ELEVATION TO PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH, 1889.
Arrest of George Q. Cannon.--Governor Murray's Dismissal.--Death
of President Taylor.--President Woodruff Appears in the
Tabernacle.--Change in Federal Officers.--April, 1889, Wilford Woodruff
Became President of the Church.--Visit to California.--M. W. Merrill,
A. H. Lund, and Abraham H. Cannon Called to Apostleship.--Senator
Morgan Visits President Woodruff.
The highest point of intensity in the crusade against the Latter-day
Saints was reached during the year 1886. Although President Woodruff
had been in exile previous years he had always enjoyed in some
measure the privilege of meeting with the Saints and of exercising
himself in the vindication of his calling as an Apostle of the Lord,
Jesus Christ. Persecution became most bitter, the whole atmosphere
of anti-Mormon association was charged with intense hatred. Hundreds
were in prison and in exile and leading men were hunted down with a
fury perhaps unsurpassed by the Roman persecutions in the days of the
early Christians. During that year he did not appear once in public
nor did he preach a single discourse. He passed some time in Ashley
Valley and enjoyed such diversion in fishing and hunting as his
circumstances would permit. At the opening of the new year he recounted
the experiences of the past year and prophecied concerning the year to
come. He felt that the Lord would fight the battles of the Saints and
that those who were prominent in the persecution would be humiliated.
On the 13th of February that year President George Q. Cannon was
arrested in Nevada. A few days later he was brought to Salt Lake City
in the custody of United States officers. To intensify excitement
abroad and to make it appear that the Territory was on the verge of
revolt, Governor Murray sent troops to guard the prisoner to Salt
Lake City. Upon George Q. Cannon were heaped various indignities and
on his arrival in Utah he was placed under forty-five thousand dollar
bonds. John Sharp and Feramorz Little went on his bonds for twenty-five
thousand, and Francis Armstrong and H. S. Eldredge for twenty thousand.
In view of the extreme bitterness then {558} manifested toward him and
in view of the fact that offenses might be segregated to imprisonment
for life, President Cannon decided to forfeit the bonds. Sharp and
Little paid promptly the twenty-five thousand, while Armstrong and
Eldredge declined to pay until the question of excessiveness of bail
should be determined by the courts. When the case was carried to the
supreme court at Washington it was finally dismissed. Later, by action
of Congress, the 25,000 dollars was returned.
Governor Murray was removed from office, and under the restraining
influence at Washington, the persecution in Utah became less offensive.
Murray's conduct had for some time been unsatisfactory to President
Cleveland, especially in view of the misrepresentation of conditions in
Utah. When Murray vetoed the general appropriation bill passed by the
Territorial Legislature the President of the United States decided to
remove him. The President further considered Murray's effort to coerce
legislation wholly unjustifiable, and his attempt to appoint officers
by proclamation as revolutionary. He also remembered that he had been
twice deceived by Murray on the "Mormon Uprising."
While the close of the year did not by any means witness the end of
the crusade, the hand of God was visible in defeating certain purposes
of the enemy. President Taylor and his associates were vindicated. The
course taken by them and the changed attitude of the general government
marked the fulfillment of prophecy uttered by President Woodruff at the
beginning of the year.
At the close of the year Edward M. Dalton of Parowan was shot and
killed by Deputy Marshal Thompson. The feelings of resentment among
the people were high. They felt more and more the force of President
Taylor's words at the beginning of the crusade when he informed the
people that nothing was to be done except to turn up their coat
collars and as much as possible turn their back to the storm until it
passed over. Outrages were daily increasing and there was an evident
determination on the part of the federal officers to stand by one
another and manipulate the machinery of government for their own
protection as well as for the oppression of the Mormons. However,
federal zeal in Utah exceeded so far the bounds of all propriety that
the authorities in Washington determined to exercise some restraint
over their agents in Utah.
{559} General McCook was transferred to another post. Marshal Ireland
and Judge Powers went out of office.
On the 8th of February, 1886, a circumstance transpired by which
President Woodruff and Apostle Erastus Snow escaped arrest. President
Woodruff thought the circumstance worthy of a place in history. Early
in the morning of that day he and Erastus Snow went to the Historian's
office in pursuance of an appointment to meet a number of the brethren
there. Before he had been long in the building it was surrounded by
deputy marshals. He and Elders Snow and Richards had been watching the
officers from the windows as they searched the Gardo House. They had
also observed the raid made upon the President's office and the tithing
office. When the marshals, however, came to the Historian's office,
President Woodruff offered a silent, fervent prayer in his heart that
the Lord would blind his enemies. He then, in company with Andrew
Jenson, went into the street in the midst of nearly twenty officers.
