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Mormon ' '^"^«t Portraits
OR
THE TRUTH
ABOUT THE
MORMON LEADERS
FROM 1830 TO 1886
Story of the Danite's Wife; Mountain Meadows Massacre Re- examined; A Thousand Fresh Facts and Documents Gathered Personally in Utah from Living Witnesses
BY
Dr. W. WYL
A GERMAN AUTHOR
SALT LAKE CITY Tribune Printing and Publishing Company
1886
Copyright 1886.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
VOLUME FIRST
Joseph Smith
THE PROPHET
SFAMILYANDHlSFRlEt^DS
T.oTl
A Study Based on Facts and Documents
With Fourteen Illustrations
SALT LAKE CITY
TRIBUNE PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY 1886
DEATH MASK OF JOSEPH SMITH.
From a Cast in the Possession of Brigham Young.
JOSEPH SMITH:
" Nobody knoAvs what the other world will be."
" I have got the damned fools fixed and will carry out the fun."
" The world owes me a good living and if I cannot get it without, I'll steal it— and catch me at it if you can."
" We will all go to hell together and convert it into a heaven by castino- the Devil out ; hell is by no means the place this world of fools supposes it to be, but on the contrary, it is quite an agreeable place."
BRIGHAM YOUNG:
" There is not a bishop in this whole Territory who is not a damned thief."
" We have the meanest devils on the earth in our midst and we intend to keep -them, for we have use for them."
" I have many a time dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can ; we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves and any other shade of character that you can mention. We can pick out elders in Israel right here who can beat the world at gambhng ; who can handle the cards ; who can cut and shuffle them with the smartest rogue on the face of God's foot-stool. I can produce elders here who can shave their smartest shavers and take their money from them. We can beat the world at any gairie. We can beat them because we have men here that live in the light of the Lord; that have the holy priest- hood and hold the keys of the Kingdom of God."
NOTICE.
Volume Second of Mormon Portraits, which I have entitled Brigham Young and His People, will appear in a few months.
I respectfully solicit information, either in personal interviews or by post, from all trustworthy sources and shall be much obUged for the same ; as well as for the pointing out of any errors of statement, how- ever slight, that may by accident have crept into this volume. My address is
Dr. W. WYL, Salt Lake City, Utah.
July 17, 1886.
The family is the unit of the modern State. Woman is the heart and crown of the modern family. In Mormonism womanhood has been outraged and crucified from Emma Smith to the last polygamous victim and martyr.
Looking around me and afar, and seeing no brighter or braver spirit opposing this monstrous evil, I take the liberty to inscribe this little volume on Mormonism to one who seems to be equally at home on either side of the Atlantic,
Miss Kate Field.
TESTIMONIALS.
']
Territory of Utah, Executive Office, Salt Lake City, May 2, 1885.
To w/iom this may come :
Dr. W. Wyl, a representative of the Berliner Tage- blatf, and who is commended to me from a high personal and official source as a " highly cultivated and thoroughly reliable gentleman," has for four months assiduously labored in the investigation of the questions involved in Mormonism. I am satisfied that he has given the subject careful study, and is therefore qualified to write advisedly of the situation, past and present. Respectfully,
Eli H. Murray,
Governor.
We, the undersigned, hereby certify that we know that Dr. W. Wyl, a German author and correspondent, has worked very earnestly for months to collect facts from a number of witnesses living in Salt Lake City, relating to the history of Mormonism. We believe that Dr. Wyl has done his work in a thoroughly honest and truth-loving spirit, and that his Book will be a valuable addition to the material collected by other reliable writers.
W. S. Godbe, H. W. Lawrence, E. L. T. Harrison. Salt Lake City, Utah Ter., April 28, 1886.
The Daily Tribune, (Editorial Rooms,) ) Salt Lake City, May 12, 1885. j Dr. W. Wyl:
My Dear Doctor: — I have been doing myself the honor to keep a pretty close watch of you in this city for several months. I believe I never saw a more earnest, conscientious or persistent searcher after facts. I believe you know as much about Mormonism as any man who never spent more than twice the time you have in investi- gating it.
I believe you will be of good service to man and to free government by presenting the array of facts which you have accumulated either in book or lecture form. I believe the conclusions you have drawn from the facts are sound, and now, Dear Sir, '' Hail and Farewell." Most sincerely yours,
C. C. Goodwin.
Salt Lake, Utah, May 7, 1885. To Dr. W. Wyl:
Dear Sir: — I think, from the manner in which your inquiries have been conducted, that you have obtained a more thorough knowledge of the past history and present aspect of Mormonism than any one who has ever visited our Territory with this object in view. You have gathered materials for a book which ought to be of absorbing inter- est, and your ability as a writer (if you will allow me to be the judge) insures the presentation of the facts in hand in such a manner that the reader, who once opens your book will not be able to lay it aside until it is finished.
With the hope that your book may have the success that it is sure to deserve, I remain very sincerely yours,
Cornelia Paddock.
To whojn this may co?ne :
I have been thoroughly acquainted with the Mormon Church for over fifty years. I attended grammar school
with Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, in the winter of 1834 and 1835, and assisted in teaching Joseph Smith, the prophet, English grammar. I witnessed the history of the Church in Kirtland, Ohio, in Caldwell and Davies coun- ties, Mo., in Nauvoo, 111., and in Salt Lake City. I was intimately acquainted with Joseph Smith and his family for eleven years) also with all the leading men of the Church down to the present time. I have been thoroughly acquainted with the system and all the miportant facts of the history of the Mormon Church. In many interviews during March, April and May, 1885, I have given all the facts within my knowledge to Dr. W. Wyl, who wrote them down in shorthand. I think Dr. Wyl has enjoyed the best facilities for obtaining a thorough knowledge of Mormon History, and I look forward to his intended pub- lication with great interest.
C. G. Webb. Salt Lake City, May 14, 1885.
To whom it may concern :
I was baptized into the Mormon Church forty-five years ago, in the river Mersey at Liverpool, by Elder John Taylor, now President of the Mormon Church. I have lived for twenty-five years in Southern Utah, city of Paro- wan, and have known personally nearly all those who were implicated in the ''Mountain Meadows Massacre." I was cut off from the Church because I could not convince myself that murder and stealing were agreeable to God. I came very near being killed as an apostate by the ''Danites" or " Destroying Angels " of the Church. I think there are few persons living in Utah who have a more complete knowledge of the history of Mormonism in Southern Utah, especially during the terrible time of the so-called "Reformation," when the spirit of murder w^as supreme in the Church. I have told in many inter- views all the important facts stored up in my memory to Dr. W. Wyl, and he has taken them down in shorthand. I feel satisfied that he has collected a great number of
8
facts which have never been published, and that he has acquired a very good inside view of the History and spirit of the Mormon Church.
James McGuffie, N. 425 E* Third South Street. Salt Lake City, May 14, 1885.
To whom it may concern :
This is to certify that the writer has been associated with the Mormons for a period of over thirty years, and for the past seventeen years principally in Salt Lake City. I am personally and thoroughly acquainted with the poli- tical and religious institutions of the Mormons ; also with their history as a people, as well as with their public character as a community residing in the Territory of Utah.
I have known the bearer, Dr. W. Wyl, author and cor- respondent of Berlin, Germany, for the past few months since he has resided in this city. He has been engaged in collecting data from which to write and publish a book on Mormonism, From the well-known characters and abilities of his ''witnesses," I feel safe in saying that he has obtained a fund of the most trustworthy information possible, and such as no preceding writer has ever been able to disclose. Dr. Wyl, through his evident impar- tiality and the entire absence of personal prejudice, has made a host of substantial friends in this city, from whom he has obtained a clear and vivid insight into the inner life of this "peculiar people," as well as the most com- prehensive conception of their objects, aims and purposes. From the pen of such an author the public may reason- ably expect a thorough and complete elucidation of the sub- ject to be treated, and learn — probably for the first time — that the Mormons diXt politically an aggressive people, and that Mormonism, as regards the secret aims and teachings of the leaders, is nothing less than organized Treason. Yours truly,
Joseph Salisbury.
Salt Lake City, April 27, 1885.
To wJwm it may concern:
My friend, Dr. W. Wyl, has spent nearly five months in Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1885, and in April and May, 1886, and has made a special and exhaustive study of the history of the Mormon Church, from its inception to date. Having carefully digested most of the publica- tions pro and contra on this subject, and having worked day after day with living witnesses, the very best to be had in the Territory, taking down their depositions in shorthand, Dr. Wyl has succeeded in collecting a mass of material which, in my opinion, will enable him to produce a book full of new facts relating to Mormon history. Such a book is much desired by all good citizens, and will do a great deal of good, especially in the present crisis of Utah affairs. Dr. Wyl's clear and full insight into Utah niat- ters, past and present, his zeal and fidelity in collecting and sifting data, justify the earnest hope that he will ere long present to the reading public of this country, Great Britain and Germany, a really standard book on the characters and history of the most noted among the Mor- mon leaders. David F. Walker.
Salt Lake City, May 9, 1886.
LETTER TO THE PUBLIC.
I do not wish to insult anybody in this book, or to hurt anybody's feelings. I desire to do my simple duty as a writer. That is all ; to do it as a critic and observer, having the courage of my opinions, and being happily free from ''all entangling alliances."
I came first to this fine Territory in December, 1884; stayed a few weeks and received my first general impres- sions about the state of Utah affairs; took my first dip into Mormon history and into the ''Problem." I was received in the kindest manner by Governor Murray, Mr. David F. Walker, Judge C. C. Goodwin, Col. W. Nelson, Col. O. J. Hollister; by Wm. S. Godbe, H. W. Lawrence and E. L, T. Harrison, the well-known Mormon Apostates and Reformers and their triends; by the venerable and clear-headed widow of the " Paul of Mormonism," Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, herself an exhaustless mine of curious in- formation; by the eminent authoress, Mrs. Cornelia Pad- dock; also by a number of Apostles, Priests and Presidents in the Mormon Church. My interest got awakened. I returned to Utah early in February, '85, remaining till the latter part of May. This second sojourn was devoted ex- clusively to the taking of depositions from the mouths of living witnesses: I have examined some eighty, all men and women of recognized probity, and most of them of superior intelligence. For months have I worked with them from eight to ten hours a day, repeating my inter- views until I had all the information they had to give. I am still working daily in this way.
I have made studies in Rome, Naples and Sicily, in France and England; have published some books about Italy, and about the Passion Play in Oberammergau, but never have I felt so interested, in all my life, as now in the history and workings of Mormonism. What is the
secret charm of this study? I don't know. It may be the fact, that the study of a strikingly peculiar religious sect affords more insight into human nature than any other investigation; it may be, that the analysis of a modern theocracy calls back so vividly the forms, work- ings and general history, more or less dark, of older the- ocracies, as that of the Jews, the Mohammedans and the Jesuits; it may be that a book like the "Confession" of John D. Lee shows not only in vivid and startling colors the organism of one bloody fanatic and his murderous mates, "but that it explains at the same time, by analogy, monsters like the Duke of Alva; shows that religious fanaticism has taught at all times that crimes committed in the name of God are meritorious, and shows, again, that such teachings find many believers, who, having devoted themselves^to the service of some fancied '' Lord," can lie and perjure themselves, rob and butcher, believing that they do the bidding of that God whom Jesus of Nazareth taught to be a loving father to all.
The witnesses whose depositions are contained in my book have been, for the most part, victims of a great delusion. The Mormon missionaries told them in Europe that the Gospel of Christ had been restored ; that mira- cles of all kinds, including the gift of the Holy Ghost, daily revelations of the Almighty, and scores of other blessings would be given to the faithful followers of Joseph Smith, the great Seer and Prophet ; that here in Utah was the "home of the pure;" a paradise of innocence and goodness ; nothing but brotherly love, peace and fidelity ; that this was the new "Zion." But when they came here, they saw a different picture. They saw that Brigham Young was just as Joseph Smith had been, the great shark and that the faithful were the carp. They did not hear any more of the Bible, as they had heard in the old country ; in "Zion" the Gospel was: Pay your tithing, obey the priesthood in all things; ask never any question, but do - as vou are told ; take more wives, and if you have only a little one-roomed log cabin, never mind, take wives and build up the Kingdom, so that Brigham Young might soon be king of an independent State of the Union ; pay your
12
tithing and pay besides to swell all kinds of donations ; give away your money ; ask never for an account, but be happy in your poverty, while the High Priesthood are liv- ing upon the fat of the land. Be spied upon every day in your actions by the ''teachers," and even in your thoughts, and be a spy yourself on your neighbor ; see whether he is strong in the faith, and if he is not, kill him — "cut his throat to save his soul ; that is the way to love your neigh- bor."* Hate your enemies — "Pray for them," as Kim- ball said publicly; "yes, that God may damn and destroy them" — and hate all that are not of your clan. Hate all that is American, and swear terrible oaths, in the Endow- ment House, that you will avenge the blood of the Pro- phet on this nation. To make it short: "You may do anything, you may be the most brutal wretch, you may marry twenty wives and neglect one after the other, you may rob and even kill your fellow-citizens (non-Mormons) — if yoMpay and obey you are all right ; so long as you do this you are a faithful and worthy brother, and sure of your kingdom and eternal glory in the other world." Such were the public teachings in the earlier times of the Utah theocracy. Since 1870 the talk and practice have become milder, but the principles are still the sd?ne.
How could this tale, told to me a hundred times over, fail to convince me that this whole "religion" was a spec- ulation to enrich a few, give them gold, power and all the brute pleasure hidden in the Greek word "polygamy?" It has convinced me, sure enough ; because this tale came from the mouths of good, honest, sincere people, who had "gathered to Zion" full of religious zeal, who were terri- bly disappointed, and finally, when they showed a change in their opinions, ostracized, robbed and threatened with violence and even death. Do you suppose, reader, that all these people lie, or is the lie, perhaps, on the other side ? Is not all the interest in keeping up the original fraud and the highly profitable system on this other side ? I should think so.
* Literally quoted from the speeches of Brigham Young, the great philanthropist.
13
Mormonism has too long fooled the world, the new and the old. It has too long claimed immunity as a ''religion," as an honest religious faith, with the known and long-established facts attending its original fabrication and its appalling development. Is it not indeed puerile for the great Government of the United States to still contin- ue tampering and temporizing with the outrageous fraud as it has hitherto done? You prattle of "polygamy" and refuse to see the constant rebellion and treason ; you see a tree and are blind to the forest. You like to joke about the "old monarchical countries" and about ironclad Prince Bismarck. But I tell you, that he would solve the "Mor- mon Problem" in a week, while you are puzzled by it since fifty years. He would not, like you, stand a help- less babe before the high-schools of treason and licentious- ness, called "Mormon Temples." He would bid them go, those builders of the Kingdom, and build elsewhere. Little Italy broke down the Pope's theocracy and great America stands a giant gagged and pinioned with red tape and circumlocution, helpless before that of King John Taylor!
But enough of this. I simply transcribe in my book what my witnesses have told me, respectable and respected people, who have been connected with Mormonism for fifty, forty and thirty years. I have not doctored one fact set forth in "Mormon Portraits." Let the Mormon leaders try to prove that I have lied or exaggerated, but do it in a decent manner, gentlemen, if you please. Don't get angry when a man expresses his honestly acquired conviction. In March, 1885, I wrote a dozen of letters to the great Berlin paper, the Tageblatt, published by my excellent friend, Rudolf Mosse. It seems that those letters were extensively circulated and much read. At least a Mormon missionary, a hopeful son of High Priest A. M, Musser, wrote from Mannheim to his "very dear" father : "In my last letter I enclosed some clippings written by a man named Wyl. The papers continue to publish like articles from him, strongly impregnated with the hatred and gall which Satan alone can furnish." — (JDeseret News, the official Church organ, May 11, 188^.)
14
Now, this isn't fair. I have never been, to my best knowledge, in any literary connection with * 'Satan," and I have never had any other than superficial knowledge of him, till I got acquainted more intimately with some of his choice doings, for example the Yates and Aikins murders and the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Why abuse a man instead of fighting him with facts and argu- ment ? Let us come to an understanding. I am no ene- my of the Mormon /^^//^. On the contrary, I sympathize with them. Leading merchants, bankers, etc., in this city, assure me that this people are good-hearted, indus- trious and honest, and I believe it readily. But the Mor- mon leaders are enemies of the Mormon people, enemies of the United States, enemies of the law, simply because they do not want to be disturbed in the piling up of great fortunes, exercising absolute power and lordship, and enjoying the embraces of as many ''childbearing" {id est young and tender) concubines as they have a mind to. I admire this Territory. I never saw a finer climate, never finer scenery. I find here the breezes of Naples and Palermo and all the grand sights of Switzerland. This should be a country full of independent men and happy women, teeming with freely developed talent and indi- vidual enterprise. The inhabitants of this paradise should learn to think and act for themselves, the women should learn to be men's equals and companions instead of their ''handmaids." It is the duty of the Government of this great Republic to raise both men and women of Utah to the dignity of citizens truly free, and the duty of every honest writer to help on so noble a cause by telling the truth.
This is the purpose, the only purpose of ''Mormon Portraits. ' ' I tell the truth so far as I have succeeded in finding^ it bv dilis^ent and honest search.
W. Wyl.
Salt Lake City, May, 1886.
PART I.
JOSEPH SMITH,
HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS.
I had read of the several movings and strange migra- tions of the Mormons; of their troubles and turmoils with their always-persecuting neighbors; with state and national authorities. It was hard for me to believe that in free America any religious sect could be persecuted merelv be- cause it was too pure and good. Still, might not Mor- monism be just the one exception proving the rule of perfect religious toleration in this most tolerant and easy-going Republic? I resolved to examine the matter and see for myself on which side was the burden of wrong-doing, and what of truth there might be in this strange and continual charge from the Mormon side of persecution." It has been my way to study eccentric and exceptional move- ments, political and religious, in the personal characters of the leading spirits of such movements.
Having applied my usual method in the case of Joseph Smith and his associates, I find that the world at large and especially the thousands of Mormons in Utah know but little of the true life, character and actions of Joseph Smith and the ringleaders of the so-called Mormon Church and Kmgdom. In my investigations I learned to mv surDrise that Mormons by the thousand have left their leaders in
t6 Mormon Portraits. — /. Josepli Smitli.
the early times of the Church and neither came to Utah nor rejoined their ranks. The vast majority of the poor dupes in Utah and surrounding Territories, never having passed through such experiences as drove Mormons by the wholesale into rebellion and indignant apostacy, and drove those who continued steadfast in their infatuation from their places of settlement and sojourn in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, are utterly incredulous, even refusing to be- lieve the facts when recited and fully sustained, and thus remain in profound and blissful ignorance of much they ought to know, and which, if known, would undoubtedly influence them to repudiate any institution making it pos- sible to have committed such acts in the name of God and religion.
Stories and reports of the criminal conduct of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and their henchmen, did not rise from nothing, but are found to have had their origin in facts, which can be fully established and proven under the rules of historical investigation and criticism. Let me first introduce those of my witnesses who knew Joseph Smith's parents. It must be interesting to the reader to know the tree from which fell this prodigious apple.
THE PROPHET'S PARENTS.
The Old Patriarch and B lesser, Joseph SmitJi, Sr. — A Mother of Lies — A Pair of Splendid Gypsies — The Father of the Prophet Lectures on Money-Digging and Geology.
Mrs. P. states: '^ Joseph's father, the first Patriarch (if not President) of the Mormon ' Church,' was very tall ; his crooked nose was very prominent ; he was a real peasant, without any education. Joseph looked very much like him. Old Smith sold the blessings, which he used to pronounce on the heads of the faithful, at $3 apiece, and sold a good many of them for years."
A Pair of Splendid Gypsies. 1 7
Mr. IF. states: ''I knew old father Smith when he was about eighty years old ; he was a great fanatic, and believed that Joseph was inspired from his boyhood on."
Afrs. P. states : "Joseph's mother was a little woman ; she looked very vulgar. She was full of low cunning; no trick was too mean for her to make a little money. You could not believe a word of what She said. She used to talk a great deal about Mormonism. Everybody's opinion of her was, that she was a thorough liar. Her daughter wrote that book about Joseph for her. She and her husband looked like a pair of splendid gypsies. They looked wild and ignorant. Seeing them, nobody could doubt the stories about their money-digging, fortune- telling, etc."
Now, this is rather hard on the old couple. I know that the excellent lady who gave me these details spoke the absolute truth, but I cannot enjoy it. I rather like old "Mr. Smith" and Mrs. Lucy Smith, nee Mack. Why admire Mr. and Mrs. Micawber and be hard on Mr. and Mrs. Smith ? They are splendid people in their way. Lying was as natural to them as drinking water, and they doit in a delightful way; it's prestidigitation with the truth, you see; artistic skill, acquired by a life's practice. Just read old Lucy's book on Joseph the prophet, for in- stance where she tells that Mrs. Harris wanted to force money on her, and that she refused it scornfully ; read her description of the "breast-plate," which she valued at five hundred dollars, and that other of the " Urim and Thummim.," which consisted of "three-cornered dia- monds set in glass." And Joseph wore them always on
his person It is not vulgar lying, it is the talent
of Sheherezade, without the bloody Sultan, and without — alas I — the dreamy atmosphere of the Orient.
