CHAPTER I. -- THE FOUNDING OF SALT LAKE CITY

Produced by Several Anonymous Volunteers, Dianne Bean, and David Widger

THE STORY OF THE MORMONS

FROM THE DATE OF THEIR ORIGIN TO THE YEAR 1901

By William Alexander Linn

PREFACE

No chapter of American history has remained so long unwritten as that

which tells the story of the Mormons. There are many books on the

subject, histories written under the auspices of the Mormon church,

which are hopelessly biased as well as incomplete; more trustworthy

works which cover only certain periods; and books in the nature of

"exposures" by former members of the church, which the Mormons attack as

untruthful, and which rest, in the minds of the general reader, under

a suspicion of personal bias. Mormonism, therefore, to-day suggests to

most persons only one doctrine--polygamy--and only one leader--Brigham

Young, who made his name familiar to the present generations. Joseph

Smith, Jr., is known, where known at all, only in the most general

way as the founder of the sect, while the real originator of the whole

scheme for a new church and of its doctrines and government, Sidney

Rigdon, is known to few persons even by name.

The object of the present work is to present a consecutive history of

the Mormons, from the day of their origin to the present writing, and as

a secular, not as a religious, narrative. The search has been for facts,

not for moral deductions, except as these present themselves in the

course of the story. Since the usual weapon which the heads of

the Mormon church use to meet anything unfavorable regarding their

organization or leaders is a general denial, this narrative has been

made to rest largely on Mormon sources of information. It has been

possible to follow this plan a long way because many of the original

Mormons left sketches that have been preserved. Thus we have Mother

Smith's picture of her family and of the early days of the church; the

Prophet's own account of the revelation to him of the golden plates, of

his followers' early experiences, and of his own doings, almost day by

day, to the date of his death, written with an egotist's appreciation of

his own part in the play; other autobiographies, like Parley P. Pratt's

and Lorenzo Snow's; and, finally, the periodicals which the church

issued in Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois, and in England, and the

official reports of the discourses preached in Utah,--all showing up, as

in a mirror, the character of the persons who gave this Church of Latter

Day Saints its being and its growth.

In regard to no period of Mormon history is there such a lack of

accurate information as concerning that which covers their moves to

Ohio, thence to Missouri, thence to Illinois, and thence to Utah. Their

own excuse for all these moves is covered by the one word "persecution"

(meaning persecution on account of their religious belief), and so

little has the non-Mormon world known about the subject that this

explanation has scarcely been challenged. Much space is given to these

early migrations, as in this way alone can a knowledge be acquired of

the real character of the constituency built up by Smith in Ohio, and

led by him from place to place until his death, and then to Utah by

Brigham Young.

Any study of the aims and objects of the Mormon leaders must rest on the

Mormon Bible ("Book of Mormon") and on the "Doctrine and Covenants," the

latter consisting principally of the "revelations" which directed the

organization of the church and its secular movements. In these alone

are spread out the original purpose of the migration to Missouri and the

instructions of Smith to his followers regarding their assumed rights

to the territory they were to occupy; and without a knowledge of these

"revelations" no fair judgment can be formed of the justness of

the objections of the people of Missouri and Illinois to their new

neighbors. If the fraudulent character of the alleged revelation to

Smith of golden plates can be established, the foundation of the

whole church scheme crumbles. If Rigdon's connection with Smith in the

preparation of the Bible by the use of the "Spaulding manuscript" can be

proved, the fraud itself is established. Considerable of the evidence on

this point herein brought together is presented at least in new shape,

and an adequate sketch of Sidney Rigdon is given for the first time. The

probable service of Joachim's "Everlasting Gospel," as suggesting the

story of the revelation of the plates, has been hitherto overlooked.

A few words with regard to some of the sources of information quoted:

"Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and his Progenitors for Many

Generations" ("Mother Smith's History," as this book has been generally

called) was first published in 1853 by the Mormon press in Liverpool,

with a preface by Orson Pratt recommending it; and the Millennial Star

(Vol. XV, p. 682) said of it: "Being written by Lucy Smith, the

mother of the Prophet, and mostly under his inspiration, will be ample

guarantee for the authenticity of the narrative.... Altogether the

work is one of the most interesting that has appeared in this latter

dispensation." Brigham Young, however, saw how many of its statements

told against the church, and in a letter to the Millennial Star (Vol.

XVII, p. 298), dated January 31, 1858, he declared that it contained

"many mistakes," and said that "should it ever be deemed best to publish

these sketches, it will not be done until after they are carefully

corrected." The preface to the edition of 1890, published by the

Reorganized Church at Plano, Illinois, says that Young ordered the

suppression of the first edition, and that under this order large

numbers were destroyed, few being preserved, some of which fell into the

hands of those now with the Reorganized Church. For this destruction

we see no adequate reason. James J. Strang, in a note to his pamphlet,

"Prophetic Controversy," says that Mrs. Corey (to whom the pamphlet

is addressed) "wrote the history of the Smiths called 'Mother Smith's

History.'" Mrs. Smith was herself quite incapable of putting her

recollections into literary shape.

The autobiography of Joseph Smith, Jr., under the title "History of

Joseph Smith," began as a supplement to Volume XIV of the Millennial

Star, and ran through successive volumes to Volume XXIV. The matter

in the supplement and in the earlier numbers was revised and largely

written by Rigdon. The preparation of the work began after he and Smith

settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. In his last years Smith rid himself almost

entirely of Rigdon's counsel, and the part of the autobiography then

written takes the form of a diary which unmasks Smith's character as

no one else could do. Most of the correspondence and official documents

relating to the troubles in Missouri and Illinois are incorporated in

this work.

Of the greatest value to the historian are the volumes of the Mormon

publications issued at Kirtland, Ohio; Independence, Missouri; Nauvoo,

Illinois; and Liverpool, England. The first of these, Evening and

Morning Star (a monthly, twenty-four numbers), started at Independence

and transferred to Kirtland, covers the period from June, 1832, to

September, 1834; its successor, the Latter Day Saints' Messenger and

Advocate, was issued at Kirtland from 1834 to 1837. This was followed

by the Elders' journal, which was transferred from Kirtland to Far West,

Missouri, and was discontinued when the Saints were compelled to leave

that state. Times and Seasons was published at Nauvoo from 1839 to 1845.

Files of these publications are very scarce, the volumes of the Times

and Seasons having been suppressed, so far as possible, by Brigham

Young's order. The publication of the Millennial Star was begun in

Liverpool in May, 1840, and is still continued. The early volumes

contain the official epistles of the heads of the church to their

followers, Smith's autobiography, correspondence describing the

early migrations and the experiences in Utah, and much other valuable

material, the authenticity of which cannot be disputed by the Mormons.

In the Journal of Discourses (issued primarily for circulation in

Europe) are found official reports of the principal discourses (or

sermons) delivered in Salt Lake City during Young's regime. Without

this official sponsor for the correctness of these reports, many of them

would doubtless be disputed by the Mormons of to-day.

The earliest non-Mormon source of original information quoted is

"Mormonism Unveiled," by E. D. Howe (Painesville, Ohio, 1834). Mr. Howe,

after a newspaper experience in New York State, founded the Cleveland

(Ohio) Herald in 1819, and later the Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph.

Living near the scene of the Mormon activity in Ohio when they moved to

that state, and desiring to ascertain the character of the men who were

proclaiming a new Bible and a new church, he sent agents to secure

such information among the Smiths' old acquaintances in New York

and Pennsylvania, and made inquiries on kindred subjects, like the

"Spaulding manuscript." His book was the first serious blow that Smith

and his associates encountered, and their wrath against it and its

author was fierce.

Pomeroy Tucker, the author of "Origin and Progress of the Mormons" (New

York, 1867), was personally acquainted with the Smiths and with Harris

and Cowdery before and after the appearance of the Mormon Bible. He read

a good deal of the proof of the original edition of that book as it was

going through the press, and was present during many of the negotiations

with Grandin about its publication. His testimony in regard to early

matters connected with the church is important.

Two non-Mormons who had an early view of the church in Utah and who

put their observations in book form were B. G. Ferris ("Utah and the

Mormons," New York, 1854 and 1856) and Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison of

the United States Topographical Engineers ("The Mormons," Philadelphia,

1856). Both of these works contain interesting pictures of life in Utah

in those early days.

There are three comprehensive histories of Utah,--H. H. Bancroft's

"History of Utah" (p. 889), Tullidge's "History of Salt Lake City" (p.

886), and Orson F. Whitney's "History of Utah," in four volumes, three

of which, dated respectively March, 1892, April, 1893, and January,

1898, have been issued. The Reorganized Church has also published a

"History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in three

volumes. While Bancroft's work professes to be written from a secular

standpoint, it is really a church production, the preparation of the

text having been confided to Mormon hands. "We furnished Mr. Bancroft

with his material," said a prominent Mormon church officer to me. Its

plan is to give the Mormon view in the text, and to refer the reader for

the other side to a mass of undigested notes, and its principal value to

the student consists in its references to other authorities. Its general

tone may be seen in its declaration that those who have joined the

church to expose its secrets are "the most contemptible of all"; that

those who have joined it honestly and, discovering what company they

have got into, have given the information to the world, would far better

have gone their way and said nothing about it; and, as to polygamy, that

"those who waxed the hottest against" the practice "are not as a rule

the purest of our people" (p. 361); and that the Edmunds Law of 1882

"capped the climax of absurdity" (p. 683).

Tullidge wrote his history after he had taken part in the "New

Movement." In it he brought together a great deal of information,

including the text of important papers, which is necessary to an

understanding of the growth and struggles of the church. The work was

censored by a committee appointed by the Mormon authorities.

Bishop Whitney's history presents the pro-Mormon view of the church

throughout. It is therefore wholly untrustworthy as a guide to opinion

on the subjects treated, but, like Tullidge's, it supplies a good deal

of material which is useful to the student who is prepared to estimate

its statements at their true value.

The acquisition by the New York Public Library of the Berrian collection

of books, early newspapers, and pamphlets on Mormonism, with the

additions constantly made to this collection, places within the reach of

the student all the material that is necessary for the formation of the

fairest judgment on the subject.

W. A. L. HACKENSACK, N. J., 1901.

DETAILED CONTENTS

BOOK I. THE MORMON ORIGIN

I. FACILITY OF HUMAN BELIEF: The Real Miracle of Mormon

Success--Effrontery of the Leaders' Professions--Attractiveness of

Religious Beliefs to Man--Wherein the World does not make Progress--The

Anglo-Saxon Appetite for Religious Novelties

II. THE SMITH FAMILY: Solomon Mack and his Autobiography

--Religious Characteristics of the Prophet's Mother--The Family Life in

Vermont--Early Occupations in New York State--Pictures of the Prophet as

a Youth--Recollections of the Smiths by their New York Neighbors

III. HOW JOSEPH SMITH BECAME A MONEY-DIGGER: His Use of a

Divining Rod--His First Introduction to Crystal-gazing--Peeping after

Hidden Treasure--How Joseph obtained his own "Peek-stone"--Methods of

Midnight Money-digging

IV. FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GOLDEN BIBLE: Variations in the

Early Descriptions--Joseph's Acquaintance with the Hales--His Elopement

and Marriage--What he told a Neighbor about the Origin of his Bible

Discovery--Early Anecdotes about the Book

V. THE DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF THE REVELATION OF THE BIBLE:

The Versions about the Spanish Guardian--Important Statement by the

Prophet's Father--The Later Account in the Prophet's Autobiography--The

Angel Visitor and the Acquisition of the Plates--Mother Smith's Version

VI. TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION OF THE BIBLE: Martin Harris's

Connection with the Work--Smith's Removal to Pennsylvania--How the

Translation was carried on--Harris's Visit to Professor Anthon--The

Professor's Account of his Visit--The Lost Pages--The Prophet's

Predicament and his Method of Escape--Oliver Cowdery as an

Assistant Translator--Introduction of the Whitmers--The Printing and

Proof--reading of the New Bible--Recollections of Survivors

VII. THE SPAULDING MANUSCRIPT: Solomon Spaulding's

Career--History of "The Manuscript Found"--Statements by Members of

the Author's Family--Testimony of Spaulding's Ohio Neighbors about the

Resemblance of his Story to the Book of Mormon--The Manuscript found in

the Sandwich Islands

VIII. SIDNEY RIGDON: His Biography--Connection with the

Campbells--Efficient Church Work in Ohio--His Jealousy of his Church

Leaders--Disciples' Beliefs and Mormon Doctrines--Intimations about

a New Bible--Rigdon's First Connection with Smith--The Rigdon-Smith

Translation of the Scriptures--Rigdon's Conversion to Mormonism

IX. "THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL": Probable Origin of the Idea of

a Bible on Plates--Cyril's Gift from an Angel and Joachim's Use

of it--Where Rigdon could have obtained the Idea Prominence of the

"Everlasting Gospel" in Mormon Writings

X. THE WITNESSES TO THE PLATES: Text of the Two

"Testimonies"--The Prophet's Explanation of the First--Early Reputation

and Subsequent History of the Signers--The Truth about the Kinderhook

Plates and Rafinesque's Glyphs

XI. THE MORMON BIBLE: Some of its Errors and

Absurdities--Facsimile of the First Edition Title-page--The Historical

Narrative of the Book--Its Lack of Literary Style--Appropriated Chapters

of the Scriptures--Specimen Anachronisms

XII. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH: Smith's Ordination by John

the Baptist--The First Baptisms--Early Branches of the Church--The

Revelation about Church Officers--Cowdery's Ambition and How it was

Repressed--Smith's Title as Seer, Translator, and Prophet--His Arrest

and Release--Arrival of Parley P. Platt and Rigdon in Palmyra--The

Command to remove to Ohio

XIII. THE MORMONS' BELIEFS AND DOCTRINES--CHURCH GOVERNMENT:

Long Years of Apostasy--Origin of the Name "Mormon"--Original Titles of

the Church--Belief in a Speedy Millennium--The Future Possession of

the Earth--Smith's Revelations and how they were obtained--The

First Published Editions--Counterfeit Revealers--What is Taught of

God--Brigham Young's Adam Sermon--Baptism for the Dead--The Church

Officers

BOOK II. IN OHIO

I. THE FIRST CONVERTS AT KIRTLAND: Original Missionaries sent

out to the Lamanites--Organization of a Church in Ohio--Effect of

Rigdon's Conversion--General Interest in the New Bible and Prophet--How

Men of Education came to believe in Mormonism--Result of the Upturning

of Religious Belief

II. WILD VAGARIES OF THE CONVERTS: Convulsions and

Commissions--Common Religious Excitements of those Days--Description of

the "Jerks"--Smith's Repressing Influence

III. GROWTH OF THE CHURCH: The Appointment of Elders--Beginning

of the Proselyting System--Smith's Power Entrenched--His Temporal

Provision--Repression of Rigdon--The Tarring and Feathering of Smith

and Rigdon--Treatment of the Mormons and of Other New Denominations

compared--Rigdon's Punishment

IV. GIFTS OF TONGUES AND MIRACLES: How Persons "Spoke in

Tongues"--Seeing the Lord Face to Face--Early Use of Miracles--The

Story of the "Book of Abraham"--The Prophet as a Translator of Greek and

Egyptian.

V. SMITH'S OHIO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES: Young's Picture of the

Prophet's Experience as a Retail Merchant--The Land Speculation--Laying

out of the City--Building of the Temple--Consecration of Property--How

the Leaders looked out for themselves--Amusing Explanation of Section

III of the "Doctrine and Covenants"--The Story of the Kirtland Bank--The

Church View of its Responsibility for the Currency--The Business Crash

and Smith's Flight to Missouri

VI. LAST DAYS AT KIRTLAND: Pictures of the Prophet--Accusations

against Church Leaders in Missouri--Serious Charge against the

Prophet--W. W, Phelps's Rebellion--Smith's Description of Leading Lights

of the Church--Charges concerning Smith's Morality--The Church accused

of practising Polygamy--A Lively Fight at a Church Service--Smith's and

Rigdon's Defence of their Conduct--The Later History of Kirtland

BOOK III. IN MISSOURI

I. THE DIRECTIONS TO THE SAINTS ABOUT THEIR ZION: Western

Missouri in the Early Days--Pioneer Farming and Home-making--The Trip

of the Four Mormon Missionaries--Direction about the Gathering of the

Elect--How they were to possess the Land of Promise--Their Appropriation

of the Good Things purchased of their Enemies

II. SMITH'S FIRST VISITS TO MISSOURI: Founding the City of Zion

and the Temple--Marvellous Stories that were told--Dissatisfaction of

Some of the Prophet's Companions

III. THE EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY: Rapid Influx of

Mormons--Result of the Publication of the Revelations--First

Friction with their Non-Mormon Neighbors--Manifesto of the Mormons'

Opponents--Their Big Mass Meeting--Demands on the Mormons--Destruction

of the Star Printing-office--The Mormons' Agreement to leave--Smith's

Advice to his Flock--Repudiation of the Mormon Agreement and Renewal of

Hostilities--The Battle at Big Blue--Evacuation of the County--March of

the Army of Zion--An Inglorious Finale

IV. FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE JACKSON COUNTY PEOPLE: A

Fair Offer Rejected--The Mormon Counter Propositions--Governor Dunklin

on the Situation

V. IN CLAY, CALDWELL, AND DAVIESS COUNTIES: Welcome of the

Mormons by New Neighbors--Effect of their Claims about Possessing the

Land--Ordered out of Clay County--Founding of Far West--A Welcome to

Smith and Rigdon

VI. RADICAL DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH: Trial of Phelps and

Whitmer--Conviction of Oliver Cowdery on Serious Charges--Expulsion

of Leading Members--Origin of the Danites--Suggested by the Prophet at

Kirtland--The Danite Constitution and Oath--Origin of the Tithing System

VII. BEGINNING OF ACTIVE HOSTILITIES: Result of Smith's

Domineering Course--Jealousy caused by the Scattering of the

Saints--Founding of Adam-ondi-Ahman--Rigdon's Famous Salt Sermon--Open

Defiance of the Non-Mormons--The Mormons in Politics--An Election Day

Row--Arrests and Threats

VIII. A STATE OF CIVIL WAR: Calling out of the Militia--Proposed

Expulsion of the Mormons from Carroll County--The Siege of De Witt--The

Prophet's Defiance--Work of his "Fur Company"--Gentile Retaliation--The

Battle of Crooked River--The Massacre at Hawn's Mills--Governor Boggs's

"Order of Extermination"

IX. THE FINAL EXPULSION FROM THE STATE: General Lucas's Terms to

the Mormons--Surrender of Far West and Arrest of Mormon Leaders--General

Clark's Address to the Mormons--His Report to the Governor--General

Wilson's Picture of Adam-ondi-Ahman--Fate of the Mormon

Prisoners--Testimony at their Trial--Smith's Escape--Migration to

Illinois

BOOK IV. IN ILLINOIS

I. THE RECEPTION OF THE MORMONS: Incidents in the Early History

of the State--Defiant Lawlessness--Politicians the First to Welcome the

Newcomers--Landowners Among their First Friends

II. THE SETTLEMENT OF NAUVOO: Smith's Leadership

Illustrated--The Land Purchases--A Reconciliation of Conflicting

Revelations--Smith's Financiering--Shameful Misrepresentation to

Immigrants

III. THE BUILDING UP OF THE CITY: Unhealthfulness of its

Site--Rapid Growth of the Place--Early Pictures of it--Foreign

Proselyting--Why England was a Good Field--Method of Work there--The

Employment of Miracles--How the Converts were Sent Over

IV. THE NAUVOO CITY GOVERNMENT: Dr. Galland's Suggestions--An

Important Revelation--Church Buildings Ordered--Subserviency of the

Legislature--Dr. John C. Bennett's Efficient Aid--Authority granted to

the City Government--The Nauvoo Legion--Bennett's Welcome--The Temple

and How it was Constructed

V. THE MORMONS IN POLITICS: Smith's Decree against Van

Buren--How the Prophet swung the Mormon Vote back to the Democrats--The

Attempted Assassination of Governor Boggs--Smith's Arrest and What

Resulted from it--Defeat of a Whig Candidate by a Revelation

VI. SMITH A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His

Letter to Clay and Calhoun--Their Replies and Smith's Abusive

Wrath--The Prophet's Views on National Politics--Reform Measures that

He Proposed--His Nomination by the Church Paper--Experiences of

Missionaries sent out to Work Up his Campaign

VII. SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN NAUVOO: Character of its

Population--Treatment of Immigrant Converts--Some Disreputable

Gentile Neighbors--The Complaints of Mormon Stealings--Significant

Admissions--Mormon Protection against Outsiders--The Whittlers

VIII. SMITH'S PICTURE OF HIMSELF AS AUTOCRAT: Glances at his

Autobiography--Difficulties Connected with the Building Enterprises--A

Plain Warning to Discontented Workmen--Trouble with Rigdon--Pressed by

his Creditors--Transaction with Remick--Currency Law passed by his City

Council--How Smith regarded himself as a Prophet--His Latest Prophecies

IX. SMITH'S FALLING OUT WITH BENNETT AND HIGBEE: Bennett's

Expulsion and the Explanations concerning it--His Attacks on his

Late Companions--Charges against Nauvoo Morality--The Case of Nancy

Rigdon--The Higbee Incident

X. THE INSTITUTION OF POLYGAMY: An Examination of its

Origin--Its Conflict with the Teachings of the Mormon Bible and

Revelations--Early Loosening of the Marriage View under Smith--Proof of

the Practice of Polygamy in Nauvoo--Testimony of Eliza R. Snow--How

her Brother Lorenzo shook off his Bachelorhood--John B. Lee as a

Polygamist--Ebenezer Robinson's Statement--Objects of "The Holy

Order"--The Writing of the Revelation about Polygamy--Its First Public

Announcement--Sidney Rigdon's Innocence in the Matter

XI. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF POLYGAMY: Text of

the Revelation--Orson Pratt's Presentation of it--The Doctrine of

Sealing--Necessity of Sealing as a Means of Salvation--Attempt to show

that Christ was a Polygamist

XII. THE SUPPRESSION OF THE EXPOSITOR: Dr. Foster and the

Laws--Rebellion against Smith's Teachings--Leading Features of

the Expositor--Trial of the Paper and its Editors before the City

Council--Destruction of the Press and Type--Smith's Proclamation

XIII. UPRISING OF THE NON-MORMONS: Resolutions Adopted at

Warsaw--Organizing and Arming of the People--Action of Governor

Ford--Smith's Arrest--Departure of the Prisoners for Carthage

XIV. THE MURDER OF THE PROPHET: Legal Proceedings after his

Arrival in Carthage--The Governor and the Militia--The Carthage Jail and

its Guards--Action of the Warsaw Regiment--The Attack on the Jail

and the Killing of the Prophet and his Brother--Funeral Services in

Nauvoo--Final Resting-place of the Bodies--Result of Indictments of the

Alleged Murderers--Review of the Prophet's Character

XV. AFTER SMITH'S DEATH: The People in a Panic--The Mormon

Leaders for Peace--The Future Government of the Church--Brigham Young's

Victory--Rigdon's Trial before the High Council--Verdict Against

Him--His Church in Pennsylvania--His Ambition to be the Head of a

Distinct Church--A Visit from Heavenly Messengers--His Last Days

XVI. RIVALRIES OVER THE SUCCESSION: The Claim of the Prophet's

Eldest Son--Trouble caused by the Prophet's Widow--The Reorganized

Church--Strang's Church in Wisconsin--Lyman Wight's Colony in Texas

XVII. BRIGHAM YOUNG: His Early Years--His Initiation into the

Mormon Church--Fidelity to the Prophet--Embarrassments of his Position

as Head of the Church--His View about Revelations--Plan for Home Mission

Work--His Election as President

XVIII. RENEWED TROUBLE FOR THE MORMONS: More Charges

of Stealing--Significant Admission by Young--Business Plight of

Nauvoo--More Politics--Defiant Attitude of Mormon Leaders--An Editor's

View of Legal Rights--Stories about the Danites--Brother William

on Brigham Young--The "Burnings"--Sheriff Backenstos's

Proclamations--Lieutenant Worrell's Murder--Mormon

Retaliation--Appointment of the Douglas-Hardin Commission

XIX. THE EXPULSION OF THE MORMONS: General Hardin's

Proclamation--County Meetings of Non-Mormons--Their Ultimatum--The

Commission's Negotiations--Non-Mormon Convention at Carthage--The

Agreement for the Mormon Evacuation

XX. THE EVACUATION OF NAUVOO: Major Warren as a Peace

Preserver--The Mormons' Disposition of their Property--Departure of

the Leaders hastened by Indictments--Arrival of New Citizens--Continued

Hostility of the Non-Mormons--"The Last Mormon War"--Panic in

Nauvoo--Plan for a March on the Mormon City--Fruitless Negotiations

for a Compromise--The Advance against the City--The Battle and its

Results--Terms of Peace--The Final Evacuation XXI. NAUVOO AFTER

THE EXODUS: Arrival of Governor Ford--The Final Work on the Temple--The

"Endowment" Ceremony and Oath--Futile Efforts to sell the Temple--Its

Destruction by Fire and Wind--The Nauvoo of To-day

BOOK V. THE MIGRATION TO UTAH

I. PREPARATIONS FOR THE LONG MARCH: Uncertainty of their

Destination--Explanations to the People--Disposition of Real and

Personal Property--Collection of Draft Animals--Activity in Wagon and

Tent Making--The Old Charge of Counterfeiting--Pecuniary Sacrifices of

the Mormons in Illinois

II. FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE MISSOURI: The First Crossings of

the River--Camp Arrangements--Sufferings from the Cold--The Story of

the Westward March--Motley Make-up of the Procession--Expedients

for obtaining Supplies--Terrible Sufferings of the Expelled

Remnant--Privations at Mt. Pisgah

III. THE MORMON BATTALION: Extravagant Claims Regarding

it Disproved--General Kearney's Invitation--Source of the Initial

Suggestion--How the Mormons profited by the Organization--The March to

California--Colonel Thomas L. Kane's Visit to the Missouri--His Intimate

Relations with the Mormon Church

IV. THE CAMPS ON THE MISSOURI: Friendly Welcome of the Mormons

by the Indians--The Site of Winter Quarters--Busy Scenes on the River

Bank--Sickness and Death--The Building of a Temporary City

V. THE PIONEER TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS: Early Views of the

Unexplored West--The First White Visitors to that Country--Organization

of the Pioneer Mormon Band--Rules observed on the March--Successful

Buffalo Hunting--An Indian Alarm--Dearth of Forage--Post-offices of the

Plains--A Profitable Ferry

VI. FROM THE ROCKIES TO SALT LAKE VALLEY: No Definite

Stopping-place in View--Advice received on the Way--The Mormon

Expedition to California by Way of Cape Horn--Brannan's Fall from

Grace--Westward from Green River--Advance Explorers through a

Canon--First View of Great Salt Lake Valley--Irrigation and Crop

Planting begun

VII. THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES: Their Leaders and Make-up

--Young's Return Trip--Last Days on the Missouri--Scheme for a Permanent

Settlement in Iowa--Westward March of Large Companies

BOOK VI. IN UTAH

I. THE FOUNDING OF SALT LAKE CITY: Utah's First White

Explorers--First Mormon Services in the Valley--Young's View of the

Right to the Land--The First Buildings--Laying out the City--Early

Crop Disappointment--Discomforts of the First Winter--Primitive

Dwelling-places--The Visitation of Crickets--Glowing Accounts sent to

England

II. PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT: Schools and Manufactures

--How the City appeared in 1849--Sufferings during the Winter of

1908--Immigration checked by the Lack of Food--Aid supplied by the

California Goldseekers--Danger of a Mormon Exodus--Young's Rebuke to his

Gold-seeking Followers--The Crop Failure of 1855 and the Famine of the

Following Winter--The Tabernacle and Temple

III. THE FOREIGN IMMIGRATION TO UTAH: The Commercial joint Stock

Company Scandal--Deceptive Statements made to Foreign Converts--John

Taylor's Address to the Saints in Great Britain--Petition to

Queen Victoria--Mormon Duplicity illustrated--Young's Advice to

Emigrants--Glowing Pictures of Salt Lake Valley--The Perpetual

Emigrating Fund--Details of the Emigration System

IV. THE HAND-CART TRAGEDY: Young's Scheme for Economy--His

Responsibility for the Hand-cart Experiment--Details of the

Arrangement--Delays at Iowa City--Unheeded Warnings--Privations by

the Way--Early Lack of Provisions--Suffering caused by Insufficient

Clothing--Deaths of the Old and Infirm--Horrors of the Camps in the

Mountains--Frozen Corpses found at Daybreak--Sufferings of a Party at

Devil's Gate--Young's Attempt to shift the Responsibility

V. EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY: The Aim at Independence--First

Local Government--Adoption of a Constitution for the State of

Deseret--Babbitt's Application for Admission as a Delegate--Memorial

opposing his Claim--His Rejection--The Territorial Government

VI. BRIGHAM YOUNG'S DESPOTISM: Causes that contributed to

its Success--Helplessness of the New-comers from Europe--Influence of

Superstition--Young's Treatment of the Gladdenites--His Appropriation

of Property Laws passed by the Mormon Legislature--Bishops as Ward

Magistrates--A Mormon Currency and Alphabet--What Emigrants to

California learned about Mormon Justice

VII. THE "REFORMATION": Young's Disclosures about the Character

of his Flock--The Stealing from One Another--The Threat about "Laying

Judgment to the Line"--Plain Declarations about the taking of

Human Lives--First Steps of the "Reformation"--An Inquisition and

Catechism--An Embarrassing Confession--Warning to those who would leave

the Valley

VIII. SOME CHURCH-INSPIRED MURDERS: The Story of the

Parrishes--Carrying out of a Cold-blooded Plot--Judge Cradlebaugh's

Effort to convict the Murderers--The Tragedy of the Aikin Party--The

Story of Frederick Loba's Escape

IX. BLOOD ATONEMENT: Early Intimations concerning it--Jedediah

M. Grant's Explanation of Human Sacrifices--Brigham Young's Definition

of "Laying Judgment to the Line"--Two of the Sacrifices described--"The

Affair at San Pete"

X. TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT: Brigham Young the First

Governor--Colonel Kane's Part in his Appointment--Kane's False

Statements to President Fillmore--Welcome to the Non-Mormon

Officers--Their Early Information about Young's Influence--Pioneer

Anniversary Speeches--Judge Brocchus's Offence to the Mormons--Young's

Threatening and Abusive Reply--The Judge's Alarm about his Personal

Safety--Return of the Non-Mormon Federal Officers to Washington--Young's

Defence

XI. MORMON TREATMENT OF FEDERAL OFFICERS: A Territorial Election

Law--Why Colonel Steptoe declined the Governorship--Young's Assertion of

his Authority--His Reappointment--Two Bad Judicial Appointments--Judge

Stiles's Trouble about the Marshals--Burning of his Books and

Papers--How Judge Drummond's Attempt at Independence was foiled--The

Mormon View of Land Titles--Hostile Attitude toward the Government

Surveyors--Reports of the Indian Agents

XII. THE MORMON "WAR": What the Federal Authorities had learned

about Mormonism--Declaration of the Republican National Convention of

1856--Striking Speech by Stephen A. Douglas--Alfred Cumming appointed

Governor with a New Set of Judges--Statement in the President's

Message--Employment of a Military Force--The Kimball Mail

Contract--Organization of the Troops--General Harney's Letter of

Instruction--Threats against the Advancing Foe--Mobilization of the

Nauvoo Legion--Captain Van Vliet's Mission to Salt Lake City--Young's

Defiance of the Government--His Proclamation to the Citizens of

Utah--"General" Wells's Order to his Officers--Capture and Burning of a

Government Train--Colonel Alexander's Futile March--Colonel Johnston's

Advance from Fort Laramie--Harrowing Experience of Lieutenant Colonel

Cooke's Command

XIII. THE MORMON PURPOSE: Correspondence between Colonel

Alexander and Brigham Young--Illustration of Young's Vituperative

Powers--John Taylor's Threat--Incendiary Teachings in Salt Lake City--A

Warning to Saints who would Desert--The Army's Winter Camp--Proclamation

by Governor Cumming--Judge Eckles's Court--Futile Preparations at

Washington

XIV. COLONEL KANE'S MISSION: His Wily Proposition to President

Buchanan--His Credentials from the President--Arrival in California

under an Assumed Name--Visit to Camp Scott--General Johnston

ignored--Reasons why both the Government and the Mormons desired

Peace--Kane's Success with Governor Cumming--The Governor's Departure

for Salt Lake City--Deceptions practiced on him in Echo Canon--His

Reception in the City--Playing into Mormon Hands--The Governor's

Introduction to the People--Exodus of Mormons begun

XV. THE PEACE COMMISSION: President Buchanan's Volte-face--A

Proclamation of Pardon--Instructions to Two Peace Commissioners--Chagrin

of the Military--Governor Cumming's Misrepresentations--Conferences

between the Commissioners and Young--Brother Dunbar's Singing

of "Zion"--Young's Method of Surrender--Judge Eckles on Plural

Marriages--The Terms made with the Mormons--March of the Federal Troops

to the Deserted City--Return of the Mormons to their Homes

XVI. THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE: Circumstances Indicative

of Mormon Official Responsibility--The Make-up of the Arkansas

Party--Motives for Mormon Hostility to them--Parley P. Pratt's Shooting

in Arkansas--Refusal of Food Supplies to the Party after leaving Salt

Lake City--Their Plight before they were attacked--Successful Measures

for Defence--Disarrangement of the Mormon Plans--John D. Lee's

Treacherous Mission--Pitiless Slaughter of Men, Women, and

Children--Testimony given at Lee's Trial--The Plundering of the

Dead--Lee's Account of the Planning of the Massacre--Responsibility

of High Church Officers--Lee's Report to Brigham Young and Brigham's

Instructions to him--The Disclosures by "Argus"--Lee's Execution and

Last Words

XVII. AFTER THE "WAR": Judge Cradlebaugh's Attempts to enforce

the Law--Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre--Governor

Cumming's Objections to the Use of Troops to assist the Court--A

Washington Decision in Favor of Young's Authority--The Story of a

Counterfeit Plate--Five Thousand Men under Arms to protect Young from

Arrest--Sudden Departure of Cumming--Governor Dawson's Brief

Term--His Shocking Treatment at Mormon Hands--Governor Harding's

Administration--The Morrisite Tragedy

XVIII. ATTITUDE OF THE MORMONS DURING THE SOUTHERN REBELLION:

Press and Pulpit Utterances--Arrival of Colonel Connor's Force--His

March through Salt Lake City to Camp Douglas--Governor Harding's Plain

Message to the Legislature--Mormon Retaliation--The Governor and Two

Judges requested to leave the Territory--Their Spirited Replies--How

Young escaped Arrest by Colonel Connor's Force--Another Yielding to

Mormon Power at Washington

XIX. EASTERN VISITORS To SALT LAKE CITY: Schuyler Colfax's

Interviews with Young--Samuel Bowles's Praise of the Mormons and his

Speedy Correction of his Views--Repudiation of Colfax's Plan to drop

Polygamy--Two more Utah Murders--Colfax's Second Visit

XX. GENTILE IRRUPTION AND MORMON SCHISM: Young's Jealousy of

Gentile Merchants--Organization of the Zion Cooperative Mercantile

Institution--Inception of the "New Movement"--Its Leaders and

Objects--The Peep o' Day and the Utah Magazine--Articles that aroused

Young's Hostility--Visit of the Prophet's Sons to Salt Lake City--Trial

and Excommunication of Godbe and Harrison--Results of the "New

Movement".

XXI. THE LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG: New Governors--Shaffer's

Rebuke to the Nauvoo Legion--Conflict with the New Judges--Brigham Young

and Others indicted--Young's Temporary Imprisonment--A Supreme Court

Decision in Favor of the Mormon Marshal and Attorney--Outside Influences

affecting Utah Affairs--Grant's Special Message to Congress--Failure

of the Frelinghuysen Bill in the House--Signing of the Poland Bill--Ann

Eliza Young's Suit for Divorce--The Later Governors

XXII. BRIGHAM YOUNG'S DEATH: His Character--Explanation of

his Dictatorial Power--Exaggerated Views of his Executive

Ability--Overestimations by Contemporaries--Young's Wealth and how he

acquired it--His Revenue from Divorces--Unrestrained Control of the

Church Property--His Will--Suit against his Executors--List of his

Wives--His Houses in Salt Lake City

XXIII. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF POLYGAMY: Varied Provisions for Plural

Wives--Home Accommodations of the Leaders--Horace Greeley's Observation

about Woman's Place in Utah--Means of overcoming Female Jealousy--Young

and Grant on the Unhappiness of Mormon Wives--Acceptance of Fanatical

Teachings by Women--Kimball on a Fair Division of the Converts--Church

Influence in Behalf of Plural Marriages--A Prussian Convert's

Dilemma--President Cleveland on the Evils of Polygamy

XXIV. THE FIGHT AGAINST POLYGAMY: First Measures introduced in

Congress--The Act of 1862--The Cullom Bill of 1869--Its Failure in

the Senate--The United States Supreme Court Decision regarding

Polygamy--Conviction of John Miles--Appeal of Women of Salt Lake City to

Mrs. Hayes and the Women of the United States--President Hayes's Drastic

Recommendation to Congress--Recommendations of Presidents Garfield and

Arthur--Passage of the Edmunds Bill--Its Provisions--The Edmunds-Tucker

Amendment--Appointment of the Utah Commission--Determined Opposition of

the Mormon Church--Placing their Flags at Half Mast--Convictions under

the New Law--Leaders in Hiding or in Exile--Mormon Honors for those

who took their Punishment--Congress asked to disfranchise All

Polygamists--The Mormon Church brought to Bay--Woodruff's Famous

Proclamation--How it was explained to the Church--The Roberts Case and

the Vetoed Act of 1901--How Statehood came

XXV. THE MORMONISM OF TO-DAY: Future Place of the Church in

American History--Main Points of the Mormon Political Policy--Unbroken

Power of the Priesthood--Fidelity of the Younger Members--Extension

of the Membership over Adjoining States--Mission Work at Home and

Abroad--Decreased Foreign Membership--Effect of False Promises to

Converts--The Settlements in Canada and Mexico--Polygamy still a Living

Doctrine--Reasons for its Hold on the Church--Its Appeal to the Female

Members--Importance of a Federal Constitutional Amendment forbidding

Polygamous Marriages--Scope of the Mormon Political Ambition

THE STORY OF THE MORMONS

BOOK I. -- THE MORMON ORIGIN

CHAPTER I. -- FACILITY OF HUMAN BELIEF

Summing up his observations of the Mormons as he found them in Utah

while secretary of the territory, five years after their removal to the

Great Salt Lake valley, B. G. Ferris wrote, "The real miracle [of their

success] consists in so large a body of men and women, in a civilized

land, and in the nineteenth century, being brought under, governed, and

controlled by such gross religious imposture." This statement presents,

in concise form, the general view of the surprising features of the

success of the Mormon leaders, in forming, augmenting, and keeping

together their flock; but it is a mistaken view. To accept it would be

to concede that, in a highly civilized nation like ours, and in so

late a century, the acceptance of religious beliefs which, to the

nonbelievers, seem gross superstitions, is so unusual that it may be

classed with the miraculous. Investigation easily disproves this.

It is true that the effrontery which has characterized Mormonism from

the start has been most daring. Its founder, a lad of low birth,

very limited education, and uncertain morals; its beginnings so near

burlesque that they drew down upon its originators the scoff of their

neighbors,--the organization increased its membership as it was driven

from one state to another, building up at last in an untried wilderness

a population that has steadily augmented its wealth and numbers;

doggedly defending its right to practise its peculiar beliefs and obey

only the officers of the church, even when its course in this respect

has brought it in conflict with the government of the United States.

Professing only a desire to be let alone, it promulgated in polygamy a

doctrine that was in conflict with the moral sentiment of the Christian

world, making its practice not only a privilege, but a part of

the religious duty of its members. When, in recent years, Congress

legislated against this practice, the church fought for its peculiar

institution to the last, its leading members accepting exile and

imprisonment; and only the certainty of continued exclusion from the

rights of citizenship, and the hopelessness of securing the long-desired

prize of statehood for Utah, finally induced the church to bow to the

inevitable, and to announce a form of release for its members from the

duty of marrying more wives than one. Aside from this concession, the

Mormon church is to-day as autocratic in its hold on its members,

as aggressive in its proselyting, and as earnest in maintaining its

individual religious and political power, as it has been in any previous

time in its history.

In its material aspects we must concede to the Mormon church

organization a remarkable success; to Joseph Smith, Jr., a leadership

which would brook no rival; to Brigham Young the maintenance of an

autocratic authority which enabled him to hold together and enlarge his

church far beyond the limits that would have been deemed possible when

they set out across the plains with all their possessions in their

wagons. But it is no more surprising that the Mormons succeeded in

establishing their church in the United States than it would have been

if they had been equally successful in South America; no more surprising

that this success should have been won in the nineteenth century than it

would have been to record it in the twelfth.

In studying questions of this kind, we are, in the first place, entirely

too apt to ignore the fact that man, while comparatively a "superior

being," is in simple fact one species of the animals that are found upon

the earth; and that, as a species, he has traits which distinguish him

characteristically just as certain well-known traits characterize those

animals that we designate as "lower." If a traveller from the Sun should

print his observations of the inhabitants of the different planets, he

would have to say of those of the Earth something like this: "One of

Man's leading traits is what is known as belief. He is a credulous

creature, and is especially susceptible to appeals to his credulity

in regard to matters affecting his existence after death." Whatever

explanation we may accept of the origin of the conception by this animal

of his soul-existence, and of the evolution of shadowy beliefs into

religious systems, we must concede that Man is possessed of a tendency

to worship something,--a recognition, at least, of a higher power

with which it behooves him to be on friendly terms,--and so long as the

absolute correctness of any one belief or doctrine cannot be actually

proved to him, he is constantly ready to inquire into, and perhaps give

credence to, new doctrines that are presented for his consideration.

The acceptance by Man of novelties in the way of religions is a

characteristic that has marked his species ever since its record has

been preserved. According to Max Matter, "every religion began simply as

a matter of reason, and from this drifted into a superstition"; that

is, into what non-believers in the new doctrine characterize as a

superstition. Whenever one of these driftings has found a lodgement,

there has been planted a new sect. There has never been a year in the

Christian era when there have not been believers ready to accept

any doctrine offered to them in the name of religion. As Shakespeare

expresses it, in the words of Bassanio:--

"In religion, What damned error but some sober brow Will bless it, and

approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?"

In glancing at the cause of this unchanged susceptibility to religious

credulity--unchanged while the world has been making such strides in

the acquisition of exact information--we may find a summing up of the

situation in Macaulay's blunt declaration that "natural theology is not

a progressive science; a Christian of the fifth century with a Bible is

on a par with a Christian of the nineteenth century with a Bible." The

"orthodox" believer in that Bible can only seek a better understanding

of it by studying it himself and accepting the deductions of other

students. Nothing, as the centuries have passed, has been added to

his definite knowledge of his God or his own future existence. When,

therefore, some one, like a Swedenborg or a Joseph Smith, appears with

an announcement of an addition to the information on this subject,

obtained by direct revelation from on high, he supplies one of the

greatest desiderata that man is conscious of, and we ought, perhaps, to

wonder that his followers are not so numerous, but so few. Progress in

medical science would no longer permit any body like the College of

the Physicians of London to recognize curative value in the skull of a

person who had met with a violent death, as it did in the seventeenth

century; but the physician of the seventeenth century with a

pharmacopoeia was not "on a par with" a physician of the nineteenth

century with a pharmacopoeia.

Nor has man changed in his mental susceptibilities as the centuries have

advanced. It is a failure to recognize this fact which leads observers

like Ferris to find it so marvellous that a belief like Mormonism

should succeed in the nineteenth century. Draper's studies of man's

intellectual development led him to declare that "man has ever been the

same in his modes of thought and motives of action, and to assert his

purpose to judge past occurrences in the same way as those of our own

time."* So Macaulay refused to accept the doctrine that "the world is

constantly becoming more and more enlightened," asserting that "the

human mind, instead of marching, merely marks time." Nothing offers

stronger confirmation of the correctness of these views than the history

of religious beliefs, and the teachings connected therewith since the

death of Christ.

* "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, Chap. 3.

The chain of these beliefs and teachings--including in the list only

those which offer the boldest challenge to a sane man's credulity--is

uninterrupted down to our own day. A few of them may be mentioned by way

of illustration. In one century we find Spanish priests demanding the

suppression of the opera on the ground that this form of entertainment

caused a drought, and a Pope issuing a bull against men and women having

sexual intercourse with fiends. In another, we find an English tailor,

unsuccessfully, allotting endless torments to all who would not accept

his declaration that God was only six feet in height, at the same time

that George Fox, who was successful in establishing the Quaker sect,

denounced as unchristian adoration of Janus and Woden, any mention of a

month as January or a day as Wednesday. Luther, the Protestant pioneer,

believed that he had personal conferences with the devil; Wesley,

the founder of Methodism, declared that "the giving up of (belief) in

witchcraft is, in effect, giving up the Bible." Education and mental

training have had no influence in shaping the declarations of the

leaders of new religious sects.* The learned scientist, Swedenborg, told

of seeing the Virgin Mary dressed in blue satin, and of spirits wearing

hats, just as confidently as the ignorant Joseph Smith, Jr., described

his angel as "a tall, slim, well-built, handsome man, with a bright

pillar upon his head."

* "The splendid gifts which make a seer are usually found among

those whom society calls 'common or unclean.' These brutish beings

are the chosen vessels in whom God has poured the elixirs which amaze

humanity. Such beings have furnished the prophets, the St. Peters, the

hermits of history." BALZAC, in "Cousin Pons."

The readiness with which even believers so strictly taught as are the

Jews can be led astray by the announcement of a new teacher divinely

inspired, is illustrated in the stories of their many false Messiahs.

One illustration of this--from the pen of Zangwill--may be given:--

"From all the lands of the Exile, crowds of the devout came to do

him homage and tender allegiance--Turkish Jews with red fez or

saffron-yellow turban; Jerusalem Jews in striped cotton gowns and soft

felt hats; Polish Jews with foxskin caps and long caftans; sallow German

Jews, gigantic Russian Jews, highbred Spanish Jews; and with them often

their wives and daughters--Jerusalem Jewesses with blue shirts and

head-veils, Egyptian Jewesses with sweeping robes and black head-shawls,

Jewesses from Ashdod and Gaza, with white visors fringed with gold

coins; Polish Jewesses with glossy wigs; Syrian Jewesses with eyelashes

black as though lined with kohl; fat Jewesses from Tunis, with clinging

breeches interwoven with gold and silver."

This homage to a man who turned Turk, and became a doorkeeper of the

Sultan, to save himself from torture and death!

Savagery and civilization meet on this plane of religious credulity. The

Indians of Canada believed not more implicitly in the demons who howled

all over the Isles of Demons, than did the early French sailors and the

priests whose protection the latter asked. The Jesuit priests of the

seventeenth century accepted, and impressed upon their white followers

in New France, belief in miracles which made a greater demand on

credulity than did any of the exactions of the Indian medicine man. That

the head of a white man, which the Iroquois carried to their village,

spoke to them and scolded them for their perfidy, "found believers among

the most intelligent men of the colony," just as did the story of the

conversion of a sick Huguenot immigrant, with whose gruel a Mother

secretly mixed a little of the powdered bone of a Jesuit martyr.* And

French Canada is to-day as "orthodox" in its belief in miracles as

was the Canada of the seventeenth century. The church of St. Anne de

Beaupre, below Quebec, attracts thousands annually, and is piled with

the crutches which the miraculously cured have cast aside. Masses were

said in 1899 in the church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours at Montreal,

at the expense of a pilots' association, to ward off wrecks in the

treacherous St. Lawrence; and in the near-by provinces there were

religious processions to check the attacks of caterpillars in the

orchards.

* Parkman's "Old Regime in Canada."

Nor need we go to Catholic Quebec for modern illustrations of this kind

of faith. "Bareheaded people stood out upon the corner in East 113th

Street yesterday afternoon," said a New York City newspaper of December

18, 1898, "because they were unable to get into the church of Our Lady

Queen of Angels, where a relic of St. Anthony of Padua was exposed for

veneration." Describing a service in the church of St. Jean Baptiste

in East 77th Street, New York, where a relic alleged to be a piece of a

bone of the mother of the Virgin was exposed, a newspaper of that city,

on July 24th, 1901, said: "There were five hundred persons, by actual

count, in and around the crypt chapel of St. Anne when afternoon service

stopped the rush of the sick and crippled at 4.30 o'clock yesterday.

There were many more at the 8 o'clock evening Mass." What did these

people seek at the shrine? Only the favor of St. Anne and a kiss and

touch of the casket that, by church authority, contains bone of

her body. "France has to-day its Grotto of Lourdes, Wales its St.

Winefride's Well, Mexico its wonder-working doll" that makes the sick

well and the childless mothers, and Moscow its "wonder-working picture

of the Mother of God," before which the Czar prostrates himself."

Not in recent years has the appetite for some novelty on which to fasten

belief been more manifest in the United States than it was at the

close of the nineteenth century. Old beliefs found new teachers, and

promulgators of new ideas found followers. Instructors in Brahminism

attracted considerable attention. A "Chapter of the College of Divine

Sciences and Realization" instituted a revival of Druid sun-adoration

on the shores of Lake Michigan. An organization has been formed of

believers in the One-Over-At-Acre, a Persian who claimed to be the

forerunner of the Millennium, and in whom, as Christ, it is said that

more than three thousand persons in this country believe. We have among

us also Jaorelites, who believe in the near date of the end of the

world, and that they must make their ascent to heaven from a mountain in

Scotland. The hold which the form of belief called Christian Science has

obtained upon people of education and culture needs only be referred

to. Along with this have come the "divine healers," gaining patients

in circles where it would be thought impossible for them to obtain even

consideration, and one of them securing a clientage in a Western city

which has enabled him to establish there a church of his own.

In fact, instead of finding in enlightened countries like the United

States and England a poor field for the dissemination of new beliefs,

the whole school of revealers find there their best opportunities.

Discussing this susceptibility, Aliene Gorren, in her "Anglo-Saxons and

Others," reaches this conclusion: "Nowhere are so many persons of sound

intelligence in all practical affairs so easily led to follow after

crazy seers and seeresses as in England and the United States. The truth

is that the mind of man refuses to be shut out absolutely from the world

of the higher abstractions, and that, if it may not make its way thither

under proper guidance, it will set off even at the tail of the first

ragged street procession that passes."

The "real miracle" in Mormonism, then,--the wonderful feature of its

success,--is to be sought, not in the fact that it has been able to

attract believers in a new prophet, and to find them at this date and in

this country, but in its success in establishing and keeping together in

a republic like ours a membership who acknowledge its supreme authority

in politics as well as in religion, and who form a distinct organization

which does not conceal its purpose to rule over the whole nation. Had

Mormonism confined itself to its religious teachings, and been preached

only to those who sought its instruction, instead of beating up the

world for recruits and conveying them to its home, the Mormon church

would probably to-day be attracting as little attention as do the

Harmonists of Pennsylvania.

CHAPTER II. -- THE SMITH FAMILY

Among the families who settled in Ontario County, New York, in 1816, was

that of one Joseph Smith. It consisted of himself, his wife, and nine

children. The fourth of these children, Joseph Smith, Jr., became the

Mormon prophet.