They were apparently dazed as he walked before them and he attracted
no attention. He crossed the street to the President's office, passed
through the east gate, entered a buggy with Seymour B. Young, and was
driven to the home of Elder Young's mother. In the evening he made his
way to his home in Farmers Ward, then took his departure for a year
of exile from his family and associates in office. During the year he
traveled about sixteen hundred miles and closed the year in the city of
St. George, accompanied by his wife Emma and some of her children.
He found St. George a comparatively safe place, as the people there
were almost wholly Latter-day Saints and offered him every opportunity
to visit his friends and to enjoy immunity from arrest. The sufferings
of those times were enhanced by the constant threats of more drastic
legislation and the confiscation of Church property.
While in St. George and on the 4th of February, 1887, he wrote an eight
page letter to David Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the Book of
Mormon, and bore to the latter a strong testimony to the continuance of
the work of God under the administration of Presidents Young and Taylor.
A considerable time before the death of President John Taylor
his demise was shown to Wilford Woodruff in a dream. {560} When,
therefore, word came to him in St. George from President George Q.
Cannon and Elder John Jacques on the 16th of July that President
Taylor's condition afforded no hope of recovery he at once set out on
the following day for Salt Lake City. He traveled most of the way by
team and while at a Brother Bartholomew's in Fayette, Sanpete County,
on the 26th, he received the sad news of John Taylor's death which
had occurred the day before at about eight p. m. That night he lay
awake sorrowing over the mourning that had come to all Israel in the
departure of their great leader. Elder Woodruff's mind was greatly
troubled by the responsibilities which he felt crowded upon him. In
his journal he wrote of President Taylor as follows: "Thus another
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has passed
away. President John Taylor is twice a martyr. He was shot four times
in Carthage Jail when Joseph and Hyrum were slain, and there he mingled
his blood with the marytrs; this was in 1844. Now, in 1887, driven
into exile by United States officers in consequence of his religion,
he lays down his life for the truth. All honor to the name and memory
of President John Taylor. 'Leave judgment with me for it is mine and I
will repay,' saith the Lord, God."
Continuing, he wrote: "President John Taylor's death places the chief
responsibility and care of the Church of Latter-day Saints upon
my shoulders, in connection with the Twelve, which now become the
presiding authority of the Church. This places me in a very peculiar
situation. It is a position I have never looked for, but in the
providence of God this new responsibility is thrown upon me. I pray
God, my heavenly Father, to give me grace equal to my day. It is a
high responsibility for any man and it is a position which requires
great wisdom. I never expected to outlive President Taylor, but God has
ordained otherwise.
"Bishop Hunter said on several occasions that I would outlive President
Taylor and become President of the Church. On these occasions I rebuked
the Bishop and asked him not to prophesy of me such a thing. Each
time he answered, 'Nevertheless it is true and will come to pass.'
It certainly has come to pass. I can only say, Marvelous are Thy
ways, O Lord Almighty, for Thou hast truly chosen weak instruments to
perform in Thy hand Thy work on the earth. May Thy servant, Wilford,
be prepared for {561} whatever is required at his hands by the God of
heaven. I ask this blessing of my heavenly Father in the name of Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, even so, Amen."
Those acquainted with the modesty and humility of President Woodruff
can easily understand his feelings of grave concern and deep anxiety
at such a time. While he sought no honors for himself and would
always "prefer his brethren to him," he was nevertheless quick to
maintain himself or any other man in the calling to which the Lord by
revelation, or by the order established in the priesthood, placed upon
him.
On the 28th of March, 1887, he wrote to one of the brethren in answer
to these questions: "Do you know of any reason in case of the death of
the President of the Church why the Twelve Apostles should not choose
some other person than the president of the Twelve to be the President
of the Church," as follows: "I know several reasons why he should not.