Old "Mr. Smith" is the Micawber of the family. His imagination is an Ophir of delightful absurdities, hatched in an atmosphere filled with the sound of the urgent but never-heeded claims of his countless creditors. I will give you one example of his, a little lecture on money-digging, with a smack of geological discoveries of his own, showing a real but neglected talent for this
i8
Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
branch of science. Peter Ingersoll, an old acquaintance of his, puts it in this shape :*
" I was once ploughing near the house of old Joseph Smith. When about noon, he requested me to walk with him a short distance from his house, for the purpose of seeing whether a mineral rod would work in my hand, saying at the same time he was confident it would. When we arrived near the place at which he thought there was money, he cut a small .witch-hazel bush and gave me direction how to hold it. He then went off some rods, and told me to say to the rod, ^ Work to the money ^ which I did in an audible voice. He rebuked me severely for speaking it loud, and said it must be said in a whisper. While the old man was standing off some rods, throwing himself into various shapes, I told him the rod did not work. He seemed much surprised at this, and said he thought he saw it move in my hand. , . . Another time he told me the best time for digging money was in the heat of summer, when the heat of the sun caused the chests of money to rise near the top af the ground. ' You notice,' said he, 'the large stones on the top of the ground — we call them rocks, and they truly appear so, but they are, in fact, most of them, chests of money raised by the heat of the sun."
Now, let US compare a little tale of Mother Lucy's with one of Abigail Harris :
LUCY SMITH.
ABIGAIL HARRIS.
^* Joseph Smith the Prophet,'' page
" She ( Mrs. Harris ) com- menced urging upon me a con- siderable sura of money, I think some seventy-five dollars, to assist in getting the plates translated. I told her that I came on no such business ; that I did not want her money. . . . Yet she Avas deter- mined to assist in the business, for she said she knew that we should want money, and she could spare two hundred dollars as well as not."
Affidavit dated Palmyra, Nov. 28, 1833-
" Old Lucy Smith took me into another room, and after clos- ing the door, said : ' Have you four or five dollars that you can lend until our (Gold Bible) busi- ness is brought to a close ? The Spirit has said that you shall re- ceive fourfold.' I asked her what her particular want of money was, to which she replied : ' Joseph wants to take the stage and come home from Pennsylvania to see what we are all about.' To which I replied, he might look in his stone, and save his time and money. The old lady seemed confused, and left the room."
^Affidavit dated Palmyra, Dec. 2, 183^
Astrology attd A the is in. ^9
This surely shows talent, or I don't understand any- thing about such things. But let us leave the humble parents, and turn to the great son, irreverently called by the wicked, ''joe Smith."
VIEWS OF lOSEPH SMITH,
The Prophet Believes in Astrology— Laughs Heartily About Mormo?iism—Does not know tvhat the other World will be — Elder Rockwell's Curiosity.
There are two things you would naturally expect from a prophet. First, a belief in some sort of a religion, and then a belief in his own particular shop. Now, Joseph Smith didn't believe in any religion, he had no hopes of a future life, and as to Mormonism, he laughed about it just as you would expect from an impostor who had, as he said himself, ''fixed the damned fools," and ''wanted to carry out the fun." The only thing the Prophet believed m was astrology. This is a fact generally known to old "Nauvoo Mormons." Wm. Clayton, his chief clerk, used to cast figures and make calculations for him. Brigham Young copied Joseph in this as in many other things. John C. Bennett says in his book : "I will mention a short conversasion that passed between Joseph and myself, as we were one day riding together up the banks of the Mississippi. After a short interval of silence. Smith sud- denly said to me, in a peculiarly inquiring manner : ' Gen- eral Harris says you have no faith, and that you do not believe we shall ever obtain our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri.' Though somewhat perplexed by the Prophet's remark, and still more by his manner, I coldly replied : ' What does Harris know about my belief or the real state of my mind? I like to tease him now and then about it, as he'is so firm in the faith and takes it all m such good part.' 'Well,' said Joe, laughing heartily,
20 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
' I guess you have got about as much faith as I have. Hal Ha! Ha! ' 'I should judge about as much,' was my reply." (This anecdote, told by Bennett, pp. 175 and 176 of his book, was fully confirmed to me by Mrs. Sar- ah Pratt, to Afhom it was told by Bennett shortly after the dialogue occurred. )
Mr. Johjison told me in the presence of Lawyer Jonas- son, now deceased, thi following story: '' Port Rockwelly who used to be Joseph's coachman and factotum in Nau- voo, once asked the Prophet the following question : * Brother Joseph, how is it in in the other world? ' Joseph said in answer: 'Don't you bother. Brother Rockwell, about the other world ; try co be as comfortable as possi- ble in this and make the most of it ; nobody knows what the other world will be.'' Mr. Johnson was a guard at the Penitentiary, and having heard that Rockwell had made such a statement, he went to him and asked him, whether the Prophet had really expressed himself in such a man- ner. Rockwell confirmed fully what he had told to others, and repeated Joseph's answer word for word."
JOSEPH SMITH AND HIS PLATES.
The Prophef s Curious Proposition to His Bosom Friend ^ Bennett — The Same Fully Confirmed by Mrs. Pratt.
The truth about the golden plates, from which Joseph pretended to '^ translate " the Book of Mormon, has been established since 1834, by E. D. Howe. I give the sub- stance of the very curious affidavits, obtained by him from Smith's neighbors, in the Appendix to Part I. of this book. There were never any plates of any kind. The book, a stupid historical novel, was written by Solomon Spaulding, stolen and " religiously " remodeled by Sidney Rigdon and published through Joseph Smith, whose wide- spread fame as " Peeper " and " Treasure-finder " enabled him admirably to assume the role of discoverer of golden plates. Sidney Rigdon was a man of taste in the matter
Joseph Wants False Plates. 21
of choosing the right kind of a rascal to do his dirty jobs. But he failed in one respect ; he thought he found a tool and he really found a master in Peeping Joe.
Now it will surely be interesting to the reader, that I can not only convict Joseph Smith out of his own mouth, giving his full confession of the original fraud, but I am also able to show that he contemplated an addi- tional fraud with the "plates," and that, as usual, he thought to make a pile of money out of the second fraud, too. The witness in the case is Joseph's Nauvoo accorn- plice, Dr. John C. Bennett. Those who would refuse his testimony,' will not be able to contradict that of Mrs. Sarah Pratt.
Ben?iett says: "Shortly after I located in Nauvoo, Joe proposed to me to go' to New York and get some plates engraved and bring them to him, so that he could exhibit them as the genuine plates of the Book of Mor- mon, which he pretended had been taken from him, and ' hid up ' by an angel, and which he would profess to have recovered. He calculated to make considerable money by this trick, as there would of course be a great anxiety to see the plates, which he intended to exhibit at twenty-five cents a sight. I mentioned this proposition to Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, on the day the Prophet made it, and requested her to keep it in memory, as it might be of much importance." When asked by me in the spring of 1885 about this statement of John C. Bennett, Mrs. Pratt confirmed it fully and stated also that Bennett had repiorted to her this conversation Avith Joseph on the very day when it happened.
JOSEPH LIKES HIS GLASS.
The Prophet Gets Drunk Now and Then — His Sprees and A dventu res — ' ' A 7vfu lly Fu n ny . ' '
Let Bacchus to Venus libations pour forth d^n^ yive la compagnie ! Let the sober historian of Joseph paint him
2 2 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
as he was. Who could be vindictive or malicious with such an eccentric as Joe ? The prophet with all his vices and wickednesses was yet neither malicious nor vindictive. He had a very strong, healthy stomach, excellent diges- tion. He was almost the very antipode of dyspeptic, reticent Brother Brigham. Joseph dearly loved the social glass. Brigham much preferred a flowing bowl of — oat- meal porridge. The great prophet of this dispensation of the fullness of time was a real Bacchant. Perhaps he thought with his long-time b^som-crony, the famous O. Porter Rockwell, Esq., that he should " lose the spirit and testimony of Mormonism," if not "steamed up." The intelligent reader of this book will not fail to see that the inspiring deities of Joseph were rather Venus, Bacchus and Pluto, than the pretended Scriptural Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Mrs. P.: ''A good deal of whisky was consumed in Nauvoo. Joe himself was often drunk. I have seen him in this state at different times. One evening one of the brethren brought Joseph to my home. He could not walk and had to be ledby a helpful brother. The prophet asked me to make some strong coffee, which I did. He drank five cups, and when he felt that he could walk a little better, he went home. He dared not come before Emma in this state. Joseph was no habitual drunkard, but he used to get on sprees. When drunk he used to be 'awfully funny.' He sometimes went to bed with his boots on."
Mr. W.: "Whisky, good whisky, was then 25 cents a gallon. No wonder that Joseph sometimes went to bed with his boots on, or that he slept, as he sometimes did, in a ditch. He was a right jolly prophet. No sanctimonious humbug about him."
Mrs. J.: "Joseph used to preach: 'Brethren and sisters, I got drunk last week and fell in the ditch. I sup- pose you have heard of it. I am awfully sorry, but I felt very good.' He used to get drunk on military occasions, after the parades of the Nauvoo Legion."
A Jolly Prophet. 23
JOSEPH THE WRESTLER.
Joseph and the Tax Collector — Passion for Fine Horses — Foot- Races — The U. S. A. Major — Two Reverends Who do not Want to Wrestle.
No, there was no holy humbug about Joseph. He made no " long face," he gave himself as the jolly brigand he was, and that is what made him loved and admired by the motley crowd of impecunious vagabonds and adven- turers that surrounded him. Brigham was, though al- ways obeyed, feared and hated by his "friends;" they knew that he would sacrifice anything and anyone to his passion for gold ; but Joseph was a good comrade in the midst of brigands of a lower order ; they admired his phys- ical strength and agility and loved his jolly, cordial ways. He had physical courage, he even died game, while Brig- ham was the greatest coward of his time, the greatest among a whole set of cowards like Geo. A. Smith and the rest of them. There was something of Macbeth in that fellow Joseph and he died like Mac. But hear our wit- nesses :
Mr. K. : ''A tax collector once asked a certain amount from Joseph ; he stopped the prophet, who was riding in his carriage. Joseph said that he had paid him and owed him nothing. The collector said: '' If you say this, you are a liar." Joseph jumped out of his carriage and struck the collector such a blow that he went flying a distance of three or four yards. Joseph took his seat in the carri- age and drove away."
Mrs. P. : '' Joseph had a passion for fine horses. He had a fine carriage. He used to drive the buggy himself, but the carriage was generally driven by a coachman."
Mr. A'.: ''Charlie" was the favorite family horse; Emma used to dri^-e him. Emma often rode on horseback in company with Joseph, especially on military parades. Joseph was always ready to show his force and cleverness
24 Mofv/ion Portraits. — /. Joseph Smitli.
in some sport. He liked foot races and would have his boots off in a moment, to the great grief of old bigots. I remember the visit of a U. S. A. major, who came as a guest to the Nauvoo House. The major Avas of higher build than Joseph, but not so strong as the prophet. Joseph wanted to wrestle with him. He threw off his coat and cried : 'I bet you five dollars that I will throw you, come on ." The major declined. Joseph laughed and said : 'Now you see the benefit of one's being a prophet; I knew you wouldn't wrestle,' One of the Saints felt so scandalized by this joke of the prophet that he left the Church."
**Two reverends came one day to Xauvoo. They wanted to see the Prophet and to hear the principles he was teaching. Joseph took them to his study, and talked to them about repentance, baptism, remission of sins, etc. The two reverends interrupted Joseph frequently. After half-an-hour or so, getting impatient the Prophet said to the two holy men, while he stood up in his full Ivght : 'Gentlemen, I am not much of a theologian, but I bet you five dollars, that I will throw you one after the other.' The reverends ran away and Joseph laughed himself nearly to death."
JOSEPH AS A STUDENT.
A Poor Writer and Reader — Little Tricks Played by Him and the Elders — Study of Hebrew — Kimball's Desperate Fight With Grammar.
When, surely to his own surprise, arrived at the hight of his ambition, Joseph, who was naturally ''smart," felt keenly the want of some ornamental learning. As usual he decided to make the world believe that he had what, in fact, he had not. He did in this respect just the same thing which he had done in regard to plates, apparitions of angels, etc. Let the witnesses talk :
The Prophet Photographed. 25
Mrs. P.: " Joseph was a very poor writer and reader. He readily confessed this ; it was a fulfinment of Scrip- ture."
Afr. W.: '' Joseph was the calf that sucked three cows. He acquired knowledge very rapidly, and learned with special facility all the tricks of the scoundrels who worked in his company. He soon outgrew his teachers. He studied Hebrew, he wanted to be fit for his place and enjoy the profits and power alone. He learned by heart a number of Latin, Greek and French common-place phrases, to use them in his speeches and sermons. For instance : Vox popu/i, vox diaboli ; or Laus Deus {sic) or a7nor vincet omnium {sic), as quoted in the Nauvoo ' Wasp.' Joseph kept a learned Jew in his house for a long time for the purpose of studying Hebrew with him ; the Jew used to teach his language in a room of the 'Temple" to Joseph and a number of the elders." It was probably his rapidly augmenting knowledge of the sciences, that made him. say, a few months before his death: '/know more than the whole 7V or Id.' ''I taught him the first rules of English Grammar in Kirtland in 1834. He learned rapidly, while Heber C. Kimball never came to understand the difference between noun
JOSEPH'S HABITS, APPEARANCE, ETC.
The Prophet at Table— Uses Tobacco— Is Weil Dressed — The Prophet's Jewelry — The Prophet on Horseback — His Laughter — His Conversation.
Mrs. P.: ''Joseph was no gourmana at all. He ate heartily, but was not particular about the kind of food. I believe that he used tobacco in some form. He was always well dressed, generally in black with a white neck- tie. He looked like a Reverend. On the little finger
26 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph SmitJi.
of his left hand he wore a heavy gold ring ; he wore a gold watch and chain ; people used to make him presents of such things. When I saw him for the first time he rode on a splendid black horse that had been given to him by some admirer. He was a very good horseman. He was, when walking, very lank and loose in his appear- ance and movements."
Mr. K.: '• People coming to Nauvoo expected to find a kind of John the Baptist, but they found a very jolly prophet. He used to laugh from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, it shook every bit of flesh in him."
Mrs P.: "Joseph did not talk much in society, his talk was not very fluent. He used to make a remark now and then, letting the others talk. Whenever he spoke of Church affairs, his talk grew intelligent. He had no great choice of words, and generally expressed his ideas in a very humble, common-place way. At all events, he was by no means interesting in company. It looked as if he wanted to keep those who surrounded him in respect by talking little."
JOSEPH AS A PREACHER.
Strong Voice, no Oratorical Art, but much Afagnetism — Gets very Pale — Joseph and Brigham Young Com- pared.
There was an old Dane in a Mormon settlement. He had half a dozen buxom daughters ; one of them had been sealed to the bishop. Whenever the bishop was absent from his flock, the old Dane used to preach in his stead in the Sunday meeting. Once — the bishop was in Salt Lake — our old Dane goes on the '' stand " with a letter in his hand. ''The Bishop writes from Salt Lake," says he, " that Brother Brigham does not want any round dancing any more. The bishop writes that this command must be
Mahomet and His Army. 27
obeyed. The bishop is the representative of God and I am his father-in-law. Amen." This may be taken as no unfair example of " preaching ' ' as introduced by the found- er of this motley "creed." Joseph used to say whatever came on his tongue, and so do all who are Joseph's. Jokes and curses, meekness and bravado, temporal and spiritual, the Holy Ghost and stock-raising, irrigation and baptism for the dead — all is " preaching."
Mr. K.: ''Joseph's voice was very strong and could easily fill the remotest corner of a big halL"
Mrs. P.: " Joseph was no orator. He said what he wanted to say in a very blundering sort of way. John Taylor is the best speaker the Church ever had. Joseph had great magnetic influence over his audience, more than Brigham ever had. He had uncommon gifts in this line; he was what spiritualists call a strong medium. His eyes had nothing particular. When excited in speaking, he used to get very pale. The Saints thought that this change of colour came through the influence of the Holy Ghost. Whenever he had been 'tight,' he used to confess it in next Sunday's meeting. In the same way he confessed often that he had been wrong in some act. Brigham never did such a thing. But Joseph lied at the same time, stat- ing that he had done so to try the faith of the Saints. The Lord would have a tried people."
JOSEPH AS A gp:neral.
Lots of Generals — Colonel Orson Pratt — The Modern Mahofnet — A Terrible General Order — ''Blood must be Shed'' — Fine Uniforms — A Jolly General.
Yes, he was even a general at Nauvoo, not only a "pro- phet, seer and revelator." There were innumerable col- onels in the Nauvoo Legion ; even dreamy Orson Pratt bore that warlike title. • But Joseph and his next friends
28 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
were generals, of course. And he looked fine in his mili- tary rig-out, to be sure.
I quote from a letter in the New York Herald, dated Nauvoo, May 8, 1842:
"N'esterday was a great day among the Mormons. Their Legion, to the number of two thousand men, was paraded by Generals Smith, Bennett and others, and certainly made a noble and imposing appear- ance. There are no troops in the States like them in point of enthusi- asm and warlike aspect, yea, warlike character Joseph, the chief,
is a noble-looking fellow, a Mahomet every inch of him."
It >vas in perfect keeping with this style, when Hugh McFall, Adjutant General, gave the following *' General Order" at ''Head-Quarters, Nauvoo Legion," "by order of Lieut. -General Joseph Smith:"
" The requisition from the Executive of Missouri, on the Execu- tive of Illinois, for the person of the Lieutenant-General for the attempted assassination of ex-Governor Boggs, makes it necessary that the most able and experienced officers should be in the field, for if the demand should be persisted in, blood must he shed."
Hear now a living witness :
Mrs. P.: "There was a great deal of gold on his uniform. Bennett was the man who introduced this grand style, he always wanted everything of the finest ; they both rigged themselves out wonderfully. The Nauvoo Legion looked very well. Bennett understood parading thorough- ly. Bennett did not look well on a horse, but Joseph looked splendid, and so did 'General' Hyrum. Not- withstanding all this style, Joseph was very cordial with everybody, shook hands with all the world, and was always addressed 'Brother Joseph.' The people fairly adored him."
No Help for the Widow's Son. 29
JOSEPH AS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
Joseph's Vertigo at Nauvoo — The ''Times and Seasons'' in May and in June, 1844 — Danite John D. Lee as Canvasser— The Cry of a Mason.
Joseph got crazy about his greatness in Nauvoo. His general's uniform, die Urim and Thummim, the Plates, the Breastplate, Laban's sword — all went to his head at once and made a fool of him. In this state of vertigo he conceived the glorious idea to be a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. It is a very curious sight, that announcement* in the Times and Seasons :
FOR PRESIDENT,
GENERAL JOSEPH S^xITH.
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT,
SIDNEY RIGDON, Esq.
The greatest impostors and swindlers of the time, as bidders for the highest gifts of the Nation ! And, looking over the yellowish leaves of the same Church organ, to see only a few numbers later the sacred columns in mourn- ing, announcing the tragic death of the great candidate !
Well, he has paid for his crimes and his follies ! Let us honor death, even in the corpse of an impostor. At that moment, when he cried out of the window of Carth- age jail: ''Is there no help for the widow's son?" hoping to find mercy from the hands of some brother Mason, he felt the bitterness of death as keenly as it can be felt. In this terrible moment he must hava become
*And this announcement was a lie. Joseph presents himself " of Illinois," but Sidney Rigdon, who had resided with Joseph all the time in Nauvoo, hails " of Pennsylvania." This was done to satisfy the well-known necessity of naming two different States. "They can't do a thing without lying!" as an old apostate said to me the other day, with flaming eyes and clenched fist.
30 Morniofi Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
aware that the hour of his own '' blood atonement " had come, the hour of payment of his tremendous debt to outraged, swindled, robbed and murdered humanity.
Joseph sent 337 elders to canvass for him all over the country. John D. Lee was one of them, and though an admirer of the Prophet, he says in his book, pp. 148-149: *' I left Nauvoo on the fourth of May, 1844, with greater reluctance than I had on any previous mission. It was hard en©ugh to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, but it was nothing compared to offering a man with the reputation that Josei)h Smith had, to the people as a can- didate for the highest gift of the Nation. I would a thousand times rather have been shut up in jail than to have taken the trip, but I dared not refuse."