The Smiths are said to have been of Scotch ancestry. It was the mother,

however, who exercised the larger influence on her son's life, and she

has left very minute details of her own and her father's family.* Her

father, Solomon Mack, was a native of Lyme, Connecticut. The daughter

Lucy, who became Mrs. Joseph Smith, Sr., was born in Gilsum, Cheshire

County, New Hampshire, on July 8, 1776. Mr. Mack was remembered as

a feeble old man, who rode around the country on horseback, using a

woman's saddle, and selling his own autobiography. The "tramp" of those

early days often offered an autobiography, or what passed for one, and,

as books were then rare, if he could say that it contained an account of

actual adventures in the recent wars, he was certain to find purchasers.

* "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and his Progenitors for

Many Generations," Lucy Smith.

One of the few copies of this book in existence lies before me. It

was printed at the author's expense about the year 1810. It is wholly

without interest as a narrative, telling of the poverty of his parents,

how he was bound, when four years old, to a farmer who gave him no

education and worked him like a slave; gives some of his experiences in

the campaigns against the French and Indians in northern New York and

in the war of the Revolution, when he was in turn teamster, sutler,

and privateer; describes with minute detail many ordinary illnesses and

accidents that befell him; and closes with a recital of his religious

awakening, which was deferred until his seventy-sixth year, while he was

suffering with rheumatism. At that time it seemed to him that he several

times "saw a bright light in a dark night," and thought he heard a voice

calling to him. Twenty-two of the forty-eight duodecimo pages that the

book contains are devoted to hymns "composed," the title-page says, "on

the death of several of his relatives," not all by himself. One of these

may be quoted entire:--

"My friends, I am on the ocean, So sweetly do I sail; Jesus is my

portion, He's given me a pleasant gale.

"The bruises sore, In harbor soon I'll be, And see my redeemer there

That died for you and me."

Mrs. Smith's family seem to have had a natural tendency to belief in

revelations. Her eldest brother, Jason, became a "Seeker"; the "Seekers"

of that day believed that the devout of their times could, through

prayer and faith, secure the "gifts" of the Gospel which were granted to

the ancient apostles.* He was one of the early believers in faith-cure,

and was, we are told, himself cured by that means in 1835. One of Lucy's

sisters had a miraculous recovery from illness. After being an invalid

for two years she was "borne away to the world of spirits," where she

saw the Saviour and received a message from Him for her earthly friends.

* A sect called "Seekers," who arose in 1645, taught, like the

Mormons, that the Scriptures are defective, the true church lost, and

miracles necessary to faith.

Lucy herself came very exactly under the description given by Ruth

McEnery Stuart of one of her negro characters: "Duke's mother was of the

slighter intelligences, and hence much given to convictions. Knowing

few things, she 'believed in' a great many." Lucy Smith had neither

education nor natural intelligence that would interfere with such

"beliefs" as came to her from family tradition, from her own literal

interpretations of the Bible, or from the workings of her imagination.

She tells us that after her marriage, when very ill, she made a covenant

with God that she would serve him if her recovery was granted; thereupon

she heard a voice giving her assurance that her prayer would be

answered, and she was better the next morning. Later, when anxious for

the safety of her husband's soul, she prayed in a grove (most of

the early Mormons' prayers were made in the woods), and saw a vision

indicating his coming conversion; later still, in Vermont, a daughter

was restored to health by her parent's prayers.

According to Mrs. Smith's account of their life in Vermont, they were

married on January 24, 1796, at Tunbridge, but soon moved to Randolph,

where Smith was engaged in "merchandise," keeping a store. Learning of

the demand for crystallized ginseng in China, he invested money in that

product and made a shipment, but it proved unprofitable, and, having in

this way lost most of his money, they moved back to a farm at Tunbridge.

Thence they moved to Royalton, and in a few months to Sharon, where,

on December 23, 1805, Joseph Smith, Jr., their fourth child, was born.*

Again they moved to Tunbridge, and then back to Royalton (all these

places in Vermont). From there they went to Lebanon, New Hampshire,

thence to Norwich, Vermont, still "farming" without success, until,

after three years of crop failure, they decided to move to New York

State, arriving there in the summer of 1816.

** There is equally good authority for placing the house in which

Smith was born across the line in Royalton.

Less prejudiced testimony gives an even less favorable view than this of

the elder Smith's business career in Vermont. Judge Daniel Woodward,

of the county court of Windsor, Vermont, near whose father's farm the

Smiths lived, says that the elder Smith while living there was a hunter

for Captain Kidd's treasure, and that he also "became implicated with

one Jack Downing in counterfeiting money, but turned state's evidence

and escaped the penalty."* He had in earlier life been a Universalist,

but afterward became a Methodist. His spiritual welfare gave his wife

much concern, but although he had "two visions" while living in Vermont,

she did not accept his change of heart. She admits, however, that after

their removal to New York her husband obeyed the scriptural injunction,

"your old men shall dream dreams," and she mentions several of these

dreams, the latest in 1819, giving the particulars of some of them. One

sample of these will suffice. The dreamer found himself in a beautiful

garden, with wide walks and a main walk running through the centre. "On

each side of this was a richly carved seat, and on each seat were placed

six wooden images, each of which was the size of a very large man. When

I came to the first image on the right side it arose, bowed to me with

much deference. I then turned to the one which sat opposite to me, on

the left side, and it arose and bowed to me in the same manner as the

first. I continued turning first to the right and then to the left until

the whole twelve had made the obeisance, after which I was entirely

healed (of a lameness from which he then was suffering). I then asked my

guide the meaning of all this, but I awoke before I received an answer."

* Historical Magazine, 1870.

A similar wakefulness always manifested itself at the critical moment

in these dreams. What the world lost by this insomnia of the dreamer the

world will never know.

The Smiths' first residence in New York State was in the village

of Palmyra. There the father displayed a sign, "Cake and Beer Shop,

"selling" gingerbread, pies, boiled eggs, root beer, and other like

notions," and he and his sons did odd jobs, gardening, harvesting, and

well-digging, when they could get them.*

* Tucker's "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 12.

They were very poor, and Mrs. Smith added to their income by painting

oilcloth table covers. After a residence of three years and a half in

Palmyra, the family took possession of a piece of land two miles south

of that place, on the border of Manchester. They had no title to it,

but as the owners were nonresident minors they were not disturbed. There

they put up a little log house, with two rooms on the ground floor

and two in the attic, which sheltered them all. Later, the elder Smith

contracted to buy the property and erected a farmhouse on it; but he

never completed his title to it.

While classing themselves as farmers, the Smiths were regarded by

their neighbors as shiftless and untrustworthy. They sold cordwood,

vegetables, brooms of their own manufacture, and maple sugar, continuing

to vend cakes in the village when any special occasion attracted a

crowd. It may be remarked here that, while Ontario County, New York, was

regarded as "out West" by seaboard and New England people in 1830,

its population was then almost as large as it is to-day (having 40,288

inhabitants according to the census of 1830 and 48,453 according to the

census of 1890). The father and several of the boys could not read,

and a good deal of the time of the younger sons was spent in hunting,

fishing, and lounging around the village.

The son Joseph did not rise above the social standing of his brothers.

The best that a Mormon biographer, Orson Pratt, could say of him as a

youth was that "He could read without much difficulty, and write a very

imperfect hand, and had a very limited understanding of the elementary

rules of arithmetic. These were his highest and only attainments, while

the rest of those branches so universally taught in the common schools

throughout the United States were entirely unknown to him."* He was "Joe

Smith" to every one. Among the younger people he served as a butt

for jokes, and we are told that the boys who bought the cakes that he

peddled used to pay him in pewter twoshilling pieces, and that when he

called at the Palmyra Register office for his father's weekly paper, the

youngsters in the press room thought it fun to blacken his face with the

ink balls.

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 16.

Here are two pictures of the young man drawn by persons who saw him

constantly in the days of his vagabondage. The first is from Mr.

Tucker's book:--

"At this period in the life and career of Joseph Smith, Jr., or 'Joe

Smith,' as he was universally named, and the Smith family, they were

popularly regarded as an illiterate, whiskey-drinking, shiftless,

irreligious race of people--the first named, the chief subject of this

biography, being unanimously voted the laziest and most worthless of

the generation. From the age of twelve to twenty years he is distinctly

remembered as a dull-eyed, flaxen-haired, prevaricating boy noted

only for his indolent and vagabondish character, and his habits

of exaggeration and untruthfulness. Taciturnity was among his

characteristic idiosyncrasies, and he seldom spoke to any one outside

of his intimate associates, except when first addressed by another;

and then, by reason of his extravagancies of statement, his word was

received with the least confidence by those who knew him best. He could

utter the most palpable exaggeration or marvellous absurdity with the

utmost apparent gravity. He nevertheless evidenced the rapid development

of a thinking, plodding, evil-brewing mental composition--largely given

to inventions of low cunning, schemes of mischief and deception, and

false and mysterious pretensions. In his moral phrenology the professor

might have marked the organ of secretiveness as very large, and that of

conscientiousness omitted. He was, however, proverbially good natured,

very rarely, if ever, indulging in any combative spirit toward any one,

whatever might be the provocation, and yet was never known to laugh.

Albeit, he seemed to be the pride of his indulgent father, who has been

heard to boast of him as the 'genus of the family,' quoting his own

expression."*

* "Remarkable Visions."

The second (drawn a little later) is by Daniel Hendrix, a resident of

Palmyra, New York, at the time of which he speaks, and an assistant in

setting the type and reading the proof of the Mormon Bible:--

"Every one knew him as Joe Smith. He had lived in Palmyra a few years

previous to my going there from Rochester. Joe was the most ragged,

lazy fellow in the place, and that is saying a good deal. He was about

twenty-five years old. I can see him now in my mind's eye, with his torn

and patched trousers held to his form by a pair of suspenders made out

of sheeting, with his calico shirt as dirty and black as the earth, and

his uncombed hair sticking through the holes in his old battered hat. In

winter I used to pity him, for his shoes were so old and worn out that

he must have suffered in the snow and slush; yet Joe had a jovial, easy,

don't-care way about him that made him a lot of warm friends. He was a

good talker, and would have made a fine stump speaker if he had had

the training. He was known among the young men I associated with as a

romancer of the first water. I never knew so ignorant a man as Joe

was to have such a fertile imagination. He never could tell a common

occurrence in his daily life without embellishing the story with his

imagination; yet I remember that he was grieved one day when old Parson

Reed told Joe that he was going to hell for his lying habits."*

* San Jacinto, California, letter of February 2, 1897, to the St.

Louis Globe-Democrat.

To this testimony may be added the following declarations, published in

1833, the year in which a mob drove the Mormons out of Jackson County,

Missouri. The first was signed by eleven of the most prominent citizens

of Manchester, New York, and the second by sixty-two residents of

Palmyra:--

"We, the undersigned, being personally acquainted with the family of

Joseph Smith, Sr., with whom the Gold Bible, so called, originated,

state: That they were not only a lazy, indolent set of men, but also

intemperate, and their word was not to be depended upon; and that we are

truly glad to dispense with their society."

"We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family for

a number of years, while they resided near this place, and we have

no hesitation in saying that we consider them destitute of that

moral character which ought to entitle them to the confidence of any

community. They were particularly famous for visionary projects; spent

much of their time in digging for money which they pretended was hid in

the earth, and to this day large excavations may be seen in the earth,

not far from their residence, where they used to spend their time in

digging for hidden treasures. Joseph Smith, Sr., and his son Joseph

were, in particular, considered entirely destitute of moral character,

and addicted to vicious habits."*

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 261.

Finally may be quoted the following affidavit of Parley Chase:--

"Manchester, New York, December 2, 1833. I was acquainted with the

family of Joseph Smith, Sr., both before and since they became Mormons,

and feel free to state that not one of the male members of the

Smith family were entitled to any credit whatsoever. They were lazy,

intemperate, and worthless men, very much addicted to lying. In this

they frequently boasted their skill. Digging for money was their

principal employment. In regard to their Gold Bible speculation, they

scarcely ever told two stories alike. The Mormon Bible is said to be a

revelation from God, through Joseph Smith, Jr., his Prophet, and this

same Joseph Smith, Jr., to my knowledge, bore the reputation among his

neighbors of being a liar."*

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 248.

The preposterousness of the claims of such a fellow as Smith to

prophetic powers and divinely revealed information were so apparent to

his local acquaintances that they gave them little attention. One of

these has remarked to me in recent years that if they had had any idea

of the acceptance of Joe's professions by a permanent church, they would

have put on record a much fuller description of him and his family.

CHAPTER III. -- HOW JOSEPH SMITH BECAME A MONEY-DIGGER

The elder Smith, as we have seen, was known as a money-digger while a

resident of Vermont. Of course that subject as a matter of conversation

in his family, and his sons were a character to share in his belief in

the existence of hidden treasure. The territory around Palmyra was as

good ground for their explorations as any in Vermont, and they soon let

their neighbors know of a possibility of riches that lay within their

reach.

The father, while a resident of Vermont, also claimed ability to locate

an underground stream of water over which would be a good site for a

well, by means of a forked hazel switch,* and in this way doubtless

increased the demand for his services as a well-digger, but we have no

testimonials to his success. The son Joseph, while still a young lad,

professed to have his father's gift in this respect, and he soon added

to his accomplishments the power to locate hidden riches, and in

this way began his career as a money-digger, which was so intimately

connected with his professions as a prophet.

* The so-called "divining rod" has received a good deal of

attention from persons engaged in psychical research. Vol. XIII, Part

II, of the "Proceedings of the Society Of Psychical Research" is devoted

to a discussion of the subject by Professor W. F. Barrett of the

Royal College of Science for Ireland, in Dublin, and in March, 1890, a

commission was appointed in France to study the matter.

Writers on the origin of the Mormon Bible, and the gradual development

of Smith the Prophet from Smith the village loafer and money-seeker,

have left their readers unsatisfied on many points. Many of these

obscurities will be removed by a very careful examination of Joseph's

occupations and declarations during the years immediately preceding the

announcement of the revelation and delivery to him of the golden plates.

The deciding event in Joe's career was a trip to Susquehanna County,

Pennsylvania, when he was a lad. It can be shown that it was there that

he obtained an idea of vision-seeing nearly ten years before the date he

gives in his autobiography as that of the delivery to him of the golden

plates containing the Book of Mormon, and it was there probably that, in

some way, he later formed the acquaintance of Sidney Rigdon. It can also

be shown that the original version of his vision differed radically

from the one presented, after the lapse of another ten years spent under

Rigdon's tutelage, in his autobiography. Each of these points is of

great incidental value in establishing Rigdon's connection with the

conception of a new Bible, and the manner of its presentation to the

public. Later Mormon authorities have shown a dislike to concede that

Joe was a money-digger, but the fact is admitted both in his mother's

history of him and by himself. His own statement about it is as

follows:--

"In the month of October, 1825, I hired with an old gentleman by the

name of Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango County, State of New York.

He had heard something of a silver mine having been opened by the

Spaniards in Harmony, Susquehanna County, State of Pennsylvania, and

had, previous to my hiring with him, been digging in order, if possible,

to discover the mine. After I went to live with him he took me, among

the rest of his hands, to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued

to work for nearly a month, without success in our undertaking, and

finally I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging for it.

Hence arose the very prevalent story of my having been a moneydigger."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt., p. 6.

Mother Smith's account says, however, that Stoal "came for Joseph on

account of having heard that he possessed certain keys by which he could

discern things invisible to the natural eye"; thus showing that he had

a reputation as a "gazer" before that date. It was such discrepancies

as these which led Brigham Young to endeavor to suppress the mother's

narrative.

The "gazing" which Joe took up is one of the oldest--perhaps the

oldest--form of alleged human divination, and has been called

"mirror-gazing," "crystal-gazing," "crystal vision," and the like. Its

practice dates back certainly three thousand years, having been noted

in all ages, and among nations uncivilized as well as civilized. Some

students of the subject connect with such divination Joseph's silver cup

"whereby indeed he divineth" (Genesis xliv. 5). Others, long before the

days of Smith and Rigdon, advanced the theory that the Urim and Thummim

were clear crystals intended for "gazing" purposes. One writer remarks

of the practice, "Aeschylus refers it to Prometheus, Cicero to the

Assyrians and Etruscans, Zoroaster to Ahriman, Varro to the Persian

Magi, and a very large class of authors, from the Christian Fathers and

Schoolmen downward, to the devil."* An act of James I (1736), against

witchcraft in England, made it a crime to pretend to discover property

"by any occult or crafty science." As indicating the universal knowledge

of "gazing," it may be further noted that Varro mentions its practice

among the Romans and Pausanias among the Greeks. It was known to the

ancient Peruvians. It is practised to-day by East Indians, Africans

(including Egyptians), Maoris, Siberians, by Australian, Polynesian, and

Zulu savages, by many of the tribes of American Indians, and by persons

of the highest culture in Europe and America.** Andrew Lang's collection

of testimony about visions seen in crystals by English women in 1897

might seem convincing to any one who has not had experience in weighing

testimony in regard to spiritualistic manifestations, or brought this

testimony alongside of that in behalf of the "occult phenomena" of Adept

Brothers presented by Sinnett.***

* Recent Experiments in "Crystal Vision," Vol. V, "Proceedings of

the Society for Psychical Research."

** Lang's "The Making of Religion," Chap. V.

*** "The Occult World."

"Gazers" use different methods. Some look into water contained in a

vessel, some into a drop of blood, some into ink, some into a round

opaque stone, some into mirrors, and many into some form of crystal or a

glass ball. Indeed, the "gazer" seems to be quite independent as to the

medium of his sight-seeing, so long as he has the "power." This "power"

is put also to a great variety of uses. Australian savages depend on it

to foretell the outcome of an attack on their enemies; Apaches resort to

it to discover the whereabouts of things lost or stolen; and Malagasies,

Zulus, and Siberians to see what will happen. Perhaps its most general

use has been to discover lost objects, and in this practice the seers

have very often been children, as we shall see was the case in the

exhibition which gave Joe Smith his first idea on the subject. In the

experiments cited by Lang, the seers usually saw distant persons or

scenes, and he records his belief that "experiments have proved beyond

doubt that a fair percentage of people, sane and healthy, can see vivid

landscapes, and figures of persons in motion, in glass balls and other

vehicles."

It can easily be imagined how interested any member of the Smith family

would have been in an exhibition like that of a "crystal-gazer," and

we are able to trace very consecutively Joe's first introduction to the

practice, and the use he made of the hint thus given.

Emily C. Blackman, in the appendix to her "History of Susquehanna

County, Pennsylvania" (1873), supplies the needed important information

about Joe's visits to Pennsylvania in the years preceding the

announcement of his Bible. She says that it is uncertain when he arrived

at Harmony (now Oakland), "but it is certain he was here in 1825 and

later." A very circumstantial account of Joe's first introduction to a

"peep-stone" is given in a statement by J. B. Buck in this appendix. He

says:--

"Joe Smith was here lumbering soon after my marriage, which was in

1818, some years before he took to 'peeping', and before diggings were

commenced under his direction. These were ideas he gained later. The

stone which he afterward used was in the possession of Jack Belcher of

Gibson, who obtained it while at Salina, N. Y., engaged in drawing salt.

Belcher bought it because it was said to be a 'seeing-stone.' I have

often seen it. It was a green stone, with brown irregular spots on it.

It was a little longer than a goose's egg, and about the same thickness.

When he brought it home and covered it with a hat, Belcher's little boy

was one of the first to look into the hat, and as he did so, he said he

saw a candle. The second time he looked in he exclaimed, 'I've found my

hatchet' (it had been lost two years), and immediately ran for it to

the spot shown him through the stone, and it was there. The boy was soon

beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them hidden things, and

he succeeded marvellously. Joe Smith, conceiving the idea of making

a fortune through a similar process of 'seeing,' bought the stone

of Belcher, and then began his operations in directing where hidden

treasures could be found. His first diggings were near Capt. Buck's

sawmill, at Red Rock; but because the followers broke the rule of

silence, 'the enchantment removed the deposit.'"

One of many stories of Joe's treasure-digging, current in that

neighborhood, Miss Blackman narrates. Learning from a strolling Indian

of a place where treasure was said to be buried, Joe induced a farmer

named Harper to join him in digging for it and to spend a considerable

sum of money in the enterprise. "After digging a great hole, that is

still to be seen," the story continues, "Harper got discouraged, and was

about abandoning the enterprise. Joe now declared to Harper that there

was an 'enchantment' about the place that was removing the treasure

farther off; that Harper must get a perfectly white dog (some said

a black one), and sprinkle his blood over the ground, and that would

prevent the 'enchantment' from removing the treasure. Search was made

all over the country, but no perfectly white dog could be found. Then

Joe said a white sheep would do as well; but when this was sacrificed

and failed, he said The Almighty was displeased with him for attempting

to palm off on Him a white sheep for a white dog." This informant

describes Joe at that time as "an imaginative enthusiast,

constitutionally opposed to work, and a general favorite with the

ladies."

In confirmation of this, R. C. Doud asserted that "in 1822 he was

employed, with thirteen others, by Oliver Harper to dig for gold

under Joe's direction on Joseph McKune's land, and that Joe had begun

operations the year previous."

F. G. Mather obtained substantially the same particulars of Joe's

digging in connection with Harper from the widow of Joseph McKune about

the year 1879, and he said that the owner of the farm at that time "for

a number of years had been engaged in filling the holes with stone

to protect his cattle, but the boys still use the northeast hole as a

swimming pond in the summer."*

* Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1880.

Confirmation of the important parts of these statements has been

furnished by Joseph's father. When the reports of the discovery of a new

Bible first gained local currency (in 1830), Fayette Lapham decided to

visit the Smith family, and learn what he could on the subject. He found

the elder Smith very communicative, and he wrote out a report of his

conversation with him, "as near as I can repeat his words," he says, and

it was printed in the Historical Magazine for May, 1870. Father Smith

made no concealment of his belief in witchcraft and other things

supernatural, as well as in the existence of a vast amount of buried

treasure. What he said of Joe's initiation into "crystal-gazing" Mr.

Lapham thus records:--

"His son Joseph, whom he called the illiterate,* when he was about

fourteen years of age, happened to be where a man was looking into a

dark stone, and telling people therefrom where to dig for money and

other things. Joseph requested the privilege of looking into the stone,

which he did by putting his face into the hat where the stone was. It

proved to be not the right stone for him; but he could see some things,

and among them he saw the stone, and where it was, in which he could see

whatever he wished to see.... The place where he saw the stone was not

far from their house, and under pretence of digging a well, they found

water and the stone at a depth of twenty or twenty-two feet. After this,

Joseph spent about two years looking into this stone, telling fortunes,

where to find lost things, and where to dig for money and other hidden

treasures."

* Joe's mother, describing Joe's descriptions to the family, at

their evening fireside, of the angel's revelations concerning the golden

plates, says (p. 84): "All giving the most profound attention to a boy

eighteen years of age, who had never read the Bible through in his life;

he seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the

rest of our children."

If further confirmation of Joe's early knowledge on this subject is

required, we may cite the Rev. John A. Clark, D.D., who, writing in 1840

after careful local research, said: "Long before the idea of a golden

Bible entered their [the Smiths'] minds, in their excursions for

money-digging.... Joe used to be usually their guide, putting into a hat

a peculiar stone he had, through which he looked to decide where they

should begin to dig."*

* "Gleanings by the Way" (1842), p. 225.

We come now to the history of Joe's own "peek-stone" (as the family

generally called it), that which his father says he discovered by using

the one that he first saw. Willard Chase, of Manchester, New York, near

Palmyra, employed Joe and his brother Alvin some time in the year 1822

(as he fixed the date in his affidavit)* to assist him in digging a

well. "After digging about twenty feet below the surface of the earth,"

he says, "we discovered a singularly appearing stone which excited my

curiosity. I brought it to the top of the well, and as we were examining

it, Joseph put it into his hat and then his face into the top of the

hat. It has been said by Smith that he brought the stone from the well,

but this is false. There was no one in the well but myself. The next

morning he came to me and wished to obtain the stone, alleging that

he could see in it; but I told him I did not wish to part with it on

account of its being a curiosity, but would lend it. After obtaining

the stone, he began to publish abroad what wonders he could discover by

looking in it, and made so much disturbance among the credulous part of

the community that I ordered the stone to be returned to me again.

He had it in his possession about two years." Joseph's brother Hyrum

borrowed the stone some time in 1825, and Mr. Chase was unable to

recover it afterward. Tucker describes it as resembling a child's foot

in shape, and "of a whitish, glassy appearance, though opaque."**

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 240.

** Tucker closes his chapter about this stone with the

declaration "that the origin [of Mormonism] is traceable to the

insignificant little stone found in the digging of Mr. Chase's well in

1822." Tucker was evidently ignorant both of Joe's previous experience

with "crystal-gazing" in Pennsylvania and of "crystal-gazing" itself.

The Smiths at once began turning Chase's stone to their own financial

account, but no one at the time heard that it was giving them any

information about revealed religion. For pay they offered to disclose by

means of it the location of stolen property and of buried money. There

seemed to be no limit to the exaggeration of their professions. They

would point out the precise spot beneath which lay kegs, barrels, and

even hogsheads of gold and silver in the shape of coin, bars, images,

candlesticks, etc., and they even asserted that all the hills thereabout

were the work of human bands, and that Joe, by using his "peek-stone,"

could see the caverns beneath them.* Persons can always be found to give

at least enough credence to such professions to desire to test them. It

was so in this case. Joe not only secured small sums on the promise of

discovering lost articles, but he raised money to enable him to dig for

larger treasure which he was to locate by means of the stone. A Palmyra

man, for instance, paid seventy-five cents to be sent by him on a fool's

errand to look for some stolen cloth.

* William Stafford's affidavit, Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p.

237.

Certain ceremonies were always connected with these money-digging

operations. Midnight was the favorite hour, a full moon was helpful, and

Good Friday was the best date. Joe would sometimes stand by, directing

the digging with a wand. The utmost silence was necessary to success.

More than once, when the digging proved a failure, Joe explained to his

associates that, just as the deposit was about to be reached, some one,

tempted by the devil, spoke, causing the wished-for riches to disappear.

Such an explanation of his failures was by no means original with

Smith, the serious results of an untimely spoken word having been long

associated with divers magic performances. Joe even tried on his New

York victims the Pennsylvania device of requiring the sacrifice of

a black sheep to overcome the evil spirit that guarded the treasure.

William Stafford opportunely owned such an animal, and, as he puts

it, "to gratify my curiosity," he let the Smiths have it. But some new

"mistake in the process" again resulted in disappointment. "This, I

believe," remarks the contributor of the sheep, "is the only time they

ever made money-digging a profitable business." The Smiths ate the

sheep.

These money-seeking enterprises were continued from 1820 to 1827 (the

year of the delivery to Smith of the golden plates). This period

covers the years in which Joe, in his autobiography, confesses that

he "displayed the corruption of human nature." He explains that his

father's family were poor, and that they worked where they could find

employment to their taste; "sometimes we were at home and sometimes

abroad." Some of these trips took them to Pennsylvania, and the stories

of Joe's "gazing" accomplishment may have reached Sidney Rigdon, and

brought about their first interview. Susquehanna County was more thinly

settled than the region around Palmyra, and Joe found persons who were

ready to credit him with various "gifts"; and stories are still current

there of his professed ability to perform miracles, to pray the frost

away from a cornfield, and the like.*

* Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1880.

CHAPTER IV. -- FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GOLDEN BIBLE

Just when Smith's attention was originally diverted from the discovery

of buried money to the discovery of a buried Bible engraved on gold

plates remains one of the unexplained points in his history. He was

so much of a romancer that his own statements at the time, which were

carefully collected by Howe, are contradictory. The description given of

the buried volume itself changed from time to time, giving strength in

this way to the theory that Rigdon was attracted to Smith by the rumor

of his discovery, and afterward gave it shape. First the book was

announced to be a secular history, says Dr. Clark; then a gold Bible;

then golden plates engraved; and later metallic plates, stereotyped or

embossed with golden letters.* Daniel Hendrix's recollection was that

for the first few months Joe did not claim the plates any new revelation

or religious significance, but simply that they were a historical record

of an ancient people. This would indicate that he had possession of the

"Spaulding Manuscript" before it received any theological additions.

* "Gleanings by the Way," p. 229.

The account of the revelation of the book by an angel, which is accepted

by the Mormons, is the one elaborated in Smith's autobiography, and

was not written until 1838, when it was prepared under the direction of

Rigdon (or by him). Before examining this later version of the story, we

may follow a little farther Joe's local history at the time.

While the Smiths were conducting their operations in Pennsylvania, and

Joseph was "displaying the corruption of human nature," they boarded for

a time in the family of Isaac Hale, who is described as a "distinguished

hunter, a zealous member of the Methodist church," and (as later

testified to by two judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Susquehanna

County)" a man of excellent moral character and of undoubted veracity."*

Mr. Hale had three daughters, and Joe received enough encouragement to

his addresses to Emma to induce him to ask her father's consent to their

marriage. This consent was flatly refused. Mr. Hale made a statement

in 1834, covering his knowledge of Smith and the origin of the Mormon

Bible.** When he became acquainted with the future prophet, in 1825, Joe

was employed by the so-called "money-diggers," using his "peek-stone."

Among the reasons which Mr. Hale gave for refusing consent to the

marriage was that Smith was a stranger and followed a business which he

could not approve.

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 266.

** Ibid., p. 262.

Joe thereupon induced Emma to consent to an elopement, and they were

married on January 18, 1827, by a justice of the peace, just across

the line in New York State. Not daring to return to the house of his

father-in-law, Joe took his wife to his own home, near Palmyra, New

York, where for some months he worked again with his father.

In the following August Joe hired a neighbor named Peter Ingersol to

go with him to Pennsylvania to bring from there some household effects

belonging to Emma. Of this trip Ingersol said, in an affidavit made in

1833:--

"When we arrived at Mr. Hale's in Harmony, Pa., from which place he

had taken his wife, a scene presented itself truly affecting. His

father-in-law addressed Joseph in a flood of tears: 'You have stolen

my daughter and married her. I had much rather have followed her to her

grave. You spend your time in digging for money--pretend to see in a

stone, and thus try to deceive people.' Joseph wept and acknowledged

that he could not see in a stone now nor never could, and that his

former pretensions in that respect were false. He then promised to give

up his old habits of digging for money and looking into stones. Mr. Hale

told Joseph, if he would move to Pennsylvania and work for a living,

he would assist him in getting into business. Joseph acceded to this

proposition, then returned with Joseph and his wife to Manchester....

"Joseph told me on his return that he intended to keep the promise which

he had made to his father-in-law; 'but,' said he, it will be hard for

me, for they [his family] will all oppose, as they want me to look in

the stone for them to dig money'; and in fact it was as he predicted.

They urged him day after day to resume his old practice of looking in

the stone. He seemed much perplexed as to the course he should pursue.

In this dilemma he made me his confidant, and told me what daily

transpired in the family of Smiths.

"One day he came and greeted me with joyful countenance. Upon asking the

cause of his unusual happiness, he replied in the following language:

'As I was passing yesterday across the woods, after a heavy shower of

rain, I found in a hollow some beautiful white sand that had been washed

up by the water. I took off my frock and tied up several quarts of it,

and then went home. On entering the house I found the family at the

table eating dinner. They were all anxious to know the contents of

my frock. At that moment I happened to think about a history found in

Canada, called a Golden Bible;* so I very gravely told them it was the

Golden Bible. To my surprise they were credulous enough to believe what

I said. Accordingly I told them I had received a commandment to let

no one see it, for, says I, no man can see it with the natural eye and

live. However, I offered to take out the book and show it to them, but

they refused to see it and left the room. 'Now,' said Joe, 'I have got

the d--d fools fixed and will carry out the fun.' Notwithstanding he

told me he had no such book and believed there never was such book, he

told me he actually went to Willard Chase, to get him to make a chest in

which he might deposit the Golden Bible. But as Chase would not do it,

he made the box himself of clapboards, and put it into a pillow-case,

and allowed people only to lift it and feel of it through the case."**

* The most careful inquiries bring no information that any such

story was ever current in Canada.

** Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 234.

In line with this statement of Joe to Ingersol is a statement which

somewhat later he made to his brother-in-law, Alva Hale, that "this

'peeking' was all d--d nonsense; that he intended to quit the business

and labor for a livelihood."*

* Ibid., p. 268.

Joe's family were quite ready to accept his statement of his discovery

of golden plates for more reasons than one. They saw in it, in the first

place, a means of pecuniary gain. Abigail Harris in a statement (dated

"11th mo., 28th, 1833") of a talk she had with Joe's father and mother

at Martin Harris's house, said:--

"They [the Smiths] said the plates Joe then had in possession were but

an introduction to the Gold Bible; that all of them upon which the Bible

was written were so heavy that it would take four stout men to load them

into a cart; that Joseph had also discerned by looking through his stone

the vessel in which the gold was melted from which the plates were made,

and also the machine with which they were rolled; he also discovered in

the bottom of the vessel three balls of gold, each as large as his fist.

The old lady said also that after the book was translated, the plates

were to be publicly exhibited, admission 25 cts."*

* Ibid, p. 253.

But aside from this pecuniary view, the idea of a new Bible would have

been eagerly accepted by a woman like Mrs. Smith, and a mere intimation

by Joe of such a discovery would have given him, in her, an instigator

to the carrying out of the plot. It is said that she had predicted that

she was to be the mother of a prophet. She tells us that although, in

Vermont, she was a diligent church attendant, she found all preachers

unsatisfactory, and that she reached the conclusion that "there was not

on earth the religion she sought." Joe, in his description of his state

of mind just before the first visit of the angel who told him about

the plates, describes himself as distracted by the "war and tumult of

opinions." He doubtless heard this subject talked of by his mother

in the home circle, but none of his acquaintances at the time had any

reason to think that he was laboring under such mental distress.

The second person in the neighborhood whom Joe approached about his

discovery was Willard Chase, in whose well the "peek-stone" was found.

Mr. Chase in his statement (given at length by Howe) says that Joe

applied to him, soon after the above quoted conversation with Ingersol,

to make a chest in which to lock up his Gold Book, offering Chase an

interest in it as compensation. He told Chase that the discovery of

the book was due to the "peek-stone," making no allusion whatever to an

angel's visit. He and Chase could not come to terms, and Joe accordingly

made a box in which what he asserted were the plates were placed.

Reports of Joe's discovery soon gained currency in the neighborhood

through the family's account of it, and neighbors who had accompanied

them on the money-seeking expeditions came to hear about the new Bible,

and to request permission to see it. Joe warded off these requests

by reiterating that no man but him could look upon it and live.

"Conflicting stories were afterward told," says Tucker, "in regard to

the manner of keeping the book in concealment and safety, which are

not worth repeating, further than to mention that the first place of

secretion was said to be under a heavy hearthstone in the Smith family

mansion."

Joe's mother and Parley P. Pratt tell of determined efforts of mobs and

individuals to secure possession of the plates; but their statements

cannot be taken seriously, and are contradicted by Tucker from personal

knowledge. Tucker relates that two local wags, William T. Hussey and

Azel Vandruver, intimate acquaintances of Smith, on asking for a sight

of the book and hearing Joe's usual excuse, declared their readiness to

risk their lives if that were the price of the privilege. Smith was not

to be persuaded, but, the story continues, "they were permitted to go to

the chest with its owner, and see WHERE the thing was, and observe its

shape and size, concealed under a piece of thick canvas. Smith, with his

accustomed solemnity of demeanor, positively persisting in his refusal

to uncover it, Hussey became impetuous, and (suiting his action to

his word) ejaculated, 'Egad, I'll see the critter, live or die,' and

stripping off the canvas, a large tile brick was exhibited. But Smith's

fertile imagination was equal to the emergency. He claimed that his

friends had been sold by a trick of his."*

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 31.

Mother Smith, in her book, gives an account of proceedings in court

brought by the wife of Martin Harris to protect her husband's property

from Smith, on the plea that Smith was deceiving him in alleging the

existence of golden plates; and she relates how one witness testified

that Joe told him that "the box which he had contained nothing but sand,"

that a second witness swore that Joe told him, "it was nothing but a

box of lead," and that a third witness declared that Joe had told him

"there was nothing at all in the box." When Joe had once started the

story of his discovery, he elaborated it in his usual way. "I distinctly

remember," says Daniel Hendrix, "his sitting on some boxes in the store

and telling a knot of men, who did not believe a word they heard, all

about his vision and his find. But Joe went into such minute and careful

details about the size, weight, and beauty of the carvings on the golden

tablets, and strange characters and the ancient adornments, that I

confess he made some of the smartest men in Palmyra rub their eyes in

wonder."

CHAPTER V. -- THE DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF THE REVELATION OF THE BIBLE

The precise date when Joe's attention was first called to the

possibility of changing the story about his alleged golden plates so

that they would serve as the basis for a new Bible such as was finally

produced, and as a means of making him a prophet, cannot be ascertained.

That some directing mind gave the final shape to the scheme is shown by

the difference between the first accounts of his discovery by means

of the stone, and the one provided in his autobiography. We have also

evidence that the story of a direct revelation by an angel came some

time later than the version which Joe gave first to his acquaintances in

Pennsylvania.

James T. Cobb of Salt Lake City, who has given much time to

investigating matters connected with early Mormon history, received a

letter under date of April 23, 1879, from Hiel and Joseph Lewis, sons

of the Rev. Nathaniel Lewis, of Harmony, Pennsylvania, and relatives of

Joseph's father-in-law, in which they gave the story of the finding of

the plates as told in their hearing by Joe to their father, when he was

translating them. This statement, in effect, was that he dreamed of

an iron box containing gold plates curiously engraved, which he must

translate into a book; that twice when he attempted to secure the plates

he was knocked down, and when he asked why he could not have them, "he

saw a man standing over the spot who, to him, appeared like a Spaniard,

having a long beard down over his breast, with his throat cut from ear

to ear and the blood streaming down, who told him that he could not get

it alone." (He then narrated how he got the box in company with Emma.)

In all this narrative there was not one word about visions of God, or of

angels, or heavenly revelations; all his information was by that dream

and that bleeding ghost. The heavenly visions and messages of angels,

etc., contained in the Mormon books were afterthoughts, revised to

order.

In direct confirmation of this we have the following account of the

disclosure of the buried articles as given by Joe's father to Fayette

Lapham when the Bible was first published:--

"Soon after joining the church he [Joseph] had a very singular dream....

A very large, tall man appeared to him dressed in an ancient suit of

clothes, and the clothes were bloody. This man told him of a buried

treasure, and gave him directions by means of which he could find the

place. In the course of a year Smith did find it, and, visiting it by

night, "I by some supernatural power" was enabled to overturn a huge

boulder under which was a square block of masonry, in the centre of

which were the articles as described. Taking up the first article, he

saw others below; laying down the first, he endeavored to secure the

others; but, before he could get hold of them, the one he had taken up

slid back to the place he had taken it from, and, to his great surprise

and terror, the rock immediately fell back to its former place, nearly

crushing him [Joseph] in its descent. While trying in vain to raise the

rock again with levers, Joseph felt something strike him on the breast,

a third blow knocking him down; and as he lay on the ground he saw

the tall man, who told him that the delivery of the articles would be

deferred a year because Joseph had not strictly followed the directions

given to him. The heedless Joseph allowed himself to forget the date

fixed for his next visit, and when he went to the place again, the tall

man appeared and told him that, because of his lack of punctuality, he

would have to wait still another year before the hidden articles would

be confided to him. "Come in one year from this time, and bring your

oldest brother with you," said the guardian of the treasures, "then you

may have them." Before the date named arrived, the elder brother

had died, and Joseph decided that his wife was the proper person to

accompany him. Mr. Lapham's report proceeds as follows:--

"At the expiration of the year he [Joseph] procured a horse and light

wagon, with a chest and pillowcase, and proceeded punctually with his

wife to find the hidden treasure. When they had gone as far as they

could with the wagon, Joseph took the pillow-case and started for the

rock. Upon passing a fence a host of devils began to screech and

to scream, and make all sorts of hideous yells, for the purpose of

terrifying him and preventing the attainment of his object; but Joseph

was courageous and pursued his way in spite of them. Arriving at the

stone, he again lifted it with the aid of superhuman power, as at

first, and secured the first or uppermost article, this time putting it

carefully into the pillow-case before laying it down. He now attempted

to secure the remainder; but just then the same old man appeared, and

said to him that the time had not yet arrived for their exhibition to

the world, but that when the proper time came he should have them and

exhibit them, with the one he had now secured; until that time arrived,

no one must be allowed to touch the one he had in his possession; for

if they did, they would be knocked down by some superhuman power. Joseph

ascertained that the remaining articles were a gold hilt and chain, and

a gold ball with two pointers. The hilt and chain had once been part

of a sword of unusual size; but the blade had rusted away and become

useless. Joseph then turned the rock back, took the article in the

pillow-case, and returned to the wagon. The devils, with more hideous

yells than before, followed him to the fence; as he was getting over the

fence, one of the devils struck him a blow on the side, where a black

and blue spot remained three or four days; but Joseph persevered and

brought the article safely home. "I weighed it," said Mr. Smith, Sr.,

"and it weighed 30 pounds." In answer to our question as to what it was

that Joseph had thus obtained, he said it consisted of a set of gold

plates, about six inches wide and nine or ten inches long. They were in

the form of a book."*

* Historical Magazine, May, 1870.

We may now contrast these early accounts of the disclosure with the

version given in the Prophet's autobiography (written, be it remembered,

in Nauvoo in 1838), the one accepted by all orthodox Mormons. One of

its striking features will be found to be the transformation of the

Spaniard-with-his-throat-cut into a messenger from Heaven.*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt.

It was, according to this later account, when he was in his fifteenth

year, and when his father's family were "proselyted to the Presbyterian

church," that he became puzzled by the divergent opinions he heard from

different pulpits. One day, while reading the epistle of James (not a

common habit of his, as his mother would testify), Joseph was struck by

the words, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Reflecting

on this injunction, he retired to the woods on the morning of a

beautiful clear day early in the spring of 1820, and there he for the

first time uttered a spoken prayer. As soon as he began praying he was

overcome by some power, and "thick darkness" gathered around him. Just

when he was ready to give himself up as lost, he managed to call on God

for deliverance, whereupon he saw a pillar of light descending upon him,

and two personages of indescribable glory standing in the air above him,

one of whom, calling him by name, said to the other, "This is my beloved

Son, hear him." Straightway Joseph, not forgetting the main object of

his going to the woods, asked the two personages: "which of all the

sects was right." He was told that all were wrong, and that he must

join none of them; that all creeds were an abomination, and that all

professors were corrupt. He came to himself lying on his back.

The effect on the boy of this startling manifestation was not radically

beneficial, as he himself concedes. "Forbidden to join any other

religious sects of the day, of tender years," and badly treated by

persons who should have been his friends, he admits that in the next

three years he "frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed

the weakness of youth and the corruption of human nature, which, I am

sorry to say, led me into diverse temptations, to the gratification of

many appetites offensive in the sight of God." It was during this period

that he was most active in the use of his "peek-stone."

On the night of September 21, 1823, to proceed with his own account,

when again praying to God for the forgiveness of his sins, the room

became light, and a person clothed in a robe of exquisite whiteness,

and having "a countenance truly like lightning," called him by name, and

said that his visitor was a messenger sent from God, and that his name

was Nephi. This was a mistake on the part of somebody, because the

visitor's real name was Moroni, who hid the plates where they were

deposited. Smith continues:--

"He said there was a book deposited, written upon golden plates, giving

an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and the

source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the

Everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to

the ancient inhabitants. Also, there were two stones in silver bows (and

these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the

Urim and Thummim) deposited with the plates; and the possession and use

of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times,

and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."

The messenger then made some liberal quotations from the prophecies

of the Old Testament (changing them to suit his purpose), and ended by

commanding Smith, when he got the plates, at a future date, to show them

only to those as commanded, lest he be destroyed. Then he ascended into

heaven. The next day the messenger appeared again, and directed Joseph

to tell his father of the commandment which he had received. When he had

done so, his father told him to go as directed. He knew the place (ever

since known locally as "Mormon Hill") as soon as he arrived there, and

his narrative proceeds as follows:--

"Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y., stands

a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the

neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under

a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box;

this stone was thick and rounded in the middle on the upper side, and

thinner toward the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible

above the ground, but the edge all round was covered with earth. Having

removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge

of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up, I looked in,

and there, indeed, did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim and

breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was

formed by laying stones together in a kind of cement. In the bottom of

the box were laid two stones crosswise of the box, and on these stones

lay the plates and the other things with them. I made an attempt to take

them out, but was forbidden by the messenger. I was again informed that

the time for bringing them out had not yet arrived, neither would till

four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that

place precisely one year from that time, and that he would there meet

with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come

for obtaining the plates".

Mother Smith gives an explanation of Joe's failure to secure the plates

on this occasion, which he omits: "As he was taking them, the unhappy

thought darted through his mind that probably there was something else

in the box besides the plates, which would be of pecuniary advantage

to him.... Joseph was overcome by the power of darkness, and forgot the

injunction that was laid upon him." The mistakes which the Deity made in

Joe's character constantly suggest to the lay reader the query why the

Urim and Thummim were not turned on Joe.

On September 22, 1827, when Joe visited the hill (following his own

story again), the same messenger delivered to him the plates, the Urim

and Thummim and the breastplate, with the warning that if he "let them

go carelessly" he would be "cut off", and a charge to keep them until

the messenger called for them.

Mother Smith's story of the securing of the plates is to the effect that

about midnight of September 21 Joseph and his wife drove away from his

father's house with a horse and wagon belonging to a Mr. Knight. He

returned after breakfast the next morning, bringing with him the Urim

and Thummim, which he showed to her, and which she describes as "two

smooth, three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set

in silver bows that were connected with each other in much the same way

as old-fashioned spectacles." She says that she also saw the breastplate

through a handkerchief, and that it "was concave on one side and convex

on the other, and extended from the neck downward as far as the stomach

of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material

for the purpose of fastening it to the breast.... The whole plate was

worth at least $500." The spectacles and breastplate seem to have

been more familiar to Mother Smith than to any other of Joseph's

contemporaries and witnesses.

The substitution of the spectacles called Urim and Thummim for the

"peek-stone" was doubtless an idea of the associate in the plot, who

supplied the theological material found in the Golden Bible. Tucker

considers the "spectacle pretension" an afterthought of some one when

the scheme of translating the plates into a Bible was evolved, as "it

was not heard of outside of the Smith family for a considerable period

subsequent to the first story."* This is confirmed by the elder Smith's

early account of the discovery. It would be very natural that Rigdon,

with his Bible knowledge, should substitute the more respectable

Urim and Thummim for the "peek-stone" of ill-repute, as the medium of

translation.

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 33.

The Urim and Thummim were the articles named by the Lord to Moses in

His description of the priestly garments of Aaron. The Bible leaves them

without description;* and the following verses contain all that is

said of them: Exodus xxviii. 30; Leviticus viii. 8; Numbers xxvii. 21;

Deuteronomy xxxiii. 8; Samuel xxviii. 6; Ezra ii. 63; Nehemiah vii. 65.

Only a pretence of using spectacles in the work of translating was kept

up, later descriptions of the process by Joe's associates referring

constantly to the employment of the stone.

* "The Hebrew words are generally considered to be plurales

excellentoe, denoting light (that is, revelation) and truth.... There

are two principal opinions respecting the Urim and Thummim. One is

that these words simply denote the four rows of precious stones in the

breastplate of the high priest, and are so called from their brilliancy

and perfection; which stones, in answer to an appeal to God in difficult

cases, indicated His mind and will by some supernatural appearance....

The other principal opinion is that the Urim and Thummim were two small

oracular images similar to the Teraphim, personifying revelation and

truth, which were placed in the cavity or pouch formed by the folds of

the breastplate, and which uttered oracles by a voice.... We incline to

Mr. Mede's opinion that the Urim and Thummim were 'things well known to

the patriarchs' as divinely appointed means of inquiries of the Lord,

suited to an infantile state of religion. 'Cyclopedia of Biblical

Literature.'" Kitto and Alexander, editors.

Joe says that while the plates were in his possession "multitudes" tried

to get them away from him, but that he succeeded in keeping them until

they were translated, and then delivered them again to the messenger,

who still retains them. Mother Smith tells a graphic story of attempts

to get the plates away from her son, and says that when he first

received them he hid them until the next day in a rotten birch log,

bringing them home wrapped in his linen frock under his arm.* Later, she

says, he hid them in a hole dug in the hearth of their house, and again

in a pile of flax in a cooper shop; Willard Chase's daughter almost

found them once by means of a peek-stone of her own.

* Elder Hyde in his "Mormonism" estimates that "from the

description given of them the plates must have weighed nearly two

hundred pounds."

Mother Smith says that Joseph told all the family of his vision the

evening of the day he told his father, charging them to keep it secret,

and she adds:--

"From that time forth Joseph continued to receive instructions from the

Lord, and we continued to get the children together every evening for

the purpose of listening while he gave us a relation of the same. I

presume our family presented an aspect as singular as any that ever

lived upon the face of the earth--all seated in a circle, father,

mother, sons, and daughters, and giving the most profound attention to

a boy eighteen years old, who had never read the Bible through in his

life.... We were now confirmed in the opinion that God was about to

bring to light something upon which we could stay our mind, or that

would give us a more perfect knowledge of the plan of salvation and the

redemption of the human family."

CHAPTER VI. -- TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION OF THE BIBLE

The only one of his New York neighbors who seems to have taken a

practical interest in Joe's alleged discovery was a farmer named Martin

Harris, who lived a little north of Palmyra. Harris was a religious

enthusiast, who had been a Quaker (as his wife was still), a

Universalist, a Baptist, and a Presbyterian, and whose sanity it would

have been difficult to establish in a surrogate's court. The Rev.

Dr. Clark, who knew him intimately, says, "He had always been a firm

believer in dreams, visions, and ghosts."

*Howe describes him as often declaring that he had talked with

Jesus Christ, angels, and the devil, and saying that "Christ was the

handsomest man he ever saw, and the devil looked like a jackass, with

very short, smooth hair similar to that of a mouse." Daniel Hendrix

relates that as he and Harris were riding to the village one evening,

and he remarked on the beauty of the moon, Harris replied that if his

companion could only see it as he had, he might well call it beautiful,

explaining that he had actually visited the moon, and adding that

it "was only the faithful who were permitted to visit the celestial

regions." Jesse Townsend, a resident of Palmyra, in a letter written in

1833, describes him as a visionary fanatic, unhappily married, who "is

considered here to this day a brute in his domestic relations, a fool

and a dupe to Smith in religion, and an unlearned, conceited hypocrite

generally." His wife, in an affidavit printed in Howe's book (p. 255),

says: "He has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house." Harris,

like Joe's mother, was a constant reader of and a literal believer in

the Bible. Tucker says that he "could probably repeat from memory every

text from the Bible, giving the chapter and verse in each case." This

seems to be an exaggeration.

* "Gleanings by the Way."

Mother Smith's account of Harris's early connection with the Bible

enterprise says that her husband told Harris of the existence of the

plates two or three years before Joe got possession of them; that when

Joe secured them he asked her to go and tell Harris that he wanted

to see him on the subject, an errand not to her liking, because "Mr.

Harris's wife was a very peculiar woman," that is, she did not share in

her husband's superstition. Mrs. Smith did not succeed in seeing Harris,

but he soon afterward voluntarily offered Joe fifty dollars "for the

purpose of helping Mr. Smith do the Lord's work." As Harris was

very "close" in money matters, it is probable that Joe offered him a

partnership in the scheme at the start. Harris seems to have placed

much faith in the selling quality of the new Bible. He is said to have

replied to his wife's early declaration of disbelief in it: "What if it

is a lie. If you will let me alone I will make money out of it."* The

Rev. Ezra Booth said: "Harris informed me [after his removal to Ohio]

that he went to the place where Joseph resided [in Pennsylvania], and

Joseph had given it [the translation] up on account of the opposition of

his wife and others; and he told Joseph, 'I have not come down here for

nothing, and we will go on with it.'"**

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 254.

