INTERESTING  FROM  THE  SALT  LAKE.

The Difficulty Between the Mormons and Missourians
California Emigrants -- New Mormon Colony -- Pawnee Treaty.

(under construction)

 


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMONS  ON  THE  MOUNTAINS.

Terrible Snow Storm -- Loss of Sixty Cattle -- No Deaths among the Saints.

(under construction)

... Report from Muddy Fork, Oct.18. They crossed the Rocky Ridge, near the summit of the South Pass, with the Wind River chain of mountains on thew north, when it began to snow, etc. Mentions Sweetwater... [Leaders include] E. T. Benson & Capt. Richards...  


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Worcester Fanatics -- Progress of Socialism, Abolition, and Infidelity. It has been known ever since Fourier, Brisbane, and Greeley first promulgated their social theories, that society is all wrong. It is known also that their attempts to reform it have signally failed...

But all of these expedients have been found to be mere palliatives, while a radical reform of society has been the great object of the philosophers, Fourier, Brisbane, Greeley, Big Thunder, Combe, Fowler, Collyer and the Model Artists, the Rochester knockers, and Davis, with his revelations, all having failed, all having proved unsatisfactory, tried separately, what next is to be done? Try them all together.

Here we come into broad, open smooth water. Here the daylight of discovery breaks in upon us as the first glimpse of the great Salt Lake broke upon the Mormons. Here we unbuckle our traps, and go straight to work in shovelling up the gold dust. The old Syracuse engineer jumped up in his nether garment, and shouted "Eureka," and Grubby Greeley answers Abby Kelly at Worcester, with "Eureka." We have got it. Got what? The philosopher's stone--the key to the millenium -- the one thing needful -- the schedule of the final reformation. The Lord be praised.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Mormonism and Its Increase.

We have received by regular mail, accounts from the Great Salt Lake, Deseret, to the 19th of April, contained in the journal printed there, called the Deseret News, No. 31, published half monthly, by W. Richards. It is filled with the minutes of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints, otherwise called Mormons; also, several epistles to the faithful -- clear accounts of the weather -- the political movements of the territory -- interspersed with articles on the value of manure and the growth of beets, advertisements, ordinations, lists of letters, notices, removals, &c., &c. -- all indicating a settled community, under a stable government, influenced by the new religion, and superintended by the general government.

The stride which the Mormons have made in this country is wonderful, and certainly is deserving of some attention. Mormonism, as a sect, originated in this State about 1830, or twenty years ago -- thence passed to Ohio and Missouri, thence to Illinois, and finally settled down in the Salt Lake country, where it appears to be firmly established, and whence it numbers its adherents and devotees by thousands. It was composed of but very few when it was first started; but within a comparatively short time it has made remarkable progress. It has extended its operations, and instead of being confined to one place, it has spread itself to different parts of the country. Its principal resting place, however, is at Salt Lake, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, a region which possesses vast agricultral and mineral resources, and is, in many respects, similar to Palestine, in the Holy Land. The increase of the Mormons in that place is remarkable, and, if they go on at the same rate, they will, before many years, be a powerful and influential sect. The communities which they have established in the Northwestern States do not exhibit the same increase, nor the same degree of order, quiet, and respectability, as that of the Salt Lake does. Beaver Island has recently been made notorious in consequence of the gross superstition and villainy of some of the "saints" as they call themselves, who are placed in the position of rulers; but when the wheat is sifted from the chaff there, and the villains are excommunicated, the community will, no doubt, recover its character, and Mormonism will be increased there, and in other parts of the Northwest, and similar regions

The rise and progress of Mormonism in this country presents a singular phenomenon in religious fanaticism, blended with common sense and industrious habits. They show that a revolution is at work in the human mind on the subject of religion, of which they are only a part. It will astonish some of our readers when we inform them that Mormonism has, in this age of boasted intelligence, made more rapid progress, and has more adherents, than Christianity had in the same number of years. The foundation of their faith is a book called the Mormon Bible, a work written by a man of genius, in his hours of leisure, in the same vein, and in much the same language as is used in the Old Testament. It is nothing, in fact, but a religious novel, professing to narrate the wanderings of one of the family mentioned in the Pentateuch. This book of fancy passed into the hands of the celebrated Joe Smith, who was shot in a row in Illinois, The "prophet," as he is termed by his followers, came from Canandaigua, in this State, where he first promulgated the new religion. From Canandaigua he went to Ohio, thence to Missouri -- then to Illinois, where he met his death in the manner stated. He and his followers in Nauvoo became obnoxious to the people of Illinois, a disturbance ensued, the blood of the saints was shed, and Joe Smith was killed.

Finding no resting place in civilized parts of the country, the Mormons at length settled down in the remote Salt Lake country. Since they went there, and since the discovery of the gold mines in California, they have risen to great power -- increased their numbers to an amazing extent; have a territorial government, organized under the authority of the United States, and possess the seeds of further strength and power to an unlimited extent. In many respects, the progress and career of the Mormons resemble those of the Methodists under Wesley and Whitfield, and the probability is that they will go on increasing, until they become one of the leading religious sects of the country, and of the world. At present they are characterised by too much bigotry; but they will become more liberal, no doubt, in course of time, and be as numerous as any other Christian sect.


Notes: (forthcoming)

INTERESTING FROM THE GREAT SALT LAKE.

MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR BRIGHAM YOUNG -- GENERAL EPISTLE
OF THE MORMON CHURCH -- THE CONFERENCE OF THE SEVENTIES.

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMON  COLONY, BEAVER  ISLAND.

(under construction)

 


Note: The above article contains a description of James J. Strang's Mormon colony at the head of Lake Michigan. The text will be added when a full copy of the article becomes available.

HIGHLY IMPORTANT AND EXTRAORDINARY

DEVELOPMENT  OF  MORMONISM.

Report of the Judges of Utah Territory to the President
Polygamy and Religion Revived in the West.

To HIS EXCELLENCY MILLARD FILLMORE,
            PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES --

SIR -- It becomes our duty, as officers of the United States for the territory of Utah, to inform your Excellency that we have been compelled to withdraw from the territory, and our official duties, in consequence of the lawless acts and the hostile and seditious feelings and sentiments manifested by Brigham Young, the Governor, and the great body of the residents there, towards the government and officers of the United States, in aspersions and denunciations so violent and offensive as to render the discharge of our official duries not only dangerous, but impractical, and a longer residence in the territory, in our jusgements, incompatible with a proper sense of self-respect, and the high regard which is due to the United States...

We deem it our duty to state, in this official communication, that polygamy, or "plurality of wives is openly avowed and practised in the territory, under the sanction and in obedience to the direct commands of the church." So universal is this practice, that very few, if any, leading men in that community can be found who have not more than one wife each, which creates a monopoly, and which was pecuilarly hard upon the officers sent to reside there. The prominent men in the church, whose example in all things it is the ambition of the more humble to imitate have each many wives, some of them, we are credibly informed and beieve, as many as twenty or thirty and Brigham Young, the Governor, even a greater number. Only a few days before we left the territory, the Governor was seen riding through the streets of the city in an omnibus, with a large company of his wives, more than two-thirds of whom had infants in their arms -- a sure sign that the evil is oncreasing. It is not uncommon to find two or more sisters married to the same man; and in one instance, at least, a mother and her two daughters are among the wives of a leading member of the church. This practice, regarded and punished as a high and revolting crime in all civilized countries, would, of course, never be made a statutory offence by a Mormon Legislature; and if a crime at common-law, the court would be powerless to correct the evil with Mormon juries. The City of the Great Salt Lake, is an important point in the overland route to Oregon and California for the emigrant to replenish his stores, or to winter if overtaken by the advance of the season; but the intimidation which is produced by the denunciations and conduct...
(under construction)


Note: See also: House Executive Document, 32d Congress 1st Session, No. 25, "Utah: Message from the President... Jan. 9, 1852," pp. 8-22, (quoted in Spiritual-Wife Doctrine of the Mormons. Report of the Judges of Utah Territory. Cheltenham, England, 1852).

INTELLIGENCE  FROM  UTAH.

Improvements of the Mormons at Great Salt Lake.

We have received intelligence from Utah, with news to the 15th November. The Deseret News, published at Great Salt Lake City, contains an account of the present state of affairs among the Mormons at that and neighboring settlements...

---

Expulsion of U. S. Officers from Utah.

The United States officers who returned from Utah, have stated that persons were expelled from the territory if they became obnoxious to the censure of the Mormon authorities. The following is a copy of an editorial article in the News, in relation to a regularly licensed trader, who it seems was not well regarded by the saints... . (under construction)


Notes: (forthcoming)

                                            Washington, D. C..
                                            April ?, 1852.

To the New York Herald.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT, ESQ.

Sir: -- I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is a great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all the evil that can be spoken of them...

I will begin with the original and beginning of our troubles, found, to my mind, in the notion that, unlike other populous communities, we are not fit, or have not the right, to furnish our own rulers.... At the very outset of our national career, we had to have strangers sent to govern us. Who of worth and standing at home would venture out to Our distant and undescribed country? Accordingly, the offices went begging among all the small-fry politicians who could be suspected of being fit to fill them. And (as I have heard, after sundry nominations were refused) the following were picked up: --

No. 1. -- A Mr. Brandebury, who brought his recommendation, saying he had studied law in the office of a Pennsylvania county-court lawyer renowned for successful high and lofty tumbling in the support of the United States Bank through a bloodless civil war, but who, in every other respect, exaggerated the recommendation of a Presidential candidate, of being perfectly and entirely unknown.

No. 2. -- Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio, a lawyer practicing in the interior of that State -- qualifications rather ahead of the others -- willing to come out probably, having kinsfolk among us.

No. 8. -- Mr. P. E. Brocchus, of Alabama, of whom I have again to speak -- character unknown, I hope, to the President -- in the lower purlieus of the District of Columbia by no means entitled to that recommendation.

No. 4. -- B. D. Harris, a smart youngster -- from a Vermont printing office, I think -- for Secretary.

And for Indian Agent, No. S, a lazy little fellow named Day -- with half the head of a Yankee, for he was all the time thinking of a '`trade," and half the heart of a woman, for he would have run from a squaw....

The first we knew of our becoming a Territory was the account of the passage, September, 1850, of the law organizing Utah, which reached us before the year was out. Nothing could exceed the clamorous joy of our citizens at learning that they were thus invited into the family party by their brethren of the Union. Our national flags went up, hailed by huzzas, all over the settlement, and when we hoisted our large one on the liberty pole at Temple Block, in Great Salt Lake City, the artillery saluted it with one hundred rounds, rammed home.

The first actual appearance among us, by personal representative, of the government majesty of the United States, was the arrival of No. 1, as above, which came as much as half a year after (the 7th of June, I think), with a limited amount of personal luggage, including one remarkably large black umbrella, and put up at a boarding house on the outskirts of the town, resorted to by traders and carriers passing through the settlement. We welcomed this from our hearts. We did not fire the cannon at it, having saved this honor for our country's standard, or its enemies Nor did we attend to appearances as well as the French, who made ready for their king by putting white kid gloves on the guide posts' fingers, and a clean cambric ruffled shirt and silk stockings on the body of a criminal hanging in irons. Our means, after all, were limited; but we cordially did our best. As it was the Chief Justice, numbers of us paid him our respects; and, though our calls were not returned, proceeded to get up, after our custom, a Ball in his honor....

We had not unmixed cause to be pleased with our new officials. Their speech and conduct, somehow, from the first, created and spread the impression that they wanted to get extra advantage out of us. They complained, not without reason, of the lowness of their salaries; and it was intimated to some that a vote, by ourselves, of a certain increase would be agreeable. They would not organize court, or go to work, but -- an ill example to our youth -- lived indolent together in their boarding houses, day after day -- the only utterly idle persons in our whole community. Yet, at the same time, they assumed airs and graces, and various manners of condescension and superiority; in which, rest assured, they made a very great mistake. It is an error, the prevalent opinion that we all cleanse the nasal orifice with the big toe, and make tea with holy water. We have among us women who play on the piano and mix French with their talk, and men who like tight boots, and who think more of the grammar than the meaning of what they are saying; and who would ask nothing better than to be fed by other people for squaring circles and writing dead languages all their lives -- albeit we would not give one good gunsmith's apprentice for the whole of them. And, though we are all out-and-out democrats, in spirit and in substance, we have plenty of the hard-to-comb curly-pates of people, of whom the saying is true, that we "have seen better days"; so that if there is any thing we can do, it is to take the measure of sham, half-cut pretensions, and write down their figures. There was one personal infirmity of Judge Brandebury, I am sure, was as much remarked upon with us as it could be anywhere -- even the boarding-house folks were not content with it.

    Affect in things about thee cleanliness,
    That all may gladly board thee as a fewer.

May I hope your readers understand? You see, with our score of spring streams rushing through the city plat, our fresh water lakes, our hot springs, baths and Jordan river, more cleansing than Abana and Pharphar rivers of Damascus -- we think so much of washing -- And soap is not very dear with us either. And we read the scriptures, including Zechariah iii., 8 and 4, where we are taught that the angel would not speak with Joshua before he changed his linen. -- And; whistle! that shirt the Judge had on at our 24th of July celebration, where we did our best to make a dignity figure of him, was the greatest -- it came about as near to being the great unwashed -- considering there were ladies present, it was on the whole, I may say, the most Disrespectful Shirt, ever seen at a celebration. The Judge never stirred out without his big umbrella, not so much to keep the sun off, as to hide out people, no account of his being shy; but, after, this, whenever he was seen dragging about under it, it used to be the joke that he was afraid of rain water getting in on to that shirt. But, of course, no notice was taken of such trifles; and everything went on smooth and glassy as the pool of indolence itself, till after the 17th day of August. -- This day, arrived out from the States, Mr. P. E. Brocchus, and in one short six weeks after that this man staid among us, he was the means of stirring up all the evil report that we have had since to encounter....

To our people at Kanesville, where he stopped for other purposes than outfitting, he proclaimed his intention of running as delegate to Congress. He provided intoxicating liquors gratuitously to those in his company who would listen to his discourse on this subject. He said it was his only purpose in going out to Utah; and that, his election secured, he should return at once. He alluded darkly to dangers impending over us at Washington that only he could avert, and declared that he had come out to enable him to be our saviour. Thus he spoke and electioneered with the people of the train till he met a return company, who conveyed intelligence to the States of the election of Dr. John M. Bernhisel. His tone then changed. As soon as he arrived, he announced his intention of returning to the States. He said he was sick, and supported the character in the eyes of his fellow-lodgers by eating enormously, without taking any outdoor exercise. He was hale and busy enough, to our cost He must have obtained his influence over the others almost immediately after his arrival. They soon removed to the boarding house in which he was quartered; and there evidently, as we think we can see now, concerted their schemes and courses of molestation and mischief. We heard now distinctly more of discontent and dissatisfaction, and more of the insufficient compensation and the rest....

