had been introduced and countenanced in the Senate of the United States by Henry Clay, and in the House by John F. Stuart, both Whigs. He felt friendly to them, but finding he had great power, de- termined to use it well, and took good care not to commit him- self. When wined, dined, toasted and feasted by managers of both parties, he stated in general terms that he felt no particular AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 61 interest in politics; he had tried the Yankees of New York, and the free soilers of the Western Reserve, and had met with rough treatment ; he had gone thence to the pro-slavery Mis- souriaiis, and had met with rougher treatment ; the Democrats had robbed him, and the Whigs refused him redress, and he had little confidence in either. But there were certain things absolutely necessary for his city to receive from the Legislature, to protect him and his people from mobs, and the party that could most certainly give him these would obtain his support. This cheerful frankness was met by renewed protestations of respect and good-will, and both parties were eager to grant him favors. After secret consultation with his counsellors at Xauvoo, Joseph had a revelation to support the Whig ticket, which the Mormons did unanimously in 1840 and 1841. In the Legis- lature of 1840-'41 it became an object with the Democrats to conciliate them, and at that session Dr. J. C. Bennett came with a charter, mainly drawn up by himself and Smith, for the in- corporation of Nauvoo. The charter was referred to the Judiciary Committee, who reported favorably, the ayes and noes were called in neither house, and the charter passed with- out a dissenting vote. The annals of ancient and modern legislation might be searched in vain for a parallel to that Nauvoo charter. It gave all the powers ever granted to incorporated cities, and power to pass all laws "not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State" which was afterwards interpreted to mean that they might pass local ordinances contrary to the laws of the State. It provided for a mayor, four aldermen and nine councillors, and established a mayor's court, with exclusive jurisdiction of all cases arising under the city ordinances. It also established a municipal court, to be composed of the mayor as chief justice, and four aldermen as associates, and gave this court the power to issue writs of habeas corpus. And this not only to try the sufficiency of writs issuing from any other court, which is a power rarely granted a municipal court, but, as was claimed, to go beyond that and try the original 62 POLYGAMY; ou, THE MISTERIES cause of action. Hitherto none but judges of the Supreme and Circuit courts could issue such writs, and there were just nint persons in the State empowered to do so ; but this act at one fell swoop conferred it upon the five judges of this municipal court, and those the persons above all others most liable to abuse it. It also incorporated the militia of Xauvoo into a body to be called the Xauvoo Legion, independent of all other militia officers in the State, except the governor as commander- in-chief. It established a court-martial for this legion, com- GENEKAL JOSEPH SMITH REVIEWING THE NATVuo LEGION. posed of the commissioned officers, entirely independent of all other officers, and in the regulations, not yovcnu'd bi/ the fairs oj "Id This legion was to be at the disposal of the mayor in exe- cuting the ordinances of the city. Another charter incorporated a great tavern to be known as the Xauvoo House. "Thus." says Governor Ford, "it was proposed to establish for the Mormons a government within a government ; a legislature AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 63 with power to pass ordinances at war with the laws of the State; courts to execute them with but little dependence upon the constitutional judiciary, and a military force at their own command, to be governed by its own laws and ordinances, and subject to no State authority but that of the governor." Early in 1841 the city government was organized under this charter, and Joseph Smith elected Mayor. He was now Mayor of the city, Lieutenant-General of the legion, ex ojficio Judge, landlord of the Nauvoo House, and rolling in the wealth ac- quired by sale of the land deeded him by Galland. But he grasped at higher honors, and even more abounded in revela- tions. January 19th, 1841, came the Long Revelation, forty- six paragraphs, reorganizing the entire church and consecrating the cash of wealthy members to various uses. William Law was promoted to be Counsellor, in place of Hyrum Smith, and Hyrum was made Patriarch, a new office. The Twelve Apostles then chosen are thus characterized by the church historian : " Brigham Young, the Lion of the Lord; Parley P. Pratt, the Archer of Paradise ; Orson Hyde, the Olive Branch of Israel; Willard Richards, the Keeper of the Rolls; John Taylor, the Champio: of Right; William Smith, the Patriarchal Jacob's Staff; Wilford Woodruff, the Banner of the Gospel; George A. Smith, the Entablature of Truth; Orson Pratt, the Gauge of Philosophy ; John E. Page, the Sun Dial; and Lyman Wight, the Wild Ram of the Mountains." These were the palmy days of Joe Smith ; this was the golden age of Mormonism. The former was no more the wan- dering lad, with " peep-stone " and hazel rod, or the fugitive vagabond fleeing from Missouri rifles; he was at the head of a now consolidated and rapidly augmenting sect; he was courted and flattered of politicians; he was absolute ruler and main proprietor of a city already populous, and destined to be rich and powerful. But into the very noon of this halcyon day floated the faint rumbling of a distant earthquake, and afar upon the political and social horizon appeared a little cloud, " no bigger than a man's hand," which stayed not till it dark- ened the whole heaven of the future, and dashed this proud 64 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES fabric to the ground. I must now set forth a change in popular opinion, sudden and violent beyond parallel in American history. The causes may be grouped under three heads : I. Criminal. II. Moral and Social. III. Political. I. In the first, it may well be said, the Mormons were destined to experience, in all its bitterness, the force of the homely adage in regard to giving a dog a bad name. The Mississippi Valley, from St. Louis to Galena, had been for years unusually infested with reckless and blood-stained men. The whole of southeastern Iowa and much of northeastern Missouri was in a comparatively wild and lawless state; the " half-breed " tract of the former, from unsettled land titles and other causes, was appropriated as a refuge for and overrun by coiners, horse-thieves and robbers ; and the latter section, adja- cent, was little if any better. The law was enforced with slack- ness, or the combination of rogues was too great for the ordinary machinery of justice; people had but little confidence in courts and juries, and, in more atrocious cases than common, satisfied themselves with lynch law. The islands and groves farther up the river, near Davenport and Rock Island, were the hiding places of regularly organized bands of marauders ; as also were the bayous and hollows near Nauvoo. Robbers and murderers flocked into the church as a cover for crime; once within the charmed circle, the law wa> powerless to reach them. The Mormons had their own courts and refused to credit charges against a Saint. 4t Persecution " was a sufficient explanation. The criminals had assumed the Mormon name, and an angry people could not be expected in go into their city and discriminate between them; they struck blindly at the whole community, and thus while two-thirds of them were probably guiltless of crime, all suffered alike. In the outer settlements there was actual cause to complain of the foreign Saints; thousands of them had gathered in great haste and extreme poverty; they had nothing, and knew not how tn rapidly accommodate themselves to their new pursuits, and at the same time very naturally refused to starve in a plentiful AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 65 country. Their doctrines virtually invited them to take what they needed, and they did. As to the heads of the church and their newly-acquired allies, enough has been said to show that much of their conduct was on the very border-line of rascality, if it did not altogether step over it. II. The moral and social causes all centre in polygamy ; but no research has settled at what time this system was grafted upon Mormonism. Joseph Smith's sons say it was after Brigham Young obtained control ; the Brighamites say it was by revelation given July 12th, 1843, but abundant evidence of a sort of polygamy can be found as far back as 1834. Many old Mormons testify that Joseph told them he had preliminary revelations on the subject as early as 1832, and was impressed with the belief that polygamy would some day be the practice of the church, while all the early church records are full of sharges and counter charges, with trials and excommunications for adultery. The new spirit was singularly affectionate, and required great exertions to keep it within bounds. All the Mormon regulations of early times also show that they were designed to fit some unusual social system, and hundreds of people still living testify in the most positive manner that polygamy existed among the Mormons in Missouri, though it was then rather a system of what is now called " free love." Elder Howard Coray, who was at that time a confidential clerk of Joe Smith states that he was present at the time Smith and Bennett were constructing the Nauvoo charter ; that Bennett objected to certain clauses as being " too strong," to which Smith replied, " We must have that power in our courts, for this work will gather of all mankind ; the Turk, with his ten iri-res, will come to Nauvoo, and we must have laws to protect him with these wives." Elder Coray, now a devoted Brigham- ite at Salt Lake, advanced this to disprove the statement of Joe Smith's sons that their father did not establish polygamy. It merely proves, as will hereafter be shown, that he was in that practice long before the date of his pretended revelation. Many women left their natural protectors and lived in open concu- binage with Mormons in Nauvoo, and that many Mormons lost 5 66 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES their wives by reason of the latter's passionate attachment to an apostle or elder is not denied even by the Saints. III. But the great cause of popular hostility, which finally led to the worst result, was the Mormon system of voting solidly, at the dictation of the Prophet. They have always in- sisted on this principle, pretending that there would be no union in their church, if the members were allowed to vote by individual will. Such a course must ever have one effect, to cause the church to be regarded as a mere political entity, to be fought accordingly ; and if persisted in, it must be a constant source of faction. Any such church would constitute a dan- gerous power in a republican government; and would soon have arrayed against it all those who were defeated by its vote, all who failed to get its support, all who disdained to stoop to the arts necessary to obtain it, and all those who clearly saw the evil tendency of such a system. In two years after he entered Illinois, Joe Smith was absolute master of three thou- sand votes ; practically, he might just as well have been allowed to cast so many himself. Such power in the hands of a corrupt man, used with a sin- gular perfidy and in the interests of such a clique, would alone be almost sufficient to determine the people upon the expulsion of him and his fanatical sect. The particular situation, at the time, rendered this evil ten-fold more apparent. The votes of the two parties in Illinois were nearly equal, and Illinois was likely to decide the coming Presidential election. Such con- tingencies are liable to frequently occur in our politics, and henceforth set it down as an American axiom, that any church a>suming to cast its vote as a unit, for its own interests, under the dictation of its spiritual head or heads, is the deadly foe of our liberties, and justly an object of distrust and dislike to every lover of his country. This malign influence had already wrought great evil in the administration of law. Every attempt from Missouri to exe- cute a writ in Xauvoo had been baffled by the politicians or the Mormon courts, and thus virtual notice given that Mor- mons committing crime in Missouri could not be punished. AN!) CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 67 Governor Carlin, who had signed the charter, had the mortifi- cation to see his own endorsement of a requisition, with the broad seal of Illinois upon it, set aside most contemptuously by the municipal court at Nauvoo. But soon after a more serious affair roused the Illinois officials to the terrible danger of their policy and the character of the institution they were fostering. Governor Boggs, of Missouri, while sitting in the evening near his window, was fired upon and seriously wounded in the head. This was in May, 1842, and it was soon known that Orrin Porter Rockwell, one of the Danites, had left Nauvoo not long before, and when the Prophet was asked where Rockwell had gone, he answered with a laugh, "O, just gone to fulfill a prophecy." As the Prophet had delivered several forecasts as to sudden vengeance on the "Missouri Nero," this expression was conclusive to a Missouri grand jury, and indictments were at once found against Rockwell as prin- cipal and Joseph Smith as accessory. The Missouri authorities procured a requisition, which was properly endorsed by Gov- ernor Ford, of Illinois, and contemptuously set aside by the municipal court at Nauvoo! Here was a square issue at last: should the conjoint action of two sovereign States be defeated by the corporation of one small city? Cyrus Walker, Esq., of McDonough county, acted as attor- ney for the Mormons in these proceedings; and having once defended the Mormon municipality in its sweeping exercise of jurisdiction, was swept along by the current of events and for consistency's sake had to maintain the same doctrine when the case w r ent higher. The Missouri officials at once applied to Governor Ford for a body of militia to enforce the writ, treat- ing the action of the Nauvoo court as a nullity, and Mr. Walker went as attorney for the Mormons to resist the appli- cation. This put the Governor in a fix. In the first place he was not at all clear as to his duty, and in the second he knew that by granting the request of the Missourians his party, the Democrats, would lose the entire Mormon vote. So he asked time for decision. But the Whigs were not asleep no, not by any manner of means. Seeing that Mr. Walker was now 68 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES the loved and trusted attorney of the Mormons, the Whigs nominated him for Congress in that district, well knowing that if he got the Mormon vote, the Democratic candidate, Mr. Hoge, would be without hope. The Mormons now had things just to suit them. Joseph Smith was profuse in his thanks to Walker, and promised earnestly to support him. Walker fully believed that this settled every Mormon vote in his favor, was satisfied he need do nothing more, and returned home to study up the political questions of the day, and fit himself for his future duties in Congress. But the Governor and other Democrats had not exhausted their resources. The Governor had not yet officially decided whether he would order out the militia, and in this state of uncertainty the Mormon leaders sent Jake Backinstos to. manoeuvre at Springfield, and ascertain if possible what the Governor would finally do. Governor Ford w r as absent at St. Louis, and a prominent Democrat, in his interest at Springfield, gave the most solemn assurances in the Governor's name, that the militia would not be sent against the Mormons, if they voted the Democratic ticket. Governor Ford says he did not kno\\ of this promise in his name, till after the Mormons left the State. With this promise, Backinstos reached Xauvoo but two days before the election, and within three hours after his arrival a mass-meeting of the Mormons was called. Then Hyrum Smith arose and announced that he had just received a revelation from heaven that the Mormons were to vote for the Democrat, Mr. Hoge! They were still in doubt till the Prophet arrived next day, w ? hen the whole voting population of Nauvoo assembled to hear from him. He stated that he was not prepared to advise them with regard to election matters; he could only inform them that he had pledged his own vote to Mr. Walker, and would keep his pledge; but he had received no communication from the Lord on the subject; " he had not seen the Lord, nor had he gone to seek the Lord about the matter. He was not disposed to call upon the Lord at the request or desire of any Gentile politician ; if the Lord really wanted to see him, there was nothing to prevent His AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 69 calling upon him. So far as he was concerned, the people might vote for Walker, Hoge, or the devil ; it was all the same to him. But," continued the Prophet, "I am informed my brother Hyrum has seen the Lord, and has something to say to you. I have known brother Hyrum ever since he was a boy, and never knew him to lie. When the Lord speaks let all the earth keep silent." Thereupon brother Hyrum took the stand and boldly announced that he had seen the Lord, who had in- structed him to support Mr. Hoge, "and brethren, you are all commanded to vote for Mr. Hoge, for thus saith the Lord God Almighty." This short address of the Patriarch was no doubt the most powerful and convincing stump speech ever delivered. When the count was rendered next day, Mr. Cyrus Walker had one vote, whilst Hoge's counted by thousands. The writer of this history barely hopes to be believed when he relates that in the enlightened State of Illinois, in the year of Grace, 1843, an assemblage of American citizens could be found so deplorably ignorant as to be thus controlled by two such shameless impostors. Yet so it was. The proof is over- whelming. Mr. Walker was defeated, and became the most bitter and uncompromising of anti-Mormons; and fearful pun- ishment soon overtook the Smiths for their political treachery. The Whigs now saw with amazement, that the most solemn promises meant nothing from Joseph Smith; the Democrats generally felt that a sect of such political power, for sale every day and every hour in the day, and uncertain till the last hour of election, was no safe ally, and both parties awaked to the startling fact, that Joseph Smith was actual dictator of their politics and chose their rulers. The anti-Mormon excitement was accelerated tenfold, and ceased not till their final and com- plete expulsion from the State. And disastrous as was that expulsion, terrible as were the sufferings of individual Mor- mons, it is scarcely too much to say they richly deserved it, for this one act of perfidy and folly. Meanwhile, indeed all through the years 1842 and 1843, little events were occurring which slowly but surely raised the wrath of the surrounding population to a white heat against 70 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Nauvoo. It was alleged that stray cattle never returned if they strayed towards Nauvoo, and that the man who sued in the Nauvoo courts was sure of nothing but costs and insults. Another difficulty arose with land-owners near by and even in the city; many of these had refused to join the church or even contribute to public movements, but sold out with enormous gains as a result of the growth of the population. The Mor- mons claimed that >uch holders were entitled onlv to their riiMnal pavmcnt and reasonable intm-M, and to oust them and the intermeddling plaintiffs from the country the "whittling deacons" were organized. These were young and adventurous fellows, armed with pieces of pine board and sharp dirk-knives, always ready for instant service. If a stranger were seen on the streets, the first thing was to find out if he were obnoxious. An experienced spy was placed upon his track, who followed him until it was ascertained what he was. If he appeared hostile tn the Saints, if lie spoke disparagingly of the Prophet or his religion, they would surround him, and whistling gravely, keep up a continual whittling, the shavings flying into the lace and over the person of the obnoxious one, and the sharp knives Ix'iiig flourished dangerously close to his ears. If timid and nervous he retreated soon; but if he faced the music, the whittling was more energetic, the whistling louder and shriller, the knives approached closer and flashed more brightly, till his retreat was a necessity. Orson Pratt, Jr., tells me he often saw them, during his boyhood in Xauvoo, following a stranger who would sometimes stop and expostulate, but without avail. If the offender stood out against the " deacons," the Danites were next set upon him. Their method was to terrify and insult him, to salute his ears with strange oaths and blasphemies, to menace him with threats of instant death and to flourish their deadly weapons in his face. If the suspected was still fool-hardy enough to refuse to leave, his case was reported to a higher tribunal, who gave secret and mysterious warnings, written in mystic characters and stained with blood, which were dropped in the way of the suspected, were found in his bed-room, or about his person. These warned him to leave or AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 71 "become cat-fish bait." If he still remained, a row was organized, and in the rnelee he was sorely beaten ; and last of all death was inflicted in some cases. Meanwhile the Nauvoo council went on passing ordinances to make the city independent of the State, and finally adopted the notorious anti-writ law, which provided that no writ issued from any other place than Nauvoo, for the arrest of any person in it, should be executed in the city, without an approval endorsed thereon by the Mayor ; that if any public officer, by virtue of any foreign writ, should attempt to make any arrest in the city, without such approval of his process, he should be subject to imprisonment for life, and that the Governor of the State should not have the power of pardoning the offender without the consent of the Mayor. This extraordinary and out- rageously foolish act drew upon them alike the wrath of official and citizen, and for once they quailed before the storm and re- pealed it. They then petitioned Congress to cut Hancock county off from Illinois, and give it a territorial government, being ap- parently in dense ignorance of the Constitution, as to that subject. The practice of polygamy had now gone so far that conceal- ment was no longer possible. Dr. Bennett had been expelled for teaching a "spiritual wife 7 ' doctrine, and was lecturing against the Mormons; he everywhere proclaimed that polygamy was their practice, and in return they published a scandalous and sensational history of Bennett's life among them. The whole history of Mormon society at that time is a muddle of charges and counter-charges, affidavits and replies, perjuries and contradiction ; but it is sufficiently proved that polygamy as then taught was to be the privilege of both sexes, under certain limitations. It was in short a celestialized free-love, permitted to the most worthy elders and such females as they should honor. Old Mormons know full well that this was the height and depth of Nauvoo morality at that time. The best authenticated case is that of Sarah Pratt, legal wife of Apostle Orson Pratt, which is here presented as related by herself, with a few additional facts from others. Orson and Sarah Pratt had a nice home in Nauvoo, and 72 POLYGAMY. were generally respected by Saint and Gentile: she a lady of some accomplishments and beauty, with rare common sense; he an honest, earnest visionary, hard student, hard worker and dreamy enthusiast. In them might be seen what often puzzles the observer : a very practical woman married to a very im- practical man. In the absence of Orson on a missionary tour the Prophet cast his lustful eye upon her and proposed a "spiritual wife " union, which she indignantly repelled. Being already skeptical, this broke the last tie which bound her to the church. Then Smith forbade the church steward to send her the allowance which was given the families of missionaries, hoping to force her into submission. In this state of affairs Smith and Bennett quarreled, and Bennett published the affair with Mrs. Pratt, adding many gross exaggerations. Smith promptly rejoined with a story that he had caught Bennett and Mrs. Pratt in bed together! The scandal flew from mouth to mouth, and the city was soon in an uproar. Smith now came with a gang of " whittling deacons," and saintly loafers, and made a public demonstration of the popular hatred, before the door of the Pratts. Back and forward several times that day marched this disorderly rabble, with expressions and gestures intended to show that the whole city regarded Mrs. Pratt as an outcast; but she had too many friends to be driven away. Orson soon returned and heard Smith's story first; he was driven almost wild by the trouble, and for a day or two wandered in the woods along the river, refusing to see his wife. At length mutual friends brought them together; he was convinced of her innocence, and pro- nounced Smith a "fallen Prophet." One conspicuous actor in the tragi-comedy was a Mrs. Fuller, a prostitute living alone near the river. She produced evidence which convinced Pratt beyond doubt that the Prophet was a man of extreme profligacy, and offered to conceal Mr. and Mrs. Pratt in her house, and allow them to witness one of Smith's interviews with her; but Orson indignantly rejected this proposition. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt now withdrew from Xauvoo; Smith stormed at them from the pulpit, and for a while it seemed that the church would 74 POLYGAMY: OR, THE MYSTERIES be rent asunder. The mingled audacity and hypocrisy of the Prophet restored something like order. An interview with Pratt was arranged, and some sort of truce patched up. Pratt returned to his post, but declared that the Prophet had violated the law, and must some day die a bloody death by way of atone- ment. That prophecy was even then near fulfillment. Mrs. Pratt never resumed her place in the church, but taught her children to hate it. Her oldest son, Orson, is a musician of much talent, an earnest, honest Gentile. Another son, Arthur, is a United States official, and still another, Harmel, an attorney of much promise. Thirty years after the above events Mrs. Pratt used this language in referring to them : k> My testimony is that of all first wives who speak their honest thoughts. I have suffered greatly, and only became reconciled when 1 brought myself to look upon the husband of my youth as long ago dead. I am now at rest, as the lonely widow of many years may be at rest, or the woman whose husband was long ago divorced from her forever/ AND CHIMES OF MORMONISM. 75 CHAPTER Y. Hostility aroused Spiritual wifery exposed Martha Brotherton's revelations The " Expositor" destroyed by a Mormon mob Civil war breaks out Flight of the Smiths Recalled by Emma Smith They surrender and are assassinated in jail. THE explosion was ;it hand the inevitable explosion. It was to come substantially as at Kirtland and in Missouri an angi\ pressure from without correlative with schism and apostasy in the church. July 12th, 1843, the Prophet received the " Revelation concerning Celestial Marriage," i. e., poly- gamy; and William Clayton wrote it down as dictated. It was high time some celestial warrant was had for the Prophet's proceedings, and the revelation produced the desired effect. Hyrum Smith was at once convinced and took two extra wives. Brigham Young gave in his adhesion next and soon had two more wives. Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball were not hard to convince, and in a little while the principal men were: initiated. But when the matter was first broached in the High Council, William Law rose and said, "If any man teaches that doctrine in my family, I will have that man's life!" Law had a young and beautiful wife whom Smith was even then scheming for; his failure led to the final catastrophe and Law's prediction was not long unfulfilled,, But more than all else the statements of ladies escaping from Xauvoo excited popular wrath. Most noted of these was a beautiful English girl named Martha Brotherton, who was " presented " by the Pro- phet to an elder whose infatuation for her amounted to insanity, It is related that after repeated repulses he even forced his way to her presence when preparing for departure and implored her to remain, but in vain. During all this time the Mormoi* 76 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES papers and missionaries were spreading the most emphatic denials of polygamy, and public affairs were progressing, ao- cording to Governor Ford's account, as follows: MARTHA BROTHERTON'S DEFIANCE. " Owners of property stolen in other counties made pursuit into Nativoo, and were fined by the Mormon courts for daring to seek their property in the holy city. To one such I granted a pardon. Several of the Mormons had been convicted of lar- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 77 ceny, and they never failed in any instance to procure petitions signed by 1,500 or 2,000 of their friends for their pardon. To crown the whole folly of the Mormons, in the spring of 1844, Smith announced himself as a candidate for President of the United States. His followers were confident that he would be elected. Two or three thousand missionaries were immedi- ately sent out to preach their religion, and to electioneer in favor of their prophet for the Presidency. This folly at once covered that people with ridicule in the minds of all sensible men, and brought them into conflict with the zealots and bigots of all political parties; as the arrogance and extravagance of their religious pretensions had already aroused the opposition of all other denominations in religion. It seems, from the best information that could be got from the best men who had seceded from the Mormon church, that Smith about this time conceived the idea of making himself a temporal prince as well as spiritual leader of his people. He instituted a new and select order of the priesthood, the members of which were to be -riests and kings temporally and spiritually. These were to be tis nobility, who were to be the upholders of his throne. He Caused himself to be crowned and anointed king and priest, far above the rest ; and he prescribed the form of an oath of alle- giance to himself, which he administered to his principal fol- lowers. To uphold his pretensions to royalty, he deduced his descent by an unbroken chain from Joseph, the son of Jacob, and that of his wife from some other renc >vned personage of Old Testament history. The Mormons openly denounced the gov- ernment of the United States as utterly corrupt, and as being about to pass away, and to be replaced by the government of God, to be administered by his servant Joseph. "Soon after these institutions were established, Smith began to play the tyrant over several of his followers. The first act of this sort which excited attention was an attempt to take the wife of William Law, one of his most talented and principal disciples, and make her a spiritual wife. By means of his Com- mon Council, without the authority of law, he established a recorder's office in Nauvoo, in which alone the titles of property 78 POLYGAMY; OR, THK MYSTERIES could be recorded. In the same manner and with the same want of legal authority, he established an office for issuing mar riage licenses to Mormons, so as to give him absolute control of the marrying propensities of his people. He proclaincd that none in the city should purchase real estate to sell again, but himself. He also permitted no one but himself to have a license in the city for the sale of spirituous liquors; and in many other ways ho undertook to regulate and control the Imsiness of the Mormons. This despotism, administered by a corrupt and unprincipled man, soon became intolerable. Wil- liam Law, one of the most eloquent preachers of the Mormons, Wilson Law, his brother, Major-General of the Legion, and four or five other Mormon leaders, resolved upon a rebellion against the authority of the Prophet. They designed to en- lighten their brethren and fellow-citizens upon the new institu- tions, the new turn given to Mormonism, and the practices under the n . by procuring a printing-press and estab- lishing a newspaper in the city, to be the organ of their com- plaints and vi This paper was the celebrated Expositor: a name hateful to Mormons. But its fate and the consequent tragedy has no doubt deterred the Saints many a time from mobbing the Gen- tile paper in Utah. The first issue contained the statements of -ixteen women that Joseph Smith or other Mormon leaders had attempted to seduce them under plea of heavenly permission to do so. The reader must imagine the uproar which followed : pen cannot portray it. A large number of Mormon men and women had previously joined in a statement that they knew no other system of marriage than that common among Chris- tians. Several of these have since lx>asted that they were even then in polygamy, and laughed at the trick played on the Gen- tiles. They justify this and all the other lies told during that time by the statement that outsiders were peering into what war- none of their business, and in Mich a case the ungodly must be deceived for the good of the Saints. The lies Abraham told in pt. and the answer Chri- Mes were to make to the man who might ask why th^y T<>k the stranger's beast, are oft AND CHIMES OF MORMONISM. 79 cited precedents in Utah. Abraham is, indeed, the great Mormon model, and Abraham married his sister and lied about it. But all these things did not convince outsiders, and in holy wrath the Prophet and apostles decided to destroy the Expositor office. The Common Council met, and went through the form of a trial without summoning either publishers or editors! The proceeding was partly civil and partly ecclesiastical, against the press itself. No jury was called or sworn, nor were the wit- nesses required to give their evidence upon oath. The coun- cillors stood up one after another, and some of them several times, and related what they pretended to know. In this mode it was abundantly proved that the owners were sinners, thieves, swindlers, counterfeiters, and robbers; the evidence of which is reported in the trial at full length. It was altogether the most curious and irregular trial ever recorded in any civilized country; and resulted in the conviction of the press as a public nuisance. The Mayor was ordered to see it abated as such, and if necessary to call the Legion to his assistance. The Mayor issued his warrant to the City Marshal, who, aided by a portion of the Legion, proceeded to the obnoxious printing-office, and destroyed the press, and scattered the types and other mate- rials. At the same time most of the Gentiles and apostates in the city fled for safety, being outrageously insulted and threat- ened with death. As they fled they spread exaggerated reports, and mobs as- sembled in all directions. Dr. Foster, Elias Higher, William and Wilson Law, and other apostates fled to (art huge, the county seat of Hancock and a Gentile town, where they pro- cured warrants for the Mayor and members of the Common Council, and others engaged in the outrage, for a riot. Some of those were arrested, but were immediately taken before the Municipal Court of the city on habeas corpus, and discharged from custody. The county authorities at once called for a posse, comitatus to enforce the writs; militia began to assemble, tin Mormons armed, and Hancock county was divided in two great hostile camps. Messengers hastened to Springfield, and 01 80 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES their representation Governor Ford started for the scene of trouble, reaching Carthage June 21st. Let him relate what he did: " I found an armed force, hourly increasing, under the sists that he did so only after the most solemn assurances of the militia that they would protect the prisoners ; and now he is entitled to be heard in his own account: "I dispatched Captain Singleton with his company, from Brown countv, to Nauvoo to guard the town ; and I authorized him to take command of the legion. He reported to me after- wards, that he called out the legion for inspection; and that, upon two hours' notice, two thousand of them assembled, all of them armed ; and this after the public arms had been taken away from them. So it appears that they had a sufficiency of private arms for any reasonable purpose. " The jail in which the Smiths, with two of their friends, were confined, is a considerable stone building; containing a resi- dence for the jailor, cells for the close and secure confinement of prisoners, and one larger room not so strong, but more airy and comfortable than the cells. They were put into the cells by the jailor; but upon their remonstrance and request, and by my advice, they were transferred to the larger room ; and there they remained until the final catastrophe. Neither they nor I seriously apprehended an attack on the jail, through the guard -rationed to protect it. Nor did I apprehend the least danger >n their part of an attempt to escape. For I was very sure that any such attempt would have been the signal of their im- mediate death. The force assembled at Carthage amounted to about twelve or thirteen hundred men, and it was calculated AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 85 that four or five hundred more were assembled at Warsaw. Nearly all that portion resident in Hancock were anxious to be marched into Nauvoo. This measure was supposed to be necessary, to search for counterfeit money and the apparatus to make it, and also to strike a salutary terror into the Mormon people, by an exhibition of the force of the State, and thereby prevent future outrages, murders, robberies, burnings, and the like, apprehended as the effect of Mormon vengeance on those who had taken a part against them. On my part, at one time, this arrangement was agreed to. The morning of the 27th day of June was appointed for the march; and Golden's Point, near the Mississippi river, and about equidistant from Nauvoo and Warsaw, was selected as the place of rendezvous. I had determined to prevail on the Justice to bring out his prisoners, and take them along. A council of officers, however, deter- mined that this would be highly inexpedient and dangerous, and offered such substantial reasons for their opinions as in- duced me to change my resolution. I gradually learned to my entire satisfaction, that there was a plan to get the troops inty Nauvoo, and there to begin the war, probably by some of our ow T n party, or some of the seceding Mormons, taking advantage of the night to fire on our own force, and then laying it to the Mormons. But such was the blind fury prevailing at the time, though not showing itself by much visible excitement, that a small majority of the council adhered to the first resolution of marching into Nauvoo; most of the officers of the Schuyler and McDonough militia voting against it, and most of those of the county of Hancock voting in its favor. I decided not to accept the decision of the officers; on the contrary, I ordered the troops to be disbanded, both at Carthage and Warsaw, with the exception of three companies, two of which were retained as a guard to the jail, and the other to accompany me to Nauvoo. I ordered two companies under the command of Captain K. F. Smith, of the Carthage Grays, to guard the jail. Though the Grays were very hostile to the Mormons I trusted them because I knew their Captain was universally spoken of as a respectable citizen and honorable man. The company S(j POLYGAM\ ; OH, THE MYSTERIES itself was an old independent company, well-armed, uniformed and drilled; and the members of it were the elite of the militia of the countv. I relied upon this company especially, because it was an independent company, for a long time instructed and practiced in military discipline and subordination. I also had their word of honor, officers and men, that they would do their duty according to la\v. Besides all this the officers and most of the men resided in Carthage, and in the near vicinity of Nauvoo; and, as I thought, must know that they would make themselves and their property convenient and conspicuous marks of Mormon vengeance, in case they were guilty of treachery. So, having ordered the guard and left General Deming in command and discharged the residue of the militia, I immediately departed for Nauvoo, eighteen miles distant, accompanied by Colonel Buck master, Quartermaster-General, and Captain Dunn's company of dragoons. " We arrived at Xauvoo about 4 o'clock of the afternoon of the 27th day of June. As soon as notice could be given, a crowd assembled to hear an address. I stated to them how their functionaries had violated the laws. Also, the many scandalous reports in circulation against them, and that these reports, whether true or false, were generally believed by the people. I distinctly stated to them the amount of hatred and prejudice which prevailed everywhere against them, and the causes of it, at length. I also told them plainly and emphati- cally, that if any vengeance should be attempted, openly or secretly, against the persons or property of the citizens who had taken part against their leaders, that the public hatred and excitement were such, that thousands would assemble for tin- total destruction of their city and the extermination of their people; and that no power in the State would be able to pre- vent it. During this address some impatience and resentment were manifested by the Mormons, at the recital of the various reports enumerated concerning them, which they strenuously and indignantly denied to be true. They claimed to be a law- abiding people, and insisted that as they looked to the law- alone for their protection so were they careful themselves to AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 87 observe its provisions. Upon the conclusion of this address, I proposed to take a vote on the question whether they would strictly observe the laws, even in opposition to their Prophet and leaders. The vote was unanimous in favor of this proposition. "The anti-Mormons contended that such a vote from the Mormons signified nothing; and truly the subsequent history of that people showed clearly that they were loudest in their professions of attachment to the law, when they were guilty of the greatest extravagances; and in fact, that they were so igno- rant and stupid about matters of law, that they had no means of judging of the legality of their conduct, only as they were instructed by their spiritual leaders." Thus far the governor at Nauvoo. A far different scene was unfolding at Cartilage. The Prophet's strange, erratic course was run and his young and lusty life was soon to sink in the black shadow of doom. The prisoners, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards, felt too plainly the forecast of death. Eider Taylor sang and exerted himself to enliven them, but in vain. One of the departing brethren had slipped a revolver into Joseph's hand; they relied on this as a possible protection, but had little hope. Near sun- set, says a citizen of Carthage, an armed force of about one hundred was seen approaching the jail. All the militia were at a distance but a small guard of eight men; these were over- powered, a few shots being fired but no one hurt, and the mob was in possession. They filled the lower room and after brief hesitation rushed up the stairway. From the landing a volley was instantly fired through the door into the prisoners' apart- ment. One of these random shots passed through the panel with force sufficient to inflict a mortal wound on the person of Hyrum Smith, from which he instantly expired. The Prophet discharged his weapon three times, and it is said, each time with effect. He now turned to an open window, with a view to escape, but the mob was below in the prison yard as well as around him. He hesitated; he clutched the window-sill to which he was suspended, and cast a wild and imploring look below. A volley was fired by the unrelenting mob, and the Prophet fell to the ground, if not lifeless, at least insensible. 88 POLYGAMY. But nothing less than certainty would satisfy the raob. One seized the body and lifted it into a sitting posture against the well-curb, when four others advanced till their rifles almost touched the Prophet, and discharged the heavy loads directly into his bosom. Then, adds the Mormon historian, a brawny Missourian, with blackened face, sprang forward knife in hand to cut off the Prophet's head, for which a reward had been offered; but as he kneeled upon his victim a flash of lightning from the clear sky darted between him and the Prophet, blinded him and knocked the knife from his grasp. Of course no Gentile witness saw this. Thus died Joseph Smith, the most noted impostor of modern times, the only great impostor America has produced. In the short space of fifteen years he and his coadjutors had brought forth a new Bible, ordained a new morality, established a new or eclectic theology, and founded a church with missions in half the civilized world. Yet Joseph was but thirty-nine and Hyrum forty-four years of ag. Joseph had none of the tricks of assumed sanctity with which common impostors impress their dupes ; in a gathering of many thousands he was the very last man whom the knowing would have selected as a probable religious teacher. Six feet high and uncommonly well muscled, with a slight stoop ordinarily, a long but retreating forehead, a singularly unattractive eye and decided nasal twang, he had all the rude humors and gestures which usually belong to the un- taught man of that type. In appetite he was noticeably gross, his baser passions were almost ungovernably fierce, and the most devout Mormons never seriously deny that he often fell into carnal sin. With all this he possessed that rude energy, and that magnetic power over ignorant people, especially women, which is often found associated with this temperament. Enough is known to show that his evil influence was great, even over good women, and his fierce lusts would never leave him free to pursue any consistent policy for the good of his church. The strong cravings of his animal nature always swayed the move- ments of his really able intellect. He never could choose the greater but more distant good in preference to the enticing evil near at hand. DEATH OF JOSEPU SMITH. (89) 90 POLYGAMY. The power of his family died with him. His brother Samuel soon followed to the grave; William Smith seceded from the Saints, and has since managed to maintain a happy obscurity. His widow, Emma Smith, held on to the property, was quietly dropped from the church membership, married a Major Bida- inon, and was long the landlady of the Nauvoo House, at which I made her acquaintance in 1872. For a while after the Prophet's death she made no secret of her unbelief, and some years after published a card in the Quincy Whig, in which she stated that she always had considered his revelations as the out- givings of a diseased mind. But since her sons attempted to revive the church, she has given some countenance to their claims. The sons of Hyruin Smith stand high in the Brigham- ite church in Utah. Strangely enough, Joseph Smith left, as fur as can be ascertained, no polygamous offspring, though it wa> long hinted in Utah that Joseph A. Young, reputed son of Brig- ham, was really the son of Joseph Smith. But such questions of disputed parentage are common in Utah, and their solution presents even greater difficulties than the proverbial needle in a hay-stack. That many of the "spiritual wives" in Nauvoo were as compliant as the Prophet was urgent, is a matter too well proved for doubt. Joseph Smith has had hosts of imitators, in the Mormon church even; but one and all have failed. James Strung. Lyman Wight, and other apostles, and since their day Joseph Morris, Gladden Bishop, Prophet Davis, Potter Christ and others have given voluminous revelations, but calamity overtook their little congregations before they grew large enough to in- terest the world. Nobody could wear the mantle of the dead. Hud he lived to old age, or even into middle life, Smith's errors and vices would have disintegrated his church ; his death con- solidated it just in the shape it then wu>. It took several year- to hammer the mixed mass of doctrines into shape, but it wus done, and we now have to trace the history of a peculiar church which takes its most marked features from the embarrassing \ i'-es and crude utterances, often for a specific object, of one erratic man. (91) 92 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES CHAPTER VI. THE MORMONS EXPELLED FROM ILLINOIS. Funeral of the Smiths Remarkable disposition of the bodies Arrest and trial of those accused of the killing Reconstruction of the church The Twelve Apostles take the reins Murder of Miller and Leiza " Perfect oneness " War renewed Murders of Worrall, Wili-ox. McBratney, Durfee and Daub- eneyer Iowa and Western Illinois combine to expel the Mormons The " Wolf-Hunters '' Closing scenes of war, murder and misery Gentile Nauvoo. GOVERNOR FORD and party were well on their return to Carthage when runners met them with information of the Prophet's death. "The news," says the governor, "seemed to strike every one with a kind of dumbness. I anticipated that an exterminating war would ensue, and therefore took the two messengers in custody back to Carthage, in order to gain time. I also dispatched messengers to Warsaw, to advise the citizens of the event. But the people there knew all about it, and, like myself, feared a general attack. The women and children were moved across the river, and a committee dispatched that night to Quincy for assistance. The next morning by daylight, the ringing of the bells in the city of Quincy announced a public meeting. The people assembled in great numbers. The War- saw committee stated to the meeting that a party of Mormons had attempted to rescue the Smiths out of jail ; that a party of Missourians and others had killed the prisoners to prevent their escape; that the governor and his party were at Nauvoo at the time when intelligence of the fact was brought there; that they had been attacked by the Nauvoo Legion, and had retreated to a house where they were then closely besieged. That the gov- ernor had sent out word that he could maintain his position for two :lavs, and would be certain to bo massacred if assistance did AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 93 not arrive by the end of that time. The effect of this was that by ten o'clock on the 28th of June, between two and three hundred men from Quincy, under command of Major Flood, embarked on board a steamboat for Nauvoo, to assist in raising the siege, as they honestly believed." The panic spread rapidly. Scarcely had the Prophet breathed his last when the mob ran in all directions, spreading the news and warning the people of Mormon vengeance. Carthage was panic-stricken ; the Nauvoo Legion, 4,000 strong, was hourly expected ; horses, buggies, wagons and carts crowded the high- way, going in full speed in the direction from Nauvoo, while many fled on foot to the thickest woods. Stories innumerable, both affecting and ludicrous, are told of this wild flight. The governor had indeed acted wisely in keeping the news from the Mormons till the next day. John Taylor, now president of the Mormon church, had received four serious wounds by the same volley which killed the Smiths; and it was with the ut- most difficulty he and Willard Richards could induce one family to remain to care for him and the bodies of the dead. Among the four shots which struck Taylor, one took effect in the back of his watch, a heavy patent lever, stopping the hands exactly at 5 o'clock, 16 minutes, 26 seconds, which is now marked by the Saints as the "Solemn hour of the Prophet's death." The watch is still preserved, and Taylor long carried in his body two balls from the guns of the mob. Early next morning, June 28th, Taylor, Richards and Samuel H. Smith sent a joint message to the Saints at Nauvoo, with news of the tragedy and advice : " Be still be patient wait on the Lord." The legion was at once mustered and addressed by Colonel Buckmaster, the governor's aid, and others; the troops unanimously pledged good order, and prepared to receive the martyrs' bodies. At least 10,000 people turned out that afternoon, received the sad procession with great lamentation, and were addressed and comforted by leading Mormons. Joseph was now canonized ; all his errors and tyrannies seemed to be obliterated from their minds; he had "sealed the truth with his blood," and stood henceforth a sainted 94 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES martyr. The spiritual wives of the dead Prophet filled the city with their cries, but his lawful wife Emma was quiet and resigned. The coffins were committed to the ground with imposing ceremonies: but the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were not in that funeral procession : they were reserved for private inter- ment. It was believed that there were persons capable of rifling the grave in order to obtain the head of the murdered Prophet tor the purpose of exhibiting it or placing it in some phreno- logical museum. This proved true, for the place where the bodies were supposed to be buried was disturbed the night after the interment. The coffins had been filled with stones, etc., to about the weight which the bodies would have been. The re- mains of the two brothers were then secretly buried the same night by a chosen few in the vaults beneath the temple. The ground was then levelled, and pieces of rock and other debris were scattered carelessly over the spot. But even this was not considered a sufficient safeguard against any violation of the dead, and on the following night a still more select number ex- humed the remains and buried them under the pathway back of Joseph's residence. The bricks of the walk were carefully re- placed and the dirt thrown into the river. Still the bones of the Prophet and Patriarch were not at rest; for after a sufficient time these were taken, up by the family, and finally deposited at another spot ; though Brigham plead earnestly that they might be laid beneath the temple at Salt Lake. They are destined to occupy a glorious niche in the great temple ii; the New Jerusa- lem, or Missouri Zion (Independence); but their present resting place no Brighamite can tell ! Governor Ford at once exerted all his power to bring the slayers of the Smiths to justice. Soon an important witness appeared. One Daniels, a private in Colonel Levi Williams' regiment, stated that when the editor of the Warsaw Signup Thomas C. Sharpe, brought dispatches from the governor, ordering the disbandment of the troops, on the morning of the 27th, the intelligence created great excitement. They were clamorous to march upon Xauvoo, and were already a few AND CRIMES OF MOKMONISM. 95 miles on their way to that place. When the order was received, the troops were formed into line and Sharpe was invited to ad- dress them. This Daniels asserts that, in his speech, Sharpe counselled the command to march eastward to Carthage, take the jail by storm, and kill the Smiths; that the governor had already gone to Nauvoo ; and that the Mormons, upon hearing of the deatli of the Smiths, would kill the governor, and that they would then be rid of his interference. Volunteers were called for, and a hundred or more came forward at once. On this evidence indictments were found by the grand jury against Levi Williams, Thomas C. Sharpe, M. Aldrich, Jacob C. Davis, William N. Grover, John Allyer, William Davis, John Willis and William Gallagher, for the murder of Joseph and Hyruin Smith. The governor called in the aid of the attorney-general of the State and other able lawyers to assist the regular prose- cuting attorney. Sharpe, Grover, Davis and Williams were arrested, and tried in the summer of 1845. Three days were occupied in empan- elling a jury out of over three hundred persons summoned ; and the trial lasted nine days. Daniels had in the meantime become a Mormon and published the account before alluded to: that he saw lightning descend from heaven to save the dead Prophet from mutilation, and heard supernatural voices in the air confirming his mission ! Having published this in a book, he was compelled to swear to it in court, which of course de- stroyed the credit of his evidence. This witness was afterwards expelled from the Mormons, but they still cling to his evidence in favor of the divine mission of the Prophet. Many other witnesses were examined who knew the facts, but denied all knowledge of them. So the accused were acquitted. At the next term the Mormon officials were tried, and acquitted, for the destruction of the heretical press. It appears that, not being interested in objecting to the sheriff or jury selected by a court elected by themselves, they, in their turn, got a favorable jury determined upon acquittal ; and yet the Mormon jurors all swore that they had formed no opinion as to the guilt or inno- cence of their accused friends. It appeared that the laws fur 9ti POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES nished the means of suiting each party with a jury. The Mormons could have a Mormon jury to be tried by, selected by themselves ; and the anti-Mormons, by objecting to the sheriff and regular panel, could have one from the anti-Mormons. Reaction succeeded the killing of the Smiths; there was a truce to hostilities, and the Mormon leaders hastened to recon- struct the church. The Prophet had once laid hands on his eldest son Joseph and ordained him a king and priest in his stead, and but a short time before his death he stated that " the man was not born who was to lead this people, but of Emma Smith then promising him an heir should be born a son who would succeed in the presidency after a season of disturbance." This son, named from his father's direction David Hyrum, was born at the Mansion House, on the 17th of November following, and is the "son of promise" whom thousands of the Mormons still regard as the predestined leader who is finally to bring them back to Jackson county. But an immediate leader was needed. Many had revelations that Joseph would, like the Saviour, rise from the dead, and some reported that they had seen him coursing the air on a great white horse. But all these were finally condemned by the priesthood as "lying revelations." William Smith, the Prophet's only surviving brother, claimed the succession on that account. Sidney Rigdon, who was one of the first presi- dency, from his peculiar relations to the church, asserted the strongest claim. James Strang had an immediate revelation that he was to lead the people into Wisconsin. Lyman Wight received a divine order to go to Texas, and Gladden Bishop, John E. Page, Cutler, Hedrick, Brewster and others laid in their claims. On the 15th of August, the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, addressed a letter " To all the Saints in the world," and the 7th of October the Saints of Nauvoo and vicinity met in council to determine who should take control. Brigham had been absent in Boston, and Rigdon, very busy among the people, had succeeded in getting a special convention called ; but Brigham arrived the very day of the meeting, and UNITED STATES SENATOR REED SMOOT THE MORMON APOSTLE AND CRIMES OF MORMONI8M. 97 signally defeated Rigdon. The people voted that the govern- ment should for the present be in the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which was in effect making Brigham chief ruler. The next day Brigham made a savage address against Sydney Rigdon, who, meanwhile, had a revelation that all the wealthy members were to follow him to western Pennsylvania, and es- tablish a new " stake " for the others to gather to ! Brigham then denounced Rigdon and all his revelations as from the devil, and moved that he be "cut off." Nearly a hundred voted in the negative, when it was immediately resolved they were " in a spirit of apostasy," and they were " cut off." It was then proposed and unanimously carried, that "all who should hereafter defend Rigdon should be cut off," which ended the so-called election. Rigdon took a small band to Pennsyl- vania, and most of the other aspirants also took off various sects, known in the Brighamite church as " Gladdenites," " Strangites," " Brewsterites," " Cutlerites," "Gatherers," etc. Most of these sects have fallen to pieces. The Times and Seasons, a weekly periodical, had been established at Nauvoo soon after its settlement, and in the fifth volume may be found a full account of these curious trials. Brigham Young now took entire control, hastened the com- pletion of the upper rooms of the Temple, and hurried the people through their " endowments." These consist of a mys- tical ceremony representing the various stages in man's "pro- gress, during which the candidates are initiated and passed to the various degrees of the priesthood, and sworn to obey all orders of their superiors. Thus the people were bound to Brigham by oaths which they shuddered to recall : they feared him as they had never feared Smith, but could not love him with the same clinging devotion. It Was well that he consoli- dated his power so rapidly, for the Anti-Mormon War soon re- vived with increased bitterness. During the autumn of 1844, the anti-Mormon leaders sent printed invitations to all the militia captains in Hancock, and to the captains of militia in all the neighboring counties in Illi- nois, Iowa, and Missouri, to be present with their companies at 7 98 POLYGAMY. a great wolf hunt in Hancock ; and it was privately announced that the wolves to be hunted were the Mormons, and "Jack- Mormons. Preparations were made for assembling several thousand men, with provisions for six days ; and the anti- Mormon newspapers, in aid of the movement, commenced anew the most awful accounts of thefts and robberies, and med- itated outrages by the Mormons. The Whig press in even- part of the United States came to their assistance. But Gov- ernor Ford hastily raised five hundred militia: men from a distance and not infected with the local feeling. With these he reached Hancock, October 25, whereupon the "Wolf- hunters " abandoned their design and fled to Missouri, or to the neighboring counties of Illinois. The year 1845 opened with worse troubles than ever. Sev- eral most atrocious murders were committed one specially atrocious of a land-speculator near Nauvoo all attributed to the Mormons. Land owned by Gentiles near Mormon settle- ments practically lost its value, as no Gentile wanted to buy it; and the old settlers saw they could have no peaceful enjoyment of their property while the Saints . remained. Gentiles com- bined in groups for society and protection, and Mormons did the same at command of the church, to which they were bound by such absolute oaths ; and this, of course, led to local and sectional hatred, which, among people who habitually wore arms, soon culminated in blood. Men became afraid to stir abroad, except in squads; riots and regular skirmishes, amounting almost to pitched battles, took place; blood was shed, lives were lost, and the exasperation of both parties was raised to the highest pitch. The Western press teemed with accounts of the enormities of Nauvoo : no doubt greatly exag- gerated, but with considerable truth. While matters were in this condition two shocking murders took place in Iowa, not far from Nauvoo. A Pennsylvania German named Miller, and his son-in-law Leiza, had come into the Half-Breed Tract near Keokuk to buy land, and it was currently reported they had brought $5,000 in gold. One night their door was suddenly broken open, three ruffians (99) 100 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES rushed in with bludgeons and bowie knives, and began their deadly work. Both the men grappled with their assailants, and such was the vigor of the old German that, with the long bowie knife twice buried in his bosom and his skull fractured by a club, he still forced the murderers from the house and fell dead in the yard. The screams of the women and barking of the dogs led the murderers to dread an alarm, and they fled with- out their booty, leaving Leiza alive but mortally wounded. The county rose as one man, and very soon the trail of the murderers was traced to Nauvoo, with evidence sufficient to warrant the arrest of two brothers named Hodges. Their brother, Amos Hodges, appealed to Brigham Young, who convened the Municipal Court, and refused to allow the Iowa officials to arrest the accused. This put an end to all hesitation of Iowa to join the anti-Mormons of Illinois. Hawkins Taylor, sheriff of Lee county, Iowa, came with a large force to Xauvoo; and, by Brigham's order, the people assembled for a council. Taylor spoke with great plainness, telling them that Iowa would certainly join their Illinois ene- mies if they did not surrender the accused. The latter mean- while were going about utterly unconcerned. But that night Brigham and his councillors suddenly resolved on a change : by his order the police seized the Hodges and delivered them to Taylor, who soon had them in jail in Iowa. Amos Hodges, getting wind of Brigham's design, called on him late that night, stating to an intimate friend as he went that unless Brigham had his brothers released he, Amos, would see that a few more Mormons kept them company. His interview with Brigham was stormy, but no one knows what was said. Next morning Amos Hodges was found on the common, dead : a long knife having been driven to his heart. Leiza lived long enough to identify the Hodges, and they were duly hanged. About the same time an unrecognizable corpse was found in the river, and a lady, now resident in Salt Lake City, says the head was left at her house in a box, to be identified by Brigham Young as that of the right man, About the same time also, the trials of various suits brought against AND CKIMES OF MORMONISM. 101 Mormons showed that the latter had evaded all responsibility for debts by what they called the " Perfect Oneness in Christ." In this order a few persons joined in deeding all their property to one who held it as steward for the Church : the same system which in Utah has grown into the " Order of Enoch " or " Per- fect Consecration." After some suits with futile results, the people of Adams county, especially in the vicinity of Lima and Green Plains, began to discuss measures to drive out all Mor- mons living there. They were mostly of a very poor class, and the older citizens were greatly annoyed by their little larcenies of fruit, poultry, and grain. A majority of the Gentiles there refused to try violence, so the more aggressive minority con- certed a trick to bring others up to the proper heat. A -meeting of Gentiles was called for one evening at a log school-house, and while the principal speaker was holding forth on the horrors and dangers of their situation, there was a sudden and stunning report, and the large window, running the whole length of the school-house, was dashed inward and in fragments on the floor. Simultaneously came a sharp fire of musketry, the whistling of balls was heard, and the frantic cry of an outside sentinel : " The Mormons ! The Mormons ! My God, men, save yourselves ! " As the squalling chickens fly when the fox lands in the coop, so those not in the secret bounded out of doors and windows, and with " O Lord, save us ! " betook themselves to flight. Some jumped into their saddles without loosing their horses, and on applying the spurs, were hurled to the ground ; but the most took to the brush without care for their animals. One man, it is averred, seized a horse by the tail and climbed up over the rump to the saddle before the frightened owner could mount by way of the stirrup ; and a relative of this writer, for some years a resident of Adams county, tells a story of an old semi-paralytic, who had not walked without a crutch for years, but who that night ran three miles, ahead of the swiftest youths in the rout. Of course the attack was a concerted affair, but the effect was as intended ; the fugitives spread the report that the Mormons had commenced a general massacre, 102 POIA-GAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES and within forty-eight hours the mobs were at hand, and threatening the Mormons of that vicinity with fire and sword if they did not remove. They refused, and the work of destruction began. About a hundred and fifty shanties were unroofed or torn down, and the inmates thrust into their own vehicles, or turned loose, and set on the road to Nauvoo. It was now the worst part of the malarious season, and through the pestilential vapors, beneath the sickening heat of a September sun, with barely enough well ones to conduct the sick, the routed Mormons came pour- ing into Nauvoo. The groans of the aged and sick, the bruises of those who had been whipped, and the abject misery of all excited the Nauvoo Mormons to a fearful pitch, and they retaliated with cruel severity on a few Gentiles who fell into their hands. The condition of the adjoining country was wretched in the extreme. It was worse than ordinary civil war; it was a religious feud. Governor Ford gives the follow- ing points as merely the principal tragedies and troubles of that eventful autumn: "No leading man on either side could be arrested without the aid of an army, as the men of one party could rot safely surrender to the other for fear of being murdered ; when arrested by a military force, the Constitution prohibited a trial in any other county without the consent of the accused. No one could be convicted of any crime in Hancock ; and this put an end to the administration of the criminal law in that dis- tracted county. The great fires in Pittsburgh and in other cities about this time, were seized upon by the Mormon press to countenance the assertion that the Lord had sent them to manifest his displeasure against the Gentiles ; and to hint that all other places which should countenance the enemies of the Mormons, might expect to be visited by ' hot drops ' of the same description. This was interpreted by the anti-Mormons to be a threat by Mormon incendiaries, to burn down all cities and places not friendly to their religion. About this time also, a suit had been commenced in the Circuit Court of the United States against some of the Twelve Apostles, on a note given in AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 103 Ohio. The deputy marshal went to summon the defendants. They were determined not to be served with process, and a great meeting of their people being called, outrageously inflam- matory speeches were made by the leaders ; the marshal was threatened and abused for intending to serve a lawful process, and it was publicly declared and agreed to by the Mormons, that no more process should be served in Nauvoo. " The Mormons had elected Jake Backinstos Sheriff, and he was hated with a thorough hatred by the an ti -Mormons; so when called on by him to act in a posse to stop the burning of houses they refused. Backinstos then raised at Nauvoo several hundred armed Mormons, with whom he swept over the country, took possession of Carthage, and established a per- manent guard there. The anti-Mormons everywhere fled from their houses before the Sheriff, some of them to Iowa and Missouri, and others to the neighboring counties in Illinois. The Sheriff was unable or unwilling to bring any portion of the rioters to battle, or to arrest any of them for their crimes. The posse came near surprising one small squad, but they made their escape, all but one, before they could be attacked. This one, named McBratney, was shot down by some of the posse in advance, by whom he was hacked and mutilated as though he had been murdered by the Indians. "Sheriff Backinstos was in constant peril, as the anti- Mormons threatened him with death the first opportunity. Pursued by one party, he had a friend in ambush (Port Rock- well), who fired on the pursuers and killed Franklin A. Worrall the same who had command of the guard when the Smiths were assassinated. About this time also, the Mormons murdered a man by the name of Daubeneyer, without any apparent provocation ; and another anti-Mormon, named Wilcox, was murdered in Nauvoo, as it was believed, by order of the Twelve Apostles. The anti-Mormons also committed one murder. Some of them, under Back man, set fire to some straw near a barn belonging to Durfee, an old Mormon of seventy years ; and then lay in ambush until the old man came out to extinguish the fire, when they shot him dead from their 104 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES place of concealment. The perpetrators of this murder were arrested and brought before an anti-Mormon justice of the peace, and were acquitted, though their guilt was sufficiently apparent. " During the ascendancy of the Sheriff and the absence of the anti-Mormons from their homes, the people who had been burnt out assembled at Nauvoo, whence with many others they sallied forth and ravaged the country, steajing and plundering whatever was convenient to carry or drive away. When in- formed of these proceedings I hastened to Jacksonville, where, in a conference with General Hardin, Major Warren, Judge Douglas, and the Attorney General, Mr. McDougall, it was agreed that these gentlemen should proceed to Hancock in all haste, with whatever force could be raised, and restore peace. It was also agreed that all these gentlemen should unite their influence with mine to induce the Mormons to leave the State. General Hardin lost no time in raising three or four hundred volunteers, and when he got to Carthage he found a Mormon guard in possession of the court-house. This force he ordered to disband and disperse in fifteen minutes. The plundering parties of Mormons were stopped in their ravages. The fugitive anti-Mormons were recalled to their homes, and all parties above four in number on either side were prohibited from assembling and marching over the country. " Whilst General Hardin was at Carthage, a convention pre- viously appointed assembled at that place, composed of dele- gates from the eight neighboring counties, appointed to consider measures for the expulsion of the Mormons. Through the in- tervention of General Hardin, it was agreed that the Mormons should leave early in 1846, and in the meantime the hostile par- ties should seek to make no arrests for crimes previously com- mitted ; and on my part, I agreed that an armed force should be stationed in the county to keep the peace. The presence of such a force, and amnesty from prosecutions on all sides, were insisted on by the Mormons that they might devote their time and energies to prepare for their removal. General Hardin first diminished his force to one hundred men, leaving Major William B. Warren in command. And this force being further AND CRIMES OP MORMONISM. 