** Ibid., p. 182.

Just at this time Joe was preparing to move to the neighborhood of

Harmony, Pennsylvania, having made a trip there after his marriage,

during which, Mr. Hale's affidavit says, "Smith stated to me that he had

given up what he called 'glass-looking,' and that he expected to work

hard for a living and was willing to do so." Smith's brother-in-law

Alva, in accordance with arrangements then made, went to Palmyra and

helped move his effects to a house near Mr. Hale's. Joe acknowledges

that Harris's gift or loan of fifty dollars enabled him to meet the

expenses of moving.

Parley P. Pratt, in a statement published by him in London in 1854, set

forth that Smith was driven to Pennsylvania from Palmyra through fear of

his life, and that he took the plates with him concealed in a barrel of

beans, thus eluding the efforts of persons who tried to secure them by

means of a search warrant. Tucker says that this story rests only on

the sending of a constable after Smith by a man to whom he owed a small

debt. The great interest manifested in the plates in the neighborhood of

Palmyra existed only in Mormon imagination developed in later years.

According to some accounts, all the work of what was called

"translating" the writing on the plates into what became the "Book of

Mormon" was done at Joe's home in New York State, and most of it in a

cave, but this was not the case. Smith himself says: "Immediately after

my arrival [in Pennsylvania] I commenced copying the characters off the

plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim

and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time

I arrived, at the house of my wife's father in the month of December

(1827) and the February following."

A clear description of the work of translating as carried on in

Pennsylvania is given in the affidavit made by Smith's father-in-law,

Isaac Hale, in 1834.* He says that soon after Joe's removal to his

neighborhood with his wife, he (Hale) was shown a box such as is used

for the shipment of window glass, and was told that it contained the

"book of plates"; he was allowed to lift it, but not to look into it.

Joe told him that the first person who would be allowed to see the

plates would be a young child.** The affidavit continues:--

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 264.

** Joe's early announcement was that his first-born child was to

have this power, but the child was born dead. This was one of the

earliest of Joe's mistakes in prophesying.

"About this time Martin Harris made his appearance upon the stage, and

Smith began to interpret the characters, or hieroglyphics, which he

said were engraven upon the plates, while Harris wrote down the

interpretation. It was said that Harris wrote down 116 pages and lost

them. Soon after this happened, Martin Harris informed me that he must

have a GREATER WITNESS, and said that he had talked with Joseph about

it. Joseph informed him that he could not, or durst not, show him the

plates, but that he [Joseph] would go into the woods where the book of

plates was, and that after he came back Harris should follow his track

in the snow, and find the book and examine it for himself. Harris

informed me that he followed Smith's directions, and could not find the

plates and was still dissatisfied.

"The next day after this happened I went to the house where Joseph

Smith, Jr., lived, and where he and Harris were engaged in their

translation of the book. Each of them had a written piece of paper which

they were comparing, and some of the words were, I my servant seeketh a

greater witness, but no greater witness can be given him.... I inquired

whose words they were, and was informed by Joseph or Emma (I rather

think it was the former), that they were the words of Jesus Christ. I

told them that I considered the whole of it a delusion, and advised them

to abandon it. The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret

was the same as when he looked for the moneydiggers, with the stone in

his hat and his hat over his face, while the book of plates was at the

same time hid in the woods.

"After this, Martin Harris went away, and Oliver Cowdery came and wrote

for Smith, while he interpreted as above described.

"Joseph Smith, Jr., resided near me for some time after this, and I

had a good opportunity of becoming acquainted with him, and somewhat

acquainted with his associates; and I conscientiously believe, from the

facts I have detailed, and from many other circumstances which I do not

deem it necessary to relate, that the whole Book of Mormon (so-called)

is a silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness, got up for

speculation, and with a design to dupe the credulous and unwary."

Harris's natural shrewdness in a measure overcame his fanaticism, and he

continued to press Smith for a sight of the plates. Smith thereupon made

one of the first uses of those "revelations" which played so important

a part in his future career, and he announced one (Section 5, "Doctrine

and Covenants"*), in which "I, the Lord" declared to Smith that the

latter had entered into a covenant with Him not to show the plates to

any one except as the Lord commanded him. Harris finally demanded of

Smith at least a specimen of the writing on the plates for submission to

experts in such subjects. As Harris was the only man of means interested

in this scheme of publication, Joe supplied him with a paper containing

some characters which he said were copied from one of the plates. This

paper increased Harris's belief in the reality of Joe's discovery, but

he sought further advice before opening his purse. Dr. Clark describes a

call Harris made on him early one morning, greatly excited, requesting a

private interview. On hearing his story, Dr. Clark advised him that the

scheme was a hoax, devised to extort money from him, but Harris showed

the slip of paper containing the mysterious characters, and was not to

be persuaded.

* All references to the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants" refer to

the sections and verses of the Salt Lake city edition of 1890.

Seeking confirmation, however, Harris made a trip to New York City in

order to submit the characters to experts there. Among others, he called

on Professor Charles Anthon. His interview with Professor Anthon

has been a cause of many and conflicting statements, some Mormons

misrepresenting it for their own purposes and others explaining away

the professor's accounts of it. The following statement was written by

Professor Anthon in reply to an inquiry by E. D. Howe:--

"NEW YORK, February 17, 1834.

"DEAR SIR: I received your favor of the 9th, and lose no time in making

a reply. The whole story about my pronouncing the Mormon inscription to

be 'reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics' is perfectly false. Some years ago

a plain, apparently simple-hearted farmer called on me with a note

from Dr. Mitchell, of our city, now dead, requesting me to decypher,

if possible, the paper which the farmer would hand me, and which Dr. M.

confessed he had been unable to understand. Upon examining the paper in

question, I soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick--perhaps

a hoax. When I asked the person who brought it how he obtained the

writing, he gave me, as far as I can recollect, the following account:

A 'gold book' consisting of a number of plates fastened together in

the shape of a book by wires of the same metal, had been dug up in

the northern part of the state of New York, and along with the book an

enormous pair of 'spectacles'! These spectacles were so large that, if

a person attempted to look through them, his two eyes would have to

be turned toward one of the glasses merely, the spectacles in question

being altogether too large for the breadth of the human face. Whoever

examined the plates through the spectacles, was enabled, not only to

read them, but fully to understand their meaning. All this knowledge,

however, was confined to a young man who had the trunk containing the

book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young man was placed

behind a curtain in the garret of a farmhouse, and being thus concealed

from view, put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through

one of the glasses, decyphered the characters in the book, and, having

committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain

to those who stood on the outside. Not a word, however, was said about

the plates being decyphered 'by the gift of God.' Everything in this way

was effected by the large pair of spectacles. The farmer added that he

had been requested to contribute a sum of money toward the publication

of the 'golden book,' the contents of which would, as he had been

assured, produce an entire change in the world, and save it from ruin.

So urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his

farm, and handing over the amount received to those who wished to

publish the plates. As a last precautionary step, however, he had

resolved to come to New York, and obtain the opinion of the learned

about the meaning of the paper which he had brought with him, and which

had been given him as part of the contents of the book, although no

translation had been furnished at the time by the young man with the

spectacles. On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the

paper, and, instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax upon the learned,

I began to regard it as a part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his

money, and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to beware of

rogues. He requested an opinion from me in writing, which, of course,

I declined giving, and he then took his leave, carrying his paper with

him.

"This paper was in fact a singular scrawl. It consisted of all kinds of

crooked characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared

by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various

alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman

letters inverted, or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in

perpendicular columns; and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a

circle, divided into various compartments, decked with various strange

marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar, given by

Humbolt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence

it was, derived. I am thus particular as to the contents of the paper,

inasmuch as I have frequently conversed with my friends on the subject

since the Mormonite excitement began, and well remember that the paper

contained anything else but 'Egyptian Hieroglyphics.'

"Some time after, the farmer paid me a second visit. He brought with

him the golden book in print, and offered it to me for sale. I declined

purchasing. He then asked permission to leave the book with me for

examination. I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely

urgent. I adverted once more to the roguery which had been, in my

opinion, practised upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold

plates. He informed me that they were in a trunk with the large pair

of spectacles. I advised him to go to a magistrate, and have the trunk

examined. He said 'the curse of God' would come upon him should he do

this. On my pressing him, however, to pursue the course which I had

recommended, he told me he would open the trunk if I would take 'the

curse of God' upon myself. I replied I would do so with the greatest

willingness, and would incur every risk of that nature provided I could

only extricate him from the grasp of the rogues. He then left me.

"I have thus given you a full statement of all that I know respecting

the origin of Mormonism, and must beg you, as a personal favor, to

publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again

by these wretched fanatics. Yours respectfully,

"CHARLES ANTHON."*

* "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 270-272. A letter from Professor

Anthon to the Rev. Dr. Coit, rector of Trinity Church, New Rochelle, New

York, dated April 3, 1841, containing practically the same statement,

will be found in Clark's "Gleanings by the Way," pp. 233-238.

While Mormon speakers quoted Anthon as vouching for the mysterious

writing, their writers were more cautious. P. P. Pratt, in his "Voice of

Warning" (1837), said that Professor Anthon was unable to decipher

the characters, but he presumed that if the original records could

be brought, he could assist in translating them. Orson Pratt, in his

"Remarkable Visions" (1848), saw in the Professor's failure only a

verification of Isaiah xxix. 11 and 12:--

"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is

sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this,

I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is

delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee:

and he saith, I am not learned."

[Illustration:

Facsimile of the Characters of the Book of Mormon

072]

John D. Lee, in his "Mormonism Unveiled," mentions the generally used

excuse of the Mormons for the professor's failure to translate the

writing, namely, that Anthon told Harris that "they were written in

a sealed language, unknown to the present age." Smith, in his

autobiography, quotes Harris's account of his interview as follows:--

"I went to New York City and presented the characters which had been

translated, with the translation thereof, to Prof. Anthon, a man quite

celebrated for his literary attainments. Prof. Anthon stated that the

translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated

from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet

translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and

Arabic, and he said they were the true characters."

Harris declared that the professor gave him a certificate to this

effect, but took it back and tore it up when told that an angel of God

had revealed the plates to Joe, saying that "there were no such things

as ministering angels." This account by Harris of his interview with

Professor Anthon will assist the reader in estimating the value of

Harris's future testimony as to the existence of the plates.

Harris's trip to New York City was not entirely satisfactory to him,

and, as Smith himself relates, "He began to tease me to give him liberty

to carry the writings home and show them, and desired of me that I would

enquire of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim if he might not do so."

Smith complied with this request, but the permission was twice refused;

the third time it was granted, but on condition that Harris would show

the manuscript translation to only five persons, who were named, one of

them being his wife.

In including Mrs. Harris in this list, the Lord made one of the greatest

mistakes into which he ever fell in using Joe as a mouthpiece. Mrs.

Harris's Quaker belief had led her from the start to protest against the

Bible scheme, and to warn her husband against the Smith family, and she

vigorously opposed his investment of any money in the publication of

the book. On the occasion of his first visit to Joe in Pennsylvania,

according to Mother Smith, Mrs. Harris was determined to accompany him,

and he had to depart without her knowledge; and when he went the second

time, she did accompany him, and she ransacked the house to find the

"record" (as the plates are often called in the Smiths' writings).

When Harris returned home with the translated pages which Joe intrusted

to him (in July, 1828), he showed them to his family and to others, who

tried in vain to convince him that he was a dupe. Mrs. Harris decided on

a more practical course. Getting possession of the papers, where Harris

had deposited them for safe keeping, she refused to restore them to him.

What eventually became of them is uncertain, one report being that she

afterward burned them.

This should have caused nothing more serious in the way of delay

than the time required to retranslate these pages; for certainly a

well-equipped Divinity, who was revealing a new Bible to mankind, and

supplying so powerful a means of translation as the Urim and Thummim,

could empower the translator to repeat the words first written. Indeed,

the descriptions of the method of translation given afterward by Smith's

confederates would seem to prove that there could have been but one

version of any translation of the plates, no matter how many times

repeated. Thus, Harris described the translating as follows:--

"By aid of the seer stone [no mention of the magic spectacles] sentences

would appear and were read by the prophet and written by Martin, and,

when finished, he would say 'written'; and if correctly written, that

sentence would disappear, and another appear in its place; but if not

written correctly, it remained until corrected, so that the translation

was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language

then used."*

* Elder Edward Stevenson in the Deseret News (quoted in Reynold's

"Mystery of the Manuscript Fund," p. 91).

David Whitmer, in an account of this process written in his later years,

said:--

"Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat [more testimony against the

use of the spectacles] and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely

around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual

light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would

appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would

appear, and under it was the translation in English. Brother Joseph

would read off the English to O. Cowdery, who was his principal scribe,

and when it was written down and repeated to brother Joseph to see if

it were correct, then it would disappear and another character with the

interpretation would appear."*

* "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon."

But to Joseph the matter of reproducing the lost pages of the

translation did not seem simple. When Harris's return to Pennsylvania

was delayed, Joe became anxious and went to Palmyra to learn what

delayed him, and there he heard of Mrs. Harris's theft of the pages. His

mother reports him as saying in announcing it, "my God, all is lost! all

is lost!" Why the situation was as serious to a sham translator as it

would have been simple to an honest one is easily understood. Whenever

Smith offered a second translation of the missing pages which differed

from the first, a comparison of them with the latter would furnish proof

positive of the fraudulent character of his pretensions.

All the partners in the business had to share in the punishment for what

had occurred. The Smiths lost all faith in Harris. Joe says that Harris

broke his pledge about showing the translation only to five persons,

and Mother Smith says that because of this offence "a dense fog spread

itself over his fields and blighted his wheat." When Joe returned to

Pennsylvania an angel appeared to him, his mother says, and ordered him

to give up the Urim and Thummim, promising, however, to restore them

if he was humble and penitent, and "if so, it will be on the 22d of

September."* Here may be noted one of those failures of mother and son

to agree in their narratives which was excuse enough for Brigham Young

to try to suppress the mother's book. Joe mentions a "revelation" dated

July, 1828 (Sec. 3, "Doctrine and Covenants"), in which Harris was

called "a wicked man," and which told Smith that he had lost his

privileges for a season, and he adds, "After I had obtained the above

revelation, both the plates and the Urim and Thummim were taken from me

again, BUT IN A FEW DAYS they were returned to me."**

* "Biographical Sketches," by Lucy Smith, p. 125.

** Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 8.

For some ten months after this the work of translation was discontinued,

although Mother Smith says that when she and his father visited the

prophet in Pennsylvania two months after his return, the first thing

they saw was "a red morocco trunk lying on Emma's bureau which, Joseph

shortly informed me, contained the Urim and Thummim and the plates."

Mrs. Harris's act had evidently thrown the whole machinery of

translation out of gear, and Joe had to await instructions from his

human adviser before a plan of procedure could be announced. During this

period (in which Joe says he worked on his father's farm), says Tucker,

"the stranger [supposed to be Rigdon] had again been at Smith's, and the

prophet had been away from home, maybe to repay the former's visits."*

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 48.

Two matters were decided on in these consultations, viz., that no

attempt would be made to retranslate the lost pages, and that a second

copy of all the rest of the manuscript should be prepared, to guard

against a similar perplexity in case of the loss of later pages. The

proof of the latter statement I find in the fact that a second copy did

exist. Ebenezer Robinson, who was a leading man in the church from

the time of its establishment in Ohio until Smith's death, says in his

recollections that, when the people assembled on October 2, 1841, to lay

the corner-stone of Nauvoo House, Smith said he had a document to

put into the corner-stone, and Robinson went with him to his house to

procure it. Robinson's story proceeds as follows:--

"He got a manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon, and brought it into the

room where we were standing, and said, 'I will examine to see if it is

all here'; and as he did so I stood near him, at his left side, and saw

distinctly the writing as he turned up the pages until he hastily went

through the book and satisfied himself that it was all there, when he

said, 'I have had trouble enough with this thing'; which remark struck

me with amazement, as I looked upon it as a sacred treasure."

Robinson says that the manuscript was written on foolscap paper and most

of it in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. He explains that two copies were

necessary, "as the printer who printed the first edition of the book had

to have a copy, as they would not put the original copy into his hands

for fear of its being altered. This accounts for David Whitmer having a

copy and Joseph Smith having one."*

* The Return, Vol. II, p. 314. Ebenezer Robinson, a printer,

joined the Mormons at Kirtland, followed Smith to Missouri, and went

with the flock to Nauvoo, where he and the prophet's brother, Don

Carlos, established the Times and Seasons. When the doctrine of polygamy

was announced to him and his wife, they rejected it, and he followed

Rigdon to Pennsylvania when Rigdon was turned out by Young. In later

years he was engaged in business enterprises in Iowa, and was a resident

of Davis City when David Whitmer announced the organization of

his church in Missouri, and, not accepting the view of the prophet

entertained by his descendants in the Reorganized Church, Robinson

accepted baptism from Whitmer. The Return was started by him in

January, 1889, and continued until his death, in its second year. His

reminiscences of early Mormon experiences, which were a feature of the

publication, are of value.

Major Bideman, who married the prophet's widow, partly completed and

occupied Nauvoo House after the departure of the Mormons for Utah, and

some years later he took out the cornerstone and opened it, but found

the manuscript so ruined by moisture that only a little was legible.

In regard to the missing pages, it was decided to announce a revelation,

which is dated May, 1829 (Sec. 10, "Doctrine and Covenants"), stating

that the lost pages had got into the hands of wicked men, that "Satan

has put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to

be written, or which you have translated," in accordance with a plan

of the devil to destroy Smith's work. He was directed therefore to

translate from the plates of Nephi, which contained a "more particular

account" than the Book of Lehi from which the original translation was

made.

When Smith began translating again, Harris was not reemployed, but Emma,

the prophet's wife, acted as his scribe until April 15, 1829, when a new

personage appeared upon the scene. This was Oliver Cowdery.

Cowdery was a blacksmith by trade, but gave up that occupation, and,

while Joe was translating in Pennsylvania, secured the place of teacher

in the district where the Smiths lived, and boarded with them. They told

him of the new Bible, and, according to Joe's later account, Cowdery

for himself received a revelation of its divine character, went to

Pennsylvania, and from that time was intimately connected with Joe in

the translation and publication of the book.

In explanation of the change of plan necessarily adopted in the

translation, the following preface appeared in the first edition of the

book, but was dropped later:--

"TO THE READER.

"As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following

work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil designing persons to

destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated,

by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred

and sixteen pages, the which I took from the book of Lehi, which was an

account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which

said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me,

notwithstanding my utmost efforts to recover it again--and being

commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again,

for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God,

by altering the words; that they did read contrary from that which I

translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the

same words again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same

over again, they would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan

would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive

this work, but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that

Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing; therefore thou

shalt translate from the plates of Nephi until ye come to that which ye

have translated, which ye have retained; and behold, ye shall publish it

as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered

my words. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will

show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the Devil.

Wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, I have, through

His grace and mercy, accomplished that which He hath commanded me

respecting this thing. I would also inform you that the plates of which

hath been spoken, were found in the township of Manchester, Ontario

County, New York.--THE AUTHOR."

In June, 1829, Smith accepted an invitation to change his residence to

the house of Peter Whitmer, who, with his sons, David, John, and Peter,

Jr., lived at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, the Whitmers promising

his board free and their assistance in the work of translation. There,

Smith says, they resided "until the translation was finished and the

copyright secured."

As five of the Whitmers were "witnesses" to the existence of the plates,

and David continued to be a person of influence in Mormon circles

throughout his long life, information about them is of value. The

prophet's mother again comes to our aid, although her account conflicts

with her son's. The prophet says that David Whitmer brought the

invitation to take up quarters at his father's, and volunteered the

offer of free board and assistance. Mother Smith says that one day, as

Joe was translating the plates, he came, in the midst of the words

of the Holy Writ, to a commandment to write at once to David Whitmer,

requesting him to come immediately and take the prophet and Cowdery to

his house, "as an evil-designing people were seeking to take away his

[Joseph's] life in order to prevent the work of God from going forth to

the world." When the letter arrived, David's father told him that,

as they had wheat sown that would require two days' harrowing, and a

quantity of plaster to spread, he could not go "unless he could get a

witness from God that it was absolutely necessary." In answer to his

inquiry of the Lord on the subject, David was told to go as soon as his

wheat was harrowed in. Setting to work, he found that at the end of the

first day the two days' harrowing had been completed, and, on going out

the next morning to spread the plaster, he found that work done also,

and his sister told him she had seen three unknown men at work in the

field the day before: so that the task had been accomplished by "an

exhibition of supernatural power."*

* "Biographical Sketches," Lucy Smith, p. 135.

The translation being ready for the press, in June, 1829 (I follow

Tucker's account of the printing of the work), Joseph, his brother

Hyrum, Cowdery, and Harris asked Egbert B. Grandin, publisher of the

Wayne Sentinel at Palmyra, to give them an estimate of the cost of

printing an edition of three thousand copies, with Harris as security

for the payment. Grandin told them he did not want to undertake the job

at any price, and he tried to persuade Harris not to invest his money

in the scheme, assuring him that it was fraudulent. Application was next

made to Thurlow Weed, then the publisher of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer,

at Rochester, New York. "After reading a few chapters," says Mr. Weed,

"it seemed such a jumble of unintelligent absurdities that we refused

the work, advising Harris not to mortgage his farm and beggar his

family." Finally, Smith and his associates obtained from Elihu F.

Marshall, a Rochester publisher, a definite bid for the work, and with

this they applied again to Grandin, explaining that it would be much

more convenient for them to have the printing done at home, and pointing

out to him that he might as well take the job, as his refusal would not

prevent the publication of the book. This argument had weight with him,

and he made a definite contract to print and bind five thousand copies

for the sum of $3000, a mortgage on Harris's farm to be given him as

security. Mrs. Harris had persisted in her refusal to be in any way a

party to the scheme, and she and her husband had finally made a legal

separation, with a division of the property, after she had entered a

complaint against Joe, charging him with getting money from her husband

on fraudulent representation. At the hearing on this complaint, Harris

denied that he had ever contributed a dollar to Joe at the latter's

persuasion.

Tucker, who did much of the proof-reading of the new Bible, comparing it

with the manuscript copy, says that, when the printing began, Smith

and his associates watched the manuscript with the greatest vigilance,

bringing to the office every morning as much as the printers could set

up during the day, and taking it away in the evening, forbidding also

any alteration. The foreman, John H. Gilbert, found the manuscript

so poorly prepared as regards grammatical construction, spelling,

punctuation, etc., that he told them that some corrections must be made,

and to this they finally consented.

Daniel Hendrix, in his recollections, says in confirmation of this:--

"I helped to read proof on many pages of the book, and at odd times set

some type.... The penmanship of the copy furnished was good, but the

grammar, spelling and punctuation were done by John H. Gilbert, who was

chief compositor in the office. I have heard him swear many a time at

the syntax and orthography of Cowdery, and declare that he would not set

another line of the type. There were no paragraphs, no punctuation and

no capitals. All that was done in the printing office, and what a

time there used to be in straightening sentences out, too. During the

printing of the book I remember that Joe Smith kept in the background."

The following letter is in reply to an inquiry addressed by me to Albert

Chandler, the only survivor, I think, of the men who helped issue the

first edition of Smith's book:--

"COLDWATER, MICH., Dec. 22, 1898.

"My recollections of Joseph Smith, Jr. and of the first steps taken in

regard to his Bible have never been printed. At the time of the printing

of the Mormon Bible by Egbert B. Grandin of the Sentinel I was an

apprentice in the bookbindery connected with the Sentinel office. I

helped to collate and stitch the Gold Bible, and soon after this was

completed, I changed from book-binding to printing. I learned my trade

in the Sentinel office.

"My recollections of the early history of the Mormon Bible are vivid

to-day. I knew personally Oliver Cowdery, who translated the Bible,

Martin Harris, who mortgaged his farm to procure the printing, and

Joseph Smith Jr., but slightly. What I knew of him was from hearsay,

principally from Martin Harris, who believed fully in him. Mr. Tucker's

'Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism' is the fullest account I have

ever seen. I doubt if I can add anything to that history.

"The whole history is shrouded in the deepest mystery. Joseph Smith Jr.,

who read through the wonderful spectacles, pretended to give the scribe

the exact reading of the plates, even to spelling, in which Smith was

woefully deficient. Martin Harris was permitted to be in the room with

the scribe, and would try the knowledge of Smith, as he told me, saying

that Smith could not spell the word February, when his eyes were off the

spectacles through which he pretended to work. This ignorance of Smith

was proof positive to him that Smith was dependent on the spectacles for

the contents of the Bible. Smith and the plates containing the original

of the Mormon Bible were hid from view of the scribe and Martin Harris

by a screen.

"I should think that Martin Harris, after becoming a convert, gave up

his entire time to advertising the Bible to his neighbors and the public

generally in the vicinity of Palmyra. He would call public meetings and

address them himself. He was enthusiastic, and went so far as to say

that God, through the Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I heard

him make this statement, that there would never be another President of

the United States elected; that soon all temporal and spiritual power

would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day

Saints. His extravagant statements were the laughing stock of the people

of Palmyra. His stories were hissed at, universally. To give you an idea

of Mr. Harris's superstitions, he told me that he saw the devil, in all

his hideousness, on the road, just before dark, near his farm, a little

north of Palmyra. You can see that Harris was a fit subject to carry out

the scheme of organizing a new religion.

"The absolute secrecy of the whole inception and publication of the

Mormon Bible stopped positive knowledge. We only knew what Joseph Smith

would permit Martin Harris to publish, in reference to the whole thing.

"The issuing of the Book of Mormon scarcely made a ripple of excitement

in Palmyra.

"ALBERT CHANDLER."*

* Mr. Chandler moved to Michigan in 1835, and has been connected

with several newspapers in that state, editing the Kalamazoo Gazette,

and founding and publishing the Coldwater Sentinel. He was elected

the first mayor of Coldwater, serving several terms. He was in his

eighty-fifth year when the above letter was written.

The book was published early in 1830. On paper the sale of the first

edition showed a profit of $3250 at $1.25 a volume, that being the

lowest price to be asked on pain of death, according to a "special

revelation" received by Smith. By the original agreement Harris was to

have the exclusive control of the sale of the book. But it did not sell.

The local community took it no more seriously than they did Joe himself

and his family. The printer demanded his pay as the work progressed,

and it became necessary for Smith to spur Harris on by announcing a

revelation (Sec. 19, "Doctrine and Covenants"), saying, "I command thee

that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to

the printing of the Book of Mormon." Harris accordingly disposed of his

share of the farm and paid Grandin.

To make the book "go," Smith now received a revelation which permitted

his father, soon to be elevated to the title of Patriarch, to sell it on

commission, and Smith, Sr., made expeditions through the country, taking

in pay for any copies sold such farm produce or "store goods" as he

could use in his own family. How much he "cut" the revealed price of the

book in these trades is not known, but in one instance, when arrested in

Palmyra for a debt of $5.63, he, under pledge of secrecy, offered seven

of the Bibles in settlement, and the creditor, knowing that the old man

had no better assets, accepted the offer as a joke.*

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," Tucker, p. 63.

CHAPTER VII. -- THE SPAULDING MANUSCRIPT

The history of the Mormon Bible has been brought uninterruptedly to this

point in order that the reader may be able to follow clearly each

step that had led up to its publication. It is now necessary to give

attention to two subjects intimately connected with the origin of this

book, viz., the use made of what is known as the "Spaulding manuscript,"

in supplying the historical part of the work, and Sidney Rigdon's share

in its production.

The most careful student of the career of Joseph Smith, Jr., and of his

family and his associates, up to the year 1827, will fail to find any

ground for the belief that he alone, or simply with their assistance,

was capable of composing the Book of Mormon, crude in every sense as

that work is. We must therefore accept, as do the Mormons, the statement

that the text was divinely revealed to Smith, or must look for some

directing hand behind the scene, which supplied the historical part and

applied the theological. The "Spaulding manuscript" is believed to have

furnished the basis of the historical part of the work.

Solomon Spaulding, born in Ashford, Connecticut, in 1761, was graduated

from Dartmouth College in 1785, studied divinity, and for some years

had charge of a church. His own family described him as a peculiar

man, given to historical researches, and evidently of rather unstable

disposition. He gave up preaching, conducted an academy at Cherry

Valley, New York, and later moved to Conneaut, Ohio, where in 1812 he

had an interest in an iron foundry. His attention was there attracted to

the ancient mounds in that vicinity, and he set some of his men to work

exploring one of them. "I vividly remember how excited he became,"

says his daughter, when he heard that they had exhumed some human

bones, portions of gigantic skeletons, and various relics. From these

discoveries he got the idea of writing a fanciful history of the ancient

races of this country.

The title he chose for his book was "The Manuscript Found." He

considered this work a great literary production, counted on being able

to pay his debts from the proceeds of its sale, and was accustomed to

read selections from the manuscript to his neighbors with evident pride.

The impression that such a production would be likely to make on the

author's neighbors in that frontier region and in those early days, when

books were scarce and authors almost unknown, can with difficulty be

realized now. Barrett Wendell, speaking of the days of Bryant's early

work, says:--

"Ours was a new country...deeply and sensitively aware that it lacked a

literature. Whoever produced writings which could be pronounced adorable

was accordingly regarded by his fellow citizens as a public benefactor,

a great public figure, a personage of whom the nation could be proud."*

This feeling lends weight to the testimony of Mr. Spaulding's neighbors,

who in later years gave outlines of his work.

* "Literary History of America."

In order to find a publisher Mr. Spaulding moved with his family to

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. A printer named Patterson spoke well of the

manuscript to its author, but no one was found willing to publish

it. The Spauldings afterward moved to Amity, Pennsylvania, where Mr.

Spaulding died in 1816. His widow and only child went to live with Mrs.

Spaulding's brother, W. H. Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, New York, taking

their effects with them. These included an old trunk containing Mr.

Spaulding's papers. "There were sermons and other papers," says his

daughter, "and I saw a manuscript about an inch thick, closely written,

tied up with some stories my father had written for me, one of which he

called 'The Frogs of Windham.' On the outside of this manuscript were

written the words 'Manuscript Found.' I did not read it, but looked

through it, and had it in my hands many times, and saw the names I

had heard at Conneaut, when my father read it to his friends." Mrs.

Spaulding next went to her father's house in Connecticut, leaving her

personal property at her brother's. She married a Mr. Davison in 1820,

and the old trunk was sent to her at her new home in Hartwick, Otsego

County, New York. The daughter was married to a Mr. McKinstry in

1828, and her mother afterward made her home with her at Monson,

Massachusetts, most of the time until her death in 1844.

When the newly announced Mormon Bible began to be talked about in Ohio,

there were immediate declarations in Spaulding's old neighborhood of a

striking similarity between the Bible story and the story that Spaulding

used to read to his acquaintances there, and these became positive

assertions after the Mormons had held a meeting at Conneaut. The opinion

was confidently expressed there that, if the manuscript could be found

and published, it would put an end to the Mormon pretence.

About the year 1834 Mrs. Davison received a visit at Monson from D.

P. Hurlbut, a man who had gone over to the Mormons from the Methodist

church, and had apostatized and been expelled. He represented that he

had been sent by a committee to secure "The Manuscript Found" in order

that it might be compared with the Mormon Bible. As he brought a letter

from her brother, Mrs. Davison, with considerable reluctance, gave him

an introduction to George Clark, in whose house at Hartwick she had left

the old trunk, directing Mr. Clark to let Hurlbut have the manuscript,

receiving his verbal pledge to return it. He obtained a manuscript from

this trunk, but did not keep his pledge.*

* Condensed from an affidavit by Mrs. McKinstry, dated April 3,

1880, in Scribner's Magazine for August, 1880.

The Boston Recorder published in May, 1839, a detailed statement by Mrs.

Davison concerning her knowledge of "The Manuscript Found." After giving

an account of the writing of the story, her statement continued as

follows:--

"Here [in Pittsburg] Mr. Spaulding found a friend and acquaintance in

the person of Mr. Patterson, who was very much pleased with it, and

borrowed it for perusal. He retained it for a long time, and informed

Mr. Spaulding that, if he would make out a title-page and preface, he

would publish it, as it might be a source of profit. This Mr. Spaulding

refused to do. Sidney Rigdon, who has figured so largely in the history

of the Mormons, was at that time connected with the printing office of

Mr. Patterson, as is well known in that region, and, as Rigdon himself

has frequently stated, became acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript

and copied it. It was a matter of notoriety and interest to all

connected with the printing establishment. At length the manuscript was

returned to its author, and soon after we removed to Amity where Mr.

Spaulding deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my hands, and

was carefully preserved."

This statement stirred up the Mormons greatly, and they at once

pronounced the letter a forgery, securing from Mrs. Davison a statement

in which she said that she did not write it. This was met with a counter

statement by the Rev. D. R. Austin that it was made up from notes of

a conversation with her, and was correct. In confirmation of this

the Quincy [Massachusetts] Whig printed a letter from John Haven of

Holliston, Massachusetts, giving a report of a conversation between his

son Jesse and Mrs. Davison concerning this letter, in which she stated

that the letter was substantially correct, and that some of the names

used in the Mormon Bible were like those in her husband's story. Rigdon

himself, in a letter addressed to the Boston Journal, under date of May

27, 1839, denied all knowledge of Spaulding, and declared that there

was no printer named Patterson in Pittsburg during his residence there,

although he knew a Robert Patterson who had owned a printing-office in

that city. The larger part of his letter is a coarse attack on Hurlbut

and also on E. D. Howe, the author of "Mormonism Unveiled," whose

whole family he charged with scandalous immoralities. If the use of

Spaulding's story in the preparation of the Mormon Bible could be proved

by nothing but this letter of Mrs. Davison, the demonstration would be

weak; but this is only one link in the chain.

Howe, in his painstaking efforts to obtain all probable information

about the Mormon origin from original sources, secured the affidavits of

eight of Spaulding's acquaintances in Ohio, giving their recollections

of the "Manuscript Found."* Spaulding's brother, John, testified that

he heard many passages of the manuscript read and, describing it, he

said:--

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 278-287.

"It was an historical romance of the first settlers of America,

endeavoring to show that the American Indians are the descendants of

the Jews, or the lost tribe. It gave a detailed account of their journey

from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the

command of Nephi and Lehi. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions,

and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated

Nephites, and the other Lamanites. Cruel and bloody Wars ensued, in

which great multitudes were slain.... I have recently read the "Book

of Mormon," and to my great surprise I find nearly the same historical

matter, names, etc., as they were in my brother's writings. I well

remember that he wrote in the old style, and commenced about every

sentence with 'and it came to pass,' or 'now it came to pass,' the

same as in the 'Book of Mormon,' and, according to the best of my

recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother Solomon wrote,

with the exception of the religious matter."

John Spaulding's wife testified that she had no doubt that the

historical part of the Bible and the manuscript were the same, and she

well recalled such phrases as "it came to pass."

Mr. Spaulding's business partner at Conneaut, Henry Lake, testified that

Spaulding read the manuscript to him many hours, that the story running

through it and the Bible was the same, and he recalls this circumstance:

"One time, when he was reading to me the tragic account of Laban, I

pointed out to him what I considered an inconsistency, which he promised

to correct, but by referring to the 'Book of Mormon,' I find that it

stands there just as he read it to me then.... I well recollect telling

Mr. Spaulding that the so frequent use of the words 'and it came to

pass,' 'now it came to pass,' rendered it ridiculous."

John N. Miller, an employee of Spaulding in Ohio, and a boarder in his

family for several months, testified that Spaulding had written more

than one book or pamphlet, that he had heard the author read from the

"Manuscript Found," that he recalled the story running through it, and

added: "I have recently examined the 'Book of Mormon,' and find in it

the writings of Solomon Spaulding, from beginning to end, but mixed up

with Scripture and other religious matter which I did not meet with in

the 'Manuscript Found'.... The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and in fact

all the principal names, are brought fresh to my recollection by the

'Gold Bible.'"

Practically identical testimony was given by the four other neighbors.

Important additions to this testimony have been made in later years. A

statement by Joseph Miller of Amity, Pennsylvania, a man of standing in

that community, was published in the Pittsburg Telegraph of February 6,

1879. Mr. Miller said that he was well acquainted with Spaulding when he

lived at Amity, and heard him read most of the "Manuscript Found," and

had read the Mormon Bible in late years to compare the two. On hearing

read, "he says," the account from the book of the battle between the

Amlicites (Book of Alma), in which the soldiers of one army had placed

a red mark on their foreheads to distinguish them from their enemies,

it seemed to reproduce in my mind, not only the narration, but the

very words as they had been impressed on my mind by the reading of

Spaulding's manuscript.... The longer I live, the more firmly I am

convinced that Spaulding's manuscript was appropriated and largely used

in getting up the "Book of Mormon."

Redick McKee, a resident of Amity, Pennsylvania, when Spaulding lived

there, and later a resident of Washington, D. C., in a letter to the

Washington [Pennsylvania] Reporter, of April 21, 1869, stated that

he heard Spaulding read from his manuscript, and added: "I have an

indistinct recollection of the passage referred to by Mr. Miller about

the Amlicites making a cross with red paint on their foreheads to

distinguish them from enemies in battle."

The Rev. Abner Judson, of Canton, Ohio, wrote for the Washington County,

Pennsylvania, Historical Society, under date of December 20, 1880, an

account of his recollections of the Spaulding manuscript, and it was

printed in the Washington [Pennsylvania] Reporter of January 7, 1881.

Spaulding read a large part of his manuscript to Mr. Judson's father

before the author moved to Pittsburg, and the son, confined to the house

with a lameness, heard the reading and the accompanying conversations.

He says: "He wrote it in the Bible style. 'And it came to pass,'

occurred so often that some called him 'Old Come-to-pass.' The 'Book of

Mormons' follows the romance too closely to be a stranger.... When it

was brought to Conneaut and read there in public, old Esquire Wright

heard it and exclaimed, 'Old Come-to-pass' has come to life again."*

* Fuller extracts from the testimony of these later witnesses

will be found in Robert Patterson's pamphlet, "Who wrote the Book of

Mormon," reprinted from the "History of Washington County, Pa."

The testimony of so many witnesses, so specific in its details, seems

to prove the identity of Spaulding's story and the story running through

the Mormon Bible. The late President James H. Fairchild of Oberlin,

Ohio, whose pamphlet on the subject we shall next examine, admits

that "if we could accept without misgiving the testimony of the eight

witnesses brought forward in Howe's book, we should be obliged to accept

the fact of another manuscript" (than the one which President Fairchild

secured); but he thinks there is some doubt about the effect on the

memory of these witnesses of the lapse of years and the reading of

the new Bible before they recalled the original story. It must be

remembered, however, that this resemblance was recalled as soon as they

heard the story of the new Bible, and there seems no ground on which to

trace a theory that it was the Bible which originated in their minds the

story ascribed to the manuscript.

The defenders of the Mormon Bible as an original work received great

comfort some fifteen years ago by the announcement that the original

manuscript of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" had been discovered in the

Sandwich Islands and brought to this country, and that its narrative

bore no resemblance to the Bible story. The history of this second

manuscript is as follows: E. D. Howe sold his printing establishment at

Painesville, Ohio, to L. L. Rice, who was an antislavery editor there

for many years. Mr. Rice afterward moved to the Sandwich Islands, and

there he was requested by President Fairchild to look over his old

papers to see if he could not find some antislavery matter that would be

of value to the Oberlin College library. One result of his search was

an old manuscript bearing the following certificate: 'The writings of

Solomon Spaulding,' proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N.

Miller and others. The testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my

possession.

"D. P. HURLBUT."

President Fairchild in a paper on this subject which has been published*

gives a description of this manuscript (it has been printed by the

Reorganized Church at Lamoni, Iowa), which shows that it bears no

resemblance to the Bible story. But the assumption that this proves that

the Bible story is original fails immediately in view of the fact

that Mr. Howe made no concealment of his possession of this second

manuscript. Hurlbut was in Howe's service when he asked Mrs. Davison for

an order for the manuscript, and he gave to Howe, as the result of his

visit, the manuscript which Rice gave to President Fairchild. Howe

in his book (p. 288) describes this manuscript substantially as does

President Fairchild, saying:--

* "Manuscript of Solomon Spaulding and the 'Book of Mormon,'"

Tract No. 77, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.

"This is a romance, purporting to have been translated from the Latin,

found on twenty-four rolls of parchment in a cave on the banks of

Conneaut Creek, but written in a modern style, and giving a fabulous

account of a ship's being driven upon the American coast, while

proceeding from Rome to Britain, a short time pious to the Christian

era, this country then being inhabited by the Indians."*

* Howe says in his book, "The fact that Spaulding in the latter

part of his life inclined to infidelity is established by a letter in

his handwriting now in our possession." This letter was given by Rice

with the other manuscript to President Fairchild (who reproduces it),

thus adding to the proof that the Rice manuscript is the one Hurlbut

delivered to Howe.

Mr. Howe adds this important statement:--

"This old manuscript has been shown to several of the foregoing

witnesses, who recognize it as Spaulding's, he having told them that he

had altered his first plan of writing, by going further back with dates,

and writing in the old scripture style, in order that it might appear

more ancient. They say that it bears no resemblance to the 'Manuscript

Found.'"

If Howe had considered this manuscript of the least importance

as invalidating the testimony showing the resemblance between the

"Manuscript Found" and the Mormon Bible, he would have destroyed it (if

he was the malignant falsifier the Mormons represented him to be), and

not have first described it in his book; and then left it to be found

by any future owner of his effects. Its rediscovery has been accepted,

however, even by some non-Mormons, as proof that the Mormon Bible is an

original production.*

* Preface to "The Mormon Prophet," Lily Dugall.

Mrs. Ellen E. Dickenson, a great-niece of Spaulding, who has

painstakingly investigated the history of the much-discussed manuscript,

visited D. P. Hurlbut at his home near Gibsonburg, Ohio, in 1880 (he

died in 1882), taking with her Oscar Kellogg, a lawyer, as a witness to

the interview.* She says that her visit excited him greatly. He told of

getting a manuscript for Mr. Howe at Hartwick, and said he thought

it was burned with other of Mr. Howe's papers. When asked, "Was it

Spaulding's manuscript that was burned?" he replied: "Mrs. Davison

thought it was; but when I just peeked into it, here and there, and

saw the names Mormon, Moroni, Lamanite, Lephi, I thought it was all

nonsense. Why, if it had been the real one, I could have sold it for

$3000;** but I just gave it to Howe because it was of no account."

During the interview his wife was present, and when Mrs. Dickenson

pressed him with the question, "Do you know where the 'Manuscript Found'

is at the present time?" Mrs. Hurlbut went up to him and said, "Tell

her what you know." She got no satisfactory answer, but he afterward

forwarded to her an affidavit saying that he had obtained of Mrs.

Davison a manuscript supposing it to be Spaulding's "Manuscript Found,"

adding: "I did not examine the manuscript until after I got home, when

upon examination I found it to contain nothing of the kind, but being

a manuscript upon an entirely different subject. This manuscript I left

with E. D. Howe."

With this presentation of the evidence showing the similarity between

Spaulding's story and the Mormon Bible narrative, we may next examine

the grounds for believing that Sidney Rigdon was connected with the

production of the Bible.

* A full account of this interview is given in her book, "New

Light on Mormonism" (1885).

** There have been surmises that Hurlbut also found the

"Manuscript Found" in the trunk and sold this to the Mormons. He sent a

specific denial of this charge to Robert Patterson in 1879.

CHAPTER VIII. -- SIDNEY RIGDON

The man who had more to do with founding the Mormon church than Joseph

Smith, Jr., even if we exclude any share in the production of the Mormon

Bible, and yet who is unknown even by name to most persons to whom the

names of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are familiar, was Sidney Rigdon.

Elder John Hyde, Jr., was well within the truth when he wrote: "The

compiling genius of Mormonism was Sidney Rigdon. Smith had boisterous

impetuosity but no foresight. Polygamy was not the result of his

policy but of his passions. Sidney gave point, direction, and apparent

consistency to the Mormon system of theology. He invented its forms and

the manner of its arguments.... Had it not been for the accession of

these two men [Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt] Smith would have been lost,

and his schemes frustrated and abandoned."*

* "Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs" (1857). Hyde, an

Englishman, joined the Mormons in that country when a lad and began to

preach almost at once. He sailed for this country in 1853 and joined the

brethren in Salt Lake City. Brigham Young's rule upset his faith, and he

abandoned the belief in 1854. Even H. H. Bancroft concedes him to have

been "an able and honest man, sober and sincere."

Rigdon (according to the sketch of him presented in Smith's

autobiography,* which he doubtless wrote) was born in St. Clair

township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. His

father was a farmer, and he lived on the farm, receiving only a limited

education, until he was twenty-six years old. He then connected himself

with the Baptist church, and received a license to preach. Selecting

Ohio as his field, he continued his work in rural districts in that

state until 1821, when he accepted a call to a small Baptist church in

Pittsburg.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt.

Twenty years before the publication of the Mormon Bible, Thomas and

Alexander Campbell, Scotchmen, had founded a congregation in Washington

County, Pennsylvania, out of which grew the religious denomination

known as Disciples of Christ, or Campbellites, whose communicants in

the United States numbered 871,017 in the year 1890. The fundamental

principle of their teaching was that every doctrine of belief, or

maxim of duty, must rest upon the authority of Scripture, expressed or

implied, all human creeds being rejected. The Campbells (who had been

first Presbyterians and then Baptists) were wonderful orators and

convincing debaters out of the pulpit, and they drew to themselves many

of the most eloquent exhorters in what was then the western border of

the United States. Among their allies was another Scotchman, Walter

Scott, a musician and schoolteacher by profession, who assisted them

in their newspaper work and became a noted evangelist in their

denomination. During a visit to Pittsburg in 1823, Scott made Rigdon's

acquaintance, and a little later the flocks to which each preached

were united. In August, 1824, Rigdon announced his withdrawal from his

church. Regarding his withdrawal the sketch in Smith's autobiography

says:--

"After he had been in that place [Pittsburg] some time, his mind was

troubled and much perplexed with the idea that the doctrines maintained

by that society were not altogether in accordance with the Scriptures.

This thing continued to agitate his mind more and more, and his

reflections on these occasions were particularly trying; for, according

to his view of the word of God, no other church with whom he could

associate, or that he was acquainted with, was right; consequently,

if he was to disavow the doctrine of the church with whom he was then

associated, he knew of no other way of obtaining a living, except by

manual labor, and at that time he had a wife and three children to

support."

For two years after he gave up his church connection he worked as a

journeyman tanner. This is all the information obtainable about this

part of his life. We next find him preaching at Bainbridge, Ohio, as

an undenominational exhorter, but following the general views of the

Campbells, advising his hearers to reject their creeds and rest their

belief solely on the Bible.

In June, 1826, Rigdon received a call to a Baptist church at Mentor,

Ohio, whose congregation he had pleased when he preached the funeral

sermon of his predecessor. His labors were not confined, however, to

this congregation. We find him acting as the "stated" minister of a

Disciples' church organized at Mantua, Ohio, in 1827, preaching with

Thomas Campbell at Shalersville, Ohio, in 1828, and thus extending the

influence he had acquired as early as 1820, when Alexander Campbell

called him "the great orator of the Mahoning Association". In 1828 he

visited his old associate Scott, was further confirmed in his faith in

the Disciples' belief, and, taking his brother-in-law Bentley back with

him, they began revival work at Mentor, which led to the conversion of

more than fifty of their hearers. They held services at Kirtland, Ohio,

with equal success, and the story of this awakening was the main subject

of discussion in all the neighborhood round about. The sketch of Rigdon

in Smith's autobiography closes with this tribute to his power as a

preacher: "The churches where he preached were no longer large enough

to contain the vast assemblies. No longer did he follow the old beaten

track,... but dared to enter on new grounds,... threw new light on the

sacred volume,... proved to a demonstration the literal fulfilment of

prophecy...and the reign of Christ with his Saints on the earth in the

Millennium."

In tracing Rigdon's connection with Smith's enterprise, attention must

be carefully paid both to Rigdon's personal characteristics, and to the

resemblance between the doctrines he had taught in the pulpit and those

that appear in the Mormon Bible.

Rigdon's mental and religious temperament was just of the character

to be attracted by a novelty in religious belief. He, with his

brother-in-law, Adamson Bentley, visited Alexander Campbell in 1821, and

spent a whole night in religious discussion. When they parted the next

day, Rigdon declared that "if he had within the last year promulgated

one error, he had a thousand," and Mr. Campbell, in his account of the

interview, remarked, "I found it expedient to caution them not to begin

to pull down anything they had builded until they had reviewed, again

and again, what they had heard; not even then rashly and without much

consideration."*

* Millennial Harbinger, 1848, p. 523.

A leading member of the church at Mantua has written, "Sidney Rigdon

preached for us, and, notwithstanding his extravagantly wild freaks, he

was held in high repute by many."*

* "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western

Reserve," by A: S. Hayden (1876), p. 239.

An important church discussion occurred at Warren, Ohio, in 1828.

Following out the idea of the literal interpretation of the Scriptures

taught in the Disciples' church, Rigdon sprung on the meeting an

argument in favor of a community of goods, holding that the apostles

established this system at Jerusalem, and that the modern church, which

rested on their example, must follow them. Alexander Campbell, who was

present, at once controverted this position, showing that the apostles,

as narrated in Acts, "sold their possessions" instead of combining them

for a profit, and citing Bible texts to prove that no "community system"

existed in the early church. This argument carried the meeting,

and Rigdon left the assemblage, embittered against Campbell beyond

forgiveness. To a brother in Warren, on his way home, he declared, "I

have done as much in this reformation as Campbell or Scott, and yet they

get all the honor of it." This claim is set forth specifically in the

sketch of Rigdon in Smith's autobiography. Referring to Rigdon and

Alexander Campbell, this statement is there made:--

"After they had separated from the different churches, these gentlemen

were on terms of the greatest friendship, and frequently met together to

discuss the subject of religion, being yet undetermined respecting the

principles of the doctrine of Christ or what course to pursue. However,

from this connection sprung up a new church in the world, known by the

name of 'Campbellites'; they call themselves 'Disciples.' The reason

why they were called Campbellites was in consequence of Mr. Campbell's

periodical, above mentioned [the Christian Baptist], and it being the

means through which they communicated their sentiments to the world;

other than this, Mr. Campbell was no more the originator of the sect

than Elder Rigdon."

Rigdon's bitterness against the Campbells and his old church more

than once manifested itself in his later writings. For instance, in

an article in the Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland), of June, 1837,

he said: "One thing has been done by the coming forth of the Book of

Mormon. It has puked the Campbellites effectually; no emetic could have

done so half as well.... The Book of Mormon has revealed the secrets of

Campbellism and unfolded the end of the system." In this jealousy of the

Campbells, and the discomfiture as a leader which he received at their

hands, we find a sufficient object for Rigdon's desertion of his old

church associations and desire to build up something, the discovery of

which he could claim, and the government of which he could control.

To understand the strength of the argument that the doctrinal teachings

of the Mormon Bible were the work of a Disciples' preacher rather

than of the ne'er-do-well Smith, it is only necessary to examine

the teachings of the Disciples' church in Ohio at that time. The

investigator will be startled by the resemblance between what was then

taught to and believed by Disciples' congregations and the leading

beliefs of the Mormon Bible. In the following examples of this the

illustrations of Disciples' beliefs and teachings are taken from

Hayden's "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western

Reserve."

