Chester Loveland a modern Ajax.--Drives the Sheriff and his
posse.--Holds a mobocratic jury.--Brings them to terms.--Captain
in "Nauvoo Legion."--Comes to Utah.--Goes to Carson.--A scene of
suffering.--Commissioned Probate Judge.--Is left to preside.--Mission
to the States.--John A. McAllister called on mission to
Europe.--Interesting time on the steamer.--Why the "Mormons"
were driven from Nauvoo.--Is sent to the Orkney Islands.--Stops
at his uncle's in Glasgow.--Missionary labors.--In Dundee and
Newcastle-on-Tyne.--Visits London.--Returns home.--Is elected County
Recorder.
Chester Loveland, one of Lorenzo's sons-in-law, who was baptized in
Kirtland, June 27th, 1837, has had several hair-breadth escapes in
defense of his brethren, in the most turbulent scenes through which
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has struggled. In one
instance a leaden ball, designed to take his life, in passing his
head came so close as to graze the side of his face, scorching it
sufficiently to cause the skin to peel off.
A stranger to fear, he never shunned positions of danger where duty
called or danger to his brethren prompted. In his physical development
evidently formed for a champion--tall, robust, he might well pass for a
modern Ajax in strength and agility.
The apostates, aided by our most bitter Gentile enemies abroad,
established a press in Nauvoo, and commenced the issue of a periodical
entitled _The Expositor_, in which appeared the most flagrant,
scurrilous, libelous articles against the leading authorities of the
Church. The mayor, in connection with the city council, declared it a
nuisance, and by their order it was demolished; after this, the deputy
sheriff called on our hero to assist in arresting the mayor, Joseph
Smith, and the city council, and he positively refused. The next day
the sheriff came with a posse and demanded his assistance, saying he
had orders from the governor of the State. Mr. Loveland understood the
trick; he knew there was no possible means by which orders from the
governor could have been obtained, as he was far distant, and at that
time communication by telegraph was out of the question. The sheriff
insisted, and the more he did so the more Mr. Loveland's anger was
aroused, till, grasping his arms, he rushed single handed towards the
mounted posse, when with the fear of treacherous cowardice, riders and
horses decamped with hurried pace.
He entered into plural marriage in January 21, 1846, having a second
wife sealed to him at that time in the Nauvoo Temple.
A serious, and, at the same time, rather ludicrous incident, in which
Brother Loveland was connected, which transpired in Nauvoo, is worthy
of record as a specimen of mobocratic times with the Latter-day Saints,
as related by himself.
He says: I was on the jury when some of our brethren who had been
falsely accused were brought to trial before eleven mobocratic jurors,
and I held that jury thirty-six hours, until they were nearly starved.
Two bills were before us--one "guilty," the other "not guilty." The
eleven signed the "guilty" verdict, and insisted that I should follow
suit. I said: "No, gentlemen, before I will sign that paper, I will
die here on this floor, and the red ants may pack me out through that
keyhole." The result was, every man signed the verdict of "not guilty,"
and the innocent went free. He was appointed captain of the "Nauvoo
Legion" in its first organization in Nauvoo.
He arrived in Salt Lake City in September, 1850. In 1853-4, was
appointed lieutenant-colonel by President B. Young, then governor
of Utah Territory, with instructions to organize a regiment in the
northern part of the Territory, and was subsequently commissioned
colonel by one of the Gentile governors of Utah.
At the spring conference in 1855, Colonel Loveland was called to
go to Carson Valley (which at that time was a portion of Utah) and
assist Apostle Orson Hyde in settling a colony. After their arrival
in Carson, he, with six other brethren, went to Walker's River in
search of a good location, and when there another point, thirty miles
distant, was highly recommended as being exceedingly favorable for a
large settlement. Prompt to the suggestion, they went, but to their
great disappointment, found they had been imposed upon, and instead of
anything favorable, only a salt marsh, without a drop of fresh water,
surrounded them.
They had traveled thirty miles without water for either man or beast,
and now to take their back track and return to the river was their only
alternative. They started, but were overcome with thirst long before
they reached their destination. So intense were their sufferings that
every man's tongue was swollen out of his mouth, and some of their
tongues blistered. Their horses, through extreme exhaustion, refused to
carry them; whenever mounted they would lie down, and the men in their
suffering condition must either walk or die by the way.
Providentially, some Indians, well acquainted with the country, who saw
them going from the fresh water, and suspecting the result, met them
about five miles out, with about six gallons of water for their relief.
Never was a humane act better timed, nor more gratefully appreciated.
The six gallons were distributed among the famished men, barely
sufficing till they reached camp, but enabling them to do so. As a
grateful expression to those poor red men of the forest for the relief
extended, the brethren clothed them in new suits from head to foot.
When Elder Hyde returned to Salt Lake, he left Colonel Loveland in
charge of the mission, and while there he received from Brigham Young,
then governor of Utah, a commission as probate judge. After his return
from Carson, when that settlement was discontinued, he performed a
mission to the Eastern States.
John A. McAllister, son-in-law of Brother Lorenzo, was born in
England, and when quite young came to America with his parents, who
left their native country for the Gospel's sake. His father being by
trade a saddle and harness maker, John learned and followed the same
occupation--married Clarissa Snow, a lovely girl, and settled in Logan,
Cache County.
In May, 1880, he was called, and early in June started on a mission to
Europe, after having been blessed and set apart by Apostle Lorenzo Snow.
Having come to Utah when very young, everything in the world abroad
was new to him, and when he arrived in Chicago sight-seeing was to him
intensely interesting; after spending a few days in gratifying his
curiosity, he proceeded to New York, viewed some of the sights, and on
the 22d inst. took steamer and started for Liverpool in gay spirits,
filled with enthusiasm and admiration of the grandeur of the mighty
ocean as it spread out before and around him, unconscious of what was
awaiting him.
