OF* co THE WONDERLANDS OF THE- WILD WEST, WITH SKETCHES OF THE MORMONS BY AB, LATE CHAIRMAN OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR UTAH, UNDER THE ANTI-POLYGAMY LAWS OF CONGRESS, AND NEARLY SEVEN YEARS A MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION. isei. 32-761 CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTORY KEMARKS 9 FROM KANSAS CITY TO THE GOLDEN GATE - 10 The Prairies The Plains Pike's Peak Denver The Rocky Mountains Cheyenne the Mormon Land Through Nevada Over the Sierra Nevada Mountains From Snowy Crags to Marechal Neil Roses San Francisco The Golden Gate The Salt Rocks. LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON 15 A VIEW OF SALT LAKE CITY - 20 GREAT SALT LAKE 27 SHORT HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MORMONS 32 THE RELIGION OF THE MORMONS 33 Baptism for the Dead POLYGAMY 39 II. THE UTAH COMMISSION 47 MEETING IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL - 55 A WARD MEETING : SPEAKING IN TONGUES, ETC. - 57 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES 62 SERVICES AT THE TABERNACLE 63 INTERVIEW WITH AN APOSTATE - 63 THE GENESIS OF MORMONISM - 65 VI CONTENTS. PAGE. THE MORMON EXODUS FROM NAUVOO 71 KEMY AND BRENCHLEY ON THE MORMONS 84 CACHE VALLEY 86 VISIT TO SPRINGVILLE 91 Celebration of Brigham Young's Birthday. THE HELL-POTS OF MIDWAY 93 A CELESTIAL PANTHEIST 95 GRAND BALL AT BEAVER CITY 100 THE UTAH COMMISSION AGAIN - 102 A SWELL AFFAIR 116 Wining and Dining with the Saints. EVOLUTION ARE THE MORMONS INCORRIGIBLE ? 120 DEATH OF JOHN TAYLOR 127 Sermons by Apostles Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards. PIONEER DAY JULY 24 141 SILVER LAKE AT BRIGHTON'S 142 "SEGREGATION" THE UTAH JUDICIARY, ETC. 148 FORGED SERMON OF BISHOP WEST AT JUAB 151 MORMON POETRY ELIZA E. SNOW BISHOP WHITNEY 152 CASTLE GATE THE BLACK CANYON, ETC. 152 Marshall's Pass, Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, Manitou, The Garden of the Gods Solitude. THE MOUNTAIN RECLUSE - 163 THE ARGONAUTS OLD CHARACTERS 169 MORMON GENERAL CONFERENCE - 176 "THE MORMON PROBLEM" 181 RIDING A BRONCHO BOOMING WITH A BRASS BAND 183 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION BY BRIGHAM YOUNG 189 THE YOSEMITE THE BIG TREES - 190 The Yellowstone National Park BRIGHAM YOUNG'S WILL 194 CENTENNIAL OF WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION 219 MINES AND MINING IN UTAH - 220 CONTENTS. vii III. PAGE. "THE MORMON PROBLEM'' THE QuEbTioN OF STATEHOOD FOR UTAH - 223 MINORITY REPORT (1887) OF UTAH COMMISSION 226 COMMISSION CORRESPONDENCE 245 MINORITY REPORT (1888) 251 CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION ON UTAH AFFAIRS 266 The Anti- Polygamy Law of 1862. The Poland Law of 1874. The Edmunds Law of 1882. The Edmunds-Tucker Law of 1887. REPORT OF THE UTAH COMMISSION (1887) 293 DECLARATION (DECEMBER 1889) OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE MORMON CHURCH 301 PRESIDENT WOODRUFF'S MANIFESTO 305 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE REPORT (1891) OF THE UTAH COMMISSION - 323 VIEWS OF CHIEF JUSTICE ZANE 326 CAPTAIN CODMAN ON THE ANTI-MORMON CRUSADE - 329 FAIR PLAY FOR THE MORMONS - 333 HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF - 344 THE BATTLE OF LOUISVILLE 345 EPILOGUE ... . 347 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. * * * * "o f antres vast and deserts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven, It was my hint to speak ; * * * * And of the cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders.' 1 Othello. A SOJOURN for nearly seven years in Utah, as one of the Board of Commissioners appointed by the Presi- dent of the United States, under the provisions of the so-called " Edmunds Anti-polygamy Law " of Congress, has afforded the writer of these Sketches ample opportunities to become acquainted with the Mormons or Latter-day Saints, as well as some of the most remarkable and picturesque scenery of the Wild West. As to the people called Mormons, I shall "speak of them as they are nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." I shall condemn where censure is just, and give credit where it is due. It is seldom that we find great bodies or classes of people as bad as they are painted by their enemies. Much that is said concerning an unpopular and hated people should be received cum grano, for it is easy as well as agreeable for many per- sons to deal largely in hyperbole and fiction against those whom it is the fashion to despise. The Mormons have grievous faults, and grievously have they answered for them. The odium that has IO THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. attached to them by the adding of polygamy to their former beliefs, has so prejudiced the public mind against the Mormons that they are seldom credited with the vir- tues which they really possess. But the candid and im- partial observer who has mingled extensively among the people, will agree with the views promulgated by the Utah Commission, (the Board above referred to) in their annual report to the Secretary of the Interior of 1887: The majority of the Mormons are a kindly and hospitable people. They possess many traits of character which are well worthy of emula- tion by others. In their local affairs they strive to suppress the vices which are common to settled communities. In matters of religion they are intensely devotional, rendering a cheerful obediende to their church rules and requirements. They possess many of the elements which under a wise leadership would make them a useful and prosper- ous people. The manuscript for this work was prepared from time to time from the summer of 1882 to 1890 ; and for the most part the sketches were written contemporane- ously with the events, some times in haste, with more regard far the matter than the manner, but always with a scrupulous care to state the facts truly, and to give my impressions and opinions, formed at the time, "without fear, favor, or affection." THE PLAINS AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Many a " cultured " denizen of New England and elsewhere on the Atlantic seaboard associates with his idea of the Wild West, such regions as the highly civilized and enlightened State of Indiana ; and would be surprised to learn that on the banks of White River, or the Wabash, there are no wild buffaloes, no antelopes, painted Indians or grizzly bears. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. I I My subject is not the Old West, but the New West, the wonderland of this continent. I have trav- eled in the far west with some intelligent tourists who have visited the most famous natural scenery to be found in the Old World, and they do not hesitate to declare that they have seen nothing beyond the Atlantic to com- pare with the wonderlands of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas. In order to furnish a thread of continuity on which to string some observations on men, manners and mountains, and the wonderful scenery to be found in that vast region lying between .the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, I will have you go along with me across the continent, from Kansas City, at the western boundary of the State of Missouri, to the Golden Gate of the Pacific, at San Francisco. I will not dwell long on the way, nor will I weary your patience by relating the ordinary incidents of travel. We will go along rapidly, for we now travel by railroad in a Pullman Sleeper over those trackless plains and deserts, and rug- ged and inhospitable mountains that were traversed by the Argonauts of '49, in their long and toilsome journey of many months. In the eastern half of Kansas we pass through a rich and well-cultivated country. In the west- ern part we reach the beginning of the arid region, which stretches for a thousand miles toward the west, and includes the regions of the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevadas. In Kansas and Colorado, the untraveled tourist will feast his vision on those vast prairies or plains, of which he has heard so much. Day after day, until we reach the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, we pass over these everlasting, boundless, illimitable t( plains," until the brain reels and the eye is 'tired in looking upon the vast 12 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. expanse; and, if the traveler is of a poetic turn of mind, he will recall the graphic lines of William Cullen Bryant: "These are the gardens of the desert, these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful For which the speech of England has.no name The prairies. I behold them for the first j And my heart swells, while the dilated sight Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo ! they stretch In airy undulations, far away, As if the ocean in his gentlest swell, Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed, And motionless forever." This description refers to the rolling prairies which are found in Missouri and Iowa, and the eastern portions of Kansas and Nebraska; but as we go further west, the prairies or plains for hundreds of miles, appear to be almost as level as a billiard table, with nothing to relieve the landscape, except, now and then, a herd of graceful antelopes, or the grand illumination of a prairie fire. Where are the wild Indians, the buffaloes, the trap- pers that beguiled our youthful days in Cooper's novels? They are things of the past, along this line of travel. They have vanished before the advancing steps of civil- ization. No buffalo are to be seen from the Missouri River to San Francisco, although, at the time of the con- struction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, through Kansas and Colorado, about twenty one years ago, the trains were sometimes stopped by herds of tens of thousands of buffalo; and at present Indians are rarely seen until you reach Utah or Nevada. All the way from the Missouri River to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, we have gradually ascended, until now, at an elevation of five thousand or six thous- and feet, still on the plains, we catch the first view of the AN INDIAN "BUCK." THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 13 Rocky Mountains. Looking to the south-west the snow- capped summit of Pike's Peak towers aloft in awful sub- limity, some seventy five miles away. Soon afterwards we reach Denver. Thence we go north one hundred and twenty miles till we arrive at Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, intersecting the main line of the Union* Pacific Railway. It is midsummer, but to the left of us, we are in constant view of the Rocky Mountain range, covered with eternal snow. Soon after leaving Cheyenne we begin to ascend the Rocky Mountains rapidly until we reach Sherman, the highest point on the ra : lway between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, the altitude being eight thousand two hundred and thirty-five feet above the level of the sea. In Wyoming and Utah, as far west as Ogden, we pass over a mountainous country, for four or five hundred miles, some parts of which are very picturesque; particularly Echo and Weber canyons. Further mention of these canyons and other scenery on this road is now pretermitted, because we shall presently visit other moun- tain scenery far surpassing, in beauty and grandeur, any- thing to be seen on this line of travel. Soon after leav- ing Evanston, we enter the world-renowned Mormon land, the territory of Utah. In sketching the wonder- lands of the west, it would be like a deed without a seal at common law, a most unpardonable casus omissus if we fail to notice this strange and peculiar people, the Latter- day Saints. But before entering on this, we will make a detour to the capital of Zion, and give some account of the physical geography of the country. We arrive at Ogden, Utah Territory, on the even- ing of the fourth day's travel from Indiana. Here we take the Utah Central Railroad* and run south thirty- * Now [1891] a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. 14 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. seven and a half miles, skirting the Great Salt Lake on our right, and reach Salt Lake City at eight o'clock on the same evening, having traveled one thousand seven hun- dred and fifty miles from Terre Haute, Indiana. The area of Utah Territory is about eighty-four thousand square miles, a great portion of which is covered with mountains ; many of them of stupendous height. Being situated within the arid region, the culti- vation of the soil depends mainly upon the facilities for irrigation ; and this leads us to a notice of the mountain ranges and the canyon streams of Utah. And what is a canyon ? It is a Spanish-American word, used to express what can be better understood by a description than a definition. In that remote geological era, when this western region was so awfully convulsed by the throes of Nature, and these lofty and rocky mountains were upheaved, in ranges, generally running in a north and south direction, there were great seams or gulches made transversely with the ranges. These are called canyons. The whole three hundred and fifty miles of the length of Utah is traversed north and south by ranges of mount- ains, the principal of which is the Wasatch range, a part of the Rocky Mountain system. The western side of this range is bold and precipi- tous, many of the peaks rising ten, eleven and thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. This mount- ain range is cut transversely on the west side by can- yons, at intervals of three to five or eight miles. Issuing from each canyon there is a stream of water flowing down from the melting snow of the mountains, which is often drifted to the depth of fifty or sixty feet. These streams, flowing from their source from ten to thirty-five miles through the canyons, down into the valleys at the THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 15 base of the mountains, are utilized for the purpose of irrigating- the fields. The soil being very rich, and pro- ductive when cultivated by irrigation, the Mormons have made many of these valleys to "blossom like the rose." One of these canyons will now be described ; and it will serve as an illustration of hundreds of others in the west. On a warm July day, we start on an excursion to Little Cottonwood Canyon to the southeast of Salt Lake City. We set out early in the morning, on a train of the celelebrated scenic road, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway. Running south eleven miles, through a rich and well-cultivated valley, we reach Bingham Junction, where we intersect a branch railroad, which runs west to the Bingham mines, and east to the mining camp of Alta, at the head of Little Cottonwood canyon. Chang- ing cars at Bingham Junction, we run in an easterly direction about eight miles to a little town called Wasatch, just above the mouth of the canyon. Here we leave, the steam cars and continue our journey about eight miles up the canyon on a tramway, the cars being drawn by mules working tandem. At the mouth of this canyon are the granite quarries, where the material is procured for the building of the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City. On each side of the canyon, for several miles above its mouth, there are great mountains of granite, rising some two or three thousand feet above us ; and it has been estimated, or guessed, that there is enough granite here to build a hundred cities as big as New York. Along the narrow valley, or rather defile, there are many granite boulders, from the size of a collossal elephant to a meeting-house, which appear to have been broken off and rolled down from the almost perpendicu- lar sides of the mountains. Thus far the Mormons have 1 6 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. quarried only from these enormous loose rocks for the building of their Temple, which has been in course of construction since 1853. This granite is first-rate build- ing material, and the Temple, when finished according to the design, will be one of the most durable and beautiful buildings in this country. At these quarries our attention was called to some handsome white tents on the other side of the canyon stream, and we were told that there was something over there worth seeing. Crossing on a foot-bridge over the dashing, foaming mountain stream, as white as milk, we found ourselves in a scene of enchantment and rural beauty, rarely to be seen anywhere in the wide world ! Hid away among the bushes of maple and cottonwood and wild roses, there were a great many tents of snowy whiteness; within were nice clean beds and pictures, and other light furniture. This umbrageous village of tents is occupied in warm weather by the quarrymen and their families, and picnic parties are sometimes held here by the young people of Salt Lake City. All through the grounds were beautiful walks, fringed with flowers of many kinds ; streams of pure mountain water were flow- ing everywhere, some in little wooden flumes, and some in graveled channels, while many tiny jets were cooling the perfumed air. This gem of the mountains, this quiet scene of rural beauty, was " worthy of the golden prime of the good Haroun Al Raschid." But let us continue our way up the canyon. The tramway is (or has been) enclosed with a continuous snow-shed, the whole eight miles, constructed at great expense ; but in many places this structure has been car- ried away by snow-slides. The scenery in this canyon is very grand and beau- tiful, the narrow defile being enclosed on both sides THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 17 by rugged mountains a half mile high above the stream, and the stream itself some miles above the mouth of the canyon being seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. In many places these stupendous mountain walls are almost perpendicular, and often indented with awful gorges, where the immense rocks are fashioned into all sorts of grotesque forms, resembling castles, cathedrals, towers or animals of monstrous size and shape. Far up the mountain sides we see little bushes of evergreens that is, they seem to be little bushes ; but, in fact, they are large pines and firs, probably one or two feel: in dia- meter and seventy-five feet high large enough for the masts of a frigate. Now and then we catch a view of a beautiful cascade of silvery whiteness and gauze-like appearance, dashing down the rugged declivity, and some- times making a clear leap of hundreds of feet. As we proceed along the stream, we are rapidly ascending, and the temperature is becoming colder; the tops and sides of the mountains are covered with great patches of snow, a curious sight for midsummer ! But this canyon stream is "a thing of beauty and a joy for- ever." It is very rapid, cold and clear, and goes dashing, roaring, and foaming among huge rocks, with many hun- dreds of rapids and cascades. At length we arrive at Alta, four hours from Salt Lake City. The air is pure, dry and cold. Several of the party are shivering. One lady in delicate health is almost overcome with the cold, but is soon restored by extra wraps and a roaring coal fire. The little children of the party find an acre of snow close by the hotel, and amuse themselves with snow-balling. Alta is surrounded on all sides but one with high mountains. Several noted silver mines are here, among 1 8 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. others the celebrated Emma Mine, concerning which Minister Schenck had so much trouble several years ago, in England. To give you an idea of a winter in the Wasatch Mountains, Alta will serve as an example. The snow is often thirty feet deep in the town, and sometimes over the tops of the second story windows, while in some instances nothing can be seen of the houses except the tops of the chimneys. The people get about through tunnels which they excavate under the snow. "Beware of the dreadful avalanche!" is not mere poetry to the denizens of Alta. It has several times been almost com- pletely destroyed by these snow-slides, and one time and another more than one hundred and fifty lives have been lost. In the spring of 1884 there were twelve lives destroyed there, by an avalanche, and in the spring of 1885 there were twenty more deaths by the same sort of disaster. So much for the canyon. In subsequent pages I will call your attention to some other of these remark- able chasms in the west, such as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, the Royal Gorge, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, etc. But the most remarkable and stupendous chasm on this globe is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, partly in Utah and partly in Arizona. For awful sublimity and grotesqueness, this tremendous gorge has no parallel upon the earth. It is three hundred or four hundred miles long, and in many places half a mile, and in some places more than one mile deep. At the bottom flows the dashing, foaming, turbulent waters of the Colorado River, compressed within narrow limits by the huge and rugged rocks that rise in many places perpendicularly from three to six thousand feet. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 19 What an awful spectacle, to stand beside the dark and rushing waters of the stream, fifty feet deep, and look up at the buttressed and battlemented walls which seem to reach the sky, walls so high that the perspective appears to close them at the top so near together, that only a thin streak of sky can be seen ! How trifling, how infinitesimally small and insignifi- cant is man, with all his boasted works of art, his Par- thenons, his Coliseums, his pyramids, his capitols, and temples, compared with these stupendous, titanic, awe- inspiring works of nature ! Words are vain and feeble wholly inadequate to convey to the mind a full con- ception of these Cyclopean wonders of the west. They are ineffable ; but the thought of them will remain through life, and you will always feel proud that you have seen them. Before I come to a description of the city of the Saints, I will take time to make only brief mention of Marshall's Pass, where the great scenic railway crosses the backbone of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of ten thousand eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. The elevation is so great that you shiver with cold in July, and the road is so crooked, in order to make the gradual ascent, that, looking down the mountain sides, you think you see six or seven different railroad tracks. But this is not so crooked as the narrow-guage railroad between Georgetown and Plume City in Colorado, where it doubles up and crosses itself in a loop; nor will it compare with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Tiha- chapi Pass in Southern California, where (it is not much exaggeration to say) the road is so crooked that it ties itself into a double-bow knot. The road runs through a tunnel, and then describes a complete circle around the peak of a mountain ; then crosses 2O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. itself seventy-eight feet above the tunnel, and in a short distance makes another circuit and crosses itself again. This is called the Lover's Knot. Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, is one of the most beautiful and attractive cities I have ever seen. On a fine spring day we take a carriage drive to view the place. A VIEW OF SALT LAKE CITY. Our driver said he had been a Mormon, but had had nothing to do with the Church for a long time. He had resided in Salt Lake City for twenty years. He was an excellent guide, and knew where everybody lived, and all the places of interest. Going east on South Temple (or Brigham) Street, we passed the Temple Block on which are situated the Tabernacle, the Temple, the Assembly Hall and the Endowment House. East of these are the Tithing Yard and buildings, the Deseret News office, the Lion House, the Bee Hive House and the Eagle Gate. Across the street from the Bee Hive House is the Gardo House, commonly called by the Gentiles The Amelia Palace. The Temple block contains ten acres and is enclosed by high walls. The Tabernacle is the great meeting- house of the Saints, in which they hold religious exer- cises every Sunday, except in cold weather, when the meetings are held in the Assembly Hall. The Tab- ernacle will seat 12,000 people, and, with standing room, has upon some occasions held 15,000. In the west end is an immense organ, which at the time it was built, was the, largest in the United States. It is the work of resident mechanics and made of the native woods of Utah. The choir when full, consists of one THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 21 hundred and ten singers.* The Tabernacle when seen from a distance looks like a huge turtle. It is two hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and fifty feet wide, and eighty feet from the floor to the ceiling. It is elliptical in shape, and without a column inside to sup- port the roof. The foundation for the dome of the building is a succession of red sand-stone pillars, each about six by ten feet and fifteen or twenty feet high. Around the building there are twenty doors. The Temple, however, is to be the glory and pride of Zion. It was begun in 1853, and with some intermissions, work has been going on ever since. It is thought it will be finished by the year 1893. The ma- terial is a first-rate gray granite, found in the mountains about eighteen miles from the city. The walls are nine feet and three inches thick, and have already been car- ried up above the square. The work on the spires is now going on. When finished according to the Architect's plan, it will be a magnificent and substantial building. The cost of construction up to March i2th, 1883, was $1,687,000. and at this time it must be consid- erably over $2,500,000. The Assembly Hall is a new and substantial build- ing, of granite, of excellent architectural design, in which the meetings are held on Sundays when the weather is cold. Its highest steeple is ornamented with an effigy of Gabriel blowing his trump. The inside of the hall is decorated with many pictures illustrative of scenes in Mormon history. The Endowment House is a plain and unostenta- tious adobe structure in the northwest corner of the Temple Block. Here various mysteries and ordinances * The Choir now [1891] numbers more than three hundred singers. 22 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. of the Mormon theology are celebrated, among others marriages. The Endowment House is a sanctum sanc- torum into which Gentile " misbelievers" are not ad- mitted.* Proceeding eastward on Brigham Street we pass on our left the Lion House, a large building, plain in style, but well built and well finished. On top of the portico facing the street is a well-executed stone lion, of life-size. (Brigham Young's poetical sobriquet was The Lion of the Lord,) In this house a majority of his many wives were domiciled, during his life-time. A short distance east of the Lion House is the Bee Hive House, the principal residence of the late Presi- dent. It takes its name from a bee hive on the top of the house. The bee hive is the emblem of the Mor- mons and the coat-of-arms of the State of Deseret by which name they formerly sought to be admitted into the Union as a State. On the front door of the Bee Hive House we find the door plate still remaining, inscribed in plain Roman letters, Brigham Young. Across the street, south of the Bee Hive House^ is the Gardo House or Amelia Palace, built by Brig- ham Young, as is generally said, to please his ninth wife, Amelia Folsom Young, at that time the light of the Harem, and the reigning queen of his capacious affec- tions. This is a very elegant and costly building, and would appear to good advantage among the most sump- tuous residences of our eastern cities. Passing by the Eagle Gate constructed by Brig- ham Young, consisting of four high pillars, surmounted by a spread-eagle standing on a bee hive on top of the arch of the gate-way, we see a great many fine resi- * The Endowment House was pulled down in 1889. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 23 dences. On our left was pointed out to us the "White House where Brigham's first wife resided until her death in 1882; on the right we saw the former residence of the recalcitrant Ann Eliza Young. Further on we passed, on our left, the elegant residence of Brigham Young, a son of the late President, and now one of the Twelve Apostles. On this street also are several fine residences belonging to mining and mercantile nabobs among the Gentile population. Brigham Street* is the aristocratic thoroughfare of the city. It is situated on the southern declivity of the "bench" of the mountains. Streams of pure cold water are brought in artificial channels, from the City Creek Canyon, in the adjacent mountains, on to the beautiful deep green lawns of English lawn grass, and the rich gardens, orchards and vineyards. Apple, peach and plum trees, as well as strawberries were in full bloom. On this street, and in other parts of the city we found a great deal of lucern (or alfalfa.) It is growing luxuriantly, of a bright emerald green, and contributes greatly to the beauty of the landscape. It is cut for hay, and 'three or four crops are mowed during the season. From Brigham Street we drove some distance up on the bench to a place called lookout point, from which we had a magnificent view of the whole city, Great Salt Lake, many towns, villages, and settlements, and the snow-covered mountains twenty and thirty miles away, some of the peaks being twelve or thirteen thous- and feet above the level of the sea. Of a clear day Mount Nebo in the south can be seen, eighty miles away. The whole scene reminded me of Irving's descrip- * More properly South Temple Street. 24 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. tion of the city of Granada, at the time of its conquest by the " harnessed chivalry of Spain" the same rugged mountain scenery, and the silvery streams irrigating plains and meadows, gardens, flowers and fruits. Returning to Brigham Street, we proceed to Camp Douglas, a military post about three miles east of Main Street, then commanded by Col. Alexander McCook. This, place is six or seven hundred feet higher than Salt Lake City, and commands a fine view of Zion. The officer's quarters are built of fine red sandstone, found in the vicinity, and consists of ten or twelve substantially built houses, arranged in a semi-circle, half enclosing a smooth, green lawn watered by a stream of water brought from the Red Butte Canyon. The elegant resi- dence of the Colonel, the barracks, the hospital and other buildings make up quite an attractive place. A good band furnishes music every Sunday afternoon to visitors from the city. At the camp we fell in with an ex- cursion party of about one hundred persons from San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento, who were sight- seeing in Zion. Returning to the city, we drove past the magnificent building on Main Street, which is. the head-quarters of Zion's Co operative Mercantile In- stitution, founded by Brigham Young and other' leading Mormons in 1868. This building is one hundred feet wide, three hundred and eighteen feet long, and three stories high. The business done here is by wholesale and retail, and this is the center of a great mercantile system throughout Utah and the Mormon settlements in the adjacent States and Territories. This institution does a business amounting to four or five millions of dollars annually. We visited the grave of Brigham Young, in a pri- vate cemetery on the bench of the mountains. He lies THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 25 buried under a large, square stone, about a foot thick, on which (by his direction) there is no inscription. We drove past the Salt Lake Theatre, and the new Walker Opera House. The former was erected by Brigham Young and is a capacious and well constructed building. Theatricals, as well as music and dancing were encouraged by the late " Prophet Brigham." He had his private box at the theatre, where he was often seen with some of his wives. At dancing parties he often took the lead in tripping the ''light fantastic." We next drove out past the residence of Feramorz Little, formerly Mayor of the city. He was quite a wealthy man; and his residence and grounds would com- pare favorably with the best in our eastern cities. He was a Mormon and a polygamist, or had been, I have been told, but I have forgotten how many wives he has had. I had a conversation with him in the fall of 1882, while the registration of voters was going on ; and he complained bitterly that some Mormons were not allowed to register or vote, "although they were living pure and vir- tuous lives in the holy order of celestial marriage, while Kate Flint and her suite of painted Jezebels had walked up with brazen impudence and been registered as voters." (Kate Flint was the Gentile proprietress of a maison de joie in the city.) Woman suffrage was then allowed by law in Utah ; but it was abolished by act of Congress, March 3, 1887. Salt Lake City, originally called " Great Salt Lake City," had three years ago a population of about thirty- five thousand, and the census of 1 890 shows about fifty thousand. It covers about six square miles, and is beau- tifully situated near the base of the Wasatch range of mountains. The northern portion of the city is on the bench (or a plateau) of the mountains, and this part of 26 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. the city is considered the most eligible for residences. It is in this quarter of the city that Brigham Young and divers members of his family, and high dignitaries of the Church established their palatial residences, eastward of the Temple Block. The whole city is laid off in blocks of ten acres each, so that i n walking around a block you travel exactly half a mile. Each block is divided into eight lots of an acre and a quarter each. The streets are very wide, one hundred and thirty-two feet, including the sidewalks, which are each sixteen and a half feet wide. One of the pleasing features of the city is the great number of shade trees along the sidewalks of all the streets, and the fruit and ornamental trees, gardens and lawns of English grass that everywhere abound. But the great charm of the city, that formerly excited the admiration of all tourists and sojourners, were the streams of pure, clear water running along the edge of the sidewalks on all the streets. The water is brought down from the mountain canyons near the city, the principal supply being from City Creek Canyon. These streams are fed by the melting of the snow high up in the mountains, and the water comes dashing and foaming down the canyons. City Creek is dammed up at several places, and the water is carried around the sides of the mountains in ditches and flumes, to the higher parts of the city, and thence it is conducted east, west and south to all parts of the city, and is used for irrigating the trees, grass and gardens. To pass along Main Street, which has a considerable descent to the south, on a hot July day and see the clear, cold water dashing rapidly along, is a grateful and novel sight. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 2j The water thus carried to every man's door was used by the Mormons in the pioneer days for drinking and other purposes. But with the growth of the city, water works have been established, and water is now brought down in pipes from City Creek for domestic use, for irrigating lawns and for the fire department. This city has all the modern improvements gas, electric lights, telephones, bicycles, skating rinks, theaters, race courses, street railroads, four daily newspapers, fire companies, etc. There are also many saloons, gambling houses, and a few years ago there were several gilded palaces of sin, for all of which the Mormons say the city is indebted to the influx of Gentile population. One of the attractions of Utah is the Great Salt Lake, or "Dead Sea of America," and I will now give an account of a visit to this great inland sea, which is about twelve miles from the city at its nearest point, but the two most noted bathing resorts are " Garfield Beach," on the southern end of the lake, about twenty miles west of the city, and "Lake Park," on the eastern side about sixteen miles distant. We take the train at the Utah & Nevada Railroad for Garfield Beach at 8 o'clock a. m., and reach the lake in about one hour. At the western limits of the city we "cross over Jordan," a river that flows from Lake Utah, or Timpanogos, in the south, to Great Salt Lake, a dis- tance of forty or fifty miles. For a short distance from the city we pass through cultivated farms, and the air is laden with the delicious odor of the purple blossoms of alfalfa ; but for the greater part of the way the land is uncultivated and is white with alkali. Arrived at Garfield Beach, we have a fine view ol the lake. It looks a good deal like Lake Michigan ; ex- 28 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. cept that the view here is obstructed by islands on the right and the left ; but directly to the north the vision extends unobstructed as far as it can reach. The first mention of Great Salt Lake was by the Baron La Hontan, in 1689. He had gathered some vague notions of the lake from the Indians. In 1833, Captain B3nneville, of the United States Army, sent a party from Green River to make a circuit of the great lake, but when they struck the " Great Desert" on the northwest they lost their way and wandered off into southern California at Monterey. In 1842 Col. John C. Fremont, on his exploring ex- pedition to Oregon, visited the lake and spent a night on one of its islands. On the 22nd of July, 1847, the Mor- mon pioneers first caught a view of the great lake and valley from an elevated plateau at the mouth of Emigra- tion Canyon, as they emerged from the Wasatch Mount- ains. Two days later (July 24th) they came down into the valley and camped near where the great temple is now located. The lake is about eighty or ninety miles long and forty or fifty miles wide. It has a number of islands, the largest being Antelope (or Church) Island. Stansbury and Fremont. Several hundred persons go to these bathing places from the city every day on excursion trains during the summer. The water is very clear and so dense that a person cannot sink in it. Lying down on the water, one floats like a chip, and keeping one's self in a vertical position he cannot sink lower than the top of his shoulders. It is a hard place to make much headway in swimming, be- cause it is so difficult to keep the feet under water. It has been poetically observed that the albatros sleeps on THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 2Q the wing; a fact however, which is not sustained by writers on natural history. Yet I have no doubt that a man could go to sleep and float on the surface of Great Salt Lake, if he would rig up some contrivance to rest his head on and keep from turning over. There appears to be no danger of drowning in the ordinary way. But in 1882, a leading merchant of Salt Lake City went in bathing with a large party. He stayed in longer than the others, until a strong wind sprung up. He was missed by the party after the train started for the city ; and although a large reward was offered, noth- ing was ever seen or heard of him, until, after the lapse of many months, the body was found at the southwest shore. One of the searchers told me that he had killed a large dog and thrown him into the lake to see if he would float, and found that he did float like a piece of timber. But while one will not drown, in the ordinary sense of the word, yet it is exceedingly dangerous to swallow the salt and acrid water. Even a small quantity, not over a spoonful taken into the throat almost strangles a per- son, and I have no doubt that a larger quantity of the water would destroy life or render one insensible in a short time. It is supposed by some persons that the missing man became strangled in this way and floated off to the desert shore of the lake. We all went into the lake and had a fine time. Several little children were in, floating around like ducks. Commonly there are many sea-gulls on the lake, and they are very tame. The Mormons appear to have great respect for them. In the pioneer days their fields and gardens were ravaged by grasshoppers and crickets, until "the Lord sent the gulls" and destroyed them by millions. 3O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. A number of rivers flow into the lake, the princi- pal of which are, the Jordan from the south, the Weber from the east, the Bear and Ogden from the north. None of these "rivers" are large and would be called "creeks" by the natives of Indiana. There is no outlet to the lake, and it was once supposed that there was, somewhere, a subaqueous vortex that served as an out- let to the water. This idea is now exploded ; and indeed the rivers that flow into the lake are so inconsiderable that it will be readily conceived that the equilibrium is maintained by the rapid evaporation in this high altitude, there being such a vast surface exposed to the rays of the sun. Large as this great inland sea now is, it is evident that it was many times larger in some remote geological era, and that it once covered the whole of this great valley, stretching from the Wasatch range of mountains on the east to the Oquirrh range on the south and west. All around on the sides of the mountains can be seen several hundred feet above the level of the lake, a horizontal bench or water-mark, plainly indicating that this was once the surface of the lake or ocean. The surface of the Great Salt Lake is more than four thousand feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean, with which geologists suppose it once communicated to the north, along the Snake and Columbia river regions. The water of the lake is very salt, containing about twenty per cent., a much larger proportion than is con- tained in the water of the ocean. Salt for domestic use is obtained by boiling and skimming the water. A large quantity of crude salt is obtained by evaporation, the low lands being inundated and then cut off from the lake by dams, where the water is allowed to stand until it evaporates, leaving a stratum of salt on the ground. The crude salt obtained in this way is used in immense THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 31 quantities in this and other territories as a flux in smelt- ing lead, silver and other ores. In the southern part of Utah there are great banks or mountains of solid salt. On the borders of the lake where herbage or shrubs are growing close to the edge of the water, they become encrusted with crystalized salt, resembling branches of coral or white rock candy. Some of these are very beautiful. There is no animal life in the lake except an in- fintesimally small animalcule, like a wiggletail, to which the naturalists have given a very long Greek name, which I have forgotten, as I have no faculty for remem- bering names of sesquipedalian length, for little crea- tures no larger than a gnat. Efforts have been made to propagate fish, oysters, etc., in the lake, but without suc- cess. They all die. The mean depth of the lake is some twenty feet, and in its deepest places not over sixty feet. There are no large crafts navigating it, but some years ago there was a pretty good-sized steam boat which was called the "General Garfield," used for excursion parties and transporting timbers to the Central Pacific railroad, north of the lake. But persons desiring an excursion can hire a sail boat, or take passage on a little steamer. While at the lake we had a cool breeze from the north, which made it very comfortable. We started back at two p. m., and found it quite warm as we approached the city and again crossed over Jordan into the city of the Saints. It was very curious to witness the wilderness of flowers and fruits and blossoming lucern of the modern Granada, and then to lift the eyes and see the clear cut and rugged peaks of the snow-clad moun- tains which half encircle the city on its eastern side. 32 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. We will not now dwell longer on the picturesque scenery of the Rocky Mountains, but will turn our atten- tion to some of the remarkable phases of human character and society which we find in the heart of the continent between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas. I refer particularly to the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints. The people called Mormons, have, during the last half century, been more talked and written about in books, pamphlets, magazines, brochures and newspapers than, perhaps, any other people, of no more considerable numbers, in modern times. Many large volumes and other less pretentious have been published. Tourists, statesmen, savants and literateurs from all parts of the civilized world have visited Utah to learn something of those peculiar people, inhabiting the valleys of the mountains. I will not at- tempt to give anything more than a general outline of the history of the Mormons, with a brief account of some of the peculiarities of their creed. The founder of Mormonism was Joseph Smith, who was born in Windsor County, Vermont, in 1805 ; he re- moved with his father's family to New York, when he was quite young. He was poor, illiterate, and, according to Gentile testimony, of an unsavory reputation. In 1820, he claimed to have supernatural visions; these were repeated in 1823. In 1827, he claimed to have received the plates of the Book of Mormon, which was first published in 1830. On April 6th, 1830, at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, he organized the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," embracing only six persons. Having made a considerable number of converts, THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 33 the Mormons gathered to Kirtland, in the northern part of Ohio, where they built a temple and flourished for a while. While their headquarters were still at Kirtland, in 1831, the land of Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, was consecrated for the gathering of the Saints, and they immigrated to Missouri in great numbers. In 1839, they were driven out of Missouri by mob violence, and took refuge in Illinois, where they built a city which they called Nauvoo. In 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered in jail by a mob. The Mormons were driven from Nauvoo and commenced their exodus in 1846; and their advanced company of pioneers reached Salt Lake Valley in July, 1847, after a march of eighty (Jays on foot, more than a thousand miles from the Missouri River. From that time they have gradually increased in numbers until the present population of Utah is estimated at about 250,000, three- fourths of whom are Mormons. The total number of the sect throughout the world, is estimated at over two hundred thousand. We will now take a diversion, from this outline of events, to say something of the creed and peculiar in- stitutions of this singular people. The Mormons believe in the Old Testament, the New Testament and a great deal besides ; namely, the "Book of Mormon," and in divers revelations which they claim have been from time to time received by Joseph Smith, and his successors, Brigham Young, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, each of whom having been at the head of the Church, under the name and style of "Prophet, Seer and Revela- tor, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world." Most of these so- called revelations are recorded in a volume, called the 34 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. "Book of Doctrine and Covenants;" and among them is one in favor of a plurality of wives. Besides the views held by the Mormons in common with other denominations, there are some peculiar features, most of which they claim to be founded upon passages in the Old or New Testament. They have a hymn which will be found on page 349 of the "Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," that will serve to illustrate some of those peculiarities. It is modeled after the song and sung to the air of "The Rose that all are Praising, Is not the Rose for me." The whole of this singular com- position I will now repeat with comments on each stanza. "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 reigns above A God of power and of love A God of revelation Oh, that's the God for me ! Oh, that's the God for me ! Oh, that's the God for me ! " The Mormons believe in a personal God that he is an actual personage, an individual, with body, limbs, fea- tures, etc., like a man, but with every faculty and attri- bute in the fullness of perfection. They refer to the passage in Genesis: "God made man in his own image." A God of revelation. They believe not only that God revealed himself in ancient times to Moses and the prophets, and later in the days of our Savior to the apostles and disciples, but that He continues to make revelations in these latter days through Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and their successors, as prophets, seers and revelators. They also claim that each individual Saint may receive revelations pertaining to himself. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 35 "A Church without a Prophet, is not the Church for me; It has no head to lead it; in it I would not be: But I've a Church not made by man, Cut from the mountain without hand ; A Church with gifts and blessings, O, that's the Church for me ; Oh, that's the Church for me ! Oh,- that's the Church for me !" The Mormons esteem the President of the Church as a Prophet of the Lord after the order of Melchis- edek. A church of gifts and blessings. This is suggestive of some of the most remarkable phases of the Mormon religion. They claim that they are the Latter-day Saints, just as the disciples of Christ and His apostles were Saints in the former days, and that the Latter-day Saints have the same gifts and blessings that were enjoyed by the first Christians, as recorded in the New Testament, namely, the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, followed by the gifts of prophecy, healing, visions, miracles, power over evil spirits, speak- ing in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. The Mormons claim that these gifts were common among the first Saints, and that they are enjoyed in different de- grees by the Saints or (Mormons) at this day. They quote Acts viii: 14, 19; Acts xix : 6; II. Timothy, i: 6 ; John xiv : 26 ; xvi, 13; Gal. v: 22, 23; I. Cor. xii: 4-1 1. "A Church without Apostles is not the Church for me; 'Tis like a ship dismasted, afloat upon the sea; But I've a Church that's always led, With the twelve stars around her head ; A Church with good foundation, Oh, that's the Church for me; Oh, that's the Church for me ! Oh, that's the Church for me !" The Mormons have twelve living apostles, as a part of their Church organization, and some of these 36 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. twelve may be seen on any Sunday afternoon sitting on elevated seats in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. In the autumn of 1882 it was gravely announced in the Deseret News, the official organ of the Mormon Church, that, in order to fill vacancies, "the Lord, by revelation, through His servant, President John Taylor, designated by name, Brothers George Teasdaleand Heber J. Grant, to be ordained to the apostleship." "The hope that Gentiles cherish, is not the hope for me; It has no faith nor knowledge ! far from it I would be : But I've a hope that will not fail ; It reaches far within the veil. Which hope is like an anchor, Oh, that's the hope for me; Oh, that's the hope for me ! Oh, that's the hope for me ! " There is no particular observation to be made on this stanza ; unless it be that the Mormons consider all Christians and others who are not of the Mormon faith, as Gentiles ; in Utah, even a Jew is a Gentile. " The Heaven of Sectarians, is not the Heaven for me; So doubtful its location, neither on land nor sea, But I've a Heaven upon the earth The land and home that gave me birth ; A Heaven of light and knowledge Oh, that's the Heaven for me ; Oh, that's the Heaven for me ! Oh, that's the Heaven for me!" This stanza appears to me, somewhat mixed, I sup- pose it refers to Zion, or the Kingdom of God on earth, and the state of the Saints on earth after the first resur- rection. It would seem from a passage in one of Brig- ham Young's Thanksgiving Proclamations that one of the Mormon heavens is on a planet, which is unknown to THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 37 other astronomers. He says, ' 'Finally I say unto you, let the same process be continued from day to day, until you arrive at one of the days of Kolob (whose days are one thousand of our years) the planet nearest unto 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 him- self to offer you better counsel, / will be there and knowing more, will tell you what to do next." "A Church without a gathering is not the Church for me, The Savior would not own it, wherever it might be; But I've a Church that is called out From false tradition, fear and doubt, A gathering dispensation Oh, that's the Church for me; Oh, that's the Church for me ! Oh, that's the Church for me !" " Gathering" is a favorite expression among the Mormons. This "gathering place" is now the valleys of the mountains in Utah, but it is finally to be in Jackson County, Missouri. There is another singular feature In the Mormon creed and practice, and that is baptism for the dead. They believe that the living relatives of the dead may be baptized in their stead, and that this vicarious bap- tism will work to their salvation. I imagine that this is the chief reason why the Mormons are so curious and careful as to matters of geneaolgy. I have noticed that they take great pains to find out the names, births, marriages and deaths of their relatives to remote branches. They claim authority for this custom in i Corinthians xv : 29. These baptisms are by immersion, and must be administered seriatim, that is, there must be a sepa- rate immersion for -each dead relative. An old Scotch 38 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Mormon named Aird told me that he had been baptized for his dead, at the Temple in Logan City, one hundred and forty-four times, and that it took two weeks to get through ; which would average ten a day. Jesse N. Perkins was baptized one thousand one hundred times, which, at ten immersions per day, would take one hundred and ten days. The following curious account of his career and extraordinary baptisms is taken from an obituary notice in the Deseret News: DIED. PERKINS. At Taylor, Apache Co., Arizona, March 2nd, 1883, at his own home, at 12:15 p. m., Friday, of smallpox, Jesse N. Per- kins, Sen., son of Reuben and Elizabeth Pittillo Perkins. Deceased was born February 19, 1819, in Jackson Co., Tenn., moved to Missouri in 1838, was married to Rhoda C. McClelland Jan. 13, 1842, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints February 19, 1848, by Andrew H. Perkins, and was mobbed from his home in about fourteen days after his arrival at the camp of the Saints, about March 15; was ordained an Elder about the loth of June, by Andrew H. Perkins, remained there until the following spring, and 'succeeded in getting his father's family to gather with the Saints in the mountains; crossed the plains in 1849 ^ n Captain A. H. Perkins' 100, in Captain Allred's 50, and Captain Absalom Perkins' 10; arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 20, 1849, an ^ remained there during the winter; moved to Bountiful, Davis County, the spring following; was called on a scouting party against the Indians, under Captain Robert T. Burton, served his time out and was honor- ably discharged; received his endowments February 2nd, 1852; was ordained a Seventy about the same time under the hands of Jedediah M. Grant; made a trip south with President Young and company in the fall of '54, and was called on a Lamanite mission in '55, which he performed to the entire satisfaction of those who called him : assisted in bringing in the Handcart Company in '56; went out under Major R. T. Burton in August, '57, against Buchanan's raiders, and dis- charged his duties to the entire satisfaction of those placed over him; returned home late in the fall; moved south in '58, and returned home in the latter part of the season; was called on a mission to the United THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 39 States, with Elder John Stoker, in '69; he labored in the State of Virginia, and removed much prejudice from the minds of the people concerning the Gospel, and returned home in the spring of 1870; was called with his entire family, by President Brigham Young, to Southern Utah in 1875, to assist in building up that country; was also called by President Young to Arizona in 1877, with his family, which mis- sion he has performed to the best of his ability ; was ordained a High Priest September 25th, 1880, under the hands of Apostles Brigham Young and Erastus Snow; was called and set apart as one of the High Council at the same time; had just returned from Saint George, with four of his family, where he was baptized for 1,100 of his dead and received 104 endowments. He has been a very honest, honorable and upright man all his life, always been respected and on hand to perform his duties in the Church; was a kind husband and father. He retained his proper mind to the last moment, had full confidence in the revelation of God, and in His servants that the Lord has called to lead His people, and that he would come forth in the first resurrec- tion and inherit a celestial glory in the Kingdom of God. He gave many good instructions to his family, who feel that he has finished his work on earth, and that he has been called home to a greater field of labor. POLYGAMY. A notice of the Rocky Mountain Saints which omits to mention their peculiar creed and practice concerning the marital relation would be like the play of Hamlet with the Prince of Denmark left out. It is this, more than anything else, that has attracted so much curiosity; and brought upon the Mormons repressive legislation by the United States Government. Polygamy is a sort of annex to the original Mormon creed. Indeed, the Book of Mormon condemns it in the strongest language. But the Mormon faith, being progres- sive in its nature on account of the vicissitudes of contin- uous and successive revelations (as before stated), Joseph Smith as Prophet, Seer and Revelator, in the year 1843, at Nauvoo, Illinois, claimed to have received a new revel- ation sanctioning polygamy and celestial marriage. 4O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. This manifestation of the Divine will came near being thwarted by the stubborn machinations of Mrs. Emma Smith, the "elect lady" and lawful spouse of the Prophet Joseph. With that predilection for hyperbole and grandilo- quence which is characteristic of the Mormons, they had bestowed upon her the name of "the Elect Lady," bor- rowed from the second epistle of John. With that femi- nine curiosity which was first conspicuously manifested in Eden's rosy bowers, she got to rummaging among her husband's papers, where she found the delectable revela- tion in favor of celestial marriage and a plurality of wives ; and having a prejudice against possessing only a vulgar fraction of the Prophet's affections, she inconti- nently burnt up the revelation. But the Prophet of the Lord, having been warned, no doubt, in a vision, had prudently guarded against such diabolical machinations ; and had caused the revelation to be written out in duplicate ; and so, one copy was preserved, to become, in future years, the beacon-light of the Rocky Mountain Saints. This is the account gen- erally given by Gentile writers. At Nauvoo, this was kept a secret from the rank-and-file of the Mormons ; but it was known and practiced by some of the leading elders at that time. In July, 1852, this dogma was pub- licly read to the people at Salt Lake City, and promul- gated by President Young as a Divine revelation. At first a considerable number of the Mormons were shocked, and were disposed to recalcitrate. A few apostatized, but so great was the authority of the head of the Church, and so strong was the faith of the people in him as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the Lord, that they gradually gave in their adhesion to the new doctrine. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 41 It was not long, however, until polygamy became the chief corner-stone of the Mormon structure in Utah. Brigham Young set the example by marrying a number of wives, and in four or five years all Utah went crazy on the subject of polygamy, blood atonement, etc. This was at a period of what the Mormons, by a ludicrous mis-nomer, call the "Reformation in Utah." The lead- ing men of the Church seemed to vie with each other in the number of wives they should marry, and many of the common people, some of them very poor, took from two- to half a dozen wives, as a means of securing exaltation in the world to come, both for themselves and their plural wives. Brigham Young had twenty-five wives, and left fifty- four children surviving him. Heber C. Kimball had eighteen wives, and many other Mormons had from six to eighteen. The singular notion of the Mormons in regard to marriage is in part illustrated by letters received by the Utah Commission. But in giving one of them to the reader, I must explain, that by the local laws of Utah prior to March 3, 1887, women could vote; and that by a law of Congress no man is allowed to vote who has more than one wife. "PLAIN CITY, WEBER COUNTY, UTAH. "May 2ist, 1883. "Hon. Utah Commission, "GENTLEMEN: I wish to present to you my case, and inquire whether or not I have been unjustly dealt with, by being prevented at the last election from voting. I married a second woman March 26, 1857. Not that she should be as a wife, for she was aged, but that she might be a married woman.* She lived with us till she died, October 12, 1866. Consequently I consider (conscientiously) that I have * In order to be " exalted '' in the hereafter. 4 42 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. never violated a United States law, nor do I intend to. I have voted the Republican ticket for many years, and my father voted it for many years before me. I would like to vote, and if I can, or cannot, please send a line answering my inquiry. "Yours to serve truly and humbly, " WILLIAM W. MEGUIRE." It is a noteworthy commentary on Senator Benton's apothem that "the common sense of the common people is often an over-match for book-learning" that while the Utah Commission and the federal judges of the Supreme Court of Utah decided against all persons in the condi- tion of William W. Meguire that they had no right to vote, yet the Supreme Court of the United States de- cided that the astute Commissioners and the erudite Judges in Utah were wrong, and that the illiterate Mor- mons were right in contending that they "had been un- justly dealt with." While on this topic, I want to call your attention to a curious inscription which I copied from a tombstone in the Mormon cemetery in Salt Lake City, showing the career of another very married man : "In memory of George Albert Smith, born at Potsdam, St. Law- rence County, New York, June 26th, 1817. Died at Salt Lake City Utah Territory, September ist, 1875, aged 58 years, 2 months and 5 days. "NAMES OF ANCESTORS. "George A., Son of John and Clarissa L. Smith, who was the son of Asael and Mary D. Smith, who was the son of Samuel and PrisciJla G. Smith, who was the son of Samuel and Rebecca C. Smith, who was the son of Robert and Mary Smith, who came from England and was among the founders of Topsfield, Essex County, Massachu- setts. "NAMES OF HIS WIVES. "Bathsheba W. Smith, " Nancy C. Smith, THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 43 " Zilpha S. Smith, "Sarah A. Smith, "Hannah M. Smith, "Susan E. Smith. " NAMES OF HIS CHLDREN. "George A. Smith, born July 7, 1842. "Mary A. Smith, born February n, 1852. "Bathsheba W. Smith, born August 14, 1844. "Sarah M. Smith, born July i, 1850. " Zilpha A. Smith, born March 21, 1846. "Clarissa W. Smith, born April 21, 1846. "Nancy A. Smith, born March 21, 1846. "Eunice A. Smith, born March, 6, 1860. "John Smith, born April 4, 1847. "George A. Smith, born April 7, 1862. " Don C. Smith, born July 21, 1847. "Margaret W. Smith, born December 6, 1862. "John H. Smith, born September 18, 1848. "Grace L. Smith, born May n, 1865. "Charles W. Smith, born January 16, 1849. "Susan E. Smith, born Sept 28, 1866. "Joseph Smith, born January 12, 1850. " Priscilla A. Smith, born June^n, 1869. "Annie Smith, born August 6, 1850. "Emma B. Smith, born April 19, 1871. "He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: was ordained a member of the Seventies March i, 1835. A High Priest June 28, 1838. One of the Twelve Apostles April 26, 1839. Appointed First Counselor to Brigham Young Octo- ber 7, 1868, and Trustee- in -Trust for the Church April 8, 1873. He was cousin to the Prophet Joseph Smith; his personal attendant in Zion's Camp, possessing his unbounded confidence and love until the Prophet's death. He planted the first potato in Salt Lake Valley; was a member of the Senate of the Provisional State of Deseret; was com- missioned Colonel of cavalry in the Mormon army November 25, 1851; was elected Historian to the Mormon Church in 1854. He was appointed aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Le- gion April, 1866." 44 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. In the stanzas I already quoted you have a specimen of Mormon poetry. I will give you one more example. In the rural districts of the Mormon-land they have a sort of folk-song, a fragment of which I have pre- served : "The Mormon father loves to see His Mormon family all agree, With prattling children on each knee, Saying, 'Daddy, I'm a Mormon ! ' Hey the merry, aye the merry, Hey the happy Mormon ! I never knew what joy was Till I became a Mormon ! " It must not be supposed, however, that these are the best specimens of Mormon poetry. It will be seen hereafter that they have some authors of real merit, both in prose and verse. Questions are often asked by outside barbarians : "How do the Mormons get along with their numerous wives and children ? How do the wives agree ? How do they manage their domestic affairs ?" etc. To answer these and like questions fully would take a great deal of time, and in some particulars might provoke a smile from the young and a blush from the fair. '** I may say, how- ever, that in former years they often accompanied their numerous wives in public, at the tabernacle, the theater and at parties. But under the restraint of the Acts of Congress they now seldom appear in public with more than one wife. In some instances they lived with several wives in the same house. In other cases they had a separate dwelling house for each wife and her children, and their liege lord spent his time with them in rotation, generally a week at a time. Of course there was more or less of jealousy, A SHOSHONB FAMILY. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 45 bickering and quarreling, but in some cases these were somewhat subdued by an intense fanaticism and a con- viction that they were doing the will of God, and were "bearing the cross that they might wear the crown." Another question is often asked, "Do Mormons really believe in this monstrous delusion ? Are they honest and sincere in the profession of their so-called religion ? " The answer must be in the affirmative, as to the gen- erality of the Mormon people. As to the leading men, many of whom have more than ordinary intelligence, it is hard for a novice to believe that they are sincere. But, on the other hand, it must be borne in mind that many of these leaders have been born, or brought up from childhood in the Mormon faith, and all experience teaches us that men of ordinary good sense sometimes believe in the most absurd religious creeds in which they were born and brought up. Besides, a curious and not uncommon phase of self-delusion is thus delineated in the "Veiled Prophet of Khorassan :" "Dark tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave, Which simple votaries shall on trust receive, And wiser fain belief till they believe." In order to bring this preliminary sketch within rea- sonable limits, we must proceed rapidly in redeeming our promise to go with the reader to the Pacific shore. Passing through the State of Nevada, where we see at every station squads of Shoshone and Piute Indians, in feathers, paint and red blankets, we reach the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, and looking down to the right we see the noted Donner Lake, where, in the pioneer days, Captain Donner's company of nearly one hundred emigrants froze and starved to death. 46 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Here we see many pine and fir trees cut off ten or fifteen feet from the ground, and learn that these trees were cut down for fuel and habitation by the Donner party, standing on the surface of .the deep snow in their desperate struggle with death. Leaving the summit, we rapidly descend from the deep snows of the mountains to a semi-tropical clime, in the midst of vineyards and groves of oranges, lemons and almonds, and among green lawns, beautiful flowers, and humming bees. It is a strange transition to pass, in three or four hours, from the snowy crags of the Sierra Nevadas to the lovely gardens, decked with Mare- chal Neil roses and geraniums seven feet high. Arrived at Oakland, on the bay of San Francisco, " the sweetest dimple on ocean's cheek," we cross by steamer to the great metropolis of the West, the tawny lion's whelp, that lies crouching by the sea, in fierce, barbaric beauty, the warder of the setting sun. In an hour more we are seated at the Cliff House, watching the white surf break against the gray old rocks, and noting the uncouth gambols of the sea-lions upon the adjacent islands. We see the stately ships coming into the Golden Gate, or sailing out to India or Cathay, and the utter- most parts of the earth. We must defer our visit to the wonders of the Yosemite, and the renowned Big Trees, those giants of the forest that were standing in the Sierras when Caesar was slain in the Senate, and our Savior was a babe in the manger. And now we must bid adieu to the "glorious climate of California ; " and returning to the Great Basin, we will resume, in the second part of these sketches, our narrative of what we saw in "Zion" in wrestling with the "Mormon Problem." THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 47 PART II. THE UTAH COMMISSION. "I have passed manye landes and cherched manye full strange places, wherein dwell strange men and women. Now I am comen home, and thus recordynge the tyme passed, I have putte hem wryten in this boke as thynges would come into my mynde." [Sir John Maundeville, A. D. 1356.] ON MARCH 22, 1882, an act was passed by Con- gress entitled, "An Act to amend Section 5352, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy and for other purposes," commonly known as the " Edmunds anti-polygamy Act," the full text of which is given in the third part. Under the ninth section of the act, President Arthur, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, made the following appointments to constitute the Board of Commissioners to execute the law, viz. : Alexander Ramsey, of Minnesota ; Algernon S. Paddock, of Neb- raska ; Geo. L. Godfrey, of Iowa ; James R. Pettigrew, of Arkansas, and Ambrose B. Carlton, of Indiana. Their commissions reached them in July, and at the request of the Chairman, a preliminary meeting was held in Chicago on the 1 7th of that month. At the sug- gestion of the President of the United States, the salary was raised by Congress to $5,000 per annum. The Appropriation Bill for executing the law and paying expenses was not passed by Congress until some time in August. On the 1 5th of August, all the members of the 48 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Commission met at Omaha, Nebraska, and on the i8th they arrived at Salt Lake City. One of the members of the Commission, who had been in Salt Lake City before, informed us that in the discharge of our official duties we would be "between the devil and the deep sea." What he meant by this began to dawn on us very soon after our arrival, and was fully confirmed by the sequel. It was stated in the two reports made to the Secre- tary of the Interior for August 3ist and November i7th, that the Commission encountered "complications and embarrassments " from the outset. The diplomatic reserve proper for a State paper forbade the Commission to set forth in their reports all the details and causes of "the complications and embarrassments" referred to. Some of these it is now proposed to set forth more fully. In the first place it should be known that there was an intense feeling of hostility between the Mormons and a portion of the Gentiles. The latter charged the Mor- mons with being disloyal to the government of the United States, and with all manner of crimes and immoralities ; while the Mormons charged that those Gentiles who are making war upon them are a preda- tory band of adventurers and carpet-baggers, actuated by no higher motive than " to oppress the Mormons with a view to driving them to desperation, so as to steal the Mormon property." The daily newspapers in Salt Lake City, two on the Gentile side, and two on the Mor- mon side, were doing their part in fanning the flames of discord. Such was the community to which the Com- mission was sent ; the Mormons expecting the Commis- sion to deal harshly with them, under a law of Congress which they declared to be cruel and unconstitutional ; while on the other hand, a portion of the Gentiles the most active and demonstrative among them seemed THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 49 to act on the theory that a Mormon " had no rights which others are bound to respect." In the first session of the Forty-seventh Congress the ultra Gentiles of Utah had labored for the passage of extreme measures against the Mormons, the leading idea of which was the abrogation of local self-govern- ment in Utah, the abolition of their Legislative Assembly, and the establishment of a "legislative Commission," to be appointed by the President, to enact and revise laws for the Territory. Congress was unwilling, thus totally to destroy local self-government ; and enacted the Edmunds Bill, which did not go far enough to please the ultra Gentiles, and went too far to please the Mormons. Another un- pleasant feature of the situation, to some of the Gentiles, was, that the President appointed all five of the Com- missioners from states outside of Utah, rejecting the slate that was telegraphed from Salt Lake City, by Governor Murray, consisting of rabid Mormon eaters of Utah. The five Commissioners selected by the President, were, or had been practicing lawyers ; and two of them had been members of the United States Senate, and had filled other high positions in public life. The law of Congress was the charter of their authority and they were not the kind of men to ignore or wilfully violate the law, and take a town-meeting view of the subject. The Commission arrived at Ogden, Utah, on the 1 8th of August. At Ogden we were met by a large deputation of leading citizens from Salt Lake City, about half-and-half Mormons and Gentiles, among them Gover- nor Murray, (Gentile) and Mayor Jennings (Mormon). Arrived at Salt Lake City the citizens gave the members 5 and it was acknowledged afterwards to be a pure and simple fabrication ; but not 152 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. until it had gone abroad as evidence of the disloyalty of the Mormons. Every now and then lies are set afloat that the Mormons are about to rise in armed insurrec- tion!; when, in truth, I can say after nearly seven years observation, that there is no community on the civilized globe less liable than the Mormons to take up arms against the government or its officers. Polygamy aside, the Mormons have been more sinned against than sin- ning. MORMON POETRY. In Part I of this volume a Mormon hymn, with an exegesis is published ; also a fragment from a doggerel folk-song said to have been formerly sung in the rural districts. In justice to the Mormons it should be stated that writers among them have produced some poetical performances that are quite creditable. Among them may be mentioned Mrs. Eliza R. Snow, who died in 1888, in her 83d year. She had been with the Mormons from an early day, and was regarded as a sort of poet laureate among them. One or more volumes of her poems, hand- somely printed and bound, have been published. Bishop O. F. Whitney more able and distinguished as a prose writer and a preacher than a poet, has contri- buted some poetical effusions that are highly esteemed by the Mormons. Below specimens of the writings of each are given. O MY FATHER THOU THAT DWELLEST. By Ehza R. Snow O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place ! When shall I regain thy presence, And again behold thy face ? THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 153 In thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside ? In my first primeval childhood Was I nurtured near thy side ? For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth ; Yet oft-times a secret something Whispered, You're a stranger here ; And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere. I had learned to call thee Father, Through thy Spirit from on high ; But, until the Key of Knowledge Was restored, I knew not why. In the heavens are parents single ? No; the thought makes reason stare'! Truth is reason ; truth eternal Tells me, I've a mother there. When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by, Father, mother, may I meet you In your royal court on high ? Then, at length, when I've completed All you sent me forth to do, With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you. THE MOUNTAIN AND THE VALE. liy Bishop O. F, Whitney. There's a mountain named Stern Justice, Tall and towering, gloomy, grand, Frowning o'er a vale called Mercy, Loveliest in all the land. Great and mighty is the mountain, But its snowy crags are cold, And in vain the sunlight lingers On the summit proud and bold. 11 154 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. There is warmth within the valley, And I love to wander there 'Mid the fountains and the flowers, Breathing fragrance on the air. Much I love the solemn mountain ; It doth meet my sombre mood, When, amid the muttering thunders, O'er my soul the storm-clouds brood. But when tears, like rain have fallen From the fountain of my woe, And my soul has lost its fierceness. Straight unto the vale I go; Where the landscape, gently smiling, O'er my heart pours healing balm, And as oil on troubled waters, Brings from out its storm a calm. Yes, I love both vale and mountain, Ne'er from either would I part, Each unto my life is needful, Both are dear unto my heart ; For the smiling vale doth soften All the rugged steep makes sad, And from icy rocks meander Rills that make the valley glad. CASTLE GATE BLACK CANYON MARSHALL'S PASS, GRAND CANYON OF THE ARKANSAS ROYAL GORGE, MANI- TOU, ETC. The rolling stream, the precipice's gloom, The forest's growth and Gothic walls between, The wild rocks shaped as they had turrets been In mockery of man's heart ; * * * All that expands the Spirit, yet appals, Gather around these summits* as to show How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. In Part First of these sketches, some account is given of the picturesque canyons and other wonderful CASTLE GATE. RAINBOW FALLS. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 155 scenery in Utah. It is proposed now to introduce the reader to new features of the "Wonderlands of the Wild West," along the line of the great " Scenic Route," the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, between Ogden, Utah, and Denver, Colorado. Leaving Ogden in the forenoon, we run in a southerly direction about 36 miles, skirting the Great Salt Lake, near its eastern shore, we reach Salt Lake City about 1 1 o'clock a. m. Still continuing south for fifteen or twenty miles we reach the Jordan River and follow up along its tortuous windings till we reach Utah Valley. We stop for dinner at Provo, a beautiful little city of five thousand inhabitants, built on a great fertile plain between bold and lofty mountains on the east, and Utah Lake on the west. In this lovely valley we pass by fields of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes in great abundance, and thousands of fat cattle and horses are feeding on the luxuriant grass. Five miles from Provo we pass through the pretty town of Springville, in the same valley. Leaving the town of Spanish Fork to our right, and running in a south-easterly direction we enter the mouth of the Spanish Fork Canyon, and follow it up for many miles in order to get over the Wasatch range of mountains. And now for five hundred miles running in an easterly direction we are in the mountains, for the most part a dreary and desolate region, with few inhabi- tants, and no cultivation except in a few spots at long intervals, but relieved of its monotony by some of the grandest scenery to be found anywhere in the world. The first object of great interest is " Castle Gate," at the lower end of Price River Canyon. This, so-called " Gate" is constituted of two large pillars of rock on each side of the railway, the one on the left (as you go east) being 500 feet high, and the one on the right 450 156 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. feet. These pillars are not exactly opposite to each other, but they so appear at a little distance, and there- fore they have the appearance of a " gate." The pillar on the left is very remarkable. It is per- pendicular on the east and west sides as well as the thin edge projected to the south toward the railroad track. The train always stops here a few minutes for the pas- sengers to take a look at the pillars of the " Castle Gate." SOLITUDE. " O, Solitude ! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?" COWPER. A few miles east of Green River, there is a railway station named " Solitude." There is no office there, no dwelling, no building of any sort, no cattle chute or corral, no telegraph station, no switch, no sidetrack, no Y ; nothing but a painted board with the strange device : And such a solitude ! No tree, no shrub, no grass, no flower, no water, no soil, no beast or bird, no noise of any living thing ; nothing but Solitude ! The barren and undulating ground is colored and wrinkled like an ele- phant, and seamed and scarred with deep and crooked gullies. Those who are fond of solitude can find it here in perfection. It would have been a paradise to the her- BLACK CANYON OF THK GUNNISON. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 157 mits of the Thebaid, or the " Pillar Saints " of Asia Minor. But it is apprehended that most readers will agree with the writer : Give Diogenes his tub, St. Simon his pillar, the anchorite his cave, but commend me to the soliloquy of Alexander Selkirk : " O, Solitude ! where are the charms, That sages have seen in thy face? Better to dwell in the midst of alarms, Than to reign in this horrible place !" In the Rocky Mountain states and territories there are many vast expanses of barren and desolate tracts like this, having the appearance, to the unscientific eye, of an old and wornout portion of the earth or an un- finished creation with the top-dressing left off. Such are the vast alkali plains of the "bad lands" and the " bitter creek" regions, amounting to millions of acres. The " Black Canyon of the Gunnison " is the next object of interest. The head-waters of the Gunnison River, starting at the continental "divide" flowing westerly into the Gunnison, thence into Grand River, which with its confluence with Green River forms the " Colorado of the West," find their way into the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern side of the divide (at Marshall Pass) are the head- waters of the streams that flow into the Ar- kansas River. Now to construct a railroad on a straight line across the Rocky Mountains, for a distance of five or six hun- dred miles would be a difficult, not to say, an impossible undertaking. Therefore the engineers follow up the streams on the west of the divide as far as they can, and when they can go no further in this way, they go over the divide in many a " winding boot," until they reach the other side and then they follow the little streams that 158 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. finally find their way into the Arkansas River, and thence down this river into the plains of Colorado. Following up the Gunnison River, to find a pass over the mountains we come to the renowned " Black Canyon." This is a very long canyon, I know not how long, whether fifteen, twenty or thirty miles. It is so deep, so grand, so silent, so dark, and we feel so like mere homunculi, that we take no note of time or space. In many places the walls of this canyon are two or three thousand feet high, and they are so precipitous and the gorge so narrow that for unknown ages the sun has never shone upon the fast-rushing river that flows be- tween the dark-colored rocky walls. There are many sharp curves in the railway follow- ing up the course of the crooked stream, and disclosing to the view numerous steep crags and awful side-gorges with silvery cascades dancing down the black rocks from a thousand feet above. Among a vast multitude of grotesque rocks on either side of the great chasm the most noted is "Currecanti Needle," a very high and sharply pinnacled crag, or rather mountain of rock. It is of red sand-stone and presents a very beautiful and graceful appearance. It has been compared to the Cleo- patra Needle ; but this does " Currecanti" injustice, the latter being of such huge proportions in comparison with the Egyptian obelisk. About nine o'clock a. m., twenty-four hours out from Ogden, we began the ascent of the renowned "Marshall Pass." Ever since we crossed Grand River in the western part of Colorado, we have been gradually ascending for over two hundred miles, following up the general course of the Gunnison River, and then up a small tributary called the Tomichi. We have now reached a THE CURRECANTI NEEDLE. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD. WEST. -159 point eight or ten miles west of the back-bone of the Rocky Mountains. We can follow up the streams no longer, and now we have to surmount those mountain heights many of whose peaks are capped with perpetual snow (August 6th). We cannot go in a straight line, for it would cross innumerable acclivities, gulches and gorges. The grade is becoming steeper, and an addi- tional locomotive is put on. Slowly we move upward, the two stalwart little engines laboring, puffing and blow- ing, turning and winding to every point of the compass. The road is becoming more and more tortuous, and the grade is becoming steeper. Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, then Chairman of the Utah Commission, was my traveling companion on this trip. " Do you think," said he, when we began the ascent, "that Marshall Pass is equal to the 'Horse-shoe Bend' on the Pennsylvania Road?" "Wait and see," was the answer, " You will find that Marshall Pass will make fifty of such horse-shoes with plenty of material left over." Up, up we go, winding now to the right, now to the left in a circle, now describing an atten- uated ox-bow, now a series of double S's and some- times something almost as crooked as an antique character &. Looking back from the rear end of the Pullman car, we see, far below several rail- road tracks apparently of different roads running in many directions ; and here close by us but 300 feet below, across a deep gorge is the track we passed over some time ago, and we have traveled at least a mile to gain three hundred feet in altitude, and not over three hundred feet in distance. These several tracks we see are the one road we have passed over. I6O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Looking forward up the mountains, we see many snow sheds and railroad tracks; while "peaks on peaks and Alps on Alps arise " before us. "That snow-shed up there is the summit, isn't it?" " No, we are not more than half way up. " " Good Lord, I give it up, the Pennsylvania Horse Shoe Bend is not a circumstance compared to Marshall Pass." Finally the summit is reached. The train stops ten minutes, to have the drivers and truck wheels and West- inghouse brakes examined. The passengers get out and take a look at the scen- ery, from an elevation of 10,858 feet above the sea. Mt. Ouray is to our left, and the serrated and snowy range of the Sangro de Cristo Mountains are seen to the right. Standing here on this continental "divide" the imagination naturally goes to the Gulf of Mexico at the Balize, and the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of California toward one or the other of which the waters must flow from this spot. The descent on the eastern side of the divide, is very similar to the ascent on the other side. Following down the mountain streams that flow into the Arkansas, we reach that river at Salida where the train stops for dinner. About the middle of the after- noon we reach the " Grand Canyon of the Arkansas." This canyon is not so long as the Black Canyon, but it is generally considered more attractive, especially that part of it called the " Royal Gorge." This gorge is so narrow that in one place an iron bridge is suspended from iron rafters the feet of which rest on the sides of the cliffs on each side. The general features of these Rocky Mountain can- yons, are so much alike that a description of one like the Black Canyon, will in the main answer for all. THE ROYAL GORGE. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. l6l But it must not be supposed that the few objects which I have attempted to describe, are the only ones of interest in these canyons and elsewhere along this route. In addition to them, there are thousands of objects of curiosity in these awful chasms; grotesque rocks shaped like monsters of the world of fable, castles, battlements, buttresses, fortalices, huge walls that look like the mas- onry of Titans, grottoes and drawbridges. Here and there are lateral gorges, or canados, down which, for thousands of feet streams are dashing and cascading to join the main canyon stream below. No matter if the traveler, like the writer of these sketches, has passed through these canyons a dozen times, he will lay aside his newspaper or novel and take another long look. Time cannot abate one's delighted curiosity, nor "-cus- tom state the infinite variety " of these wonderful works of nature. Our traveling companion, after we reached Canyon City and left this wonderful scenery of the Rockies behind us, enthusiastically declared that he had visited the most noted scenery in the Alps and elsewhere in Europe, and that there was nothing there so grand and picturesque as what he had seen on this route. Just below the eastern end of the Grand Canyon, we find "Canyon City," the seat of the State Prison of Colorado. Here the valley of the Arkansas River wid- ens out. We have left the Rocky Mountains to our rear, and looking easterly before us, lie the great plains stretching six or seven hundred miles to the Missouri River. Here were the great pasture lands, where years ago, hundreds of thousands of buffalo roamed and fed. Running down the Arkansas River, we find a large number of oil wells between Canyon City and Pueblo. 