The literal interpretation of the Scriptures, on which the Mormon

defenders of their faith so largely depend,--as for explanations of

modern revelations, miracles, and signs,--was preached to so extreme a

point by Ohio Disciples that Alexander Campbell had to combat them in

his Millennial Harbinger. An outcome of this literal interpretation was

a belief in a speedy millennium, another fundamental belief of the early

Mormon church. "The hope of the millennial glory," says Hayden, "was

based on many passages of the Holy Scriptures.... Millennial hymns were

learned and sung with a joyful fervor.... It is surprising even now,

as memory returns to gather up these interesting remains of that mighty

work, to recall the thorough and extensive knowledge which the convert

quickly obtained. Nebuchadnezzar's vision... many portions of the

Revelation were so thoroughly studied that they became the staple of

the common talk." Rigdon's old Pittsburg friend, Scott, in his report

as evangelist to the church association at Warren in 1828, said:

"Individuals eminently skilled in the word of God, the history of the

world, and the progress of human improvements see reasons to expect

great changes, much greater than have yet occurred, and which shall give

to political society and to the church a different, a very different,

complexion from what many anticipate. The millennium--the millennium

described in the Scriptures--will doubtless be a wonder, a terrible

wonder, to all."

Disciples' preachers understood that they spoke directly for God, just

as Smith assumed to do in his "revelations." Referring to the preaching

of Rigdon and Bentley, after a visit to Scott in March, 1828, Hayden

says, "They spoke with authority, for the word which they delivered was

not theirs, but that of Jesus Christ." The Disciples, like the Mormons,

at that time looked for the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. Scott* was

an enthusiastic preacher of this. "The fourteenth chapter of Zechariah,"

says Hayden, "was brought forward in proof--all considered as

literal--that the most marvellous and stupendous physical and climatic

changes were to be wrought in Palestine; and that Jesus Christ the

Messiah was to reign literally in Jerusalem, and in Mount Zion, and

before his ancients, gloriously."

* "In a letter to Dr. Richardson, written in 1830, he [Scott]

says the book of Elias Smith on the prophecies is the only sensible

work on that subject he had seen. He thinks this and Crowley on the

Apocalypse all the student of the Bible wants. He strongly commends

Smith's book to the doctor. This seems to be the origin of millennial

views among us. Rigdon, who always caught and proclaimed the last word

that fell from the lips of Scott or Campbell, seized these views (about

the millennium and the Jews) and, with the wildness of his extravagant

nature, heralded them everywhere."--"Early History of the Disciples'

Church in the Western Reserve," p. 186.

Campbell taught that "creeds are but statements, with few exceptions,

of doctrinal opinion or speculators' views of philosophical or dogmatic

subjects, and tended to confusion, disunion, and weakness." Orson Pratt,

in his "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," thus stated the

early Mormon view on the same subject: "If any man or council, without

the aid of immediate revelation, shall undertake to decide upon such

subjects, and prescribe 'articles of faith' or 'creeds' to govern the

belief or views of others, there will be thousands of well-meaning

people who will not have confidence in the productions of these

fallible men, and, therefore, frame creeds of their own.... In this way

contentions arise."

Finally, attention may be directed to the emphatic declarations of the

Disciples' doctrine of baptism in the Mormon Bible:--

"Ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye

baptize them.... And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come

forth again out of the water."--3 Nephi Xi. 23, 26.

"I know that it is solemn mockery before God that ye should baptize

little children.... He that supposeth that little children need baptism

is in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity; for he hath

neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while

in the thought, he must go down to hell. For awful is the wickedness to

suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must

perish because he hath no baptism."--Moroni viii. 9, xc, 15.

There are but three conclusions possible from all this: that the Mormon

Bible was a work of inspiration, and that the agreement of its doctrines

with Disciples' belief only proves the correctness of the latter; that

Smith, in writing his doctrinal views, hit on the Disciples' tenets by

chance (he had had no opportunity whatever to study them); or, finally,

that some Disciple, learned in the church, supplied these doctrines to

him.

Advancing another step in the examination of Rigdon's connection with

the scheme, we find that even the idea of a new Bible was common belief

among the Ohio Disciples who listened to Scott's teaching. Describing

Scott's preaching in the winter of 1827-1828, Hayden says:--

"He contended ably for the restoration of the true, original apostolic

order which would restore to the church the ancient gospel as preached

by the apostles. The interest became an excitement;... the air was thick

with rumors of a 'new religion,' a 'new Bible.'"

Next we may cite two witnesses to show that Rigdon had a knowledge

of Smith's Bible in advance of its publication. His brother-in-law,

Bentley, in a letter to Walter Scott dated January 22, 1841, said,

"I know that Sidney Rigdon told me there was a book coming out, the

manuscript of which had been found engraved on gold plates, as much as

two years before the Mormon book made its appearance or had been heard

of by me."*

* Millennial Harbinger, 1844, p. 39. The Rev. Alexander Campbell

testified that this conversation took place in his presence.

One of the elders of the Disciples' church was Darwin Atwater, a

farmer, who afterward occupied the pulpit, and of whom Hayden says,

"The uniformity of his life, his undeviating devotion, his high and

consistent manliness and superiority of judgment, gave him an undisputed

preeminence in the church." In a letter to Hayden, dated April 26,

1873, Mr. Atwater said of Rigdon: "For a few months before his professed

conversion to Mormonism it was noticed that his wild extravagant

propensities had been more marked. That he knew before the coming of the

Book of Mormon is to me certain from what he said during the first

of his visits at my father's, some years before. He gave a wonderful

description of the mounds and other antiquities found in some parts of

America, and said that they must have been made by the aborigines. He

said there was a book to be published containing an account of those

things. He spoke of these in his eloquent, enthusiastic style, as being

a thing most extraordinary. Though a youth then, I took him to task for

expending so much enthusiasm on such a subject instead of things of

the Gospel. In all my intercourse with him afterward he never spoke of

antiquities, or of the wonderful book that should give account of them,

till the Book of Mormon really was published. He must have thought I was

not the man to reveal that to."*

* "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western

Reserve," p. 239.

Dr. Storm Rosa, a leading physician of Ohio, in, a letter to the Rev.

John Hall of Ashtabula, written in 1841, said: "In the early part of

the year 1830 I was in company with Sidney Rigdon, and rode with him on

horseback for a few miles.... He remarked to me that it was time for

a new religion to spring up; that mankind were all right and ready for

it."*

* "Gleanings by the Way," p. 315.

Having thus established the identity of the story running through the

Spaulding manuscript and the historical part of the Mormon Bible, the

agreement of the doctrinal part of the latter with what was taught at

the time by Rigdon and his fellow-workers in Ohio, and Rigdon's previous

knowledge of the coming book, we are brought to the query: How did the

Spaulding manuscript become incorporated in the Mormon Bible?

It could have been so incorporated in two ways: either by coming into

the possession of Rigdon and being by him copied and placed in Smith's

hands for "translation," with the theological parts added;* or by coming

into possession of Smith in his wanderings around the neighborhood of

Hartwick, and being shown by him to Rigdon. Every aspect of this matter

has been discussed by Mormon and non-Mormon writers, and it can only be

said that definite proof is lacking. Mormon disputants set forth that

Spaulding moved from Pittsburg to Amity in 1814, and that Rigdon's first

visit to Pittsburg occurred in 1822. On the other hand, evidence is

offered that Rigdon was a "hanger around" Patterson's printing-office,

where Spaulding offered his manuscript, before the year 1816, and the

Rev. John Winter, M.D., who taught school in Pittsburg when Rigdon

preached there, and knew him well, recalled that Rigdon showed him a

large manuscript which he said a Presbyterian minister named Spaulding

had brought to the city for publication. Dr. Winter's daughter wrote to

Robert Patterson on April 5, 1881: "I have frequently heard my father

speak of Rigdon having Spaulding's manuscript, and that he had gotten

it from the printers to read it as a curiosity; as such he showed it to

father, and at that time Rigdon had no intention of making the use of it

that he afterward did." Mrs. Ellen E. Dickenson, in a report of a talk

with General and Mrs. Garfield on the subject at Mentor, Ohio, in 1880,

reports Mrs. Garfield as saying "that her father told her that Rigdon

in his youth lived in that neighborhood, and made mysterious journeys to

Pittsburg."*** She also quotes a statement by Mrs. Garfield's** father,

Z. Rudolph, "that during the winter previous to the appearance of the

Book of Mormon, Rigdon was in the habit of spending weeks away from his

home, going no one knew where."**** Tucker says that in the summer of

1827 "a mysterious stranger appears at Smith's residence, and holds

private interviews with the far-famed money-digger.... It was observed

by some of Smith's nearest neighbors that his visits were frequently

repeated." Again, when the persons interested in the publication of the

Bible were so alarmed by the abstraction of pages of the translation

by Mrs. Harris, "the reappearance of the mysterious stranger at Smith's

was," he says, "the subject of inquiry and conjecture by observers from

whom was withheld all explanation of his identity or purpose."*****

* "Rigdon has not been in full fellowship with Smith for more

than a year. He has been in his turn cast aside by Joe to make room for

some new dupe or knave who, perhaps, has come with more money. He

has never been deceived by Joe. I have no doubt that Rigdon was the

originator of the system, and, fearing for its success, put Joe forward

as a sort of fool in the play."--Letter from a resident near Nauvoo,

quoted in the postscript to Caswall's "City of the Mormons". (1843)

* For a collection of evidence on this subject, see Patterson's

"Who Wrote the Mormon Bible?"

** "Scribner's Magazine," October, 1881.

*** "New Light on Mormonism," p. 252.

***** "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," pp. 28, 46.

In a historical inquiry of this kind, it is more important to establish

the fact that a certain thing WAS DONE than to prove just HOW or WHEN

it was done. The entire narrative of the steps leading up to the

announcement of a new Bible, including Smith's first introduction to

the use of a "peek-stone" and his original employment of it, the changes

made in the original version of the announcement to him of buried

plates, and the final production of a book, partly historical and partly

theological, shows that there was behind Smith some directing mind, and

the only one of his associates in the first few years of the church's

history who could have done the work required was Sidney Rigdon.

President Fairchild, in his paper on the Spaulding manuscript already

referred to, while admitting that "it is perhaps impossible at this day

to prove or disprove the Spaulding theory," finds any argument against

the assumption that Rigdon supplied the doctrinal part of the new Bible,

in the view that "a man as self-reliant and smart as Rigdon, with a

superabundant gift of tongue and every form of utterance, would never

have accepted the servile task of mere interpolation; there could have

been no motive to it." This only shows that President Fairchild wrote

without knowledge of the whole subject, with ignorance of the motives

which did exist for Rigdon's conduct, and without means of acquainting

himself with Rigdon's history during his association with Smith. Some of

his motives we have already ascertained: We shall find that, almost from

the beginning of their removal to Ohio, Smith held him in a subjection

which can be explained only on the theory that Rigdon, the prominent

churchman, had placed himself completely in the power of the

unprincipled Smith, and that, instead of exhibiting self-reliance, he

accepted insult after insult until, just before Smith's death, he was

practically without influence in the church; and when the time came to

elect Smith's successor, he was turned out-of-doors by Brigham Young

with the taunting words, "Brother Sidney says he will tell our secrets,

but I would say, 'O don't, Brother Sidney! Don't tell our secrets--O

don't.' But if he tells our secrets we will tell his. Tit for tat!"

President Fairchild's argument that several of the original leaders of

the fanaticism must have been "adequate to the task" of supplying the

doctrinal part of the book, only furnishes additional proof of his

ignorance of early Mormon history, and his further assumption that

"it is difficult--almost impossible--to believe that the religious

sentiments of the Book of Mormon were wrought into interpolation" brings

him into direct conflict, as we shall see, with Professor Whitsitt,*

a much better equipped student of the subject.

* Post, pp. 92. 93.

If it should be questioned whether a man of Rigdon's church connection

would deliberately plan such a fraudulent scheme as the production of

the Mormon Bible, the inquiry may be easily satisfied. One of the first

tasks which Smith and Rigdon undertook, as soon as Rigdon openly joined

Smith in New York State, was the preparation of what they called a new

translation of the Scriptures. This work was undertaken in conformity

with a "revelation" to Smith and Rigdon, dated December, 1830 (Sec. 35,

"Doctrine and Covenants") in which Sidney was told, "And a commandment I

give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him; and the Scriptures shall

be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine

own elect." The "translating" was completed in Ohio, and the manuscript,

according to Smith, "was sealed up, no more to be opened till it arrived

in Zion."* This work was at first kept as a great secret, and Smith

and Rigdon moved to the house of a resident of Hiram township, Portage

County, Ohio, thirty miles from Kirtland, in September, 1831, to carry

it on; but the secret soon got out. The preface to the edition of the

book published at Plano, Illinois, in 1867, under the title, "The Holy

Scriptures translated and corrected by the Spirit of Revelation, by

Joseph Smith, Jr., the Seer," says that the manuscript remained in the

hands of the prophet's widow from the time of his death until 1866, when

it was delivered to a committee of the Reorganized Mormon conference for

publication. Some of its chapters were known to Mormon readers earlier,

since Corrill gives the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew in his

historical sketch, which was dated 1839.

* Millenial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 361.

The professed object of the translation was to restore the Scriptures to

their original purity and beauty, the Mormon Bible declaring that "many

plain and precious parts" had been taken from them. The real object,

however, was to add to the sacred writings a prediction of Joseph

Smith's coming as a prophet, which would increase his authority and

support the pretensions of the new Bible. That this was Rigdon's scheme

is apparent from the fact that it was announced as soon as he visited

Smith, and was carried on under his direction, and that the manuscript

translation was all in his handwriting.*

* Wyl's "Mormon Portraits," p.124.

Extended parts of the translation do not differ at all from the King

James version, and many of the changes are verbal and inconsequential.

Rigdon's object appears in the changes made in the fiftieth chapter

of Genesis, and the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. In the King James

version the fiftieth chapter of Genesis contains twenty-six verses, and

ends with the words, "So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years

old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." In

the Smith-Rigdon version this chapter contains thirty-eight verses, the

addition representing Joseph as telling his brethren that a branch of

his people shall be carried into a far country and that a seer shall

be given to them, "and that seer will I bless, and they that seek to

destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise I give unto you; for

I will remember you from generation to generation; and his name shall be

called Joseph. And he shall have judgment, and shall write the word of

the Lord."

The twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah is similarly expanded from

twenty-four short to thirty-two long verses. Verses eleven and twelve of

the King James version read:--

"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is

sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I

pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.

"And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read

this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

The Smith-Rigdon version expands this as follows:--"11. And it shall

come to pass, that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of

a book; and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.

"12. And behold, the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be

a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending

thereof.

"13. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things

which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and

abominations of the people. Wherefore, the book shall be kept from them.

"14. But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver

the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered

in the dust; and he shall deliver these words unto another, but the

words that are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the

book.

"15. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the

revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due

time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for, behold, they reveal all

things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof."

No one will question that a Rigdon who would palm off such a fraudulent

work as this upon the men who looked to him as a religious teacher would

hesitate to suggest to Smith the scheme for a new Bible. During the work

of translation, as we learn from Smith's autobiography, the translators

saw a wonderful vision, in which they "beheld the glory of the Son on

the right hand of the Father," and holy angels, and the glory of the

worlds, terrestrial and celestial. Soon after this they received an

explanation from heaven of some obscure texts in Revelation. Thus, the

sea of glass (iv. 6) "is the earth in its sanctified, immortal, and

eternal state"; by the little book which was eaten by John (chapter x)

"we are to understand that it was a mission and an ordinance for him to

gather the tribes of Israel."

It may be added that this translation is discarded by the modern Mormon

church in Utah. The Deseret Evening News, the church organ at Salt Lake

City, said on February 21, 1900:--

"The translation of the Bible, referred to by our correspondents, has

not been adopted by this church as authoritative. It is understood

that the Prophet Joseph intended before its publication to subject

the manuscript to an entire examination, for such revision as might be

deemed necessary. Be that as it may, the work has not been published

under the auspices of this church, and is, therefore, not held out as a

guide. For the present, the version of the scriptures commonly known

as King James's translation is used, and the living oracles are the

expounders of the written word."

We may anticipate the course of our narrative in order to show how much

confirmation of Rigdon's connection with the whole Mormon scheme is

furnished by the circumstances attending the first open announcement

of his acceptance of the Mormon literature and faith. We are first

introduced to Parley P. Pratt, sometime tin peddler, and a lay preacher

to rural congregations in Ohio when occasion offered. Pratt in his

autobiography tells of the joy with which he heard Rigdon preach, at

his home in Ohio, doctrines of repentance and baptism which were the

"ancient gospel" that he (Pratt) had "discovered years before, but

could find no one to minister in"; of a society for worship which he

and others organized; of his decision, acting under the influence of the

Gospel and prophecies "as they had been opened to him," to abandon the

home he had built up, and to set out on a mission "for the Gospel's

sake"; and of a trip to New York State, where he was shown the Mormon

Bible. "As I read," he says, "the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I

knew and comprehended that the book was true."

Pratt was at once commissioned, "by revelation and the laying on of

hands," to preach the new Gospel, and was sent, also by "revelation"

(Sec. 32, "Doctrine and Covenants"), along with Cowdery, Z. Peterson,

and Peter Whitmer, Jr., "into the wilderness among the Lamanites." Pratt

and Cowdery went direct to Rigdon's house in Mentor, where they stayed

a week. Pratt's own account says: "We called on Mr. Rigdon, my former

friend and instructor in the Reformed Baptist Society. He received us

cordially, and entertained us with hospitality."*

* "Autobiography of P. P. Pratt," p. 49.

In Smith's autobiography it is stated that Rigdon's visitors presented

the Mormon Bible to him as a revelation from God, and what followed is

thus described:--

"This being the first time he had ever heard of or seen the Book of

Mormon, he felt very much prejudiced at the assertion, and replied that

'he had one Bible which he believed was a revelation from God, and with

which he pretended to have some acquaintance; but with respect to the

book they had presented him, he must say HE HAD SOME CONSIDERABLE DOUBT'

Upon which they expressed a desire to investigate the subject and argue

the matter; but he replied, 'No, young gentlemen, you must not argue

with me on the subject. But I will read your book, and see what claim

it has upon my faith, and will endeavor to ascertain whether it be a

revelation from God or not'. After some further conversation on the

subject, they expressed a desire to lay the subject before the people,

and requested the privilege of preaching in Elder Rigdon's church, TO

WHICH HE READILY CONSENTED. The appointment was accordingly published,

and a large and respectable congregation assembled. Oliver Cowdery and

Parley P. Pratt severally addressed the meeting. At the conclusion Elder

Rigdon arose and stated to the congregation that the information

they that evening had received was of an extraordinary character, and

certainly demanded their most serious consideration; and, as the apostle

advised his brethren 'to prove all things and hold fast that which is

good,' so he would exhort his brethren to do likewise, and give the

matter a careful investigation, and NOT TURN AGAINST IT, WITHOUT BEING

FULLY CONVINCED OF ITS BEING AN IMPOSITION, LEST THEY SHOULD POSSIBLY

RESIST THE TRUTH."

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 47.

Accepting this as a correct report of what occurred (and we may consider

it from Rigdon's pen), we find a clergyman who was a fellow-worker with

men like Campbell and Scott expressing only "considerable doubt" of

the inspiration of a book presented to him as a new Bible, "readily

consenting" to the use of his church by the sponsors for this book, and,

at the close of their arguments, warning his people against rejecting

it too readily "lest they resist the truth"! Unless all these are

misstatements, there seems to be little necessity of further proof that

Rigdon was prepared in advance for the reception of the Mormon Bible.

After this came the announcement of the conversion and baptism by the

Mormon missionaries of a "family" of seventeen persons living in some

sort of a "community" system, between Mentor and Kirtland. Rigdon,

who had merely explained to his neighbors that his visitors were "on

a curious mission," expressed disapproval of this at first, and took

Cowdery to task for asserting that his own conversion to the new belief

was due to a visit from an angel. But, two days later, Rigdon himself

received an angel's visit, and the next Sunday, with his wife, was

baptized into the new faith.

Rigdon, of course, had to answer many inquiries on his return to Ohio

from a visit to Smith which soon followed his conversion, but his policy

was indignant reticence whenever pressed to any decisive point. To an

old acquaintance who, after talking the matter over with him at his

house, remarked that the Koran of Mohammed stood on as good evidence as

the Bible of Smith, Rigdon replied: "Sir, you have insulted me in my own

house. I command silence. If people come to see us and cannot treat us

civilly, they can walk out of the door as soon as they please."* Thomas

Campbell sent a long letter to Rigdon under date of February 4, 1831,

in which he addressed him as "for many years not only a courteous and

benevolent friend, but a beloved brother and fellow-laborer in the

Gospel--but alas! how changed, how fallen." Accepting a recent offer of

Rigdon in one of his sermons to give his reasons for his new belief, Mr.

Campbell offered to meet him in public discussion, even outlining the

argument he would offer, under nine headings, that Rigdon might be

prepared to refute it, proposing to take his stand on the sufficiency

of the Holy Scriptures, Smith's bad character, the absurdities of the

Mormon Bible and of the alleged miraculous "gifts," and the objections

to the "common property" plan and the rebaptizing of believers. Rigdon,

after glancing over a few lines of this letter, threw it into the fire

unanswered.**

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 112.

** Ibid., p. 116-123.

CHAPTER IX. -- "THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL"

Having presented the evidence which shows that the historical part of

the Mormon Bible was supplied by the Spaulding manuscript, we may

now pay attention to other evidence, which indicates that the entire

conception of a revelation of golden plates by an angel was not even

original, and also that its suggestor was Rigdon. This is a subject

which has been overlooked by investigators of the Mormon Bible.

That the idea of the revelation as described by Smith in his

autobiography was not original is shown by the fact that a similar

divine message, engraved on plates, was announced to have been received

from an angel nearly six hundred years before the alleged visit of an

angel to Smith. These original plates were described as of copper, and

the recipient was a monk named Cyril, from whom their contents passed

into the possession of the Abbot Joachim, whose "Everlasting Gospel,"

founded thereon, was offered to the church as supplanting the New

Testament, just as the New Testament had supplanted the Old, and caused

so serious a schism that Pope Alexander IV took the severest measures

against it.*

* Draper's "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, Chap.

III. For an exhaustive essay on the "Everlasting Gospel," by Renan,

see Revue des Deux Mondes, June, 1866. For John of Parma's part in the

Gospel, see "Histoire Litteraire de la France" (1842), Vol. XX, p. 24.

The evidence that the history of the "Everlasting Gospel" of the

thirteenth century supplied the idea of the Mormon Bible lies not only

in the resemblance between the celestial announcement of both, but in

the fact that both were declared to have the same important purport--as

a forerunner of the end of the world--and that the name "Everlasting

Gospel" was adopted and constantly used in connection with their message

by the original leaders in the Mormon church.

If it is asked, How could Rigdon become acquainted with the story of

the original "Everlasting Gospel," the answer is that it was just such

subjects that would most attract his attention, and that his studies had

led him into directions where the story of Cyril's plates would probably

have been mentioned. He was a student of every subject out of which he

could evolve a sect, from the time of his Pittsburg pastorate. Hepworth

Dixon said, "He knew the writings of Maham, Gates, and Boyle, writings

in which love and marriage are considered in relation to Gospel liberty

and the future life."* H. H. Bancroft, noting his appointment as

Professor of Church History in Nauvoo University, speaks of him as

"versed in history, belles-lettres, and oratory."** Mrs. James A.

Garfield told Mrs. Dickenson that Rigdon taught her father Latin and

Greek.*** David Whitmer, who was so intimately acquainted with the

early history of the church, testified: "Rigdon was a thorough biblical

scholar, a man of fine education and a powerful orator."**** A writer,

describing Rigdon while the church was at Nauvoo, said, "There is no

divine in the West more learned in biblical literature and the history

of the world than he."***** All this indicates that a knowledge of the

earlier "Everlasting Gospel" was easily within Rigdon's reach. We

may even surmise the exact source of this knowledge. Mosheim's

"Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern" was at his disposal.

Editions of it had appeared in London in 1765, 1768, 1774, 1782, 1790,

1806, 1810, and 1826, and among the abridgments was one published in

Philadelphia in 1812. In this work he could have read as follows:--

"About the commencement of this [the thirteenth] century there were

handed about in Italy several pretended prophecies of the famous

Joachim, abbot of Sora in Calabria, whom the multitude revered as a

person divinely inspired, and equal to the most illustrious prophets of

ancient times. The greatest part of these predictions were contained in

a certain book entitled, 'The Everlasting Gospel,' and which was also

commonly called the Book of Joachim. This Joachim, whether a real or

fictitious person we shall not pretend to determine, among many other

future events, foretold the destruction of the Church of Rome, whose

corruptions he censured with the greatest severity, and the promulgation

of a new and more perfect gospel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by a set

of poor and austere ministers, whom God was to raise up and employ for

that purpose."

* "Spiritual Wives," p. 62.

** "Utah," p. 146.

*** Scribner's Magazine, October, 1881.

**** "Address to All Believers in Christ;" p. 35.

***** Letter in the New York Herald.

Here is a perfect outline of the scheme presented by the original

Mormons, with Joseph as the divinely inspired prophet, and an

"Everlasting Gospel," the gift of an angel, promulgated by poor men like

the travelling Mormon elders.

The original suggestion of an "Everlasting Gospel" is found in

Revelation xiv. 6 and 7:--

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the

everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to

every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud

voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is

come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the

fountains of water."** "Bisping (after Gerlach) takes Rev. xiv. 6-11 to

foretell that three great events at the end of the last world-week are

immediately to precede Christ's second advent (1) the announcement of

the 'eternal' Gospel to the whole world (Matt. xxiv. 14); (2)the Fall of

Babylon; (3)a warning to all who worship the beast.... Burger says

this vision can denote nothing but a last admonition and summons to

conversion shortly before the end."--Note in "Commentary by Bishops and

Other Clergy of the Anglican Church."

This was the angel of Cyril; this the announcement of those "latter

days" from which the Mormon church, on Rigdon's motion, soon took its

name.

That Rigdon's attention had been attracted to an "Everlasting Gospel" is

proved by the constant references made to it in writings of which he had

at least the supervision, from the very beginning of the church. Thus,

when he preached his first sermon before a Mormon audience--on the

occasion of his visit to Smith at Palmyra in 1830--he took as his text a

part of the version of Revelation xiv. which he had put into the Mormon

Bible (1 Nephi xiii. 40), and in his sermon, as reported by Tucker, who

heard it, holding the Scriptures in one hand and the Mormon Bible in the

other, he said, "that they were inseparably necessary to complete the

everlasting gospel of the Saviour Jesus Christ." In the account, in

Smith's autobiography, of the first description of the buried book given

to Smith by the angel, its two features are named separately, first,

"an account of the former inhabitants of this continent," and then "the

fulness of the Everlasting Gospel." That Rigdon never lost sight of the

importance, in his view, of an "Everlasting Gospel" may be seen from the

following quotation from one of his articles in his Pittsburg organ,

the Messenger and Advocate, of June 15, 1845, after his expulsion from

Nauvoo: "It is a strict observance of the principles of the fulness of

the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, as contained in the Bible,

Book of Mormon, and Book of Covenants, which alone will insure a man an

inheritance in the kingdom of our God."

The importance attached to the "Everlasting Gospel" by the founders

of the church is seen further in the references to it in the "Book of

Doctrine and Covenants," which it is not necessary to cite,* and further

in a pamphlet by Elder Moses of New York (1842), entitled "A Treatise

on the Fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, setting forth its First

Principles, Promises, and Blessings," in which he argued that the

appearance of the angel to Smith was in direct line with the Scriptural

teaching, and that the last days were near.

* For examples see Sec. 68, 1; Sec. 101, 22; Sec. 124, 88.

CHAPTER X. -- THE WITNESSES TO THE PLATES

In his accounts to his neighbors of the revelation to him of the golden

plates on which the "record" was written, Smith always declared that no

person but him could look on those plates and live. But when the

printed book came out, it, like all subsequent editions to this day, was

preceded by the following "testimonies":--

"THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom

this work shall come, that we through the grace of God the Father, and

our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record,

which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites,

their brethren, and also the people of Jared, who came from the tower of

which hath been spoken; and we also know that they have been translated

by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us;

wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify

that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they

have been shewn unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we

declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from

heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw

the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the

grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and

bear record that these things are true; and it is marvellous in our

eyes, nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should

bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments

of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are

faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men,

and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall

dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honour be to the

Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

"OLIVER COWDERY, DAVID WHITMER, MARTIN HARRIS.

"AND ALSO THE TESTIMONY OF THE EIGHT WITNESSES

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom

this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this

work, has shewn unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have

the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has

translated we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings

thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious

workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the

said Smith has shewn unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of

a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken.

And we give our names unto the world, to witness unto the world that

which we have seen; and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.

"CHRISTIAN WHITMER, HIRAM PAGE, JACOB WHITMER, JOSEPH SMITH, SEN., PETER

WHITMER, JUN., HYRUM SMITH, JOHN WHITMER, SAMUEL H. SMITH."

In judging of the value of this testimony, we may first inquire, what

the prophet has to say about it, and may then look into the character

and qualification of the witnesses.

We find a sufficiently full explanation of Testimony No. 1 in Smith's

autobiography and in his "revelations." Nothing could be more natural

than that such men as the prophet was dealing with should demand a sight

of any plates from which he might be translating. Others besides Harris

made such a demand, and Smith repeated the warning that to look on them

was death. This might satisfy members of his own family, but it did

not quiet his scribes, and he tells us that Cowdery, David Whitmer, and

Harris "teased me so much" (these are his own words) that he gave out a

"revelation" in March, 1829 (Sec. 5, "Doctrine and Covenants"), in which

the Lord was represented as saying that the prophet had no power over

the plates except as He granted it, but that to his testimony would

be added "the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call and

ordain, unto whom I will show these things, "adding," and to none else

will I grant this power, to receive this same testimony among this

generation." The Lord was distrustful of Harris, and commanded him not

to be talkative on the subject, but to say nothing about it except, "I

have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God."

Smith's own account of the showing of the plates to these three

witnesses is so luminous that it may be quoted. After going out into

the woods, they had to stand Harris off by himself because of his evil

influence. Then:--

"We knelt down again, and had not been many minutes engaged in prayer

when presently we beheld a light above us in the air of exceeding

brightness; and behold an angel stood before us. In his hands he held

the plates which we had been praying for these to have a view of;

he turned over the leaves one by one, so that we could see them and

discover the engravings thereon distinctly. He then addressed himself

to David Whitmer and said, 'David, blessed is the Lord and he that keeps

his commandments'; when immediately afterward we heard a voice from out

of the bright light above us saying, 'These plates have been revealed by

the power of God, and they have been translated by the power of God. The

translation of them is correct, and I command you to bear record of what

you now see and hear.'

"I now left David and Oliver, and went into pursuit of Martin Harris,

whom I found at a considerable distance, fervently engaged in prayer. He

soon told me, however, that he had not yet prevailed with the Lord, and

earnestly requested me to join him in prayer, that he might also realize

the same blessings which we had just received. We accordingly joined

in prayer, and immediately obtained our desires; for before we had yet

finished, the same vision was opened to our view, AT LEAST IT WAS

AGAIN TO ME [Joe thus refuses to vouch for Harris's declaration on the

subject]; and I once more beheld and heard the same things; whilst, at

the same moment, Martin Harris cried out, apparently in ecstasy of

joy, 'Tis enough, mine eyes hath beheld,' and, jumping up, he shouted

'Hosannah,' blessing God, and otherwise rejoiced exceedingly."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt., p. 19.

If this story taxes the credulity of the reader, his doubts about the

value of this "testimony" will increase when he traces the history

of the three witnesses. Surely, if any three men in the church should

remain steadfast, mighty pillars of support for the prophet in his

future troubles, it should be these chosen witnesses to the actual

existence of the golden plates. Yet every one of them became an

apostate, and every one of them was loaded with all the opprobrium that

the church could pile upon him.

Cowdery's reputation was locally bad at the time. "I was personally

acquainted with Oliver Cowdery," said Danforth Booth, an old resident of

Palmyra, in 1880. "He was a pettifogger; their (the Smiths') cat-paw to

do their dirty work."* Smith's trouble with him, which began during

the work of translating, continued, and Smith found it necessary to

say openly in a "revelation" given out in Ohio in 1831 (Sec. 69), when

preparations were making for a trip of some of the brethren to

Missouri, "It is not wisdom in me that he should be intrusted with the

commandments and the monies which he shall carry unto the land of Zion,

except one go with him who will be true and faithful."

* Among affidavits on file in the county clerk's office at

Canandaigua, New York.

By the time Smith took his final departure to Missouri, Cowdery and

David and John Whitmer had lost caste entirely, and in June, 1838, they

fled to escape the Danites at Far West. The letter of warning addressed

to them and signed by more than eighty Mormons, giving them three days

in which to depart, contained the following accusations:--

"After Oliver Cowdery had been taken by a state warrant for stealing,

and the stolen property found in the house of William W. Phelps; in

which nefarious transaction John Whitmer had also participated. Oliver

Cowdery stole the property, conveyed it to John Whitmer, and John

Whitmer to William W. Phelps; and then the officers of law found it.

While in the hands of an officer, and under an arrest for this vile

transaction, and, if possible, to hide your shame from the world

like criminals (which, indeed, you were), you appealed to our beloved

brethren, President Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon, men whose

characters you had endeavored to destroy by every artifice you could

invent, not even the basest lying excepted....

"The Saints in Kirtland having elected Oliver Cowdery to a justice of

the peace, he used the power of that office to take their most sacred

rights from them, and that contrary to law. He supported a parcel of

blacklegs, and in disturbing the worship of the Saints; and when the men

whom the church had chosen to preside over their meetings endeavored to

put the house to order, he helped (and by the authority of his justice's

office too) these wretches to continue their confusion; and threatened

the church with a prosecution for trying to put them out of the house;

and issued writs against the Saints for endeavoring to sustain their

rights; and bound themselves under heavy bonds to appear before his

honor; and required bonds which were both inhuman and unlawful; and one

of these was the venerable father, who had been appointed by the church

to preside--a man of upwards of seventy years of age, and notorious for

his peaceable habits.

"Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Lyman E. Johnson, united with a gang

of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to

deceive, cheat and defraud the Saints out of their property, by every

art and stratagem which wickedness could invent; using the influence

of the vilest persecutions to bring vexatious lawsuits, villainous

prosecutions, and even stealing not excepted.... During the full career

of Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer's bogus money business, it got

abroad into the world that they were engaged in it, and several

gentlemen were preparing to commence a prosecution against Cowdery; he

finding it out, took with him Lyman E. Johnson, and fled to Far West

with their families; Cowdery stealing property and bringing it with him,

which has been, within a few weeks past, obtained by the owner by means

of a search warrant, and he was saved from the penitentiary by the

influence of two influential men of the place. He also brought notes

with him upon which he had received pay, and made an attempt to sell

them to Mr. Arthur of Clay County."*

* "Documents in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons,"

Missouri Legislature (1841), p. 103.

Rigdon, who was the author of this arraignment, realizing that the

enemies of the church would not fail to make use of this aspersion of

the character of the witnesses, attempted to "hedge" by saying, in the

same document, "We wish to remind you that Oliver Cowdery and David

Whitmer were among the principal of those who were the means of

gathering us to this place by their testimony which they gave concerning

the plates of the Book of Mormon, that they were shown to them by an

angel; which testimony we believe now as much as before you had so

scandalously disgraced it." Could affrontery go to greater lengths?

Cowdery and David Whitmer fled to Richmond, Missouri, where Whitmer

lived until his death in January, 1888. Cowdery went to Tiffin, Ohio,

where, after failing to obtain a position as an editor because of his

Mormon reputation, he practised law. While living there he renounced his

Mormon views, joined the Methodist church, and became superintendent of

a Sunday-school. Later he moved to Wisconsin, but, after being defeated

for the legislature there, he recanted his Methodist belief, and

rejoined the Saints while they were at Council Bluffs, in October,

1848, after the main body had left for Salt Lake Valley. He addressed

a meeting there by invitation, testifying to the truth of the Book of

Mormon, and the mission of Smith as a prophet, and saying that he wanted

to be rebaptized into the church, not as a leader, but simply as a

member.* He did not, however, go to Utah with the Saints, but returned

to his old friend Whitmer in Missouri, and died there in 1850. It has

been stated that he offered to give a full renunciation of the Mormon

faith when he united with the Methodists at Tiffin, if required, but

asked to be excused from doing so on the ground that it would invite

criticism and bring him into contempt.** One of his Tiffin acquaintances

afterward testified that Cowdery confessed to him that, when he signed

the "testimony," he "was not one of the best men in the world," using

his own expression.*** The Mormons were always grateful to him for his

silence under their persecutions, and the Millennial Star, in a notice

of his death, expressed satisfaction that in the days of his apostasy

"he never, in a single instance, cast the least doubt on his former

testimony," adding, "May he rest in peace, to come forth in the morning

of the first resurrection into eternal life, is the earnest desire of

all Saints."

* Millennial Star, Vol. XI, p.14.

** "Naked Truths about Mormonism," A. B. Demming, Oakland,

California, 1888.

*** "Gregg's History of Hancock County, Illinois," p. 257.

The Whitmers were a Dutch family, known among their neighbors as

believers in witches and in the miraculous generally, as has been shown

in Mother Smith's account of their sending for Joseph. A "revelation" to

the three witnesses which first promised them a view of the plates (Sec.

17) told them, "It is BY YOUR FAITH you shall obtain a view of them,"

and directed them to testify concerning the plates, "that my servant

Joseph Smith, Jr., may not be destroyed." One of the converts who joined

the Mormons at Kirtland, Ohio, testified in later years that David

Whitmer confessed to her that he never actually saw the plates,

explaining his testimony thus: "Suppose that you had a friend whose

character was such that you knew it impossible that he could lie; then,

if he described a city to you which you had never seen, could you not,

by the eye of faith, see the city just as he described it?"*

* Mrs. Dickenson's "New Light on Mormonism."

The Mormons have found consolation in the fact that Whitmer continued to

affirm his belief in the authenticity of the Mormon Bible to the day of

his death. He declared, however, that Smith and Young had led the

flock astray, and, after the open announcement of polygamy in Utah, he

announced a church of his own, called "The Church of Christ," refusing

to affiliate even with the Reorganized Church because of the latter's

adherence to Smith. In his "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon,"

a pamphlet issued in his eighty-second year, he said, "Now, in 1849 the

Lord saw fit to manifest unto John Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and myself

nearly all the remaining errors of doctrine into which we had been

led by the heads of the church." The reader from all this can form an

estimate of the trustworthiness of the second witness on such a subject.

We have already learned a great deal about Martin Harris's mental

equipment. A lawyer of standing in Palmyra told Dr. Clark that, after

Harris had signed the "testimony," he pressed him with the question:

"Did you see the plates with your natural eyes, just as you see

this pencil case in my hand? Now say yes or no." Harris replied (in

corroboration of Joe's misgiving at the time): "Why, I did not see them

as I do that pencil case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith. I saw

them just as distinctly as I see anything around me--though at the time

they were covered over with a cloth."*

* "Gleanings by the Way."

Harris followed Smith to Ohio and then to Missouri, but was ever a

trouble to him, although Smith always found his money useful. In 1831,

in Missouri, it required a "revelation" (Sec. 58) to spur him to "lay

his monies before the Bishop." As his money grew scarcer, he received

less and less recognition from the Mormon leaders, and was finally

expelled from the church. Smith thus referred to him in the Elders'

Journal, July, 1837, one of his publications in Ohio: "There are negroes

who wear white skins as well as black ones, granny Parish, and others

who acted as lackeys, such as Martin Harris."

Harris did not appear on the scene during the stay of the Mormons in

Illinois, having joined the Shakers and lived with them a year or two.

When Strang claimed the leadership of the church after Smith's death,

Harris gave him his support, and was sent by him with others to England

in 1846 to do missionary work. His arrival there was made the occasion

of an attack on him by the Millennial Star, which, among other things,

said:--

"We do not feel to warn the Saints against him, for his own unbridled

tongue will soon show out specimens of folly enough to give any person

a true index to the character of the man; but if the Saints wish to know

what the Lord hath said of him, they may turn to the 178th page of the

Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and the person there called a WICKED MAN

is no other than Martin Harris, and he owned to it then, but probably

might not now. It is not the first time the Lord chose a wicked man as

a witness. Also on page 193, read the whole revelation given to him, and

ask yourselves if the Lord ever talked in that way to a good man. Every

one can see that he must have been a wicked man."*

*Vol. VIII, p. 123.

Harris visited Palmyra in 1858. He then said that his property was all

gone, that he had declined a restoration to the Mormon church, but

that he continued to believe in Mormonism. He thought better of his

declination, however, and sought a reunion with the church in Utah

in 1870. His backslidings had carried him so far that the church

authorities told him it would be necessary for him to be rebaptized.

This he consented to with some reluctance, after, as he said, "he had

seen his father seeking his aid. He saw his father at the foot of a

ladder, striving to get up to him, and he went down to him, taking him

by the hand, and helped him up."* He settled in Cache County, Utah,

where he died on July 10, 1875, in his ninety-third year. "He bore his

testimony to the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon a short time

before he departed," wrote his son to an inquirer, "and the last words

he uttered, when he could not speak the sentence, were 'Book,' 'Book,'

'Book.'"

* For an account of Harris's Utah experience, see Millennial

Star, Vol. XLVIII, pp.357-389.

The precarious character of Smith's original partners in the Bible

business is further illustrated by his statement that, in the summer of

1830, Cowdery sent him word that he had discovered an error in one of

Smith's "revelations,"* and that the Whitmer family agreed with him on

the subject. Smith was as determined in opposing this questioning of

his divine authority as he always was in stemming any opposition to his

leadership, and he made them all acknowledge their error. Again, when

Smith returned to Fayette from Harmony, in August, 1830 (more than a

year after the plates were shown to the witnesses), he found that "Satan

had been lying in wait," and that Hiram Page, of the second list of

witnesses, had been obtaining revelations through a "peek-stone" of his

own, and that, what was more serious, Cowdery and the Whitmer family

believed in them. The result of this was an immediate "revelation"

(Sec. 28) directing Cowdery to go and preach the Gospel to the Lamanites

(Indians) on the western border, and to take along with him Hiram Page,

and tell him that the things he had written by means of the "peek-stone"

were not of the Lord.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 36.

Neither Smith's autobiography nor the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants"

contains any explanation of the second "testimony." The list of persons

who signed it, however, leaves little doubt that the prophet yielded to

their "teasing" as he did to that of the original three. The first four

signers were members of the Whitmer family. Hiram Page was a root-doctor

by calling, and a son-in-law of Peter Whitmer, Sr. The three Smiths were

the prophet's father and two of his brothers.*

* Christian Whitmer died in Clay County, Missouri, November 27,

1835; Jacob died in Richmond County, April 21, 1866; Peter died in Clay

County, September 22, 1836; Hiram Page died on a farm in Ray County,

August 12, 1852.

The favorite Mormon reply to any question as to the value of these

"testimonies" is the challenge, "Is there a person on the earth who can

prove that these eleven witnesses did not see the plates?" Curiously,

the prophet himself can be cited to prove this, in the words of the

revelation granting a sight of the plates to the first three, which

said, "And to none else will I grant this power, to receive this same

testimony among this generation." A footnote to this declaration in the

"Doctrine and Covenants" offers, as an explanation of Testimony No.

2; the statement that others "may receive a knowledge by other

manifestations." This is well meant but transparent.

Mother Smith in later years added herself to these witnesses. She said

to the Rev. Henry Caswall, in Nauvoo, in 1842, "I have myself seen and

handled the golden plates." Mr. Caswall adds:--

"While the old woman was thus delivering herself, I fixed my eyes

steadily upon her. She faltered and seemed unwilling to meet my glances,

but gradually recovered her self-possession. The melancholy thought

entered my mind that this poor old creature was not simply a dupe of her

son's knavery, but that she had taken an active part in the deception."

Two matters have been cited by Mormon authorities to show that there

was nothing so very unusual in the discovery of buried plates containing

engraved letters. Announcement was made in 1843 of the discovery near

Kinderhook, Illinois, of six plates similar to those described by Smith.

The story, as published in the Times and Seasons, with a certificate

signed by nine local residents, set forth that a merchant of the place,

named Robert Wiley, while digging in a mound, after finding ashes and

human bones, came to "a bundle that consisted of six plates of brass, of

a bell shape, each having a hole near the small end, and a ring through

them all"; and that, when cleared of rust, they were found to be

"completely covered with characters that none as yet have been able to

read." Hyde, accepting this story, printed a facsimile of one of these

plates on the cover of his book, and seems to rest on Wiley's statement

his belief that "Smith did have plates of some kind." Stenhouse,* who

believed that Smith and his witnesses did not perpetrate in the

new Bible an intentional fraud, but thought they had visions and

"revelations," referring to the Kinderhook plates, says that they were

"actually and unquestionably discovered by one Mr. R. Wiley." Smith

himself, after no one else could read the writing on them, declared that

he had translated them, and found them to be a history of a descendant

of Ham.**

* T. B. H. Stenhouse, a Scotchman, was converted to the Mormon

belief in 1846, performed diligent missionary work in Europe, and was

for three years president of the Swiss and Italian missions. Joining the

brethren in Utah with his wife, he was persuaded to take a second wife.

Not long afterward he joined in the protest against Young's dictatorial

course which was known as the "New Movement," and was expelled from the

church. His "Rocky Mountain Saints" (1873) contains so much valuable

information connected with the history of the church that it has been

largely drawn on by E. W. Tullidge in his "History of Salt Lake City and

Its Founders," which is accepted by the church.

**Millennial Star, January 15, 1859, where cuts of the plates

(here produced) are given.

[Illustration:

Stenhouse Plates

124]

But the true story of the Kinderhook plates was disclosed by an

affidavit made by W. Fulgate of Mound Station, Brown County, Illinois,

before Jay Brown, Justice of the Peace, on June 30, 1879. In this he

stated that the plates were "a humbug, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge

Whitton, and myself. Whitton (who was a blacksmith) cut the plates out

of some pieces of copper Wiley and I made the hieroglyphics by making

impressions on beeswax and filling them with acid, and putting it on the

plates. When they were finished, we put them together with rust made

of nitric acid, old iron and lead, and bound them with a piece of hoop

iron, covering them completely with the rust." He describes the burial

of the plates and their digging up, among the spectators of the latter

being two Mormon elders, Marsh and Sharp. Sharp declared that the Lord

had directed them to witness the digging. The plates were borrowed and

shown to Smith, and were finally given to one "Professor" McDowell of

St. Louis, for his museum.*

* Wyl's "Mormon Portraits," p. 207. The secretary of the Missouri

Historical Society writes me that McDowell's museum disappeared some

years ago, most of its contents being lost or stolen, and the fate of

the Kinderhook plates cannot be ascertained.

In attacking Professor Anthon's statement concerning the alleged

hieroglyphics shown to him by Harris, Orson Pratt, in his "Divine

Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," thought that he found substantial

support for Smith's hieroglyphics in the fact that "Two years after the

Book of Mormon appeared in print, Professor Rafinesque, in his Atlantic

journal for 1832, gave to the public a facsimile of American glyphs,*

found in Mexico. They are arranged in columns.... By an inspection of

the facsimile of these forty-six elementary glyphs, we find all the

particulars which Professor Anthon ascribes to the characters which he

says 'a plain-looking countryman' presented to him. "These" elementary

glyphs of Rafinesque are some of the characters found on the famous

"Tablet of the Cross" in the ruins of Palenque, Mexico, since so fully

described by Stevens. A facsimile of the entire Tablet may be found

on page 355, Vol. IV, Bancroft's "Native Races of the Pacific States."

Rafinesque selected these characters from the Tablet, and arranged them

in columns alongside of other ancient writings, in order to sustain his

argument that they resembled an old Libyan alphabet. Rafinesque was a

voluminous writer both on archaeological and botanical subjects, but

wholly untrustworthy. Of his Atlantic Journal (of which only eight

numbers appeared) his biographer, R. E. Call, says that it had

"absolutely no scientific value." Professor Asa Gray, in a review of his

botanical writings in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XL, No. 2, 1841, said,

"He assumes thirty to one hundred years as the average time required for

the production of a new species, and five hundred to one thousand for

a new genus." Professor Gray refers to a paper which Rafinesque sent

to the editor of a scientific journal describing twelve new species

of thunder and lightning. He was very fond of inventing names, and his

designation of Palenque as Otolum was only an illustration of this. So

much for the 'elementary glyphs.'"

* "Glyph: A pictograph or word carved in a compact distinct

figure."--Standard Dictionary.

CHAPTER XI. -- THE MORMON BIBLE

The Mormon Bible,* both in a literary and a theological sense, is just

such a production as would be expected to result from handing over to

Smith and his fellow-"translators" a mass of Spaulding's material and

new doctrinal matter for collation and copying. Not one of these

men possessed any literary skill or accurate acquaintance with the

Scriptures. David Whitmer, in an interview in Missouri in his later

years, said, "So illiterate was Joseph at that time that he didn't know

that Jerusalem was a walled city, and he was utterly unable to

pronounce many of the names that the magic power of the Urim and Thummim

revealed." Chronology, grammar, geography, and Bible history were alike

ignored in the work. An effort was made to correct some of these errors

in the early days of the church, and Smith speaks of doing some of this

work himself at Nauvoo. An edition issued there in 1842 contains on

the title-page the words, "Carefully revised by the translator." Such

corrections have continued to the present day, and a comparison of

the latest Salt Lake edition with the first has shown more than three

thousand changes.

* The title of this Bible is "The Book of Mormon"; but as one of

its subdivisions is a Book of Mormon, I use the title "Mormon Bible,"

both to avoid confusion and for convenience.

The person who for any reason undertakes the reading of this book sets

before himself a tedious task. Even the orthodox Mormons have found this

to be true, and their Bible has played a very much less considerable

part in the church worship than Smith's "revelations" and the discourses

of their preachers. Referring to Orson Pratt's* labored writings on this

Bible, Stenhouse says, "Of the hundreds of thousands of witnesses to

whom God has revealed the truth of the 'Book of Mormon,' Pratt knows

full well that comparatively few indeed have ever read that book,

know little or nothing intelligently of its contents, and take little

interest in it."** An examination of its contents is useful, therefore,

rather as a means of proving the fraudulent character of its pretension

to divine revelation than as a means of ascertaining what the members of

the Mormon church are taught.

* Orson Pratt was a clerk in a store in Hiram, Ohio, when he was

converted to Mormonism. He seems to have been a natural student, and he

rose to prominence in the church, being one of the first to expound and

defend the Mormon Bible and doctrines, holding a professorship in Nauvoo

University, publishing works on the higher mathematics, and becoming one

of the Twelve Apostles.

** "Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 553.

The following page (omitted in this etext) presents a facsimile of the

title-page of the first edition of this Bible. The editions of to-day

substitute "Translated by Joseph Smith, Jun.," for "By Joseph Smith,

junior, author and proprietor."

The first edition contains 588 duodecimo pages, and is divided into 15

books which are named as follows: "First Book of Nephi, his reign and

ministry," 7 chapters; "Second Book of Nephi," 15 chapters; "Book of

Jacob, the Brother of Nephi," 5 chapters; "Book of Enos," 1 chapter;

"Book of Jarom," 1 chapter; "Book of Omni," 1 chapter; "Words of

Mormon," 1 chapter; "Book of Mosiah," 13 chapters; "Book of Alma, a Son

of Alma," 30 chapters; "Book of Helaman," 5 chapters; "Third Book of

Nephi, the Son of Nephi, which was the son of Helaman," 14 chapters;

"Fourth Book of Nephi, which is the Son of Nephi, one of the Disciples

of Jesus Christ," 1 chapter; "Book of Mormon," 4 chapters; "Book of

Ether," 6 chapters; "Book of Moroni," 10 chapters. The chapters in

the first edition were not divided into verses, that work, with the

preparation of the very complete footnote references in the later

editions, having been performed by Orson Pratt.

