THE  SAINTS  WORRIED.
________

The Illustrated American of New York City is publishing a series of articles on Mormonism. The articles in the main are fair. From some authority the Illustrated American has received its information, and naturally it reaches the conclusion that the Saints have not, in any honest sense, abandoned polygamy. This is offensive to the Saints, but why it should be we cannot see. With them polygamy is a command from God, and all the change that the most enthusiastic Saint pretends has been made, is that the president of the church, as a man, not as God's vicegerent, advises against its present practice. We all know that it was only political pressure that brought around the advice, and when we come to analyse the words they do not advise much.

But something in the former articles must have stung the Saints deeply, because the News devoted a great deal of space to a reply, and it seems the matter was of so much importance that Apostle Grant and Delegate Caine went to New York to protest and to hint at libel suits. The Illustrated American speaks of the probity of the two gentlemen, says "their address is candid, frank and engaging," all of which we will let pass for what it is worth, only stating that we in Utah know both gentlemen better than does the Illustrated American editor. The article then proceeds as follows:

On the occasion of their visit to the Illustrated American they were excited. It was natural that they should be excited. They believed that a bitter wrong had been done to them and their church, and they used such words as "lies" and "liars" with a freedom bred of those traditions of plain speech left by Brigham Young to the Mormon community.

Apart from these flowers of language, the following is the substance of the conversation that passed between these gentlemen and the Illustrated American:

"We have called," said Mr. Caine, "to protest in a most vigorous tone against the articles on Mormonism which you are now publishing."

"Are they not true?" asked the Illustrated American

"They are such a mixture of truth and falsehood," replied the Delegate, "that they are infinitely more dangerous than a mere parcel of lies. I was in Washington when the first publication was made, and went from one newsdealer to another to buy your paper. So great had been the demand for it that the Washington edition was exhausted, and I had to make a long search before I could buy the copy which I have in my hand. Armed with it I came to New York, and, as you see, I have marked with a pencil those of its statements which we repudiate."

"But," said the Illustrated American, "the article is headed by a quotation from the message of President Harrison. Your grievance, if any, lies not against us, but against the President of the United States."

"Oh," said Mr. Caine, "you know what the President is! You know what church he belongs to. We cannot be responsible for what President Harrison believes or says about us."

With this summary dismissal of President Harrison, Mr. Caine went on to attack Judge C. C. Goodwin, whose article in Harper's Magazine was quoted on the same page. His attack was purely personal. He said that the readers of The Salt Lake Tribune, which is edited by Judge Goodwin, bought it because it was a good newspaper, not because they put faith in Judge Goodwin's editorial utterances. As to Mr. Goodwin's criticisms of Mormonism, and his disbelief in the abandonment of polygamy, "they are simply set down as Tribune lies, said Mr. Caine."

"But," urged the Illustrated American, "are not all recent writers on Mormonism in accord with Judge Goodwin?"

"They are either missionaries or members of a hostile church," said Mr. Caine, heartily supported in this statement by Mr. Grant. Indeed, nothing in this interview was more remarkable than the attitude of the envoys toward all other churches than the Mormon Church. Whatever comments appeared upon their community they instantly attributed to the machinations of rival sects. The whole matter was to them a feud of religion.

"President Woodruff," continued the Congressman, has lately made this declaration:

Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I do hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws and to use all my influence with the members of the church over which I preside to have them do likewise.

"This would be excellent testimony," said the Illustrated American, "if we had not the best possible authority from Utah for saying that it is merely a feint."

"Your authority is the 'Old Mormon,'" said Mr. Caine, "and I don't hesitate to assert that the 'Old Mormon' is a myth. I don't believe that there exists such a person."

The similitude of Mrs. Prig's remarks about Mrs. Harris was so great that it provoked an involuntary smile.

"This may be fun to you," said the Delegate, "but it is death to us. I tell you that no Mormon, young or old, would dare to make such assertions as this imaginary Mormon makes. The discipline of our church is stronger than you may fancy."

Mr. Caine went into detail in support of this theory that the "Old Mormon" did not exist. He found in the "Old Mormon's" story these statements: "I was arrested with Joseph Smith." "I put my head out of the window of the jail." "I expected to be shot the next moment."

