From the Washington Republic.
MORMONS  OF  DESERET.

The readers of this paper have doubtless noticed, in the congressional proceedings, the presentation in the Senate of a memorial of Wm. Smith and Isaac Sheen, claiming to be the legitimate presidents of the church of Latter Day Saints, and twelve other individuals of that church, charging the members of that community, now settled in the valley of the Salt Lake, with having taken an oath to avenge, on the people and Government of this country, the murder of Joseph Smith, and with a determination now to carry that oath into effect; and further accusing them of grossly immoral conduct, by adopting the doctrine of poligamy, &c.

Now, in relation to this matter, it is not improbable that these charges are exagerated and untrue, and such as could not stand the test of calm judicial investigation. We have no sympathies or regards for this Mormon people; but, judging from what we have formerly heard and latterly known of them, we deem these accusations to be entirely absurd and impossible.

In the first place, if we remember aright, this Wm. Smith, the first petitioner, is a brother of the celebrated Joseph Smith, who originally presided over the Mormons. At the time of Joseph's death, he presented himself to the Mormons, claiming to be the legitimate successor of his deceased brother; but the Mormon people refused to recognize him in that capacity. But, as we have been informed, inasmuch as he was a brother of one who was highly cherished among them, they consented to afford him protection and sustenance for a time; but his conduct at length becoming, as they allege, more and more dissolute, he was expelled from the pale of their church. Smith's hierarchical asperations, his subsequent expulsion from the Mormon church, sufficiently explain his present hostility in that community.

It will be recollected, when the Mormons were on their way to the far west, fleeing from the persecutions which they had suffered in Illinois and Missouri, overtures were made to them by the United States officers, under instructions from our government, inviting them to join in the hostilities which were going to be waged against the Mexican republic. Would this have been the case had they sworn to avenge their wrongs against the government and people of the United States? We find them now knocking at our doors for admission into our Union, at a time when another populous and less remote community are in no hurry for such a consummation. Does this look like settled hostility to the United States? We think not.

The objections urged against this people on the score of their grasping for territory, and their immoral practices, we are inclined to believe, are of an equally fragile tenure. With Texas and California claiming an area much larger than they have actually occupied, it is not surprising that Deseret should do the same. We believe after all, that the people of Deseret will be willing to take such boundaries as congress may choose to assign to them. Can the same be said of other states which have [applied] for admission or been received [------ ------ ----] the constitution under which they ask admission as a state, than which we have not seen one more lucid or better arranged in any of the states of this Union.

The Washington Globe fully endorses the above remarks, and adds:

"The following is from the Mormon creed, and inculcates, we think, the purest principles of morality, and we might say also, of religion:

"The Latter Day Saints, after immersion, lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, according to the ancient pattern. They are then considered saints, or members of the church of Christ, in full fellowship and communion. They are then taught to observe all things which are required or commanded by Christ and his apostles -- such as meeting together often to sing, to pray, to exhort, to testify, to prophesy, to speak with tongues, to interpret, to relate their visions, revelations, &c., and in short, to edify and perfect each other, by a free exercise of all the gifts of God, as set in order among the ancinet churches. We also teach them to walk in all the ordinances of God, blameless, such as the partaking of bread and wine, in remembrance of his broken body and shed blood, on the first day of the week; and also to send for the elders of the church when any of them are sick, that they may pray for them, and lay their hands on them in the name of Jesus, or anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, that they be healed according to the scriptures. We also teach them to abstain from all immorality -- such as injustice, pride, vanity, dishonesty, evil speaking, falsehood, hatred, envy, avarice, intemperance, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, &c., and to practice all virtues -- such as love to God and good will to man, brotherly kindness, temperance, industry, &c. He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none, and he that has food let him do likewise; but he that will [not] work, neither shall he eat. In short, we teach them to do all the good in their power -- to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world"

Note: It seems unlikely that the above text was entirely the product of a non-Mormon Washington editor's pen. The overly sympathetic writer know far too much about the "dissolute" William Smith's activities, to have not been heavily coached in his writing about that former LDS leader, etc.