105 reduced during the winter to fifty, and then to ten men, was kept up until the last of May, 1846. This force was com- manded with great prudence and efficiency during all this win- ter and spring by Major Warren ; and with it he was enabled to keep the turbulent spirit of faction in check, the Mormons well knowing that it would be supported by a much larger force whenever the governor saw proper to call for it." Thus far the governor and the official record. But in the mad career of a mad people, as the Mormons then were, and that of their scarcely less maddened adversaries, there is much that never appears to the official then active and worried. What follows I have collated from many sources. I have read it in Mormon and Gentile histories; have heard it in a hundred conversations by Mormon firesides, and again from the old citizens of Nauvoo and vicinity, especially the Thomas C. Sharpe before referred to, the local officials, and my own friends and relatives in Adams county. Peter Cartwright, also, the venerable Methodist itinerant, whose field of labor included Nauvoo and vicinity, has left a graphic and apparently truthful account of the troubles. He charges that the Mormons " stole the stock, plundered and burned the houses and barns, and there is no doubt they murdered some of the best citizens in the county ; and owing to the perjured evidence at their command, redress was impossible. It is a wonder the people bore as long as they did the outrageous villanies practiced on them. I knew all about this dreadful conduct, and could detail the facts if it were necessary." Seeing that they must leave, the Mormons strained every nerve to complete the temple, as the " Lord " had told them they should be rejected if they did not complete it. It was indeed a beautiful building, and was estimated to have cost half a million dollars in money and labor. The poorest Mormon had contributed his tenth day of labor on it ; the poorest Mor- mon woman had sacrificed some jewel to purchase the adorn- ments ; rich and poor had given freely, and felt in it the pride an artist may feel in a fair creation. During the winter of 1845-46 tremendous exertions were made for removal ; 106 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES green timber was dressed and boiled in brine to season it for wagons, while all the spare houses and even the temple were used as workshops. By these means 12,000 wagons were got ready for the exodus. People from all sections flocked to Nau- voo to buy, as the Saints were selling at panic prices, or trading for things they needed for the trip. But in the midst of this heroism, which seems really sublime, a few of the baser sort were again busy in crime. Counterfeit money in large amounts MORMONS FLEEING FROM NAUVOO. was made and circulated, and with what seemed to them suffi- cient evidence, the Grand Jury of the United States Circuit Court for that district found indictments against nine of the Twelve Apostles. The Marshal went to serve the writs, and was driven out of Nauvoo. He applied to Governor Ford for a militia force, but the latter refused it on the ground of his agreement with the Saints. He sent them word, however, that AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 107 as soon as navigation opened in the spring the President would probably order a detachment of the regular army to Nauvoo. This scare had the desired effect; the Twelve Apostles fled to Iowa, accompanied by about 2,000 of their brethren. February 5th, 1846, this first company crossed the Mississippi on the ice; was followed as rapidly as possible by other parties, and by the first of June 16,000 Mormons had crossed and started on their long pilgrimage towards a new Zion. In May the temple was finished, and dedicated with great ceremony ; but scarcely had the notes of the trumpet ceased and the last hymn died on the air, when the work of removing the saero-sancta began ; everything portable was taken down and carefully packed for the new Zion, and the building dismantled to the bare walls. Meanwhile, fresh troubles had broken out. Of the new citizens who had bought Mormon property, not a few were of doubtful reputation ; these created trouble with the better sort, with the adjacent Gentiles, and with the thousand or more Mormons who remained. Again the officials interfered, and again a truce was patched up. But the August election came on, and the Saints remaining in Nauvoo not only voted the Democratic ticket for themselves, but for their absent friends, each one giving in three or four names which were still on the poll-books, though their legal owners were gone. This created fresh trouble and brought on the final tragi-comedy. The knowledge that many designing persons were endeavor- ing to keep the Mormons in the county for political purposes, the fact that they had completed the temple as if they meant to stay, and an exciting rumor that the main body was coming back with reinforcements and Indian allies, roused the anti-Mormons, and under the direction of Archibald Williams, a distinguished lawyer and a Whig politician of Quincy, writs were again sworn out for the arrest of persons in Nauvoo, on various charges. But to create a necessity for a great force to make the arrests, it was freely admitted by John Carlin, the constable sent in with the writs, that the prisoners would be murdered if ar- rested and taken out of the city. And now having failed to make the arrests, the constable began to call out the posse comi- 108 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES iatus. This was about the 1st of September, 1846. The posse soon amounted to several hundred men. The Mormons, in their turn, swore out several writs for the arrest of leading anti- Mormons. It was the old conflict over again. But let it take what shape it would, or may in the future, it is ever the same : Theocracy rs. Democracy. All congressional devices to govern Utah which do not rest on that bed-rock truth, are but legisla- tive quackery. The new citizens applied to the governor for a militia officer to be sent over with ten men, they supposing that this small force would dispense with the services of the civil posse on either side. He sent Major Parker, and meanwhile the anti- Mormon force had increased to about eight hundred men ; and whilst it was getting ready to march into the city, it was represented to the governor by another committee, that the new citizens of Xauvoo were themselves divided into two parties, the one siding with the Mormons, the other with their enemies. The Mormons threatened the disaffected with death, if they did not join in defence of the city. For this reason the governor sent over M. Brayman, Esq., a judicious citizen of Springfield, who gained the rank of general in the war of 1861-65, with suitable orders restraining all compulsion, in forcing the citi- zens to join the Mormons against their will, and generally to inquire into and report all the circumstances of the quarrel. Soon after Mr. Brayman arrived there, he persuaded the leaders on each side into an adjustment of the quarrel. It was agreed that the Mormons should immediately surrender their arms to some person to be appointed to receive them, and to be re- delivered when they left the State, and that they would remove from the State in two months. This treaty was agreed to by General Singleton, Colonel Chittenden and others on the side of the Anties, and by Major Parker and some leading Mormons on the other side. But when the treaty was submitted to the anti-Mormon forces for ratification, it was rejected by a small majority. General Singleton and Colonel Chittenden, with a proper self-respect, immediately withdrew from command. Mr. Brayman reported to the governor that the anti-Mormons would AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 109 disperse without a fight, but instead they appointed new leaders and in chief command one Thomas S. Brockman, described by the Mormons as a fiend incarnate and not very highly spoken of by the Illinoisans. The governor now made desperate efforts to raise a militia force not affected by the popular feeling, but in vain. The hatred against the Mormons was too intense and wide-spread. Brockman's regiment was well armed with rifles supplied by militia companies, and a few good cannon, and advancecf to the siege. The Mormons, aided by a few old settlers, hastily fashioned some rude cannons out of an old steamboat shaft and took position about a mile east of the temple, where they threw up some breastworks for the protec- tion of their artillery. The attacking force was strong enough to have been divided and marched into the city, on each side of this battery, and entirely out of the range of its shot ; and thus the place might have been taken without the firing of a gun. But Brockman, although he professed a desire to save the lives of his men, planted his force directly in front of the enemy's battery, but distant more than half a mile ; and here they had what they called a battle, though it certainly would have raised a laugh among military men. After a few days, and with fresh ammunition, the Brockman forces again advanced and te a better position, and had another " battle," in which they killed two men and one boy of the Mormons, and had one man killed and nine slightly wounded. An immense amount of ammunition was fired, however, and that side of the town badly battered. The Nauvoo forces were all this time growing weaker by desertions and sickness, and on the arrival of another peace committee from Quincy they surrendered at discretion, only making some stipulations as to free removal. In marched the militia, or mob, or posse, as you choose, consisting of some eight hundred armed men, and six or seven hundred unarmed, who had assembled, from all the country around, from motives of curiosity, to see the once proud city of Nauvoo humbled, and delivered up to its enemies, and to the domination of a self-constituted and irre- sponsible power. They proceeded into the city slowly and 110 POLYGAMY: OR, THE MYSTERIES carefully, examining the way from fear of the explosion of a mine, many of which had been made by the Mormons, by burying kegs of powder in the ground with a man stationed at a distance to pull a string communicating with the trigger of a percussion lock affixed to the keg. This kind of contrivance was called by the Mormons a " hell's half-acre." When the posse arrived in the city, the leaders of it erected themselves 3IORMOX TEMPLE AT XAUVOO, ILLINOIS- into a tribunal to decide who should be forced away and who remain. Parties were dispatched to hunt for Mormon arms and for Mormons, and to bring them to the judgment, where they received their doom from the mouth of Brockman, who then sat a grim and unawed tyrant for the time. As a general rule, the Mormons were ordered to leave within an hour or two hours ; and by rare grace some of them were allowed until next day, and in a few cases longer. AND CRIMES OF MORMONI8M. Ill The mob expelled all the Mormons and some of the new citizens. Some of them were ducked in the river, being in one or two instances actually baptized in the name of the leaders of the mob ; others were forcibly driven into the ferry-boats, to be taken over the river, before the bayonets of armed ruffians; and it is asserted that the houses of most of them were broken open and plundered. The Mormons, in fearful distress and poverty, were thrown houseless upon the Iowa shore at the worst period of the sickly season. Many of them were taken from sick-beds, hurried into the boats, and driven away by the armed ruffians now exercising the power of government. The best they could do was to erect their tents on the banks of the river, and there remain to take their chances of perishing by hunger, or by prevailing sickness. In this condition the sick, without shelter, food, nourishment or medicines, died by scores. The mother watched her sick babe, without hope, until it died, and when she sunk under accumulated miseries, it was only to be quickly followed by her other children, now left without the least attention ; for the men had scattered out over the country seeking employment and the means of living. Their distressed condition was no sooner known, than relief was extended by all classes ; and in a few days their brethren returned and took them to the Missouri river. So ended the long struggle, and Illinois was freed from the peculiar people. The subsequent history of Nauvoo is scarcely less interesting and far more satisfactory. The new citizens sent abroad highly colored circulars about the great water-power and natural site, and a great speculation followed which ended in a collapse, and the city shrank to a little hamlet of perhaps seven hundred people. Then came the Icarians, French Communists, under the lead of M. Cabet. These proposed to fit up the temple for a social hall and school-room. But at 2 A. M. of November 10th, 1848, it was found to be on fire, and before daylight every particle of woodwork was destroyed. It was set on fire in the third story of the steeple, one hundred and forty feet 112 POI-VGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES from the ground. The dry pine burned like tinder ; there was no mode of reaching the fire, and in twenty minutes the whole wooden interior was a mass of flames. In two hours nothing remained but hot walls, inclosing a bed of embers. At Mon- trose and Fort Madison, Iowa, they could distinguish every house in Nauvoo, and the light was seen forty miles around. Joe Agnew, of Pontoosuc, fourteen miles above Nauvoo, after- wards confessed that he set it on fire. He had suffered at the hands of the Mormons, and sworn no trace of them should cumber the soil of Illinois. The Icarian Community failed, of course, and was succeeded by a colony of Bavarians and Westphalians who have made a great success of the wine manufacture and raised Nauvoo to a beautiful city of perhaps three thousand people. The. temple walls had stood in such perfect preservation that the citizens determined again to refit it for an academy. But in Novem- ber, 1850, a fearful hurricane swept down the river, and threw down most of the structure. The rest was removed. Now a vineyard covers the spot, and the stone is in a hundred walls and dwellings of the town. From the deck of a Mississippi steamer Nauvoo, which once had fourteen thousand inhabitants, now looks like a suburb of retired country-seats, stretching for two or three miles up a handsome slope; and thousands yearly pass on the river admiring the rural beauty of the place, but little thinking that a third of a century since it was the largest city in Illinois, and the most notorious in America, the chosen stronghold of a most peculiar faith and destined capital of a vast religious empire. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 113 CHAPTER VII. SETTLEMENT IN UTAH. The Via Dolorosa Orson Hyde and Bill Hickman " regulate" bad characters Mormon battalion enlisted for Mexican war Colonel Kane's life among the Mormons Pioneer band goes to Utah State of Deseret Utah organ- ized Governor Brigham Young Trouble with officials Gentiles fly the Territory Official account of Utah affairs Mormons in open rebellion. THE last of the Mormons was exiled from the State which had gladly received them seven years before, and we turn to their march through Iowa the Via Dolorosa of Mormon his- tory. They were divided into companies of ten wagons each, under control of captains, and this semi-military order was maintained throughout. As the spring advanced, many of the able-bodied men scattered to various places in Missouri and Iowa, seeking employment of every kind, and the remaining men, with a great band of women and children, pursued their way. In that climate and at that season their sufferings were necessarily great. The high waters, wet prairie, damp winds and muddy roads of spring troubled them worse than the frosts of winter, and sickness and death increased. "All night," says a woman who made the journey, " the wagons came trundling into camp with half-frozen children screaming with cold, or crying for bread, and the same the next day, and the next, the whole line of march. The open sky and bare ground for women and children in February is a thing only to be endured when human nature is put to the rack of necessity, and many a mother hastily buried her dead child by the wayside, only re- gretting she could not lie down with it herself and be at peace." On their way they established "stakes," and, when the weather had sufficiently advanced, enclosed large fields and planted them with grain for those who were to follow after. 8 114 POLYGAMY; OB, THE MYSTERIES The most noted of these "stakes" were Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah. But disease increased; hundreds who had been frost-bitten and chilled during the winter died along the way, and the route was lined with graves. Still the zeal of the sur- vivors sustained them, and the cruel ambition of their leader forced them on ; and though many deserted and turned away to various Gentile settlements, a majority remained. As successive parties left Nauvoo, the trains were spread over a line of a hun- dred miles ; but during the latter part of the season they con- centrated in the Pottawattomie country, extending up and down the Missouri from Council Bluffs. Here they built ferry boats, and a part crossed the river. Preparations for the winter were made on both sides ; cabins were built, rude tents erected, and ''dugouts," dwellings half underground, con- structed. Many young men went back to the States and hired out to work for provisions, which were forwarded to the camp. According to other witnesses, a band of horse and cattle thieves was organized under the control of Orson Hyde, and a gang of counterfeiters sent. into Missouri; but this is the testimony of fugitives from the Mormon camps, and is of course denied by Mormons. The notorious Bill Hickman now became a trusted man in the church, and, according to his so-called confession, he acted as chief Dauite at this period, killing two white men and one Indian near Council Bluffs, by order of Orson Hyde. He says the men he killed were horse thieves and desperadoes, convicted at secret trials ; and the Mormons do not deny that a few parties of that character " slipped their wind " by priestly order, but claim that the victims were men of whom the earth was well rid. In the July previous the Mormons had been visited by Captain James G. Allen, of the United States Dragoons, with whom Brigham Young entered into negotiations to furnish a battalion for the Mexican war. The Mormons were the more ready to enter this service, as they expected to be discharged in California, where the church then intended to settle. Five hundred men were enrolled in a few days, and proceeded to Leavenworth, where they were mustered into the service of the AND CRIMES OF MORMOSISM. 115 United States, An agent of Brigham Young accompanied them thus far, and received twenty thousand dollars of their ad- vanced bounty, which was understood to be for the support of their families during their absence; and the since noted John D. Lee and Major Howard Egan accompanied the battalion to Santa Fe, and took back to Brigham the amount of their first payment. This is supposed to have been used in taking their families to Utah, but grave charges are made concern- ing it. Several testify that Brigham tithed it heavily and OESON HYDE, APOSTLE AND DANITE. allowed their families to suffer; but in the criminations and recriminations of fanatics and apostates the truth is hard to come at. The battalion was put in the command of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, in the noted overland expedition under General Kearney. They marched two thousand and fifty miles to San Diego, California, passing through the mountains of southern Arizona and New Mexico, and across the "desert of death." One company of them re-enlisted for a short time in California, many apostatized and the rest made their way to Salt Lake 116 POLYGAMY. City. The main body of the Saints meanwhile concentrated at what is now Florence, six miles north of Omaha, which they called Winter Quarters. There they built five hundred log houses, one grist mill and several horse mills ; there the church was completely reorganized, the "Quorum of Three" re-estab- lished, and it was unanimously resolved that "the mantle of the Prophet Joseph had fallen on the Seer and Revelator, Brigham Young;" who was accordingly chosen to all the offices and titles of the dead Prophet. Long before the departure from Nauvoo there had been much discussion as to their home in the West; and in 1842 Joseph Smith had prophesied their departure, and sent out an exploring expedition. They then thought of taking Oregon and establishing an independent government there; but on application to the United States authorities, were peremptorily forbidden to attempt such a settlement. Oregon was then jointly occupied by Great Britain and the United States, the right to it being unsettled; and the President and Cabinet said the invasion by so large a Ixxly as the Mormons would be an infraction of the treaty. Governor Ford soon after called their attention to Fremont's explorations and suggested that one of the valleys he describes would suit them. But an old member of the Illinois legislature, now resident in Chicago, claims to be the real instigator of the settlement in Utah. He served in the same legislature with William Smith, brother of the Prophet, and called his attention to the Salt Lake valley as then just described by Fremont. This view was urged upon Brigham Young, and afterwards probably determined his action. It was then included in California, and under the rule of Mexico. In the spring of 1847 the main body was about the present Omaha, but on the east side were two thousand wagons scat- tered in various camps, each bearing the name of its leader. Many of these names remain in the local nomenclature of that country, as Cutlers, Perkins, Millers, etc. At this time they were visited by Colonel (since General) Thomas L. Kane, of Philadelphia, who continued with them some time, crossed a por- BBIGHAM'S DAUGHTEB ATTEMPTS SUICIDB. (117) 118 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES tion of the plains with them, and figured extensively in an impor- tant period of Mormon history. Elder John Hyde, the noted apostate, says that Kane there embraced Mormonism, but this seems quite improbable. Colonel Kane was the guest of Brigham Young at a time when the Prophet had, by his own account, four wives; yet the Colonel on his return solemnly .inured the President that there was no such thing as polygamy among the Mormons. During the winter, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor went on a mission to England, giv- ing general notice to tin- Saints abroad, that the next gathering place would be in Upper California. At a conference held before they left Xauvoo, to determine their destination, Lyman Wight had strongly urged Texas, John Taylor proposed Van- couver's Island, many were in favor of Oregon and Brigham Young insisted upon California. They finally fixed indefinitely upon "some valley in the Rocky mountains." Pursuant to this design they gladly furnished the battalion, as aforesaid, and also drafted and forwarded an address to President Polk, "expressive of the gratitude of the Church of Jesus Christ of Jotter-Day Saints towards him for his benevolent design of arm- ing and planting Jive hundred of our volunteers in California, to take possession of that country, and for our good, and also praying the President of the United States not to appoint Governor Boggs of Missouri the notorious enemy of the Saints as Governor of California." Governor Boggs, and many thou- sand people from Illinois and Missouri had crossed to Califor- nia in 1846. With the battalion money Brigham now fitted out the "Pioneer Band/' 143 men with seventy wagons, and under his command they left winter quarters, April 14th, 1847, and followed Fremont's trail westward up the Platte river. A\\>t of the Black Hills, they diverged and followed a trapper's trail for four hundred miles, and from Bear river westward, laid out a new route through Emigration cafiou to Jordan valley. They entered the valley July 24th, now celebrated as "Anniversary Day." They found willows and other scant vegetation along City creek, and this stream they dammed, and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 119 dug an irrigating ditch. They planted a few potatoes, from which they raised enough that year to serve for seed for a large plat, though no bigger than chestnuts. They proceeded also to lay out a city, and in October Brigham Young and a few others went back to winter quarters. The people had suffered greatly with cholera, fever and inflammatory diseases, and the old Mormon graveyard at Florence contains seven hundred graves of that winter, of which two hundred are of children. Vast numbers had fallen into apostasy, or turned away and joined themselves to recusant sects; and all their fair-weather friends had forsaken them. But the little remnant were at least consolidated in sentiment, strengthened and confirmed together by mutual suffering, firm and self-reliant; and some- thing over four thousand made the journey to Salt Lake the following season. But the small party left in the valley had raised but a scant crop, and though the new-comers had trans- ported all the provisions they could, there was great scarcity. Every head of a family issued rations to those dependent upon him, and many children received, for months, "each one biscuit a day and all the scgo roots they could dig." Wolves, raw hides, rabbits, thistle roots, segos, and everything that would support life was resorted to. In* 1849, a plentiful crop was raised, furnishing enough for food and a small surplus. February 20th, 1848, emigration from Great Britain was recommenced after a suspension of two years. One can but smile and sigh alternately on reading the Mor- mon record of those early years in Utah. At one time there is promise of a good harvest, or some discovery of natural wealth ; then the spirits of the Saints mount as on eagle's wings, and they cry exultingly to all the world to come and behold the goodness of. Zion. Again there is misfortune, and then we have wailings in the style of a parody on the Hebrew Psalms. Through it all there is an awkward straining after Hebraic similes: the church was in the wilderness of Zin, but had set up her Ebenezer; she was in peril of the Lamanites, but would blow down the walls of Jericho; she had suffered at Ziklag, but hoped to rejoice at Beor-lahai-roi. The crickets 120 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES came* and nearly destroyed one crop; then gulls came and destroyed the crickets, and in pious gratitude the Mormon historian records the miracle with this addendum: "There were no gulls in the country before the Mormons came ! " The reader will, no doubt, accept this as true, in the slang meaning of the word. Save Indians and crickets there were none to molest; but the Saints had scarcely got located when they learned that the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, late in 1848, had put them once more in United States territory. They could easily have maintained independence of Mexican rule, but other measures were now necessary; and in 1849 they began organizing a State government. Late that year Captain Howard Stansbury, with his assistant, Lieutenant Gunnison, and party arrived, and thinking, as he stated, that his success depended somewhat upon the good-will of the Mormons, he visited Salt Lake City at once and formed a very favorable opinion. He acknowledges the courtesy and assistance of the Mormons, " as soon as the true object of the expedition was understood." His party were probably the first Gentiles who ever spent more than a month or two in Salt Lake City. Late in 1849, or early in 1850, Messrs. Livingston and Kinkead, pioneer merchants, opened a store in Salt Lake City, and from the extent of their trade, the Saints seemed to have realized handsomely on their sales to the California emigrants. Captain Stansbury completed his survey of the Great Salt Lake, and set out on his return to the States in August, 1850; and soon after an immense emigration appeared on their way to California. The association of the preceding year seems to have created great confidence, and nearly all these emigrants made a lengthy stay in the Mormon settlements. For three years the Mormons had been almost unheard of in the States, and most of the prejudice against them had died out; but re- newed prosperity and increasing numbers had produced their usual effects: arrogance, spiritual pride, and a desire to domi- nate over the unbelievers. Late in the season a large number of emigrants were persuaded that it was unsafe to continue the AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 121 westward route at that season, and concluded to remain all win- ter among the Mormons. They represent that all was pleasant until autumn was too far advanced for them to leave even by the southern route, after which a series of merciless exactions began, and never ceased as long as the Mormon civil authorities could find pretences for bogus legal actions, or the emigrants had anything of which they could be stripped. Those who had hired out to work for Mormons were refused their pay, and denied redress in the courts; if difficulties arose, fines of from one to five hundred dollars were imposed for the slightest misdemeanors; in all suits between Mormon and Gentile, the latter invariably paid the costs; they were openly reviled in court by the Mormon judges, and in one peculiarly aggravating instance Justice Willard Snow boasted to Gentiles in his court that "the time was near at hand, when he would judge Gentiles for life and death, and then he would snatch their heads off like chickens in the door-yard." In one case an emigrant died near the Hot Springs, and his three companions buried him and proceeded on their way without notifying the city authorities. Complaint was made that some city ordinance had been violated ; they were pursued, taken back to the city, and every dollar they had, as well as their wagon and all their stock, were taken to pay their fine and costs. Another Gentile was struck over the head with a board by Bill Hick man, and returned the blow, for which he was ar- rested and fined eighty dollars ; the costs made up the amount to more than two hundred dollars, but as he had but little over half the sum, they kindly contented themselves with taking all he had, and let him depart. Many who had come in with a complete " outfit," finished their journey on foot. When these emigrants reached the general rendezvous on the Sacramento, they began to compare notes. And as each new-comer added to the evidence, it was thought best to compile their statements to send to their Eastern friends. Accordingly the affidavits of five hundred of them were selected, reduced to form, and, with their names appended, published and circulated generally ii* the East. 1 22 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES This book, of which a copy may be found in the State library at Sacramento, contains statements of facts which seem almost incredible, even with our present knowledge of Mormon law and its administration ; but they rest on the sworn testimony of reliable men, who now reside in California. It roused all the old bitterness of feeling against the Mormons, which was not a little heightened soon after by the shameless avowal on their part of polygamy and incest as features of their religion. The Saints had reached Utah with a complete ecclesiastical government in operation which, in such perfect isolation, under the iron will and cunning head of Brigham Young, rapidly developed into a despotism. As far as they were concerned they would probably have needed no other government; but they soon saw that Gentiles would come and apostates might develop, and a government which could make up an official record fit to be inspected by a prying United States appointee was a neces- sity. So they organized the State of Deseret in March, 1849. It was to include all the present Utah and Nevada, all of Col- orado west of the summit, that part of California in the Great Basin, and the nearest sections of Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and Oregon ! Of course there was not a dissenting vote, and the whole official machinery of the Church was simply floated into the new State, thus: Governor, Brigham Young; Lieuteuant-Governor, Heber C. Kimball; Chief Jus- tice, Daniel H. Wells (a justice of the peace in Illinois !) and the two houses of the legislature filled by the apostles and leading elders. It is difficult to find in our history any inchoate government with so many of the ear-marks of treason about it as this State of Deseret. But it still exists, goes through the motions every year, and has its laws formally enacted by the Utah legislature; Deseret is the prophetic name, and if Congress ever admits Utah by that title, the Saints will see in it the direct fulfillment of prophecy. But Congress, in the long session of 1849-50, had carved up the territory acquired from Mexico, and the Organic Act creating Utah received the signature of President Fillmore, September 9, 1850. Captain Stanshury had reported AND CHIMES OF MORMON ISM. 123 that Brigham was good and kind, and it would be a graceful thing to make him governor. The President asked about the charges as to polygamy, and Colonel Thomas L. Kane hastened to assure him that it was all a vile slander. He had lived with Brigham Young in his tent when the latter had four wives, and heard and seen nothing ; yet he seems to be grieved that people do not promptly accept all his later statements as to Mormon purity. On his testimony President Fillmore made Brigham governor. Now the Saints claim that he did so with full knowledge of their polygamy, and that government is therefore estopped from interfering with it! In return for this courtesy, Brigham soon after preached one of his lively sermons, in which he said : " Why when that time comes '(the earthly reign of the Saints) the Gentiles will come begging to us to be our servants. I know several men, high in office in the nation, who would make good servants. I expect the President of the United States to black my boots" This was, to say the least, unkind of Brigham. At the same time, Lemuel C. Branden- burg was appointed Chief Justice; Perry E* Brochus, and Zerubbabel Snow (Mormon), Associate Justices ; Seth M. Blair (Mormon), Attorney General, and B. D. Harris, Secretary. Thus the President had divided the offices pretty equally between Saint and Gentile. The officials did not reach Utah till July, 1851, at which time there were a few Gentiles resi- dent in Salt Lake City, mostly carpenters and other artisans whose labor was just then in special demand, emigrants who had failed at that poii>t on their way to the Pacific, and perhaps half a dozen California traders or cattle-dealers. The new Gen- tile officials soon found themselves involved in difficulty ; Judge Brochus rashly attempted to preach against polygamy, and having his life threatened soon after left the Territory, fol- lowed, in 1852, by Secretary Harris, leaving the government once more in the hands of the Mormons. Brigham Young appointed his second counsellor, Willard Richards, to fill the vacant Secretaryship, the sole remaining Judge, Z. Snow, and the District Attorney being " good Mormons." The peculiar condition at that time is amusingly illustrated 124 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES by the old court records and copies of state papers. One is never quite clear with the latter whether he is perusing a ser- mon, a stump speech, a military address, or a vulgar parody on the Bible. Here, by way of illustration, is Governor Brigham Young's first Thanksgiving Proclamation : "TERRITORY OF UTAH. "A Proclamation for a Day of Praise and Thanksgiving. "It having pleased the Father of all good to make known his mind and will to the children of men in these last days, and through the administration of his angels to restore the holy priesthood unto the sons of Adam, by which the gospel of his Son has been proclaimed, and the ordinances of life and salvation are administered; and through which medium the Holy Ghost has been communicated to believing, willing, and honest minds ; causing faith, wisdom, and intelligence to spring up in the hearts of men, and influencing them to flow together, from the four quarters of the earth, to a land of peace and health, rich in mineral and vegetable resources, reserved of old in the councils of eternity for the purposes to which it is now appropriated ; a land choice above all other lands ; far removed from the strife, contentions, divisions, moral and physical com- motions, that are disturbing the peace of the nations and king- doms of the earth : "I, Brigham Young, Governor of the Territory aforesaid, etc., etc. ******* "And I recommend to all good citizens of Utah, that they abstain from everything which is calculated to mar or grieve the spirit of their Heavenly Father on that day ; that they rise early in the morning of the first day of the new year, and wash their bodies with pure -water ; that all men attend to their flocks and herds with carefulness, and see that no creature in their charge is hungry, thirsty, or cold; while the women are pre- paring the best of food for their households, and their children ready to receive it in cleanliness and cheerfulness ; then let the head of each family with his family, bow down upon his knee? AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 125 before the God of Israel, and acknowledge all his sins, and the sins of his household ; call upon the Father, in the name of Jesus, for every blessing that he desires for himself, his kindred, the Israel of God, the universe of man ; praying with full pur- pose of heart and united faith. .* * * " Retire to your beds early, that you may be refreshed, and rise early again, and so continue, until times and seasons are changed ; or finally, I say unto you, let the same process be continued from day to day, until you arrive unto one of the days of Kolob, [where a day is 1,000 of our years,] the planet nearest to the habitation of the Eternal Father ; and if you do not find peace and rest to your souls by that time, in the prac- tice of these things, and no one else shall present himself to offer you better counsel, I will be there, and knowing more, will tell you what you ought to do next. " Done at the Executive Office, Great Salt Lake City. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my FSEAT 1 nan ^ an( l caused the seal of the Territory to be affixed, this 19th day of December, A. D. 1851, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-sixth. " By the Governor, BRIGHAM YOUNG. " W. RICHARDS, Sec. pro tern., appointed by the Governor." Think of such stuff as this, from an American governor, appointed by an American President, and confirmed by an American Senate, and under a Constitution which imperatively forbids all joining of state and church ! For three years after the territory was organized, Governor Brigham Young and the apostolic legislature literally rushed things. The whole official list of Deseret was re-elected in the mass for Utah ; Hon. John M. Bernhisel was even selected for delegate to Congress, and far on his way to Washington, before the election was held. The people then as now voted unani- mously as the church directed and Brigham was the church. The legislature proceeded to divide all the valuable privileges in the territory among themselves and the Mormon leaders, by POLYGAMY; Oil, THE MYSTERIES a system they called "grants." All the timber and water- power of any consequence was thus withdrawn from pre-emp- tion ; and many years after, when the officials of the Land Department compelled an inquiry into some of these claims, the Mormon people, at the oommaud of the church, obtained United States patents in the legal way, and at once transferred the title to the old priestly grantee. But in all their triumph there was one bitter cup : Secretary Harris had taken with him the 24,000 provided by the national government to pay the legislature; and though Brigham Young sought to restrain him, he stuck to it and returned it to Washington. This he did on the ground that Governor Young had exceeded his authority in various ways, and the Washington officials sus- tained the Secretary. But Brigham gloried greatly in having scared the officials away, and in a sermon, published in the Mormon papers and still extant, used this language : " When the officers returned from this Territory to the States, did we send them away? We did not. I will tell you what I did, and what I will do again. I did chastise the poor, mean ruffian the poor, miserable creature who came here by the name of Brochus when he arose before this people, to preach to them, and tell them of meanness which he supposed they were guilty of, and traduce their characters " It is true, as it is said in the report of these officers, if I had crooked my little finger he would have been used up. But I did not bend it. If I had, the sisters alone felt indig- nant enough to have chopped him in pieces. I did not do it, however, but suffered him to fill up the measure of his shame and iniquity, until his cup is running over. " I have no fears whatever of Franklin Pierce excusing me from office, and saying that another man shall be the governor of this Territory. At the beginning of our settlements, when we sent Almon W. Babbitt to Washington with our constitu- tion for a State government, and to ask leave to adopt it, he requested that I should not sign my name to it as governor ; ' for/ said he, * if you do, it will thwart all our plans/ I said, ' My name will go as it is in that document, and stay there, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 127 from this time henceforth and forever. Now/ I continued, ' if you do not believe it, you may go to Washington, and give those papers to Dr. Bernheisel, and operate against him, and against our getting a State government, and you cannot hinder it/ "I will be governor still, after you have done everything you possibly can to prevent it. We have got a territorial government, and I am and will be governor, and no power can hinder it, until the Lord Almighty says, ' Brigham, you need not be governor any longer/ and then I am willing to yield to another governor." This sermon was preached at Great Salt Lake City, June 19th, 1853, and is published in the "Journal of Discourses," vol. i., p. 188. The judges who had resigned published an account in 'the Eastern States ; but as they were themselves men of slightly doubtful morals, and as Utah was a long ways off, the govern- ment quietly ignored the matter a fatal error, as it proved. In their place the President appointed Judges Leonidas Shaver and Lazarus H. Reed ; the former arrived in the fall of 1852, the latter in June, 1853. Judge Shaver was a genial gentle- man and lived on the best of terms with the Mormons for some time, but at length a sudden quarrel occurred between him and Brigham Young. He occupied a room in a house belonging to Elder Howard Coray, but rented by a Mr. Dotson. One night he retired in his usual health, and the next morning was found dead in his bed. The church authorities ordered a thorough investigation, and the coroner's jury of Mormons decided that he died of "some disease of the head." One phy- sician gave it as his opinion, that the Judge had been greatly addicted to the use of opium, and died in consequence of being suddenly deprived of it ; and this is the popular belief among the Mormons. Only one witness on this matter was ever ex- amined in the States, and she gave it as her opinion that he had been poisoned, adding that she had heard Brigham Young say: "Judge Shaver knew too much, and he dare not allow him to leave the Territory." Her evidence may be true or uu- 128 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES true. The Mormons treated Judge Reed with marked courtesy, and after a stay of one year he left with an exalted opinion of them. He went to his home in New York, intending to re- turn, but died very suddenly while there. About this time a young man named Wallace A. C. Bow- man, a native of New York, arrived at Salt Lake from New Mexico, with a company of Spanish traders. He met Brigham Young and his body guard at Utah Lake, and, according to his companion's account, had some difficulty with the latter. On his arrival in the city, he was arrested by Robert T. Burton on several charges. He was kept in confinement several weeks, but no evidence appearing against him was released. He started east at once, but was shot and instantly killed in a carton but a few miles from the city, " by Indians," according to the Mormon account ; by Nor- ton and Ferguson, "Danites," according to the same witness above mentioned. As in that case, it is now impossible to tell which story is true. John F. Kinney,of Iowa, was appointed Chief- Justice to succeed Reed, and George P. Stiles Associate-Justice ; Joseph Holman, of Iowa, Attorney-General, and Alrnou W. Babbitt Secretary. In the spring of 1855, W. W. Drummond, of Illinois, was also appointed Associate-Justice. In the fall of 1854, Colonel Steptoe, with about three hun- dred men of the United States army, reached Salt Lake and spent the winter. At the same time quite a number of Gentiles, on their way to or returning from California, wintered in the city. It is now known that Colonel Steptoe had been secretly commissioned Governor of Utah by President Pierce, but, being MURDER OF WALLACE BOWMAN. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 129 of an incautious disposition, he attempted, according to the popular account in Utah, to practice polygamy on a free and easy plan not approved by the Saints, the result of which was that he was ingeniously trapped by two of Brigham's " decoy women," and to avoid exposure resigned his commission and recommended Young's continuance in that office. Utah now began to be regarded as the " Botany Bay of worn-out politi- cians ; " if a man was fit for nothing else, and yet had to be rewarded for political services, he was sent to Utah. During all the period from 1852 to 1856 numerous " Glad- denites " and other apostate and recusant Mormons were fre- quently slipping away and crossing to California ; and some of these, as well as Gentile trains, were harassed in a way which made them believe it was done by Mormons disguised as Indians. Almon W. Babbitt, having quarrelled with Brigham, started across the plains and was murdered by whom is not known. Brigham afterwards used this language of Babbitt: " He lived a fool and died like a fool. When such men under- take to interfere with affairs that do not concern them, I will not be far off. He undertook to quarrel with me, and was killed by the Indians." In 1852, Lieutenant Gunnison and party were massacred near Sevier Lake, by Indians, as was proved; but there has always been a suspicion that the latter were aided and incited by Mormons. About the same time parties of recusant Mormons were missed in Nevada ; several emigrants from Missouri were last heard of near Salt Lake, and others had their stock run off where it was reasonably certain there were no hostile Indians. A recusant testifies that " one of the Missourians had boasted of helping to drive the Saints from Jackson county, and that he was kidnapped and murdered under the old mint by John Kay and other l Danites.' " A young man in Cache Valley had a difficulty with the bishop in regard to a girl whom the bishop wanted for a " plural wife." The young man was seized in a cation by two men with blackened faces and by them mutilated in an unspeakable manner. He afterwards went to San Ber- nardino, California, and died insane. A similar difficulty arose 9 130 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES in a settlement on the "Weber, and the young man was found dead, having received two shots in the back. One general difficulty exists in all these cases. The witnesses were all apostate Mormons. While the writer would not stigmatize a whole class, among whom he has many pleasant acquaintances, and which contains some thoroughly honest and reliable men, yet it must be confessed that, of those who have lived Mormons for a term of years the outside world must always remain in doubt. There were very few Gentiles in Salt Lake, their interest re- quired that they should know nothing outside their business, and they generally took care to make no inquiry. Hence little definite and positive proof of the affairs of that period was laid before the Government ; but these reports spread through the West and constantly increased the bitterness against the Mor- mons. Had the latter shown any willingness to throw light upon disputed points, their case would have a much better ap- pearance. But their preaching constantly excited the people to greater hostility against the Government, and their courts and officers regularly thwarted every attempt of the Federal officials to inquire into reported crimes or bring offenders to justice. In the fall of 1856, it became no longer possible for the Federal Judges to maintain the independence of their courts. The Mormons claimed that the Territorial Marshal should select the jurors for Federal courts when doing Territorial business, instead of the United States Marshal. Pending the decision of this question, James Ferguson, Hosea Stout, and other Mormon lawyers and officials, entered the court-room with an armed mob, and compelled Judge Stiles to adjourn his court. Thomas Williams, a Mormon lawyer, who had an office with Judge Stiles, protested against this action, for which his life was threatened. He soon after tried to escape to California, but was murdered on the way. The records of the District Courts were soon after stolen from Judge Stiles' office and, as he supposed at the time, destroyed. Both the Gentile Judges soon after fled the Territory, escaping to the States only with great difficulty, leaving Utah without a repre- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. J31 sentative of the United States, and practically in open rebel- lion. Thus, at the end of nine years' toleration and temporizing affairs in Utah had reached substantially the same condition as they reached in six years in Missouri, and in less time in Illinois. But the situation was different. There was no sur- rounding population to appeal to, and Brigham was absolute. And in this condition there occurred two series of tragedies without parallel in American history, a chain of events which would be utterly incredible if the evidence were any less than positive and unassailable. These events, known in Utah as the " Reformation " and the " Hand-cart Immigration," together cost some 400 lives, and as they constitute the central events of Utah history and illustrate in a marked degree the essentials of religious fanaticism, their narration requires a separate chapter. BCTBN1NG OF MORMON :MPLE AT N-ATJVOQ. 132 POLYGAMY; OB, THE MYSTERIES CHAPTER VIII. THE REIGN OF TERROR. Epidemic madness All Utah goes crazy The Mormon empire projected : 1,200 by 800 miles in area Outposts from British America to Mexico The hand-cart scheme Horrible suffering The "Reformation " Jeddy Grant Blood-atonement Mutilation and murder " Shed his blood and save his soul" Murder of the Parrishes, Potter, Henry Jones and mother, the bishop's wife, and many others Recovery from the madness- s -Startling news from Washington War at hand and a fresh impulse of madness. WE enter now upon the black chapter in the annals of Utah. Within the short space of three years the record tells of mur- ders and maimings almost innumerable, of rebellion, war, flight and massacre, of wild sacrifice of human life by disregard of nature's law, and a reign of lust and fanatical fury unequalled since the dark ages. In no other part of America could such events have happened ; nor could they in Utah had not an ex- traordinary series of crimes and misfortunes prepared the people to enact them. It is said that Bishop Butler once turned upon his secretary with this question : "Why may not whole communities go mad as well as individuals ? " The startled secretary could only suggest a reliance on provi- dence to prevent such a wholesale calamity. But history shows that providence occasionally gives up a people to the full con- sequences of their folly, and that whole communities do go mad. Were I legal counsel for a Mormon, on trial for crime committed at the time under consideration, I should plead wholesale insanity ; for there is evidence sufficient to convince an impartial jury that the whole Mormon community went insane in 1856. Perhaps this can be partly understood by a review of the exciting causes. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 133 When the Latter-day Saints left Illinois, 20,000 strong, they hurled back apostolic curses at the whole Gentile nation. That nation, they said, had rejected the gospel by the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch, and should perish in its sins. In the Rocky Mountains the Saints would establish a kingdom, and in due time take vengeance on their enemies. In the endowment oaths, every true Mormon was sworn to avenge the death of Joseph Smith. A peculiar system of diplomacy and attempt to establish a theocracy in the States, had brought the Saints into conflict with the Americans, and now that conflict was made the means of uniting them more solidly against the Gentile world. With the doctrine of a temporal kingdom came in the ]ong train of Hebraic similes : the Church was in bondage in Egypt ; it was in the wilderness of Zin ; it was to overthrow the Amalekites (Missourians), and repeat all the wonderful achievements in the fruitful annals of Israel. And as the Amalekites resisted, and many Mormons grew disaffected, all the bloody devices of the ancient Hebrews were legalized, and thus Mormonism became the terrible thing it was in 1856 and '57. Once fairly established in Utah, the civil government in their own hands, the Indians subjugated or conciliated, and the fear of famine removed, all the old zeal for an earthly kingdom revived with increased vigor. Then was marked out the boundaries of a great mountain empire, to be filled and possessed exclusively by Saints : bounded on the west by the Sierra Nevadas and Cascade Range, on the east by the Rocky Mountain summits in Colorado and Wyoming, and stretch- ing from British America to Mexico, an area of 800 by 1,200 miles was to be the territory of Zion, with Salt Lake City as the capital, outposts at every commanding point, Mormon farmers in every fertile valley, and their flocks and herds rang- ing the hills. It was calculated that no Pacific railway would be built for at least half a century ; that all Gentile emigration would stop near the Missouri ; that in their own domain the Saints would only have to deal with the overland traveler, and the occasional miner and hunter. By bringing fresh thousands 134 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES of Saints every year from Europe, with the rapid increase they then expected to result from polygamy, they might reasonably hope to people this area long before national development should overtake them, and be in a condition to dictate terms when the Union should be dissolved and the nation fall into anarchy, as the Prophet Joseph had predicted it must do by or before 1890. Filled with this inspiring idea, the colonists went out from Salt Lake to their distant posts, full of enthusiasm, and singing the " Battle Hymn of the Mormon Theocracy : " " In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet ; On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread ; And their silver and gold, as the prophets have told, Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head. O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free, Soon thy towers will shine with a splendour divine, And eternal thy glory shall be. "Here our voices we'll raise, and we'll sing to thy praise, Sacred home of the prophets of God ; Thy deliverance is nigh, thy oppressors shall die, And the Gentiles shall bow 'nealh thy rod. O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free, In thy temples we'll bend, all thy rights we'll defend, And our home shall be ever with thee." Four hundred young men went to the distant post of Lemhi, Idaho, instructed to take wives of the surrounding Indians, and form close alliances with all the tribes in that section. Orson Hyde, acting as judge, apostle and general, led seventy families westward to the foot of the Sierra Nevadas, and nearly all of what is now Nevada was organized as Carson county, Utah. A still larger detachment went to San Bernardino, California, took possession of the fertile little valley of the Santa Ana, and founded a very flourishing community there. The southern settlements were pushed as rapidly as possible towards the Colorado, and the culture of cotton and the vine and fig was established in what is called "Mormon Dixie." Another line of posts and settlements was extended out to and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 135 along Green river, where the Mormons bought out a few frontiersmen, and took possession of the ferries. Missionaries, single and in pairs, and companies, went among all the Indian tribes of the mountain region, and even now a few of the survivors remain at various points. Misfortune soon overtook nearly all these outposts, but at first their prospects were quite flattering. Meanwhile the immigration from Europe was entirely too slow for the ambitious mind of Brigham Young. The cost of the trip from Liverpool to Salt Lake was not less than $60 for each person ; and thirty thousand Saints were waiting till they could raise the amount. So in the winter of 1855-6 Brigham and his chief men devised a new scheme the faithful were to cross the plains with hand-carts, each hauling his own baggage and provision. As soon as the order could reach England it was obeyed; and in a little while about 2,000 of the middle and poorer class of converts had reached Iowa City then their outfiting point. Much time was con- sumed in constructing the carts. They were made in a hurry, some of them of very insufficiently seasoned timber, and strength was sacrificed to lightness until the production was a fragile structure. They were generally made of two parallel hickory or oak sticks, about five feet long, and two by one and a half inches thick. These were connected by one cross-piece at one end to serve as a handle, and three or four similar pieces nearly a foot apart, commencing at the other end, to serve as the bed of the cart, under the centre of which was fastened a wooden axle-tree, without iron skeins. A pair of light wheels, devoid of iron, except a very light iron tire, completed the " divine " hand-cart. Its weight was somewhere near sixty pounds. The first detachment of five hundred got an early start, and being composed largely of young men, entered Salt Lake valley just as the first snow of autumn was falling. But the second detachment were not ready to leave the Missouri till the second week in August. To each hundred there were five round tents, and one heavy wagon drawn by three yoke of oxen; each person 136 was limited to seventeen pounds of baggage, to be put in the hand-carts, while the provisions and tents were hauled in the wagons. This division of five hundred was thus made up: one hundred and twenty stout men, three hundred women, and children old enough to walk, a few older men and seventy babies, to be carried by their parents or hauled upon the carts this feeble party starting to traverse eleven hundred miles of moun- tain and desert in the closing weeks of the season. In the whole division were but four, returning missionaries, who had been to the valley. Incredible as it may appear, all these urged them on but one : Levi Savage said that, prophecy or no prophecy, the risk was too great, and urged a halt till the next season. The elders rebuked him, and prophesied in the name of Israel's God that not a flake should fall on them. " You will hear of storms to the right and the left, but a way will be opened." Thus equipped and encouraged by prophecy, they set out August 18th, singing in cheerful concert: "A church without a prophet is not the church for ine ; It has no head to lead it, in it I would not be ; But I've a church not built by man, Cut from the mountain without hand, A church with gifts and blessings, oh, that's the church for me, Oh, that's the church for me, oh, that's the church for me. "The God that others worship is not the God for me; He has no parts nor body, and cannot hear nor see ; But I've a God that lives above, A God of Power and of Love, A God of Revelation, oh, that's the God for me. "A church without apostles is not the church for me ; It's like a ship dismasted afloat upon the sea ; But I've a church that's always led By the twelve stars around its head, A church with good foundations, oh, that's the church for me. " The hope that Gentiles cherish is not the hope for me, It has no hope for knowledge, far from it I would be ; But I've a hope that will not fail, That reaches safe within the veil, Which hope is like an anchor, oh, that's the hope for me." AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 137 But neither hope nor faith changed the harsh climate of the high plains, and seven weeks of travel left them still four hun- dred miles from Zion, in the heart of the high Rockies, almost out of provisions, worn down, sick, apparently forgotten of God and abandoned by man. It was then the inborn nobleness of the English race shone out. Men toiled on day after day, hauling and even carrying women and children, wading ice- cold streams with the feeble in their arms, in many cases carry- ing their little children in the morning and themselves dying before night. Fainting fathers took the scant rations from their lips and fed their crying children ; mothers carried their babes till they sank exhausted in the snow, and young men nerved them- selves to suffer everything for those they loved. Day after day the train struggled on in silence and sorrow, and every morning saw from one to ten of their number cold in death. Daily the survivors grew weaker from exposure and insufficient food : old men died as easily as a lamp goes out when the oil is ex- hausted ; women died as a child goes to sleep; young men died sitting by the camp-fire, with their scant rations in their mouths. A relief party reached this company and brought it in when one-fifth of its force had died. They reached the city Novem- ber 9th, but a third division of five or six hundred was still on the way. In spite of repeated warnings from returning plains- men, they had left the Missouri the very last of August ; but all heart and hope was gone out of them before they reached the summit of the Rocky mountains, and, finding a little sheltered valley on the North Platte, they sat down to await help or die. They ate all their provisions, all the grease provided for their carts, all their cattle, even to the hides and hoofs, and were gnawing away upon bark and roots when the relief party reached them. Of this company one-fourth died. And yet this had been the song of the emigrants on starting: " Hurrah for the Camp of Israel ! Hurrah for the hand-cart scheme ! Hurrah ! hurrah ! 'tis better far Than the wagon and ox-team. 138 POLYGAMY. " Oh, our faith goes with the hand-carts, And they have our hearts' best love ; Tis a novel mode of travelling, Devised by the Gods above. Hurrah ' etc. "And Brigham's their executive, He told us the design ; And the Saints are proudly marching on, Along the hand-cart line. Hurrah ! etc. " Who cares to go with the wagons ? Not we who are free and strong ; Our faith and arms, with a right good will. Shall pull our carts along. Hurrah! etc." The total deaths on the way and soon after arrival are esti- mated at three hundred, besides a very large number maimed in various degrees, from the loss of an eye, toe or finger, to the loss of both feet. ^ was long familiar with the sight of a poor English girl hobbling along the streets of Salt Lake on two stumps, both feet having been frozen off in the last storm before they reached the city. Many a time I have sat by the fire in Salt Lake City, and felt its warmth all the more from listening to my hostess relate her sufferings with the hand-carts. She was cured of Mormonism, though it is a singular fact that many of the worst sufferers are still the most fanatical. " My hus^ band," she said, "died in the last storm. He pulled the cart in the morning and cheered me on ; all at once he began to sink, and called to the Captain : "'Oh, Captain, let me ride in the wagon/ " ' No/ was the rough answer, ' you can't/ " 'Oh, Captain, for God's sake, just a little way !' " ' No, no. Hurry up, hurry up/ " My husband soon sank down in the snow. I lifted him up and tried to get him on the cart I felt like I could pull him. He said the tire on the cart-wheel was too cold for him to touch it the snow was warmer, and went down again. In three hours he was dead. The Captain came, jerked off my husband's heavy shoes, and then hurried me on. Oh, how 140 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES bitter I felt when I thought of the home we had left in sweet Herefordshire. Every time I see that man I feel the cold tire of that hand-cart pressing heavy on my heart." The second stage of madness had begun before the sufferers reached the city ; their arrival only increased it. The origina- tor of this remarkable movement was Jedediah M. Grant, first councillor to Brigham Young, and a frothing fanatic, whom it is only charity to judge as of diseased mind. All the younger Mormons say he was the first they ever heard preach the blood- atonement doctrine ; and, if not its author, he must be credited with its first distinct public avowal, though Brigham at once endorsed it. If there were any doubt whatever on this subject, we ought at once to reject the idea that a religious society in America adopted the doctrine of " killing men to save their souls." It is such a horrible burlesque on all we know as Christianity, that one is without any sure guide in analyzing it. But it was distinctly and emphatically taught for years; it is laid down in Mormon publications just as specifically as any other doctrine, and the sermons in defense of it are published by the Mormons themselves in their Journal of Discourses. That work contains at least forty endorsements of blood-atone- ment, and all who heard the sermons say they were much stronger than the printed report. Here is part of Jedediah M. Grant's sermon of March 12th, 1854: "Then what ought this meek people who keep the command- ments of God to do unto them ? ' Why/ says one, ' they ought to pray to the Lord to I- ill them.' I want to know if you would wish the LORD to come down and do all your dirty work? Many of the Latter-day Saints will pray, and petition, and supplicate the Lord to do a thousand things they themselves would be ashamed to do. " When a man prays for a thing, he ought to be witting to per- form it himself. But if the Latter-day Saints should put to death the covenant-breakers, it would try the faith of the very meek, just, and pious ones among them, and it would cause a great deal of whining in Israel. " Then there was another odd commandment. The Lord AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 141 i God commanded them not to pity the person whom they killed, but to execute the law of God upon persons worthy of death. This should be done by the entire congregation, SHOWING NO PITY. I have thought there would have to be quite a revolu- tion among the Mormons before such a commandment could be obeyed completely by them. For instance, if they can get a man before the tribunal administering the law of the land, and succeed in getting a rope around his neck, and having him hung up like a dead dog, it is all right. But if the Church and Kingdom of God should step forth and execute the law of God, O, what a burst of Mormon sympathy it would cause ! I wish we were in a situation favorable to our doing that which is justi- fiable before God, without any contaminating influence of Gen- tile amalgamation, laws, and traditions ; that the People of God might lay the ax to the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit might be hewn down. " What ! do you believe that people would do right and keep the law of God by actually putting to death the transgressors f Putting to death the transgressors would exhibit the law of God, no matter BY WHOM it was done. That is my opinion." Brigham endorsed all this very warmly, and added : " There is not a man or woman who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants." These sermons were aimed at the Gladdenites and other dis- senting sects, and most of them soon fled the Territory ; but as to the number actually killed pursuant to the blood-atonement doctrine, we have no positive proof. By 1856 Grant had reached that stage of fanatical fury in which he declared that the time was at hand when they would " go up and down the street with the old broadsword and say, 'Are you for Christ ? ' and whoever is not will be cut down." With this spirit he commenced preaching a reformation, and soon had the active spirits as wild as himself. Elders were sent to the various set- 142 POLYGAMY. tlernents and stationed at certain places, whose duty it was to excite people to confess their secret sins and reveal their private conduct to them and the bishops. Teachers were appointed in every ward and for every block, whose duties were to pry into every secret and learn the private history of every family. Men, women and children were asked the most indelicate questions about private actions and secret thoughts. Husbands were asked inconvenient questions about relations with their wives, and wives about their husbands, by rude and ignorant teachers, and counsel was given accordingly. Girls were counselled to marry into polygamy to old men, " that they might be saved," for young men were not tried in the kingdom and could not save the girls; and in many instances young women were forced to break off engagements with young men, and take old elders. Old men traded daughters as shamelessly as they traded cattle, and shocking cases of brutality in such marriages are related by reliable men living in Utah at that time. One woman as- sured me she had two playmates married by their fathers in this wise : " I'll give you my Jule, if you'll give me your Nance.' 