"Why," said Mr. Cain," there was nobody arrested with Joseph Smith except his brother. There was nobody in jail."

For a decision of this point we refer our readers to Colnel Hay's account of the killing of Joseph Smith; to the story of "Early Mormon Days," recently published by Charles Scribners Sons; and to any standard work on the subject.

"Then," said Mr. Grant, "this old Mormon asserts that George A. Smith rode on a fleet horse ahead of the emigrant train which was massacred in Mountain Meadows. Are you aware that Smith was a man weighing 290 pounds, and could hardly have found a horse to carry him?"

Here we refer our readers to a graphic account of the Mountain Meadows massacre published many years ago by the Chicago Tribune. the correctness of its facts has never been disputed. Mr. George A. Smith's adiposity may have increased in later years, but, as the "Old Mormon" remembers him, he was capable of riding fleet horses.

And that was absolutely all the evidence by which Messrs. Caine and Grant supported their very serious accusation that the "Old Mormon" did not exist -- an accusation which is likely to offend him deeply.

"The truth of the matter," continued Mr. Caine, "is that, in spite of all that we assert, nobody believes that we have abandoned polygamy. The President does not believe it. The Utah Commission does not believe it. I appeared before the Utah Comission. They told me that they had the proof of forty-two polygamous marriages recently contracted. Said I, 'Gentlemen, produce your proof.' They have not produced it yet. They cannot produce it. Why? They have no proof."

"No proof whatever," echoed Mr. Grant.

"Now," said Mr. Caine, "your publication will be read by a hundred people to one who will see the report of the Utah Commission. We have a right to reputation. We demand it."

"You must not demand anything with threats," said the Illustrated American. "We are publishing these articles after long deliberation and investigation. We stand ready to support them in a court of law."

"No, no," said Mr. Caine, "we make no threats: we will consider what course to take. What we want you to print is, that we deny that polygamy has not been actually abandoned; we deny that any policy of deception is being counseled; we deny that Brigham Young or any Mormons in authority aided or abetted the Mountain Meadows massacre; we deny that the Mormons mean to go to war with the Unoted States; and we deny that they have any intention of leaving Utah and emigrating to Mexico. Will you publish these denials?"

"We will publish them with pleasure," said the Illustrated American, as its Mormon visitors rose to go.

And we here keep our word. We repeat that Messrs Caine and Grant are men of the highest standing in the Mormon community, and would impress any listener, however skeptical, by their air of sincerity and by their enthusiasm for the creed to which they place their trust.

At the same time we cannot agree with the New York Sun, which, in an editorial published after the visit of Messrs Caine and Grant, sums up their views under the title, "Is Mormon Polygamy Ended?" The Sun believes that Governor Thomas of Utah and Judge Zane of that Territory, will support it in the belief that plural marriages are "buried, never to be resurrected."

"There is ground for believing," cries the Sun, glowingly, "that the last of avowedly polygamous marriages in Utah has already ocurred. Civilization has conquered."

The report of the Utah Commission, we believe, will show a different state of things. Governor Thomas and Judge Zane, we are sure, will be found less hopeful than the Sun imagines. The Mormon problem was never so bodly tangled as now.

And, while waiting for the unraveling of its complications, the Illustrated American merely wishes to say that it will gladly respond to any libel suit which the Mormon Church wishes to bring against it.

The Saints will not sue the Illustrated American. That is all a bluff. For months they have been bluffing about their strength, but they dare not make a test case to be fairly tried in court.


Note: The Salt Lake Herald, Deseret News, and Salt Lake Times all responded to this article in the Tribune, with caustic comments. History would show the Illustrated American to have been maliciously wrong or artfully misguided in several of its 1890-91 assertions against the Mormons. However, since LDS plural marriages did continue in secret, for several years after Woodruff's "manifesto," that magazine proved to be more or less correct in its published disbelief on that particular subject. For the official LDS reply to the magazine, see President Woodruff's Jan. 9, 1891 letter.