POLYGAMY AT THE SALT LAKE. -- The New Orleans Delta publishes a letter from the Salt lake, the capital of the Mormons of Deseret, in which the writer conforms the statement previously made, that, under the Mormon marital law, a man may have as many wives as he can support. He says:

"The successor to Joe Smith is a man by the name of Brigham Young, about forty-five years old, a pretty cute fellow, a Yankee would say. he has the largest number of wives of any in the sttlement -- only twenty-six! This is not a large number, considering he had to take all the wives of Joe Smith, that could not get other husbands. Some that have come under my observation have had eleven, five, three, two, one. These are facts, beyond cavil; and the only tie that binds these people together is bigamy."


Notes: (forthcoming)

Defence of Poligamy.

A lady in Utah, wife of a Mormon leader, writes to her sister a long letter, published in the newspapers, defending polygamy by the example of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the holy men mentioned in the Bible. The argument is as ingenious as many others drawn from the same source, and would be conclusive enough for any Turk, whose harem contained not less than two hundred wives. The letter [is] a curiosity, as exhibiting the social relations of the polygamist. The lady says her husband has seven other wives, which is a moderate number for a leader of the faith, as Rigdon [sic - Brigham?], the [high priest] of Mormonism, we believe, has thirty-six.

The children of these eight wives number twenty-five. The husband she says is a good and virtuous husband, and all these mothers and children are endeared to her by kindred ties -- by mutual affection -- by acquaintance and association; and the mothers in particular by mutual and long continued exercises of toil, patience, long suffering and sisterly kindness. The husband of whose affection she is entitled to just one eighth is a particular teacher of morals and religion; a prompter of general education; and at present occupies an honorable seat in the Legislative Councils of the Territory.

She concludes her remarkable letter with the hope that enlightened legislation in every State will be so modified, and the customs and consciences of individuals will be so altered, that [a] Utah gentlemen, with more than the Christian number of wives, may be able to travel in any part of the United States with his harem and children, and enjoy as much consideration and honor as he does at home or in the same manner as the patriarch Jacob would have been respected, had he, with his wives and children, paid a visit to his kindred. We have heard much of the 'good time coming;' probably it is the period the lady refers to.


Note: The above item was reprinted from the Philadelphia Ledger. Copies of the mentioned Belinda Marden Pratt letter can be found in various mid-1850s publications, under the heading: "Defence of Polygamy, by a Lady of Utah, in a Letter to Her Sister in New Hampshire."

Mormon Child Stealing Case --
Elder Parley Pratt Shot.

The Van Buren (Ark.) Intelligencer of the 15th, contains the following account of one of the most remarkable instances of desertion, infatuation and crime, terminating in the death of the party most guilty, that we have ever met with:

TRAGICAL. -- It is with regret that we have to chronicle the homicide, committed in our vicinity on Wednesday last, by Mr. Hector H. McLean, late of San Francisco, California, upon the person of a Mormon preacher. More than all we do deplore the melancholy affair that led to its commission. The deceased, whose name was Parley Parker Pratt, was a man of note among the Mormons, and judging from his diary and his letter to Mrs. McLean, he was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and ability. He had been a preacher and missionary of the Mormons at San Francisco, California, where he made the acquaintance of Mrs. McLean, whom he induced to embrace the Mormon faith.

She was at that time living with her husband, Hector H. McLean: they were happy and prosperous until she made the acquaintance of Pratt, and embraced the Mormon faith. She is the mother of three children by McLean, two boys and a girl, and seems to be an intelligent and interesting lady: converses fluently, and with more grace and ease than most ladies. About two years ago, and soon after she became a convert to Mormonism, she made an attempt to abduct two of her children to Utah, but was detected and prevented by her brother, who was then in California, and residing with his brother-in-law, Mr. McLean. She soon after, however, found means to elope with said Pratt to Salt Lake, where it is said that she became his seventh wife.

After the elopement of Mrs. McLean, her parents, who reside near New Orleans, wrote to Mr. McLean, in California, to send the children to them. He did so. Several months after this Mr. McLean received news that his wife had been to her father's in New Orleans, and eloped with the two youngest children. He immediately left San Francisco, for New Orleans, and, on arriving at the house of his father-in-law, he learned from that Mrs. McLean had been there, and, after an ineffectual effort to convert her father and mother to Mormonism, she pretended to abandon it herself, and so far obtained the confidence of her parents as to induce them to intrust her [missing text: in the City of New Orleans] with the children; but they soon found she had betrayed their confidence, and eloped with the children.