One day Brocchus reminded the Governor that he was going away very soon, and asked him to do him the favor of procuring him as large an audience of the people as possible, as he was very anxious to set before them in style the claims of the Washington monument fund. I do not know how he made out his case; but, as he was always specious and smiling, the Governor, willing to show him a pleasure, said, "I V ill invite you, sir, to speak at our approaching conference. It is a religious meeting, I suppose you are aware; but I wish well to your cause." One of the first buildings we ever raised at Salt Lake, was our Bowery, or gallery of rough timber and wattles, for public assemblies. Around it then was all naked ground, though it now stands in the heart of the business part of the city. Our semi-annual conferences have always met in it; and our Fall one assembling here by stated appointment, September the 6th; at its opening day, a handsome representation of the people from all quarters being in attendance, Governor Young took the first opportunity of fulfilling his promise "I was respectfully and honorably introduced'" says the published statement of Judge Brocchus....

I am certain no one of his acquaintance at Salt Lake City was prepared for such a speech as he made on this occasion. In its way it beat Brandebury's shirt. I would give a hundred dollars for the sake of our cause, to have had a phonographer to take down the stupendous effort. I can only now profess to remember a few points of it, recalled to my memory by the use that has been made of them since. He began by stating that he had read our history with deep interest, particularly that part relating to our sufferings in winter quarters, on the Missouri River, during the severe winter of '47. I intended to have visited winter quarters, he said, but, alas, was not able. A friend of mine brought me these flowers; here they are; it is all I can present you of that sainted place! At this sympathetic display he forced a tear, and, the careless observer would have said, wiped it from his cheek, but Deseret eyes saw the handkerchief pass to the right and left, while the tear remained on the cheek by an overcast of the head. His reception was next referred to. I was a stranger and you took me in; sick, and you visited me, &c. Even a kind lady brushed the flies from my forehead; her kindness I can never forget. -- Another tear was forthcoming, and wiped as before. Twenty minutes of this sort of thing quite naturally introduced the consideration of his personal merits. In the course of an able and flattering autobiography, he displayed all his advantages of experience and public service in important imaginary capacities. This sort of thing took up an hour more, by which the patience of the company was pretty nearly worn out, though they remained quiet. "For more than two hours," he writes, "I was favored with the unwavering attention of my audience."

But a changed tone then came on him, with a change of subject. He began a studied assault upon his introducer, Governor Young, and an argument to the people against allowing the man so much influence as he possessed, the sum of it being that so long as this continued we would have no party divisions, and without party divisions we could not be a worthy object of the notice or favor of politicians. Soon, however he found he could do nothing on this head. "Oh ladies, sweet ladies," he cried, "why do you 'go in' for such a man? Your smiles should be turned on the contemplation of men who can handle the sword -- George Washington, and Zachary Taylor, the second Washington. Oh, Governor Young can't handle a sword!" Even such soft appeals as this were thrown away. From bad to worse, disapprobation rose till the orator was groaned. He tried a few insinuations more, and was groaned again, groaned with a will. At this, instead of taking his seat, he changed his ground, and made a direct and undisguised attack upon the audience itself, men and women, without distinction, accusing them of want of patriotism and attachment to the laws, and reproaching and insulting them to their face. General D. H. Wells, of Illinois, an impulsive and hot spoken man, but I am bound to say one of our most liberal and public spirited citizens, had delivered an oration on the 24th of July, severely condemning the course of the federal government towards us. Producing an imperfect report of this speech and commenting on it, Brocchus proceeded to attribute its sentiments to the people, and make them answerable for it, thereupon threatening them with destruction by the whole army and navy of the United States. In the same way he brought up remarks of Governor Young upon General Taylor, threatening the people with destruction for them also, and declaring that his (Brocchus's) influence should break him from office, the instant he arrived in Washington. Finally, the women hissing him here, he mentioned Washington, for the first time in connection with the monument, and as if merely incidentally. "It reminds me, by the way," he said, "that I have commission from the Washington Monument Association, to ask of you (the ladies) a block of marble, as the test of your citizenship and loyalty to the government of the United States. But in order for you to do it acceptably, you must become virtuous, and teach your daughters to become virtuous, or your offering had better remain in the bosom of your native mountains."

At this climax of insult, the meeting rose as one man, and their cries and uproar compelled the speaker to take his seat. The tumult continuing, we looked to the other officers of the United States, who had been

invited to the stand, to reply; but, as they failed to do so, the Governor being loudly called for, rose and spoke in substance (for I cannot imitate or remember successfully his peculiar style), as follows: -- "But for this man's personalities, I would be ashamed not to leave him to be answered by some of our small spouters -- sticks of his own timber. Such an orator, I should suppose, might be made by down-east patent, with Comstock's phonetics and elocution primers; but, I ask you all; have we ever before listened to such trash and nonsense from this stand? Are you a Judge, (he said, turning to him), and can't even talk like a lawyer, or a politician, and haven't read an American school history? Be ashamed, you illiterate ranter, (said he), not to know your Washington better than to praise him for being a mere brutal warrior. Washington was called first in war; but he was first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. He had a big head and a great heart. Of course, he could fight. But, Lord! What man can't? What man here will dare to say, with women standing by, that he is a bit more a coward than Washington was? Handle a sword! I can handle a sword as well as George Washington. I'd be ashamed to say I couldn't. But you, standing there, white and shaking now, at the hornets'-nest you have stirred up yourself -- you are a coward; and that is why you have cause to praise men that are not; and why you praise Zachary Taylor. President Taylor you can't praise -- you find nothing in him. Old General Taylor! what was he? -- a mere soldier, with regular army-buttons on; no better to go at the head of brave troops than a dozen I could pick up between Leavenworth and Laramie. And, for one, Ill not have Washington insulted by having him compared to Taylor, for a single breath of speech. No, nor what is more, President and General Andrew Jackson crowed down and forgotten, while I am with this people even if I did not know that one is in one place (of punishment), and the other in another (of reward)." Brigham Young spoke this out of his knowledge by the priesthood.

"What's the meaning," continued the Governor, but more at large than I can give it here, "what's the meaning of this insult of our patriotism? Is it the place of miserable vermin that feed upon its sacred body, to teach us the value of the Union? Sense enough you have to see we are bound to be its best friends. But you shall not go home to say you were never told so. Against the Union, are we? We want to have Saint Francisco on one side of us, and Saint Louis on the other, fighting and scratching like any other two saints of different denominations, do we? And the tax on the foreign goods we use isn't enough, to be sure, but we must want to pay one set of duties at a custom-house in New York

or New Orleans, and then another at Jefferson City, may be, and an. other set again at Council Bluffs. That will help us, won't it? No, Sir. we're not nailed to North or South, or any other point of the compass here. We have come out from the North and South as well as East and West, and we want our old States to stick together, because we intend to stick to the whole of them. And we are just the very people to know what tomfool's nonsense it is, the notion of a minority that expects to get into a tight place, going off for safety into close partnership with its next neighbors. Who does not know that there is more bother with a quarrel some neighbor than with a dozen that live further off. And what is a man's chance if, with a neighbor on each side of him, bent upon mischief, he has no other neighbors to help him keep them straight? It is just the same with States. Let the devil of persecution get abroad against any single one of them, as it did against us at home, and let it be Georgia or Illinois on one side, and North Carolina and Tennessee, or Missouri and Iowa on the other, all ready to join, if one is not enough, to put Charleston or Nauvoo down -- and where is Charleston' or South Carolina either, going to be, if she hasn't then one outsider to help her? Now, tell all this, when you return, to some of your folks in Alabama, where you say you belong; -- though' if you tell them instead' the Mormons want to get up a union with Selkirk's Settlement, or the Hudson Fur Company, or be annexed by the Mexican half-breeds, or the Indians, (say the Crows, or the Blackfeet, or the Snakes), I know they'd rather believe it. -- Snake stories are about all they will believe of the Mormons!" After defining very fully his views after this wise, the Governor concluded, I remember, about as follows: -- "What you have not been afraid to intimate about our morals, I will not stoop to notice, except to make my particular personal request of every brother and husband present, not to give your back what such impudence deserves. You talk of things 'you have on hearsay,' since your coming among us. I,11 talk of hearsay then -- the hearsay that you are discontented and will go home, because we cannot make it worth your while to stay. What it would satisfy you to get out of us I think it would be hard to tell; but I am sure it is more than you'll get. If you or any one else is such a baby-calf, we must sugar your soap to coax you to wash yourself of Saturday nights: go home to mammy straight away, and the sooner the better!"

This is the whole of Governor Young's speech, of which so much to-do has been made. What to make of the strange speech of Brocchus, to this day I am not clear....

We could not go on with the church business after the disgraceful occurrence, and our meeting had to be dismissed and dispersed

After the Brocchus outrage, the story of the misconduct of other officers is Soon related. First, we found out, to our astonishment, that neither Brandebury nor Harris were at pains to condemn or disavow his course. Soon we were threatened that Harris would return with Brocchus; not long after we heard the same ill of Brandebury, and soon after this... their purpose of doing so was formally announced to us, The Governor, upon this, fearing they might be as good as their word, and leave the territory to legal anarchy' called a special session of the Legislature to consider of the exigency There was a rupture at once. They would not communicate with that body or notice its existence. The Assembly passed a joint resolution directing the United States Marshal to take into his custody the papers, seals and funds of the Secretary, as about to abscond. He disregarded it, and applying to Judge Brandebury, who, for this special purpose, constituted a United States Court for the first time, obtained an injunction on the marshal against interfering with him. The two houses passing also a resolution directing an order to be drawn for $500 on account of mileage, stationery, &c., out of the $24,000 placed in the Secretary's hands for such expenses; he refused to accept it, and on the contrary, wrote them back an insulting letter, in which he pronounced his (the Secretary's) opinion that they were illegally elected and constituted. This letter, dated September 25, came to the Assembly next day, or Friday, Sept. 26. What they would have done, or what would have been the course of their debates it would be hard to say. But the officers, as if they feared the Assembly really might take the Secretary's objections for more than they were worth, and resign and be reconstituted, which could have been done in a week -- the next thing we knew, they were off -- Sunday morning, bright and early, September 28, A.D., 1851....

I have concluded my narrative. How far it contains cause of offence, perhaps, I am unable to see; but I am sure it will surprise every one that has perused it, to know that, wretched stitching together of trivialities as it appears, it covers the whole ground of the charges made against us....

I am your very obedient servant,
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.


Note 1: Late in 1851 four of the federal officials appointed to the Territorial Government in Utah, left the territory and returned to Washington. In a Dec. 19, 1851 letter, these officials complained to President Millard Fillmore of open polygamy being practiced in Utah, and said that the Mormon Church was "overshadowing and controlling the opinions, the actions, the property, andÉ the lives of its members; usurping and exercising the functions of legislation and the judicial business of the Territory." The publicizing of the officials' negative report had an adverse effect on the Territory's image in the east, and Governor Brigham Young soon sent his Second Counselor, Jedediah M. Grant, to Washington, D. C. to bolster the Church's public image. Elder Grant was assisted by Thomas L. Kane in writing letters for publication, in which the Mormons and their leaders might be better presented to easterners. At least three such letters, headed "Truth for the Mormons," were submitted to the New York Herald, but Editor Bennett chose to reproduced only one of them in his paper.

Note 2: As to the charge of Mormons practicing polygamy in Utah, Elder Grant wrote to the Herald, "I pronounce it false." But he also added a revealing comment to his denial: "Suppose I should admit it at once? Whose business is it? Does the constitution forbid it?" Unfortunately this particular passage occurs in one of the 1852 Grant letters that Editor Bennett chose not to reproduce in the columns of the Herald.

THE  MORMON  EMPIRE.
________

THE VERY LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

The news from Great Salt Lake City, the chief place of the Mormon Empire, is to the 8th Feb. We received, several days ago, the Deseret News and private advices to that date. We have already given the leading points of these accounts in the New York Herald... . (under construction)


Notes: (forthcoming)

AFFAIRS  OF  THE  MORMONS.
________

Interesting Letters from the Fathers and Elders of the Church
________

The Trouble with the Government Officers.

                                            Great Salt Lake City.
                                            Utah Terrirtory, May 1, 1852.

James Gordon Bennett, Esq. --

In the Herald of the 9th March, in your comments upon General Grant's reply to the "flying court," or "Babes in the Woods," late of Utah, I see you sagaciously say the Latter Day Saints must "make up their minds to submission to the federal authorities, and come down to the established arrangement of one wife at a time, or abide the consequences of the higher law." -- Now, sir, in all deference to your unique opinion, permit me to dissent, because the constitution has no power over religion, neither has Utah's Congress; "the federal authorities" have no control over morality -- that belongs to the good old book, the word of the Lord, and you know that God allowed any good man, such as Abraham, Jacob, Gideon, David, Solomon, and hundreds of others, a plurality of wives. 'Praise ye the Lord,' and unless all christendom shall, by their 'sacredotal clergy,' petition Jehovah, and repeal king James' repugnant, and as I believe. 'wonderful wiving law,' we shall, as a religious community, hold on to our rights, guarenteed by the constitution & revelation. It is just as virtuous, just as holy, and just as wise, for the Mormons to obey the Scriptures now, as in the days of Moses or Jesus; for Jesus said, 'suffer little childrem and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'

You know also, that among other great promises to the Latter Day Saints, an 'hundred fold of mothers and children' is promised. You could not have the children, unless you had the wives, [and] mothers, to bear them. Some of the old prophets sais 'seven women should take hold of one man,' &c. but I think it is no where said that seven men should take hold of one woman, as it is somewhat fashionable among the elite of many nations.

If you have not received a communication from Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, on the plurality of wives, being a dialogue between Bogus-bus, and the king's fool, call on him for it, and let the people have it, and I think your own wife system will sing as small as our racing Gilipons, or, 'dirty cotton court.' Of two evils, a Mormon chooses neither, but goes in for all good and more good, which, if as Solomon said, a good wife is a good thing, then the more you have the more good you have; so that when suffering female kind, over the great globe, are acquainted with the fact, that, "the daughters of kings are among the Lord's honorable wives in heaven," (Psalm 45,) and on the right hand the queen in gold of Ophir, you will hear of more honorable women clinging to the priesthood [than] you ever thought of, or a narrow contracted christian clergy, drove into corruption by night closetings, because their deeds are evil.

Brother Gordon, look into my almanac for this year, and on the 22d page you will observe an account of the 'Eternal Mother,' -- and on the 37th, 'The Philosophy of the Heavens.' Try a little of the Mormon classics. I go in for Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and any other language which conveys truth. Should you get the communication I mentioned above, I think that what I have written will do for you and I and others, to circulate that the constitution of the United States, actually allows men and women to love, get and do all the good they can from the Bible, from the Book of Mormon, from the world, and even from one another. 'Praise ye the Lord.'

      Respectfully,         W. W. PHELPS.


Note: Such is the first Mormon attempt at justifying their long secret spiritual wifery. Even the patience and indulgent allowance Editor Bennett generally extended to the Utah Saints must have been taxed in his reading of this communication from "the King's Fool." Bennett's experience in New York journalism stretched back to his days at the National Advocate, when the William Morgan affair was a big story in the press of the Empire State. He was a contemporary of William W. Phelps in the business when Phelps started his anti-masonic Ontario Phoenix at Canandaigua. While Phelps joined the Mormons and "went west," Bennett remained in the east, giving voice to the pro-masonic cause and conducting some of the very first investigative reporting on the origin and rise of Mormonism. No doubt Bennett kept an eye on Phelps over the years, and watched with distaste the man's long, slow downhill slide into obsession and obscurity. After so many years of promulgating lies regarding their secret marital affairs, Phelps' professed love of all "language which conveys truth" must have struck Bennett as both pathetic and comical.