The historical narrative that runs through the book is so disjointedly

arranged, mixed up with doctrinal parts, and repeated, that it is not

easy to unravel it. The following summary of it is contained in a letter

to Colonel John Wentworth of Chicago, signed by Joseph Smith, Jr., which

was printed in Wentworth's Chicago newspaper and also in the Mormon

Times and Seasons of March 1, 1842:--

"The history of America is unfolded from its first settlement by a

colony that came from the Tower of Babel at the confusion of languages,

to the beginning of the 5th century of the Christian era. We are

informed by these records that America in ancient times has been

inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called

Jaredites, and came directly from the Tower of Babel. The second race

came directly from the city of Jerusalem about 600 years before Christ.

They were principally Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The

Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from

Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inhabitance of the country. The

principal nation of the second race fell in battle toward the close of

the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this

country."

This history purports to have been handed down, on metallic plates, from

one historian to another, beginning with Nephi, from the time of the

departure from Jerusalem. Finally (4 Nephi i. 48, 49*), the people

being wicked, Ammaron, by direction of the Holy Ghost, hid these sacred

records "that they might come again unto the remnant of the house of

Jacob."

* All references to the Mormon Bible by chapter and verse refer

to Salt Lake City edition of 1888.

To bring the story down to a comparatively recent date, and account for

the finding of the plates by Smith, the Book of Mormon was written by

the "author." This subdivision is an abridgment of the previous records.

It relates that Mormon, a descendant of Nephi, when ten years old, was

told by Ammaron that, when about twenty-four years old, he should go to

the place where the records were hidden, take only the plates of Nephi,

and engrave on them all the things he had observed concerning the

people. The next year Mormon was taken by his father, whose name also

was Mormon, to the land of Zarahemla, which had become covered with

buildings and very populous, but the people were warlike and wicked.

Mormon in time, "seeing that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the

land," took the records from their hiding place. He himself accepted the

command of the armies of the Nephites, but they were defeated with great

slaughter, the Lamanites laying waste their cities and driving them

northward.

Finally Mormon sent a letter to the king of the Lamanites, asking that

the Nephites might gather their people "unto the land of Cumorah, by

a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we would give them battle."

There, in the year 384 A.D., Mormon "made this record out of the plates

of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which have been

entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were those few plates

which I gave unto my son Moroni."* This hill, according to the Mormon

teaching, is the hill near Palmyra, New York, where Smith found the

plates, just as Mormon had deposited them.

* Hyde gives a list of twenty-four additional plates mentioned in

this Bible which must still await digging up in the hill near Palmyra.

In the battle which took place there the Nephites were practically

annihilated, and all the fugitives were killed except Moroni, the son of

Mormon, who undertook the completion of the "record." Moroni excuses

the briefness of his narrative by explaining that he had not room in the

plates, "and ore have I none" (to make others). What he adds is in the

nature of a defence of the revealed character of the Mormon Bible and of

Smith's character as a prophet. Those, for instance, who say that there

are no longer "revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor

speaking with tongues," are told that they know not the Gospel of Christ

and do not understand the Scriptures. An effort is made to forestall

criticism of the "mistakes" that are conceded in the title-page

dedication by saying, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,

neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have

written before him" (Book of Mormon ix. 31).

Evidently foreseeing that it would be asked why these "records," written

by Jews and their descendants, were not in Hebrew, Mormon adds (chap.

ix. 32, 33):--

"And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge,

in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being

handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.

"And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written

in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could

have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our

record."

Few parts of this mythical Bible approached nearer to the burlesque

than this excuse for having descendants of the Jews write in "reformed

Egyptian."

The secular story of the ancient races running through this Bible is

so confused by the introduction of new matter by the "author"* and by

repetitions that it is puzzling to pick it out. The Book of Ether was

somewhat puzzling even to the early Mormons, and we find Parley P.

Pratt, in his analysis of it, printed in London in 1854, saying, "Ether

SEEMS to have been a lineal descendant of Jared."

*Professor Whitsitt, of the Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, in his article on Mormonism in "The

Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, and Gazetteer" (New York,

1891), divides the Mormon Bible into three sections, viz.: the first

thirteen books, presented as the works of Mormon; the Book of Ether,

with which Mormon had no connection; and the fifteenth book, which was

sent forth by the editor under the name of Moroni. He thus explains his

view of the "editing" that was done in the preparation of the work for

publication:--

"The editor undertook to rewrite and recast the whole of the abridgment

(of Nephi's previous history), but his industry failed him at the close

of the Book of Omni. The first six books that he had rewritten were

given the names of the small plates.... The book called the 'Words

of Mormon' in the original work stood at the beginning, as a sort of

preface to the entire abridgment of Mormon; but when the editor had

rewritten the first six books, he felt that these were properly his own

performance, and the 'Words of Mormon' were assigned a position just in

front of the Book of Mosiah, when the abstract of Mormon took its real

commencement....

"The question may now be raised as to who was the editor of the Book of

Mormon.... In its theological positions and coloring the Book of Mormon

is a volume of Disciple theology (this does not include the later

polygamous doctrine and other gross Mormon errors). This conclusion is

capable of demonstration beyond any reasonable question. Let notice also

be taken of the fact that the Book of Mormon bears traces of two several

redactions. It contains, in the first redaction, that type of doctrine

which the Disciples held and proclaimed prior to November 18, 1827, when

they had not yet formally embraced what is commonly considered to be

the tenet of baptismal remission. It also contains the type of doctrine

which the Disciples have been defending since November 18, 1827, under

the name of the ancient Gospel, of which the tenet of socalled baptismal

remission is a leading feature. All authorities agree that Mr. Smith

obtained possession of the work on September 22, 1827, a period of

nearly two months before the Disciples concluded to embrace this tenet.

The editor felt that the Book of Mormon would be sadly incomplete

if this notion were not included. Accordingly, he found means to

communicate with Mr. Smith, and, regaining possession of certain

portions of the manuscript, to insert the new item.... Rigdon was the

only Disciple minister who vigorously and continuously demanded that his

brethren should adopt the additional points that have been indicated."

Very concisely, this Bible story of the most ancient race that came to

America, the Jaredites, may be thus stated:--

This race, being righteous, were not punished by the Lord at Babel, but

were led to the ocean, where they constructed a vessel by direction of

the Lord, in which they sailed to North America. According to the

Book of Ether, there were eight of these vessels, and that they were

remarkable craft needs only the description given of them to show: "They

were built after a manner that they were exceeding tight, even that they

would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like

unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and

the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto

a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door

thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish" (Book of Ether

ii. 17). This description certainly establishes the general resemblance

of these barges to some kind of a dish, but the rather careless

comparison of their length simply to that of a "tree" leaves this detail

of construction uncertain.

Just before they embarked in these vessels, a brother of Jared went up

on Mount Shelem, where the Lord touched sixteen small stones that he had

taken up with him, two of which were the Urim and Thummim, by means of

which Smith translated the plates. These stones lighted up the vessels

on their trip across the ocean. Jared's brother was told by the spirit

on the mount, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ." A footnote in the modern

edition of this Bible kindly explains that Jared's brother "saw the

preexistent spirit of Jesus."

When they landed (somewhere on the Isthmus of Darien), the Lord

commanded Nephi to make "plates of ore," on which should be engraved

the record of the people. This was the origin of Smith's plates. In time

this people divided themselves, under the leadership of two of Lehi's

sons--Nephi and Laman--into Nephites and Lamanites (with subdivisions).

The Lamanites, in the course of two hundred years, had become dark

in color and "wild and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty people; full of

idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in tents

and wandering about in the wilderness, with a short skin girdle about

their loins, and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the bow and

the cimeter and the ax" (Enos i, 20). The Nephites, on the other hand,

tilled the land and raised flocks. Between the two tribes wars waged,

the Nephites became wicked, and in the course of 320 years the worst of

them were destroyed (Book of Alma).

Then the Lord commanded those who would hearken to his voice to depart

with him to the wilderness, and they journeyed until they came to the

land of Zarahemla, which a footnote to the modern edition explains "is

supposed to have been north of the head waters of the river Magdalena,

its northern boundary being a few days' journey south of the Isthmus"

(of Darien). There they found the people of Zarahemla, who had left

Jerusalem when Zedekiah was carried captive into Babylon. New teachers

arose who taught the people righteousness, and one of them, named Alma,

led a company to a place which was called Mormon, "where was a fountain

of pure water, and there Alma baptized the people." The Book of Alma, the

longest in this Bible, is largely an account of the secular affairs

of the inhabitants, with stories of great battles, a prediction of the

coming of Christ, and an account of a great migration northward, and the

building of ships that sailed in the same direction.

Nephi describes the appearance of Christ to the people of the western

continent, preceded by a star, earthquakes, etc. On the day of His

appearance they heard "a small voice" out of heaven, saying, "Behold

my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my

name; hear ye him." Then Christ appeared and spoke to them, generally in

the language of the New Testament (repeating, for instance, the Sermon

on the Mount*), and afterward ascended into heaven in a cloud. The

expulsion of the Nephites northward, and their final destruction, in

what is now New York State, followed in the course of the next 384

years.

* In the Mormon version of this sermon the words, "If thy right

eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee," and "If thy right

hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee," are lacking. The

Deseret Evening News of February 21, 1900, in explaining this omission,

says that the report by Mormon of the "discourse delivered by Jesus

Christ to the Nephites on this continent after his resurrection from the

dead... may not be full and complete."

There is throughout the book an imitation of the style of the Holy

Scriptures. Verse after verse begins with the words "and it came to

pass," as Spaulding's Ohio neighbors recalled that his story did. The

following extract, from 1 Nephi, chap. viii, will give an illustration

of the literary style of a large part of the work:--

"1.. And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of

seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds

of fruit of every kind.

"2. And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness,

he spake unto us, saying, Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or in other

words, I have seen a vision.

"3. And behold, because of the thing which I have seen, I have reason to

rejoice in the Lord, because of Nephi and also of Sam; for I have reason

to suppose that they, and also many of their seed, will be saved.

"4. But behold, Laman and Lemuel, I fear exceedingly because of you; for

behold, methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness.

"5. And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white

robe; and he came and stood before me.

"6. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.

"7. And it came to pass that as I followed him, I beheld myself that I

was in a dark and dreary waste.

"8. And after I had travelled for the space of many hours in darkness, I

began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to

the multitude of his tender mercies.

"9. And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord, I beheld a

large and spacious field.

"10. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable

to make one happy.

"11. And it came to pass that I did go forth, and partake of the fruit

thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever

before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to

exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen."

Whole chapters of the Scriptures are incorporated word for word. In the

first edition some of these were appropriated without any credit; in the

Utah editions they are credited. Beside these, Hyde counted 298 direct

quotations from the New Testament, verses or sentences, between pages 2

to 428, covering the years from 600 B.C. to Christ's birth. Thus, Nephi

relates that his father, more than two thousand years before the King

James edition of the Bible was translated, in announcing the coming of

John the Baptist, used these words, "Yea, even he should go forth and

cry in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his

paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and

he is mightier than I, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose"

(1 Nephi x. 8). In Mosiah v. 8, King Benjamin is represented as saying,

124 years before Christ was born, "I would that you should take upon

you the name of Christ as there is no other name given whereby salvation

cometh."

The first Nephi represents John as baptizing in Bethabara (the spelling

is Beathabry in the Utah edition), and Alma announces (vii. 10) that

"the Son of God shall be born of Mary AT JERUSALEM." Shakespeare is

proved a plagiarist by comparing his words with those of the second

Nephi, who, speaking twenty-two hundred years before Shakespeare was

born, said (2 Nephi i. 14), "Hear the words of a trembling parent, whose

limbs you must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence

no traveller can return."

The chapters of the Scriptures appropriated bodily, and the places where

they may be found, are as follows:--

First Edition Utah Edition

[Illustration:

"Scripture" Chapter headings

142]

Among the many anachronisms to be found in the book may be mentioned the

giving to Laban of a sword with a blade "of the most precious steel" (1

Nephi iv. 9), centuries before the use of steel is elsewhere recorded.

and the possession of a compass by the Jaredites when they sailed

across the ocean (Alma xxxvii. 38), long before the invention of such

an instrument. The ease with which such an error could be explained is

shown in the anecdote related of a Utah Mormon who, when told that the

compass was not known in Bible times, responded by quoting Acts xxviii.

13, where Paul says, "And from thence we fetched a compass." When Nephi

and his family landed in Central America "there were beasts in the

forest of every kind, both the cow, and the ox, and the ass, and the

horse" (ix Nephi xviii. 25). If Nephi does not prevaricate, there must

have been a fatal plague among these animals in later years, for horses,

cows, and asses were unknown in America until after its discovery by

Europeans. Moroni, in the Book of Ether (ix. 18, 19), is still more

generous, adding to the possessions of the Jaredites sheep and swine*

and elephants and "cureloms and cumoms." Neither sheep nor swine are

indigenous to America; but the prophet is safe as regards the "cureloms

and cumoms," which are animals of his own creation.

* "And," it is added, "many other kinds of animals which were

useful for the use of man," thus ignoring the Hebrew antipathy to pork.

The book is full of incidental proofs of the fraudulent profession

that it is an original translation. For instance, in incorporating 1

Corinthians iii. 4, in the Book of Moroni, the phrase "is not easily

provoked" is retained, as in the King James edition. But the word

"easily" is not found in any Greek manuscript of this verse, and it is

dropped in the Revised Version of 1881.

Stenhouse calls attention to many phrases in this Bible which were

peculiar to the revival preachers of those days, like Rigdon, such as

"Have ye spiritually been born of God?" "If ye have experienced a change

of heart."

The first edition was full of grammatical errors and amusing phrases.

Thus we are told, in Ether xv. 31, that when Coriantumr smote off the

head of Shiz, the latter "raised upon his hands and fell." Among other

examples from the first edition may be quoted: "and I sayeth"; "all

things which are good cometh of God"; "neither doth his angels"; and

"hath miracles ceased." We find in Helaman ix. 6, "He being stabbed by

his brother by a garb of secrecy." This remains uncorrected.

Alexander Campbell, noting the mixture of doctrines in the book, says,

"He [the author] decides all the great controversies discussed in New

York in the last ten years, infant baptism, the Trinity, regeneration,

repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement,

transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, the call to the

ministry, the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize,

and even the questions of Freemasonry, republican government and the

rights of man."*

* "Delusions: an Analysis of the Book of Mormon" (1832). An

exhaustive examination of this Bible will be found in the "Braden and

Kelley Public Discussion."

Such is the book which is accepted to this day as an inspired work

by the thousands of persons who constitute the Mormon church. This

acceptance has always been rightfully recognized as fundamentally

necessary to the Mormon faith. Orson Pratt declared, "The nature of the

message in the Book of Mormon is such that, if true, none can be saved

who reject it, and, if false, none can be saved who receive it." Brigham

Young told the Conference at Nauvoo in October, 1844, that "Every spirit

that confesses that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that he lived and died

a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every

spirit that does not is of Anti-Christ." There is no modification of

this view in the Mormon church of to-day.

CHAPTER XII. -- ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

The director of the steps taken to announce to the world a new Bible and

a new church realized, of course, that there must be priests, under some

name, to receive members and to dispense its blessing. No person openly

connected with Smith in the work of translation had been a clergyman.

Accordingly, on May 15, 1829 (still following the prophet's own

account), while Smith and Cowdery were yet busy with the work of

translation, they went into the woods to ask the Lord for fuller

information about the baptism mentioned in the plates. There a messenger

from heaven, who, it was learned, was John the Baptist, appeared to them

in a cloud of light, "and having laid his hands on us, he ordained us,

saying unto us, 'Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I

confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering

angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion

for the remission of sins.'" The messenger also informed them that "the

power of laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost" would be

conferred on them later, through Peter, James, and John, "who held the

keys of the priesthood of Melchisedec"; but he directed Smith to baptize

Cowdery, and Cowdery then to perform the same office for Smith. This

they did at once, and as soon as Cowdery came out of the water he "stood

up and prophesied many things" (which the prophet prudently omitted to

record). The divine authority thus conferred, according to Orson Pratt,

exceeds that of the bishops of the Roman church, because it came direct

from heaven, and not through a succession of popes and bishops.*

* Orson Pratt, in his "Questions and Answers on Doctrine" in his

Washington newspaper, the Seer (p. 205), thus defined the Mormon view of

the Roman Catholic church:--

Q."Is the Roman Catholic Church the Church of Christ?" A."No, for she

has no inspired priesthood or officers."

Q."After the Church of Christ fled from earth to heaven what was left?"

A."A set of wicked apostates, murderers and idolaters," etc.

Q."Who founded the Roman Catholic Church?" A."The devil, through the

medium of the apostates, who subverted the whole order of God by denying

immediate revelation, and substituting in place thereof tradition and

ancient revelations as a sufficient rule of faith and practice."

Smith and Cowdery at once began telling of the power conferred upon

them, and giving their relatives and friends an opportunity to become

members of the new church. Smith's brother Samuel was the first convert

won over, Cowdery baptizing him. His brother Hyrum came next,* and then

one J. Knight, Sr., of Colesville, New York.** Each new convert was

made the subject of a "revelation," each of which began, "A great and

marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men." Hyrum

Smith, and David and Peter Whitmer, Jr., were baptized in Seneca Lake in

June, and "from this time forth," says Smith, "many became believers and

were baptized, while we continued to instruct and persuade as many as

applied for information."

* Hyrum wanted to start in to preach at once, and a "revelation"

was necessary to inform him: "You need not suppose you are called to

preach until you are called.... Keep my commandments; hold your peace"

(Sec.11).

** Colesville is the township in Broome County of which

Harpursville is the voting place. Smith organized his converts there

about two miles north of Harpursville.

By April 6, 1830, branches of the new church had been established at

Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville, New York, with some seventy members

in all, it has been stated. Section 20 of the "Doctrine and Covenants"

names April 6, 1830, as the date on which the church was "regularly

organized and established, agreeable to the laws of our country." This

date has been incorrectly given as that on which the first step was

taken to form a church organization. What was done then was to organize

in a form which, they hoped, would give the church a standing as a legal

body.* The meeting was held at the house of Peter Whitmer. Smith,

who, it was revealed, should be the first elder, ordained Cowdery,

and Cowdery subsequently ordained Smith. The sacrament was then

administered, and the new elders laid their hands on the others present.

* Whitmer's "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon."

"The revelation" (Sec. 20) on the form of church government is dated

April, 1830, at least six months before Rigdon's name was first

associated with the scheme by the visit of Cowdery and his companions

to Ohio. If the date is correct, it shows that Rigdon had forwarded this

"revelation" to Smith for promulgation, for Rigdon was unquestionably

the originator of the system of church government. David Whitmer has

explained, "Rigdon would expound the Old Testament Scriptures of

the Bible and Book of Mormon, in his way, to Joseph, concerning the

priesthood, high priests, etc., and would persuade Brother Joseph to

inquire of the Lord about this doctrine and about that doctrine, and of

course a revelation would always come just as they desired it."*

* Whitmer's "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon."

The "revelation" now announced defined the duty of elders, priests,

teachers, deacons, and members of the Church of Christ. An apostle was

an elder, and it was his calling to baptize, ordain, administer the

sacrament, confirm, preach, and take the lead in all meetings. A

priest's duty was to preach, baptize, administer the sacrament, and

visit members at their houses. Teachers and deacons could not baptize,

administer the sacrament, or lay on hands, but were to preach and invite

all to join the church. The elders were directed to meet in conference

once in three months, and there was to be a High Council, or general

conference of the church, by which should be ordained every President of

the high priesthood, bishop, high counsellor, and high priest.

Smith's leadership had, before this, begun to manifest itself. He had,

in a generous mood, originally intended to share with others the honor

of receiving "revelations," the first of these in the "Book of Doctrine

and Covenants," saying, "I the Lord also gave commandments to others,

that they should proclaim these things to the world." In the

original publication of these "revelations," under the title "Book of

Commandments," we find such headings as, "A revelation given to Oliver,"

"A revelation given to Hyrum," etc. These headings are all changed in

the modern edition to read, "Given through Joseph the Seer," etc.

Cowdery was the first of his associates to seek an open share in the

divine work. Smith was so pleased with his new scribe when they first

met at Harmony, Pennsylvania, that he at once received a "revelation"

which incited Cowdery to ask for a division of power. Cowdery was told

(Sec. 6), "And behold, I grant unto you a gift, if you desire of me, to

translate even as my servant Joseph." Cowdery's desire manifested itself

immediately, and Joseph almost as quickly became conscious that he had

committed himself too soon. Accordingly, in another "revelation," dated

the same month of April, 1829 (Sec. 8), he attempted to cajole Oliver by

telling him about a "gift of Aaron" which he possessed, and which was a

remarkable gift in itself, adding, "Do not ask for that which you ought

not." But Cowdery naturally clung to his promised gift, and kept on

asking, and he had to be told right away in still another "revelation"

(Sec. 9), that he had not understood, but that he must not murmur, since

his work was to write for Joseph. If he was in doubt about a subject,

he was advised to "study it out in your mind"; and if it was right, the

Lord promised, "I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you";

but if it was not right, "you shall have a stupor of thought, that shall

cause you to forget the thing which is wrong." To assist him until he

became accustomed to discriminate between this burning feeling and this

stupor, the Lord told him very plainly, "It is not expedient that you

should translate now." That all this rankled in Cowdery's heart was

shown by his attempt to revise one of Smith's "revelations," and the

support he gave to Hiram Page's "gazing."

Cowdery continued to annoy the prophet, and Smith decided to get rid

of him. Accordingly in July, 1830, came a "revelation," originally

announced as given direct to Joseph's wife Emma, instructing her to

act as her husband's scribe, "that I may send my servant Oliver Cowdery

whithersoever I will." This occurred on a trip the Smiths had made

to Harmony. On their return to Fayette, Smith found Cowdery still

persistent, and he accordingly gave out a "revelation" to him, telling

him again that he must not "write by way of commandment," inasmuch as

Smith was at the head of the church, and directing him to "go unto the

Lamanites (Indians) and preach my Gospel unto them." This was the first

mention of the westward movement of the church which shaped all its

later history.

A "revelation" in June, 1829 (Sec. 18), had directed the appointment of

the twelve apostles, whom Cowdery and David Whitmer were to select. The

organized members now began to inquire who was their leader, and Smith,

in a "revelation" dated April 6, 1830 (Sec. 21), addressed to himself,

announced: "Behold there shall be a record kept among you, and in it

thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of

Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father,

and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ"; and the church was directed in

these words, "For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth,

in all patience and faith." Thus was established an authority which

Smith defended until the day of his death, and before which all who

questioned it went down.

Some of the few persons who at this time expressed a willingness to join

the new church showed a repugnance to being baptized at his hands,

and pleaded previous baptism as an excuse for evading it. But Smith's

tyrannical power manifested itself at once, and he straightway announced

a "revelation" (Sec. 22), in which the Lord declared, "All old covenants

have I caused to be done away in this thing, and this is a new and

everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning."

Five days after the formal organization, the first sermon to the Mormon

church was preached in the Whitmer house by Oliver Cowdery, Smith

probably concluding that it would be wiser to confine himself to the

receipt of "revelations" rather than to essay pulpit oratory too soon.

Six additional persons were then baptized. Soon after this the first

Mormon miracle was performed--the casting out of a devil from a young

man named, Newel Knight.

The first conference of the organized church was held at Fayette,

New York, in June, 1830, with about thirty members present. In recent

"revelations" the prophet had informed his father and his brothers Hyrum

and Samuel that their calling was "to exhortation and to strengthen the

church," so that they were provided for in the new fold.

The region in New York State where the Smiths had lived and were well

known was not favorable ground for their labors as church officers,

conducting baptisms and administering the sacrament. When they dammed a

small stream in order to secure a pool for an announced baptism, the dam

was destroyed during the night. A Presbyterian sister-in-law of Knight,

from whom a devil had been cast, announced her conversion to Smith's

church, and, when she would not listen to the persuasions of her pastor,

the latter obtained legal authority from her parents and carried her

away by force. She succeeded, however, in securing the wished-for

baptism. All this stirred up public feeling against Smith, and he was

arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

At the trial testimony was offered to show that he had obtained a horse

and a yoke of oxen from his dupes, on the statement that a "revelation"

had informed him that he was to have them, and that he had behaved

improperly toward the daughters of one of these men. But the parties

interested all testified in his favor, and the prosecution failed. He

was immediately rearrested on a warrant and removed to Colesville, amid

the jeers of the people in attendance. Knight was subpoenaed to tell

about the miracle performed on him, and Smith's old character of a

money-digger was ventilated; but the court found nothing on which to

hold him. Mormon writers have dilated on these "persecutions", but the

outcome of the hearings indicated fair treatment of the accused by

the arbiters of the law, and the indignation shown toward him and his

associates by their neighbors was not greater than the conduct of such

men in assuming priestly rights might evoke in any similar community.

Smith returned to his home in Pennsylvania after this, and endeavored

to secure the cooperation of his father-in-law in his church plans, but

without avail. It was four years later that Mr. Hale put on record his

opinion of his son-in-law already quoted. Failing to find other support

in Harmony, and perceiving much public feeling against him, Smith

prepared for his return to New York by receiving a "revelation" (Sec.20)

which directed him to return to the churches organized in that state

after he had sold his crops. "They shall support thee", declared the

"revelation"; "but if they receive thee not I shall send upon them a

cursing instead of a blessing". For Smith's protection the Lord further

declared: "Whosoever shall lay their hand upon you by violence ye

shall command to be smitten in my name, and behold, I will smite them

according to your words, IN MINE OWN DUE TIME. And whosoever shall go

to law with thee shall be cursed by the law." This threat, it will be

noted, was safeguarded by not requiring immediate fulfillment.

Smith returned to Fayette in September, and continued church work

thereabouts in company with his brothers and John and David Whitmer.

Meanwhile Parley P. Pratt had made his visit to Palmyra and returned

to Ohio, and in the early winter Rigdon set out to make his first open

visit to Smith, arriving in December. Martin Harris, on the ground that

Rigdon was a regularly authorized clergyman, tried to obtain the use of

one of the churches of the town for him, but had to content himself

with the third-story hall of the Young Men's Association. There Rigdon

preached a sermon to a small audience, principally of non-Mormons,

announcing himself as a "messenger of God". The audience regarded the

sermon as blasphemous, and no further attempt was made to secure this

room for Mormon meetings. Rigdon, however, while in conference with

Smith, preached and baptized the neighborhood, and Smith and Harris

tried their powers as preachers in barns and under a tree in the open

air.

A well-authenticated story of the manner in which one of the Palmyra

Mormons received his call to preach is told by Tucker* and verified by

the principal actor. Among the first baptized in New York State were

Calvin Stoddard and his wife (Smith's sister) of Macedon. Stoddard told

his neighbors of wonderful things he had seen in the sky, and about

his duty to preach. One night, Steven S. Harding, a young man who was

visiting the place, went with a companion to Stoddard's house, and

awakening him with knocks on the door, proclaimed in measured tones that

the angel of the Lord commanded him to "go forth among the people

and preach the Gospel of Nephi." Then they ran home and went to bed.

Stoddard took the call in all earnestness, and went about the next

day repeating to his neighbors the words of the "celestial messenger,"

describing the roaring thunder and the musical sounds of the angel's

wings that accompanied the words. Young Harding, who participated in

this joke, became Governor of Utah in 1862, and incurred the bitter

enmity of Brigham Young and the church by denouncing polygamy, and

asserting his own civil authority.**

* "Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism," pp. 80, 285

**Stoddard and Smith had a quarrel over a lot in Kirtland in

1835, and Smith knocked down his brother-in-law and was indicted for

assault and battery, but was acquitted on the ground of self-defence.

AS a result of Smith's and Rigdon's conferences came a "revelation" to

them both (Sec. 35), delivered as in the name of Jesus Christ, defining

somewhat Rigdon's position. How nearly it met his demands cannot be

learned, but it certainly granted him no more authority than Smith

was willing to concede. It told him that he should do great things,

conferring the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, as did the apostles

of old, and promising to show miracles, signs, and wonders unto all

believers. He was told that Joseph had received the "keys of the

mysteries of those things that have been sealed," and was directed to

"watch over him that his faith fail not." This "revelation" ordered the

retranslation of the Scriptures.

The most important result of Rigdon's visit to Smith was a decision to

move the church to Ohio. This decision was promulgated in the form of

"revelations" dated December, 1830, and January, 1831, which set forth

(Secs. 37, 38):--

"And that ye might escape the power of the enemy, and be gathered unto

me a righteous people, without spot and blameless:

"Wherefore, for this cause I give unto you the commandment that ye

should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there

you shall be endowed with power from on high; and from thence whomsoever

I will shall go forth among all nations, and it shall be told them what

they shall do; for I have a great work laid up in store, for Israel

shall be saved.... And they that have farms that cannot be sold, let

them be left or rented as seemeth them good."

A sufficient reason for the removal was the failure to secure converts

where Smith was known, and the ready acceptance of the new belief among

Rigdon's Ohio people. The Rev. Dr. Clark says, "You might as well go

down in the crater of Vesuvius and attempt to build an icehouse amid

its molten and boiling lava, as to convince any inhabitant in either of

these towns [Palmyra or Manchester] that Joe Smith's pretensions are not

the most gross and egregious falsehood."*

* "Gleanings by the Way."

The Rev. Jesse Townsend of Palmyra, in a reply to a letter of inquiry

about the Mormons, dated December 24, 1833 (quoted in full by Tucker),

says: "All the Mormons have left this part of the state, and so palpable

is their imposture that nothing is here said or thought of the subject,

except when inquiries from abroad are occasionally made concerning them.

I know of no one now living in this section of the country that ever

gave them credence."

CHAPTER XIII. -- THE MORMONS' BELIEFS AND DOCTRINES--CHURCH GOVERNMENT

The Mormons teach that, for fourteen hundred years to the time of

Smith's "revelations," there had been "a general and awful apostasy from

the religion of the New Testament, so that all the known world have been

left for centuries without the Church of Christ among them; without a

priesthood authorized of God to administer ordinances; that every one

of the churches has perverted the Gospel."* As illustrations of this

perversion are cited the doing away of immersion for the remission of

sins by most churches, of the laying on of hands for the gift of the

Holy Ghost, and of the miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy

Spirit. The new church presented a modern prophet, who was in direct

communication with God and possessed power to work miracles, and who

taught from a Golden Bible which says that whoever asserts that there

are no longer "revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor

speaking with tongues and the interpretation of tongues,... knoweth not

the Gospel of Christ" (Book of Mormon ix. 7, 8).

* Orson Pratt's "Remarkable Visions," No. 6.

It is impossible to decide whether the name "Mormon" was used by

Spaulding in his "Manuscript Found," or was introduced by Rigdon. It is

first encountered in the Mormon Bible in the Book of Mosiah xviii. 4,

as the name of a place where there was a fountain in which Alma baptized

those whom his admonition led to repentance. Next it occurs in 3 Nephi

v. 20: "I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi." This Mormon

was selected by the "author" of the Bible to stand sponsor for the

condensation of the "records" of his ancestors which Smith unearthed. It

was discovered very soon after the organization of the Mormon church was

announced that the word was of Greek derivation,

[Illustration: Greek 153]

meaning bugbear, hobgoblin. In the form of "mormo" it is Anglicized with

the same meaning, and is used by Jeremy Collier and Warburton.* The word

"Mormon" in zoology is the generic name of certain animals, including

the mandril baboon. The discovery of the Greek origin and meaning of the

word was not pleasing to the early Mormon leaders, and they printed

in the Times and Seasons a letter over Smith's signature, in which he

solemnly declared that "there was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from

which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon," and

gave the following explanation of the derivation of the word:

* See "Century Dictionary."

"Before I give a definition to the word, let me say that the Bible, in

its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says, according to the

Gospel of St. John, 'I am the Good Shepherd'; and it will not be beyond

the common use of terms to say that good is amongst the most important

in use, and, though known by various names in different languages, still

its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to bad. We say from

the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goth, gods; the German, gut; the

Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, kalos; the Hebrew, tob; the

Egyptian, mo. Hence, with the addition of more, or the contraction mor,

we have the word Mormon, which means literally more good."

This lucid explanation was doubtless entirely satisfactory to the

persons to whom it was addressed.

In the early "revelations" collected in the "Book of Commandments" the

new church was not styled anything more definite than "My Church,"

and the title-page of that book, as printed in 1833, says that these

instructions are "for the government of the Church of Christ." The name

"Mormons" was not acceptable to the early followers of Smith, who looked

on it as a term of reproach, claiming the designation "Saints." This

objection to the title continues to the present day. It was not until

May 4, 1834, that a council of the church, on motion of Sidney Rigdon,

decided on its present official title, "Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-Day Saints."

The belief in the speedy ending of the world, on which the title

"Latter-Day Saints" was founded, has played so unimportant a part in

modern Mormon belief that its prominence as an early tenet of the church

is generally overlooked. At no time was there more widespread interest

in the speedy second coming of Christ and the Day of Judgment than

during the years when the organization of the Mormon church was taking

place. We have seen how much attention was given to a speedy millennium

by the Disciples preachers. It was in 1833 that William Miller began his

sermons in which he fixed on the year 1843 as the end of the world, and

his views not only found acceptance among his personal followers, but

attracted the liveliest interest in other sects.

The Mormon leaders made this belief a part of their early doctrine.

Thus, in one of the first "revelations" given out by Smith, dated

Fayette, New York, September, 1830, Christ is represented as saying

that "the hour is nigh" when He would reveal Himself, and "dwell in

righteousness with men on earth a thousand years." In the November

following, another "revelation" declared that "the time is soon at hand

that I shall come in a cloud, with power and great glory." Soon

after Smith arrived in Kirtland a "revelation," dated February, 1831,

announced that "the great day of the Lord is nigh at hand." In January,

1833, Smith predicted that "there are those now living upon the earth

whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they shall see all these

things of which I have spoken" (the sweeping of the wicked from the

United States, and the return of the lost tribes to it). Smith declared

in 1843 that the Lord had promised that he should see the Son of Man

if he lived to be eighty-five (Sec. 130).* When Ferris was Secretary

of Utah Territory, in 1852-1853, he found that the Mormons were still

expecting the speedy coming of Christ, but had moved the date forward to

1870. All through Smith's autobiography and the Millennial Star will be

found mention of every portent that might be construed as an indication

of the coming disruption of this world. As late as December 6, 1856, an

editorial in the Millennial Star said, "The signs of the times clearly

indicate to every observing mind that the great day of the second advent

of Messiah is at hand."

* Speaking of W. W. Phelps's last years in Utah, Stenhouse says:

"Often did the old man, in public and in private, regale the Saints with

the assurance that he had the promise by revelation that he should not

taste of death until Jesus came." Phelps died on March 7, 1872.

As the devout Mohammedan* passes from earth to a heaven of material

bliss, so the Mormons are taught that the Saints, the sole survivors of

the day of judgment, will, with resurrected bodies, possess the purified

earth. The lengths to which Mormon preachers have dared to go in

illustrating this view find a good illustration in a sermon by arson

Pratt, printed in the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, of August 21, 1852.

Having promised that "farmers will have great farms upon the earth

when it is so changed," and foreseeing that some one might suggest a

difficulty in providing land enough to go round, he met that in this

way:--

* The similarity between Smith's early life and visions and

Mohammed's has been mentioned by more than one writer. Stenhouse

observes that Smith's mother "was to him what Cadijah was to Mohammed,"

and that "a Mohammedan writer, in a series of essays recently published

in London, treats of the prophecies concerning the Arabian Prophet, to

be found in the Old and New Testaments, precisely as Orson Pratt applied

them to the American Prophet."

"But don't be so fast, says one; don't you know that there are only

about 197,000,000 of square miles, or about 126,000,000,000 of

acres upon the surface of the globe? Will these accommodate all the

inhabitants after the resurrection? Yes; for if the earth should stand

8000 years, or 80 centuries, and the population should be a thousand

millions in every century, that would be 80,000,000,000 of inhabitants,

and we know that many centuries have passed that would not give the

tenth part of this; but supposing this to be the number, there would

then be over an acre and a half for each person upon the surface of the

globe."

By eliminating the wicked, so that only one out of a hundred would share

this real estate, he calculated that every Saint "would receive over 150

acres, which would be quite enough to raise manna, flax to make robes

of, and to have beautiful orchards of fruit trees."

The Mormon belief is stated by the church leaders to rest on the Holy

Bible, the Mormon Bible, and the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants,"

together with the teachings of the Mormon instructors from Smith's time

to the present day. Although the Holy Bible is named first in this list,

it has, as we have seen, played a secondary part in the church ritual,

its principal use by the Mormon preachers having been to furnish

quotations on which to rest their claims for the inspiration of their

own Bible and for their peculiar teachings. Mormon sermons (usually

styled discourses) rarely, if ever, begin with a text. The "Book of

Doctrine and Covenants" "containing," as the title-page declares, "the

revelations given to Joseph Smith, Jr., for the building up of the

Kingdom of God in the last days," was the directing authority in the

church during Smith's life, and still occupies a large place in the

church history. An examination of the origin and character of this work

will therefore shed much light on the claims of the church to special

direction from on high.

There is little doubt that this system of "revelation" was an idea of

Rigdon. Smith was not, at that time, an inventor; his forte was making

use of ideas conveyed to him. Thus, he did not originate the idea of

using a "peek-stone," but used one freely as soon as he heard of it.

He did not conceive the idea of receiving a Bible from an angel, but

readily transformed the Spaniard-with-his-throat-cut to an angel when

the perfected scheme was presented to him. We can imagine how attractive

"revelations" would have been to him, and how soon he would concentrate

in himself the power to receive them, and would adapt them to his

personal use.

David Whitmer says, "The revelations, or the Book of Commandments, up

to June, 1829, were given through the stone through which the Book of

Mormon was translated"; but that after that time "they came through

Joseph as a mouthpiece; that is, he would inquire of the Lord, pray and

ask concerning a matter, and speak out the revelation, which he thought

to be a revelation from the Lord; but sometimes he was mistaken about

its being from the Lord."* Who drew the line between truth and error has

never been explained, but Smith would certainly have resented any such

scepticism.

* "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon."

Parley P. Pratt thus describes Smith's manner of receiving "revelations"

in Ohio, "Each sentence was uttered slowly and very distinctly, and

with a pause between each sufficiently long for it to be recorded by an

ordinary writer in long hand."*

* Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 65.

These "revelations" made the greatest impression on Smith's followers,

and no other of his pretensions seems to have so convinced them of his

divine credentials. The story of Vienna Jaques well illustrates this. A

Yankee descendant of John Rodgers, living in Boston, she was convinced

by a Mormon elder, and joined the church members while they were in

Kirtland, taking with her her entire possession, $1500 in cash. This

money, like that of many other devoted members, found its way into

Smith's hands--and stayed there. But he had taken her into his family,

and her support became burdensome to him. So, when the Saints were

"gathering" in Missouri, he announced a "revelation" in these words

(Sec. 90):--

"And again, verily, I [the Lord] say unto you, it is my will that my

handmaid, Vienna Jaques, should receive money to bear her expenses,

and go up unto the land of Zion; and the residue of the money may be

consecrated unto me, and she be rewarded in mine own due time. Verily,

I say unto you, that it is meet in mine eyes that she should go up

unto the land of Zion, and receive an inheritance from the hand of the

Bishop, that she may settle down in peace, inasmuch as she is faithful,

and not to be idle in her days from thenceforth."

The confiding woman obeyed without a murmur this thinly concealed scheme

to get rid of her, migrated with the church from Missouri to Illinois

and to Utah, and was in Salt Lake City in 1833, supporting herself as

a nurse, and "doubly proud that she has been made the subject of a

revelation from heaven."*

* "Utah and the Mormons," p. 182.

These "revelations" have been published under two titles. The first

edition was printed in Jackson, Missouri, in 1833, in the Mormon

printing establishment, under the title, "Book of Commandments for the

Government of the Church of Christ, organized according to Law on the

6th of April, 1830." This edition contained nothing but "revelations,"

divided into sixty-five "chapters," and ending with the one dated

Kirtland, September, 1831, which forms Section 64 of the Utah edition of

"Doctrine and Covenants." David Whitmer says that when, in the spring

of 1832, it was proposed by Smith, Rigdon, and others to publish these

revelations, they were earnestly advised by other members of the church

not to do so, as it would be dangerous to let the world get hold of

them; and so it proved. But Smith declared that any objector should

"have his part taken out of the Tree of Life."*

* It has been stated that the "Book of Commandments" was never

really published, the mob destroying the sheets before it got out. But

David Whitmer is a very positive witness to the contrary, saying, "I say

it was printed complete (and copyrighted) and many copies distributed

among the members of the church before the printing press was

destroyed."

Two years later, while the church was still in Kirtland, the

"revelations" were again prepared for publication, this time under the

title, "Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints,

carefully selected from the revelations of God, and compiled by Joseph

Smith, Jr.; Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, F. G. Williams, proprietors."

On August 17, 1835, a general assembly of the church held in the

Kirtland Temple voted to accept his book as the doctrine and covenants

of their faith. Ebenezer Robinson, who attended the meeting, says that

the majority of those so voting "had neither time nor opportunity to

examine the book for themselves; they had no means of knowing whether

any alterations had been made in any of the revelations or not."* In

fact, many important alterations were so made, as will be pointed out in

the course of this story. One method of attempting to account for these

changes has been by making the plea that parts were omitted in the

Missouri editions. On this point, however, Whitmer is very positive, as

quoted.

* In his reminiscences in The Return.

At the very start Smith's revelations failed to "come true." An amusing

instance of this occurred before the Mormon Bible was published. While

the "copy" was in the hands of the printer, Grandin, Joe's brother Hyrum

and others who had become interested in the enterprise became impatient

over Harris's delay in raising the money required for bringing out

the book. Hyrum finally proposed that some of them attempt to sell the

copyright in Canada, and he urged Joe to ask the Lord about doing

so. Joe complied, and announced that the mission to Canada would be

a success. Accordingly, Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page made a trip to

Toronto to secure a publisher, but their mission failed absolutely. This

was a critical test of the faith of Joe's followers. "We were all in

great trouble," says David Whitmer,* "and we asked Joseph how it was

that he received a 'revelation' from the Lord for some brethren to go to

Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly failed in

their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he inquired of the

Lord about it, and behold, the following 'revelation' came; through the

stone: 'Some revelations are from God, some revelations are of man,

and some revelations are of the Devil.'" No rule for distinguishing

and separating these revelations was given; but Whitmer, whose faith in

Smith's divine mission never cooled, thus disposes of the matter, "So we

see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copyright was

not of God." Of course, a prophet whose followers would accept such an

excuse was certain of his hold upon them. This incident well illustrates

the kind of material which formed the nucleus of the church.

* "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 30.

Smith never let the previously revealed word of the Lord protect any

of his flock who afterward came in conflict with his own plans. For

example: On March 8, 1831, he announced a "revelation" (Sec. 47),

saying, "Behold, it is expedient in me that my servant John [Whitmer]

should write and keep a regular history" of the church. John fell into

disfavor in later years, and, when he refused to give up his records,

Smith and Rigdon addressed a letter to him,* in connection with his

dismissal, which said that his notes required correction by them before

publication, "knowing your incompetency as a historian, that writings

coming from your pen could not be put to press without our correcting

them, or else the church must suffer reproach. Indeed, sir, we never

supposed you capable of writing a history." Why the Lord did not

consult Smith and Rigdon before making this appointment is one of the

unexplained mysteries.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 133.

These "revelations," which increased in number from 16 in 1829 to 19 in

1830, numbered 35 in 1831, and then decreased to 16 in 1832, 13 in 1833,

5 in 1834, 2 in 1835, 3 in 1836, 1 in 1837, 8 in 1838 (in the trying

times in Missouri), 1 in 1839, none in 1840, 3 in 1841, none in 1842,

and 2, including the one on polygamy, in 1843. We shall see that in

his latter days, in Nauvoo, Smith was allowed to issue revelations only

after they had been censored by a council. He himself testified to the

reckless use which he made of them, and which perhaps brought about this

action. The following is a quotation from his diary:--

"May 19, 1842.--While the election [of Smith as mayor by the city

council] was going forward, I received and wrote the following

revelation: 'I Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph,

by the voice of the Spirit, Hiram Kimball has been insinuating evil and

forming evil opinions against you with others; and if he continue in

them, he and they shall be accursed, for I am the Lord thy God, and will

stand by thee and bless thee.' Which I threw across the room to Hiram

Kimball, one of the counsellors."

Thus it seems that there was some limit to the extent of Joe's

effrontery which could be submitted to.

We shall see that Brigham Young in Utah successfully resisted constant

pressure that was put upon him by his flock to continue the reception

of "revelations." While he was prudent enough to avoid the pitfalls that

would have surrounded him as a revealer, he was crafty enough not to

belittle his own authority in so doing. In his discourse on the occasion

of the open announcement of polygamy, he said, "If an apostle magnifies

his calling, his words are the words of eternal life and salvation to

those who hearken to them, just as much so as any written revelations

contained in these books" (the two Bibles and the "Doctrine and

Covenants").

Hiram Page was not the only person who tried to imitate Smith's

"revelations." A boy named Isaac Russell gave out such messages at

Kirtland; Gladdin Bishop caused much trouble in the same way at Nauvoo;

the High Council withdrew the hand of fellowship from Oliver Olney for

setting himself up as a prophet; and in the same year the Times and

Seasons announced a pamphlet by J. C. Brewster, purporting to be one of

the lost books of Esdras, "written by the power of God."

In the Times and Seasons (p. 309) will be found a report of a conference

held in New York City on December 4, 1840, at which Elder Sydney Roberts

was arraigned, charged with "having a revelation that a certain brother

must give him a suit of clothes and a gold watch, the best that could be

had; also saluting the sisters with what he calls a holy kiss." He was

told that he could retain his membership if he would confess, but he

declared that "he knew the revelations which he had spoken were from

God." So he was thereupon "cut off."

The other source of Mormon belief--the teachings of their leading

men--has been no more consistent nor infallible than Smith's

"revelations." Mormon preachers have been generally uneducated men, most

of them ambitious of power, and ready to use the pulpit to strengthen

their own positions. Many an individual elder, firm in his faith, has

travelled and toiled as faithfully as any Christian missionary; but

these men, while they have added to the church membership, have not made

its beliefs.

Smith probably originated very little of the church polity, except the

doctrine of polygamy, and what is published over his name is generally

the production of some of his counsellors. Section 130 of the "Book of

Doctrine and Covenants," headed "Important Items of Instruction, given

by Joseph the Prophet, April 2, 1843," contains the following:--

"When the Saviour shall appear, we shall see him as he is. We shall see

that he is a man like ourselves....

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son

also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a

personage of spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in

us."

An article in the Millennial Star, Vol. VI, for which the prophet

vouched, contains the following:--

"The weakest child of God which now exists upon the earth will possess

more dominion, more property, more subjects, and more power in glory

than is possessed by Jesus Christ or by his Father; while, at the same

time, Jesus Christ and his Father will have their dominion, kingdom and

subjects increased in proportion."

One more illustration of Smith's doctrinal views will suffice. In

a funeral sermon preached in Nauvoo, March 20, 1842, he said: "As

concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come

from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young; there will not be

'added unto their stature one cubit,' neither taken from it. All will

be raised by the power of God, having spirit in their bodies but not

blood."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIX, p. 213.

In "The Latter-Day Saints' Catechism or Child's Ladder," by Elder David

Moffat, Genesis v. 1, and Exodus xxxiii. 22, 23, and xxiv. 10 are cited

to prove that God has the form and parts of a man.

The greatest vagaries of doctrinal teachings are found during Brigham

Young's reign in Utah. In the way of a curiosity the following

diagram and its explanation, by Orson Hyde, may be reproduced from the

Millennial Star, Vol. IX, p. 23:--

[Illustration: Order and Unity of the Kingdom of God

162]

"The above diagram (not included in this etext) shows the order and

unity of the Kingdom of God. The eternal Father sits at the head,

crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Wherever the other lines meet

there sits a king and priest under God, bearing rule, authority and

dominion under the Father. He is one with the Father because his Kingdom

is joined to his Father's and becomes part of it.... It will be seen

by the above diagram that there are kingdoms of all sizes, an infinite

variety to suit all grades of merit and ability. The chosen vessels

of God are the kings and priests that are placed at the heads of their

kingdoms. They have received their washings and anointings in the Temple

of God on earth."

Young's ambition was not to be satisfied until his name was connected

with some doctrine peculiarly his own. Accordingly, in a long sermon

preached in the Tabernacle on April 9, 1852, he made this announcement

(the italics and capitals follow the official report):--

"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, saint and

sinner. When our father Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into

it with a CELESTIAL BODY, and brought Eve, ONE OF HIS WIVES, with him.

He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the ARCHANGEL,

the ANCIENT OF DAYS, about whom holy men have written and spoken.* HE

is our FATHER and our GOD, AND THE ONLY GOD WITH WHOM 'WE' HAVE TO DO...

Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must

hear it and WILL KNOW IT SOONER OR LATER.... I could tell you much more

about this; but were I to tell you the whole truth, blasphemy would be

nothing to it, in the estimation of the superstitious and over righteous

of mankind.... Jesus, our Elder Brother, was begotten in the flesh by

the same character that was in the Garden of Eden, and who is our Father

in heaven."**

* Young, in a public discourse on October 23, 1853, declared that

he rejected the story of Adam's creation as "baby stories my mother

taught me when I was a child." But the Mormon Bible (2 Nephi ii. 18-22)

tells the story of Adam's fall.

** Journal of Discourses, VOL I, pp. 50, 51.

This doctrine was made a leading point of difference between the Utah

church and the Reorganized Church, when the latter was organized, but

it is no longer defended even in Utah. The Deseret Evening News of March

21, 1900, said on this point, "That which President Young set forth

in the discourse referred to is not preached either to the Latter-Day

Saints or to the world as a part of the creed of the church."

Young never hesitated to rebuke an associate whose preaching did not

suit him. In a discourse in Salt Lake City, on March 8, 1857, he rebuked

Orson Pratt, one of the ablest of the church writers, declaring that

Pratt did not "know enough to keep his foot out of it, but drowns

himself in his philosophy." He ridiculed his doctrine that "the devils

in hell are composed of and filled with the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost,

and possess all the knowledge, wisdom, and power of the gods," and said,

"When I read some of the writings of such philosophers they make me

think, 'O dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got.'"*

* Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 297.

The Mormon church still holds that an existing head of that organization

can always interpret the divine will regarding any question. This was

never more strikingly illustrated than when Woodruff, by a mere dictum,

did away with the obligatory character of polygamy.

When the Mormons were under a cloud in Illinois, in 1842, John

Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, applied to Smith for a

statement of their belief, and received in reply a list of 13 "Articles

of Faith" over Smith's signature. This statement was intended to win for

them sympathy as martyrs to a simple religious belief, and it has been

cited in Congress as proof of their soul purity. But as illustrating the

polity of the church it is quite valueless.