Mrs. P.: **The Mormons found it very natural that Joseph Smith wanted to be President of the United States, and Sidney Rigdon Vice-President. They thought the time was sure to come soon when he would be at the head of the Nation. This belief was part of their fanaticism. Joseph and Sidney spoke in public about their 'candi- dacies, and gave instructions to the elders whom they sent abroad. They said they vvould soon get the whole United States, and then they would make laws to suit themselves; and the people believed what they said."
JOSEPH AND NERO BOGGS.
The Land of Your Enemies ' ' — The House of Israel Claiming the State of Missouri — A Noble Deed — ''Lend Me Your Husband's Rifle''— Elder Rockwell's Reward.
Missouri was to be the Canaan of the Saints. '' My servants Sidney and Joseph" had promised it to them a thousand times, just as Don Quixote promised to Sancho Panza the idol of his wishes, the island. Look at the ''revelation" of June, 1 831, where the Lord speaks to the elders assembled in Kirtland :
The Mormon Troubles Explained. 31
'• And thus, even as I have said, if ye are faithful, ye shall as- semble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri,
which is now THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES."
And the same Lord, who is evidently a first-class Mormon himself, savs to the same elders in February, 1831 :
" For it shall come to pass, that which I spake by the mouth of my prophet, shall be fulfilled ; for I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people which are of the House of Israel."
Now let any person possessed of common sense read these two communications of the Mormon Lord, and he will need no other explanation of the '' Mormon war " in Missouri and of the tribulations and turmoils of the Saints in general. Everywhere they go, there is '' Zion "; what is not theirs, is their ''enemies' " and what is their ''enemies'" must become theirs. It did not take the Missourians long to find out the kind intentions of the " House of Israel " towards them, and a civil war with its attending horrors ensued. Boggs, a faithful officer of the metal of our Murray, found out soon that quick amputation was the only method of healing this case of blood poisoning. He gave his celebrated order to drive the Mormons away or, "if it should become necessary for the public peace," to exterminate them. Would not any energetic patriot have acted just the same in such a case ? Look at the evidence given in the trial of Joseph Smith and others, quoted in our Appendix to Part I., and then call Boggs the " Nero of Missouri," as the Mormon leaders did then and do to-day.*
*Here'is an example of a modern Mormon Sunday school teach- ing as to Governor Boggs. This is one instance out of hundreds showing how the minds of the young in Utah get filled with lies and hatred of the American name :
Q. " Who acted as the chief persecutor of the Saints ?
A. "The infamous Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of the State of Missouri.
Q. " WTiom did Governor Boggs unjustly charge with this at- tempt to murder him ? "
A. " Brother O. P. Rockwell, and that Joseph Smith prompted him to do it, or was accessory before the fact."
(Deseret Sunday School CatechismNo. i. Questions and answers on the life and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. 1882.)
32 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Boggs was the embodiment of the lawful wrath of the Missourians, kindled by the arrogance and the crimes of the band of fanaticized adventurers called "Mormons." Boggs was, even in Nauvoo times, Macbeth-Smith's Banquo : while he lived there was no rest for the King of Nauvoo. He was hated for what he had done and teared for what he could do. While he lived Joseph's extradi- tion at the call of the Missouri authorities was only a question of time. He must die, like Banquo, and then, w^hat a fine effect on the " Mormon people," themselves, was to be expected from a sudden violent death of Nero ! Was there not an admirable opportunity to show that Joseph, having predicted it, was the greatest of all prophets? The Lord was always on hand to smite his enemies with a timely stroke of lightning, and would not the death of Boggs, the "persecutor," deter other would-be Boggses from interfering with the Lord's chosen people and frighten the enemies of Zion in general ?
Let us first glance at Bennett's book again. He says: "Joseph Smith in a public congregation in the city of Nauvoo, in 1841, pxophesied that Lilburn W. Boggs, Ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands within a year. Smith was speaking of the Missouri difficulties at the time, and said that the exterminator should be exterminated, and that the Destroying Angel should do it by the right hand of his power. 'I say it,' said he, ' in the name of the Lord God ! ' In the spring of the year 1842 Smith offered a reward of five hundred dollars to any man Avho would secretly assassinate Gov. Boggs. I heard the offer made at a meeting of the Dan- ites in the Nauvoo lodge room . . . O. P. Rockwell left Nauvoo from one to two months prior to the attempted assassination of Governor Boggs, and returned the day before the report reached there. The Nauvoo Wasp, of May 28, A. D. 1842, a paper edited by William Smith, one of the twelve Mormon apostles, and brother of the Prophet, declared : "Who did the nohle deed remaiins to
To Fulfill Prophecy. zi
be found out."* Some weeks after Rockwell left Nauvoo I asked Smith where he had gone. ' Gone ? ' said he ; •'gone to fulfill prophecy,' with a significant nod, giving me to understand that he had gone to fulfill his prediction in relation to the violent death of Governor Boggs. Soon after Rockwell's return, Smith said to me, speaking of Governor Boggs : ''The destroying angel has done the work, as predicted, but Rockwell was not the man who shot ; the a?igel did it. ' ' f
No impartial writer about Mormon history has ever doubted Joseph's connection with this attempted assassin- ation,;!; but nobody has yet given direct proof. I am able to lay it before the reader, introducing the testi- mony of
M7-S. Sarah Pratt : '' One evening Dr. Bennett called at my house and asked me to lend him my husband's rifle. This was an excellent arm, brought from England by Orson Pratt ; it was known to be the best rifle in that part of the country. I asked him what he wanted the rifle for, and he said : " Don't be so loud ; Rockwell is outside — Joseph wants it; I shall tell you later." ... I suspected some foul play, and refused to give him the rifle, stating that I dared not dispose of it in the absence of my hus- band. Bennett went away, and when the news came that Gov. Boggs had been shot at and all but killed, Bennett came and told me that he had wanted the rifle of my hus-
■^This is correct. The author saw the Wasp in the Historian's office at Salt Lake. And, en passant, I observe that President John Taylor in his celebrated discussion in France, in the year 1850, is strangely oblivious of this noble deed, dismissing with a virtuous flourish the charge as a weak invention of the enemy ; in effect denying (as he also at the same time and place denied polygamy, etc.,) that Boggs' life had ever been sought by Mormon thugs : " Governor Boggs is residing at the present time in the State of California."
fBennett, pp. 281-2.
JMay 6th 1842, Boggs was shot at Independence, Mo., while reading a newspaper. The pistol was loaded with buckshot and three balls took effect in his head, one penetrating his brain. His life was despaired of for several days, but he recovered. See Wasp of May 28.
34 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
band for "that job," and that Joseph had sent him to get it. I have not the slightest doubt that Joseph had planned and ordered the assassination of Gov.Boggs."
So far Mrs. Pratt, whose testimony, as all decent people in Salt Lake City well know, is absolutely reliable. It shows that our aspiring friend, Bennett, was an accom- plice in the murderous plot, as he was in the other rascally schemes of his friend, the prophet; he was, indeed, in this college of crime, more teacher than disciple ; and, not unlikely, the first suggestion of murdering Boggs came from Bennett himself. But, as to his own guilt, his book is like that of John D. Lee, telling any amount of truth concerning others, while lying about and screening himself.
Rockwell, it seems, got a good reward from the prophet for his zeal in fulfilling prophecy; Joseph was much more liberal in this respect than Brigham, who wanted his assassins to work for the Lord at their own expense, to murder ''without purse or scrip."
John C. Bennett: "I would further say that Rock- well was abjectly poor before he left Nauvoo, but since his return he has an elegant carriage and horses at his disposal, and his pockets filled with gold. These horses and carriage belonged to Smith, and the gold was fur- nished by him."
C G. Webb: " I saw the fine carriage, horses and harness which Rockwell got from Joseph after the attempt on the life of Gov. Boggs."
Some of My Witnesses. 35
THE LORD'S BANKERS IN KIRTLAND.
My Friend Webb, the aged Father of Wife Number Nine- teen— Interviews with Webb, James Me Guffie and his Wife— Joseph as Land Speculator, Banker and Auc- tioneer of Town- tots — Those Window-glass Boxes and fine Bank Notes.
Do you remember, my excellent friend Webb, that balmy Sunday afternoon, in April, 1885, when you told me about that famous bank whose President and Cashier were the two chosen servants of the Lord, Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith ? It was o*ie of our many interviews in that cosy house of stalwart, sterling old James McGuffie and his good, honest soul of a wife. W^e sat, as usually, in the kitchen, not far from McGuffie' s pride, that stove with ''Zion" in shining nickel-letters on it. I put ques- tion after question, with note-book and pencil in hand, and you and James McGuffie were busy answering. I have studied a great many old paintings in many cities of the old world, in Rome, Florence and Venice, in Vienna, Ber- lin and Paris, in Amsterdam, Brussels and London. But, I assure you, I have never seen better heads in any picture than yours and McGuffie and wife's ; I never saw more sound sense, solidity and crystallized honesty in old heads, and good, well-meaning eyes besides, shining with all that makes eyes dearest to us — love of truth and interest in humanity's progress and welfare. I wish those over-culti- vated people in the East could have some interviews with you three ''vile apostates." They would soon see what Mormonism really is, and not talk any more nonsense about it. But I want to dish before the reader what you said about that famous bank, friend Webb. So let 'me introduce you in your own words, dear old Liveoak :
''I personally lost ^2,500 in that famous bank, of v/hich Sidney Rigdon was President and Joseph Smith Cashier. I got for my money the blessing of the Lord, and the
36 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Sfnith.
assurance that bye and bye the notes of that bank would be the best money in the country ! The bank was founded in 1836. Its origin dates from Joseph's idea to secure to all the Saints 'inheritances,' which they should possess in this life and in the other. Conseipently, many elders were sent east with the instruction to get as much money as possible. The elders returned with money, and Smith now bought a tract of land called the ^ Smith farm.' The temple was built and the city lots surveyed. But instead of receiving their 'inheritances,' the Saints had to duy them, and at good round prices, too. Joseph played auctioneer, and a very good auctioneer he was. The Saints were full of enthusiasm and lots went up from a hundred dollars to three and four thousand. This trans- action brought somemoney into Joseph's capacious pockets and he now began to think of starting a bank in Kirtland. It was to be secured by real estate ; but this was never done. They went to New York and had notes engraved, beautiful notes, the finest I had ever seen. In the bank they kept eight or nine window-glass boxes, which seemed to be full of silver; but the initiated knew very well that they were full of sand, oftly the top being covered ivith jo- cent pieces. The effect of those boxes was like magic ; they created general confidence in the solidity of the bank, and that beautiful paper money went like hot cakes. For about a month it was the best money in the country. But the crash came soon, as everybody knows."
Yes, the crash came and the two bankers of the Lord had to leave Kirtland "between two days." But not be- cause of their bank-swindle; the above-quoted ''Sunday- School Catechism No. i" tells us that they left "to escape mob-violence." The swindled 7nob behaved shamefully indeed towards the man who had been appointed "Com- mander-in-chief of the Armies of Israel," and to whom Moses, "the great law-giver to ancient Israel," had given personally "the keys of the gathering of Israel." All that is in this useful little Catechism of 1882.
They Stole too Much. . 37
COUNTERFEITING APOSTLES.
Brigham Young's Official Money a Counterfeit — A /eivel of a Confession, Contributed by Brigham' s Brother — Nine Apostles as Criminals — Brigand William Smith.
I am glad to be able to give some positive and partly- very picturesque proof for this department of Mormon elders' iniquity. Should you come to Utah, reader, some old Mormon or apostate will show you the gold coins of Zion, coined by Brigham Young. Even this official money of the Kingdom, now out of course, is counterfeit: it bears on its face "Five Dollars,'" and is in reality only w^orth about $4.30. For proof of my assertions as to the earlier times of the ''Church," the times in Missouri and Illinois, I rely principally on the confession of that daisy, Phineas Young, brother of Brigham, which, in my opinion, is worth fifty volumes on Mormon history. I give it in the very words of my informant, who is one of the most cultivated and reliable men of Salt Lake City :
''Phineas Young, a near relative of mine, said to me in 1875: 'We have been driven (from Missouri and Illinois) because our people stole too much. They stole horses, cattle and beehives, robbed smokehouses, and any- thing you may imagine, and then scores o^ i\<, passed coun- terfeit money on the Gentiles. ' ' '
Gov. Thomas Ford: "During the winter of 1845-6 the Mormons made the most prodigious preparations for removal (from Nauvoo). The twelve apostles went first, with about two thousand of their followers. Indictments had been found agai?ist nine of them in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the District of Illinois, at its Decem- ber term, 1845. f^^' countofcitin^ the curre^tt coin of the United States:'''
In the beginning of May, 1885, while stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in Salt Lake City, I met a lady of
*History of Illinois, pp. 412-413.
38 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Sniith.
the name of Mrs. E , who had lived in Nauvoo as a
child. She told me the following story: -'My parents lived for a time at what was called "Joseph Smith's Tavern,' in Plymouth, thirty-three miles from Nauvoo, and fifteen miles from Carthage. We children played hide and seek, one day, as we often did. We came, by chance, to an upper room, which Apostle Bill Smith, Joseph's brother, used as a bedroom when he was at the 'tavern.' While running about and trying to hide, we suddenly came upon a long, heavy sack, which we opened and found full of coined money — silver and gold. At least, it looked so. We were very happy to become so rich. W\^ little girls put lots of money in our small aprons, called together the children of the neighbors, and gave them some of the money. Our parents were not at home, but when they came we ran up to them : ' Oh, pa ! oh, ma 1 we have a whole bread-pan full of money for you ! ' Father gave us a severe rebuke, and ordered us to get all the money together, and to get back from our little friends all that we had given to them. We obeyed, with our eyes swimming in tears, and laid all the money before our father, who put it back in the sack and buried the sack. He said he would wait till Bill Smith and his com- rades would ask him for the money. A few da\s after, Apostle Bill came to the 'tavern,' and with him came Zinc Salisbury and Luke Clayborn, both brothers-in-law of Bill. They searched for the money, and, not finding it, invited my father to go coon-hunting with them. iMy father divined that they wanted to punish him for the disappearance of the money, so he said- to them: 'Why don't you tell me, honestly, that you wanted your money?' And so saying he showed them where he had buried the treasure. They took it, and threatened my father that they would kill him if he talked to anybody about it. There was great excitement in the country about this bogus money, and it finally became so intense that the authorities had to interfere. The officers found the machinery, with which the inone\' was made, in Plymouth. Whenever Joseph Smith owed money he paid with this kind of coin."
Thus Saith the Lord. 59
JOSEPH IN MONEY MATTERS.
The Lazy Prophet and His Secretary— A Hotel for the New Abraham and His Poster it) — The Prophet Rods and Defrauds Poor and Rich Alike.
Lying and laziness — there is an alliteration for you — were the two great characteristics of Joseph in early youth. There are extenuating circumstances in the case, however; he inherited both qualities from the ''splendid gypsies," his parents, so that telling the truth and work- ing hard would really and literally have been against his nature. His innate hatred of all serious work made him a money-digger and a fortune-teller, and finally a prophet. As such he had in his employ a factotum and secretary, who wrote down all that Joseph needed for the execution of his plans, which always tended to his power, profit or lust. This secretary, or chum of his, he used to call the '•' Lord," and what he had dictated to him, '' revelations." Brigand Joseph and his next friends knew this funny circumstance perfectly well, but thousands of dupes swallowed the celebrated formula " Thus saith the Lord'' notwithstanding.
Let us hear some of those funny ''revelations," dic- tated by Joseph to his "Lord" and then published in the latter' s name :"
"If thou lovest me thou shalt keep my commandments and thou shalt consecrate all of thy properties unto me, with a covenant and deed which, cannot be broken."
" Deed " shows the smart Yankee in dictating Joseph, He is not content with a religious "covenant," he wants a good, solid, ironclad deed. I proceed to quote from the official church books :
" Who receiveth you receiveth me and the same will feed you and clothe you and give you monex — and he who does not these things ii not my disciple."
40 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
That secretary of the prophet is a thoroughly good fellow, it seems. But he can do better :
" And let all the moneys which can be spared, it mattereth not unto me whether it be little or much (!), be sent up unto the land ef Zion, unto those t have appointed to receive it."
Now, getting all the spare money people have is surely very nice, but Joseph had to show to the people still more clearly what he could do with his above mentioned *'pard." So he made him write :
*• It is meet that my servant Joseph should have a house built in which to live and translate. And, again, it is meet that my servant Sidney Rigdon should live as seemeth him good, inasmuch as he keepeth my commandments. Provide for him (Joseph) food and raiment, and Tohatsoevcr he needeth — and in temporal labor thou (Joseph) shalt have no strength, for this is not thy calling."
This is one of those great contradictions in nature to puzzle even a Darwin. Joseph, the wrestler, 6 feet high, and weighing 212 pounds, is too feeble to work. But the chum can do better. Joseph has a house and ivhatso- ever he needeth, but he wants the comfort of a hotel, you see, with bar and all other appurtenances. Su-ch a con- cern is just the thing for the necessities of a daily increasing polygamous or celestial household. So the chum sits down and writes :
"And now, I say unto you, as pertaining to /;/]' boaniing house, which I commanded you to' build for the boarding of strangers, let it be built unto my name and let my name be named upon it, and let my servant Joseph and his house have places therein from generation to generation. For this anointing have I put upon his head that this blessing shall also be put upon the heads of his prosterity after him, and as I said unto Abraham even so I say unto my servant Joseph, in thee and in thy seed shall the kindreds of the earth be blessed. There- fore, let my servant Joseph and his seed after him have place in that house from generation to generation forever and ever, saith the Lord, and let the name of that house be called the "Nauvoo House." (January, 1841.)
Now this is perfectly delightsome. It is religion, you know. Don't you see the smart Yankee-eyes through the /^^/-holes of the prophetic mask, and don't you hear him laugh behind that mask at the d — d fools he has got fixed? Let us give Joseph his due. The Prophet declared he was going to carry out the fun, and he did carry it out to the bitter end.
The Plundering Prophet. 41
But I have to hasten to my notes and introduce my witnesses after this reproduction of old, well-known "reve- lations," without which, however, no biography of the imposter would be complete. Let us hear first
Mrs. P.: "Whenever a man of means came into the Church Joseph was sure to get a revelation that the money of the new comer must be "consecrated." He had no rest till he got hold of it. Examples are, Hunter, Shurt- liff, Bosley "and others. Joseph had not so much oppor- tunity to' make money, as Brigham, but both acted just alike' Joseph had great talents in the art of making him- self agreeable to those whom he wanted to plunder. He borrowed money wherever he could and never returned a cent of it. If you wanted your money back he laughed in your face. He grew rapidly worse under the influence of John C. Bennett in tlfis and every other respect. To rob people was called " consecrate to the Lord."
Mrs. Sio. : "Two good, honest people, Mr. and Mrs. Farrar, came to Nauvoo from England. They had been in the service of Sir Robert Peel and had amassed a little competence, about eight hundred pounds of Eng- lish money, each. Joseph got the money from them. He told them that he would build up the kingdom with it, and, said he, emphatically: 'I shall die for you, if nec- essary ! ' When Joseph was shot, Mr. Farrar became crazy ; Mrs. Farrar died Ions; afterwards, a pauper in Salt Lake."
Mr. W. : "Joseph was in money matters just like Brigham and Taylor. Whoever had money had to consecrate it to the Lord. When people were stripped of every dollar they had, they got sometimes a little pittance from the tithing office ; that was all. I am convinced that Joseph never entertained the least idea ot returning any money he had borrowed. He became rich through the sale of town lots."
Mrs. P.: "When people asked for their money, Joseph sometimes made dreadful scenes. How could they dare to ask for money from the Lord's priesthood, which has the right to use everybody's money for the upbuilding of the kingdom : In this regard, indeed,
42 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Joseph's mantle fell on the shoulders of Brigham Young." Mr. S. : " Whenever Joseph sold a lot to somebody, he gave a church deed. Soon afterward the buyer got *' counsel" to join the order of Enoch, and in this way Joseph got the lot back and kept the money. He sold as Mayor and took back as Enoch. For eitlier emergency he had another name."
Mr. K. : " Money was like sand in Joseph's hands ; it ran through his fingers. Bishop Hunter gave Joseph eleven thousand dollars in gold." [In Kirtland nioney was sand, as we have seen.]