1 62 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. From the last named city we run nearly north to Denver about 1 20 miles. About midway between these two cities are Colorado Springs and Manitou and Pike's Peak, a few miles to the west. A lateral railway five or six miles long runs out to Manitou, the " Saratoga of the West." It is a handsome little town with several large hotels and many boarding houses for those who visit the Springs for health or pleasure. The attractions about Manitou are Pike's Peak, the Ute Pass, Williams Can- yon, the Cave of the Winds, the Rainbow Falls and the "Garden of the Gods," which is not a garden at all ; but the soil is red and looks like disintegrated red sandstone. The " Garden" is filled with many curious rocks, and at its entrance there are two immense sandstone rocks of a deep red color. At Manitou and its vicinity the soil is all of this deep red color, and I suppose that is what gave the name of " Colorado" (red) to the Terri- tory and State, this spot being well known long before Denver was located. In fact, at an early day, before there were any white settlers west of the Missouri River, Major Pike, of the United States army marched up the Arkansas River, on an exploring expedition with a detach- ment of soldiers. A hundred miles away he caught a glimpse of a snow capped peak, and he determined to go to it. Leaving the river and marching in a north-west direction, the party, after three or four days' travel, camped at Manitou at the foot of the great mountain which received its name from that of the leader of the expedition. Manitou and the " Garden of the Gods" according to the guide books, like all mineral Springs, have a won- derful legendary and exceedingly apocryphal Indian history ; but I will not trouble the reader with such hazy and doubtful narratives. THE NEEDLE MOUNTAINS THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 163 THE MOUNTAIN RECLUSE. Contributed by C. C. C. The nooks and corners of these far western mount- ains furnish retreats for some queer characters. Here are found a motley collection of unfortunates. There are refugees from justice, and from all kinds of adversity and sorrow all social -outcasts. They dwell in these secluded spots and, like the poor souls on the banks of Lethe, drink oblivion of their former lives, trusting time to "raze out the written troubles of the brain" to "pluck from the memory its rooted sorrows." A queer character I have in mind lives up in the towering snow-topped mountains that environ Salt Lake City on the east side. The deep chasm in which he lives bears the name of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Its width is only sufficient for the occupancy of its mountain torrent, a stream which has its fountain-head at the summit of the range, and fed by melting snows and innumerable springs, goes tumbling, dashing and roaring down through the canyon and empties into the Great Salt Lake the Dead sea of America. Now and then the canyon widens and forms miniature valleys, lovely little parks, with green grass and flowers in the summer time, and all surrounded by towering and precipitous crags and battlements. In such a spot, my eccentric individual, poor soul, has lived for fourteen years, among the flowers, the blue jays and chip-munks. My friend came from Virginia fourteen years ago and commenced boring into the hillside in search of gold, and though he has taken none from his mine as yet, lives in great hopes, confidently expecting each stroke of his pick to reveal to him the hidden treasures of the earth. He has been advised time and again that all oi his labor 164 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. is likely to be in vain ; but with obstinate pertinacity clings to the belief that the " Dolly" will be the greatest mine in the world ! So he lives here in serene content- ment, borne up by a faith in his mine, that is almost pathetic. Like many another miner, imbued with and upheld by that wonderful leavener of depressed spirits hope which alone, of all the contents of Pandora's jar, escaped not, but remained as a compensation for the escaped multitude of plagues for helpless man. If you ask this man what his vocation in life is, he will say he is a " rustler." He is the Pooh-Bah of the district, being postmaster, recorder of claims, registrar, notary public, justice of the peace and judge of election. He does his own cooking, and it is a comical sight to see him in his flannel shirt with his pants tucked in his boots, washing dishes. An absurd-looking cat is the recipient of most of his affection, though the blue-jays and chip-munks come in for a share of his attention, so tender that it would seem to be impelled by a belief in the doctrine of metemsychosis. The only person ever known to invade his domain, and contest his proprietorship of the " flat " was (as told by the boys) a kind-faced old lady who appeared one morning in spring and essayed to keep boarders, think- ing thereby to put money in her purse; but her attempt was abortive. Posterity will never know what happened between them, but the same morning "the old hen fled" precipitately down the mountain side, with Jimmy after her, and went cackling away into the dim, shadowy dis- tance. He keeps her market basket as a trophy of the chase. The advent and egress of this kind old lady, marks a new epoch in his chronology. From this occurrence he dates and ante-dates all the happenings of his life. A THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 165 semi-weekly mail brings him a letter in the summer- time by a carrier on horseback; in the winter, when the snow is piled many feet deep, by a carrier on snow shoes. The " boys " say that this letter is from his old mother, away down in old Virginia, and that he invaria- bly keeps this letter unopened until night time and then, when all is quiet, reads it by candle-light. For fourteen years the gray-haired mother has been writing to him to " come back," but he says " I aint going back till I get rich!" No doubt the mother of this bundle of eccentricities has put away in the bureau drawer, a little pair of baby shoes, or some other trifle over which she cries, like any other mother, when she thinks of a long absent child. As for " Jimmy " he'd be afraid to "blubber;" some of the boys might be peeking in through the window at him. Many occurrences incident to his quiet life serve to remind him of old Virginia. The wild roses that grow beside his cabin door "Are kinder pale and faded, And there's not much style about 'em But they kinder set him thinkin Of the ones that used to grow And climb in thro' the chinkin Of the cabin, don't you know." I happened in upon him, unawares, one day, and he was playing " I Wish I Was in Dixie" upon an old comb with paper stretched over it. The first time I ever saw him he was seated on a beer keg in his kitchen, in shirt sleeves and bare feet, making some entry pertaining to the functions of justice of the peace, smeared with ink from head to feet, and had been wiping his red-ink pen in his curly blonde hair, 1 66 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. so that he presented a horrible spectacle. His signa- ture was embellished with many frills, furbelows and curly " Q's", the whole surrounded with red-ink quota- tion marks. Notwithstanding the manifold duties that would seem to devolve upon him by virtue of his numerous offices, he seldom comes into contact with his fellow beings; but election day he celebrates with great pomp and splendor. On such occasions he is the only candi- date in the field, and is duly elected to all the offices within the gift of his constituents. On election day the "boys 5 ' from the Maxfield mine troop into Jimmy's place and after they have elected him to all the offices they are entertained by him in royal style in witness whereof a big pile of beer kegs appears in front of his door the next morning. Thus the day is given up to merriment, and toward night the kitchen floor is strewn with many snor- ing forms. As I was passing by his house one day I dismounted, tied my horse and went around to his kitchen, as usual, and found it full of miners. The " election" had just taken place, and now they were having a "rastling bee." The recipient of so many political .honors being the only thoroughly sober man in the company, was selected as referee, and announced as he took his seat on the bench i. e., his beer keg, that as justice of the peace it was his duty to see fair play. Said he (with a wise look) "Mickey, I swear you in as constable, plenipoten- tiary." Mickey evidently thought he understood. Per- haps he had a vague idea that it had something to do with the penitentiary. He seized a table-leg and entered upon the duties of his office at once in answer to a verbal warrant from his honor, who said : ''I think John- son is drunk enough to arrest." The unfortunate John- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 167 son was therefore dragged out and locked up in the cellar. What an incongruous assemblage ! Imagine the sublime spectacle of justice, seated .upon a beer keg, refereeing a wrestling match ! When one of the boys, in the fullness of his heart (or his stomach), wished to attest his appreciation of Jimmy's entertainment, with a slap on the back and the exclamation that " Our able J. P. is the boss feller, you bet !" he resented the familiarity and threatened to arrest the offender for contempt of court. Jimmy prides himself on being something of a philosopher, too. Perched upon his kitchen table, this mountain oracle has descanted to me, for a whole after- noon, upon political economy, ethics, psychology, and the Chinese question. In conversation he passed easily from one topic to another. " Now here are these durned anarchists," said he "raising h 11 in Chicago. Now, I ask you, what are we all coming to ? I ask you this now : Has a Chinaman any right to be killed because he can live on ten cents a day ?" He continued in this strain : " I'm no fool. I never had much education. I just come by it naturally. I tell you, it's in a man. When I was a little kid my mother used to remark that I was bucket-headed. She always thought I'd make a genius bless her old heart. Now, here's this tariff question" At this point he seized a rusty old gun and creeping to the window peeked cautiously out. After a moment he returned, put up his shooting iron, heaved a sigh of relief and whispered, "That was a narrow escape !" He told me that the man who had just passed by was his worst enemy, and had sworn to have his life at first sight of him. I knew that all of this was intended to impress 1 68 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. me with an idea of his great prowess ; or else, becoming conscious of his danger in tackling the tariff question, thus sought a diversion. To those who contemplate moving to " Argenta" to grow up with the country I will say that as yet she is only a poor little town, with one inhabitant, and he is in fact the mayor, common council, police force and fire department. I can't describe her " mild and equable climate," and her "splendid railroad facilities," because she has none. I can't even say that her citizens are " public spirited," there being only one ; but one of -these days some miner will strike it rich in Argenta's vicinity, and she will have a "boom." She will have a hotel, a store, a blacksmith shop, a faro-bank, and if she be but patient she shall have an " Excelsior saloon" with deer horns over the door. Some quack will come along and open a doctor shop, and some broken down lawyer, who has been run out of Nevada by the vigilantes, will open a law office. I say open an office ; but more likely he will insert an advertisement in the Daily Snorter, in- forming the public that " William Blackstone, attorney at law, and notary public (formerly chief justice of Kentucky), can always be found at the Excelsior saloon." Thus will Argenta boom, in the fashion peculiar to mining camps, when, some morning, the mines will "peter out." Then there will be a mighty exodus from Argenta. The once flourishing town will fade into insignificance and finally be blotted from the face of the earth as completely as if she had never been. And all this while Jimmy will be bucking in his tunnel. Well, bound away, old boy. Likely you will pass in your checks before you strike gold ; but, then, no matter ; the boys will have a funeral worthy of their CANYON OF RIO LAS ANIMAS. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 169 great publicist their able J. P. Maybe Burns would furnish some appropriate music, as on the occasion of the death and burial of " Sweet William" Smith, when, seated upon the top of a flour-barrel, Burns wafted Sweet William's soul out into the great unknown, upon the doleful strains of a wheezy old accordion. And then they will carry you and lay you " in your mother's lap." They will strew your grave with mineral specimens in lieu of flowers ; and it will be a nice place to sleep, after life's fitful fever, up there in the quiet canyon, among the flowers and blue-jays, until Gabriel blows his horn on resurrection morn, and shouts : " Get up, Jimmy ! here's gold for you. Struck it rich at last, old bucket-head." THE ARGONAUTS THE NOVUS HOMO ODD CHARACTERS IN THE WEST. Among the Argonauts and their successors, many strange characters are to be found, who have drifted from California or the East, into all the mining camps of the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains. A volume could be filled with authentic anecdotes of the " newly rich." There was Pat McC. abroad-shouldered, handsome, rollicking Irishman. He had ''struck it rich," and was almost a millionaire, but his good fortune did not entirely make a fool of him. He still wore the slouched hat, the woolen shirt, and his pantaloons stuffed into the tops of his high boots. However, he indulged in one article that was an evidence of wealth and luxury, a splendid gold watch with a heavy chain to match. Now, Pat's early education had been somewhat neglected; in fact he could no more read the figures on his time-piece than he could decipher the hieroglyphics on his Chinese laundryman's bill. The boys in the camp knew of this, and took a delight in asking " Pat, what time a day is it? " But he 12 170 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. soon " tumbled to that racket," and would hold his watch to the eyes of the anxious enquirer, saying: " Look for yourself; if I tell you, you'll think I'm lyin' to you." Another man in a western city who kept a little grocery and supply store, furnished a prospector with a " grub stake," on shares. A rich mine was struck, and the grocery man became immensely rich, built the finest hotel and opera house in the Rocky Mountain re- gion, and boasted that his night shirts cost him five hun- dred dollars each. He divorced his plain old wife, and married a fashionable woman. He won golden opinions from all sorts of men and became a United States Sen- ator for thirty days ! Thus verifying the Spanish prov- erb : " There is no lock, but a golden key will open it. " But these instances of sudden wealth, are excep- tional. For every success, there are hundreds and thousands of failures. Among the Argonauts of ' 49, mostly young men, " as gallant a host as ever trooped down the startled soli- tudes of an unpeopled land," there was many a bright eyed youth, upon whose face a razor had never come, who had left father and mother, brother and sister, and perhaps a dearer one, full of dreams of glory and honor, riches and renown, in the El Dorado of the West ; who can now be found wrinkled and gray, in some wild can- yon solitude of Utah or Colorado, working as a com- mon laborer at a " concentrator, " or with pick and shovel in the tunnel. He has been beaten in the game of life, and he has thrown up his hand. In one of my rambles in Southern Utah, at the mis- erable little mining town of Milford, in Beaver County, I met with one of these " Forty Miners." He had been brought up in Ohio, started to ' California at the age of twenty-one, had made two hundred and fifty thousand THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 17 1 dollars, had lost it all, then drifted, as a prospector to Nevada, and then to Utah; and he was now keeping a little eating house. But he still retained something of the old grandios California style ; for, he charged fifty cents for a cup of black coffee, a fried egg and a piece of stale bread. " Have you ever gone back to your old home in Muskingum County?" I asked. " Yes, once, after I had been gone for twenty years; but I didn't enjoy it much. It seemed lonesome-like. So many more dead and gone, and everything and everybody were so changed that I was almost sorry that I ever went back." I questioned him no further. I imagined the rest. It was the old, old story of blighted hopes, of strangled affections; the flowers had turned to dust and ashes in his grasp, and the lovely mirage of his youth had been lifted from the arid and desolate desert of life. And then, I thought, perhaps it was better, after all, that, after twenty or thirty years of exile from the home of his childhood and youth, the wanderer should pursue his lonely journey to the end, among the mountains and val- leys of the West. Better to cherish the sweet and ten- der memories of the Long Ago, than to break the spell of enchantment with the hard and cold realities of the present. Better to sit on a granite boulder or the mountain side, while the moaning winds are playing mel- ancholy music among the lofty pines overhead, and dream of youth, and love, and beauty, than to go back, a pilgrim gray, with nothing to show but a blank in the lot- tery of life! And O, such dreams as the old prospector may have! He wanders back to the village school. He remembers one with soft blue eyes and peach-blow 172 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. cheeks, and feels again on his sun-browned cheek the delicate brush of her sunny hair. Is it not better, thus to cherish her memory as it has haunted him in all these years like some wild, sweet melody, than to see her now, a sad-faced matron with furrowed brow and sunken cheeks? If the old miner returns to his old home, he will find everything changed, everything turned topsy turvy ; the hills do not look so high, the streams are not so wide, but worse than all the people are changed. The old men are dead, and the little boys have grown to stalwart manhood, " full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard." They look upon the old prospector with no more regard, than they would a grizzly bear or a coyote. The whirligig of time has produced many changes, not all, but many like these. The town-drunkard's son has been elected to Congress, and the preacher's boy has been sent to the penitentiary. The village belle has run off with a gambler, and the bound girl has married the banker. The " aristocratic " family of the town, so consid- ered because they lived in a two-story brick house, and the old man kept a store, exchanging dry goods and grocer- ies for feathers, beeswax, and ginseng have " broke up " and moved off to " the loway." The timid school boy who broke down while reciting a speech "On the Evils of Intemperance" has become an inmate of an inebriate asylum ! How changed, too, was the old prospector ! The mother that bore him would not recognize her boy in the grizzly biped from the mountains. But no matter she is dead. Long ago she folded her poor, thin hands upon her withered breast and passed away with the wanderer's THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 173 name upon her dying lips: " Write to my boy Eddie to come home." I will attempt to delineate one more unfortunate, among the many who have been stranded on the lee shore of adversity in the Far West. Colonel S was a native of Massachusetts, but I am sorry to say that he had but little of that odor of sanctity that perfumes the memory of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. Why they called him "Colonel," I never knew, for I have never heard that at any time, in peace or war, he had " set a squadron in the field." But this goes for nothing ; for we find plenty of " Colonels," "Majors" and "Captains " who never smelt gunpowder, everywhere between the two oceans. Our " Colonel " was something of a litterateur and scientist ; and would, no doubt, have made a good poet, his organs of invention and imagination were so largely developed. His hair-breadth escapes from grizzly bears, Indians and Danites, would raise your scalp-lock like porcupine quills. But his chief peculiarity was in his facility for "work- in up the briny." When he was drunk he could shed tears at will, and was then fond of quoting Scripture and talking of religion. " On account of this wild way of life in the west," said he, "and reading Tom Paine and Bob Ingersoll, I would have become an infidel if it hadn't been for a lock of my Christian mother's hair which I always carry with me." Here he made profer of the precious locket while a big tear started down his rubicund cheek. But the boys from the " Blazing Star" district said that this " Christian mother racket," was an old fake of the Colonel's and the locket was a gift from " Eureka Sail," the braid of hair having been deftly plaited from her 174 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. lovely auburn tresses, brown in the shade and gold in the sun. The lady designated by the aforesaid ungallant sou- briquet was never called by any other name, and was well-known in all the mining camps thereabout. She belonged to that enterprising class, that, like the adventur- ous bee and the festive beer keg, are always found in the vanguard of civilization in the wild west. " Eureka Sail," like many other good and worthy residents of Utah, had patriotically emigrated from the State of Nevada for her country's good. She was a fugitive from justice, or rather from the vigilantes. Some said she had salted a mine ; others declared that she had killed her husband ; but the gallant Colonel S , who was " her friend," loyally insisted that she had only killed a d d Chinaman, who ought to have been killed for insulting a respectable white woman ! "The Chinese must go," said he, " and the quicker the better, you bet !" " As to salting the Blue Hoss mine in the Eureka district," said he, " Sail had no interest in the job, she only gave a helping hand to the boys to fix the mine so as to cinch them bloody Hinglish tenderfeet. Sail did her part jam up. She got a basketful of the best ore from the two hundred foot level of the Lucky Boy that would run two thousand to the ton, and glued them onto the rocks in a stope of the Blue Hoss ; that was a good joke on them Frisco experts. They reported two mil- lions in sight ! O, I tell you, Sail was a good one in them days !" Now, it is not improbable that this glowing eulogy on the exploits of my lady was all a lie. But the Colonel meant no harm by it. On the contrary, according to his THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 175 confused ideas of morality he thought he was paying her a high compliment. The Colonel had an "affidavit face " and an inno- cent and child-like smile that would soften the heart of a police judge. He took a good look at the five Commis- sioners and sized them up. He selected his quarry with all the skill of a trained falcon which one it boots me not to say but he was so innocent-looking and guileless that he suspected no guile in others. The Colonel's "main holt" was to work the anti- Mormon racket. Time and again he would descant on the wickedness of the Mormon leaders and bewail ths condition of " the poor little sin-branded children " of Mormon parents. Here another big tear would start, crawl slowly down his cheek, and then halt for the obser- vation of the sympathetic beholder. Then the gallan Colonel would express his great satisfaction with the wis- dom of the government in selecting Commissioners of " talent, character and experience." And so he would go on, from day to day, between drinks, occasionally interlarding his conversation with the technics of geology and mineralogy. But the "Mor- mons " were the chief source of his inspiration. He actually declared that he had seen more than a dozen hair ropes (or lassoes) that had been made of the hair of the women who were massacred at Mountain Mead- ows! SEQUEL The guileless Commissioner lost a small sum of money and a friend at the same moment. The lachrymos Colonel incontinently cut his acquaintance, and the Commissioner heard no more from him about "sin-branded children," Danites, or "hair ropes." At last accounts the Colonel was in jail, afflicted with a complication of charges for offenses against the peace 176 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. and dignity of the United States, and the People of the Territory of Utah. Poor devil ! Let him have our sympathy and pity. Most likely he is not a bad man at heart, and under more auspicious stars and a kindlier smile of fortune, he would have been a respectable and honored member of society. Quien Sabe ? Let us draw the mantle of char- ity over his faults and misfortunes as I have done over his name! In closing this sketch I wish to enter my caveat against the conclusion that the pariahs and outcasts I have attempted to portray shall stand as representatives of the mining class in general. On the contrary I take pleasure in bearing my testimony to the high sense of honor, sterling business qualifications, and gentlemanly deportment of very many mining men in Utah and elsewhere in the West. GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE MORMONS CEREMONIES IN SUSTAINING A NEW " PRESIDENT, PROPHET, SEER AND REVEL ATOR," ETC, On Saturday, April 6, 1889, the Mormons held their fifty-ninth general annual conference at Salt Lake City. Several days before the day of meeting the people began to flock to the city, so that on Sunday, the second day of the conference, a vast throng from all parts of Utah and the adjacent territories had assembled. In company with General McClernand I went in the afternoon to the Tabernacle, where the conference was held. But the great building was already full, and there was not even standing room, while many thousands were on the outside in the Temple Block and on the streets. Besides the residents of the city, there were probably THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 177 twenty thousand Mormons attending the conference from other parts of this Territory, Idaho and Arizona. We passed some time in moving around among the vast crowd on the outside, in order to observe the manners, dress and appearance of the people. They were all respectably, and many were well dressed. Their deportment, without a single exception, was perfectly decorous, quiet and good-natured. Among them were three stalwart Indian Mormons, standing in a row on a bench. The conference continued its session for three days. There were on the stand, of the Council of the Twelve Apostles : Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor ; of Counselors to the Twelve, Daniel H. Wells ; Patriarch, John Smith ; of the Presiding Council of the Seventies, Henry Harriman, Jacob Gates, Abraham H. Cannon, Seymour B. Young, John Morgan ; of the Presiding Bishopric, William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton, John R. Winder. There were also present a large number of Presidents of Stakes. The exercises consisted of singing, prayer, sermons, and business appertaining to Church organization. Sermons, or " discourses," as they are commonly called among the Mormons, were delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, the Apostle Heber J. Grant, Elder Charles W. Penrose, the Apostles Moses Thatcher, John W. Taylor, George Q. Cannon, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, and Bishop O. F. Whitney. But the most interesting part of the proceedings was the installation of a new President, Wilford Woodruff the order of succession from the beginning 178 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. being Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff. The Priesthood were arranged and seated in quorums according to the following order : The members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and Counselors to the Twelve, in the two upper seats of the center of the stand. On the south wing of the stand were the Patriarchs the Patriarch of the Church in front Presidents of Stakes, their Counselors, and High Councilors. The High Priests in the north center of the body of the hall, the quorum presidents in front of them. The Seventies in the south center and south division of the body of the house/the first seven presidents and members of quorum councils in front. The Elders were located in the rear of the High Priests. On the north wing of the stand were the Bishops and their Counselors, with the Presiding Bishopric in front. On the extreme left of the body of the hall were the Lesser Priesthood Priests, Teachers, and Deacons with the quorum presidents in the front. The general congregation were seated in those por- tions of the body of the building not occupied by the Priesthood, and in the gallery. APOSTLE GEORGE Q. CANNON. " The object in arranging the Priesthood as they are this afternoon in their several quorum capacities, is to form a general assembly of the Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and in presenting the authorities of the Chnrch they will be presented to each quorum separately, for each quorum to vote by a rising vote and by lifting up their right hands. If there THE WONDERLANDS OF .THE WILD WEST. 179 be any who object to any name that is presented, they will have the privilege of making manifest their objec- tions. After one name is presented and it is carried by all the Priesthood, they will then sit down, and it will be submitted to the entire congregation, including the Priesthood, who will rise with the Saints in the galleries and elsewhere, to their feet, and vote as a congregation upon the names that shall be offered. '< The first quorum to vote will be the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Then the Presidents of Stakes, or rather the Patriarchs, the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, and the High Councils. Then the High Priests will vote; then the Seventies, then the Elders, then the Bishops and their Counselors, and then the Lesser Priesthood, including the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, after which the body of Saints and Priesthood will be called separately to vote." Apostle George Q. Cannon presented the general authorities, which were voted upon by the different divi- sions of the Priesthood, in the order given above, each division acting separately by rising and holding the right hand toward heaven. After the vote of each quorum or division was obtained upon the name of each individual presented, the action by vote of the whole assembly was taken. The following is the order in which the authorities were presented, the vote in each instance being unani- mous. Wilford Woodruff, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints in all the world. George Q. Cannon as First Counselor in the First Presidency. Joseph F. Smith as Second Counselor in the First Presidency. ISO THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Lorenzo Snow as President of the Twelve Apostles. As members of the Council of the Twelve Apos- tles Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman, John H. Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, and John W. Taylor. Counselors to the Twelve Apostles John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells. After the above named were voted upon and unani- mously sustained, for the positions mentioned, the vot- ing was done by the general assembly only, and not by quorums on the following: The Twelve Apostles with their Counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators. Patriarch to the Church, John Smith. First Seven Presidents of the Seventies; Henry Harriman, Jacob Gates, Abraham H. Cannon, Seymour B. Young, C. D. Fjeldsted, John Morgan and B. H. Roberts. Wm. B. Preston as Presiding Bishop, with Robert T. Burton as his First, and John R. Winder as his Second Counselors. Franklin D. Richards as Church Historian and gen- eral Church Recorder. From the official report of the proceedings of this Conference, as well as the accounts in the City newspap- ers, it appears that nothing was said on the subject of polygamy, either advocating or opposing it. This is strongly in contrast with what might have been heard at similar convocations, some years ago, when polygamy was publicly approved and sometimes commanded. This affords additional evidence of the progress of "evo- lution" on which I have commented in another part of THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. l8l this work, and which is admitted by the leading anti- Mormon newspapers of Utah, in the conclusion of an article on the proceedings of the conference: " There are but two things that can crush what is illegal in such an institution as the Mormon system. One is force; one is light. Our people and our country are so free that they recoil against using force. The sen- timent of the Nation is that the proper cure for Utah, while enforcing the laws, is to enlighten the people. That enlightenment is coming. We cannot note it from day to day, but we can from year to year. Things have changed within six years, yes, within four years: yes, later still." Tribune, April loth, 1889. This is in accordance with the view of every fair and impartial observer; and the conviction is fast gaining ground, that the " Mormon Problem" is already sub- stantially settled, or at all events, its obnoxious features put into the condition of ultimate extinction. "THE MORMON PROBLEM." What is the Mormon Problem? and what is its pro- per solution? The avowed purpose of the Edmunds Act of 1882 was the suppression of polygamy. This accomplished, the ' 'Mormon question" is no more a "problem" so far as the government is concerned, than the Catholic Prob- lem, or the Presbyterian Problem, or the Methodist Problem. In matters of religious faith "error is to be tolerated when truth is free to combat it." If you are a Christian man, you cannot wholly con- demn the faith of the Mormons; for they believe all that you do, and a good deal besides. They believe in the Old and the New Testaments; in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost ; in baptism, repentance and atonement; in 1 82 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. short, they are so far from being infidels or skeptics, that they believe in these doctrines with all that undoubting faith and devotion that are going out of fashion with many advanced thinkers and "progressive Christians." As to those "latter day" vagaries resulting from "contin- uous revelation," and an intense belief in the influence of the Holy Ghost, we may confute, deride and ridicule them; but if the Mormons conduct themselves as good citizens and obey the laws, there is an end of the argu- ment. It is a dangerous ground to assume that any people shall be punished for their religious errors or vag- aries. Such an assumption would rekindle the fires of Smithfield and relegate us to the thumb-screws and red- hot pinchers of Torquemada, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. This is no new doctrine; for it has been sealed with the blood of martyrs, and crystalized in the constitution. Religious liberty not toleration is the American doctrine. Toleration is a mere concession, that which is borne or graciously permitted by the sovereign authority- czar, emperor, king or republic. Toleration implies a religion established by law a despotism over the con- sciences of mankind, whereby dissent is tolerated, limited and regulated. But in the lexicon of American constitutional liberty the word toleration is unknown. It is a hateful word a relic and a badge of the spiritual slavery of other ages and other nations. It is a word which implies authority in the civil government to prescribe a religious creed for the people and to enforce its decrees with pains and pen- alties. The world has had enough of this. MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION. The present members of the Utah Commission THE WONDERLANDS O-F THE WILD WEST. 183 (April, 1889) are Gen. John A. McClernand, of Illinois, A. B. Carlton, of Indiana, George L. Godfrey of Iowa, A. B. Williams of Arkansas, and Arthur L. Thomas, now residing in Salt Lake City, formerly of Pennsylvania. William C. Hall, Territorial Secretary, is ex-officio Sec- retary of the Commission. Of the Commissioners ori- ginally appointed, only two remain, Messrs. Godfrey and Carlton. Gen. McClernand was appointed in the Spring of 1886, vice Alexander Ramsey resigned. Judge Williams was appointed in October, 1886, vice James R. Pettigrew, deceased, and Mr. Thomas was appointed in December, 1886, vice A. S. Paddock resigned. [Since the foregoing was written, A. B. Carlton re- signed the Chairmanship, and in April, 1889, Geo. L. Godfrey was elected in his stead. In May, 1889, Messrs. Thomas and Carlton resigned from the Commission, and Hon. Alvin Saunders of Nebraska, and Hon. Robert S. Robertson of Indiana were appointed by President Har- rison, to fill the vacancies.] RIDING A BRONCHO BOOMING WITH A BRASS BAND. "Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels." Henry VIII. Jefferson Davis Clark is the colored valet de chambre to his excellency, the Governor of Utah. He came into the government headquarters the other morning, in a breathless state of excitement, to inform the boys that he had purchased a broncho. He pictured in such glowing colors the many fine points about his animal that we all resolved to go down and see him. Accordingly at 4 o'clock p. m. we made our way to the stable where he was kept. Jeff, promised that each of us should ride him; he said that he was as gentle as a lamb. He hadn't ridden 184 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. him himself as yet, but then, you know, he hadn't had time. The brute was finally led out to be saddled and bridled. It became noised about that somebody was going to ride a broncho. Hostlers and stable-boys ap- peared as if by magic, from stable-lofts and stalls. The crowd that gathered around the broncho attracted others and soon assumed gigantic proportions. Stable boys, jockeys, and men and boys of all sizes and colors as- sembled to see the fun. A group of Chinamen stood chattering in their heathenish gibberish, and a big buck Indian with three squaws and a whole army of papooses squatted themselves in a corner of the lot and waited ex- pectantly. Even the girls from the city bakery came out. Everybody had something to say about the broncho. Said one: "He looks kind enough out of the eyes." "Oh, he is kind," said another. In fact there were so many asseverations as to the brute's honesty, and kindly feeling for mankind in gen- eral, that I became suspicious, and was glad that Hall, of Kentucky was to ride first. "Is that the feller that is going to ride him?" asked a big cow-boy of me. "Yes," said I, "and he is a rider, too." I told the crowd that Hall was raised among horses, that he could ride anything on four legs. I continued to extol my Kentucky friend's accom- plished horsemanship and the crowd looked at him admir- ingly, while Hall tried to assume an air of nonchalance; but I saw him grow a little pale, as he overheard a big cow-boy say to another, "I feel sorry for the poor devil." After the honest little broncho had kicked three boards from his stall, he was finally saddled and bridled and led out into the stable-yard. - THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 185 "I don't much like the way he kicks," said Hall. "Oh that's just a way he has. He's a little bit green yet." The crowd insisted that Hall should take off his overcoat; but he kept it on, I think for the purpose of breaking the force of the fall. Hall walked "with a firm step and a pale face" like a convict to the gallows. The accomplished Kentucky horseman tried to mount from the wrong side. The honest little broncho was evidently unused to such proceedings, for he jumped over a stile and butted his head up against a brick wall. Hall retired from the field, and whispered to me that I ought to try him. He argued that honor demanded that I should make an attempt. What would the crowd think of me if I declined? But I wisely resolved that discretion was the better part of valor, and like Falstaff, soliloquized: "Yes, honor sets me on. But how if it sets me off when I come on? How then? Honor has no skill in surgery." Then there were loud cries for "Broncho Bill." Did anybody know where he was? But Bill had just stepped out to see a man. There were a dozen professional broncho riders who would ride if it were not for this, that and the other. One wanted a snaffle bit and another a different saddle, etc., but finally Jeff himself was prevailed upon. Said the crowd to him: "You bet, now, if we had paid forty-five dollars for ahorse, we would ride him." So Jeff after making repeated efforts' to get into the saddle, finally succeeded, and had hardly got his feet into the stirrups, and was engaged in patting his broncho's neck and was mumbling, "Wo! horsy, nice little horsy!" when the hon- est little broncho arched his back and the son of Ham 13 1 86 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. shot upward like a glass ball out of a trap, and fell to earth with a dull, sickening thud. As he picked himself out of the mud, he said: "I will trade that horse for a city lot. A man offered me one for him this morning." At this, the crowd grew facetious. Said one fellow with fine irony; "Yes, I would trade him if I was you. You might be able to ride a city lot." Hall, of Kentucky was invited to make a second at- tempt, but with a grim smile declined, asking a stable- man if he had a nice old white mare. As for Adams, of Maryland, a nice gentle buggy was good enough for him. Jeff, according to his announcement, traded the beast to a real estate man for a lot in "Forest Grove" sub-division. It may be stated that the inducement which impelled him to -dicker for a lot in this locality, appeared in the shape of a brass band which paraded the streets, in a wagon drawn by four milk-white horses, with banners advertising the unrivaled attractions of "Forest Grove" sub-division. Jeff's eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets as he read the inscriptions on the banners: "The Great Forest Grove sub-division; A Para- dise on earth!" "An abundance of water!" "The garden spot of the. world!" Jeff followed the band around a whole morning, wait- ing to get to see the business manager of the company, that he might be able to secure a city lot before they were all gone. A few days ago I took a drive out to Forest Grove, in company with Jeff and his attorney, Clarence W. Hall. We found, much to our dismay, that Jeff's lot, and in fact the whole of "Forest Grove" sub-division was under the Hot Springs lake! THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 187 Jeff's countenance fell. Said I: "Jeff, that fellow was right when he said you might be able to ride a city lot. There's a boat for you!" Jeff stood looking at the expanse of water. Sud- denly he broke out with: "Cap, that bannah tole the truth." -Why, how is that Jeff?" "It said that Forest Grove sub-division was well watered." THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION BY BRIGHAM YOUNG. A curious and characteristic proclamation by Brig- ham Young in 1851, when he was civil Governor of Utah as well as the head of the Church, was found by the writer of these sketches, in one of the executive record books in a beautiful hand writing: TERRITORY OF UTAH. 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 ministration 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 ajid salvation are administered, and through which medium the Holy Ghost has been com- municated 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, contention, divisions, moral and physical commotions, that are disturbing the peace of the nations and kingdoms of the earth. 1 88 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. I, Brigham Young, Governor of the Territory afore- said, in response to the time-honored custom of our fathers of Plymouth Rock, by the Governors of the sev- eral States and Territories, and with a heart filled with humiliation and gratitude to the Fountain of all good, for His multiplied munificence to His children, have felt de- sirous to, and do proclaim Thursday, the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty- two, a day of praise and thanksgiving, for the citizens of this, our peaceful Territory; in honor of the God of Abraham, who has pre- served His children amid all the vicissitudes they have been called to pass; for His tender mercies in preserving the Nation undivided, in which we live; for causing the gospel of His Kingdom to spread and take root upon the earth, beyond the power of men and demons to destroy; and that He has promised a day of universal joy and re- joicing to all the inhabitants who shall remain when the earth shall have been purified by fire, and rest in peace. And I recommend to all the good citizens of Utah, that they abstain from everything that is calculated to mar or grieve the Spirit of their Heavenly Father on that day; 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 preparing the best of food for their household, and their children ready to receive it in cleanliness; then let the head of each family with his family, bow down upon his knees before the God of Israel, and acknowledging all his sins, and the sins of the household, call upon the Father in the name of Jesus for every blessing that he desireth for himself, his kindred, the Israel of God, the universe of man; praying with full purpose of heart and united faith that the union of the United States may be preserved inviolate against all the devices of wicked men until truth shall reign triumphant, and the glory of Jehovah shall fill the earth; then in the name of Jesus, ask the Father to bless your food; and when you have filled the plates of your household, par- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 189 take with them, with rejoicing and thanksgiving; and if you feel to make merry in your hearts, sing a song of thanksgiving, and lift up your hearts continually in praise and acknowledgment of the unbounded mercies you are momentarily receiving. I also request of all good and peaceful citizens, that they abstain from all evil thinking, speaking, and acting on that day; that no one be offended by his neighbor; that all jars and discord cease; that neighborhood broils may be unknown; that tattlers and strife may not be remembered; that evil surmising may be forgotten; that all may learn the truth and have no need of priests to teach them; that all may be well, and have no need of doctors; that all may cease their quarrels and starve the lawyers; that all may do as they would be done unto, so that perfect love which casteth out all fear may reign triumphant, and there shall be nothing to dis- turb the quiet of an infant in all the Territory of Utah; that there be no contention in the land; and that the same peace may extend its influence to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, and from thence to the habitation of every man and beast, to the end of the earth, till the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the babe shall lay its hand upon the cockatrice's den, and find peace to its soul. I further re- quest, that when the day has been spent in doing good; in dealing your bread, your butter, your beef, your pork, your turkeys, your molasses, and the choicest of all the products of the valleys of the mountains at your com- mand, to the poor; that you end the day in the same order and on the same principle that you commenced it; that you eat your supper with singleness of heart, as unto the Lord, after praise and thanksgiving, and songs of re- joicing, remembering that you cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit, and be preparing for celestial glory, while the meanest menial under your charge or control, is in want of the smallest thing which God has given you power to supply, remembering that that menial is depend- ent on you for its comforts, as you are dependent on your God for your constant support. Retire to your THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. beds early, that you may be refreshed, and arise early again and so continue until times and seasons are changed; or finally, I say unto you, let the same process be contin- ued from day to day, until you arrive unto one of the days of Kolob (whose day is one thousand of our years) the planet nearest unto the habitation of the Eterna Father; and if you do not find peace and rest to your souls by that time, in the practice of these things, and no one else shall then 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 where- of I have hereunto set my hand, - ^ ^ and caused the seal of the Terri- ^73, part of Lot i, in Block 88, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 2 rods east of the southeast corner of said Lot; thence running north 16 rods, thence west 94 feet and 8 inches ; thence south 16 rods ; thence east 40 feet 8 inches, to the place of beginning, with the buildings thereon, valued at $50,000. Also through a deed to George Q. Cannon, dated July 2 9> ^73, part of Lot 3, in Block 70, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at the southwest corner of said Lot; thence running east 96 and 9-12 feet to the south- west corner of Commercial street; thence 97 feet bear- ing i y^ degrees east on the west line of Commercial street ; thence west 99 feet, more or less, to the west line of said Lot 3 ; thence south 97 feet, to the place of begin- ning, valued at $80,000. This amount I authorize and 2O6 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. request my executors in the division of my estate to charge to the principal of her class without interest. 4. To Emeline Free Young, and her heirs and as- signs, of Class Three in my foregoing Will, I have deeded through a deed to James Jack, dated June 24, 1873, P art of Lot 7, in Block 75, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 26 feet due north from the southeast corner of said Lot; thence running north 69 feet; thence west 10 rods; thence south 69 feet; thence east 10 rods; to place of beginning, with the building thereon, valued at $20,000. Also through a deed to George Q, Cannon, dated July 29, 1873, parts of Lots 5 and 6, in Block 70, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, com- mencing at a point 7^2 feet west of the northwest corner of said Lot 5 ; thence running south 100 feet ; thence east 7^ feet; thence north 2 feet; thence east no feet, more or less, to the west line of Commercial street, 98 feet to a point 53 feet west of the northeast corner of said Lot 6; thence west 119^ feet, to place of beginning, valued at $40,000. The above named two pieces of land, with the buildings thereon, are valued in the aggregate at $60,000. JOSEPH F. SMITH, ) D. MCKENZIE, VBRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK. J [End of sixth page.] This amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge to the principal of her class without interest. 5. To Emily D. Partridge Young, and to her heirs and assigns of Class Four in my foregoing Will, I have deeded Lot 7, in Block 62, Plat B, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $12,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors to charge to the principal of her class without interest. 6. To Clara Decker Young, and her heirs and as- signs of Class Five in my foregoing Will, I have deeded through a deed to Joseph F. Smith, dated July 29, 1873, part of Lot 3, in Block 70, commencing at a point 97 feet THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 207 north from the southwest corner of said Lot ; thence run- ning east 99 feet, more or less, to the west line of Com- mercial street ; thence 150 and 9-12 feet north, bearing ij^ degrees east; thence west 102^ feet, more or less to the west line of said Lot 3 ; thence south 150 and 6-12 feet, to the place of beginning, valued at $30,100. Also through a deed to Feramorz Little, dated July 29, 1873, Lot 1 8, in Block i, 10 by TO rods, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey. Also all that certain piece or parcel ot land known and described as follows : Part of Lot 2, in Block 14, Plat D, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 5 rods west of the southeast corner of said Lot 2 ; thence running west 6 feet; thence north 10 rods; thence east 7 feet; thence south 10 rods, to place of beginning; which with the above mentioned Lot 13, are valued at $5,200 ; the above named pieces of land are valued in the aggregate at $35,300. This amount I authorize and re- quest my executors to charge to the principal of her class without interest. 7. To Zina D. Huntington Young, and her heirs and assigns of Class Nine in my foregoing Will, I have deeded the south half of Lot 4, in Block 56, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $16,000, which amount I authorize and request my ex- ecutors in the division of my estate to charge to the prin- cipal of her class without interest. 8. To Mary Van Cott Young, and her heirs and assigns of Class Twelve in my foregoing Will, I have given through a deed to her father, John Van Cott, part of Lot 3, in Block 76, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at the southeast corner of said Lot ; thence 63 feet west: thence 100 feet north; thence 63 feet east; thence TOO feet south to place of beginning, valued at $18,000, which amount I authorize and request my ex- ecutors in the division of my estate to charge to the prin- cipal of her class without interest. 9. To my son, Heber Young, I have deeded Lot i, in Block 14,. Plat D, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $i 5,000. I authorize and re- 2O8 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. quest my executors to deduct $5,000, and in the divi- sion of my estate to charge the balance, $10,000, without interest, to his portion in his class. 10. To my son Hyrum S. Young, I have deeded a strip of land i foot wide, commenc- JOSEPH F. SMITH, "1 D. MCKENZIE, L BRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK, } [End of seventh page.] ing at the northeast corner of Lot 5, in Block 78, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, and running south 10 rods, and part of Lot 6, in the aforesaid Block, commencing at the northwest corner of said Lot; running thence south twenty (20) rods; thence east seventy-three (73) feet to the place of beginning, with the business thereon, valued at fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) from which I author- ize and request my executors to deduct five thousand ($5,000) dollars, and in the division of my estate charge the balance, ten thousand ($10,000) dollars, without in- terest, to his portion in his class. 