7 "Agreed," and it was done, neither girl over thirteen years old! Every Mormon was required to confess his most secret sins, and these confessions were written down, signed by the party and filed away for future use. By order of Brigham Young, a catechism was prepared to serve in the secret examinations, so shockingly indecent in character that, since modern ideas pene- trated Utah, every copy has been collected and destroyed. The arrival of the hand-cart sufferers only added to the prevailing madness. " Surely," said fanaticism, "God is angry with his people, or his promise to temper the winds would have held good;" and in an amazingly short space of time most of the new- comers were as insane as the rest for all Utah was pervaded by an epidemic madness. Jedediah Grant and Orson Hyde ranged the Territory, breathing out threats against dissenters, and teaching bloody doctrines in figures of speech. The New Testament was laid aside ; Hebraic precedents only were cited : Phinehas, who killed his brother and the Midianitish woman ; Jael, who slew the heathen ; the king who massacred idolaters, (143) 144 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES and the priest who hewed the transgressor in pieces before the Lord. Marrying and giving in marriage went on constantly, as fast as the officials could put the Saints through the Endow- ment House ceremonies proper to " plural marriage." Every eligible woman in the Territory was appropriated, and girls of twelve and fourteen years were " sealed " to old elders. Of course this fierce spirit did not continue long till blood was shed. Blood is what the student of religious fanaticism al- ways looks to hear of at a certain stage: "redeeming blood/' "sanctifying blood," "atoning blood," or "imputed blood;" but always blood! At first obnoxious and doubtful men were merely ridiculed and denounced in the meetings; next they were grossly maltreated, and then actual killing began. Those who merely lacked in zeal or failed to confess themselves guilty of something, were ducked in the Jordan, rolled naked in the snow or whipped, while their houses were daubed with filth. Several cases of emasculation occurred, one particularly barbar- ous case at San Pete. An old resident gives this testimony as to the action of the bishops and the general feeling: " I was at a Sunday meeting in the spring of 1857, in Provo, when the news of the San Pete castration was referred to by the presiding bishop Blackburn. Some men in Provo had re- belled against authority in some trivial matter, and Blackburn shouted in his Sunday meeting a mixed congregation of all ages and both sexes ' I want the people of Provo to under- stand that the boys in Provo can use the knife as well as the boys in San Pete. Boys, get your knives ready, there is work for you ! We mast not be behind San Pete in good works.' The result of this was that two citizens, named Hooper and Beauvere, both having families at Provo, left the following night for Fort Bridger, and returned only after Johnston's army came into the valley the following year. Their only offence was rebellion against the priesthood. This man, Blackburn, was continued in office at least a year after this, and was after- wards taken from his bishopric and sent on a mission to Eng- land. The qualifications for a bishop were a blind submission and obedience to Brigham and the authorities, and a firm, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 145 unrelenting government of his subjects. Strict and invariable obedience to their file leaders, ( asking no questions for con- science sake/ makes a good Saint. To pay tithing will cover a multitude of sins. 7 ' Next in order were the shocking Parrish murders at Spring- ville. All the particulars of these murders have since been brought out, and are not denied by anybody; but no one has been punished, and Bishop Johnson, Mayor McDonald and others, who planned the murders, lose no caste on account of them. The elder Parrish was an inoffensive man whose sole fault was unbelief and a declared intention to leave the Terri- tory. On the 1st of March, 1857, a bishop's council was held at which Parrish was condemned to death, and Abraham Durfee and Duff Potter detailed to kill him. Potter and Durfee gained the confidence of the Parrishes, father and two sons, and induced them to go out with them by night ; concealed Danites then fired upon them, and, by a blunder in the arrangements, killed Potter too ! Old man Parrish struggled desperately, being but slightly wounded, and was literally hacked to death with a bowie-knife. His eldest son was shot dead, and his youngest severely wounded. This son was arrested next day for mur- dering his father and brother, and the farce of a trial gone through with. J. M. Stewart, a Mormon official of Springville, afterwards made a full confession, and claimed that the deed was done by direct orders of Brigham Young. One month after this, Henry Jones and his mother, at Pay- son, a few miles from Springville, were killed. Henry had previously been emasculated on a charge of bestiality ; now he and his mother were accused of incest, and shockingly mur- dered. Their bodies were exposed to the public as the objects of just punishment, then laid in their own house, a dug-out or half under-ground dwelling ; the roof was thrown in, and the whole covered with dirt, making that their only grave. These cases are only the most notable ones of that dreadful period ; almost every year in Utah brings out evidence relating to some hitherto unsuspected case. The perpetrators are getting old, the madness of fanaticism has passed, and confessions are 10 146 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES in order. Brigham Young, however, endorsed all these pro- ceedings at the time in vigorous sermons. Here is a specimen extract : "All mankind love themselves; and let these principles be known by an individual, and he would be glad to hare his blood shed. This would be loving ourselves even unto an eternal exalta- tion. WiH you love your brothers or sisters likewise when they have a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood f Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood? THAT is WHAT JESUS CHRIST MEANT. He never told a man or woman to love their enemies in their wick- edness, never. He never meant any such thing ; His language is left as it is for those to read who have the spirit to discern between truth and error ; it was so left for those who can dis- cern the things of God. Jesus Christ never meant that we should love a wicked man in his wickedness. "I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain in order to atone for their sins. I have seen scores and hundreds of people for whom there would have been a chance (in the last resurrection there will be) if their lives had been taken and their blood spilled on the ground as a smoking incense to the Almighty, but who are now angels to the devil, until our elder brother, Jesus Christ, raises them up, and con- quers death, hell, and the grave. " I have known a great many men who have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled it would have been better for them. "The wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this prin- ciple being in full force, but THE TIME WILL COME WHEN THE LAW OF GOD WILL BE IN FULL FORCE. This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he needs help, HELP HIM ; if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, SPILL IT. "Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, should not be satisfied or rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you AND CRIMES OP MORMONISM. 147 desire. THAT is THE WAY TO LOVE MANKIND. . . . Light and darkness cannot dwell together, and so it is with the king- dom of God. " Now brethren and sisters, will you live your religion ? How many hundreds of times have I asked that question? Will the Latter-day Saints live their religion?" Discourse in the Tabernacle, February 8, 1857, published in the "Journal of Discourses," Vol. IV., pp. 219, 220. Does it seem too horrible for belief that such a sermon as this should be preached from these sweet words of Jesus, " Love thy neighbor as thyself." Yet they were, and acted upon, too. The saddest case, and one thoroughly proved, must close this black record. During the absence of a missionary, his wife proved unfaithful. On his return she confessed and he forgave her. The " Reformation " soon reached its most fanatic stage, and both husband and wife decided she could never reach an "exaltation" unless her blood was shed. She consented to pay the penalty of her error, and while her heart was gushing with affection for her husband and her children, and her mind ab- sorbed with faith in the doctrine of human sacrifice, she seated herself upon her husband's knee, and after a warm embrace, when the warmth of his lips still lingered about her glowing cheek, with his own right hand he calmly cut her throat, and sent her spirit to the keeping of the gods. That husband still lives near Salt Lake City, and preaches with great unction. He has other wives and a fair property, is a good average citi- zen, and to all outward appearance a happy man. The madness of fanaticism at last wore itself out. Dazed and bewildered, men slowly emerged from the bloody mists in which they had been walking, and a faint infection of common sense spread through Utah. The Saints without exception were re-baptized for the remission of sins, and took a fresh start in spiritual life. Many freely admitted they were ashamed of much that had been done, and all applied themselves earnestly to the work of 1857. The harvest was singularly abundant and everything promised fair. But some work was going on in the States and at Washington which the Saints, shut out from 148 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES rapid communication with the world, little suspected. In their treatment of the officials they had been swept along by fanati- cism ; when the fury passed they soon forgot it, and naturally expected everybody else to. But the expelled officials and their friends had labored all winter at Washington, and had at last set that ponderous machine called government in motion. A MORMON WITH HIS WIVES AND CHILDREN. CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 149 CHAPTER IX. THE MORMON WAR OF 1857. *Anniversary Day" in Big Cottonwood A. O. Smoot's startling news "1 am ready for the devils" Approach of the United States army Captain Van Vliet's mission Brighani forbids the United States to trespass " Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion " "Du dah, du dah, day!" Colonel Kane saves the Mormons Governor dimming Commissioners Powell and McCnllogh Entrance of the army Flight of the Saints Their misery and poverty End of the War. JULY 24, 1857, all the Saints who were able were assembled at Big Cottonwood Lake, twenty-four miles from Salt Lake City, and 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. There the Saints who were well supplied with vehicles and camp equipage have long been accustomed to celebrate Pioneers' Day : anni- versary of the first arrival of Brigham and party in the valley. One day is usually consumed in going up and fixing the ground, the next in unrestrained but innocent merriment, and a third in the return. It is the great day to which Mormon patriots look forward, and in their eyes is bigger than Christmas, New Year's, and the Fourth of July in one. The day had nearly passed and dancing was lively in the booths, when Elder A. O. Smooi rode into the assemblage, just from the East and almost ex- hausted with his hurried trip, and announced to the Prophet that President Buchanan had sent an entirely new set of offi- cials for Utah and an army with them : the force even now on the plains and marching rapidly towards Utah. Brigham's brow grew black as he listened, and with all the fury of his nature he broke forth : " God has granted my wish and the devil has taken me at my word. I said the day we reached Utah that if the minions of hell would leave me ten years, I'd ask no odds of the United States or the devil ! They've taken me at my word and shall see that I am ready." 150 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES President Buchanan and bis cabinet had evidently made up their minds to try the issue with Brigham. Congress not being in session, Secretary of War Floyd exercised his general authority over the regular army, by virtue of which he could order it to any place in the Territories. Accordingly a force of about 3,000 men was sent from Leavenworth under the com- mand of General W. S. Harney. At the same time new men were appointed to all the civil offices, as follows: Governor, Alexander Gumming ; Chief-Justice, D. R. Eckles ; Associate- Justices, John Cradlebaugh and Charles E. Sinclair, and Secre- tary, John Hartnet. The march of the column was delayed for various reasons, and it was late in September before the army, accompanied by the officials, crossed Green river and entered the Territory. Meanwhile Captain Van Vliet, an active and discreet officer, had been sent forward to purchase provisions for the army and assure the people of Salt Lake of the peaceful intentions of the Government. On his arrival there, he was amazed to find them preparing for war. Brigham and his business partners had organized the " B. Y. Express," to run from the Missouri to Salt Lake, and one of the party had obtained from the United States the contract of car- rying the mails from Leavenworth out. The company had built stations and stocked the 1,200 miles; but they had only carried one through mail when war came, and the whole invest- ment was a total loss. At the same time the distant settlements were broken up, and the brethren ordered home. From San Bernardino came all who did not apostatize, at great loss and expense ; Lemhi and Green River settlements were broken up, and the Carson Valley Mormons in wild flight abandoned property now valued at something near a million dollars. Captain Van Vliet saw all this and much more. He says in his report : " In the course of my conversation with the governor and the influential men in the Territory, I told them plainly and frankly what I conceived would be the result of their present course. I told them that they might prevent the small military force now approaching Utah from getting through the narrow AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 151 defiles and rugged passes of the mountains this year, but that next season the United States Government would send troops sufficient to overcome all opposition. The answer to this was invariably the same : ' We are aware that such will be the case ; but when those troops arrive, they will find Utah a desert, every house will be burned to the ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid waste. We have three years' provisions on hand, which we will cache, and then take to the mountains, and bid defiance to all the powers of the Government. 7 * I attended their service on Sunday, and in the course of a sermon delivered by elder Taylor, he referred to the approach of the troops, and declared they should not enter the Territory. He then referred to the probability of an overpowering force being sent against them, and desired all present, who would ap- ply the torch to their own buildings, cut down their trees, and lay waste their fields, to hold up their hands ; every hand in an audience numbering over four thousand persons was raised at the same moment." Fifteen years afterward John D. Lee gave me substantially the same account of Mormon actions and intentions at that time, adding that they had dried immense quantities of wheat and cached it in the mountains, and could keep up a guerilla war for years. It was the old issue in a new shape : Theocracy vs. Democracy. In spite of bloody experiences, unfulfilled prophecies and the " Lord's " broken promises, they were again ready for a fight. And at the very time Captain Van Yliet was hearing these protests from the Mormons, with oaths and asseverations of their innocence of all charges, John D. Lee and his allies were at their hellish work at Mountain Meadows. Late in November the captain reached Washington City, and on his report the Government adopted still more vigorous measures. The force with the coming officials consisted of the Fifth and Tenth Regiments of Infantry, the old Second Dragoons, cav- alry, and two batteries, Reno's and Phe'lps'. But with it was a vast and disorderly mass of camp-followers, besides the wives of officers and their servants ; so the lowest estimate of the multi- 152 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES tude puts it at 10,000. General Harney having to go to Kan- sas, General Persifer F. Smith was designed for the command ; but he died before reaching the force, and the command devolved by seniority on Colonel Alexander of the Tenth Infantry. So it reached the borders of Utah without instruc- tions, and continued without a responsible and specially com- missioned head till General Albert Sidney Johnston arrived and took command. Having passed Green river, then the boundary of Utah, the commander received a copy of this document : " GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, UTAH TERRITORY, ) GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, September 29, 1857. j " SIR : By reference to the Act of Congress, passed Septem- ber 9, 1850, organizing the Territory of Utah, published in a copy of the Laws of Utah, herewith, p. 146, Chap. 7, you will find the following: " ' SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive power in and over said Territory of Utah shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The Governor shall reside within said Territory, shall be Commander-in-Chief of the militia thereof/ etc., etc. "I am still the Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for this Territory, no successor having been appointed and qualified, as provided by law, nor have I been removed by the President of the United States. " By virtue of the authority thus vested in me, I have issued and forwarded you a copy of my proclamation, forbidding the entrance of armed forces into this Territory. This you have disregarded. I now further direct that you retire forthwith from the Territory by the same route you entered. Should you deem this impracticable, and prefer to remain until spring in the vicinity of your present encampment, Black's Fork, or Green River, you can do so in peace, and unmolested, on condi- tion that you deposit your arms and ammunition with Lewis AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 153 Robinson, Quartermaster-General of the Territory, and leave in the spring, as soon as the condition of the roads will permit you to march. And should you fall short of provisions, they can be furnished you by making the proper applications therefor. "General D. H. Wells will forward this, and receive any communications you may have to make. "Very respectfully, "BRIGHAM YOUNG, "Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory. "To the Officer commanding the Forces now invading Utah Territory." An order from a territorial Governor forbidding the United States to trespass on his ground, would be a rich joke in these days of Federal might and increased National jurisdiction. On the 15th of September Brigham had issued a proclamation putting the Territory under martial law; all the militia and able-bodied men were ordered "to hold themselves in readi- ness to march at a moment's notice to repel invasion," and Lieuten ant-General Daniel H. Wells was ordered with two thousand men to "occupy the passes of the Wasatch mountains, to defend their hearths and homes against the violence of the army." Echo can" on was fortified, and orders issued to harass the Federal army in every way, by driving off stock, burning wagons and blocking up the roads, but to take no lives till further ordered. He also proclaimed that "if any proved traitor, or attempted to shield his own when the day came to burn and lay waste, he should be sheared down; for judgment should belaid to the line and righteousness to the plummet." The effect of such teaching upon a fanatical people may well be imagined. A perfect reign of terror ensued. Of those devoted to Brigham, every one was a spy upon his neighbors, while the disaffected trembled at the storm, and made efforts to escape. Among other victims a party of six from California, under command or' a Mr. Aitkin, were attacked south of Salt Lake, and four of them instantly killed. The other two were promised they 1 54 POLYGAMY. should be sent out of the Territory by the southern route, and, in pursuance of that promise, started south under guard. They were never again heard of, and by the testimony of an apostate woman, Alice Lamb, they were killed and their bodies thrown into a large spring near the road. She adds that one was only stunned by the first shot, when Porter Rockwell stepped up, placed a pistol to his ear, and, adding, "This never misses," literally blew out his brains. Such was the first account; but in after years a more exact history of this massacre was devel- oped in court, and will be related under the proper heading. The Mormons aver that this was a party of gamblers, that they carried with them "powders to drug Mormon women, and that they deserved death anyhow;" and in all such cases they have established the principle of assassination. In this time of excitement, suspicion was proof. About the same time Brigham Young, preaching in the tabernacle, stated that hitherto as Governor and Indian Agent he "had protected emigrants passing through the Territory, but now he would turn the Indians loose upon them." This hint was as good as a letter of marque to the land pirates of southern Utah. We can only guess at what was said in that terrible time by the character of what the Mormons themselves have thought fit to publish presumably the mildest part of it. And .of that mildest here are some specimens. Brighara said : " They say that their army is legal ; and I say that such a statement is as false as hell, and that they are as rotten as an old pumpkin that has been frozen seven times, and then melted in a harvest sun. Come on with your thou- sands of illegally-ordered troops, and I will promise you, in the name of Israel's God, that you shall melt away as the snow before a July sun. . . . " You might as well tell me that you can make hell into a powder-house, as to tell me that you could let an army in here, and have peace; and I intend to tell them and show them this, if they do not stay away. . . . And I say our enemies shall not slip 'the bow on old BrigLt's neck' again. God bless you. Amen" SCENE IN ECHO CANON (156) 156 POLYGAMY. And Heber C. Kimball followed with this: "Is there a collision between us and the United States? No; we have not collashed; that is the word that sounds nearest to what I mean. But now the thread is cut between them and us, and we will never gybe again no, never, worlds without end. [Voices, 'Amen/] .... " Do as you are told, and Brigham Young will never leave the governorship of this Territory, from this time henceforth and forever. No, never. And there shall no wicked judge with his whore ever sit in our courts again; for all who are against Israel are an abomination to me and to our God. The spirit that is upon me this morning is the spirit of the Lord, that is, the Holy Ghost though some of you may think the Holy Ghost is never cheerful. Well, let me tell you, the Holy Ghost is a man ; he is one of the sons of our Father and our (rod, and he is that man that stood next to Jesus Christ just as I stand by Brother Brigham. . . . You think our Father and our God is not a lively, sociable and cheerful man ; he is one of the most lively men that ever lived. . . . Brother Brigham is my leader, he is my Prophet and my Seer, my Revelator; and whatever he *ays, that is for me to do, and it is not for me to question him one word, nor to question God a minute." The Mormon militia were meanwhile pouring into the mountain passes and fortifying them. In Echo Cafion they captured an old Indian trade* named Yates, whom they ac- cused of being a spy. He asked to have a regular trial at Salt Lake City, and was started thither under guard. That night as he lay asleep by the camp-fire his brains were knocked out with an ax by Bill Hickraan; he was buried on the spot, and a fire made over his grave to conceal the crime. In his confession of this dastardly deed, Hickman says he did it by direct com- mand of Hosea Stout, then a Mormon leader, and that Brigham Young's son Joseph brought the order direct from his father. This must go for what it is worth, but of the murder there is no doubt. Meanwhile the United States troops, handled with little or (157) 158 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES no skill, sustained irreparable losses of train and stock. The official report says : " Forts Bridger and Supply were vacated and burned down. Orders were issued by Daniel H. Wells (Lieutenant-General Nauvoo Legion) to stampede the animals of the United States troops on their march, to set fire to their trains, to burn the grass and the whole country before them and on their flanks, to keep them from sleeping by night surprises, and to block the roads by felling trees, and destroying the fords of rivers. On the 4tli of October, 1857, the Mormons, under Captain Lot Smith, captured and burned on Green river, three of our supply trains, consisting of seventy-five wagons loaded with provisions and tents for the army, and carried away several hundred animals." The captured teamsters to the number of eighty were released and directed eastward with a small supply of provisions. Only one dozen lived to reach the frontiers ; hunger, cold and Indians slew the rest. On the 10th of October the officers determined to attempt a circuitous route by way of Soda Springs, but the storms of winter overtook them ; the army halted at Fort Bridger, and wintered at a place which was called Camp Scott. November 21st, the newly-appointed Governor, Cum- miug, issued a proclamation, which might be summed up in a little advice to the Mormons to go home and obey the laws, and they would not be molested ; and most of them had done so of their own motion, leaving but a few hundreds to guard the passes. The sufferings of the army were horrible. Five hundred animals died of cold in one night. The men had to draw their own wood through deep snow from the adjacent hills. One camp, on Black's Fork, was impressively named " The Camp of Death." All this time the Mormons were the happiest people in the world. They had whipped the United States, according to prophecy, at last ; and entertained no sort of doubt that they would finish the job in fine style in the spring. Every poetic pen in Utah was set running, and every assembly-room resounded to such strains as this : AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 159 " Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion ! The foe's at the door of your homes ; Let each heart be the heart of a lion, Unyielding and proud as he roams. Remember the wrongs of Missouri, Remember the fate of Nauvoo : When the God-hating foe is before ye, Stand firm, and be faithful and true. " By the mountains our Zion's surrounded, Her warriors are noble and brave ; And their faith on Jehovah is founded, Whose power is mighty to save. Opposed by a proud, boasting nation, Their numbers, compared, may be few ; But their union is known through creation, And they've always been faithful and true." No people in an equal space of time ever produced so much bad poetry as the Mormons; but a few of their best songs have a ring in them that then made them popular, especially if they breathed sarcasm and defiance of all the Gentile world. While the elders prayed and prophesied, the boys in the camp sang : " Old Sam has sent, I understand, Dudah! A Missouri * ass to rule car land j Du dah I Du dah day ! But if he comes, we'll have some fun, Du dah ! To see him and his juries run, Du dah ! Du dah day ! CHORUS : Then let us be on hand By Brigham Young to stand ; And if our enemies do appear, We'll sweep them from the land. " Old squaw-killer Harney is on the way, Dudahl The Mormon people for to slay, Du dah ! Du dah day ! * Governor Gumming. 160 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Now if he comes, the truth I'll tell, Du dah ! Our boys will drive him down to hell ! Da dah ! Du dah day ! " There's seven hundred wagons on the way, Du dah ! And their cattle are numerous, so they say, Du dah ! Du dah day ! Now, to let them perish would be a sin, Dudah! So we'll take all they've got for bringing them m, Du dah ! Du dah day ! " According to the testimony of all my personal friend* who were then Mormons, there was an absolute unanimity of sentiment among the faithful, that the last days of the American Republic were at hand ; and even the skeptical were impressed by the general feeling. Once or twice during the winter letters got through to the States, and among them the following from a Mormon woman to her Gentile daughter, which was published in the Providence (R. I.) Journal, and will show the orthodox sentiment : " I expect you have heard the loud talk of Uncle Sam's great big army coming to kill the Saints. Now, if you did but know how the Saints rejoice at the folly of the poor Gen- tiles. There are about four thousand on the border of our Territory, and six hundred wagons one naked mule to draw them all the rest having died. The men are sitting in the snow, about a hundred and fifteen miles from us, living on three crackers a day, and three-quarters of a pound of beef a week. Thus you see the old Prophet's words are fulfilled whosoever shall fight against Zion shall perish. The time is very near when one man shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight ! Zion is free ; she is hid in one of the chambers of the Lord. We are a free people. We do not fear ' Uncle Sam's ' soldiers. We only fear our Father in heaven. We are learning his commandments every day from his Prophet, and I am determined to keep them. If you were here, and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM 161 could hear the Prophet's voice as I do, and could hear the lion of the Lord roar from the mountains, as I do, and know how near the scourge of the Lord is upon the Gentiles, you would flee to the mountains with haste. The time has come when the Lord has called all the elders home, and commanded them to bind up the law and seal the testimony. They are now coming home as fast as possible. What comes next ? The judgment, hail-storm, thunder, lightning, pestilence, war ; and they that will not take up the sword against their neighbor must flee to Zion for safety. Will you come, oh ! my dear children?" Of course this sort of thing could not last long. With all their folly there were a few Mormons who knew that when spring dissolved the snowy barriers of the mountain passes, the army must come in. Unfortunately, as this writer thinks, events in the East were working to save them from the con- sequences of their folly, and let them out of their dilemma with all the show of triumph. Dr. Bernhisel, their delegate in Congress, had worked in a quiet way at Washington, securing a few friends; and in the first week of January, 1858, Colonel Thomas L. Kane, the oft-appearing marplot, registered as "Dr. Osborne," sailed out of New York harbor for San Fran- cisco, with the permission and tacit encouragement of President BUchanan, to arrange a peace. The conduct of the opposition, the young Republican party, had embarrassed the President, and at this distance of time seems almost without excuse. They were so anxious to prove that the President and Democracy were violating the doctrine of territorial home government they ardently professed, that they (the Republican politicians) did much in criticism and very little in help. It was a time of unsettlement ; there was no well-defined rule as to the govern- ment of the territories, and the Democrats could not defend their " squatter sovereignty " in Kansas without seeming to con- demn interference with Utah. But the mass of the people sus- tained the President, and preparations for a more vigorous campaign in 1858 were made with the most lavish expense. " Dr. Osborne " reached Southern California in time to go to Salt Lake with the last party of retreating Mormons ; and 11 162 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES soon convinced Brigham Young that nothing but skillful diplo- macy would save him and his people from utter ruin. Properly assured by Brigham he threw off his alias and hastened to Camp Scott, where he soon convinced Governor Gumming that the Mormons were rather more peaceable than average lambs, if only let alone. But as he neglected to report his presence and business to General Johnston, that officer was proceeding to put him under arrest as a spy, when Governor Gumming inter- posed and claimed the right to protect his guest. This led to a quarrel, and very nearly to a duel; there was thereafter no concert of action between gov- ernor and general, and Colonel Kane's object was practically ac- complished. Governor Gumming accompanied him on his return, and was permitted to pass through the Mormon forces to Salt Lake City. He was much flattered with hi.s reception, particularly by an illumination in his honor of Echo Canon, which they passed in the night. They were escorted by Kimball and Rockwell, and reached the city early in the spring ; the Mormons hastened to assure him that " the rebellion in PULPIT ROCK, ECHO CA*ON. Utah wag ft pure invention ^ am l the records which were supposed to have been destroyed, were produced entire ! They had only been concealed. Such flattery and attention were bestowed upon the governor that he was completely captivated, and such earnest representa- tions made that he was soon convinced that the Mormons were an innocent and much abused people, and was anxious to spare them all humiliation possible. But he could not control the army, which had orders from the Secretary of War. He re- ported a respectful reception to Washington, and on the 12th of April Mr. Buchanan appointed L. W. Powell, of Kentucky, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 1 Go and Ben McCulloch, of Texas, as Peace Commissioners, and by them sent a proclamation of pardon I But Brigham Young had given orders for a move, and early in April, 25,000 people from the city and north of it started south, they knew not where, but many supposed it was to Mexico. Governor Gum- ming in vain implored them to remain. Old Mormons have often told me how he stood upon the street as the long trains rolled southward, with the tears streaming from his eyes, and protested, " if he followed his feelings he would rather go with them than remain with the apostates." Late that month he issued a proclamation offering " protection to all illegally re- strained of their liberty in Utah," but few availed themselves of it. The latter part of May, the Peace Commissioners ar- rived, and had an interview with the leading Mormons. The latter stipulated that the army should not be stationed within forty miles of the city ; that they should protect private prop- erty ; should march through the city without halting, and must not encamp till they passed the Jordan. They promised on their part everything that was asked, and accepted the Presi- dent's pardon. June 26th the Federal army marched into and through the almost deserted city. Nine-tenths of the houses were vacated, and arranged with shavings and straw so that a general confla- gration could easily have been started. But the troops molested no one, and marched across the Jordan to their resting place, whence they proceeded to Camp Floyd, forty miles south of the city, and established a permanent post. The Mormons mean- while continued their mad flight in great poverty and destitu- tion. The Sunday after Colonel Kane's interview with him, Brigham had convened the people in a mass-meeting, and announced that the " mind of the Lord " now was for flight where he did not indicate, but gave these general hints : " Where are you going ? To the deserts and the mountains. There is a desert region in this Territory larger than any of the Eastern States, that no white man knows anything about. Can you realize that? What is the reason you do not know any- thing about that region ? It is a desert country with long dis- 164 x>OLYQAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES tances from water to water, with wide sandy and alkali places entirely destitute of vegetation, and miry when wet, and small, scattering patches of greasewood, and it is a region that the whites have not explored, and where there are but few Indians. There are places here and there in it where a few families could live. Four years ago this spring we sent Bishop David Evans and a company to go to that desert, for we then had too long neglected to explore it. We wanted to plant settlements there in preparation for this day, for we have had foreshadow- ings and a promise of the scenery now before us. That com- pany did not accomplish the object of their mission ; they were absent a few weeks, and went to the first mountain, but they did not go to the mountain where they were sent, and made no settle- ment. Now we are going to try it again. Probably there is room in that region for 500,000 persons to live scattered about where there is good grass and water. I am going there, where we should have gone six or seven years ago. Now ice are going to see whether the sheep mil follow the shepherd. I do not care whether they follow me or not" At Provo, July 5, Brigham issued a general order of recall ; all who were able returned, the poorest remained where the order overtook them, living upon roots, game, and such scant provision as they could buy from brethren in the locality ; and so ended the Mormon War. One year before they had hurled defiance at the government and declared their independence ; now the new officials were installed, the army in the centre of Zion, and the Saints so utterly poverty-stricken that children went naked, men dressed in the skins of sheep or other ani- mals, and hundreds of grown women had not rags enough to secure decency. To make matters worse a few who had much to spare had driven hard bargains, stripping others of what little coin they held ; and there are leading citizens in Utah to- day who laid the foundations of their fortunes by then making merchandise of the poorer Saints' necessities. Another year passed : the crops were abundant, the Saints waxed fat, and all ranks hurrahed, sang songs of triumph, and glorified over the great victory gained against the minions of Babylon and King AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 165 Buchanan. And in just that wording it stands recorded in Utah histories to-day. In the events of the Mormon War the patriotic mind cannot find one point of satisfaction. It was thoroughly bad, and the effect was only to stimulate Mormon fanaticism : a remark ap- plicable to all the government has done in that Territory. All political parties have been equally at fault, and nearly all ad- ministrations : some have done nothing, others just enough to irritate and not enough to govern. The officials in Utah have repeatedly done their best, but at the critical moment the gov- ernment has always deserted them. The new Judges in 18589 were now destined to the worst part of this experience. In the division of the Territory Chief-Justice Eckels took the middle or Provo district, Judge Sinclair the northern district, while to Judge Cradlebaugh was assigned the most southern district. He entered at once on a rigid inquiry into the many crimes committed there, especially the one great crime which has made Utah a name of infamy. As the history is necessarily a con- nected one, we shall leave the regular order for a while and trace, from the first dawning of the plot to the execution of the one and only object of justice, the curious and horrible history of the MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE. CAPTFKE OF JOHN D. LEK. 166 POLYGAMY; OB, THE MY8TEK1ES CHAPTER X. THE MORMON MURDERERS. Causes of the Mountain Meadows massacre Death of Apostle Pratt Ven geance Bworn against Arkansas The wealthy emigrants Their destruction decreed " Let the Almighty's arrows drink the blood of the accursed Gen- tiles " John D. Lee's council The emigrants treacherously captured The awful massacre The long delay of justice The author visita Lee and hears his confession Lee arrested National interest Lee's trial and execution. THE moving causes of the Mountain Meadows massacre were greed, revenge and fanaticism. The first is explained by the richness of the captured train ; the last can never be quite fully explained by human wisdom. That mysterious power of self- deception by which men persuade themselves that they can shed blood for the love of God and carry on wars of extermination to extend the kingdom of the Prince of Peace ; that they can steal all the rewards of a man's labor because the Hebrews held slaves, or make woman a prostitute for the kingdom of heaven's sake this, I say, is beyond the analysis of a mere human philosophy. It bears no well-known relation to the feelings and thoughts which influence ordinary men in ordinary affairs. The element of revenge, however, we can trace directly to its source. The reader is sufficiently familiar with the trials of the Saints in Missouri, and can appreciate their bitter feelings against all Missourians. In 1856 another tragedy had caused them to in- clude Arkansas in their anathemas. Parley P. Pratt was the Isaiah of Mormonisrn. After long research in the publications of the church, I am prepared to say that his are the only apos- tolic productions which can claim even a moderate amount of literary excellence. Those of Orson Spencer are clear and ex- plicit enough, but devoid of all pretense to style; those of Orson AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 167 Pratt as learned and argumentative as anything in favor of such foolery could be. But the writings of Parley P. Pratt are al- ways lucid, frequently poetic, and in a few cases border on the sublime. Being such a writer, as well as a fanatical Mormon and active missionary, he was devotedly loved by his people. On one mission he converted the wife of one Hector McLean, of Arkansas ; she accompanied him to Salt Lake City, and there he married her, though he already had five wives ! McLean had repudiated his wife when she left for Utah, and would probably have bothered himself but little about her; but in two or three years she returned with Pratt, on a missionary tour, abducted her children and attempted to escape with them to Utah. Then McLean resolved to have blood. She was to meet Apostle Pratt at Fort Smith, Arkansas ; there, however, he was arrested on the charge of abduction, but she assumed all responsibility, and he was cleared. He fled across the line into the Indian Nation, McLean in close pursuit. Mrs. McLean Pratt (whose account I now follow) says the people in the town turned out and cheered on her ex-husband after her acting husband, as if it had been an exciting pursuit after wild game. McLean overtook Pratt in the country, struck him from his horse with a heavy bowie-knife, inflicting a mortal wound, then shot him as he lay on the ground. Mc- Lean received something very like an ovation that evening in Fort Smith, and took the boat for New Orleans without arrest. In the South it is no crime in the people's minds to kill the invader of family honor, and this case was made peculiarly atrocious by the attempted abduction. But in Mormon eyes Pratt was a sainted martyr, and when they saw a mixed train of Arkansas and Missouri people passing through Utah, their thirst for revenge was still fierce. The ill-fated train was rich in money and stock. There were half a dozen or more wealthy old gentlemen, with their sons, sons-in-law and their several families, including a large number of young ladies ; also a few young men from Vermont, a Ger- man doctor and man of science, two lads from some Eastern city, and a son of Dr. Aden, of Kentucky. All the Missouri 168 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES and Arkansas people were related by blood, and when they were killed, a whole clan, so to speak, was cut off. The re- covered children, in many instances, could find no relations. There were forty wagons, several hundred horses and cattle, a piano, some elegant carriages, several riding horses for the young ladies, and an immense amount of jewelry, clothing, and minor articles. The value of the booty taken has been esti- mated all the way from $150,000 to 300,000. Seeing that they were in a hostile country they hastened on ; but as they advanced southward from Salt Lake (they were going to Los Angeles), they found the people steadily more hostile. They were denied passage through some of the towns, and had to make a detour on the desert ; they could purchase no provisions, and found that in spite of themselves they were constantly violating municipal ordinances, and liable to arrest. At Beaver they were joined by a Missourian who had been in custody among the Mormons ; he urged them to hurry on as they valued their lives. Passing through Cedar City it is be- lieved they saw signs of their coming danger, and redoubled their exertions to get beyond the Utah limits. At last they reached the glen known as Mountain Meadows, on the "divide" between the waters flowing into the Great Basin and those draining into the Colorado, and paused to recruit their stock before entering on the Ninety-Mile desert. Meanwhile some secret work, not yet fully explained, had been going on in Salt Lake City. There is some evidence that a plan was once agreed upon to have the emigrants killed as they crossed the Provo " bench," only forty miles from Salt Lake ; but it was finally thought best to let them get beyond the settlements. George A. Smith, Brigham's First Councillor, went south ahead of the party, forbidding the people to sell them anything, of which and the results a curious account will be found in Lee's confession. So far the evidence is explicit and uncontradicted, but beyond this point there is some slight conflict of testimony. I adopt the confession of Lee as to all his movements, and in other matters that of Klingensmith, the main witness, of Mrs. Ann Eliza Hoge, who was present at the AND CRIMES OF MOKMONISM. 169 council where the massacre was decided on, and of those mem- bers of the militia who confessed their own share in it. The principal conflict of testimony is as to the assembling of the Mormon forces, and the persons who urged on the massacre. The day after the emigrants passed Harmony, John D. Lee, Bishop and President, called a council and stated that he had received command " to follow and attack the accursed Gentiles, and let the arrows of the Almighty drink their blood." He FIVE WIVES : " LET US HAVE PEACE." stated that they were from Missouri, which had expelled Uod's people, and from Arkansas, which had sanctioned the murder of the apostle ; he recited the Hawn's Mill massacre of Mor- mons, the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and others, and called for an affirmative vote. All hands were held up, and the expedition was at once fitted out. Lee turned out the Indians under his charge (he was agent and farmer for the Indian allies of the church in that section), and a regular call for the militia *f Iron county was issued by Colonel W. H. Dame, Major John 1 70 POLYGAMY ; OB, THE MYSTERIES D. Lee and Captains Haight and Higby. Two men testify that, after being ordered out, they sat all night talking and praying while the supply wagons ran backward and forward ; that they asked God's forgiveness if about to do wrong, but finally had to go with their company. The Indians had meanwhile opened the attack. A portion crept down a ravine near the camp, and fired upon the emi- grants while at breakfast, killing ten or twelve. The latter were completely taken by surprise, but seized their arms, shoved the wagons together, sunk the wheels in the earth, and got in condition for defence. The idea that enough of the Utes of that district could be got together to attack a train with sixty armed men, is too absurd to be entertained for a moment, and the emigrants had rested in the ease of fancied security. But their resistance was far greater than the Mor- mons had expected; and there for nearly a week, with their women and children lying in the trenches they had dug, they maintained the siege and kept the savages, as they supposed, at bay. And all of this time, as testified by Mrs. Hamlin, wife of the agent, the shots were constantly heard at Hamlin's ranche, and parties of Mormons, bishops, elders and laymen, were com- ing and going to and from the rauche, eating and drinking there, and "pitching quoit* and amusing themselves in various ways." They had the emigrants effectually secured, and could afford to divide time and slaughter the Gentiles at their leisure. But at the end of a week they grew tired and resolved upon strategy. The firing ceased, and while the weary and heart- sick emigrants looked for relief, and hoped that their savage foes had given up the attack, they saw, at the upper end of the little hollow in which they were, a wagon full of men. The latter raised a white flag, and it was perceived they were white men. A glad shout of joy rang through the corral at sight of men of their own color, and the emigrants held up a little girl dressed in white to answer the signal. Their captains came out, met Lee and party, and arranged for their surrender. They were to give up everything, in- cluding their arms, be taken back to the settlement and taken AND CRIMES OF MORMONI8M. 171 care of, but held till the war was over. On this agreement they started on their return. There were sixty fighting men, forty women, and forty -eight children. In front were two wagons, driven by Mormons and containing the men wounded in the siege; behind them were the women and children, and lastly the men. Beside the men marched the Mormon militia in single file. Off on either side were mounted men to intercept any who might break through the lines. A hollow crosses the road there; on each side of the way as it enters the hollow are rocks and bushes where the Indians lay in ambush. As testi- fied to by one witness, the women talked joyfully of their rescue from the Indians, and thanked God that they were under the protection of white men. All was in readiness. As the wagons passed the gully and the women and children were just entering it, Ike Higbee, standing on the bluff above, waved his hand as a signal. Haight gave command : Halt ! fire ! ! On the instant the Mor- mon militia turned, and with their guns almost touching their victims, discharged one volley, and almost every man of the emigrants fell dead. With loud screams the women and chil- dren turned and ran back toward the men. The Indians and Mormons rushed upon them, shooting, stabbing, braining, and in twenty minutes six score of Americans lay dead upon the ground, the hapless victims of Mormonism. No circumstance of horror was lacking. Indians and Mormons bit and tore the rings from the fingers and ears of the women, and with insult- ing yells trampled in the faces of the dying. One girl knelt and begged a son of John D. Lee for life. He hesitated, but the father pushed him aside, and shot her through the head. Several broke through the line, but were killed by the mounted men. Two girls ran down the gully and over the ridge, to the slope where the Indian boy Albert was hid, to watch the massacre. He says that they begged him to save them, and he directed them where to hide in a thicket. The next minute John D. Lee and Bill Stewart came galloping across the hollow, and, with savage curses, ordered him to point out the runawp/s. He dared not disobey, and soon the girls 172 POLYGAMY. were dragged out. Kneeling to Lee, they poured out the most passionate prayers for mercy they would be his slaves, would never betray him, would work for him forever. While one clung to his knees he jerked her suddenly upon her back, and, placing his knee upon her breast, cut her throat from ear to ear ! The other had, meanwhile, run away. He overtook her, and, by a savage blow on the back of the head with a ragged stone, crushed in her skull. Both these bodies were missed by the burying party, and, strange to say, lay there ten days un- touched by the wolves. When Hamlin returned from Salt Lake City, Albert pointed them out, and they were buried. Hamlin adds that there was not the mark of a tooth on either body, and no sign of decay, so pure was the air. Their fair countenances were like those of persons just dead, and their handsome forms untouched by the beasts and birds of prey. Nature and the wild beasts of the mountain were kinder to them than men of their own race and color. One witness, a mere lad at the time, relates that Bill Stewart walked carefully over the array of bodies, and finished with his bowie-knife those who showed any signs of life. Judge Wen- dell, then a Mormon, now a resident of Nevada, says he has it from unquestioned authority that all the corpses were stripped almost before they were cold, and that it was done with coarse and obscene jests. Three men had escaped the principal mas- sacre. The night before the fatal day the emigrants drew up a paper in which they described their condition, addressed to " Masons, Odd-Fellows, Baptists, Methodists and all good peo- ple in the States ; " they signed this according to classes, so many members of each church, lodge or chapter, and with it the three young men, specially chosen for fleetness of foot, crawled down the ravine and escaped. The Indians killed two the next night. The third got to the last point on the Santa Clara, where he was overtaken by Ira Hatch and a band of In- dians, sent in pursuit, and murdered. Jacob Hamlin obtained the paper and kept it many years ; but Lee learned of its ex- istence, took it from him and destroyed it after administering a sharp reproof. It is also related that an old man, in the (178) 174 POLYGAMY. wagons with the wounded, escaped to the mountains and was never again seen or heard of. Doubtless he perished in some secluded canon, afraid to approach the settlements. Of the seventeen children saved alive, one soon after dis- appeared. Mrs. Hoge says, he talked in such a way as to show he remembered the massacre, and that Lee took him away and he was seen no more ; but I have no other evidence of this. The others were first taken to Mrs. Hamlin's, and afterwards distributed among Mormon families in the neighborhood ; one was shot through the arm and lost the use of it. They were all recovered two years after and returned to their friends in the States. The property was divided, the Indians getting most of the flour and ammunition; but they claim that the Mormons kept more than their share. Much of it was sold in Cedar City at public auction; it was there facetiously styled, " Property taken at the siege of Sebastopol ; " and there is legal proof that the clothing stripped from the corpses, spotted with blood and flesh, and shredded by bullets, was placed in the cellar of the tithing office, and privately sold. The finest stock was distributed among the dignitaries in the neighborhood; and in 1872, Bishop Windsor, of Pipe Springs, Arizona, pointed out to me cattle in his own herd descended from stock taken at Mountain Meadows. Forty head of cattle were driven to Salt Lake City, and traded for boots and shoes to Hon. William H. Hooper. Thirteen years afterwards this man stood up in his place in the American Congress, and solemnly called God to wit- ness that the Mormons had nothing to do with this massacre it was all the work of the Indians. The carriages, wagons, and jewelry were divided among the leaders. And then Major John D. Lee, as military commandant, and Philip Klingen- smith, as bishop, went to Salt Lake City and laid a full report before Brigham Young "Governor of Utah and ex-ojficio Superintendent of Indian Affairs," by the grace of His Excel- lency Franklin Pierce. Brigham sent word to the bishops: "Don't talk about this thing, even among yourselves especially let the women keep still about it let it be forgotten as soon as possible." Haight JOHN I). I.EK WARNED. (175) I7i I'OLYUAMY ; Ml:. THE MYSTKlii; and Lee came up to Salt Lake soon after as Councillor and Representative from that county, sat in the legislature, attended the usual ball given by the governor, and each went home \vith a young wife, bestowed as a reward, " sealed " in the Endowment House by the Prophet Brigham Young ! Nobody left the neighborhood ; nobody lost caste. Lee remained a bishop for thirteen years afterward. Dame is a bishop yet ; Higbee is a prominent citizen, and Haight was still a bishop when I last saw him in 1872. The dead were buried; peace was made by Commissioners Powell and McCulloch with King Brigham ; a new emigrant road was laid off, lest Gentiles might discover something in passing through the meadows, and no mention of the affair was made in Mormon society or in the Mormon organ, the Deseret News. And so all was done, and the dread secret was safe. The last adult emigrant had fed the wolves; the only child old enough to remember anything about it had " disappeared," and the rest, distributed in various settlements, soon looked upon the Mormons as their people, and forgot that they ever had Gentile parents. Even the women, forgetting their natural instincts at Brigharn's command, "quit talking about it." Apparently all was secured against detection. But the human heart is not made for such an inhabitant, and men could not withhold themselves from talking after the madness of 1857 wore itself out. Dazed and bewildered, they slowly emerged from the state of excitement, and asked themselves what had been done. Strange rumors spread northward from settlement to settlement. Some of the boys from Washington county came north after the peace, and met their friends who had served against Johnston's army ; and often muttered over their cups that they did not like "the business they had been engaged in down south." A lad in Beaver began to act very strangely he drank deep of native whisky, and never stag- gered under it; but told of very strange things that he saw. A few apostates fled from that neighborhood, and soon after an account, brief and very imperfect, of the massacre appeared in a California paper. The Deseret News officially pronounced AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 177 It a lie. Next it admitted that there had been a massacre, but claimed it was all the work of Indians ; and this continued the Mormon plea till concealment was no longer possible. In 1858 Judge Cradlebaugh investigated it, the witnesses coming to him secretly by night; in 1859 General W. H. Carleton made a more thorough investigation, and a full report. He also collected and buried the remains, erecting over them a rude monument and a cross. Eleven years after the Federal officials made a more searching inquiry ; then the Mormons admitted that John D. Lee was implicated, and nominally expelled him from the church. Still he continued church Indian agent, but his retreat was now in the wild and rocky fastnesses of Pahreah Cation, on the Colorado, in Arizona, and far from the settle- ments. From that locality strange rumors from time to time reached us at Salt Lake; at one time that Lee had been killed by the Dauites ; at another that he was hopelessly insane, and yet again that he had turned Indian out and out, and was living among them. In the summer of 1872 the author of this book made a long journey through northern Arizona on horseback, with some Navajo Indians ; and early in July they left me at the house of John D. Lee, where I remained three days; I also visited Jacob's Pool, where Lee's older wife lived in a bough cabin with her son and daughter. Of the hospitality of his wife and his own rude friendliness I need not speak ; but the night before my departure he and I slept together upon a straw bed on the ground near his house. He grew confidential, and we talked till midnight of the massacre, and related incidents. Of that conversation I record here only these brief extracts : "The company had quarreled and separated east of the mountains, but it was the biggest half that come first. They come south of Salt Lake City just as all the men was going out to the war, and lots of women and children lonely. Their con- duct was scandalous. They swore and boasted openly that they helped shoot the guts out of Joe Smith and Hyrum Smith, at Carthage, and that Buchanan's whole army was coming right 12 178 POLYGAMY; OR, THK MVSTKKIER behind them, and would kill every G d d n Mormon in Utah, and make the women and children slaves, and . . . They had two bulls, which they called one ' Heber ' and the other ' Brigham,' and whipped 'em thro' every town, yelling and singing, blackguarding and blaspheming oaths that would have made your hair stand on end. At Spanish Fork it can JACOB'S POOL AND JOHN D. LEE'S WIFE. be proved one of 'em stood on his wagon-tongue, and swung a pistol, and swore that he helped kill old Joe Smith, and was ready for old Brigham Young, and all sung a blackguard song, ' Oh, we've got the ropes and we'll hang old Brigham before the snow flies/ and all such stuff. Well, it was mighty hard to bear, and when they got to where the Pahvant Indians AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 179 was, they shot one of them dead and crippled another. But the worst is coming. "At Corn Creek, just this side of Fillmore, they poisoned a spring and the flesh of an ox that died there, and gave that to the Indians, and some Indians died. Then the widow Tomlin- son, just this side, had an ox poisoned at the spring, and she thought to save the hide and tallow ; and rendering it up, the poison got in her face, and swelled it up, and she died. This roused everybody. Well, they came on down the road, and with their big Missouri whips would snap off the heads of chickens and throw 'em into their wagons ; and when a widow, Missis Evans, came out and said: ' Don't kill my chickens, gentlemen, I'm a poor woman/ one of 'em yelled, 'Shut up, you G d d d Mormon, or I'll shoot you ! ' Then her sons and all her folks got out with guns, and swore they'd have revenge on the whole outfit. By this time the Indians had gathered from all directions, and overtook 'em at Mountain Meadow. They planned it to crawl down a narrow ravine and get in close, and make a rush altogether. But one fool Indian fired too soon and gave the alarm. This spoilt the plan, but all in reach fired, and killed, well, five or six men. Then a sort o' siege began. The men inside did well the best they could have done. They got the wagons corraled and dug rifle-pits. The Indians could not hit any more of the people, but shot nearly all their oxen and some horses "I never will mention any names, or betray my brethren. Those men were God-fearing men. Their motives were pure. They knelt down and prayed to be guided in council. But they was full of zeal. Their zeal was greater than their knowledge "An express had been sent to Brigham Young at first to know what to do, and it is a pity it didn't get back ; for those enthusiastic men will obey counsel. The president sent back orders, and told the man to ride night and day, by all means to let the emigrants go on ; to call off the Indians, and for no Mor- mons to molest them. But the thing was all over before the express got back to Provo. There was about eighty fight- 180 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES ing men that was killed. I don't know how many women, though not many. All the children was saved. The little boy that lived with us cried all night when he left us, and said he'd come back to us as soon as he got old enough. "It is told around for a fact that I could tell great confes- sions, and bring in Brigham Young and the Heads of the Church. But if I was to make forty confessions, I could not bring in Brigham Young. His counsel was : ' Spare them, by all means.' But I am made to bear the blame. Here I am, old, poor, and lonely, away down in this place carrying the sins of my brethren. But if I endure, great is my reward. Bad as that thing was, I will not be the means of bringing troubles on my people; for, you know yourself, that this people is a misrepresented and cried-down community. Yes, a people scattered and peeled, whose blood was shed in great streams in Missouri, only for worshipping God as he was revealed to them ; and if at the last they did rise up and shed blood of their enemies, I won't consent to give 'em up." In the late autumn of 1874 John D. Lee was arrested, pur- suant to indictment and writ from the District Court at Provo, Hon. Jacob S. Boreman, Judge. Changes in the law," to be hereafter detailed, had made it possible to occasionally secure a fair-minded jury in Utah ; such a one had indicted Lee, and by strategy of U. S. Marshal Owens, he was captured while on a visit to his four wives at Panguitch on the Sevier river. Great was the interest felt throughout Utah, and indeed 'all over the country; and when his trial came on at Beaver, in the summer of 1875, there was a large attendance. It was indeed a strange drama. Correspondents from the East and West flocked thither, and for the first time a little of the inner life of Mormondom was brought to light in open court, and reported to all the world. The most incredulous were compelled to acknowledge Mormon guilt, and there began the series of trials which will eventually make the world acquainted with Brigham Young as he really was. It required the most persevering exertions to get the wit- nesses together. When Lee was cut off from the Church, in AND CRIMES OF MORMONTSM. 181 1871, all the Mormons in one day, as it were, changed their tone and began to denounce him as the bloodiest villain of the age. In fact they were extremely anxious to have him pun- ished they even wanted him strung up at once. As the day of trial drew near, you might have read in all the Mormon prints savage denunciations of his crime, and pitiful plaints " that innocent and noble men should have been accused of complicity with it." When it was announced that Lee was about to turn State's evidence, the Mormon prints indulged in joyful congratulations that his statement would "completely exonerate President Young and the Heads of the Church." All this looked very strange, to say the least. And, sure enough, when Lee's statement was submitted to the District Attorney, it was easily proved to be a tissue of lies from beginning to end, as shown by abundant testimony. All the guilty, he said, were either dead or out of the Territory long ago. Not a line did it contain about any one of those in custody. It is now believed to have been a Church trick from the start. The only guilty man, according to Lee, was Klingensmith, the principal witness against him. The prosecution was conducted by District Attorney Wm. C. Carey and R. N. Baskin, Esq., of Salt Lake City ; the defense by Messrs. J. G. Sutherland, G. C. Bates, Judge Hoge (a Mor- mon), Wells Spicer and W. W. Bishop the last from Pioche, Nevada, all the others from Salt Lake. The examination of jurors on the voir dire was as perfect an exhibit of Mormonisnii as I ever witnessed. All the Mormons called swore they had neither formed nor expressed an opinion, and knew nothing special about the case. One swore he had lived in the same town with Lee, but heard nothing about him in connection with the massacre ; another that he had not heard of it at all, and an- other that he was. reared in the neighborhood, had visited the Meadows and seen the monument, but never asked what it was for, and had never heard of a massacre there ! The whole ex- amination after this broke down from mere absurdity, and after getting three non-Mormons the prosecution gave it up and allowed the Mormons to select the rest of the jury. 182 POLYGAMY'; OR, THE MYSTERIES The first witnesses merely detailed the appearance of the ground a few days after the massacre ; then Philip Klingen- smith was called, and every eye and ear was strained till the man was thoroughly photographed by every attendant. He was a heavy, rather stolid-looking Dutchman, six feet high, well muscled, slow and phlegmatic. He had been indicted along with the others, and a nolle entered. He began with extreme slowness, amounting almost to stupidity, but as he went along gradually grew more animated ; his dull eye lighted up, the blue veins stood out on his forehead, and his every feature and muscle seemed to work as in sympathy with the horrors he was reciting. In the most blood-curdling scene, where he told of HAMLIN'S INDIAN BOY ALBERT. the shooting of some women who had children in their arms, every eye in the room turned as with one impulse to Lee. His light hair fairly vibrated with emotion; his Hibernian features were mingled red and purple ; and, as he literally shook in his fhair, the great veins stood out on his neck like cords, and he seemed to grasp at his throat as if choking ! In that awful moment he tasted the bitterness of death. I would not have recognized him as the man at whose table I ate, three years before, on the Colorado. It was Klingensmith whose confession, sworn to before a judge in Nevada, had first given a complete history of the AND CRIMES OP MOKMONI8M. 183 massacre. The defense attempted to prove the old slander, in- vented in 1859, to deceive Judge Cradlebaugh, that the emi- grants had poisoned a spring near Corn Creek, and then that they had poisoned the flesh of an ox and given it to the Indians to eat ; but broke down completely on both charges. On this point the emigrants were completely exonerated, and as to the outrageous conduct spoken of by Lee, it was afterwards shown that something of that nature was perpetrated by another com- pany, known as the "Missouri Wildcats;" but no evidence whatever was adduced to show misconduct by the murdered party. Brigham Young professed to be unable to attend the trial, but tried very hard to get an affidavit admitted denying his complicity. Failing in that he had it published and dis- tributed throughout the nation. The case was fully proved, but the Mormon jurymen had been instructed by the priesthood and refused to convict. They had all sworn they knew nothing of the case; but on reaching the jury-room, they proceeded to controvert the testimony for the prosecution by facts within their own knowledge. The vote stood from first to last, nine for acquittal and three for conviction. The majority first installed the Jack-Mormon, J. C. Heister, in the chair, and then one by one delivered elaborate Mormon sermons : against the prosecuting attorneys, against the court and all Federal officials, against the emigrants, against the United States, against all who were not of the Mormon church or its most subservient tools. It was perhaps the most curious and irregular jury proceeding ever had in any civilized' country. The three Gentiles on the panel held their ground for two days, smiling grimly on their foes, and willing to see the latter commit themselves ; then consented to a disagreement. A storm of rage swept over the country before which the Mor- mon leaders quailed at last. Brigham decided to give up Lee as he had given up the Hodges thirty years before, and all was properly fixed for the next trial. This came on in September, 1876, before a jury all Mor- mons ; Daniel H. Wells was present to see that all was done according to counsel; the Mojmon witnesses remembered all 184 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES they had forgotten before and Lee was convicted. Samuel Knight and Samuel McMurdy testified to seeing Lee kill sev- eral persons; that he blew a woman's brains out, beat one man to death with a gun, and shot others ; then came to the wagons and shot all the wounded men with a pistol. At this point in the testimony Lee broke down, and when remanded to his cell walked the floor a long time, cursing the Mormon leaders who, he said, had betrayed him. He knew, even before his attorney did, that the church had decided to give him up; he had sus- pected this at the start, and urged his attorney to secure a few Gentiles on the jury, in the hope that they might revolt against this conspiracy. But this had proved impossible. All the Gentiles called had heard or read of the case ; the Mormons called " had never heard of it, and had formed no opinion." For "model jurors" they could beat New York City. An appeal was taken and the judgment confirmed. Judge Boreman sentenced Lee to die March 23d, 1877 ; according to law in Utah he had choice of the method of his own execution, and chose to be shot. Before his death Lee wrote two confes- sions: a short one to be published at once, and a longer one which he gave his lawyer, Hon. W. W. Bishop, to be published after Lee's death and the proceeds to pay the lawyer's fee. From the former the following extracts are of interest: "Those with me at that time were acting under orders from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The horrid deeds then committed were done as a duty which we believed we owed to God and our church. "VVe were all sworn to secrecy before and after the massacre. The penalty for giving informa- tion concerning it was death " In the month of September, 1857, the company of emi- grants, known as the 'Arkansas Company/ arrived in Pa rowan, Iron county, Utah, on their way to California. At Parowan young Aden, one of the company, saw and recognized one Wil- liam Laney, a Mormon resident of Parowan. Aden and his father had rescued Laney from an anti-Mormon mob in Ten- nessee several years before, and saved his life. He (Laney), at the time he was attacked by the mob, was a Mormon missionary AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 185 in Tennessee. Laney was glad to see his friend and benefactor, and invited him to his house, and gave him some garden-sauce to take back to the camp with him. "The same evening it was reported to Bishop (Colonel) Dame that Laney had given potatoes and onions to the man Aden, one of the emigrants. When the report was made to Bishop Dame he raised his hand and crooked his little finger in a significant manner to one Barney Carter, his brother-in- law, and one of the 'Angels of Death/ Carter, without another word, walked out, went to Laney's house with a long picket in his hand, called Laney out, and struck him a heavy blow on the head, fracturing his skull, and left him on the ground for dead. C. Y. Webb and Isaac Newman, President of the ' High Council/ both told me that they saw Dame's manoeuvres. James McGuffee, then a resident of Parowan but through oppression has been forced to leave there, and is now a mer- chant in Pahranagat valley, near Pioche, Nevada knows these facts " Some two weeks after the deed was done, Isaac C. Haight sent me to report to Governor Young in person. I asked him why he did not send a written report. He replied that I could tell him more satisfactorily than he could write, and if I would stand up and shoulder as much of the responsibility as I could conveniently, that it would be a feather in my cap some day, and that I would get a celestial salvation, but the man that shrunk from it now would go to hell. I went and did as I was commanded. Brigham asked me if Isaac C. Haight had written a letter to him. I replied, not by me ; but he wished me to report in person. 'All right/ said Brigham. ' Were you an eye-witness ? ? 