ANNIVERSARY  OF  CARTHAGE.
________

The  Assassination  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith.
________

IT  WAS  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO.
________

Conditions Under Which the People Then Lived -- Nauvoo's Promise of Becoming a Great Metropolis -- Talks With Catherine Salisbury, Sister of Joseph and Hyrum -- Lucy Smith's "History of Joseph Smith."
________
Correspondence Tribune.

                                              Carthage, Ill., June 22, 1894.
On the 27th of this month, next Wednesday, occurs the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Mormon prophets, at the old stone jail in this city. The old jail still stands, but has been greatly beautified both externally and internally by its present owners and occupants, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Browning. However, this anniversary will hardly be celebrated here, unless a few curious visitors beg admission to the residence to view the dark stains upon the oaken floor and bullet marks in the casements and windows of the upper hallway and room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were shot to death, and where John Taylor, late president of the Mormon Church was wounded.

The story of the massacre is familiar to all who have made any sort of a study of the history of Illinois. Mrs. Browning, who is so gracious to all visitors, says that it is surprising how many different versions of the story of the tragedy are rife. She has heard the story told in more than a dozen different ways, and by some Mormons themselves who it is thought, should be better posted. It is not infrequently the case that small delegations from Salt Lake visit the old jail. Not long since a band of Mormons came to the Browning home and begged that they might see the interior of the historic pile. All reputable people are admitted to the building if they ask the permission. This little band of Mormons moved about the sacred old building, and, as they gazed upon the dark, rusty stains where the life blood of Joseph, the martyr, poured out, their tears streamed softly down their cheeks. Some came to beg a leaf or a flower and get a handful of earth from the place where stands the old jail. It is a historic shrine -- the shrine of the martyred prophet.

The Mormons came to Illinois from Missouri in about 1839. They selected a site -- the present location of Nauvoo -- on the banks of the Mississippi river, and here began the erection of buildings for homes, workshops, tithing-houses and, greatest of all, a magnificent temple that cost a million of dollars in money and labor. Nauvoo bade fair to become the leading city of the West. In 1844 she was a city of nearly 30,000 inhabitants. Joseph Smith had issued an edict that all Mormons from all parts of the world, should come to Nauvoo, making this spot the last place -- the new Zion -- where the work of the last days should begin. In answer to this call the faithful began to stream into the city. The Gentiles, so-called, the general populace of Hancock county, became alarmed at the growing religious and political strength of the Mormons, and, as the Mormons charge, became intensely jealous of the material, political and religious progress of the Saints. There can be no doubt that the Illinois Legislature, of which William Smith, a brother of the prophet, was a member by suffrage of Mormon votes, granted unconstitutional charter to the Mormons. Under these special acts it is claimed that Smith and his leaders did a great many illegal things. The culmination of all the trouble, however, was the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor office by order of Mayor Joseph Smith, at Nauvoo, some time about the middle of June, 1844. This led to Smith's arrest. Francis and Joseph Higbee and others had renounced Smith and started the Expositor. But one copy was issued, but it bristled with assaults upon Smith and the Mormons. Its publication was ordered to be suppressed by the City Council of Nauvoo, and the press and type were broken and thrown into the river. It is said that the press has since been on exhibition in Chicago, but it is doubtful whether the parts were ever rescued from the bosom of the father of waters." Joseph and Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and a Mr. Richards were arrested and taken to the jail in Carthage. They were treated with considerable condescension by Jailer Walker Stigall, and were placed in a large suite in the upper story, known as the debtors' room. Smith had prophesied his death, and evidently he expected trouble, for when the mob did come, about 4 o'clock on the afternoon of June 27th, 1844, he fired into them several times with an old-fashioned "pepper-box" revolver, wounding two or three of the assailants. The mob was composed of men who wore disguises and who did their work quickly. A detail of local military organization called the "Carthage Grays" were stationed about the jail, but they "stood in" with the mob. Their guns were loaded with only powder and wadding. After discharging their rifles the "guards" ran away and joined the other citizens in leaving the town deserted. Old Artois Hamilton and a few other brave souls remained. Hamilton cared for the dead, and also saw that John Taylor's wounds were dressed. He took the bodies of the Smiths to Nauvoo the following day, where in a short address, he turned them over to the sorrowing people.