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

News from the Plains -- Mormons -- Salt Lake City.

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

 
(under construction)

... [quoting Brigham Young] "You must not think, from what I say, that I am opposed to slavery. No! The negro is damned, and is to serve his master till God chooses to remove the curse of Ham."


Note: Brigham Young expressed the LDS Church's doctrine concerning the Negro to John Gordon Bennett's arch-nemesis, abolitionist Horace Greeley, thusly in 1859: "H. G. -- What is the position of your church with respect to slavery? B. Y. -- We consider it of divine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants. H. G. -- Are any slaves now held in this territory? B. Y. -- There are."

 
(advocates Utah statehood, with polygamy -- under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

(under construction)

... As myself and Mr. E. K. Hanks are the last persons who have come to the States from Great Salt Lake City, I deem it may duty to bear testimony against the lying scribblers who seem to be doing their utmost to stir up a bad feeling against the Utonians. We left our home on the 11th of December, brought the last mail to the States, and certainly should know of the state of things there. The charges of Judge Drummond are as false as he is corrupt. Before I left for the States I was five days in every week in Great Salt Lake City, and I witness to all the world that I never heard one word of the burning of nine hundred volumes of law, records, etc., nor anything of that character, nor do I know, or every heard, of anything of the dumb-boy story he talks of....


Note: The above fragment of a letter from "Elder Little" is part of an article published in the Herald some time between April 15 and May 15, 1857.

 
(under construction)

... [the Mormons] do not confine themselves to sacred music. All the popular songs of the day -- English glees, negro melodies, and even sentimental ballads -- they bring into their service. Their hymns are for the most part sung to familiar "profane" airs....


Notes: (forthcoming)

INTERESTING  FROM  UTAH.

Arrival from Great Salt Lake City of the last Gentile Merchant -- His statement of the Morality of the Mormons -- Polygamy -- Death the Penalty of Seduction -- Treatment of Gentiles -- Federal Officers -- Charges of Murder -- Special Commissioners Expected -- No Preparations for Burning -- Mountain Retreat -- The Army of Defence -- Manufacturing Pistols and Gunpowder -- Colonel Johnson well watched -- Brigham in Business -- The Firm returns unconverted -- Great Emigration from California to Utah -- Indians Saucy and in Arms -- The Indian Chiefs on the War Question, &c.

Mr. Bell of the firm of Livingston, Kinkead & Co., of Great Salt Lake City, having arrived here within the last few days, direct via California and being the last of the "Gentiles" who left that Territory, our reporter sought an interview for the purpose of obtaining reliable information on matters and things generally in Mormondom, and submits the following as the substance of an interesting talk with that gentleman: --

Mr. B. went out to Utah with one of the principals of the firm, in 1849, for the purpose of establishing business relations with the inhabitants of that Territory. Being well received, they immediately opened store, and from that time till the 8th November last, with the exception of six months absence, Mr. B. has been a resident of Great Salt Lake city. From his long residence there, and the nature of his business, throwing him in contact daily with every class of citizens, probably no one who has been to Utah has had better opportunities of forming an opinion of that people, nor could speak with more certainty on the courses of their procedure.

MORALITY OF THE MORMONS.

Of a people as a community, he represents them honest, sober, and very industrious, fully convinced themselves that they are the people of God, and that Brigham is his Prophet. Notwithstanding there are plenty of persons in the Territory who are far from being ornamental to society or models worthy of imitation. Some of the rising generation are fond of a spree, fun and frolic, not over particular how they raise a shindy nor at whose expense they have it. Of this class there are a sprinkling who betimes forget the wholesome teachings of Father Matthew. With all their faults, admitting, he says the legality of polygamy there is, "taking them all in all," not a more moral community in the world than is to be found in Utah, nor indeed any so moral anywhere that he knows of.

POLYGAMY.

The "peculiar institution" is still in its infancy and some irregularities doubtless occur now and again. Some of the fair sex have not got sufficiently acquainted with the traces to run easy and will have their hours of sadness; but as a general thing, the "sisters" have as much faith in the righteousness and divinity of the principle of polygamy as the "brethren," and therewith are contented. "Scenes" that we outside barbarians would naturally expect are of very rare occurrence the patriarch seems to enjoy as much peace at home as the "bachelor" monogamist.

DEATH PENALTY OF SEDUCTION.

Prostitution or seduction is not tolerated in the Territory. Death is the penalty for adultery, for both parties. There have doubtless been transgressors who have escaped; but the non-execution of the law has been, probably more to avoid difficulty with the general government than from a want of will to carrry it through. Should the Mormons be able to assert their independence now, and become a separate people from the united states or become a sovereign state of the Union, the law against the adulterers will doubtless be honored in the observance.

TREATMENT OF GENTILES.

Outsiders or "Gentiles," have not been subjected to abuse or annoyance on account of negative faith in Mormonism. The troubles between the Gentiles and the Mormons have sprung from meddling unnecessarily and unwisely on the part of the former. Many had come to Utah with the idea that the new faith and "peculiar institution" were matters which everybody had a right to criticise, talk about, joke about, ridicule and oppose, and such have invariably got themselves into trouble; but others who have gone there and who have regarded Mormonism and polygamy as matters pertaining to the Mormons and attended to their own affairs, have lived in peace and been respected by the community. That a prejudice exists against Gentiles in general is very certain, but it has no practical results, if they mind their own business.

FEDERAL OFFICERS.

Mr. B. says that he has seen federal officers arrive and seen them leave. He has watched their proceedings but never took part for or against them there; and here he purposes to pursue the same course. Some federal officers were much respected by the Mormons; and they had always amicable intercourse with each other; hence he infers that all might have had the same experience. A federal officer who would go there without prejudice against the people and attend strictly to his own business would have no difficulties; but if he began to meddle with Mormonism; his peace was at an end. No name nor position could shelter him from the contempt of the community. If the Mormons were attacked and they decided on retaliation, they could make the place too hot for the comfort of the offender; and it is not at all unlikely that before the affair ended the sinned against would become the sinner.

Mr. B. thinks it is a pity that special commissions were not sent to Utah to investigate the charges preferred against the Mormons and those preferred by the latter against some of the United States officers. Much interesting information would have been gathered. The fact should not be concealed from the public that the commencement of difficulties has almost invariably sprung from personal matters -- not official.

CHARGES OF MURDER.

Mr. Bell has no doubt of the good faith of some of the recent officials in preferring charges against the Mormon leaders; but on such grave charges as those of those of the murder of Capt. Gunnison, of Col. Babbitt, and of poisoning Judge Shaver, preferred by Drummond, he considers it his duty to protest against the imputation of such crimes being laid at the door of the Mormons. There is no room for doubting the murder of the two former by the Indians far from the influence of the Mormons, and under circumstances which demonstrated that it was entirely an Indian affair. At Judge Shaver's death Mr. B. was called on the Coroner's jury, and there were no grounds for the insinuation of the Judge being poisoned by the Mormons, nor were any such thoughts expressed or entertained by any of the jury, or any person cognizant of the circumstances attending his death.

SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS EXPECTED.

The present position of Brigham Young and the inhabitants of the Territory is the consequence of the past difficulties with such persons as Drummond -- so they believe. They are therefore determined to oppose the approach of the army. Their labors heretofore have been confined solely to crippling and hindering its advance with a view to preventing the effusion of blood. Mr. B. had a lengthy interview with Brigham just previous to his departure and assures us that such was his explanation of the stampeding cattle &c. Brigham thinks that through the winter the government and Congress will have time to consider the matter thoroughly, and, if they wish, withdraw the troops and send in special commissioners. To an investigation, they would never have objected, and he thinks they will not even now object; but to an army entering their valleys under such circumstances, they will not consent; and sooner than the army should enter they will fight, and if overpowered burn all their possessions and take to the mountains. Some have thought Brigham's discourses were for effect outside of Utah, but our Informant thinks to the contrary, and considers that Brigham's works sustain his words.

NO PREPARATIONS FOR BURNING.

The people are devoid of fear touching the future. They are in hopes that there will be no fighting; but if it must come, that victory will perch on the banners of the Saints. Nothing has been done by way of preparation for the burning. Brigham has counseled the Saints in all the settlements to sow, plant, build and improve the same as usual, and he attends to his affairs as before.

MOUNTAIN RETREAT.

This going to the mountains has been learned from the Indians. The Mormons could never whip the indians when they retired to the mountains; so now that they are friendly, the red skins have taught their Mormon brethren mountain warfare and there are numerous places, as Brigham says, where they could retreat and no army could reach them. Echo kanyon, which is considered the gauntlet for Colonel Johnson's army, is really nothing compared with many kanyons leading out from Salt Lake Valley, beyond which the Mormons will doubtless take shelter.

THE ARMY OF DEFENCE.

Three thousand armed Mormons are in Echo kanyon, where they have plenty of timber for fuel and for building shanties; many of which they have erected for their comfort during the winter. It is not intended that they should at any time go out and have a fair stand up fight with the troops -- if war it must be, guerilla will be fashionable. The Mormon boys enjoy camp life and would play a good part at guerilla warfare. This trip to the mountains affords them opportunity of exhibiting their tact and willingness to serve the cause, without which many of them would have remained in the back ground for years to come and perhaps forever.

Lieutenant General Wells dons the cocked hat and plumes, gold epaulettes, gold tinsel fixings here and there, and stripes down the pants; the spurs also do something at glittering. His staff have their military ornamentations and cut quite a dashing appearance in the mountains. Several companies are regularly uniformed; but by far the greater portion of the army is in ordinary dress. The officers generally are in uniform.

MANUFACTURING PISTOLS AND GUNPOWDER.

Shortly before Mr. Bell's departure he visited the Armory, where mechanics were busy in the manufacture of revolvers. They were turning out Colt's holster revolvers at the rate of twenty per week. The Mormons were quite pleased with their manufacture of this article and consider it equal, at least, to Colt's. They have often tried unsuccessfully the manufacture of gunpowder, but they have now got over their difficulties. In October a powder manufacturing company was formed and an excellent sample of the article bad been presented to Brigham and met with his approval. Before they require it, in the spring, they will have it in abundance.

COL. JOHNSTON WELL WATCHED.

The commander of the expedition will not be able to steal a march upon them. Scouting parties are out in every direction. From the mountains round the west south sides of the camp of the expedition the Mormon scouts can see all that is going on without incurring risk. The redoubtable Porter Rockwell told Mr. Bell that he and his company stood on the Fort Hall mountains by the side of which Colonel Alexander was marching his command on the Fort Hall route,, and so near that they could have thrown rocks upon the troops passing. An express leaves the neighborhood of Bridger every evening with an account of the movements of the expedition during the day, and Brigham has it at his breakfast table the next morning, and everything of note is communicated to the people from his office.

BRIGHAM IN BUSINESS.

The firm had extensive business transactions with Brigham -- from first to last probably to the amount of $500,000. They speak of him as an honorable business man, whose word or honor cannot be questioned. An attempt had been made by some parties to trouble the Gentile stores, but immediately on the intelligence reaching Brigham, he and General Wells came and gathered all the information they could, and the following Sunday denounced from the stand the conduct of the offenders, and predictions have since been uttered against all who may be found guilty of stealing, even from the army.

THE FIRM RETURNS UNCONVERTED.

Mr. Bell reports that during his stay of nearly nine years among them he had no difficulty with the Mormons, though he was doubtless regarded as a full blooded Gentile, of whom they could entertain no hope, further than he might yet have the privilege of being boot black or teamster to some of his Utah acquaintance[s] in "The Kingdom to come." When the firm went in 1849 they told Brigham that they had come for business -- wished to have nothing to do with Mormonism, did not want it preached to them, and having stuck to their text they have returned to the States as great Gentiles as when they left for Zion.

GREAT EMIGRATION FROM CALIFORNIA.

Business arranged, our informant, with his lady and child, clerks of the store and others -- in all 16 men and 4 women -- left on the 8th November, by the southern route for California. They met the November mail 10 miles east of Rio Virgin, and with it seven wagons returning to Salt Lake from the lead mines, heavily loaded with precious lead for the "Army of Defence." How many wagons had been on the same errand our informant could not say, it is very probable that they were neither the first nor the last but it is very probable that they were neither the first nor the last.

Two days after, about the middle of the Rio Virgin, the company met five or six wagons with Mormon emigrants from San Bernardino, with horse and mule teams. They were well contented, happy and enthusiastic about going home to Zion. Two days after a larger company of Mormons from San Francisco was met with in a similar position and frame of mind, singing the songs of Zion's deliverance, by the way. On the Mohave river a company with 10 or 12 wagons was met. They had fine mule teams, and were from the upper country -- probably from the diggings. They had in addition to their teams a fine drove of 150 horses. Twenty miles on they met a company with 20 wagons, and came up on the same evening with a company and 15 or 18 wagons. Next evening, at the head of the Mohave river, they came upon several companies in camp with probably 20 wagons. The emigrants seemed well, and appeared a people who had been in comfortable circumstances. Their wagons were very heavily loaded with creature comforts and probably well supplied for the assistance of Zion, as the colony at San Bernardino was among the wealthy Mormons and at such a time the yellow metal is not expected to be tied in a napkin and hid in the ground. Every dime is to be consecrated to the purchase of redemption.

Mr. Bell's company passed next morning over the Sierra Nevada mountains with much difficulty, owing in a great measure to the large number of Mormon emigrants who were to be met with all the way from the mountains to San Bernardino. Probably there were from fifteen hundred to two thousand persons met with on this route. The whole settlement was in motion. Many who had been before luke warm and expected to apostatize surprised the Mormon authorities by selling out and taking the route for Salt Lake.

The call for the "Defence of Zion" has met with a vigorous response in the outside settlements, and the emigrants have taken the road with enthusiasm. The wrongs in Missouri and Illinois warms the blood of those who suffered there or lost relatives in the troubles in those States; in fact the present movement is not the labor of one man or of the leading men; it is the movement of the people. They think they have been trampled upon and that further submission to injustice would draw upon them the just indignation of Heaven.

INDIANS SAUCY AND IN ARMS.

This company was provided with passes, but notwithstanding had great difficulty to persuade "brother Kanosh," the Indian chief, that all was right. Kanosh was in excessive bad humor and his band very much excited. The poisoning of the springs of water causing the death of several Indians, is too true. Several of the California emigrants had been killed in retaliation but the Indians were far from being satiated in vengeance.

Brigham counselled the company to engage interpreters and get the assistance of the bishops in the neighborhood of the Indians, which was wholesome advice, for even with their assistance and Brigham's papers, Kanosh was no more than satisfied. Mr. Bell had frequently seen the Chief at Salt Lake and had been on shaking hands intimacy with him, but with it all, on this occasion, he was very cold and even suspected that Brigham's passes had been forged. They made him what presents of blankets, shirts, tobacco, &c., they could spare, and he escorted them for two days through the dangers of the road. Kanosh was dressed as a citizen but the band was clothed in Indian fashion. They were mounted on good horses, and had fine rifles in addition to their bow and arrows.