'To the most of it/ was my reply. Then I proceeded and gave him a full history of all. I told him of the killing of the women and children, and the betray- ing of the company ; that, I told him, I was opposed to ; but I did not say to him to what extent I was opposed to it, only that I was opposed to shedding innocent blood. ' Why/ said he, ' you differ from Isaac (Haight), for he said there was noi a drop of innocent blood in the whole company.' 186 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES " When I was through he said it was awful ; that he cared nothing about the men, but the women and children was what troubled him. I said: 'President Young, you should either release men from their obligation, or sustain them when they do what they have entered into the most sacred obligations to do.' He replied : ' I will think over the matter, and make it a subject of prayer, and you may come back in the morning and see me.' I did so. He said : * John, I feel first-rate. I asked the Lord, if it was all right for the deed to be done, to take away the vision of the deed from my mind, and the Lord did so, and I feel first-rate. It is all right. The only fear I have is of traitors.' He told me never to lisp it to any mortal being, not even to Brother Heber. President Young has always treated me with the friendship of a father since, and has sealed several women to me since, and has made my house his home when in that part of the Territory until danger has threatened him." United States Marshal William Nelson selected Mountain Meadows as the place of execution an act which Judge Bore- man disapproved, as he thought it savored of revenge and spectacular display. The spot selected was about a hundred yards east of the monument. Lee was singularly cheerful, and at the last minute confessed to Rev. Mr. Stokes, a Methodist minister in attendance, that he killed five of the emigrants with his own hand a fact he had always denied before. A photo- graph of the scene, with Lee seated on his coffin, was then taken; he requested that copies might be sent to his three wives, Rachel, Sarah and Emma, who had remained faithful to the last. He then made a brief address and seated himself with calmness on his coffin. The five soldiers detailed for the purpose took their stand, and Marshal Nelson gave command : " Make ready ! Aim ! Fire ! " The five rifles cracked simultaneously and Lee sank back dead without a struggle, his lips parting with a faint smile. Five balls had passed through him in the immediate vicinity of the heart Thus died John Doyle Lee, a man of great natural abilities AND CRIMES OF MOKMONISM. is: corrupted by lust and fanaticism. In my intercourse with him I found him well informed on many topics, a great observer of nature, apt in acquiring knowledge, especially in matters of language. He was born September 6th, 1812, at Kaskaskia, Illinois, soon after his parents arrived from Ireland, and was reared a Catholic, turning Mormon in 1836. His features were of a marked Irish cast, and his temperament sanguine. He was master of several Indian tongues and seemed to know the whole gamut of Indian nature by instinct. He was a kind father, a rather agreeable husband, a hospitable gentleman and a remorseless bigot. In conclusion I cannot sum up his char- acter better than in the words of an old apostate who had known him long and well : " John D. Lee was a man who would share his last biscuit with the traveller on the desert, and cut that traveller's throat the same hour if Brigham Young gave the wordj" BXF.cn ION OF JOHN D. LEE. 188 CHAPTER XI. THE GOVERNMENT TAKES A HAND IN UTAH. The Judges make inquiry into " blood -atonement " Investigation of the crimes of 1856-57 A fresh outbreak Murders of Drown, Arnold, Sergeant Pike, Franklin McNeil and others Civil war in the States and Aformon glee Departure of Johnston's army Profits to the Prophets Brigham's despotism restored Governors Dawson, Harding, Doty and Durkee Secre- taries Wooton, Fuller, Reed and Higgins Murders of Potter, Wilson, Walker and Black Tom Of Brassfield and Robinson Panic of the Gentiles Peace restored The author arrives in Utah. I RESUME the regular history, after the entrance of the army, in 1858. In November Judge Sinclair opened his court in Salt Lake City, and charged the grand jury to make inquiry into all questions of treason, intimidation and polygamy. The jury laughed at the last and quietly refused the first, but did present James Ferguson and others for the interference with Judge Stiles before related. Xo action was taken beyond the mere presentment. The following cases are of unusual interest: Ralph Pike, Sergeant in Company I, Tenth infantry, had knocked down Howard Spencer at the military reserve in Rush Valley. The grand jury found an indictment, and Pike was arrested and brought to Great Salt Lake City. The day following, about 12 o'clock, as Pike was entering the Salt Lake House, on Main street, Spencer stepped up to him from behind, saying, "Are you the man that struck me in Rush Val- ley? 7 ' at the same time drawing his pistol, and shot him through the side, inflicting a mortal wound. Spencer ran across the street, mounted his horse and rode off, accompanied by several noted Danites. Pike lingered in dreadful agony two days before he died. The Deseret News, in its next issue, lauded young Spencer for his courage and bravery. A much more mysterious murder was that of Drown and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 189 Arnold. They were at the house of a friend in Salt Lake City, when Bill Hickman, the Danite Chief, with some seven or eight of his band, rode up to the house and called for Drown to come out. Drown, suspecting foul play, refused to do so and locked the doors. The Dauites thereupon dismounted from their horses, broke down the doors and shot down both Drown and Arnold. Drown died of his wounds next morn- THE DANITE CHIEF. ing, and Arnold a few days afterwards. Hickman, in his confession, says he killed Drown by orders, and that Arnold was killed by accident. Old residents who are willing to talk on the subject say that Drown and Arnold were Spiritualists ; that they were secretly holding a spiritual seance when attacked, and that the priesthood ordered them killed, pursuant to the command in the Hebrew scriptures to exterminate all who " go a whoring after familiar spirits all who peep and mutter," etc. 190 POLYGAMY. The exact truth as to those two murders has never been re- vealed ; the pointed fact is, that during one term of the 'court three persons were killed within sight of the grand jury room, and that body took no action. Soon after a deaf and dumb boy named Andrew Bernard was killed by Ephe Hanks, a noted Dauite, and an apostate named Forbes was assassinated. About the same time Franklin Mc- Neil, who had a suit pending against Brigham Young, was killed. Hickman says that this was done according to orders, but Mr. Sterrett, with whom McNeil boarded, claims that it was done in a brawl. Meanwhile the more disorderly element among the young Mormons began to associate with the camp- followers at Camp Floyd, and many deadly affrays occurred there; but these excited no such horror as the secret assassina- tions in and near Salt Lake City. During the summer of 1859 it is reported that an average of one murder a week occurred in and near the city. The desperadoes killed each other ; the Salt Lake police killed prisoners under pretense that they were try- ing to escape, and midnight assassinations finished the obnoxious who had escaped the other perils. How many of the victim- were guilty of actual crime, how many of mere opposition to the priesthood, can never be known in this world ; death was the penalty in either case. The record is horrible. This peculiar era ended with a very curious crime. A Mormon engraver was employed by some persons unknown to construct a plate similar to that used by the quartermaster at Camp Floyd for notes drawn upon the assistant treasurers of the United States at St. Louis and New York, and the artist was so successful that it was difficult to tell the counterfeit from the original. When the fraud was discovered, the principal in the transaction was arrested at Camp Floyd, and a few hours after he agreed to become state's evidence. In his confession he pandered to the prejudices of the locality, and implicated some one in the office of Brigham Young as having furnished the paper, and it was hoped that possibly the Prophet himself might prove to be not quite guiltless. The latter suspicion was, however, proved to be unfounded, but Brewer, the informer, was a doomed man (191) 192 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES all the same. One evening he was walking down Main street with Joaquin Johnston, a wild roysterer of the West, and his boon companion, when both fell dead, having each received a bullet in the side from an alley on the opposite side of the street. A Mormon friend of the author, a boy at the time, pointed out to me the spot and gave me the details as he re- ceived them from one who lighted a brazier before which the two victims must pass, to give the assassins a clear aim. The Mormon authorities, according to their custom, at once con- vened a coroner's jury, which decided that Brewer and Johnston had quarrelled and killed each other ! This assassination may be considered the closing act of the three years of blood and terror, which began in 1856. During that time the losses are roughly estimated as follows: Died in the hand-cart companies .... 300 Murdered during the " Reformation " . . .25 Murdered at Mountain Meadows .... 132 Murdered during Mormon War 20 Murdered in 1858 and 1859 30 U. S. teamster?, etc., as related 70 Total casualties 577 Deducting the hand-cart victims and the U. S. teamsters who died of exposure and Indians, the average of actual crime still remains very great. The record of this period ought not to close without some notice of the notorious Bill Hick man. He made his confession directly to me and I prepared it for the press : that it contains much truth I am satisfied, but not all the truth he might have told. Brigham denounced the work savagely when published ; but it is worth noting that he had always fellowshipped Hickman as a Mormon, and given him honors and wives till the latter seceded from the church. Other noted Danites were Ephe Hanks and Porter Rock- well : these three seem destined to an immortality of infamy. Closely associated with Hickman for many years was one Ike Hatch ; but at length he grew weary of his mode of life, and, confiding in Hickman, announced his intention to escape from AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 193 the Territory. Soon after Hickman and Hatch started from Salt Lake City on horseback for Provo. While crossing a small stream on the road, lined with a thick growth of willows, Hatch who was in advance was shot from behind, and fell from his horse. Hickman at once galloped back to the city and re- ported that they had been attacked by Indians, and Hatch killed. The latter, however, had strength to climb upon his horse and reach the city before he died, and informed his father that he had been shot by Hickman. The latter had the hardi- hood to attend the funeral of Hatch, and actually assisted in shoveling the dirt into the grave. While in this work the father of Hatch, overcome by sudden anger, aimed a blow at the murderer with a spade, which would certainly have ended his career had not the blow been warded off by a friend of Hickman, who was on the watch. This murder, as well as several others by Hickman, is not even questioned among the Mormons. When Hickraan was disfellowshipped and fled to Nevada, he was taken violently ill, and sent for a Josephite Mormon preacher to administer absolution. It is reported that he then confessed participation in no less than forty-three de- liberate murders! With Johnston's army the Gentile merchants came, and after a while established themselves in Salt Lake City. During the interval from 1853 to 1858, the Mormons had fallen behind, and great destitution often prevailed, particularly in the southern settlements. One year the crops were short from drought, and another they were largely destroyed by grass- hoppers ; during two seasons there was no surplus except a little wheat which could only be sold in barter for fifty cents per bushel ; one winter thousands of the people subsisted largely upon sego roots, and another, of unusual severity, a third of the cattle throughout Utah died from exposure. In the " Refor- mation," the Ward Teachers visited every family in their juris- diction, and made a thorough examination of their flour barrels and meat chests, taking away the surplus, where there was any, to divide it among those who had none. In the summer of 1855, M. Jules Remy, French traveller and savan, and Mr. A. 13 194 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES M. Brenchley, his English companion and botanist, journeyed from Sacramento to Salt Lake City, by the Central Nevada route and south of the Lake, and spent several weeks studying Mormon institutions. Their publication describes a condition of extreme poverty in Utah ; provisions of all sorts were at premium prices, and their tour of two months, with the poorest accommodations, cost them more in gold than a first-class tour of Europe would have done. Wheat and a few other bare necessaries alone were tolerably cheap. The season of 1856-57 might be justly denominated the " Winter of Mormon discon- tent." And it is remarkable that during those two years were committed most of those crimes which form so black a chapter in the annals of Utah. The entrance of Johnston's army proved a real godsend to many, and being followed by a season of unusual fruitfulness, the Mormons were again rendered prosperous. The firm of Gilbert & Sons was established in Salt Lake City about that time, though one of the firm had done business there before. This firm made large profits during the five succeeding years, their sales on one particular day amounting to $17,000 in gold. Coin was the only currency, all large payments being made in the Mormon five-dollar piece, a coin struck by the Church, which, however, contained but $4.30 in gold. Another promi- nent firm of that period was Ransohoff & Co., long the leading Jewish firm, who built the first stone store-house in the city. They had extensive dealings with Brigham Young, and when Johnston's army left and the camp property was sold, Brigham borrowed $30,000 of Ransohoff to invest in army pork. Fol- lowing the entrance of the army came a heavy trade with Nevada, and not long afterwards considerable with Colorado ; and at this period was the rise of the firm of Walker Brothers, now par excellence, the Gentile merchant princes of Utah. The Walkers, four young and middle-aged gentlemen^ were of Mor- mon parentage and reared among the Saints ; having, by great industry and enterprise, secured a small stock in trade before the entrance of the army. The stores at Camp Floyd were sold when the troops left, early in 1861., with immense profits to the AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 195 Saints ; iron which had retailed at a dollar per pound became as plentiful as in the East, and Brigham Young, Walker Brothers, and other firms bought immense quantities of sup- plies, and retailed them at a great profit. Thus did Buchanan " crush the Mormons." The Overland Mail service grew into greatness, furnishing another source of profit, and the Gentile merchants shared largely in the general prosperity. During 1859 and '60, though there was hostility between Camp Floyd and the Mormon hierarchy, money was plenty ; sufficient sup- plies had been forwarded to last the army ten years, and great quantities of leather, gearing, cavalry equipments, clothing, blankets, and small stores were sold for one-tenth their value; Brigham was on the best of terms with the Gentile merchants ; gifts and donations on both sides were common ; there was for a time little or no social distinction between Mormon and Gen- tile, and an era of general good feeling prevailed. Meanwhile Judge Cradlebaugh, as aforesaid, had made inquiry into all the crimes of Southern Utah, and found the whole community united in opposition to the law ; had applied to Governor Gumming for a detachment of soldiers to aid in enforcing writs and had been refused, and had abandoned the Territory in disgust. The duty of investigating those affairs, especially Mountain Meadows, lay first and foremost on Gov- ernor Gumming, and he assumed a terrible responsibility in de- clining it. He had quarreled with the other officials and put himself in the hands of the Mormons, and all his usefulness was gone. Government soon returned to the old policy : Chief- Justice Kinney was restored, and with him came Associate Justices Flenuiken and Crosby in place of Sinclair and Cradle- baugh. In 1861 Governor Gumming left Utah, and was succeeded by John W. Dawson, of Indiana, who was soon entrapped into "a base attempt on the virtue of a Mormon woman," and in consequence of many threats precipitately fled the Territory. He was waylaid, however, in Weber Cafion, and received shocking and almost emasculating injuries from three Mormon lads. They were arrested for this, and attempting to escape (as 196 POLYGAMY. reported) were shot dead by the police. This method of getting rid of troublesome citizens was practised with great success for some years, but at length the police got careless and shot two men in jail, without waiting for them to get outside, and tho method had to be changed. All this time the Mormons remained on good terms with the merchants, trade'was free, and the people rather prosperous. The opening of the war signaled a sudden change; the disloyalty of the Mormons was only equalled by the disgust of the Gentiles, and the whole gist of Mormon sermons for a year or two might have been compressed into that aggravating after-prophecy, " Didn't we tell you so ? '' With them it was only the realization of what Joe Smith had prophesied in 1832, and Sunday after Sunday the Tabernacle resounded with the harangues of Brigharn Young and Heber Kimball, in fiendish exultation over the prospect that " the war would go on till nearly all the men, North and South, would be killed, the rest would become servants to the Saints, the women of the United States would come begging for the Mormon elders to marry them, and a general cry would go up, 'come and help u- preserve the race of man in this land.' " Such was the stuff then preached by men who are now prating loudly of their loyalty. It was hard for an American to listen to it quietly, and but little else was heard in Salt Lake for the first two years of the war. Early in 1862 Judges Flenniken and Crosby left Salt Lake. President Lincoln was advised by telegraph of their departure, and on the 3d of February, 1862, appointed Thomas J. Drake, of Michigan, and Chas. V. Waite, of Illinois, to succeed them. On the 31st of March following, Stephen S. Harding, an "original abolitionist," of southern In- diana, was appointed Governor, and the new officials reached Salt Lake in July of the same year. In October following Colonel (now General) P. Edward Connor arrived with fifteen hundred men and established Camp Douglas. This adminis- tration labored hard to benefit the Gentiles in Utah. For nearly four years General Connor maintained the rights of American citizens, and protected and assisted many hundred dissenting Mormons in their escape from Utah. The prompt 198 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES action in protecting American citizens and recusant Mormons from injury, together with the anti-polygamy features of Gov- ernor Harding's first message, and the action of the Judges in asking Congress for an amendment to the Organic Act of the Territory, excited the Brighamites to great anger for a time ; the hostility increased, and when an unusually large number of miners came to winter in Salt Lake, Brigham assumed entire control of Mormon trade and flour was put up at once from S3 to $6 per hundred in gold, then equal to twice that amount in currency. Great was the indignation at this move, but the miners could not help themselves at that season and submitted, though their curses were both loud and deep. The opening of spring relieved this embargo, and the Mormons soon discovered that though Camp Douglas was something of an eye-sore, yet the presence of two regiments added materially to their trade. The triumph of the Union arms through 1864, the prompt pay- ment of claims against the Government, and the appointment of rather more acceptable officials, convinced the Mormons that " loyalty would pay " for a while, and another era of free trade and tolerably good feeling followed. The years 1864-65 were seasons of prosperity to the Gentiles ; Ransohoff & Co. cleared large sums dealing in general supplies, and Walker Brothers, who had meanwhile apostatized from Mormonism, took rank as millionaires. July 2d, 1862, Congress passed the first anti-polygamy bill, which excited so little attention that I doubt if there are a dozen persons in Utah who have read it. The Republican party in its first national platform denounced polygamy as a relic of barbarism ; but on attaining power followed closely in the tracks of its predecessor ; and though twenty years nearly have passed since the act, we see next to nothing done to enforce it. The United States Government is not of a nature to deal readily with social and religious problems. Governor Harding, in his first message to the Utah Legislature, called attention to the law just enacted, and urged some action against polygamy ; the priesthood rejoined with a series of gross insults to the governor and flaming sermons on the war prophecy. And per- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 199 haps this is as good a place as any to present this remarkable prophecy, given December 25th, 1832, in which all good Mor- mons trust so much : " Verily thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Caro- lina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The days will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place ; for behold the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the na- tion of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations in order to defend themselves against other nations ; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations. And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war. And it shall come to pass, also, that the remnants who are left of the land (Indians) will marshal themselves, and shall become exceeding angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexa- tion ; and thus with the sword, and by bloodshed, the inhabi- tants of the earth shall mourn ; and with famine and plague and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consummation decreed hath made a full end of all nations ; that the cry of the Saints, and of the blood of the Saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come ; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen." At a conference held in Nauvoo, April 6th, 1843 the year preceding the Prophet's death he reiterated the pre- diction : " I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, that the com- mencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed, previous to the coming of the Son of Man, will be in South Carolina (it probably may arise through the slave question) ; 200 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES this a voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, December 25th, 1832." It would be difficult to find in the sacred books of any nation a prophecy so nearly and unmistakably fulfilled as this. All prophecy, as a rule, requires a great deal of helping and piecing out with explanation as to what part is local and what is gen- eral ; and more than one commentator has found the Hebrew prophets vague, ambiguous and indefinite as to time and place when he would gladly have found a specific application to his own sect or its enemies. But Joseph Smith's prophecy on the war is singularly explicit. Half of it has been fulfilled, and the Saints are confidently waiting on the other half. It is a law of mind that what we prophesy often we soon come to wish for ; and if there were no other cause, the tendency of all their preaching and prophesying is to make them look eagerly for the downfall of our Government. It is a prime principle in their creed that all mankind but themselves are on the swift road to ruin, and they are never so well pleased as in listening to state- ments in regard to " the great increase of crime and immorality in the States." Never were any people so confounded as the Mormons when the war for the Union ended so suddenly and gloriously. The Sunday before Lee's surrender Brigham preached on the revela- tion published above, and predicted that the war would last four years longer. He afterwards explained that he meant there would be four years of wrangling before the terms of peace were settled. The assassination of Lincoln followed, and the Saints were again confident that war would continue and anarchy result. They had no rejoicings for the Union victories and no grief for Lincoln's death he had signed the anti-polygamy bill and sustained General Connor but Miss Sarah E. Carmichael gave voice to the sorrows of the few loyal people in Utah in a poem of singular beauty and affecting sweetness. Secretary Wooton had acted as governor between the departure of Gov- ernor Gumming and arrival of Governor Dawson, but did nothing to arouse the animosity of the Saints. He was suc- ceeded as Secretary by Frank Fuller, of New Hampshire, whose AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 201 brief administration as governor and secretary was disgraced by the Morrisite massacre, of which a full history will be given in the chapter on dissenting sects. Governor Harding was transferred to Colorado and made Chief- Justice of that Territory in May, 1863, being succeeded as Governor of Utah by James Duane Doty, who had been Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Judge Waite resigned in disgust in 1866, and, after a brief residence in Idaho, returned to Chicago, where he has attained to some eminence as a writer. He was succeeded by Judge John Titus, whose eventful experi- ence will in due time be related. Judge Drake held on till the accession of Grant, and retired with the complimentary hatred of every orthodox Mormon. In 1863 Dr. Fuller was succeeded as Secretary by Amos Reed, Esq., and he in no long time by Edward P. Higgins, of Michigan. Neither had any oppor- tunity to do anything. It was an era of retrogression, and they were powerless. From the departure of the Camp Floyd troops till the arrival of Connor with the California Volunteers, the church was absolute, and ruled Utah with an iron hand. During General Connor's rule the two parties were again and again on the eve of a collision. At one time the grand jury presented Camp Douglas as a "nuisance," and Brigham ordered Mayor Smoot to " move Connor and his men ! " The mayor made answer that it would require 5,000 men, and that he could raise them. Brigham took the second thought and re- voked the order. On one occasion all the Mormons in the city were called to arms to defend Brigham, who thought the Gen- eral was about to arrest him. Again the house of every faith- ful Saint was prepared for destruction, kindling materials being arranged for a general conflagration ; but there was no design to arrest Brigham, and the scare subsided. The war ended and the preaching at the Tabernacle became more conservative. General Connor had established the Vidette as a loyal paper first in camp, and then in the city under a military guard. The guard was now withdrawn and proposals for peace made. Mormon and Gentile united in a patriotic display, and all seemed lovely. But, as too often happens with -02 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES peacemakers, the high contracting parties went too far. A grand ball was arranged, to be given by the Mormon officials, in honor of General Connor, who was about leaving to take command of the Department of the Platte. The ladies at Camp Douglas quietly resolved that they would not recognize polygamous wives, and stayed away. Brigham's wives got a hint of this, and gave notice that th,ey " would not associate with Gentile prostitutes on any terms." The gentlemen on both sides were present in style, but of women only those of low social standing. "Reconciliation" was a total failure, and the ill feeling worse than ever. Vain, vain is the task of those who labor to harmonize Democracy and Theocracy. Two months later came Vice-President (then Speaker) Col- fax, Governor Bross, of Illinois, Hon. Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield Republican, and Albert D. Richardson, the well- known author and correspondent, on their celebrated trip through the far West. They appear to have been the first visitors to Utah who expressed their opinions openly and freely on all proper occasions, and were not a whit deceived by the blandishments of the Mormon leaders. In many interviews they told Brigham and other Mormons that they might expect the continued disapproval of the government as long as they practised polygamy, to which Mr. Colfax rather incautiously added that there was no other objection to the admission of Utah as a State. Brigham then put the direct question : " If we could or should surrender polygamy, would not your people then go on and insist on our giving up our form of church government and many other things?" Mr. Colfax warmly assured him they would not; that no other demand would be made than the abandonment of poly- gamy. He could not know, of course, that the Saints had in reserve a revelation for just such a contingency. They have one which exactly fits the case, and in due time began that curious intrigue for the admission of the "State of Deseret with a constitution prohibiting polygamy," which came to i\ head in 1872, and came very near being a success. The official AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 203 visitors passed on, Andrew Johnson withdrew the troops from Utah and declared in favor of an extremely conciliatory policy; various Mormons were appointed to important offices, the Saints waxed fat, and in no long time a new series of shocking murders and outrages occurred. All the Gentiles who had pre-empted land west of the city were whipped, ducked in the Jordan, or tarred and feathered, and their improvements destroyed ; many were threatened and ordered out of the country; Weston, of the Union Vidette, was seized at night, taken to Temple Block and cruelly beaten; Brassfield was shot, Dr. Robinson assassinated, and general consternation seized upon the Gentile residents. Squire Newton Brassfield, while sojourning temporarily in Salt Lake City, formed the acquaintance of a woman who had been the polygamous wife of a Mormon named Hill, but had left him, repudiated this so-called marriage and claimed that she was entitled at common law to the possession of her chil- dren by this Hill, as the offspring of an illegal marriage, or rather of no marriage at all. She and Brassfield were married in legal form by the United States Judge, H. P. McCurdy, on the 28th of March, 1866; a writ of habeas corpus was issued from the United States Court for the possession of her children, and the trial set for the night of April 3d, but adjourned till the 6th. Meanwhile Brassfield had taken a trunk containing her clothing from -her former residence, and was arrested by the Mormon authorities on a charge of grand larceny ! The ground assumed for this action was that tlie clothing taken was the property of her husband. While walking the street in charge of United States Marshal J. K. Hosmer, Brassfield was shot in the back by a concealed assassin. The Mormons ap- proved the deed and ridiculed all attempts to capture the mur- derer. Judge McCurdy telegraphed for protection, and the President allowed a few soldiers to remain. Dr. J. K. Robinson had married a Mormon lady, had been active in all movements to liberalize the Territory, had pre- empted land where the Warm Springs are located, and proposed to contest the legal title of the city. The first decision, by Judge Titus, was for the city; and the doctor appealed. 204 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Meanwhile his ball alley was destroyed by the police; he brought suit and had three policemen bound over to the Dis- trict Court. Soon after, about midnight, the doctor was called out to attend a patient, and, at the corner of Main and Third South streets, he was struck two blows on the head, and imme- diately shot through the brain. One witness saw one of the assassins running down the street westward ; two others saw three of them running eastward, and three were seen running southward, making seven persons engaged in ihz murder. On the investigation Mayor Wells swore that he was not informed of the murder till 10 o'clock the day after; the policemen swore there were but eight of them on duty that night, of whom three were at the circus, and all the rest at the City Hall ; the Mor- mons examined swore there had been no threats made, and others refused to answer. The weight of opinion is that it was only intended to give Dr. Robinson a severe beating; that he resisted, recognized his assailants, and was killed to avoid detection. Soon after three apostates were arrested at Coalville, and two shot dead in custody : one a brother of the Potter who figured in the Springville murders, the other a man of no great charac- ter, named Wilson. One Walker was fired at, but escaped, reached the city and gave the particulars. Walker kept quite close for a while, but finally ventured into the country, disap- peared, and was never more heard of. About the same time, Negro Tom, who had been brought to the Territory a slave, was killed and his throat cut for adultery with a white woman, according to Mormon testimony. This closes the list of known. murders for that year, it being a time of comparative quiet. The Mormons vehemently assert that these four victims were desperately bad men, who could not be reached by regular legal process ; and this may be true, but I know of no people so re- luctant to admit that excuse for outrages committed against any of themselves. A general stampede of Gentiles from Utah seemed likely to follow the withdrawal of all protection by the Government; and soon after Robinson's death, the Gentile merchants, with two or AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 205 three exceptions, joined in a written proposal to Brigham, that they would all leave the Territory, if he or the Church would pay a nominal price for their property. To this Brigham com- placently made reply that he " had not asked them to come, and did not ask them to go; they could stay as long as they pleased." This excitement subsided like the rest, and a whole year passed away without any serious outrages, or unusual threats. The influence of the approaching railroad began to be felt, and the Washington authorities every day grew more com- plaisant to the Saints. President Johnson appointed Mr. Hoge, a Mormon lawyer, as Associate Justice, Captain Burton, Mor- mon bishop, Collector of Internal Revenue, and generally fixed things to suit the Saints. He also appointed Hon. Charles Durkee governor, to succeed Doty, deceased; denied him all power to do anything, and carefully instructed him not to irri- tate anybody. I think the only time I ever laughed right in an official's face was when Governor Durkee seriously outlined his " policy " to me. He evidently thought he had one ; and it was a great comfort to the old gentleman. All through 1868 the amount of travel increased, and with it the amount of money ; trade was free, with no distinction be- tween Mormon and Gentile; contracts oil the railroad were taken by both, and little distinction made in giving employment, and in July, 1868, at a great railroad meeting, Mormon, Jew and Christian fraternized in the Tabernacle, and seemed to feel they had a common interest in the country's prosperity. And thus stood affairs in the early autumn of 1868, when the author first entered the Territory. 206 POLYGAMY. CHAPTER XII. MY FIRST YEAIi IN UTAH. First impressions The Holy City Topography Mormon leaders Travels in Utah " Pulling hair " Beastly cases of polygamy Mormon conference Votes non-intercourse with Gentile? A dreary winter Corinne The Sevier mines The author mobbed Sent to Washington Signs of a better day. THE first storm of autumn had just dressed the summit.- of the Wasatch in dazzling white when, on the 10th of September, 1868, the train in which I was a driver entered the city. My first impression was : a marvellously beautiful location, an average city and a singularly uninteresting people. The city is at the northeast corner of a grand amphitheater a valley shaped like a horse-shoe, with the open end to the northwest, and the city at the point of the heel on the east side. From this heel, really a spur of the Wasatch, City Creek runs out and ir- rigates nearly all the city plat ; eastward the mountain recedes to a distance of six or seven miles, then bears southward, then westward to the cafion of the Jordan, and west of that the de- tached Oquirrh comes north again to the south end of the lake. Down the centre of the oval valley runs the Jordan, its course a little west of north ; along it is a narrow strip of fertility, and little oases border the streams which flow into it. All the rest is comparatively barren hench or sage-brush plat, only valua- ble here and there for a little grass. At least nine-tenths of the houses in the city then were adobe, and not one in five of these plastered or stuccoed ; the whole city contained but one dozen solid, impressive-looking structures of stone and brick, and not one of any architectural beauty. And the people at first view seemed wonderfully plain, especially the women Dot ugly-looking, or degraded, or deformed, but sim- 207 208 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES ply and hopelessly homely. I had heard that they were fana- tics, and I laughed at the thought ; for of all people I ever saw they seemed the least emotional, the least excitable. There were not over five hundred Gentiles in the city, and perhaps as many more scattered through the Territory ; and I soon learned to recognize them at sight. The Mormons had that sameness of look which seems to characterize the people of all exclusive religious societies ; even the children tended to one type long, slender, with towy hair and watery blue eyes. They were thoroughly homogeneous. -But the Gentiles were doubtless the most heterogeneous class in America: representing all States and nearly all nations, they presented every variety of form and complexion. They consisted of United States officials and their employes, attaches of the Overland Stage Company and the rail- road then in construction, some Jewish merchants, a few arti- sans, and a miscellaneous mass of traders, mining prospectors and adventurers. They were absolutely without any common purpose, had no organization except as one church and a few lodges and chapters threw some of them into groups, had no common interest, and certainly no missionizing tendencies, and were tolerated by the Mormons with a sort of quiet contempt. But a change in this respect was not far distant. But the novel situation and the charms of the autumnal cli- mate made me forget all else for a while : the rows of trees lin- ing all the streets, and the crystal streams of water which seem in the distance like threads of silver, combining to give a strange and fanciful beauty to the scene. Salt Lake City is situated in latitude 40 46' north, and longitude 111 53' west of Green- wich, nearly 4,300 feet above sea level. The streets are at ex- act right angles, running with the cardinal points and numbered every way from Temple Block, which is in Utah the starting point of all measurements, calculations and principles, whether of ecclesiastical, civil, political or engineering. The street bounding it on the east is called East Temple street, the next one First East Temple, or merely First East, the next Second East, and thus on ; the same nomenclature is maintained in all the streets, north, south and west. Each AND CRIMES OF MORMOXISM. 209 street is forty-four yards in width, with sixteen feet pavements, leaving one hundred feet clear, and each block exactly a furlong square, containing ten acres, divided into eight lots of an acre and a quarter each. Nine squares are included in each ward, and there are twenty-one wards, beginning with the First on the southeast corner and reckoned westward to the Fifth, then back- ward and forward, boustrophedon, terminating with the Twenty- first on the northwest. The outer wards, however, contain large additional tracts extending the jurisdiction of the city over wide limits. The greatest length of the city proper is thus, from southeast to northwest, about four miles, and it*s greatest width, from northeast to southwest, a little over two miles. But a small portion, however, of this large area is thickly settled; in two-thirds of the city the scattered dwellings are mingled with orchards, gardens, small pastures or grass- plats, and even small wheat and cornfields, like a thickly settled farming country or nursery ground, rather than a city ; and to this fact the place is indebted for no small share of its beauty. The western part of the city extends to the Jordan, and the ground in that vicinity is rather low and in winter and spring marshy; hence the finest residences are north and east, and all the public buildings above Third South Street. Let us note a few of them, beginning, by invariable custom, at Temple Block, which includes the usual ten acres, containing the old and new Tabernacles, the Endowment (locally known as Ondooment) House, and the great Temple which is to be. The old Taber- nacle is a sort of nondescript building, oblong in shape, with a third of the room underground, in the southwest corner of the block, capable of holding some 2,500 persons. The new Taber- nacle is, in its way, a curiosity ; there is certainly no idolatry in the reverence paid to it, for it is like nothing else in the heavens above, or the earth beneath, or probably the waters under the earth. At first sight the prevailing feeling is one of astonish- ment, which soon yields to curiosity as to who could have de- signed it. It is built in the form of a complete oval, the major axis of which is 250 feet in length and the minor axis 150 feet. The lower part, or foundation for the dome, consists of a suc- 14 210 POLYGAMY. cession of forty-six pillars of red cut sand-stone, each about six feet square and ten feet high, all around the building ; along the sides there are double doors between the pillars, and at the ends a heavy partition ; on this structure the dome or roof rests like the half of an egg-shell. The latter is a vast frame-work, plastered within and shingled without, raised along the centre sixty-five feet above the floor. There is not a trace of tlu beautiful or impressive about it; it is simply a vast pile awk- wardly put together, and with twice the outlay of stone and mortar that would have sufficed to provide the same room and accommodations in some other shape. As the grand worship- ping hall of the Saints it is a curiosity ; as a work of art a. monstrosity. The Endowment House, where the secret rites of Mormouism are performed, is an unpretentious adobe build- ing in the northwest corner of the lot. I cannot describe its interior, for the profane Gentile may. not enter therein. But if the testimony of numerous witnesses may be believed, it is fitted up with various rooms, curtains, stages and scenery, for the performance of a grand drama, representing the creation, fall of man, coming of a redeemer, great apostasy and final restoration of the true priesthood through Joseph Smith. The eastern half of Temple Block, fenced off from the west- ern, contains only the beginning of the Temple, which is to be finished in great splendor just before the Saints return to Jack- son county, Missouri. Ground was first broken for the work in February, 1853, with imposing ceremonies; in the fifteen years that had since elapsed, the edifice had reached a level with the ground, from which, those familiar with the rule of three, estimated that the building would be finished in two cen- turies. But tithings and donations for it have been industri- ously collected all these years; it is now up to the second story, and the more sanguine think it will be completed in time to serve as a capitol for the new Gentile State which is, perhaps, to rise on the ruins of Mormon Utah. The foundation is unsurpassed in strength and finish ; of the finest mountain granite of a bright gray or white, slightly flecked with blue; a building of such material would indeed (211) 212 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES outlast the anticipated thousand years of Millennial reign. But work on it was slow, or rather suspended ; the stone is very hard, and must be brought some twenty miles from the moun- tains, and only at rare intervals a workman or two were seen pecking away at one of the huge masses which are scattered around by the ton. The entire square is surrounded by a wall, the base of stone and the upper part of adobes, and plastered, twelve feet high, with square turrets about every ten feet, and a massive gateway under stone arches at the centre of each of the four sides. Crossing East Temple Street we reach the Prophet's Block, two squares of ten acres each, the western con- taining the Deseret Store, the office of the Deseret News, official organ of the church, the Tithing House and yard, the Lion House, Bee-Hive House, offices and other buildings pertaining to the Prophet, Priest, Seer, Revelator, in all the world, Grand Archee, First President and Trustee-in-trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all which titles, with the honors, powers and endowments thereunto belonging, were enjoyed by Brigham Young. The Lion House is an oblong building of three stories, plain in style, but quite substantially built and well finished. Its <*ost is reported everywhere from thirty to seventy thousand dollars. In the States it could have been built for less than the former sum. Over the pillared portico in front is a stone lion, a sad misapplication of the emblem, by the way, as that royal brute is ever content with one mate. The bull would have been more appropriate, but that is a matter of taste. The Bee-Hive House, a large square building just east of the former, is surmounted by a stone carving in imitation of a bee-hive. The entire area is surrounded by a wall eleven feet high of boulders and cobble-stones laid in mortar, with semi-circular buttresses at equal distances. The eastern half of the enclosure contains various buildings of no special interest. Between the two lots is the main entrance to City Creek Canon, which was " granted v to Brigham Young by the first Territorial Legisla- ture; the entrance is by a massive stone gateway under an arch, upon which is perched an immense eagle, carved by a Mormon AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 213 artist out of native wood another perversion of a sacred em- blem, the royal bird being, like his brute compeer, a strict monogamist. Just north of Brigham's grounds, on the first " bench," is the block owned by the late Heber C. Kimball, containing one superior mansion and a number of smaller dwellings, in which eleven of the Widows Kimball then resided. The other seven lived in various parts of the city, with the families to which they belonged. Some dozen or more of Brigham's wives re- sided in the Lion House and Bee-Hive House ; the others in different parts of the city, or on his farms in the country. From the canon back of Brigham's grounds issues City Creek, which is there, by dams, diverted from its channel and carried along the upper part of the city in a main canal, from which side ditches convey the streams down both sides of every street, furnishing irrigation to the gardens, and pure water, in the upper part of the city, for all other purposes. Lower down, the loose black soil and the wash of the streets render the water rather impure, though it is used, and during the season when irrigation is not in progress, is still tolerably clear. Next to Temple Block and Brigham's, the Theatre is the institution of Salt Lake City. It stands one square south of Brigham's grounds, at the corner of First South and First East streets; is built of brick and rough stone, covered with stucco in front, and its cost is variously estimated from seventy to two hundred thousand dollars. It was built while railroads were yet a thousand miles distant, probably doubling its cost. It will comfortably seat two thousand persons, and can be packed with a few hundred more; the proscenium is sixty feet deep, and the furnishings all of the best class. Formerly the playing was done entirely by amateurs, under the training of old London professionals turned Mormons; then they played only on alternate nights, rehearsing one night and playing the next, pursuing their ordinary calling by day. But after 1864 there were professional players among the Mor- mons, receiving a regular salary and assisted by " stars " from abroad. . The parquet was, when I reached Utah, occupied only 214 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES by Mormons and their families ; for a Gentile to be seen there was apt to create a suspicion of " Jack-Mormon " tendencies. The resident Gentiles and visitors occupied the first or dress cir- cle, while the second and third circles were given up to miners, transients and boys, and even Indians in the last. Brigham had a royal box, so called, which he then often occupied with his favorite Amelia, and sometimes one or two other wives. But when things grew more exciting Brigham abandoned the theatre except on rare occasions; then his box was often filled by his most dashing daughters and their " hickory Mormon," or even Gentile, attendants ; and was often the scene of great hilarity. Next in interest to the theatre among public buildings are Social Hall, the Seventies' Hall and the court-house. The last named is built entirely of adobes, but stuccoed with exquisite finish and in perfect imitation of variegated granite, making a building of fine and imposing appearance. On Main East Temple Street, the business houses are all included within two blocks ; among them, the stone storehouse of Ransoholf & Co., the drug store of God be & Co., the large building of Walker Brothers, and Masonic Hall building would take respectable rank in eastern cities of the same size. The finest business house in the city then was that of Win. Jennings & Co., since occupied by Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Association. But in the after years the Gentiles built the large and commodious Walker House, the National Bank building, five elegant churches, and many other public and private buildings of con- siderable beauty. It is easy to see that most of the vaunted beauty of Salt Lake was only by comparison. For twenty years it was the only town between the Missouri and Sacramento ; to reach it, men had to plod eleven hundred weary miles, with mules or oxen, across alkali deserts, rugged mountains, and barren flats ; to them it was the half-way place for rest and recruiting, and no wonder its broad, well-watered streets, its green, cool gardens and orchards, and its neat white adobes, seemed a very terres- trial Eden. No wonder the Mormon emigrants who had mad* AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 215 the weary passage from Europe, broke forth into songs and shouts of glad surprise, at sight of their " Zion." But now that one can run out in three days from the well-built cities of the East, the contrast is lacking, the illusion is destroyed, and early visitors are flatly accused of having " blown the Salt Lake trumpet altogether too loud." From a ramble through the city, I went to the noted Warm Springs, in the northwest end of the city ; and without the faith of the Mormons, I can safely agree with them that this pool is " for the healing of the nations." This was the season for the emigration to arrive, and returning to the city I found the people excited over the arrival of a train of fifty teams, bringing a large number of new and some old converts from England, Denmark and Switzerland. The train had unloaded in the church corral, or tithing yard, a large walled enclosure in the Prophet's Block ; I entered under an arched stone gate- way and viewed the new arrivals. Old, withered-looking women, fat, clumpy-looking girls and middle-aged vrows composed the female portion, and all evidently of the poorest class. In the universal hilarity that prevailed, the Mormon girls were selecting companions from the arrivals, and taking them to their homes for a few days' rest, the travel-worn and dusty, foreign- made garments contrasting strangely with the dress of the young Saints. Female beauty was then scarce in Utah. One occasionally met a fine-looking woman, but there is four- fold the beauty in many a Gentile town of 2,000 inhabitants that I saw in all Utah. Fine forms were not uncommon, and some of the younger women were quite graceful in carriage, but beauty of expression was rare, and the reason is obvious. Facial beauty is aesthetic, the result of taste, sensibility and cultivation, and at least a tolerable elevation of the moral faculties. It will not result from a rude and coarse existence. Beauty of the form is more purely physical, and will naturally spring up anywhere, where woman is not abused or overworked. Given a certain amount of fresh air, moderate exercise and healthy food, and the correct womanly form is the result. But 216 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES beauty of the features has more of the ideal ; it is the product of a higher tone of the mental and moral nature, and other things being equal, the greatest number of fine faces will be found in a virtuous and intelligent community. But Utah has probably as favorable a climate for women as any part of the world ; it is said to be an exact reproduction of the Circassian vales, where beauty is indigenous, and in time the Utah women will excel all the rest. The men were of the same brawny and red-faced foreign type, white-haired boys, and simple-looking old men, which every Western man has so often seen ; a low-browed, stiff-haired, ignorant and stolid race. In their faces could be seen much of the earnest, sincere and quiet; but not of the intellectual, bright or quick of comprehension. Every traveler through the rural districts of Utah must have observed that, though individual Saints differ somewhat, as other people do, yet there are certain peculiar traits common to all. One of these is their almost total lack of the humorous faculty or principle; phrenologically speaking, they have no organ of wit and humor, or if they have it is so uncultivated that it is practically dormant. They will laugh heartily enough at a broad joke or coarse jest, but seem quite unable to appreciate keen satire, irony or deli- cate wit, or to perceive the ludicrous in odd associations of ideas. The Mormon is often terribly in earnest, but he is seldom funny. This defect is partly one of race, partly in lack of cultivation, but still more in the fact that few people who can understand and appreciate an absurdity would ever become Mormons. Hence we rarely see among them the genial, humorous Irishman, the keen-witted Israelite, the intellectual Swiss, or the lively and versatile Frenchman ; but in their stead stolid Saxons and plodding Scandinavians. Men are, to a great extent, born to certain forms of religious belief; Boodhism is essentially Mongolian, Spiritism is of the Indian, Mohammedanism has its peculiar subjects, and though universal in its final appli- cation, the present spirit and structure of Christianity is Gothic and European. And the most gloomy forms of error, which AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 217 have sprung from a corrupt Christianity, find their devotees among the most solemnly impressive and stolid of the European races. Old residents tell me that Artemus Ward's lecture in Salt Lake was, professionally speaking, a perfect failure, simply because it was " cut too fine " for the latitude. A few laughed at his broadest jokes; then for a solid hour, while he was doing his funniest, the audience sat " like a bump on a log," not giv- ing a smile. It's a wonder it did not kill the sensitive author. Mormon ism might originate with keen-witted Yankees, but it could not long continue without a broad basis of the North- European races. These new-comers looked homely enough, but it is gratifying to observe the vast improvement even in the first generation of the native-born. Whether it is the climate, or better food, or exemption from the severe toil of the poor in Europe, most of the young girls now coming on in Utah exhibit a vast per- sonal improvement over their parents, and among the very youngest, whose families have been there for twenty years, the little misses exhibit promise of the trim, graceful form, the arched instep and the light tripping step of the American girl. There are many drawbacks in the social and domestic habits of this people, still nature is asserting her rights to some extent. She demands beauty in the female form, and even Mormonism cannot altogether prevent it. Of course, the younger genera- tion is more quick-witted and liberal, hence the majority of young Mormons are free thinkers and anti-polygamists. It is the old story of the hen hatching swans, the vulture doves, or the caterpillar giving life to the brilliant butterfly. And this rapid improvement is notable in view of the perils of young life in Utah, of which more anon. In my first rambles about the city I found the Mormons rather communicative, and quite ready to enlighten me as to the peculiar features of their faith; indeed, rather anxious to prove the superiority of their institutions over those of the Gentile world. Of course, like all new-comers, I looked upon polygamy as the one great evil, if not the only evil of Utah, and our discussions oftenest turned on that. Their argument 218 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES consisted of lengthy details of the causes they think are de- stroying the human race that is, in monogamy. The details are more suitable for a medical work on marriage than for this book; suffice it to say that if I may judge from my own ex- perience, the Mormon doctrine as to the physical nature of woman is even wilder than Mormon theology. I was particu- larly amused at the way they turned the tables on Gentiles by charging all the vices and crimes to them ; and even more at their parody on the average high-tariffite argument: "O, that's ORSON PBATT, LATE MORMON APOSTLE. all very well as a theory, but in history and actual business the facts are the other way." I have often noticed that this is a favorite assertion of those who have some peculiarly cranky theory to maintain. In due time I called on most of the Mormon dignitaries: first on Orson Pratt, the only man of even tolerable learning in the church. At once the poorest, proudest, most learned and most devoted of the elders, he literally crucified himself and wife on Mormonism. Brigham Young systematically AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 219 ignored and snubbed him, yet could not dispense with him ; for he needed Pratt's sermons and writings. He was always put up in the tabernacle to impress Eastern visitors; and while the best known man in the hierarchy, he was constantly in trouble and on the ragged edge of starvation. He was foully outraged by Joseph Smith and tyrannically abused by Brigham Young; but adhered with dog-like fidelity to both, wasted his life and talents in a vain attempt to turn the world back to patriarchal barbarism, and died a pauper and a failure. I also met Daniel H. Wells, then next in rank to Brigham, a tall and ungainly Saint, whose face and head bear involun- tary witness to Darwinism. I always considered him the dan- gerous man of the lot a blood-thirsty bigot. My best inter- view was with George A. Smith, cousin of the Prophet and Church Historian, and then joined with Wells as Councillor to Brigham Young, those three constituting the First Presidency. The Gentiles usually spoke of George A. as the most gorgeous liar in the Far West. To him all doubtful points in Mormon annals were referred as to an infallible oracle. When Gentile visitors to the tabernacle were to be impressed, he stood next to Orson Pratt, and when doubtful questions were to be settled in favor of Brigham 's pet designs, he found a precedent or made one with equal readiness. He consistently believed and taught that it was the duty of the Mormon laity " to be as a tallowed rag in the hands of the priesthood;" of each order of the priesthood to yield implicit obedience to their superiors next in rank ; and of all orders, to be subject to the lightest command of their divinely appointed leader, Brigham Young. To the last of his life he obeyed Brigham's lightest request, and died in the confident faith that he could only enter heaven on Brigham's voucher, properly indorsed by Joseph Smith. To such steps of abasement may the heaven-born intellect sink. He was succeeded as First Councillor by Brigham's son, "Johnnie" Young; for it was one of the "first principles of the gospel" as then known in Utah, that all power was to be kept concentrated in the hands of the Smiths and Youngs. Brigham Young I saw and conversed with some time after- 220 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES wards, and was for years familiar with his appearance in the pulpit. Physically, he was admirable; six feet high and well- muscled, forty-four inches around the chest, with golden brown or light hair, a glittering blue eye, a large but well-shaped nose and a heavy jaw which shut like a vice. His physique was one that makes a man do and dare, and then take the re- sults of that doing and daring as marks of divine favor. Even sneering unbelievers who shook hands with him felt the im- press of his magnetic potentiality, nor was it pleasant to face GEORGE A. SMITH, LATE MORMON COUNCILLOR. him with the consciousness that one was his enemy. Many an apostate can bear witness that long after being convinced that Mormonism was a hollow fraud, which he ought to abandon, and could abandon without danger, he still felt a grievous dread of standing up in the "School of the Prophets" to face the wrath of Brigham Young. To women of the uncultured and impressible sort, such a man is often as fascinating as a gentle and purring lion: one with all power in reserve to be exercised only for them and upon their enemies. Even a few AND f J3.IMES OF MOBMONI8M. 221 non-Mormon women have confessed a mild admiration for this mass of power, and at least two Gentile ladies have so far for- gotten themselves as to write in fulsome praise of a man whose very existence was a standing insult to womanhood. Such re- spect hath great native power and virile force. The latter part of September I devoted to a tramp afoot through the northern part of the Territory. My journey for the first two or three days lay along the base of the Wasatch; where a strip, a few miles wide, intervenes between the moun- tain and lake; and wherever a good stream issues from the mountain, along it is a narrow tract of farming land. The second day out a larger and finer orchard than ordinary at- tracted my attention, and, as the gate stood invitingly open, I walked forward to where two women sat beneath a tree prepar- ing fruit for drying, and proposed to purchase a dozen or two of peaches. Fruit in plenty was offered and all pay refused, and while I took a proffered seat, the younger lady, a bright, lively, voluble woman, entered at once into conversation by asking what State I had come from. "How do you know I am not a Utah man?" I asked. "Oh, 1 knowed you was a Gentile the minute you stepped in at the gate, and you bet everybody knows it the minute they see you," was the reply. Further conversation showed that the lady had quite a his- tory. She told me her father came to Salt Lake City twenty- one years ago, and she was the third white child born in the place. "But I couldn't see it in my way to marry a Saint, not much; though I was raised to believe in it, and do believe in the religion all but that." "Is your father a Mormon?" I ventured to ask. "Oh, yes, and got four women; only one wife, mind you, .that's my mother; but four women who call themselves his wives. I never was raised to know anything else, but when I was nineteen father married me to a Gentile,' cause he couldn't help himself, I reckon. My husband was raised next door to me, and went to California and stayed five years, and soon as he 222 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES come back we was married. I'd a stayed an old maid a thou- sand years before I'd take a pluralist. Plurality's all well enough for the men, but common sense shows that it don't suit women." "Why, then, do some of them hold up for it?" "Well, they think they must to get exaltation ; it's a part of their religion, and sometimes they get along pretty well. We never had any trouble in father's family. The children all growed up just like brothers and sisters, and treated each other so. Father always taught me to respect his other women, and I always did so. " But, law, I've seen such sights in other families. Why, I've seen our neighbor's women just pull the hair right out of each other's heads. There's so many men, when they get a young wife, will let her abuse the old one, and encourage her to do it. "I've seen the man stand by, and say, 'Go in, kill her, if you can.' Now, there is Ephe. Roberts, right over there," pointing to a stone house near the mountain, " he brought a real young delicate wife from New York, now goin' on sixteen years ago, and she worked awful hard, I tell you; why, I've known her to do all her own work when Ephe. had three hands and the threshin' machine at his house, and sometimes she worked out in the field, bound wheat and raked hay, which, you know, is awful hard on a delicate New York woman 'taint as if she'd been raised to it, like we folks, and after all, just last year, Ephe. went and married another woman, a real young one, not over twenty, and, don't you think, this spring she knocked Maria that's his first wife down with the churn-dasher, and scalded her. Ephe. stood by, and just said, 'Go in, Luce; kill her, if you can!' It all started about a churn, too. Both wanted to use it at once. Maria had it, and her butter was a little slow a comin', and they got mad, and Luce struck her, and then snatched the kettle right off the stove and poured hot water on her feet, so she fell down when she tried to run out. And what was the result, finally ? Well, Maria left him ; of course, she had to, or be killed. It's AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 223 very nice, though, for the men. I had a dozen chances to marry old Mormons, but law ! I wouldn't give that for all of 'em. Why, just turn things round, and let a woman have two or three men, and see how they'd like that ! There wouldn't be no murderin' done in these parts, oh, no ! And, I reckon, a woman has as fine feelin's as a man. I tell you, if my husband ever joins 'em, or tries to get another wife, that day I'll hunt another Gentile; you bet!" The testimony of this witness, professionally speaking, was certainly plain ; nor did she trouble me to cross-examine, but gave her views freely. I note one singular fact in all similar cases : During a long residence in Utah I have never in a single instance talked ten minutes with a young lady of polygamous family, that did not manage in some way to tell me, she was the daughter of the first, or legal wife, if such was the case. If silent on that point, it may safely be presumed they are of polygamous mothers. And in more than one instance I have known them to falsely claim legitimate birth. I stopped next night with a well-to-do Mormon who occupied a long, one-story stone house, divided into three large rooms, with a kitchen in the rear of each : each room was occupied by one of his three wives and her children. He seemed to be living at the time with the middle one, where we took supper. The partition walls must have been two feet thick, without any communication, each wife with her progeny keeping strictly to her own department. His motto seemed to be, " Let us have peace." The Deseret Telegraph line follows this road to the northern boundary of the Territory, and south of the city extends nearly to Arizona, with side branches connecting all the de- tached settlements; the wires centre in the Mormon Presi- dent's office, and thus at a moment's notice he can send a warning of danger to five-sixths of his people, and in twenty- four hours' time the most isolated settlers could be ready to move. Whether for good or bad purposes, it is a remarkable monument of Mormon enterprise. In this trip T journeyed nearly two hundred miles among the. 224 POLYGAMY. rural Saints, and observed their ways with all earnestness and curiosity. The country Mormon is more religious than his city brother, but less intelligent. He is a greater stickler for the small matters of his faith, but much less able to give a reason why. He is more hospitable, generous, and social, but much more of- fensive in thrusting the unpleasant features of his faith upon you. But the greatest difference is among the women. The polygamous wife in the city is in paradise compared with her sister in the country, where farm labors and cares must be shared in common. There the condition of woman is already fast tending to what it is in other polygamous countries, and there the degeneracy is soonest manifest. While the men are enthusiastically devoted to their faith, I did not meet a single woman in the country who defended polygamy, though strongly Mormon in everything else. The Mormons have adopted the bee as their model, and have stopped content with the blind instincts of the bee: food, shelter, and propagation, with little or no thought for the higher nature. So, as might have been expected, in this trip and many more through Utah I witnessed much that was sad- dening, something that was disgusting, and not a little that was highly amusing. Near Ogdeii was an old Dane living with a mother and two daughters as wives ; in Brigham City Bishop Samuel Smith numbered his two nieces among his wives, and near Bear River I found an old Swede with three women in a cabin not comfortable for one. Against the Mormon doctrine of polygamy the most conclusive argument is the Mormon prac- tice of polygamy. I reached Salt Lake City October 6, first day of the Semi- Annual Conference. This is the great occasion among the Saints, and thousands come from the most distant settlements. From my place near the pulpit, and just at one side, I could overlook the whole vast sea of faces ; and the entire oval, as well as the space beside the organ, was completely filled by at least ten thousand eager auditors. The rows of high seats on either side of the pulpit were occupied by bishops and elders from distant settlements, some three hundred in all, while the (225) 226 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES four Jong seats constituting the pulpit were occupied by the Fire' Presidency, consisting of Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, and a vacant space for the late Heber C. Kimball ; alsc by tUe Twelve Apostles, the Heads of the Quorum of Seventies, the Church Secretary, Historian, and City Elders. It was the largest collection of the Saints I had yet seen, and I studied it with much interest. Occasionally I would see a fine cast of American features, but nearly all the faces had that indescrib- able foreign look, which all can recognize and none portray. The meeting was called to order, after which the Twentieth Ward choir sang, " My soul is full of peace and love, I SOOD shall see Christ from above," etc. Prayer was offered by Elder Erastus Snow, followed by a quartette by the Brighara City choir, " Pray for the peace of Deseret," after which Elder John Taylor addressed the meeting, and the choir sang the following hymn, composed for the occasion by "Miss" Eliza R. Snow, the Mormon poetess, proxy wife once of Joseph Smith and later of Brigham Young : "OUR PROPHET, BRIGHAM YOUNG." " O God of life and glory ! Hear Thou a people's prayer, Bless, bless our Prophet Brigham ; Let him Thy fullness share. He is Thy chosen servant To lead Thine Israel forth, Till Zion, crowned with joy, shall b* A praise in all the earth. " He draws from Christ, the fountain Of everlasting truth, The wise and prudent counsels Which he gives to age and youth. Thyself in him reflected Through mortal agency, He is Thy representative To set Thy people free. AND CRIMES OF MOBMONISM. 