First, at the death of the President of the Church the Twelve Apostles
become the presiding authority of the Church, and the president of the
Twelve is really the President of the Church by virtue of his office as
much while presiding over the Twelve Apostles as while presiding over
his two counselors. In the appointment of Brigham Young and John Taylor
to the presidency of the Church it never entered the heart of any one
of the Twelve Apostles to claim the right to preside over Brigham Young
or John Taylor, as they were all the presidents of the Church, and
if they were not fit to preside over the Church they were not fit to
preside over the Twelve Apostles. Second, in case of the death of the
President of the Church it takes the majority of the Twelve Apostles
to appoint the President of the Church, and it is very unreasonable to
suppose that the majority of that Quorum could be converted to depart
from the course marked out by inspiration and followed by the Apostles
at the death of Christ and by the Twelve Apostles at the death of
Joseph Smith. I see no reason for discussing this subject until there
is some reason for it."
Whether or not this statement of President Woodruff is taken as
doctrine, it shows very clearly his sentiment of respect for the line
of action which had been taken and his determination not to depart
from it as a matter of policy. He felt that man was at best but a weak
instrument in the hands of God. As this was {562} God's work the man
that lived most humbly and contrite before his Maker was most entitled
to divine guidance. He had striven in the humility of his heart to gain
divine favor. He had been the recipient of that favor and had done
nothing of which he was conscious to forfeit it.
On the 12th of March he recorded the following in his journal: "I
dreamed last night that the Latter-day Saints were holding a great
conference in the Salt Lake Temple. I saw a great rush to finish the
Temple. I was called upon to open the conference, and I was given
the keys of the Temple to open it. I saw thousands assembling and I
met President Young, who asked me what was the matter with the great
multitude at the door. Some one answered that the elders did not want
to let the people into the Temple. He exclaimed, 'Oh, oh, oh;' he then
leaned over to me and said, 'Let all come into the Temple who seek
salvation.' I saw several who were dead, among them my wife, Phoebe.
I believe there is some special meaning in this dream." The dream is
explained by what happened when the Temple was dedicated.
On the 29th of July the funeral of President Taylor was held in the
Tabernacle. As most of the elders were in exile, only a few were in
attendance. These were Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Heber J.
Grant of the Twelve. Also President Daniel H. Wells, A. O. Smoot,
Lorenzo D. Young, Joseph B. Noble, and Angus M. Cannon. One hundred and
two carriages followed the remains to their final resting place. There
were several bands of music in attendance. The occasion was indeed
solemn, mourning was silent and deep; men with bowed heads and in the
deepest sorrow wondered at God's providences and prayed for deliverance.
From the President's office Wilford Woodruff watched the procession as
it passed. President Woodruff says that to himself he remarked, as he
stood in silent gaze, "There goes to his final rest the third President
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
Immediately President Woodruff and the Twelve entered upon the duties
of the presidency. These duties were numerous and pressing. President
Woodruff was not yet free from the probability of arrest and therefore
did not appear in public. He signed hundreds of recommends to the
Temple as they came to him from day to day. On the 9th, however, of
October, at the general semi-annual {563} conference of that year, in
company with Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, he entered the
building at the afternoon session. As the people recognized their
venerable President they greeted him with a round of hearty applause
which did not cease until he arose and waved his hand in salutation.
He addressed the multitude for thirty minutes and then quietly retired
before the singing, as he deemed it unwise to expose himself to arrest.
During the rest of the year he remained quietly at his home.
The duties of President Woodruff now called his special attention to
the general affairs of the Church so that he remained constantly near
headquarters. While the presidency of the Church devolved upon the
Twelve, President Woodruff now looked to Presidents Cannon and Smith
for information and assistance, on account of their familiarity with
Church affairs during the presidency of John Taylor.
While the crusade was by no means at an end, its extreme bitterness was
gradually vanishing. During the year Judge Zane was succeeded by Judge
Elliott Sanford of New York. Mr. Sanford was a man of refinement and of
moral courage. He manifested no personal bias and no excessive zeal in
the administration of the law. During his tenure of office George Q.
Cannon was sentenced to 185 days' imprisonment and a fine of $450.00.
Apostle F. M. Lyman and others were also sentenced by him. Judge Judd,
another federal appointee, acted in harmony with Judge Sanford in
dealing with the Latter-day Saints.
Those days were trying to President Woodruff, especially in view of the
waste of property going on through the process of confiscation. Private
individuals were enriching themselves at the expense of the Church,
and to the discredit of the government. Men unable to provide for more
than the daily wants of life suddenly came into possession of moderate
private fortunes. The Latter-day Saints beheld the travesty of this
gross injustice as men, under the guise of law and as reformers, showed
an unrighteous zeal to lay their hands upon Church property.