They then wrote to McLean, in San Francisco, who, upon the receipt of their letter, went to New Orleans, and learning from them the above facts in relation to the affair, immediately started in pursuit of his children. He went to New York and then to St. Louis. While in St. Louis he learned that the woman and children were in Houston, Texas. On his arrival in Houston he found that his wife had left some time before his arrival to join a large party of Mormons en route for Utah. He then returned to New Orleans, and from there to Fort Gibson, in the Cherokee Nation with the expectation of intercepting his wife and children at that point.

On arriving at Fort Gibson, and while there, he found letters in the post-office to his wife from Pratt, some of which were mailed at St. Louis, and others at Flint post-office, Cherokee Nation. We are unable to give the contents of these letters with particularity, but they contained the fact that McLean was on the look-out for her and the children, and that they were betrayed by the apostates and gentiles, and advising her to be cautious in her movements, and not to let herself be known, only to a few of the saints and elders. McLean then, upon affidavit made by himself, obtained a writ from the United States [missing text: Commissioner at this place for their arrest, and succeeded in getting them arrested by the United States] Marshal. They were brought to this place for trial, and after an examination before the commissioner, were discharged.

Pratt, as soon as released, mounted his horse and left the city. McLean soon after obtained a horse and started in pursuit, and overtook Pratt about eight miles from the city, and shot him. Pratt died in about two hours after receiving the wound.

This is a plain narrative of the facts as we heard them from the most reliable resources, which we give to our readers without comment, as we feel that we are unable to do so with justice to all parties. But deeply do we sympathize with McLean in the unfortunate condition in which Mormon villainy and fanaticism has placed him.


Note: The above reprint omits several additional paragraphs of text published at the end of the original article.

The Story of a Fanatical and Erring Woman

From the Van Buren (Ark.) Intelligencer.

                                                                 Van Buren, May 18, 1857.
MR. EDITOR: -- Having read the editorial in your paper headed "Tragical," and finding several important points in the account incorrect, I beg to be heard by this community, and the world, being yet a living witness for both the living and the dead...

In November, 1851, I embraced the "Mormon" faith, and in January, 1855, my children were, on account of my faith, sent from San Francisco to New Orleans, and this without my having the slightest information of it until they were far upon the sea...

In behalf of the dead, I have to testify, that whatever existed between us was of my own seeking. When he kept house with his wife, Elizabeth, in San Francisco, I often sought his society, and if any censure me, let them censure me for the strongest impulses of my nature, which have ever prompted me to seek light and truth...

I also confess that, when a company of Saints were preparing to leave California with P. P. Pratt, I greatly desired to be one of the number, and went so far as to ask my Father in heaven to provide a way...

I would appeal to every man and woman of refined sensibility to know whether a virtuous woman and faithful mother is so humble a thing that she should come again to the bosom of a man who had by violence thrust her from him, and exposed her to insult and injury in the streets of a wicked city. Whoever takes the affirmative differs from the writer of this.
                                               E. J. McComb, once E. J. McLean.


Note: See the original article in the Arkansas paper, for the full text of Mrs. McLean's letter.

Later from Utah.
_______

Late advices from Utah, says that a large force of Mormon militia under Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, were preparing for a six weeks' campaign in the mountains to the eastward, and thus to stop, if possible, the passage of the United States troops. Although the positive distination was a secret known only to the leaders of the church, yet it was generally supposed that at the pass in the mountains near Bear rover cut-off, or at Steeple Rocks, the stand would be made by the Salt Lake forces, with an almost certainty of 'wiping out' the entire force sent against them. We pray that an encounter may take place, and the troops get worsted, in order that a just feeling of indignation may be aroused against the hordes of licentious traitors and murderers, who claim Brigham Young as their prophet; we trust he will soon meet the fate of Joe Smith, only instead of dying by a bullet, a rope will finish his existence and rid the earth of a scoundrel of the deepest dye.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Joe  Smith's  Family  in  Nauvoo.
_______

A correspondent of the Missouri Republican writes that last summer he was at Nauvoo and convered with Mr. Bitoman, who is married to Joe Smith's widow. He says:

I sat at the table with the family, consisting of Mr. Bitoman and wife, and three sons of Joe Smith, the eldest about 22 or 23, the second about 20, the third a lad of some 12 or 13 years. From Mr. Bitoman I learned that not one of the family believed in Mormonism, and that his wife -- formerly Mrs. Smith -- had always been opposed to them, as well as the boys. I was told that Joe Smith prophesied some two years before the young lad was born, that a son was to be born to him, at or about a certain time; that at the time stated his wife did give birth to a son. At that time he also stated that his son's name would be David (not Joe), and that is the name of the lad, for I heard him answer to it. Joe also said that his mantle of greatness and prophecy would fall upon this son and lineal heir, David, who, he stated, would be as wise and powerful as David of old. The fact of the birth of this child, followed according to Joe's prophecy, strengthened the belief that had already so strong a hold upon his followers. Mrs. Bitoman is a masculine, intelligent-looking lady, of 45 or 47 years. -- She is a native of New York.