Mr. R. : "'Solomon Wixom was a poor but hard- working farmer in Nauvoo. Out of his scant earnings he managed to save about one hundred and twenty dollars, and laid it by in the Fall to buy ^ yoke of cattle in the Spring, to enable him to work a piece of land. Joseph Smith got wind of the little treasure by a ' revelation ' — an unsuspecting brother, to whom Wixom told his plans, chanced to speak of it in the presence of a con- fidant of Joseph. The prophet went to see Wixom, and after a few commonplace remarks which rather flattered the latter, said : ' Brother W., I am hard up for some money, I need it badly ; do you know of anyone that could lend me a little?' ' Well, Brother Joseph, really I don't know. I have a little laid by, but I cannot spare it, for I want it to buy a yoke of cattle in the Spring.' 'Oh,' was Joseph's reply, 'let me have it, Brother Wixom, and I can easily pay it back before you want it, and God will bless you.' * Well, well, if you can, Brother Joseph, Fll lend it you.' He went and put the amount in Joseph's hand. When the prophet counted the money, he turned to Wixom and said: 'It's all right, I need not give you a note, Brother Sol., 1 suppose.' ' Oh no, no, Brother Joseph, your word is good enough to me for that.' Spring came, and advancing toward the middle, but Joe never advanced toward Wixom. The poor man becoming uneasy went to his prophet-debtor : 'The Spring is come. Brother Joseph, and I come to ask you to be kind enough to give me that money I lent you.' * Money, what money, Brother Sol.?' ' Why, don't you
The Prophet Robs the Poor. 43
recollect the money I lent you last Fall which you prom- ised to pay me in the Spring to buy my oxen ? ' After a moment's pause, apparently to jog his memory, the prophet replied: -'No, Brother Sol., I never got any money from you that I know of. Have }'OU got a note?' * No, I haven't ; you said there would be no need to give a note, for you would be sure and pay it, as it obliged you so much.' 'I don't remember any such transaction, and wqll not pay it,' said the man of God. The poor man ne\'er received his money, and when asked what he thought of the dishonest trick, he said that Joseph must have done it to try his faith.''''
This incident comes from a near relative of Wixom who is now a faithful polygamous Saint in Utah.
The following is a most characteristic story : Among the proselytes who came to Kirtland to enjoy the ble.ssings of the new gospel, was a good honest spinster by the name of Vienna J — , who herself related the occurrence. She came from away down East, where she had accumulated by hard work, dime by dime, some fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars. Joseph hearing of it immediately got a revelation concerning this money. He told Vienna, that the Lord wanted her to return East, gather up her sub- stance and bring it on to Kirtland. Vienna obeyed and brought the money. When she arrived, Joseph was away from Kirtland. Some of the Elders, who were in the secret, itched to get hold of the money ; one of them suc- ceeded in getting a loan of fifty dollars from Vienna, one of those loans that are like Shakespeare's immortal traveler that never returns. Vienna followed the prophet to the place where he had gone. She had made up her mind, good soul, to give the prophet a big present in money— a hundred dollars ! She thought that was much, and, con- sidering her circumstances and the way she had saved her dimes, it was much, sure enough. Well, she finds Joseph, and full of pious zeal, eager to surprise the prophet of the Lord, she hastens to lay before him the hundred dollars, well counted. But Joseph's countenance darkened and fell ; he assumed a searching, severe look and cried : ^^ Where is the rest of it ^ What hare \'0U done with the
44 Afonnon Po?'fraiis. — /. Joseph Smith.
money, sister f The poor thing "shelled out" very soon ; her whole earnings and savings went to Joe. Being asked what was done with it ? " Oh," said she, "Joseph bought a gold watch, and Hyrum got a gold watch, and so did some others." Asked further: "And this 'did n<n shake your faith in the prophet?" " Oh no," saidthe good soul. "The Lord said I should have an inheritance in Zion. But I was to be industrious. You can see the revela- lation in the Doctrine and Covenants. I saw it in manu- script betore it was printed, only they changed it a little in the print. In the revelation it first read her money, they made it say the money. But it was all right. Well, I never was lazy in my life, but I suppose the Lord sa\y I might get lazy." Well, that poor, old creature died " fixed " in the faith, over ninety years old, and the story shows what hold such a "religion" can have on simple, confiding, devout souls.*
SECRET MURDERS IN NAUYOO.
Fine Nauvoo Tales by Brother Lee — Tiirown in the Lime Kiln, Bodv, Clothes and All— The Drownino- of the Good Old IVoman, Described by R. Rushton—Some Graceful Lies by John Taylor.
They are "secret" no more since Lee's book, and they will be less so after this little book of mine shall have seen the light. Murder is the most natural thing in the world with despotism; look for instance at Yenice, Spain, etc. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Mormon form of theocracy, the most searching, brutal and absolute form of all tyrannies ever known in history, should resort to mur- der for the purpose of protecting itself from enemies — Boggs, for example — and screening its criminal and trea- sonable secrets, which form such an important part of
* Told to the author by a witness, who heard it more than once recited bv the old aunt, now in heaven.
Danite Lee Talks PU
45
this '• religion." We are, therefore, not surprised in the least to find, that from the infancy of this " Church" up to our days, murder has always been the preferred instru- ment for fighting the enemies of the '' Kingdom." Only a few weeks ago U. S. Attorney Dickson was attacked by a number of Mormon hoodlums, bearing the name of Can- non, a name synonymous with the most impudent kind of lying and misrepresentation. And why was Dickson at- tacked ? Because he is the most able, energetic and in- corruptible of all public accusers Utah ever had. Deputy Marshal Collin escaped barely with his life, a few months ago, while attacked by three or four " Danites " in a dark alley. The reason ? He is a faithful officer.
Let me first introduce the testimony of John D. Lee, who, while in Nauvoo, (like Abraham O. Smoot and Hosea Stout), was only a modest Danite and policeman, but later became the most celebrated of assassins in the service of Brigham Young, outshining even stars like Porter Rockwell and Bill Hickman. What he says can- not but be true; there is too much proof for it.
" I knew of 77iany men being killed in Nauvoo by the Danites. It was then the rule that all the enemies of Joseph Smith should be killed, and I know of many a man who was quietly put out of the way by the orders of Joseph and his apostles while the church was there. It has always been a well-understood doctrine of the church that it was right and praiseworthy to kill every person who spoke evil of the prophet. This doctrine has been strictly lived up to in Utah, until the Gentiles arrived in such great numbers that it becam.e unsafe to follow the practice ; but the doctrine is still believed, and no year passes without one or more of those who have spoken evil of Brigham Young being killed in a secret manner. In Springville it was certain death to say a word against the authorities, high or low. In Utah it has been the custom with the priesthood to make eunuchs of such men as were obnoxious to the leaders. This was done for a double purpose ; first, It gave a perfect revenge, and next, it left the poor victim a hvmg example to others of the dangers of disobeying counsel, and not living as ordered by the priesthood. In
4^ Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Nauvoo it was the orders from Joseph Smith a?ui his apostles to beat, wound and castrate all Gentiles that the police could take in the act of entering or leaving ii Mor- mon household under circumstances that led to the belief that they had been there for immoral purposes. / knew of several such outrages while there.'"
The official murderers in the service of the Mormon priesthood were always called "City Police," and are so called to-day.
Lee, one of the high priests who officiated at the great religious sacrifice, called " Mountain Meadows Massacre" by wicked Gentiles and apostates, says (Confession, p. 287): "Soon after I got to Nauvoo I was appointed seventh policeman. I had superiors in office, and was sworn to secrecy and to obey the orders of my superiors, and not let my left hand know what my right hand did. It was my duty to do as I was ordered, and not to ask questions. I was instructed in the secrets of the priest- hood to a great extent, and taught to believe, as I then did believe, that it was my duty, and the duty of all men, to obey the leaders of the church, and that no man could commit sin so long as he acted in the way that he was directed by his church superiors. I was one of the life- guard of the prophet Joseph."
I now introduce living witnesses.
Mrs. Pa. : "It was not rare for people who owned fine pieces of property in Nauvoo to disappear all of a sudden. An English family sold all the property they had in England, and then went to "Zion." The hus- band and father arrived first in Nauvoo, and soon wrote home to England that he owned a fine house and garden. The wife came later, but could not find her husband or • his property. He had simply disappeared. She was told that he had died suddenly, but they could not show his grave. The woman had sold her property in England after her husband had left, but she was smart enough not to say a word about it in Nauvoo, that she had the money in her pockets. She told the prophet that she had tried to sell her property, but had not succeeded, and that she left it in trust. She managed to get out of Nauvoo."
Dead Men Tell No Tales. 47
Mrs. J. : ''While I was in Nauvoo, the following was very common talk there : ' What is it ? ' ' Oh, noth- ing, only a dead man has been picked up.' I had been very strong in the faith, but such things opened my eyes."
A man by the name of Thompson is authority for the following statement. He was for years an emplovee of the Tithing office in Salt Lake; he had been a long time in Nauvoo and apostatized in i860. He told one of my chief witnesses, who thinks him a perfectly reliable man, the following: ''All those that were inimical to the Kingdom of God in Nauvoo, were put away. I knew a man who was looked upon as an enemy to the church. They threw him, body, clothes and all, in the lime kiln and burned him up. But I believed then [just like John D. Lee] that it was all right ; it had been commanded by Joseph the Prophet and was done for the safetv of the Kingdom."
'' Dead men tell no tales'' was a favorite word of Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young adopted and used it very frequently. One might say that it was the motto of the two prophets as to the treatment of their enemies. But sometimes the motto was changed a little and then it had to read: "Dead women tell no tales." This is proved by a terrible tale related by old Richard Rushton, the faithful steward of the "Nauvoo Mansion," where Joseph lived as hotel-keeper.
"Old Sister , — well-known in early times in
Nauvoo — was a good, generous woman, a faithful Saint, and tried to be worthy the name by being kind and truth- ful. Having some means she could spare, she helped the ' prophet ' and gave amply to the ' church. ' She attended to the sick — and there were many there — alleviating their distresses and speaking words of cheer to the disconsolate. She was respected by many as a ' mother in Israel.' But she was outspoken, and seeing so much that appeared to her^corrupt, she would sometimes 'blab' about the breth- ren's doings. Her reproofs showed that she knew too much, and she might become dangerous to them. Though she knew but little, comparatively, of what was going on, the priesthood became alarmed, and as it was easier to get
48 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
rid of an old woman that to reform their lives, it was consid- ered necessary to ' attend to her case. ' A council was held in Joseph's room, at which were Joseph Smith, O. P. Rockwell and a few others. After Rockwell had accused her, the subject was broached of drowning her, the coun- cil concluding that for the safety of some of the brethren, and especially Joseph, although she was a ' purty good 'oman,' she 7nust be silenced at all hazards. The plan devised then and there, was that, as she was 'kind o' kind to the church,' the church would make her a present of a piece of land and a house on it which they owned ' over the river.' The next night they would take her ' over the river ' and land her safely ' on the other side.' All pres- ent consented, and the evening being dark and propitious to carry out the plan, a few of those consenting met at the boat at the river-side to execute 'the will of the Lord concerning her."
"■ It was a dark night. Darkness on the city and on the great stream, rolling peacefully but a few rods distant. Profound silence in the low part of the city. But hark ! a wild shriek is heard by a trembling listener in the little office of the ' Mansion,' coming as from a throat gurg- ling with water ; it was only a moment, and again — silence ; but hark ! another shriek from the same quarter, from the same voice, a piercing shriek as from some one struggling for dear life; and again silence. Then a final shriek, much fainter, telling .the breathless listener that the end had come. All is now hushed as death. The cry is heard no more, the old soul is silenced now, the baptism is complete without the usual religious formula, and the lifeless body floats in the broad arms of the Father of the Waters, no more to vex the souls of these pitiless conspirators, until the great day of account, when ' the sea shall give up its dead.' "
'Unless than five minutes after the ceasing of the screams from the drowning victim, the prophet, O. P. Rockwell and two others rushed wildly into the hotel. The prophet was dripping wet. He was loudly expostu- lating with ' Port ' and the others : ' You should not have drowned her; she couldn't have done us much harm.'
Joseph Walks on the Water. 49
* We had to do it,' was the response, 'for your safety and our own, as well as for the good of the church. She can't harm us now.' ' I am very sorry;' said the prophet, ' if I had thought of it a few minutes sooner, you wouldn't have
drowned Sister .' It appears that although the
prophet consented the night previous to her murder, under the impulse of the misrepresentation and fears of her ac- cusers, he relented on reflection and expected to appear with the murderers at the river's edge in time to prevent them from putting their purpose into effect. He was too late, and in his effort to save her then he was wet through and through, being baffled by the combined strength of his followers. The prophet was impulsive and fitful, and in his better moments, no doubt, thought the poor old soul should not be ' blood-atoned,' and really tried to save her. But what a state of society, that made it pos- sible to drown an innocent, defenceless, confiding old woman!" (Richard Rushton heard the shrieks of the victim while sitting in the office of the " Mansion.")
There must have been strong rumors current about the secret crimes committed in Nauvoo at that time, since the church organ called Times and Seasons, while advocating Joseph Smith's election as President of the United States, found it necessar}» to issue the following characteristic denial to those floating rumors :
*' Gentlemen, we are not going either to murder ex-Governor Boggs, nor a ' Mormon in this State ' for not giving us his money;' nor are we going to ' walk on the water,' * nor ' drown a woman,' nor de- fraud the poor of their property,' nor ' marry spiritual wives,' etc.
Now I assert that the Mormon leaders did commit the crimes and abominations charged to them by public rumor in 1844 and denied impudently in the church organ. I have proved the attempted assassination of Governor
*I am informed that Mr. Deming, of Painesville, Ohio, is prepared to prove in his book that old story of Joseph's having " walked on the water" in Kirtland to imitate one of the best known miracles of the Savior. There were, it seems, planks put some inches below the sur- face of the water, and Smith walked (in perfect security) over the deep ! But a wag having contrived to remove one of the planks, the modern miracle-worker took a dip that nearly cost him his interesting life.
50 Aformon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Boggs and the drowning of the old woman; the truth of the remaining charges admits of no doubt in the light of proofs furnished on all, sides for similar and worse offenses. Was not polygamy confessed officially in 1852, after having been denied most solemnly by the church organ and leaders up to that time, and by John Taylor in a public discussion in 1850, in Boulogne, France? ''We are not going to marry spiritual wives." How does this read, I ask thee, O righteously indignant Mormon doubter, in the glaring light of historic truth emblazoning polygamy since the time that Lieutenant General Joseph Smith was posing as presidential candidate ?
STEALING LN NAUVOO.
Ridicuhus '' Gentile' ' Notions — John Taylor very Sol- emn— Abel, the Colored Priest — Stealing Cattle and Healing the Sick.
To understand this chapter fully, you have to get rid of your Gentile notions and prejudices first, gentle reader. To kill a fellow in some canyon, because he is an apostate, is not murder in Mormonism, but saving the poor fellow's soul. Taking from the Gentiles is not stealiiig, buc consecrating to the Lord what right- fully belongs to him. This is a -'higher law," too. For is not ^^ the earth the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and the cattle on a thousand hills?'' Now just stick to this, reader, and don't forget that it is more than an official test of Mormon faith ; it is a part of the life blood of the elders of the school of Joseph and Brigham. Nobody ' ever expressed this axiom better than John Taylor did once in New York, A Mormon lady told him that her servant girl used to bring home bits of silverware and like articles whenever she had been visiting Gentile friends. "What shall I do, Brother Taylor ? " said the lady. " Dear Sister H ," said the
They Steal as the Lord' s Agents. 51
man of God, with that ghostly unction of his, ''you CANNOT steal fro ?fi Gentiles/''
No, you cannot. Taylor is right, and his answer was a masterpiece of strict logic. Can it be stealing, if you take from your enemies, whom God will destroy very soon for not accepting the gospel of Joseph Smith ? What the wicked Gentiles possess is stolen from the Lord ; so bring it back, brethren, to the Lord, that obliging '' pard " of Joseph's, who hands the trash over to Joseph, of course.
But hear another of the Lord's choice ''revelations" and you will understand fully that the "founder" of Mormonisrn authorized his followers directly' lo appropri- ate "■ whatsoever he needeth : "
" Behold, it is said in my laws, or forbidden to get in debt to thine enemies (the Gentiles) ; but, behold, it is not said, at any time, that the Lord should not take when he please snidpay as seemeth him good; wherefore, as ye are agents, and ye are on the Lord's errand, and whatsoever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord's busi- ness, and he has sent you to provide for his Saints ..."
Here's richness. This is from the '' Book of Doctrine and Covenants," a book, remember, as sacred in the eyes of a fanati(i» Mormon as the New Testament is to any zeal- ous Christian. Hear now our brave old witnesses :
Mr. IV: ''Abel was the name of a colored man in Nauvoo who had received the Priesthood from Joseph. This was an exception to the rule, colored people not being entitled to the blessings of Mormon priesthood (but Joseph and Co. fixed it). Abel, the black priest, at Joseph's command, stole a quantity of lumber, which was needed for cofhns, at one time there being great mortality in Nau- voo on account of malaria. A little later Joseph ordered Abel to steal a whole raft of lumber. Abel had scruples about this second order. The first one he had considered all right, since the lumber served to bury the dead. But he was a good Saint, the black priest, and stole the raft all the same. He told me the story himself.
" One day I was ordered to go and lay hands on the sick, in a place up the river some miles from Nauvoo. Elder M. R., now a bishop in Salt Lake, went with me.
52 Mormo7i For traits. — /. Joseph Smith.
We laid our hands on the sick and it seemed to have good effect : they felt better. Not long ago I met Bishop M. R. in the street. Says he, ' Do you remember how we cured the sick near Nauvoo? I cannot understand how we could succeed, since I had been the very same day driving in forty-five head of cattle which the brethren had stolen on the plains.' W. answered : 'Well, / had not been stealing, and that, perhaps, explains our success."
Mrs. Pa. : '' Vilate Kimball, the apostle's first wiffe, an honest woman, told many things to her intimate friends. She used to say that her house in Nauvoo was a regular deposit of the 'spoils of the Gentiles.' It was a favorite sport with the Mormons to rob the stores of their enemies, and to 'consecrate' all the goods to the Lord. Mrs. Kimball had in her house innumerable pieces of calico, muslin, etc., generally of the length of fifty yards. ' I know it to be a fact that our people used to go out nights for the purpose of stealing the wash from the lines of the Gentiles in a circuit of twenty miles around Nauvoo,' sister Vilate used to say."
W. W. Phelps, a prominent saint in olden times, "Joseph's Speckled Bird," and for many years " Devil " in the Endowment House, said to an old frie#d of his in Salt Lake : ' 'If the Mormons had behaved like other people, they would never have been driven from Illinois and Missouri ; but they stole, robbed and plundered from all their neighbors, and all the time.'' (The daughter of Phelps' friend told this little confession to the author.)
Mr. Sh. : "When I came to the church at Nauvoo my first experience was this : The priesthood wanted me to be captain of a band whose task it was to stampede the cattle of the apostates, and to kill them if they offered any resistance. I had given the church all I had — $23,000 — and I declined the honor of being captain of such a band."
Mr. W. : "Bogus Brigham, alias Bishop Miller (of Provo), was a big, fleshy, stupid fellow. He had a flat- boat on the Mississippi. He went down the river and stole from a mill a whole boat-full of flour. He has told me this himself."
Joseph, Lee, and Brigha?n. 53
THE DON JUAN OF NAUVOO.
Don Juan in Seville and in Nauvoo — A Well- Counted Hecatomb of Victims — Celestial Assignation Houses — The Little Oil Bottle — The Innoce?it Girl at the Key- hole— Eliza R.; first Spy a?id then Mistress — Orgies in Nauvoo — Abortion and Ln/anticide.
Yes, ''Don Juan"; that's a good name. I remember to have heard that glorious opera of Mozart at least thirty tmies. I remember how I used to be overcome with two powerful sensations whenever I left the Vienna Opera- house : one was a strong emotion in my breast, such as a decent fellow must always feel after having witnessed the punishment of an unscrupulous libertine ; and second, any amount of smell of burnt gunpowder in my nostrils, proceeding from the fireworks which represented pretty well a middle-sized, old-fashioned, fire-and-lM-imstone hell to burn the great sinner in.
Now, Joseph's career and fearful end are, to my heart and nose, exactly the same over again; same emotion, same smell, coming now from the smoking rifles of those treacherous "Carthage Grays." So let us say "Don Juan," and introduce Joseph's amorous history as such.
It IS now a .well established historical fact that the origin of Mormon polygamy, or "celestial marriage," was nothing but the unbounded and ungoverned passion of the prophet for the other sex. ''Joseph and John D. Lee 7vere the most libidinous men I ever knew,'" says my friend Webb, who knew the prophet for eleven years. '' Joseph ivas the most licentious and Brigham Young the most bloodthirsty of men,'' says Mrs. Sarah Pratt, who has known all these Mormon leaders during almost their whole career in the church.