THE INDIAN CHIEF ON THE WAR QUESTION.

Kanosh had a word to say on the Utah difficulty. "Washington," said he, (meaning Mr. Buchanan,) "would not like Mormons and Indians to kill Americans; why should Washington send Americans to kill Mormons and Indians?" On Mr. B. assuring Kanosh that he would advise Washington to let Mormons and Indians, alone he seemed amazingly pleased and his services rendered, they parted in peace.

The heavy demand of two thousand dollars for the protection of that company on the trip from Great Salt Lake to Los Angeles, as reported by the Los Angeles Star was a mistake or misrepresentation; that figure was named as the cost of the trip. The interpreters charged high enough unquestionably; but they ought to be fairly represented. Mr. Bell reports a strong prejudice against the Mormons in California.

Mr. Bell found the Indians very favorably impressed towards religious people, or at least professors of religion. The Mormons had their services morning and evening and asked a blessing on their food before partaking. The other emigrants, who were strangers to this observance of the Mormons, were marked as "no good," and found the route to California a dangerous road to travel. In fact it was necessary to be a Mormon or appear to be one, to pass quietly on through the bands of Indians.

Though Kanosh's band and a considerable number of others were favorable to the Mormons, as, in fact, very many of them have been baptized into the Mormon faith, yet some of the tribes are not counted upon as steady friends. Mr. B. relates that only a short time previous to his departure two northern Indians stole a few horses from California emigrants on the northern route. They were pursued, overtaken and one of them was shot; upon which a band of 150 took the road to retaliate upon the emigrants. They did so, killed some and returned with considerable spoil. The Indians had broadcloth for themselves, and silks satins, shawls and gew-gaws for their squaws, with which they immediately clothed themselves. Their vengeance against the whites still unsatiated, they threatened to attack the Mormon settlement at Box Elder and it was only after Lieutenant Colonel Kimball and a company of the military under his command got there that the Indians could be treated with. The Indians demanded some beaves and got them before peace was established.




Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  WAR.

The Latest News from the Utah Expedition -- Will There Be a
Compromise? -- Views of the English Mormon Organ -- French Opinions --
The Native Indians -- Sketch of Utah Territory, &c., &c., &c.

(under construction)

An express arrived at Leavenworth on the 22d ult., direct from Camp Scott, near Fort Bridger... Brigham Young had delivered another warlike sermon in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, in which he enjoins upon the Saints to stick by him.

Col. Johnston's impression was, from every demonstration made in the valley, that the troops would have to fight.

Added to his own troops (regulars) Col. Johnston has five full companies of volunteers...

The rumored propositions of the Utah delegate, Dr. Bernhisel, to President Buchanan, for the adjustment if the difficulties in that Territory are now the subject of conversation and criticism here... Dr. Bernhisel... that he should have come 3,000 miles from home to sit in Congress without any object to accomplish, is very unlikely. That he should present such an arrangement is neither unlikely nor unworthy of such a journey.

If President Buchanan can get rid of the Mormons by negotiation instead of by the sword, he will find many to sustain him in this measure....

Fanaticism is an unmanageable thing. Once bloodshed, there would be no quarter, and no possibility of arrangement. To calculate on what has been will not serve as a basis for calculations for what shall be in this case. The Mormons have had trouble with their neighbors, and had battles, or something resembling the tempest in a teapot; but the perusal of their organs and the correspondence from the Territory are sufficiently clear to lead us to the conclusion that this is to be the great struggle. They are under the impression that they are fighting for constitutional liberty, and what they call the "kingdom of God." Brigham strenuously maintains that his interpretation of the organic act of the Territory requires him to oppose the approach of armed bands, which he calls the army, unless that he has been notifued of their approach. This is of course regarded as a mere quibble; but it is enough to satisfy the inhabitants of that Territory that he is right, and that they are right in sustaining him in his opposition. No one has shown them the fallacy of their conclusions, and on this Dr. Bernhisel is reported to ground his claim for a commission....

It is probably premature to speak of withdrawing the troops; but that histilities may be retarded to permit of the last effort being made to settle peaceably the difficulty, by vacating the Territory or by some other compromise, is neither impossible nor improbable. You would be astonished to see how many favor this new move, Mormons are no strangers in Washington, and where they have business and relationship they naturally enough do their utmost to set their version of matters forward....


Note 1: The above set of front-page articles contain a very lengthy description of Utah territory, detailed information on the the "Utah Expedition," etc.

Note 2: The New York Herald's "special correspondent" with the Utah Expedition of 1857-58 was Captain Jesse A. Gove. His letters to the newspaper were later reprinted in Otis G. Hammond's 1928 book, The Utah Expedition, 1857-1858: Letters of Captain Jesse A. Gove... In one excerpt Capt. Gove records this bit of wisdom, spoken by Elder Heber C. Kimball: "In our city there are a great many poor women. I am aware of that, and they will be eternally poor, for they waste everything they can get hold of, and they are nasty and filthy... Now you look, when you go out of this meeting, and see if you do not see several of them.... I was speaking to a lady, the other day, about long dresses, and, said she, 'That's the fashion Queen Victoria established;' says I, "What the hell has Queen Victoria to do over here?"

INTERESTING  ABOUT  THE  MORMONS.

... A LINK OF HISTORY.

MORMONISM AND JOE SMITH -- THE BOOK OF MORMON
OR GOLDEN BIBLE.

(From the Troy Times.)

Within our recollection, Mormonism was "a speck, not bigger than a man's hand." The original Impostor, Joe Smith, came to the writer of this article, only thirty-two years ago, with the manuscript of his Mormon Bible, to be printed. He then had one follower, a respectable and wealthy farmer of the town of Macedon (Palmyra,) who offered himself as security for the printing. But after reading a few chapters, it seemed such a jumble of unintelligible absurdities, that we refused the work, advising Harris not to mortgage his farm and beggar his family. But Joe crossed over the way to our neighbor Elihu F. Marshall, and got his "Mormon Bible." -- Albany Journal.

All this is not within your "recollection," Mr. Weed. Mr. Elihu F. Marshall did not print the Mormon Bible. It was printed by Mr. Egbert B. Grandin (now deceased) at the office of the Wayne Sentinel, Palmyra. We happen to know this fact. Mr. John H. Gilbert, now residing at Palmyra, did the press work, and a large portion of the type-setting of the Bible. If Mr. Weed doubts this, we can show him a copy of the first Mormon Bible with the imprint. --Troy Times.


The story of the printing of the first edition of the "Book of Mormon" is truthfully as follows: -- Joe Smith, the pretended prophet, and finder of the original "metallic records," Oliver Cowdery, amanuensis of Smith, and Martin Harris, the "chosen" dupe for the payment of expenses, constituting, as they claimed, the "inspired" nucleus of the dawning "Church of the Latter Day Saints," applied about the month of June, 1829, to Mr. Egbert B. Grandin, the then publisher of the Wayne Sentinel newspaper, and a job printer at Palmyra, for the printing of the book referred to, commonly called the "Golden Bible." Harris, who was a forehanded farmer at that town, an honest and respectable citizen, but noted for his superstitious and fanatical peculiarities in religious matters, was the only man of the party whose pecuniary respectability was worth a dollar, and he offered to give security by a mortgage upon his unencumbered farm for the cost of the printing and binding of the book. Grandin at once advised them against the supposed folly of the enterprise, and with the aid of other neighbors and friends of Harris sought to influence the latter to desist and withdraw his countenance from the imposture. All importunity of this kind, however, was resisted with determination by Harris (who, no doubt, firmly believed in the genuineness of Smith's pretensions), and resented with assumed pious indignation by Smith. After repeated interviews and much parleying on the subject Grandin was understood to refuse to give it further consideration. Harris, it was thought, became for a time somewhat staggered in his confidence, but Joe could do nothing in the matter of printing without his aid, and so he persevered in his seductive arts, as will be seen with ultimate success.

About this time, in the fore part of the year 1829 (as recollected), the same party, or a portion of them, applied to Mr. Weed, of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, at Rochester (who, by the way. seems in his reminiscences to have confused Mormonism with anti-Masonry), and there met a similar repulse, as stated by the Journal. Mr. Marshall, or spelling book notoriety, who was also engaged in the printing and publishing business at Rochester, gave his terms to Smith, and his associates for the execution of their work, and his proffered acceptance of the proposed mode of security.

The Saints then returned and renewed their request to Mr. Grandin, assuring him that the printing was to be done at any rate, and explaining that they would be saved much inconvenience and cost of travel (as the manuscripts were to de delivered and the proof sheets examined daily at the printing office) by having their work done at Palmyra, where they resided. It was upon this state of facts and view of the case that Mr. Grandin, after some further hesitation, reconsidered his policy of refusal, and finally entered into a contract for the desired printing and binding of 5,000 copies of the book, for the price of $3,000, to be secured by mortgage as proposed; which contract was faithfully performed on his part, completing the work in the summer of 1830, and as faithfully fulfilled in the payment by Harris. Major Gilbert, as stated by the Troy Times, took the foremanship of the printing, and did most of the press and composition work of the job. He still retains an original copy of the book in sheets as he laid them off in a [file] from the press in working. The manuscripts. in Cowdery's handwriting, were carried to the printing office in daily installments, generally by Joe or his trusty brother Hiram, and were regularly withdrawn for assurity and preservation at evening. The pretension was that they were written out by the amanuensis Cowdery from translations verbally given by the prophet Joe, who alone was enabled to read the hieroglyphics of the sacred plates by means of a wonderful stone and magic spectacles that were found in the earth with the "records." In the performance of this task the "chosen" decipherer was always concealed in a dark room, and by special revelation neither Cowdery or any other persons than the said "chosen" was permitted to see the plates on penalty of instant death. Such was the pretension. The handpress which did the printing (Smith's patent) has been in continued use in the Sentinel office since that important era in the rise of Mormonism.

A word in regard to the origin of Mormonism, whose advent has furnished so marked an illustration of the susceptibilities of human credulity even in the present age of boasted enlightenment, may not be without interest in this connection, now after the lapse of some thirty years. As early as 1820 Joe Smith, at the age of about nineteen years, began to assume the gift of supernatural endowments, and became the leader of a small party of shiftless men and boys like himself, who engaged in nocturnal money digging operations upon the hills in and about Palmyra. These labors were always performed in the night, and during their continuance, many marvelous accounts and rumors in regard to them were put afloat in the neighborhood. Joe professed from time to time to have "almost" secured the hidden treasure, which, however, just at the instant of attempting to grasp it, would vanish by the breaking of the spell of his magic power. Numbers of men and women, as was understood, were found credulous enough to believe "there might be something in it," who were induced by their confidence and cupidity to contribute privately towards the cost of carrying on the imposture, under the promise of sharing in the expected gains; and in this way the loaferly but cunning Smith, who was too lazy to work for his living -- his deluded followers did all the digging -- was enabled to obtain a scanty subsistence for himself without pursuing any useful employment.

The silly imposture was persevered in by Smith and the digging performances occasionally continued by his gang without success, for some eight or ten years, when in 1828 or '29 the climax was reached in the discovery of the wonderful golden record of hieroglyphics, of great antiquity, "written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi," the translation and publication of which are the foundation of Brigham Young's polygamous empire at Salt Lake, were, according to the published testimony of Joe Smith, "found in the township of Manchester, Ontario county, New York."

The intervening annals of the rise and progress of this Mormon imposture, and of the career and martyrdom of Joe Smith, need no particular notice in this sketch, for these are to be found in various forms of recorded history already extant.

The discovery of the pretended ancient plates, "resembling plates of gold," has a significant connection with a scheme of cupidity plotted by one Sydney Rigdon, a deposed clergyman of Pennsylvania. He had surreptitiously possessed himself of a curious manuscript from the pen of a Rev. Mr. Spaulding, late of Ohio -- a romance, written primarily as a pastime exercise during a lingering decline of health, in 1812 and 1813 -- and Smith's marvellous revelation was an opportune event in the furtherance of Rigdon's speculation. Whether the resulting connection of these two conspiring schemes was incidental or contrived, or whether Smith's part in the conspiracy was the invention of his own cunning or the emanation of his co-worker's perverted mind, are questions that have never been satisfactorily settled in public opinion. Spaulding's production, purporting to have been written by one of the lost nations of Israel, recovered from the earth by some miraculous interposition of Providence, was to have been entitled, if published, "Manuscript Found." An effort was made by the writer, shortly before his death, to procure its publication as a source of profit, but no printer could be found of sufficient faith in its paying expenses to undertake the printing. He died in 1816, and Rigdon, with this manuscript dishonestly procured, as before intimated, happening or designedly appearing in Palmyra about the time of Smith's pretended unearthing of the mysterious plates, the two speculations were joined together, and the two well matched schemers conspired to start the fraud from which originated the myth of the Golden Bible or Book of Mormon, with the attendant fame of Joe Smith, and the world renowned belligerent power of Mormonism in Utah.

The pretended translations of Smith were no doubt transcripts from the Spaulding romance as altered for the occasion by Rigdon. The latter was the first preacher of the newly revealed "Gospel according to Mormon," and made his appearance at Palmyra in that capacity immediately after the publication of the book, but his mission was there a dead failure. Whether he is now alive or dead, or what finally became of him, is not publicly apparent. His Mormon fame appears to have been of short duration. Of course there were never any converts to the Mormon gospel at the locality of its advent, beyond the cases of Harris and three or four similar victims of fanaticism or lunacy. Where its founders were known, the imposture was regarded as too stupid for serious notice by any body possessing a rightful claim to common intelligence or sanity.


The above able resumé of the early history of Mormonism, and the circumstances under which its written gospel first saw the light, we copy from the Wayne Democratic Press. It was furnished for that journal by Mr. Pomeroy Tucker, the founder of the Palmyra Sentinel, in the office of which the "Book of Mormon" was printed, and who was personally cognizant of all the facts relating to its origin. It can be relied upon as an entirely accurate statement.

Martin Harris, the farmer under whose self sacrificing generosity Smith was enabled to get his fictitious Bible into print, was morally and pecuniarily ruined by the superstition. He followed Joe Smith, and the deluded fanatics of both sexes whom he was able to gather in Western New York, to Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained some time, but finally for some reason fell under the ban of the Prophet's displeasure, lost caste in the church, and as he had been forewarned by the thoughtful and friendly Grandin, bankrupted himself by his fanaticism.

The plates on which it was alleged the Bible was engraved, as above described, said to have been found by Smith and his companions while they were digging in a hill in the town of Manchester, some three miles from Palmyra, Wayne county, now known as "Mormon Hill." This hill was situated in a detached valley, and being a small, sugar loafed affair, seemed to bear out the declaration of Smith, that it was a mound in which had been buried the scattered remnant of the lost tribe of Nephi. To this hill the Prophet claimed to have been directed by an angel in a vision.