During the year 1888 Elder Woodruff records the death of a number
of prominent men with whom he had been closely associated for many
years. Erastus Snow died May 27th at the age of sixty-nine years. On
June the 24th Judge Elias Smith passed away, at eighty-three. Horace
Eldredge also died on September {564} 6th at the age of seventy-two.
Azmon Wodruff died at the advanced age of eighty-six years. President
Woodruff was now eighty-two, but still active. He found pleasure in
manual labor whenever he could snatch away some time in which to devote
himself to his garden and to his field. One day during the summer
of 1888, while hoeing corn by the side of a grandson, who was too
swift for his grandfather in the corn field, the latter observed in
his journal: "Well, this is the first time in my life that any of my
children have beaten me hoeing corn or at any other manual labor."
February 21st of that year President George Q. Cannon was liberated
from prison. Gradually the leading men began to obtain their freedom
and to appear in the public assemblies of the Saints. On Washington's
birthday some fifty Hawaiians met at the President's office for a
social reunion. The Tabernacle Choir was present and rendered inspiring
music. On the Sunday following ten thousand people were gathered in the
Tabernacle and were addressed by Presidents Cannon and Woodruff.
On the 1st of March Elder Woodruff's birthday was celebrated. On a
cake presented to him by Elder John Gallagher the following sentiment
was given and a copy of it taken from President Woodruff's journal. It
reads as follows:
"Fourscore years and two have fled in the work for Zion's cause
on earth.
This day we greet our honored head to show our love and tell his
worth.
We pray that heaven may long extend your life to testify unmoved,
As with your family, in the end find welcome by God approved."
At the April conference of 1889 and on the seventh of the month,
Wilford Woodruff was sustained as President of the Church, with
George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as his counselors. "This 7th
day of April, 1889," he said, "is one of the most important days in
my life, for I was made President of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints by the unanimous vote of ten thousand of them. The
vote was first taken by quorums and then by the entire congregation
as in the case of President John Taylor. This is the highest office
ever conferred upon any man in the {565} flesh. It came to me in the
eighty-third year of my life. I pray God to protect me and give me
power to magnify my calling to the end of my days. The Lord has watched
over me until the present time. I wish to counsel my wives and my
children and whoever may read this journal to honor God and keep His
commandments to the end of their lives that they may receive eternal
life and celestial glory in the presence of God and the Lamb."
About the middle of April President Woodruff, accompanied by his
wife, Emma, and President Cannon, Charles H. Wilcken, H. B. Clawson
and his daughter, and President Woodruff's daughter, left Salt Lake
City on a trip to California. Their purpose was twofold. One, to look
after the interest and welfare of the people, and the other to obtain
recuperation after a long exile. Here the party met old-time friends
who received them cordially and extended to them the hospitality of
their homes. Senator Stanford had long been friendly to the Mormon
people and their leaders. On this occasion they met a Doctor McDonald,
formerly of Nauvoo and a friend to the Latter-day Saints.
They returned to Salt Lake City on the 26th of April, when President
Woodruff took up his labors and began a visit to a number of stakes of
Zion. At the October conference of that year Elder M. W. Merrill and A.
H. Lund and Abraham H. Cannon were chosen to fill the vacancies created
in the Quorum of the Twelve.
On the 12th of that month President Woodruff records an interesting
interview which he had with Senator Morgan of Alabama. The Senator was
passing through Utah and asked President Woodruff, who was then at
Provo, to meet him at the station there. The invitation was complied
with, and the Senator held the train for an hour while in conversation
with Presidents Woodruff and Cannon. Mr. Morgan was very friendly. He
was one of those who, in the United States Senate, had taken a strong
stand against the Edmunds-Tucker Law. He was pronounced not only in his
opposition to the law itself, but against the manner of its enforcement.
On the 21st of October that year President Woodruff again made a tour
of the Pacific Coast and to Canada.
Notwithstanding the improved condition of the people with respect to
the crusade which began in the most drastic manner in {566} 1884,
there were those who urged some compromise that would ensure, as they
believed, the favor of the government and the complete cessation of
hostilities by the enemies of the Church. Appeals were therefore made
to President Woodruff to exercise the authority conferred upon him
by revelation and suspend thereby the further extension of plural
marriages.
In concluding his journal for the year 1889 he wrote: "This ends the
year. The word of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, has been fulfilled wherein
he declared that the whole nation would turn against Zion and make war
upon the Saints. The nation has never been so full of lies against the
Saints as it is today.
{567}