227 " Thon richly hast endowed him With wisdom's bounteous store, And Thou hast made him mighty By Thy own Almighty power. Oh, let his life be precious Bless Thou his brethren, too, Who firmly join him side by aide, Who're true as he is true. " Help him to found Thy kingdom In majesty and power, With peace in every palace And with strength in every tower; And when thy chosen Israel Their noblest strains have sung, The swelling chorus then shall be Our Prophet, Brighara Young." Then came historical addresses and speeches, each growing fiercer and more bitter than the ones before it, till Brigham rose. His style was coarse, even vulgar beyond the bounds of description. He was evidently either in an ill humor or deter- mined to make the people so, indulging in reminiscences, both personal and public, which led him into violent denunciation' of all outsiders. When he first arose I was somewhat impressed, and thought I saw one reason for his supremacy, that he was indebted for his power over an ignorant people almost as much to his physical as to his mental superiority. But when he had closed I was utterly amazed, and it seemed incredible that one hundred people could be found, much less a thousand times that number, who should regard him as a " prophet of the Lord." Afterwards, however, I had the pleasure of hearing him when he was in a calmer mood, when he appeared, to some extent at least, the prophet, priest and king. For the rest of the conference, which was mainly devoted to the discussion of a general movement to prevent trade with the Gentile merchants, the speakers seemed to vie with each other in bitterness, intemperance of language, and hostility to Gen- tiles; and all the good opinions of the Mormons I had hitherto formed were utterly dissipated. Por the first time in my life I heard the government and people of the United States de- 228 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES nounced, ridiculed and cursed, and the very name of American made a hissing and a byword ; for the first time I heard pro- fessed preachers swearing in the pulpit, and such expressions as "d d apostate" recklessly flung about by so-called apostles and priests. The conference closed, and its bad effect was soon apparent. When I first arrived, there had been an era of good feeling ; old bitterness appeared to be passing away, and I was quite convinced that much I had heard of the feud between the Gentiles and Mormons was exaggerated. The intention being to pass a decree of non-intercourse with resident Gentiles, the speakers used every device to inflame, the public mind. The entire history of the church was re- hearsed, and in the most intemperate style; every act of perse- cution, every slight and neglect was dwelt upon to the most minute particulars, and matters of comparative indifference exaggerated clear out of truthful proportion. There was not the slightest hint that the Mormons were anywhere in the wrong, that there was the least palliation for their enemies; not even the charitable assumption that some few of the latter be- lieved themselves in the right, On the contrary, every scrap of history began and continued with the broad assumption, " We are the chosen people of God, to whom he has spoken by the mouth of his Prophet in these latter days, and, being such, of course the world hated us. There is and must be eternal enmity between God and the devil, so there was and must be between Zion and the children of the devil, to wit, the Mis- sourians and Illinoisans." And these simple folks, who had come up to the Tabernacle with quiet minds, at peace with each other and all the world, left it with a burning bitterness against all Gentiles; and, as successive speakers recounted their troubles in Missouri and Illinois, they were wrought up to a perfect frenzy. In Brigham's sermon he threatened dire mischiefs upon the "d d apostates," and expressed himself as "only sorry for one thing, that God didn't tell us to fight the d d mobocrats," to which the Tabernacle resounded with shouts of "Amen, Amen!" George Q. Cannon went much farther, and seemed to exhaust AND CRIMES OF MOKMONISM. 229 4 all the resources of lingual ingenuity to provoke the people to mob violence, without directly advising it. The great objects of his animosity were the Reporter Gentile paper and the grammar school of St. Mark's associate mission, then the only Gentile school of the city. Cannon stigmatized the school as one of the institutions of the devil set up in Zion, and then asked : " Shall such an institution be allowed to go on and in- oculate the minds of our children with its damnable and per- nicious doctrines?" which was answered with a universal shout of "No!" "No." He hardly dared to directly advise the people to attack or destroy the Reporter office, but related a bit of history, with comments, which, if not intended to indicate violence, had no force that I can perceive. He said when he was a boy in Nauvoo, there was a paper published there by some apostates called the Expositor. It villified the Saints, and scandalized their wives and daughters till the city council de- clared it a nuisance. About that time the speaker was in the office of the Mormon paper there, and heard Joseph and Hyrum Smith talking about it. Hyrum said, " Rather than allow it to go on, he would lay his body in the walls of the building where it was issued." The speaker then gave a glowing account of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, and the many Saints who suffered on account of the Expositor, till the people grew frantic. He then stated that " right here in the midst of Zion a paper was issued so much like that he could hardly tell them apart, and the times were so similar he almost imagined him- self a boy again." Then reading some extracts from the Reporter, and commenting in an inflammatory style, he said : "In any other community such a paper as this would be gutted inside of five days, and its editor strung up to a telegraph pole." To which the excited congregation responded, " Hear, hear," " Here we are." I now began to understand what had at first seemed a mys- tery to me ; that in every State where the Mormons had lived, the people who had at first welcomed them gladly, ended by hating and opposing them. Granting that the charges against them of petty thieving, counterfeiting and trespass were untrue, 230 POLYGAMY. such raad fanaticism could not but destroy good neighborhood, and arouse all other violent elements in opposition to their own. Mormonisrn, which had hitherto been to me a mere amusement or matter of passing interest, now appeared a sub- ject worthy of serious and earnest investigation; but the threats to destroy the Reporter office and hang the editor had an un- pleasant suggestiveness, as I had already applied at that office for work and had fair hopes of a situation. In Indiana the author had been a lawyer ; had started to the Pacific coast on :i trip for health, and merely halted in Utah for a rest without a thought of making it a permanent residence. But Mr. S. S. Saul, who had founded the Reporter a few months before, soon convinced me that Mormonism and Utah development furnished just the field for my particular cast of mind ; and the result was that leu days after the stormy conference closed I was in- stalled as regular editor of the little Reporter. The paper was a daily, sixteen inches square, containing about as much reading matter as four pages of tnis volume ; and if ever any poor little thing had a sicklier childhood, I never heard of it. Established in May, 1868, it had, when 1 began to edit it, just sixty-nine paying subscribers. When Saul re- turned from a trip East we had increased the number two hun- dred. Saul was cast down ; the compositors and I were confi- dent. We reasoned after the foolishly sanguine manner of newspaper men, that if we could do so well for another, we could do ten times as well for ourselves a common conclusion with hopeful youth, and one which is not necessarily correct. Saul surrendered the entire office to General P. E. Connor, of whom he had bought it ; and we Adam Aulbach, John Barrett, and myself purchased it. The price was $2,500, to be paid at the rate of $300 a month. By the most heroic exertions, \ve raised the first payment of $100 each ; the second was paid, 1 believe, some three months after. Eight months from the day of sale the General was pressing us, for the third instalment, six months over due; but you cannot "draw blood out of a tur- nip," and he never did get his money till both my partners had sold out to a man of some wealth. (231) 232 POLYGAMY; OE, THE MYSTERIES I was fixed as Gentile editor in Salt Lake, but the Gentiles were in cruel straits. The decree of the Mormon Church had been carried out strictly, and Gentile stores were empty. It was amusing and provoking to take a walk along Main street that winter, and see the melancholy Jews standing in the doors of their stores looking in vain for customers. For six months the ten Gentile firms did not sell one-twentieth the usual amount of goods ; their disgust was beyond expression, and their curses against Brigham not loud but deep. It is indeed a singular fact, to the Eastern reader quite incomprehensible, that one man should be able by his simple will to coiral the commerce of BBIGHAM'b BLOCK, SALT LAKE CITY. ninety thousand people, nullify the laws of trade, reverse the popular current in favor of certain dealers, and completely ruin the business of a score of merchants ; and yet that is precisely what was done in Utah. There was no great violence, nothing that the law could take cognizance of, nothing that would make much of a showing before a Congressional Committee; and yet to the sufferers it was actual persecution, fully as hard as most of what the Mormons complain of. One by one the Gentile merchants lost heart and emigrated. The leading firm was that of Walker Brothers : four gentlemen, AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 233 now worth together probably a million dollars ; born Mormons, but delivered early in life, by the grace of God, from the body of that death. They offered their immense property and stock at very low figures to the Mormon Co-operative Institution, but being refused, enlarged their store and determined to fight it out on that line if it took no end of summers. For a year or so they sunk money, but pluck and public spirit conquered ; the mining development of Utah more than doubled their former prosperity. They are now the merchant princes of Utah, investing heavily in mining enterprises, men of national reputation, and forward in all works to advance the liberal cause. But theirs was the only vessel that outrode the financial storm without serious loss ; and Salt Lake City held by July, 1869, no more than one hundred and fifty Gentiles. The Mormon Hierarchy had determined to corral the trade of Utah by a grand co-operative scheme, for the benefit of the Church ; and men who can stand it to live with six or eight wives apiece must be credited with some resolution. And here I may re- mark that I never was in a country where a little talent would sell so high as at that time in Utah. There were but few men of real genius on either side of the controversy ; far more, of course, among the Gentiles than the Mormons, but the Gentile talent was nearly all of a business kind. Good writers and speakers were few indeed. Of apostate Mormons there were several of a peculiar genius; but it was too often of the hair- splitting kind. One such I long ranked among my friends. He was radical, emotional, generous and inconsistently amiable. He talked long and loud of liberty, equality, and fraternity, but cursed the administration and despaired of republican govern- ment ; he quoted Tom Paine and Herbert Spencer by the hour, was poloquent on First Principles and Universal Law, arid ar- gued on the Supreme Good, the origin of evil, and the control of passion, till he was black in the face with anger. He swore by woman, yet doubted her virtue ; unhesitatingly rejected the New Testament miracles, and unhesitatingly accepted everything published in the Banner of Light ; put his trust in a miserable 234 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYOTERIES half-faith which he called Spiritual Philosophy, and believed every book but the Bible. Such were the materials we had with which to build up a liberal party in Utah. Spring approached, and by general consent the more enter- prising Gentiles began to look for a new place of settlement, On the 25th of March the city of Corinne was laid out at the railroad crossing* on Bear River, some six miles north of the north end of the lake ; we moved the Reporter there early in April, and all went to work with a hurrah to make a "great Gentile city." It was a gay community. Nineteen saloons paid b'cense for three months. Two dance-houses amused the ele- gant leisure of the evening hours, and the supply of " sports " was fully equal to the requirements of a railroad town. Atone time the town contained eighty nymph* du pave, popularly known in Mountain- English as "soiled doves." Being the last railroad town, it enjoyed flush times during the closing weeks of building the Pacific Railway. The junction of the Union and Central was then at Promontory, twenty-eight miles west, and Corinne was the retiring place for rest and recreation of all the employes. Yet it was withal a quiet and rather orderly place. Sunday was generally observed : most of the men went hunting or fishing, and the "girls" had a dance, or got drunk. Legitimate business was good for the first two months of the city's existence ; for the railroad was just being completed, and everybody supposed that the harvest of gain was about to begin. But after a year or two of active business and speculation in real estate, the narrow-gauge railroad was constructed up the Mor- mon side of Bear River valley; all our Montana and Idaho trade took that route, and Coriune sank to a dull hamlet of four or five hundred people. My corner lots, which cost me $500, were sold for taxe% through sheer neglect; and $1,000 which I spent in establishing a paper there has proved to be a very per- manent investment. In May, 1869, the Union Pacific Rail- road was completed ; but to our extreme disgust Utah lost, in- Btead of gaining, Gentile inhabitants. We hated to give up, both for business reasons and the natural American dislike to being whipped out. Now what was to be done ? AND CRIMES OF MORMOXISM. 235 The Gentiles were ruined in business if that business depended on the Mormons, and a few of us turned our eyes towards the hills as a last hope. We wanted to live in Utah ; to do so we must have a Gentile population, and the only hope for such a population was in developing paying mines. Trade with the Mormons no Gentile could count on, and in agricul- ture no American could go into the country and compete with the foreign-born Mormons, who worked little five .and ten-acre patches, and thought themselves in affluence if they had a hundred dollars' worth of surplus produce. Unless Utah had rich mineral deposits, we might prepare to emigrate. Cotton- wood, Rush Valley and Sevier were spoken of the last far in Southern Utah. The place was beyond the settlements, in the edge of the Indian country, and the route thither lay through the dark regions of Polygamia. But the reports appeared favorable, and I determined to visit the district. Gilmer and Saulsbury, successors to Wells, Fargo & Co., ran a tri-weekly line to Fillmore, the old territorial capital ; and from Chicken Creek, north of that city, a miners' express sometimes ran to the Sevier region. My memory does not recall a more pleasant journey. The " coves " opening back into the mountains were rich in bunch- grass, which was fairly alive with jack rabbits; sage hens, and other small fowl were abundant on the lower plain, and vast flocks of ducks were found along the river. The valley has a general elevation of five thousand feet above sea-level ; the air was cool, pure and invigorating, and the sky without a cloud, deep blue and dazzling. Southern Utah has probably the finest climate in America, or, taking it the year round, in the world. The snow seldom falls more than three inches deep, or lies on more than one night. Cattle live upon the range nearly all winter, and yet the district is free from the scorching summer heats of Arizona. At Marysvale, last town on the Sevier, we found the Mor- mons returning to their homes, after three years absence, the Indians being once more peaceful. There we turned west- ward, and toiled for six miles up Pine Gulch, on which the 236 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES v mines are situated. Along the mountain stream by a narrow dug-way, with an average up-grade of one foot in four, but cut by cross ravines, and often turned by immense rocks, we slowly made our way towards the mountain top. One moment we were on the edge of a narrow track where an overturn would have sent us a hundred feet into the bed of the stream, and the next struggling through a narrow chasm at the bottom of the gulch, with walls of granite rising on both sides of us, and above them the sloping sides of the cafion half a mile in height, with a descent of more than forty-five degrees, and cov- ered with immense pine forests to the very summit. The roar- ing brook, now beside, now far below us, and again under our wagon-wheels, seemed to besingingof the snowy heights that form its source ; and at every place where a short level or natural dam of rock forms a pool, the shining mountain trout were to be seen in numbers through the clear fluid, though its temperature is but little above that of ice- water, which indeed it is at its source a few miles above. After a laborious but delightful tour among the mining loca- tions (for there were as yet no worked mines), I returned to Zion much improved in health ; thence, after a few weeks work, I went to California for a month's vacation, and the last of Octo- ber returned to Utah and trouble. I was summoned to attend court November 1st, 1869, at Brigham City, county -seat of Box Elder, the county in which Corinne is cituated. The Judge was Bishop Smith, husband of six wives, of whom two are the daughters of his own brother. These facts are notorious in Utah ; and I am informed, though of this I am not positive, that the girls were " sealed " to their uncle by Brigham Young against the protest of their father ! From the biography of this Judge, and a few of his colleagues in Utah, the reader may un- derstand the statements that the Gentiles were anxious for some action by Congress which should lessen the power of these Pro- bate or County Judges, and bring all important cases before the U. S. District Judges. A few weeks before, I had published a severe criticism of this Judge Smith. His strikers now had me at court as defendant, in a town of twelve hundred Mormons, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 237 and only half a dozen Gentiles with me. About sundown I started with the crowd to pass out of the Court House, and was just stepping off the portico when I heard the words, "You're the man that wrote that lie about my father," and at the same instant received a violent blow on the back of the neck and head, which sent me upon my face on the gravel walk. I re- member nothing more than a succession of blows followed by THE AUTHOR RECEIVES MOBMON HOSPITALITY. the trampling of heavy boots, and next I was being raised by my friends, covered with blood, and only not quite senseless. I was hauled seven miles to Corinne, where a medical examina- tion showed that my collar-bone was broken in two places^ my temple badly cut, and right eye injured, a section of my scalp torn off, and a few internal injuries received. I learned that the principal assailant was Hyrum Smith, son of Judge Smith, and 238 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES the Mormons say he was the only one who struck me. A month later I was able to travel, and felt a powerful inclination to travel out of Utah. Meanwhile President Grant had completely revolutionized the official personnel in Utah ; an aggressive policy had been in- augurated; the mines had proved valuable, and the Gentile population was rapidly increasing. So I thought better of it, and returned. In May, 1870, the Gentiles of Corinne and vi- rinity sent me to Washington City as their agent, to attend to affairs of interest to them before the Committees on Territories and Public Lands. While there the remarkable Pratt-Newman debate was projected, which deserves a separate chapter. AND CKIMKS OF MORMONI8M. 239 CHAPTER XIIL THE DEBATE ON POLYGAMY. Dr. J. P. Newman Debate at long range Debate in Salt Lake City Exam pie of the Israelites The author's observations Hypocrisy on the subject A broken heart Nameless horrors Marries his nieces Marriage of half- brother and sister Brigham justifies incest Hepworth Dixon's testimony Misery of women Infant mortality Degradation of all General effects. IN Washington City I made the acquaintance of Dr. J. P. Newman, Chaplain of the United States Senate at that time, who manifested much interest in Utah affairs, and finally preached a strong sermon against polygamy, giving a sort of semi-official assurance that the government would soon abolish it. The Cullom Bill, hereinafter described, had passed the House and was pending in the Senate with chances for passing that body ; it was morally certain that President Grant would sign it and support the officials, and his intimacy with Chap- lain Newman made the latter's views of still more importance. So the Salt Lake papers criticized the sermon sharply, and the Herald of that city challenged the doctor to come to Salt Lake and discuss the question : " Does the Bible sanction a plurality of wives?" Assuming that the challenge was from Brigham Young, the doctor promptly published his acceptance, and in July went with a considerable party to Salt Lake. Brigham emphatically disclaimed the challenge for himself, but put up Orson Pratt as his champion, and after a good deal of haggling the terms were arranged, and the debate came off. It was a three-days affair, one hour to each disputant daily, give and take, go as you please ; and, as might have been expected, resulted in a good deal of sparring, and some ill-feeling. It always appeared to iae like a huge burlesque. Why not argue the morality and 240 POLYGAMY. expediency of circumcision, slaughtering the heathen, or any other of the forty things done by the ancient Jews? If a man once admits that that people were for our example, he involves himself in a tangle from which no logic can extricate him. There are some things that a civilized man ought to know by nature ; if he does not know them, no argument you can use will ever reach down to him. He ought to know that the free, honestly sought love of one good woman is a thousand times more valuable than the constrained embraces of fifty ; and if he does not know it, why waste time in arguments which he can- not understand ? Solomon, after possessing for many years a thousand women, thus gives in his experience: "One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all these have I not found. . . . And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets. . . . Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy life, of thy vanity given thee under the sun." Eedt'#)/,/>, lirin'j o China Creek, in Jl<-k County, Greeting: " Whereas, Brother Richard Hewett ha> railed on me to-day, to know my views concerning some doctrines that are preached in your place, and states to me that some of your Elders say, that a man, having a certain priesthood, may have as many wives as he pleases, and that doctrine is taught here : I say unto you that that man teaches false doctrine, for there is no such doctrine taught here, neither is there any such thing practised here; and any man that is found teaching privately or publicly any such doctrine is culpable, and will stand a chance to be brought before the High Council, and lose his license and membership also; therefore he had better beware what he is about." POLYGAMY CRUSHED HER YOUNG HEART.' (247). 1248 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES At the time these documents were written Joseph and Hyrum were both living in polygamy. After their death the Church was more zealous than ever in denying the existence of polygamy, or any other system of marriage except that common to all Christians. Every Mormon paper denounced the charge ; every Mormon Missionary swore vehemently that no such prac- tice was permitted in the church. In July, 1845, Parley P. Pratt published a card in which he denounced it as a "doctrine of devils and seducing spirits; but another name for whoredom, wicked and unlawful connection, and every kind of corruption, confusion and abomination;" and in the following year the General Conference of Europe denounced both the doctrine and practice in the strongest terms. In May, 1848, the Millennial Star called for the vengeance of heaven on all the liars who charged "such odious practices as spiritual wifeism and polyg- ism" upon the Church; ending with the following: "In all ages of the Church truth has been turned into a lie, and the grace of God converted into lasciviousness, by men who have sought to make 'a gain of godliness/ and feed their lusts on the credulity of the righteous and unsuspicious Xext to the long-hackneyed and bug- a- boo whisperings of polygism is another abomination that sometimes shows its ser- pentine crests, which we shall call sexual resurrectionism. . . . . The doctrines of corrupt spirits are always in close affinity with each other, whether they consist in spiritual wife- ism, sexual resurrection, gross lasciviousuess, or the unavoid- able separation of husbands and wives, or the communism of property." In July, 1850, Elder John Taylor held a discussion at Boulogne, France, with three English clergymen. They quoted from the anti-Mormon works published by J. C. Ben- nett and J. B. Bowes, which charged polygamy as a practice of the Church; to which Taylor made the following reply: "We are accused hereof polygamy, and actions the most in- delicate, obscene and disgusting, such that none but a corrupt heart could have contrived. These things are too outrageous to admit of belief. Therefore, leaving the sisters of the 'white AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 249 veil' and the ' black veil/ and all the other veils with those gen- tlemen to dispose of, together with their authors, as they think best, I shall content myself by reading our views of chastity and marriage from a work published by us, containing some of the articles of our faith." He then read from the "Doctrines and Covenants" which was adopted in full conference the year after Smith's death, the following : "4. . . . Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy; we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again." The italics are my own. As a specimen of Mormon reason- ing, it may here be added, they now insist that in the above clause "one wife" really meant of course "one or more;" that the adversative "but" was added in case of the woman to cut off any such free rendering in her case, and that the clause was so worded "to specially deceive the Gentiles and yet tell the exact truth." They further add that, "under certain circum- stances the Lord allows His priesthood to lie in order to save His people; it would not do to give strong meat to little chil- dren ; they must first be fed with milk, and when they get stronger they can have meat : so with the truth, they must be taught it little at a time." The foreign Mormons were thus kept in perfect ignorance of the matter, and were highly indignant when the charge was made; still, as it was practiced, reports of it were constantly made and generally believed throughout the United States. Brigham Young soon became head of the Church, and took for his second wife Lucy Decker Seely, who had previously been divorced from Doctor Seely. Not long after, at their winter quarters near Council Bluffs, Iowa, he married Harriet Cook, whose sou, Oscar Young, is the first child in polygamy. Soon after the Saints were safe in Utah, where it seemed that "Gentiles, their laws and mobs would annoy no more;" and the necessity for concealment no longer existed. So the doc- trine was more and more openly discussed, and finally, on the 250 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MY8TKRTE8 29th of August, 1852, it was publicly announced by Brigham Young in a meeting at Salt Lake City, where the revelation was for the first time publicly read and pronounced valid. The sermons in its favor, by Orson Pratt and Brigham Young, were first published, together with the revelation, in the Deserct News, Extra, of September 14th, 1852. From Young's ad- dress I extract the following: "You heard Brother Pratt state, this morning, that a revela- tion would be read this afternoon, which was given previous to Joseph's (loath. It contains a doctrine a small portion of the world is opposed to; but I can deliver a prophecy upon it. Though that doctrine has not been preached by the Elders, this people have believed in it for years. The original copy of this revelation was burnt up. William Clayton was the man who wrote it from the mouth of the Prophet. In the meantime it was in Bishop Whitney's possession. He wished the privilege to copy it, which brother Joseph granted. Sister Emma (wife of Joseph Smith) burnt the original. The reason I mention this is, because that the people who did know of the revelation, supposed it was not now in existence. "The revelation will be read to you. The principle spoken upon by Brother Pratt this morning, we believe in. Many others are of the same mind. They are not ignorant of what we are doing in our social capacity. They have cried out pro- claim it; but it would not do a few years ago; everything must come in its time; as there is a time for all things, I am now ready to proclaim it. This revelation has l>een in my possession for many years ; and who has known it ? Xone but those who should know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk, and there does not anything leak out that should not." The people of Utah were prepared for the announcement, but polygamy was too " strong doctrine " for Europe, and when first published there, in April, 1853, it seemed that even then it would destroy the foreign Church. In England, especially, the demoralization was fearful ; hundreds after hundreds apos- tatized, whole churches and conferences dissolved ; talented knaves in many instances, finding in this the excuse for going AND CRIMES OF MORMON ISM. 251 off without surrendering the money-bags which they held. The missions entirely disappeared in many parts of Europe, and even in America, thousands of new converts who had not gone to " Zion," turned away and joined the Josephites, Glad^ denites, Strangles, and other sects of recusant Mormons. The Millennial Star remained silent on the subject for weeks after publishing the revelation, coming out at length with a feeble defence of the system, from the pen of J. Jaques, a lead- ing Mormon polemic. The fact was the people did not under- stand the new idea, they did not see the spiritual necessities for it; they had so far believed that Mormon ism was simply an advance in Christianity, and could not feel that " in this the fullness of time, the ancient covenant was restored with all its privileges." But in Utah a great rush was made for new wives ; old men traded for young girls, and the new order was hailed as the great crowning joy and privilege of believers. Polygamy continued extending until that period known as the u Reformation " in 1856-57, when the whole Church was re- baptized, and a new point of departure taken. Then the new practice seemed for a while to reach a furious climax of un- natural and degrading obscenity. The duty and importance of polygamy were presented every Sunday; hundreds of girls of only twelve or thirteen years were forced or persuaded into its practice; and in numerous instances even younger girls were " sealed " to old reprobates, with an agreement on the part of the latter to wait until the girls were more mature and suited to act the part of wives. Hundreds of instances oc- curred which would be utterly incredible at present were they not fully proved by many authentic witnesses. Old men met openly in the streets and traded daughters, and whole families of girls were married to the same man. Polygamy then readied its worst, and divorce soon became so common that these marriages scarcely amounted to more than promiscuous intercourse. I met one woman who had been di- vorced and re-married six times, and an old Mormon once pointed out to me a woman who had once been his wife, and had been divorced and re-married nine times. In numerous 252 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES instances a young girl would be married to some prominent elder, with whom she would reside a few months, after which she would be divorced and married to another, and again to another, "going the rounds/' as the phrase was, of half a dozen priests. A general demoralization seemed to seize upon the community; vulgarity of language, both in public address and private speech, became so common that thousands of Mormons were themselves disgusted, and a reaction set in against such excesses. It would seem that Brigham also became alarmed at the tendency, and, as he had been greatly annoyed by applica- tions for divorce, commenced exacting a heavy fee for the ser- vice. The period of comparative starvation which followed, during the winter of 1856-57, may have had something to do with checking the prevailing tendency, but certain it is, there has been no such general license since. It is admitted that polygamy culminated in all its worst features as early as 1857, since which time it has been slowly on the decline, and even without government interference would hardly have endured much more than another generation. In these last statements I am aware that I differ from some whose evidence carries the weight of authority, particularly Judges Drake and Titus, and some officials who have lately testified before Congressional committees. Nevertheless, such is my conclusion from a mass of evidence given by persons both in and out of the Mormon Church, and from a careful examination of the records. That polygamy has declined somewhat in the last fifteen years is quite certain, from causes both within and with- out the church ; it is now almost impossible to induce a young girl brought up in Salt Lake City, or the northern settlements, to enter that condition, and the instances of plural marriage are confined almost entirely to young women just brought from Europe. Of their theology as it relates to polygamy, but little need be added. It is so thoroughly grafted into and interwoven with their whole system, that at no point can one be touched without attacking the other. Pre-existence of the soul, progression of the gods, and all other peculiarities of the system, depend by a AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 258 thousand combinations and inter-relations upon the plurality system. A man's or woman's glory in eternity is to depend upon the size of the family ; for a woman to remain childless is a sin and calamity, and she cannot secure " exaltation," as the wife of a Gentile or an apostate; her husband's rank in eternity must greatly depend upon the number of his wives, and she will share in that glory whatever it is. All this points unerr- ingly to polygamy. Hence, also, the last feature of this com- plex and unnatural relationship, known as " spiritual wives/' which is to be understood as follows : Any woman, having an earthly husband of whose final exaltation she is in doubt, may be sealed for eternity to some prominent Mormon, who will raise her and make her part of his final kingdom. In theory this gives the spiritual husband no marital rights, but, as stated by Elder John Hyde, the noted apostate, " it may well be doubted whether the woman who can prefer another man for her pseudo-eternal husband, has not fallen low enough to sin in deed as well as thought against her earthly husband/' By "marriage for the dead," living women are sealed to dead men, and vice versa, some one " standing proxy " for the de- ceased. Thus, a widow and widower may each prefer their first partners " for eternity," but like each other well enough " for time ; " in which case they are first sealed to each other " for time," then each, by proxy for the departed, " for eternity," thus requiring three separate ceremonies to settle the temporal and eternal relations of all parties, who may in turn be divorced from either by Brighain Young and the probate courts. So a man may have a wife " for time," who belongs to some man "already dead " for eternity," in which case all the children will belong to the latter in eternity, the living man merely " raising up seed unto his dead brother." To such lengths of vain im- aginings may a credulous people be led by artful impostors. The worst period of polygamy has passed, but its evil effects continue in full force to the present. At the outset I meet with a difficulty in describing its greatest evils. The virtues of Mormonism are all easily seen, while its vices are, as much as possible, hidden, and this is peculiarly the case with poly- 254 POLYGAMY : OR, THK MYSTERIES gamy. We can see its evils in a political point of view, iu their laws, to some extent in their society, in the mixture of popula- tion and the blood of near kindred ; but who can enter into tin- penetralia of the affections, weigh and estimate woman's an- guish, count the heart-drops of sorrow, and say, here is so much misery, or there is so much resignation ! Miss Sarah E. Carmichael, now Mrs. Williamson, who was reared at Salt Lake, says : " If I were a man, as I am a woman, I would stand in the halls of Congress and cry aloud for the miserable women of Utah, till the world should hear and know the wrongs and miseries of polygamy." The Mormons argue that the laws of nature, physical nature, point out polygamy as the natural condition. There may be some argument for it in man's physical organization, but when we come to the soul and mind, the mentality of woman points unerringly to monogamy as her only possible state for domestic happiness; and any svs- tem which attempts to establish unity in the household by dividing one man's care and affection among two or three women, is founded upon a total misconception of the sexual principle. Sound philosophy shows us three great objects of marriage : the production and rearing of children ; the forma- tion of a close partnership, common interest and confidential intimacy between husband and wife, and, above all, the enjoy- ment of a pure affection. This last is the real happiness of marriage, and its very essence is duality; a divided affection is utterly at war with " that sweet egotism of the heart called love," that divine sel- fishness of choosing one being apart from all the world, perhaps the only form in which selfishness is approved of God. And the object of this principle is a higher development of the whole man, male and female; this is the most noble object of the mar- riage relation, and by this alone is it sanctified. Can the wildest fanaticism or most earnest sophistry claim that aught of this can be found in the polygaraic order? The Mormon is but one-third married ; he has in such unions provided for but one- third, and that the lowest, basest part of his nature. But, it may be said, this hi-t i< only a theory. Let us then briefly ex- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM, 255 amine a few facts. That this indication is to be followed rather than the other, is abundantly shown by a comparative view of polygamous and monogamous nations. The savage Indian and African know nothing of the softer sentiments which make life amiable and agreeable; to them woman is merely a superior beast of burden ; they can purchase as many wives as their means command, and are, by nature, habit and religion, thor- ough-going polygamists. Coming a little higher, to the par- tially civilized races, we find a great improvement, but nothing like Christian ideas. In the march of progress, these nations are fast falling behind and sinking beneath the hardy vigor of Western Christian?. History scarcely records an instance where an organized nation of monogamists has fallen before polygamists. The monogamic Greeks, with a little army of forty thousand men, overran all the proud empires of Southern Asia; the effeminate Persians and Hindoos could not stand before the hardy valor of that people, who held, as a fixed principle, that the dignity of woman is the strength of the State. Monogamic Rome com- pleted what Greece had begun, in destroying the power of the Western Asiatics. For six hundred years the honor and dig- nity of the Roman matron were the subjects of unwearied praise, till Rome herself was corrupted by the nations she had con- quered. The reign of the first Asiatic, who wore the Imperial purple, marks the beginning of a great decline, and Rome, in turn, fell before the hardy monogamists of Northern Europe. The Mohammedans easily overran Asia and Northern Africa, but in Europe their course was soon checked. The hosts of Abderahman melted like snow before the stout arms of the German nations, who left the plains of Poictiers covered with the corpses of three hundred thousand polygamists. But it may be said these comparisons are unfair, as setting civilized nations against semi-barbarians. But this fact makes a better comparison impossible, that the lowest nation of mo- nogamists is far above the highest of polygamists. The white inhabitants of Utah are the only branch of the Caucasian race that has adopted polygamy within many hundred years. Of POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES course we should look for certain results there, and if not seen at once, many would conclude that Utah was an exception to the general rule. But it is to be remembered that polygamy has been practiced among them less than forty years. Never- theless it has shown a marked and rapid tendency towards evil ; and in many of its features probably worse than in any Mo- hammedan country. The first result to be noted is a universal, and worse than Moslem jealousy, both among men and women. I have the testimony of dozens, brought up in the midst of the system, and several of them children of second wives, that such a thing as a harmonious family of many wives is unknown in their ac- quaintance. Others say there are such, but all admit they are rare. I am speaking now of the women and young people's testimony ; the men will often claim the contrary, even when their own families disprove it. Among my acquaintances in Salt Lake City was a young lady, who was the daughter of a second wife, whose history illustrated this matter very forcibly. Her mother had lived in polygamy for fifteen years, and finally become convinced that it was as .sinful as she had found it miserable. The troubles of her mind brought on a mortal sickness, when she called her daughter to her bedside, and told her that she had lived in misery, and was dying without hope ; that she was now convinced of her sin, and only desired her daughter to escape from it. The daughter as required, took a solemn oath never to enter polygamy. The mother told her to be firm, and her mother's spirit would protect her. Soon after she died, and the daughter left her father's house, at the age of fourteen, to reside with a relative who had apostatized, and though twice taken back, was finally permitted to live there unmolested. The father stood high in the Mormon church, and had four wives. During the first month of my stay in Salt Lake City, the second wife of a well-known Mormon left him, and went to work in a hotel. After a short stay there, she took her child and started to Montana, when the husband took out a writ of corpus for the child ; the sheriff overtook her thirty AND CKIMES OF MOKMONISM. 257 miles north, when, seeing him coming, she ran for the moun- tains, distant half a mile. She was overtaken and the child torn away from her, and brought to the city, which, of course, induced the mother to return. She was going with some emi- grants who dared not assist her, for fear of Mormon vengeance. Instances of like nature might be cited at will ; and it is only too plain, that the system results in the utter destruction of domestic love and harmony. The Mormons themselves hesi- tatingly acknowledge, that the "thing called love among the Gentiles " cannot exist under their system ; but claim that they have instead, a purer feeling of respect, support and friendship. Hence, it is quite the custom among the Mormon leaders, to speak of domestic affection and endearments with a sort of sneer, or as something to be but rarely indulged in, and rather unworthy of the manly character. The Mormons claim that a man may love equally half a dozen women, as well as a mother may the same number of children, and that the women are satisfied with this divided affection ; but that this is not, and never can be the case, I need say to no one who has the slightest knowledge of the female heart. For a man to love six women equally well, is manifestly impossible; but it is possible for him to be equally indifferent to all. And to this does the teaching of the leaders directly tend ; rather than create a jealousy, or show a marked preference for one, they are to cultivate a mere equal respect for all. Nor is it often possible for a man, whose care and affec- tion are divided between three or four women of varying charms and tempers, to regard equally the children of all ; if he have common affection, the most affectionate child will become his favorite, and engross his attention ; and thus jeal- ousy, far from being confined to adults, rages equally in the bosoms of the young. This is seen and noticed in almost every family, and the story of Jacob's partiality, and his children's jealousy, is repeated every day in the year. So greatly do these troubles multiply in the larger families, that in spite of their inclination to secrecy, the parents are forced in bitterness of soul to make known their grievances. 17 258 POLYGAMY. In one sermon, preached while I was at Salt Lake, Brigham Young made this remark : *' The women are every day com- plaining of what they have to suffer in plurality. If it's any harder on them than it is <>n the men, God help them. Many of them seem to think a man in plurality has nothing to do but listen to their troubles, nnd run at their beck and call. I believe I have wives that would see me damned rather than not get every little furbelow they want. 7 ' But the smaller families are happy in comparison, and it is within the walls of the larger harems, according to all report-. that the demon of jealousy reigns supreme. Female nurse? "t Salt Lake say that it is no uncommon thing, in the better cla of polygamous household.-, for a child to be born to one wife and all the others to remain sullenly in their room>, unless specially called, apparently without interest or concern tor the iv-ult. At first view it seems incredible that any woman >hould be indifferent under such circumstances; and yet we can readily understand that a woman" would be far from pleased at the birth of a child which was her husband's, bu-t not hers. From the torment of such feelings there is no refuge but in a cultivated indifference, and such seems to be the ideal of all thorough Mormons in domestic matters. This, which is a necessity as between the women, seems to extend also to the children and become a habit of which the subject is quite un- conscious. I have heard chance expressions uttered by men who had just buried a child, which showed too plainly a brutal indifference to its death. In the best of families there are causes enough for trouble: the husband cannot always feel alike, the wife is too often weary and nervous, the children at times seem possessed with the very demon of unrest. But with the one wife and one hus- band there always comes an hour of cool reflection ; if possessed of common sense, either can readily allow for the other's weak- ness and reconciliation is easy because the trouble is easilv traced to its true cause a mere physical depression. But in polygamy there is one black demon ever ready to -jump into activity: she does not say, u His busin^ worries him," or, 'I PROMISED TO SPEND THE EVENING WITH MY OTHEB WIFE." (369) 260 " Poor fellow, he has to work so hard, no wonder he is some- times cross." Her first thought is, " It's thai woman ! If it wasn't for that little huzzy ." And he thinks, not that she is nervous, or that she is kept in the house too much by the child, his child ; but his first thought is, " She's mad about my other wife ! The blamed women are never satisfied." And in such a weak and nervous state, holding perhaps a sickly baby in her wearied arms, the poor wife receives this bit of comfort from her young husband : " I promised to spend the night with my other wife ! " Can any religion prevent that home being a hell to that woman after such a good-night? Nor do the men escape. Reticence, determined reticence, is the polygamist's best policy ; or as Quincy Knowlton said in one ot his confidential moments, speaking of his wives : " It sounds very nice when the priesthood preach about it, but when a man stands behind the door and grits his teeth to keep out of a fuss, the poetry goes." Brigham Young, aside from the mere animal fervor which distinguished him, was among the coldest of men. According to one who knew his habits, he usually slept alone, in a small room behind his office ; and a woman who lived many years in his family, tells me she saw him caress or pet but one of his children. In speaking to one of my Mormon acquaintances, Brigham gave the following as his idea of fatherly duty : " 1 pay no attention to the children, but leave that to their mothers, according to the law of nature. The bull pays no attention to his calves." In this sentence is embodied the social perfection of polygamy, as it will be " when the Lord has healed the Saints of all their old GentiJish traditions." The question will, of course, be asked: Are the Mormon women happy? It must be remem- bered that only one-third or one-fourth of all the women in Utah are in polygamy, either as first or subsequent wives ; and, as to the rest, there is no particular cause for unhappiness from that source, except the constant dread that their husbands will take additional wives. These exceptions noted, the testimony, as far as it can be had, is universal, that Mormonism is a " hard faith for women." Again, it may be asked : "What do the wo- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 261 men say about it? Generally, they say nothing. It is "sound Mormon doctrine," that the " first duty of a woman is submis- sion, and the second silence ; " and, certainly, the majority of Utah women would gain heaven on those conditions. The most noticeable fact to a Gentile travelling through Mormon settlements is the strangely quiet way in which women discharge their household duties. They stand behind the guest at the way-side hotel, replenish the table and attend upon his wants, but never enter into the conversation, venture not the slightest observation or inquiry, and very rarely answer his questions in anything more than monosyllables. And those questions are few, for it is almost, if not quite, a capital crime in the Mormon code to " interfere with our women." Such principles and such practice can tend only to the degradation of woman ; and this I note as the second great evil of polygamy. To Eastern minds it is quite impossi- ble to convey a full comprehension of the many ways, the thousand little expressions, the tone of public and private man- ners, and the daily incidents in which is manifested this general lack of respect for women. This is so marked that it is a com- mon subject of talk even among themselves ; but in Salt Lake City and most of the larger places there has been vast improve- ment within a few years. Social lines were closely drawn dur- ing my stay in Salt Lake, and no young woman could venture to associate with the Gentiles, without losing her standing among Mormons entirely. Still, many found their way into Gentile society, though if they persisted in it, they were usually cut off and dis-fellowshipped by the church authorities. The fanaticism of the Mormons was so great that they con- sidered a woman lost if she associated with Gentile men ; it was concluded at once that she could have no pure motive in so doing, and among their own people they possess the power to ruin a woman's character entirely. An old Mormon, at whose house I visited occasionally, seldom failed to give me his views of the absurdity of our common ideas of woman. His favorite style was to give me a burlesque representation of our mode of addressing ladies, and when he got warmed up on the subject, it 262 POLYGAMY. was highly amusing to see him skip about the room, hat in hand, bowing and grimacing to the chairs, and imitating the dandified address of an exquisite. But a funny retribution overtook the old fellow at last. In the train of the new officials of the Grant administration came a handsome, middle-aged man, with whom my old friend's oldest daughter, reared in the strictest Mormon fashion, fell in love at sight. In one day, as it were, she lost all faith in any religion which did not give her "a man to her- self/' and though the old man raved and threatened Danites. death and damnation, she walked off with the Gentile. Most of the polygamists habitually speak of their wives as " my women," and in his jocular moments, while preaching, the late Heber C. Kimball often spoke of his facetiously as "ray cows." I must say, however, that all of this is not due to polygamy, but much of it to the women themselves. Nearly all of them are of foreign birth, English, Welsh, Scotch and Scan- dinavian, and of that class, too, among whom men have never been accustomed to respect women very highly. I am sure polygamy could not have been established in a purely Ameri- can community, and the Mormons themselves say that all the trouble and opposition come from the American wives. But the vileness of Mormon polygamy, which gives it in- famous pre-eminence over that of Turks and Hindoos, consists in the grosser forms of incest, the intermarriage of near rela- tions. In their general revolt against the ethics of Christendom and attempt to found a society upon the most primitive models, they have disregarded 'alike the laws of Moses and Mohammed ; and if they have any example in modern times, it must be in the Utes and Shoshonees who surround them. To marry a mother and one or more of her daughters is even thought meritorious ; and the Mormon authorities often advise a man to marry sisters, as they usually agree better than others. Robert Sharkey, a merchant of Salt Lake City, married three sisters, one of whom was divorced from her first husband to marry him. They all lived in one house, and quite happily, it is said, for several years, when in some strange manner they all became convinced that polygamy was wrong. One of the sisters "SHE WALKED OFF WITH THE GENTILE." (263) -tarted East, but soon returned and endeavored to make some arrangement for him to put away the other two. There were difficulties in the way, and Sharkey's trouble was so great on the subject that his mind became disordered, and in August, 1868, he committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. Two of Brigham Young's favored wives, Clara Decker and Lucy Decker Seely, were sisters, the second having been the widow of Dr. Isaac Seely, of Nauvoo, Illinois. One family within my knowledge consisted of two men and four women, the men's first wives being sisters, and their second wives each a sister of the other man, all living in one house. Or to state it mathemati- cally : A and B first marry sisters, then A marries B's sister, and B A's sister. Here is no marriage of blood relations, and yet it looks like a terrible mixture somewhere. The question arises for lawyers : Suppose each of the women to have children, what akin are they respectively? And which of them could lawfully marry according to Leviticus and Chan- cellor Kent ? If polygamy continues, these mixtures are nothing to what must take place in the next generation, for without a chemical analysis no heraldry Harvey could ever succeed in find- ing the consanguineous circulation, to say nothing of the col- lateral. As it now is, it seems as if half the children in the city are related in some way or other to the Kimballs, the Pratts or the Youngs, and many to all three. If it stopped here, some faint excuse might be made ; but the marriage of uncle and niece has occurred often enough to establish it as a Mormon custom. Bishop Smith, of Brigham City, numbers two of his own brother's daughters among the inmates of his harem, " sealed " to him by Brigham Young, with a full knowl- edge of the relationship ; and in the southern settlements several such cases exist. As already stated, polygamy was but a mild affair north of Salt Lake City, compared with the southern set- tlements ; and in the latter were found, before the days of min- ing and railroads, all the worst features of Mormonism. There the bishop was absolute, spiritual guide, temporal governor and social tyrant ; there were collected the most ignorant and de- graded of the foreign converts ; the doctrines of Mormonism co- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 265 incided fully with the people's natural habits of thought ; respect for woman was a thing almost unknown, and the marriage of near relatives so common that to remark on it would itself be considered remarkable. The marriage of first cousins was com- mon, but I heard of no case of aunt and nephew. The follow- ing affair seems too horrible for belief among any people in America ; but is as well proved as any fact can be by human testimony, particularly that of the woman herself who went out of the Territory with a military expedition fitted out under General Connor. Among the first immigrants a young Scotchman came to Salt Lake City, in company with his half sister, who com- menced keeping house for him. After a time he went to Brigham and professed a desire to marry the girl, citing the example of Abraham and his half sister Sarai. Brigham owned there was something in it. Abraham was an example in favor of polygamy, and why not in this? He finally sent for the girl, and finding her handsome and lively, solved the problem by marrying her himself; the half brother yielded to the Prophet's superior claim, and all was well. But in a few short weeks the lady's delicate condition showed too plainly that the amorous half brother had anticipated marital rights, and Brig- ham found himself in a fair way to have an heir de jure that was not de sanguine. Here was a problem. It would never do for the Prophet to acknowledge himself "sold," so he sent for the brother, told him he had reconsidered the matter, di- vorced the woman from himself, and delivered her to the brother, who dutifully received her from the arras of the Prophet. She lived with her half brother a few years as his wife, and bore him three children, but finally saw the degrada- tion of her position, and left for the States. This man still resided in Salt Lake City when I was there, was a prominent citizen, and seemed to have neither blame nor shame attached to him. When I first heard of this and other instances of like nature, and heard the -horrible doctrine of incest attributed to the Mormons, I could not but think it an invention of some bitter enemy of the sect ; but since then I have heard it fully 266 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES avowed by prominent Mormons, one in particular who assured me the day was not distant when brothers and sisters would marry to raise up a pure priesthood. The church has never published the sermons delivered when this subject was dis- cussed, so we are left to the confusing testimony of those who remember them. They say the doctrine was first advanced by Brigham from the pulpit several years ago, but was received with such undisguised manifestations of surprise and disgust, that he ceased to pursue it further, closing with the remark : "Well, it's a little too strong doctrine for you .now; but the time will be when you will take it in fully." Since then tlu- subject has generally been avoided " at headquarters," but can- not be altogether denied. Brigham has favored but one Gentile with his views on the subject, viz.: William Hepworth Dixon, who gives the following statement in his work entitled, " Xew America:" " Perhaps it would not be too much to say that in the Mor- mon code there is no such crime as incest, and that a man is practically free to woo and wed any woman who may take his eve. " We have had a very strange conversation with Young about the Mormon doctrine. I asked him whether it was a common thing among the Saints to marry mother and daughter; and, if so, on what authority they acted, since that kind of union was not sanctioned either by the command to Moses or by the revelation to Smith. When he hung back from admitting that such a thing occurred at all, I named a case in one of the city wards, of which we had obtained some private knowledge. "Apostle Cannon said that in such case the first marriage would be only a form; that the elder female would be under- stood as being a mother to her husband and his younger bride, on which I named my example, and in which an elder of the church had married an English woman, a widow, with a daughter then of twelve; in which the woman had borne four children to this husband ; and in which this husband had mar- ried her daughter when she came of age. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 267 " Young said it was not a common thing at Salt Lake. " ' But it does occur ? ' " ' Yes/ said Young, ' it occurs sometimes/ "'On what ground is . such a practice justified by the church? 7 After a short pause he said, with a faint and wheedling smile : ' This is a part of the question of incest. We have no sure light on it yet. I cannot tell you what the church holds to be the actual truth ; I can tell you my own opinion ; but you must not publish it you must not tell it lest I should be misunderstood and blamed/ " He then made to us a communication on the nature of in- cest, as he thinks of this offence and judges it; but what he then said I am not at liberty to print. As to the facts which came under my own eyes, I am free to speak. " Incest, in the sense in which we use the word marriage within the prohibited degrees is not regarded as a crime by the Mormon Church. l( It is known that in some of these saintly harems the female occupants stand to their lords in closer relationship of blood than the American law permits. It is a daily event in Salt Lake City for a man to wed two sisters, a brother's widow, and even a mother and daughter. In one household in Utah may be seen the spectacle of three women, who stand toward each other in the relation of child, mother and grand-dame, living in one man's harem as his wives ! I asked the President whether, with his new lights on the virtue of breeding in and in, he saw any objection to the marriage of brother and sister. Speaking for himself, not for the church, he said he saw none at all. What follows I give in the actual words of the speakers : " D. ' Does that sort of marriage ever take place? ' " YOUNG. ' Never/ " D. ' Is it prohibited by the church ? ' " YOUNG. 'No; it is prohibited by prejudice/ " KIMBALL. ' Public opinion won't allow it/ " YOUNG. ' I would not do it myself, nor suffer any one else, when I could help it/ 268 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES " D. ' Then you don't prohibit, and you don't practise it?' " YOUNG. ' My prejudices prevent me.' " This remnant of an old feeling brought from the Gentile world, and this alone, would seem to prevent the Saints from rushing into the higher forms of incest. How long will these Gentile sentiments remain in force?" Morally the reader may be shocked, but logically he should be prepared for all this; for if we are to restore a line of prophets and follow the example of the patriarchs, then incest and polygamy are from the same high source. The examples of Abraham and Sarai, half brother and sister ; of Lot and Judah and earlier worthies are to be repeated. As one Mormon said to me, " the world could never have been peopled without this practice, and the foremost nations of antiquity maintained it." And why not? If "the souls in the spirit world wait earnestly for tabernacles," to furnish them is a mere mechanical act, and may be performed by one person as well as another. Polygamy, incest and blood atonement grow as naturally from Mormon theology as three branches from the same stock. The mind revolts from the pursuit of these disgusting de- tails, and to the credit of the Mormon people be it said, they are far from being universal in approval of these later doctrines. Will it be credited after all this that the Mormons claim to be the most virtuous people in the world ? Yet such is the fact ; and they nevei- weary ot pointing to the prostitution of our great cities, claiming that it is their appointed destiny to remove all such evils, and make women universally pure. This, then, is the self-proclaimed task of Mormonism : to save a few by re- ducing all to a level ; to abolish prostitution by legalizing con- cubinage, and elevate the spiritual nature of woman by legis- lating for her as a mere producer of young. Perhaps the most saddening feature of Mormon polygamy is the effect it has had upon the young. The medico-theologians of Utah claim that polygamy tends to a more rapid increase of population, as well as to the physical and moral improvement of the species. The former claim is evidently an error, and that the latter is even more so is plain to any candid observer. AND CRIMES OF MORMCXNISM. 269 It was long claimed that the large infant mortality in Utah was due entirely to polygamy, and that children were born with weaker constitutions; but I am satisfied that polygamy is only one cause, and that the waste of life is not because the chil- dren are weaker but largely because polygamy leaves too many without proper care. This will be considered more at length when I treat of the political economy of Utah. Suffice it to say here that the death-rate is abnormally large. The mortality among children was long greater in Salt Lake City than any other in America, and the death-rate of Utah only exceeded by that of Louis- iana. The Mormons explain this by saying that their people are generally poor and exposed to hardships, but much of that poverty is directly traceable to their religion. Another sad fact is the general neglect of medical care, or rather a gen- eral tendency to run to wild and absurd schemes of doctor- ing. They claim that "laying on of hands and the prayer of faith" will heal the sick, and, yet, no people within my knowledge are so given to "Thomsonianism," "steam doctoring," "yarb medicine," and every other irregular mode of treating disease. One day, during my residence there, three young children 270 died in the seventeenth ward of scarlet fever. In neither case was a physician called ; the Bishop came and " laid on hands with the holy anointing," and an old woman treated two of them with a mild palliative, such as is used for sore throat. If the patients live after such treatment, it is a " miracle;" if they die " it is the will of the Lord." Two-thirds of the polygamists do not and cannot attend properly to their children. The Bishop of one ward had thirty children living, and nearly twenty dead. Joseph Smith had a dozen spiritual wives ; but three sons survived him all of his legal wife. When Heber Kimball was alive there were five men in the city who had together seventy wives; they had, all told, four hundred and thirty -two children. A polygamist' s grave-yard is a melancholy sight. One bishop had .seventeen children buried in one row, and the longest grave not over four feet. If these men had but the common feelings of humanity, how fearfully were they punished for the crime of polygamy! Even in my limited acquaintance with polygamists I could mention a dozen men whose houses, are full of women, but their children are in the grave. The Asiatic institution was never meant to flourish on American soil, and has resulted here in a slaughter of the innocents which is saddening to contem- plate. As only the most hardy survive,, they generally grow up robust and active; but the effects of their social bias are seen in a strange dullness of moral perception. If tlie testi- mony of numerous young Mormons can be relied on, youthful demoralization certainly begins at an earlier age in Salt Lake than in other places. In many cases of poor men in polygamy, the husband, two wives and their children occupy the same room; and when we consider the scenes and conversation to which these children are witnesses, it would seem that no ex- alted ideas of purity could ever enter their minds. And thi.- is but a natural result; for polygamy is tenfold more un- natural with such a climate and race than in Southern Asia or Africa. Strange and paradoxical it i that in a barren land and tem- perate or harsh clime, they have succeeded in setting up ;i prac- AND CRIMES OF MOKMONISM. 271 tice which social philosophy had decided to belong only m regions of abundance, in voluptuous climes where soft airs incline to sensual indulgence. Stranger still, in the attempt to found a purely religious community, they have begun by utterly reversing every idea which the experience of three thousand years had proved to be valuable; and in the very inception of a young society, .which was to be fresh, vigorous and pure, have adopted the worst vices of an old and worn out civilization. But to them these arguments are idle; "the mouth of the Lord hath commanded it;" and it is theirs not to study results but to leave it with the Lord: so, beholding all around them the furious revenges of nature on those who violate her most important law, they shut their eyes to these facts and pronoupce them false ; and even the women, bearing in their own bodies the effects of physiological sin, impiously claim a divine sanction to violate the laws of nature. When, leaving the mere youth, \ve come to young men and women, we observe two curious effects of polygamy. The first is a growing tendency to single life; polygamy to some extent necessitates celibacy, for the number of the sexes being about equal, even in Utah, if one man marries two wives, some other man must do without his one. Polygamy is in fact the worst kind of robbery, and for the twelve young women whom Heber C. Kimball married after reaching Utah, some of them not over eighteen, twelve young men must remain single. This tendency was a matter of constant reproach by the priesthood when I was in Utah, particularly among the girls, and it was a common remark by the latter that they would never marry till they could leave the Territory. And this accounts in part for a general desire among the unmarried to get away and settle out of Utah. The world would be surprised at the constant losses to their population from this source ; there has been for twenty-five years a constant leak from the Territory in every direction, and in one sermon I heard Brigham Young enume- rate a score of places in California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon, settled entirely by recusant Mormons. In spite of a steady immigration from Europe of from one to four thousand 272 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES per year, it was even then a debatable question whether the Mormons gained faster than by natural increase. Indeed, Utah offers but few inducements for a young Mormon, if he possess more than average intelligence or enterprise; and such, it will generally be found, make their way to some other locality. Much has been claimed by the Mormons for the virtue of their young women, and more said against it by some of their opponents. From the best evidence at my command I think their virtue will average as well, or nearly so, as that of any very poor and ignorant people ; but the fatal error of the Mor- mons is in allowing for no virtue except that by constraint and constant watching. No dependence whatever is placed upon the innate moral sense, and apparently no effort made to culti- vate or strengthen it ; it is not supposed that virtue is founded in aught but dread, and every thorough going Mormon acts as if he expected his daughters to go wrong the very first oppor- tunity. The jealousy of the men is even greater than that of the women. Nine-tenths of the orthodox take it for granted that a Gentile can have no good purpose in addressing a Mor- mon girl. At an early day there was some foundation for this wholesale suspicion, as hundreds of mountaineer Gentiles merely came there to winter, and often left their wives in the spring ; and it is a sad fact that of all the women who then left the Mor- mons, the majority turned out badly. When the California vol- unteers left there, they took off a great many with them, of whom the majority were not married. The Mormons, of course, attribute this to the immoral character of the Gentiles; but it is plainly due to their system of forced virtue, by means of constraint and constant surveillance, with no proper training of the moral faculties. During the era of absolute churcli supremacy the idea of social trust and confidence between the sexes seemed to die a natural death ; the " church spy " became a recognized institution, and society assumed that air of jealous distrust so often remarked among the Moslems, while austerity and reserve were considered the noblest graces of woman. It is gratifying to state, however, that the grossness of sentiment and language which prevailed vears ago, is slowly yielding to AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 273 something better, and plain-spoken as the Mormons now are, they would hardly listen quietly to the indecent harangues once so common from Heber C. Kimball. Though they constantly insist that they care nothing for the Gentile world, and will not be moved by its opinions, yet the Mormons are being slowly improved in spite of themselves; they have adopted Sunday-schools, daily papers, and lyceums from the Gentiles settled among them, and a more healthy sentiment is struggling weakly against the tide of corruption. But with all present mitigating features, polygamy still remains the foulest blot upon America's fame, and the Mormons still defy every law of God and man in their doctrines, and, to some extent, in their practice. Such, in brief, is Mormonism. While all the world is striving to move on to a higher, more spiritual plane of religious truth, they have turned back to the gross forms and symbols of the time when religion was in its infancy. It is as though the old mathematician should throw aside his acquired learning, and go back to the sticks and balls with which he learned to count. While the Christian world is rejoicing, that Christ has freed us "from the yoke which our fathers were not able to bear," they go back two thousand years, and seek all their examples from a barbarous age and a stiff-necked and rebellious people. And their practice is like their faith. Claiming a religion which will elevate men to gods, they plead for examples the base in- stincts of the brute creation; with snow in sight the year round, they pattern their domestic life after that of inter-tropical bar- barians, and vainly hope to produce the vigor of hardy North men from the worst practices of effeminate Asiatics. 