The manner in which Smith translated these plates was by placing himself behind a screen, and putting on a pair of magic spectacles that he found lying in the "mound" beside them, reading them with perfect ease. Oliver Cowdery, his scribe, or amanuensis, stood outside the screen, and as he read, transcribed them in ordinary manuscript. The sheets as they were finished, were taken possession of by Mormons in waiting, and carried thence to the printing office. They carefully watched them during the process of composition, and took possession of the sheets as they came from the press, much in the same manner as bank notes are watched while in the printer's hands, that no extra copies might be issued. Nevertheless, despite his precautions, Smith declares that he lost one hundred and eighteen pages of his Bible. It might be supposed that with his "plates" before him, he could easily have supplied the omission. And so he no doubt would have done, had he really been the translator of the book as he pretends to be. But to explain his inability on this score, he cunningly pretended to have received information from the Lord that his enemies had altered portions of the lost manuscript, with a view of confounding him. and to have been forbidden to re-write it. Some suppose that the one hundred and eighteen pages of manuscript alluded to were lacking in the original copy surreptitiously obtained by Rigdon from the widow Spaulding, and others that he only pretended to have lost them, in order to make a still stronger impression on the minds of the superstitious.

We have before us the "Book of Mormon." It is printed in octavo form, on coarse type, and with a middling good quality of paper. The Prophet precedes it with a preface, in which he alludes to his real or pretended loss of manuscript, in this manner: -- [The 1830 Preface, Testimony of Three and Eight Witnesses, and a few comments follow.]

... Oliver Cowdery was the scribe who wrote the Bible as Smith "translated" it; Harris was the poor dupe who paid three thousand dollars for the printing of the work, and ruined himself by giving Mormonism a "start;" the five Whitmers were respectable farmers; Joseph Smith was the father of the prophet, who previous to this dispensation supported himself by digging and peddling "rutes and yarbs;" Hyrum Smith was a brother who was killed with the prophet at Nauvoo; and Samuel H. Smith is the brother who recently denounced Brigham Young as an impostor, a renegade and a traitor.

And from such insignificant seed sprang the great evil which now on the soil of a distant Territory threatens the troops of the United States, subverts all principles of law, order and social right, builds a mighty hierarchy of falsehood and lasciviousness, and will draw millions of dollars from the Treasury for its suppression. It is a significant fact that this is not the only humbug of the age that has had its origin in Wayne county. The Fox girls first began their toe cracking experiment at a place called Hydeville, in the town of Newark, in that county, within eight or ten miles of "Mormon Hill," and were looked upon by the sensible people of the neighborhood, as were Joe Smith and his followers at the outset of their career, as vulgar and shameless impostors. Yet Spiritualism, like Mormonism, is now a power in the land, and numbers its dupes by tens of thousands. Great is humbug!

Thus we have got upon record all the facts relating to the origin of the "Book of Mormon," as called for by Mr. Weed, and furnished a chapter long wanting in the history of this startling delusion.


Note 1: Thurlow Weed published similar statements, regarding his encounter with Smith, in an early 1846 issue of his Albany Evening Journal and again on July 31, 1854. The May 19, 1858 Weed statement is quoted by Dan Vogel in his Early Mormon Documents, III, but Vogel does not supply the full text. The May 19th paragraph was quickly responded to in a mid-May issue of the Troy Times, (exact date unknown, text reprinted above). Weed, in turn, replied with his own article in the May 21, 1858 issue of the Journal.

Note 2: The "able resumé" referred to above (a May 26, 1858 article by Pomeroy Tucker) begins with the words: "The story of the printing of the first edition..." Near its end, the above account also paraphrases parts of Tucker's June 2, 1858 follow-up article. Tucker's two 1858 articles appear to have supplied the historical kernel from which he later developed his 1867 book, Origin... of Mormonism. The above paraphrase of Tucker, with its quaint "rutes and yarbs" phraseology, was, in turn, one of the sources James H. Smith used for the section on Mormonism (pp. 152-54) in his 1880 History of Chenango and Madison Counties.

The Mormons -- Letter from Judge Cradlebaugh.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 1860.    

Wm. H. Hooper, Territorial Delegate from Utah: --

Sir -- I see from time to time the New York Herald's correspondence from Utah, in which denials are made of the charhes preferred against the people you represent, and false suggestions expressed as to the condition of affairs in that Territory.

Now, to the end that the country may know the truth respecting these matters, I have thought it right and necessary to address you this communication. I assert --

1. That the Mormon people are subject to a theocratic government, and recognizes no law as binding which does not coincide with their pretended revelations as promulgated by their "Prophet, Seer and Revelator," Brigham Young.

2. The have taught, and still teach, treason against the government of the United States.

3. That they practice polygamy in a manner shocking to the moral sense of the world, and aggravate the iffence by incest and murder.

4. That they teach the doctrine of "the shedding of human blood for the remission if sin," as defined by their own ecclesiastical code, and these teachings are carried into practice. The murders of Jones and his mother at Poidtown, of the Parishes and Pitter at Springville, of the Aiken party at Chicken Creek, the mud fort at Salt Creek, and at the bone yard, and of Forbes at Springville, are the natural results of these vile doctrines.

5. That they teach the doctrine and practice it, of castrating men, and have declared from their pulpit, with public acquiescence, that the day was near when their valleys would resound with the voice of eunuchs.

I am prepared here and now with proofs to sustain these charges, unpremeditatedly taken from numberless enormities; and occupying the position which you do here -- a member of the Mormon church, having received your endowments and taken upon yourself the oaths and obligations of the church -- I have to say to you that I will at any reasonable time and place of your own selection meet you face to face before the people and Federal authorities here, ready, but sorrowfully, to substantiate every specification herein contained.

I have a file of the Deseret News, your church organ, running from 1850 to 1859, containing Mormon history of current affairs during that period; and should you accept this proposition for calm, fair comparison of testimony on these subjects before a discerning public, this file will be at your call for reference.   Respectfully,

JOHN CRADLEBAUGH.    

Note: The above letter also appeared in the New York Times of Jan. 21st. The Times reprinted the piece from the Washington Star. See also the Utah Valley Tan of Feb. 22, 1860.

Interesting Utah Affairs.

(under construction)

 


Notes: (forthcoming)

SCHISM AMONG THE MORMONS. -- A serious schism is threatening the Mormons. Mr. Stenhouse, the editor of the Mormon paper, heads the opposition to Brigham Young and has been suspended from the editorship or tne church organ. At Brigham's death it is thought a revolution will be inaugurated that will sweep away polygamy.

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

PERSONAL  INTELLIGENCE.
_________

Sidney Rigdon, the reputed author of Joe Smith's Mormon Bible, has been stricken with paralysis at his home in Alleghany county, N. Y. Polygamy was not permitted by Rigdon's Bible...

Note: President Rigdon lingered on for another three and a half years following his decline in health in 1872, before passing on to his great (?) reward. It is a telling fact that little was recalled by the 1870's of his many contributions to Mormonism -- other than that he had been accused of writing the Book of Mormon, and that he was not a polygamist.

A  MORMON  MONSTROSITY.
______

Letting In Light on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
______

A Participant in the Slaughter Confesses.
______

Men and Women Were Murdered in Cold Blood --
Only the Children Spared.
______

A DEMON'S FLAG OF TRUCE.
______

Horrible Record of Bloodthirstiness
______

U T A H..
______

The Mormon Press on Bishop Smith's Statement.
______

                                               SALT LAKE CITY, Sept 15, 1872.
The Herald (a Mormon Journal) of this city this morning says of Bishop Smith's affidavit on the Mountain Meadows massacre that he is either a murderer on his own confession or a perjurer and calls for his arrest and trial on a requisition from the Governor of Utah. It also protests against charging the massacre on the Mormons as a people.


Note: (forthcoming)

Mountain Meadows massacre. -- [We] deny the assertion of the Mormon organs that he is either a murderer or a perjurer. The Mormon press do not contradict the truth of the suits are about to be commenced the Mormon city...


Note: A wire service item, originating with the Salt Lake Tribune.

INTERVIEW  WITH  BRIGHAM  YOUNG.

Cedar City, April 30 1877. -- Having received at Salt Lake on the 12th inst., a telegram from Brigham Young, saying, "If you come quick you will find me at St. George," I started early next morning on the journey leading in that direction, across the vast deserts, over the wintry divides and through canyons of Southern Utah. A second dispatch apprised me on the way that the President would leave St. George for the north before I could possibly arrive there. Cedar City, the remote little Mormon settlement from which this letter is written, was appointed as the place of meeting. Here at the foot of an enormous mountain, looking westward across a desolate plain toward the scene of the Mountain Meadow massacre and of John D. Lee's execution, I was welcomed this morning at the home of the the hispitable Mormon Bishop Henry Lunt. Late in the afternoon President Brigham Young and his party, in a train of five carriages, drawn by four mules or horses draw up at the Bishop's home. As evening descended lights shot through the windows from the broad fireplaces within, and a supper was spread in the dining room amid sounds of jollity and cheer.

Shortly before eight o'clock, having returned from a long walk, I entered the house and was introduced to John W. Young, who prepared the way for my audience with his father, the President. Crossing the hall, he led me into a large or grand room. beaming withlight from logs of pine and cedar, and containing a small and distinguished company. Near the walls sat or stood several Mormon elders of this and neighboring districts. In front of them two or three bishops were seated. Grouped around the centre table were several of the most elevated dignitaries among the latter day priesthood. John W. Young, First Counsellor of the President, took a seat with his back to the fire, looking as handsome, as wise and amiable as he is really known to be. Brigham Young, Jr., was not present, being conifined to his bed by illness. To the right of John W. Young sat Daniel H. Wells, Vice President, his great head, iron gray hair and beard and resolute features making a picture of themselves. Wells was one of the earliest Mormon emigrants across the plains from Nauvoo, and has since been among the strongest defenders of the latter-day faith. He commanded the Mormon army which checked the advance of Johnson's troops, 1857-58. Opposite Wells lounged in his overcoat, and at his accustomed ease, George Q. Cannon, First Apostle of the church and Delegate of the Territory to Washington. His face glowed with a benevolent expression and his manner showed all that politeness which is natural to him. In the furthest corner and in shadow, however, sat the most commanding person in the room. Brigham Young never looked more thoroughly like the patriarch that his people love to call him than he did on this occasion. His tall, broad form was enveloped from shoulder to feet in a robe or cape of dark cloth generously edged with fur, a glimpse of the red lining of which showed from a corner turned up over his shoe> He wore a hat of peculiar shape, yet not unbecoming to his looks or to denote his dignity. Under his pale and pleasant face was revealed a spotless cravat, and the huge collor of silver fox which flared away from his throat and back behind his head set off his features finely.

My reception in the "Grand Room" was graceful and hearty, and after I had been introduced as "Mr. ____," who represents the New York Herald, I was placed in the vacant seat at the centre table.

The followitng conversation then took place, lasting without intermission nearly three and a half hours. I opened it by describing as accurately as I could the excitement, in the East and West, caused by recent developments in regard to the Mountain Meadows massacre, and the strong disposition evinced in some quarters to fix responsibility on President Young. I instanced especially Lee's testimony respecting George A. Smith, one of the twelve apostles at that time, whom Lee asserts went forward ahead of the Arkansas emigrant company, preaching against them and and stirring up the feelings of the people against them, until the timee was ripe for their destruction.

Brigham Young -- George A. Smith visited this whole southern region regularly, and held meetings as we are doing now. In fact he was the founder of Parowan -- the first settlement to the north -- on his way home northward. This was the year of the massacre. They met the company of the Arkansas emigrants not far from Fillmore. It was at Meadow Creek, I believe. Some of the emigrant company came up to him and passed some remarks inquiring about the roads &c. Brother George A. Smith gave them all the desired information. Some of the cattle belonging to the company died, which they poisoned, and from the effects of the poisoned meat some of the Indians who found and consumed the carcases died. These carcases also poisoned some springs. This raised the wrath of the Indians.

Here President Young turned to Daniel H. Wells, his second counsellor, saying, "Brother Wells, do you remember if Brother George A. was down here at that time for any thing special?"

Daniel H. Wells -- No, sir, he was not. He was preaching in the settlements between here and Salt Lake, as we usually do. He had part of his family living in Parowan, having built a residence there, and his being here was only one of several visits.

Brigham Young -- Brother George A. Smith's testimony in regard to this is published to the world, and I believe it to be true. It can be found among Howard's reports. George A. Smith knew no more about that company or about their being interfered with than you did in New York. Had he possessed that knowledge I would certainly have heard of it, for he would have told me of it. He knew nothing about the company until he met them on his return north near Fillmore. There was at that time no telegraph line running down here; no mails were carried to Utah. The United States government had stopped the mails, and we had no mails running from settlement to settlement as we have now.

Correspondent -- The conviction is settled in the east, especially by the testimony on the Lee trial, that there was some powerful direction of the part taken by the whites in the massacre. This conviction has strengthened by the statements in Judge Cradlebaugh's speech.

Brigham Young -- There is no doubt that the affair was directed by John D. Lee, and he evidently was a white man.

Correspondent -- It appears incredible to outsiders Lee would have undertaken a task like that on his own responsibility; the responsibility attaches in their opinion, to the Mormon Church, even to its highest individual officers.

Brigham Young -- My disposition is such that had I known anything about it I would have gone to that camp and fought the Indians and white men who took part in the perpetration of the massacre to the death, rather than such a deed should have been committed.

J. W. Young -- John D. Lee in his testimony, says he informed President Young of the affair when he visited Salt Lake City. I happened to be present when he came in father's office, and I was present during the interview. He commenced to relate the circumstances of the Indians killing the emigrants, but did not intimate a single word about the whites taking part in the killing. When he commenced to speak of the manner of the deed father stopped him, saying that the rumor which had already reached him was so horrifying that he could not bear to hear a recital of it

Brigham Young -- I never knew the real facts of this affair until within the last few years. I myself proposed to Governor Cumming, who came here soon after the massacre, to render him and Judge Cradlebaugh every assistancein hunting up the perpetrators and bringing them to justice, and if Mr. Cradlebaugh knows anything about this affair he must know that to be true. That proposition was made in the spring of 1856 [sic - 1858?].

Daniel H. Wells -- There are plenty of witnesses to that, for I heard him make it in public.

Correspondent (to Brigham Young) -- What of your own experience as Governor and ex-officio Indian Ggent at the time?

Brigham Young -- Governor Cummings took it away from me. This point too was difficult to reach from Salt Lake, and besides, according to the rumors that reached us, the people thought themselves that they would do well if they escaped the vengeance of the United States troops. The burden of these rumors was that the Mormons were to be massacred.

Correspondent -- To what do you ascribe the massacre?

Brigham Young -- If you were to inquire of the people who live hereabouts, and lived in the country at that time, you would find, if it should be according to what I have heard, that some of this Arkansas company boasted that they had the promise from the United States that the Mormons were to be used up by the troops, and that they had boasted, too, of having helped to kill Hyrum and Joseph Smith and the Mormons at Missouri, and that they never meant to leave the Territory until similar scenes were enacted here. This, if true, may have embittered the feelings of those who took part in the massacre, and the probabilities are that Lee and his confreres took advantage of those facts and the disturbed state of the country to accomplish their desires for plunder, which under other circumstances would not have been gratified.

Correspondent -- Have you an opinion of Klingensmith's testimony?

Brigham Young -- I do not know anything about it.