The doctrine of polygamy and the ceremonies of the Endowment House will

be considered in their proper place. One distinctive doctrine of the

church must be explained before this subject is dismissed, namely, that

which calls for "baptism for the dead." This doctrine is founded on an

interpretation of Corinthians xv. 29: "Else what shall they do which are

baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then

baptized for the dead?"

An explanation of this doctrine in the Times and Seasons of May 1, 1841,

says:--"This text teaches us the important and cheering truth that

the departed spirit is in a probationary state, and capable of being

affected by the proclamation of the Gospel.... Christ offers pardon,

peace, holiness, and eternal life to the quick and the dead, the living,

on condition of faith and baptism for remission of sins; the departed,

on the same condition of faith in person and baptism by a living kinsman

in his behalf. It may be asked, will this baptism by proxy necessarily

save the dead? We answer, no; neither will the same necessarily save the

living."

This doctrine was first taught to the church in Ohio. In later years, in

Nauvoo, Smith seemed willing to accept its paternity, and in an article

in the Times and Seasons of April 15, x 842, signed "Ed.," when he was

its editor, he said that he was the first to point it out. The article

shows, however, that it was doubtless written by Rigdon, as it indicates

a knowledge of the practice of such baptism by the Marcionites in

the second century, and of Chrysostom's explanation of it. A note

on Corinthians xv. 29, in "The New Testament Commentary for English

Readers," edited by Lord Bishop Ellicott of Gloucester and Bristol

(London, 1878), gives the following historical sketch of the practice:--

"There have been numerous and ingenious conjectures as to the meaning

of this passage. The only tenable interpretation is that there existed

amongst some of the Christians at Corinth a practice of baptizing a

living person in the stead of some convert who had died before that

sacrament had been administered to him. Such a practice existed amongst

the Marcionites in the second century, and still earlier amongst a sect

called the Cerinthians. The idea evidently was that, whatever benefit

flowed from baptism, might be thus vicariously secured for the deceased

Christian. St. Chrysostom gives the following description of it:--

"After a catechumen (one prepared for baptism but not actually baptized)

was dead, they hid a living man under the bed of the deceased; then,

coming to the bed of the dead man, they spoke to him, and asked whether

he would receive baptism; and, he making no answer, the other replied in

his stead, and so they baptized the living for the dead: Does St.

Paul then, by what he here says, sanction the superstitious practice?

Certainly not. He carefully separated himself and the Corinthians,

to whom he immediately addresses himself, from those who adopted this

custom .... Those who do that, and disbelieve a resurrection, refute

themselves. This custom possibly sprang up among the Jewish converts,

who had been accustomed to something similar in their faith. If a Jew

died without having been purified from some ceremonial uncleanness, some

living person had the necessary ablution performed on him, and the dead

were so accounted clean."

Other commentators have found means to explain this text without giving

it reference to a baptism for dead persons, as, for instance, that it

means, "with an interest in the resurrection of the dead."* Another

explanation is that by "the dead" is meant the dead Christ, as referred

to in Romans vi. 3, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized

into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"

* "Commentary by Bishops and Other Clergy of the Anglican

Church."

This doctrine was a very taking one with the uneducated Mormon converts

who crowded into Nauvoo, and the church officers saw in it a means to

hasten the work on the Temple. At first families would meet on the bank

of the Mississippi River, and some one, of the order of the Melchisedec

Priesthood, would baptize them wholesale for all their dead relatives

whose names they could remember, each sex for relatives of the same. But

as soon as the font in the Temple was ready for use, these baptisms were

restricted to that edifice, and it was required that all the baptized

should have paid their tithings. At a conference at Nauvoo in October,

1841, Smith said that those who neglected the baptism of their dead "did

it at the peril of their own salvation."*

* Times and Seasons, Vol. II, p. 578.

The form of church government, as worked out in the early days, is

set forth in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants." The first officers

provided for were the twelve apostles,* and the next the elders,

priests, teachers, and deacons, Edward Partridge being announced as

the first bishop in 1831. The church was loosely governed for the first

years after its establishment at Kirtland. A guiding power was provided

for in a revelation of March 8, 1833 (Sec. 90), when Smith was told by

the Lord that Rigdon and F. G. Williams were accounted as equal with him

"in holding the keys of this last kingdom." These three first held the

famous office of the First Presidency, representing the Trinity.

* (Sec. 18, June, 1829.)

On February 17, 1834 (Sec. 102), a General High Council of twenty-four

High Priests assembled at Smith's house in Kirtland and organized the

High Council of the church, consisting of Twelve High Priests, with

one or three Presidents, as the case might require. The office of

High Priest, and the organization of a High Council were apparently an

afterthought, and were added to the "revelation" after its publication

in the "Book of Commandments." Other forms of organization that were

from time to time decided on were announced in a revelation dated March

28, 1835 (Sec. 107), which defined the two priesthoods, Melchisedec and

Aaronic, and their powers. There were to be three Presiding High Priests

to form a Quorum of the Presidency of the church; a Seventy, called to

preach the Gospel, who would form a Quorum equal in authority to the

Quorum of the Twelve, and be presided over by seven of their number.

Smith soon organized two of these Quorums of Seventies. At the time of

the dedications of the Temple at Nauvoo, in 1844, there were fifteen of

them, and to-day they number more than 120.

Each separate church organization, as formed, was called a Stake,

and each Stake had over it a Presidency, High Priests, and Council

of Twelve. We find the meaning of the word "Stake" in some of Smith's

earlier "revelations." Thus, in the one dated June 4, 1833, regarding

the organization of the church at Kirtland, it was said, "It is

expedient in me that this Stake that I have set for the strength of Zion

be made strong." Again, in one dated December 16, 1839, on the gathering

of the Saints, it is stated, "I have other places which I will appoint

unto them, and they shall be called Stakes for the curtains, or

the strength of Zion." In Utah, to-day, the Stakes form groups of

settlements, and are generally organized on county lines.

The prophet made a substantial provision for his father, founding

for him the office of Patriarch, in accordance with an unpublished

"revelation." The principal business of the Patriarch was to dispense

"blessings," which were regarded by the faithful as a sort of charm, to

ward off misfortune. Joseph, Sr., awarded these blessings without charge

when he began dispensing them at Kirtland, but a High Council held there

in 1835 allowed him $10 a week while blessing the church. After his

formal anointing in 1836 he was known as Father Smith, and the next year

his salary was made $1.50 a day.* Hyrum became Patriarch when his father

died in 1840, his brother William succeeded him, his Uncle John came

next, and his Uncle Joseph after John. Patriarchal blessings were

advertised in the Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo like other merchandise.

They could be obtained in writing, and contained promises of almost

anything that a man could wish, such as freedom from poverty and

disease, life prolonged until the coming of Christ, etc.** In 1875 the

price of a blessing in Utah had risen to $2. The office of Patriarch

is still continued, with one chief Patriarch, known as Patriarch of the

Church, and subordinate Patriarchs in the different Stakes. The position

of Patriarch of the church has always been regarded as a hereditary one,

and bestowed on some member of the Smith family, as it is to-day.

* The departure of the Patriarch from Ohio was somewhat dramatic.

As his wife tells the story in her book, the old man was taken by a

constable before a justice of the peace on a charge of performing

the marriage service without any authority, and was fined $3000,

and sentenced to the penitentiary in default of payment. Through the

connivance of the constable, who had been a Mormon, the prisoner was

allowed to leap out of a window, and he remained in hiding at New

Portage until his family were ready to start for Missouri. The

revelation of January 19, 1841, announced that he was then sitting "with

Abraham at his right hand."

* Ferris's "Utah and the Mormons," p. 314, and "Wife No. 19," p.

581.

BOOK II. -- IN OHIO

CHAPTER I. -- THE FIRST CONVERTS AT KIRTLAND

The four missionaries who had been sent to Ohio under Cowdery's

leadership arrived there in October, 1830. Rigdon left Kirtland on

his visit to Smith in New York State in the December following, and in

January, 1831, he returned to Ohio, taking Smith with him.

The party who set out for Ohio, ostensibly to preach to the Lamanites,

consisted of Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and

Ziba Peterson, the latter one of Smith's original converts, who, it may

be noted, was deprived of his land and made to work for others a year

later in Missouri, because of offences against the church authorities.

These men preached as they journeyed, making a brief stop at Buffalo to

instruct the Indians there. On reaching Ohio, Pratt's acquaintance with

Rigdon's Disciples gave him an opportunity to bring the new Bible to the

attention of many people. The character of the Smiths was quite unknown

to the pioneer settlers, and the story of the miraculously delivered

Bible filled many of them with wonder rather than with unbelief.

The missionaries began the work of organizing a church at once. Some

members of Rigdon's congregation had already formed a "common stock

society," and were believers in a speedy millennium, and to these the

word brought by the new-comers was especially welcome. Cowdery baptized

seventeen persons into the new church. Rigdon at the start denied his

right to do this, and, in a debate between him and the missionaries

which followed at Rigdon's house, Rigdon quoted Scripture to prove that,

even if they had seen an angel, as they declared, it might have been

Satan transformed. Cowdery asked if he thought that, in response to

a prayer that God would show him an angel, the Heavenly Father would

suffer Satan to deceive him. Rigdon replied that if Cowdery made such

a request of the Heavenly Father "when He has never promised you such

a thing, if the devil never had an opportunity of deceiving you before,

you give him one now."* But after a brief study of the new book, Rigdon

announced that he, too, had had a "revelation," declaring to him that

Mormonism was to be believed. He saw in a vision all the orders of

professing Christians pass before him, and all were "as corrupt as

corruption itself," while the heart of the man who brought him the book

was "as pure as an angel."

* "It seemed to be a part of Rigdon's plan to make such a fight

that, when he did surrender, the triumph of the cause that had

defeated him would be all the more complete."--Kennedy, "Early Days of

Mormonism."

The announcement of Rigdon's conversation gave Mormonism an

advertisement and a support that had a wide effect, and it alarmed the

orthodox of that part of the country as they had never been alarmed

before. Referring to it, Hayden says, "The force of this shock was like

an earthquake when Symonds Ryder, Ezra Booth, and many others submitted

to the 'New Dispensation.'" Largely through his influence, the Mormon

church at Kirtland soon numbered more than one hundred members.

During all that autumn and early winter crowds went to Kirtland to learn

about the new religion. On Sundays the roads would be thronged with

people, some in whatever vehicles they owned, some on horseback, and

some on foot, all pressing forward to hear the expounders of the new

Gospel and to learn the particulars of the new Bible. Pioneers in a

country where there was little to give variety to their lives, they were

easily influenced by any religious excitement, and the announcement of

a new Bible and prophet was certain to arouse their liveliest interest.

They had, indeed, inherited a tendency to religious enthusiasm, so

recently had their parents gone through the excitements of the early

days of Methodism, or of the great revivals of the new West at the

beginning of the century, when (to quote one of the descriptions given

by Henry Howe) more than twenty thousand persons assembled in one

vast encampment, "hundreds of immortal beings moving to and fro, some

preaching, some praying for mercy, others praising God. Such was the

eagerness of the people to attend, that entire neighborhoods were

forsaken, and the roads literally crowded by those pressing forward on

their way to the groves."* Any new religious leader could then make his

influence felt on the Western border: Dylkes, the "Leatherwood God," had

found it necessary only to announce himself as the real Messiah at

an Ohio campmeeting, in 1828, to build up a sect on that assumption.

Freewill Baptists, Winebrennerians, Disciples, Shakers, and

Universalists were urging their doctrines and confusing the minds of

even the thoughtful with their conflicting views. We have seen to what

beliefs the preaching of the Disciples' evangelists had led the people

of the Western Reserve, and it did not really require a much broader

exercise of faith (or credulity) to accept the appearance of a new

prophet with a new Bible.

* "Historical Collections of the Great West."

While the main body of converts was made up of persons easily

susceptible to religious excitement, and accustomed to have their

opinions on such subjects formed for them, men of education and more or

less training in theology were found among the early adherents to the

new belief. It is interesting to see how the minds of such men were

influenced, and this we are enabled to do from personal experiences

related by some of them.

One of these, John Corrill, a man of intelligence, who stayed with the

church until it was driven out of Missouri, then became a member of the

Missouri Legislature, and wrote a brief history of the church to the

year 1839, in this pamphlet answered very clearly the question often

asked by his friends, "How did you come to join the Mormons?" A copy

of the new Bible was given to him by Cowdery when the missionaries,

on their Western trip, passed through Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he

lived. A brief reading convinced him that it was a mere money-making

scheme, and when he learned that they had stopped at Kirtland, he did

not entertain a doubt, that, under Rigdon's criticism, the pretensions

of the missionaries would be at once laid bare. When, on the contrary,

word came that Rigdon and the majority of his society had accepted the

new faith, Corrill asked himself: "What does this mean? Are Elder Rigdon

and these men such fools as to be duped by these impostors?" After

talking the matter over with a neighbor, he decided to visit Kirtland,

hoping to bring Rigdon home with him, with the idea that he might be

saved from the imposition if he could be taken from the influence of

the impostors. But before he reached Kirtland, Corrill heard of Rigdon's

baptism into the new church. Finding Kirtland in a state of great

religious excitement, he sought discussions with the leaders of the new

movement, but not always successfully.

Corrill started home with a "heart full of serious reflections." Were

not the people of Berea nobler than the people of Thessalonica because

"they searched the Scriptures daily; whether these things were so?"

Might he not be fighting against God in his disbelief? He spent two or

three weeks reading the Mormon Bible; investigated the bad reports of

the new sect that reached him and found them without foundation; went

back to Kirtland, and there convinced himself that the laying on of

hands and "speaking with tongues" were inspired by some supernatural

agency; admitted to himself that, accepting the words of Peter (Acts ii.

17-20), it was "just as consistent to look for prophets in this age as

in any other." Smith seemed to have been a bad man, but was not Moses a

fugitive from justice, as the murderer of a man whose body he had hidden

in the sand, when God called him as a prophet? The story of the long

hiding and final delivery of the golden plates to Smith taxed his

credulity; but on rereading the Scriptures he found that books are

referred to therein which they do not contain--Book of Nathan the

Prophet, Book of Gad the Seer, Book of Shemaiah the Prophet, and Book

of Iddo the Seer (1 Chron. xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 29 and xii. 15). This

convinced him that the Scriptures were not complete. Daniel and John

were commanded to seal the Book. David declared (Psalms xxxv.) "that

truth shall spring out of the earth," and from the earth Smith took

the plates; and Ezekiel (xxxvii. 15-21) foretold the existence of two

records, by means of which there shall be a gathering together of the

children of Israel. It finally seemed to Corrill that the Mormon Bible

corresponded with the record of Joseph referred to by Ezekiel, the Holy

Bible being the record of Judah.

Not fully satisfied, he finally decided, however, to join the new

church, with a mental reservation that he would leave it if he ever

found it to be a deception. Explaining his reasons for leaving it when

he did, he says, "I can see nothing that convinces me that God has been

our leader; calculation after calculation has failed, and plan after

plan has been overthrown, and our prophet seemed not to know the event

till too late."

The two other most prominent converts to the new church in Ohio were the

Rev. Ezra Booth, a Methodist preacher of more than ordinary culture, of

Mantua, and Symonds Ryder, a native of Vermont, whom Alexander Campbell

had converted to the Disciples' belief in 1828, and who occupied the

pulpit at Hiram when called on. Booth visited Smith in 1831, with some

members of his own congregation, and was so impressed by the miraculous

curing of the lame arm of a woman of his party by Smith, that he soon

gave in his allegiance. Ryder had always found one thing lacking in the

Disciples' theology--he looked for some actual "gift of the Holy Spirit"

in the way of "signs" that were to follow them that believed. He was

eventually induced to announce his conversion to the new church after

"he read in a newspaper, an account of the destruction of Pekin in

China, and remembered that, six weeks before, a young Mormon girl had

predicted the destruction of that city." This statement was made in

the sermon preached at his funeral. Both of these men confessed their

mistake four months later, after Booth had returned from a trip to

Missouri with Smith.

Among the ignorant, even the most extravagant of the claims of the

Mormon leaders had influence. One man, when he heard an elder in the

midst of a sermon "speak with tongues," in a language he had never

heard before, "felt a sudden thrill from the back of his head down

his backbone," and was converted on the spot. John D. Lee, of Catholic

education, was convinced by an elder that the end of the world was near,

and sold his property in Illinois for what it would bring, and moved to

Far West, in order to be in the right place when the last day dawned.

Lorenzo Snow, the recent President of the church, says that he was

"thoroughly convinced that obedience to those [the Mormon] prophets

would impart miraculous powers, manifestations, and revelations," the

first manifestation of which occurred some weeks later, when he heard a

sound over his head "like the rustling of silken robes, and the spirit

of God descended upon me."*

* Biography of Snow, by his sister Eliza.

The arguments that control men's religious opinions are too varied even

for classification. In a case like Mormonism they range from the really

conscientious study of a Corrill to the whim of the Paumotuan, of whom

Stevenson heard in the South Seas, who turned Mormon when his wife died,

after being a pillar of the Catholic church for fifteen years, on the

ground that "that must be a poor religion that could not save a man his

wife." Any person who will examine those early defences of the Mormon

faith, Parley P. Pratt's "A Voice of Warning," and Orson Pratt's "Divine

Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," will find what use can be made of

an insistence on the literal acceptance of the Scriptures in defending

such a sect as theirs, especially with persons whose knowledge of the

Scriptures is much less than their reverence for them.

Professor J. B. Turner,* writing in 1842, when the early teachings of

Mormonism had just had their effect in what is now styled the middle

West, observed that these teachings had made more infidels than Mormon

converts. This is accounted for by the fact that persons who attempted

to follow the Mormon argument by studying the Scriptures, found their

previous interpretation of parts of the Holy Bible overturned, and

the whole book placed under a cloud. W. J. Stillman mentions a similar

effect in the case of Ruskin. When they were in Switzerland, Ruskin

would do no painting on Sunday, while Stillman regarded the sanctity of

the first day of the week as a "theological fiction." In a discussion of

the subject between them, Stillman established to Ruskin's satisfaction

that there was no Scriptural authority for transferring the day of rest

from the seventh to the first day of the week. "The creed had so bound

him to the letter," says Stillman, "that the least enlargement of the

stricture broke it, and he rejected, not only the tradition of the

Sunday Sabbath, but the whole of the ecclesiastical interpretation

of the texts. He said, 'If they have deceived me in this, they have

probably deceived me in all.'" The Mormons soon learned that it was

more profitable for them to seek converts among those who would accept

without reasoning.

* "Mormonism in all Ages."

CHAPTER II. -- WILD VAGARIES OF THE CONVERTS

The scenes at Kirtland during the first winter of the church there

reached the limit of religious enthusiasm. The younger members outdid

the elder in manifesting their belief. They saw wonderful lights in the

air, and constantly received visions. Mounting stumps in the field, they

preached to imaginary congregations, and, picking up stones, they would

read on them words which they said disappeared as soon as known. At the

evening prayer-meetings the laying on of hands would be followed by a

sort of fit, in which the enthusiasts would fall apparently lifeless

on the floor, or contort their faces, creep on their hands or knees,

imitate the Indian process of killing and scalping, and chase balls of

fire through the fields.*

*Corrill's "Brief History of the Church," p. 16; Howe's

"Mormonism Unveiled," p. 104.

Some of the young men announced that they had received "commissions" to

teach and preach, written on parchment, which came to them from the sky,

and which they reached by jumping into the air. Howe reproduces one of

these, the conclusion of which, with the seal, follows:--

"That you had a messenger tell you to go and get the other night, you

must not show to any son of Adam. Obey this, and I will stand by you in

all cases. My servants, obey my commandments in all cases, and I will

provide.

"Be ye always ready, Be ye always ready, Whenever I shall call,

Be ye always ready, My seal.

[Illustration:

Seal

175]

"There shall be something of great importance revealed when I shall call

you to go: My servants, be faithful over a few things, and I will make

you a ruler over many. Amen, Amen, Amen."

Foolishly extravagant as these manifestations appear (Corrill says that

comparatively few members indulged in them), there was nothing in them

peculiar to the Mormon belief. The meetings of the Disciples, in the

year of Smith's arrival in Ohio and later, when men like Campbell and

Scott spoke, were swayed with the most intense religious enthusiasm. A

description of the effect of Campbell's preaching at a grove meeting in

the Cuyahoga Valley in 1831 says:--

"The woods were full of horses and carriages, and the hundreds already

there were rapidly swelled to many thousands; all were of one race--the

Yankee; all of one calling, or nearly, the farmer.... When Campbell

closed, low murmurs broke and ran through the awed crowd; men and women

from all parts of the vast assembly with streaming eyes came forward;

young men who had climbed into small trees from curiosity, came down

from conviction, and went forward for baptism."*

* Riddle's "The Portrait."

It is easy to cite very "orthodox" precedents for such manifestations.

One of these we find in the accounts of what were called "the jerks,"

which accompanied a great revival in 1803, brought about by

the preaching of the Rev. Joseph Badger, a Yale graduate and a

Congregationalist, who was the first missionary to the Western Reserve.

J. S. C. Abbott, in his history of Ohio, describing the "jerks," says:--

"The subject was instantaneously seized with spasms in every muscle,

nerve and tendon. His head was thrown backward and forward, and from

side to side, with inconceivable rapidity. So swift was the motion that

the features could no more be discerned than the spokes of a wheel can

be seen when revolving with the greatest velocity.... All were impressed

with a conviction that there was something supernatural in these

convulsions, and that it was opposing the spirit of God to resist them."

The most extravagant enthusiasm of the Kirtland converts, and the most

extravagant claims of the Mormon leaders at that time, were exceeded by

the manifestations of converts in the early days of Methodism, and

the miraculous occurrences testified to by Wesley himself,*--a cloud

tempering the sun in answer to his prayer; his horse cured of lameness

by faith; the case of a blind Catholic girl who saw plainly when her

eyes rested on the New Testament, but became blind again when she took

up the Mass Book.

* For examples see Lecky's "England in the Nineteenth Century,"

Vol. III, Chap. VIII, and Wesley's "Journal."

These Mormon enthusiasts were only suffering from a manifestation to

which man is subject; and we can agree with a Mormon elder who, although

he left the church disgusted with its extravagances, afterward remarked,

"The man of religious feeling will know how to pity rather than upbraid

that zeal without knowledge which leads a man to fancy that he has found

the ladder of Jacob, and that he sees the angel of the Lord ascending

and descending before his eyes."

When Smith and Rigdon reached Kirtland they found the new church in a

state of chaos because of these wild excitements, and of an attempt to

establish a community of possessions, growing out of Rigdon's previous

teachings. These communists held that what belonged to one belonged to

all, and that they could even use any one's clothes or other personal

property without asking permission. Many of the flock resented this,

and anything but a condition of brotherly love resulted. Smith, in his

account of the situation as they found it, says that the members were

striving to do the will of God, "though some had strange notions, and

false spirits had crept in among them. With a little caution and some

wisdom, I soon assisted the brothers and sisters to overcome them.

The plan of 'common stock,' which had existed in what was called 'the

family,' whose members generally had embraced the Everlasting Gospel,

was readily abandoned for the more perfect law of the Lord,"*--which the

prophet at once expounded.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt., p. 56.

Smith announced that the Lord had informed him that the ravings of the

converts were of the devil, and this had a deterring effect; but at an

important meeting of elders to receive an endowment, some three months

later, conducted by Smith himself, the spirits got hold of some of the

elders. "It threw one from his seat to the floor," says Corrill. "It

bound another so that for some time he could not use his limbs or

speak; and some other curious effects were experienced. But by a mighty

exertion, in the name of the Lord, it was exposed and shown to be of an

evil source."

CHAPTER III. -- GROWTH OF THE CHURCH

In order not to interrupt the story of the Mormons' experiences in Ohio,

leaving the first steps taken in Missouri to be treated in connection

with the regular course of events in that state, it will be sufficient

to say here that Cowdery, Pratt, and their two companions continued

their journey as far as the western border of Missouri, in the winter

of 1830 and 1831, making their headquarters at Independence, Jackson

County; that, on receipt of their reports about that country, Smith and

Rigdon, with others, made a trip there in June, 1831, during which the

corner-stones of the City of Zion and the Temple were laid, and officers

were appointed to receive money for the purchase of the land for the

Saints, its division; etc. Smith and Rigdon returned to Kirtland on

August 27, 1831.

The growth of the church in Ohio was rapid. In two or three weeks after

the arrival of the four pioneer missionaries, 127 persons had been

baptized, and by the spring of 1831 the number of converts had increased

to 1000. Almost all the male converts were honored with the title of

elder. By a "revelation" dated February 9, 1831 (Sec. 42), all of these

elders, except Smith and Rigdon, were directed to "go forth in the power

of my spirit, preaching my Gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up

your voices as with the voice of a trump." This was the beginning of

that extensive system of proselyting which was soon extended to Europe,

which was so instrumental in augmenting the membership of the church in

its earlier days, and which is still carried on with the utmost zeal

and persistence. The early missionaries travelled north into Canada and

through almost all the states, causing alarm even in New England by

the success of their work. One man there, in 1832, reprinted at his own

expense Alexander Campbell's pamphlet exposing the ridiculous features

of the Mormon Bible, for distribution as an offset to the arguments of

the elders. Women of means were among those who moved to Kirtland from

Massachusetts. In three years after Smith and Rigdon met in Palmyra,

Mormon congregations had been established in nearly all the Northern and

Middle states and in some of the Southern, with baptisms of from 30 to

130 in a place.*

Smith had relaxed none of his determination to be the one head of

the church. As soon as he arrived in Kirtland he put forth a long

"revelation" (Sec. 43) which left Rigdon no doubt of the prophet's

intentions. It declared to the elders that "there is none other but

Smith appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until

he be taken," and that "none else shall be appointed unto his gift

except it be through him." Not only was Smith's spiritual power thus

intrenched, but his temporal welfare was looked after. "And again I

say unto you," continues this mouthpiece of the Lord, "if ye desire

the mysteries of the Kingdom, provide for him food and raiment and

whatsoever he needeth to accomplish the work wherewith I have commanded

him." In the same month came another declaration, saying (Sec. 41) "is

meet that my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., should have a house built,

in which to live and translate" (the Scriptures). With a streak of

generosity it was added, "It is meet that my servant Sidney Rigdon

should live as seemeth him good."

*Turner's "Mormonism in all Ages," p. 38.

The iron hand with which Smith repressed Rigdon from the date of their

arrival in Ohio affords strong proof of Rigdon's complicity in the

Bible plot, and of Smith's realization of the fact that he stood to his

accomplice in the relation of a burglar to his mate, where the burglar

has both the boodle and the secret in his possession. An illustration of

this occurred during their first trip to Missouri. Rigdon and Smith

did not agree about the desirability of western Missouri as a permanent

abiding-place for the church. The Rev. Ezra Booth, after leaving the

Mormons, contributed a series of letters on his experience with Smith

to the Ohio Star of Ravenna.* In the first of these he said: "On our

arrival in the western part of the state of Missouri we discovered that

prophecy and visions had failed, or rather had proved false. This fact

was so notorious that Mr. Rigdon himself says that 'Joseph's vision was

a bad thing.'" Smith nevertheless directed Rigdon to write a description

of that promised land, and, when the production did not suit him, he

represented the Lord as censuring Rigdon in a "revelation" (Sec. 63):--

* Copied in Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled."

"And now behold, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, am not pleased

with my servant Sidney Rigdon; he exalteth himself in his heart, and

receiveth not counsel, but grieveth the spirit. Wherefore his writing is

not acceptable unto the Lord; and he shall make another, and if the Lord

receiveth it not, behold he standeth no longer in the office which I

have appointed him."

That the proud-minded, educated preacher, who refused to allow Campbell

to claim the foundership of the Disciples' church, should take such a

rebuke and threat of dismissal in silence from Joe Smith of Palmyra, and

continue under his leadership, certainly indicates some wonderful hold

that the prophet had upon him.

While the travelling elders were doing successful work in adding new

converts to the fold, there was beginning to manifest itself at Kirtland

that "apostasy" which lost the church so many members of influence, and

was continued in Missouri so far that Mayor Grant said, in Salt Lake

City, in 1856, that "one-half at least of the Yankee members of this

church have apostatized."* The secession of men like Booth and Ryder,

and their public exposure of Smith's methods, coupled with rumors

of immoral practices in the fold, were followed by the tarring and

feathering of Smith and Rigdon on the night of Saturday, March 25, 1832.

The story of this outrage is told in Smith's autobiography, and the

details there given may be in the main accepted.

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. III, p. 201.

Smith and his wife were living at the house of a farmer named Johnson

in Hiram township, while he and Rigdon were translating the Scriptures.

Mrs. Smith had taken two infant twins to bring up, and on the night in

question she and her husband were taking turns sitting up with these

babies, who were just recovering from the measles. While Smith was

sleeping, his wife heard a tapping on the window, but gave it no

attention. The mob, believing that all within were asleep, then burst

in the door, seized Smith as he lay partly dressed on a trundle bed, and

rushed him out of doors, his wife crying "murder." Smith struggled as

best he could, but they carried him around the house, choking him until

he became unconscious. Some thirty yards from the house he saw Rigdon,

"stretched out on the ground, whither they had dragged him by the

heels." When they had carried Smith some thirty yards farther, some of

the mob meantime asking, "Ain't ye going to kill him?" a council was

held and some one asked, "Simmons, where's the tarbucket?" When the

bucket was brought up they tried to force the "tarpaddle" into Smith's

mouth, and also, he says, to force a phial between his teeth. He adds:

"All my clothes were torn off me except my shirt collar, and one man

fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat. They

then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again. I pulled the tar

away from my lips, etc., so that I could breathe more freely, and after

a while I began to recover, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights.

I made my way toward one of them, and found it was father Johnson's.

When I had come to the door I was naked, and the tar made me look

as though I had been covered with blood; and when my wife saw me she

thought I was all smashed to pieces, and fainted. During the affray

abroad, the sisters of the neighborhood collected at my room. I called

for a blanket; they threw me one and shut the door; I wrapped it around

me and went in.... My friends spent the night in scraping and removing

the tar and washing and cleansing my body, so that by morning I was

ready to be clothed again.... With my flesh all scarified and defaced,

I preached [that morning] to the congregation as usual, and in the

afternoon of the same day baptized three individuals."

Rigdon's treatment is described as still more severe. He was not only

dragged over the ground by the heels, but was well covered with tar

and feathers; and when Smith called on him the next day he found him

delirious, and calling for a razor with which to kill his wife.

All Mormon accounts of this, as well as later persecutions, attempt to

make the ground of attack hostility to the Mormon religious beliefs,

presenting them entirely in the light of outrages on liberty of opinion.

Symonds Ryder (whom Smith accuses of being one of the mob), says that

the attack had this origin: The people of Hiram had the reputation of

being very receptive and liberal in their religious views. The Mormons

therefore preached to them, and seemed in a fair way to win a decided

success, when the leaders made their first trip to Missouri. Papers

which they left behind outlining the internal system of the new church

fell into the hands of some of the converts, and revealed to them the

horrid fact that a plot was laid to take their property from them and

place it under the control of Smith, the Prophet.... Some who had been

the dupes of this deception determined not to let it pass with impunity;

and, accordingly, a company was formed of citizens from Shalersville,

Garretsville, and Hiram, and took Smith and Rigdon from their beds and

tarred and feathered them.*

* Hayden's "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western

Reserve," p. 221.

This manifestation of hostility to the leaders of the new church was

only a more pronounced form of that which showed itself against Smith

before he left New York State. When a man of his character and previous

history assumes the right to baptize and administer the sacrament, he

is certain to arouse the animosity, not only of orthodox church members,

but of members of the community who are lax in their church duties.

Goldsmith illustrates this kind of feeling when, in "She Stoops to

Conquer," he makes one of the "several shabby fellows with punch and

tobacco" in the alehouse say, "I loves to hear him, the squire sing,

bekeays he never gives us nothing that's low," and another responds, "O,

damn anything that's low." The Anti-Mormon feeling was intensified

and broadened by the aggressiveness with which the Mormons sought for

converts in the orthodox flocks.

Beliefs radically different from those accepted by any of the orthodox

denominations have escaped hostile opposition in this country, even when

they have outraged generally accepted social customs. The Harmonists,

in a body of 600, emigrated to Pennsylvania to escape the persecution to

which they were subjected in Germany, purchased 5000 acres of land and

organized a town; moved later to Indiana, where they purchased 25,000

acres; and ten years afterward returned to Pennsylvania, and bought

5000 acres in another place,--all the time holding to their belief in a

community of goods and a speedy coming of Christ, as well as the duty of

practicing celibacy,--without exciting their neighbors or arousing

their enmity. The Wallingford Community in Connecticut, and the Oneida

Community in New York State, practised free love among themselves

without persecution, until their organizations died from natural causes.

The leaders in these and other independent sects were clean men within

their own rules, honest in their dealings with their neighbors,

never seeking political power, and never pressing their opinions upon

outsiders. An old resident of Wallingford writes to me, "The Community

were, in a way, very generally respected for their high standard of

integrity in all their business transactions."

As we follow the career of the Mormons from Ohio to Missouri, and thence

to Illinois, we shall read their own testimony about the character of

their leading men, and about their view of the rights of others in each

of their neighborhoods. When Horace Greeley asked Brigham Young in Salt

Lake City for an explanation of the "persecutions" of the Mormons, his

reply was that there was "no other explanation than is afforded by the

crucifixion of Christ and the kindred treatment of God's ministers,

prophets, and saints in all ages"; which led Greeley to observe that,

while a new sect is always decried and traduced,--naming the Baptists,

Quakers, Methodists, and Universalists,--he could not remember "that

either of them was ever generally represented and regarded by the other

sects of their early days as thieves, robbers, and murderers."*

* "Overland Journey," p. 214.

Another attempt by Rigdon to assert his independence of Smith occurred

while the latter was still at Mr. Johnson's house and Rigdon was

in Kirtland. The fullest account of this is found in Mother Smith's

"History," pp. 204-206. She says that Rigdon came in late to a

prayer-meeting, much agitated, and, instead of taking the platform,

paced backward and forward on the floor. Joseph's father told him they

would like to hear a discourse from him, but he replied, "The keys of

the Kingdom are rent from the church, and there shall not be a prayer

put up in this house this day." This caused considerable excitement, and

Smith's brother Hyrum left the house, saying, "I'll put a stop to this

fuss pretty quick," and, mounting a horse, set out for Johnson's and

brought the prophet back with him. On his arrival, a meeting of the

brethren was held, and Joseph declared to them, "I myself hold the keys

of this Last Dispensation, and will forever hold them, both in time and

eternity, so set your hearts at rest upon that point. All is right." The

next day Rigdon was tried before a council for having "lied in the name

of the Lord," and was "delivered over to the buffetings of Satan," and

deprived of his license, Smith telling him that "the less priesthood he

had, the better it would be for him." Rigdon, Mrs. Smith says, according

to his own account, "was dragged out of bed by the devil three times in

one night by the heels," and, while she does not accept this literally,

she declares that "his contrition was as great as a man could well live

through." After awhile he got another license.

CHAPTER IV. -- GIFTS OF TONGUES AND MIRACLES

In January, 1833, Smith announced a revival of the "gift of tongues,"

and instituted the ceremony of washing the feet.* Under the new system,

Smith or Rigdon, during a meeting, would call on some brother, or

sister, saying, "Father A., if you will rise in the name of Jesus Christ

you can speak in tongues." The rule which persons thus called on were

to follow was thus explained, "Arise upon your feet, speak or make some

sound, continue to make sounds of some kind, and the Lord will make

a language of it." It was not necessary that the words should be

understood by the congregation; some other Mormon would undertake their

interpretation. Much ridicule was incurred by the church because of

this kind of revelation. Gunnison relates that when a woman "speaking in

tongues" pronounced "meliar, meli, melee," it was at once translated by

a young wag, "my leg, my thigh, my knee," and, when he was called before

the Council charged with irreverence, he persisted in his translation,

but got off with an admonition.** At a meeting in Nauvoo in later years

a doubting convert delivered an address in real Choctaw, whereupon a

woman jumped up and offered as a translation an account of the glories

of the new Temple.

* This ceremony has fallen into disuse in Utah.

** "The Mormons." p. 74.

At the conference of June 4, 1831, Smith ordained Elder Wright to the

high priesthood for service among the Indians, with the gift of tongues,

healing the sick, etc. Wright at once declared that he saw the Saviour.

At one of the sessions at Kirtland at this time, as described by an

eye-witness, Smith announced that the day would come when no man would

be permitted to preach unless he had seen the Lord face to face. Then,

addressing Rigdon, he asked, "Sidney, have you seen the Lord?" The

obedient Sidney made reply, "I saw the image of a man pass before my

face, whose locks were white, and whose countenance was exceedingly

fair, even surpassing all beauty that I ever beheld." Smith at once

rebuked him by telling him that he would have seen more but for his

unbelief.

Almost simultaneously with Smith's first announcement of his prophetic

powers, while working his "peek-stone" in Pennsylvania and New York, he,

as we have seen, claimed ability to perform miracles, and he announced

that he had cast out a devil at Colesville in 1830.* The performance of

miracles became an essential part of the church work at Kirtland, and

had a great effect on the superstitious converts. The elders, who in

the early days labored in England, laid great stress on their miraculous

power, and there were some amusing exposures of their pretences. The

Millennial Star printed a long list of successful miracles dating

from 1839 to 1850, including the deaf made to hear, the blind to see,

dislocated bones put in place, leprosy and cholera cured, and fevers

rebuked. Smith, Rigdon, and Cowdery took a leading part in this work at

Kirtland.** To a man nearly dead with consumption Rigdon gave assurance

that he would recover "as sure as there is a God in heaven." The man's

death soon followed. When a child, whose parents had been persuaded

to trust its case to Mormon prayers instead of calling a physician,***

died, Smith and Rigdon promised that it would rise from the dead, and

they went through certain ceremonies to accomplish that object.****

* For particulars of this miracle, see Millennial Star, Vol. XIV,

pp. 28, 32.

** While Smith was in Washington in 1840, pressing on the federal

authorities the claims of the Mormons for redress for their losses in

Missouri, he preached on the church doctrines. A member of Congress

who heard him sent a synopsis of the discourse to his wife, and Smith

printed this entire in his autobiography (Millennial Star, Vol. XVII, p.

583). Here is one passage: "He [Smith] performed no miracles. He did

not pretend to possess any such power." This is an illustration of

the facility with which Smith could lie, when to do so would serve his

purpose.

*** The Saints were early believers in faith cure. Smith, in a

sermon preached in 1841, urged them "to trust in God when sick, and live

by faith and not by medicine or poison" (Millennial Star, Vol. XVIII,

p. 663). A coroner's jury, in an inquest over a victim of this faith in

London, England, cautioned the sect against continuing this method of

curing (Times and Seasons, 1842, p. 813).

**** For further illustrations of miracle working, in Ohio, see

Kennedy's "Early Days of Mormonism," Chap. V.

The lengths to which Smith dared go in his pretensions are well

illustrated in an incident of these days. Among the curiosities of

a travelling showman who passed through Kirtland were some Egyptian

mummies. As the golden plates from which the Mormon Bible was translated

were written in "reformed Egyptian," the translator of those plates was

interested in all things coming from Egypt, and at his suggestion the

mummies were purchased by and for the church. On them were found some

papyri which Joseph, with the assistance of Phelps and Cowdery, set

about "translating." Their success was great, and Smith was able to

announce: "We found that one of these rolls contained the writings of

Abraham, another the writings of Joseph.* Truly we could see that the

Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of truth." That there might

be no question about the accuracy of Smith's translation, he exhibited

a certificate signed by the proprietor of the show, saying that he had

exhibited the "hieroglyphic characters" to the most learned men in many

cities, "and from all the information that I could ever learn or meet

with, I find that of Joseph Smith, Jr., to correspond in the most minute

matters." * When the papyri were shown to Josiah Quincy and Charles

Francis Adams, on the occasion of their visit to Nauvoo in 1844, Joseph

Smith, pointing out the inscriptions, said: "That is the handwriting of

Abraham, the Father of the Faithful. This is the autograph of Moses, and

these lines were written by his brother Aaron. Here we have the earliest

account of the creation, from which Moses composed the first Book of

Genesis."--"Figures of the Past," p. 386.

Smith's autobiography contains this memorandum: "October 1, 1835. This

afternoon I labored on the Egyptian alphabet in company with Brother

O. Cowdery and W. W. Phelps, and during the research the principals of

astronomy, as understood by Father Abraham and the Ancients, unfolded

to our understanding." When he was in the height of his power in

Nauvoo, Smith printed in the Times and Seasons a reproduction of these

hieroglyphics accompanied by this alleged translation, of what he called

"the Book of Abraham," and they were also printed in the Millennial

Star.* The translation was a meaningless jumble of words after this

fashion:--

* See Vol. XIX, p. 100, etc., from which the accompanying

facsimile is taken.

[Illustration: Egyptian Papyri

188]

"In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I,

Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of

residence, and finding there was greater happiness and peace and

rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the Fathers, and the right

whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same, having been

myself a follower of righteousness, desiring to be one also who

possessed great knowledge, and to possess greater knowledge, and to be a

greater follower of righteousness."

Remy submitted a reproduction of these hieroglyphics to Theodule

Deveria, of the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris, who found, of course,

that Smith's purported translation was wholly fraudulent. For instance,

his Abraham fastened on an altar was a representation of Osiris coming

to life on his funeral couch, his officiating priest was the god Anubis,

and what Smith represents to indicate an angel of the Lord is "the soul

of Osiris, under the form of a hawk."* Smith's whole career offered no

more brazen illustration of his impostures than this.

* See "A Journey to Great Salt Lake City", by Jules Remy (1861),

Note XVII.

A visitor to the Kirtland Temple some years later paid Joseph's father

half a dollar in order to see the Egyptian curios, which were kept in

the attic of that structure.

A well-authenticated anecdote, giving another illustration of Smith's

professed knowledge of the Egyptian language is told by the Rev. Henry

Caswall, M.A., who, after holding the Professorship of Divinity in

Kemper College, in Missouri, became vicar of a church in England. Mr.

Caswall, on the occasion of a visit to Nauvoo in 1842, having heard of

Smith's Egyptian lore, took with him an ancient Greek manuscript of the

Psalter, on parchment, with which to test the prophet's scholarship. The

belief of Smith's followers in his powers was shown by their eagerness

to have him see this manuscript, and their persistence in urging Mr.

Caswall to wait a day for Smith's return from Carthage that he might

submit it to the prophet. Mr. Caswall the next day handed the

manuscript to Smith and asked him to explain its contents. After a brief

examination, Smith explained: "It ain't Greek at all, except perhaps

a few words. What ain't Greek is Egyptian, and what ain't Egyptian

is Greek. This book is very valuable. It is a dictionary of Egyptian

hieroglyphics. These figures (pointing to the capitals) is Egyptian

hieroglyphics written in the reformed Egyptian. These characters are

like the letters that were engraved on the golden plates."*

* "The City of the Mormons," p. 36 (1842).

CHAPTER V. -- SMITH'S OHIO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

When Rigdon returned to Ohio with Smith in January, 1831, it seems to

have been his intention to make Kirtland the permanent headquarters of

the new church. He had written to his people from Palmyra, "Be it known

to you, brethren, that you are dwelling on your eternal inheritance."

When Cowdery and his associates arrived in Ohio on their first trip,

they announced as the boundaries of the Promised Land the township

of Kirtland on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Within two

months of his arrival at Kirtland Smith gave out a "revelation" (Sec.

45), in which the Lord commanded the elders to go forth into the western

countries and buildup churches, and they were told of a City of Refuge

for the church, to be called the New Jerusalem. No definite location of

this city was given, and the faithful were warned to "keep these things

from going abroad unto the world." Another "revelation" of the same

month (Sec. 48) announced that it was necessary for all to remain for

the present in their places of abode, and directed those who had lands

"to impart to the eastern brethren," and the others to buy lands, and

all to save money "to purchase lands for an inheritance, even the city."

The reports of those who first went to Missouri induced Smith and

Rigdon, before they made their first trip to that state, to announce

that the Saints would pass one more winter in Ohio. But when they had

visited the Missouri frontier and realized its distance from even the

Ohio border line, and the actual privations to which settlers there must

submit, their zeal weakened, and they declared, "It will be many years

before we come here, for the Lord has a great work for us to do in

Ohio." The building of the Temple at Kirtland, and the investments

in lots and in business enterprises there showed that a permanent

settlement in Ohio was then decided on.

Smith's first business enterprise for the church in Ohio was a general

store which he opened in Hiram. This establishment has been described as

"a poorly furnished country store where commerce looks starvation in the

face."* The difficulty of combining the positions of prophet, head of

the church, and retail merchant was naturally great. The result of the

combination has been graphically pictured by no less an authority than

Brigham Young. In a discourse in Salt Lake City, explaining why the

church did not maintain a store there, Young said:--

* Salt Lake Herald, November 17, 1877.

"You that have lived in Nauvoo, in Missouri, in Kirtland, Ohio, can you

assign a reason why Joseph could not keep a store and be a merchant? Let

me just give you a few reasons; and there are men here who know just

how matters went in those days. Joseph goes to New York and buys $20,000

worth of goods, comes into Kirtland and commences to trade. In comes

one of the brethren. Brother Joseph, let me have a frock pattern for my

wife: What if Joseph says, 'No, I cannot without money.' The consequence

would be, 'He is no Prophet,' says James. Pretty soon Thomas walks in.

'Brother Joseph, will you trust me for a pair of boots?' 'No, I cannot

let them go without money.' 'Well,' says Thomas, 'Brother Joseph is no

Prophet; I have found THAT out and I am glad of it.' After a while in

comes Bill and Sister Susan. Says Bill, 'Brother Joseph, I want a

shawl. I have not got any money, but I wish you to trust me a week or

a fortnight.' Well, Brother Joseph thinks the others have gone and

apostatized, and he don't know but these goods will make the whole

church do the same, so he lets Bill have a shawl. Bill walks of with

it and meets a brother. 'Well,' says he, 'what do you think of Brother

Joseph?' 'O, he is a first rate man, and I fully believe he is a

Prophet. He has trusted me with this shawl.' Richard says, 'I think

I will go down and see if he won't trust me some.' In walks Richard.

Brother Joseph, I want to trade about $20.' 'Well,'says Joseph, 'these

goods will make the people apostatize, so over they go; they are of less

value than the people.' Richard gets his goods. Another comes in the

same way to make a trade of $25, and so it goes. Joseph was a first rate

fellow with them all the time, provided he never would ask them to pay

him. And so you may trace it down through the history of this people."*

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 215.

If this analysis of the flock which Smith gathered in Ohio, and which

formed the nucleus of the settlements in Missouri, was not permanently

recorded in an official church record, its authenticity would be

vigorously assailed.

Later enterprises at Kirtland, undertaken under the auspices of the

church, included a steam sawmill and a tannery, both of which were

losing concerns. But the speculation to which later Mormon authorities

attributed the principal financial disasters of the church at Kirtland

was the purchase of land and its sale as town lots.* The craze for land

speculation in those days was not confined, however, to the Mormons.

That was the period when the purchase of public lands of the United

States seemed likely to reach no limit. These sales, which amounted to

$2,300,000 in 1830, and to $4,800,000 in 1834, lumped to $14,757,600 in

1835, and to $24,877,179 in 1836. The government deposits (then made

in the state banks) increased from $10,000,000 on January 1, 1835, to

$41,500,000 on June 1, 1836, the increase coming from receipts from land

sales. This led to that bank expansion which was measured by the growth

of bank capital in this country from $61,000,000 to $200,000,000 between

1830 and 1834, with a further advance to $251,000,000.

* "Real estate rose from 100 to 800 per cent and in many cases

more. Men who were not thought worth $50 or $100 became purchasers

of thousands. Notes (sometimes cash), deeds and mortgages passed and

repassed, till all, or nearly all, supposed they had become wealthy,

or at least had acquired a competence."--Messenger and Advocate, June,

1837.

The Mormon leaders and their people were peculiarly liable to be led

into disaster when sharing in this speculators' fever. They were,

however, quick to take advantage of the spirit of the times. The Zion of

Missouri lost its attractiveness to them, and on February 23, 1833, the

Presidency decided to purchase land at Kirtland, and to establish there

on a permanent Stake of Zion. The land purchases of the church began at

once, and we find a record of one Council meeting, on March 23, 1833,

at which it was decided to buy three farms costing respectively $4000,

$2100, and $5000. Kirtland was laid out (on paper) with 32 streets,

cutting one another at right angles, each four rods wide. This provided

for 225 blocks of 20 lots each. Twenty-nine of the streets were named

after Mormons. Joseph and his family appear many times in the list of

conveyors of these lots. The original map of the city, as described

in Smith's autobiography, provided for 24 public buildings temples,

schools, etc.; no lot to contain more than one house, and that not to be

nearer than 25 feet from the street, with a prohibition against erecting

a stable on a house lot.*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 438-439.

Of course this Mormon capital must have a grand church edifice, to meet

Smith's views, and he called a council to decide about the character

of the new meeting-house. A few of the speakers favored a modest frame

building, but a majority thought a log one better suited to their means.

Joseph rebuked the latter, asking, "Shall we, brethren, build a house

for our God of logs?" and he straightway led them to the corner of a

wheat field, where the trench for the foundation was at once begun.*

No greater exhibition of business folly could have been given than

the undertaking of the costly building then planned on so slender a

financial foundation.

* Mother Smith's "Biographical Sketches" p. 213.

The corner-stone was laid on July 23, 1833, and the Temple was not

dedicated until March 27, 1836. Mormon devotion certainly showed itself

while this work was going on. Every male member was expected to give

one-seventh of his time to the building without pay, and those who worked

on it at day's wages had, in most instances, no other income, and often

lived on nothing but corn meal. The women, as their share, knit and wove

garments for the workmen.

The Temple, which is of stone covered with a cement stucco (it is still

in use), measures 60 by 80 feet on the ground, is 123 feet in height to

the top of the spire, and contains two stories and an attic.

The cost of this Temple was $40,000, and, notwithstanding the sacrifices

made by the Saints in assisting its construction, and the schemes of

the church officers to secure funds, a debt of from $15,000 to $20,000

remained upon it. That the church was financially embarrassed at

the very beginning of the work is shown by a letter addressed to the

brethren in Zion, Missouri, by Smith, Rigdon, and Williams, dated June

25, 1833, in which they said, "Say to Brother Gilbert that we have no

power to assist him in a pecuniary point, as we know not the hour when

we shall be sued for debts which we have contracted ourselves in New

York."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 450.

To understand the business crash and scandals which compelled Smith

and his associates to flee from Ohio, it is necessary to explain the

business system adopted by the church under them. This system began with

a rule about the consecration of property. As originally published

in the Evening and Morning Star, and in chapter xliv of the "Book

of Commandments," this rule declared, "Thou shalt consecrate all thy

properties, that which thou hast, unto me, with a covenant and a deed

which cannot be broken," with a provision that the Bishop, after he had

received such an irrevocable deed, should appoint every man a steward

over so much of his property as would be sufficient for himself and

family. In the later edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants" this

was changed to read, "And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and

consecrate thy properties for their support," etc.