18 274 POLYGAMY. CHAPTER XIV. MORMON DOCTRINES. A. theologic conglomerate Sidney Rigdon's part Joseph Smith's Orson and Parley Pratt's Brigham Young's Wonderful growth of Mormonism in England Analysis of the faith Gods, angels, spirits, and men Birth of spirit* Adam falls uphill "The Holy Oil" Prayer cures Joeephites on polygamy Their able argument ~ Gro=> perversions of Scripture by Brig- ham ites Eclectic theology. MORMON theology is purely eclectic. Sidney Rigdon laid the foundation; Joseph Smith supplied the prophecy, fraud, and fervor; Parley P. Pratt the fanciful and poetic element-; Orson Pratt the mysticism, and Brigham Young the gro- points of vulgar materialism : the ecclesiastical form of gov- ernment grew into shape from a succession of exigencies, and polygamy developed naturally from the unrestrained lusts of Cowdery, Smith, Bennet, and others. Many doctrines have l^eeu broached, preached a while, and then dropped ; others, once stoutly maintained, have been quietly ignored ; and still others, which almost had a foothold in the church, have been overruled in full council. The result is a vast and cumbrous system which is the standard Mormon theology, but of which each individual Mormon believes so much or so little as he can comprehend. It were an endless task to pursue these doctrines through all the variations, necessary to force some sort of agree- ment, and the lifeless application of perverted texts of Scripture. But the distinctive points may be stated historically and then grouped. Sirlney Rigdon was expelled from the Baptist church in Penn- sylvania for preaching communism of goods, and after a brief connection with the adherents of Stone and Campbell, they also bund it convenient to dispense with him. But he persisted in FJ.EADING WITH A YOUNG HUSBAND NOT TO TAKE ANOTHER WIFE. (275) 276 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES claiming to be a " Disciple : " a name then given to the sect who now call themselves Christians, but are generally called "Camp- bellites." And at this point a curious parallel is noticeable : almost at the same time that Stone, Campbell, O'Kane, and others organized the " Church of Christ," Joseph Smith and his familiars organized their church by the same name; and it was so called by its adherents till after the expulsion from Jackson county. They first lengthened the title to " Church of Jesus Christ/' and at Kirtland added the words, "of Latter-day Saints ; " and this six-worded designation is the official title to- day. Alexander Campbell is one of the few preachers of the old sects who has a warm place in Mormon affections; and they patronizingly allude to him as "a sort of fore- runner: like John the Baptist before Christ." It will be seen from all this that there is much evidence to sustain the theory that Sidney Rigdon was the real founder of Mormonism ; that he and Joseph Smith had met and had an understanding long before the pretended date of Sidney's conversion, and that the Prophet selected the title for his new church with direct reference to the "Church of Christ" organized the same year in Kentucky. Several writers on Mormonism have adopted these as established facts ; I can only say that I con- sider them not quite proved. As might naturally be expected this parody by the Mormons of the Christian Church has been a great annoyance to the latter, and has resulted in some injus- tice to a very worthy people. Of Rigdon's own particular "Disciples" some became Mil- lenarians, and another part Perfectionists, and the remainder followed Rigdon when he joined his fortunes with those of Joe Smith, and assisted in founding Kirtland. Under the early teachings of Brigham Young they adopted the Methodist order of services. Their missionaries when abroad, at present, first preach principles very -similar to those of the " Campbellites ; " and what the Mormons call " the first principles of the gospel " are mainly those of that sect. But it is the smallest part of Mor- mon theology which has its origin in any recognized Christian system ; and by the successive additions of Rigdon, Joe Smith, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 277 and Brighara Young, the laborious philosophical speculations of Orson Pratt, and the wild, poetical dreams of his brother, Parley P. Pratt, it may well be said there is scarcely a known system of religion, ancient or modern, but has contributed some shred of doctrine to Mor monism. It is now beyond the power of man to invent a new religion. At this late day combination is all that is left for the innovator, and the doctrinal points of Mormonism are culled from three diiferent sources, viz. : I. Christianity, by a literal interpretation of the Bible, par- ticularly the prophecies. II. Ancient mythology and various modern forms of pagan philosophy. III. The philosophical speculations of various schools ; the whole modified and practical ized by revelation applied to events of daily occurrence. Sidney Rigdon carried with him from the Christians the three great tenets : Faith, Repentance, and Baptism by Immer- sion. To these he added, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was understood to include the power of healing, speaking in tongues, receiving revelations and the en- joyment of a " sure witness of the truth." These they preached in Europe, and nothing else ; and as far as possible all other doctrines are still kept back till the new convert reaches Zion. And even now it strikes one with astonishment to read of their marvellous success in England. It was like a renewal of the mission of the apostolic fishermen of Galilee. The Mormon missionary came to the British laborer totally unlike the parish priest. He did not stand off and preach down at the poor out- cast; he took a farming tool and worked beside him; did task for task with him, and talked only in the intervals of work. He, too, had known poverty and disgrace ; he, too, had been an unfortunate and an outcast ; he had not walked in silver slippers, and how mightily did he affect these simple people ! From house to house he went, resolving doubts, urging proof texts, preaching and debating ; and sitting by their humble firesides of an evening, he sang with unction : 278 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES " The Spirit of God like a fire is burning, The latter-day glory begins to come forth ; The visions and blessings of old are returning , The angels are coming to visit the earth. We'll ?ing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven, Hosanna, hosanna, to God and the Lamb I Let glory to them in the highest be given, Henceforth and forever, amen and amen ! " A FOREIGN MORMON'S DBEAM OF UTAH. What wonder that he prevailed mightily among these simple people! What wonder that the cold, barren, carefully prepared homilies of the parish priest were swept aside ! The emotional faith of the speaker went to the hearer's soul. It was no cold, intellectual reasoning; it was warm, robust feeling, and as a natural consequence believers grew and multiplied. Once con- sorted the whole aim of their lives was changed. Preaching AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 279 and working, at home or abroad, all was for the Church ; their talk was of "visions and dreams," "the ministering of angels/' "tongues and the interpretation of tongues/' "healings and miracles." All their dreams were soon to be realized ; that Brotherhood of Man, that freedom they had vainly sought in Chartism, was to be realized in the Rocky Mountains, where God's people were to live under the mild rule of prophets and apostles. Such an idea captivated thousands of young English- men. To them Utah was a land where all legal hardships were to be cured, and all men to be equal ; and the spirit of brotherhood among the British saints at this time, to which all observers bear witness, they thought only a foretaste of the per- fect oneness in Christ which was to prevail in Utah. The church grew with such rapidity that within eight years after Joseph Smith's death there were about 40,000 Latter-day Saints in the British Conference. Without a murmur every one contributed all he could spare to spread the gospel. The poor strained every nerve to get to Utah ; the well-to-do sold their possessions to help their brethren forward, and once on the vessel, chartered by the elders, they bade glad farewell to "dying Babylon," and sang, with glad exultation, the Mormon emigrant's hymn : "O, my native land, I love thee; All thy scenes I love them well ; Friends, connections, happy country, Can I bid you all farewell ? Can I leave you, Far in distant lands to dwell ? " Home, thy joys are passing lovely, Joys no stranger heart can tell, Happy home, 'tis sure I love thee, Can I, can I say farewell ? Can I leave thee, Far in distant lands to dwell ? " Yes, I hasten from you gladly, From the scenes I love so well ; Far away ye billows bear me ; Lovely, native land, farewell ! Pleased I leave thee, Far in distant lands to dwell. 280 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES " Bear me on, thou restless ocean, Let the winds my canvass swell ; Heaves my heart with warm emotion While I go far hence to dwell, Glad I bid thee, Native land, farewell, farewell!" Once in Utah a change generally came over the spirit of their dream. The more intelligent British Mormons who have seceded from the church, uniformly testify that nothing was so cruel a disappointment to them as the hard, cold and rigid formalism they found in Utah compared with the warm fellow- ship of Saints in England. Indeed to all the British Mormons, and nearly all the fervent ones among the early American con- verts, the present temporal theocracy in Utah is a bitter dis- appointment ; for, according to what they were taught, and by the plain letter of the early prophecies, the earthly scene should have closed in blood and fire long before this, the wicked have sunk to their place, the heavens be rolled up as a scroll, and the faithful saints charioting in immortal triumph far above the clouds. Here is a specimen of the stuff they were then fed on : "A PROPHECY ; or an extract from the Word of the Lord concerning New York, Albany, and Boston, given on the 23d day of September, 1832. " Let the Bishop" (Newel K. Whitney) "go into the city of New York and also to the city of Albany, and also to the city of Boston, and warn the people of those cities with the sound of the gospel, with a loud voice, of the desolation and utter abolishment which awaits them if they do reject these things ; for, if they do reject these things, the hour of their judgment is nigh, and their house shall be left unto them desolate." And soon after Parley P. Pratt cried aloud in New York city as follows : "Within ten years from now (1838) the people of this country who are not Latter-day Saints will be subdued by the Saints or swept from the face of the earth ; and if this prediction fails, then you may know that the Book of Mormon is not true," and when departing he shook off the dust of his AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 281 feet as a testimony against the city which would not help the Saints in Missouri, and sang a great " Lamentation," calling on the New Yorkers, " When the union is severed, when this mighty city shall crumble to ruin, and sink as a mill-stone, the merchants undoing, O, sing this lamentation and think upon me ! " Very rash for prophets to name time and place in their utterances very rash, indeed but it does show that for the time they believe the stuff themselves. Among the doctrines preached at various times and aban- doned or condemned, are : The " spiritual wifery," taught and somewhat practiced at Nau voo ; the " baby resurrection," put forward by Orson Hyde, who claimed that the ancient Hebrews and others were born again in Mormon babies, and that mothers by observing the movings of the spirit could tell which tribe of Israel their unborn children belonged to ; the Adam-God theory of Brigham Young, that Adam is now the god ruling this world, and that Brigham himself will in due time succeed to that place, as soon as Joseph Smith goes higher, and perhaps I should add, the blood-atonement theory, as the Mormons now deny it, or, at any rate, no longer preach it. Excluding these the general Mormon theology may be classed under five heads: I. Pure materialism. II. The eternity of matter. III. Pre-existence of the soul, and transmission of spirits. IV. A plurality of gods. V. A plurality of wives, or " celestial marriage." All these are blended in various ways, and depend upon each other in a score of combinations and confused inter-relations ; but as far as possible they are treated separately. I. The Mormons hold that there is no such thing as spirit distinct from matter ; that spirit is only matter refined, and that spirits themselves are composed of purely material atoms, only finer than the tangible things of earth, as air is finer and more subtle than water, while both are equally material. "The purest, most refined and subtle of all is that substance called the Holy Spirit. This substance, like all others, is one of the elements of material or physical existence, and, therefore, sub- 282 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES ject to the necessary laws which govern all other matter. Like the other elements its whole is composed of individual particles. Each particle occupies space, possesses the power of motion, re- quires time to move from one part of space to another, and can in nowise occupy two places at once, in this respect differing nothing from all other matter. It is widely diffused among all the elements of space; under the control of the Great Eloheim it is the moving cause of all the intelligences, by which they act. It is omnipresent by reason of the infinitude of its par- ticles, is the controlling element of all others and comprehends all things. By the mandate of the Almighty it performs all the wonders ever manifested in the name of the Lord. Its inherent properties embrace all the attributes -of intelligence and affection. In short it is the attributes of the eternal power and Godhead/' * Gods, angels, spirits and men, the four orders of intelligent beings, are all of one species, composed of similar materials, differing not in kind but in degree. God is a perfected man ; man is an etnbryotic or undeveloped god. Orson Pratt has pursued this doctrine to its wildest ultimate, and proves to his own satisfaction that every original atom was endowed with a self-acting, independent intelligence, and they merely "got together" of their own volition. Thus in the attempt to avoid the supposed mystery of an instantaneous creation by the one God, he has raised an infinity of unsolved problems by making every atom a god. II. The eternity of matter is a logical outgrowth of material- ism. In this view every atom now in being has existed from all eternity past and will exist for all eternity to come. There never could have been a " creation," except to appropriate ' matter unformed and void," and change its form, impressing new conditions upon it. Xew worlds are constantly being formed of the unappropri- * The quotations in this chapter are from Parley P. Pratt's " Key to The- ology," a standard work among the Mormons, and by them considered a* in spired AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 283 ated material of tie universe, and stocked with spirits, after which faithful Saints rule over them and become gods. III. Closely allied with the last principle is that of the pre- existence of souls; and here we first meet with the sexual prin- ciple which underlies all the remaining portion of Mormonism. All the sexual passions exist in full force in the different worlds, and animate the immortal gods as fully as their human offspring. Countless millions of spirits are thus born in the eternal worlds, and are awaiting by myriads the physical pro- cesses by which they may enter earthly tabernacles and begin their second, or probationary state. "Wisdom inspires the gods to multiply their species/' and as these spiritual bodies increase, fresh worlds are necessary upon which to transplant them. These spiritual bodies have all the organs of thought, speech and hearing, in exact similitude to earthly senses. But in this state they could not advance; it was necessary for them to be subject to the moral law of earth that regeneration might go on. Hence they "seek earnestly for earthly tabernacles, haunting even the abodes of the vilest of mankind to obtain them." To bestow these tabernacles is the highest glory of woman, and her exaltation in eternity will be in exact propor- tion to the number she has furnished. Man may preach the gospel, may reach the highest glories of the priesthood, may in time even be a creator; but woman's only road to glory is by the physical process of introducing spirits to earth. Hence the larger her family the greater her glory; any means to prevent natural increase are in the highest degree sinful, and violent means an unpardonable sin. Of these spirits it is intimated some "did not keep their first estate," and are to be thrust down and never permitted to have earthly tabernacles or propagate their species. Those who reach this earth are in their "second estate," and if faithful Saints will pass to their " third estate," celestialized men, after which they become gods. But at a certain time in the eternities there was a grand bat- tle among the spirits between the adherents of Jesus and those of Lucifer. In discussing the plan of this world Lucifer had 284 proposed to save men in their sins, but it was voted by a two- thirds majority to save them from their sins. A regular elec- tion row followed, in which the secessionists were soundly and satisfactorily whaled ; they are now firing up down below, and are not allowed to enter into babies and have earthly taberna- cles. Still they earnestly desire them, and if any man gets suf- ficiently mean, or is in a " spirit of apostasy," a door is opened for one of these devils to get in and possess him a very com- mon occurrence in Utah. During this fight a few of the spirits refused to take sides ; these are condemned to have black taber- nacles hence the African race ! The Indians, Kanakas, and a few others are degenerate descendants of the ancient Jews ; all the yellow races merely varieties of the white, and so all are accounted for save the mulattoes. There is no knowing by Mormon revelation what sort of spirits get into them. It will be seen also that the spirits not only had to enter earthly taber- nacles, but be subject to temptation, whereof Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, says : " Xow, behold, if Adam had not trans- gressed, he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state which they were after they were created ; and they must have remained for ever, and had no end. And they would have had no children ; where- fore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery ; doing no good, for they knew no sin." In brief, Adam and Eve had to violate the one command in order to keep the other to increase and multiply and in his " fall " he really fell up-hill, as it were. So, after coming down for a good start and going up again, the faithful are to become gods. IV. There is a vast multitude of gods, dispersed throughout all the worlds as kingdoms, families and nations. There is, however, but one god regnant on each world, who is to the in- habitants of that world the " only true and living God." But each god having a first-born son, there is " One God and One Christ " to each world. Thus " there are lords many and gods AND CHIMES OF MORMONISM. 285 many/' but to us there is but one God, the Creator of the world and the Father of our spirits, literally begotten. He was once a man of some world and attained his high position by succes- sive degrees. " He is the father of Jesus Christ in the only way known in nature, just as John Smith, Senior, is the father of John Smith, Junior." All the gods have many wives and become the fathers of the souls of men by divine generation. The gods are in the exact form of men, of material substance, but highly refined and spir- itualized. A grand council of the^oc?s, with a president direct- ing, constitute the designing and creating power ; but man, if faithful, will advance by degrees till endowed with the same crea- tive power. All faithful Saints will become gods and finally have worlds given them to people and govern. All their earthly wives and children will belong to and constitute the beginning of their heavenly kingdom, and they will rule over their increasing posterity forever. " When the earth was prepared, there came from an upper world a Son of God, with his beloved spouse, and thus a colony from heaven, it may be from the sun, was transplanted on our soil." Joseph Smith is one of the gods of this generation and now occupies a high position next to Christ, who in turn stands next to Adam. Above Adam is Jehovah and above Jehovah is Eloheim, who is the greatest god of whom we have any knowl- edge. His residence is in the planet Kolob, near the centre of our system, which revolves upon its axis once in a thousand years, which are " with the Lord as one day." There were six of our days in the first " creation " of this world, and six of the Lord's days in the great preparation or course of the world, each day lasting a thousand years. There were two of these days to each dispensation. The Patriarchal had two of these days; the Mosaic in like manner a day of rise and a day of de- cline ; the Christian dispensation also had its two days of trial, but, after St. John's death, a great apostasy began, and for eighteen hundred years the so-called Christian world has been in darkness and there has been no true priesthood upon the earth. There have been no visions, revelations pr miraculous 286 POLYGAMY. gifts from the Lord enjoyed among men. The various sects knew something of the truth but not its fullness they had the form of godliness but denied the power. But this time of darkness is nearly completed; the dawn of the Lord's day is here, and the great Sabbath will soon be ush- ered in. But a few more years are given to the Gentiles, then the great contest of Gog and Magog will set in, and nearly all the Gentile world be destroyed. Those who remain will become servants to the Saints, who will return and possess the whole land; the widows will come begging the Mormon elders to marry them, and seven women will lay hold of one man. At the same time the remnant left of the Indians, who are descend- ants of the ancient Jews, will be converted, have the curse re- moved and become "a fair and delightsome people." The way will be opened to the remainder of the " ten lost tribes," who are shut up somewhere near the North Pole ; old Jerusalem will be rebuilt by all the Jews gathering to the Holy Land, and about the year 1890, the new Jerusalem will be let down from God out of heaven and located in Jackson county, Missouri, with the corner-stone of the Great Temple three hundred yards west of the old court-house in Independence, where is to be the capital of Christ's earthly kingdom. The Saints will own all the property of the country, and marry all the women they de- sire; the streets of their city will ta paved with the gold dug by Gentiles from the Rocky Mountains; noxious insects will be banished, contagious diseases cease, the land produce abundantly of grain, flower and fruit, and everything will be lovely in the new Jerusalem ! Leaving the reader to smile or regret, as personal tempera- ment may incline, I hasten to a consideration of the Mormon tenets nominally derived from the Christian Bible. The Mor- mons steadily claim the Bible as the first foundation of their be- lief; that they "believe all that any Christians do, and a great deal more." Their tenets most nearly resembling those of Christian sects, and which they call the " First principles of the gospel," are explained at great length in the " Doctrines and Covenants," the New Testament of Mormonism. This book is (887) 288 POLYGAMY; OK, THE MYSTERIES made up of revelations, "selected (!) from those of Joseph Smith," and the doctrinal lectures of various elders, particularly Sidney Rigdon, with an addition containing the rules and dis- cipline of the church. The " Lectures on faith and repentance '' contain nothing more than is familiar to every attendant on the worship of Arminian sects. Baptism the Mormons regard as " a saving ordinance," of actual and material value ; and to such an extent do they carry this doctrine, that they baptize again and again, after every backsliding, and sometimes when there has been a period of " general coldness " in the church. At th'e time known in Mormon annals as the " Reformation," every adult member of the church was re-baptized. Nearly all the old members have been baptized two or three times each, and Brig- ham Young, in one of his sermons, mentions an old reprobate who had been baptized no less than twelve times, and " cut off thirteen times for lying." Brigham himself, who was then much addicted to liquor, seems to have fallen under the power of his enemy soon after uniting with the church, thus rendering re-baptism necessary ; and a quiet joke is current among the less reverent Saints, to the effect that a noted Jew, named Seixas, then connected with the Mormons, jocosely proposed to " leave him in over night." But the tenet as to the spirit opens to view the whole of their divergence from Christian sects. The prime principle in their faith which marks this departure is, that the office of the Holy Ghost had been unknown on earth from the death of the last apostle to the calling of Joseph Smith ; that the mystic power mentioned by St. John had warred with the Saints and over- come them ; that the true priesthood was then taken from the earth, and men, blindly seeking the truth, divided into six hundred and sixty-six" sects, " the number of the beast," each having a little truth, but none holding it in purity. Joseph Smith, earnestly calling upon the Lord to know which of the sects was in the right, was told that all were alike gone astray, and was himself ordained by heavenly messengers, first to the Aaronic and afterwards to the Melchisedec priest- hood. Thenceforth the Holy Ghost was to be given to all true AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 289 believers ; the " witness of the spirit " was to be an absolute certainty, and all who had truly embraced the new gospel were " to know for themselves, and without a shadow of doubt," that it was true. How strange and yet how natural, this constant seeking by man for certainty as to the affairs of the unseen world ! Hundreds of times I have listened to the testimony of individual Mormons: "You believe you are right I know this religion is true. We have a witness no other people can have the gift of the Holy Ghost. In the old churches we always had our doubts; now we know the correctness of this doctrine." Thus for a season. But man was not made for such abso- lutism ; it is folly to seek a perfect certainty in that which is from its very nature intangible and uncertain, and it will often be found that the wildest and most unreasoning faith has the most obstinate devotees. It is sufficient comment upon the above " testimony," to state the facts that no church ever organized has developed so many factions in so short a time as Mormon- ism ; that the original organization has, from time to time, given rise to twenty-five sects, of which half a dozen are still in ex- istence ; and that of all who have ever embraced Mormonism, over seventy per cent, have apostatized. At the same time with the Holy Ghost, all the "gifts" of the first church were to be restored : prophecy, healing, miracles, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues were to accompany the new gospel and be its powerful witnesses among men. Hence all the miracles which have followed the Latter- day work. The Mormons are fond of quoting that text where all power is given to the church, and the enumeration of gifts with the statement, " These signs shall follow them that be- lieve." They then triumphantly exclaim, " Where is the pro- fessed Christian church which has, or even claims these gifts? We have them in their fullness, and this is our testimony that we are truly of the Lord." As far as human testimony can prove anything on such a subject, they prove numerous " miracles" in the way of healing various ailments; but I have been satisfied of the truth of none that cannot be readily ac- counted for from the effects of a fervent and fooling faith. The 19 290 POLYGAMY. most common miracle is the cure of rheumatism and neuralgia by "laying on of hands" and anointing with holy oil. The general rule of the church is to send for the nearest elders and bishops as soon as a Saint is taken sick ; they lay on hands and anoint the patient with consecrated oil, rubbing it briskly on the parts most affected. If the patient grows worse, other digni- taries are sent for, more vigorous prayers are offered up. and strenuous efforts made to arouse the healing virtue; but gen- erally a physician is the last resort, a religious prejudice pre- vailing to some extent against the profession. A resident physician of Salt Lake City informed me that he was once called to see a woman in labor, who had been suffering for twenty-four hours, and was literally "greased from head to foot with the consecrated oil." It proved to be a very simple and by no means unusual case, which he relieved in a few minutes, at the very time the attendant women were emptying a large horn of consecrated oil upon the patient's head; the relief was followed by loud praises of the efficacy of the holy oil, and the woman is now a firm witness of the miracle. " Speaking in tongues " is not, as one would naturally sup- pose, the gift of speech in the vernacular of various nations, such as attended the pentecostal season. That would be alto- gether too linguistic and practical for these latter days. It consists merely of uttering a rapid succession of articulate and connected sounds, not understood by the speaker himself, but which are explained by some one having the "interpretation of tongues." The mode is for the person who thinks himself en- dowed with this gift to " stand up, call upon the Lord in silent prayer for a few moments, then open the mouth and utter whatever words come to hand, anfl the Lord will make them a language." An interpreter will then be provided and the hidden meaning made plain ; but no person ever has both gifts. This gift prevailed to a surprising extent among the Irving- ites and other fanatical sects in England, and was there charitably attributed to an abnormal condition of the organs of language ; but here is more naturally accounted for either by " THE HOLY OIL BELIEVES HER." (291) 292 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES imposture or the effects of a wild fanaticism. I heard it but once, and then merely repeated by a devoted Mormon as he had heard the " gifted " deliver it, and, in a philological in- quiry, I should pronounce it a cognate branch of that "dog- latin " which belongs to the erudition of schoolboy days. This exercise is a little too ridiculous, even for the Mormons at present, and is rarely heard of; but in the early years of their church it was a frequent occurrence, whole days of " speaking meetings " being devoted to it. An old apostate, who was in the church at Nauvoo, tells me of having been present at one of those meetings where the first doubts began to arise in his mind in regard to his new faith. Having formerly been a trader among the Choctaws, he suddenly arose and delivered a lengthy speech on hunting in the language of that tribe, which the interpreter rendered into a glowing and florid account of the glories to result from the completion of the Great Temple, then in progress. Lieutenant Gunnison, in his admirable work, gives an account of one lad who had become so noted in the "interpretation of tongues" that he was generally called upon by the elders in the most difficult cases, and seems to have felt under obligation to give some sort of rendering and meaning to any speech, however crude or whimsical. On one occasion a woman, with the " gifts of tongues,' 7 suddenly rose in the meet- ing and shouted, "0 mela, mdi, melee!" The boy was at once pressed for an interpretation, and promptly gave the rendition, "O my leg, my thigh, my knee!" He was cited before the Council for his profanity, but stoutly maintained that his in- terpretation was "according to the spirit," and was released with an admonition. Miss Eliza Snow, the Mormon poetess, was particularly " gifted " in tongues ; and, according to the account of young Mormons, now apostatized, she was accustomed often, during their early journeyings, to rush into the dwelling of some other woman, exclaiming, "Sister, I want to bless you!" lay her hands upon the other's head, and pour forth a strain of con- fused jargon, which was supposed to be a blessing in the " unknown tongue." Such are the various " gifts," and to a AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 293 people less blinded by fanaticism, their practical effects among the Mormons would be sufficient to disprove the claim for their divine origin. To mention but one: it is evident to any intel- ligent observer that numerous deaths occur in Utah simply from a disregard of hygienic laws and a lack of proper medical treatment, with a blind reliance upon treatment by faith ; and, notwithstanding their splendid climate, the death-rate of the Mormons is unusually large from those very classes of dis- ease for which any intelligent physician can afford immediate relief. So much for their theology as it relates to earth ; I have not been able to discover the exact source of their ideas of heaven. They hold that there are three heavens : the celestial, terrestrial and telestial, typified by the sun, moon and stars. The last two are for those who have neither obeyed nor disobeyed the gospel ; some because they did not hear it, others from " invin- cible ignorance," and still others because they were morally hindered in various ways. To one or the other of these heavens all sincere people, of whatever race or creed, who have never heard the gospel, but followed the light they had, will be ad- mitted, and there enjoy as much happiness as they are capable of. But if they have once heard the true gospel and refused to obey it, have persecuted the Saints or apostatized and lost the spirit of God, " this testimony will go with them through all eternity, and they can never enter a rest." Their final destiny, however, is not revealed to mortals. Woman, in and of her- self, could never progress to the highest place, "As Eve led Adam out of the garden, he must lead her back." If she wil- fully remain single and slight the great duty imposed upon her, she is useless in the economy of creation, and therefore is con- demned. But many special provisions are made for the really worthy of both sexes, by which the living may vicariously atone for the dead who never heard the gospel. Baptism for the dead, and marriage for the dead, are chief among these means. The former they found upon St. Paul's writings, and under its provisions the Saint is often baptized for some relative who died many years before in Europe, or for some eminent person- 294 POLYGAMY, age. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are thus vicariously members of the Mormon Church. The celestial heaven is theirs only who have both heard and obeyed the Gospel. In that happy state they enjoy all that made this life desirable ; they eat, drink, and are merry ; they are solaced by the embraces of their earthly wives, and many more will be given them ; all material enjoyments will be free from the defects of earth, and pleasures will never pall. In time the most faithful will become gods. "They will ever look upon the elements as their home; hence the elements will ever keep pace with them in all the degrees of progressive refinement, while room is found in infinite space: "While there are particles of unorganized element in nature's store- house: "While the trees of paradise yield their fruits, or the foun- tain of life its river: "While the bosoms of the gods glow with affection. While eternal charity endures, or eternity itself rolls its successive ages, the heavens will multiply, and new worlds and more people be added to the kingdom of the Fathers." But there is still another class of persons who do not quite live up to their privileges, and yet deserve a salvation. Un- married men and women, and those guilty of various derelic- tions make up this class. They will never progress, but be angds merely; messengers and servants to those worthy of greater glory; and "bachelor angels" only, with 110 families, and compelled to go through eternity without a mate. And this brings me to the last of the five heads of my text : V. A plurality of wives, on which I need add but little, and that as to theory merely ; I have given an account of it practi- cally, and the history of Morraonism is largely a history of polygamy. The crude doctrines of "sexual resurrection," "progress in eternity," "generation of spirits," and marriage of the gods all interlock with the doctrine of polygamy ; and it is curious how captivating a veil of religious fancy may be thrown over an institution naturally and inherently vile. Gross forms A DISCONSOLATE PLURAL WIFE. (295) 296 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES of religious error seem almost invariably to lead to sensuality, to some singular perversion of the marriage relation or the sexual instinct ; probably because the same constitution of mind and temperament which gives rise to the one, powerfully predisposes toward the other. The fanatic is of logical necessity either an ascetic or a sensualist ; healthy moderation is foreign alike to his speculative faith and social practice. He either gives full rein to his baser propensities under the specious name of "Christian liberty," or with a little more conscientiousness, swings to the opposite extreme and forbids those innocent grat- ifications prompted by nature and permitted by God. Of the former class are the Mormons, Noyseites of Oneida, the Anti- nomians, and the followers of John of Leyden ; of the latter the Shakers, Harmonists, monks, and nuns, and a score of orders of celibate priests. The Mormons are particular to declare that they never would have practiced polygamy, except in accordance with an express revelation from God; and though they occasionally defend it on various physiological and scriptural grounds, they always fall back upon the express command: given July 12, 1843. Though polygamy was in fact practised long before that date, their present defense begins there. The revelation is too long to quote entire, and I give simply the main heads : 1. It opens with this remarkable statement, the Lord repre- sented as speaking: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired at ray hand to know wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; as also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines; behold, and lo, I am the Lord and will answer thee as touching this matter," etc. It will not escape notice, that as here stated Joseph had asked the Lord about the matter. We cannot but wonder whether it would have been revealed at all, without this preliminary ques- tioning. Many good Mormons think it would not, and Mormon ladies have frequently expressed a pious regret that the Prophet AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 297 ever asked about it! The section concludes by denouncing damnation upon all who reject the new gospel. 2. This section states that, "All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations that are not made and entered into, and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise of him who is anointed," are void in eternity, and only good for this world. It sets forth also with great verbosity of language, that "God's house is a house of order." 3. The same principle is applied to the marriage covenant, stating that all who are not married, "and sealed according to the new and everlasting covenant," are married for this world only, and shall not be entitled to their respective partners in eternity, but shall continue "angels only, and not gods, kept as ministers to those who are worthy of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 4. Description of the future glory of those who keep the new covenant: "Then shall they be gods because they have no end; there they shall be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them" 5. To such are forgiven all manner of crimes, except murder, "wherein they shed innocent blood," and blasphemy against the Holy .Ghost. Apostasy, be it noted, is the worst form of the latter sin. 6. This section explains the cases of Abraham and other ancient polygamists at great length, concluding by citing David as an example of how men lose their "exaltation" by abusing their privileges : " In none of these things did he sin against me, save in the case of Uriah and his wife, and, therefore, tie hath fallen from his exaltation and received his position; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord." 7. Great power is conferred upon Joseph Smith to regulate all such celestial marriages, punish for adultery, and take away the wives of the guilty and give them to good men. 298 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES 8. This section gives very full and explicit instructions to Emma Smith, wife of Joseph, how to conduct herself under any the the new dispensation ; that she "receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, who are virtuous and pure before me/' and threaten- ing her with destruction if she do not. 9. The revelation changes abruptly and gives Joseph Smith full directions how to manage his property ; particu- lary "let not my servant Jo- seph put his property out of his hands, lest an enemy come and destroy him," and threatening severely all who injure him. The reader familiar^ with the old Revised Statutes of Il- linois, would be surprised to find the "Lord" talking so much like a Justice of the Peace. 10. The revelation comes, at last, to the gist of the matter and grants plurality of wives, in these words: And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood : If man espouse a virgin and desires to espouse another, and first give her consent ; and if he espouse the second, and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 299 they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified ; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him ; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to none else ; and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery for they belong to him and are given unto him ; therefore is he justified. They are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world ; and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men ; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified." 11. Heavy punishment is threatened to all women who re- fuse, without good cause, to give their husbands second wives; concluding as follows : "And now, as pertaining unto this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you here- after ; therefore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen." Such is the revelation. Space fails me to note all its contra- dictions and absurdities. One, however, is worthy of special re- mark. In the eighth section Emma Smith is commanded to re- ceive lovingly " all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph." The past tense is used. Thus the first revelation authorizing polygamy implies that Joseph had already prac- tised it. Stranger still, polygamy is expressly forbidden by the "Book of Mormon." In the third book and second chapter of that work, the angel messenger is represented as saying to the Nephites : " But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For this people begin to wax in iniquity ; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things that were written concerning David and Solomon, his son. They, truly, had many wives and concubines which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord, wherefore, hearken unto the word of the Lord, for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife, and con- cubines he shall have none, for I, the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity of women." 300 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES It has exhausted all the ingenuity of Mormon writers to re- concile this passage with the new revelation, but they succeed in doing so sufficiently to satisfy their consciences. The Mormon history relates that when the full force of the new covenant was perceived the Prophet was filled with astonishment and dread. All the traditions of his early education were overthrown, and yet he felt that it was the work of the Lord. In vain he sought to be released from the burden of communicating the new doc- trine to the world, and at length obtained permission to keep it secret from all but the chief men. When the hour drew near for him to announce it to his council, fear overcame him, and mounting his horse he fled from the city ; but a mighty angel met him in the way, and menacing him with a flaming sword, commanded his return. His account does not complete the parody : apparently his eyesight was better than Balaam's, and his horse was not favored as was Balaam's ass. Perhaps the explanation is to be found in a set of phrenological charts, of the various Mormon leaders at Nauvoo, taken by a prominent pro- fessor. In the chart of Joseph Smith's head, in a scale running from one to twelve, " amativeness," or sexual passion, is re- corded at eleven ; while that of Bennet, his " right hand man," is set down at " ten very full ! " In the propensity which these are held to indicate, was the real origin of polygamy. For nine years after the date of the revelation all Mormon writers and preachers vehemently, even profanely, denied the existence of polygamy ; and now consider it a good joke that they fooled the Gentiles, especially President Fill more. It took a long while to hammer the new doctrine into shape ; but the doctrine of baptism for the dead was easily extended to mar- riage for the dead, and many Mormons have " wives for eter- nity," on whom they have no claims in this world. People outside of the Mormon church and unfamiliar with its teaching, can form no idea of the immense difficulties encountered by the apostolic polemics in reconciling the Scriptures with the revela- tion. If the average Gentile were asked the blunt question : " Does the Bible forbid polygamy ? " he would at first be at a loss to show that it does. But when he studies it thoroughly AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 301 with an eye to that point, he will be amazed to find how much there is in it which raises a strong presumption against the sys- tem, and how much is utterly irreconcilable with the Mormon doctrine that no unmarrie*d man can be exalted in eternity, and that one's heavenly kingdom depends on the size of his family. And, most singular of all, these points have been most clearly brought out, and the strongest argument against polygamy made by the sons of Joseph Smith and their followers the Josephite or monogamous Mormons. Among their strong points are these : The Bible gives a circumstantial account of some three hun- dred worthies, priests, prophets, kings and patriarchs, of whom only thirteen were polygaraists, and a large number had not even one wife. The Bible often lays stress on the fact indeed, the writer seems to frequently go out of his way to specify that such a one had but one wife or none. In no case whatever is there a specific call of a polygamist to a specific work, except, possibly, in the cases of David and Solomon ; and at the five great epochs, so to speak, the central figure was a monogamist. Thus : God started the human race with Adam and one wife ; preserved the race by Noah and three sons, with one wife each, drowning all the polygamists ; fixed the divine succession in Isaac and his one wife, rejecting the po- lygamist; brought out, ruled and formed the Jews into a nation by the one-wifed Moses, and finally sent a Saviour who, though a man and a citizen in all else, took no wife. In every case of polygamy the record carefully states that it led directly to a quarrel, and often to murder and idolatry ; and a harmonious polygamous family is nowhere mentioned. Wit- ness Sarah and Hagar ; Jacob's wives and children ; the Levites' idolatrous wives; David's quarreling children, and Solomon's apostasy. As to Abraham, the Josephites say he had but one wife at a time ; Sarah died before he took Keturah, and he never mar- ried Hagar. The Lord had nothing to do with that affair ; the record explicitly states that it was all the work of Sarah, who tried to help the Lord keep his promise about the son ; that she 802 POLYGAMY. got angry at her success, reproached Abraham, and drove away Hagar ; that the Lord in express terms rejected the illegitimate son, in spite of Abraham's prayers, would not allow him to be called an heir, and stigmatized him *as the son of the bond- woman. As to Jacob, he was tricked into polygamy by a heathen father-in-law, and the number of children given shows plainly that his sons did not generally go into the practice. As the Hebrews in the wilderness had 600,000 fighting men, and no excess of women and children, one of two conclusions must be accepted : either there was but one wife for one man, or able- bodied men, with arms in their hands and without being so commanded, voluntarily surrendered their rights to allow a few chief men to maintain harems ! Every enumeration shows there were as many men as women, and after the Mosaic law as to sexual relations was adopted, it was morally, or rather phy- siologically, certain that many more boys would be born than girls (Leviticus xv.) Even among those modern Jews who ob- serve that law, there is a vast excess of male births. To sup- pose that among such a people polygamy was anything more than a very rare exception is to reason against the nature of things. The facts are conclusive that only a few kings and leaders followed the Oriental custom, and took wives according to their rank ; and the probability is great that there never were at one time a hundred polygamous husbands in all Israel. I have cited but a few of many telling points the Josephites make from the Bible; but as to the revelation of 1843, they literally riddle it with logic and sarcasm. They point out that it speaks of Isaac and Moses as polygamists, when both were in fact monogamists ; that it says God "justified " David and Solo- mon, while the Book of Mormon says they committed an abomination ; that it contradicts all the old standard authorities of Mormonism, and never was brought to light till nine years after its assumed date, and the alleged author's death ! The Gentile reader can hardly appreciate the fierce interest of the rival sects in this debate ; but it is the very irony of fate that the hardest blows at Utah polygamy should have been given by the sons of Joseph Smith. AN ENGLISH WOMAN'S FIBST KNOWLEDGE OF POLYGAMY. #04 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES The Brighamites affect to treat all this with contempt, hut it evidently worries them a great deal, and I know not how many thousand sermons have been preached in Utah to reconcile the contradictions. At first I listened to them with much interest, but soon grew weary of the ceaseless flow of twaddle. Orson Hyde took for his specialty the case of Christ, and proved to his own satisfaction that the Saviour had five wives, including Martha and Mary. The following from Hyde's sermon is as clear as mud : " If at the marriage at Cana of Galilee, Jesus was the bride- groom and took unto him Mary, Martha, and the other Mary whom Jesus loved, it shocks not our nerves. If there were not an attachment and familiarity between our Saviour and these women highly improper, only in the relation of husband and wife, then we have no sense of propriety, or of the characteris- tics of good and refined society. Wisely then was it concealed ; but, when the Saviour poured out his soul unto death, when nailed to the cross, he saw his seed of children, but who shall declare his generation ? " Orson Pratt took up the figures in the Pentateuch, and proved that each head of a family had about a hundred chil- dren ; but afterwards he seemed to get new light (I suspect he had meanwhile read Colenso) and decided that the whole record was mutilated, and we must wait for an inspired translation. Then Brigham travelled meanderingly over the whole ground, and ended with an assertion of his Adam-god theory, as follows : " Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the Gar- den of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken. He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later." AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 305 At a later date, he repudiated the Bible narrative of Crea- tion: "You believe Adam was made of the dust of this earth. This I do not believe. . . You can write that information to the States if you please that I have publicly declared that I do not believe that portion of the Bible as the Christian world do. I never did, and I never want to. Because I have come to understanding, and banished from my mind all the baby- stories my mother taught me when I was a child." One step more was wanted, and the apostle Heber C. Kim- ball took it when he announced that Brigham himself was " God to this people/' For a while this claim was allowed by some; but at last the people kicked against it. And thereafter no new doctrine was added the Mormon canon was full. Amusement and disgust possess us by turns as we pursue these blasphemous speculations in regard to the employment of the gods, or the vain attempt to supply those points of knowl- edge which Infinite Wisdom has left unrevealed. The Mor- mons are Christians in their belief in the New Testament, and the mission of Christ ; Jews in their temporal theocracy, tithing and belief in prophecy ; Mohammedans in regard to the rela- tions of the sexes, and Voudoos or Fetichists, in their witch- craft, good and evil spirits, faith doctoring and superstition. From the Boodhists they have stolen their doctrines of apotheo- sis and development of gods ; from the Greek mythology their loves of the immortals and spirits ; they have blended the ideas of many nations of polytheists, and made the whole consistent by outdoing the materialists. In the labor of harmonizing all this with Christianity, there is scarcely a schism that has ever rent the Christian world, but has furnished some scraps of doc- trine. They are Arians in making Christ a secondary being in the Godhead " the greatest of created things and yet a crea- ture;" they are Manicheans in their division of the universe between good and evil spirits, and something worse in their gross ascription of all human indulgences and enjoyments to the Saviour. Of the modern sects, they have the order of ser- vice, "experience meetings" and " witness of the spirit" of the 20 306 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Methodists; the "first principles " and the universal suffrage of the Christians ; while their views on the " perseverance of the Saints," backsliding and restoration, read like a desperate attempt to combine the doctrines of the Methodists and Cum- berland Presbyterians. Finally, they are Millenarians in their speedy expectation of Christ's earthly reign ; almost Universal- ists in the belief that a very small portion of mankind will finally fail of any heaven ; Spiritualists in their faith that the unseen powers produce special and actual visible effects on earth, though by natural laws, and Communists in their system of public works. But it is in regard to the personality and life of Christ that their ideas seem most strange and blasphe- mous. They hold that He was the literally begotten, that he had five wives while upon earth, and thus actually violated the law under which He lived ; at the same time they vaguely unite the views of Greek and Latin Fathers, holding Him both the Logos and the Aeon, the Mediator and the God-man. The question which for centuries agitated the early church as to the personality of Christ, the homoousian and the homoiousian, the "same substance" or the "similar substance," can have no place in their theology ; they have boldly evaded it by obliterating all distinction, either in form, substance or development, between God and man ; both are alike material and differ only in degree. Met at the outset by the difficulty of comprehending God, they simplified it by making their Deity a "perfected man." The gross familiarity with which the Mormons speak of the Supreme Being, their claim of the office of the Holy Ghost, their polygamy, incest and blood-atonement, are a necessary and logical result of this degrading conception of spiritual things. Xowhere through the long detail of their tenets is purity taught or hinted at. It is all pure selfishness, mere grossness, sexualism deified and the domain of the senses made the empire of the universe. The Being, in whose sight " the heavens are not clean," who " put no trust in His servants and charged His angels with folly," who is far above all taint of earthltness, has no place in such a system. They have de- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 307 graded the human conception of Deity, till He nas become in their minds "altogether such a one as themselves." The heathen philosophers of two thousand years ago, with only the unaided light of reason, were infinitely their superiors; and Plato's Deity is as much more worthy of our adoration than Brigham's, as the loftiest conceptions of a refined and virtuous philosopher are above the impure imaginations of a sensualist CHAPTER XV, MORMON SOCIETY. /* supposition Collection of the queer ones A few sharp managersThe unfortunate and criminal " Sydney Coves " " Hickory Mormons" Broad humor Poetesses, as it were A rich field for satire The badly tithed victim Lying for one's religion. Do you know, thoughtful reader, a man in your neighbor- hood whose intellect is wholly given up to prying and supposi- tion as to unseen things : a good carpenter or skillful farmer, perhaps, not a bad neighbor in a general way, but prone to the outre alike in art, science, mechanics, medicine and religion? He is a man who progresses with wonderful rapidity just so far, then stops for good and all; the superficial he acquires with ease, and reasons on it with astonishing vigor and plausibility ; but never even by accident gets down to broad general principles. If a mechanic, he is morally certain to spend much time trying to invent a perpetual motion ; if a farmer, no experience will cure him of certain unscientific notions as to stock, crops and weather ; if he reads medicine, he is apt to fancy that there is some wonderful elixir that will " restore lost manhood," and that away off in the wilderness, back of a rock or in the woods in a wigwam, there is an "Injin doctor" who has compounded out of roots and herbs an infallible cure for consumption. He plants according to the moon, digs when the " sign " is right, slaughters his stock in the light of the moon, and is positive government could create cheap capital by some financial sleight- of-hand. If somewhat spiritually inclined, he reads Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation; the "wheels within wheels" whirl before his dazed fancy, and the beast with seven heads and ten horns gallops recklessly through his riotous imagination. He AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 309 tells his dreams; he is often " warned;" would not have a hoe or ax carried through the chamber of his gravid wife for any money, and can foretell the sex of the next baby by the wrinkles on the hips of the last one. If you do know such a man and of course you do; for there is at least one such in every township in the country then imagine fifty thousand such, swept by a wind of fanaticism into one Territory, each aggravating the other's infirmity, and with a hundred swindling Yankees to manage them, and you will have the basis of Utah society. Of course the moral and social conduct of such people depends almost entirely on the hands into which they fall ; the mass is wax, which a skillful hand can mould into a thing of beauty, or harden into a missile to knock your brains out. Hence the curious contradictions one may find in Utah : in one settlement the people are so pleasant and hospitable as to leave nothing to be desired ; in the next they are cross, contentious and in a petty way dishonest. And the whole difference may depend on the character of the bishop, or the bent given the settlement at the start by a few leading men. But these constitute only the basis ; there are other classes, some of whom have occupied a most unenviable position. There were the middle class English elders, men who had been Chartists or extreme Liberals in England, and hoped to realize the brotherhood of man in the Rocky mountains. There were a few ladies of real refinement and deep spirituality, who un- happily fell into the delusion from hearing it presented just at the time they were seeking rest to their souls. There were a* few who took up Mormonism from mere soul-weariness, and many from mere restlessness and love of adventure. To these must be added a class of blacker record : " Sydney Coves," so- called, who came from England to Utah by way of Australia or Van Diemen's land. Also a few of the many desperadoes who adhered to the Saints in Illinois followed them to Utah. Some business and professional men went into the church for mere convenience. And at the bottom of the list is that vilest, most loathed, most detestable of all created things the Mor- mon spy. 310 POLYGAMY. I wish the English language contained some suitable term to describe this creature. Suffice it to say that all we know of eavesdroppers in the States, or dishonest detectives in the cities, and all we read of the dark intrigues of old Italian courts or Spanish Jesuits, give but a hint at the deep damnation of his treachery. I am well aware that all governments must occa- sionally accept vile services and employ men whom gentlemen could not associate with ; but neither in morals nor politics is there any excuse for the tricks which have been, and probably still are, practiced by the Salt Lake police and their underlings. It seems that nothing is too low for them. I have known one to crawl along the garden rows to catch the conversation of an apostate. I have heard one testify to the performance of most indecent acts, to induce a party to violate a city ordinance, in order to trap him. And one gentleman says that in the broad light of day, by mere accident, he routed one out of a sugar hogshead in which he was concealed. Like almost every evil, however, this has its ludicrous fea- tures; and more than once during my residence in Utah, the Gentiles were amused at the overthrow of some pretentious fellow whom we felt to be no honor to us. The " masher " is not unknown even in the Rocky mountains ; and there is prob- ably no place in America where that character pays for his folly so surely and heavily as in Utah. The Mormons claim that their penalty for illicit love is death. It may be so in rare in- stances, especially where the guilty man is one whose death is desired anyhow; and there was a time long ago when their fanaticism led them to inflict the penalty on mere suspicion. In those dark days a flirtation with a Mormon girl was like eating honey off the edge of a bowie-knife. But even at that day the man of means, and not specially obnoxious, could buy out, but at great price. Mary Ettie Smith, in her " Fifteen Years Among the Mormons," gives an amusing account of such a case in which she acted as "decoy," which old Saints say is literally true. In 1869 there was in Salt Lake a restaurateur whom we may call Jones, a sort of mauvais sujet in morals, and very impatient under advice, who succumbed to the wiles of one 312 POLYGAMY. " Brimhall " so-called, whether it was her real name or not then a new decoy and not suspecte. The denouement was a comedy : a scream, a rush, and the convenient police soon had Mr. Jones in custody on charge of " attempt." He was terribly frightened did not consider his chances for life worth a nickel. But the Mormons knew to a dollar how much he had ; his bail was placed at $1,100, and by selling all he owned he raised and deposited the amount. Once at liberty, the convenient "father" came after him with a shot-gun ; Jones fled, and next day his bail was declared forfeit, and without recourse. He walked to the Nevada mines, dependent on miners' charity for food. These are given only as specimen cases. While Jeter Clin- ton was City Magistrate of Salt Lake, this "milking the Gen- tiles," as it was called, was carried to extraordinary lengths; and of course men who would do that sort of thing would not hesitate at blacker crimes. These tools of theocracy are men who have been unfortunate or criminal elsewhere, and fled to Mormonism for a refuge. Broken-down merchants, profes- sional men without character, and the "bilks" and "dead beats" of other communities generally, who have been deceived by the representations of progress there, and expected to better themselves by casting their fortunes with a rising sect. And from this class have originated many of the Mormon troubles, in times past. They often become dissatisfied and turbulent, and often apostatize, but have too little fixedness of sentiment, and too much dullness of moral perception to be of any value to either side. Some of them seek easy positions under the hierarchy; others, more desperate, sink lower, and become the mere tools of the leaders to do all their dirty and infamous work. Mutual guilt then makes them mutual spies, and con- scious that their lives are in the power of their masters, they live as guilty and miserable slaves, with the assured knowledge that, at the slightest disloyal move, their lives will pay the for- feit. More than one of this class have met with a bloody death, from the simple fact that they knew too much, as abundantly proved. 