Correspondent -- How was it that Lee was at last and not at first, convicted by a Mormon jury?

Brigham Young -- the supposition is that there was not evidence enough against him at the first, that there was sufficient evidence against him at the last trial, and that the people of Utah could not obtain justice with any other jury.

Correspondent -- considering that your people believe thaey get their inspiration through you, do they not consider themselves responsible to you for their acts? What excuses them for crime?

Brigham Young -- what causes me to steal or commit any sin? Do I prompt them? No; but the devil and his agents do. All evil doing is to our covenants and obligations to God and to one another as members of the Church.

Correspondent -- Do you believe in blood atonement?

Brigham Young -- I do, and I believe that Lee has not half atoned for his great crime. The saviour died for all the sins of the world by shedding his blood, and then I believe that he who sheds the blood of man wilfully, by man shall his blood be shed. In other words capital punishment for offenses deserving death, according to the laws of the land. And we believe the execution should be done by the shedding of blood instead of by hanging. If the murderers of Joseph Smith were to come to me now, giving themselves up, I would not feel justified in taking their lives, but I would feel justified in having them taken to Illinois and there tried for murder.

Correspondent -- Recurring to the Mountain Meadows massacre, you are satisfied that Lee could not have received any previous intimation from the north as to what might be done in the cease of the Arkansas company who were coming down from Salt Lake?

Brigham Young -- None that I have any knowledge of and certainly none from me.

Correspondent -- You did not give any direction whatever as to the disposition of the emigrants' effects?

Brigham Young -- I knew no more about them then you, nor do I to-day. I have heard that they have been made use of, which I suppose is correct, Klingensmith, who was a Mormon and an acting bishop, [I suppose] shared in the spoils, and because he held such a position it is believed that the Church used it

Correspondent -- Was he the Church?

Brigham Young -- No, he was only a poor miserable sinner.

Correspondent -- In this southern country do the Bishops exercise the functions of Justices of the Peace?

Brigham Young -- I do not know that any of them do; and if any do it is not because they are bishops, but because they are elected justices according to the laws of the land.

Correspondent -- The Mountain Meadows massacre was so unique that many curious questions are asked in regard to it -- for instance why were the Indians angry against the Arkansas emigrants only? Other emigrant parties were passing through the country and were not molested.

Brigham Young --As I understand it, for poisoning the water and poisoning dead cattle, which some of the Indians afterwards are of and died. I would, however, refer you to the settlers of Crow and Meadow creeks, who lived there at the time.

Correspondent -- Is it true that George A. Smith advised the people not to sell their grain?

Brigham Young -- We have been scarce of breadstuffs, and the nature of his counsel was not to use their grain for feeding animals, neither to sell it to emigrants for that purpose; but no such word was ever uttered by him not to sell it for breadstuff. We have always made a practice of selling wheat and flour to the emigrants for food ever since we came here and I will say that I am at the defiance of the world to prove that the heads of the Church had anything to do with the Mountain Meadows massacre.

Correspondent -- with regard to Haight and Higbee. Have you anything to say as to their reasons for getting out of the country?

Brigham Young -- No sir. I presume however, they are trying to evade the law

Correspondent -- You do not consider yourself in the least degree responsible for them?

Brigham Young -- No, sir; not any more than Mr. Beecher or any man of your city is.

Correspondent -- It is understood at the East that the Mormon Church is a structure far more closely cemented than this would imply -- an exclusive organization, standing in the midst of the continent, and governed from the head downward by a system which renders its leaders peculiarly responsible for the people over whom they preside?

Brigham Young -- If the people over whom I preside do as I tell them to do there never would be such occurrences. But if a member of our church lies, cheats, steals or kills his neighbor, Brigham Young is not responsible for his evil acts any more than, if a Catholic were to kill, the Pope of Rome would be responsible for his crime. I am responsible only for the doctrines I teach; but I cannot make people do right unless they choose to. I am responsible for no man's acts save my own.

Young Person (in shadow) -- Then under no circumstances does the power of the President of the Church of the Latter-day saints extend so far that men's lives are at its mercy. For example, were you today to say, "Let such a person be killed," would the wish be in any instance compililed with?"

Brigham Young -- If I were to say. "Kill this or that man," I myself would be a murderer; or to say, "Take such a person's money," I would be a highwayman.

Correspondent -- Yet, is it possible that such a thing could be?

Brigham Young -- It never has been tried.

Correspondent -- I want to find out what is the power of the Mormon Church.

Brigham Young -- The church has no power to do wrong with impunity any more than any single individual.

Correspondent -- Yet we know, do we not, Mr. President, that such power has been exercised in the world's history?

Brigham Young -- You ask a question that does not apply to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Daniel H. Wells -- Judge Brocchus once said that if Brigham Young "had crooked his finger," &c. he (the Judge) would have been torn to atoms; but all there was to that was, President Young did not crook his finger.

Correspondent (to Brigham Young) -- what of the alleged order of Danites?

Brigham Young -- That is all folly.

Correspondent -- Then as to the extent of the temporal power of the Church?

Brigham Young -- It extends only as far as membership is concerned. I may, however, advise a man how to build or improve his garden or field, and if he chooses to he may either receive it or reject it without involving his fellowship.

Correspondent -- Does not the temporal government of the Church in extreme cases, assume the functions of courts?

Brigham Young -- We have what we call bishops' courts, which to referees in ordinary cases of business, and in cases of disagreement between members or immoral conduct. From these courts cases may be appealed to our High Council, which consists of a president, two councillors and twelve members. Their power extends no further than membership in the Church is concerned.

Correspondent -- How far does the authority of the Church go in dealing with cases of apostacy?

Brigham Young -- We have nothing to do with them; we let them seriously alone. They say the Church authorities injure them. They lie. We have no dealings at all with such men, for their acts prove their unworthiness of membership in our Church.

Correspondent -- How do protect your faith outside influences -- how do you keep it isolated?

Brigham Young -- We are different from all other Christian sects. We are believers in the Bible, as well as all the revelations the Lord has given to the children of men, as contained in the Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenant, and also what he reveals through his authorized servant when speaking or preaching under the influence of the Holy Ghost. When a man speaks by that spirit it is revelation, and if his hearers are possessed of the same they are able to judge of the correctness of what he says. Job says, "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." This is what I refer to. The object of my labors among the people is to get them the truth, and the whole truth, as it has been revealed. And they must live so that this good spirit can bear witness to them. Were it otherwise I might deceive them; but as long as they have this spirit no man can deceive them.

Correspondent -- You, like the old prophets, receive direct revelation from God?

Brigham Young -- Yes, and not only me, but my brethren also.

Correspondent -- Does that extend to all the Church without reserve or rank?

Brigham Young -- Yes, and it is just as necessary for the mother to possess this spirit in training and rearing her children as for anyone else.

Correspondent -- It is not absolutely necessary, then, that each person receive revelation through you?

Brigham Young -- Oh, no; through the spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost; but to dictate the Church is my part of it.

Correspondent -- And your authority to dictate is given directly by heavenly inspiration?

Brigham Young -- Yes, I can relate a little circumstance which explains that and which may be interesting to you. When I, with others of the Twelve, was sent to England on a mission in the year 1840, I frequently asked Joseph Smith how we should do this and that? Said he: -- "Brother Brigham, I want you to understand doctrine as it is. When you reach England the Lord will teach you what to do, Just as he teaches me how to act here." This I found to be verily true. Brother Heber C. Kimball and I started on that mission in poor health, without money and without clothes. My family, too were sick and but poorly off, we having been driven from our houses in Missouri. We started from Terre Haute and travelled to Ohio; every place I stopped I found money in my trunk, and our expenses only amounted to $86, and as I live I had no more than $13.50 when I started. I have one gratification --- when I tell people that anything is true, they know it is true just as well as I do.

The prophet whose massive figure occasionally swerved and trembled in its seat in the shadowy corner I have spoken of, lifted his face and both his hands with this last utterance, making an impressive and reverent gesture.

Correspondent -- If all members of the Mormon Church are thus endowed with divine vision, how is it possible that any number of Mormons could have brought themselves to the commission a crime as the Mountain Meadow massacre, if they did not find an excuse for doing so in their own faith, or if they did not believe it would be approved by the Prophet?

Brigham Young -- Because the men who did it were wicked.

Correspondent -- What defect is there in the organization of your Church that it allowed the prepetration of that deed to go without instant punishment?

Brigham Young -- That was a matter that pertained to the law of the land. That alone inflicts punishment. There is no defect in the organization of the Church -- the defect was in those who took part in the massacre. The laws of the land are good, but still men do not always keep them. The Saviour says that "the wheat and the tares will grow together until the harvest." If we had none but good men among us such sad experiences would never happen, but because we have some wicked men, should we be blamed for their actions?

Correspondent -- Were not some of the men who figured in the massacre chiefsin your Church?

Brigham Young -- Lee was a farmer among the Indians, but held no presiding office. P. K. Smith however, was an acting bishop.

In regard to the participation of the Indians in this affair, the following conversation took place --

President Young -- When I was at St. George, General C. C. Rich of Bear Lake, told me that he met part of this company in Salt Lake City; he had just come in from California, having traveled this southern route. And talking with me he told me that he advised them to go north, and he believed they went as far north as Bear River. They returned, saying they would take the southern road. They lay idle over six weeks, when they should have been traveling, and when they moved they moved slowly; and it was believed, for they said it themselves, that they were waiting for the arrival of the army. It was very noticeable that they did not hurry along like other emigrants.

Daniel H. Wells -- And that company, remember, was not in the Territory when George A. Smith left Salt Lake to make his southern tour. How then, could he, as has been said, kill the people by arousing a malicious feeling against the emigrants -- saying they poisoned springs &c. -- at a time when the emigrants were hundreds of miles away, when he had not seen any of them, and no one knew any of their names, and when the emigrants themselves had not yet determined upon their route through Utah? Parties travelling to California either take the northern route, by way of Bear River, or the southern route, which they took. As for the advice about not selling grain, that was founded on a principle having no particular reference to individuals or classes. When he went back to the city Brother George A. Smith met these emigrants at Meadow Creek, as the President has stated. They were afraid of the Indians, and they came to him asking if he was not afraid of Indians, and he answered no, and then they turned out their horses too at Meadow creek. He was informed of the conduct of these emigrants in Utah also; that one Indian had died from the effects of eating poisoned meat, and that they had tied one Indian to a wagon, kept him there some time and whipped him, which made them mad. Of this be true, and I have no reason to doubt it, what could we do about it? We had all we could do ourselves to keep peace with the Indians at that time, in 1856 and 1857. Our crops failed, and from that time more or less until now have the people been counselled to care for their grain, and not dispose of it unless in case of necessity.

Brigham Young -- The thousands of emigrants that have passed through here can testify that we have always sold food to them, even in times of over-scarcity. And although I have been offered $1 a pound for flour, I have never taken from them more than the ordinary price.

Daniel H. Wells -- The truth about this Mountain Meadows massacre, sir, is that it was the result of a combination of circumstances such as will probably never exist again in any country. Your people at the East cannot understand it in all its aspects though they maay be able to understand some of them. Even the people west of us who occupy a country similar to our own have blinded themselves in a great degree to everything which would give them an acccurate view of the affair. Our previous history, the condition of our people and their crops at the time, our relations with the Indians and the extraordinary news and rumors which accompanied the simultaneous advance on Utah of Harney's United States army and the Arkansas emigrants -- these things ought to be looked at carefully, and examined before a great people are censured and a great church is prejudged according to the perjury of a few wicked members. The previous exodus of our people had taught them what a threat from the United States government to drive them from any ground they had chosen might lead to. They had been expelled from Missouri and Illinois by thousands and from other states by hundreds within the recollection of the majority of adults then living, and forced to travel across the American desert under circumstances and against obstacles which would certainly have subdued the courage of communities whose members are not upheld by a religious faith or "fanaticism," superior [to] selfishness or pride. Every one of those wagon trains and handcart trains and mule pack trains which brought the early Mormons, and the later, away up and over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific slope, brought those and only those who were anxious to escape from the dangers and unhappiness they had endured in the East and to find on the whole continent of America that solitary place for settlement which was never likely to be invaded by other peoples, while the surrounding and fairer portions offered so many advantages to agriculture, mining and other pioneer pursuits.

we came here, in fact, because we believed nobody else would want to come here. We were willing to go through and we did go through weeks months and years of privation and self-denial such as I honestly believe were never endured by a Christian community. But now we had made the desert to blossom; established ourselves, in fact. Our possessions were surveyed, known and understood to us. We had numerous settlements thriving towns and villages, cities, even. Though the climate had caused us temporary disaster we were proud of our increase and of our improvement. At such a juncture we had heard news of Harney's advance upon us; that unauthorized advance which, as you know was subsequently repudiated by the United States government. After the many years since we left the States, mutual struggles, sufferings, helpfulness, extending through the period of planting and forming Utah itself, all of the settlements in the Territory had been informed that the United States army was again advancing to drive them out of it into some other place, perhaps to destroy them all together. Many Eastern gentlemen well recollect the fury that flamed when that news entered Utah. Our folks were desperate. It seemed they had nowhere to turn; every one prepared to resist; there was not a man, woman or child who was not for resistance. Now, when it was whispered, and it soon began not only to be whispered, but asserted, that these Arkansas emigrants were leagued with the soldiers, and that some of them had been engaged in the murder of Joseph and Hiram Smith, at Nauvoo, the air might have seemed almost as heavy over Lower as it certainly was over Northern Utah. Everybody remembers how the people behaved when ordered out by President Young to prevent Johnson from entering the Territory, at what might have seemed to another man a most dismal moment of his career, the President issued an order which, while it obliged us to burn forage in advance, set fire to the grass at night, carry off animals and do various other things to hold back the enemy, absolutely forbade a single man to shed a drop of blood.

I remember when a young officer of my command was captured by one of your troops, a wallet found on him contained an order to him, signed by me, on the back of which was the usual inscription, "Shed no blood." That order was taken first to Johnston and was afterwards taken to Washington, and brought out in the famous debate of the next session. When the Arkansas emigrant company passed through Utah, and were in many parts forgotten almost as soon as reported, there seems no doubt that much of the disgusting and blasphemous braggadocio with which many of the men were charged must have been very aggravating at the time. This impression I receive of course, from what I heard long years after. There may have been some settlement scuffles on the route -- profanity and ribaldry arrayed against each other perhaps; and the emigrants' greater height and strength warranted him in almost any kind of domineering. But I don't believe that eyen a man like Lee -- old, crafty, experienced and sympathetic as he was -- could have got together a force of Mormons in all Utah to do deliberately, knowing that they went to do it, the deed that John D. Lee, perhaps a crony or two and a lot of dupes and thieves and savages under his command, are actually proven to have done in that dark valley.

General Wells having spoken for some ten minutes as vehemently and forcibly, some one said, as he ever did in his life, your correspondent found, by a nod from President Young that he was at liberty to proceed

Correspondent -- Do foreigners generally admire your system of organization?

Brigham Young -- Yes; only excepting their surprise that each man is responsible for his own acts. A gentleman from Pennsylvania who greatly admired our organization, when he was about to leave asked me it I believed the Mormons were perfect. The question was so absurd that I had to laugh. If we were perfect we could not remain here on the earth; while we ourselves are imperfect the doctrines wwee teach are perfect.