By a "revelation" given out while the heads of the church were in

Jackson County, Missouri, in April, 1832 (Sec. 82), a sort of firm was

appointed, including Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery, Harris, and N. K. Whitney,

"to manage the affairs of the poor, and all things pertaining to the

bishopric," both in Ohio and Missouri. This firm thus assumed control of

the property which "revelation" had placed in the hands of the

Bishop. This arrangement was known as The Order of Enoch. Next came a

"revelation" dated April 23, 1834. (Sec. 104), by which the properties

of the Order were divided, Rigdon getting the place in which he was

living in Kirtland, and the tannery; Harris a lot, with a command

to "devote his monies for the proclaiming of my words"; Cowdery and

Williams, the printing-office, with some extra lots to Cowdery; and

Smith, the lot designed for the Temple, and "the inheritance on which

his father resides." The building of the Temple having brought the

Mormon leaders into debt, this "revelation," was designed to help them

out, and it contained these further directions, in the voice of

the Lord, be it remembered: "The covenants being broken through

transgression, by covetousness and feigned words, therefore you are

dissolved as a United Order with your brethren, that you are not bound

only up to this hour unto them, only on this wise, as I said, by loan

as shall be agreed by this Order in council, as your circumstances will

admit, and the voice of the council direct.....

"And again verily I say unto you, concerning your debts, behold it is

my will that you should pay all your debts; and it is my will that you

should humble yourselves before me, and obtain this blessing by your

diligence and humility and the prayer of faith; and inasmuch as you are

diligent and humble, and exercise the prayer of faith, behold, I will

soften the hearts of those to whom you are in debt, until I shall send

means unto you for your deliverance.... I give you a promise that

you shall be delivered this once out of your bondage; inasmuch as you

obtained a chance to loan money by hundreds, or thousands even until you

shall loan enough [meaning borrow] to deliver yourselves from bondage,

it is your privilege; and pledge the properties which I have put into

your hands this once.... The master will not suffer his house to be

broken up. Even so. Amen."

It does not appear that the Mormon leaders took advantage of this

authorization to borrow money on Kirtland real estate, if they could;

but in 1835 they set up several mercantile establishments, finding firms

in Cleveland, Buffalo, and farther east who would take their notes on

six months' time. "A great part of the goods of these houses," says

William Harris, "went to pay the workmen on the Temple, and many were

sold on credit, so that when the notes became due the houses were not

able to meet them."

Smith's autobiography relates part of one story of an effort of his to

secure money at this trying time, the complete details of which have

been since supplied. He simply says that on July 25, 1836, in company

with his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery, he started

on a trip which brought them to Salem, Massachusetts, where "we hired a

house and occupied the same during the month, teaching the people from

house to house."* The Mormon of to-day, in reading his "Doctrine and

Covenants," finds Section 111 very perplexing. No place of its reception

is given, but it goes on to say:--

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 281.

"I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey,

notwithstanding your follies; I have much treasure in this city for you,

for the benefit of Zion;... and it shall come to pass in due time, that I

will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it,

insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth

pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours. Concern not yourself

about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them.... And inquire

diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this

city; for there are more treasures than one for you in this city."

"This city" was Salem, Massachusetts, and the "revelation" was put forth

to brace up the spirits of Smith's fellow-travellers. A Mormon named

Burgess had gone to Kirtland with a story about a large amount of money

that was buried in the cellar of a house in Salem which had belonged to

a widow, and the location of which he alone knew. Smith credited this

report, and looked to the treasure to assist him in his financial

difficulties, and he took the persons named with him on the trip. But

when they got there Burgess said that time had so changed the appearance

of the houses that he could not be sure which was the widow's, and he

cleared out. Smith then hired a house which he thought might be the

right one,--it proved not to be,--and it was when his associates

were--becoming discouraged that the ex-money-digger uttered the words

quoted, to strengthen their courage. "We speak of these things with

regret," says Ebenezer Robinson, who believed in the prophet's divine

calling to the last.*

* The Return, July, 1889.

Brought face to face with apparent financial disaster, the next step

taken to prevent this was the establishment of a bank. Smith told of a

"revelation" concerning a bank "which would swallow up all other banks."

An application for a charter was made to the Ohio legislature, but it

was refused. The law of Ohio at that time provided that "all notes and

bills, bonds and other securities [of an unchartered bank] shall be

held and taken in all courts as absolutely void." This, however, did not

deter a man of Smith's audacity, and soon came the announcement of the

organization of the "Kirtland Safety Society Bank," with an alleged

capital of $4,000,000. The articles of agreement had been drawn up on

November 2, 1836, and Oliver Cowdery had been sent to Philadelphia to

get the plates for the notes at the same time that Orson Hyde set out

to the state capital to secure a charter. Cowdery took no chances of

failure, and he came back not only with a plate, but with $200,000 in

printed bills. To avoid the inconvenience of having no charter, the

members of the Safety Society met on January 2, 1837, and reorganized

under the name of the "Kirtland Society Anti-banking Company," and, in

the hope of placing the bills within the law (or at least beyond

its reach), the word "Bank" was changed with a stamp so that it read

"Anti-BANK-ing Co.," as in the facsimile here presented.

[Illustration: Bank-Note

198]

W. Harris thus describes the banking scheme:--

"Subscribers for stock were allowed to pay the amount of their

subscriptions in town lots at five or six times their real value; others

paid in personal property at a high valuation, and some were paid

in cash. When the notes were first issued they were current in the

vicinity, and Smith took advantage of their credit to pay off with them

the debts he and his brethren had contracted in the neighborhood for

land, etc. The Eastern creditors, however, refused to take them. This

led to the expedient of exchanging them for the notes of other banks.

Accordingly, the Elders were sent into the country to barter off

Kirtland money, which they did with great zeal, and continued the

operation until the notes were not worth twelve and a half cents to the

dollar."*

* "Mormonism Portrayed," p. 31

Just how much of this currency was issued the records do not show. Hall

says that Brigham Young, who had joined the flock at Kirtland, disposed

of $10,000 worth of it in the States, and that Smith and other church

officers reaped a rich harvest with it in Canada, explaining, "The

credit of the bank here was good, even high."* Kidder quotes a gentleman

living near Kirtland who said that the cash capital paid in was only

about $5000, and that they succeeded in floating from $50,000 to

$100,000. Ann Eliza, Brigham's "wife No. 19," says that her father

invested everything he had but his house and shop in the bank, and lost

it all.

* "Abominations of Mormonism Exposed" (1852), pp. 19, 20.

Cyrus Smalling, one of the Seventy at Kirtland, wrote an account of

Kirtland banking operations under date of March 10, 1841, in which he

said that Smith and his associates collected about $6000 in specie, and

that when people in the neighborhood went to the bank to inquire about

its specie reserve, "Smith had some one or two hundred boxes made, and

gathered all the lead and shot the village had, or that part of it that

he controlled, and filled the boxes with lead, shot, etc., and marked

them $1000 each. Then, when they went to examine the vault, he had one

box on a table partly filled for them to see; and when they proceeded to

the vault, Smith told them that the church had $200,000 in specie;

and he opened one box and they saw that it was silver; and they were

seemingly satisfied, and went away for a few days until the elders were

packed off in every direction to pass their paper money."*

* "Mormons; or Knavery Exposed" (1841).

Smith believed in specie payments to his bank, whatever might be his

intentions as regards the redemption of his notes, for, in the Messenger

and Advocate (pp. 441-443), following the by-laws of the Anti-banking

Company, was printed a statement signed by him, saying:--

"We want the brethren from abroad to call on us and take stock in the

Safety Society, and we would remind them of the sayings of the Prophet

Isaiah contained in the 60th chapter, and more particularly in the 9th

and 17th verses which are as follows:--

"Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to

bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the

name of the Lord thy God.

"For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, etc."

The Messenger and Advocate (edited by W. A. Cowdery), of July, 1837,

contained a long article on the bank and its troubles, pointing out,

first, that the bank was opened without a charter, being "considered a

kind of joint stock association," and that "the private property of

the stockholders was holden in proportion to the amount of their

subscriptions for the redemption of the paper," and also that its notes

were absolutely void under the state law. The editor goes on to say:--

"Previously to the commencement of discounting by the bank, large debts

had been contracted for merchandise in New York and other cities, and

large contracts entered into for real estate in this and adjoining

towns; some of them had fallen due and must be met, or incur forfeitures

of large sums. These causes, we are bound to believe, operated to

induce the officers of the bank to let out larger sums than their better

judgments dictated, which almost invariably fell into or passed through

the hands of those who sought our ruin.... Hundreds who were enemies

either came or sent their agents and demanded specie, till the officers

thought best to refuse payment."

This subtle explanation of the suspension of specie payments is followed

with a discussion of monopolies, etc., leading up to a statement of the

obligations of the Mormons in regard to the discredited bank-notes, most

of which were in circulation elsewhere. To the question; "Shall we unite

as one man, say it is good, and make it good by taking it on a par with

gold?" he replies, "No," explaining that, owing to the fewness of the

church members as compared with the world at large, "it must be confined

in its circulation and par value to the limits of our own society."

To the question, "Shall we then take it at its marked price for our

property," he again replies, "No," explaining that their enemies had

received the paper at a discount, and that, to receive it at par from

them, would "give them voluntarily and with one eye open just that

advantage over us to oppress, degrade and depress us." This combined

financial and spiritual adviser closes his article by urging the

brethren to set apart a portion of their time to the service of God, and

a portion to "the study of the science of our government and the news of

the day."

A card which appeared in the Messenger and Advocate of August, 1837,

signed by Smith, warned "the brethren and friends of the church to

beware of speculators, renegades, and gamblers who are duping the unwary

and unsuspecting by palming upon them those bills, which are of no worth

here."

The actual test of the bank's soundness had come when a request was made

for the redemption of the notes. The notes seem to have been accepted

freely in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where it was taken for granted that a

cashier and president who professed to be prophets of the Lord would not

give countenance to bank paper of doubtful value.* When stories about

the concern reached the Pittsburg banks, they sent an agent to Kirtland

with a package of the notes for redemption. Rigdon loudly asserted the

stability of the institution; but when a request for coin was repeated,

it was promptly refused by him on the ground that the bills were a

circulating medium "for the accommodation of the public," and that to

call any of them in would defeat their object.**

* "Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 71.

** "Early Days of Mormonism," p. 163.

Other creditors of the Mormons were now becoming active in their

demands. For failing to meet a note given to the bank at Painesville,

Smith, Rigdon, and N. K. Whitney were put under $8000 bonds. Smith,

Rigdon, and Cowdery were called into court as indorsers of paper for one

of the Mormon firms, and judgment was given against them. To satisfy a

firm of New York merchants the heads of the church gave a note for

$4500 secured by a mortgage on their interest in the new Temple and

its contents.* The Egyptian mummies were especially excepted from this

mortgage. Mother Smith describes how these relics were saved by "various

stratagems" under an execution of $50 issued against the prophet.

* Ibid., pp. 159-160.

The scheme of calling the bank corporation an "anti-banking" society did

not save the officers from prosecution under the state law. Informers

against violators of the banking law received in Ohio a share of the

fine imposed, and this led to the filing of an information against

Rigdon and Smith in March, 1837, by one S. D. Rounds, in the Caeuga

County Court, charging them with violating the law, and demanding a

penalty of $1000 They were at once arrested and held in bail, and were

convicted the following October. They appealed on the ground that the

institution was an association and not a bank; but this plea was never

ruled upon by the court, as the bank suspended payments and closed its

doors in November, 1837, and, before the appeal could be argued, Smith

and Rigdon had fled from the state to Missouri.

CHAPTER VI. -- LAST DAYS AT KIRTLAND

It is easy to understand that a church whose leaders had such views of

financial responsibility as Smith's and Rigdon's, and whose members were

ready to apostatize when they could not obtain credit at the prophet's

store, was anything but a harmonious body. Smith was not a man to

maintain his own dignity or to spare the feelings of his associates.

Wilford Woodruff, describing his first sight of the prophet, at

Kirtland, in 1834, said he found him with his brother Hyrum, wearing a

very old hat and engaged in the sport of shooting at a mark. Woodruff

accompanied him to his house, where Smith at once brought out a

wolfskin, and said, "Brother Woodruff, I want you to help me tan this,"

and the two took off their coats and went to work at the skin.* Smith's

contempt for Rigdon was never concealed. Writing of the situation at

Kirtland in 1833, he spoke of Rigdon as possessing "a selfishness and

independence of mind which too often manifestly destroys the confidence

of those who would lay down their lives for him."** Smith was in the

habit of announcing, from his lofty pulpit in the Temple, "The truth is

good enough without dressing up, but brother Rigdon will now proceed to

dress it up."*** Some of the new converts backed out as soon as they got

a close view of the church. Elder G. A. Smith, a cousin of Joseph, in

a sermon in Salt Lake City, in 1855, mentioned some incidents of this

kind. One family, who had journeyed a long distance to join the church

in Kirtland, changed their minds because Joseph's wife invited them to

have a cup of tea "after the word of wisdom was given." Another family

withdrew after seeing Joseph begin playing with his children as soon

as he rested from the work of translating the Scriptures for the day.

A Canadian ex-Methodist prayed so long at family worship at Father

Johnson's that Joseph told him flatly "not to bray so much like a

jackass." The prayer thereupon returned to Canada.

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 101.

** Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 584-585.

*** Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1880.

But the discontented were not confined to new-comers. Jealousy and

dissatisfaction were constantly manifesting themselves among Smith's old

standbys. Written charges made against Cowdery and David Whitmer, when

they were driven out of Far West, Missouri, told them: "You commenced

your wickedness by heading a party to disturb the worship of the Saints

in the first day of the week, and made the house of the Lord in Kirtland

to be a scene of abuse and slander, to destroy the reputation of those

whom the church had appointed to be their teachers, and for no other

cause only that you were not the persons." In more exact terms, their

offence was opposition to the course pursued by Smith. During the winter

and spring of 1837, these rebels included in their list F. G. Williams,

of the First Presidency, Martin Harris, D. Whitmer, Lyman E. Johnson, P.

P. Pratt, and W. E. McLellin. In May, 1837, a High Council was held in

Kirtland to try these men. Pratt at once objected to being tried by

a body of which Smith and Rigdon were members, as they had expressed

opinions against him. Rigdon confessed that he could not conscientiously

try the case, Cowdery did likewise, Williams very properly withdrew, and

"the Council dispersed in confusion."* It was never reassembled, but the

offenders were not forgotten, and their punishment came later.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 10.

Mother Smith attributes much of the discord among the members at this

time to "a certain young woman," an inmate of David Whitmer's house,

who began prophesying with the assistance of a black stone. This seer

predicted Smith's fall from office because of his transgressions, and

that David Whitmer or Martin Harris would succeed him. Her proselytes

became so numerous that a written list of them showed that "a great

proportion of the church were decidedly in favor with the new party."*

* "Biographical Sketches," p. 221.

While Smith was thus fighting leading members of his own church, he

was called upon to defend himself against a serious charge in court. A

farmer near Kirtland, named Grandison Newell, received information from

a seceding Mormon that Smith had directed the latter and another Mormon

named Davis to kill Newell because he was a particularly open opponent

of the new sect. The affidavit of this man set forth that he and Davis

had twice gone to Newell's house to carry out Smith's order, and were

only prevented by the absence of the intended victim. Smith was placed

under $500 bonds on this charge, but on the formal hearing he was

discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence.*

* Fanny Brewer of Boston, in an affidavit published in 1842,

declared, "I am personally acquainted with one of the employees, Davis

by name, and he frankly acknowledged to me that he was prepared to do

the deed under the direction of the prophet, and was only prevented by

the entreaties of his wife."

A rebellious spirit had manifested itself among the brethren in Missouri

soon after Smith returned from his first visit to that state. W. W.

Phelps questioned the prophet's "monarchical power and authority," and

an unpleasant correspondence sprung up between them. As Smith did not

succeed by his own pen in silencing his accusers, a conference of twelve

high priests was called by him in Kirtland in January, 1833, which

appointed Orson Hyde and Smith's brother Hyrum to write to the Missouri

brethren. In this letter they were told plainly that, unless the

rebellious spirit ceased, the Lord would seek another Zion. To Phelps

the message was sent, "If you have fat beef and potatoes, eat them in

singleness of heart, and not boast yourself in these things." It was,

however, as a concession to this spirit of complaint, according to

Ferris, that Smith announced the "revelation" which placed the church in

the hands of a supreme governing body of three.

Smith himself furnishes a very complete picture of the disrupted

condition of the Mormons in 1838, in an editorial in the Elders'

journal, dated August, of that year. The tone of the article, too, sheds

further light on Smith's character. Referring to the course of "a set

of creatures" whom the church had excluded from fellowship, he says they

"had recourse to the foulest lying to hide their iniquity;... and this

gang of horse thieves and drunkards were called upon immediately to

write their lives on paper." Smith then goes on to pay his respects to

various officers of the church, all of whom, it should be remembered,

held their positions through "revelation" and were therefore professedly

chosen directly by God.

Of a statement by Warren Parish, one of the Seventy and an officer of

the bank, Smith says: "Granny Parish made such an awful fuss about

what was conceived in him that, night after night and day after day,

he poured forth his agony before all living, as they saw proper to

assemble. For a rational being to have looked at him and heard him groan

and grunt, and saw him sweat and struggle, would have supposed that his

womb was as much swollen as was Rebecca's when the angel told her

there were two nations there." He also accuses Parish of immorality and

stealing money.

Here is a part of Smith's picture of Dr. W. A. Cowdery, a presiding high

priest: "This poor pitiful beggar came to Kirtland a few years since

with a large family, nearly naked and destitute. It was really painful

to see this pious Doctor's (for such he professed to be) rags flying

when he walked upon the streets. He was taken in by us in this pitiful

condition, and we put him into the printing-office and gave him enormous

wages, not because he could earn it, but merely out of pity.... A truly

niggardly spirit manifested itself in all his meanness."

Smith's old friend Martin Harris, now a high priest, and Cyrus Smalling,

one of the Seventy, are lumped among Parish's "lackeys,", of whom Smith

says: "They are so far beneath contempt that a notice of them would be

too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make." Of Leonard Rich, one

of the seven presidents of the seventy elders, Smith says that he "was

generally so drunk that he had to support himself by something to keep

from falling down." J. F. Boynton and Luke Johnson, two of the Twelve,

are called "a pair of young blacklegs," and Stephen Burnett, an elder,

is styled "a little ignorant blockhead, whose heart was so set on money

that he would at any time sell his soul for $50, and then think he had

made an excellent bargain."

Smith's own personal character was freely attacked, and the subject

became so public that it received notice in the Elders' Journal. One

charge was improper conduct toward an orphan girl whom Mrs. Smith had

taken into her family. Smith's autobiography contains an account of

a council held in New Portage, Ohio, in 1834, at which Rigdon accused

Martin Harris of telling A. C. Russel that "Joseph drank too much liquor

when he was translating the Book of Mormon," and Harris set up as a

defence that "this thing occurred previous to the translating of the

Book."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 12.

There was a good deal of talk concerning a confession "about a girl,"

which Oliver Cowdery was reported to have said that Smith made to him.

Denials of this for Cowdery appeared in the Elders' Journal of July,

1838, one man's statement ending thus, "Joseph asked if he ever said to

him (Oliver) that he (Joseph) confessed to any one that he was guilty of

the above crime; and Oliver, after some hesitation, answered no."

The Elders' Journal of August, 1838, contains a retraction by Parley P.

Pratt of a letter he had written, in which he censured both Smith

and Rigdon, "using great severity and harshness in regard to certain

business transactions." In that letter Pratt confessed that "the whole

scheme of speculation" in which the Mormon leaders were engaged was of

the "devil," and he begged Smith to make restitution for having sold

him, for $2000, three lots of land that did not cost Smith over $200.

Not only was the moral character of Smith and other individual members

of the church successfully attacked at this time, but the charge was

openly made that polygamy was practised and sanctioned. In the "Book of

Doctrine and Covenants," published in Kirtland in 1835, Section 101 was

devoted to the marriage rite. It contained this declaration: "Inasmuch

as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of

fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should

have one wife, and one woman one husband, except in case of death, when

either is at liberty to marry again." The value of such a denial is seen

in the ease with which this section was blotted out by Smith's later

"revelation" establishing polygamy.

An admission that even elders did practise polygamy at that time is

found in a minute of a meeting of the Presidents of the Seventies, held

on April 29, 1837, which made this declaration: "First, that we will

have no fellowship whatever with any elder belonging to the Quorum of

the Seventies, who is guilty of polygamy."*

* Messenger and Advocate, p. 511.

Again: The Elders' journal dated Far West, Missouri, 1838, contained

a list of answers by Smith to certain questions which, in an earlier

number, he had said were daily and hourly asked by all classes of

people. Among these was the following: "Q. Do the Mormons believe in

having more wives than one? A. No, not at the same time." (He condemns

the plan of marrying within a few weeks or months of the death of the

first wife.) The statement has been made that polygamy first suggested

itself to Smith in Ohio, while he was translating the so-called "Book of

Abraham" from the papyri found on the Egyptian mummies. This so-called

translation required some study of the Old Testament, and it is not at

all improbable that Smith's natural inclination toward such a doctrine

as polygamy secured a foundation in his reading of the Old Testament

license to have a plurality of wives.

For the business troubles hanging over the community, Smith and Rigdon

were held especially accountable. The flock had seen the funds confided

by them to the Bishop invested partly in land that was divided among

some of the Mormon leaders. Smith and Rigdon were provided with a house

near the Temple, and a printing-office was established there, which was

under Smith's management. Naturally, when the stock and notes of the

bank became valueless, its local victims held its organizers responsible

for the disaster. Mother Smith gives us an illustration of the depth

of this feeling. One Sunday evening, while her husband was preaching at

Kirtland, when Joseph was in Cleveland "on business pertaining to the

bank," the elder Smith reflected sharply upon Warren Parish, on whom the

Smiths tried to place the responsibility for the bank failure. Parish,

who was present, leaped forward and tried to drag the old man out of

the pulpit. Smith, Sr., appealed to Oliver Cowdery for help, but Oliver

retained his seat. Then the prophet's brother William sprang to his

father's assistance, and carried Parish bodily out of the church.

Thereupon John Boynton, who was provided with a sword cane, drew his

weapon and threatened to run it through the younger Smith. "At this

juncture," says Mrs. Smith, "I left the house, not only terrified at the

scene, but likewise sick at heart to see the apostasy of which Joseph

had prophesied was so near at hand."*

* "Biographical Sketches," p. 221.

Eliza Snow gives a slightly different version of the same outbreak,

describing its wind-up as follows:--

"John Boynton and others drew their pistols and bowie knives and rushed

down from the stand into a congregation, Boynton saying he would blow

out the brains of the first man who dared lay hands on him.... Amid

screams and shrieks, the policemen in ejecting the belligerents knocked

down a stove pipe, 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."*

* "Biography of Lorenzo Snow," p. 20.

Smith made a stubborn defence of his business conduct. He attributed the

disaster to the bank to Parish's peculation, and the general troubles

of the church to "the spirit of speculation in lands and property of all

kinds," as he puts it in his autobiography, wherein he alleges that "the

evils were actually brought about by the brethren not giving heed to

my counsel." If Smith gave any such counsel, it is unfortunate for his

reputation that neither the church records nor his "revelations" contain

any mention of it.

The final struggle came in December, 1837, when Smith and Rigdon made

their last public appearance in the Kirtland Temple. Smith was as

bold and aggressive as ever, but Rigdon, weak from illness, had to be

supported to his seat. An eye-witness of the day's proceedings says*

that "the pathos of Rigdon's plea, and the power of his denunciation,

swayed the feelings and shook the judgments of his hearers as never

in the old days of peace, and, when he had finished and was led out, a

perfect silence reigned in the Temple until its door had closed upon him

forever. Smith made a resolute and determined battle; false reports had

been circulated, and those by whom the offence had come must repent and

acknowledge their sin or be cut off from fellowship in this world, and

from honor and power in that to come." He not only maintained his right

to speak as the head of the church, but, after the accused had partly

presented their case, and one of them had given him the lie openly, he

proposed a vote on their excommunication at once and a hearing of their

further pleas at a later date. This extraordinary proposal led one of

the accused to cry out, "You would cut a man's head off and hear him

afterward." Finally it was voted to postpone the whole subject for a few

days.

* "Early Days of Mormonism," Kennedy, p. 169.

But the two leaders of the church did not attend this adjourned session.

Alarmed by rumors that Grandison Newell had secured a warrant for their

arrest on a charge of fraud in connection with the affairs of the bank

(unfounded rumors, as it later appeared), they fled from Kirtland on

horseback on the evening of January 12, 1838, and Smith never revisited

that town. In his description of their flight, Smith explained that they

merely followed the direction of Jesus, who said, "When they persecute

you in one city, flee ye to another." He describes the weather as

extremely cold, and says, "We were obliged to secrete ourselves

sometimes to elude the grasp of our pursuers, who continued their race

more than two hundred miles from Kirtland, armed with pistols, etc.,

seeking our lives." There is no other authority for this story of an

armed pursuit, and the fact seems to be that the non-Mormon community

were perfectly satisfied with the removal of the mock prophet from their

neighborhood.

Although Kirtland continued to remain a Stake of the church, the

real estate scheme of making it a big city vanished with the prophet.

Foreclosures of mortgages now began; the church printing-office was

first sold out by the sheriff and then destroyed by fire, and the

so-called reform element took possession of the Temple. Rigdon had

placed his property out of his own hands, one acre of land in Kirtland

being deeded by him and his wife to their daughter.

The Temple with about two acres of land adjoining was deeded by the

prophet to William Marks in 1837, and in 1841 was redeeded to Smith as

trustee in trust for the church. In 1862 it was sold under an order of

the probate court by Joseph Smith's administrator, and conveyed the same

day to one Russel Huntley, who, in 1873, conveyed it to the prophet's

grandson, Joseph Smith, and another representative of the Reorganized

Church (nonpolygamist). The title of the latter organization was

sustained in 1880 by judge L. S. Sherman, of the Lake County Court of

Common Pleas, who held that, "The church in Utah has materially and

largely departed from the faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances and usages

of said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and

has incorporated into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial

marriage and a plurality of wives, and the doctrine of Adam-God worship,

contrary to the laws and constitution of said original church," and that

the Reorganized Church was the true and lawful successor to the original

organization. At the general conference of the Reorganized Church,

held at Lamoni, Iowa, in April, 1901, the Kirtland district reported a

membership of 423 members.

BOOK III. -- IN MISSOURI

CHAPTER I. -- THE DIRECTIONS TO THE SAINTS ABOUT THEIR ZION

The state of Missouri, to which the story of the Mormons is now

transferred, was, at the time of its admission to the Union, in 1821,

called "a promontory of civilization into an ocean of savagery." Wild

Indian tribes occupied the practically unexplored region beyond its

western boundary, and its own western counties were thinly settled.

Jackson County, which in 1900 had 195,193 inhabitants, had a population

of 2823 by the census of 1830, and neighboring counties not so many.

It was not until 1830 that the first cabin of a white man was built

in Daviess County. All this territory had been released from Indian

ownership by treaty only a few years when the first Mormons arrived

there.

The white settler's house was a log hut, generally with a dirt floor,

a mudplastered chimney, and a window without glass, a board or quilt

serving to close it in time of storm or severe cold. A fireplace, with

a skillet and kettle, supplied the place of a well-equipped stove. Corn

was the principal grain food, and wild game supplied most of the meat.

The wild animals furnished clothing as well as food; for the pioneers

could not afford to pay from 15 to 25 cents a yard for calico, and from

25 to 75 cents for gingham.* Some persons indulged in homespun cloth for

Sunday and festal occasions, but the common outside garments were made

of dressed deerskins. Parley P. Pratt, in his autobiography, speaks of

passing through a settlement where "some families were entirely dressed

in skins, without any other clothing, including ladies young and old."

* "When the merchants sold a calico or gingham dress pattern they

threw in their profit by giving a spool of thread (two hundred yards),

hooks and eyes and lining. In the thread business, however, it was only

a few years after that thirty and fifty yard spools took the place of

the two hundred yards."--"History of Daviess County", p. 161.

The pioneer agriculturist of those days not only lacked the

transportation facilities and improved agricultural appliances which

have assisted the developers of the Northwest, but they did not even

understand the nature and capability of the soil. The newcomers in

western Missouri looked on the rich prairie land as worthless, and they

almost invariably directed their course to the timber, where the soil

was more easily broken up, and material for buildings was available.

The first attempts to plough the prairie sod were very primitive. David

Dailey made the first trial in Jackson County with what was called

a "barshear plough" (drawn by from four to eight yokes of oxen), the

"shear" of which was fastened to the beam. This cut the sod in one

direction pretty well, but when he began to cross-furrow, the sod piled

up in front of the plough and stopped his progress. Determined to see

what the soil would grow, he cut holes in the sod with an axe, and in

these dropped his seed. The first sod was broken in Daviess County in

1834, with a plough made to order, "to see what the prairies amounted

to in the way of raising a crop." Such was the country toward which the

first Mormon missionaries turned their faces.

We have seen that the first intimation in the Mormon records of a

movement to the West was found in Smith's order to Oliver Cowdery in

1830 to go and establish the church among the Lamanites (Indians), and

that Rigdon expected that the church would remain in Ohio, when he wrote

to his flock from Palmyra. The four original missionaries--Cowdery, P.

P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Peterson--did not stop long in Kirtland,

but, taking with them Frederick G. Williams, they pushed on westward to

Sandusky, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, preaching to some Indians on the

way, until they reached Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, early in

1831. That county forms a part of the western border of the state,

and from 1832, until the railroad took the place of wagon trains,

Independence was the eastern terminus of the famous Santa Fe trail, and

the point of departure for many companies destined both for Oregon and

California. Pratt, describing their journey west of St. Louis, says: "We

travelled on foot some three hundred miles, through vast prairies and

through trackless wilds of snow; no beaten road, houses few and far

between. We travelled for whole days, from morning till night, without a

house or fire. We carried on our backs our changes of clothing, several

books, and corn bread and raw pork."*

* "Autobiography of P. P. Pratt," p. 54.

The sole idea of these pioneers seemed to be to preach to the Indians.

Arriving at Independence, Whitmer and Peterson went to work to support

themselves as tailors, while Cowdery and Pratt crossed the border into

the Indian country. The latter, however, were at once pronounced by

the federal officers there to be violators of the law which forbade

the settlement of white men among the Indians, and they returned to

Independence, and preached thereabout during the winter. Early in

February the four decided that Pratt should return to Kirtland and make

a report, and he did so, travelling partly on foot, partly on horseback,

and partly by steamer.

As early as March, 1830, Smith had conceived the idea (or some one else

for him) of a gathering of the elect "unto one place" to prepare for the

day of desolation (Sec. 29). In October, 1830, the four pioneers were

commanded to start "into the wilderness among the Lamanites," and on

January 2, 1831, while Rigdon was visiting Smith in New York State,

another "revelation" (Sec. 38) described the land of promise as "a land

flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the

Lord cometh." This land they and their children were to possess, both

"while the earth shall stand, and again in eternity." A "revelation"

(Sec. 45), dated March 7, 1831, at Kirtland, called on the faithful to

assemble and visit the Western countries, where they were promised an

inheritance, to be called "the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of

refuge, a place of safety for the saints of most High God." These things

they were to "keep from going abroad into the world" for the present.

The manner in which the elect were told by "revelation" that they

should possess their land of promise has a most important bearing on the

justification of the opposition which the Missourians soon manifested

toward their new neighbors. In one of these "revelations," dated

Kirtland, February, 1831 (Sec. 42), Christ is represented as saying, "I

will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people which are of

the house of Israel." Another, in the following June (Sec. 52), which

directed Smith's and Rigdon's trip, promised the elect, "If ye are

faithful ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land

in Missouri, which is the land of your inheritance, WHICH IS NOW THE

LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES." Another, given while Smith was in Missouri, in

August, 1831 (Sec. 59), promised to those "who have come up into this

land with an eye single to My glory," that "they shall inherit the

earth," and "shall receive for their reward the good things of the

earth." On the same date the Saints were told that they should "open

their hearts even to purchase the whole region of country as soon as

time will permit,... lest they receive none inheritance save it be by the

shedding of blood." It seems to have been thought wise to add to

this last statement, after the return of the party to Ohio, and a

"revelation" dated August, 1831 (Sec. 63), was given out, stating that

the land of Zion could be obtained only "by purchase or by blood," and

"as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and

ye shall be scourged from city to city."

* Tullidge, in his "History of Salt Lake City" (1886), defining

the early Mormon view of their land rights, after quoting Brigham

Young's declaration to the first arrivals in Salt Lake Valley, that he

(or the church) had "no land to sell," but "every man should have his

land measured out to him for city and family purposes," says: "Young

could with absolute propriety give the above utterances on the land

question. In the early days of the church they applied to land not only

owned by the United States, but within the boundaries of states of the

Union." After quoting from the above-cited "revelation" the words "save

they be by the shedding of blood," he explains, "The latter clause of

the quotation signifies that the Mormon prophet foresaw that, unless his

disciples purchased 'this whole region of country' of the unpopulated

Far West of that period, the land question held between them and

anti-Mormons would lead to the shedding of blood, and that they would be

in jeopardy of losing their inheritance; and this was realized."

As to their obligation to pay for any of the "good things" purchased of

their enemies, a "revelation" dated September 11, 1831 (the month after

the return from Missouri), gave this advice:--

"Behold it is said in my laws, or forbidden, to get in debt to thine

enemies;

"But behold it is not said at any time, that the Lord should not take

when he pleased, and pay as seemeth him good.

"Wherefore as ye are agents, and ye are on the Lord's errand; and

whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord, it is the Lord's

business, and it is the Lord's business to provide for his Saints in

these last days, that they may obtain an inheritance in the land of

Zion."--"Book of Commandments," Chap. 65.

In the modern version of this "revelation" to be found in Sec. 64 of the

"Doctrine and Covenants," the latter part of this declaration is changed

to read, "And he hath set you to provide for his saints in these last

days," etc.

So eager were the Saints to occupy their land of Zion, when the movement

started, that the word of "revelation" was employed to give warning

against a hasty rush to the new possessions, and to establish a certain

supervision of the emigration by the Bishop and other agents of the

church. Notwithstanding this, the rush soon became embarrassing to

the church authorities in Missouri, and a modified view of the Lord's

promise was thus stated in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1832,

"Although the Lord has said that it is his business to provide for the

Saints in these last days, he is not BOUND to do so unless we observe

his sayings and keep them." Saints in the East were warned against

giving away their property before moving, and urged not to come to

Missouri without some means, and to bring with them cattle and improved

breeds of sheep and hogs, with necessary seeds.

CHAPTER II. -- SMITH'S FIRST VISITS TO MISSOURI--FOUNDING THE CITY AND THE TEMPLE

On June 7, 1831, a "revelation" was given out (Sec. 52) announcing that

the next conference would be held in the promised land in Missouri, and

directing Smith and Rigdon to go thither, and naming some thirty elders,

including John Corrill, David Whitmer, P. P. and Orson Pratt, Martin

Harris, and Edward Partridge, who should also make the trip, two by two,

preaching by the way. Booth says: "Only about two weeks were allowed

them to make preparations for the journey, and most of them left what

business they had to be closed by others. Some left large families, with

the crops upon the ground."*

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled."

Smith's party left Kirtland on June 19, and arrived at Independence

in the following month, journeying on foot after reaching St. Louis, a

distance of about three hundred miles. Smith was delighted with the

new country, with "its beautiful rolling prairies, spread out like real

meadows; the varied timber of the bottoms; the plums and grapes and

persimmons and the flowers; the rich soil, the horses, cattle, and hogs,

and the wild game.... The season is mild and delightful nearly three

quarters of the year, and as the land of Zion is situated at about equal

distances from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as from the

Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, it bids fair to become one of the most

blessed places on the earth."* The town of Independence then consisted

of a brick courthouse, two or three stores, and fifteen or twenty

houses, mostly of logs.

* Smith's "Autobiography," Millennial Star, Vol. XIV.

The usual "revelation" came first (Sec. 57), announcing that "this

is the land of promise and the place for the City of Zion," with

Independence as its centre, and the site of the Temple a lot near the

courthouse. It was also declared that the land should be purchased by

the Saints, "and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line

running directly between Jew and Gentile" (whatever that might mean),

"and also every tract bordering by the prairies." Sidney Gilbert was

ordered to "plant himself" there, and establish a store, "that he might

sell goods without fraud," to obtain money for the purchase of land.

Edward Partridge was "to divide the Saints their inheritance," and W. W.

Phelps* and Cowdery were to be printers to the church.

* Phelps came from Canandaigua, New York, where, Howe says, he

was an avowed infidel. He had been prominent in politics and had edited

a party newspaper. Disappointed in his political ambition, he threw in

his lot with the new church.

Marvellous stories were at once circulated of the grandeur that was to

characterize the new city, of the wealth that would be gathered there by

the faithful who would survive the speedy destruction of the wicked, and

of the coming of the lost tribes of Israel, who had been located near

the north pole, where they had become very rich. While not tracing these

declarations to Smith himself, Booth, who was one of the party, says

that they were told by persons in daily intercourse with him. It is

doing the prophet no injustice to say that they bear his imprint.

The laying of the foundation of the City of Zion was next in order.

Rigdon delivered an address in consecrating the ground, in which he

enjoined them to obey all of Smith's commands. A small scrub oak

tree was then cut down and trimmed, and twelve men, representing the

Apostles, conveyed it to a designated place. Cowdery sought out the

best stone he could find for a corner-stone, removed a little earth, and

placed the stone in the excavation, delivering an address. One end of

the oak tree was laid on this stone, "and there," says Booth, "was laid

down the first stone and stick which are to form an essential part of

the splendid City of Zion."

The next day the site of the Temple was consecrated, Smith laying the

cornerstone. When the ceremonies were over, the spot was merely marked

by a sapling, from two sides of which the bark was stripped, one side

being marked with a "T" for Temple, and the other with "ZOM," which

Smith stated stood for "Zomas," the original of Zion. At the foot of

this sapling lay the corner-stone--"a small stone, covered over with

bushes."

Such ceremonies might have been viewed with indulgence if conducted in

some suburb of Kirtland. But when men had travelled hundreds of miles at

Smith's command, suffering personal privations as well as submitting to

pecuniary sacrifices, it was a severe test of their faith to have two

small trees and t wo round stones in the wilderness offered to them

as the only tangible indications of a land of plenty. Rigdon expressed

dissatisfaction with the outcome, as we have seen; Booth left the church

as soon as he got back to Ohio; members of the party called Cowdery

and Smith imperious, and the prophet and Rigdon incurred the charge of

"excessive cowardice" on the way.

Smith made a second trip to Independence, leaving Ohio on April 2,

1832, and arriving there on his return the following June. His stay

in Missouri this time was marked by nothing more important than his

acknowledgment as President of the high priesthood by a council of the

church there, and a "revelation" which declared that Zion's "borders

must be enlarged, her Stakes must be strengthened."

CHAPTER III. -- THE EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY--THE ARMY OF ZION

The efforts of the church leaders to check too precipitate an emigration

to the new Zion were not entirely successful, and, according to the

Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, the Mormons with their families

then numbered more than twelve hundred, or about one-third of the total

population of the county. The elders had been pushing their proselyting

work throughout the States and in Canada, and the idea of a land of

plenty appealed powerfully to the new believers, and especially to those

of little means. The branch of the church established at Colesville,

New York, numbering about sixty members, emigrated in a body and settled

twelve miles from Independence. Other settlements were made in the rural

districts, and the non-Mormons began to be seriously exercised over the

situation. The Saints boasted openly of their future possession of the

land, without making clear their idea of the means by which they would

obtain title to it. An open defiance in the name of the church appeared

in an article in the Evening and Morning Star for July, 1833, which

contained this declaration:--

"No matter what our ideas or notions may be on the subject; no matter

what foolish report the wicked may circulate to gratify an evil

disposition; the Lord will continue to gather the righteous and destroy

the wicked, till the sound goes forth, IT IS FINISHED."

With even greater fatuity came the determination to publish the

prophet's "revelations" in the form of the "Book of Commandments." Of

the effect of this publication David Whitmer says, "The main reason why

the printing press [at Independence] was destroyed, was because they

published the 'Book of Commandments.' It fell into the hands of the

world, and the people of Jackson County saw from the revelations that

they were considered intruders upon the Land of Zion, as enemies of the

church, and that they should be cut off out of the Land of Zion and sent

away."*

* "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 54.

Corrill says of the causes of friction between the Mormons and their

neighbors:--*

* Corrill's" Brief History of the Church," p. 19.

"The church got crazy to go up to Zion, as it was then called. The

rich were afraid to send up their money to purchase lands, and the poor

crowded up in numbers, without having any places provided, contrary to

the advice of the Bishop and others, until the old citizens began to

be highly displeased. They saw their country filling up with emigrants,

principally poor. They disliked their religion, and saw also that, if

let alone, they would in a short time become a majority, and of course

rule the county. The church kept increasing, and the old citizens became

more and more dissatisfied, and from time to time offered to sell their

farms and possessions, but the Mormons, though desirous, were too poor

to purchase them."*

* After the survey of Jackson County, Congress granted to the

state of Missouri a large tract of land, the sale of which should be

made for educational purposes, and the Mormons took title to several

thousand acres of this, west of Independence.

The active manifestation of hostility toward the new-comers by the

residents of Jackson County first took shape in the spring of 1832, in

the stoning of Mormon houses at night and the breaking of windows. Soon

afterward a county meeting was called to take measures to secure the

removal of the Mormons from that county, but nothing definite was done.

The burning of haystacks, shooting into houses, etc., continued until

July, 1833, when the Mormon opponents circulated a statement of their

complaints, closing with a call for a meeting in the courthouse at

Independence, on Saturday, July 20. The text of this manifesto, which

is important as showing the spirit as well as the precise grounds of the

opposition, is as follows:--

"We, the undersigned, citizens of Jackson County, believing that

an important crisis is at hand, as regards our civil society, in

consequence of a pretended religious sect of people that have settled,

and are still settling, in our county, styling themselves Mormons, and

intending, as we do, to rid our society, peaceably if we can, forcibly

if we must; and believing as we do, that the arm of the civil law does

not afford us a guarantee, or at least, a sufficient one, against the

evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing, by the

said religious sect, we deem it expedient and of the highest

importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier

accomplishment of our purpose--a purpose, which we deem it almost

superfluous to say, is justified as well by the law of nature, as by the

law of self preservation.

"It is more than two years since the first of these fanatics, or knaves,

(for one or the other they undoubtedly are,) made their first appearance

amongst us, and, pretending as they did, and now do, to hold personal

communication and converse face to face with the Most High God; to

receive communications and revelations direct from heaven; to heal

the sick by laying on hands; and, in short, to perform all the

wonder-working miracles wrought by the inspired Apostles and Prophets of

old.

"We believed them deluded fanatics, or weak and designing knaves, and

that they and their pretensions would soon pass away; but in this we

were deceived. The arts of a few designing leaders amongst them have

thus far succeeded in holding them together as a society; and, since

the arrival of the first of them, they have been daily increasing in

numbers; and if they had been respectable citizens in society, and

thus deluded, they would have been entitled to our pity rather than our

contempt and hatred; but from their appearance, from their manners, and

from their conduct since their coming among us, we have every reason to

fear that, with but few exceptions, they were of the very dregs of that

society from which they came, lazy, idle, and vicious. This we conceive

is not idle assertion, but a fact susceptible of proof, for with these

few exceptions above named, they brought into our county little or no

property with them, and left less behind them, and we infer that those

only yoked themselves to the Mormon car who had nothing earthly or

heavenly to lose by the change; and we fear that if some of the leaders

amongst them had paid the forfeit due to crime, instead of being chosen

ambassadors of the Most High, they would have been inmates of solitary

cells.

"But their conduct here stamps their characters in their true colors.

More than a year since, it was ascertained that they had been tampering

with our slaves, and endeavoring to rouse dissension and raise seditions

amongst them. Of this their Mormon leaders were informed, and they said

they would deal with any of their members who should again in like case

offend. But how specious are appearances. In a late number of the

Star, published in Independence by the leaders of the sect, there is an

article inviting free negroes and mulattoes from other states to become

Mormons, and remove and settle among us. This exhibits them in still

more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their society

to inflict on our society an injury, that they knew would be to us

entirely insupportable, and one of the surest means of driving us from

the county; for it would require none of the supernatural gifts that

they pretend to, to see that the introduction of such a caste amongst us

would corrupt our blacks, and instigate them to bloodshed.

"They openly blaspheme the Most High God, and cast contempt on His holy

religion, by pretending to receive revelations direct from heaven,

by pretending to speak unknown tongues by direct inspirations, and

by divers pretences derogatory of God and religion, and to the utter

subversion of human reason.

"They declare openly that their God hath given them this county of land,

and that sooner or later they must and will have the possession of our

lands for an inheritance; and, in fine, they have conducted themselves

on many other occasions in such a manner that we believe it a duty

we owe to ourselves, our wives, and children, to the cause of public

morals, to remove them from among us, as we are not prepared to give up

our pleasant places and goodly possessions to them, or to receive

into the bosom of our families, as fit companions for our wives and

daughters, the degraded and corrupted free negroes and mulattoes that

are now invited to settle among us.

"Under such a state of things, even our beautiful county would cease to

be a desirable residence, and our situation intolerable! We, therefore,

agree that, if after timely warning, and receiving an adequate

compensation for what little property they cannot take with them, they

refuse to leave us in peace, as they found us--we agree to use such

means as may be sufficient to remove them, and to that end we each

pledge to each other our bodily powers, our lives, fortunes, and sacred

honors.

"We will meet at the court-house, at the Town of Independence, on

Saturday next, the 20th inst., to consult ulterior movements."*

* Evening and Morning Star, p. 227; Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p.

516.

Some hundreds of names were signed to this call, and the meeting of July

20 was attended by nearly five hundred persons. There is no doubt that

it was a representative county gathering. P. P. Pratt says that the

anti-Mormon organization, which he calls "outlaws," was "composed of

lawyers, magistrates, county officers, civil and military, religious

ministers, and a great number of the ignorant and uninformed portion of

the population."* The language of the address adopted shows that skilled

pens were not wanting in its preparation.

* Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 103.

The first business of the meeting was the appointment of a committee to

prepare an address stating the grievances of the people with somewhat

greater fulness than the manifesto above quoted. Like the latter, it

conceded at the start that there was no law under which the object in

view could be obtained. It characterized the Mormons as but little above

the negroes as regards property or education; charged them with having

exerted a "corrupting influence" on the slaves;* asserted that even the

more intelligent boasted daily to the Gentiles that the Mormons would

appropriate their lands for an inheritance, and that their newspaper

organ taught them that the lands were to be taken by the sword. Noting

the rapid increase in the immigration of members of the new church, the

address, looking to a near day when they would be in a majority in the

county, asked: "What would be the state of our lives and property in the

hands of jurors and witnesses who do not blush to declare, and would not

upon occasion hesitate to swear, that they have wrought miracles,

and have been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural cures, have

conversed with God and his angels, and possess and exercise the gifts

of divination and of unknown tongues, and are fired with the prospect

of obtaining inheritances without money and without price, may be better

imagined than described." That this apprehension was not without grounds

will be seen when we come to the administration of justice in Nauvoo and

in Salt Lake City.

* The Mormons never hesitated to change their position on the

slavery question. An elder's address, published in the Evening and

Morning Star of July, 1833, said: "As to slaves, we have nothing to

say. In connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing

toward abolishing slavery and colonizing the blacks in Africa." Three

years later, in April, 1836 the Messenger and Advocate published a

strong proslavery article, denying the right of the people of the North

to interfere with the institution, and picturing the happy condition of

the slaves. Orson Hyde, in the Frontier Guardian in 1850 (quoted in the

Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 63), said: "When a man in the Southern

states embraces our faith and is the owner of slaves, the church says

to him, 'If your slaves wish to remain with you, and to go with you, put

them not away; but if they choose to leave you, and are not satisfied to

remain with you, it is for you to sell them or to let them go free, as

your own conscience may direct you. The church on this point assumes not

the responsibility to direct.'" Horace Greeley quoted Brigham Young

as saying to him in Salt Lake City, "We consider slavery of divine

institution and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham

shall have been removed from his descendants" ("Overland journey," p.

211).

The address closed with these demands:--

"That no Mormon shall in future move and settle in this county.

"That those now here, who shall give a definite pledge of their

intention within a reasonable time to remove out of the county, shall

be allowed to remain unmolested until they have sufficient time to sell

their property and close their business without any material sacrifice.

"That the editor of the Star (W. W. Phelps) be required forthwith

to close his office and discontinue the business of printing in this

county; and, as to all other stores and shops belonging to the sect,

their owners must in every case strictly comply with the terms of

the second article of this declaration; and, upon failure, prompt and

efficient measures will be taken to close the same.

"That the Mormon leaders here are required to use their influence in

preventing any further emigration of their distant brethren to this

county, and to counsel and advise their brethren here to comply with the

above regulations.

"That those who fail to comply with the requisitions be referred to

those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination and of unknown

tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them"*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 487-489.

A recess of two hours was taken in which to permit a committee of twelve

to call on Bishop Partridge, Phelps, and Gilbert, and present these

terms. This committee reported that these men "declined giving

any direct answer to the requisitions made of them, and wished an

unreasonable time for consultation, not only with their brethren here,

but in Ohio." The meeting thereupon voted unanimously that the Star

printing-office should be razed to the ground, and the type and press be

"secured."

A report of the action of this meeting and its result was prepared by

the chairman and two secretaries, and printed over their signatures in

the Western Monitor of Fayette, Missouri, on August 2, 1833, and it is

transferred to Smith's autobiography. It agrees with the Mormon

account set forth in their later petition to Governor Dunklin. It

particularized, however, that the Mormon leaders asked the committee

first for three months, and then for ten days, in which to consider the

demands, and were told that they could have only fifteen minutes.

What happened next is thus set forth in the chairman's report:--

"Which resolution (for the razing of the Star office) was with the

utmost order and the least noise and disturbance possible, forthwith

carried into execution, AS ALSO SOME OTHER STEPS OF A SIMILAR TENDENCY;

but no blood was spilled nor any blows inflicted."

Mobs do not generally act with the "utmost order," and this one was not

an exception to the rule, as an explanation of the "other steps" will

make clear. The first object of attack was the printing office, a

two-story brick building. This was demolished, causing a loss of $6000,

according to the Mormon claims. The mob next visited the store kept by

Gilbert, but refrained from attacking it on receiving a pledge that the

goods would be packed for removal by the following Tuesday. They then

called at the houses of some of the leading Mormons, and conducted

Bishop Partridge and a man named Allen to the public square. Partridge

told his captors that the saints had been subjected to persecution in

all ages; that he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake, but that he

would not consent to leave the country. Allen refused either to agree

to depart or to deny the inspiration of the Mormon Bible. Both men were

then relieved of their hats, coats, and vests, daubed with tar, and

decorated with feathers. This ended the proceedings of that day, and an

adjournment as announced until the following Tuesday.

On Tuesday, July 23 (the date of the laying of the corner-stone of the

Kirtland Temple), the Missourians gathered again in the town, carrying

a red flag and bearing arms. The Mormon statement to Governor Dunklin

says, "They proceeded to take some of the leading elders by force,

declaring it to be their intention to whip them from fifty to five

hundred lashes apiece, to demolish their dwelling houses, and let their

negroes loose to go through our plantations and lay open our fields for

the destruction of our crops."* The official report of the officers

of the meeting** says that, when the chairman had taken his seat, a

committee was appointed to wait on the Mormons at the request of the

latter.

* Greene, in his "Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons

from the State of Missouri" (1839), says that the mob seized a number of

Mormons and, at the muzzle of their guns, compelled them to confess that

the Mormon Bible was a fraud.