In one of my many interviews with the aged, life-long martyr of polygamy, I said once to her: "I have seen
54 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
a statement in a book that Joseph had eighty wives at the time of his death. Is that true? " Mrs. Pratt smiled and said : '' He had many more, my dear sir \ at least he had seduced many more, and those with whom he had lived without their being sealed to him, were sealed to him after his death, to be among the number of his ''queens " in the other world. All those women were divided among his friends after his tragic death, so that they might be "proxy-husbands" to them on earth ; while in the celestial kingdom they would, with their offspring, "belong to Brother Joseph, the Christ of this dispen- sation."
Notwithstanding that I had lost, while pursuing my study of Mormon history, a good deal of my original faculty of becoming surprised, it astonished me a little to hear of five scores of ladies entitled to the high dis- tinction of beirg called "wife of the prophet." But, comparing notes, which I have collected from many witnesses, I cannot but come to the conclusion that Mrs. Pratt has not exaggerated : that Brother Joseph, as a wholesale sealer "for time and all eternity," was the greatest Don'*Juan of this or any other dispensation.
Airs. P.: "Everybody knew in Nauvoo that the Partridge girls lived with Joseph a long time before he got his celebrated revelation about celestial marriage, dated July 12, 1843. The Partridge girls were very good-natured. After Joseph's death one was sealed to Brigham and the other to Apostle Amasa Lyman. Jos- eph's taste was of very large dimensions, he loved them old and young, pretty and homely. He sometimes se- duced mothers to keep them quiet about his con- nection with their daughters. There was an old woman called Durfee. She knew a good deal about the prophet's amorous adventures and, to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss. I don't think that she was ever sealed to him, though it may have been the case after Joseph's death,, when the temple was finished. At all events, she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph's wives. Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young took the lion's share at
The Little Oil Bottle. 55
the division of Joseph's wives after his death. Joseph had a number of lady friends, sealed or not sealed, who permitted him to use their houses as a kind of assig- nation houses for rendezvous with other women."
Mr. Jo. : '' You remember that passage in the Reve- lations about celestial marriage, where ' the Lord ' says to Joseph : ' and if she be with another man, and I have not appointed unto her ^v t/ie holy a?iointing, she hath committed adultery.' Well, an old Mormon, who had been very intimate with Joseph inNauvoo, assured me that the prophet always carried a small bottle with holy oil about his person, so that he might ' anoint ' at a moment's notice any woman to be a queen in Heaven. A curious little anecdote was told me by a gentleman who had it direct from that pure man of God, Heber C. Kimball. Brigham's alter ego said as follows : ' I sat once with Joseph in his office in the Mansion House. He looked out of the window and saw weeding in a garden a young mar- ried woman whom we both knew. He told me to go to her and request her to come to him, and he would have her sealed to himself this very moment. I went and told the woman to come to Brother Joseph. She ran to the house to comb her hair and ' fix up ' generally, and then followed me to the prophet. I performed the sealing cere- monv, and retired.' "
Mr. J. W. C. : ''Joseph knew himself well. He said to one of his intimate friends, ' If the Lord had not taken me in hand, I would have become the greatest
w of the world.' And to another friend he said:
'Whenever I see a pretty woman, I have to pray for grace.'
Afrs. P.: "Joseph did not content himself with his spiritual brides, who surrendered themselves to him 'for Christ's sake.' There lived on the Mississippi, near the steamboat landing, a certain young woman, a Mrs. White, very pretty and always very fashionably dressed. She was in the habit of being very hospitable to the captains of the steamboats . . . Joseph was one of her customers and used to contribute to the expenses of her establishment."
Afr. Wa. : "I used to employ a poor Mormon woman for domestic sewing. She had been a fanatic Mormon in
56 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
her time, but had cooled down considerably in consequence of her experience in the direction of celestial marriage. Her husband had taken ' another woman ' and entirely neglected her, and that is what made her shaky in the faith. She once felt very dull, and in this mood she told me the following little story. ' When in Nauvoo, I was a very young girl, and there I happened to be witness of an event that gave me the first doubt about Joseph the pro- phet. I was servant in the house of a Mr. Ford, a mer- chant who had a store in Nauvoo. He was wont to go by steamer to St. Louis, to make purchases. Whenever Mr. Ford was absent from his house, the prophet used to call on Mrs. Ford. He would come, chat with her awhile, and then, they would retire to the lady's chamber. For a while I saw nothing in this, being a very young, innocent girl, and very strong in the faith. But some way or other sus- picion arose in my mind. So when Joseph called again — Mr. Ford had gone to St. Louis the day before — I could not master my curiosity any more. I followed the pair
stealthily, and putting my eye to the keyhole I saw
.' Here the poor woman gave me a description of
a scene which was surely calculated to shake even the most fanatic faith. But this is not all. She said : ' When- ever Mr. Ford came home from St. Louis, he used to com- plain about business: *I cannot understand it,' he used to say, ' when I am here money comes in all the time, and when I am away not a red cent gets into the house.' Now the explanation is very simple. Whenever Joseph had /r^_>'^^/ with ]Mrs. Ford, she used to give him all the money in the till, to the last cent. Since that time I do ask myself sometimes, whether Joseph was really the right kind of a prophet."*
The women in Nauvoo considered it a high honor to receive their celestial blessings from Joseph himself. He was prophet, seer and revelator, lieutenant general, mayor; he was not only the Lord's mouthpiece, but might be President of the United States. At any rate, he was,
*This story has been told the author by a perfectly reliable gentle- man, a business man of high and long standing in Salt Lake.
He Seals Them All. 57
without having the title, the autocrat, the emperor of the rapidly growing Mormon empire. Is it any wonder that those poor souls should feel greatly elated whenever the anointed of the Lord deigned to accept tj^eir all ?
Mr. W. : ''Joseph's dissolute life began already in the first times of the church, in Kirtland. He was sealed there secretly to Fanny Alger. Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the conse- quences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house."
Mrs. D. : "A Mrs. Granger proved a very reliable and useful friend to the prophet. He was once at her house, in bed, and not alone. The bed had old-fashioned curtains. All at once Sister Emma, the prophet's wife, came in, and said excitedly to Mrs. Granger : ' Is Brother Joseph here?' 'No,' said Mrs. Granger, 'he has .just been in, but went out again,' getting Sister Emma out of the house as hurriedly as possible. Joseph used to tell his intimate friends how dreadfully he had felt in that bed, expecting every moment that his wife might look behind the curtains."
Mrs./.: "Eliza Partridge, one of the many girls sealed to the prophet, used to sew in Emma's room. Once, while Joseph Avas absent, Emma got to fighting with Eliza and threw her down the stairs. 'That finished my sewing there,' Eliza used to say."
" In Kirtland, Joseph was once caught in a house
with one of the sisters. This house might be called the
humble birthplace of the revelation on celestial marriage."
Mr. IV.: " Joseph kept eight girls in his house, calling them his ' daughters.' Emma threatened that she would leave the house, and Joseph told her, ' All right, you can go.' She went, but when Joseph reflected that such a scandal would hurt his prophetic dignity, he followed his wife and brought her back. But the eight ' daughters ' had to leave the house."
"Miss" Eliza R. Snow, one of the most curious figures in the history of Mormondom, played an impor- tant part in the events relating to celestial hymenology. She is the great poetess (and such a poetess !), and is a
58 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
sort of high priestess generally of Mormonism. She used to anoint the sisters in the Endowment house and to play the part of Eve in the celestial drama enacted there. She is now over eighty years old, yet doing the same thing in the Logan temple in Utah. Sister Eliza became the church's ''elect lady" when ''the Lord" became thoroughly incensed with Sister Emma for her con- tumacy. She is the very prototype of what is called "female roosters" in Zion, always ready to enslave and drag men and women into polygamy. She was one of the first (willing) victims of Joseph in Nauvoo. She used to be much at the prophet's house and "Sister Emma" treated her as a confidential friend. Very much interested about Joseph's errands, Emma used to send Eliza after him as a spy. Joseph found it out and, to win over the gifted (!) young poetess, he made her one of his celestial brides. There is scarcely a Mormon unac- quainted with the fact that Sister Emma, on the other side, soon found out the little compromise arranged between Joseph and Eliza. Feeling outraged as a wife and betrayed as a friend, Emma is currently reported as having had recourse to a vulgar broomstick as an instru- ment of revenge ; and the harsh treatment received at Emma's hands is said to have destroyed Eliza's hopes of becoming the mother of a prophet's son. So far one of my best informed witnesses. Her story becomes corrob- orated by another reliable source. Elder Bullock, who was church historian at that time, used to tell the follow- ing little tale : " Joseph said on the morning of the first parade of the Nauvoo Legion ' This is the proudest day of my life.' Many people believed that this outburst of pride was entirely of a military character. But I and some other intimate friends of the prophet knew very well that he was proud of another thing, not of a parade, but of a conquest, the conquest of Eliza."
Mr. W. : "There were many small rooms, with beds, in the temple in Nauvoo. They turned the house of the Lord into a house of prostitution. The wife of Aniasa Lyman, apostle and apostate, used to say that they had many little bedrooms in the temple, and that the
High Jinks in Naiivoo. 59
newly-sealed couples used to retire to those rooms with provisions for two or three days."
Mr. S. : '^^masa Lyman, the apostle, who later became a 'vile apostate,' told me that Joseph, Brigham Young, and other apostles used to dance in the Endow- ment house with the Lord's 'hand-maids,' their spiritual wives. Those dances were performed in Adamic costume ; and a fiddler Avas ' ordained and set apart ' for the pur- pose. I know this to be an absolute fact ; it has been confirmed to me by other well-informed persons. That fiddler went with a party of Mormons to Galifornia, San Bernardino County, and remained thei;e."
It seems that the '' souvenir " of the orgies m Nauvoo was kept alive by some of the men who had been initiated into the jolly secrets of the innermost ring of the prophet's friends, of both sexes. Elder Thomas Margetts, while in England, established, in Southampton, a "mock endow- ment house," whose walls were ornamented by the most obscene of pictures, and where orgies were performed at least the equals in brutality to those celebrated in Nauvoo. I know this to be a positive fact. It was attested to me by two former elders of the church who held positions of influence in the "conferences." One of them was present at the church trial of the offenders. Margetts was later killed on the plains by Elder Porter Rockwell, whose sacramental duty consisted in blowing out the brains of all suspected or guilty persons.
Mrs. P.: "You hear often that Joseph had no polygamous offspring. The reason of this is very simple. Abortion was practiced on a large scale in Nauvoo. Dr. John C. Bennett, the evil genius ot Joseph, brought this abomination into a scientific system. He showed to my husband and me the instruments with which he used to ' operate for Joseph.' There was aMiouse in Nauvoo, ^ right across the flat,' about a mile and a-half from the town, a kind of hospital. They sent the women there, when they showed signs of celestial consequences. Abor- tion was practiced regularly in this house.
Mrs. H. : " Many little bodies of new-born children floated down the Mississippi."
6o Mormon Forfrai/s. — /. Joseph Smith.
May 2 1, 1 886, I had a fresh interview with Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had the kindness to give me the following testimony additional to the information given by her in our interviews in the spring of 1885. "I want you to have all my statements correct in your book," said the noble lady, "and put my name to them; I want the truth, the full truth, to be known, and to bear the respon- sibility of it.
''I have told you that the prophet Joseph used to frequent houses of ill-fame. Mrs. White, a very pretty and attractive woman, once confessed to me that she made a business of it to be hospitable to the captains of the Mississippi steamboats. She told me that Joseph had made her acquaintance very soon after his arrival in Nauvoo, and that he had visited her dozens of times. My husband (Orson Pratt) could not be induced to believe such things of his prophet. Seeing his obstinate incred- ulity, Mrs. White proposed to Mr. Pratt and myself to put us in a position where we could observe what was going on between herself and Joseph the prophet. We, however, declined this proposition. You have made a mistake in the table of contents of your book in calling this woman -Mrs. Harris.' Mrs. Harris was a married lady, a very great friend of mine. When Joseph had made his dastardly attempt on me, I went to Mrs. Harris to unbosom my grief to her. To my utter astonishment, she said, laughing heartily : ' How foolish you are ! I don't see anything so horrible in it. Why, I am his
MISTRESS SINCE FOUR YEARS ! '
"■ Next door to my house was a house of bad reputa- tion. One single woman lived there, not very attractive. She used to be visited by people from Carthage whenever they came to Nauvoo. Joseph used to come on horse- back, ride up to thtf' house and tie his horse to a tree, many of which stood before the house. Then he would enter the house of the woman from the back. I have seen him do this repeatedly.
*' Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid rne a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined
A Little Job for Joseph. 6i
to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him : ' You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why- don' t you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father realty was ? ' He answered : ' If my father had so many connections with women, where is the prog- eny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly inter- course with married women, and as to single ones, Dr, Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened.' " It was in this way that I became acquainted with Dr. John C. Bennett. When my husband went to England as a missionary, he got the promise from Joseph that I should receive provisions from the tithing-house. Shortly after- ward Joseph made his propositions to me and they enraged me so that I refused to accept any help from the tithing house or from the bishop. Having been always very clever and very busy with my needle, I began to take in sewing for the support of myself and children, and suc- ceeded soon in making myself independent. When Bennett came to Nauvoo Joseph brought him to my house, stating that Bennett wanted some sewing done, and that I should do it for the doctor. I assented and Bennett gave me a great deal of work to do. He knew that Joseph had his plans set on me ; Joseph made no secret of them before Bennett, and went so far in his impudence as to make propositions to me in the presence of Bennett, his bosom friend. Bennett, who was ofa sarcastic turn of mind, used to come and tell me about Joseph to tease and irritate me. One day they came both, Joseph and Bennett, on horse- back to my house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., — this explains my having borrowed that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said : " (9/z, a little fob for Joseph, one of his women is in trouble.''' Say- ing this, he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I
62 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
heard afterwards that the operation had been performed ; that the wo??ian was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.
" Bennett was the most intimate friend of Joseph for a time. He boarded with the prophet. He told me once that Joseph had been talking with him about his troubles with Emma, his wife. 'He asked me,' said Bennett, smilingly, ' what he should do to get out of the trouble ? ' I said, ' this is very simple. Get a Revelation that polygamy is right, and all your troubles will be at an end.'
''The only 'wives' of Joseph that lived in the Man- sion House were the Partridge girls. This is explained by the fact that they were the servants in the hotel kept by the prophet. But when Emma found out that Joseph went to their room, they had to leave the house.
"I remember Emma's trip to St Louis. I begged her to buy for me a piece of black silk there.
"You should bear in mind that Joseph did not think of a marriage or sealing ceremony for many years. He used to state to his intended victims, as he did to me : ' God does not care if we have a good time, if only other people do not know it' He only introduced a marriage ceremony when he had found out that he could not get certain women without it. I think Louisa Beeman was the first case of this kind. If any woman, like me, opposed his wishes, he used to say: 'Be silent, or I shall ruin your character. My character must be sustained in the interest of the church.' When he had assailed me and saw that he could not seal my lips, he sent word to me that he would work my salvation, if I kept silent. I sent back that I would talk as much as I pleased and as much as I knew to be the truth, and as to my salvation, I would try and take care -of that myself.
"In his endeavors to ruin my character Joseph went so far as to publish an extra-sheet containing affidavits against my reputation. When this sheet was brought to me I discovered to my astonishment the names of two people on it, man and wife, with whom I had boarded for a certain time. I never thought much of the man,
Hyruni Saves the Church. 63
but the woman was an honest person and I knew that she must have been forced to do such a thing against me. So I went to their house ; the man left the house hurriedly when he saw me coming. I found the wife and said to her rather excitedly : ' What does it all mean ? ' She began to sob. 'It is not my fault,' said she. ' Hyrum Smith came to our house, with the affidavits all written out, and forced us to sign them. 'Joseph and the church must be saved,' said he. We saw that resistance was useless, they would have ruined us; so we signed the papers.' "
Let us introduce now a statement as to the reliability of Mrs. Pratt. She is well known in Salt Lake City and all over Utah as possessing all the virtues of an excellent wife and mother; but outsiders may wish to know of Mrs. Pratt's standing in this community, and I take pleasure in giving a testimonial :
Salt Lake City, May 1886.
We, the undersigned, cordially bear w^itness to the excellent reputation of Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt. We feel well assured that Mrs. Pratt is a lady whose statements are absolutely to be depended upon. Entire frankness and a high sense of honor and truth are regarded in this community, where she has dwelt since 1847, ^s her ruling characteristics.
Charles S. Zane, Chief Justice Utah Territory.
Arthur L, Thomas,
Secretary Utah Territory,
Rev. J. W. Jackson, U. S. A. Chaplain, Tort Douglas.
I could very readily augment this testimonial with many others were it deemed worth while.
64 Mormon Portraits. — /. JosepJi Smith.
THE NAUVOO PANDEMONIUM.
Do7i Juan at the Hight of His Wickedness — Poor Em7?ia / — Rushton Describes a Family Scene with Blows and Sobs — Ben Winchester' s Tale — Swapping Wives — A Wife for Cat-fish— The Wives of the Twelve.
The way of the transgressor is, as a rule, not only hard, but pretty rapid, too. Look at the celebrated ancestors of our prophet, the emperors Caligula and Nero ; look at his very prototype, John of Leyden, and other crowned debauchees, rushing from passion to frenzy, from frenzy to raving madness. The gods blind whom they want to destroy. As to King Joseph and his capital, Nauvoo, it may be truly said that there never was, and — let us trust — never will be in any community of this "sweet home" loving, pure-principled republic another edition of such a whirlpool of secret vice,* of such a demo- niac bacchanal, including as dancers all the prominent men and even many ' 'ladies " of a city. Let it be remem- bered forever that the men who know all the facts published by me, and more, deny them daily as *' infamous slanders," and that these same men are the leaders of this abomination called a "church" by its illiterate dupes only and by the over-cultivated ladies and gentle- men of the East.
Joseph Smith was shrewd enough to have a few honest men around him whom he placed in responsible positions, who filled them with fidelity and self-sacrifice, being at the same time in a great measure ignorant of the duplicity and wickedness of the impostor. None were more
* " What would it have done for us if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in IlHnois ? They
would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did but we
shall come to a point where we shall have all the wives and they will have none."— Orson Hyde's sermon in i^$^, fournal of Discourses,
Vol. II., p. S:^.
'' Covie in, Brother Rushton^ 65
faithful or trutJiful than Elder Richard Rushton, the trusty steward employed by Joseph in the Mansion House in Nauvoo. Rushton was a good, honest man of fine instmcts, and had served faithfully for some years holding that position when the bodies of Toseph and Hyrum were brought to Nauvoo, and he received them It was his duty to lock up, every night, most of the rooms, especially the pantry, storeroom, larder etc. and then to give the keys to -Sister Emma." She would, on retiring, place the bunch of keys in a lar^e pocket that was nailed on the wall at the head of her
.vt\^ f . \^^'i^''} ^'^^'^ morning Brother Rushton would tap at the bedroom door in order to receive the keys and open the hotel. Emma on hearing the raps would say, - Come in, Brother Rushton," and would hand
we"e needed' '' ^^^ ^'''''^^^' ^"^ ^'^^ ^''""^ ''''^^'' ^' It so -came to pass" once upon a time, that the groceries and other provisions necessary for the use of the hotel were nearly exhausted, and a famine seemed pendin- h^Jll u- ^^r^""\t^l>'' however, Joseph sold a fine"
black horse which had been presented to him, for three hundred and fifty dollars or so, and also a city lot or two for about four hundred dollars. With the sales of the horse and land, and a little cash on hand, he mustered up about nine hundred dollars, which he cheerfully placed m Emma's hands, saying: "We are out of pro- visions; take this and go down to St. Louis, and buy Avhat IS needed. Capt. Dan Jones will fire up the ^ Maid fJV? ^^ J^ steamboat always ready for church use) and take you down," Emma started for St. Louis The going, purchasing and return occupied about a week At night, after the departure of the -elect lady " the steward gave the keys to the prophet, and in the morninff he as usual stepped lightly and rapped at the door of the
^nLT'^' .1.^ ''°'''^', '5?-^^ ^° ^'' ^^^ y^^ «f feminine softness, rather startled him m response with the words
hrX^?V' ^ ^^ ^"^^'^^ timidly, when lo and be- hold ! there lay in Emma's bed and stead the beautiful and attractive young wife of Elder Edward Blossom, a
66 Monnon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
high councilor of Zion, (afterwards exalted to the apostle- ship by Brigham Young). With a pair of laughing, glistening eyes and with a smile of happy sweetness, she spoke in soft and pleading accents: ^'/suppose, Brother Rushton, I shall have to be Sister Emma to you this morning,'" as she gracefully handed the keys to him. Astonished and blushing, the faithful steward left the room to resume his duties, leaving the adulterous prophet and his charmer to themselves. The same thing was repeated each morning during the week Emma was away purchasing supplies for the prophet's hotel.