314 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Another and a rather hopeless class in Utah consists of those who became Mormons sincerely, but from slight or insufficient motives. They united with the sect, with as much sincerity as they were capable of, but with no clear understanding of what was before them. Before embracing Mormonism, they were generally afloat on religious subjects, or dissatisfied with what they saw in their own churches, and had fallen into the dan- gerous habit of suspecting all men of hypocrisy. I have met dozens of this class who have been "lobby members" of the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and "Campbellite" Churches; that weak, feeble class of Christians who expect the Church to pick them up and carry them to heaven, carefully lifting them over the rough places in the road, and removing every annoy- ing doubt which will rise in an idle or vapid brain. I have heard them speak of their churches as "stationary," or "sleepy," never dreaming that the fault was in themselves. They were the weak, discontented disciples, without the fierce vigor and aggressive spirit of the true Church ; not having learned the first principle of Christianity to be zealous, unselfish labor. In this state of mind their attention is caught and fancy capti- vated by the claim of a new revelation, of holding direct com- munion with heaven, of walking every day in new lighi received from without ; and also at thought of a distinctively American religion, with saints, apostles, prophets and martyrs, all of our own race and time. This class are very enthusiastic on first reaching the new Zion, but often grow discontented, and fall again into their doubting and querulous habits. But as they did not think their way into Mormonism, they cannot think themselves out, and so they simply float. Sometimes they apostatize, but are no loss to the Church and no gain to the Gentiles, from pure lack of intellectual vigor. But there are enough, after deducting all the hypocrites, who really believe in Mormonism with all its absurdities and con- tradictions. They never doubt for a moment, that Joseph Smith was sent direct from God, and that Brigham Young was his successor. This class comprises about half of the whole community, and they are the really dangerous element. Nt AND CRIME* OF MOKMONI8M. 315 miraculous story is too great for their belief, if it have the tamp of "authority," and no oppression or priestly tyranny seems to shake their faith for a moment ; and, paradoxical as it may seem, in this class are found all the virtues of the Mormon community. They are industrious, frugal (often from neces- sity), and reasonably temperate. Their honesty, I think, has been overrated, and Brigham and other leaders have often said the same. Yet, one may travel among them for weeks, as 1 have done, and meet with nothing but kindness and hospitality. But in their very virtues lies the greatest danger. Their constancy to their leaders is wonderful, and their gullibility and capacity to swallow the marvelous beyond belief; so they constitute a mass of dangerous power in the hands of corrupt and treasonable men. These are the men we ought to reach and try to save, and yet they are the very ones who are hardest to influence. They will not read our books or papers (very many of them cannot), nor listen for a moment to our argu- ments. They denounce everything which is not approved by the bishop, and pronounce the plainest facts of history false, if they clash with the statements of "authority." Conversing once with one such, I read the following passage from the "Book of Mormon:" "We found upon the land of promise (Central America), that there were beasts in the forest of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men." "Now," said I, "your Prophet says the Nephites landed in America six hundred years before Christ, and the last of them perished about A. D. 400, and all this time they had used the horse and the ass. Now, any history of America will show that the horse was completely unknown to the Indians till brought here by the Spaniards." " O, pshaw ! " was the reply, " I don't believe a word of it ; it's a d d lie, got up by some enemy of the truth." " But could the Nephites have had these animals, and no trace of them be found?" "I don't believe any man knows anything about it," said he; 44 you examine and you will find many of the so-called facto of 316 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES history are not facts. You may read every history written, and pick out every fact against that book (Mormon), and when you look into it you will find them all false." This was the mode of reasoning adopted by a man of extra intelligence for a Mormon. I have talked with dozens of this sort, and no matter how clear on everything else, they seem to go wild in their logic when Mormonism is touched upon. " Do you actually believe," I asked an old lady, "that the earthly paradise will be in Jackson county, Missouri?" "Oh, yes," she said, " for the Lord pointed out the exact place to Joseph, and said that Zion should never be moved, and all the people of America who do not repent will be destroyed now in a few years, so there will be but one man for seven women. Those are the very words, and everything Joseph and Isaiah (!) said has turned out just exactly as they said it would." Such are the ideas impressed upon the minds of these people. Numbers of them testify in the most positive manner to mirac- ulous cures performed upon themselves or their friends, sim- ply by the "laying on of hands" by an elder or bishop. They devoutly believe that Stephen A. Douglas failed politically, because he urged vigorous action against the Mormons, and that the war of 1861-65 was a punishment for persecution of the Saints. At Brigham's command they would have fought the world, or given up all they had and gone to another coun- try. But fortunately man is mortal; most of these fanatics are old ; and as they die, younger and more liberal men take their places. And as to the foreign-born Saints, it is an im- portant question how they feel towards our government. It must be remembered that most of them are of the lowest and most ignorant class ; that they came direct from Europe to Utah, and know absolutely nothing of the States and their people; that they merely have Mormonism grafted on to Europeanism, and cannot be expected to become nationalized like their countrymen who settle in the East. Whatever dis- tinctively American feeling they have must, then, be looked for in the influences there and the teachings of the Church. Those influences and teachings are all anti-American. Mor- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 317 monism consists of a union of Church and State, and a body of doctrines utterly hostile to republicanism. Submission to a priesthood in everything, the degradation of woman, the use of a marked ballot, the denial of ordinary po- litical privileges and the claim that there should be no political parties : these must make the mass of the people thoroughly non-American in spite of naturalization and oaths of allegiance. All the ordinary rights of woman under American law are de- nied as far as the Territorial government can do it, and the lit- tle that is now conceded is merely the result of ten years' pounding by the Gentile minority. In brief, what we call Americanism is anti-Mormon. It exists neither in their birth, training nor religion. To them the church is the government, and Utah is America. They know no other, and consider it the height of presumption for the United States authorities to claim the right to rule over them. True, they claim to be true Americans, just as the Abyssinians claim to be true Christians, while it is evident neither understand their own words. But the Mormons have been settled in Utah fifty-seven years ; children born there have grown and married, and now have children nearing maturity, and these I find it hard to clas- sify. They are certainly not Europeans, still less Americans ; they are simply Utah Territorians. They call themselves Mor- mons, but I never found one an earnest believer in the doctrines. They are one and all infidels : about equally divided, as far as % they think at all, into materialists and spiritualists. They are even of a distinct physical type; Mormon institutions and habits of life have developed a new variety of the human race. Their language is English, their build ultra-American that is, long and thin ; they are generally light-haired and blue-eyed, with the habits of frontiersmen. As to any crime of recent occurrence they are as ready as anybody to assist the officials ; as to any inquiry into the old-time church murders they are one with the elders the whole community presents a united opposi- tion to the enforcement of law. John D. Lee found as warm friends among them as among their parents ; and in his lonely journeys over the mountains, between his retreat and the 318 POLYGAMY. Sevier settlements, he often had to thank some " hickory " Mormon for warning and guidance. Their property interests are one with the old folks ; they have been reared under an ec- clesiastical despotism ; their parental traditions are of Old World monarchies and established churches, and they have no experience of a real American society how should they have democratic ideas? There are no free schools in Utah, and no organized systems of instruction ; nevertheless the social and intellectual condition of the people is far superior to what it was twenty or even five years ago. There is still a prejudice against the learned profes- sions, particularly medicine; and a general feeling that the Saints are above the necessity of such knowledge which idea was summed up by Brigham Young in these words: "Study twenty years in the world's knowledge, and God Almighty will give the poorest Saint more knowledge in five minutes than you get in all that time." In this social view, it were an endless task to mention all the thousand forms of popular error, the belief in witchcraft, dreams, evestraj ghostly fancies and " faith-doc- toring " which prevail among them ; but it is worthy of remark that there is certainly no other place in America where retro- grade ideas, as they might be called, prevail so extensively as in Utah. Nine-tenths of the Saints seem to have taken up one common wail about everything outside of Utah. Whether it is to persuade themselves that they are really better than other men, or to console themselves at the thought of others' misery, it seems to be their meat and drink to blacken the character of the rest of mankind. They take up the wailing jeremiad that there is so much more crime in the country than formerly; that people generally are so much more dishonest; that there are so few virtuous women; that the country is rapidly going to decay; that religion has lost its power; that all political action is wrong, slavery ought never to have been abolished, and nothing should have been done as it has been for the last twenty-five years. To quote history or statistics to the contrary would be no proof at all to them ; they regard all such as " Gentile lies." And thus, in the supreme belief that they alone are " in the ark (319) 320 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES of safety," they confidently wait for the " great tribulation " which is now about due ; while thousands of them still expect to live to see the time when the American nation shall be a thing of the past, and Macaulay's New Zealander shall "sit on London Bridge and muse on the decline and fall of the British Empire." And yet amid all these discouraging surroundings the flower of genius has bloomed, and several young Territorians have de- veloped decided ability. Among them are: one musician of decided powers, two lawyers of good standing, an artist of taste, actors of rising fame, at least one poetic genius, and a few ac- complished scholars. Miss Sarah Carmichael, the " Salt Lake poetess," was not a native Territorian, but reared from infancy among the Mormons, and in circumstances one would have thought fatal to poetic genius. Her father was the most fanatic of Mormons, a day laborer and in very humble circumstances ; her every movement for something better was thwarted, her every aspiration systematically crushed. But she was born a poetess, and oppression could not make her dumb, though it did make her miserable. Like all true poets, her heart beat warmly for liberty. Alone among the Mormons she sympathized with the war for the Union, and rejoiced greatly at the destruction of slavery. Her monody on the death of Lincoln, written in a venomously disloyal community, and within a few hours after hearing of 'the tragedy, is a poem of singular and mournful beauty. The following is a fair specimen of her minor pieces - "THOUGHTS AT SUNSET. " There's glory in the heavens, There's music in the air, There's grandeur in the ocean, There's beauty everywhere ; Here's beauty in the sunshine, In the shade upon the ground, In the breath of fragrant flowers, There's beauty all around. " There's beauty in the lightning, In its flash across the sky, AND CRIMES OP MOBMONISM. 321 In the majesty of thunder When the storm-king passeth by; There's beauty in the twilight hour In the rosy-tinted West ; There's glory in the golden sun When sinking to his rest. " There's beauty in the face divine Of every one we love ; And peaceful is the dying hour When all is light above." Among her longer pieces the " Legend of Paul Casawayne ? shows great creative genius, and has a strangely musical versifi- cation ; and the " Origin of Gold " is a remarkably daring con- ception. In the darkest hour of the civil war Miss Carmichael threw off all allegiance to Mormonism and came out as a con- tributor to the Vidette the loyal paper of the Territory, estab- lished by General P. E. Conner. Thereupon Miss Eliza R. Snow, " proxy " wife of Brigham and Mormon poetess, filled two columns of the Deseret News with a poetic exhortation headed, " Come back, come back, thou wandering star ! " To this Miss Carmichael responded with a shorter, somewhat sar- castic poem which is startling even to the most liberal Gentile by its advanced thought as to the character of the soul and at- tributes of the Almighty. Then Mormondom grew too hot for her, and she was taken out of Utah with a military escort. She married Dr. W. N. Williamson, of Ohio. Miss Eliza R. Snow's poems belong to that middling class which Horace says, " Gods and men despise." They never rise high, and rarely sink low enough to be ridiculous : their style is a dead level of mediocrity. Elder C. W. Penrose has written a few stirring pieces ; but as a rule all the good Mormon poetry consists of tolerably clever parodies. Thus, " The rose that all are praising is not the rose for me " becomes "A Church with- out a prophet is not the Church for me," etc., and the " King of the Cannibal Islands " furnishes a frame on which to run the song, " Come forward and pay up your tithing." Hannah Corn- aby, an English Saintess, who glories in it, polygamy and all 21 322 POLYGAMY. has also gushed extensively on all sorts of Mormon topics. She says in her autobiography that her " highest ambition is to be a faithful Latter-day Saint, and to tell the peace and joy which a knowledge of the gospel has brought to one of its humble followers." And here is a fair specimen from her "sacred poetry/' written when Judge McKean had Brigham under arrest : " Low at Thy feet, oh, Lord of Hosts, we bow, And ask Thee to regard our Prophet now ; Save him, our Father, from those wicked men, As Thou didst Daniel in the lion's den. " Hush Thou the tumult in Thy people's breast, For now they feel how sorely they're oppressed ; He whom we love, our dearest earthly friend, Is made a pris'ner by a human fiend. "The man renowned for deeds of noble worth, Than whom no purer dwells on Thy broad earth Accused of crimes at which the soul revolts, Before a ' ring ' of lying, sensual dolts ! " " Sensuality " is always spoken of by Mormon women as the most horrible thing in the world, and it seems a pity that such gentle natures should be shocked by the charges made against their brethren. Mrs. Cornaby's " True Story " is thoroughly Mormon and spicy enough to interest a Gentile : "An Elder was preaching the Gospel in Wales Without either purse or scrip, And it happened at times that he had to feel Hunger's keen, unwelcome grip. *'One day 'twas past noon he was trav'ling along, Quite uncertain where to dine ; He was weary and faint, but his faith was strong, Nor did he feel to repine. ** His heart raised in prayer, still onward he went, Till a house appeared to view, With signs of much comfort and plenty around. And pmithv attached thereto. THE OLD WIFE GETS THE JEWELRY INTENDED FOR THE YOUNG ONE. (323) 324 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES " Now, a blacksmith's shop is a place of resort, And hither he bent his way ; Very shortly a listening group had met To hear what he had to say. u With truth's own eloquence, the Elder then spoke, And the simple story told, That God, in these great Latter-days, had restored The Gospel as 'twas of old. "He was preaching baptism, repentance for sin, When in came the blacksmith's wife, Full of anger toward this servant of God, Like some spirit bent on strife. Very wisely our Elder kept back the ire 'Twas impossible not to feel, 'Till the blacksmith's wife had expended her words As well as anger and zeal. * ' Now, Madam,' the Elder said, ' I would inquire To what sect you may belong ? ' ' I am a Baptist, sir, and firmly believe All other religions wrong.' "You do not believe in the Testament, then?' ' Why, yes, most truly I do.' ' It seems rather strange, but allow me to ask If you keep its precepts too? *** You called me your enemy only just now, I'm very hungry, indeed, Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, Is the way my Bible reads." M A deafening shout broke from the gathered throng, And loudly they cheer and clap ; * There, now, woman,' the blacksmith laughingly said. ' You're surely caught in a trap.' " My story is told, for the sequel soon proved That Philip Sykes was winner. Without even a murmur, she sat him down To a substantial dinner." This is quite too utterly too-too ; but it is deliciously sugges- tive of the Mormon idea of wit. Mrs. Cornaby's biography is AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 325 a record of wonder arid miracle. She says that she and her husband, in England, were converted to Mormonism by reading a book written in opposition to it. She affirms that no principle of the faith was received by them with so much joy as the " heaven-bom revelation " of polygamy. Her husband does not appear to have felt called upon to put the doctrine in prac- tice, however. If he had, her buoyant muse might have sung in jeremiads. There is a certain rude humor among the Mormons which occasionally develops into real wit in the younger ones ; and a young Mormon has one great advantage over a young American : he has absolutely no reverence for anybody. He can make game of Prophet or President, governor or elder ; and polygamy cer- tainly presents more salient points for wit and ridicule to fasten on than any other institution in America. I had an intimate friend among the "hickory" Mormons whose details of life in the manifold families often convulsed me, especially his spirited narration of a scene in the home of a certain Salt Lake mer- chant whose young wife was a plump and pretty, piquant and black-eyed English girl, while his older one was so hopelessly homely that really her. face must have ached. But my friend insisted that she was not jealous, and loved the old boy with singleness of heart. On a trip for new goods he selected some jewelry for his fair young " cone," and sent it in advance ; but by some blunder in directing, the old lady captured it, and on his arrival literally smothered him with glad caresses. Her transports, her thanks, her kisses, and above all his horror and the favorite's grief, as portrayed by my witty friend, were irre- sistibly funny. There is so much of this sort of thing that I have often wondered some American humorist did not locate at Salt Lake and "do" the whole community. There is an inex- haustible mine of humor, and un worked as yet. There is something ludicrous in the mere suggestion of woman suffrage in a system which does not recognize even the moral development of woman apart from her husband; in the idea of exaltation in eternity dependent on the production of children on earth ; in the claim of liberty and fraternity under 326 POLYGAMY. a system in which the priesthood claim a divine right to u dictate to this people in everything, even to the ribbons the women shall wear and the setting up of the heel of a stocking," and above all in communism of goods for Christ's sake, and tithing labor for the salvation of the soul. Concerning the latter, an old apostate of my acquaintance relates this experi- ence : " When I first came out I was mighty regular in attend- ance, resolved to obey counsel and give all that was asked. Well, first year I had ten mighty fine hogs; so I sent one to the Tithing yard, and butchered the rest. But here come Brig- ham's clerk and tithed the meat I cut up ; then the bishop of this ward insisted on a ' donation/ and right away some destitute im- migrants came in, and nobody had any meat to spare but me, and I had to ante. Last of all the Women's Relief Association insisted on something, and when I got through with them I found I had just about the meat o' one hog left! Well, I felt sort o' cut up over it, and went to Brigham to complain. He heard me and said, * O, well, Brother Vogel, it will happen now and then ; but you can give up that much for the Lord, can't you ? ' Well, I went home and did not say much then, but I thought the ' Lord ' was d n fond o' my pork ! " Utah will eventually cease to be exclusively Mormon, just as Pennsylvania has ceased to be exclusively Quaker; but it will be occupied by a peculiar people for a long, long time to come. The worst evil, probably, in the coming generation will be the result of that tenet of Mormonism that, where the interests of the church were concerned, it was perfectly right to deceive the Gentile. Take naturalization for instance. Many Mormons came up at the terms of the United States District Court in 1870 and '71, and solemnly swore that they were not polyg- amists, and did not intend to become such, forswearing a prime principle of their faith, and undoubtedly committing moral perjury in order to become voters. They openly justify this, and here is their mode of reasoning : " If a man seeks my life, I am right to use any means otherwise unlawful to defend it. The same is true of attacks upon my liberty or personal rights ; that which would otherwise be wrong becomes right in self- BBIGHAM GETS THE PORK. (327) 328 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES defence. The Federal judges have set up an unjust rule to take away my rights as a citizen, and I am justified in any means to defeat their aim. The judge has no right to ask such a ques- tion of the Saints." Thirty years 7 prevalence of such principles must weaken the moral perceptions and soon affect others who come to live among them. Some Jews and Gentiles, too, often think it necessary to descend to the same low level and fight with the same weapons; for, if they do not, they are at a disadvantage. Hence society in general becomes demoralized. The material future of Utah is bright ; of her immediate moral and social future I have serious doubts. She seems destined to universal infidelity. Mormonism dies away ; no other faith takes its place ; the young Saints as soon as they grow up divide into two bodies Spiritualists and infidels and the Territory bids fair to become the common hunting-ground of every ism sug- gested by a heterodox and fertile fancy. Let what may happen, the residence of the Mormons will have left in the country a general uncertainty of ideas and a laxity of moral principle which will not be effaced in less than a generation ; perhaps not even then, or until they learn by dire experience that the way of the transgressor is hard. Religious lying seems to have been reduced to a science, and religious lying is the worst of all lying. Thus it stands in Utah : the Jews lie for gain, the Gen- tiles from association, and the Mormons for Christ's sake. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 329 CHAPTER XVI. MORMON GOVERNMENT. Absolutism An ancient model Three governments in Utah Church offi cials First President First Presidency " The worst man in Utah "- Quorum of Apostles " The Twelve " A dozen men with fifty-two wives President of Seventies Patriarch "A blessing for a dollar" Bishops High Council Judge and jury Ward teachers The confessional Evan- gelists Secret police or " Danites " Civil government only an appendage Excessive power of the Mormon Courts Perversions of law and justice Organic Act defective Federal Judges Their weakness and disgrace Verdicts dictated from the pulpit Probate Judges really appointed by Brigham Young Voting system "Protecting the ballot" The Hooper- McGroarty race Plurality of offices as well as wives Tyranny of the Church The Mormon vs. the American idea The evils of which Gentiles complain. IN government as in doctrine and practice, the Mormons have adopted the most ancient model. But it was not quite possible even for them to entirely ignore the popular element, hence they have pieced out their theocracy with a shred of uni- versal suffrage, proving themselves eclectic in politics as well as theology. There are in Utah three distinct governments: I. The recognized and openly acknowledged ecclesiastical government of the Mormon Church. II. The secret and irresponsible government operated by a few of the leading men. III. The Territorial government, which was for years but the mere convenient machine of the church, and has but lately stood forth in anything like its intended character. 330 POLYGAMY. For the success of such an institution as Mormonism, it was absolutely necessary there should be a recognized priesthood 3 through which channel alone, all commands from heaven should come. If any man who "felt the moving of the Spirit" was at liberty to prophesy, prophets would soon cease to have any honor. It was necessary, too, that this priesthood should bear complete rule, and to this end an ignorant laity was necessary. These conditions have all been filled, and the Mormon Church stands. forth complete as a theocratic absolutism. I present \n the order of their rank, the various officers of the church, and the duties connected with them. i THE FIRST PRESIDENT. This officer stands at the head of all the affairs of the church, temporal and spiritual, financial and priestly ; he alone has the power of " sealing," though in some cases he may delegate it, and he only is acknowledged revelator. This office, first filled by Joseph Smith, was held for thirty years by Brigham Young, who was " Prophet, Priest, Seer, Revelator in all the world, First President and Trustee-in -trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and ex-qfficio the repository of any other needed office or power. John Taylor is the present incumbent. To consider him in all these roles would exceed my space ; his various powers appear more fully in the course of this his- tory. Suffice it to say, that as Prophet, he holds the " keys of the kingdom," and without his permission none can enter the church or be saved; as Revelator, he unfolds to the people the will of God concerning them ; as Seer, he is warned to avoid any danger which may be in the future for him or his people, and, as Priest, he " seals " men and women for eternity. In temporal matters he is equally absolute. As President, he CLA.DET YOUNG AT WEST POINT. 332 POLYGAMY; OB, THE MYSTERIES orders all the concerns of the church, appoints new bishops and elders, and determines the political bearings of the community ; as Trustee-in-trust, all the title to the church property is in his name, he buys, sells, and conveys it, and, in Brigham's reign, with no fixed system of rendering account, and as Treasurer of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, his draft alone can be hon- ored where the funds are on deposit. He claims and is ac- knowledged by his followers, to be the Supreme Pontiff of the world in all spiritual matters, and entitled to the obedience of all Mormons. They also claimed for Brigham that all the wise men had recognized his position by calling to pay their respects as they passed through the city, and that the govern- ment had officially recognized his presidency by appointing his polygamous son to West Point. They do not fail to add that Cadet Young took the lead there in everything, and that the Gentile ladies literally bowed down and worshipped him in a social way. And it must be confessed that a few of our fair countrywomen did succeed in making fools of themselves that way. True, there are various parties among the Mormons, who claim that the President is entitled to their obedience only within certain limits; but they are generally held -as heretics, "governed by an apostate spirit," and all "good Mormons" claim that they are bound by the orders of the Prophet, even to matters of life and death. The doctrine was still more authoritatively declared by the First President, Brigham Young, and his Councillor, Daniel H. Wells, who said : " It is apostasy to differ from the Priesthood though ever so hon- estly a man may honestly differ, and go to hell for it." If there is any limit to his power, it is not apparent to the Gen- tile mind. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 333 THE FIRST PRESIDENCY. This consists of the First President and his First and Sec- ond Councilors, in 1868-75, George A. Smith and Daniel H. Wells. The first place was formerly filled by Heber C. Kim- ball, who died a short time before I entered the Territory, and at the ensuing Conference, Smith was chosen to the place. These last also have the title of President, they are the Lieu- tenants and Prime Ministers of the President to do all his com- mands, and are authorized to act in various capacities in his absence. In addition George A. Smith was Church Historian, and Daniel H. Wells, Mayor, Justice of the Peace and Lieu- tenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion. He seems to bear about him less of the ecclesiastical character than his colleague, and is generally denominated 'Squire Wells; but he is probably the worst man in the Hierarchy, being both a half-crazy fanatic and a blood-thirsty bigot. The organization has been changed since the death of Smith and Brigham. QUORUM OF APOSTLES. The body third in importance in the church is the College or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They come much nearer to the people than the First Presidency, as the whole Mormon territory is nominally divided between them, and it is their duty to inspect their various districts and see " that each stake is set in order/' Individual Apostles are often put in charge of foreign missions, sent away to edit newspapers or magazines, or to preside over some newly selected " stake " of the extend- ing settlements, in either of which cases, another Apostle is chosen in place of the absent. Thus there are sometimes as many as fifteen acting Apostles, but only the Twelve are entitled to seats in the Quorum at one time. 834 POLYGAMY. I present the list as it stood on ray arrival in Utah, and as an Apostle's dignity, like that of most other officers, depends largely upon the number of his wives, I give their number also as it then was : ORSON HYDE, ORSON PRATT. JOHN TAYLOR, WILFORD WOODRUFF, JOSEPH F. SMITH, AM ASA LYMAN, EZRA BENSON, CHARLES RICH, LORENZO SNOW, ERASTUS SNOW, FRANKLIN RICHARDS, GEORGE Q. CANNON, Ezra Benson died in 1869, Orson Pratt in 1881; John Taylor has been promoted, and Amasa Lyman has apostatized. With the exception of John Taylor the Apostles are reported to be poor men ; Orson Pratt particularly was in very moderate cir- cumstances, and Orson Hyde has the reputation of being u an inveterate beggar," in an ecclesiastical way y of course. The present quorum will be given at the close of this work. PRESIDENT OF SEVENTIES. This office appears to rank next to that of an Apostle, and arises as follows : The great working body of male Mormons is divided into seventy Quorums, each having nominally seventy members, though, in reality, they range everywhere from ten to seventy. Each has a President and these, collectively known as the Seventy, constitute a grand missionary board, which has First Apostle, Five Wives. Second " Four u Third Seven (i Fourth " Three Fifth " Three tt Sixth Five " Seventh " Four Eighth " Seven tt Ninth " Four Tenth Three u Eleventh " Four t( Twelfth " Three (f AN APOSTLE'S YOUNG WIFE HEARING HER HUSBAND is TAKING ANOTHER. (836) 336 POLYGAMY. the general control of all matters connected with propagating the faith. These seventy Presidents have also a President, filling the office under consideration. These offices have no special rank in the Church, as an Apostle or leading elder may be but a lay member in this order. PATRIARCH. I place this office fifth in rank because, though of great sanc- tity and honor, it is entirely spiritual, conferring no power. His business is merely to grant " blessings," written out and signed by him. The usual fee therefor is one dollar, and the " blessings," as far as I have read any of them, consist of vague and general promises that the recipient will "be blessed if faithful." The first Patriarch in the Church was "Old Father Smith," or Joseph, father of the Prophet, who was succeeded by the latter's brother Hyrum, he by "uncle" John Smith, cousin of Joe, and he in turn by William Smith, son of " Hyrum the martyr." To hold this office the only qualifica- tions which seem necessary, are that one should be an "uncle" and a Smith, neither of which is liable to fail for some time, BISHOPS. AVe now consider purely temporal officers, a set of men who direct municipal regulations and are, as occasion demands, either officers of the Church or Civil Magistrates. Of these the most important is the bishop. Salt Lake City is divided into twenty-one wards, each of which has a bishop, and the entire Territory is in the same manner conveniently divided into wards with a bishop over each. They u hear and deter- mine" all complaints, and as they are, under the peculiar stat- utes of Utah, also Probate Judges in their respective counties, they did govern Gentiles in that character. Thus, as spiritual 338 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES guide in all matters of dispute among members of his flock, and civil magistrate, in all cases where Gentiles are concerned, the bishop was equally master of the situation, and fully ap- prized of whatever is going on. Hence, also, his character as informer. From his decision as Judge the Gentile may appeal to the United States District Court, and thence to the Supreme Court at Salt Lake City ; from his episcopal adjudications the Mormon can appeal to the HIGH COUNCIL. This body is composed of fifteen men, chosen from the High Priests. Twelve act as a jury, of whom a majority decide the case, and the other three pass sentence, or fix the damages and costs. From this tribunal there is an appeal to the First Pres- idency. The bishop is assisted in his labors by the WARD TEACHERS. Their duty is to visit all the people in their ward, report all suspected persons, catechize every one as to personal feeling, belief, etc., to report all irregularities, heresies, false doctrine, and schism, and generally to act as spies and informers. On these visitations every person is obliged to formally subscribe to all the doctrines of the Church, and many misdemeanors and even criminalities are hushed up in the ward where they occur, without the slightest knowledge thereof being made public. Hence much of the reputation for good order claimed by the Mormons. In one instance, which came to my knowledge, an atrocious rape, committed upon a girl thirteen Jyears old, was not known outside of the ward where it occurred until one year after, and it would probably not then have been made known, had not the father of the girl apostatized. In many cases boys of fifteen years fill the place of Teacher, and are required to AND CRIMES OF MORMON1SM. 339 report the doings of their fellows. All Mormons are solemnly sworn to keep no secrets from the Teachers, and on their monthly visits to each family they have the right to see each person alone, and hold a strict and nasty " confessional." This, with the " Danite " or secret police system, has made of Mor- mon society a united and tyrannized whole. THE PRIESTHOOD. Thus far I have treated rather of the temporal offices, but all officiating Mormons are divided into two bodies : the Aaronic and the Melchisedec Priesthood. The latter is the superior, and in many respects includes the former ; it is both spiritual and temporal, while the former is exclusively tem- poral. A High Priest of the Melchisedec order may always officiate in place of an Aaronic Priest; but without special or- dainment, the latter is always confined to temporal affairs. All the higher officials belong to the Melchisedec order. The High Priest ranks next to the Apostle, and after him some order of Elders, below whom are simple Priests and ordinary Elders. In these different ranks all Mormons are Priests of some sort, and in religious cant speak of themselves as "Kings and Priests of the Most High God." EVANGELISTS. These, as the name implies, are propagandists. The name seems to indicate a kind of work rather than specific rank or office. Such is the recognized ecclesiastical polity of the church. But lest this should not prove effective in all cases, or some should grow restive under such restraint, the church has often used an order of secret police, popularly known as "Danites." This order was first instituted during the troubles in Missouri ; 340 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES it was remodeled in the third or fourth year of their residence at Xauvoo, and has been continued since. By some of the Mormons its existence is denied, by others defended on the score of self-protection. That thousands of honest Mormons are ignorant of and do not believe in its existence, I am well aware ; but that it has been, and to some extent is yet, an active working force, is as clearly proved as any fact can be. From the nature of the case but little can be known of its secret organization ; its work plainly appears in the course of Mormon history. With all their ecclesiastical organization, both public and private, much would have remained beyond their power to compass without a civil government; and the manner in which they have used it, merely to further church policy, is a singular comment on the forbearance of a republican government. The most common perversion of right, and yet the most dif- ficult to be comprehended by residents in the East, was the peculiar manner in which the laws and local courts of the Ter- ritory were made an engine of tyranny in the hands of the ruling oligarchy. Like every other Territory, Utah has Fed- eral District courts and local Probate courts ; but, unlike any other State or Territory in the Union, the powers and jurisdic- tion of the latter were made superior to those of the former. Section 29, page 31, of the old Territorial Statutes, gave the Probate courts general jurisdiction in all matters, civil and criminal ; while Section 1 of an "Act in relation to Bills of Divorce and Alimony," gave them exclusive jurisdiction over all such cases, thus making them superior to the Federal Dis- trict courts in such matters, and equal to them in every other respect. All this in opposition to the fact that the organic act of Utah gives the Legislature no power to build up such local courts, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 341 and in other Territories this matter has been settled by appeal to the Supreme Court, and by its decision the Probate courts limited to probate matters and a very limited civil jurisdiction. But the organic act provides that the Probate or count" courts shall have " such jurisdiction as shall be prescribed by law," and from this loose wording the Legislature claimed the right to give them jurisdiction over all subjects whatever. This anomaly in the judicial system was not without good cause. The District judges are United States officials, and are supposed to be supporting the national authority; the Probate judges are simply the bishops or elders in the different counties, over whom Brigham's power was absolute. In former days Brigham divorced whomsoever he saw fit, on his own motion, and on payment of a fee of ten dollars. He boasted once in a sermon that he made enough this way, " by their d d foolishness, to keep him in spending money." But afterwards it was thought best to give some attention to forms of law; and then, though parties must first be divorced by Brigham, or a special deputy within the church law, yet, after that, they must have a legal divorce in the Probate courts. Of course it never happened that Brigham's wishes were disre- garded in the Probate. But this was their own affair; it is with their criminal jurisdiction that Gentiles had to do. A case which occurred in a southern settlement, in 1868, illustrates in so forcible a manner their style of getting rid of obnoxious citizens, that I set it forth entire. In 1860 a lad of that district, of more than ordinary intelli- gence, left for California, where he remained for eight years, when he returned home with a considerable amount of money, and of course with no disposition to submit to the exactions of Mormonism. His parents being Mormons, and that his native place, he properly belonged to the class known as " hickory 342 POLYGAMY. Mormons." With plenty of money, and being well dressed, he went to all their dances and social parties, became a great /avorite with the Mormon girls, did not hesitate to express his opinion about the bishops and elders, and, in short, his example was, as the bishop said, " d d demoralizing." One evening he accompanied a Mormon's daughter from the village to her home in the country. On their way was a nar- row ravine, about halfway between two houses which were just a furlong apart. They remained some minutes in this hollow, and were afterwards seen chatting fbr half an hour at her father's gate. One week afterwards he was arrested on a charge of rape ! He was first taken before a magistrate, where he demanded a jury of twelve men, and was by them unani- mously acquitted. Then the bishop of the settlement, also a probate judge, issued a bench warrant, pronounced all the pro- ceedings before the magistrate void, brought the young man before himself, and, by the aid of her father, absolutely forced the girl to testify against him, and upon evidence that would have been laughed out of court in any State, pronounced him guilty, and sentenced him to the penitentiary for ten years! He was started at once for the prison in Salt Lake City, but managed to inform Judge Strickland, a lawyer of the city, who succeeded in having him brought before Chief Justice Wilson, of the District Court, by writ of habeas corpus, where the girl refused to testify to anything criminating him, and he was re- leased. This atrocious perversion of legal principles was prac- ticed all over the country settlements by these bishops judges, who were directed in their proceedings by " authority," and used their offices to drive out or scare away all dissenting Mormons. If the accused was brought to Salt Lake City, the United States officials were often able to interfere ; but no matter how plain and direct the evidence, as in the case above, nine-tenths of the THR " HICK.OEY MOBMON'S EXAMPLE." (343) 344 POLYGAMY; 4>R, THE MYSTERIES Mormons merely thought it another case, in which a vile crim- inal was let loose upon them by Gentile judges. As might be expected, the Brighamites were very tenacious of this great power in their hands, and threatened and blustered whenever it was questioned. In a case tried before Chief Jus- tice Wilson, the power of the Probate courts was put in issue, and on the 20th of November, 1868, when this case was argued, Z. Snow, a Mormon lawyer, and Attorney-General for Utah, said : " If his Honor decided against such jurisdiction, blood ATTEMPT" FOB WHICH THE BISHOP SENT HIM TO THE PENITENTIARY. would flow in the streets of this city." From the known char- acter of Judge Snow, it is highly probable he never would have made such a statement but by express direction from Brigham Young. The statement was made in open court, in presence of the entire bar of the city, and a few moments after consulta- tion with his associate counsel, also a Mormon. The plain meaning of this was, that the Brighamites intended to obey the law only when construed in their favor, but otherwise to evade AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 345 it, and, when safe, try violence. Fair notice was thus given to all officials to yield, or be crushed. Judge Snow also said that, until within a few years, " United States Judges had not resided here but a very small portion of their time, though he did not know why." This hint opens to remembrance a melancholy view of the dishonor to our government through its officials in Utah. Not that Brigham Young tried violence in many cases. He was far too wary for that. Brute force is the last resort of a really astute mind, like that of Brigham. Chicane was his natural weapon, and with it he completely circumvented the majority of the judges ; assisted too often by the imbecile appointments from the time of Fill more until Lincoln's Administration. The first judge, Perry E. Brochus, was incautious in his attacks upon polygamy, and, having been led to believe that his life was in danger, left the Territory. Another official was de- tected in immorality, and resigned to avoid exposure ; another disgraced his office by taking a prostitute upon the bench with him ; another impaired his efficiency by secret drinking ; and still another allowed himself to be completely entrapped by two of Brigham's " decoy women." It is a prime principle of the Mormon faith that their affairs ought not to come before a Gentile court at all ; and if they must go there in a case where a Gentile is interested, the jury should be governed by " counsel " in making up their verdict. But there seem to have been restive spirits, even in the most palmy days of the church government, who were often chas- tised from the Mormon pulpit, as witness the following from a sermon delivered in the Tabernacle by Jedediah M. Grant, one of Brigham Young's councillors, on Sunday, March 2d, 1856 : " Last Sunday the President chastised some of the Apostles and Bishops who were on the grand jury. Did he fully sue- 346 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES ceed in clearing away the fog that surrounded them, and in removing blindness from their eyes? No; for they could go to their room and again disagree, though to their credit be it said, a little explanation made them unanimous in their action. But how is it with the little jury? Some of them have got into the fog to suck down the words and eat the filth of a Gen- tile court, ostensibly a court in Utah." This extract gives a sufficiently clear idea of the jury system in Utah, and from all that has yet appeared the attempt to enforce any Federal statute by Mormon juries, would simply amount to a solemn farce. To render the matter worse, these Bishop-judges were not elected by the people, but under the provisions of the Judiciary Act, were appointed by the Terri- torial Legislature, which meant in effect by Brigham Young ; thus the Judiciary were as completely under his management as the officers of the ecclesiastical organization. One might think there was still some chance for the people in voting, and many are inclined to ask : If there was dissatisfaction, or oppo- sition to Brigham Young's government, could it not make itself felt in the elections? Even this outlet was effectually barred by the following Section of "An act regulating elec- tions," passed in January, 1853: " Each elector shall provide himself with a ballot containing the names of the persons he wishes elected, and the offices he would have them fill, and present it neatly folded to the judge of the election, who shall number it and deposit it in the ballot- box. The clerk shall then write the name of the elector and opposite thereto the number of his vote." With a sarcasm which is almost amusing, the Mormon lea- ders call this a measure " to protect the freedom and purity of the ballot.' r Thus artistically did they abolish the free vote while they retained the ballot. "Thus," says the English AND CRIMES OF MOBMONISM. 347 Captain Burton, their apologist, " they retain the privilege of voting, while they avoid the evils of universal suffrage ; sub- jecting, as it always should be, the ignorant many to the super- vision of the intelligent few." Under this system, Brigham Young's emissary could go into any precinct in the Territory and discover just how any man had voted at any election for the last twenty-five years! And with this ignorant people, alive to spiritual terrors, and know- ing too well what temporal trouble may be brought upon them, it is plain that the opposition must be in a majority before it could venture to make itself known. It could not make a start to consolidate. It may be worthy of note here, that all the officers of the Mormon church are proposed for re-election or rejection, twice every year, at the General Conferences, thus apparently tempering this theocratic absolutism -with universal suffrage, women voting as well as men. But only three in- stances have been known of persons daring to vote against the known wishes of the hierarchy ; and in each case the offenders were promptly cited before the High Council and required to explain, in default of which they were " cut off" as being in a "spirit of apostasy." Practically, one man in each settlement or ward might just as well do all the voting. The church puts her ticket in the field, and the bishop directs the people to vote it, which they do unanimously. A gentleman who was present says he saw John D. Lee stand at the polls and cast 360 votes: for himself and all his wives, for his sons and all their wives, for his daughters and their husbands, for Indians and others in his employ, and for all the neighbors who sent their ballots along by him. The humor of this system was greatly height- ened by the adoption of woman suffrage, the Mormon women almost invariably voting the ticket handed them by the elder without even reading it. 348 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES On one memorable occasion a sort of spiritual rebellion occurred in the Utah Lake district, where many American con- verts reside, and the opposition candidate to the Legislature was elected. On reaching Salt Lake City the successful candi- date was simply " counseled " to resign, did so quietly, and the regular nominee was declared entitled to the seat. In 1867 the Jews, Gentiles, Apostates and recusant Mormons of the Thirteenth Ward, in the city, found they had a majority, as nearly all of these classes in the city lived in that ward. They THE OLD APOSTATE. elected Bishop Wooley, a good Mormon, however, for council- man, against the regular nominee. The Bishop was at once cited before Brigham, promptly resigned according to " coun- sel," and the other candidate was admitted to the seat. When the celebrated and somewhat amusing Hooper- McGroarty race, for delegate to Congress, took place, hundreds who would have voted for an available Gentile nominee, but who regarded McGroarty's candidacy as a mere burlesque, did not vote at all ; consequently that gentleman received less than AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 349 two hundred votes, while, as the Mormons did their best, Hooper received some fifteen thousand. It was long a stand- ing joke in Utah to repeat portions of McGroarty's speech, pre- pared to be delivered before Congress ; he employed a lawyer to write it for him, and while committing it to memory, he could never talk ten minutes with a friend without running into his speech, assuming an oratorical manner, and the plural number, as if addressing Congress. The evils of this system of voting are numerous, besides the immense power it gives a few leaders: but one is particularly noticeable, the number and variety of offices held by the same man. In the town of Fillmore, the old capital, at one time one man held the offices of County Clerk and Recorder, Town Clerk and Justice of the Peace, Assessor and Collector of Internal Revenue, and ex-officio Overseer of the Poor. In 1867-68, in Salt Lake City, one Robert T. Burton was Collec- tor of Internal Revenue for the Territory, Sheriff of the county, Assessor and Collector of Territorial and county taxes, and a General in the Nauvoo Legion ; besides being a prominent elder in the church, the husband of three wives, and one of the chiefs of the secret police. This Burton is the man who led the posse to capture the Morrisites, and, according to his own account, shot four of those people after their surrender, and hia continuance in the revenue office was a damning blot upon the Johnson administration in Utah. He is in appearance " The mildest mannered man That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat." But if there is truth in one-fourth the private memoirs of apostates, he is a most cruel and blood-thirsty bigot Ail the various civil officers are at the same time leading dignitaries in the Mormon Church, active agents of its will, 350 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES chosen to their civil position solely on that account; they con- sider the latter far inferior in importance, and, in fact, subordi- nate in policy to their Church dignities, and knowing little, if any, law, they are guided by ecclesiastical authority and " counsel." Let one travel wherever he will through the outer settle- ments, he rarely if ever hears the people speak of the Probate Judges as judges; it is always "the bishop decided so and so." With them he is always acting in his character as bishop, never as judge. Nor need we be surprised at this; it is the natural conflict under such a system, between the theocratic, the eccle- siastical, and the popular, the democratic and laical. The American idea is that power is derived from the people, is merely delegated to the officer, and rests upon the just consent of the governed. The Mormon idea is exactly the reverse : power and authority come from above and operate downward through all the grades ; the official is not responsible to those below him to them he is the voice of God but to those above him ; from them he derives his authority, and to them he must render an account. In the words of a Mormon polemic, " It is not consistent that the people of God should organize or be subject to man- made governments. If it were so, they could never be per- fected. There can be but one perfect government that organ- ized by God ; a government by apostles, prophets, priests, teachers, and evangelists ; the order of the orginal Church, of all churches acknowledged by God." I am thus minute in my statements, because so many people in the East have an idea that polygamy is the only great evil of Mormonism. There are many evils felt more than that ; in fact, polygamy in itself is but a slight annoyance to the Gentile residents of Utah. Mormonism was an unmitigated evil before they had polyg- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 351 amy; the priests ruled the ignorant people with spiritual terrors, and that made them dangerous neighbors and trouble- some citizens wherever they lived. Probably some of these other evils grew out of or have been strengthened by polyg- amy, but that of itself troubles other residents very little. It is that the Territory is ruled ^by a Church, that civil and legal measures are carried by ecclesiastical policy rather than law ; that residents, not Mormons, are subjected to all the annoy- ances of petty tyranny ; that in their business and social life they are constantly subjected to the secret espionage of the Church ; that they are hampered in business by church hos- tility and the imposition of excessive taxes; that friends and fellow-countrymen have been secretly murdered, and the Church prevents them from obtaining justice; in short they are exposed to the tyranny of an unopposed majority, and that majority controlled by a small and compact hierarchy, working out its Star-chamber decrees against liberty by secret and, to the people, irresponsible agents. It is this that grinds the feelings of American citizens, not polygamy, though that is a great moral and social evil. The Mormon people as a mass are naturally disposed to deal justly, but, unfortunately, the people are ciphers, and it seems to be the policy of their leaders to keep them in a constant state of irritation and hostile feeling towards all outsiders, and to the Government of the United States. Thus it is the union of church and state, or rather the abso- lute subservience of the state to the church, the latter merely using the outside organization to carry into effect decrees al- ready concluded in secret council, that makes Mormonism our enemy. Missouri and Illinois found, at dear cost, that no State could tolerate a church exercising an absolute temporal juris- diction, within the State, but independent of and often hostile 352 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES to it ; dominating and directing the action of courts within its influence, subverting free institutions, and exercising a greater right over the consciences of its subjects than is claimed by the laws of the State. In short, it is not the social, immoral, or polygamic features that so chiefly concern us, but the hostile, the treasonable, and the mutinous. The law against polygamy should be strictly enforced, as every other law of the Govern- ment ; but it is idle to say, as so many do, that that is the only objection to the Mormons, or to the admission of Utah as a State. If polygamy were blotted out to-morrow, we could never admit Utah in her present condition. Such a State or- ganization would be opposed to every principle of our political structure, and our Constitution was never meant to recognize the temporal government of a church. Happily the late Ad- ministrations have recognized many of the needs of Utah, and aimed to remove all polygamists and Mormon sympathizers from office, filling their places with good men. Much remains to be done by the Executive and Congress, but it is gratifying to note that some reform has been effected, and that Utah is no longer what it was through three Administrations, " the Botany Bay of worn-out politicians." The revolt of the Gentiles in 1870, and their persistent attempts to set up a republic in Utah, with the help of the courts and Congress, and the des- perate measures of the Mormons to defeat them, make up the political history of Utah from that to the present time ; and this will be related in detail in the proper place. AND CRIMES OF MORMON1SM. 353 CHAPTER XVII. THE MORMON TERRITORY. Territorial limits "Basins" "Sinks" "Flats" Rain and evaporation Elemental action and reaction Potamology Jordan Kay's Creek Weber Bear River Cache Valley Timber Blue Creek Promontory Great Desert Utah Lake Spanish Fork Salt Creek Timpanogos Sevier Ri ver _Colorado System Fish Thermal and Chemical Springs Healing Waters Hotwater plants Analysis by Dr. Gale Mineral Springs Salt beds Alkali flats Native Salts GREAT SALT LAKE First accounts FREMONT STANSBURY Amount of salt Valleys Rise of the Lake Islands Bear Lake u Ginasticutis " Utah Lake Climate Increase of rain Singular phenomena Fine air Relief for pulmonary complaints Natural wealth of Utah Game Indians and Mormons. UTAH is included between the 37th and 42d parallels of North latitude, and meridians 109 and 114 west from Green- wich ; deducting, however, from the northeast corner a section of one degree of latitude by two of longitude, lately attached to Wyoming. Its greatest length is thus, from north to south, five full degrees, and its width from east to west, five of the shorter meridiaual degrees; the whole area divided nearly equally between two geographical sections, viz.: the valley and drainage of the Colorado and its affluents, the Green and Grand rivers, and the district known as the Great or Interior Basin. This remarkable section, containing the western half of Utah, all of Nevada, and a part of southeastern California, includes all that portion of the continent extending north and south between the parallels 37 and 42, and from east to west from near the meridian 111, Greenwich, to the Sierra Nevadas, 23 354 POLYGAMY. which tend northwesterly from the meridian of 116, to that of 121 : an irregular parallelogram four hundred miles in extent, from north to south, and five hundred miles from east to west. The term " basin," is only applicable to the whole tract, in view of the fact, that its waters have no outlet to the ocean, for the general level of the lower tracts is as high as average mountain ranges, and the so-called valleys are little more than mountain flats ; the entire section is thus composed of a succes- sion of heights, basins, and mountain plateaus. A "succession of basins," because many of the traverse ranges are of almost equal height with those on the borders; dotted also in the most level portions with detached hills and knobs, relieved at rare intervals by fertile vales, spotted again by vast deserts of sand and alkali or brackish lakes a region " Now of frozen, now of scorching alps, Rocks, fens, bogs, dens and shades of death." The Wasatch mountains on the east, and Sierra Nevadas on the west, like the two sides of a ( ), inclose a region known as the Great Basin, in which nature appears to have worked on a different plan from that pursued in the rest of the country. All the streams run towards the centre, none towards the sea ; a river is larger at the head than at the mouth when it has a mouth very few of the lakes have any outlet, and, with rare exceptions, both pools and lakes are bitter with salt, iron, lime, or alkali. From the mountains which form the rim of the Great Basin, sub-ranges successively fall off towards the centre, and the whole interior plain is an almost' unbroken desert. But from the Wasatch and Sierras many streams put out towards the centre, and, at the points where they leave the mountains, are bordered by little fan-shaped valleys. These constitute, all the cultivable land in the Basin ; the rest is fit CANON ON GREEN RIVER, EASTERN UTAH. (355) 356 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES only for timber or grazing, or is totally barren. Throughout the Basin all the detached mountains run north and south ; on them is the only timber, and about their base the only grass to be found. If the mountain is high enough to supply melting snow throughout the summer, there may be a settlement at its base ; otherwise all the streams that issue from it will be dry in early spring, and cultivation, that is to say, irrigation, be impossible. Southward, the country grows steadily dryer and more barren ; the valleys smaller, the deserts larger, the streams more unreliable. In Arizona and Southern Utah, I found it difficult, indeed, to get water twice in a day's ride. In the north the most rugged mountains are relieved by graceful ad- juncts; there is a gradual ascent from plain to bench, from bench to foot-hill and lower sub-range, and over all is a faint green tinge from brush or bunch-grass, or a dreamy haze that softens the rudest outlines. But in the south there is a gran- deur that is awfully suggestive suggestive of death and worn- out lands, of cosmic convulsions and volcanic catastrophes that swept away whole races of pre- Adamites. There the broad plateaus are cut abruptly by deep cafions with perpendicular sides, sometimes 2,000 feet in height ; there is a less gradual approach to the highest ranges, and the peaks stand out sharply defined against a hard blue sky. The air is noticeably dryer; there is no haze to soften the view, and the severe outlines of the cliffs seem to frown menacingly upon one who threads the caflons. Needle rocks project hundreds of feet above the general level, while hard volcanic dykes rise above the softer lime or sandstone mighty battlements, abrupt and impassable Pelion upon Ossa piled, as in Titanic war. As nearly all the fertile valleys open westward from the Wasatch, it results that Mormondom consists of a narrow line AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 357 of settlements : an attenuated commonwealth rarely more than ten miles wide, but seven hundred miles long from Oneida in Idaho to the Rio Virgen in Arizona. Geographically it nearly fills the definition of a line extension without breadth or thick- ness. Manifestly such a commonwealth would develop a very different system of government from that known in the States, where farm joins farm and settlement is contiguous to settle- ment; and had it not been warped by theocracy, a liberal can- tonal system must have grown up. Most of the mountain streams sink before connecting with any other body of water, in many places among the foot-hills before reaching the plain ; others spread out and supply natural irrigation to a mile or two of land, producing broad savannas of coarse, rank grass, little oases, quite attractive in themselves and delightful in comparison with the sterility beyond. Along the foot of some ranges the traveler, every mile or so, crosses a considerable stream, rushing clear and strong from the mountain hollows, but two or three miles down the plain not a channel or trace of water is to be found, the thirsty soil, warm sun, and drying air, having exhausted the scant liquid ; and it is only in very wet seasons that any of these streams form lakes. In other localities a more plentiful supply and the cool shadow of long ranges give rise to streams of sufficient size to be called rivers, of which the best known in Utah are the Jordan, Bear river, Sevier, Ogden and Weber ; and bordering these larger streams are valleys of great fertility, comprising the agricultural wealth of the Territory. Many of the smaller streams form long, shallow lagoons or marshes near the centres or at the points of lowest depression in the basins, generally called "sinks," in which term is embodied an empirical explanation of the dis- appearance of the water, by those ignorant of the fact, that in nature's laboratory action and reaction are equal, and that the 358 POLYGAMY. fall of rain and snow in an enclosed basin must be exactly counter-balanced by evaporation. In most cases the water supply is so scant that these "sinks" become entirely dry in summer, and are then known as " mud flats," of which the most extensive are in Western Nevada. A smaller number contain some water all the year, of which a few rise to the dignity of lakes. With no outlets, and receiving all the chemical material brought down by the wash of their " feeders," they are of necessity either very saline in character, or brackish and impregnated with iron. Throughout the Great Basin certain general features are observable; the mountain ranges mostly run north and south, and the longer valleys lie in the same direction. But in this particular man has not been able to accommodate himself to nature, and the course of civilization as well as empire has made it necessary for the roads to run east and west. One may go from Montana to Arizona, and travel in valleys nearly all "the way, seldom crossing anything more than a low "divide," but from east to west each range must be crossed at certain points, for which cause the old road south of the lake was a perfect zig-zag, selecting the most feasible valleys, avoiding the moun- tains wherever possible, or " canyoning" up one side and down the other, diverging great 'distances from the direct line, and running to almost every point of the compass. The rim of the Basin is uncontinuous, formed by various ranges. On the north are the broken chains of the Oregon system, from 8,000 to 10,000 feet high, sending out many spurs and transverse ridges. On the western border the Sierra Nevadas average 10,000 feet, and some peaks tower far above that altitude. On the south are the lower sub-ranges of the Rocky mountains, mere "divides," separating the waters of the Basin from those of the Colorado ; and on the east is the main 359 360 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Uintah range, known by various names, with several portions rising to 10,000 feet. Thus the surface configuration of Utah is a great depression in a mountain land, a trough, so to speak, elevated 4,000 or 5,000 feet above sea level ; subtended on all sides by mountain ranges 8,000 to 10,000 feet high, and sub- divided by transverse ranges ; in the geologic age, an inland sea, in aboriginal times, the retreat of the most abject savages long a region of misconception and fable then the chosen home of a strange religion, and but yesterday found to be of use and inter- est to the civilized world. Leaving the mountain ranges which bound the great basin, there is a general breaking down, so to speak, towards the interior; few of these ridges present regular slopes, but are formed of acute and angular cappings, superim- posed upon flatter prisons ; and frequently after ascending two- thirds from the base, the upper part becomes wall-like and in- surmountable. Of these peaks or terminal headlands, the most noted are the Twin Peaks, southeast of Salt Lake City, ascer- tained by Orson Pratt and Albert Carrington to be 11,660 feet in height ; Mount Nebo, 8,000 feet ; the Wasatch spur, near Salt Lake City, averaging 6,000 feet, and the Oquirrh range, which terminates in a bold headland at the south end of the Lake, locally known as the West Mountain, lying twenty miles west of Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Basin, including many adjacent and connect- ing valleys, was evidently an inland sea, as shown by the " bench formation," a system of water-marks along the moun- tains, points of successive subsidence of the waters; while many of the detached mountain peaks were as evidently islands, simi- lar to those now rising above the surface of the lake. Accord- ing to some, the dry land was formed by successive upheavals ; according to others, by ages of evaporation. If the latter theory be correct, it must have been through a dry cycle of AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 361 ^irtiiy thousand years, and if, as many suppose, the cycle has ended and the rain zones are changing so as to again include this section, we may look for a still greater rise in the lake surface than that of the last few years. The river system of Utah is curious, but unimportant as to navigation. The noted Jordan, an exact counterpart of its Eastern namesake, has its origin in Utah Lake, and by a course of fifty miles, a little west of north, discharges the sur- plus waters of that body into Great Salt Lake. It is quite evident, however, from mere inspection, that a much greater quantity of water is poured into Utah Lake from its many mountain affluents than flows out through the Jordan ; a small portion may escape by percolation, but at that elevation and in that drying air more is accounted for by evaporation. This stream has an average width of eight or ten rods; through the upper part of its course and in Jordan Cafion it is swift and shallow, in the lower valley and near the city more sluggish, with a depth of ten feet or more. Passing around the lake eastwardly, the next stream of any note is Kay's creek, furnishing plentiful irrigation to the farms of Kay's Ward, besides which, there are numerous streams of smaller size which break out of the Wasatch range, are diverted into irrigating canals, and by a thousand rills through the farms find their way to the marshy lands near the lake. The main stream from the east is the Weber, which has its rise some sixty miles east of Salt Lake City, in the highest val- ley of Summit county ; thence, flowing to the north, is swelled by the waters of East Branch, Silver, White, Clay and Echo creeks, then turning northwest breaks through the Wasatch range, gives form and name to Weber Cafion, enters the valley thirty-three miles north of Salt Lake City, and forming a large U, with the bend sharply to the north, enters the lake. Bear 362 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES river rises in the same county, and but a little east and north of the Weber, and running nearly two hundred miles down a northern slope, between two spurs of the Uintah mountains, forms a great U in Idaho, then turning southwest, "canyons" through another spur of the Uintah, into Cache Valley, the northeastern section of the Territory and home of 12,000 Mor- mons ; then " canyons " downward three miles, with a rapid fall, out of Cache into Bear River Valley, through which it runs to the head of Bear River Bay, the last twenty miles of its course the only navigable river in Utah. From the mouth of Bear River Canon to the head of the bay is about thirty-five miles in a direct line, the valley maintaining an average width of fif- teen miles down to Corinne, where it widens imperceptibly into Salt Lake Valley. Bear river runs through the finest lumber region in Utah, of which it is the natural outlet. The Malad joins Bear river a few miles above Corinne, be- tw r een which place and the promontory there are a few springs breaking out of the mountains, constituting but one stream large enough to have a name, Blue creek. West of the pro- montory a few springs run together in the midst of a horrible desert and form Indian creek, which sometimes reaches the lake in wet seasons. Thence, around the head of the lake and down the entire western shore, for one hundred miles, there is no stream large enough to have a name and not fertile land enough for a garden. All the flat between the lake and the mountains of Nevada is a waste of sand, salt, rock and alkali at least 7,000 square miles of desert, with water only in two or three places, forty miles apart. On the southwest a small creek from Tooele Valley reaches the lake, completing the list of affluents to that bod} 7 . Next in importance are the feeders of Utah Lake, of which the princi- pal are, Salt creek from the south, Spanish Fork from the AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. . 363 east, and Timpanogas from the northeast, with the addition of several smaller streams. The only other stream of any impor- tance is the Sevier river, which rises near the southern boundary of Utah, in Fish Lake, runs a hundred and fifty miles to the north, then bends to the west around the point of Iron moun- tain, receiving the small supplies of Salt creek, San Pete, Chicken creek, and Meadow creek, then taking a southwest course, is lost in the " big sink " of Sevier Lake Desert. West of the Iron Mountain range are a score of "sinking creeks," among them Pioneer, Chalk, Cove and Corn creeks, which are fed by the melting snows of the mountains, furnish scant irriga- tion to a small strip of land, and are lost in the Great Desert of southwestern Utah. Below the "divide," the only streams of note are the Rio Virgen and its affluents, which belong to the Colorado system. Most of the larger streams have fish in their upper portions, among which mountain trout are particularly worthy of note; their waters, on issuing from hills, are of great clearness and purity, and it is only where small streams have run some distance across the plain that, they are, in local phrase, "alkalied." The rivers depend for their existence upon the mountains, and without those gorges, which supply melted snow during the spring and summer, there would be no run- ning 1 water. Next to the "sinking" rivers of Utah, the thermal and chemical springs constitute a remarkable feature. They are found in almost every part of the Territory, but principally along the road from Salt Lake City northward. All aiong the foothills of the Promontory range, in the mountains southwest of Utah Lake, and between the city and Bear river, are foun- tains of strong brine, discharging in many instances large vol- umes of water; there are sulphurous pools at the southern 364 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES extremity of Salt Lake valley; in one of the islands in the lake are springs of every character, and in places along the Wasatch, hot, cold and chalybeate are found side by side. First in fame, and probably in medical value, are the Warm Springs in Salt Lake City. Issuing in large volume from the mountain side, the water is conveyed in pipes to a regular bathing house on one side, and to a plunge pool on the other, constituting, in my opinion, the most praiseworthy of Mormon institutions. The following analysis is by Dr. Gale, assistant of Captain Stanbury, in 1850. One hundred parts of the water, whose specific gravity was 7.0112, gave solid contents of 1.068,087, divided as follows : Sulphuretted hydrogen 0.038,182 Carbonate of lime 0.075,000 Carbonate of magnesia, 0.022,770 Chloride of calcium 0.005,700 Sulphate of soda. 0.064,835 Chloride of sodium 0.861,600 1.068,087 The usual temperature is 102. Three miles north of the city the Hot Springs boil out from a rock at the foot of the mountain, forming a hot pool two or three rods in circumference, whence the branch runs westward and forms the Hot Spring Lake. Grazing into the small pool formed by the spring, the eye is charmed by the variety of fan- ciful growths, the confervae on the rocky bottom. Every con- ceivable form of vegetation is to be seen ; leaves, plants, flowers and fernlike stems, all of the purest emerald. But all are de- ceptions, mere imitations of plants formed by the chemical material on the points of stone. The temperature of this spring is 128; its specific gravity, 1.0130, and one hundred parts AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. . 365 yield solid contents, 1.0602, divided, according to Dr. Gale, as follows : Chloride of sodium 0.8052 Chloride of magnesia 0.0288 Chloride of calcium 0.1096 Sulphate of lime 0.0806 Carbonate of lime 0.0180 Silica.. . 