Correspondent -- could the Church ever have accepted from John D. Lee the explanation that he murderedthe emigrants at Mountain Meadows to shed their blood for the remission of their sins?

Brigham Young -- No; that expresses the same old folly of our enemies. Many men do wrong and afterward repent and become, perhaps, even better men than they were before. Peter did wroung in denying the Saviour, but still he repented and became a great and good man. Anybody may lean over church walls after thorough repentance and, forsaking their sins, may return to membership

Correspondent -- after the faces I have seen and the hospitality I have experienced in Utah, Mr. President, I don't think I need inquire particularly at this late hour about your present system of polygamy.

Brigham Young -- I do not believe in polygamy -- the definition of which means a plurality of wives and husbands; but I do believe in polygyny, which means a plurality of wives.

Correspondent -- What is there to warrant the saying that the of polygamy has a tendency to check the growth of intelligence?

Brigham Young -- The most satisfactory proof that such a saying is untrue would be to attend either day or Sunday schools. Look at one particular effect of it -- see how it assists child-women. A woman in child-bearing should not cohabit with her husband, and neither should she exhaust her strength in any other way. This order of marriage, when carried out according to its laws, is the very highest order of marriage. Scientific men who have visited us say that if we adhere faithfully to our order of marriage there can no question that we can have the finest race of people on the earth. We believe, too, in all learning to work and being industrious; and that every man and woman should have the opportunity of developing themselves mentally as well as physically. In the present condition of the world this privilege is only accorded to a few.

Correspondent -- Do you know anything about the origin of what is called the Spaulding story which has said to be in reality the origin of the Book of Mormon?

Brigham Young -- I will tell you all I know about it. Joseph Smith and I were born in the same State, and though unacquainted we lived near each other. And years before I was a "Mormon" I read in the newspapers befored persecution arose against him, that a young man by the name of Joseph Smith, living near Palmyra, had it revealed to him by an angel where there was a record concealed of the aborigines of our country. And who knows (it said) but what the Indians will have a bible as well as the Jews in Palestine? This was in 1819 [sic], long before the Spaulding story arose, which has often been proven false and eleven years before the church was organized.

Correspondent -- The people of the East are anxious to know something of the agreement with the women in polygamy.

Brigham Young -- It is none of their business no more than it is our business to inquire of them what agreement they make. I have been a protector of virtue all the days of my life.

Correspondent -- How could the women consent in their hearts to share the same husband?

Brigham Young -- we believe that the plural order of marriage is true, and the truth is just as applicable for woman as man. I dare say there are men to-day who wish they had another wife; and there are single women who wish they were married to such and such a man. This is without any regard to divinity. And if the law of the land did not prevent men from marrying more than one wife, there would not be to-day so many thousand old maids in the State of Massachusetts. Plural marriage appeals to noblest feelings because we regard it as a divine principle. It is carnal gratification; if it were we need not go to the expense of keeping and educating several families, for we might adopt the cheaper and more popular way. It is the highest state of social moral society, and will sooner or later be recognized as such.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Letter from William H. Wandell, Greenpoint, New York

The Eastern friends and relatives of Judge C. W. Wandell, of Utah, are apprehensive that he has been "taken off" by Brigham Young's satellites, the Danites, in revenge for a scathing lecture on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, delivered by him at Salt Lake City, in the Liberal Institute, on the evening of January 30, 1873, a full account of which appeared in the columns of the Herald on the 10th of the following month. During the delivery of the lecture, Brigham Young and the leaders of the Mormon Church were directly charged by Judge Wandell with being the real instigators of the massacre. This was indeed bearding the lion in his den. An old lady who had spent a score of years among the Mormons and knew Brigham well, after reading the Herald's account of the lecture, turned to the writer of the article and remarked that that of itself was enough to seal the fate of a dozen such men as Judge Wandell was.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE JUDGE.

Since that time but few letters have been received from him, the last being dated San Francisco, November 6 of the same year, just as he was about to leave that city for some point not designated, being addressed to a sisrer in Brooklyn, E. D. Whether his family were with him is not known. It was afterward, through Mormon sources learned that he went to Sidney, Australia, where it is said, he died in May, 1875. The Sidney Register, however has been thoroughly searched by Mr. J. H. Williams, the United States Consul, at the solictation of his (the Judge's) relatives, without finding his name. Neither was it entered on the Consul's books of the arrivals of American citizens, who always report at his office. Indeed, not the slightest clew has been found that he ever went there at all.

VICTIMS TO MORMON WRATH.

Since the publication of John D. Lee's confessions, Judge Wandell's friends and kindred have come to the conclusion that he and his friends have fallen victims to the wrath of the Mormon despot, being followed (if they ever left San Francisco alive) by Brigham's human bloodhounds and hunted to death.

Judge Wandell was an old resident of both Nevada and Utah, and had for a number of years held numerous positions of trust both under the Territorial and General Governments. He had been engaged for several years in ferreting out the real authors of the massacre, with a view to bring them to justice, notwithstanding the warning of friends and the scowling of Brigham himself. He was also the author of the famous "Open Letters," signed "Argus," addressed to Brigham Young, in which he solemnly charged him with the whole responsibility of the slaughter of the emigrants. These letters were inserted in Stenhouse's "Rocky Mountain Saints," published a year or two ago. No wonder, then, that Brigham wanted him out of the way.


Note: See also the Chicago Inter-Ocean for June 17, 1875 and "Charles W. Wandell's 'Argus letters'"

A  HILL  OF  ZION
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REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  MORMONISM  IN  OHIO.
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HIRAM, Portage County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1877.     

In the midst of the revival of interest in the Mormon Church at the present time, caused by the death of its great leader, it may be of value to a considerable class of readers to know that at one time there was a selection made through a pretended vision from God of a site for the Zion of the Church of the Latter Day Saints in this township. Having heard that such was the case your correspondent came to this place yesterday and, calling upon some of the oldest settlers, gathered all the facts in regard to the matter.

About thirty miles southeast from Cleveland and a little more than a mile back from the Atlantic and Great Western Railway rises one of those picturesque hills which go to form the water shed dividing the waters flowing north into Lake erie from those flowing south into the Ohio River and the Gulf. From the summit of this hill there is a natural slope in every direction. Even in the early days the pioneers describe it as a spot of peculiar beauty and striking sublimity. From its tree-capped summit a magnificent panorama is offered to view. For many miles away in the neighboring State of Pennsylvania busy villages and thriving farms may be minutely located, with here and there a strip of woodland and country road stretching between. The summit of the hill is now occupied by a wealthy farming community, frugal, pious, happy, and, by the casual eye, no indications are to be traced of the delusion of a half century ago.

SIDNEY  RIGDON.

For some time previous to 1830, the year in which Mormonism was first announced to the world, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and son, Scotch Baptists preachers, of Western Virginia, had been preaching what they termed a reformation in the orthodoxy of the time. They professed to have discovered new light in the Scriptures of divine truth, and the power with which they emphasized their doctrines made a decided impression everywhere they went upon the pioneer mind. They claimed that the people had long since forsaken the teachings of the Scriptures in their simplicity; that they had obscured the plain doctrines by means of strained interpretations and man-made creeds; that the Scriptures are their own best interpreters, and that if they are studied in their simplicity and with all sectarianism laid aside there can almost never be any difficulty in following out their meaning and forming the true creed for faith and practice.

The theories of the Campbells took deep root in this section. The people of Hiram Hill almost to an individual embraced their novel views upon baptism, the Lord's Supper, the necessity of implicit obedience and the theory that everything commanded in the Bible, under any circumstances, is thoroughly and entirely essential to the salvation of the soul. They became notable as debaters, and called themselves learners, or "Disciples;" saying that they were ready to accept anywhere everything which God or Christ said, and learn of Him. Among the most ardent of the converts to the new religion was a young man by the name of Sidney Rigdon, who immediately became a preacher. A contemporary thus describes him: -- "He had obtained a fair education from the common schools of the East before coming to the new country. He was somewhat stoutly built, though graceful; with marked features, acquiline nose, large eyes and mouth, heavy brown beard and long, wavy black hair. When he was warmed up to his subject he displayed truly great powers of oratory, and for the large, outdoor, pioneer congregations no one was more popular than he among all the native preachers of the time. It was not necessary that language should be the most grammatical, gestures the most appropriate or illustrations the most apt in order to satisfy the demands of the time. If the subject matter of discourse corresponded to the words of divine record which lay open upon the knees of every believer in the audience, and the speaker were impassioned in his denunciation of sin and in his warning to flee the wrath to come, it was sufficient. All these qualities young Rigdon embodied in a marked degree. He had taken up his abode on Hiram Hill, and from his cabin home made long preaching tours in every direction. At length he became so much a leader of the new movement that the Disciples were called in certain quarters 'Rigdonites.'"

IN  LEAGUE  WITH  JOE  SMITH.

But Rigdon, like Caesar, was ambitious, and ambition makes men reckless. He knew that he was not the prime mover in the reformation of the Campbells, and he felt nettled that the true authors received more credit than he. There is a period when the young evangelist is supposed to have sulked in his tent, but in another article I make take occasion to show that he was engaged in the conspiracy from the first, and even then in earnest consultation with Joe Smith. At length the Mormons arrived in Mentor and Kirtland, Lake county, and began operations in their bank, store and community. Sidney pretended to hear the preaching for the first time, and was converted. He returned and told his congregation in Hiram that new light had been discovered by a Latter Day prophet; that revelations were constantly being made, and that it was their duty as the true followers of the Lord, in all His appointed ways, to unite with the new movement. The discourse which he had preached at a large pioneer grove meeting just before this had been from the text: -- "If any man, or an angel from heaven preach any other doctrine than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed," and the words of the apostle were emphasized to the fullest extent. The next the people heard was the doctrine of Mormonism, or "Sidney Rigdon preaching his own damnation," as a pioneer expressed it to me.

INVESTIGATING  THE  NEW  DISPENSATION.

At Rigdon's suggestion one of the leading men of the disciples un Hiram, by the name of John Johnson, was sent to Kirtland to investigate the movement and report. Some time during the month of September, 1831, Johnson accordingly started out on horseback across the country to Kirtland, a distance of about thirty miles. Upon hearing the preaching of Smith, Johnson immediately became a convert to Mormonism and came back with a glowing report of the new religion. From this others went on the same pilgrimage, and returning, Rigdon himself with a considerable band went to Kirtland for the purpose of getting the settlement removed to Hiram. The prophet was only too glad to visit Hiram and survey the prospects, for already Kirtland did not satisfy in every way his heart's desires. While on the way he had a vision which told him that Hiram Hill was the "Hill of Zion" for which he had been searching; that Kirtland was only intended as a branch establishment, and that the pribcipal office of the church should be here. Upon arriving he was much pleased with the prospect. He said that the Lord had told him that there was "a better show for living" here than in Kirtland, and on this account desired to give it to the church. The Whitmores and several other leading Mormons, including eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon, arrived in Hiram during the winter of 1831-2, and brought their families with them. Smith took up his abode with Johnson, and many cabins were erected, with this one as a centre.

CONVERSIONS.

Meetings were held in the school houses of the vicinity, and such was the apparent piety and earnestness of the speakers that the people were greatly impressed. At length large congregations began to gather, and as a result of the interest a large number of converts were taken into the church. Every convert who had any gift in that direction was set aside for the work of the ministry. In less than six months after Joseph Smith first came here more than sixty persons had united with his church and accepted him as the Prophet of the Lord. There was hardly a family in the township which was not wholly or in part converted. Taking all the members who entered here they numbered over two hundred. The Prophet now began to have revelations almost every night. The site of the contemplated temple was pointed out -- a spot on the "Hinckley farm," as it is called -- and the work was begun by ordering the transplanting of rows of maples in various places. The rows of these beautiful trees, large and beautiful along the roadside, are all that now remind one of the work of the false prophet. About this time some wonderful lights appeared in various quarters, and Smith immediately announced that they were spirit lights sent to prove the truth of Mormonism. As the congregation went to the river to immerse the converts, lights appeared upon the opposite side of the stream. Some curious fellows went up the stream and swimming across found the lights to be nothing more than wicking saturated with oil and set on fire. Smith attempted to work some miracles of healing, &c., but signally failed. Some of the oldest people here contend that the plan of Smith at this time was to build three Zions -- one in Kirtland, in in Hiram and one in the Far West.

AN  UNINTENTIONAL  REVELATION.

After the work was thought to be well started here Smith accordingly started for Missouri. But he left some of his charts and papers behind in Johnson's house, and that individual proceeded to peruse them, when he ascertained that a plot was laid to take the property of all the converts out of their hands and form a great stock company, with Smith as the head or president. This was indeed a revelation to the Hiramites, as they were called, and was far more than they could endure. One after another they declared that they would be dupes no longer. In this way by fall the Church was very greatly reduced and the Gentiles of the whole section were thoroughly aroused in their hostility. Smith returned from the West to find that his power had hopelessly deserted him.The fraud was exposed. At length the people determined not to let the indignity which they had suffered go unpunished. Boring holes into Rigdon's cabin theyattempted to blow it up by placing in powder to be exploded by the application of a slow match. Failing in this a large mob of people from the adjoining towns came in one night and joining with the Hiramites proceeded to the houses of Smith and Rigdon, and dragging them out from their beds into an open field proceeded to tar and feather feather them. On the next day there was to be a meeting at the house of Smith, at which both the prophet and Rigdon were to speak, but neither of them appeared. The power of the Church had been entirely broken, and within a week Smith and Rigdon departed for Kirtland. When the emigration for Missouri took place some time afterward, however, there were about fifteen faithful families from Hiram Hill which accompanied the train.   C. H. R.


Note 1: The writer was almost certainly Charles H. Ryder (1853-1883), who (probably with the help of his father, Hartwell Ryder) compiled a manuscript account of the early history of Hiram township, (see page 9 of Mary Bosworth Treudley's Prelude to the Future; the First Hundred Years of Hiram College). Charles is listed in the 1880 census as living in his father's household at Hiram; he had earlier been a student at what is now Hiram College. Hartwell Ryder seems to also have been an amateur historian, (see his c. 1901 manuscript in the Hiram College Archives: "Short History of the Foundation of the Mormon church based on personal memories and facts collected by Hartwell Ryder, Hiram, Ohio, at the Age of 80 years," -- copy by Minnie M. Ryder, 1903-04). Hartwell was possibly the source for an historical article in the Feb. 15, 1860 Ravenna Portage County Democrat, which reported: "someone [in 1832] bored an auger hole into a log of the house in which Rigdon lived, and filling it with powder, tried to blow it up." This corresponds closely with the 1877 Herald article, which says: "Boring holes into Rigdon's cabin they attempted to blow it up by placing in powder to be exploded by the application of a slow match. Failing in this a large mob of people from the adjoining towns came in one night..."