In relating this occurrence to another of my most precise and valuable witnesses, Brother Rushton, though no seeker after effect, added the following picturesque details : "■ Emma used to keep the keys of the hotel in a richly ornamented wallet given to her by some well-to-do English friends. When Joseph saw how dumbfounded I was he sat up in his red flannel night robe and said in a hasty, commanding tone : ' Thafs all right. Brother Rushton,' making a movement with his outstretched right hand towards me. The prophet's gesture and tone gave me to understand that I was to go and keep my mouth shut.' "
''One afternoon," said Mr. Rushton, the steward, *' after the hurry of the dinner work was over, I was sitting in my little office, when looking through my window, I saw the Prophet Joseph, followed by the two Partridge girls, coming from the back part of the lot and enter, all three, the little log cabin which had been the first home, in Nauvoo, of the prophet before the " Man- sion " was built. A minute or so afterwards Sister Emma came to my office door and asked me : ' Did you see Brother Joseph and the two Partridge girls go into the cabin? ' Mr. Rushton didn't like to split' on the prophet, and yet didn't like to tell a lie; and at last he replied hesitatingly: "Well — I think — perhaps — well — I may have seen them." "I'll just put on my sun-bonnet and go and see what they are about," replied she, and stepped over. A very short time after her entry she appeared at the door of the cabin, being pushed out rudely, and
Evi7tia Weeps and Forgives, 67
came to the office door crying bitterly. "Oh Brother Rushton," she said in broken sobs, *'I went into the cabin, I found those two girls with my husband^ and Joseph jumped up in a rage when he saw that I had sur- prised them and struck me a horrid blow ; " at the same time she showed me the mark of the blow on her cheek. She then dropped fainting on a chair, weeping and uttering words of despair. A few minutes afterward Joseph entered and going up to Emma, said in a meek, repentant manner, " Oh, my dear Emma, I am so sorry I struck you. I did it in a passion ; you must forgive me. I did it without a thought, or I wouldn't have done it. For- give me. But you shouldn't be running after me, watch- ing me, and prying at my actions." He apologized, and kissed Emma, and apologized again, and then finally she arose and they went into the parlor together apparently reconciled,"
Another characteristic anecdote connected yet with the Kirtland times of the " church," was related to me by an ex-elder of perfect reliability. I insert it here, be- cause it shows what kind of a woman-eater this prophet had been in early days already. A large, influential "branch of the church" existed in Philadelphia, over which Ben Winchester successfully presided. Joe visited that church occasionally and enjoyed the associations much. On one occasion, it having been announced that the prophet was to preach, he sat on the platform by the side of his faithful presiding elder while awaiting the time to open services. Now and then as some handsome young woman came up the aisle and took a seat, Joe would turn to Elder Winchester and ask, " Who is that beautiful lady?" or, "Who is that fine, lovely creature?" On being told, " that is Miss So-and-so," or, "Mrs. So-and- so," or, "Sister So-and-so," he did not at all disguise his wishes; he made no "bones" of it; but would say in reply, "I'd just like talk to her alone for a while," or, " I would like her for a companion for a night," and other expressions too plain and vulgar for me to write. [I can give names if needed.]
After the polygamy doctrine was secretly whispered
68 Aformon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
about among the chosen few in Nauvoo, there were great surmisings on the part of those who desired to know the " mysteries of the kingdom." Many impertect theories were ventilated, and false conclusions arrived at. Joe had formulated no plan, and did not, as yet, have any rules whereby to direct his intimate friends, much less the com- mon saints who were not in the ring. Hence, having no 'Maw," every man and woman was a law to himself or herself, and they went on their own course. In a small house in Nauvoo, consisting only of two rooms, dwelt two men and their wives. Each man and wife occupied one room. These couples having got some inkling of the new order of things, came to the conclusion that they might as well live up to their privileges. They accordingly ex- changed partners, and lived in this condition for several weeks, when former relations were resumed. Such inci- dents, with variations, were by no means uncommon. (My friend Webb says there was a great deal of swapping and exchanging done in Nauvoo as to wives. Old Cooks sold his wife for a load of catfish, and from that time on he was always called ''Catfish Cooks.") Another party was anxious for a similar exchange, and the little story proves that the sisters were sometimes as desirous for it as the brethren. Brother Rushton and his wife were at last reluctantly compelled to know what was going on among the saints in Nauvoo, but they repelled all attempts of either male or female to draw them into the new practices. Brother Blossom, a high priest and member of the high council of that stake of Zion, had his eyes upon and coveted Mrs. Rushton, his neighbor's wife; the high priest's wife had her own upon Brother Rushton, and this nice pair sought an exchange with Rushton and wife. Sister Blossom approached Brother R. with her sweetest smiles, telling him that B. had sent her to arrange with him that he (R.) should have her as a wife, and B. should have Sister R. for his wife, and that mutual arrangement could and should be made to that effect ; she and B. were perfectly willing to thus exchange, if R. and wife were, and that it was according to the "law and will of the Lord." Knowing the antipathy of Mrs. R. to such
^ Lady Delegate to Congress. 6g
proposals R. told Mrs. B. ta ask his wife about it and
s.sencyofthepair, and ordered her to take the basket out of her sight "Does he think," she safd '' he can ' bribe me with a basket of potatoes ? "
At another time, a rather interesting old maid sister of one of the d.gmtaries of the church, came a distance of some sixty miles to see Brother R. and begged him p.teously to take her as a plural wife-she had! revela tionthathe was to be her husband '' right no^^' On" his positive refusal, she left him in tearf prostrate wkh disappointment. ' i^™'>"'>te «ith
,s ^"^Cr ""T '" ^?"™°' ^^''^ Joseph was in his glorv a he greatest prophet that ever lived," a voune rner chant and his wife whom he dearly loved She borrto him several children, but became fascinated w'h Joe and
t:t'^:.str^,^";;:rniri;ir<^x.'^" ^L^T'V
"gLh^ered^" T'°"V "^^^ '"^ at^ts^pi: "fealed'^oneofhTh ° ''■% ^"braces, and she was
£b*fameTi:eti!l';?Xighan^,ti%^
that any posterity which might "ensue fhould be V^Ut
and to the lobbies of Congress. If she truly represent^
r presmeJ"'and .7'th" ""^' °""" *^ characLrTthot fhenTT?!^ ' ^"<^ '^^ 'hese are not .such as she represents then Ltah women are not represented -yet she is their
''h"b /acoLT' '" '^^''Confession.^'^of thifl dy H. B. Jacobs accompanied me as a fellow companion!
70 Monnon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Jacobs was bragging about his wife and two children — what a true, virtuous, lovely woman she was. He almost worshiped her ; but little did he think that in his absence she was sealed to the prophet Joseph, and was his wife." p. 132.)
Joseph Smith finally demanded the wives of all the twelve apostles that were at home then m Nauvoo. And why not? Were the ''apostles" not his slaves, his property, including all they had ? Woman in Mormon - dom has been, from the beginning a chattel, and man, a slave. That Joseph did demand and obtain the wives of the twelve, is proved beyond doubt by irrefutable testi- mony. But there is further proof from a very high authority. Jedediah Grant, Brigham's counselor, and soul of the horrible "Reformation" which culminated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, said in one of his harangues which were as bloody as they were filthy : ' ' Do you think that the prophet Joseph wanted the wives of the Twelve that he asked for, ?nerely to gratify himself ? No ; he did it to try the brethren. But if President Young wants my wives, or any of them, he can have them,"" etc. (He didn't consult his "wives" — oh, no; they are only like cattle, to be given away if desired. Is the Mormon woman equal to the man, according to that ?) That was said publicly before thousands of hearers, men and women. Mormon ism has produced the most abject slavery ever witnessed in the history of the world. Hear •' Jeddy " Grant again :
" What would a man of God say, who felt right, when Joseph asked him for his money?' He would say: 'Yes; and I wish I had more to build up the kingdom of God.' Or if he came and said : * I want your wife! ' ' Oh, yes,' he would say; ^ there she is. There are plenty more.' " *
And Orson Pratt, another man of God, follows in the same strain :
*' Consecrate everything to the Lord that you have — flocks and herds, gold and silver, wearing apparel, watches, jewelry, your wives and children — of course. The wives have given themselves to their
* Journal of Discourses, the official collection of Mormon ser- mons, vol. i., p. 14.
Leonora Taylor and Vilate Kimball. 71
liusband, and he has to consecrate them. They are the Lord's \id est. His chosen prophet's.— W.'\ He has only lent them to us." *
Mrs. Leonora Taylor, first and legal wife of the present head of the church, and aunt of George Q. Cannon, told ladies who still reside in this city, that all the wives of the twelve were, in fact, consecrated to the Lord, that is, to his servant, Joseph ; and that Joseph's demands, and her husband's soft compliance so exasperated her as to cause her ' the loss of a finger and of a baby.' The latter she lost by a premature delivery, being at the time in a deli- cate condition, and in her fury for help, having thrust her clenched fist through a window-pane, lost one of her fingers. Her honor was saved from the attack of Don Juan. Mrs. Taylor was mistaken, however, in her general statement, which IS just a little too sweeping. She, no doubt, was lied to by John Taylor himself, or by some one else ' in authority,' for the purpose of overcoming her wifely scruples. Besides herself, there were two others, who were exceptions in this atrocious case. Vilate Kimball, the first wife of Heber C. Kimball, later the righthand- man and clown of King Brigham, and one of the most disgusting types of Mormon history— Vilate was a good, pure woman, she was better than her ' religion,' though a slave to it in a manner. She loved her husband, and he, not yet developed as the brute he later became, loved her, hence a reluctance to comply with the Lord's demand that Vilate should be consecrated like the moveable prop- erty of the other 'Apostles.' Still, Joseph was to them a prophet, and therefore the act might be right in him, though simply damnable in any other man. They thought the command of the Lord must be obeyed in some way, and a ' proxy ' way suggested itself to their minds. They had a young daughter only getting out of girlhood, and the father apologizing to the prophet for his wife's reluct- ance to comply with his desires, stating, however, that the act must be right or it would not be counselled— the ab- ject slave of a father asked Joe if his daughter wouldn't do as well as his wife. Joe replied that she would do just as
* Journal of Discourses, vol. i., p. 98.
72 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
well, and the Lord would accept her instead. The half-ripe bud of womanhood was delivered over to the prophet. Helen Mar Whitney — this is her name now — still lives and belongs to that iindefinable class of wrinkled old women, only to be found in Mormonism, who pride themselves in their shame, in speeches and in print. She writes pamphlets on the divinity of polygamy ! Other ' plurals ' do the same. It is the saddest, the most disheartening kind of literature I have ever seen in any country. It makes me do desperate things. It makes me prefer the worst of mother-in-laws to such Madies,' and gives me a wonderfully favorable idea of the odalisques of those old bearded Turks — they are pretty and they don't write, you see.
The other intended victim, who escaped the prophet's clutches was high-spirited Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt. She stoutly repelled his repeated approaches, though she had to pay the penalty for refusing to 'consecrate' her honor. She has been ever since hated and slandered by the Mor- mon leaders. Joe threatened her, if she divulged to her husband or anyone else what he had proposed; adding *' if you do, I will ruin your character. I will deny every- thing, and the Church will believe me and not you. My standing in the Church must be upheld at any cost and sacrifice." He kept his word. He tried to starve her and her children; he used all his influence against her ; even leading mob demonstrations for that purpose, and abusing her from the pulpit. He caused evil reports to be circulated about het and tried to make her an object of detestation as an apostate Brigham Young took up Joseph's course in this, as he did in everything else, and tried to rob her of her modest property in Salt Lake City, the support of herself and a family of small children, mostly sons, whom she has reared toman's estate and who would do honor to any community. Her husband, Orson Pratt, who became, under the influence of polygamy, as coarsely selfish as any other **polyg," went so far in his abject slavery, as to join Prophet Brigham in his attempt to defraud the victim, his own wife and the mother of his children. It was my earliest interview with Mrs. Pratt,
Joseph' s Anatomical Museum. 73
in Janiiary, 1885, which gave me the first insight into the pernicious working of a system invented by impostors and carried out by outlaws all the way through.
EMMA, THE PROPHET'S WIFE.
Old Hickory Hale — Emfiia Loves the ^'Peeper'' — King and Pope — Wretched but Proud— ''All Guesswork'' — Emma Wants to Expose the Humbug — A Crushing Doc- u?nent— ''Peeper" Joseph— The White Dog Sacrifice d— Joseph a Crocoaile—That old White Hat— The Bleeding Ghost — The Prophet of the Lord Becofnes a Methodist — Em?na Finds out What ' ' Spiritual ' ' Means.
Yes, don't doubt it a moment; I /^^z;<? looked out for a bright point in Joseph's life and would have been very happy in finding it. I am naturally given to admiration of all that is good and noble in human nature. I have learnt, besides^I am on the wrong side of forty — that man is a curious composite of good and bad, and that a little good goes far in making up for a great amount of bad. Thackeray is right. Each of us has his "skeleton in the closet." Why should I rattle with the bones in my neighbor's cellar, lest somebody might come and open the door of my own well-guarded closet ?
But the case of our prophet is different. There is nothing but skeletons. His house is full of them, and so is his city. Rattling becomes a public duty. The pro- prietor of this vast anatomical museum claims to be the founder of a new religion, the best religion of all, the restorer of truth and moral purity all over the wide world. Don't you think I am justified in rattling?
No, I could not find a bright point, an extenuating cir- cumstance, in the whole life of the great impostor. It is lie and crime all through. Just think of the multitude of excellent people, virtuous, devout women and good men,
74 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
who have staked their all in this life upon the prophetship of '* Joseph Smith, Junior" ! Why, Joe would have been the captain of a pirate-ship or a slave-dealer as soon as a prophet. There is not even a beam of light in those days that are such happy ones for purer minds — the days of wooing and early wedlock. He likes old Hale's daughter, but the first thing he does is to pervert the moral sense of the honest farmer's darling and make her an accomplice of his fraud. The proud, intelligent young wife becomes likewise an impostor; he crushes her conscience, and it appears a crushed one even on her death bed, when she declared that Joseph had never been in polygamy. She had learned from him to lie to further her ends. But what he could not crush in her were the wife and mother. He tried hard to make an Eliza R. Snow of her, a harem- ,queen. He did not succeed. He had to cow before this firm wife and proud mother. In this she remained old Hale's child, even when threatened with destruction by that climax of silly impudence and impious balderdash, the " revelation on celestial marriage." You might even construe that death-bed lie of hers as the outcome of her pride, her firmness and her love for her family, which she wanted to appear pure and decent before the world. Though tainted with her husband's fraud, the prophet's wife shines out from Mormon History as a great, sympa- thetic figure.
Emma was the bright, handsome, black-eyed daughter of a sturdy, honest, humbug-hating Pennsylvania farmer, Isaac Hale. His character may be fairly judged by a let- ter which he wrote in 1834 about his son-in-law and the Gold Bible ; the reader finds this remarkable document, among others, at the end of Part I., of this volume.
When Emma fell in love with young Joe, he was a shiftless vagabond, swindling money-digger and fortune- teller, who got his living, as he called it himself, by '' glass- looking." This was not the kind of son-in-law fancied by old Hickory Hale. Oh, no ! He would have liked a steady-going, hardworking farmer, with 320 or at least 100 acres of good land, fine horses, cows, good house, barn and stables, a family Bible and good fences. Seven
Emma Marries the Peeper. 75
years after Smith's elopement with the old man's darling, Emma, the wound was yet smarting ; you feel it in every line of that letter of 1834. But Emma fell in love with the money-digger all the same. How do you explain it ? Why, Emma was a country girl after all. Joe must have had a certain mysterious charm for her, with his secret " looking " powers, his wonderful stone and that old white hat filled with dark secrets. She didn't believe in it alto- gether, but still there was something out-of the-way in it, it was more interesting than that absurd talk about cows and bulls, corn and barley, oxen and sheep. Father wouldn't hear of her taking '' that slouching, shiftless fel- ler from York State," so she ran away with him. A near relative of hers, a Mr. Hiel Lewis, says about that elope- ment and its effect in old Isaac Hale's house : ''The Hale family was greatly exasperated, and perhaps it would not have been safe for Smith to have shown himself at his father-in-law's house. Emma was or had been the idol or favorite of the family, and they all still felt a strong attachment for her, and the permission to return and re- conciliation was effected and accomplished by her and per- haps her sister, Mrs. Wasson, who lived near Bainbridge, N. Y. The permission for Smith to return all came from the other side, not from Mr. Isaac Hale or his family in Harmony, Pa." *
Later on in married life Emma found out fully, no doubt, that Joseph was a wretched impostor. But what could she do, even if the blood of honest old Hale did rebel in her veins against the continual negation of all honor and truth in her husband's life and actions? Was she not his wife, the mother of his children ? And then, ("don't you forget it") there was a good deal of womanly satisfaction in this part, too*. Joseph was a daring brigand, and woman has always admired and loved and will always admire and love a daring brigand. I have seen that in Sicily, where beautiful girls told me
*I quote from a letter of this old gentleman, most kindly furnished to me by my learned friend, James T. Cobb, Esq., who has very great merits in investigating the earhest history of Mormonism. The letter is dated Amboy, Lee Co., 111., Sept. 11, 1879.
76 Alonnon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
with flaming eyes of the heroic deeds of the '' Mafia si ?'' Smith became the Lord's friend and mouthpiece, a prophet, soon after his marriage ; in time the founder of cities and temples, a general and mayor, a leader of the people, a ruler of thousands of votes, flattered and cajoled by demagogues of all parties; his role was -impor- tant and to a certain degree picturesque, imposing and brilliant. All that other men have to toil for was showered upon him, fat living, landed property, money, jewelry, good houses, fine horses, titles, honors, the admiration and submission of thousands. Yes, he was a king, that blue-eyed, wandering '^ peeper" and money-digger of yore, the only king in America, forsooth ! A king and a pope in one !
Was it not nice to ride out with him, the prophet and general, in a fine carriage, or dash with him on horseback over the prairie, or shine on a charger at the parade of the Nauvoo Legion ? Was it not fine to be the focus of general admiration, to be the first lady of the kingdom, yea, the queen, to have everybody greet and bow to the *' elect lady" of the church?
And Emma played her part well. Let our witnesses take the stand : *'She was tall, dark, dignified and very ladylike," says one of them who knew her intimately ; ** she was rather above the average for talent and would have passed for a lady anywhere. Her education had not been a careful one ; she had attended very indifferent schools, but she had any amount of good, sound sense, and knew how to use everything to the best advantage. She loved Joseph very much, and felt most wretched over his oft-recurring trespasses (see revelation of July 12, 1843 ^"<i others), but she was too proud to talk about her grief."
'' Emma was very proud," says Mrs. P.; ''pride was one of her chief characteristics. She gave me to under- stand that she would like ta know whether Joseph had any relations with other women, and I saw how unhappy she felt through her well-founded jealousy ; but she struggled hard to conceal the real state of her feelings, and never showed it to her children.
John Taylor and Napoleon III. 77
'' She was very much attached to her family ; this was her chief thought and care. She was capable of talkmg about everything, but in those times all the talk turned about Mormonism," says another cotemporary of the ''elect lady." The same witness affirms that Emma was squint-eyed. But this last I prefer not to believe. Such things are never true. '' Her figure was very stately and after Joseph's violent death, when she had overcome the first shock, she looked rather fresher and stouter than before. She had been too much worried by Joseph s conduct with the sisters." So says another informant, an old lady yet living in Salt Lake, to whom Emma once said in 1846 while talking about his revelations, '' It was all guesswork r Pretty good for the wife of the greatest prophet that had ever lived, and herself aidmg and abetting her son Joseph in still riveting the fraud— mmus
polygamy ! 1 • i j
It was not long after the martyrdom of her liege lord that the elect ladv and Attorney Woods (the last legal counselor of the Lord's anointed prophet) laid their heads together to reveal the exact truth about the Mormon leaders and the Mormon humbug in general. For some reason this most laudable design was never executed. Probably because Sister Emma saw that she could not possibly make such a crushing disclosure without seriously incriminating herself. At any rate, I am positively informed that old lawyer Woods still holds in his pos- session the material then compiled for their joint exposure of Mormonism. The Times and Seasons, the church organ, denied at the time that any such design existed, but denials of this kind have about the same value as those of my lamented friend Napoleon III., that is, they prove the exact contrary of what they assert.