Few witnesses to that tragedy now survive. The recent death of Judge Thomas Coke Sharpe, editor of the Carthage Gazette, removed one of the defendants charged with the killing. He and all indicted by the grand jury for the murder were acquited on trial. There lives near Fountain Green, in this county, Mrs. Catherine Salisbury, a sister of the prophet Joseph Smith. She resides with her son Fred Salisbury, who is a farmer of that section. Mother Salisbury, as she is known, is now 82 years old, and has a remarkable memory. She resembles her noted brother very little save in stature. Her chief resemblance is to her brother's son, the present Joseph Smith, president of the Mormon Church at Lamoni, Ia.

A visit to this country home recently found the good lady at leisure, and as ever, in a kindly mood to welcome visitors. She said: "Some of the newspaper men have not always treated us right in their stories of Mormon times. And then there have been historians who have misquoted facts, whether by accident or design I know not, but the facts were sadly at variance. All we aks is justice. We are not ashamed of our church, its teachings or its history. We have nothing to conceal."

Mother Salisbury says she came to Illinois in 1838, a short time prior to the general hegira of Mormons from Missouri into Illinois. Joseph was in bondage in Missouri, and the Mormons first came to Quincy. As soon as Joseph was liberated the people settled at Nauvoo. Mrs. Salisbury says their family, however, located near the present site of Macomb. She was married to Wilkins J. Salisbury June 8, 1831, and moved with him to this State, afterwards locating at Plymouth, in this county. She frequently visited Nauvoo during the Mormon ascendency. Her brothers were very good to her, and every time there was a grand fete or a religious gathering of unusual importance, they sent for Sister Catherine. "I was in Nauvoo a few days before my brothers were brought to Carthage, where they met their death. I shall never forget that Saturday, June 23, 1844, when I last saw my brothers alive. Joseph had preached a sermon to the largest crowd I have ever seen. It was his last sermon. I might say that it was more in the nature of a prophecy than a sermon, for he said, turning on the platform where he stood and facing some of the high priests and Elders sitting there: 'There are those among you who will betray me soon; in fact, you have plotted to deliver me up to the enemy to be slain.' The truth of this prophecy is of history. He was betrayed, and by his own alleged best friends. These same fellows attempted to assume the reigns of the church at his death. They not only attempted this, but they attempted to introduce obnoxious teachings into the church. My nephew, the present Joseph Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at Lamoni, Ia., is the true and only successor of Joseph Smith, the martyr.

"I returned to my home that Saturday evening and I shall never forget the parting with Joseph and Hyrum. That picture you hold in your hand shows how Joseph and Hyrum were dressed as they bade me good-bye. Joseph took my hands tenderly in his, saying: 'Good-bye, Sister Catherine. When this trouble blows over I will come down to Plymouth and make you a visit.' Hyrum said 'Good-bye,' simply, but with a deeper feeling than I had ever known him to entertain. It was my farewell to them on this earth."

Mother Salisbury says that the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum Smith lie buried in the old family burying lot near the Mansion house in Nauvoo. "There was a price set on Joseph's head, and we concealed the bodies for a day and a night. Then we buried them near the old home. There was no secrecy about their resting place. When 'Aunt Emma' Smith, who later was Mrs. Major C. L. [sic. - L. C.?] Bidamon died, her six nephews buried her near the brick vault where rest the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum. The story that the bodies were taken to Salt Lake is without foundation."

Mother Salisbury very kindly exhibited a number of photographs of her family to the visitor, and loaned him a book, "The History of Joseph Smith," written by the Prophet's mother, Lucy Smith. It gives a detailed account of the origin of the families on both sides, and the genealogy of the families is arranged in a methodical order. She pays a high tribute to Joseph, whom she gives a most excellent and Christian character. She refers to his fortitude in withstanding pain under the surgeon's knife. That she believed her son to be inspired of God, and that his religion and all his acts were authorized from on high, appears upon the very face of the book. She indulges in scathing criticism of the civil authorities of Illinois and Missouri in their alleged failure to hear the appeals of a persecuted and downtridden people. Her story of the murder of her two sons is pathetic in the extreme.