With a sound appetite he partook of a hearty supper; went to bed,
but when he awoke, none but those who have experienced seasickness
need attempt to describe the change. To repeat his own words: "I felt
as the Irishman said, that I was 'not myself at all.' I had lost my
appetite, the spirit of excitement was gone, and I felt queer." In all
probability he felt much as Captain Morgan told me when I was crossing
the ocean on the Minnesota, that seasick passengers, for a day or two,
felt afraid they would die, then, after that, they felt afraid they
would not die.
After our missionary recovered from seasickness, as per journal, he
says: About this time it began to be noised around that there were
"Mormons" on board. I was engaged in playing checkers with an old
gentleman from Yorkshire, England, one of the radicals on the subject
of "Mormonism," and he so expressed himself as we were playing for the
amusement of scores of bystanders who were watching our movements. I
made no reply to his rabid expressions, but paid strict attention to
our game, in which I beat him several times in succession, which rather
chagrined him, and I concluded to quit. I then arose and gently patting
him on the shoulder, said, "My friend, when you get home to England,
you may tell your people that you were badly beaten at checkers by a
young 'Mormon,'" which created surprise, especially on the part of my
checker-playing friend, who exclaimed, "What, sir! are you one of those
'Mormons?'" Then the gathered crowd began to ask questions, some in the
spirit of ridicule, others for information.
Among the rest was a little old man, who began to boast that when a
young man he was one of those who fired the first guns that drove the
"Mormons" from Nauvoo. I cannot describe my feelings at this juncture.
He said the "Mormons" fought bravely with their old wooden cannon, etc.
I then asked why he and others committed such crimes--murdering men,
women and children in cold blood. He replied, "Well, the people said
that the 'Mormons' stole their cattle and horses." I asked him if he
ever knew of any of those crimes having been proven against them. He
said, "No, can't say that ever I did; but the real fact of the matter
was, those 'Mormons' all voted the Democratic ticket, and if we had let
them alone they would have carried the State." Our controversy lasted
about an hour, when the bell rang for lunch.
The journal continues: After landing in Liverpool, I went directly
to the _Millennial Star_ office, where I was kindly received by
President Budge, who appointed me to the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with
permission to spend a few weeks in Glasgow, where I arrived on the
sixth of July; went to the residence of my uncle, which gave him and
his family a surprise, as they had no intimation of my coming. While I
remained here in company with the president, Brother D. C. Dunbar, I
visited most of the Saints in the Glasgow Conference, and obtained many
items of interest pertaining to missionary labors, which proved very
beneficial to me.
On the twenty-seventh of August, on my way to the islands, when I
arrived at Perth, all was bustle and excitement; Her Majesty Queen
Victoria and suite having arrived, _en route_ to Balmoral Castle,
a large crowd was awaiting anxiously to see them, and prompted by
the same feeling, I located myself in a convenient place, where I
remained about a half hour, although encumbered with a large valise
in each hand, an overcoat and umbrella under my arms, when I had the
gratification of beholding a live queen, a prince and princess, which
of course was something to a young American.
After stopping over night at Inverness, I proceeded by train to Thurso,
situated on the shore of the North Sea, three hundred and sixty miles
from Glasgow; here I met Brother J. Finlayson, with whom I was to
travel--found but one family of Saints, who, although poor, were very
kind. We sailed from Scranton among the islands until we reached the
Island of Pomona, and landed at the town of Kirkwell. Here we found the
people superstitious and priest-ridden. So far as we could learn, our
Elders had visited there but once, and that long ago, and then without
success.
We engaged a room in a boarding-house, commenced distributing tracts,
and all the stale stories about "Mormonism" were soon going the rounds;
but we disabused the minds of the people of the malicious tales
wherever we could gain access. After much solicitation and paying ten
shillings, we succeeded in engaging a hall, and had an attendance of
about two hundred and fifty persons, probably some of them prompted
by curiosity, but we attributed our success in gaining an audience to
our earnest prayers to our heavenly Father, so anxious were we to bear
our testimonies of the Gospel, and I can truly say that never, either
before or since, have I felt so great outpouring of the Holy Spirit as
on this occasion, but this proved to be our only chance; so great was
the opposition that a place for meeting could not be obtained for love
or money. So much for the journal.
The most that could be accomplished in the way of missionary labors
was in distributing tracts; for this purpose Elder McAllister managed
to get a quantity published, and as he went from place to place, from
island to island, where he could do no more in consequence of prejudice
and bigotry, he scattered those printed testimonials. By permission he
spent Christmas and New Year in Glasgow, attending conference, visiting
the Saints, and assisting in baptisms and confirmations of new members.
Labored in Dundee, and on the 1st of March received appointment to
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Here he labored with much satisfaction, baptized
several, and in visiting the scenes of boyhood in this his native
place, he says: After the novelty had passed, although my father was in
prosperous circumstances when he left for America and a home with the
Saints of God, if ever I felt thankful to my heavenly Father for our
deliverance from Babylon, I was ten times more so then, as I saw the
wickedness, corruption and the temptations to which I should have been
exposed by remaining in that country.
During his absence he visited London, where he spent several days
pleasantly and profitably, and was released to return home with the
company of Saints which embarked for New York on the 17th of May, 1882,
and on his arrival home rejoiced to find his family in life and health;
and yet he pronounces his mission abroad the most important period of
his life.
On his return he resumed his former quiet occupation, and at the last
general August election received the appointment of county recorder,
and is now officiating in that capacity.