She has a splendid farm some four miles from Nanvoo, which is managed by her two eldest sous, while David goes to school. About the two eldest there is nothing remarkable to be seen. They are intelligent men, of large size, but have nothing in their appearance betokening them to be prophets, or "sons of a prophet." To their mother they are said to be very much attached and very kind. -- David is an uncommonly intelligent lad, of massive forehead and bright, expressive eyes, His step-father intimated that he cares as little about Mormons and Mormonism as one that has never heard the names, notwithstanding that thousands of the followers of his father believe him to be a great high priest, a prophet and seer (in embryo) &c. He knows that they worship his name equal to that of Jesus Christ; and yet, I am told, the lad is too intelligent to allow it to make any impression upon him. Probably the fact of all of the family being unbelievers in it is the cause.

The following incident I learned from a gentleman residing at Nauvoo. That when Joe was killed in jail, some fifteen miles from his home, his wife took possession of his body, and, to prevent the rabble from getting it, they raised the floor of the dining room, and digging a grave, buried his remians there, where they still remain. The story, whether true or not, is generally believed in Nauvoo.


Notes: (forthcoming)

BEAUTIFUL! FEATURES ON MORMON POLYGAMY -- A Camp Floyd correspondent of the Boston Traveller, says that polygamy stalks abroad in [full view] of Judges of the U. S. Courts and the army. The young women of the territory are daily being married to grey-headed old men, that have already six, ten and twelve wives each, and a score or two of children. Your correspondent a short time since dined with a Mormon family in the vicinity of Springville, where there were seventeen children under the age of four years, the family consisted of ten wives, three of the number were sisters and nieces of the husband, a fourth niece, only thirteen years of age, openly boasted that she shortly was going to marry the same old blue beard.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Drowned.

L. E. Johnson, the landlord of the Prairie Hotel, was accidently drowned night before last. He was in a sleigh with others, when it went through an air-hole in the ice of the Mississippi.


Note: Lyman E. Johnson was a member of the 1834 "Zion's Camp" paramilitary expedition to Missouri. He was also one of the first Mormon "Twelve Apostles." In 1837 or early 1838 he separated from the LDS Church and remained out of fellowship with that group until his untimely death on Dec. 20, 1859. See also the Courier of March 8, 1860.

LOCAL.
_____

Found the body of E. L. [sic] Johnson the late proprietor of the Prairie Hotel, who was drowned by breaking through the ice last winter, has been recovered."


Note: Mark L. Staker adds: "He [former Apostle Lyman E. Johnson] was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Prairie du Chien with a Masonic emblem at the top of the headstone. The stone reads: 'Drowned in the Mississippi River Dec. 20 1859, Aged 46 Years.'"

ITEMS.
_____

The number of Mormons in Utah is put down at 38,000. Of these 4,672 men have 26,500 wives...

The widow of Morgan, of anti-masonic notoriety, died recently near Memphis, Tenn. She had married the second time...


Note: Lucinda Morgan Harris Smith lived in Memphis Tennessee during her final years. She reportedly joined the Catholic Sisters of Charity and for a time worked in Memphis' Leah Asylum. According to Todd Compton's 2001 In Sacred Loneliness, Lucinda (b. 1801) became the plural wife of Joseph Smith, jr., at Far West in February or March of 1838. Compton does not give the date of her death, but some reports say that she passed away in 1856, in Memphis, Tennessee, at the home of her daughter, Lucinda Wesley Smith, wife of David Bates Smith.

A  DIVISION  IN  THE  MORMON  CHURCH.
_______

A Letter from Joseph Smith, leader of the Mormon Opposition
to Brigham Young, Defining his Creed, Etc.
_______

(view original article from Chicago paper)

 

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  MARRIAGE.
______

The Doctrine of their Bible Reviewed by a Gentile

(From the Salt Lake Tribune.)