I am now going to introduce a document of the very greatest importance, which will enable the reader to see Joseph, Emma and the Gold Bible humbug m a kind of family picture, not brilliantly drawn, but full of the color of life. It is a letter from the brothers Hiel and Joseph Lewis, sons of the Rev. Nathaniel Lewis, of old Harmony, Pennsylvania, and all of them near relations of Emma
78 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Hale. It is dated Amboy, Lee County, 111., April 23, 1879. The original belongs to Mr. James T. Cobb, the above-named pathfinder in early Mormon history. The document concerns what the two gentlemen "saw and heard of the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph Smith while he was engaged in peeping for money and hidden treasures and translating his Gold Bible in our neighborhood, township of Harmony, Susquehannah County, Pa., our home and residence being within one mile of where he lived and transacted his business." The most prominent citizens of the little town of Amboy, the mayor, aldermen, attorneys, editors, merchants, bankers, justices of the peace, etc., testify that the wit- nesses are ''truthful, honorable, Christian gentlemen," and that "their statements are entitled to the fullest credence." Here is the document :
" Some time previous to 1825,* a man by the name of Wm. Hale, a distant relative of uncle Isaac Hale, came to Isaac Hale and said that he had been informed by a woman by the name of Odle, who claimed to possess the power of seeing under ground (such persons were then commonly called peepers), that there were great treasures concealed in the hill northeast from Isaac Hale's house, and by her directions Wm. Hale commenced digging. But, being too lazy to work and too poor to hire, he obtained a partner by the name of Oliver Harper, of York vState, who had the means to hire help. But after a short time operations were suspended, for a time, during which Wm. Hale heard of Peeper Joseph Smith, jr., and wrote to him and soon visited him, and found Smith's representations were so flattering that Smith was either hired or became a partner with Wm. Hale, Oliver Harper and a man by the name of Stovvell,f who had some property.
* This would be, according to Mormon annals, after the time when " the Father and the Son " appeared to the prophet Joseph and held a conference with him.
f Lucy Smith, the mother of the prophet, and Munchhausen of the family, lets a good-sized cat out of her big bag in her biography of Joe. She confesses in it, unwittingly, to all the money-digging part of the prophet, and this was one of the reasons that made Brig- ham put her gossipy little book on the Mormon Index librorum pro- hibitorum. Munchhausen-Lucy says (pp. 91-92): "A man by the name of Josiah Stoal came from Chenango County, N. Y., with the view of getting Joseph to assist in digging for a silver mine. He came for Joseph on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye.
The Lord and the White Dog. 79
They hired men and dug in several places. The account given in the history of Susquehanna County, p, 580, of a pure white dog to be used as a sacrifice to restrain the enchantment, and of the anger of the Almighty at the attempt to palm off on Him a white sheep for a white dog, is a fair sample of Smith's revelations, and of the God that inspired him. Their digging in several places vi^as in compliance with * Peeper' Smith's revelations, who would attend with his peep- stone in his hat, and his hat drarun over his face, and tell them how deep they would have to go ; and when they found no trace of the chest of money, he would peep again and 7veep like a child, and tell them that the enchantment had removed it on account of some sin, or thoughtless word, and finally the enchantment became so strong that he could not see, and the business was finally abandoned. Sf?iith could weep and shed tears at any time if he chose to."* f
" But while he was engaged in looking through his peep-stone and old white hat, directing the digging for money, and boarding at uncle Isaac Hale's, he formed an intimacy with Mr. Hale's daughter, and after the abandonment of the money-digging speculation, he con- summated the elopement and marriage to the said Emma Hale, and she became his accomplice in his humbug Golden Bible and Mormon religion.
" The statement that the prophet Joseph Smith made in our hear- ing at the commencement of his translating his book in Harmony, as to the manner of his finding the plates, was as follows : He said that by a DREAM he was informed that at such a place in a certain hill, in an iron box, were some gold plates with curious engravings, which he must get and translate, and write a book ; that the plates were to be kept concealed from every human being for a certain time, some two or three years ; that he went to the place and dug till he came to the stone that covered the box, when he was knocked down; that he again attempted to remove the stone, and was again knocked down. This attempt was made the third time, and the third time he was knocked down. Then he exclaimed: ' Why can't I git it? ' or words to that effect, and then he saw a man standing over the spot, who, to
Joseph endeavored to divert him from his vain pursuit, but he was inflexible in his purpose, and offered high wages to those who would dig for him in search of said mine, and still insisted upon having Joseph to work for him. Accordingly, Joseph and several others returned with him and commenced digging. After laboring for the old gentleman about a month, without success, Joseph prevailed upon him to cease his operations, and it was from this circumstance of having worked by the month at digging for a silver mine, that the very prevalent story arose of Joseph having been a money-digger." [The italics are mine.]
* Let any half-witted person compare this testimony with those of Ingersoll, Chase and others, in our Appendix of Part I., and deny that Joseph was the champion humbug of our time !
So Mormo7i Portraits. ^-I. Joseph Smith.
him, appeared like a Spaniard [Oh, you great son of Lucy !], having a long beard down over his breast to about here {Smith putting his hand to the pit of his stomach), WITH HIS (the ghost's) throat CUT
FROM EAR TO EAR, AND THE BLOOD STREAMING DOWN, who told
him that he could not get it alone; that another person whom he (Smith) would know at first sight must come with him, and then he would get it ; and when he saw Miss Emma Hale he knew that she was the person, and that after they were married she went with him to near the place and stood with her back towards him while he dug after the box, which he rolled up in his frock, and she helped carry it home ; that in the same box with the plates were spectacles ; * the bows were of gold and the eyes were stone, and by looking through these spectacles all the characters on the plates were translated into English.
"In all this narrative there was not one word about visions of God or of angels or heavenly revelations ; all his information mas by that DREAM and that BLEEDING GHOST. The heavenly visions and mes- sages of angels, etc., contained in Mormon books, were afterthoughts, revised to order. While Smith was in Harmony he made the above statements, in our presence, to ^ev. N. Lewis. It was here, also, that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He presented himself in a very serious and humble manner, and the minister, not suspecting evil, put his name on the class-book in the absence of some of the official members, among whom was the undersigned, Joseph Lewis, who, when he learned what was done, took with him Joshua McKune and had a talk with Smith. We told him plainly that such a character as he was a disgrace to the church ; that he could not be a member of it unless he broke off his sins by repentance, made public confession, renounced his fraudulent and hypocritical practices, and gave some evidence that he intended to reform and conduct himself somewhat nearer like a Christian than he had done. We gave him his choice, to go before the class and publicly ask to have his name stricken from the class-book, or stand a disciplinary investigation; he chose the former, and immediately withdrew his name. So his name as a member of the class was on the book only three days. It was the general opinion that his only object in joining the church was to bolster up his reputation and gain the sympathy and help of Christians; that is, putting on the cloak of religion to serve the Devil in."
When interrogated as to the tmie of Joe's joining the Methodist Church, Mr. Hiel Lewis wrote back that it was in June, 1828.
■^The celebrated " Urim and Thummim " of Mormon history. One can " catch on " nicely here : Spaniards having buried treasures, whether of gold or golden plates, the ghost of a Spaniard would naturally have to stand guard over them, whatever the state of his windpipe.
A Look Into the Peeper' s Household. 8i
This disclosure will prove vastly edifying to the world in general, and to Mormons in particular. Joseph, with the sacred plates in his possession and while he is " translat- ing " them, BECOMES a methodist 1 ! And this, too, after the Lord's (both the Father and the Son) telling him that all existing religions are false and corrupt and on no account to join any of them, he being the favored instru- ment elected by Them m founding the true one ! ! I think tke great jury, called public opinion. Mormons included, might give their verdict in the impostor's case without leaving their seats.
Our letter goes on :
" We will add one more sample of his prophetic power and practice. One of the neighbors, whom Smith was owing, had a piece of corn on a rather wet and backward piece of ground, and as Smith was owing him, he wanted Smith to help hoe corn. Smith came on, but to get clear of the work and debt, said : ' If I kneel down and pray in your corn, it will grow just as well as if hoed.' So he prayed in the corn and insured its maturity without cultivation, and that the frost would not hurt it. But the corn was a failure in growth and killed by the frost. This sample of prophetic power was related to us by those pres- ent, and no one questioned its truth." "'^
The "revelation on celestial marriage" is a much more candid document than could be supposed. It permits us to '' peep " into the peeper's household. We see how he tries to overcome the desperate resistance of the strong wife against — let me use the exactly significant term — religious whoredom. What scenes must there have been enacted in that prophetic household ! He begs and flat- ters, thunders and threatens — all in vain. Finally, he
■^- This startling document, which I have copied from the original most carefully, is attested in the following manner:
State of Illinois,) , Lee County. i
I, EvereU E. Chase, a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Lee, State aforesaid, do hereby certify that the above named Joseph Lewis and Hiel Lewis, personally known to me to be respectable, truthful and honorable men, came before me and in my presence signed the above statement, and each of them before me made affidavit to each and all of the allegations therein set forth according to their best
memory. Evkrett E. Chase,
J. P.
82 Mormon Portraits. — /, Joseph Smith.
changes tactics. He tells Emma, it is "all spiritual, my dear." ''Let us show the people " — he may have said — ''that you do look at celestial marriage in the right light, by being present at such a ceremony. It means marriage for the other world, and it is necessary that you should dis- pel, through a fearless act of yours, the ugly rumors spread everywhere. I may have sinned now and then, dearest, but from now on — you will see — everything will be strictly spiritual."
Emma, perplexed and exhausted, consents. The Par- tridge girls are to be sealed to her husband in her presence. "It is only a formality, deary, and will strengthen my position very much," says the prophet. It was in May or June, 1843, before the revelation was dictated to the "pard." An elder was selected, whose talents and pro- fession promised something extraordinary in the way of impressive solemnity. His name was George J. Adams, and he was a strolling player and great libertine besides. He performed the sealing ceremony and all went well for — two or three hours. Emma found out what the word "spi- ritual " really meant with that chaste husband of hers. She demanded imperiously the immediate annulment of the ceremony. Joseph hesitated, but the blood of old Isaac Hale was up in the veins of the prophet's wife. She threatened to arouse the city with a terrible display of matrimonial fireworks. The Prophet had to give in. Emma went on suffering what she could not prevent, but her official honor as a wife was safe. She remained the queen of her household instead of stooping to the role of concubine. She did not go to Washington to use her shame as an argument in debate. She did not write pam- phlets about it, either.
An Escape by Revelation. 83
THE REVELATION ON POLYGAMY.
For What Purpose it was ''Received'' — Emina Burns It — They '' Had been Given'' to Joseph — The Author Visits the Utah Penitentiary for Enlightenment — The Caged Apostle— Three P Hates— He ''Made a Business of it ' '— The Scene on the Log — Sketch of the History of Mormon Polygamy— Lots of Pure, Holy Lies — Special Instructions — The Clerk' s Affidavit — The Celebrated Revelation in Extenso.
The celebrated revelation on celestial marriage, dated July 12, 1843, was ''received" like all other ''revelations" for the selfish purposes of the prophet. He had, as we have seen, revelations that the Saints had to feed and clothe him and build him a big hotel in Nauvoo, for him and his offspring for all time. Now the revelation on polyg- amy was, as it confesses stupidly itself, nothing but an " <f.f<ra/(? " out of a terrible difficulty. Emma, the proud mother and wife, was worried beyond measure by Joseph's conduct with the "sisters," and the prophet needed a re- ligious mantle to cover his sins and quiet Emma. The revelation says :
" Behold, I have seen your sacrifices and will forgive all your sins .... Go, therefore, and I make a vi^ay for your escape . . . ."
But " the Lord " was not very successful in making the "escape" for " Mine Anointed." Emma declared the revelation to be the work of the devil, and burned the original which had been shown to her. Happily for the salvation of this sinful world, two copies had been pre- served. The Lord said to Emma in his polite way, always used by him while speaking to ladies :
" Let mine handmaid Emma Smith receive all those that have been given to my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure be- fore me . . . ."
84 Mormon Portraits. — /. Josrph Sfnit/u
Now that is clear enough, especially when the afore- said Lord says to the same handmaid :
"And again, verily I say, let mine hanflmaid forgive my servant Joseph his /res/>a:ssi's . . . ."
But it 's useless even for the Mormon Lord to talk reason to an insulted wife and mother. Emma persisted in her opposition to the blessings of Abraham and Jacob and finally, after having left the church, declared that Joseph had never lived in Polygamy. She wanted to purge the memory of her martyred husband, whose wrongs she had forgiven the dead while she had been unable to forgive them the living sinner ; and she wanted to pro- tect the good name of her sons. Can you blame her for it? I can't.
But to the revelation. It is clear that Joseph con- fesses in it that a certain number of " virgins " had been given to him before July 12, 1843, the date of the revela- tion. I now want to introduce a witness, whose testi- mony will not be impeached. You may doubt an apostle of the church while behind a bottle of good wine or while' on the stand in the tabernacle, but you cannot doubt him while he is in the hands of his enemies, in vile prison, the victim of the most shameful religious persecution ever en- acted. Oh, Zane and Dickson, remember Pilate and his present state of terrible roasting !
It was on the most beautiful first of May I ever saw in my life, that I went to the Salt Lake Penitentiary. We had a fine horse and buggy, I and my excellent friend, Henry Weinheimer, of Highland, 111. Marshal Ireland — ■ there is another Pilate for you — had given me a special permit, empowering me to talk with some of the prisoners, and I hereby beg to thank Mr. Ireland for his kindness, declaring that I rarely met a more frank and genial man than this fanatic enemy of the kingdom. We saw that *' penitentiary " which, in fact, is nothing but a disgust- ing corral. It is well known that Brigham Young put the appropriation granted by the Government into his pockets, and got his slaves to build this monument of shame and adobe bricks. The Warden called out the
Fathe>- Lorenzo, the Mormon Jesuit. 85
apostle, Lorenzo Snow, at our request. He came-
An interesting old man, the apostle, of about seventy' years; narrow, rather distinguished head, lively gray eyes, but face much wrinkled and of a yellowish color; manners very agreeable, talk fluent and intelligent, ex- presjiion that of a clever Jesuit. He had been a good saint since his youth. He had not intended to marry, but to devote himself entirely to missionary work; but the prophet explained the new law to him, and, being convinced that Joseph was a prophet, he went at it like a man, and, using his own expression, '^jTiade a business of It,'' though he contented himself with only nine wives ; two of them he took in one day, and four or five in three or four months.
We had a very pleasant chat. The apostle has been in Switzerland, England and Italy, even in Jerusalem. I asked him how it was with that revelation — when was it that it was made known to the saints ? The apostle said : ''I had been away on a mission ; I returned to Nauvoo in April, 1843. A friend of mine, called Sherwood, told me very soon after my arrival that Joseph had married my sister, Eliza R. Snow, for time and eternity, some three months before [at least six months before July 12, 1843]. Joseph sent for me: he wanted a private' interview with me. I went to him. I did not tell him that I knew of his marriage with my sister ; I waited till he would tell me. He went with me to the shore of the Mississippi, about fifty rods from his house. There we sat down on a log, and there he explained to me the law on celestial marriage, and told me that he had married my sister for time and eternity about three months ago. I was not at all surprised ; I kneiv that this thing was coming."
'* Why did Emma Smith burn the revelation, Mr. Snow? "
''Allow me to answer your question with another question. Why did Lucifer rebel against God? Emma apostatized ; she left the path of truth and lii(ht, and went to darkness and perdition 1 "
I tried to look suitably disgusted with so much wickedness on the part of a wife ; and we chatted of many
86 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
other things. Apostle Snow hopes that the saints will soon be "on top again," and expressed a mysterious expectation that ''a change of government would soon enable the saints to practice their religion^
Now, who is right, the imprisoned apostle who talks so kindly to a *' gentile dog " like me, or the Josephites, who go on stating that Joseph never was in polygamy? Snow tells you the thing was coming — he knew that such a revelation was on the way, and, by Jove, a blind man must have seen it I
This chapter would be incomplete without a bit of elaborate historical analysis. If Mormon history in general, as represented by Mormon sermons, books and newspapers, has been one continual chain of misrepresenta- tion, from 1830 to this day, the history of polygamy has been a solid little group of lies apart, like a cluster of islands in an ocean of falsehood.
Up to 1852 there was no official ''celestial marriage." It had been denied and denied till further denial became impossible. Remember that the *'■ revelation " was given on July 12, 1843, 2.nd that Joseph and Hyrum and many of their intimate friends had taken degrees in the new celestial order. The highly dramatic affidavit of Martha Brotherton (see Appendix to Part I.) alone proves this, and our very unctuous friend, Apostle Lorenzo Snow, confirmed it in his cage. Some of the elders felt an urgent necessity to unfold the glorious new gospel to the world; but that wouldn't do. The Lord wanted his special friends to enjoy the thrice-bolted blessings of Abraham, but not the abominably rude fare of an Illinois State Prison. In February, 1844, seven months after the revelation, the official church organ, Times and Seasons, contained the following :
NOTICE.
As we have been credibly informed that an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day vSaints, by the name of Ilyrum Brown, has been preaching polygamy and other false and corrupt doctrines in the County of Lapeer and State of Michigan, this is to notify him and the church in general, that he has been cut off from the church for his
Lying as a Fitic Art. 87
iniquity, and he is further notified to appear at the special conference, on the 6th of April next, to make answer to those charges.
Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Presidents of the Church.
This was seven months after the revelation. Now hear what the present Mormon church organ has to say about this official lie :
Until the open enunciation of the doctrine of celestial marriage by the publication of the revelation on the subject in 1852, no elder was authorized tS announce it to the world. The Almighty has revealed things on many occations which were for His servants and not for the world. Jesus enjoined His disciples on several occasions to keep to themselves principles that he made known to them. And his injunction, " Cast not -^OMX pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you," has become as lamiliar as a com- mon proverb. In the rise of the church the Lord had occasion to admonish His servants in regard to revelations that were afterwards permitted to be published :
" I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning this matter."
"And now I say unto you, keep these things from going abroad into the world until it is expedient in me."
"But a commandment I give unto them that they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither speak of them before the world, for these things are given unto you for your profit and your salvation." — (Doc. &Cov.)
Under these instructions elders had no right to promulgate anything but that which they were authorized to teach. And when assailed by enemies and accused of practicing things which were really not coun- tenanced in the church, they were justified in denying those imputa- tions and at the same time avoiding the avowal of such doctrines as were not yet intended for the world. This course which they have taken when necessary, by commandment, is all the ground which their accusers have for charging them them with falsehood. — {Deseret News, May 20, 1886.)
But there had been other official denials of polygamy earlier than this. Our wide-awake friend, Bennett, had published his book in the fall of 1842 and given away as much as he could without hurting his own "dignity." The ''great stink" — to talk with Brother Brigham— caused by Bennett's book was to be counteracted by the perfume of innocence exhaled from this declaration in the Nauvoo Ti7nes and Seasons (October i, 1842) :
SS Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Sfuifh.
We, the undersigned, members of the Chiircli of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and residents of the City of Nauvoo, persons of family, do hereby certify and declare that we do know of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published from the Book of Doc- trine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett's "secret wife system" is a creature of his own make, as we know of no such society in this place nor ever did.
S. Bennett, N. K. Whitney,
Geo. Miller, Albert Petty,
Alpheus Cutler, Eli as Higbee,
Reynolds Cahoon, John Taylor,
W. Woodruff, E. Robinson.
Aaron Johnson. #
We, the undersigned, members of the Ladies' Relief Society and married females, do certify and declare that we know of no other sys- tem of marriage being practiced in the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints save the one contained in the Book ol Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to show that J. C. Bennett's " secret wife system" is a disclosure of his own make.
Emma Smith,
President. Elizabeth Ann Whitney,
Counselor. Sarah ^L Cleveland,
Counselor. Eliza R. Snow,
Secretary. Mary C. Miller, Catherina Petty,
Lois Cutler, Sarah Higbee,
Thirza Cahoon, Phebe Woodruff,
Ann Hunter, Leonora Taylor,
Jane Law, Sarah Hillman,
Sophia R. Marks, Rosannah Marks,
Polly Z. Johnson, Angeline Roiunson.
Abigail Works.
Very well, now let us see what the New Testament of the Mormon Bible, the ''Book of Doctrine and Covenants," says about marriage. Let me illustrate this holy command by a practical example of the way in which Brigham Young and his long-time bosom friend, Danite John D. Lee, "lived their religion:"
Lee and His Thirteen Pearls. 89
BOOK OF DOCTRINE AND CONFESSION OF lOHN D. COVENANTS. LEE.
" You mutually agree to be each "In 1847, while at Council
other's companion, husband and Bluffs, Brigham Young sealed me
wife, observing the legal rights be- to three -vonien in one night, viz, :
longing to this condition ; that is, my eleventh, Nancy Armstrong;
keeping yourselves wholly for each she was what we called a ioido7o.
other and from all others during She left her first husband in Ten-
your lives . . . And inasmuch as nessee in order to be with the Mor-
this Church of Christ has been re- mon people; my twelfth, Polly W.
proached with the crime of forni- Young; my thirteenth, Louisa
cation and polygamy ; we declare Young; these were two sisters
that we believe that one man should . . .^Brigham said that Isaac C.
have one wife and one woman but Haight and I needed some young
one husband, except in case of woxnitx). to renew our vitality, %o\).^
death, when either is at liberty to gave us both a ' dashing young
marry again." bride ' '" [one year after the Moun- tain Meadows Massacre.]