11. To my son Ernest I. Young, I have given five thousand ($5,000) dollars, in cash, which I authorize and request my executors to charge without interest, in the division of my estate to his portion in his class. 12. To my daughter, Elizabeth Y. Ellsworth, I have deeded Lot 6, in Block 74, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at twenty thousand ($20,000) dollars; also part of Lot 6 in Block 70, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point ninety-eight (98) feet south of the northwest cor- ner of said Lot six (6), thence running south seventy- four feet and nine inches (74 9-12), thence east one hundred and eight feet (108), more or less, to the west line of Commercial street, thence seventy-four feet and nine inches (74 9-12) north, bearing one and one-quarter (1%) degrees east, on the said west line of Commercial street at its junction with First South street; thence west one hundred and ten (110) feet, more or less, to the THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 2OQ place of beginning, valued at $ 14,940. The above named two pieces of land, with the buildings, are valued in the aggregate at $34,750. This amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest, to her portion in her class. 13. To my daughter, Vilate Y. Decker, I have deeded Lot 6, in Block 63, also 10 rods by 1 1 rods, south of and adjoining the above Lot, being part of Lot 3, in the aforesaid Block, Plat B, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $15,000; also part of Lot 7, in Block 70, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 172 9-12 feet south of the north- west corner of said Lot 6 ; thence running south 74 9-12 feet ; thence east 106 feet, more or less, to the west line of Commercial street ; thence 749-12 feet north bearing i y degrees east on the said west line of Commercial street, to a point 172 9-12 feet south from the northwest corner of Commercial street, at its junc- tion with First South street; thence west 108 feet more or less, to the place of beginning valued at $14,950. The above named two pieces of land with the buildings thereon, are valued in the aggre- gate at $29,950. This amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 14. To my daughter, Alice Y. Clawson, I have deeded part of Lot 7, in Block 75, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at the northeast corner of said lot ; thence running south 70 feet ; thence west 10 rods ; thence north 70 feet; thence east 10 rods to the place JOSEPH F. SMITH, 1 D. MCKENZIE, V BRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK, j [End of eighth page.] of beginning, with the buildings thereon, valued at $10,000, which amount I authorize and request my execu- tors in the division of my estate to charge without inter- est to her portion in her class. 15. To my daughter Luna Y. Thatcher and her 2IO THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. heirs and assigns, I have given through a deed to her husband, George W. Thatcher, 6 rods fronting south, extending north, 10 rods of the west end of Lot i, in Block 67; also \y 2 rods* fronting south, extending north 10 rods, off the east end of Lot 2, in the aforesaid Block, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, which I value at $7,500. This amount I author- ize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest, to her portion in her class. 1 6. To my daughter Fanny Y. Thatcher and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded the east half of Lot 2, in Block 14, Plat D, of Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $7,500, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 17. To my daughter Ella E. Y. Empey and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded the northeast corner of Lot 8, 5 rods by 5 rods, in Block 74, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, with the buildings thereon, valued at $10,000, which amount I authorize and request my execu- tors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 1 8. To my daughter Emily A. Y. Clawson and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 5, in Block i, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, 1 12 feet front by 10 rods deep, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors to charge, without interest, in the division of my estate, to her portion in her class. 19. To my daughter Miranda H. Y. Conrad and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 2, in Block i, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, 7 rods by 10 rods, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my execu- tors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 20. To my daughter Maria Y. Dougall and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded part of Lot 8, in Block 76, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 3 rods north of the southeast corner of said Lot ; THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 211 thence running north 55 feet ; thence west 10 rods ; thence south 55 feet ; thence east 10 rods to place of beginning, valued at $11,000 which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 21. To my daughter Jeanette R. Y. Snell and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 3, in Block 14, Plat D, Salt Lake City Survey, 10 rods by 10 rods, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my execu- tors, in the division of my estate, to charge without inter- est, to her portion in her class. 22. To my daughter Zina L. Y. Williams and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 10, in Block 8, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the JOSEPH F. SMITH, ") D. MCKENZIE, IBRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK, [End of ninth page] division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 23. To my daughter, Evaline Y. Davis, and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot one, in Block 2, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion, in her class. 24. To my daughter, Caroline Y. Croxall and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded 5 rods front by 10 rods deep, being the northeast corner, Lot 7, in Block 47, Plat H, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $3,000 ; also I have given her a note of hand given me by her husband, Mark Croxall, for money loaned by me to him, amount- ing to $3,133.91, which amount being in all $6,133.91. I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 25. To my daughter, Nabby Howe Young and her 212 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 1 1, in Block i, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 26. To my daughter Dora Y. Dunford and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 8, in Block 3, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 27. To my daughter Emeline A. Young Mclntosh and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded parts of Lots 7, and 10 feet fronting east on north side of Lot 8, both pieces running 20 rods deep, with the buildings thereon, valued at $3,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 28. To my daughter Shamira D. Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 3, in Block 2, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 29. To my daughter Phoebe Y. Beatie and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded a part of Lot 8, in Block 86, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, commencing at a point 104^2 feet north from the southeast corner of said Lot ; thence running 80 feet north ; thence west 10 rods, thence south 80 feet ; thence east 10 rods to the place of beginning, with the building thereon, valued at $16,000 which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 30. To my daughter Susa Y. Dunford and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 9, in Block 3, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the division of THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 213 my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. JOSEPH F. SMITH, ) D. MCKENZIE, V BRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK, J [End of tenth page.] 31. To my daughter Louisa W. Y. Ferguson and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded the south half of Lot 4, in Block 73, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, val- ued at $10,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 33. To my daughter, Clarissa H. Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded part of Lot 4, and all of Lot 7, in Block 2, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, being 6 rods by 13^ rods, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors, in the the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 34. To my daughter, Josephine Young, and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 2, in Block 42, Plat D, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 35. To my daughter, Ruth Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 2, in Block 4, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 36. To my daughter, Charlotte Talula Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 3, in Block 2, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $4,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 37. To my daughter Rhoda Mabel Young, and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 10, in Block 3, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which 214 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 38. To my daughter Adelia Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot i, Block 4, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 39. To my daughter, Fanny Van Cott Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 9, in Block 2, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 40. To my daughter, Mary Y. Croxall's children, Mary Eliza and Willard Croxall and their heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 3, and 4, in Block 3, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and. request my executors in the division of my estate, to charge without interest to Mary Y. Crox- all's portion in her class. JOSEPH F. SMITH, "1 D. MCKENZIE, i BRIGHAM YOUNG, SR. JAMES JACK, [End of eleventh page.] 41. To my adopted daughter, Julia Young and her heirs and assigns, I have deeded Lot 3, in block 43, Plat D, Salt Lake City Survey, valued at $5,000, which amount I authorize and request my executors in the division of my estate to charge without interest to her portion in her class. 42. Provided, that if in the division of my estate, my executors shall find that any of the above named property, deeded to my children or to their mothers, shall have at that time a greater or less value than is placed upon it in this, my will, and injustice will thereby be done to any of the classes, then the executors are THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 215 hereby authorized to value the same in the manner pro- vided in paragraph 21 of my foregoing will, and to charge the amount at which it is newly valued instead of the amount herein mentioned to the principal of the class without interest ; but if any of my children or the mothers of my children shall have received by my gifts of property before mentioned, more than the value of the share coming to them from my estate, they shall not be required to refund such excess it shall be charged to them or their class as their full share of my estate, and they, if of lawful age, or as they become of lawful age, shall give full release and acquittance to the executors of all claims and demands, and of all right and title in and to my undivided estate in form to be placed of record. 43. No charge shall be made against any of my children or the mothers of my children, for any gifts which I have given them previous to the date of my will, which are not mentioned in this will and schedule. 44. I furthermore countermand, revoke, annul and make void my former will executed by me on the seven- teenth day of August, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and all other wills, or parts of wills, heretofore made or executed by me. 45. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fourteenth day of November, 1873. BRIGHAM YOUNG, SEN. [L. s.] Signed, sealed, published and declared by Brigham Young, Sen., to be his last will and testament, in our pre- sence, containing with the schedule, twelve pages, and we have, at his request, in his presence, and in the pre- sence of each other, subscribed our names as witnesses hereto. JOSEPH F. SMITH, D. McKENZIE, JAMES JACK. In the name of God, Amen: I, Brigham Young, of Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake, Territory of Utah, being of the age of seventy-four years on the first day of June, 1875, next ensuing, and being of sound mind 2l6 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. and memory, do make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament. I do hereby give and bequeath unto my children and their mothers, as hereinafter described, that certain piece or parcel of land, for a burial ground forever, known and described as follows, to wit: Lot No. 12, Block i, Plat I, Salt Lake City Survey, containing 100 square rods, or 10 rods square, being situated and bounded as follows, to wit: Having Clara Decker's Lot on the east, Nabby Young's Lot on the west, Le Grand Young's Lot on the south and the street on the north, together with all the hereditaments appertaining ; to have and to hold the pre- mises above described for a burial ground forever, as aforesaid, to my children and their mothers, as follows, to wit: to my daughters by Miriam Works, to wit: Eliza- beth Ellsworth and Ann Decker; to Mary Ann Angell and my sons and daughters by her, to wit: Joseph A. Young, Brigham Young, Jr., John W. Young, Alice Y. Clawson and Luna Y. Thatcher ; to Lucy Decker and my sons and daughters by her to wit: Heber Young, Ernest Young, Arta D. Crista Young, Feramorz Young, Fanny Y. Thatcher, Shamira Young and Clarissa H. Young ; To Clara Decker and my daughters by her, to wit: Jeanette Y. Snell, Nabby Young and Charlotte Talula Young ; to Emeline Free and my sons and daughters by her, to wit; Hyrum S. Young, Lorenzo O. Young, Alonzo Young, Ella Y. Empey, Miranda Y. Conrad, Emeline Y. Mcln- tosh, Louisa Y. Ferguson, Ruth Young, and Delia Young; to Harriet Cook and my son by her, to wit : Oscar Young ; to my sons and daughters by Clarissa Ross, deceased, to wit: Willard Young, Mary Y. Croxall, Maria Y. Dougall, and Phoebe Y. Beatie ; to my sons and daughter by Mar- garet Alley, deceased, to wit: Mahonri Morancumr Young and Eva Y. Davis ; to Emily Partridge and my sons and daughters by her, to wit : Don Carlos Young, Emily Y. Clawson, Caroline Y. Croxall, Miriam Young and Josephine Young ; to Zina Huntington and my daugh- ter by her, to wit : Zina P. Young Williams ; to Marga- ret Pierce Young and my son by her, to wit: Brigham THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 21 / Morris Young ; to Lucy Bigelow and my daughters by her, to wit: Elvira Y. Dunford, Susa Y. Dunford and Mabel Young ; to Elizabeth Burgess and my son by her, to wit : Alfales Young ; to Harriet Barney and my son by her, to wit: Phineas Howe Young; and to Mary Van Cott and my daughter by her, to wit : Fanny Young ; and also to my other wives who have been sealed to me and who are hereinafter named, I do give and bequeath the before described piece and parcel of land for a burial place for themselves, their names being as follows; Augusta Adams, Eliza R. Snow, Susan Snively, Nahamy Curtin, Martha Bowen and Harriet Amelia Folsom ; to all the above named persons as my children, to their des- cendants and to my children's mothers as hereinbefore named, and to my other wives, who have been sealed to me (but have no children,) and who have been before named, I do give and devise the herein described piece or parcel of land for themselves as a burial place forever. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this eighth day of February, 1875, (February 8th, 1875.) BRIGHAM YOUNG, SEN. The foregoing instrument, consisting of one sheet, was signed, sealed and published and declared by Brig- ham Young to be his last will and testament in our pre- sence, and we have in his presence, and the presence of each other subscribed our names as witnesses thereto this 8th day of February, 1875. JAMES G. BLEAK, WM. A. ROSSITER, JOHN WEBSTER WATSON. TERRITORY OF UTAH, COUNTY OF SALT LAKE, In the Probate Court for said county. In the matter of the estate of President Brigham Young, deceased. Certificate of proof of will and facts found. I, Elias Smith, Probate Judge for said county, hereby 15 2 I 8 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST, certify that on the igth day of September, A. D. 1877, the annexed instruments were admitted to probate as the last will and testament of said Brigham Young, deceased, and codicil thereto, and from the proofs taken and the examination had therein the Court finds : that the said Brigham Young died on the 29th day of August, A. D. 1877, in the city and county of Salt Lake, Territory of Utah, of which place he was a resident ; that the said an- nexed will and first codicil thereto were duly executed by said decedent in his lifetime in this city, county and Ter- ritory aforesaid, and was signed by the said testator, in the presence of Joseph F. Smith, David McKenzie and James Jack, the subscribed witnesses thereto ; that he ac- knowledged the execution of the same in their presence, and declared the same to be his last will and testament and first codicil thereto, and the said witnesses attested the same at his request, in his presence and in the pre- sence of each other. That the said second codicil to said will was duly executed by the said testator on the 8th day of February, A. D. 1875, at the city of St. George, county of Washington, Territory aforesaid, and was signed by the said testator in the presence of W. A. Rossiter, James G. Bleak, and John W. Watson, the sub- scribing witnesses thereto that he acknowledged the ex- ecution of the same in their presence, and declared the same to be a codicil to his last will and testament ; and the said witnesses attested the same at his request in his pre- sence, and in the presence of each other. That said decedent, at the time of executing said in- struments, and each of them, was over the age of seventy years, of sound mind, and not under any restraint, undue influence or fraudulent misrepresentation, nor in any re- spect incompetent to bequeath and devise his estate, In testimony whereof I have signed this certificate, P -, and caused the same to be attested by the ^ Ll J clerk of said court, under the seal thereof, this i9th day of September, A. D. 1877. Attest: E. SMITH, Probate Judge. D. BOCKHOLT, Clerk Probate Court. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEbT. 219 CENTENNIAL OF WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION. Some time prior to the 3Oth of April, 1889, the fol- lowing notice was published in the Deseret News and other Mormon papers in the Territory. CENTENNIAL INAUGURATION DAY. In response to the Proclamation of Benjamin Harri- son, President of the United States, and of Caleb W. West, Governor of the Territory of Utah, we deem it proper that Tuesday, the 3Oth of April, 1889, be observed by the Latter-day Saints as a day of thanks- giving to the Almighty for the establishment of this Republic, and of prayer for the perpetuation and exten- sion of civil and religious liberty. We therefore request the Presidents of Stakes and the Bishops of the several wards to co-operate in making arrangements for the holding of public services, in their various Stakes or wards, as will be most convenient, that the centennial anniversary of the inauguration of the first President of the United States may be appropriately commemorated throughout this Territory and in all the Stakes of Zion. WILFORD WOODRUFF, GEORGE Q. CANNON, JOSEPH F. SMITH, Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. Pursuant to this notice, a large concourse of people assembled in the Tabernacle, in Salt Lake City. I attended the meeting as a looker-on in Zion. The exercises were opened with a prelude on the big organ, followed with a song by two or three hundred children. The orator of the day was Lieutenant Richard W. Young of the United States army, a grandson of Brig- ham Young. It was a creditable and scholarly perform- 22O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. ance, and was delivered in quite an oratorical manner. Instrumental and vocal music followed, and then short speeches were delivered by Franklin S. Richards, George Q. Cannon and President Woodruff. All the speakers were emphatic in their praise of the principles of repub- lican government and the Declaration of Independence. "The Constitution of the United States," they declared was inspired from on high. That although in some instances the Constitution had been violated, this was the fault of erring man, and these abberrations ought not to destroy or impair the respect of the Latter-day Saints for that sacred instrument, which is the heaven-inspired chart of the best government on earth and the palladium of civil and religious liberty." After the speeches the children sang "Hail Colum- bia" in an animated manner, each one of the two or three hundred little singers keeping time by waving a small American flag. After a benediction by Elder C. W. Penrose, editor of the Deseret News, the great crowd quietly dispersed. MINES AND MINING IN UTAH. Prior to 1869, there were comparatively few "Gen- tiles" or non-Mormons in Utah, and the people were generally engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock- raising on the ranges. Brigham Young in his day dis- couraged and discountenanced the mining business, upon the ground that it was less conducive to the substantial prosperity and happiness of the people, than agriculture. Besides he thought that the opening of the mines of precious metals would bring into Utah an undesirable population. But after the completion of the trans-conti- nental railroad through Utah, an impetus was given to the mining business, and a large number of Gentile THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 221 miners poured into the Territory from California, Nevada, Idaho and other quarters. The principal mines now worked are in Beaver, Juab, Summit, Salt Lake, Tooele and Washington Counties. From 1871 to 1887, both inclusive, the total output was as follows : Gold, 148,316 fine ounces, at $20 67 ____$ 3,065,692 72 Silver, 65,226,753 fine ounces, commercial value 73,201,966 51 Lead, 689,630,705 pounds, commercial value _ _ 33,799*599 J 7 Copper, 19,044,995 pounds, commercial value 3,003,889 21 Total.__. .____ "3>7ii47 6l The most valuable mine in the Territory is the Ontario, at Park City, in Summit County, about thirty- two miles south-easterly from Salt Lake City. Some idea of this great mine may be formed from the follow- ing extract from an official statement in the report of the Governor of Utah for 1888. There are more than 20 miles of openings in the Ontario. About 130,000 cubic yards have been stoped out. The plant of mine and mill cost $2,570,000 ; over four hundred men are given employment year after year at an average wage of $100 per month. The total output of the mine to the end of the past year is, in round numbers, $19,300,000, rating silver at its commercial value. Its monthly dividends are 139, aggregating $8,825,000. Rating the silver at its coining value would increase the output to $23,000,000 and the dividends to $12,525,000. On the 4,500 feet of vein there are three shafts, Nps. i and 2, in Ontario Gulch ; No. 3, 1,100 feet further west. The latter, through which 28,500 tons of ore were raised the past year, has rested for three years past on the tenth level. About 37,000 tons of ore were extracted in 1887, altogether, from which the company realized in gross and in round numbers $1,860,000, and paid $900,000 in dividends. 222 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Shaft No. 2 has recently been sunk to the twelfth level. The sixth-level drain tunnel three years ago ran 6,300 gallons a minute, of which 2,400 were lifted from the levels below the sixth by the pumps. Now the tunnel runs 5,900 gallons per minute, and the amount raised from the levels below is 2,050 gallons. This drain tun- nel has been extended to a connection with the Daly workings, which it drains to the eighth level, that mine being higher than the Ontario. Many of the levels of the two mines have been run together, the respective shafts being 3,300 feet apart. There are many other good mines in the Territory, among them the Eureka Hill, the Bullion-Beck, the Mam- moth and the Northern Spy, in Juab County ; the Horn Silver in Beaver County ; and the Crescent, the Daly, the Anchor and others in Summit County. A number of valuable mines are also worked in the Bingham Can- yon district, and also in the Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Canyons, twenty or thirty miles from Salt Lake City. The mines in Tooele County near Stock- ton are also said to be doing well. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. PART III. "THE MORMON PROBLEM" THE QUESTION OF STATEHOOD FOR UTAH. By the census of 1890 it appears that the popula- tion of Utah is 206,498, an increase during the last ten years of 62,538, or 34-44 per cent. The population of Salt Lake City is now 45,025, and that of Ogden 14,919, both of which cities have more than doubled their popula- tion in the last decade. The extraordinary increase in population of these two cities, is principally due to immi- gration of non-Mormons or Gentiles; so that the munici- pal governments of these two most important cities in Utah, are under the political control of the non-Mormon party. A number of liberals or Gentiles have also been elected to the Legislative Assembly. In consequence of these changes the complaint heretofore made, whether well or ill-founded, that theMormons exercised an undue political influence in the Territorial, County and City governments, will be entitled to little or no consideration. Whatever interested or prejudiced parties may say, there is no doubt about the fact that the practice of polyg- amy in Utah, has practically gone into desuetude. That is to say, new plural marriages are now and for several years have been rare occurrences, not more frequent than bigamist marriages elsewhere, and there is reason to believe that when the present marital relations of the older Mormons will close with the death of the parties, Utah will practically be in accord with public sentiment of the country at large in this respect, and material pros- perity being unquestioned, the Territory, in these re- 224 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. spects is ready for admission into the Union as a State. Several attempts for admission, notably that of 1887, have been made, by a majority of the people, an account of which is given in the subjoined report of 1887. It will be seen that the author of this work, while occupy- ing the position of an election and registration officer under the United States government, declined to make himself a party to either side of the acrimonious contro- versy. The people of the Territory are in the habit of claiming that it is the duty of Congress, under certain conditions, to admit them as States. But it is evident that this is a duty of imperfect obligation, because if Con- gress for any reason, or no reason, declines to admit a Territory into the Union as a State, there is an end of the argument. There is no appeal from the authority of Congres's. This, however, does not militate against the idea that there is a moral obligation, on the part of Con- gress to extend a fostering care to the people of the Territories, and ultimately to admit them as States of the Union under proper conditions. The condition of Utah is peculiar. About three fourths of the white people are Mormous. Hitherto their maintenance of polygamy has made them obnoxious to Congress and the people of the United States. I have no doubt that this incubus on the fair fame and prosperity of Utah, is rapidly and certainly going into "innocuous desuetude," and that it will ere long be a thing of the past. My reasons for this conclusion are set forth in the Reports referred to, and it is fully con- ed by subsequent observation and investigation. But the contention of the Gentile politicians is, that even if polygamy is abandoned, Utah ought not to be admitted, so long as a majority of the people are Mor- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 225 mons and they are allowed to vote and hold office. These agitators would be quite willing" for the admission of Utah, provided they could have it on their own terms, namely, the disfranchisement of the whole Mormon pop- ulation, leaving the governing power exclusively in the hands of the Gentile minority, with all the offices at their command, among others two United States Senators, or two members of the House of Representatives in Con- gress, a Governor, State and County officers, etc. There can be no doubt that this is the aim of those Gentile lead- ers who are endeavoring to incite Congress to further extreme legislation in derogation of local-self government. The result would be an anomalous sort of republican commonwealth, whereby three-fourths of the white peo- ple would be in a condition of political slavery. If Utah is not now in a proper condition for admission, let her wait. Better keep the Territory out for the next fifty years than to erect a State with a rapacious oligarchy to rule over three-fourths of the whole people deprived of all their political rights. In 1887 and 1888 there was a difference of opinion among the Commissioners in some respects, which led to two separate reports for each year, one signed by Com- missioners Godfrey, Thomas and Williams, and the other by Carlton and McClernand. The reports of the first named gentlemen were very voluminous, and largely devoted to an argument against the admission of Utah as a State; and urging additional legislation abridging local self-government. These reports, as we thought, represented Utah and the Mormons in very sombre colors, which so far as they were correctly laid on, made up a picture of the Past rather than the Present. We were of opinion, too, that the legislation of Congress was already quite stringent and had gone far 226 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. enough unless it was designed to utterly destroy the principles of local popular government. We thought, too, that while the great mass of the Mormon people were taking an attitude against polygamy, they ought not to be spurned by the officers of a just and generous gov- ernment. As to the question of statehood, that being a ques- tion of local politics, and acrimonious dispute, we thought it judicious to avoid taking sides, as that might seem to savor of "offensive partisanship." The majority reports are too voluminous for publi- cation here; and this explanation is given so that some parts of the " Minority reports" will be better under- stood. MINORITY REPORT. SAINT Louis, Mo., September 29, 1887. SIR: Concurring in part in the majority report of our associates, but dissenting from it in other parts, par- ticularly as regards its general animus and tone and the propriety of introducing a theological discussion into a secular document, we deem it advisable, in order to a clear and distinct expression of our views, to submit this our separate report. Omitting the details of the Commissioners' mode of procedure, which have been heretofore set forth, we pro- ceed at once to such matters as are more interesting to the government and the public. At the election held on the 3d of November last for Delegate to the Fiftieth Congress, John T. Caine (Mor- mon) was elected by the following vote: Caine 19,605; William M. Ferry, 2,810; William H. Dickson, 34; scatter- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 227 ing, 34; total, 22,483. At this election the women voted under the Territorial law, which has since been repealed by Congress (March 3d, 1887.) Early in February of the present year the Commis- sion reassembled in Salt Lake City and prepared for cer- tain municipal elections to be held in the spring. The supplemental act of March 3d, 1887, materially changed the law as to the qualifications of voters and office-holders; and the Commission in pursuance of our former usage in like cases issued a "circular for the in- formation of registration officers," which was transmitted to them throughout the Territory, the qualifications of voters being thus set forth: (i) No polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabit- ing with more than one woman, shall be entitled to reg- ister or vote at any election in this Territory; nor any person who has been convicted of the crime of incest, unlawful cohabitation, adultery, fornication, bigamy, or polygamy; nor any person who associates or cohabits polygamously with persons of the other sex ; nor can any person register or vote who has not taken and sub- scribed the oath prescribed by the twenty-fourth section of the act of Congress of March 3, 1887 ; nor can any woman register or vote. The Commission is of the opinion that the above specifications include all the disabilities to which electors are subject under the laws of Congress, and that no opinions which they may entertain upon questions of religious or church polity should be the subject of inquiry or exclusion of any elector. The oath proposed as a condition for the registration of voters, following the language of the act of Congress as closely as possible, was formulated as follows : 228 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. TERRITORY OF UTAH, County of : I, , being duly sworn [or affirmed], depose and say that I am over twenty-one years of age ; that I have resided in the Territory of Utah for six months last past, and in this precinct for one month immediately preceding the date hereof ; and that I am a native-born [or naturalized, as the case may be] citizen of the United States ; that my full name is ; that I am years of age ; that my place of business is ; that I am a [single or] married man ; that the name of my lawful wife is ; and that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully obey the laws thereof, and especially will obey the act of Congress, approved March 22, 1882, entitled *' An act to amend Section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy and for other pur- poses," and that I will also obey the act of Congress of March 3, 1887, entitled : " An act to amend an act entitled ' An act to amend Section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy and for other purposes,' approved March 22nd } 1882" in respect of the crimes in said act defined and forbidden, and that I will not, directly or indirectly, aid or abet, counsel or advise any other person to commit any of the said crimes defined by acts of Congress, as polygamy, bigamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery and fornication. Although the person applying to have his name registered as a voter may have made the foregoing oath, yet if the registrar shall, for reasonable or probable cause, believe that the applicant is then, in fact, a biga- mist, polygamist, or living in unlawful cohabitation, or associating or cohabiting polygamously with persons of the other sex, or has been convicted of polygamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery, or fornication, in our opinion, the registrar may require the applicant to make the following additional affidavit : THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 229 TERRITORY OF UTAH, County of : I , further swear [or affirm] that I am not a bigamist, polygamist, or living in unlawful cohabitation, or associating or cohabiting polygamously with persons of the other sex ; and that I have not been convicted of the crime of bigamy, polygamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery, or fornication. Soon after the passage of the act of March 3, it was a common belief among the Gentiles that the Mormons, generally, would not take the oath ; but it soon became apparent that there was a general disposition among them to take it. Thereupon the Commission was waited on by a committee representing the " Liberals " or "Gen- tiles," requesting a modification of the oath by interpolat- ing certain expletives and amplifications. The Commis- sion unanimously declined to accede to this request, for the reasons assigned in a written communication. (See Appendix, I.) Quite a number of the Mormons, as well as the non- Mormons, declined to take the oath ; the latter, as we were officially informed, objecting to the clause concern- ing adultery and fornication. The general result of the election of August i may be stated as follows : Of the 36 members of the legisla- tive assembly, the Mormons elected 31 and the Gentiles 5. Of the Territorial, county, and precinct officers, a large majority of those elected are Mormons, none of whom, however, are living in polygamy. In former official reports the Commission several times expressed the opinion that the laws of Congress, in connection with other influences, were "setting strongly in the direction of reform" in Utah; and that at no distant day "this relic of Asiatic barbarism (polyg- 230 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. amy) would be swept from the land." We have pre- dicted from the beginning that the legal discrimination in favor of the monogamous Mormons against the polyga- mists would sooner or later be attended with good results. Early in the present year we thought we dis- cerned a disposition among the Mormons to give up the practice of polygamy ; and we wish to add that we have used our official and personal influence to induce the Mormons to take such a step. Early in June of the present year we were gratified to learn that a general movement for the abrogation of polygamy was taking an organized form. The central committee of the " People's (Mormon) party" published a call in the newspapers for mass meetings of the legal voters to be held in all the counties of the Territory, to select delegates to a convention to be held in Salt Lake City, June 30, 1887, for the purpose of adopting a State constitution, and inviting all parties in the Territory to participate in those meetings. The other political par- ties in the Territory declined to participate in the move- ment. The convention, with delegates from all or nearly all the counties in the Territory, met at the time and place designated and remained in session over a week. During their session the Commission received a com- munication from them requesting us to take charge of the election for the adoption or rejection of the proposed constitution by the legal voters, at the general election to be held August i. The Commission responded by disclaiming any express legal authority to take any official action in the premises, " but considering the fact as represented, that said proposed constitution would contain a prohibition of the institution and practice of polygamy, as well as a THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 23! prohibition of the union of church and state the sup- pression of polygamy being contemplated by the acts of Congress under which the Commission is acting," we expressed a willingness "to recommend to the judges of election that they might receive all the ballots which should be cast by the qualified voters on said proposi- tion, and deposit the same in separate boxes to be pro- vided by the convention ; and to canvass and make return of the same to such authority as the convention should provide." This recommendation was printed in the form of a resolution and sent by the Commission to the judges of election throughout the Territory, prefaced with the following preamble : Whereas the prohibition of polygamy is the paramount object of the special legislation of Congress as applic- able to Utah, we are of the opinion that when the great body of the legal voters of the Territory manifest a dis- position to place themselves on record against polygamy, in howsoever an informal manner, they ought to be encouraged therein, the object of the Government being not to destroy but to reform the Mormon people. The convention concluded not to furnish the separ- ate ballot-boxes, but to rely on the judges of election, or some of them, to count the votes and make return of the election on the adoption or rejection of the proposed constitution. This was done in nearly all the voting pre- cincts, and the result was : Votes. For the constitution 12,195 Against the constitution _ 505 But few of the Gentiles voted on this proposition, and of the 504 negative votes probably about one-half 232 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. were cast by Mormons. The total vote for members of the legislative assembly was about 16,500, of which the Gentiles cast about 3,500; so it appears that about 95 per cent, of the Mormon voters ca*st their ballots for the constitution. In this connection we wish to state that, in such action as the Commission has taken in regard to the vote on this question, we expressly disclaim any purpose of interfering in the question of statehood for Utah. But certainly, whether that Territory shall be admitted early, late, or never, a strong advanced position is gained when the great mass of the people are induced, either in a regular or informal and unusual manner, to place them- selves on record in opposition to polygamy. The provisions of the proposed constitution of the "State of Utah" upon the question under consideration are the following: SECTION 3 (of Article I). There shall be no union of church and state, nor shall any church dominate the state. SEC. 12 (of Art. XV). Bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a " republican form of government," each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor. Any person who shall violate this section shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars and imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than three years, in the discretion of the court. This sec- tion shall be construed as operative without the aid of legislation, and the offenses prohibited by this section shall not be barred by any statute of limitation within three years after the commission of the offense ; nor shall the power of pardon extend thereto until such pardon shall be approved by the President of the United States. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 233 ARTICLE XVI. Amendments. SECTION i. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution, if agreed to by a majority of all the mem- bers elected to each of the two houses of the legislature, shall be entered on their respective journals, with the yeas .and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legisla- ture then next to be elected, and shall be published for three months next preceding the time of such election, and if, in the legislature next elected as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe, and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the quali- fied electors voting thereon, such amendment or amend- ments shall become a part of the constitution : Provided, That section 12 of Article XV shall not be amended, revised or in any way changed, until any amendment, revision, or change as proposed therein shall, in addition to the requirements of the provisions of this article, be reported to the Congress of the United States and shall be by Congress approved and ratified, and such approval and ratification be proclaimed by the President of the United States, and if not so ratified and proclaimed said section shall remain perpetual. Many of the Gentiles in Utah claim that this anti- polygamy movement among the Mormons is "all a sham." But we do not think so. After careful and impartial investigation and consideration, our conclusion is that, whatever may be their motives, and whether they are influenced by choice or necessity, the generality of the monogamous Mormons (who are more than three- fourths of the Mormon population) have deliberately and wisely resolved that their highest earthly interests, the 234 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. prosperity and happiness of themselves and their pos- terity, and the avoidance of the odium which attaches to them throughout the civilized world, demand that polyg- amy shall be abolished. The Mormons have been led to believe that if the practice of polygamy shall actually and in good faith be abolished, Congress will no further pursue them with hostile legislation, and that their religious faith will not be the subject of legal animadversion or discrimination. If the premises are granted (namely, the bona fide abro- gation of polygamy), their conclusion is impregnable upon well settled principles and precedents. The Supreme Court of the United States has declared that Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief, they may with practices. * * * Congress can not pass a law for the government of the Territories which shall prohibit the free exercise of religion. The first amendment to the Constitution expressly forbids such legislation. Religious freedom is guaranteed everywhere throughout the United States so far as Congressional interference is concerned. (8 Otto, 145.) Madison says, sententiously: "Religion, or the duty which we owe the Creator, is not within the pro- vince of civil government." Jefferson says : Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, and that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of the Government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declares that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 235 religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. (8 Jefferson's Works, 113.) Upon the passage of the act of March 3, 1887, similar views were expressed by distinguished Senators from Vermont and Kansas. Acting upon these fundamental canons, and in accordance with the acts of Congress, the Commission has from time to time, in official reports and otherwise, assured the Mormon people that the Government of the United States had no design to coerce them concerning their church membership or their religious opinions, and that all that was required, and all that could rightfully be required, was that they should come within the laws and abandon the practice of polygamy. For example, in the Commission's first annual report, of November 17, 1882, it said: "The legislation of Congress, as we understand it, is not enacted against the religion of any portion of the people of this Territory. The law under which we are acting is directed against the crime of polygamy" In its report of October 30, 1883, it is said that "by abstaining from the polygamic relation they [the Mor- mons] will enjoy all the political rights of American citizens." In its last annual report (September 24, 1886) the following 4anguage was employed : "We recognize the obligation of the Government of the United States to protect the personal and property rights of the Mormon people and to deal with them as equals before the law, yet it is equally the duty of the Government to punish crime." In its "circular for the information of registration officers," issued in March, 1887, after enumerating all the disqualifications of voters under the law, it added : 236 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. "That no opinions which they (the Mormons) may en- tertain upon questions of religion or church polity should be the subject of inquiry or exclusion from the polls," and the Edmunds act of 1882 declares that no person shall be excluded from the polls on account of any opinion he may entertain on the subject of polygamy or bigamy if he is otherwise eligible to vote. Having received information that some of the regis- tration officers were disregarding the principle thus settled and repeatedly announced, they were promptly removed from office by the unanimous vote of all the members of the Commission. After such assurances have been held out to the Mormon people by the Supreme Court of the United States, -by those eminent statesmen who championed the anti-polygamy Legislation in Congress, and by the Com- mission, representing no party or faction, but the Govern- ment of the United States ; now, while the great mass of the Mormon people are making an effort for the aban- donment of the practice of polygamy, we are asked to recommend further legislation of a hostije and aggressive character, almost, if not entirely, destructive of local self- government, thereby inflicting punishment on the inno- cent as well as the guilty. Our answer is, we cannot do so ; we decline to advise Congress to inflict punishment by disfranchising any portion of the people of Utah on account of their religious or irreligious opinions. In Utah there are persons of multifarious religious creeds, some with no religious belief at all. Some prom- inent and enterprising citizens believe in the revelations of the Old Testament and reject those recorded in the New, while a large majority of the people of the Territo- ry profess a belief in the Old Testament, the New Testa- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 237 ment, and divers modern ' 'revelations" besides. Those who accept the revelations of the Bible are divided into many separate church organizations by reason of diverse interpretations. Then, in the close of the most enlight- ened century in the tide of time, shall we invoke legal coercion over the consciences of men and resort to the pains and penalties inflicted in former times for recusancy, non-conformity, and heresy? In this age the world moves, and even religious fanatics must keep pace with progress. The Utah of to- day is not, and never can be again, what it was when Brigham Young, as prophet, seer and revelator, dominat- ed over his devoted followers, isolated from all the world, in the secluded valleys of the Rocky Mountains ; nor, in our opinion, can that fading and dissolving specter of the past be justly or properly invoked as an excitative to legis- lation proscriptive of religious opinion. The railroad and the telegraph, free speech and a free press, are there now. Schools and colleges and churches of many deno- minations are found in all parts of the Territory. The people are no longer isolated, but are now in communi- cation with all the world ; and Salt Lake City is one of the most cosmopolitan places on the continent, a resort for tourists, savants, statesmen, and scholars from abroad. Under such circumstances is it not morally impossible that Utah shall ever again become subject to that church domination and oppression which are now imputed by some persons as an existing reality against the "Mor- mon hierarchy?" Churches and creeds are subject to the laws of evo- lution, and Mormonism must yield to the inexorable logic of civilization. Polygamy must go, and its abrogation will, sooner or later, be an accomplished fact. Other objectionable features are gradually giving way ; and we 238 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. are thoroughly satisfied that whatever the Federal autho- rities can rightfully accomplish in the way of reform can be done without resorting to the total overthrow of local self-government. Polygamous marriages, in Utah are becoming less frequent, as will hereinafter be shown. No polygamist votes, holds office, or sits on a jury. The mass of the Mormons have taken the test oath and voted against polygamy. The conclusion is that the present laws of Congress are working successfully; that there is no necessity of resorting to un-American plans of govern- ment ; and that if, as we apprehend, the object of the Government is to reform and not to destroy the Mor- mon people, they should be encouraged and not spurned in their efforts for the abrogation of polygamy and for reform. During the last two years and a half there has been no relaxation in the enforcement of the laws for the sup- pression of polygamy. During that period there have been about three hundred convictions to the penitentiary for offenses against those laws, which, notwithstanding the signs of reform, should continue to be enforced against all persons violating them ; no step backward should be tolerated ; at the same time the innocent should be scrupulously protected. In a larger view polygamy is adjudged by the most enlightened nations to be a manifold evil. It is the parent of caprice, cruelty and license. It enervates the male and degrades the female. Socially, politically, and physically it is corrupting and deteriorating. Despotic in the family, it is the prototype of despotism in the government. It largely accounts for the differing charac- teristics of the Asiatic and European ; for the indolence and feebleness of the one, and the energy and enterprise THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 239 of the other. Inferiority is its badge. In the armed contests of rival civilizations, alike in ancient Greece and modern India, it succumbed to the superiority of monogamy. It is at variance with the divine economy in that originally God created but one man and one woman, Adam and Eve, each as the only partner in wed- lock of the other. Logically, and as a consequence, it is irreconcilable to the idea of the marriage covenant as practiced and revered by the masterful Teuton, Celt and Anglo-Saxon. That covenant runs in these comprehen- sive and searching words : Will thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health ; and forsak- ing all other, keep thee unto her so long as ye both shall live? Recognizing polygamy to be an evil and a bane, Congress has from time to time, enacted laws to eradicate it from Utah. One of them, known as the " Edmunds law," approved March 22, 1882, re-enacted and extended the provisions of those of earlier date. It declares polyg- amy a crime, defines the same, and punishes its commis- sion by a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment not exceeding five years; declares cohabitation by a man with more than one woman a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of not more than $300, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both in the discretion of the court, and allows a joinder of counts for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation in the same information or in- dictment; Disqualifies any person from serving as a juror in any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation who is, 240 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. or has been, living in the practice of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman, or who believes it right for a man to have more than one liv- ing and undivorced wife at the same time, or who be- lieves it right to live in the practice of cohabitation with more than one woman, upon his being challenged for any such cause; Authorizes the President to grant absolute or limited or conditional amnesty to offenders against any such pre- viously enacted laws; Legitimates the issue of polygamous marriages, sol- emnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect, who were born before the ist day of January, 1883; Disqualifies any polygamist, or other person cohab- iting with more than one woman, from voting at any election, or for election or appointment to any office or place of trust, honor or emolument. The last law on this subject, known as the ''Ed- munds-Tucker act," which took effect on the 3d day of March, 1887, is supplemental to the act of 1882, and is more comprehensive in its scope. It makes the lawful husband or wife (if consenting to testify) a competent witness in any examination, inquest or prosecution touch- ing the other, under a statute of the United States for- bidding any of the above-named offenses, except as to communications between each other deemed confidential at common law ; Waives the original process of subpoena and author- izes an attachment for witnesses in any such criminal pro- ceedings, upon cause shown by oath or affirmation; Prescribes the rule determining the degrees of con- sanguinity, denounces incest, adultery and fornication, and prescribes the punishment therefor; Vests the Commissioners who are or may be ap- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 241 pointed by the supreme or district courts in the Terri- tory, with the same powers and jurisdiction of justices of the peace in the Territory under the laws thereof; it also confers on such commissioners the same powers confer- red by law on commissioners appointed by circuit courts of the United States; Requires every ceremony of marriage performed in the Territory to be signed by the parties thereto, and by every officer, priest, or other person taking part therein; and that the same when thus authenticated, shall be filed in the office of the probate court of the proper county for record, and that the record thereof shall remain sub- ject to inspection, and enforces the requirement by inflict- ing fine or imprisonment, or both, upon any willful viola- tion thereof; Incapacitates every illegitimate child in the Terri- tory to take or receive by inheritance the estate or any part of the estate of his or her father, save such of them as shall have been born within twelve months after the passage of the act, or are legitimated by the act of 1882; Dissolves the corporations known respectively as the " Perpetual Emigration Fund Company" and "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," makes their renewal unlawful, and forfeits and escheats their property to the United States, subject to certain limita- tions and exceptions; Regulates the right of dower; makes the judges of the probate courts appointable by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; abolishes fe- male suffrage: requires the governor and secretary of the Territory together wih the Utah Commission, to redis- trict the same, and to apportion the representation in the legislative assembly according to the numbers of the people in the Territory (exclusive of untaxed Indians and 242 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. other non-citizens,) and the number of the members of the present legislative assembly, respectively; Continues the powers and duties of the Utah Com- mission until the same shall be superceded by the legisla- tive assembly of Utah and the subsequent approval of Congress; Limits the right of suffrage to male persons, who as a precedent condition to the exercise thereof, shall have registered their names as voters, and subscribed an oath or affirmation that he is over twenty-one years of age, has resided in the Territory six months, and in the pre- cinct of his residence one month; including in such oath or affirmation a statement according to fact, that he is a native born or naturalized citizen of the United States; and of his age, with his place of business, his status, whether single or married, and, if married, the name of his lawful wife; that he will support the Constitution of the United States and faithfully obey the laws thereof, especially the act of 1882, and this act in respect of the crimes in the same defined and forbidden, and will not directly or indirectly aid or abet, counsel or advise any other person to commit any of said crimes; More: It renders every person ineligible to serve as an officer or a juror in the Territory, who has not taken the oath therein set forth, similar in form, and absolutely disqualifies every person for such service, as also to vote in any election therein, who has been convicted of any crime in either of the acts mentioned, or who shall be a polygamist or in association or cohabitation polygamously with a person of the other sex; Moreover, the act suspends the laws of the Terri- tory providing for the method of electing and appointing the Territorial superintendent of district schools; abol- ishes that office, and devolves its powers and duties THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 243 upon another officer, to be appointed by the supreme court of the Territory; restricts the quantity and mode of the tenure of the land which may be held by religious bodies, and annuls all local laws on that subject; pro- vides that the militia of Utah- shall be organized and sub- ject in all respects to the laws of the United States reg- ulating the militia in the Territories, and that the gen- eral officers of the militia shall be appointed by the gov- ernor of the Territory by and with the advice and con- sent of the council thereof. The vigorous enforcement of these laws has re- sulted in a sense of disquietude and insecurity in the mass of the Mormon population, and, as we have before said, the indications of an important change are appar- ent. The truth of this statement is corroborated by the answers of the chief justice of the Territory and others, set forth in the appendix, numbered II, III, and IV, re- spectively, which are cited for what they express apart from any inference respecting further legislation. It is admitted, however, that these answers desig- nate no definite or approximate period when polygamy in Utah may be expected to cease; indeed it is deemed im- practicable to do so. For ourselves we may repeat, that the practice of polygamy appears to be declining and in the course of ultimate abandonment, and that our obser- vation leads us to believe that the present intention of the ascendent numbers of the monogamous Mormons is to compass and hasten that end. The questions remaining relate to the admission of Utah as a State, and the consequent surrender of the power of Congress over the subject of polygamy under the existing Constitution of the United States. With respect to the first question, we have only to say that it appeals solely and properly to the sound discretion of 244 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Congress, where we are content to leave it without further remark. As to the second question, it evidently now engages earnest public attention and divides opinion. Consider- ing these facts, and the importance of continuing the power of Congress over the subject of polygamy and of relieving the power from any question, we venture respectfully to recommend the adoption of an amend- . ment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibit- ing the institution or practice of polygamy in any form in the States and in the Territories or other places over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, sup- plemented with appropriate power of legislation to carry it into full effect. This recommendation is in accordance with propositions which have already been submitted, respectively, in the Senate and House of Representa- tives, of which that in the House was supported by an able and elaborate report from its Judiciary Committee. Such an amendment would put an end to special and provisional legislation, upon a disturbing question, which legislation, under the present Constitution, must . cease to operate with the cessation of the territorial status. It would raise an implied and incidental power, primarily drawn from the power of Congress "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," to the dignity of an express power embedded in that instrument itself. Other considerations favor it. It would insure us a solemn and deliberate verdict of the American people against the practice of polygamy, either as a social insti- tution or religious rite. It would serve as a rampart for the protection of monogamy, the bed-rock of American and European civilization, against the inroads of an THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 245 Asiatic vice. It would be an authoritative notice to im- migrants from all lands that the United States are dedi- cated to the virtues of monogamy, and, passing as a les- son into the common schools of the country, would form the minds of rising generations in harmony with its ideas and object. Yours, respectfully, A. B. CARLTON. JOHN A. McCLERNAND. Hon. L. Q. C. LAMAR, Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C. i. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, SALT LAKE CITY, May 2, 1887. The following letter is published for the the infor- mation of the registration officers. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, SALT LAKE CITY, April 28, 1887. Hon. C. W. Bennett. DEAR SIR: In response to a lequest by a commit- tee of gentlemen that called on this Commission several days ago in reference to a change of the form of the reg- istration oath which has been furnished to the registra- tion officers throughout the Territory, we would respect- fully say that we are not convinced of the propriety or necessity of making such a change, for a number of rea- sons; among others: (i.) Because we are satisfied that the oath furnished by us is in accordance with the law. (2.) The modifications proposed by you, if equiva- lent to the language employed by the act of Congress, are unnecessary; and if not in accordance with the act, they are illegal. The law is one declaring the political disfranchisement of the citizens under certain conditions. 246 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. We hardly need add that such laws, as a rule, are viewed critically and construed strictly by the courts in favor of political manhood. (3.) The request comes at such a late day (the regis- tration beginning May 2nd,) and so long after trie printed forms of affidavits to the number of 35, ooo have been distributed over the Territory, that the proposed change would occasion much delay and great unnecessary ex- pense. (4.) Plainly, it is not the intent of the law to pre- scribe any religious creed to the citizen, but to prescribe a rule of action, irrespective of his present or future se- cret intentions or convictions, or the change of any of them. The oath we have formulated in the terms of the law is but auxiliary to the enforcement of the actual ob- servance of the law and the rule of action prsecribed by it; hence, as a conclusion, it is equally plain to us, that whosoever takes the oath and transcends the rule it pre- scribes by perpetuating a prohibited and punishable crime, thereby incurs not only the stain of moral perjury, but liability to legal punishment for the commission of any such prohibited crime ; and these consequences would as logically and necessarily follow the infraction of the form of oath which we have furnished as the interpolated form which has been proposed. (5.) The fact that Congress has prescribed the oath is, in itself, an assumption by that body that the oath will not be vain, but be practically binding upon conscience and useful. Otherwise, why the legal requirement of the oath? Nor is this construction inconsistent with either the municipal or moral law, which respectively presume the honesty and innocence of the individual until that pre- sumption is overcome by competent proof. (6.) Since the interview with the committee at our rooms, we were advised that a written communication was to be presented by the committee, and afterwad we received information that it would not be presented. We therefore make this reply, desiring to be entirely THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 247 courteous to the committee, apprehending that further delay might be misconstrued. By order of the Commission. W. C. HALL, Secretary. n. From Hon. Charles S. Zane. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, SALT LAKE CITY, August 10, 1887. Hon. Charles S. Zane, (U. S.) Judge srd District U. T. : DEAR SIR: In view of your great experience and eminent service as a judge in this Territory, I beg to ask of you brief answers as matter of useful information to the following questions : 1. Whether, in your opinion, the existing laws, diligently and strictly enforced, may be reasonably relied on to work the cessation of polygamy as a practice ? 2. Whether any case originating in the commission of the crime of polygamy since the date of the Edmunds- Tucker act has come under your judicial notice ? 3. Whether, in your opinion, the alternative pro- visions of that act extending the electoral franchise to those complying with their conditions, and denying it to those not complying with them, or who are otherwise disqualified, have materially prompted the present move- ment for a constitutional inhibition of polygamy ? Your obedient servant, JOHN A. McCLERNAND. To the first question propounded within, I answer, yes. To the second question, I answer, no. To the third question, I answer, yes. C. S. ZANE. 248 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. III. From Hon. William G. Bowman. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, SALT LAKE, August 16, 1887. Hon. Wm. G. Bowman, Survey or- Gen. U. S. U. T. : DEAR SIR: Permit me to inquire whether, from per- sonal and official observation, you are of opinion that the laws of the United States are working with increasing and encouraging effect a reformation of the practice of polygamy in this Territory ? Your obedient servant, JOHN A. McCLERNARD. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, t August 17, 1887 To Hon. A. B. Carlton and Gen. John A. Me demand : MY DEAR GENERAL : My answer to above interro- gation is a decided yes. The change in Mormon senti- ment in the last year has been marked and encouraging on the question of the suppression and abandonment of polygamy. Truly your friend, WM. G. BOWMAN, U. S. Sur. Gen'l. IV. Letter of Hon. Hadley D. Johnson. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. September i, 1887. GENTLEMEN : Your esteemed note of August 1 7th has been at hand for some days, and after some delay, having been some what indisposed,! shall attempt a reply to your inquiry. You ask me, "What, in your [my] judgment, wi be the efficacy of the laws of the United States, particu- THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 249 larly the Edmunds-Tucker act, in putting- a stop to the practice of polygamy in this Territory" (Utah) ? I have been somewhat acquainted with a good many of the Latter-day Saints, as they call themselves, since the year 1851, at which time I located at Council Bluffs, Iowa, at which time most of the inhabitants of that place and vicinity were of the Mormon faith, and, although never having been sufficiently intimate with them to be- come acquainted with the inside workings of their " peculiar institution," I have not been unobservant of its outside effects and influences. The bill introduced into Congress providing for a Ter- ritorial government in Utah became a law in 1850, and from that time until 1862 Congress, although doubtless fully aware of the open practice of this offense (polyga- my) in Utah, failed to enact any law prohibiting the practice * in the Even after the enactment * of 1862, no efforts of any importance seem to have been made to enforce it for many years, the Mormons claiming and no doubt believing the law to be unconstitutional, and remaining unmolested, con- tinued openly to avow their unlawful practices. * * To test the constitutionality of the law of. 1862, an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, and that tribunal decided the law to be constitu- tional. ****** Recently, however, * * there seems to have been a change in the nature of the efforts to punish vio- lators of the law against polygamy and unlawful cohabita- tion. By unyielding and determined, yet humane, efforts, the law is now being enforced to such an extent (that) the open and avowed practice of polyg- amy is unknown here. * But you want my opinion. * Therefore, to be more explicit, * I will remark, that if judi- cious, legal, and humane efforts shall continue to be made 250 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. by those having authority to enforce the laws now in existence, in a spirit of fairness and without apparent or real malice, I am prepared to believe that the "peculiar institution" may be repressed in the not distant future, or, if not entirely suppressed, it will become so unpopu- lar that the younger members of the church will repudiate the system, * * * and that as a tenet of the Mor- mon Church it will become obsolete and fall into a state of "innocuous desuetude." As you are aware, at the late constitutional conven- tion held in this city, among the provisions * * * adopted by that body was one providing for a total pro- hibition of the practice of polygamy in the proposed State. There are different opinions as to the good faith of the members of the convention some people holding that the adoption of this provision was a mere sham, intended to deceive Congress and the people of the States, and by means of this deception to procure admis- sion into the Union of the States, while others believe that the proposition was made in good faith, and that if the State should be admitted the provision * would be carried out to the letter. What might have influenced the majority of the convention * I, of course, have no means of determining. All that I know is that some of the members were and are sincerely desirous that the system of polygamy should be elimi- nated from the Mormon Church. I say I know such to be the case, but, perhaps, it would be nearer the truth to say that I firmly believe it. * * * If statehood should be granted at once, or if those who clamor for a legislative commission succeed in their efforts, the result might be different. From what I have said you may reasonably infer that I do not think any change is at present desirable in the laws of Congress on this subject. Let the Govern- ment persist in a just -and vigorous effort to enforce existing laws, and I believe a change will take place for the better one which will redound to the interest and peace and happiness of the people of Utah, * * * and THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 251 in time, when they become reconciled, they will be per- mitted to assume and enjoy the inestimable blessings of statehood." Very sincerely, your friend, HADLEY D. JOHNSON. [NOTE. The author of the letter containing the foregoing extracts was an early and prominent actor in public affairs successively in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Idaho, and is now and has been for years a resident of Salt Lake City.] MINORITY REPORT. CHICAGO, ILL., September 24, 1888. SIR: Former reports of this Commission have been so full and elaborate as to supersede the necessity of any particularity of detail at this time. It may be stated generally that the reform in Utah is progressing favorably, far beyond our most sanguine anticipations when we first entered upon our official duties. Utah is forging to the front among the Rocky Mountain States and Territories, and may be compared favorably with any of them in the enterprise of her citizens, the fertility of her valleys, the richness of her mines, and the flourishing conditions of her cities and towns. A great deal of capital is being invested in Utah by non-Mormons in city lots, farming lands and mining property. Such investments are as safe there as in any other State or Territory ; that is to say, there is not the slightest danger of armed insurrection, nor, in our opinion, is there any danger of adverse legislation that will jeopard personal security or property rights. Apart from sexual offenses (which are decidedly on the de- crease) the Mormon people of Utah ,will compare favor- ably with other communities for peace, good order, 252 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. sobriety, honesty and industry. In this respect we con- cur in the opinion of our three associates of the Utah Commission as expressed in their report of September 30, 1887: The majority of the Mormons are a kindly and hos- pitable people. They possess many traits of character which are well worthy of emulation by others. In their local affairs they strive to suppress the vices which are common to settled communities. In matters of religion they are intensely devotional, rendering a cheerful obe- dience to their church rules and requirements. They possess many of the elements which under a wise leader- ship would make them a useful and prosperous people. Either this "wise leadership" or the voluntary ac- tion of the people appears to have been asserted within the last eighteen months in ways that are commendable. Within that time the mass of the Mormon voters have taken the registration oath, swearing that they will not go into polygamy, and 95 per cent, of them voted in August of last year for the adoption of a constitution prohibiting and punishing the offense. Subsequently the legislative assembly of Utah, composed of thirty-one Mormons and five non-Mormons, on March 8th, 1888, passed a very well-considered and efficient marriage law, providing, among other things, severe penalties against clerks who issue licenses for plural marriages, and offi- cers, priests and preachers who solemnize such unlawful marriages. The act also declares all polygamous mar- riages null and void. The same legislature also adopted a resolution in relation to polygamy and other sexual offenses under the laws of Congress that This assembly is in favor of a just, humane and im THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 253 partial enforcement of said laws of the United States in the same manner that other criminal laws are enforced, under the Constitution and laws of our country, to the end that such offenses may be effectually prohibited. In the city of Salt Lake, one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities in the Rocky Mountain region, the non-Mormons constitute about one-third of the popula- tion. Among them are many strong, energetic and prosperous citizens. Formerly, under the law, the aldermen and council- men were elected by the voters at large, of the whole city. The result was that the Mormons being in the majority, elected all their candidates. But at the muni- cipal election of this year, in February, the Mormons proposed to the " Gentiles " that they select four of their best men as candidates, to put on a ticket with eleven Mormons, for aldermen and councilmen. This proposi- tion was accepted by a portion of the non-Mormons; and this fusion ticket was elected by a large majority. In this connection it is proper to add that the last legislative assembly enacted a law for the election of members of the city governments by wards. The import of these facts is emphasized in a remark- able manner by what is now transpiring in the courts in Utah. Within a few days past a number of Mormons, charged by indictment with sexual offenses and who had been evading trial, came into open court, waived trial, voluntarily pleaded guilty to the indictments and received sentence of fine and imprisonment. Among the num- ber so doing were one or more leading men. We re- peat that this example is, in our opinion, pregnant with significance, and that it will be followed by other like ex- amples; that the hindrance which has hitherto impeded 254 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. the course of law and justice, is giving way as a raft be- fore the steady and increasing current of the rising stream. It is hardly to be supposed that they or other men in the same category would voluntarily take such steps, with the purpose to repeat and continue to repeat them. On the contrary, rationally, they conduct to a different conclusion, namely, a disposition on the part of the Mormons to abandon the commission of sexual offenses and to yield obedience to the law. Yet the laws should continue to be vigilantly and strictly enforced against all violating them. No step backward in this re- gard should be sanctioned. Let the laws be exe- cuted. The facts above set forth with others that have fallen under our observation confirm the opinion that a great majority of the Mormons have wisely resolved that the practice of polygamy should be abandoned. Our view that polygamy is on the decline in Utah, is supported by an eminent Methodist minister, who for many years has been in charge of the " Methodist mis- sion in Utah," and who has mingled with the people in all parts of the Territory. He is credibly reported as having stated in conference, at Cincinnati, early in this month, " that notwithstanding reports given out by the press in general, polygamy is on the decline," and that " in a few more years it will be driven out of Utah." The chief justice of Utah, the . Hon. C. S. Zane over a year ago expressed the opinion " that the exist- ing laws, diligently and strictly enforced, might be rea- sonably relied on to work a cessation of polygamy as a practice," and about the same time the Hon. William G. Bowman, surveyor-general of Utah, stated that ''the change in Mormon sentiment in the last year has been THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 255 marked and encouraging on the question of the suppres- sion and abandonment of polygamy." The statement of the reverend gentleman, herein- before mentioned, suggests the remark that on account of the " peculiar institutions " of a portion of the people of Utah, "the reports given out by the press " are not only at present, but have been for years, of a sensational and highly colored character. That the condition of affairs has been improving in Utah for many years is evi- denced by the following statement made about five years ago by the leading anti-Mormon newspaper of Utah: ' Salt Lake City is so changed from the Utah of ten years ago that, could the old style of" affairs be restored for a week, the old slavery, the old tyranny and the restrictions, the Mormon people themselves would rise up in rebellion. There are forces at work in Utah which are all-powerful, and which no artifice or restrictions, no falsehoods and no superstitions can resist. The "forces at work" at that time have been sup- plemented by additional Congressional legislation, and such vigorous enforcement of the laws that there can be no doubt of a successful result in the near future. There is a considerable "Gentile" immigration into Utah, and this is to be an important factor in the solu- tion of the "problem." Utah has a mild and equable climate, and those who contemplate sojourning or set- tling there for health, pleasure, or business need not be deterred by sensational newspaper reports of "Mormon outrages." Much that is said concerning an unpopular and hated people should be received cum grano, for it is easy as well as agreeable for many persons to deal largely in hyperbole and fiction against those whom it is the fashion to despise. 256 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. It is obvious that the laws of Congress and of the Territorial legislature, the officers in charge of the ex- ecution of the Federal statutes, the people of Utah, including the Gentiles and the monogamous Mormons, with many other beneficent influences, such as railroads, telegraphs, schools, colleges, and the invincible progress of civilization, are rapidly and surely working out a reformation of the inhibited sexual offenses in Utah ; and there does not now seem to be any necessity or pro- priety for further legislation restrictive of political rights in that Territory. We are thoroughly satisfied that the work of re- formation in Utah is progressing rapidly, and that it will soon result in a successful issue without a resort to legislation that is proscriptive of religious opinion. Our view may be epitomized in a few words : Punish criminal actions ; but religious creeds, never. The present laws of Congress appertaining to Utah are very stringent, and they will accomplish all that can be reasonably required of legal coercion. We are therefore unwilling to advise any further abridgment of local self-government in that Territory. Without going into tedious detail, the general result shows gratifying progress in the enforcement of the laws in Utah. All polygamists have been excluded from voting or holding office, and the laws for the punishment of polygamy and other sexual offenses have been ably and vigorously enforced, which fully appears by the following table prepared from information furnished by the United States district attorney in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States : THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 257 Number of convictions for polygamy, unlawful cohabitation, etc., under the acts of Congress of 1862, 1882, and 1887, in the Territory of Utah, with the amount of fines, etc. Year. Con- vic- tions. Fines collected. Costs collected. Total amounts collected. Under laws of 1862 and 1882. Polygamy : T Q 7C i l884. 3 1885 2 1886 4 1887 4 1888 i Under law of 1882. Unlawful cohabitation : 188=; 39 $4,500 $855.00 $5,355,00 1886 123 C,8OO 1,68^;. 30 7,485.30 1887 228 IQ.I7C 4 260.50 17,435.50 1888 107 0.7QO 4,229.40 13,958.40 Under laws of i88j. Adultery : 1887 1888 2C 2I.QO Fornication : 1887 6 ecr on 4.C 1888 2 The deputy registration officers of the whole Terri- tory, having been requested to report the names of all persons who they had reasons to believe had gone into polygamy in their respective precincts during the year subsequent to the June revision of 1887, gave the names, in the aggregate, of twenty-nine men who, in their opinion, had entered into that relation during the year. Whether these opinions were based on evidence or mere conjectures we can not say. But allowing that they had good grounds for their opinions, this is a small showing compared with former times ; and it is a note- worthy fact that, according to these reports, no cases of polygamy within the year had occurred in the more populous and enlightened portions of the Territory, 258 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. such as the precincts of Salt Lake City, Logan City, Ogden City, Provo City, Fillmore City, and others. This is another confirmation of our belief that polygamy can not stand up before modern civilization. We will not call in question the good faith of the deputy registrars who reported the twenty-nine cases of supposed polygamy, but it is somewhat strange that there has only been one indictment found up to this time, for a polygamous marriage alleged to have occurred since the 3rd of March, 1887. This informa- tion we have officially from the clerks of the first and third district courts, which districts comprise about three- fourths of the population of Utah. From the second district we have no satisfactory report in consequence of the records having been destroyed by fire. This year, in the real estate excitement in Utah, commonly called a "boom," the Mormons freely sold their city lots and other real estate to Gentiles as well as to others ; and this, notwithstanding the general under- standing that the Mormon Church leaders have depre- cated and remonstrated against their people selling their land to Gentiles. This is another strong evidence of the the spirit of independence among the monogamous Mor- mons that is influencing young Utah, and of the general disposition to repudiate the authority of the Church leader, in secular and civil affairs. "Business is busi- ness," and it has a wonderfully cosmopolitan effect upon all classes of men, the Jew and the Gentile, the saint and sinner, the Catholic and the Puritan. This potent factor of civilization, toleration and liberal thought has induced the hitherto opposing ele- ments to unite in the institution of a chamber of com- merce in Salt Lake City, which is in a very flourishing condition, where Mormons and Gentiles are working THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 259 together for the common good. This, too, was accom- plished by the people, notwithstanding considerable opposition or reluctance on the part of extreme men of both factions. On the 4th of July of this year, as well as last year, the Gentiles and the Mormons cordially united in the celebration of Independence Day, and on each occasion there was a magnificent street procession, and patriotic speeches by Gentiles and Mormons. From the foregoing statement of our views it will be readily seen why we can not concur in the report of our associates. For us to sign such a report would be wholly inconsistent with the principles and opinions avowed by us in our annual report of a year ago. We there stated that The conclusion is that the present laws of Congress are working successfully ; that there is no necessity of resorting to un-American plans of government; and that if, as we apprehend, the object of the Government is to reform and not to destroy the Mormon people, they should be encouraged and not spurned in their efforts for the abrogation of polygamy and for reform. The Commission has repeatedly announced the purposes of the Government. On November 17, 1882, it said The legislation of Congress is not, as we under- stand it, enacted against the religion of any portion of the people of this Territory. The law under which we are acting is directed against the crime of polygamy. On October 30, 1883, it said By abstaining from the polygamic relation they (the Mormons) will enjoy all the political rights of American citizens. 26O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. In our report of September 28, 1887, the following language was employed : After such assurances have been held out to the Mormon people by the Supreme Court of the United States, by those eminent statesmen who championed the anti-polygamy legislation in Congress, and by the Com- mission, representing no faction or party, but the Gov- vernment of the United States now, while the great mass of the Mormon people are making an effort for the abandonment of polygamy we are asked to recommend further legislation of a hostile and aggressive character, almost, if not entirely destructive of local self-govern- ment, thereby inflicting punishment on the innocent as well as the guilty. Our answer is, we can not do so. If we should concur in the report of our associates we would seem to be entering "a new departure," a crusade against a church, and a raid for the destruction of political rights. We do not understand that we have any commission for such purposes. We renew the recommendation made by us in our last report : Considering the importance of continuing the power of Congress over the subject of polygamy and of re- lieving the power from any question, we venture respectfully to recommend the adoption of an amend- ment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting the institution or practice of polygamy in any form in the States and in the Territories or other places over which the United States has exclusive jurisdiction, sup- plemented with appropriate power of legislation to carry the amendment into full effect. This recommendation is in accordance with propo- sitions which have already been submitted, respectively, in the Senate and House of Representatives, of which that in the House was supported by an able and elaborate THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 26 1 report from its Judiciary Committee. Such an amend- ment would put an end to special and provisional legis- lation upon a disturbing question, which legislation under the present Constitution must cease to operate with the cessation of the Territorial status. It would raise an implied and incidental power, primarily drawn from the power of Congress "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territory or other property belonging to the United States," to the dignity of an express power imbedded in that in- strument. Other considerations favor it. It would insure as a solemn and deliberate verdict of the American people against the practice of polygamy, either as a -social in- stitution or religious rite. It would serve as a rampart for the protection of monogamy, the bed-rock of Ameri- can and European civilization, against the inroads of an Asiatic vice. It would be an authoritative notice to immigrants from all lands that the United States are dedicated to the virtues of monogamy, and, passing as a lesson into the common schools of the country, would form the minds of rising generations in harmony with its ideas and object. The Commission was originally selected by Presi- dent Arthur from five different States, on the theory, as we have been credibly informed, that non-residents would not likely be influenced by the passions and prejudices of the two factions in Utah. Election and registration officers should be as free from prejudice and passion as the ermined judge on the bench. As well from a sense of personal and official pro- priety, as in deference to the considerations understood to have influenced .the President in selecting non- residents of Utah as Commissioners, we are forbidden from assuming an attitude of hostility toward any part of the people of Utah. 262 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. We have no commission to bring in or reject new States, nor to give unasked-for advice on such subject to Congress. We are not under any obligation, nor have we any disposition, to defend the Mormons against all that has been alleged against them, but we believe that they are entitled to be treated with justice and humanity ; that they are not incorrigible ; that they are subject to be in- fluenced by the same causes that have changed and ameliorated other peoples' churches and creeds. We also believe that they have got common sense, and by the exercise of this valuable attribute they have found out that polygamy must go. We believe the great mass of the Mormon people are determined to go on with the reform, and that they will accomplish the work, in spite of the reported harangue of Rudger Clawson, and in spite of any in- fluence that may be attempted to be exercised by a few fanatical old polygamists. Since the date of the Com- mission's last report a general election occurred in the Territory on the 6th of August ultimo pursuant to law. The election comprised county, district, and precinct officers, numbering in all 950. The agencies employed in connection with the election comprised 318 electoral registrars, 1,124 judges of elections, and a canvassing board of 5 members, all of whom were appointed by the Commission and took the prescribed test oath. There were also municipal elections in Salt Lake City and a number of other cities and towns. The elections were conducted satisfactorily, and transpired in a peaceable and orderly manner. Passing to the subject of the social evils which prompted Congress to enact relevant, repressive laws, THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 263 including the auxiliary provisions constituting this Com- mission and defining its powers and duties, we, as mem- bers of the commission, have just occasion to congratulate the Government and the public at large upon the efficacy of these agencies in promoting the work of reform. While the instances of polygamy have confessedly de- creased since the enactment of the Edmunds law of March 22, 1882, the judicial convictions for that offense, owing to the activity and diligence of Federal officers, have been numerically increased. These convictions out- number all such convictions preceding that date ; and since the date of the Edmunds-Tucker law of March 3, 1887, the same comparison applies to the instances of unlawful cohabitation and the convictions therefor. The convictions for polygamy legally entailed im- prisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding five years and a fine in each case not exceeding $500, and for un- lawful cohabitation like imprisonment for not more than six months and a fine of not more than $300. The fines and costs assessed and collected in the latter class of cases amount to the sum of $44,235.20. These laws variously and powerfully re-inforced by the progress of ideas, intelligence and the modern agen- cies of communication and intercourse, as railroads, the telegraph and the press, have, in our opinion, struck a deadly blow at the institution of polygamy and the indul- gence of sexual offenses in Utah. On the other hand, individual instances of aberra- tion from the general course of reform thus evidenced, have been cited. We have no disposition to excuse or palliate these exceptions; on the contrary, we condemn them. Yet in a large and philosophical view, they should not be deemed unnatural or strange. Radical revolu- tions of opinions and habits, especially of religious con- 264 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. victions, usually if not universally encounter the friction of opposition and resistance. While the mass moves onward, minorities and individuals pull backward and secede. It has always been so, and, in the nature of things must continue to be so. The history of political and church government abundantly and alike illustrates this truth. Nevertheless, the revolution as the world, will move on, carrying the consenting with it and destroy- ing the influence of the dissenters and obstructionists. The revolution of opinion and conduct among the Mormons in Utah, particularly in the rising generation, is inaugurated and advancing with increasing momentum to the front and the control, and, in our opinion, it will irresistibly proceed until its mission is finished. Revolu- tions as a rule, do not retrograde. Now that it is apparent that the practice of polyg- amy is passing away, another thing is made prominent and brought forward by non-Mormons in Utah as a jus- tification for further hostile discrimination by the Govern- ment against the Mormons, namely, their religion and church government. On this subject we will repeat the language of our last annual report: Now, in the close of the most enlightened century in the tide of time, shall we invoke legal coercion over the consciences of men and resort to the pains and pen- alties inflicted in former times for recusancy, non-con- formity, apostasy and heresy? In this age the world moves: and even religious fa- natics must keep pace with progress. The Utah of to- day is not what it was when Brigham Young, as prophet, seer and revelator dominated over his devoted follow- ers, isolated from all the world in the secluded valleys of the Rocky Mountains; nor in our opinion, can that fad- ing and dissolving specter of the past be justly or prop- erly invoked as an excitative to legislation prescriptive of religious opinions. The railroad and the telegraph, free THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 265 speech and a free press are there now. Schools and col- leges and churches of many denominations are found in all parts of the Territory. The people are no longer isolated, but are now in communication with all the world; and Salt Lake City is one of the most cosmopoli- tan places on the continent; a resort for tourists, savants, statesmen and scholars from abroad. Under such cir- cumstances is it not morally impossible that Utah shall ever again become subject to that church domination and oppression which are now imputed, by some persons, as an existing reality against the " Mormon hierarchy?" In concluding this report we wish to say that we take our stand on the Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court, and the principles of civil and religious liberty as proclaimed by the fathers of the Republic, principles that should never be violated at the behest of popular prejudice against Jews, Catholics, Protestants or Mormons. The Supreme Court of the United States has de- clared that Laws are made for the government of actions 'and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief, they may with practice. Congress can not pass a law for the government of the Territories which shall prohibit the free exercise of religion. The first amendment to the Constitution ex- pressly forbids such legislation. Religious freedom is guaranteed everywhere throughout the United States, so far as Congressional interference is concerned (8 Otto, Madison says, sententiously : Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, is not within the province of civil government. Jefferson says: 18 266 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, and that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship ; that the legislative power of the Government reaches actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declares that their legislature should make no law respecting an establish- ment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. (8 Jefferson's Works, 113). In the discharge of our official duty relating to Utah we have endeavored to divest ourselves of all prejudice and animosity, and in a calm and judicial frame of mind to ascertain the truth. Our conclusion, from all the evidence before us, including our personal observation, is that a radical reform in the near future is morally certain, and that " Young Utah" will stand forth re- deemed, regenerated, and disenthralled from the heavy burden that has so long rested upon the people. Yours, respectfully, JOHN A. McCLERNAND. A. B. CARLTON. The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION. AN ACT To punish and prevent the Practice of Polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other Places, and disapproving and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress as- sembled, That every person having a husband or wife liv- ing, who shall marry any other person, whether married or THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 267 single, in a Territory of the United States, or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall, except in the cases specified in the proviso to this section, be adjudged guilty of bigamy, and, upon con- viction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years : Provided, nevertheless, That this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years without being known to such person within that time to be living nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by the decree of a com- petent court; nor- to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been annulled or pronounced void by the sentence or decree of a competent court on the ground of the nullity of the marriage contract. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the follow- ing ordinance of the provisional government of the State of Deseret, so called, namely: "An ordinance incor- porating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," passed February eight, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and adopted, reenacted, and made valid by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah by an act passed January nineteen, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five, entitled "An act in re- lation to the compilation and revision of the laws and resolutions in force in Utah Territory, their publication, and distribution," and all other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by the said legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah, which establish, support, maintain shield, or countenance polygamy, be, and the same here- by are, disapproved and annulled : Provided, That this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or interfere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance heretofore mentioned, nor with the right "to worship God according to the dictates of con- science," but only to annul all acts and laws which establish, maintain, protect, or contenance the practice of 268 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. polygamy, evasively called spiritual marriage, however disguised by legal or ecclesiastical solemnities, sacra- ments, ceremonies, consecrations, or other contrivances. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any corporation or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the territorial government of a greater value than fifty thousand dollars; and all real estate acquired or held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States : Provided, That existing vested rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section. APPROVED July i, 1862. AN ACT. In relation to courts and judicial officers in the Territory of Utah. ' (COMMONLY DENOMINATED THE POLAND LAW.) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- bled, That it shall be the duty of the United States marshal of the Territory of Utah, in person or by deputy, to attend all sessions of the supreme and district courts in said Territory, and to serve and execute all process and writs issued out of, and all orders, judgments, and decrees made by, said courts, or by any judge thereof, unless said court or judge shall otherwise order in any particular case. All process, writs, or other papers left with said marshal, or either of his deputies, shall be served without delay, and in the order in which they are received, upon payment or tender of his legal fees there- for ; and it shall be unlawful for said marshal to demand, or receive mileage for any greater distance than the actual distance by the usual routes from the place of ser- vice or execution of process, writ, or other paper, to the THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 269 place of return of the same, except that when it shall be necessary to convey any person arrested by legal au- thority out of the county in which he is arrested, said marshal shall be entitled to mileage for the whole distance necessarily traveled in delivering the person so arrested before the court or officer ordering such arrest. Said marshal is hereby authorized to appoint as many deputies as may be necessary, each of whom shall have authority, in the name of said marshal, to perform any act with like effect and in like manner as said marshal ; and the mar- shal shall be liable for all official acts of such deputies, as if done by himself. Such appointment shall not be com- plete until he shall give bond to said marshal, with sureties, to be by him approved, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties ; and he shall also take and subscribe the same oath prescribed by law to be taken by said marshal, and said appointment, bond and oath shall be filed and remain in the office of the clerk of the supreme court ol said Territory. In actions brought against said marshal for the mis-feasance or non-feasance of any deputy, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff at his option, to join the said deputy and the sureties on his bond with said marshal and his sureties. .Any process either civil or criminal returnable to the supreme or district courts, may be served in any county, by the sheriff thereof or his legal deputy, and they may also serve any other process which may be authorized by act of the Territorial Legis- lature. DUTIES OF UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the United States attorney in said Territory in person or by an assistant, to attend all the courts of record having juris- diction of offenses, as well under the laws of said Territory as of the United States, and perform the duties of prosecuting officer in all criminal cases arising in said courts, and he is hereby authorized to appoint as many assistants as may be' necessary, each. of whom shall sub- 27O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. scribe the same oath as is prescribed by law for said United States attorney and the said appointment and oath shall be filed and remain in the office of the clerk of the supreme court of said Territory. The United States attorney shall be entitled to the same fees for services rendered by said assistants as he would be entitled to for the same services if rendered by himself. The Ter- ritorial Legislature may provide for the election of a prosecuting attorney in any county; and such attorney, if authorized so to do by such Legislature, may commence prosecutions for offenses under the laws of the Territory within such county, and if such prosecution is carried to the district court by recognizance or appeal, or otherwise may aid in conducting the prosecution in such court. And the costs and expenses of all prosecutions for offenses against any law of the Territorial Legislature, shall be paid out of the treasury of the Territory. JURISDICTION OF JUSTICES , PROBATE AND DISTRICT COURTS. SEC. 3. That there shall be held in each year, two terms of the supreme court of said Territory, and four terms of each district court, at such times as the gov- c> ernor of the Territory may by proclamation fix. The district courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all suits or proceedings in chancery, and in all actions at law in which the sum or value of the thing in controversy shall be three hundred dollars or upward, and in all the controversies where the title, possessions or boundaries of land, or mines or mining claims shall be in dispute, whatever their value, except in actions for forcible entry or forcible and unlawful detainer; and they shall have jurisdiction in suits for divorce. Probate courts, in their respective counties shall have jurisdiction in the settle- ment of the estates of decedents, and in matters of guardianship and other like matters; but otherwise they shall have no civil, chancery, or criminal jurisdiction whatever; they shall have jurisdiction of suits of divorce for statutory causes concurrently with the district courts; THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 271 but any defendant in a suit for divorce commenced in a probate court shall be entitled after appearance and be- fore plea or answer, to have said suit removed to, the dis- trict court having jurisdiction, when said suit shall pro- ceed in like manner as if originally commenced in said district court. Nothing in this act shall be construed to impair the authority of the probate courts to enter land in trust for the use and benefit of the occupants of towns in the various counties of the Territory of Utah, accord- ing to the provisions of " An act for the relief of the in- habitants of cities and towns upon public lands," ap- proved March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the pub- lic lands,'" approved June eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight; or to discharge the duties assigned to the pro- bate judges by an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, entitled " An act prescribing rules and regulations for the execution of the trust arising under an act of Congress entitled ' An act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands.' ' All judgments and decrees heretofore rendered by the probate courts which have been executed, and the time to appeal from which has by the existing laws of said Territory expired, are hereby validated and confirmed. The jurisdiction heretofore conferred upon justices of the peace by the Organic Act of said Territory, is extended to all cases where the debt or sum claimed shall be less than three hundred dollars. From all final judgments of justices of the peace an appeal shall be allowed to the district courts of their respective districts, in the same manner as is now provided by the laws of said Territory for appeals to the probate courts; and from the judg- ments of the probate courts an appeal shall lie to the dis- trict court of the district embracing the county in which such probate court is held in such cases, and in such manner as the supreme court of said Territory may, by general rules framed for that purpose, specify and desig- nate, and such appeal shall vacate the judgment appealed 272 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. from, and the case shall be tried de novo in the appellate court. Appeals may be taken from both justices' and probate courts to the district court of their respective dis- tricts in cases where judgments have been heretofore rendered and remain unexecuted; but this provision shall not enlarge the time for taking an appeal beyond the periods now allowed by the existing laws of said Terri- tory for taking appeals. A writ of error from the Su- preme Court of the United States to the supreme court of the Territory shall lie in criminal cases, where the accused shall have been sentenced to capital punishment or convicted of bigamy or polygamy. Whenever the condition of the business in the district court of any dis- trict is such that the judge of the district is unable to do the same, he may request the judge of either of the other districts to assist him, and upon such request made, the judge so requested may hold the whole or part of any term, or any branch thereof, and his acts as judge shall be of equal force as if he were duly assigned to hold the courts in such district. JURY LISTS HOW DRAWN. SEC. 4. That within sixty days after the passage of this act, and in the month of January annually hereafter, the clerk of the district court in each judicial district, and the judge of probate of the county in which the district court is next to be held, shall prepare a jury-list from which grand and petit jurors shall be drawn, to serve in the district courts, of such district, until a new list shall be made as herein provided. Said clerk and probate judge shall alternately select the name of a male citizen of the United States who has resided in the district for a period of six months next preceding, and who can read and write in the English language; and as selected, the name and residence of each shall be entered upon the list, until the same shall contain two hundred names, when the same shall be duly certified by such clerk and probate judge; and the same shall be filed in the office of the clerk of such district court, and a duplicate copy shall be THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 273 made and certified by such officers, and filed in the office of said probate judge. Whenever a grand or petit jury is to be drawn to serve at any term of a district court, the judge of such district shall give public notice of the time and place of the drawing of such jury, which shall be at least twelve days before the commencement of such term; and on the day and at the place thus fixed, the judge of such district shall hold an open session of his court, and shall preside at the drawing of such jury; and the clerk of such court shall write the name of each per- son on the jury lists returned and filed in his office upon a separate slip of paper, as nearly as practicable of the same size and form, and all such slips shall, by the clerk in open court, be placed in a covered box, and thoroughly mixed and mingled, and thereupon the United States marshal, or his deputy, shall proceed to fairly draw by lot from said box such number of names as may have previously been directed by said judge; and if both a grand and petit jury are to be drawn, the grand jury shall be drawn first; and when the drawing shall have been concluded, the clerk of the district court shall issue a ven- ire to the marshal or his deputy, directing him to summon the persons so drawn, and the same shall be duly served on each of the persons so drawn at least seven days be- fore the commencement of the term at which they are to serve; and the jurors so drawn and summoned shall con- stitute the regular grand and petit juries for the term for all cases. And the names thus drawn from the box by the clerk, shall not be returned to or again placed in said box until a new jury list shall be made. If during any term of the district court any grand or petit jurors shall be necessary, the same shall be drawn from said box by the United States Marshal in open court; but if the attendance of those drawn cannot be obtained in a rea- sonable time, other names may be drawn in the same manner. Each party, whether in civil or criminal cases, shall be allowed three peremptory challenges except in capital cases, where the prosecution and the defense shal each be allowed fifteen challenges. In criminal cases, 274 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. the court, and not the jury, shall pronounce the pun- ishment under the limitation prescribed by law. The grand jury must inquire into the case of every person imprisoned within the district on a criminal charge and not indicted; into the condition and management of the public prisons within the district; and into the wilful, cor- rupt misconduct in office of public officers of every de- scription within the district; and they are also entitled to free access, at all reasonable times, to the public prisons, and to the examination, without charge, of all public re- cords within the district. NOTARIES PUBLIC. SEC. 5. That there shall be appointed by the gov- ernor of said Territory one or more notaries public for each organized county, whose term of office shall be two years and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified. The act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah entitled "An act concerning notaries public," approved January seventeenth, eighteen hun- dred and sixty-six, is hereby approved, except the first section thereof, which is hereby disapproved: Provided, That wherever, in said act, the words "probate judge," or "clerk of the probate court," are used, the words "secretary of the Territory" shall be substituted. UNITED STATES COMiMISSIONERS. SEC. 6. That the supreme court of said Territory is hereby authorized to appoint commissioners of said court, who shall have and exercise all the duties of com- missioners of the circuit courts of the United States, and to take acknowledgments of bail; and, in addition, they shall have the same authority as examining and committing magistrates in all cases arising under the laws of said Territory as is now possessed by justices of the peace in said Territory. FEES OF ATTORNEYS, MARSHALS AND CLERKS. SEC. 7. That the act of the Territorial Legislature THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST, 275 of the Territory of Utah entitled "An act in relation to marshals and attorneys," approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and all laws of said Territory inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby disapproved. The act of the Congress of the United States entitled "An act to regulate the fees and costs to be allowed clerks, marshals and attorneys of the circuit and district courts of the United States, and for other purposes," approved February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, is extended over and shall apply to the fees of like officers in said Territory of Utah. But the district attorney shall not by fees and salary together receive more than thirty-five hundred dollars per year; and all fees or moneys received by him above said amount shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States. APPROVED June 23rd, 1874. AN ACT To amend section fifty-three fuindred and fifty-two of the Rivised Statittes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes. (COMMONLY CALLED THE EDMUNDS LAW.) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Re- vised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows, namely: POLYGAMY DEFINED, AND HOW PUNISHED. "Every person who has a husband or wife living who, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter marries an- other, whether married or single, and any man who here- after simultaneously, or on the same day, marries more than one woman, in a Territory or other place over 276 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years ; but this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any for- mer marriage whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years, and is not known to such person to be living and is believed by such person to be dead, nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid decree of a competent court, nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been pronounced void by a valid decree of a competent court, on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract." SEC. 2. That the foregoing provisions shall not af- fect the prosecution or punishment of any offense already committed against the section amended by the first sec- tion of this act. PROSECUTION FOR UNLAWFUL COHABITATION. Sec. 3. That if any male person, in ,a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter cohabits with more than one woman, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both of said punish- ments, in the discretion of the court. Sec. 4. That counts for any or all of these offenses named in sections one and three of this act may be joined in the same information or indictment. PERSONS NOT COMPETENT TO SERVE AS JURORS IN CERTAIN CASES. Sec. 5. That in any prosecution for bigamy, poly- eimy, or unlawful cohabitation, under any statute of the nited States, it shall be sufficient cause of challenge to THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 277 any person drawn or summoned as a juryman or tales- man, first, that he is or has been living in the practice of bigamy, polygamy or unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman, or that he is or has been guilty of an offense punishable by either of the foregoing sections, or by section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two, of the Re- vised Statutes of the United States, or the act of July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled, "An act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Ter- ritories of the United States and other places, and dis- approving and annulling certain acts of the legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah," or, second, that he believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undivorced wife at the same time, or to live in the practice of cohabiting with more than one woman ; and any person appearing or offered as juror or talesman, and challenged on either of the foregoing grounds, may be questioned on his oath as to the existence of any such cause of challenge, and other evidence may be introduced bearing upon the question raised by such challenge ; and this question shall be tried by the court. But as to the first ground of challenge, before mentioned, the person chal- lenged shall not be bound to answer if he shall say upon his oath that he declines on the ground that his answer may tend to criminate himself; and if he shall answer as to said first ground, his answer shall not be given in evidence in any criminal prosecution against him for any offense named in sections one or three of this act ; but if he de- clines to answer on any ground, he shall be rejected as in- competent. THE PRESIDENT MAY GRANT AMNESTY. SEC. 6. That the President is hereby authorized to grant amnesty to such classes of offenders guilty of big- amy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation, before the pas- sage of this act, on such conditions and under such limi- tations as he shall think proper ; but no such amnesty 2 78 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. shall have effect unless the conditions thereof shall be complied with. OFFSPRING OF POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGES LEGITIMATED. SEC. 7. That the issue of bigamous or polygamous marriages, known as Mormon marriages, in cases in which such marriages have been solemnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect, in any Territory of the United States, and such issue shall have been born before the first day of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-three are hereby legitimated. POLYGAMISTS DISQUALIFIED TO VOTE OR HOLD OFFICE. SEC. 8. That no polygamist, bigamist or any per- son cohabiting with more than one woman,and no woman cohabiting with any of the persons described as aforesaid in this section, in any Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall be entitled to vote at any election held in any such Terri- tory or other place, or be eligible for election or appoint- ment to or be entitled to hold any office or place of pub- lic trust, honor or emolument in, under or for any such Territory or place, or under the United States. UTAH ELECTION COMMISSION CREATED. SEC. 9. That all the registration and election offi- cers of every description in the Territory of Utah are hereby declared vacant, and each and every duty relat- ing to the registration of voters, the conduct of elections, receiving or rejection of votes, and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of certificates or other evidence of election in said Territory, shall, until other provision be made by the legislative assembly of said Territory as is hereinafter by this section provided, be performed under the existing laws of the United States and of said Territory by proper persons, who THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 279 shall be appointed to execute such offices and perform such duties by a board of five persons, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not more than three of whom shall be mem- bers of one political party; and a majority of whom shall be a quorum. The members of said board so appointed by the President shall each receive a salary at the rate of three thousand dollars per annum, and shall continue in office until the legislative assembly of said Territory shall make provision for filling said offices as herein author- ized. The secretary of the Territory shall be the secre- tary of said board, and keep a journal of its proceedings, and attest the action of said board under this section. The canvass and return of all the votes at elections in said Territory for members of the legislative assembly thereof shall also be returned to said board,which shall can- vass all such returns and issue certificates of election to those persons who, being eligible for such election, shall appear to have been lawfully elected, which certificates shall be the only evidence of the right of such persons to sit in such assembly: Provided, That said board of five persons shall not exclude any person otherwise eligible to vote from the polls on account of any opinion such person may entertain on the subject of bigamy or polygamy, nor shall they refuse to count any such vote on account of the opinion of the person casting it on the subject of bigamy or polygamy; but each house of such assembly, after its organization, shall have power to de- cide upon the elections and qualifications of its mem- bers. And at, or after the first meeting of said legisla- tive assembly whose members shall have been elected and returned according to the provisions of this act, said legislative assembly may make such laws, conformable to the organic act of said Territory and not inconsistent with other laws of the United States, as it shall deem proper concerning the filling of the offices in said Terri- tory declared vacant by this act. APPROVED March 22, 1882. 28O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. AN ACT To amend an act entitled "An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to big- amy, and for other purposes'' approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two. [DESIGNATED THE EDMUNDS-TUCKER LAW.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- bled, That in any proceeding or examination before a grand jury, a judge, justice, or a United States commissioner, or a court, in any prosecution for bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation, under any statute of the United States, the lawful husband or wife of the person accused shall be a competent witness, and may be called, but shall not be compelled to testify in such proceeding, examination, or prosecution without the consent of the husband or wife, as the case may be ; and such witness shall not be permitted to testify as to any statement or communication made by either husband or wife, to each other, during the existence of the marriage relation deemed confidential at common law. ATTACHMENT FOR WITNESSES. SEC. 2. That in any prosecution for bigamy, poly- eimy, or unlawful cohabitation, under any statute of the nited States, whether before a United States commis- sioner, justice, judge, a grand jury, or any court, an attachment for any witness 'may be issued by the court, judge, or commissioner, without a previous subpoena, compelling the immediate attendance of such witness, when it shall appear by oath or affirmation, to the com- missioner, justice, judge, or court, as the case may be, that there is reasonable ground to believe that such witness will unlawfully fail tp obey a subpoena issued and served in the usual course in such cases ; and in such case the usual witness fee shall be paid to such witness so attached: Provided, That the person so attached may THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 28 1 at any time secure his or her discharge from custody by executing a recognizance, with sufficient surety, condi- tioned for the appearance of such person at the proper time as a witness in the cause or proceeding wherein the attachment may be issued. ADULTERY. SEC. 3. That whoever commits adultery shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceed- ing three years; and when the act is committed between a married woman and a man who is unmarried, both parties to such act shall be deemed guilty of adultery: and when such act is committed between a married man and a wo- man who is unmarried, the man shall be deemed guilty of adultery. INCEST. SEC. 4. That if any person related to another per- son within and not including the fourth degree of consan- guinity computed according to the rules of the civil law, shall marry or cohabit with, or have sexual intercourse with such other so related person, knowing her or him to be within said degree of relationship, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of incest, and, on con- viction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three years and not more than fifteen years. FORNICATION. SEC. 5. That if an unmarried man or woman com- mit fornication, each of them shall be punished by impris- onment not exceeding six months, or by fine not exceed- ing one hundred dollars. PROSECUTION FOR ADULTERY. SEC. 6. That all laws of the legislative assembly of the Territory of Utah which provide that prosecutions for adultery can only be commenced on the complaint of the husband or wife, are hereby disapproved and an- 282 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. nulled; and all prosecutions for adultery may hereafter be instituted in the same way that prosecutions for other crimes are. COMMISSIONERS MADE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. SEC. 7. That commissioners appointed by the su- preme court and district courts in the Territory of Utah, shall possess and may exercise all the powers and juris- diction that are or may be possessed or exercised by jus- tices of the peace in said Territory under the laws thereof, and the same powers conferred by law on commissioners appointed by circuit courts of the United States. MARSHALS MADE SHERIFFS AND CONSTABLES. SEC. 8. That the marshal of said Territory of Utah and his deputies, shall possess and may exercise all the powers in executing the laws of the United States or of said Territory possessed and exercised by sheriffs, con- stables, and their deputies as peace officers: and each of them shall cause all offenders against the law in his view, to enter into recognizance to keep the peace and to ap- pear at the next term of the court having jurisdiction of the case, and to commit to jail in case of failure to give such recognizance. They shall quell and suppress as- sault and batteries, riots, routs, affrays and insurrections. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND CERTIFICATES THEREOF. SEC. 9. That every ceremony of marriage, or in the nature of a marriage ceremony of any kind, in any of the Territories of the United States, whether either or both or more of the parties to such ceremony be lawfully competent to be the subjects of such marriage or cere- mony or not, shall be certified by a certificate stating the fact and nature of such ceremony, the full names of each of the parties concerned, and the full name of every offi- cer, priest and person, by whatever style or designation called or known, in any way taking part in the perform- ance of such ceremony, which certificate shall be drawn up and signed by the parties to such ceremony and by ' THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 283 every officer, priest and person taking part in the per- formance of such ceremony, and shall be by the officer, priest or other person solemnizing- such marriage or cer- emony filed in the office of the probate court, or, if there be none, in the office of the court having probate powers in the county or district in which such ceremony shall take place, for record, and shall be immediately recorded, and be at all times subject to inspection as other public records. Such certificate, or the record thereof, or a duly certified copy of such record, shall be prima facia evidence of the facts required by this act to be stated therein, in any proceeding, civil or criminal, in which the matter shall be drawn in question. Any person who shall wilfully violate any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment not longer than two years or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court. PROOF NOT CHANGED. SEC. 10. That nothing in this act shall be held to prevent the proof of marriages, whether lawful or unlaw- ful, by any evidence now legally admissible for that pur- pose. ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN DISINHERITED. SEC. 1 1 . That the laws enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah which provide for or recognize the capacity of illegitimate children to inherit or to be entitled to any distributive share in the estate of the father of any such illegitimate child are hereby dis- approved and annulled; and no illegitimate child shall here- after be entitled to inherit from his or her father or to re- ceive any distributive share in the estate of his or her father: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any illegimate child born within twelve months after the passage of this act, nor to any child made legitimate by the seventh sec- tion of the act entitled "An act to amend section fifty- 284 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," approved March twenty-second, 1882. CURTAILING PROBATE JURISDICTION. SEC. 12. That the laws enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, conferring jurisdic- tion upon probate courts, or the judges thereof, or any of them, in said Territory, other than in respect of the estates of deceased persons, and in respect of the guar- dianship of the persons and property of infants, and in respect of the persons and property of persons not of sound mind, are hereby disapproved and annulled, and no probate court or judge of probate shall exercise any jurisdiction other than in respect of the matters aforesaid, except as a member of a county court ; and every such jurisdiction so by force of this act withdrawn from the said probate courts or judges shall be had and exercised by the district courts of said Territory respectively. PROPERTY ESCHEATED. SEC. 13. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney- General of the United States to institute and prosecute proceedings to forfeit and escheat to the United States the property of corporations obtained or held in violation of section 3 of the act of Congress approved the ist day of July, 1862, entitled "An act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah," or in violation of section eighteen hundred and ninety of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and all such property so forfeited and escheated to the United States shall be disposed of by the Secretary of the Inter- ior, and the proceeds thereof applied to the use and ben- efit of the common schools in the Territory in which such property may be : Provided, That no building, or the grounds appurtenant thereto, which is held and occupied THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 285 exclusively for purposes of the worship of God, or par- sonage connected therewith, or burial ground, shall be forfeited. PROCEEDINGS AGAINST CORPORATIONS. SEC. 14. That in any proceeding for the enforce- ment of the provisions of law against corporations or associations acquiring or holding property in any Terri- tory of the United States in excess of the amount limited by law, the court before which such proceeding may be instituted shall have power in a summary way to compel the production of all books, records, papers, and docu- ments of or belonging to any trustee or person holding or controlling or managing property in which such cor- poration may have any right, title, or interest whatever. PERPETUAL EMIGRATION FUND COMPANY DISSOLVED. SEC. 15. That all laws of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, or of the so-called government of the State of Deseret, creating, organizing, amending, or continuing the corporation or association called the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company are hereby disap- proved and annulled; and the said corporation, in so far as it may now have, or pretend to have, any legal exist- ence, is hereby dissolved ; and it shall not be lawful for the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah to create, organize, or in any manner recognize any such corporation or association, or to pass any law for the purpose of or operating to accomplish the bringing of persons into the said Territory for any purpose whatso- ever. PROPERTY OF THE P. E. FUND COMPANY ESCHEATED. SEC. 1 6. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney- General of the United States to cause such proceedings to be taken in the supreme court of the Territory of Utah as shall be proper to carry into effect the provisions of the preceding section, and pay the debts and to dis- 286 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. pose of the property and assets of said corporation ac- cording to law. Said property and assets, in excess of the debts and the amount of any lawful claims established by the court against the same, shall escheat to the United States, and shall be taken, invested, and disposed of by the Secretary of the Interior, under the direction of the President of the United States, for the benefit of com- mon schools in said Territory. THE CHURCH DISINCORPORATED. SEC. 1 7. That the acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah incorporating, continuing, or Providing for the corporation known as the Church of esus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the ordinance of the so-called general assembly of the State of Deseret incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so far as the same may now have legal force and validity, are hereby disapproved and annulled, and the said corporation, in so far as it may now have, or pre- tend to have, any legal existence, is hereby dissolved. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney- General of the United States to cause such proceedings to be taken in the supreme court of the Territory of Utah as shall be proper to execute the foregoing provisions of this section and to wind up the affairs of said corporation conform- ably to law; and in such proceedings the court shall have power, and it shall be its duty to make such decree or decrees as shall be proper to effectuate the transfer of the title to real property now held and used by said cor- poration for places of worship, and parsonages con- nected therewith, and burial grounds, and of the descrip- tion mentioned in the proviso to section thirteen of said act, and in section twenty-six of this act, to the respec- tive trustees mentioned in section twenty-six of this act; and for the purposes of this section said court shall have all the powers of a court of equity. THE RIGHT OF DOWER. SEC. 1 8. (a) A widow shall be endowed of the third part of all the lands whereof her husband was THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 287 seized of an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage, unless she shall have lawfully released her right thereto. (b) The widow of any alien who at the time of his death shall be entitled by law to hold any real estate, if she be an inhabitant of the Territory at the time of such death, shall be entitled to dower of such estate in the same manner as if such alien had been a native citizen. (c) If a husband seized of an estate of inheritance in lands exchanges them for other lands, his widow shall not have dower of both, but shall make her election to be endowed of the lands given or of those taken in ex- change; and if such election be not evinced by the com- mencement of proceedings to recover her dower of the lands given in exchange within one year after the death of her husband, she shall be deemed to have elected to take her dower of the lands received in exchange. (d) When a person seized of an estate of inheri- tance in lands shall have executed a mortgage, or other conveyance in the nature of mortgage, of such estate, before marriage, his widow shall nevertheless be entitled to dower out of the lands mortgaged or so conveyed, as against every person except the mortgagee or grantee in such conveyance and those claiming under him. (e) When a husband shall purchase lands during coverture, and shall at the same time execute a mortgage, or other conveyance in the nature of mortgage, of his estate in such lands to secure the payment of the pur- chase-money, his widow shall not be entitled to dower out of such lands, as against the mortgagee or grantee in such conveyance or those claiming under him, although she shall not have united in such mortgage: but she shall be entitled to her dower in such lands as against all other persons. (f) Where in such case the mortgagee, or such grantee or those claiming under him, shall, after the death of the husband of such widow, cause the land mortgaged or so conveyed to be sold, either under a power of sale contained in the mortgage or such conveyance or by vir- 288 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. tue of the decree of a court, if any surplus shall remain after payment of the moneys due on such mortgage or such conveyance, and the costs and charges of the sale, such widow shall nevertheless be entitled to the interest or income of the one-third part of such surplus for her life, as her dower. (g) A widow shall not be endowed of lands con- veyed to her husband by way of mortgage unless he ac- quire an absolute estate therein during the marriage period. (h) In case of divorce dissolving the marriage con- tract for the misconduct of the wife, she shall not be en- dowed. PROBATE JUDGES MADE APPOINTIVE BY THE PRESIDENT. SEC. 19. That hereafter the judge of probate in each county within the Territory of Utah, provided for by the existing laws thereof shall be appointed by the Pre- sident of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and so much of the laws of said Territory as provide for the election of such judge by the Legislative Assembly are hereby disapproved and annulled. FEMALE SUFFRAGE ABOLISHED. Sec. 20. That it shall not be lawful for any female to vote at any election hereafter held in the Territory of Utah for any public purpose whatever, and no such vote shall be received or counted or given effect in any manner whatever; and any and every act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah providing or allowing the registration or voting by females is hereby annulled. SECRET BALLOT. SEC. 2 1 . That all laws of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah which provide for numbering or identifying the votes of the electors at any election in said Territory are hereby disapproved and annulled ; THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 289 but the foregoing provisions shall not preclude the lawful registration of voters, or any other provisions for securing fair elections which do not involve the disclos- ure of the candidates for whom any particular elector shall have voted. RE-DISTRICTING THE TERRITORY. SEC. 22. That the existing election districts and apportionments of representation concerning the mem- bers of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah are hereby abolished ; and it shall be the duty of the gov- ernor, Territorial secretary, and the Board of Commis- sioners mentioned in section 9 of the act of Congress approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other pur- poses," in said Territory, forthwith to re-district said Ter- ritory, and apportion representation in the same in such manner as to provide, as nearly as may be, for an equal representation of the people (excepting Indians not taxed), being citizens of the United States, according to numbers in said Legislative Assembly, and to the number of members of the council and house of representatives respectively, as now [established by law; and a record of the establishment of such new districts and the apportion- ment of representation thereto shall be made in the office of the secretary of said Territory, and such establishment and representation shall continue until Congress shall otherwise provide; and no persons other than citizens of the United States otherwise qualified shall be entitled to vote at any election in said Territory. ELECTION LAW REMAINS. SEC. 23. That the provisions of section nine of said act approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two in regard to registration and election officers, and the registration of voters, and the conduct of elections, and the powers and the duties of the Board 2QO THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. therein mentioned, shall continue and remain operative until the provisions and laws therein referred to be made and enacted by the Legislative Assembly of said Territory of Utah shall have been made and enacted by said assembly and shall have been approved by Congress. THE TEST OATH. SEC. 24. That every male person twenty-one years of age resident in the Territory of Utah shall, as a con- dition precedent to his right to register or vote at any election in said Territory, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, before the registration officer of his voting precinct, that he is over twenty-one years of age, and has resided in the Territory of Utah for six months then last passed and in the precinct for one month immediately preceding the date thereof, and that he is a native born (or naturalized, as the case may be) citizen of the United States, and further state in such oath or affirmation his full name, with his age, place of business, his status, whether single or married, the name of his lawful wife, and that he will support the Constitution of the United States and will faithfully obey the laws thereof, and especially obey the act of Congress approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty- two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," and will also obey this act in respect of the crimes in said act de- fined and forbidden, and that he -will not, directly or indirectly, aid or abet, counsel or advise, any other per- son to commit any of said crimes. Such registration officer is authorized to administer said oath or affirmation; and all such oaths or affirmations shall be by him delivered to the clerk of the probate court of the proper county, and shall be deemed public records therein. But if any election shall occur in said Territory before the next re- vision of the registration lists as required by law, the said oath or affirmation shall be administered by the pre- siding judge of the election precinct on or before the THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST, 2QI day of election. As a condition-precedent to the right to hold office in or under said Territory, the officer be- fore entering on the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation declaring his full name, with his age, place of business, his status, whether mar- ried or single, and, if married, the name of his lawful wife, and that he will support the Constitution of the United States and will faithfully obey the laws thereof, and especially will obey the act of Congress approved March 22nd, 1882, entitled "An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," and will also obey this act in respect of the crimes in said act defined and forbidden, and that he will not, directly or indirectly, aid or abet, counsel or advise, any other person to commit any of said crimes ; which oath or affirmation shall be recorded in the proper office and endorsed on the commission or certificate of appoint- ment. All grand and petit jurors in said Territory shall take the same oath or affirmation to be administered, in writing or orally, in the proper court. No person shall be entitled to vote in any election in said Territory, or be capable of jury service, or hold any office of trust or emolument in said Territory who shall not have taken the oath or affirmation aforesaid. No person who shall have been convicted of any crime under this act, or under the act of Congress aforesaid approved March 22, 1882, or who shall be a polygamist, or who shall associ- ate or cohabit polygamously with persons of the other sex shall be entitled to vote in any election in said Terri- tory, or be capable of jury service, or to hold any office of trust or emolument in said Territory. OFFICE OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT ABOLISHED. SEC. 25. That the office of Territorial superintend- ent of district schools created by the laws of Utah is hereby abolished ; and it shall be the duty of the supreme court of said Territory to appoint a commissioner of schools, who shall possess and exercise all the powers THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. and duties heretofore imposed by the laws of said Terri- tory upon the Territorial superintendent of district schools, and who shall receive the same salary and com- pensation, which shall be paid out of the treasury of said Territory; and the laws of the Territory of Utah providing for the method of election and appointment of such Territorial superintendent of district schools are hereby suspended until the further action of Congress shall be had in respect thereto. The said superintendent shall have power to prohibit the use in any district school of any .book of sectarian character or otherwise unsuit- able. Said superintendent shall collect and classify statistics and other information respecting the districts and other schools in said Territory, showing their pro- gress, the whole number of children of school age, the number who attend school in each year in the respective counties, the average length of time of their attendance, the number of teachers and the compensation paid to the same, the number of teachers who are Mormons, the number who are so-called Gentiles, the number of child- ren of Mormon parents and the number of. children of so-called Gentile parents, and their respective average attendance at school ; all of which statistics and inform- ation shall be annually reported to Congress, through the governor of said Territory, and the Department of the Interior.' CHURCHES MAY HOLD REAL PROPERTY. SEC. 26. That all religious societies, sects, and congregations shall have the right to have and to hold, through trustees appointed by any court exercising pro- bate powers in a Territory, only on the nomination of the authorities of such society, sect, or congregation, so much real property for the erection or use of houses of worship, and for such parsonages and burial grounds as shall be necessary for the convenience and use of the several congregations of such religious society, sect, or congregation. THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 293 THE MILITIA. SEC. 27. That all laws passed by the so-called State of Deseret and by the Legislative Assembly of the Ter- ritory of Utah for the organization of the militia thereof or for the creation of the Nauvoo Legion are hereby an- nulled and declared of no effect ; and the militia of Utah shall be organized and subjected in all respects to the laws of the United States regulating the militia in the Territories : Provided, however, That all general officers of the militia shall be appointed by the governor of the Territory, by and with the advice and consent of the council thereof. The Legislative Assembly of Utah shall have power to pass laws for organizing the militia there- of, subject to the approval of Congress. March j, 1887. CIRCULAR FROM THE UTAH COMMISSION. For the Information of Registration Officers. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, SALT LAKE CITY, March 19, 1887. The Utah Commission being solicitous to secure a fair and impartial registration of the qualified electors of the Territory, in conformity with the acts of Congress, respectfully submit to the registration officers appointed for that purpose the following suggestions, in the hope that they will faithfully and impartially discharge their duties, according to law : i. No polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabit- ing with more than one woman, shall be entitled to register or vote at any election in this Territory ; nor any person who has been convicted of the crime of incest, unlawful cohabitation, adultery, fornication, bigamy or polygamy ; nor any person who associates or cohabits 294 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. polygamously with persons of the other sex; nor can any person register or vote who has not taken or sub- scribed the oath prescribed by the Twenty-fourth Section of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1887; nor can any woman register or vote. The Commission is of the opinion that the above specifications include all the disabilities to which electors are subject under the laws of Congress, and that no opinions which they may 'entertain upon questions of religion or church polity should be the subject of inquiry or exclusion of any elector. The first registration under the Act of Congress is to be an original and new and complete registration ; and the County Registration Officer of each county should, by himself or deputies, register every legal voter in his county; and for this purpose should, if necessary, visit every dwelling-house therein. The oath to be administered may be formulated as follows : TERRITORY OF UTAH, ) County of. j I, _ _J, being duly sworn [or affirmed], depose and say that I am over twenty-one years of age ; that I have resided in the Territory of Utah for six months last past, and in this precinct for one month im- mediately preceding the date hereof; and that I am a native-born [or naturalized, as the case may be] citizen of the United States, that my full name is .. ; that I am ..... .... years of age ; that my place of business is .__. .... ; that I am a [single or] married man ; that the name of my lawful wife is . ; and that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully obey the laws thereof, and especially will obey the Act of Congress approved March 22, 1882, entitled: "An Act to amend Section 5352, of the Revised Statutes of the THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 295 United States in reference to bigamy and for other pur- poses," and that I will also obey the Act of Congress, of March 3, 1887, entitled: "An Act to amend An Act entitled An Act to amend Section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy and for other purposes, approved March 22, 1882," in respect of the crimes in said act defined and forbidden, and that I will not, directly or indirectly, aid or abet, counsel or advise any other person to commit any of said crimes defined by acts of Congress, as polygamy, bigamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery and fornication. Subscribed and sworn to before me this... _.day of... , A. D. 1 88.... Deputy Registration officer for .. Pre- cinct. County. Although the person applying to have his name registered as a voter may have made the foregoing oath, yet if the Registrar shall, for reasonable or probable cause, believe that the applicant is then, in fact, a biga- mist, polygamist or living in unlawful cohabitation, or associating or cohabiting polygamously with persons of the other sex, or has been convicted of bigamy, polyga- my, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery or fornication in our opinion the Registrar may require the applicant to make the following additional affidavit : TERRITORY OF UTAH, ) County of ..... j I, , further swear [or affirm] that I am not a bigamist, polygamist or living in unlawful cohabitation, or associating or cohabiting polygamously with persons of the other sex, and that I have not been convicted of the crime of bigamy, polygamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery or fornication. 296 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Subscribed and sworn to before me this _ day of ____ , A. D. 188.-. Deputy Registration Officer for Precinct, . .. County. 2. The Registration Officers and their deputies should carefully preserve the Registration Lists for each precinct, for use at the June Revision. 3. The first registration prior to June in._ precinct, .. .. County, should be performed within ... . days. 4. The County Registration Officers and their depu- ties will receive compensation as follows : For County Registration officers, four dollars per day; for each Deputy Registration Officer, three dollars per day; the compensation to be paid for the time during which said officers have been necessarily employed in the discharge of their duties. 5. The law requires each County Registration Officer, in person or by deputy, during the week com- mencing the first Monday in June, at his office, to enter on his Registry List, the name of any voter that may have been omitted, on such voter appearing and taking the oath aforesaid. 6. Upon the completion of the lists, each Regis- ' tration Officer shall prepare triplicate lists in alphabeti- cal order, for each precinct, containing the names of all registered voters, one of which lists should be filed in the office of the Clerk of the County Court on or before the first day of July next; one list to be posted up in each precinct, at least fifteen days before the day of election, at or near the place of election, and the other list trans- mitted by him to the Judges of Election of the several precincts for use at the poles: and the oaths of registered THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 297 voters, immediately after the day of election, delivered to the Clerk of the Probate Court of the proper County. 7. The law authorizes voters removing from one election precinct to another in the same County, to ap- pear before the Registration Officer at any time previ- ous to the filing of the lists in the office of the Clerk of the County Court, and have their names erased there- from, and they may thereupon have their names regis- tered in the precinct to which they may remove. 8. Prior to each election the Registration Officer of each County shall cause to be written or printed, a notice which shall designate the office or offices to be filled, and stating that the election will commence at._ (designating the place for holding polls,) one hour after sunrise, and continue until sunset on the... ...day of. ....188 Dated at on this day of A. D. 1 88- Registration Officer. A copy of this should be posted up at least fifteen days before the day of election, in the three public places in the precinct best calculated to give notice to all the voters. It is the duty of the Registration Officer to give notice on the lists posted as aforesaid, that the Deputy Registration Officer of such precinct will hear objections of the right to vote of any person registered, until sunset on the fifth day preceding the day of election. Said objections shall be made by a qualified voter, in writing, and delivered to said Deputy Registration Officer, who shall issue a written notice to the person objected to, stating the place, day and hour when the objection shall be heard. The person making the objection 298 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. shall serve, or cause to be served, said notice on the person objected to, and shall also make return of such service to the Deputy Registration Officer, before whom the objection is to be heard. In our opinion the objec- tions should specify the grounds thereof, and should be made separately as to each person objected to ; and actual personal service should be proved by the affi- davit of the person making the same, unless served, and return thereof made, by an officer authorized by law to serve process, and at least three days' notice should be given. Upon the hearing of the case if said officer shall find that the person objected to is not a qualified voter, he shall, within three days prior to the election, transmit a certified list of all such disqualified persons to the Judge of Election appointed by this commission ; and said Judges should strike such names from the Registry Lists before the opening of the polls. 9. The County Registration Officer should, as soon as may be after his appointment, recommend to this Commission, for deputy Registration Officers for the several precincts in his County, the names of reputable and discreet men, who are qualified and willing to take the official oath ; and he should also recommend to the Commission, for their information, the names of four persons, two of whom should belong to the party being in the majority at the last general election, and two be- ing of the party then in the minority, and who are eligible and proper persons to act as Judges of Election in each precinct of his County. 10. The Registration Officers and their deputies should each, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take and subscribe an oath as required by the Act of Congress, the form whereof is endorsed on his commission and a duplicate thereof, signed and sworn to, THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. 299 should be forthwith sent by mail to this Commission as evidence that the person accepts the appointment and has duly qualified. By order of the Commission, A. B. CARLTON, Chairman. APPENDIX. WITH the exception of a few additions and correc- tions, the foregoing pages were written from time to time, from 1882 to 1889 inclusive. Since then impor- tant events have occurred in Utah strongly fortifying the position which the author took more than four years ago to the effect that the Mormon people had in good faith resolved upon a new departure. The following docu- ments are self-explanatory, and they are therefore submitted to the reader without comment : SALT LAKE CITY. December i2th, 1889. To Whom It May Concern : In consequence of gross misrepresentations of the doctrines, aims and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the " Mor- mon" Church, which have been promulgated for years, and have recently been revived for political purposes and to prevent all aliens, otherwise qualified, who are mem- bers of the " Mormon" Church from acquiring citizen- ship, we deem it proper on behalf of said Church to pub- licly deny these calumnies and enter our protest against them. We solemnly make the following declarations, viz: That this Church views the shedding of human blood with the utmost abhorrence. That we regard the killing of a human being, except in conformity with the civil law, as a capital crime which should be punished by shedding the blood of the criminal, after a public trial before a legally constituted court of the land. Notwithstanding all the stories told about the kill- ing of apostates, no case of this kind has ever occurred, 302 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. and of course has never been established against the Church we represent. Hundreds of seceders from the Church have continuously resided and now live in this Territory, many of whom have amassed considerable wealth, though bitterly hostile to the "Mormon" faith and people. Even those who have made it their business to fabricate the vilest falsehoods, and to render them plausible by culling isolated passages from old sermons without the explanatory context, and have suffered no opportunity to escape them of vilifying and blackening the characters of the people, have remained among those whom they have thus persistently calumniated until the present day, without receiving the slightest personal injury. We denounce as entirely untrue the allegation which has been made, that our Church favors or believes in the killing of persons who leave the Church or apostatize from its doctrines. We would view a punishment of this character for such an act with the utmost horror, it is abhorrent to us and is in direct opposition to the funda- mental principles of our creed. The revelations of God to this Church make death the penalty for capital crime, and require that offenders against life and property shall be delivered up to and be tried by the laws of the land. We declare that no Bishop's or other court in this Church claims or exercises the right to supercede, annul or modify a judgment of any civil court. Such courts while established to regulate Christian conduct are purely ecclesiastical, and their punitive pow- ers go no further than the suspension and excommuni- cation of members from Church fellowship. That this Church, while offering advice for the wel- fare of its members in all conditions of life, does not claim or exercise the right to interfere with citizens in the free exercise of social or political rights and privi- leges. The ballot in this Territory is absolutely untram- meled and secret. No man's business or other secular affairs are invaded by the Church or any of its officers. APPENDIX. 303 Free agency and direct individual accountability to God, are among the essentials of our Church doctrine. All things in the Church must be done by common consent, and no officer is appointed without the vote of the body. We declare that there is nothing in the ceremony of the Endowment, or in any doctrine, tenet, obligation or injunction of this Church, either private or public, which is hostile or intended to be hostile to the Government of the United States. On the contrary, its members are under divine commandment to revere the Constitution as a heaven-inspired instrument. Utterances of prominent men in the Church at a time of great excitement, have been selected and grouped, to convey the impression that present members are seditious. Those expressions were made more than thirty years ago, when through the falsehoods of recreant officials, afterwards demonstrated to be baseless, troops were sent to this Territory and were viewed by the people, in their isolated condition, fifteen hundred miles from railroads, as an armed mob coming to renew the bloody persecutions of years before. At that time excitement prevailed and strong lan- Saage was used; but no words of disloyalty against the overnment or its institutions were uttered; public speakers confined their remarks to denouncing traitorous officials who were prostituting the powers of their posi- tions to accomplish nefarious ends. Criticism of the acts of United States officials was not considered then, neither is it now, as treason against the nation nor as hostility to the Government. In this connection we may say that the members of our Church have never offered or in- tended to offer any insult to the flag of our country; but have always honored it as the ensign of laws and liberty. We also declare that this Church does not claim to be an independent temporal kingdom of God, or to be an imperium in imperio, aiming to overthrow the United States or any other civil government. It has been organ- 304 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. ized by divine revelation preparatory to the second advent of the Redeemer. It proclaims that "the king- dom of heaven is at hand." Its members are commanded of God to be subject unto the powers that be until Christ comes, whose right it is to reign. Church government and civil government are dis- tinct and separate in our theory and practice, and we regard it as part of our destiny to aid in the maintenance and perpetuity of the institutions of our country. We claim no religious liberty that we are unwilling to accord to others. We ask for no civil or political rights which are not granted and guaranteed to citizens in general. We desire to be in harmony with the Government and people of the United States as an integral part of the nation. We regard all attempts to exclude aliens from nat- uralization, and citizens from the exercise of the elective franchise, solely because they are members of the "Mor- mon " Church, as impolitic, unrepublican and dangerous encroachments upon civil and religious liberty. Notwithstanding the wrongs we consider we have suffered through the improper execution of national laws, we regard those wrongs as the acts of men and not of the Government; and we intend by the help of Omnipo- tence, to remain firm in our fealty and steadfast in the maintenance of constitutional principles and the integrity of this Republic. We earnestly appeal to the American press and peo- ple, not to condemn the Latter-day Saints unheard. Must we always be judged by the misrepresentations of our enemies, and never be accorded a fair opportunity of representing ourselves? In the name of justice, reason and humanity, we ask for a suspension of national and popular judgment, until a full investigation can be had and all the facts connected with what is called the "Mormon" question can be known. And we appeal to the Eternal Judge of all men APPENDIX. 305 and nations, to aid us in the vindication of our righteous cause. WILFORD WOODRUFF. GEORGE Q. CANNON, JOSEPH F. SMITH, Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. LORENZO SNOW, FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS, BRIGHAM YOUNG, MOSES THATCHER, FRANCIS M. LYMAN, JOHN HENRY SMITH, GEORGE TEASDALE, HEBER J. GRANT, JOHN W. TAYLOR, M. W. MERRILL, A. H. LUND, ABRAHAM H. CANNON, Members of the Council of the Apostles. JOHN W. YOUNG, DANIEL H. WELLS, Counselors. PRESIDENT WOODRUFFS MANIFESTO. PROCEEDINGS AT THE SEMI- ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE OF\THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. Monday Forenoon^ October 6, 1890. PRI^IDENT WOODRUFF said : I will say, as the ques- tion is cften asked, " What do the Latter-day Saints believe in?" we feel disposed to read the Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, anashould there be any strangers present, they may underhand our faith in this respect. The question 306 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. is often asked, " Do the Mormon people believe in the Bible?" so the principles that are read will show our faith and belief appertaining to the Gospel of Christ. The articles were then read by Bishop Orson F. Whitney. They are here introduced : ARTICLES OF FAITH OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression. 3. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. 4. We believe that these ordinances are : First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; second, repentance ; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins ; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 5. We believe that a man must be called of God by " prophecy, and by the laying on of hands," by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. 6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz : apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. 7. We believe in the gift of tongues, proohecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of toigues, etc. 8. We believe the Bible to be the word of od, as far as it is translated correctly ; we also believe tie Book of Mormon to be the word of God. 9. We believe all that God has revealed all that He does now reveal, and we believe that IHe will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. 10. We believe in the literal gathering jf Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes. Tha'Zion will be APPENDIX. 307 built upon this continent. That Christ will reign per- sonally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisic glory. 1 1. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may. 12. We believe in being subject to kings, presi- dents, rulers and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law. 13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men ; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, "We believe all things, we hope all things," we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. JOSEPH SMITH. APOSTLE FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS said : Beloved brethren and sisters, I move that we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in General Conference assembled, do accept and adopt these Articles of Faith which Bishop Whitney has now read as the rule of our faith and of our conduct during our mortal lives. It may be thought that it is superfluous to offer it ; but it must be borne in mind that we have a rising generation since this was last presented to us, that are coming to years of judgment and understanding ; and we wish to have all, old and young, rich and poor, bond and free, that have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in these articles, to have a chance to express it by their vote, i they wish. The vote to sustain Brother Richards' motion was unanimous. PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON said : President Woodruff, as doubtless the members of the Conference are aware, has felt himself called upon to issue a mani- festo concerning certain things connected with our affairs 308 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. in this Territory, and he is desirous to have this submitted to this Conference ; to have their views or their expres- sions concerning it, and Bishop Whitney will read this document now in your hearing. Following is the manifesto as read : OFFICIAL DECLARATION. To Whom it May Concern : Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year ; also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy ; I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our temples or in any other place in the Territory. One case has been reported, in which the parties alleged that the marriage was performed in the Endow- ment House, in Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony ; whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instruc- tions, taken down without delay. Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pro- nounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I APPENDIX. 309 hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise. There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy, and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land. WILFORD WOODRUFF, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW offered the following : "I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only man on the earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his position to issue the manifesto which has been read in our hearing and which is dated September 24th, 1890, and that as a Church in General Conference assembled, we accept his declaration concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding." The vote to sustain the foregoing was unanimous: PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON. On the 1 9th of January, 1841, the Lord gave His servant Joseph Smith a revelation, the 49th paragraph of which I will read: " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men, to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might, and with all they have, to perform that work, and 3IO THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them, and hinder them from performing that work ; be- hold, it behoveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offer- ings." The Lord says other things connected with this, which I do not think it necessary to read, but the whole revelation is profitable, and can be read by those who desire to do so. It is on this basis that President Woodruff has felt himself justified in issuing this manifesto. I suppose it would not be justice to this Conference not to say something upon this subject ; and yet every- one knows how delicate a subject it is, and how difficult it is to approach it without saying something that may offend somebody. So far as I am concerned, I can say that of the men in this Church who have endeavored to maintain this principle of plural marriage, I am one. In public and in private I have avowed my belief in it. I have defended it everywhere and under all circumstances, and when it was necessary have said that I considered the command was binding and imperative upon me. But a change has taken place. We have, in the first place, endeavored to show that the law which affected this feature of our religion was unconstitutional. We believed for years that the law of July ist, 1862, was in direct conflict with the first amendment to the Con- stitution, which says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We rested upon that, and for years continued the practice of plural marriage, be- lieving the law against it to be an unconstitutional one, and that we had the right, under the Constitution, to carry out this principle practically in our lives. So con- fident was I in relation to this view that in conversations with President Grant, and with his Attorney-General, ex- Senator Williams, of Oregon, I said to them that if my case were not barred by the statute of limitations I APPENDIX. 311 would be willing to have it made a test case, in order that the law might be tested. We were sustained in this view not only by our own interpretation of the amend- ment to the Constitution, but also by some of the best legal minds in the country, who took exactly the same view that we did that this law was an interference with religious rights, and that so long as our practices did not interfere with the happiness and peace of society, or of others, we had the right to carry out this principle. In fact, it is within six or eight months that, in conversa- tion with two United States Senators, each conversation being separate from the other, both of them expressed themselves, though not in the same language, to this effect: "Mr. Cannon, if this feature that you practice had not been associated with religion, it might have been tolerated ; but you have associated it with religion and it has aroused the religious sentiment of the nation, and that sentiment cannot be resisted. So far as the practice itself is concerned, if you had not made it a part of your faith and an institution sanctioned by religion, it might have gone along unnoticed." I do not give the exact language ; but these are the ideas that they con- veyed to me. Now, we were very confident that this law was an unconstitutional one. President Daniel H. Wells will remember how he and I tried to get a case to test the constitutionality of the law during the lifetime ot President Brigham Young. We wanted to get Brother Erastus Snow. It was the last thing that we should have thought of to put a man like he was in the gap if we had not been firmly convinced that the law was uncon- stitutional and would be declared so by the United States Supreme Court. We telegraphed to Brother Erastus in the south, thinking that his case would not be barred by the statute of limitations. He replied to us concern- ing it, and we found that it was barred. Brother A. M. Musser proposed himself, if I remember aright, to be a test case ; but there was a defect in his case. We wanted this case, whenever it was presented, to be pre- sented fairly, that there should be no evasion about it, 312 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. but that it should be a case that could be tested fairly before the courts of the country. Finally, Brother George Reynolds was selected. I said to myself when I learned the result, "It is the last time that I will ever have anything to do with a test case again which will in- volve the liberty of anybody." I was promised when he was sentenced, by one high in authority and who had the right to make the promise, that he should be released, when the circumstances were told to him ; for they were laid fairly before him, and he was told that the evidence had been furnished by Brother Reynolds himself, and that everything had been done to make it a test case ; the government had been aided in the securing of wit- nesses, and no difficulty thrown in the way. Afterwards, on the second trial, I believe Brother Reynolds' lawyers got frightened, and there was something occurred then that gave it a different appearance. But when the facts were related, as I stated, to one high in authority, he promised me that George Reynolds should be pardoned. There were those, however, in this city who were de- termined that he should not escape imprisonment, and the prosecuting attorney wrote a letter which changed the mind of this high official, as he afterwards told me, and he declined to carry out that which I had received as a promise. But even then there were circumstances con- nected with this decision that made us reluctant to accept it. Since that time the history of the proceedings is before you and before the world. We have felt as though this command of God was of such importance to us, involv- ing so many serious consequences, that we should do all in our power to have the world know the position that we occupied. There may be men among us who believe they would be damned if they did not obey this, accept- ing it as a direct command from God. Therefore, you can understand how tenaciously we have protested, and how vigorously we have endeavored, as far as we could, to make public our views upon this subject. I suppose there are two classes here to-day in this APPENDIX. 3 1 3 congregation one class who feel to sorrow to the bot- tom of their hearts because of the necessity of this ac- tion that we have now taken; another class who will say: " Did I not tell you so? " " Did I not tell you it would come to this? " " Did I not say to you that you ought to take advantage of and comply with this years ago, in- stead of enduring that which you have suffered since that time? " There may be men here today who pride them- selves on their foresight, and who take credit to them- selves because they foresaw, as they allege, that which we have done to-day, and would lead others to believe that if their counsel had been adopted, if the views that they presented had been accepted by the people, it might have saved very serious consequences to us all and left us in a better position than that which we occupy to-day. But I, for one, differ entirely with this view. I believe that it was necessary that we should witness unto God, the Eternal Father, unto the heavens and unto the earth, that this was really a principle dear to us dearer, it might be said, in some respects, than life itself. We could not have done this had we submitted at the time that those of whom I speak suggested submission. We could not have left our own nation without excuse. It might have said, " Had we known all that you tell us now concerning this, we should have had very different views about this feature of your religion than we did have. " But now, after the occurrences of the past six years have been witnessed by this entire nation and by the world, and by God the Eternal Father and the heavenly hosts, no one can plead as an excuse that they have been igno- rant of our belief and the dearness of this principle to us. Upwards of thirteen hundred men have been incarcerated in prison, going there for various terms, from one or three months up to years. They have gone there willingly, as martyrs to this principle, making a protest that the heavens and the earth should bear record of, that they were conscientious in espousing this prin- ciple, and that it was not for sensual indulgence, because if sensual indulgence had been the object, we could have 21 314 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. obtained it without such sacrifices as were involved in obedience to this law without going to prison, without sustaining wives and children, without the obloquy that has been heaped upon us because of this action of ours. If licentious motives had prompted us, we could have secured the results in a cheaper way and in a way more in consonance with universal custom throughout our own land and all Christendom. But the sacrifices that we have made in this respect, bear testimony to the heavens and to the earth that we have been sincere and conscientious in all we have done, and that we have not been prompted by a desire to use women for lustful pur- poses, but to save them, to make them honorable, and to leave no margin of women in our society to become a prey to lust, so that every woman in our land should have the opportunity of becoming a virtuous wife and an honored mother, loved and respected by her offspring and by all her associates. If no other result has attended what may be termed our obstinacy, these results are, at least, upon record, and they never can be blotted out. The imprisonment of these men, the sufferings the untold, unwritten yea, unmentionable, it may be said, sufferings of wives and children, they are recorded in heaven and are known to men upon the earth, and they form a chapter that will never be blotted out. Latter-day Saints, there has been nothing lost in the five years that have just passed. We have lost no credit. There has been no honor sacrificed. We can look God in the face that is, if we are permitted to do so, so far as this is concerned, we can ; we can look the holy angels in the face; we can look mankind in the face, without a blush, or without feeling that we have done anything unworthy of our manhood or of our professions and the faith that God has given unto us. This all of us can do ; and if no other result has followed what may be called our obstinacy, than these which I now describe, they are grand enough to pay us for all that we have gone through. APPENDIX. 3 I 5 But the time has come when, in the providence of God, it seemed necessary that something should be done to meet the requirements of the country, to meet the de- mands that have been made upon us, and to save the people. President Woodruff and others of us have been appealed to hundreds of times, I might say; I can say for myself, that I have been appealed to many scores of times to get out something and to announce some- thing. Some of our leading brethren have said: "Inas- much as we have ceased to give permission for plural marriages to be solemnized, why cannot we have the benefit of that? Why cannot we tell the world it, so as to have the benefit of it? Our enemies are alleging constantly that we still practice this in secret, and that we are dishonest and guilty of evasion. Now, if we have really put a stop to granting permissions to men to take more wives than one, why should not the world know it and we have the advantage of it?" These re- marks have been made to us repeatedly. But at no time has the Spirit seemed to indicate that this should be done. We have waited for the Lord to move in the matter; and on the 24th of September, President Woodruff made up his mind that he would write some- thing, and he had the spirit of it. He had prayed about it and had besought God repeatedly to show him what to do. At that time the Spirit came upon him, and the document that has been read in your hearing was the result. I know that it was right, much as it has gone against the grain with me in many respects, because many of you know the contest we have had upon this point. But when God speaks, and when God makes known His mind and will, I hope that I and all Latter-day Saints will bow in submission to it. When that document was prepared it was submitted. But, as is said in this motion that has been made, President Woodruff is the only man upon the earth who holds the keys of the sealing power. These Apostles all around me have all the same authority that he has. We are all ordained with the same ordination. We all have had the same keys and 3 1 6 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. the same powers bestowed upon us. But there is an order in the Church of God, and that order is that there is only one man at a time on the earth who holds the keys of sealing, and that man is the President of the Church, now Wilford Woodruff. Therefore he signed that document himself. Some have wondered and said, "Why didn't his counselors sign? Why didn't others sign?" Well, I give you the reason because he is the only man on the earth that has this right, and he ex- ercised it, and he did this with the approval of all of us to whom the matter was submitted, after he had made up his mind, and we sustained it ; for we had made it a subject of prayer also, that God would direct us. There never was a time in the Church when I be- lieve the leading men of this Church have endeavored to live nearer to God, because they have seen the path in which we walked environed with difficulties, beset with all manner of snares, and we have had the responsibility resting upon us of your salvation, to a certain extent. God has chosen us, not we ourselves, to be the shep- herds of His flock. We have not sought this responsi- bility. You know Wilford Woodruff too well to believe that he would seek such an office as he now fills. I trust you know the rest of us sufficiently to believe the same concerning us. I have shrunk from the Apostleship. I have shrunk from being a member of the First Presidency. I felt that if I could get my salva- tion in any other way, I prayed God that He would give it to me, after he revealed to me that I would be an Apostle, when I was comparatively a child ; and I have had that feeling ever since. These Apostles, all of them, feel the responsibility which rests upon them as leaders of the people, God having made us, in His providence, your shepherds. We feel that the flock is in our charge, and if any harm befall this flock through us, we will have to answer for it in the day of the Lord Jesus ; we shall have to stand and render an account of that which has been entrusted to us ; and if we are faithless, and care- less, and do not live so as to have the word of God con- APPENDIX. 317 tinually with us, and know His mind and will, then our condemnation will be sure and certain, and we can- not escape it. But you are our witnesses as to whether God is with us or not, as well as the Holy Ghost. You have received, and it is your privilege to receive, the testimony of Jesus Christ as to whether these men who stand at your head, are the servants of God, whom God has chosen, and through whom God gives instruc- tions to His people. You know it, because the testimony of the Spirit is with you, and the Spirit of God burns in your bosoms when you hear the word of God declared by these servants, and there is a testimony living in your hearts concerning it. Now, realizing the full responsibility of this, this action has been taken. Will it try many of the Saints? Perhaps it will ; and perhaps it will try those who have not obeyed this law as much as any others in the Church. But all that we can say to you is that which we repeat- edly say to you go unto God yourselves, if you are tried over this and cannot see its purpose ; go to your secret chambers and ask God and plead with Him, in the name of Jesus, to give you a testimony as He has given it to us, and I promise you that you will not come away empty, nor dissatisfied ; you will have a testimony, and light will be poured out upon you, and you will see things that perhaps you cannot see and understand at the present time I pray God to bless all of you, my brethren and sisters; to fill you with His Holy Spirit; to keep you in the path of exaltation which He has marked out for us ; to be with us on the right hand and on the left in our future as He has been in the past. Before I sit down I wish to call attention to one remarkable thing, and it may be an evidence to you that the devil is not pleased with what we have done. It is seldom I have seen so many lies, and such flagrant, out- rageous lies told the about Latter-day Saints as I have quite recently. I have not time to read the papers, but I have happened to pick up two or three papers and glance at 318 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. them, and the most infernal (pardon me for using that expression) lies ever framed are told. It seems as though the devil is mad every way. "Now," says he, "they are going to take advantage of this, and I am determined they shall have no benefit of it ; I will fill the earth with lies concerning them, and neutralize this declaration of President Woodruff's." And you will see in all the papers everything that can be said to neutralize the effect of this. To me it is pretty good evidence that the devil is not pleased with what we are doing. When we kept silence concerning this, then we were a very mean and bad people ; and now that we have broken the silence and made public our position, why, we are wicked in other directions, and no credence can be attached to anything that we say. You may know by this that his satanic majesty is not pleased with our action. I hope he never will be. PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF. I want to say to all Israel that the step which I have taken in issuing this manifesto has not been done with- out earnest prayer before the Lord. I am about to go into the spirit world, like other men of my age. I expect to meet the face of my Heavenly Father the Father of my spirit ; I expect to meet the face of Joseph Smith, of Brigham Young, of John Taylor, and of the Apostles, and for me to have taken a stand in anything which is not pleasing in the sight of God, or before the heavens, I would rather have gone out and been shot. My life is no better than other men's. I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course I have pursued. But I have done my duty, and the nation of which we form a part must be responsible for that which has been done in relation to this principle. The Lord has required at our hands many things that we have not done, many things that we were pre- vented from doing. The Lord required us to build a Temple in Jackson County. We were prevented by violence from doing it. He required us to build a Temple APPENDIX. 