It is a cardinal point in Mormon, as in other theologies, that without repentance there is no remission of sin. In the Book of Mormon, the argument is that if mercy were allowed to rob justice, and to pardon the sinner without repentance. "God would cease to be God." This doctrine is plainly stated in the Book of Mormon, page 322.

"According to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on condition of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so God would cease to be God."

We are further taught in the Revelation on Celestial Marriage:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall counsel any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder, wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God."

In the Book of Mormon, page 177, we read:

"But behold, and fear and tremble before God; for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him, and die in their sins; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection. Therefore had yet not ought to tremble! For salvation cometh to none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim."

In the Revelation on Celestial Marriage we find this further doctrine:

"If a man marry a wife by my word; which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood * * * * if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder, whereby to shed innocent blood, * * * they shall pass by the angels, and the Gods which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be Gods, because they have no end, therefore they shall be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be Gods, because they have all power and the angels are subject unto them. Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye abide my law, ye cannot attain to this glory. This is eternal lives [sic], to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. I am he. Receive ye therefore my law."."

The old serpent shows his brazen crest in that word, "wise." Jesus taught us, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has seen." But according to this Latter-day dispensation, "eternal lives" is endless propagation.

Without ever having repented of their sins, then, "if a man marries a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise," if the commit any sin whatever -- murder excepted, "whereby they shed innocent blood" -- they may come first in the resurrection and enter into their exaltation. With their sins unremitted they can enter into their exaltation (according to the teaching of the so-called revelation on celestial marriage) if they have only been "sealed up to this glory" by "him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of the priesthood."

If Mormonism should ever decide to abandon the practice of pluralizing it would still hold, in the sealing prerogative of its priesthood, a more than Roman Catholic claim and power of exclusiveness in controlling the marital relations of its devotees. This is shown in some utterances of Joseph Smith in March [1844], and printed in the Deseret News June 10-17, 1857, as follows:

"I will make every doctrine plain that I present, and it shall stand upon a firm basis, and I am at the defiance of the world, for I will take shelter under the broad cover of the wings of the work in which I am engaged. It matters not to me if all hell boils over; I regard it only as I would the crackling of the thorns under a pot. * * * what you seal on earth, by the keys of Elijah, is sealed in heaven; and this is the power of Elijah. * * * The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God * * * Again, the doctrine or sealing power of Elijah is as follows: If you have power to seal on earth and in heaven, then we should be crafty; the first thing you do, go and seal on earth your sons and daughters to yourself, and yourself unto your fathers in eternal glory, and go ahead, and not go back, but use a little craftiness, and seal all you can; and when you get to heaven tell your Father that what you [sealed] on earth should be [sealed] in heaven, according to his promise. I will walk through the gate of heaven and claim what I seal, and those that follow me and my counsel. The Lord once told me that what I asked for I should have, etc."

At the April conference, 1844 (about ten weeks before he was killed,) the prophet Joseph gave utterance to the following blasphemy (Deseret News, July 15, 1857):

"God made Aaron to be a mouth piece for the children of Israel, and He'll make me be God to you in His stead, and the Elders to be mouth for me; if you don't like it, you must lump it."

The sealing idea (irrespective of pluralizing), could not have originated from Joseph Smith, but with Rigdon. Of course polygamy was its natural fruit. A careful reading of the so-called revelation of Celestial Marriage shows the two heads and hands, and the two ideas -- the celestial and the patriarchal, which later may be interpreted the carnal and polygamic. We may be sure that Rigdon would never have bestowed upon his prophet the sole keys of this tremendous sealing power; and Smith's claiming them, was undoubtedly the rock of offense upon which the pair split.

Upon comparison it is seen that the promises offered in the so-called revelation on Celestial Marriage are couched in similar terms and evidently come from the same source as the promise of the serpent to our first parents in the garden:

"And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then shall your eyes be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good from evil."

In a second and greater fall, it would be strange, indeed, if the devil should not reveal himself, but in a way so subtle and plausible and cunning as to deceive even the very elect.


Note: The above article appears to have been written by James T. Cobb, the well-known anti-Mormon columnist who supplied numerous items for the Salt Lake Tribune during 1879 and 1880. The "Mormon Marriage" article attracted unusual interest among readers at a distance. Besides being reprinted by the Minnesota Standard, the article also appeared in the April 23, 1880 issue of the North Dakota Bismarck Tribune and in other papers.