Outside of Nauvoo few landmarks of Mormonism remain in this county. At Webster and Fountain Green, in the vicinity of Mother Salisbury's home, there are yet evidences of the Mormon settlements established there when those people first came to Illinois. The old jail at Carthage and a little old brick house near by are about the only landmarks left of the Mormon era, so far as Carthage is concerned.

Despite the fact that the tragedy occurred fifty years ago, public interest in the story has not grown old, nor will it ever grow old. It is like "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in that the ever rising generation will want to hear the story, and, if possible, visit Nauvoo and the old jail at Carthage.

There are few if any Mormons of the old school in this county. The representatives of the Lamoni Church, however, are very numerous, and they have several meeting-houses. These people are among the best citizens of the county.   GAY DAVIDSON.


Note: For record of other interviews with Catherine Smith Salisbury, see the Lamoni, Iowa Saints' Herald of May 6, 1993, The Carthage Republican of May 16, 1894, and the The Kansas City Times of Apr. 11, 1895. The May 16, 1894 interview record is very similar to the June 24, 1894 Tribune text, but does not include Catherine's allegation that her brothers were murdered according to the secret plans of "his own alleged best friends," who can only be those members of the Council of the Twelve who remained loyal to Brigham Young.

SUSTAINED  AGAIN.
______

THE  MANIFESTO  JUST  SUITS  THE  SEVIER  SAINTS...
______

Richfield, Utah, April 19. -- Joseph S. Horne, one of the members of the City Council of Richmond and one of the counselors of the president of the Mormon stake, William H. Clark, lately returned from his post as sergeant-at-arms of the State House of Representatives, and another counselor of the Sevier stake presidency; and William H. Seegmiller, who was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for Representative last fall and is the president of the Sevier stake of Zion, occupied the pulpit at the Latter-Day Saints meeting-house in this city this afternoon....

President Seegmiller's allusions to the much-mooted topic [polygamy] were yet more forcible. He thought man's first allegiance was due his church, and that if he could not conscientiously obey the authorities he should sever his connection with the body. If his political party did not like his views he could not help that. Whenever political belief should conflict with church tenets, he would lay politics on the shelf. Recent mamifestations were but a re-enactment of events that transpired in the early life of the Mormon church. At first Joseph Smith gathered about him the brightest minds of the day. Among his most brainy followers were Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon. In the beginning they were content to assist Joseph in his labors, themselves remaining in the background, but after a while they grew jealous and attempted to depose the prophet and become the leaders of the church. The result was that they were dropped by the Mormon church, and died in ignominy. Just so it is at this time. Moses Thatcher is an eloquent speaker and a great thinker, a man of profound learning. He did much good so long as he was willing to submit to the will of those above him. But now he had taken upon himself the responsibility of dissenting from the minds of his co-laborers and superiors, and had been suspended from his position. In this there could be no cause for so much criticism among his political friends, but in it was contained a good lesson to all true Saints.

---

President Seegmiller of the Sevier stake says the Thatcher suspension contains a good lesson to all true Saints, and he cites the example of Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon, who because they were not content to obey "were dropped by the Mormon church and died in ignominy." Rough language that, and revolting, too, under all circumstances.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MALMSTROM'S  CURIOUS  WILL.
______

HEIRS  MAY  NOT  BE  MORMONS  OR  CATHOLICS.
______

Are also Debarred from Inheritance if They Join Any
Secret Society -- Text of the Document.
______

Correspondence Tribune.