319 in Far West, which we have not been able to do. A great many things have been required of us, and we have not been able to do them, because of those that surrounded us in the world. This people are in the hands of God. This work is the hands of God, and He will take care of it. Brother George Q. Cannon told us about the lies that are abroad. It is a time when there have been more lies told about Mormonism than almost any other subject ever presented to the human family. I often think of what Lorenzo Dow said with regard to the doctrine of elec- tion. Says he: "It is like this : You can, and you can't; you will, and you won't; you shall, and you shan't; you'll be damned if you do, and you'll be damned if you don't." That is about the condition we as Latter-day Saints are in. If we were to undertake to please the world, and that was our object, we might as well give up the ship, we might have given it up in the beginning. But the Lord has called us to labor in the vineyard ; and when our nation passes laws, as they have done, in regard to this principle which we have presented to the Conference, it is not wisdom for us to make war upon sixty-five millions of people. It is not wisdom for us to go forth and carry out this principle against the laws of the nation and receive the consequences. That is in the hands of God, and He will govern and control it. The Church of Christ is here ; the Zion of God is here, in fulfillment of these revelations of God that are contained in these holy records in which the whole Christian world profess to believe. The Bible could never have been fulfilled had it not been for the raising up of a Prophet in the last days. The revelations of St. John could never have been fulfilled if the angel of God had not flown through the midst of heaven, "having the everlast- ing gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and peo- ple, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him ; for the hour of His judgment is come." Was that angeltgoing to visit New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the world, and call the people together and preach 32O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. to them? Not at all. But the Lord raised up a Prophet. The angel of God delivered that Gospel to that Prophet. That Prophet organized a Church ; and all that he was promised in this code of revelations (the Book of Doc- trine and Covenants) has been fulfilled as fast as time would admit. That which is not yet fulfilled will be. Brethren and sisters, it is our duty to be true to God and to be faithful. Make your prayers known unto the Lord. The Lord has told us what He will do con- cerning many things. He will fulfill His word. Let us be careful and wise, and let us be satisfied with the deal- ings of God with us. If we do our duty to one another, to our country, and to the Church of Christ, we will be justified when we go into the spirit world. It is not the first time that the world has sought to hinder the fulfill- ment of revelation and prophecy. The Jewish nation and other nations rose up and slew the Son of God and every Apostle but one that bore the Priesthood in that day and generation. They could not establish the king- dom ; the world was against them. When the Apostles asked Jesus whether He would at that time restore again the kingdom to Israel, He replied: "It is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power." He did not say it would be established then; but He taught them to pray: "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." It is a long time since that prayer was offered, and it has not been fulfilled until the present generation. The Lord is preparing a people to receive His kingdom and His Church, and to build up His work. That, brethren and sisters, is our labor. I want the prayers of the Latter-day Saints. I thank God that I have seen with my eyes this day that this peo- ple have been ready to vote to sustain me in an action that I know, in one sense, has pained their hearts. Brother George Q. Cannon has laid before you our posi- tion. The Lord has given us commandments concern- ing many things, and we have carried them out as far as APPENDIX. 3 2 I we could; but when we cannot do it, we are justified. The Lord does not require at our hands things that we cannot do. This is all I want to say to the Latter-day Saints upon this subject. But go before the Lord and ask Him for light and truth, and to give us such blessings as we stand in need of. Let your prayers ascend into the ears of the God of Sabaoth, and they will be heard and answered upon your heads, and upon the heads of the world. Our nation is in the hands of God. He holds their destiny. He holds the destinies of all men. I will say to the Latter-day Saints, as an Elder in Israel and as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are approach- ing some of the most tremendous judgments God ever poured out upon the world. You watch the signs of the times, the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. . They are beginning to be made manifest both in heaven and on earth. As has been told you by the Apostles, Christ will not come until these things come to pass. Jerusalem has got to be rebuilt. The Temple has got to be built. Judah has got to be gathered, and the House of Israel. And the Gentiles will go forth to battle against Judah and Jerusalem before the coming of the Son of Man. These things have been revealed by the prophets ; they will have their fulfillment. We are approaching these things. All that the Latter-day Saints have to do is to be quiet, careful and wise before the Lord, watch the signs of the times, and be true and faithful ; and when you get through you will understand many things that you do not today. This work has been raised up by the power of Almighty God. These Elders of Israel were called from the various occupations of i fe to preach as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. They w^re not learned men; they were the weak things of this world, whom God chose to confound the wise, "and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." We are here on that principle. Others will be gathered on that principle. Zion will be redeemed, Zion will arise, and the glory of God will rest 322 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. upon her, and all that Isaiah and the other prophets have spoken concerning her will come to pass. We are in the last dispensation and fullness of time. It is a great day, and the eyes of all the heavens are over us, and the eyes of God Himself and all our patriarchs and prophets. They are watching over you with feelings of deep inter- est, for your welfare ; and the prophets who were slain and sealed their testimony with their blood, are mingling with the Gods, pleading for their brethren. Therefore, let us be faithful, and leave events in the hands of God, and He will take care of us if we do our duty. I pray God that He will bless these Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs, these Seventies, High Priests and Elders of Israel, and these Latter-day Saints, who have entered into covenant with our God. You have a great future before you. You have kept the commandments of God, so far as you have had the opportunity, and by receiving the Gospel of Christ and being faithful your reward is before you. Your his- tory is written and is before you. I will say that this nation, and all nations, together with presidents, kings, emperors, judges, and all men, righteous and wicked have got to go into the spirit world and stand before the bar of God. They have got to give an account of the deeds done in the body. Therefore, we are safe as long as we do our duty. No matter what trials or tribula- tions we may be called to pass through, the hand of God will be with us and will sustain us. I ask my heavenly Father to pour out His Spirit upon me, as His servant, that in my advanced age, and during the few days I have to spend here in the flesh, I may be led by the inspira- tion of the Almighty. I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me nor any other man who stands as the President of this Church, to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. God bless you. Amen. APPENDIX. 323 EXTRACTS FROM THE OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, OCTOBER 6, 1891. Misrepresentations of the Utah Commission denounced. Elder John Clark said: Reference has been made, my brethren and sisters, to the report of the Utah Commission. I am of the opinion, as the previous speaker, that the misrepresenta- tions that have been placed upon us for a number of years, have been passed by too many times in silence. I think that some action should be taken, and that some resolutions, before this Conference adjourns, should be placed before the Conference for their action. I have read the report of the Utah Commission, and from my knowledge of the affairs in this Territory, I am satisfied, as has been stated, that statements made in that report are incorrect and maliciously untrue, and have been gotten up for the purpose of injuring the Latter-day Saints. I therefore move, if it be in order, that a com- mittee of five be appointed by this Conference to formu- late such resolutions as will refute, and deny these state- ments, and set in proper order our views in regard to these matters. The motion instantly received a large number of seconds. It was put to the audience by President Can- non and carried unanimously. President Woodruff then named the following as the committee on resolutions: John Clark, chairman, William H. Rowe, Charles W. Penrose, John T. Caine and Franklin S. Richards. The motion to accept of the committee thus consti- tuted was unanimous. COMMITTEE REPORT. President Wilford Woodruff and members of the 324 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in General Conference assembled: Brethren and Sisters. Your committee appointed to formulate an expression of the Conference relative to certain statements made by the majority of the Utah Commission in their report to the Secretary of the Inter- ior for the year 1891, beg leave to report the accom- panying Preamble and Resolutions, and recommend their adoption by the Conference. Very respectfully, JOHN CLARK, W. H. ROWE, CHAS. W. PENROSE, JOHN T. CAINE, FRANKLIN S. RICHARDS, SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 6th, 1891. PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS. Whereas, the Utah Commission, with one exception, in their report to the Secretary of the Interior for 1891, have made many untruthful statements concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the atti- tude of its members in relation to political affairs; and, Whereas, said report is an official document and is likely to greatly prejudice the people of the nation against our Church and its members, and it is therefore unwise to allow its erroneous statements to pass un- noticed ; Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in General Conference assembled, that we deny most emphatically the assertion of the Commission that the Church dominates its mem- bers in political matters and that Church and State are united. Whatever appearence there may have been in past times of a union of Church and State, because men holding ecclesiastical authority were elected to civil office by popular vote, there is now no foundation or excuse for the statement that Church and State are united in APPENDIX. 325 Utah, or that the leaders of the Church dictate the mem- bers in political matters; that no coercion or any influ- ence whatever of an ecclesiastical nature has been exer- cised over us by our Church leaders in reference to which political party we shall join, and that we have been and are perfectly free to unite with any or no political party as we may individually elect; that the People's Party has been entirely and finally dissolved and that our fealty henceforth will be to such national political party as seems to us best suited to the purposes of republican government. Also, be it resolved that we do not believe there have been any polygamous marriages solemnized among the Latter-day Saints during the period named by the Utah Commission; and we denounce the statements which convey the idea that such marriages have been contracted as false and misleading, and that we protest against the perversions of fact and principle and intent, contained in the report of the Commission, and declare that the manifesto of President Woodruff forbidding future plural marriages was adopted at the last October Conference in all sincerity and good fakh, and that we have every reason to believe that it has been carried out in letter and in spirit; and all statements to the contrary are entirely destitute of truth. And be it further resolved, That we appeal to the press and people of this country to accept our united declaration and protest, to give it publicity, and to aid in disseminating the truth, that falsehood may be refuted and justice be done to a people continually maligned and almost universally misunderstood. And may God defend the right. DECLARATION BY THE FIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH. Concerning the official report of the Utah Commis- sion made to the Secretary of the Interior, in which they allege " During the past year, notwithstanding the man- ifesto, reports have been received by the Commission of 326 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. eighteen male persons who with an equal number of females, are believed to have entered into polygamous marriages, during the year," we have to say, it is ut- terly without foundation in truth. We repeat in the most solemn manner the declaration made by President Wilford Woodruff at our General Conference held last October, that there have been no plural marriages sol- emnized during the period named. Polygamy or plural marriage has not been taught, neither has there been given permission to any person to enter into its practice, but on the contrary, it has been strictly forbidden. WILFORD WOODRUFF, GEORGE Q. CANNON, JOSEPH F. SMITH, First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Apostle Moses Thatcher moved that we receive, endorse and adopt as true, the statement of the Presi- dency. Unanimously adopted. VIEWS OF CHIEF JUSTICE ZANE. In the Forum for November, 1891, there is an able and eloquent contribution from the pen of Hon. Charles S. Zane, Chief Justice of Utah, first appointed by Presi- dent Arthur and re-appointed by President Harrison. Judge Zane has had a larger experience in dealing with the vexed questions pertaining to Utah, than any other man; and it is gratifying to the author of this volume to find his oft-expressed views confirmed and corroborated by the learned Chief Justice. From the article in the Forum we select a few passages. Speaking of the manifesto of President Woodruff and the resolutions of the Conference, he says : " By this action I am convinced APPENDIX. 327 that the Mormon Church abandoned polygamy and that it will never adopt it again in the United States." Continuing, he says : There are probably a hundred and fifty thousand Mormons in this Territory, but of that number many are only nominally so. Amid the conten- tions between them and the Gentiles, many have sided with the church in which are their parents, relatives and friends, without embracing its faith. It is idle now to think of disfranchising the Latter-day Saints. They are an industrious, temperate people, as a rule; and my ob- servation has led me to believe that they are law-abiding since the church took its stand under the law against plural marriage. I am aware that now and then indi- viduals will report violations of that law since the mani- festo; but upon investigation such charges are seldom sustained. It would be strange if there were no breaches of it; there are some such cases among non-Mormons. I do not believe that such marriages have been author- ized or sanctioned by the officers of the Mormon Church since the manifesto. Gentiles have said to the Mormons, "When your Church abandons polygamy, and you take a stand in favor of obedience to the law and disband your party, we will welcome you in with us politically." But when the Church declared against polygamy and in favor of obedience to the law and the "Church Party" as it was termed, disbanded, and its members proposed to unite with the national parties, the Mormons were charged with hypocrisy in so doing and were told that they could not be believe, and that their object was political ascendancy for the Church through statehood. They were asked to do what was patriotic and right; and when they did as asked without an opportunity to show by their conduct that they were in earnest, and without 328 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. any evidence since then that they were not they were charged with sinister designs upon the rights of those not of their religion ; in fact, with a purpose to gain political power that they might deprive the Gentiles of their political and civil rights; and heap wrongs and indig- nities upon them. In view of the multitude of counsel, of the disapproval and denunciation that the Latter-day Saints were receiving, the venerable man at their head remarked to his brethren, that he often thought of what Lorenzo Dow once said of the doctrine of election. "Said he, 'It is like this: you can and you can't, you will and you won't, you shall and you shan't, you'll be damned if you do and you'll be damned if you don't/ "That," he continued, "is about the condition we as Lat- ter-day Saints are in." From the realities of the past, among conditions differing widely from those of today, many Gentiles fear that the Mormons will return to the old practices and ways of Brigham Young and others of his time. To these people I say that the face of Utah is toward the sun. The darkness is at her back. She is not on the retreat. We are climbing the hills of progress: higher planes and brighter lights are ahead, and I trust we shal all get clearer and better views of human duty. The Mormon is with us. The same nature is com- mon to us all. The Power higher than ourselves has so ordered. So far as he and we obey the law, we are all equal before it. The forces of nature are changing the most durable objects in the finite world. Our natures and our beliefs are changed by the influences around us. So of that organization of which we are units society. A better feeling is growing; prejudice and hate are losing their grip, slowly it must be conceded. But I have no doubt that confidence, good-will and harmony will be APPENDIX. 329 restored sooner or later, and that ere long these val- leys and mountains will be the home of a patriotic, har- monious, progressive and great people. CHARLES S. ZANE. THE ANTI-MORMON CRUSADE. CAPTAIN CODMAN SAYS ITS EFFECTS HAVE BEEN EVIL. AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN ABLE WRITER. SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO, Sept. 9, 1890. SIR: I have carefully read the communication of Judge Carlton to the Democrat of August 30, and fully endorse every word of it. If proof is needed of the vera- city of his statements it is furnished by the Salt Lake Tribune, which, without undertaking to disprove them, attacks their author in the most venomous personal abuse which forms the staple argument of that newspaper when it has to deal with an opponent. I have been intimately acquainted with the Mormon people for seventeen years, have traveled through the length and breadth of their land before the railroads came there, and have had business relations with them in which I always found them trustworthy. Barring their practice of polygamy, now fallen into "innocuous desuetude," there is not such a law-abiding people within the limits of these United States. And yet these are the men who in Idaho, where I have resided for many summers and know them to be the most honest, conscientious, industrious and sober among the inhabitants of this new State these are the men who are disfranchised, excluded from the jury box and denied every political right excepting that of be- ing taxed. Judge Carlton says: "Of the whole Mormon popula- 22 33O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. tion in Utah, only a very small per cent, are in polyg- amy. Out of the adult males, from 85 to 95 per cent. are not living in a polygamous relation." In Idaho the proportion of polygamists is much less. Of the 5,000 disfranchised voters, there are not 200 who are amenable to punishment for transgressing the law. It is not pretended that there are more, but their crime is that they "belong to an organization that teaches polygamy," and it is made a condition of their voting in future that they shall produce satisfactory evidence that they have left the Mormon Church two years before ask- ing for registration. It is in vain that they urge that the Mormon Church no longer teaches polygamy and that they produce the authoritative declaration of its presi- dent to the Associated Press that he has given "positive orders that no more plural marriages shall be solemnized." They are asked: "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet? Do you believe that he had a revelation in- stituting polygamy?" It might as well be asked of the Presbyterian: "Do you believe that Jehovah was God, and that he "gave wives" to David; that he sent down fire from heaven to destroy the prophets of Baal, and let loose the armies of Israel to murder the Canaanites and the Philistines?" Of course the true Presbyterian believes all that, or at least he says that he does ; but as he is not a polygamist or a murderer himself, he is allowed to vote. Why, then, should the Presbyterian be ruled in and the Mormon ruled out in Idaho? The answer is ready. Presbyterians belong to both political parties. The Mormons are mostly Democrats, and they are Democrats not because they know or care much about the tariff, but because the in- famous legislation against them has been enacted by a Republican Congress that has sent corrupt governors APPENDIX. 331 and judges to oppress their co-religionists in Utah ; that has taken advantage of an obsolete territorial law to rob them of their church property, and has made a law of its own unparalleled in the meanness of such sneak thievery, which confiscated the hard-earned savings contributed to the "emigration fund" for the purpose of bringing their converts away from their poverty in Europe to the en- joyments and the blessings of this free (?) and happy land. The Mormons are accused of disloyalty. What wonder would it be if the charge were true? And yet, in spite of every device to bring them into rebellion, they remain quiet under the indignities heaped upon them, still adhering to the belief that the Declaration of Inde- pendence and the Constitution of the United States were inspired by the Almighty, who, in his own good time, will see that they obtain justice at the hands of their country. The Mormons are by no means the ignorant people that those who are themselves as ignorant of them, of their habits and their religion, as Judge Carlton has amply proved that they are, suppose them to be. It is true they are not "up" in the classics or in the higher branches of literature, but common school education is as generally diffused as in the most favored States of the Union. Comparatively uneducated men are annually sent to foreign lands as missionaries, but they are close observers of what they see abroad, and on their return, in the long winter evenings they disseminate among their neighbors the intelligence they have acquired, so that the Mormons know vastly more about what is going on in the outside world than the world knows about them. Even in educated Boston it is common to hear that polyg- amy is the corner stone of Mormonism, when it is only 33 2 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. a stone that has now fallen from its superstructure, and to be told that the " Mormon Bible" has superseded the sacred scriptures which are more firmly believed in by Mormons than by any Christian sect. The article of Judge Carlton is unanswerable. How comes it then that the other members of the "Utah commission" to which he tells your readers that he was attached for seven years, differ so materially from him. In the first place this Utah commission never had any raison d* etre. It has never accomplished any work that could not have been done by the secretary of the Territory single-handed. It was the child of prejudice and congressional ignorance. Judge Carlton is the only one of its members who has the candor to admit that it was a piece of useless legislation, and he values that more than his salary of $5,000 a year. Those who have signed the majority re- ports valued their salaries more than the truth. That is the whole of it. Hence their labored efforts to prove that their semi-annual visits to Utah were necessary for the suppression of polygamy and disloyalty. They are upheld in this pretense by the newspaper already re- ferred to, but there is not a Mormon or'a Gentile in the common walks of life who does not look upon them as actors in a ridiculous farce. The effect of the anti-Mor- mon crusade for all these years has been for evil, and that continually. It has got the community of Salt Lake City by the ears. It has demoralized society by introducing obscen- ity into the press and into daily conversation even among ladies of culture. By giving the impression that life and capital were not safe in the Territory, it has retarded the influx of a good and varied population, and has pre- APPENDIX. 333 vented the investment of money there. All that was needed was to have made polygamy punishable like any other crime, according to its degree. Criminals of all sorts frequently escape conviction everywhere, but in Utah, where the whole power of the courts is in Federal courts, who construe the laws of evidence to suit them- selves, conviction of polygamy is almost always sure, though other crimes may be unpunished. The fear of the law may have had a restraining in- fluence upon polygamy, but the contact with outside civ- ilization which absurd prejudice and the malignant lies of those whose main object has been political control, could not repel, would alone have accomplished its overthrow. This is fully proven in the admirable paper under review. Now that all we have a right to ask of the Mormons has been yielded, it would be the part of a generous gov- ernment to restore to them the property it has stolen ; but if it is unwilling to do this, it might at least for the future abstain from the enactment of needless and unjust laws against a people whom no tyrannical legislation has driven or can drive from their allegiance to the Constitu- tion of the United States. JOHN CODMAN. FAIR PLAY FOR THE MORMONS. SOME MISREPRESENTATIONS CORRECTED THEY ARE NOT DISLOYAL TO THE GOVERNMENT POLYGAMY TO BE DIS- CONTINUED. BY A. B. CARLTON. It is sixty years since the organization of " the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," commonly called the Mormon Church. During the whole of that time the public mind has been more or less interested and per- 334 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. turbed in regard to this strange people, who have been more talked about, and written about, in books, pamph- lets, magazines, brochures and newspapers than any other religious sect that has arisen in this century. Many, perhaps most of the books of Gentile or anti-Mormon authors, are utterly unreliable. Some are characterized by the acrimony of apostate rancor, and some by the odium theologicum of rival sectarianism; while others are filled with sensational stories more or less apocryphal or fabulous, and illustrated with mon- strous pictures. A few deplorable facts in Mormon his- tory, are eked out with imaginary padding invented by the author, or copied from some preceding and equally unreliable writer; the object being merely to make a book that will sell, by pandering to the popular taste for the marvelous. Thus it has come to pass that there are many prev- alent popular errors in regard to the Mormons and their real character: and I propose in this paper to point out and correct some of these errors. Concerning my op- portunities for a knowledge of the subject, it will not be improper for me to state that for nearly seven years I was a member of the Utah Commission, appointed by President Arthur in 1882, under the anti-polygamy act of Congress of that year; and that I was the chairman of the commission during the latter half of that period. The task I undertake is a difficult aud ungracious one, because there are many persons who would rather believe a lie in regard to a hated religious sect than to be enlightened with the truth; and it is easy, as well as agreeable, for some people to indulge in hyperbole and fiction against any whom it is the fashion to despise. But it is my deliberate judgment that the Mormon people have been more misrepresented and misunder- APPENDIX. 335 stood than any other community in modern times. I therefore deem it to be a duty, as well as a pleasure to give the truth as I understand it. Error No. i. It is a common belief, propagated by sensational writers, and designing and interested persons, that the Mormons are a gang of incorrigible rogues and criminals; when, in fact, according to the testimony of every unprejudiced man who is acquainted with them, that for honesty, industry, sobriety, neighborly kindness and peace and good order, the Mormons are at least equal, if not superior to any other community on this continent. Over 95 per cent, of the saloon keepers and gamblers of Utah are anti- Mormons, and while the Mor- mons are over 75 per cent, of the population, yet six or seven -eighths of the heinous and felonious offenses, as murder, manslaughter, burglary, robbery, rape and the like, are committed by the Gentile or non-Mormon minority. Error No. 2. That the Mormons are a sort of pagans, and do not even profess to believe in the Chris- tian religion. On the contrary, they believe in the Old and New Testament in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in all the cardinal doctrines of the Christian religion, as bap- tism, repentance, the resurrection, etc. They believe in the Bible absolutely and literally with an undoubting faith. Whatever they find recorded in the New Testament con- cerning the creed and practice of the first Saints in the days of Jesus and his apostles and the early disciples they adopt as the creed and practice of the "Latter-day Saints;" for example, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as healing by the laying on of hands, speaking in tongues and the intrepretation of tongues, prophesying, etc. They say that these gifts, in different degrees, inhere " to THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. all them that believe" in all ages and countries; and they will not allow that a plain passage of scripture should be done away with, as typical, figurative, or as having gone by lapse of time, into "innocuous desuetude." That the Mormons as a rule, are intensely devo- tional and honest and sincere in their religious profes- sion has been confirmed by the unanimous opinion of the five members of the commission in their official reports. Error No. 3. That the Mormons are disloyal to the government. This is a charge, that, in process of time, has been made against more than one religious denomination, and has a certain degree of plausibility from the oft repeated declaration of ecclesiastics and religious enthusiasts, that the law of God is superior to the laws of the land; and that the laws of God are to be obeyed rather than the laws of men. Add to this the idea of the " Kingdom of God on earth," which all good Christians pray for; and that in former times some enthusiasts among the Mor- mons believed (and some, perhaps, still believe) that the Kingdom has already come, and the reign of the Saints has already begun in Zion; fulfilling the prophetic oracles of the Book of Daniel and the Revelations of St. John; and it will be seen upon what theory the Mormons are charged with disloyalty to the civil authority, especially as it is claimed that they are bound to obey the head of their church, just as it has been maintained that the Catholics are bound to obey the Pope of Rome. Accordingly, at an early day in Missouri, about the time Governor Boggs issued his Herod-like proclama- tion that all the Mormons should be exterminated, when one of the " Saints" was on trial before a Dogberry jus- tice of the peace on a charge of " treason," the prisoner was asked the question, "do you believe in the Book of APPENDIX. 337 Daniel?" The prisoner answered in the affirmative. 44 Put that down," said the justice to his clerk, "that is evidence of treason'' However, the leading Mormons of this day, hold with other denominations that the "Kingdom "is yet to "come." Again; there were troublous times in Utah between thirty and forty years ago, growing out of a conflict in the jurisdiction of the courts. An army was sent out by President Buchanan in 1857. In this "Mormon war," I believe nobody was hurt and Brigham Young sent out his hosts to meet the invaders with the extraordinary order that "no blood should be shed." Under the excite- ment many intemperate speeches and threats were made by Brigham and others. The Mormons vow their fealty to the government under the Constitution, which they say is of divine origin; and during my seven years sojourn in Utah there was no attempt and there did not appear to be the slight- est disposition to raise an insurrection or oppose the exe- cution of the laws by force. But it is true that from time to time they criticised the judges of the courts and other Federal officers, charg- ing them with violating the law, and cruelty and injustice in its administration. For example : The Federal judges in Utah a few years ago made an extraordinary decision in the application of what was called "Segregation." The third section of the so-called Edmunds act of 1882 makes it an indictable offense for any male person to cohabit with more than one woman, and fixes the maximum punishment at a fine of $300 and imprisonment for six months. But the judges invented a new doctrine and called it "Segregation," the gist of which is that, if a man had been living with two or more wives for three years, the period of the statute of limita- 338 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. tions, the grand jury might "segregate;" that is, divide up the three years into periods of a year, a month, a week or a day each, and bring in a separate indictment for each one of these "segregated" periods; so that the three years being "segregated" into periods of one day each the offender, for three years' continuous cohabita- tion, might be indicted 1,095 times, with cumulative fines and imprisonments, amounting to $328,590 fines and 547 years and six months' imprisonment. This doctrine was applied in many cases. The Mor- mons criticised it as contrary to law, and against the whole course of judicial decisions, in similar cases, both in England and America, and that by a sort of judicial legislation the judges sought to punish a man an indef- inite number of times for one offense in violation of the Constitution. But the judges gave no heed to these "dis- loyal" complaints and went on "segregating" until the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the cases and decided that the Mormons were right, and the Utah judges were wrong. In re Snow, 120, U. S. S. C. Rep. page 274. Another case of Mormon "disloyalty" occurred in the autumn of 1882. A majority of the Utah commis- sion decided that a man was not entitled to be registered as a voter who had married a plural wife subsequent to July i, 1862, (the date of the passage of the first act con- cerning polygamy) although all his wives, or all but one, had died from ten to twenty years before. The Mormons were so disloyal that they criticised this ruling as absurd, unreasonable and contrary to law. "How," they asked, "can a man be a polygamist who has no wife at all?" This doctrine, however, continued to be enforced by the commission for over two years, and many of the lead- APPENDIX. 339 ing citizens were denied the right to vote or hold office, (among them Wm. Jennings, the mayor,) although they had had no more than one wife for many years. Finally, after the customary "law's delay" the Supreme Court of the United States decided that this ruling of the com- mission was erroneous. Murphy vs. Ramsey et al, 115, Supreme Court Rep. page 15. Another rare specimen, a new variety of the scara- bceus segregationis of Utah was examined, dissected and immolated by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Hans Neilsen, 131 United States Supreme Court Rep. page 176. Error No. 4. There is a general misapprehension in the public mind in regard to the extent to which polygamy is practiced, and also as to its present status. Of the whole Mormon population in Utah only a very small per cent, are in polygamy ; and of the adult males, from 85 to 95 per cent, are not living in a polyg- amous relation. But, before proceeding further in relation to the present condition in regard to polygamy, I will give my solution of the very natural and reasonable query: "How did it come to pass that a people .so intensely devotional and religious and possessed of so many good qualities should have accepted the creed and practices of polyg- amy, so repugnant to European and American civiliza- tion?" For a right understanding of this question, it is nec- essary to consider the Mormon doctrine of "continuous revelation." They believe, as before stated, in the revelations of Moses and the prophets, as recorded in the Old Testa- ment, and also in the "gift of prophesy," as promised in the New Testament, "to them who believe." 34-O THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. They say that from the days of the Patriarchs of Israel down to the revelations of John on the Isle of Patmos, after the death of Christ, there was a long line of prophets, seers and revelators, who appeared at differ- ent ages and through many centuries, such as Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Nahum, and so on. They declare that it is not consistent with the divine wisdom, after centuries of communication from the celestial king- dom through the prophetic oracles, mankind should have been suddenly cut off; and enclosed as with a canopy of brass from all further light from above. Accordingly when Joseph Smith appeared and was accepted as a "prophet, seer and revelator" in "these latter days," and proclaimed the "dispensation of the fullness of times," the revelations claimed to have been received by him were accepted by his followers as ema- nations from his divine will. These "revelations" are printed in a book entitled the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants;" and among them is one sanctioning a plu- rality of wives. This is the real origin of polygamy among the Mormons ; although the example of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Solomon and other noted personages among the chosen people made it easier for the Mormons to accept the modern "revelation;" and yet when the doctrine was first publicly promulgated in Salt Lake City in 1852, it was received by many of the "Saints" with reluctance or aversion, However, the power and influence of Brigham Young were so poten- tial ; and the confidence of the people in him, as a wise lawgiver and a prophet, was so great, that polygamy was accepted as a part of the creed. But sagacious men among the Mormons have long foreseen that the practice of polygamy must eventually be abandoned ; and since the death of Brigham Young APPENDIX. 341 in 1877 there has been a constantly increasing disposi- tion among the people to unload this incubus from their shoulders. The difficulties in the way of an immediate change in this respect can be readily imagined. Three years ago, however, important steps in this direction were taken by a great majority of the Mormon people. An act of Congress, which took effect on March 3d, 1887, required of every voter, as a condition prece- dent to registration, that he should make an affidavit, declaring among other things, that he would not enter the polygamous relation nor commit fornication or adul- tery, and that he would not aid or abet, counsel or advise others to commit any of such offenses. A few Mormon voters and a good many Gentiles declined to be registered on such conditions; but the great mass of the voters among the Mormons took the oath and voted. The next important step in the direc- tion of reform, was the holding of a constitutional con- vention on June 30, 1887, with delegates from all the counties in the Territory. The Gentiles having declined to participate, the convention was composed entirely of Mormons. The constitution thus formulated contained a provision prohibiting polygamy and making it a crime, with a severe penalty, and at the August election follow- ing 95 per cent, of all the Mormon voters in the Terri- iory voted for the ratification of this constitution. Bancroft Ubrs Following up the reform movement thus inaugurated, the legislative assembly composed of 31 Mormons and 5 Gentiles, which met in Salt Lake City in January 1888, enacted a very well considered marriage law, declaring among other things, all plural marriages to be illegal and void, and making it a crime with a heavy penalty for any clerk of a probate court to issue a license for a plural 34 2 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. marriage; and also providing for the punishment of any minister, preacher of the gospel, or any officer or other person who solemnizes any such marriage. The same legislative assembly passed a concurrent resolution in favor of the enforcement of the laws against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation as well as fornication and adultery, "to the end that all such offenses may be prohibited." From the facts, as well as official information and personal observation, there can be no reasonable doubt that the Mormons have wisely resolved on the discon- tinuance of polygamy, and that during the last three years new polygamous marriages in Utah have been very rare, probably not more numerous in proportion to the population than bigamous marriages in any of the States. It is true that some non-Mormons say they have no confidence in the good faith of the Saints, and claim to believe that their movements for reform are all a sham ; that, "nothing good can come out of Nazareth," and that they are obstinate, stiff-necked and fanatical, that they are incor/igible and their reformation utterly hope- less. But it should be borne in mind that churches and creeds are subject to the laws of evolution, of which many illustrations can be given from ecclesiastical history, and of which notable instances were furnished by a very respectable religious organization in New York and Chicago early in February of this year, favoring radical changes in their confession of faith. Utah is not now and never can be again what it was in the days of Brigham Young, who, with all his faults, was as brave, wise and able a leader of men as ever led his hosts into the "startled solitudes of an unpeopled land." APPENDIX. 343 As a born leader of men, and esteemed by his followers, a prophet, seer and revelator, he dominated with almost absolute authority over his people, isolated for many years, from all the world in the secluded valleys of the Rocky Mountains. But all this is changed. The railroad, the telegraph, free speech, a free press, schools, colleges, churches of many denominations, and last, but not least, the real estate boomers are there now. Polyg- amy cannot stand up before modern civilization. The Mormons are wise enough to see this and to act upon it. The practice of polygamy, which has so long been the reproach of the Mormon people, and has been the cause of so much suffering and distress, should be aban- doned in good faith and forever. This being accom- plished no just ground will remain for pursuing them with further hostile legislation. Any further discrim- ination against them should then be indignantly resented by all American citizens who are imbued with the true principles of civil and religious liberty. In Utah there are persons of multifarious religious creeds, and some with no religious belief at all. There we find perfect religious freedom for the Catholic, the Jew, the Episco- palian, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Campbellite and the Congregationalist, all of whom have churches, or houses of worship there. Besides there are many infidels, skeptics and spiritualists. Shall we allow to all these freedom of religious opinion and wor- ship and deny it to the Mormons, those who, for the rights of conscience, sought a home in the wilderness, which they have made to " blossom as the rose?" Shall we, now, in the most enlightened age of all the centuries, invoke legal coercion over the consciences o men in the matters of religion ; and resort to the thumscrew and the rack, political proscription and dis- 344 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. franc.hisement, as modes of religious instruction and persuasion ? HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF. MORMONS AND CATHOLICS. The advocacy of religious freedom is no new thing with the author of this volume. More than a third of a century ago, he defended the Catholic against the Know-Nothing crusade. He was not a Catholic and is a native of America as were his ancestors for many gener- ations; but a sense of justice and devotion to the Con- stitution, together with a natural disposition to take the side of the under dog in the fight, impelled him to take an active part in opposition to bigotry, intolerance and persecution. It is curious to observe that the same war cries and catch- words were invoked in the crusade against the Catholics as are now employed against the Mormons for example, " allegiance to a foreign power;" "abject obedience to the commands of the head of the Church;'' danger of the government being overthrown;" " Americans must rule," etc. In those days, too, similar means were employed to inflame the public mind. Books purporting to be written by apostate priests and escaped nuns embellished with monstrous pictures, were circulated all over the country. This craze prevailed for one or two years, and finally met with an ignominious defeat in Virginia. In August, 1855, the spirit of persecution culminated in the murder of a large number of Catholics and foreigners, and the burn- ing of churches and dwellings in Louisville, Ky. This tragic event and the spirit of the times which led up to APPENDIX. 345 it were commemorated at that time by the author of this book in some stanzas, written in imitation of the " Battle of Blenheim." It should be explained that "Sam" was a name assumed facetiously by the Know-Nothing party, "Chey- ennes" and "Hindoo" were epithets bestowed upon them by their opponents. [From the Bloomington (Ind.) News-Letter, of Aug. n, 1855.] THE BATTLE OF LOUISVILLE. BY A. B. CARLTON. It was on an August evening; The bloody work was done, And "Samuel" at his cottage door Was sitting in the sun; And by him sitting on a stool His little grand-child, William Poole.* They saw the dead with ghastly wounds And limbs burnt off, borne by ; And then old Sam, he shook his head, And with a holy sigh, "They're only Dutch and Irish" said he, ' ' Who fell in the great victory? ' "Now tell me what 'twas all about," Young William Poole he cries, While looking in his grand-dad's face With wonder- waiting eyes; "Now tell me all about the war, And what they killed the Irish for." *NOTE Named after the great prize-fighting bully, who was canonized in New York, and followed to his grave by eighty thousand men. 346 THE WONDERLANDS OF THE WILD WEST. "They were Know-Nothings," Samuel cried, "Who put them all to rout; But what they shot and burnt them for, I could not well make out. But Mayor Barber said," quoth he, "That 'twas a glorious victory!" The Dutch and Irish lived in peace Yon silvery stream hard by; The Hindoos burnt their dwellings down, And they were forced to fly; So with their wives and children fled, Nor had they where to rest their head." "With fire and guns the city round Was wasted far and wide ; And many an Irish mother then, And new-born baby died; But things like that you know must be At a Know- Nothing victory -." "They say it was a shocking sight, After the day was won ; For twenty bloody corpses there Lay rotting in the sun ; But things like that you know must be After a Know Nothing victory" "Great glory George D. Prentice won, And also Captain Stone;" "Why 'twas a very wicked thing, "- Quoth Samuel's little son: "Nay, nay, my little boy," said he, "It was a famous victory!" And Cheyennes said: "Americans America shall rule;" "But what good came of it at last?" Quoth little William Poole; "Why, that I can not tell," said he, "But 'twas a glorious victory!" EPILOGUE. To all them which dwell in the Valleys of the Mountains, called to be Saints, I send greeting. To all Christians, Jews and Gentiles in Zion, I send my benedic- tion. To all Apostates, Infidels and Sadducees which say there is no resurrection, I send my best wishes for their conversion. If I have any enemies in Utah, I will freely forgive them, if they will repent. Some of them are great sinners ; but I hope they may finally be saved, albeit this carries the doctrine of universal salvation to its utmost limit, and strains the quality of Mercy. I bear them no malice. I would not break a butterfly on the wheel nor put an ephemora to the rack. I will conclude with Uncle Toby, in Tristrem Shandy: "Go, poor little fly: the world is wide enough fo' thee and me." ERRATA. THIS volume is, in general, so correctly printed] that it is with reluctance that the author points out a few typographical errors, which no doubt are mainly attributable to the fault of the manuscript rather than that of the printer or proof-reader. On page 57, line 3, for "State" read "slate." On page 84, line 19, for "attributes" read "attributed." On page 117, line 9, for "except" read "accept." On page 118, line 27, for "law" read "saw." O.i page 145, line 10, for "fair minds" read "far winds." On page 161, line 16, for "state" read "stale."