0.0180 1.0602 Some very curious mineral springs are seventy miles north of Salt Lake City, near the north crossing of Bear river ; they are hot and cold, impregnated with iron or with sulphur, some twenty in number, and all rising within a few feet of each other. Three springs, the first very hot and sulphurous, the second moderately warm and tasting of iron, the third of cold, pure water, rise within a space of three feet. The waters, all flowing into the same channel, do not mix at once, but run ap- parently in separate strata for several hundred yards, the hot metallic water often running under the clear, cold water ; nor is it until the sudden bends in the channel have thrown the streams violently from side to side, that they mingle in a fluid of uniform temperature. South of Salt Lake City are found hot pools which send out very little water, and in other places are chalybeate springs, coating the earth and rocks with oxide of iron. There are also chemical springs on one or two of the islands in the lake. The great salt beds of the Basin are in Nevada, but in southern Utah is a peak known as the " Salt Mountain," from which that mineral can be cut in solid blocks, in its pure crys- tallized state. Of the mud flats, impregnated with soda, and the alkali de- posits, there is a decided surplus, particularly as man has been 866 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES unable to devise any use for such a quantity of those chemicals in that shape. It is thought the presence of alkali increases the cold, nor does it seem possible to eradicate it from the soil. A slight admixture is thought to be beneficial to vegetation, but wherever there is enough to " flower out " upon the surface, it is death to all vegetation even the hardy sage brush. Salt- petre is found, though rarely; sulphur is rather too common; borax is found in moderate amount, and the native alum was analyzed and pronounced good by Dr. Gale. From his report a hundred grammes of the freshly crystallized salt gave : Water 70.3 Protoxide of manganese 08.9 Alumina 04.0 Sulphuric acid 18.0 The entire Basin seems a vast laboratory of nature, where all the primitive processes have been carried out on a scale so ex- tensive as to make man's dominion, at first sight, seem forever impossible. First in interest, among the large bodies of water, is the Great Salt Lake, the "Dead Sea of America," which lies toward the northwest corner of Utah Territory, 4,200 feet above sea- level, and twelve miles, at the nearest point, from Salt Lake City. It is in the form of an irregular parallelogram, of which the major axis, running northwest by north, is seventy miles in length, and the minor axis forty miles; the different projections, however, greatly increase the area, which is laid down by Cap- tain Stausbury at ninety by forty miles, in round numbers. At a very early day this remarkable feature was well known to hunters and trappers, and in 1845 Colonel Fremont, then on his second expedition, made a sort of flying survey, which was scientifically completed in 1849-50, by Captain Howard Stans- bury. In geologic ages the lake was doubtless an inland sea, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 367 which has declined to its present limits ; but it is singular that since Stansbury's survey the lake surface has risen at least twelve feet, of which eight feet were gained in the years 1865 '66 and '67, though in the notable dry year of 1871 the water went down two feet below the low water-mark of 1849. The natural result of the rise has been to greatly weaken the saline character of the water. There is a widespread misapprehension on this subject, it being customary to state that " three gallons of the water will make one of salt." The highest estimate, however, that by Fremont, only gave twenty-four per cent, of salt, and the water was taken from the northwest corner, the most saline portion of the lake. Dr. Gale found one hundred parts of the water to contain solid contents 22.282, distributed as follows : Chloride of sodium (common salt) 20.196 Sulphate of soda 1.834 Chloride of magnesium 0.252 Chloride of calcium a trace 22.282 But it is quite evident that an analysis at this time would show much less, probably not more than 18 per cent, of solid matter, perhaps even less in the eastern part, and not over 12 or 14 per cent, in Bear River Bay, the least saline arm of the Lake. Those engaged in making salt on Spring Bay, certainly the most saline, state that it requires six gallons of water to make one of salt. Even with this reduction, it has no superior but the Dead Sea water, of which one hundred parts give solid contents 24.580, while the Atlantic ocean only averages three and a half per cent, of its weight, or about half an ounce to the pound. At the spring floods the lake often rises several feet, and retiring in the summer, leaves vast deposits of crystalized 368 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES salt. In places, large bayous could easily be filled during the summer by wind-mills upon the lake shore, making millions of tons of salt at a trifling outlay. Considering the area of the lake, and its average depth ten feet, this would give nearly a thousand billion solid feet of water, or at the rate above men- tioned, about 4,000,000,000 tons of salt! All through the slopes northwest of the lake and down the western shore, are a number of springs running pure brine, and east of the Promontory all the wells dug within five miles of the lake have yielded salt water at a short depth. If any one doubts the statement that the waters of the lake are taken up by evaporation, and inclines to the hypothesis of an under- ground outlet, he can easily convince himself by dipping a basin of the water and exposing it for a few moments to the action of sun and wind ; the drying air and the direct rays of the sun will evaporate it in an incredibly short space of time. Very beautiful effects are produced by taking shrubs of dwarf oak or pine, and dashing the salt water over them at intervals of a few minutes, allowing the salt to form on the leaves in thin filmy crystals. Whence comes this salt? The mountain rains and melting snows carry the washings of the salt mountains of southern Utah to Utah Lake, where they are imperceptible to the taste, but are carried down by the Jordan ; united with the contribu- tions of Bear river and the brine springs of Promontory, they are subjected to the condensing process of nature in Great Salt Lake. If there were an underground outlet, a few mouths' discharge, with the constant reception of fresh water, would make it as fresh as Utah Lake. Standing on the shore of Great Salt Lake, one may observe the whole process of nature in rain formation, he may see the mist from the lake rise to a certain height, then form in light fleecy clouds which sail away AND CRIMES OF MORMONIRM. 369 to the mountains, where they are caught by projecting peaks and higher currents of air, and forced into denser masses, and at times he may observe them pouring upon the heights the water which will run back and mingle with the mass at his feet, completing thus the cycle of moisture which Solomon re- marked in the exactly similar phenomena of the Dead Sea: "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full ; to the place whence they came, thither the waters return." The country bordering Great Salt Lake presents almost every possible variety of soil, but little or no change in climate. First to the south lies Jordan Valley, which is generally meant when the people speak of Salt Lake Valley, forty miles long by about twelve in breadth ; much of the eastern half is valuable for agriculture, and a little of the western for grazing. Proceeding northward a strip of salt marsh and low pasture land, near the lake, is bounded on the east by a strip of fertile land from one to five miles wide, back of which are considera- ble pastures, even some distance up the mountain side. The same is true of Bear River* Valley and the eastern slope of the Promontory, the former consisting of a fertile tract from ten to fifteen miles in width ; but crossing Promontory to the west the change is sudden, and we find at the northwest corner of the lake a valley of alkali flats and salt-beds of indescribable barrenness. It is comfortable to reflect that a further rise of five feet in the lake surface would bring it upon this desert, with an area of seventy miles square to cover, and requiring at least ten times as much water for a rise of one foot as it did twenty years ago. Along that shore the atmosphere is bluish and hazy, and Captain Stansbury observes that " it is a labor to use telescopes for geodetic purposes, and astronomical obser- vations are very imperfect." In the body of the lake are sev- 24 370 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES eral islands and projecting rocks, designated in the order of their size, as follows: 1. Antelope, also called Church or Mormon Island, having been appropriated by the corporation or Church of Latter-day Saints, for their stock, a sort of consecrated cattle-corraZ a for the Lord and Brother Brigham." At the nearest, point it is about twenty miles northwest of Salt Lake City ; for many years the channel between it and the eastern shore was fordable, and is still occasionally ; it contains a number of green valleys, and some springs of pure water. In the shape of an irregular diamond, with a sharp western projection from the northern point, it is sixteen miles long with an extreme width of seven miles ; it contains many ridges and detached peaks, the highest 3,000 feet above the Jake, and consequently 7,200 above sea- level. Near the northeastern coast is a rock called Egg Island, and on the most eastern cliff, "they say" there is a cave, with remarkable blue grottos, of which astonishing stories are told ; and there or thereabouts is said to be the unknown burial- place of -Giacometta, or Jean Baptiste, an Italian Mormon and grave-digger, who robbed the corpses of their burial-clothes and "disappeared" by order of Brigham Young. If the water of the lake should disappear, this island would appear what it really is merely a northward continuation of the Oquirrh mountains, the water now covering a low gap between it and the rest of the range south of the lake. 2. Stansbury Island is the second largest in the lake, lying southwest of Antelope, near the western shore, with which it is connected at rare intervals of low water by a sand-spit. It is about half the size of Antelope Island, and consists of a single ridge, twelve miles in length, and rising three thousand feet above the lake. It is of some use for grazing purposes, and is frequented by ducks, geese, plover, gulls and pelicans. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 371 3. Carrington Island, so named from the Mormon engineer, Albert Carrington, who assisted Captain Stansbury in his sur- vey, is an irregular circle with a single central peak ; it con- tains no springs, but abounds in a great variety of plants and flowers. It lies a little northwest of Stansbury, and west of the north point of Antelope Island, near the western shore. 4. Fremont Island lies between Antelope and Promontory Point, nearer the last, and just below the point where .Bear River Bay opens into the central part of the lake. It is shaped somewhat like a half moon abounds in plants, particularly the wild onion, but is destitute of wood and water. Colonel Fremont named it Disappointment Island, having been led to believe before visiting it, that it abounded in "trees and shrub- bery, teeming with game of every description;" Stansbury gave its present name, and it is sometimes locally known as "Castle Island/' suggested probably by the turreted formation of its principal peak. Dolphin Island, Hat Island, and one or two others are mere points of barren rock. The deepest sounding in the lake, forty feet at average level, is found between Stansbury and Antelope Islands. The latter is also rich in minerals, marble of the finest quality and roofing slate, being readily obtained in large quantities. Boats could run directly alongside of the quarries and load with the greatest convenience. The summer air of the lake is light, saline, and health-inspiring; the scenery unsurpassed, and abounding in views of memorable beauty. The romance of this Mare Mortuum has survived the investigations of science, and from a region of misconception and fable, the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake has become the Switzerland of America. Bear Lake, a mere tarn among the mountains, extending from Cache Valley into Idaho, is chiefly notable as the home 372 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES of the " Bear Lake Monster," a nondescript with a body half seal, half serpent, and a head somewhat like a sea lion, which has often been seen and described by Indians and Mormons, but never by white Christians. It has never been properly classified or named, as it is invisible when scientific observers are at hand, but from the descriptions current among the latter-day philosophers, I judge it to be a relic of that extinct species generally denominated the " Ginasticutis." The sweetwater reservoir, Utah Lake, is fed by large streams from the western slopes of the Uintah range, its circumference, exclusive of offsets, being estimated at eighty miles. This singular analogue of the Sea of Galilee receives the waters of the Provo and many smaller streams. Sevier, Preuss, Nicollet, and Little Salt Lake in like manner receive and furnish "sinks" for the waters from the Iron Mountain range, and the southern branch of the Wasateh, none of these lakes com- municating with any other, but each dependent on a distinct water system. Only the larger streams form lakes, the smaller are either evaporated or sink in ponds and puddles of black mire; the waters in places reappear or pass underground to feed the larger lakes. The deserts of Utah consist of alkali flats, barren sand, or red earth, resulting, in some cases, from mere want of water, and in others from sand and destructive minerals. Much land that looks utterly barren becomes fertile after thorough and long continued watering. It is evident, also, that a change has been going on for many years, reclaiming large tracts in the vicinity of the mountains. Tracts once entirely barren, after receiving the wash of higher lands, present a scant growth of grease-wood, which is succeeded in time by white sage-brush, and that in turn by the ranker growth of blue sage-brush, each step marking an increase of fertility in the soil. Large tracts AND CRIMES OF MOBMONTSM. 373 are found entirely barren of vegetation, others that have ad- vanced to the grease-wood stage, still others to the growth of sage-brush. In many places the transition is evident, and from the testimony of early explorers, certain tracts have com- pleted the entire circuit of increasing fertility within the memory of man. Utah is in the parallel of the Mediterranean, but the eleva- tion renders it more bleak, though not liable to sudden vicissi- tudes of temperature ; the changes in any one winter are quite moderate, but the difference between successive winters is often much greater than in any other part of the United States. Cattle have been wintered in Cache Valley, Ogden Hole, and other sections, entirely upon the range and without shelter ; on the other hand, there have been winters in which all the settle- ments were isolated, when snow fell almost every day, with a high westerly wind, sometimes so violent that spray was carried from the lake into the city. Thirty years ago rain very seldom fell between May and October; in 1860 it continued quite showery, even to the first of July, and, at present, some rain may be counted on with certainty every month in the season. The change is attributed by one class of philosophers to a gradual change of the rain zones ; by the Mormons to their prayers and piety, and the favor of heaven, but is probably due to cultivation and planting. The same phenomenon is observed in western Nebraska and Kansas, and in upper Egypt. The Indians say, "the pale face brings his rain with him." The summer, as marked by the thermometer, is hot, but the great elevation, the lightness and dryness of the air, the cool winds from the canons, and the complete absence of malaria, render it delight- ful and wholesome. At the north end of the lake they have the sea-breeze, the mountain air, and the refreshing zephyrs 374 POLYGAMY. from the plains. During the summer the thermometer usually rises eight or ten degrees from sun-rise till noon ; the greatest mid-day heat is not oppressive, and the mornings and evenings, cooled by the mountain airs, are deliciously soft and pure. The most disagreeable feature of this section is the dust- storms and thunder storms, which, during the warm season, though not frequent, are severe. Cultivation and irrigation giving greater facilities for evaporation, the process of nature in the cycle of moisture is quickened, the particles of water make the circuit oflener, and more frequent showers are the result. It is evident this climate of cool, dry air in the winter, moderate dryness and extreme tenuity in .the summer, and stimulating rarity at all seasons, is suited to all healthy and most sickly constitutions. Paralysis is rare, consumption al- most unknown the climate lacks that humidity which develops the predisposition asthma and phthisis meet with immediate relief, and from my personal experience, it is evident the air tends to expand, strengthen, and give tonic force to the lungs. But rheumatism and neuralgia are by no means un- common; as in other bracing climates, they affect the poor, and those from any cause, insufficiently fed, housed, or ciothed during the winter. For all who would avoid humidity, either in soil or air; who seek relief from pulmonary diseases or dyspepsia, the climate is unsurpassed; but for inflammatory diseases it seems unfavorable ; and for eruptive troubles, such as eczema, erysipelas, etc., it is certainly very bad. The tendency seems to be to draw the blood to the surface ; and the natural complexion of an open-air man is very florid. So it helps a man of defective circulation, and injures one whose blood already tends to inflammation. At least one-half of the Great Basin is a complete desert ; much of the rest is of slight value for timber or grass, and 375 >70 POLYGAMY ; OK, THE MYSTERIES perhaps one-tenth could be made fertile by an abundant water supply. The most marked feature of the interior plains is the scarcity of timber; for, with the exception of a few scant willows along two or three of the streams, the whole valley of Salt Lake was originally as bare of trees as if blasted by the breath of a volcano. The nearest timber to the city was up City Creek Canon "granted" by the first Legislature to Brigham Young, who took every third load brought out as toll, and complained of "persecution" when government offi- cials objected. Before 1870 most of the city's fuel had to be brought twenty-five miles, and sold at from twelve to twenty dollars per cord. This evil has been greatly increased by their stripping the heights more bare every year, and many conjec- ture that this prevents the former heavy accumulations of snow, which, in turn, blows into the valley worse each winter, and may in time even lessen the source of the streams, which are chiefly supplied by the melting snow. Planting trees, except in orchards or along the streets, has been entirely neglected. Unlike the farmers of Iowa and Nebraska, who purpose to grow their own fire-wood, there is not, to my knowledge, an artificial grove in Utah. The trees, like most else, would require some irrigation. As stated the rain fall has increased ; but irrigation is still an enormous labor, and twenty acres a big farm for one family to cultivate. Under the Mormon system each settlement is practically a sort of socialist community as to its water supply. Enough of fam- ilies must make a settlement together in sonic convenient val- ley, to construct a dam further up the cafion, from which reservoir a main canal is carried through the settlement, and from this side canals and ditches convey the water among the farms, and thence into fields, and by tiny rivulets between the rows of vegetation. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 377 The various crops are watered from one to three times per week, according to their nature, during the dry season. The greatest labor is in establishing a settlement, and opening these sources of public supply, but thereafter, the whole settlement turns out each spring, at the call of the Water-Marshal, and a few days 7 work gets all in order. Hence the settlement must move as a unit in this case, and every man claims a supply of water according to the money or labor contributed to the first construction. For many years, in certain settlements, the Water-Marshal turned the supply to different districts at different hours, and the proprietors in each district further divided the time when each might take water ; day and night, during the dry season, being devoted to the work. In some settlements, and in the city, fines as high as sixty dollars were imposed for " stealing water," that is, for turning it on one's fields out of the pre- scribed time. But with the increase of rain and heavy dews which now water " the garden of the Lord and modern Zion," this aquatic penuriousness has ceased to be necessary, and there are but few if any localities where one may not take water at any hour. Herein also is an important politico-religious feature of the system ; no Gentile can start in with a new settlement, formed as it is by a " call " from the Church author- ities, and he cannot of course go it alone. Gentiles could only settle by entire neighborhoods together, or in some place buy out a Saint whose water-rights are already established, and run with the land. For these and other reasons, one rarely meets with a Gentile outside of the towns. Alkali is another enemy of the Utah farmer. A moderate infusion is thought to be an advantage, but in many places it is so thick as to " flower out " like a heavy frost or light snow on the surface ; there it is fatal to most crops, and many think it 378 POLYGAMY. will not yield to the longest continued cultivation. Some crops will flourish, where it is abundant, others are ruined by the slightest sprinkle. The common pie-plant entirely loses its acidity, and the sorghum cane is completely "alkalied." But the principle of compensation in nature applies even here, and the Utah farmer has some marked advantages. There are neither doughts nor freshets both considerable items to an Illinois farmer; the latter are unknown, and the former of no consequence in the practice of irrigation. Wheat for many seasons has required but one or two water- ings, and the average yield, according to Mormon statistics, is near twenty bushels per acre. With flour at eighteen dollars per barrel, and in old times it was sometimes above that, this would pay well for irrigation. Barley and potatoes yield very heavily, and have heretofore sold at enormous prices. But there has been a great decline in prices. The land produces all the small grains, especially wheat, oats and barley, in great abund- ance; a little Indian corn is raised, but the climate is not fav- orable; nearly all the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone, pumpkins, beets and carrots in Gentile slang, " Mormon cur- rency" in great size and plenty. Peaches of fine flavor, and in great quantity, are grown in almost every valley, Salt Lake valley and the lower tracts adjacent being most favorable. But I do not fully appreciate the apples of Salt Lake ; they seem insipid, stunted in some places and overgrown in others/. The lower part of Bear River valley and the slopes leading thereto, have all the natui-al indications for one of the finest fruit countries in the world, the easy changes of the winter and spring being peculiarly favorable. Beets and onions grow to an unusual size, which suggested, in 1853, the idea of fnaking beet sugar. The "inspired priesthood," headed by " Brother Brigham," entered into the SCENE IN SOTJTHBBN UTAH, '379; 380 POLYGAMY ; OR, THE MYSTERIES matter with zeal ; one hundred thousand dollars were expended upon the building and machinery, but the " Lord " must have spoken to the Prophet with an uncertain voice, for the experi- ment failed utterly: on account of the alkali, the Mormons say; for want of good management, say the perverse Gentiles, who sometimes add that the Saints made a fiery article of "Valley Tan" whiskey out of the useless material. But other sweets abound ; there is great profit in sorghum, and one farmer near Kaysville reports that one year he made one hun- dred and five gallons from one-third of an acre, and two hun- dred gallons per acre throughout his field. At the low price of half a dollar per gallon, this will pay for irrigation. But cane farmers must avoid the alkali lands. Of farm improve- ments there is little to be said. The impression prevails quite generally that the Mormons are remarkably industrious. I have impartially endeavored to find the evidence, but, with due regard for others' opinions, I fail to see it. Like many others they will work rather than starve; but that Utah has fewer improvements in proportion to population than any other part of the United States, except possibly New Mexico, is as elf-evi- dent fact. And even in Salt Lake City the finest buildings are largely owned by Gentiles. If there is a single farm-house between Salt Lake City and Bear river, which shows an advanced idea of architecture, I do not remember it. If there is any particular development of taste, outside a few of the cities, any adornment which shows an aspiration for the higher and more beautiful, or any im- provements indicating comprehensive grasp and energy of thought, I have missed them in my travels. The Mormon converts are drawn from the most industrious races of Europe; it was impossible for even Mormonism to entirely spoil them, and they have done nearly as well, perhaps, as any other people AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 381 would have done under the same circumstances. Compared with the same races in the Western States, the Swedes, Nor- wegians, Danes and English, of Iowa or Minnesota, the latter have made as much progress in five years after settlement as the Mormons in ten or twenty. But oh the credit side of the estimate for the latter, we must set down the fact of their great distance from civilization, the natural barrenness of much of their country, the grasshoppers, crickets, wild beasts and In- dians with which they had to contend; the spiritual despotism under which they labor; their poverty and their ignorance of this mode of farming. But the true wealth of the Territory is in grazing and min- ing. The range is practically unlimited and the mountain bunch-grass is the best in the world for cattle. This valuable and rather anomalous provision of nature seems to be indige- nous to the interior plains of the Rocky mountains. It is first found, I believe, on the western slope of the Black Hills, and extends to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas. West of that boundary it gives place to other seeded grasses of the Pa- cific slope, and to the wild oats of California, which are sup- posed to have been introduced by the Spaniards. Millions of acres are rendered valuable by the presence of bunch -grass, which, without it, could hardly be traversed by cattle. As the name indicates it grows in clumps, and to an eastern eye would appear as if it sought the most barren spots, flourishing even upon slopes of sandy and stony hills. Like winter wheat it re- mains green and juicy under the snow; it usually commences growing in February or March, and continues till May or June, when it dries up and appears to die, but in the form of a light straw contains abundant nutriment. In places, during autumn and after shedding the seed, it puts forth a green shoot, apparently within the old withered stalk ; with the advance of 382 POLYGAMY. Bummer the best is found higher up the mountains, and it thus furnishes food the year round. It yields a small pyriform seed, which is greedily devoured by cattle, and has remarkable fattening properties, giving an excellent flavor to the beef. It is often a subject of remark, how little food will fatten cattle upon the elevated prairies, and interior plateaus of the West ; the exceeding purity, dryness and rarity of the air, by perfecting the processes of digestion and as- similation, accounts for this. The finest, juciest, tenderest steaks of home growth, appear daily upon the tables of the Utah publicans, and there is scarcely a limit to the possible sup- ply. By greater improvement in irrigation, and by the increase of rain, Utah will in time have great agricultural wealth, but stock-raising will be a paying interest. Facilities for grazing are very extensive, the valleys supply plentiful pasturage in winter, and as spring advances and the snow line recedes up the hills, cattle will find fresh pastures. In the valleys of Green, Grand and Colorado rivers, are many thousand square miles of the finest country in the world for wool-growing; on all the mountain slopes west of Bear river grass grows luxuriantly, and the higher portions of Sevier Valley contain millions of acres of grazing land, the natural home of the Merino sheep and Cashmere goat ; the climate and elevation are exactly suitable for the production of the finest wools; all the facilities for manufacturing exist along the lower course of the mountain streams, and the day will come when the finest of shawls and other fabrics will be produced in Utah, ri- valling the most famous productions from the highlands of Per- sia and Hindoostan. Of " fur, fin and feather," the Great Basin is rather deficient, in an economical view. There are minks, ermines, American badgers, wolverines, woodchucks, musk-rats, beavers and otters, (383) 384 the last two rare in other parts, but still found in such plenty on the upper tributaries of Bear river, as to make trapping profitable. The principal camivora are the cougar, cat-o-moun- tain, large and small wolf, and a variety of foxes. But in the wilder sections, especially the wooded highlands east of the Wasatch, the cinnamon bear and mountain lion are often found. All that part of the Territory is so mountainous that it is given up to the Utes ; but there are a few white settlers. A young lady, whose father set up a ranche on the headwaters of the Provo, told me that they occasionally had a friendly call from the wild beasts, when times were hard with the brutes; but both these creatures are slow to attack human beings. The cin- namon bear is no such savage animal as the grizzly, or even the black bear; and the mountain lion seldom or never attacks unless wounded and infuriated. Among the ruminants of eastern Utah are the antelope, deer, elk, and Rocky Mountain sheep. The buffalo was seldom found west of Laramie plains, not at all in the Great Basin, though the Indians have a tradition that they were once very numerous even to the Sierra Nevadas, and old hunters and travellers speak of finding traces of their former existence there. The Shoshonees give the following account of their ban- ishment : When the buffaloes herded in great numbers in these valleys, the crickets were less in number than now, but being the weakest of all the animals, they had the ear of the Great Spirit when oppressed. The buffaloes, in crowding to the rivers to drink, trampled upon the crickets and did not heed their cries, upon which the latter complained to the Great Spirit, who by a sweeping decree changed all the buffaloes to a small race of crickets, leaving nothing of the buffalo but the milt ! It is a singular fact that the crickets found in the basin contain a " milt " or spleen, exactly similar in shape to that of the bovine genus. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 385 Of game birds there are several varieties : quail or partridges ; two varieties of grouse, the most common called the sage-hen ; the mallard duck is found in great plenty on the lower part of Bear river and Jordan, and is particularly abundant on the Sevier; while brant, curlew, plover and wild geese are much more numerous than the appearance of the country would indi- cate. Of useless animals and reptiles there are quite enough to give variety to animated nature. That purely western American phenomenon, half toad, half lizard, locally known as the "horned toad" or "sandy toad," scientifically ranked Phrynosoma, is found on all the high, dry plains. Its scaly body and inability to jump prevents its ranking strictly among " batrachians." It is found on the highest and driest ridges, is calloused on the belly like an alligator, its back is thickly studded with horny points about a quarter of an inch in length, it has legs like a common toad, but runs swiftly like a lizard. Of serpents, there are rattlesnakes, water snakes and swamp adders, and a few others, all very rare. The fishes are perch, pike, bass, chub, mountain trout, and a species of salmon trout, of which thirty-pound specimens have been caught. There are very few molluscs, periwinkles or snails ; the climate is too dry. Oysters have been planted at the mouths of the streams empty- ing into the Salt Lake; but when the wind drove the lake water against the current of the stream, the strong brine killed the oysters. Jordan was once stocked with eels which seemed to flourish well for a while, but when a little rise came, the creatures, lacking the instincts necessary for the locality, floated down into the lake and were pickled ! Months afterwards one was picked up on the eastern shore by a Mormon, who cooked and ate it, finding it very palatable. Utah, in regard to insect life, is subject to great extremes. On entering the Territory from the east, the visitor's first im- 25 386 pression would oe that both animal and insect life were rare. On the road from Green river to Salt Lake City, particularly in the early part of the season, there are few stock flies, few scavengers and few large birds; troublesome insects are rare, even in the valleys, and unknown on the upland desert; but in other localities there is a surplus, and after longer residence one finds enough of them to be troublesome. In Salt Lake City the flies are probably worse, both as to number and peculiari- ties, than in any otber city in America, but fortunately their time is very short. During the spring and early summer they are rarely seen; in August they begin to multiply, "coming in with the emigration/ 7 according to local phrase, meaning the Mormon emigrants, who formerly completed the journey across the plains by the latter part of July. From the middle of August till cool weather they are per- fectly fearful, certainly much worse than they need be if proper cleanliness were practised : large, flat-headejd, light-winged and awkward, they light and crawl over the person in the most annoying manner, not yielding, like "Gentile flies/' to a light brush or switch, but requiring literally to be swept off. No other part of the Territory I have visited is half so bad in this respect as Salt Lake City, and the southern valleys seem pecu- liarly free from this pest. Fleas are, in western phrase, "tolerable bad," but bed-bugs are intolerable; both in numbers, and voracity those of Utah beat the world, particularly in the country towns, and among the poorer classes of foreign-born Mormons. In certain settlements their ravage is incredible, and Mormon bed-bugs seem as much worse than others as their human companions. Like the latter, too, they seem to regard the Gentile as fair prey. Of insects destructive to vegetation the cricket was once very troublesome, but ceased to be so years ago, though the grass- AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 387 hopper still makes occasional visits, as in all the Territories. The question has been raised in Utah, whether this insect, locally known as grasshopper, is not really a locust perhaps the locust mentioned in Scripture. But an examination shows it to be congeneric with the insect scientifically designated the OEDIPODA MIGRATORIA, which is certainly of the grasshopper species, though known in the East by the English name of " migratory .locust." The grasshopper of Utah is not so long and thin, light-bodied and "clipper built" as that of Nebraska and Kansas, but fully as destructive to vegetation ; though of late years its ravages have been confined to certain limited localities. The original inhabitants of Utah merit a brief notice. All the old accounts represent the Indians of the Great Basin as the lowest and most degraded of their race, and one is surprised in the chronicles of only forty years ago to read of tribes, or rather bands and parts of tribes, now totally extinct. The Club-men, a race of savage and filthy cannibals, were once quite numerous in all the central and western valleys, but are now entirely extinct ; and many of the races mentioned, who lived near the Shoshonees thirty-five years ago, are no longer to be found. From these and other facts, it is very probable that all the Indians known as "diggers" were mere outcasts from other tribes, or the remnants of more noble tribes conquered in war, which had been forced into the Basin as a place of refuge. Their tribal organization broken up; their former hunting- grounds forbidden them ; and themselves compelled to subsist only on the meanest and least nourishing fare, they degenerated rapidly in morale and physique, at the same time that they de- creased in number. They subsisted chiefly upon roots dug from the ground, the seeds of various plants indigenous to the soil, ground into a 388 POLYGAMY. kind of flour between flat stones ; and upon lizards, crickets, and fish at some seasons of the year. Thus lacking the food which furnishes proper stimulus to the brain and muscles, each succeeding generation sank lower in the scale of humanity; the generative powers declined under a regimen of exposure and scant nourishment ; few children were born and fewer reared to maturity, and the kindness of nature's law forbade increase where life promised naught but exposure and misery. Of such races the numerical decline must have been steady and rapid, and their numbers only maintained by the successive additions from the superior races north and east. A little above these, in the scale of humanity, are the Utes or Utahs, who occupy Eastern Utah and Western Colorado even to Denver and the vicinity of the Arapahoes, with whom they are almost continu- ally at war. The word Ute or Utah signifies, in their lan- guage, "man," "dweller," or "resident," and by the additions of other syllables, we have the three grand divisions of that race: Pi-Utes, Gosha-Utes, Pah-Utes, which may be freely translated "mountaineers," "valley men," and "dwellers by the water," those prefixes respectively indicating "mountain," "valley," and "water." Of all these the bravest are the moun- tain Utes, among whom we might include the Uintahs; but the Indians of the lower countries are rather cowardly, and dangerous only by theft or treachery. Far superior to any of these are the Shoshonees or Snakes, found all along the north- ern border of Utah, and extending thence northeast to the Bannocks and westward into Idaho and Nevada. They have a complete tribal organization, and something like government and council among themselves; own horses and cattle, and display some ingenuity in their dwellings, and in the construction of fish-weirs and traps of willow bushes. They feel also something like pride of race, and to call a Sho- (389) 390 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES shonee a "digger," is more of an insult than to stigmatize a very light mulatto as a "nigger." The origin of the Indians has been a subject of frequent in- quiry among American antiquarians. Some sixty years ago, an idea was broached, and for a while prevailed quite exten- sively, that they were the descendants of the "lost tribes" of ancient Israel, and that veracious chronicle, the "Book of Mor- mon," has traced their descent from a Jewish family, who left Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ. But if we are to draw our arguments from any recognized human source, from language, features, customs, habits or traditions, there are no two races on earth of whose kinship there is so little proof. After the Indians, in the order of time, came the Mormons. They were the first white residents, and their history is the his- tory of the Territory. Since July 24th, 1847, this has been their gathering place, the Territory of "the Lord and Brother Brigham;" a consecrated land of salt, alkali and religious con- cubinage; where their morals were to be cured, and their spirit- ual interests preserved. When we consider how many million people there are in the world to whom Mormonism is the nat- ural religion, how full modern society is of the material for such a church, that it promises a heaven exactly after the natu- ral heart of man, and with the least sacrifice of human pride, lust and passion; when we add to this their vast and compre- hensive missionary system, compassing sea and land to make one proselyte; and the still more powerful fact that Mormon- ism comes to the poor of the old world not merely with the attractiveness of a new religion, but with the certainty of assisted emigration to America, a land described to them as flowing with milk and honey, we should naturally expect their recruits to be numbered by tens of thousands annually. That Utah has not filled up and overflowed half a dozen times with AND CRIMES OF M3RMONISM. 39 A the scum of Europe, can only be accounted for by some in- herent weakness in the system itself. This weakness shows itself in two ways: inability to secure a class who would add real dignity and strength to a new com- monwealth, and the constant loss through a steady and ever increasing apostasy. Unfettered American enterprise planted two hundred thousand people in Colorado in twenty-five years; the vast machinery of the Mormon emigration system, the excitement of religious fanaticism, the utmost zeal of a thousand missionaries preaching temporal prosperity and eter- nal salvation to an ignorant people, backed by the assurance of a speedy passage to a new country, and aided by the advan- tages of an organization at once ecclesiastical and secular, lias succeeded in thirty-five years in fixing an uncertain popu- lation of a hundred and fifty thousand in Utah. The older population is made up very nearly as follows: from Great Britain, one-half; from Sweden, Norway and Den- mark, one-third ; a dozen or twenty each from Ireland, Italy, France and Prussia; a few Orientals; five Jews; a score or two of Kanakas ; and the remaining one-seventh or eighth, Ameri- can. The children, of course, are nearly all natives. While the foreigners are as seven or eight to one in the body of the church, the Americans are in a majority in the presidencies, Quorum of Apostles, leading bishops and elc!ers, showing pretty conclusively the " ruling race." We are bound to say that our fellow-countrymen are smart, if they are rascally. The entire Mormon people include probably 15,000 men capable of bear- ing arms, and accustomed to their use. If they were removed to-morrow, the nicest examination of next year's national statis- tics would never detect the loss. Lieutenant Gunnison once estimated that Utah would sup- port one million people by grazing and agriculture, on 200,000 392 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES square miles. The Territory is now only about two-fifths as large, and with an improved system of irrigation I am con- vinced that his estimate will apply proportionably at present. Thus, within the present limits of Utah may be developed a State, with a population of a quarter million engaged in agricul- ture, grazing and domestic manufacture, and as many more engaged in mining. But long before that occurs, the Territory must undergo a political and social change, and Mormonism give way to Christianity, progress and enterprise. AND CRIMES OF MORMONI8M. 393 CHAPTER XVIII. MORMON MYSTERIES AND SECRET MARRIAGES. The endowment Actors Scenery and dress Prerequisites Adam and Eve, The Devil and Michael, Jehovah and Eloheim A new version Blas- phemous a&sumptions Terrible oaths Barbarous penalties Origin Scriptures and " Paradise Lost " Eleusinian mysteries " Morgan's Free- masonry " The witnesses Probabilities Their reasons Changes Secret marriages No proof Beating the Gentile courts. THE ENDOWMENT. Dramatis Personce, (on special occasions). ELOHEIM, or Head God JEHOVAH JESUS MICHAEL SATAN APOSTLE PETER - APOSTLE JAMES APOSTLE JOHN EVE - John Taylor, John W. Young, Daniel H. Wells, George Q. Cannon, Elder Green, Joseph F. Smith, Orson Hyde, Erastus Snow, Miss Eliza R. Snow Clerk, Washers, Attendants, Sectarians, Chorus and Endowees. L THE FIRST (PRE-EXISTENT) ESTATE. THE candidates present themselves at the Endowment House, provided with clean clothes and a lunch ; they are ad- mitted to the outer office, and their accounts with the church 394 POLYGAMY. verified by a clerk. Their names, ages and the dates of their conversion and baptism are entered in the register; their tithing receipts are carefully inspected, and if found correct an entry thereof is made. This last is an indispensable before initiation. Evidence is also presented of faithful attendance on public 1 service and at the " School of the Prophets." If any husband and wife appear who have not been sealed for eternity, a note is made of the fact, the ceremony to be performed in the initia- tion. They then remove their shoes, and, preceded by the attendants, who wear slippers, with measured and noiseless step enter the central ante-room, a narrow hall separated by white screens from two other rooms to the right and left ; the right one is for men, and the left for women. Deep silence prevails, the attendants communicating by mys- terious signs or very low whispers ; a dim light pervades the room, mellowed by heavy shades; the faint plash of pouring water behind the screens alone is heard, and the whole scene is calculated to cast a solemn awe over the ignorant candidates, waiting with subdued but nervous expectancy for some mys- terious event. After a few moments of solemn waiting the men are led to their washing-room on the right, and the women to the left. The female candidate is stripped, placed in the bath and washed from head to foot by a woman set apart for the purpose. Every member is mentioned with a special blessing. WASHER. "Sister, I wash you clean from the blood of this generation, and prepare your members for lively service in the way of all true Saints. I wash your head that it may be pre- pared for that crown of glory awaiting you as a faithful Saint, and the fruitful wife of a priest of the Lord ; that your brain may be quick in discernment, and your eyes able to perceive the truth and avoid the snares of the enemy; your mouth to SCENES IN THE ENDOWMENT CEREMONIES. 1. Preparation Washing and Anointing. 2. Eloheira Cursing Adam and Eve --Satan Driven out. 3. Trial of Faith" The Searching Hand." 4. Oath to Avenge the Death of Joseph Smith. 5. The " Blood Atonement." (395) 396 show forth the praise of the immortal gods, and your tongue to pronounce the true name which will admit you hereafter behind the veil, and by which you will be known in the celestial kingdom. I wash your arms to labor in the cause of righteous- ness, and your hands to be strong in building up the kingdom of God by all manner of profitable works. I wash your breasts that you may prove a fruitful vine, to nourish a strong race of swift witnesses, earnest in defence of Zion ; your body, to present it an acceptable tabernacle when you come to pass behind the veil ; your loins that you may bring forth a numerous race, to crown you with eternal glory and strengthen the heavenly kingdom of your husband, your master and crown in the Lord. I wash your knees, on which to prostrate your- self and humbly receive the truth from God's holy priesthood ; your feet to run swiftly in the ways of righteousness and stand firm upon the appointed places ; and now, I pronounce you clean from the blood of this generation, and your body an ac- ceptable temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit." A similar washing is performed upon the male candidate in his own room, and a blessing pronounced upon his body in like manner. He is then passed through a slit in the curtain to the next compartment forward ; as he passes, an apostle whispers in his ear "a new name, by which he will be known in the celestial kingdom of God." It is supposed to be of eternal importance that this name be remembered by its bearer ; but of all the young Saints whose accounts I have heard, not one could re- member his own ! This gives a pretty fair view of what the " Hickorys " really think of their elders' religion. Of late years it has degenerated into a regular burlesque; and lads, in swimming on Sundays, occasionally amuse their leisure on the sand-bank by a comic representation of the endowment. AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 397 just as rowdies in the States sometimes burlesque a Methodist revival. But the lads are exceedingly careful not to let the old folks catch them at such performances, as the latter still look on the ceremony with an awful reverence. Reaching the second room, the candidate is anointed with oil, which has been previously blessed and consecrated by two priests, poured upon his head from a horn, or from a mahogany vessel shaped to resemble one. The oil is rubbed into his hair and beard, and upon each of his limbs, which are again blessed in order. At the same time the women are anointed in their own washing room. The candidate is then dressed in a sort of tunic, or close-fitting garment, reaching from the neck to the heels. This, or a similar one, blessed for the purpose, is always to be worn next to the body, to protect the wearer from harm and from the assaults of the devil. Many Mor- mons are so strenuous on this point, they remove the garment but a portion at a time when changing, partly slipping on the new before the old is entirely off. It is generally believed that Joe Smith took oif his tunic the morning he went to Carthage, to avoid the charge of being in a secret society ; and that he would not have been killed, if he had retained it. Over the tunic comes the ordinary underclothing, and above a robe used only for this purpose; it is made of fine linen, plaited on the shoulders, gathered around the waist with a band, and falling to the floor behind and before. On the head is placed a cap of fine linen, and on the feet light cotton slippers. At this point begins, in the adjoining room, the preparatory debate in the grand council of the godsj as to whether they shall make man. Eloheim, Jehovah, Jesus, and Michael intone a drama in blank verse, representing the successive steps in the creation of the world. Eloheim enumerates the works of each day, and commends them all; at the close of 398 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES each, all the others unite in a responsive chorus of surprise and praise at the glory and beauty of the work, concluding : "Eloheim. Now all is done, and earth with animate life is glad. The stately elephant to browse the forest, the ramping lion in the mountain caves, gazelles, horned cattle, and the fleecy flocks spread o'er the grassy vales; behemoth rolls his bulk in shady fens by river banks, among the ooze, and the great whale beneath the waters, and fowl to fly above in the open firmament of heaven. Upon the earth behold bears, ounces, tigers, pards, and every creeping thing that moves upon the ground. Each after his kind shall bring forth and mul- tiply upon the earth ; and yet there lacks the master work, the being in the form and likeness of the gods, erect to stand, his Maker praise, and over all the rest dominion hold." "Jehovah, Jesus, and Michael. Let us make man, in image, form, and likeness as our own; and as becomes our sole com- plete representative on earth, to him upright, dominion give, and power over all that flies, swims, creeps, or walks upon the earth." The attendants have meanwhile placed the candidates on the floor and closed their eyes, when the gods enter and manipulate them limb by limb, specifying the office of each member, and pretending to create and mould. Then they slap upon them to vivify and represent the creative power, breathe into their nostrils "the breath of life," and raise them to their feet. They are then supposed to.be "as Adam, newly made, com- pletely ductile, mobile in the maker's hand." II. SECOND ESTATE. Men file into the next room, with paintings and scenery to represent the Garden of Eden. There are gorgeous curtains and carpets, trees and shrubs in boxes, paintings of mountains, AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 399 flowers, and fountains, all shown in soft light and delicate tints, together presenting a beautiful and impressive scene. While they move around the garden to measured music, another dis- cussion ensues between the gods; Michael proposes various animals, in turn, to be the intimates of man, which are succes- sively rejected by Jehovah, Jesus, and Eloheim. The men are then laid recumbent, with closed eyes, in pantomime a rib is extracted from each, out of which, in the adjoining room, their wives are supposed to be formed; the men are then commanded to awake, and see their wives for the first time since parting in the entry, dressed nearly like themselves. They walk around the garden by couples, led by the officiating Adam and Eve, when Satan enters. He is dressed in a very tight-fitting suit of black velvet, consisting of short jacket and knee-breeches, with black stockings and slippers, the last with Jong double points; he, also, wears a hideous mask, and pointed helmet. He approaches Eve, who is separated from Adam, and begins to praise her beauty; after which he proffers the "temptation." (Here there is a difference in the testimony. John Hyde says, the "fruit offered consisted of some raisins hanging on a shrub;" one lady states that the temptation consists of gestures and hints "not to be described;" while another young lady, after implying that Adam and Eve were nearly naked, merely adds: "I cannot mention the nature of the fruit, but have left more unsaid than the imagination held with the loosest pos- sible rein would be likely to picture, . . . the reality is too monstrous for human belief, and the moral and object of the whole is socially to unsex the sexes." A third lady states that the fruit consisted merely of a bunch of grapes, and adds : "Those conducting the ceremonies explained to us beforehand that this portion of the affair should be conducted with the men and women entirely naked ; but that, in consequence of 400 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES the prejudice existing in the minds of individuals against that method of proceeding, coupled with the fact that we were not yet sufficiently perfect and pure-minded, and that our enemies would use it as a weapon against us, it was considered neces- sary that we should be clothed." But these ladies were initi- ated at Nauvoo, and all those from whom I have received any account insist that there was nothing indecent in the ceremony. The evidence also shows that the programme has been changed a great deal from time to time.) Eve yields and partakes of the " fruit ; " soon after she is joined by Adam, to whom she offers the same; he first hesi- tates, but overcome by her reproaches, also eats. They grow delirious from its effects, join hands, embrace, and dance around the room till they sink exhausted. A loud chorus of groans and lamentations is heard behind the curtain, followed by a sudden crash as of heavy thunder ; a rift opens in a curtain painted to represent a dense wood, and in the opening appears Eloheim, behind him a brilliant light; he is clothed with a gorgeous dress, bespangled with brilliants and bright stripes to dazzle the eyes. "Eloheim. Where art them, Adam, Erst created first of all earth's tribes, And wont to meet with joy thy coming Lord?" "Adam. Afar I heard Thy coming, In the thunder's awful voice, Thy footsteps shook the earth, And dread seized all my frame, I saw myself in naked shame, Unfit to face Thy Majesty." "Eloheim. How knew'st thou of thy shame? My voice thou oft hast heard, And feared it not. What hast thou done? Hast eaten of that tree To ih ee forbid?" AND CHIMES OF MORMONISM. 401 "Adam. Shall I accuse the partner of my life Or on myself the total crime avow ? But what avails concealment with earth's Lord ? His thoughts discern my inmost hidden sense. The woman Thou gav'st to be my help Beguiled me with her perfect charms, By Thee endowed, acceptable, divine, She gave me of the fruit, and I did eat." "Eloheim. Say, woman, what is this that thou hast done?" "Eve. The serpent me beguiled and I did eat." Eloheim then pronounces a curse literally copied from the Scripture upon the serpent, or rather Satan, who falls upon the ground, and with many contortions wriggles out of the room. A curse is next pronounced upon Eve, and then upon Adam, paraphrased from the Scripture. They fall upon the ground, beat their breasts, rend their clothes, and bewail their lost and sinful condition. " Eloheim. Now is man fallen indeed. The accursed power which first made war in Heaven, hath practiced fraud on earth. By Adam's transgression should all be under sin ; the moral nature darkened, and none could know the truth. But cries of penitence have reached my ears, and Higher Power shall redeem. Upon this earth I place My holy priesthood. To them as unto Me in humble reverence bow. Man, fallen by Satan's wiles, shall by obedience rise. Behold, the Woman's Seed shall bruise the Serpent's head ; from her a race proceed endowed on earth with power divine. To them shall man submit, and regain the paradise now lost through disobedience. With power divine the priesthood is endowed, but not in ful- ness now. Obey them as the Incarnate Voice of God, and in time's fulness Woman's Seed shall all that's lost restore to man. By woman, first fallen, Adam fell ; from Woman's Seed the priesthood shall arise, redeeming man ; and man in turn shall Eve exalt, restoring her to the paradise by her first lost. 26 402 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Meanwhile go forth, ye fallen ones, with only nature's light, and seek for truth." The attendants now place upon each of the initiates a small square apron, of white linen or silk, with certain emblematical marks and green pieces resembling fig leaves, worked in and handsomely embroidered. INTERIOR OF THE MORMON TABERNACLB. The candidates then kneel and join in a solemn oath, repeat- ing it slowly after Adam: That they will preserve the secret inviolably, under penalty of being brought to the block, and having their blood spilt upon the ground in atonement for their sin ; that they will obey and submit themselves to the priesthood in all things, and the men in addition, that they will take no woman unless given them by the Presidency of the Church. A grip and a key-word are then communicated, and AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 403 the First Degree of the Aaronic Priesthood is conferred. Man is now supposed to have entered into life, where the light has become as darkness. They pass through a narrow opening into the next room, which is almost dark, heavy curtains shut- ting out all but a few rays of light. Here they stumble about, fall against blocks and furniture; persons are heard calling, "here is light," "there is light," etc., and a contest goes on among those who call themselves Methodist, Baptist, Presby- terian, Catholic, etc. THE SECTARIANS. Ezekiel Broadbrim : " Verily, my soul is greatly moved for thee, my troubled brother. In thy darkened condition thou lackest spiritual discernment. Thy light in thee is as darkness; thou hast lost the Spirit; thou art altogether without hope yea, verily! But read the Holy Word and regard the inner witness ; then shall you find peace to your souls. But resist not evil ; for even so did the Prince of Peace submit himself to wrong. If a man take away thy cloak, give him thy coat also. Shed no blood in anger speak evil of no man comfort the widow and fatherless and supply the brother in want; do as ye would be done by, and pray for the inner light, then shall ye receive the Spirit's witness yea, verily." Parson Calvin Mather (in a solemn nasal tone) : " God, the Father of all mercies, has most graciously been pleased for His own glory to elect from the sons of men such as should receive His grace. But, lo, this is indeed a sinful world and fallen man is given up to the devices and desires of his own heart. In the gall of bitterness, in the strong bonds of iniquity, you wander in the darkness of your own minds ; not a thought of your hearts but is evil in the sight of heaven; your righteous- ness is as filthy rags, and from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot you are wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; for ' There is none righteous no, not one : There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God. 404 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES Their throat is an open sepulchre ; With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their feet are swift to shed blood ; Destruction and misery are in their ways ; And the ways of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.' "Let us then close our eyes to Satan's wiles and come to Jesus, that peradventure we may prove to be of the elect, foreordained before the foundation of the world. For of ourselves we can indeed do nothing. Therefore let the brethren bring their children to the altar and have them sprinkled ; then if they are to be saved, they will be saved, otherwise, though not a span long, they must howl through all eternity in the sul- phureous flames of the bottomless pit. May the Lord bless this awful truth to the everlasting good of your waiting souls. Amen!" The Right Rev. Cream Cheese Pontifao: "The Lord stand- eth in His Holy Temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him. By the mouth of His Son and the holy apostles hath He founded the true and apostolic church. The glorious com- pany of the apostles witness it ; the noble army of martyrs con- firm it. Let every one be baptized by one having authority, by due descent through the laying on of hands and the apos- tolic succession ; then let him pay for his pew and repose in the bosom of the only true and apostolic body, till he is gloriously transferred with all the nice, clean and well-behaved church- men to the church triumphant." Elder Waterdip: "Dearly beloved, my text to-day will be that comforting passage, 'whom he did foreknow, etc/ From this we learn : 1st. That very few are saved. 2d. That if you are called, you can't help but come. 3d. That if you don't come, it's a sure sign you weren't called. 4th. That if your calling is effectual, you can't lose it. 5th. That if you lose it, you never had it. Incidentally we learn, also, that none but immersed believers should commune with us; that though others may be saved, we have no sure promise of it, and that the only certainty of salvation is to come with us and be immersed." AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 405 Rev. John Wesley Jones: "My perishing fellow-sinners! I would fain improve the time this morning by a short discourse on the text, < Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire/ O, my fellow-travellers, you are on the way to hell to an endless hell ! Before nightfall even, one of this congregation may be weltering in the awful gulf! (Female actors shriek and fall as in a faint.) O, come to the Saviour. Tear off your jewelry and kneel at the mourners 7 bench. Brethren, sing, ' Plunged in a gulf of dark despair/ " father Gregory (with robes and crucifix) : " mater sanc- tissima, Ora pro nobis. (Soft music and lights lowered.) beatissima Coeli Eegina! Grant us intercession with thy dear Son. Make thy believing children faithful. Guard them from all heresy and false doctrine. Keep them in the true faith and in their holy vows. Gloria Patri ac Filio ac Sancto Spiritu et in scecula sceculorum" (Of course my informants could not recall the exact words ; they gave only the general outline of each sectarian's address ; and the reader will readily perceive that the Mormon actor in each case greatly exaggerated the views of the sect to be ridi- culed.) Enter Satan : " Ha ! ha ! You suit me to a dot. Go it go it. One prea'ches immersion, another sprinkling; one predes- tination, another free-will, and so you go. You'll never con- vert the world. My kingdom prevails over all. Go it, go it. Ha! Ha! Ha!" (Loud crash ! Curtains fall. A blaze of light is thrown upon the scene. Peter, James and John enter.) Satan : " What have I to do with thee ! I know thou hast the holy priesthood." Peter, James and John (all) : "And in the name of Jesus Christ and His Holy Priesthood, we command you to depart ! " Satan falls upon the ground, foams, hisses and wriggles out, chased and kicked by the Apostle Peter. The initiates are then ranged in order to listen to a lecture : 106 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES "Peter: Brethren and sisters, light is now come into the world, and the way is opened unto men ; Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat, and great shall be his condemnation who re- jects this light. (The ceremony is explained up to this point.) The holy priesthood is once more established upon earth, in the person of Joseph Smith and his successors. They alone have the power to seal. To this priesthood as unto Christ, all respect is due; obedience implicit, and yielded without a mur- mur. He who gave life has the right to take it. His repre- sentatives the same. You are then to obey all orders of the priesthood, temporal and spiritual, in matters of life or death. Submit yourselves to the higher powers, as a tallowed rag in the hands of God's priesthood. You are now ready to enter the kingdom of God. Look Forth upon the void and tell me what ye see." (Curtain is raised.) Adam and Eve : "A human skeleton." Peter: "Rightly have ye spoken, ^hold all that remains of one unfaithful to these holy vows. The earth had no habi- tation for one so vile. The fowls of the air fed upon his ac- cursed flesh, and the fierce elements consumed the joints and the marrow. Do ye still desire to go forward ?" Adam: "We do." The initiates then join hands and kneel in a circle, slowly repeating an oath after Peter. The penalty is to have the throat cut from ear to ear, with many agonizing details. The Second Degree of the Aaronic Priesthood is then conferred, and the initiates pass into the third room, in the middle of which is an altar. III. THIRD ESTATE. Emblematic of celestialized men. "Michael. Here all hearts are laid open, all desires revealed, and all traitors are made known. In council of the gods it hath AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 407 been decreed that here the faithless shall die. Some enter here with evil intent; but none with evil intent go beyond 'this veil or return alive, if here they practice deceit. If one among you knows aught of treachery in his heart, we charge him now to speak, while yet he may and live. Brethren, an ordeal awaits you. Let the pure have no fear; the false-hearted quake. ^Each shall pass under the Searching Hand, and the Spirit of the Lord decide for his own." The initiates are placed one by one upon the altar, stretched at full length upon the back, and the officiating priest passes an immense knife or keen-edged razor across their throats. It is understood that if any are false at heart, the Spirit will reveal it, to their instant death. Of course, all pass. They again clasp hands, kneel and slowly repeat after Jehovah, another oath. The penalty for its violation is to have the bowels slit across and .the entrails fed to swine with many horrifying and disgusting details. Another sign, grip and key word are given, and the First Degree of the Melchistdek Priesthood is conferred, being the third degree of the Endowment. Copies of the Bible, " Book of Mormon " and " Doctrine and Covenants" are placed upon the altar, and another lecture delivered. The initiates are now instructed that they are in a saved condition, and are to go steadily on in the way of salvation ; but that temporal duties demand their first care, chief among which is a positive, imme- diate duty to avenge the death of the Prophet and Martyr Joseph Smith. The account of his martyrdom is circumstan- tially related, after which the initiates take a solemn oath to avenge his death ; that they will bear eternal hostility to the Government of the United States for the murder of the Prophet ; that they renounce all allegiance they may have held to the Government, and hold themselves absolved from all oaths of fealty, past or future; that they will do all in their 408 POLYGAMY; OR, THE MYSTERIES power towards the overthrow of that Government, ami in event of failure teach their children to pursue that duty after them. (It is claimed that this oath as to Joseph Smith has been omitted for years past.) Another oath of fidelity and secresy is administered, of which the penalty is to have the heart torn out and fed to the fowls of the air. The initiates are now de- clared acceptable to God, taught a new form of prayer, "in an unknown tongue/' and the Second Degree of the Melchizedel: Priesthood is conferred. They are then passed "behind the veil," a linen curtain, to the last room. IV. FOURTH ESTATE. The kingdom of the Gods. The men enter first, and the officiating priest cuts certain marks on their garments and a slight gash just above the right knee. Then, at the command of Eloheim, they one by one in- troduce their women to the room. Very few instances have occurred of women being admitted to these rites before mar- riage. "Sealing for eternity" is then performed for all who have previously been only " married for time." The initiated then retire, resume their regular dress, get a lunch, and return to hear a lengthy address, explaining the en- tire allegory, and their future duties consequent on the vows they have taken. The entire ceremony and address occupy about ten hours. Such is the Endowment, as reported by many who have passed through it. The gentle reader will readily recognize that portion which is paraphrased from the Scriptures and Mil- ton's " Paradise Lost." The general outline is evidently mod- eled upon the Mysteries or Holy Dramas of the Middle Ages. Much of it will be recognized as extracted from "Morgan's AND CRIMES OF MORMONISM. 409 Free-masonry Expose^" by those familiar with that work ; and the origin of this is quite curious. When Smith and Rigdon first began their work they were in great doubt what to preach ; a furious religious excitement was prevalent in the West, and portions of argument in regard to all the isms of the day may be found in the " Book of Mormon." But Anti-Masonry was just then the great political excitement of New York, and the infant Church was easily drawn into that furious and baseless crusade, which already ranks in history as one of those unac- countable popular frenzies which occasionally disturb our poli- tics, rising from no one knows where, and subsiding as appar- ently without cause. Smith's "New translation" of the Old Testament is full of Anti-Masonry; the fifth chapter of Gene- sis as he has it, which is added entire to our version, is devoted entirely to the condemnation of secret societies, and sets forth particularly how they were the invention of Cain after he " fled from the presence of the Lord." But the Brighamites declare the time has not yet come to publish or circulate this Bible ; and it is only quoted by the Josephites, who use this chapter to condemn the Endowment. Some years after, however, the Mormons all became Masons, and so continued till they reached Nauvoo; there Joseph Smith out-masoned Solomon himself, and declared that God had revealed to him a great key-word, which had been lost, and that he would lead Masonry to far higher degrees, and not long after their charter was revoked by the Grand Lodge, How much of masonry proper has survived in the Endowment, the writer will not pretend to say ; but the Mormons are pleased to have the out- side world connect the two, and convey the impression that this is "Celestial Masonry." There was a time when the Gentile idea of what was done in the endowment was all guesswork ; and the accounts published 410 POLYGAMY. while the Mormons were at Nauvoo were evidently mere ro- mances, some of them, however, quite poetical. But now there are hundreds, yes, thousands, of people scattered over the West who were once Mormons, and feel no sort of hesitation in re- vealing the mysteries. Orthodox Mormons claim that when one apostatizes, his or her memory of all the endowment cere- monies is miraculously destroyed ; and it is apparent that the average uneducated Mormon could not remember the details, especially as. the initiate is under a deep feeling of solemnity and awe while going through it. But so many have given their experience, both in print and conversation, that almost every detail is known. Such is one of the means employed by the Mormon leaders to weld their people into perfect unity; and to such a feast of blasphemy and horrors do they invite the world, iii their seductive MISSIONARY HYMX. " Lo ! the Gentile chain is broken ; Freedom's banner waves on high , List, ye nations ! by this token Know that your redemption's nigh. " See, on yonder distant mountain, Zion's standard wide tmfurPd ; Far above Missouri's fountain, Lo ! it waves for all the world. "Freedom, peace and full salvation, Are the blessings guaranteed ; Liberty to every nation, Every tongue and every creed. "Come, ye Christian sects and pagan, Pope, and Protestant, and priest ; Worshippers of God or Dagon, Come ye to fair Freedom's feast. 412 " Come, ye sons of doubt and wonder, Indian, Moslem, Greek, or Jew ; A.11 your shackles burst asunder, Freedom's banner waves for yon." The foregoing is merely the regular initiation ; but there is another ceremony frequently performed in the Endowment House, of which the United States officials in Utah would be only too happy to get a record the polygamous marriage. But when brought before the courts, none of the Mormon officials know anything about it ! Time was when this secrecy was un- necessary. Polygamous marriages were quite as open as any, and the wedding supper, dance and all that sort of thing, quite en regie. Then, according to Orson Pratt's paper on the sub- ject, the marriage was on this wise:, " When the day set apart for the solemnization of the mar- riage ceremony has arrived, the bridegroom and his wife, and also the bride, together with their relatives and such other guests as may be invited, assemble at the place which they have appointed. The scribe then proceeds to take the names, ages, native towns, counties, States, and countries of the parties to be married, which he carefully enters on record. The President, who is the Prophet, Seer and Revelator over the whole church throughout the world, and who alone holds the ' keys ' of au- thority in this solemn ordinance (as recorded in the 2d and 5th paragraphs of the Revelation on Marriage), calls upon the bridegroom and his wife, and the bride, to arise, which they do, fronting the President. The wife stands on the left hand of her husband, while the bride stands on her left. The President then puts this question to the wife : " 'Are you willing to give this woman to your husband to be his lawful and wedded wife for time and for all eternity? If you are, you will manifest it by placing her right hand within the right hand of your husband.' AND CRIMES OF MORMOXISM. 413