Provo, Sept. 4. -- Charles Eric Malmstrom of Mapleton, declaring himself of sound mind and body, has filed his last will and testament at the Recorder's office at Provo, disinheriting his children in case they become Mormons, Catholics or join secret societies. In case they do, his property goes to the Baptist church. It is a lengthy paper. His wife is given the use of the estate as long as she is unmarried. If she be divorced or dies, then the children, six of whom are living, are given the use of the estate. The estate is then described by sectional bounds. Then the will proceeds:

"And I do further direct and appoint that should any of my children, as above named, or my grandchildren become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also called the Mormon church, or the Roman Catholic church, or any secret oath-bound society whatever, or who aids any of them, then shall none of those who so join said churches or said societies or who aid them in any manner whatever, be entitled to inherit any portion whatever of my estate, real, personal or mixed, or to which I may be entitled at the time of my death or decease; but all of my estate in equal shares as above specified shall be given to those of my children that do not join or aid said churches or secret societies. That if all of my said children or grandchildren should join or aid in building up either of said churches or societies, or aid them, then shall all of my property, real, personal or mixed, or to which I may be entitled at the time of my decease, be given and bequeathed to the Baptist church in Utah, or nearest to Utah, provided such church has taken action to exclude from membership in such church any and all who join or or belong to any of the above-named secret societies. My estate or the proceeds thereof shall be used by said church exclusively for the purpose to expose and work against Mormonism, by enlightening the Mormond and other people by proving that Joseph Smith was a false prophet; by circulating such books as "The Momron Portraits," by Dr. Wyl; "The Golden Bible," by Rev. M. T. Lamb, and by publishing and circulating my manuscript entitled, "Sidney Rigdon in the Court on the Charge of Personating the (Fictitious Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith and the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon."

I further nominate and appoint the United States District Judge of Utah to appoint an honest person as executor of this my last will and testament. And lastly, do I protest against all and any contests against this my last will and testiment, and should any one do, or attempt to do, then that person or persons, their heirs or administrators shall be forever barred from receiving any of my estate, real. personal or mixed, and I further protest against any court entering any proposition for a contest against this my last will and testament.

The document is dated July 28, 1896, and H. T., J. D. and C. A. Reynolds are witnesses.


Note 1: The Utah History Encyclopedia entry for Mapleton includes this tidbit of information: "Charles E. Malmstrom, a Swedish immigrant with an Australian wife, built a home at what is now west Maple Street, about 250 rods west of the present Mapleton City Building, and moved in 1 December 1873...."

Note 2: History does not record the fate of Charles Eric Malmstrom's book, "Sidney Rigdon in the Court on the Charge of Personating the (Dictitious Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith and the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon." Evidently his heirs did not spend any of their inherited money to have the manuscript published.

PLAIN  TALK!
______

Original Book of Mormon Dissected by
Dr. B. D. Pierce, Washington.
______

MEDELY  OF  PLAGIARISM
Book in Itself, He Says, is Only Grotesque.
WAS BRED IN FALSEHOOD.
______

Its Adherents, However, Have Discovered in it a Most Dangerous
Weapon Against the Moral World -- Hierarchy of Subtle Brains,
Equipped with Wealth of a Community, Reinforced by a Million Dupes
Willing to Accept with Unquestioning Obedience and Dispensation
Formulated in the Terms of "Thus Saith the Lord," is a Portentous
Danger Sign to Enlightened Civilization -- This the Menace to the
World from Mormonism -- He Repeats Charges About Book.
______

TRIBUNE BUREAU.
Post Building, Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D. C., May 10, 1899

Dr. B. D. Pierce of this city read an interesting paper last night before the Anthropological society. It was entitled "The Original Book of Mormon, the Mormon Congressman and a Brief History of the Church."

Dr. Pierce said that the Book of Mormon was not in itself immoral. It was, he said, simply grotesque.

"There is no polygamy in it," he continued. "On the contrary, it is expressly prohibited. The Mormons have been slandered and traduced, unjustly and without warrant, for an immoral 'Bible.' Whatever their practices may be under their doctrine of a new revelation, however, which springs directly from their invention of the Book of Mormon itself, there is nothing immoral in the book. It is, on the contrary, only grotesque.

"It is a melange of plagiarisms from the Old and New Testaments without order or regularity, easily traced, and intermingled with watery parodies of nothing in particular signifying nothing.

"But in this monstrosity, born of deceit and bred in falsehood, obliged to defend itself and its origin with inventions claiming miraculous interpositions of Divine power, its adherents have discovered a most dangerous weapon against the moral world. A hierarchy of subtle brains, equipped with the wealth or the entire community, reinforced with a million dupes willing to accept with unquestioning obedience any dispensation formulated in the terms of 'Thus saith the Lord' is a portentous danger sign to enlightened civilization. This is [the] menace to the world from Mormonism."

