A change.--Great Apostacy.--Disaffection creeps into every
Quorum.--Pride and speculation.--Apostates claim the Temple.--Warren
Parrish a ringleader.--A fearful, terrible scene in the Temple.--The
scene described.--What occurred the next Day.--Very interesting
Court scene.--John Boynton portrayed.--Joseph and Sidney flee for
their lives.--Father Smith served with State's Warrant.--How he
escaped.--Luke Johnson befriends him.--Luke's death.
During the time my brother was on this, his first mission, a great
change had been going on in Kirtland, in the midst of the Saints. A
spirit of speculation had crept into the hearts of some of the Twelve,
and nearly, if not every quorum was more or less infected. Most of
the Saints were poor, and now prosperity was dawning upon them--the
Temple was completed, and in it they had been recipients of marvelous
blessings, and many who had been humble and faithful to the performance
of every duty--ready to go and come at every call of the Priesthood,
were getting haughty in their spirits, and lifted up in the pride of
their hearts. As the Saints drank in the love and spirit of the world,
the Spirit of the Lord withdrew from their hearts, and they were filled
with pride and hatred toward those who maintained their integrity. They
linked themselves together in an opposing party--pretended that they
constituted the Church, and claimed that the Temple belonged to them,
and even attempted to hold it.
Warren Parrish, who had been a humble, successful preacher of the
Gospel, was the ringleader of this apostate party. One Sabbath morning,
he, with several of his party, came into the Temple armed with pistols
and bowie-knives, and seated themselves together in the Aaronic
pulpits, on the east end of the Temple, while Father Smith and
others, as usual, occupied those of the Melchisedec Priesthood on the
west. Soon after the usual opening services, one of the brethren on
the west stand arose, and just after he commenced to speak, one on the
east interrupted him. Father Smith, presiding, called to order--he told
the apostate brother that he should have all the time he wanted, but
he must wait his turn--as the brother on the west took the floor and
commenced first to speak, he must not be interrupted. A fearful scene
ensued--the apostate speaker becoming so clamorous, that Father Smith
called for the police to take that man out of the house, when Parrish,
John Boynton, and others, drew their pistols and bowie-knives, and
rushed down from the stand into the congregation; J. Boynton saying
he would blow out the brains of the first man who dared to lay hands
on him. Many in the congregation, especially women and children,
were terribly frightened--some tried to escape from the confusion by
jumping out of the windows. Amid screams and shrieks, the policemen,
in ejecting the belligerents, knocked down a stovepipe, which fell
helter-skelter among the people; but, although bowie-knives and pistols
were wrested from their owners, and thrown hither and thither to
prevent disastrous results, no one was hurt, and after a short, but
terrible scene to be enacted in a Temple of God, order was restored,
and the services of the day proceeded as usual.
But the next day Father Smith, and sixteen others, were arrested on
complaint of the apostate party, charged with riot, and bound over for
their appearance in court to answer to the charge. With others, I was
subpoenaed as a witness, and I found the court scene as amusing as the
Temple scene was appalling. The idea of such a man as Father Smith--so
patriarchal in appearance--so circumspect in deportment and dignified
in his manners, being guilty of riot, was at once ludicrous and
farcical to all sane-minded persons. And after the four Gentile
lawyers (two for each party) had expended their stock of wit, the court
dismissed the case with "no cause for action," and Father Smith and his
associates came off triumphant.
During the proceedings, it was very interesting to hear the lawyers
for the defence describe the opposite traits of character exhibited
in the lives and appearances of the men who had apostatized from what
they were when faithful in the work of God. One of them, Mr. Bissell,
of Painesville, Ohio, pointing to John Boynton, said: "Just look at
Mr. Boynton, see how changed! Before he apostatized, we used to see
him in Painesville--he then was humble, and seemed truly a follower of
the meek and lowly Jesus; but how does he seem now? all puffed up with
pride. He looks more like a celestial dandy than a Saint."
Five of the quorum of the Twelve were in this apostacy; and some in
every organized quorum became disaffected. Wherever the spirit of
speculation--a grasping for the things of the world--obtained, the
light of the Spirit of God departed, and impenetrable darkness ensued.
Some even became so blind as to seek to depose the Prophet of God. At
length the hostility of the belligerent party assumed such threatening
attitude that, late in the autumn of 1837, Joseph Smith and Sidney
Rigdon had to flee for their lives; and at a moment's warning, started
for Missouri. But their absence did not check the persecution waged by
those apostate brethren--others became the targets of their malice.
Through their influence, the aged Father Smith was served with a
State's warrant, but fortunately for him he was placed in the custody
of Luke Johnson, who, although one of the apostates, was averse to the
bitter spirit of persecution which characterized others. Naturally of
a jovial turn, he was more inclined to ridicule than hostility. Having
been somewhat conversant with law usages, he volunteered his services
as legal adviser for Father Smith, although his custodian. He privately
told Father Smith's friends that the suit was instigated through
malice--that he knew Father Smith was innocent, and he was determined
to do all he could for him; and he was true to his word.
A room adjoining the one in which the court was in session, was lighted
by one window. Before Father Smith was brought for trial, Mr. Johnson
had examined the premises, and under the aforesaid window, on the
outside, he had cautiously made preparation so that the old gentleman
could reach the ground without injury. Before the court proceeded
to business, Mr. Johnson said he would like a few minutes private
conversation with his client. Permission was granted for him to take
the prisoner into the room aforementioned. When in, he drew the nail
which was the only fastening to the window--raised the window, and said
to Father Smith, "Go right up to Esquire Snow's--he is a quiet man, and
no one will think of going there for you." The old gentleman did his
bidding, and came directly to our father's, who had purchased a home in
Kirtland, and was living a mile and a quarter distant from the court
scene; when he arrived, it was nearly midnight.
Mr. Johnson replaced the nail in the window, and, after giving Father
Smith time to clear the premises, proceeded to the court room, where
he soon discovered that his client had not followed him; whereupon he
hurried back to the room to see what was detaining him. After hunting
about there a short time, he came back to the court room, apparently
very much disconcerted, and reported the unaccountable fact that the
prisoner was not to be found. After close search by those present,
who found the nail fastening in the window all right, the question
was, "How did he make his escape?" The constable, who manifested the
greatest astonishment of all present, finally settled the question by
saying, "It is another Mormon miracle."
Father Smith remained between two and three weeks at our father's
house, "hid up" from his enemies; but during the time, with the
legal assistance of the justice of the peace (an honorable Gentile),
he arranged his business matters preparatory to leaving for the
west. Before he left, he was joined by six others, whose lives were
threatened by apostates.
Before closing this subject, I think a further notice is due the
unantagonistic apostate, Luke Johnson. I happened to meet him the day
after the scene in the court room--he enquired after his released
prisoner, and after hearing that he reached his destination all right,
he, in a jocose manner, related the foregoing circumstances, and closed
with, "Father Smith will bless me for it, all the days of his life." To
which, when I repeated it to Father Smith on my return home, he replied
in the affirmative; and Luke Johnson is the only one of those five
Apostles that returned to the Church. He was re-baptized, and lived a
faithful member--was much respected, and died an honorable death in the
midst of his friends, in Salt Lake City.