You see, gentle reader, the kind of pearls that were too precious to cast before the Gentile swine. Three women in one night, and two of them sisters. Fine pearls. They remind me forcibly of the spirited word said by a young Mormon lady: '^ Polygamy is all right when properly carried out — on a shovel.". The young lady was a daughter of " Jeddy " Grant.
But let us return to our ladies. ''Ladies' relief so- ciety "—that sounds respectable, surely. They were all true ladies, in the American sense of the word, these female believers and relievers : you would suppose it, since they call themselves ladies. But how is it that Sister Eliza R. Snow calls herself a *' married woman " on October T, 1842? Apostle Lorenzo Snow, her brother, my crucified friend, tells me that she had been married — for time and eternity, of course — in the beginning of 1843. -'^"d how can I believe this apostle capable of lying when speaking from his cross at the penitentiary ? We must suppose that there was real marriage between sweet Eliza and Joseph before 1843— without any more impressive ceremony than that little extempore blessing by Emma's broomstick. But how about the other '' ladies ? " Hear Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt :
9© Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
"Emma Smith, whom Joseph made lead a life of misery through his mfidelities, had founded the relief society for the purpose of spying her husband. At least Joseph often said so. Elizabeth Ann Whitney, the second 'lady,' had been seduced by Joseph; he seduced her daughter, too. Sarah M. Cleveland, the third Mady,' was the same who, as I have told you, kept a kind of assignation house for the prophet and Eliza R. Snow— you know her.'' As to the rest of the ladies, fifteen in number, Mrs. Pratt states that the prophet had seduced most of them before the date of the declaration, October I, i842. ''He had a terrible influence over women," says Mrs. Pratt. '^ Many pure and good women, who never would have fallen, became his victims through his prophetic pretensions, and I myself [with a slight shudder at the remembrance] was perhaps only saved from his clutches through my devoted love for my husband who at that time was my all, and I his."
But leaving aside the private character of our ladies^ what does the passage referred to by them in the " Doc- trine and Covenants " mean but the strictest injunction oi monogamy? '' Keep yourselves wholly for each other and from all others during your lives." Is this not most pointed and exact? And the scathing denunciation of all such as shall teach that it is right for any man to have more than one wife living at the same time, — comparing such a preacher to Cain, the first murderer,* — what, I repeat it, does it all mean ? Is not the very citing of such an article of marital faith and practice, — " Keeping your- self wholly for each other and from all other during your lives," — to brand with infamy any other rule or system of marriage ?
* Times and Seasons, p. 715 (November, 1 844): The law of the land and the rules of the church do not allow one man to have more THAN ONE WIFE ALIVE AT ONCE, but if any man's wife die he has a right to marry another and to be sealed to both for eternity, to the liv- ing and the dead. This is all the spiritual wife system that EVER WAS TOLERATED IN THE CHURCH, And Tinu's and Seasons, p. 888 (May i, 1845) : F^^ once let us say that Cain who went to Nod and taught the doctrine of a plurality of wives and the giants who practised the same iniquity.
The Broomstick Poetess and the Ladies. 91
But no, the "ladies" did not lie. Hear the church organ of May 20, 1886 :
" So with that spiritual wife doctrine which lustful men attempted to promulgate at that period. Joseph the prophet was just as much opposed to that false doctrine as any one could be. It was a counter- feit. The true and divine order is another thing. The errors which those ladies who signed the affidavits declared were not known to them as doctrines of the church, v/ere not, are not, and never will be part of the creed of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They \Vere conscientious in their statements. Joseph and Hyrum were consistent in their action against the false doctrines of polygamy and spiritual wifeism, instigated by the devil and advocated by men who did not comprehend sound doctrine nor the purity of the celestial marriage which God revealed for the holiest of purposes."
You see how it was. The "ladies'" denial went against the counterfeit of the real pearls, of which Brother Brigham gave three big specimens to Brother Lee in one night " for the holiest of purposes." Lee was then thirty-five, and did not need yet the holiest of all holy purposes, the renewal of his vitality. That came later, when Brigham wanted to reward his fellow hyena for the "holy and pure" job done at the Mountain Meadows.*
Let us see another link in the chain of denials fur- nished by the happy proprietors of whole strings of gospel pearls. No pearls for the swine in 1842 and 1843- In July, 1S45, another denial. Apostle Parley P. Pratt, who had several wives at that time, denounced polygamy in a public card as a "doctrine of devils and seducing spirits, but another name for whoredom, wicked and unlawful connection, confusion and abomination." Very good. Brother Parley. That's what polygamy really is. But marrying three women in one night and occupying with mother and daughter the same bed, that belongs to
* Historian Stenhouse touchingly refers ui his " Rocky Mountain Saints " to the " vast energy and benevolence " of the prophet Joseph. Of his benevolence, especially towards his "sisters" and " daughters," there remains no doubt, bat his energy, vast as that must have been, seems less than that of John D. Lee, though we have no precise data from the prophet Joseph's pen, as we have from Lee's, in his little Harem-Almanac, page 289 of his priceless and dreadful book.
92 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Sjuith.
the "pearl" department of sound doctrine and the purity of celestial marriage, revealed by the ''pard" for the "holiest of purposes." Of a truth there is nothing Asiatic in it. Any savage Asiatic would blush at such "purity!" Why do I speak o{ Asiatic? Let the N'eivs answer :
" Polygamy, in the ordinary and Asiatic sense of the term, never was and is not now a tenet of the Latter-day Saints. That which Joseph and Hyrum denounced, and for preaching which without authority an elder was cut off the church in Nauvoo, was altogether different to the order of celestial marriage including a plurality of wives, which forms the subject of the revelation."
But we have yet another apostolic denial furnished by John Taylor, at a public discussion with some Eng- lish Reverends in Boulogne, France, July, 1850. Says Apostle Taylor :
" We are accused here of polygamy and actions the most indelicate, obscene and disgusting, such as none but a corrupt heart could have contrived. These things are too outrageous to admit of belief. There- fore I shall content myself by reading our views of chastity and marriage from a work published by us, containing some articles of our faith."
Taylor then read the very article of the Doctrine and Covenants Q\;^\o\^6. by the eighteen ladies eight years before 1850. And how deep did he stick himself in " celestial " mud at this very moment ? Let me quote the statement of a Mormon Elder, who is privy to many of the secrets of this " Church." He says:
" At the very time that Taylor denied the facts in France by read- ing from the Doctrine and Covenants, he had TEN women as wives — he took the tenth 'ivoman in 1847 or 1848, and she was actually his thirteenth ivonian. Three had left him. In order that your readers may know that I only write the truth in this respect, I will name those whom I recollect and have seen, as follows: Leonora (Cannon) Taylor, his fir^t wife ; Elizabeth Kaighn, her cousin; Mary Rams- bottom, called Moss; Miss Ballintyne, .\nnie Ballintyne, Miss Oakley, Harriet Whitaker, Sophia Whitaker, and two others whose names I forget — one, I think was a Mrs. Gillam, whom I have seen. Thus, from 1843, when the pseudo revelation was given, to 1847 — four years — he hatl thirteen 'women sealed to him, and ten whom he still owned when he told the huge lie in France. John Pack and Curtis E. Bolton, who were his companion elders in the discussion, heard the denial and
History of Celestial Debauchery. 93
.sanctioned this utterance and course — they were polygamists theu also."
And let me add one well-known fact : While John Taylor, the husband of ten wives, was denying polygamy, he was even then courting a young English woman, no doubt for the holiest of purposes, and tried to rob a friend of his, an Elder, of his promised wife. Isn't it a whole bushel of pearls? But everything must have an end, even the endless lying of the Mormon leaders. It was in the fall of 1852 when Brigham Young decided to let the celestial " cat out of the bag," as he said. His clown, Heber C. Kimball, announced the same event to his friends by saying that " the cat would have kittens." I have this from people who heard it themselves. And, sure enough,, cat and kittens play now right lustily in the open sunlight in the columns of the church organ. The "Church" now concedes that Joseph knew the Abra- hamic scheme of his " pard " already in 1831 or 1832. Hear the News again :
The revelation on celestial mai-riage, published [now] in the Doc- trine and Covenants, was given July 12, 1843. The principles it contains, with further intelligence on the same subject, wer-2 revealed to the Prophet many years before, but not formulated in writing for the church. Acting under instructions from the Lord, the prophet had several wives sealed to him before the date of that revelation. There are other matters spoken of in the revelation that pertained to the time when it was written, showing that the statement in the heading, as it appears in the book, is correct ; namely, that the revelation was given on that date, although the doctrines it contains were known and h.2iCii\)tG.xv 2i<:XQ.A\xv>ovi. under specialinstructions previous to that date.
Apostle Orson Pratt, the great champion of polygamy — he married nearly all his servant girls for the holiest of purposes and made a martyr of one of the brightest and best wives and mothers — Apostle Pratt said in 1878, in a public sermon, that Joseph had received "revelations" upon that prificiple as early as 1831 and had wives sealed to him as early as April 1841.* That pearl business began early, you see. I think myself that the principle was made known to this anointed oil-bottle-prophet at
*Deseret News, November 23, 1878.
94 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
the age of puberty, if not earlier ! What do you see here, people of the Great Republic, but organized secret crime and most infamous lying? Didn't I say from the outset that the Mormon leaders were enemies of the Mormon people ? Am I right or wrong ? I said it because every- where I have found the masses of people honest, nor shall I make an exception of Mormon masses. I am not pre- pared to believe, I do not believe, that these Mormon masses sustain their leaders in deliberate lying. Simply they are ignorant — must be ignorant — of the true char- acter of their leaders, past and present. But if they only knew how terribly funny they are, those priestly chaps ! Whenever Joseph seduced a servant girl of his, or an adopted daughter, whenever he stole away from Emma's, the peacefully slumbering mother's side, to enjoy an adventure worthy of the pen of Boccaccio or Bandello, he always acted under '' special instructions'' of the Lord. It was under those special instructions that he made a pitiable wreck of Emma's wedded life. It was the same kind Lord, I suppose, who sent Dr, Bennett to Nau- voo with that instrument, which the handy doctor could clap into his coat sleeve, when any of Joseph's women '' were in trouble !" Oh, most ingenious and generous of all^pards!" Oh, most anointed and anointing of all prophets ! Oh, most credulous and docible of all peoples! Has there ever been such a sinister farce in all history ?
Let me present now an affidavit of Wm. Clayton, who was the confidential clerk of Joseph in Nauvoo. Mrs. Pratt says that he was a brute and a drunkard, and that may readily explain his elevation to such an important position. The affidavit appeared for the first time in that very same memorable number of the Deseret News, May 20, 1886. The reader will see that it confirms all my statements. Cat and kittens are all on my side. Clay- ton's affidavit is dated February 16, 1874. Clayton him- self is dead since four or five years.
WILLIAM Clayton's tale.
"Inasmuch as it may be interesting to future genera- tions of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
A Walk With the Prophet. 95
Latter-day Saints to learn something of the first teachings of the principle of plural marriage by President Joseph Smith, the prophet, seer, revelator and translator of said church, I will give a short relation of facts which occurred within my personal knowledge, and also matters related to me by President Joseph Smith.
"I was employed as a clerk in President Joseph Smith's office, under Elder Willard Richards, and com- menced to labor in the office on the loth day of February,
1842. I continued to labor with Elder Richards until he went East to fetch his wife to Nauvoo.
"■ After Elder Richards started East, I was necessarily thrown constantly into the company of President Smith, having to attend to his public and private business, re- ceiving and recording tithings and donations, attending to land and other matters of business. During this period I necessarily became well acquainted with Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet Joseph, and also with the children — Julia M. (an adopted daughter), Joseph, Frederick and Alexander — very much of the business being transacted at the residence of the prophet.
''Onthe 7th of October, 1842, in the presence of Bishop Newel K. Whitney and his wife, Elizabeth Ann, President Joseph Smith appointed me temple recorder, and also his private clerk, placing all records, books, papers, etc., in my care, and requiring me to take charge of and preserve them, his closing words being, ' When I have any revelations to write, you are the one to write them.'
"During this period the prophet Joseph frequently visited my house in my company, and became well acquainted with my wife, Ruth, to whom I had been married five years. One day in the month of February,
1843, date not remembered, the prophet invited me to walk with him. During our walk he said he had learned that there was a sister back in England to whom I was very much attached. I replied there was, but nothing further than an attachment such as a brother and sister in the church might rightfully entertain for each other. He then said : ' Why don't you send for her? * I replied :
96 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
'In the first place, I have no authority to send for her, and if I had, I have not the means to pay expenses.' To this he answered : ' I give you authority to send for her, and I will. furnish you the means,' which he did. This was the first time the prophet Joseph talked with me on the subject of plural marriage. He informed me that the doctrine and principle was right in the sight of our heavenly Father, and that it was a doctrine which per- tained to celestial order and glory. After giving me lengthy instructions and information concerning the doctrine of celestial or plural marriage, he concluded his remarks by the words, ' It is your privilege to have all the wives you want.' After this introduction our con- versations on the subject of plural marriage were very fre- quent, and he appeared to take particular pains to inform and instruct me in respect to the principle. He also in- formed me that he had other wives living besides his first wife Emma, and in particular gave me to understand that Eliza R. Snow, Louisa Beaman, Desdemona C. Fullmer and others, were his lawful wives in the sight of Heaven.
"On the 27th of April, 1843, ^^^ Prophet Joseph Smith married to me Margaret Moon, for time -and eternity, at the residence of Elder Heber C. Kimball, and on the 22d of July, 1843, ^^ married to me, according to the order of the church, my first wife Ruth.
'* On the 1st day of May, 1843, I officiated in the office of an elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, at his own residence.
"During this period the Prophet Joseph took several other wives. Amongst the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora Woodworth. These all, he acknowl- edged to me, were his lawful, wedded wives, according to the celestial order. His wife Emma was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all of these being his wives, and .she generally treated them very kindly.
" On the morning of the 12th of July, 1843, Joseph and Hyrum Smith came into the office in the upper story of the ' brick store,' on the bank of the Mississippi river. They were talking on the subject of plural marriage. Hy-
Effwia Acfs Like Lucifer. 97
rum said to Joseph, ' If you will write the revelation on Celestial Marriage, I will take and read it to Emma, and I believe I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace.' Joseph smiled and remarked, * You do not know Emma as well as I do. ' Hyrum re- marked, "' The doctrine is so plain, I can convince any reasonable man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin,' or words to their effect. Joseph then said, 'Well, I will write the revelation and we will see.' He then re- quested me to get paper and prepare to write. Hyrum very urgently requested Joseph to write the revelation by means of the Urim and Thummim, but Joseph in reply said he did not need to, for he knew the revelation per- fectly from beginning to end.
''Joseph and Hyrum then sat down and Joseph com- menced to dictate the revelation on Celestial Marriage, and I wrote it, sentence by sentence, as he dictated. After the whole was written, Joseph asked me to read it through, slowly and carefully, which I did, and he pronounced it correct. He then remarked that there was much more that he could write, on the same subject, but what was written was sufficient for the present.
" Hyrum then took the revelation to read to Emma. Joseph remained with me in the office until Hyrum returned. When he came back Joseph asked him how he had suc- ceeded. Hyrum replied that he had never received a more severe talking to in his life, that Emma was very bitter and full of resentment and anger.
''Joseph quietly remarked, 'I told you you did not know Emma as well as I did.' Joseph then put the reve- lation in his pocket, and they both left the office.
" The revelation was read to several of the authorities during the day. Towards evening Bishop New^ell K. Whitney asked Joseph if he had any objections to his taking a copy of the revelation ; Joseph replied that he had not, and handed it to him. It was carefully copied the following day by Joseph C. Kingsbury. Two or three days after the revelation was written Joseph related to me and several others that Emma had so teased and urgently entreated him for the privilege of destroying it, that he
98 Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
became so weary of her teasing, and to get rid of her annoyance, he told her she might destroy it and she had done so, but he had consented to her wish in this matter to pacify her, realizing that he knew the revelation per- fectly, and could rewrite it at any time if necessary.
'' The copy made by Joseph C. Kingsbury is a true and correct copy of the original in every respect. The copy was carefully preserved by Bishop Whitney, and but few knew of its existence until the temporary location of the Camp of Israel at Winter Quarters, on the Missouri River, in 1846,
''After the revelation on celestial marriage was written Joseph continued his instructions, privately, on the doc- trine, to myself and others, and during the last year of his life we were scarcely ever together, alone, but he was talk- ing on the subject, and explaining that doctrine and princi- ples connected with it. He appeared to enjoy great liberty and freedom in his teachings, and also to find great relief in having a few to whom he could unbosom his feelings on that great and glorious subject.
'' From him I learned that the doctrine of plural and celestial marriage is the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on the earth, and that without obe- dience to that principle no person can ever attain to the fulness of exaltation in celestial glory.
[Signed] William Clayton.
'' Salt Lake City, February i6th, 1874."
Lots oi pearls in that oily document. The prophet invites his clerk to a walk. Who knows whether they didn't sit down on the identical log on which he sat with Brother Lorenzo? That log was there for the holiest of purposes, no doubt. And now look how the prophet " tackles " his disciple. It reads like the talk of the ser- pent to mother Eve. There is a sister ''back in England," whom Clayton, the married man, doth covet, but only for the holiest of purposes, to be sure. Joseph gives him "authority" to send for the girl. This he does as the Lord's anointed prophet. He then agrees to pay the expenses of the girl's trip; and this, of course, he would
Broomstick, Poker a?id Tongs. 99
do as triistee-in-trust of the church funds. Finally, as the very '* buckler of Jehovah," as he used to vaunt himself, he explodes a whole bombshell of patriarchal blessings in the ear of his staggering scribe : ''It is your privilege to have all the wives yo2i want.'' Ah, glorious ! Under the sky of hospitable Illinois, in the face of modern civiliza- tion, in the teeth of the salutary moral laws of a noble commonwealth, the conspirator recruits accomplices of his secret infamies by appealing to the basest passions of his associates.
The woman ''back in England" comes to Nauvoo and Joseph seals her to Clayton. Then — perhaps after a little broomstick-episode — Ruth, the lawful wife of the clerk, gets sealed to him. We are soon in a very platoon- fire of sealing : I seal you, you seal me, we seal each other. The revelation says that Joseph alone has the sealing power — but that's nothing ; the " pard " doesn't mind such petty details where the holiest of purposes are on stake.
But now, how is this ? Emma knew that other women were married to her husband and treated them ''very kindly." You must be joking, Brother Clayton. Emma has no appreciation of your pearls and holy purposes. Would she have given Hyrum such a terrible raking down, would she have burned the revelation if she cared the snap of her haughty finger for them ? You are de- cidedly mistaken. Brother Clayton. Sister Emma stands to the "law of Sarah (!)," firm as a rock, on the broom- stick standpoint. If she ever changed in this respect, it was from broomstick to poker and tongs, but to nothing else. " If any of the elders preaches polygamy to you, get hold of a poker or a pair of tongs, sisters, and drive the fellow away — . ' ' That was a plain little speech of the Elect Lady in one of the meetings of the " Ladies' Relief Society. ' ' The fact is simply this. Brother Clayton : Your statement was concocted to show to the world in general, and to refractory Mormon wives in particular, that the first of all "first wives," the Eve of celestial marriage, liked the harem business awfully well after all. But your lie is clumsy, Elder Clayton, and you contradict it yourself.
loo Mormon Portraits. — /. Joseph Smith.
Clayton's statement proves the truth of what the enemies of the Church have always affirmed. This silly humbug of a revelation was gotten up to pacify and if need be, terrify Emma into submission. Hyrum is the-^ official busybody and go-between in this attempt at celes- tial reconciliation. ''You will hereafter have peace," says that excellent brother and brother-in-law. But he insists on getting for the Prophet the old white hat and , the peepstone for this holiest of purposes. Clayton puts it finer: hespeakssolemnly of the '*Urim and Thummim," — Lucy- Munchhausen's "two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses set in silver bows which were connected with each other in much the same way as old-fashioned spectacles." * Emma Smith says, on her death bed, that he dictated ''sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it."t 'Twas just the old peepstone and nothing else.
But poor Hyrum ! He put his brotherly hand in a wasp-nest when he read that stuff to Emma. Good heavens, she didn't treat him " very kindly ! " i\nd those curtain-lectures to the anointed of the Lord ! My servant Joseph was in an awful fix. The " pard " must have been dreadfully angry at that woman, much more wrathy than he was over the white dog affair ; but there was no con- vincing " mine handmaid " of the genuine