In speaking of the Book of Mormon, Dr. Pierce said that more than 3000 corrections to orthography and grammar had been made since the original edition. These 3000 cahnges, he said, are not typographical corrections. A comparison of the first edition with the latest shows that the pronoun "which" is changed to "who" in the latest over 700 times. He said that the vernacular of the backwoods of western New York is found on every page of these works and that silicism which would delight the heart of the modern dialect writer crops out in every sentence.

"The Mormons," said Dr. Pierce, "have from the first repudiated with great intensity of feeling the Gentile charge that their book is but an illiterate plagiarism of a parodic romance on the 'Old Testament,' written as a literary diversion in the early part of this century by a superannuated 'Congregationalist minister,' Rev. Solomon Spaulding, entitled, 'The Manuscript Found.' I believe the evidence to be overwhelming, and that it establishes beyond the shadow of a doubt the fact that had Spaulding's romance never been written, Joseph Smith, Jr., would never have found the box of plates in the Manchester hillside."


Note: The Washington Post, on May 10, 1899, ran a much shorter report on this same lecture, entitled "The Anthropological Society." Evidently the Post did not think Dr. B. D. Pierce's lecture important enough news to feature in its columns, using the longer text produced for distribution by the Post's own wire service copy writers.

A  REMINISCENCE
OF  THE  PROPHET  STRANG



Correspondence Tribune.

Springville, Utah, July 25. -- There is living quietly in the pretty little town of Springville an old lady, who was at one time the fourth wife of James J. Strang, prophet and leader of the Strangites, a branch of the Mormon church, which left the mother church under the leadership of Strang after the death of Joseph Smith. The lady in question, who is known here as Mrs. Wing, having married a man by that name after the death of Strang, was called on by your correspondent and asked for an interview about the early days of the Strangite church, its teachings and its prophet, James J. Strang. She very graciously granted the request and gave the following interesting facts about the church and its leader.

    *     *     *

Strang was a lawyer by profession and according to her statement was a very smart and well-educated man. He joined the Mormon church at Nauvoo about a year before the death of Joseph Smith. At the time of the death of the founder of the Mormon church Strang was living at Voree, Wis. Here it was that he received the letter he claimed was from Joseph Smith conferring on Strang the leadership of the Mormon church at his (Joseph's) death. This letter was dated at Nauvoo a short time before the death of Joseph and bore the Nauvoo postmark. This letter Mrs. Wing states that she has seen. Here it was that he was first visited by the angel who told him where to find his first batch of sacred plates, which he dug up on a hill near Voree, known as the Hill of Promise. These plates consisted of three sheets of copper about three inches square and contained the first ordinances of the church. These plates, Mrs. Wing says, she has seen, and that she believes they are still in the possession of the family of one of Strang's wives. The plates were fastened together with a ring run through holes in the corner of the plates, and on the first one was the sun, moon and stars, and the head and base of a man holding a scepter in his hand

    *     *     *

Later on the angel again visited him and told him of some plates on Beaver island, in Lake Michigan, which he found, and from which he translated the Strangite Bible, known as the "Book of the Lord" or "The Ancient Law of Moses." These plates, eighteen in number, she states she never saw, but that she saw the translations, and that thousands of copies which were printed and ready to be bound were destroyed by the mob after the death of Strang.

    *     *     *

Mrs. Wing says that there was no material difference between the teachings of the Strangites and the Mormons of Joseph Smith's time except that the Strangites kept Saturday for the Sabbath instead of Sunday. Both the Mormons and Strangites taught polygamy. Stranf had five wives at the time of his death. Mrs. Wing was the daughter of Finnies Wright, one of Strang's twelve apostles, and was married to Strang when a young girl. She had one child by Strang, a son, who is now living in this city. Two years ago L. D. Hickey, the last surviving member of the original twelve apostles, came here and tried to induce this son, who is now a middle-aged man, to go back and assume control of the Strangite church as its leader. But all the inducements that Mr. Hickey could offer did not make Mr. Strang believe that he was called of the Lord to go and lead his father's people, so he would not go.