Note 2: Charles H. Ryder's father, Hartwell, grew up in the household of his father, Symonds Ryder, (located near the intersection of Ryder Road with County Road 254, southwest of Hiram Center). The 1850 federal census list for Hiram township shows Mr. Symonds' as the next door neighbor (to the east according to land ownership maps) of Jude "Stephens," who in 1833 had exchanged his property in Kirtland, Ohio with John Johnson, the previous owner on County Road 254, in Hiram. All of this probably means that the Ryders were near neighbors of the John Johnson family before 1833. In fact, Symonds' younger brother Jason married Fanny Johnson, the daughter of John Johnson. The 1850 census list also shows Jude Stephens' son, William W. Stevens, then living with his father in what had been the John Johnson house. William W. Stevens' daughter, Mary Ellen Stevens Dilley, grew up in the old Johnson house. See her 1930 Pioneer Life in Hiram Township, as well as "The Mormons are Only a Memory but ‘Hiram Hill’ is Still Unchanged," Cleveland Plain Dealer Magazine, Feb. 21, 1909, both published under her professional name, "Ellen S. Dilley."

Note 3: B. H. Roberts' "Figures in Early Church History," in the Deseret Evening News of Sept. 27, 1902 privides an LDS perspective on the early days in Hiram, as does Luke S. Johnson's "History," in the Deseret News of May 19, 1858. See also various items transcribed in association with Rev. B. A. Hinsdale's 1876 booklet, A History of Disciples at Hiram.

Mormon Leaders at Their Mecca.
_____

Western New York the Scene of a Powerful and Interesting
Revival of Mormonism. Joe Smith's Life at Palmyra. Beginning by
Selling Cakes and Ale, and Then Taking a Hand at Receiving Revelations.
The Rise of Mormonism. Dramatic Events in the Development of
the Church of Latter Day Saints."
_____

SMITH'S  LIFE  AT  HOME.

The brief story of Joe Smith's career, as told in this town, is as follows: -- He was of a family of nine children, who came to Palmyra from Royalton, Vt., in 1816.

At first the Smiths opened a cake and ale stand in the village of Palmyra. The boys "worked round," dug wells and chopped wood now and then, but Joseph, Jr., was opposed to manual labor except in great emergencies. According to people who knew him best he was a silent, lazy boy -- often called stupid. But he was a well built fellow, with blue eyes and light hair, sometimes spoken of as a full faced, chuckle headed lad who took life easy and dreamed and schemed while others toiled.

At that time there was a craze for treasure hunting, and many things of value had been discovered in Indian mounds. Smith took advantage of the mania, and when digging for gold he superintended the job and showed an unusual amount of energy in making people believe in his strange fancies. It was his custom to go out with a party and dig for money or relics on the hills at midnight. Usually he was half asleep and idle, but on special days, at general musters, elections and political meetings, he turned out with the whole Smith family. They put their cheap merchandise on sale, with cakes, beer, hard cider and bioled eggs. Joseph is described as a silent boy who never smiled, and he kept himself in the background while developing his schemes for creating a sensation; then he came to the front and appeared as a leader. Incessant and tireless, he pursued his game. As young Smith grew older, he became master of the family -- father and brothers followed him to the end. Joe was the chief vagabond of this New England gypsy family. Horses, whiskey, craft and story telling characterized his worldly career.

Therr years after the family had opened their little shop of gingerbread and ale in Palmyra the Smiths "squatted" on a piece of timber land of one hundred and fifty or two hundred acres, about two miles south of the village centre. First they had a log house, which was never completely finished; then they built a frame house which was not finished until long afterward. All survivors agree that the Smiths were a shiftless lot, particularly Joseph, Jr.

MORMON  FARMING.

Their fields were half cleared, half ploughed, half cultivated and half harvested. At times they made brooms and baskets, peddled vegetables and were hucksters rather than farmers. When other boys were hoeing corn Joe was hunting or fishing or getting up a party to dig for money. He claimed to have a clairvoyant insight into things that other people could not see. He always had two or three pots of money or chests of valuables on tap in his mind's eye, and this explains why the hills of Palmyra to-day are covered with holes which Apostle Joe Smith, Jr., had inveigled his fellow citizens into digging. The money mania was the talk of the country for miles around. When Joe and his followers visited Pennsylvania and began turning up the clay of that State many people thought Joe Smith a great man if not an honest one.

In the summer of 1819 an incident occurred which put young Joe Smith into a wider field of operation. It was the beginning of a series of fake discoveries, which culminated in his claim that with the assistance of a beautiful angel he had discovered the golden plates of a new Gospel.

The elder Smith was digging a well for Clark Chase, two miles south of Palmyra. The Chase children were playing about the well, when one of the Smith boys shovelled out a clear white stone shaped like a human foot. It was quite transparent, something like a "peep" stone which the Chase children had used as a plaything. One of the girls said that when she peeped into the stone she saw things that had been lost. She was quite joyous over the treasure until young Joe, who was idling about the well, seized the agate and carried it away. Joe was quiet for several days. Presently it was whispered that he had discovered a charm in which he could see wonders. With an air of mystery he would look at the stone shaded in his hat and see visions and any amount of lost property. Each day he had new revelations for his open mouthed followers.

In a few weeks people were paying money for his oracles. Many a man was sent over the hills in search of lost cattle, on a fool's errand, of course, but Joe made money and the public apparently fancied humbugging, and that made him a great success.

SMITH'S  SPIRITUAL  VISIONS.

It was not long before he had heavenly visions. Men paid to join his search for treasures. His conditions were that no person should speak during the digging. A whisper would cause the box of gold to vanish forever. A confederate generally broke the charm at the proper moment and thus prevented exposure.

Next, young Joe must have a sacrifice and soak the ground with blood, to enable him to discover the hidden treasure. A fat sheep was given, its throat cut, but somebody extinguished the torches, and amid Smith's protests and cries of indignation the sheep disappeared. On the following day there was a grand feast under the prophet's roof. The mutton was tender and Joe a power in the family. He kept the pots filled with mutton, and the Smith family waxed notorious.

These gypsy feats and impostures continued until Joe Smith and his gold diggers were visited by people from other States. Nearly all of young Smith's followers were without money or character. The exception was Martin Harris, an honest farmer, who lived near the village. He was a business man by nature, had a good farm, but his weakness was in his belief in Joe Smith's spiritual powers. He affirmed that he had every proof of Joe Smith's divine nature.

ORIGIN  OF  THE  MORMON  BIBLE.

At this point in the Smith narrative the Mormon Bible hoax enters. Volumes have been written about it and strenuously denied by the Mormons. The best informed people of Palmyra, however, believe the story of the stealing of what was known as the Spalding manuscript, which Joe Smith had copied and interpolated with passages from the Bible and palmed off as a revelation from God...

Not long after this a mysterious stranger appeared with Joe Smith. It was Rigdon. He had frequent interviews with the young apostle, and there was evidently something important brewing. Smith's revelations grew more frequent. He had a new dispensation to relate every time he visited the village. Farmer Harris, the only follower of Smith who had more money than he knew what to do with, mentioned Smith's name with new reverence. Smith told him that he had met an angel and would have a new gospel for the public very soon. Later he came into town pale and exhausted, but his eyes were radient. He said he had been on a mountain by direction of the angel, had a fight with the devil, and after a long conflict had secured the golden pages of the new gospel. He would translate it by means of spiritual spectacles which accompanied the metal pages.

In a few days Martin Harris, the honest farmer, was ready to sacrifice his life for the only true revelation. He went to see Mr. Grandin, the village editor, who listened to his proposition to put the Bible in print. Mr. Grandin refused to do the work. Harris visited Thurlow Weed's printing office in Rochester and received a similar answer.

Then Mr. Harris returned, went to Mr. Grandin and put his offer in business form; said he would give bonds to pay for the work if necessary. Mr. Grandin finally consented to print an edition of 5,000 copies, as stated at the geginning of this article, for $3,000 cash. It was a a large sum in those days and ultimately Martin Harris, the honest man, had to mortgage his farm to pay the bill...

[A continued narrative of Smith's exploits continues, including a reference to his artificial cave, dug into the side of Miner's Hill, located a mile south of the Smith farm. The reporter, along with local residents Orson Saunders and John H. Gilbert, visited the location and reported: "the door jambs leading into the cave are still sound and partly visible, but the earth has been washed down by storms and the opening to the cave nearly filled, so that it cannot be entered at present... The door jamb is heavy plank of beech or maple, and the inscriptions, which had evidently been cut deeply by a sharp knife, were partially worn away." A landslide covered cave the cave entrance and its wooden doors eventually rotted away.]

...While on the hill Orson Saunders, the frisky batchelor farmer of Palmyra, gave the story that Smith had told his uncle of how he found the golden tablets. It is no doubt authentic, because the Saunders boys are trustworthy and their uncle was well acquainted with the Smith family. Their farms adjoined. The uncle's name is Benjamin Saunders. He is eighty years old and lives at Banker's Station, near Hilldale, Mich. He repeated the narrative only a year or two ago to Orson. This is the story...

HOW  JOE  SMITH  FOUGHT  DEVILS.

... Smith had received several communications from the archangel, and was told on a certain day to repair that night to the holy mountain and dig in a certain place, which he would recognize. It was shown him in the vision. Accordingly he went there at midnight with a shovel and ceowbar. He recognized the spot and dug until he came to a large, flat stone. To use Smith's own words: --

"I forced the crowbar under the stone and raised it without difficulty. There I beheld a casket of golden plates, on which were inscribed the new gospels. The glory of heaven shone around them and upon them. The place seemed on fire. I was about to remove the plates when an enormous toad appeared, squatting upon the pages.

"Instantly it was revealed to me that I had forgotten to carry out some request made by the angel in digging for the plates. I had forgotten to give thanks to God, and I knew what was passing in the toad's mind. Instantlt the beast arose and expanded as large as a dog, then as a bullock, then it rose far above me, a flaming monster with glittering eyes, until it seemed to fill the heavens, and with a blow like lightning it swept me from the mountain into the valley beneath.

ANOTHER  VISITATION.

"The sun was shining high in the heavens when I came to my senses. Again the angel of the Lord appeared and instructed me how I should further proceed. I acknowledged the mistake I had made and on that night I again repaired to the holy mountain. But the stone was not there, nor was there any sign that it had ever been there or that I had dug for it. But a revelation came to me on the spot. A new place to dig was pointed out and in a few moments I reached a bif flat stone, and offering up thanks I removed it with the crowbar. The golden plates were flaming again in celestial splendor. The toad was not there. Then I knew it was all right.

"Again thanking the Almighty I removed the plates, but was so agitated I could hardly move. The moment I touched them a thousand devils sprang into light. They were all around the hill; the mountain seemed alive with them; they were in the air; they perched on my shoulders. They could do nothing, however. I was protected by the angel of God. But I had to fight for it. It was a struggle to get down from the mountain. Many a time I thought the holy plates would be taken from me, but I never let go of them until I found a place to hide, that I might recover my strength. The country was heavily timbered in those days, but I was not afraid to go through the woods. On the following day I had the plates safely clapsed to my breast and I carried them home and afterward hid them in a cave, where I began the first translation of the inspired pages." ...

INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  PRINTER  OF  THE  BIBLE.
_____

Major John H. Gilbert, who had formerly owned the printing office and subsequently sold it to Mr. Grandon, was an expert printer. He was asked if he would undertake the job of setting up the Mormon Bible, as they wished him to do the work, he to receive twenty-five cents a thousand ems.

I asked the Major yesterday if he would give the HERALD an interview on the subject. He would do it cheerfully. "That was a long time ago," he said -- "sixty-three years -- yet I remember the incidents connected with the printing of that Bible as plainly as if they had happened yesterday. The Mormons first submitted the title page. I kept a copy of it, also the proof sheets of the book, which are now on exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago. A peculiarity of this Mormon Bible of to-day is that it is nearly the same as it was when I printed it. In the first copy it was said: 'By Joseph Smith, Jr.; Author and Proprietor.' In later editions the announcement was made that Joseph Smith, Jr., was the translator of the book.

Continuing, Major Gilbert said: -- "It required seven months of hard work to set up that Bible. The manuscript was clearly written, but there were no capital letters and no punctuation marks of any kind in the entire book. At first Hyrum Smith and Harris, who brought the copy to the office, were very exacting. They gave only twenty-five pages at a time and would allow none of it to remain in the office over night. I told them it must be punctuated. Each chapter made a solid paragraph, with a break or anything to show the beginning or ending of a sentence."

JOE  SMITH  IN  THE  BACKGROUND.

"Joe Smith was not at the office at all. I never saw him except once or twice during the preparation, seven months. All the business was done by proxy. Joe Smith was in his cave or room where the translating had been done, getting new revelations, I suppose, from the angel. When I explained to Harris that the matter should be punctuated and put in proper form he retired for consultation. The answer came back that the Old Testament was full of bad grammar and what was good enough for the Bible was good enough for them. One of Smith's literary assistants -- in fact, the only one he had except Rigdon -- was Cowdery. A large portion of the manuscript was in his handwriting. At times, however, it came in the handwriting of one of the Smith women. No corrections were made beyond typographical errors. They soon allowed me to punctuate, so I went over the manuscript with a pencil as it was brought in, punctuating and paragraphing as I read. My pencil marks are on the original manuscript now in the keeping of a Mormon at Richmond, Mo. I understand the Mormons cannot get possession of that manuscript at any price.

"I tried to learn something about the humbug, but they declared that everything they gave me was a direct translation from the golden plates. As I understood it, those golden plates were taken from the mountain to Smith's house and put in a bag. He was so frightened at first after he had recovered them from the guardianship of the angel that he hid them for a day and then took them to his house. Later the alleged plates were carried to a cave for translation.

"Nobody believes that there were any plates, unless Smith secured a few of the archaeological plates at a museum to show on extraordinary occasions to doubting friends. In that cave it is supposed they really went over the manuscript which had been stolen by Rigdon from Spalding's house, and, by incorporating it with Bible language, disguised it and made it the basis of their new gospel.

"I knew that Harris was an honest man, and one day I asked him to tell me truly if he had ever seen those golden plates. Yes, he'd seen them, he said.

"Do you mean that you actually saw the plates with your naked eye?"

"Harris' face fell and he was downcast for a moment. Then he said, 'I saw them with a spiritual eye.'

"Some years ago Brigham Young's son called on me and said, 'I suppose, Major Gilbert, that you think our Mormon Bible a humbug.'

"Yes," I replied, "a very big humbug."

"Brigham replied with a smile, 'If it is a humbug it is the most successful humbug ever known.'"

"In printing the Bible did you do the presswork as well as the typesetting?" I asked of the Major.

"Yes, I did most of the presswork also. I had learned my trade at Canandaigua and understood the business thoroughly. After Harris had promised to insure the payment for the printing Grandin went to New York and bought the type -- 500 pounds of new small pica. He brought it home and I laid the cases and went to work on the book. I don't think there was any delay during the seven months that I was at it. When the Bible was finished and neatly bound the Mormons were elated. It was the thing they needed to bring them followers, and Harris went about as a missionary, believing every word he uttered, that Smith was a man in daily communication with the Almighty." ...


Note 1: The above text will be updated and enlarged after a legible copy of the clipping has been located for transcription.

Note 2: Joseph Smith's cave in Miner's Hill was rediscovered and refurbished in April of 1974. See various New York newspapers of that period for articles on the cave and attached notes.