    *     *     *

In speaking of the killing of Strang, Mrs. Wing said that he was killed by apostates from his church; that the leader and promoter of the affair was Dr. H. D. McCullah, who came from Baltimore and joined the church, and was for a while a very influential member of the church, but afterward apostatized. The killing was done by Alex Wentworth and Thomas Bradford, two other apostates. The account of the killing as given by Mrs. Wing was as follows. One day a United States gunboat steamed up to the island and a messenger was sent on shore to inform Prophet Strang that he was wanted aboard. Mr. Strang started to go on board, when Wentworth and Bradford came up behind him and shot him in the back, killing him almost instantly [sic]. They then rushed on baord the boat which at once put off from shore and carried the two assassins out of the reach of the vengeance of Strang's loyal followers, and as far as Mrs. Wing knows, nothing was ever done to bring the murderers to justice.

    *     *     *

In her talk with your correspondent Mrs. Wing had to depend entirely on her memory, for she had no papers or books pertaining to the Strangites to guide her, for she had burned up all the books and papers of that kind years ago, when she thought she was going to die, for she did not want them to fall into the hands of her son, for fear that it might lead him to think he was called by God to lead his father's followers. And she said she believed that if the Lord wished to call him to that work he was abundantly able to do so without the help of those papers and books.

Mrs. Wing is an extremely smart, intelligent woman. She has made a profession of medicine for a good many years and has been very successful in her practice.

ELLIOT N. JORDAN.      

Notes: (forthcoming)

DEATH  OF  JAMES T. COBB.
________

In the death of Mr. James T. Cobb in this city yesterday, the old-timers will feel a throb of awakening interest, and will experience a stir of memory. Mr. Cobb many years ago was a prominent figure in this city, personally and intellectually. He had the repute of being one of the finest Shakespearean scholars in the western country. His personality was attractive; he was a fine talker; and a good many people swore by him and his opinions. For a score of years past, however, he has been obscured, seeming to age more in character and disposition than in years. His final end was peaceful, and though he was a man well calculated to take a high position in the community he had stepped down from that position, and was practically unremembered by the mass of the people here. To his friends he was very dear, and with those friends and his near of kin the public of Salt Lake will extend the most heartfelt sympathy.

---

JAMES T. COBB  DIES  OF  KIDNEY  TROUBLE
_______

Man of Splendid Literary Attainment Succumbs After Severe Suffering.
_______

FOREMOST  IN  CHARITABLE  ENDEAVOR  IN  COMMUNITY.
_______

Many Deeds of Kindness Toward Afflicted Humanity
Are Recorded of Him
_______

James Thornton Cobb died at the family residence, 87 Canyon Road, in this city, early Monday morning, of kidney trouble, from which he had suffered severely for six weeks prior to his demise.

Mr. Cobb was born at Beverly, Mass., December 15, 1833, making him a little more than 70 years old at the time his death. He came to Utah in the year 1858, and was associated with his contemporary pioneers in many works of good for the whole community. He was a graduate of Dartmouth college, and in addition he had received a valuable technical education and training along varied lines. His literary taste was of a high order, and this inclination had led him to close association with Oliver Wendall Holmes, Phillips Brooks and others of the old literary school of New England. Shakespeare was one of his favorite authors and he was well versed in the writings of the Bard of Avon. Among his local efforts in his literary pursuits were contributions written for the Tribune, and indeed he was for a time engaged on this paper's staff.

Included in his activities, too, were many efforts in company with other kindly disposed persons in lines of charity and the general uplift, his gentleness and considerate disposition enabling him to take broad views of humanity's frailties.

Surviving him are his wife, Ives Cobb, Mrs. Nat M. Brigham, a daughter living in Illinois, Henry Ives Cobb, Rufus K. Cobb and James Kent Cobb of San Francisco. No arrangements for the funeral services have as yet been made, pending the receipt of word from members of the family residing outside the city; but full information in that matter will be made public as soon as perfected.


Note: For more on James T. Cobb, see the Spalding Saga, Episode 10.