** Millennial Star Vol. XIV, p. 500.

As a result of a conference with this committee, a written agreement was

entered into, signed by the committee and the Mormons named in it, to

this effect: That Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, W. E. McLellin, Edward

Partridge, John Wright, Simeon Carter, Peter and John Whitmer, and

Harvey Whitlock, with their families, should move from the county by

January 1 next, and use their influence to induce their fellow-Mormons

in the county to do likewise--one half by January 1 and all by April

1--and to prevent further immigration of the brethren; John Corrill

and A. S. Gilbert to remain as agents to wind up the business of the

society, Gilbert to be allowed to sell out his goods on hand; no Mormon

paper to be published in the county; Partridge and Phelps to be allowed

to go and come after January 1, in winding up their business, if their

families were removed by that time; the committee pledging themselves

to use their influence to prevent further violence, and assuring Phelps

that "whenever he was ready to move, the amount of all his losses in the

printing house should be paid to him by the citizens." In view of this

arrangement there was no further trouble for more than two months.

The Mormon leaders had, however, no intention of carrying out their part

of this undertaking. Corrill, in a letter to Oliver Cowdery written in

December, 1833, said that the agreement was made, "supposing that before

the time arrived the mob would see their error and stop the violence,

or that some means might be employed so that we could stay in peace."*

Oliver Cowdery was sent at once to Kirtland to advise with the church

officers there. On his arrival, early in August, a council was convened,

and it was decided that legal measures should be taken to establish

the rights of the Saints in Missouri. Smith directed that they should

neither sell their lands nor move out of Jackson County, save those who

had signed the agreement.** It was also decided to send Orson Hyde and

John Gould to Missouri "with advice to the Saints in their unfortunate

situation through the late outrage of the mob."***

* Evening and Morning Star, January, 1834

** Elder Williams's Letter, Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 519.

*** Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 504.

To strengthen the courage of the flock in Missouri, Smith gave forth at

Kirtland, under date of August 2, 1833, a "revelation" (Sec. 97), "in

answer to our correspondence with the prophet," says P. P. Pratt,* in

which the Lord was represented as saying, "Surely, Zion is the city of

our God, and surely Zion cannot fail, NEITHER BE MOVED OUT OF HER PLACE;

for God is there, and the hand of God is there, and he has sworn by the

power of his might to be her salvation and her high tower." The same

"revelation" directed that the Temple should be built speedily by

means of tithing, and threatened Zion with pestilence, plague, sword,

vengeance, and devouring fire unless she obeyed the Lord's commands.

*Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 100,

The outcome of all the deliberations at Kirtland was the sending of

W. W. Phelps and Orson Hyde to Jefferson City with a long petition to

Governor Dunklin, setting forth the charges of the Missourians against

the Mormons, and the action of the two meetings at Independence, and

making a direct appeal to him for assistance, asking him to employ

troops in their defence, in order that they might sue for damages, "and,

if advisable, try for treason against the government."

The governor sent them a written reply under date of October 19, in

which, after expressing sympathy with them in their troubles, he said:

"I should think myself unworthy the confidence with which I have been

honored by my fellow citizens did I not promptly employ all the means

which the constitution and laws have placed at my disposal to avert the

calamities with which you are threatened.... No citizen, or number of

citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether

real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the

very existence of society." He advised the Mormons to invoke the laws

in their behalf; to secure a warrant from a justice of the peace, and so

test the question "whether the law can be peaceably executed or not"; if

not, it would be his duty to take steps to execute it.

The Mormons and their neighbors were thus brought face to face in a

manner which admitted of no compromise. The situation naturally seemed

rather a simple one to the governor, who was probably ignorant of the

intentions and ambition of the Mormons. If he had understood the nature

and weight of the objections to them, he would have understood also

that he could protect them in their possessions only by maintaining a

military force.

His letter gave the Mormons of Jackson County new courage. They had been

maintaining a waiting attitude since the meeting of July 23, but now

they resumed their occupations, and began to erect more houses, and to

improve their places as if for a permanent stay, and meanwhile there

was no cessation of the immigration of new members from the East. Their

leaders consulted four lawyers in Clay County, and arranged with them to

look after their legal interests.

This evident repudiation by the Mormons of their part of their agreement

with the committee incensed the Jackson County people, and hostilities

were resumed. On the night of October 31, a mob attacked a Mormon

settlement called Big Blue, some ten miles west of Independence, damaged

a number of houses, whipped some of the men, and frightened women

and children so badly that they fled to the outlying country for

hiding-places. On the night of November 1, Mormon houses were stoned

in Independence, and the church store was broken into and its goods

scattered in the street. The Mormons thereupon showed the governor's

letter to a justice of the peace, and asked him for a warrant, but their

accounts say that he refused one. When they took before the same officer

a man whom they caught in the act of destroying their property, the

justice not only refused to hold him, but granted a warrant in his

behalf against Gilbert, Corrill, and two other Mormons for false

imprisonment, and they were locked up.* Thrown on their own resources

for defence, the Mormons now armed themselves as well as they could, and

established a night picket service throughout their part of the county.

On Saturday night, November 2, a second attack was made by the mob on

Big Blue and, the Mormons resisting, the first "battle" of this campaign

took place. A sick woman received a pistolshot wound in the head, and

one of the Mormons a wound in the thigh. Parley P. Pratt and others were

then sent to Lexington to procure a warrant from Circuit Judge Ryland,

but, according to Pratt, he refused to grant one, and "advised us to

fight and kill the outlaws whenever they came upon us."**

* Corrill's letter, Evening and Morning Star, January, 1834.

** Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 105.

On Monday evening, November 4, a body of Missourians who had been

visiting some of the Mormon settlements came in contact with a company

of Mormons who had assembled for defence, and an exchange of shots

ensued, by which a number on both sides were wounded, one of the Mormons

dying the next day.

These conflicts increased the excitement, and the Mormons, knowing how

they were outnumbered, now realized that they could not stay in Jackson

County any longer, and they arranged to move. At first they decided to

make their new settlement only fifty miles south of Independence, in Van

Buren County, but to this the Jackson County people would not consent.

They therefore agreed to move north into Clay County, between which and

Jackson County the Missouri River, which there runs east, formed

the boundary. Most of them went to Clay County, but others scattered

throughout the other nearby counties, whose inhabitants soon let them

know that their presence was not agreeable.

The hasty removal of these people so late in the season was accompanied

by great personal hardships and considerable pecuniary loss. The Mormons

have stated the number of persons driven out at fifteen hundred, and the

number of houses burned; before and after their departure, at from two

hundred to three hundred. Cattle and household effects that could not be

moved were sold for what they would bring, and those who took with them

sufficient provisions for their immediate wants considered themselves

fortunate. One party of six men and about one hundred and fifty women

and children, panic-stricken by the action of the mob, wandered for

several days over the prairie without even sufficient food. The banks of

the Missouri River where the fugitives were ferried across presented a

strange spectacle. In a pouring rain the big company were encamped

there on November 7, some with tents and some without any cover, their

household goods piled up around them. Children were born in this camp,

and the sick had to put up with such protection as could be provided.

So determined were the Jackson County people that not a Mormon

should remain among them, that on November 23 they drove out a little

settlement of some twenty families living about fifteen miles from

Independence, compelling women and children to depart on immediate

notice.

The Mormons made further efforts through legal proceedings to assert

their rights in Jackson County, but unsuccessfully. The governor

declared that the situation did not warrant him in calling out the

militia, and referred them to the courts for redress for civil injuries.

In later years they appealed more than once to the federal authorities

at Washington for assistance in reestablishing themselves in Jackson

County,* but were informed that the matter rested with the state of

Missouri. Their future bitterness toward the federal government was

explained on the ground of this refusal to come to their aid.

* James Hutchins, a resident of Wisconsin, addressed a long

appeal "for justice" to President Grant in 1876, asking him to reinstate

the Mormons in the homes from which they had been driven.

Meanwhile Smith had been preparing to use the authority at his command

to make good his predictions about the permanency of the church in the

Missouri Zion. On December 6, 1833, he gave out a long "revelation"

at Kirtland (Sec. 101), which created a great sensation among his

followers. Beginning with the declaration that "I, the Lord," have

suffered affliction to come on the brethren in Missouri "in consequence

of their transgressions, envyings and stripes, and lustful and covetous

desires," it went on to promise them as follows:--

"Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children

are scattered.... And, behold, there is none other place appointed than

that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place

appointed than that which I have appointed, for the work of the

gathering of my saints, until the day cometh when there is found no more

room for them."

The "revelation" then stated the Lord's will "concerning the

redemption of Zion" in the form of a long parable which contained these

instructions:--

"And go ye straightway into the land of my vineyard, and redeem my

vineyard, for it is mine, I have bought it with money.

"Therefore get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls of mine

enemies; throw down their tower and scatter their watchmen;

"And inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge me of mine

enemies, that by and by I may come with the residue of mine house and

possess the land."

This "revelation" was industriously circulated in printed form among the

churches of Ohio and the East, and so great was the demand for copies

that they sold for one dollar each. The only construction to be placed

upon it was that Smith proposed to make good his predictions by means

of an armed force led against the people of Missouri. This view soon had

confirmation.

The arrival of P. P. Pratt and Lyman Wight in Kirtland in February,

1834, was followed by a "revelation" (Sec. 103) promising an outpouring

of God's wrath on those who had expelled the brethren from their

Missouri possessions, and declaring that "the redemption of Zion must

needs come by power," and that Smith was to lead them, as Moses led the

children of Israel.

In obedience to this direction there was assembled a military

organization, known in church history as "The Army of Zion." Recruiters,

led by Smith and Rigdon, visited the Eastern states, and by May 1 some

two hundred men had assembled at Kirtland ready to march to Missouri to

aid their brethren.*

* There are three detailed accounts of this expedition, one in

Smith's autobiography, another in H. C. Kimball's journal in Times and

Seasons, Vol. 6, and another in Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," procured

from one of the accompanying sharpshooters.

The Army of Zion, as it called itself, was not an impressive one in

appearance. Military experience was not required of the recruits; but

no one seems to have been accepted who was not in possession of a weapon

and at least $5 in cash. The weapons ranged from butcher knives and

rusty swords to pistols, muskets, and rifles. Smith himself carried a

fine sword, a brace of pistols (purchased on six months' credit), and

a rifle, and had four horses allotted to him. He had himself elected

treasurer of the expedition, and to him was intrusted all the money of

the men, to be disbursed as his judgment dictated.

According to his own account, they were constantly threatened by enemies

during their march; but they paid no attention to them, knowing that

angels accompanied them as protectors, "for we saw them."

As they approached Clay County a committee from Ray County called

on them to inquire about their intention, and, when a few miles from

Liberty, in Clay County, General Atchison and other Missourians met

them and warned them not to defy popular feeling by entering that town.

Accepting this advice, they took a circuitous route and camped on Rush

Creek, whence Smith on June 25 sent a letter to General Atchison's

committee saying that, in the interest of peace, "we have concluded that

our company shall be immediately dispersed."

The night before this letter was sent, cholera broke out in the camp.

Smith at once attempted to perform miraculous cures of the victims, but

he found actual cholera patients very different to deal with from old

women with imaginary ailments, or, as he puts it, "I quickly learned by

painful experience that, when the great Jehovah decrees destruction upon

any people, and makes known his determination, man must not attempt to

stay his hand."* There were thirteen deaths in camp, among the victims

being Sidney Gilbert.

* "Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 86.

Of course, some explanation was necessary to reconcile the prophet's

surrender without a battle with the "revelation" which directed the

army to march and promised a victory. This came in the shape of another

"revelation" (Sec. 105) which declared that the immediate redemption

of the people must be delayed because of their disobedience and lack of

union (especially excepting himself from this censure); that the Lord

did not "require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion"; that a

large enough force had not assembled at the Lord's command, and that

those who had made the journey were "brought thus far for a trial of

their faith." The brethren were directed not to make boasts of the

judgment to come on the Missourians, but to keep quiet, and "gather

together, as much in one region as can be, consistently with the

feelings of the people"; to purchase all the lands in Jackson County

they could, and then "I will hold the armies of Israel guiltless

in taking possession of their own lands, which they have previously

purchased with their monies, and of throwing down the powers of mine

enemies." But first the Lord's army was to become very great.

It seems incredible that any set of followers could retain faith in

"revelations" at once so conflicting and so nonsensical.

CHAPTER IV. -- FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE JACKSON COUNTY PEOPLE

Meanwhile, the Mormons in Clay County, with the assent of the natives

there, had opened a factory for the manufacture of arms "to pay the

Jackson mob in their own way,"* and it was rumored that both sides were

supplying themselves with cannon, to make the coming contest the more

determined. Governor Dunklin, fearing a further injury to the good name

of the state, wrote to Colonel J. Thornton urging a compromise, and on

June 10 Judge Ryland sent a communication to A. S. Gilbert, asking

him to call a meeting of Mormons in Liberty for a discussion of the

situation.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 68.

This meeting was held on June 16, and a committee from Jackson County

presented the following proposition: "That the value of the lands,

and the improvements thereon, of the Mormons in Jackson County, be

ascertained by three disinterested appraisers, representatives of the

Mormons to be allowed freely to point out the lands claimed and the

improvements; that the people of Jackson County would agree to pay the

Mormons the valuation fixed by the appraisers, WITH ONE HUNDRED PER CENT

ADDED, within thirty days of the award; or, the Jackson County citizens

would agree to sell out their lands in that county to the Mormons on the

same terms." The Mormon leaders agreed to call a meeting of their people

to consider this proposition.

The fifteen Jackson County committeemen, it may be mentioned, in

crossing the river on their way home, were upset, and seven of them were

drowned, including their chairman, J. Campbell, who was reported to have

made threats against Smith. The latter thus reports the accident in

his autobiography, "The angel of God saw fit to sink the boat about

the middle of the river, and seven, out of the twelve that attempted

to cross were drowned, thus suddenly and justly went they to their own

place by water."

On June 21 the Mormons gave written notice to the Jackson County people

that the terms proposed were rejected, and that they were framing

"honorable propositions" on their own part, which they would soon

submit, adding a denial of a rumor that they intended a hostile

invasion. Their objection to the terms proposed was thus stated in an

editorial in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1834, "When it is

understood that the mob hold possession of a large quantity of land more

than our friends, and that they only offer thirty days for the payment

of the same, it will be seen that they are only making a sham to cover

their past unlawful conduct." This explanation ignores entirely the

offer of the Missourians to buy out the Mormons at a valuation double

that fixed by the appraisers, and simply shows that they intended to

hold to the idea that their promised Zion was in Jackson County, and

that they would not give it up.*

* The idea of returning to a Zion in Jackson County has never

been abandoned by the Mormon church. Bishop Partridge took title to the

Temple lot in Independence in his own name. In 1839, when the Mormons

were expelled from the state, still believing that this was to be

the site of the New Jerusalem, he deeded sixty-three acres of land in

Jackson County, including this lot, to three small children of Oliver

Cowdery. In 1848, seven years after Partridge's death, and when all the

Cowdery grantees were dead, a man named Poole got a deed for this land

from the heirs of the grantees, and subsequent conveyances were made

under Poole's deed. In 1851 a branch of the church, under a title

Church of Christ, known as Hendrickites, from Grandville Hendrick, its

originator, was organized in Illinois, with a basis of belief which

rejects most of the innovations introduced since 1835. Hendrick in 1864

was favored with a "revelation" which ordered the removal of his church

to Jackson County. On arriving there different members quietly bought

parts of the old Temple lot. In 1887 the sole surviving sister and heir

of the Cowdery children executed a quit claim deed of the lot to Bishop

Blakeslee of the Reorganized Church in Iowa, and that church at once

began legal proceedings to establish their title. Judge Philips, of

the United States Circuit Court for the Western Division of Missouri,

decided the case in March, 1894, in favor of the Reorganized Church, but

the United States Court of Appeals reversed this decision on the ground

that the respondents had title through undisputed possession ("United

States Court of Appeals Reports," Vol. XVII, p. 387). The Hendrickites

in this suit were actively aided by the Utah Mormons, President Woodruff

being among their witnesses. This Church of Christ has now a membership

of less than two hundred.

Two Mormon elders, describing their visit to Independence in 1888,

said that they went to the Temple lot and prayed as follows: "O

Lord, remember thy words, and let not Zion suffer forever. Hasten her

redemption, and let thy name be glorified in the victory of truth and

righteousness over sin and iniquity. Confound the enemies of the people

and let Zion be free:"--"Infancy of the Church," Salt Lake City, 1889.

On June 23 (the date of Smith's last quoted "revelation"), the Mormons

presented their counter proposition in writing. It was that a board

of six Mormons and six Jackson County non-Mormons should decide on the

value of lands in that county belonging to "those men who cannot consent

to live with us," and that they should receive this sum within a year,

less the amount of damage suffered by the Mormons, the latter to be

determined by the same persons. The Jackson County people replied that

they would "do nothing like according to their last proposition," and

expressed a hope that the Mormons "would cast an eye back of Clinton, to

see if that is not a county calculated for them." Clinton was the county

next north of Clay.

Governor Dunklin, in his annual message to the legislature that year,

expressed the opinion that "conviction for any violence committed

against a Mormon cannot be had in Jackson County," and told the

lawmakers it was for them to determine what amendments were necessary

"to guard against such acts of violence for the future." The Mormons

sent a petition in their own behalf to the legislature, which was

presented by Corrill, but no action was taken.

CHAPTER V. -- IN CLAY, CALDWELL, AND DAVIESS COUNTIES

The counties in which the Mormons settled after leaving Jackson County

were thinly populated at that time, Clay County having only 5338

inhabitants, according to the census of 1830, and Caldwell, Carroll, and

Daviess counties together having only 6617 inhabitants by the census

of 1840. County rivalry is always a characteristic of our newly settled

states and territories, and the Clay County people welcomed the Mormons

as an addition to their number, notwithstanding the ill favor in which

they stood with their southern neighbors. The new-comers at first

occupied what vacant cabins they could find in the southern part of

the county, until they could erect houses of their own, while the men

obtained such employment as was offered, and many of the women sought

places as domestic servants and school-teachers. The Jackson County

people were not pleased with this friendly spirit, and they not only

tried to excite trouble between the new neighbors, but styled the Clay

County residents "Jack Mormons," a name applied in later years in other

places to non-Mormons who were supposed to have Mormon sympathies.

Peace was maintained, however, for about three years. But the Mormons

grew in numbers, and, as the natives realized their growth, they showed

no more disposition to be in the minority than did their southern

neighbors. The Mormons, too, were without tact, and they did not

conceal the intention of the church to possess the land. Proof of their

responsibility for what followed is found in a remark of W. W. Phelps,

in a letter from Clay County to Ohio in December, 1833, that "our people

fare very well, and, when they are discreet, little or no persecution is

felt."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 646.

The irritation kept on increasing, and by the spring of 1836 Clay County

had become as hostile to the Mormons as Jackson County had ever been. In

June, the course adopted in Jackson County to get rid of the new-comers

was imitated, and a public meeting in the court house at Liberty adopted

resolutions* setting forth that civil war was threatened by the rapid

immigration of Mormons; that when the latter were received, in pity and

kindness, after their expulsion across the river, it was understood that

they would leave "whenever a respectable portion of the citizens of this

county should require it," and that that time had now come. The reasons

for this demand included Mormon declarations that the county was

destined by Heaven to be theirs, opposition to slavery, teaching the

Indians that they were to possess the land with the Saints, and

their religious tenets, which, it was said, "always will excite deep

prejudices against them in any populous country where they may locate."

In explanations of the anti-Mormon feeling in Missouri frequent allusion

is made to polygamous practices. This was not charged in any of the

formal statements against them, and Corrill declares that they had done

nothing there that would incriminate them under the law. The Mormons

were urged to seek a new abiding-place, the territory of Wisconsin being

recommended for their investigation. The resolutions confessed that "we

do not contend that we have the least right, under the constitution and

laws of the country, to expel them by force"; but gave as an excuse

for the action taken the certainty of an armed conflict if the Mormons

remained. Newly arrived immigrants were advised to leave immediately,

non-landowners to follow as soon as they could gather their crops

and settle up their business, and owners of forty acres to remain

indefinitely, until they could dispose of their real estate without

loss.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 763.

The Mormons, on July 1, adopted resolutions denying the charges against

them, but agreeing to leave the county. The Missourians then appointed

a committee to raise money to assist the needy Saints to move. Smith and

his associates in Ohio had not at that time the same interest in a Zion

in Missouri that they had three years earlier, and they only expressed

sorrow over the new troubles, and advised the fugitives to stop short

of Wisconsin if they could. An appeal was again made by the Missouri

Mormons to the governor of that state, but he now replied that if they

could not convince their neighbors of their innocence, "all I can say to

you is that in this republic the vox populi is the vox dei."

The Mormons selected that part of Ray County from which Caldwell County

was formed (just northeast of Clay County) for their new abode, and

on their petition the legislature framed the new county for their

occupancy. This was then almost unsettled territory, and the few

inhabitants made no objection to the coming of their new neighbors.

They secured a good deal of land, some by purchase, and some by entry

on government sections, and began its improvement. Many of them were

so poor that they had to seek work in the neighboring counties for

the support of their families. Some of their most intelligent members

afterward attributed their future troubles in that state to their

failure to keep within their own county boundaries.

As the county seat they founded a town which they named Far West, and

which soon presented quite a collection of houses, both log and frame,

schools, and shops. Phelps wrote in the summer of 1837, "Land cannot

be had around town now much less than $10 per acre."* There were

practically no inhabitants but Mormons within fifteen or twenty miles of

the town,** and the Saints were allowed entire political freedom. Of the

county officers, two judges, thirteen magistrates, the county clerk, and

all the militia officers were of their sect. They had credit enough

to make necessary loans, and, says Corrill, "friendship began to be

restored between them and their neighbors, the old prejudices were fast

dying away, and they were doing well, until the summer of 1838."

* Messenger and Advocate, July, 1837.

** Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 53.

It was in January, 1838, that Smith fled from Kirtland. He arrived in

Far West in the following March; Rigdon was detained in Illinois a short

time by the illness of a daughter. Smith's family went with him, and

they were followed by many devoted adherents of the church, who, in

order to pay church debts in Ohio and the East, had given up their

property in exchange for orders on the Bishop at Far West. In other

words, they were penniless.

The business scandals in Ohio had not affected the reputation of the

church leaders with their followers in Missouri (where the bank bills

had not circulated) and Smith and Rigdon received a hearty welcome, their

coming being accepted as a big step forward in the realization of their

prophesied Zion. It proved, however, to be the cause of the expulsion of

their followers from the state.

CHAPTER VI. -- RADICAL DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH--ORIGIN OF THE DANITES--TITHING

While the church, in a material sense, might have been as prosperous

as Corrill pictured, Smith, on his arrival, found it in the throes of

serious internal discord. The month before he reached Far West, W. W.

Phelps and John Whitmer, of the Presidency there, had been tried before

a general assembly of the church,* and almost unanimously deposed on

several charges, the principal one being a claim on their part to $2000

of the church funds which they had bound the Bishop to pay to them.

Whitmer was also accused of persisting in the use of tea, coffee, and

tobacco. T. B. Marsh, one of the Presidents pro tem. selected in their

places, in a letter to the prophet on this subject, said:--

* For the minutes of this General Assembly, and text of Marsh's

letter, see Elders' Journal, July, 1838.

"Had we not taken the above measures, we think that nothing could have

prevented a rebellion against the whole High Council and Bishop; so

great was the disaffection against the Presidents that the people began

to be jealous that the whole authorities were inclined to uphold these

men in wickedness, and in a little time the church undoubtedly would

have gone every man his own way, like sheep without a shepherd."

On April 11, Elder Bronson presented nine charges against Oliver Cowdery

to the High Council, which promptly found him guilty of six of them,

viz. urging vexatious lawsuits against the brethren, accusing the

prophet of adultery, not attending meeting, returning to the practice

of law "for the sake of filthy lucre," "disgracing the church by being

connected with the bogus [counterfeiting] business, retaining notes

after they had been paid," and generally "forsaking the cause of God."

On this finding he was expelled from the church. Two days later David

Whitmer was found guilty of unchristianlike conduct and defaming the

prophet, and was expelled, and Lyman E. Johnson met the same fate.*

Smith soon announced a "revelation" (Sec. 114), directing the places of

the expelled to be filled by others.

* For minutes of these councils, see Millennial Star, Vol. XVI,

pp. 130-134.

It was in the June following that the paper drawn up by Rigdon and

signed by eighty-three prominent members of the church was presented to

the recalcitrants, ordering them to leave the county, and painting their

characters in the blackest hues.* This radical action did not meet

the approval of the more conservative element, which included men like

Corrill, and he soon announced that he was no longer a Mormon. Not

long afterward Thomas B. Marsh, one of the original members of the High

Council of Twelve in Missouri, and now President of the Twelve, and

Orson Hyde, one of the original Apostles, also seceded, and both gave

testimony about the Mormon schemes in Caldwell and Daviess Counties.

Cowdery and Whitmer considered their lives in such danger that they fled

on horseback at night, leaving their families, and after riding till

daylight in a storm, reached the house of a friend, where they found

refuge until their families could join them.

* See p. 81 ante. For the full text of Rigdon's paper, see the

"Correspondence, Orders, etc., in Relation to the Mormon Disturbances in

Missouri," published by order of the Missouri legislature (1841).

The most important event that followed the expulsion of leading

members from the church by the High Council was the formation of that

organization which has been almost ever since known as the Danites,

whose dark deeds in Nauvoo were scarcely more than hinted at,* but

which, under Brigham Young's authority in Utah, became a band of

murderers, ready to carry out the most radical suggestion which might be

made by any higher authority of the church.

* Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 158.

Corrill, an active member of the church in Missouri, writing in 1839

with the events fresh in his memory, said* that the members of the

Danite society entered into solemn covenants to stand by one another

when in difficulty, whether right or wrong, and to correct each

other's wrongs among themselves, accepting strictly the mandates of the

Presidency as standing next to God. He explains that "many were opposed

to this society, but such was their determination and also their

threatenings, that those opposed dare not speak their minds on the

subject.... It began to be taught that the church, instead of God, or,

rather, the church in the hands of God, was to bring about these things

(judgments on the wicked), and I was told, but I cannot vouch for the

truth of it, that some of them went so far as to contrive plans how they

might scatter poison, pestilence, and disease among the inhabitants,

and make them think it was judgments sent from God. I accused Smith and

Rigdon of it, but they both denied it promptly."

* "Brief History of the Church," pp. 31, 32.

Robinson, in his reminiscences in the Return in later years, gave the

same date of the organization of the Danites, and said that their first

manifesto was the one directed against Cowdery, Whitmer, and others.

We must look for the actual origin of this organization, however, to

some of the prophet's instructions while still at Kirtland. In his

"revelation" of August 6, 1833 (Sec. 98), he thus defined the treatment

that the Saints might bestow upon their enemies: "I have delivered thine

enemy into thine hands, and then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be

rewarded for thy righteousness;... nevertheless thine enemy is in thine

hands, and if thou reward him according to his works thou art justified,

if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine

enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified."

What such a license would mean to a following like Smith's can easily be

understood.

The next step in the same direction was taken during the exercises

which accompanied the opening of the Kirtland Temple. Three days after

the dedicatory services, all the high officers of the church, and the

official members of the stake, to the number of about three hundred, met

in the Temple by appointment to perform the washing of feet. While this

was going on (following Smith's own account),* "the brethren began

to prophesy blessings upon each other's heads, and cursings upon the

enemies of Christ who inhabit Jackson County, Missouri, and continued

prophesying and blessing and sealing them, with hosannah and amen, until

nearly seven o'clock P. M. The bread and wine were then brought in.

While waiting, I made the following remarks, 'I want to enter into the

following covenant, that if any more of our brethren are slain or driven

from their lands in Missouri by the mob, we will give ourselves no rest

until we are avenged of our enemies to the uttermost.' This covenant was

sealed unanimously, with a hosannah and an amen." **

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, pp. 727-728.

* "The spirit of that covenant evidently bore fruit in the Fourth

of July oration of 1838 and the Mountain Meadow Massacre."--The Return,

Vol. II, p. 271.

The original name chosen for the Danites was "Daughters of Zion,"

suggested by the text Micah iv. 13: "Arise and thresh, O daughter of

Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thine hoofs

brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate

thy gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole

earth." "Daughters" of anybody was soon decided to be an inappropriate

designation for such a band, and they were next called "Destroying (or

Flying) Angels," a title still in use in Utah days; then the "Big Fan,"

suggested by Jeremiah xv. 7, or Luke iii. 17; then "Brothers of Gideon,"

and finally "Sons of Dan" (whence the name Danites,) from Genesis xlix.

17: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that

biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward."*

* Hyde's "Mormonism Exposed," pp. 104-105.

Avard presented the text of the constitution to the court at Richmond,

Missouri, during the inquiry before Judge King in November, 1838* It

begins with a preamble setting forth the agreement of the members "to

regulate ourselves under such laws as in righteousness shall be deemed

necessary for the preservation of our holy religion, and of our most

sacred rights, and the rights of our wives and children," and declaring

that, "not having the privileges of others allowed to us, we have

determined, like unto our fathers, to resist tyranny, whether it be in

kings or in the people. It is all alike to us. Our rights we must

have, and our rights we shall have, in the name of Israel's God." The

President of the church and his counsellors were to hold the "executive

power," and also, along with the generals and colonels of the society,

to hold the "legislative powers"; this legislature to "have power to

make all laws regulating the society, and regulating punishments to be

administered to the guilty in accordance with the offence." Thus was

furnished machinery for carrying out any decree of the officers of the

church against either life or property.

* Missouri "Correspondence, Orders, etc.," pp. 101-102.

The Danite oath as it was administered in Nauvoo was as follows:--"In

the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do solemnly obligate myself

ever to regard the Prophet and the First Presidency of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the supreme head of the church on

earth, and to obey them in all things, the same as the supreme God; that

I will stand by my brethren in danger or difficulty, and will uphold

the Presidency, right or wrong; and that I will ever conceal, and never

reveal, the secret purposes of this society, called Daughters of Zion.

Should I ever do the same, I hold my life as the forfeiture, in a

caldron of boiling oil."*

* Bennett's "History of the Saints," p. 267.

John D. Lee, who was a member of the organization, explaining their

secret signs, says,* "The sign or token of distress is made by placing

the right hand on the right side of the face, with the points of the

fingers upward, shoving the hand upward until the ear is snug up between

the thumb and forefinger."

*Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 57.

It has always been the policy of the Mormon church to deny to the

outside world that any such organization as the Danites existed, or at

least that it received the countenance of the authorities. Smith's

City Council in Nauvoo made an affidavit that there was no such society

there, and Utah Mormons have professed similar ignorance. Brigham Young,

himself, however, gave testimony to the contrary in the days when he was

supreme in Salt Lake City. In one of his discourses which will be found

reported in the Deseret News (Vol. VII, p. 143) he said: "If men come

here and do not behave themselves, they will not only find the Danites,

whom they talk so much about, biting the horses' heels, but the

scoundrels will find something biting THEIR heels. In my plain remarks

I merely call things by their own names." It need only be added that the

church authority has been powerful enough at any time in the history of

the church to crush out such an organization if it so desired.

A second organization formed about the same time, at a fully attended

meeting of the Mormons of Daviess County, was called "The Host of

Israel." It was presided over by captains of tens, of fifties, and of

hundreds, and, according to Lee, "God commanded Joseph Smith to place

the Host of Israel in a situation for defence against the enemies of God

and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

Another important feature of the church rule that was established at

this time was the tithing system, announced in a "revelation" (Sec.

119), which is dated July 8, 1838. This required the flock to put all

their "surplus property" into the hands of the Bishop for the building

of the Temple and the payment of the debts of the Presidency, and that,

after that, "those who have thus been tithed, shall pay one-tenth of

all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them

forever."

Ebenezer Robinson gives an interesting explanation of the origin of

tithing. *In May, 1838, the High Council at Far West, after hearing a

statement by Rigdon that it was absolutely necessary for the church to

make some provision for the support of the families of all those who

gave their entire time to church affairs, instructed the Bishop to deed

to Smith and Rigdon an eighty-acre lot belonging to the church, and

appointed a committee of three to confer with the Presidency concerning

their salary for that year. Smith and Rigdon thought that $1100 would be

a proper sum, and the committee reported in favor of a salary, but left

the amount blank. The council voted the salaries, but this action caused

such a protest from the church members that at the next meeting the

resolution was rescinded. Only a few days later came this "revelation"

requiring the payment of tithes, in which there was no mention of using

any of the money for the poor, as was directed in the Ohio "revelation"

about the consecration of property to the Bishop.

* The Return, Vol. 1, p. 136.

This tithing system has provided ever since the principal revenue of the

church. By means of it the Temple was built at Nauvoo, and under it vast

sums have been contributed in Utah. By 1878 the income of the church by

this source was placed at $1,000,000 a year,* and during Brigham Young's

administration the total receipts were estimated at $13,000,000. We

shall see that Young made practically no report of the expenditure

of this vast sum that passed into his control. To Horace Greeley's

question, "What is done with the proceeds of this tithing?" Young

replied, "Part of it is devoted to building temples and other places

of worship, part to helping the poor and needy converts on their way to

this country, and the largest portion to the support of the poor among

the Saints."

* Salt Lake Tribune, June 25, 1879.

As the authority of the church over its members increased, the

regulation about the payment of tithes was made plainer and more severe.

Parley P. Pratt, in addressing the General Conference in Salt Lake City

in October, 1849, said, "To fulfil the law of tithing, a man should make

out and lay before the Bishop a schedule of all his property, and pay

him one-tenth of it. When he hath tithed his principal once, he has no

occasion to tithe again; but the next year he must pay one-tenth of his

increase, and one-tenth of his time, of his cattle, money, goods, and

trade; and, whatever use we put it to, it is still our own, for the Lord

does not carry it away with him to heaven."* Millennial Star, Vol.

XII, p. 134.

The Seventh General Epistle to the church (September, 1851) made this

statement, "It is time that the Saints understood that the paying of

their tithing is a prominent portion of the labor which is allotted to

them, by which they are to secure a future residence in the heaven they

are seeking after."* This view was constantly presented to the converts

abroad.

* Ibid., Vol. XIV, p. 18.

At the General Conference in Salt Lake City on September 8, 1850,

Brigham Young made clear his radical view of tithing--a duty, he

declared, that few had lived up to. Taking the case of a supposed Mr. A,

engaged in various pursuits (to represent the community), starting with

a capital of $100,000 he must surrender $10,000 of this as tithing. With

his remaining $90,000 he gains $410,000; $41,000 of this gain must be

given into the storehouse of the Lord. Next he works nine days with his

team; the tenth day's work is for the church, as is one-tenth of the

wheat he raises, one-tenth of his sheep, and one-tenth of his eggs.*

* Ibid., Vol. XIII, p. 21.

Under date of July 18, came another "revelation" (Sec. 120), declaring

that the tithings "shall be disposed of by a Council, composed of the

First Presidency of my church, and of the Bishop and his council, and by

my High Council." The first meeting of this body decided "that the First

Presidency should keep all their property that they could dispose of to

advantage for their support, and the remainder be put into the hands

of the Bishop, according to the commandments."* The coolness of this

proceeding in excepting Smith and Rigdon from the obligation to pay a

tithe is worthy of admiration.

* Ibid., Vol. XVI, p. 204.

CHAPTER VII. -- BEGINNING OF ACTIVE HOSTILITIES

Smith had shown his dominating spirit as soon as he arrived at Far West.

In April, 1838, he announced a "revelation" (Sec. 115), commanding the

building of a house of worship there, the work to begin on July 4, the

speedy building up of that city, and the establishment of Stakes in the

regions round about. This last requirement showed once more Smith's lack

of judgment, and it became a source of irritation to the non-Mormons,

as it was thought to foreshadow a design to control the neighboring

counties. Hyde says that Smith and Rigdon deliberately planned the

scattering of the Saints beyond the borders of Clay County with a view

to political power.*

* Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 203.

In accordance with this scheme, a "revelation" of May 19 (Sec. 116),

directed the founding of a town on Grand River in Daviess County,

twenty-five miles northwest of Far West. This settlement was to be

called "Adam-ondi-Ahman," "because it is the place where Adam shall come

to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by

Daniel the Prophet." The "revelation" further explains that, three years

before his death, Adam called a number of high priests and all of his

posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and

there blessed them. Lee (who, following the common pronunciation, writes

the name "Adam-on-Diamond") expresses the belief, which Smith instilled

into his followers, that it "was at the point where Adam came and

settled and blessed his posterity, after being driven from the Garden

of Eden. There Adam and Eve tarried for several years, and engaged in

tilling the soil." By order of the Presidency, another town was

started in Carroll County, where the Saints had been living in peace.

Immediately the new settlement was looked upon as a possible rival

of Gallatin, the county seat, and the non-Mormons made known their

objections.

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 91.

With Smith and Rigdon on the ground, if these men had had any tact,

or any purpose except to enforce Mormon supremacy in whatever part of

Missouri they chose to call Zion, the troubles now foreshadowed might

easily have been prevented. Every step they took, however, was in the

nature of a defiance. The sermons preached to the Mormons that

summer taught them that they would be able to withstand, not only the

opposition of the Missourians, but of the United States, if this should

be put to the test.*

* Corrill's "Brief History of the Church," p. 29.

The flock in and around Far West were under the influence of such advice

when they met on July 4 to lay the corner-stone of the third Temple,

whose building Smith had revealed, and to celebrate the day. There was a

procession, with a flagpole raising, and Smith embraced the occasion to

make public announcement of the tithing "revelation" (although it bears

a later date).

The chief feature of the day, and the one that had most influence on the

fortunes of the church, was a sermon by Sidney Rigdon, known ever since

as the "salt sermon," from the text Matt. v. 13: "If the salt have lost

its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for

nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." He

first applied these words to the men who had made trouble in the church,

declaring that they ought to be trodden under foot until their bowels

gushed out, citing as a precedent that "the apostles threw Judas

Iscariot down and trampled out his bowels, and that Peter stabbed

Ananias and Sapphira." It was what followed, however, which made the

serious trouble, a defiance to their Missouri opponents in these words:

"It is not because we cannot, if we were so disposed, enjoy both the

honors and flatteries of the world, but we have voluntarily offered

them in sacrifice, and the riches of the world also, for a more durable

substance. Our God has promised a reward of eternal inheritance, and

we have believed his promise, and, though we wade through great

tribulations, we are in nothing discouraged, for we know he that has

promised is faithful. The promise is sure, and the reward is certain.

It is because of this that we have taken the spoiling of our goods. Our

cheeks have been given to the smiters, and our heads to those who have

plucked off the hair. We have not only, when smitten on one cheek,

turned the other, but we have done it again and again, until we are

weary of being smitten, and tired of being trampled upon. We have proved

the world with kindness; we have suffered their abuse, without cause,

with patience, and have endured without resentment, until this day, and

still their persecution and violence does not cease. But from this day

and this hour, we will suffer it no more.

"We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn

all men, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more for ever,

for, from this hour, we will bear it no more. Our rights shall no more

be trampled on with impunity. The man, or set of men, who attempt it,

DOES IT AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR LIVES. And that mob that comes on us to

disturb us, it shall be between us and them A WAR OF EXTERMINATION, FOR

WE WILL FOLLOW THEM TO THE LAST DROP OF THEIR BLOOD IS SPILLED, OR ELSE

THEY WILL HAVE TO EXTERMINATE US; for we will carry the seat of war to

their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other

SHALL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED. Remember it then, all men.

"We will never be aggressors; we will infringe on rights of no people;

but shall stand for our own until death. We claim our own rights, and

are willing that all shall enjoy theirs.

"No man shall be at liberty to come in our streets, to threaten us with

mobs, for if he does, he shall atone for it before he leaves the place;

neither shall he be at liberty to vilify or slander any of us, for

suffer it we will not in this place.

"We therefore take all men to record this day, as did our fathers. And

we pledge this day to one another, our fortunes, our lives, and our

sacred honors, to be delivered from the persecutions which we have

had to endure for the last nine years, or nearly that. Neither will

we indulge any man, or set of men, in instituting vexatious lawsuits

against us to cheat us out of our just rights. If they attempt it we

say, woe be unto them. We this day then proclaim ourselves free, with

a purpose and a determination that never can be broken, no never, NO

NEVER, NO NEVER."

Ebenezer Robinson in The Return (Vol I, p. 170) says:--

"Let it be distinctly understood that President Rigdon was not alone

responsible for the sentiment expressed in his oration, as that was a

carefully prepared document previously written, and well understood by

the First Presidency; but Elder Rigdon was the mouthpiece to deliver it,

as he was a natural orator, and his delivery was powerful and effective.

"Several Missouri gentlemen of note, from other counties, were present

on the speaker's stand at its delivery, with Joseph Smith, Jr.,

President, and Hyrum Smith, Vice President of the day; and at the

conclusion of the oration, when the president of the day led off with a

shout of 'Hosannah, Hosannah, Hosannah,' and joined in the shout by the

vast multitude, these Missouri gentlemen began to shout 'hurrah,'

but they soon saw that did not time with the other, and they ceased

shouting. A copy of the oration was furnished the editor, and printed in

the Far West, a weekly newspaper printed in Liberty, the county seat

of Clay county. It was also printed in pamphlet form, by the writer of

this, in the printing office of the Elders' Journal, in the city of Far

West, a copy of which we have preserved.

"This oration, and the stand taken by the church in endorsing it, and

its publication, undoubtedly exerted a powerful influence in arousing

the people of the whole upper Missouri country."

At the trial of Rigdon, when he was cast out at Nauvoo, Young and others

held him alone responsible for this sermon, and declared that it was

principally instrumental in stirring up the hostilities that ensued.

A state election was to be held in Missouri early in August, and there

was a good deal of political feeling. Daviess County was pretty equally

divided between Whigs and Democrats, and the vote of the Mormons was

sought by the leaders of both parties. In Caldwell County the Saints

were classed as almost solidly Democratic. When election day came, the

Danites in the latter county distributed tickets on which the Presidency

had agreed, but this resulted in nothing more serious than some

criticism of this interference of the church in politics. But in Daviess

County trouble occurred.

The Mormons there were warned by the Democrats that the Whigs would

attempt to prevent their voting at Gallatin. Of the ten houses in

that town at the time, three were saloons, and the material for an

election-day row was at hand. It began with an attack on a Mormon

preacher, and ended in a general fight, in which there were many broken

heads, but no loss of life; after which, says Lee, who took part in it,

"the Mormons all voted."*

* Smith's autobiography says, "Very few of the brethren voted."

Exaggerated reports of this melee reached Far West, and Dr. Avard,

collecting a force of 150 volunteers, and accompanied by Smith and

Rigdon, started for Daviess County for the support of their brethren.

They came across no mob, but they made a tactical mistake. Instead

of disbanding and returning to their homes, they, the next morning

(following Smith's own account)* "rode out to view the situation." Their

ride took them to the house of a justice of the peace, named Adam Black,

who had joined a band whose object was the expulsion of the Mormons.

Smith could not neglect the opportunity to remind the justice of his

violation of his oath, and to require of him some satisfaction, "so that

we might know whether he was our friend or enemy." With this view they

compelled him to sign what they called "an agreement of peace," which

the justice drew up in this shape:--

* Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 229.

"I, Adam Black, A Justice of the Peace of Davies County, do hereby

Sertify to the people called Mormin that he is bound to suport the

constitution of this state and of the United States, and he is not

attached to any mob, nor will not attach himself to any such people, and

so long as they will not molest me I will not molest them. This the 8th

day of August, 1838.

"ADAM BLACK, J.P."

When the Mormon force returned to Far West, the Daviess people secured

warrants for the arrest of Smith, L. Wight, and others, charging them

with violating the law by entering another county armed, and compelling

a justice of the peace to obey their mandate, Black having made an

affidavit that he was compelled to sign the paper in order to save

his life. Wight threatened to resist arrest, and this caused such a

gathering of Missourians that Smith became alarmed and sent for two

lawyers, General D. R. Atchison and General Doniphan, to come to

Far West as his legal advisers.* Acting on their advice, the accused

surrendered themselves, and were bound over to court in $500 bail for a

hearing on September 7.

* General Atchison was the major general in command of that

division of the state militia. His early reports to the governor must

be read in the light of his association with Smith as counsel. General

Douiphan afterward won fame at Chihuahua in the Mexican War.

CHAPTER VIII. -- A STATE OF CIVIL WAR

All peaceable occupations were now at an end in Daviess County. General

Atchison reported to the governor that, on arriving there on September

17, he found the county practically deserted, the Gentiles being

gathered in one camp and the Mormons in another. A justice of the peace,

in a statement to the governor, declared, "The Mormons are so numerous

and so well armed [in Daviess and Caldwell counties] that the judicial

power of the counties is wholly unable to execute any civil or criminal

process within the limits of either of the said counties against a

Mormon or Mormons, as they each and every one of them act in concert and

outnumber the other citizens." Lee says that an order had been issued

by the church authorities, commanding all the Mormons to gather in two

fortified camps, at Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. The men were poorly

armed, but demanded to be led against their foes, being "confident that

God was going to deliver the enemy into our hands."*

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 78.

Both parties now stood on the defensive, posting sentinels, and making

other preparations for a fight. Actual hostilities soon ensued. The

Mormons captured some arms which their opponents had obtained, and

took them, with three prisoners, to Far West. "This was a glorious day,

indeed," says Smith.* Citizens of Daviess and Livingston counties sent a

petition to Governor Boggs (who had succeeded Dunklin), dated September

12, declaring that they believed their lives, liberty, and property

to be "in the most imminent danger of being sacrificed by the hands of

those impostorous rebels," and asking for protection. The governor had

already directed General Atchison to "raise immediately four hundred

mounted men in view of indications of Indian disturbances on our

immediate frontier, and the recent civil disturbances in the counties

of Caldwell, Daviess, and Carroll." The calling out of the militia

followed, and General Doniphan found himself in command of about one

thousand militiamen. He seems to have used tact, and to have employed

his force only as peace preservers. On September 20 he reported to

Governor Boggs that he had discharged all his troops but two companies,

and that he did not think the services of these would be required

more than twenty days. He estimated the Mormon forces in the disturbed

counties at from thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred men, most of them

carrying a rifle, a brace of pistols, and a broadsword; "so that," he

added, "from their position, and their fanaticism, and their unalterable

determination not to be driven, much blood will be spilt and much

suffering endured if a blow is at once struck, without the interposition

of your excellency."

* Smith's autobiography, at this point, says: "President Rigdon

and I commenced this day the study of law under the instruction of

Generals Atchison and Doniphan. They think by diligent application we

can be admitted to the bar in twelve months." Millennial Star, Vol. XVI,

p. 246.

The people of Carroll County began now to hold meetings whose object was

the expulsion of the Mormons from their boundaries, and some hundreds

of them assembled in hostile attitude around the little settlement of

Dewitt. The Mormons there prepared for defence, and sent an appeal to

Far West for aid. Accordingly, one hundred Mormons, including Smith

and Rigdon, started to assist them, and two companies of militia, under

General Parks, were hurried to the spot. General Parks reported to

General Atchison on October 7 that, on arriving there the day before,

he found the place besieged by two hundred or three hundred Missourians,

under a Dr. Austin, with a field-piece, and defended by two hundred or

three hundred Mormons under G. M. Hinckle, "who says he will die before

he is driven from thence." Austin expected speedy reenforcements that

would enable him to take the place by assault. A petition addressed by

the Mormons of Dewitt to the governor, as early as September 22, having

been ignored, and finding themselves outnumbered, they agreed to abandon

their settlement on receiving pay for their improvements, and some fifty

wagons conveyed them and their effects to Far West.

A period of absolute lawlessness in all that section of the state

followed. Smith declared that civil war existed, and that, as the state

would not protect them, they must look out for themselves. He and his

associates made no concealment of their purpose to "make clean work of

it" in driving the non-Mormons from both Daviess and Caldwell counties.

When warned that this course would array the whole state against them,

Smith replied that the "mob" (as the opponents of the Mormons were

always styled) were a small minority of the state, and would yield to

armed opposition; the Mormons would defeat one band after another, and

so proceed across the state, until they reached St. Louis, where

the Mormon army would spend the winter. This calculation is a fair

illustration of Smith's judgment.

Armed bands of both parties now rode over the country, paying absolutely

no respect to property rights, and ready for a "brush" with any

opponents. At Smith's suggestion, a band of men, under the name of the

"Fur Company," was formed to "commandeer" food, teams, and men for the

Mormon campaign. This practical license to steal let loose the worst

element in the church organization, glad of any method of revenge on

those whom they considered their persecutors. "Men of former quiet,"

says Lee, who was among the active raiders, "became perfect demons

in their efforts to spoil and waste away the enemies of the church."*

Cattle and hogs that could not be driven off were killed.** Houses were

burned, not only in the outlying country, but in the towns. A night

attack by a band of eighty men was made on Gallatin, where some of the

houses were set on fire, and two stores as well as private houses were

robbed. The house of one McBride, who, Lee says, had been a good friend

to him and to other Mormons, did not escape: "Every article of moveable

property was taken by the troops; he was utterly ruined." "It appeared

to me," says Corrill, "that the love of pillage grew upon them very

fast, for they plundered every kind of property they could get hold of,

and burnt many cabins in Daviess, some say 80, and some say 150." ***

* Lee naively remarks, "In justice to Joseph Smith I cannot say

that I ever heard him teach, or even encourage, men to pilfer or steal

little things."--"Mormonism Unveiled," p. 90.

** W. Harris's "Mormonism Portrayed," p. 30.

*** "Brief History of the Church," p. 38.

The Missourians retaliated in kind. Mormons were seized and whipped, and

their houses were burned. A lawless company (Pratt calls them banditti),

led by one Gilliam, embraced the opportunity to make raids in the Mormon

territory. It was soon found necessary to collect the outlying Mormons

at Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, where they were used for purposes both

of offence and defence. The movements of the Missourians were closely

watched, and preparations were made to burn any place from which a force

set out to attack the Saints.

One of the Missouri officers, Captain Bogart, on October 23, warned some

Mormons to leave the county, and, with his company of thirty or forty

men, announced his intention to "give Far West thunder and lightning."

When this news reached Far West, Judge Higbee, of the county court,

ordered Lieutenant Colonel Hinckle to go out with a company, disperse

the "mob," and retake some prisoners. The Mormons assembled at midnight,

and about seventy-five volunteers started at once, under command of

Captain Patton, the Danite leader, whose nickname was "Fear Not," all on

horseback. When they approached Crooked River, on which Bogart's force

was encamped, fifteen men were sent in advance on foot to locate the

enemy. Just at dawn a rifle shot sounded, and a young Mormon, named

O'Barrion, fell mortally wounded. Captain Patton ordered a charge, and

led his men at a gallop down a hill to the river, under the bank of

which the Missourians were drawn up. The latter had an advantage, as

they were in the shade, and the Mormons were between them and the east,

which the dawn was just lighting. Exchanges of volleys occurred, and

then Captain Patton ordered his men to rush on with drawn swords--they

had no bayonets. This put the Missourians to flight, but just as they

fled Captain Patton received a mortal wound. Three Mormons in all were

killed as a result of this battle, and seven wounded, while Captain

Bogart reported the death of one man.*

* Ebenezer Robinson's account in The Return, p. 191.

The death of "Fear Not" was considered by the Mormons a great loss. He

was buried with the honors of war, says Robinson, "and at his grave a

solemn convention was made to avenge his death." Smith, in the funeral

sermon, reverted to his old tactics, attributing the Mormon losses to

the Lord's anger against his people, because of their unbelief and their

unwillingness to devote their worldly treasures to the church.

The rout of Captain Bogart's force, which was a part of the state

militia, increased the animosity against the Mormons, and the wiser of

the latter believed that they would suffer a dire vengeance.*

* Corrill's "Brief History of the Church," p. 38.

This vengeance first made itself felt at a settlement called Hawn's Mill

(of which there are various spellings), some miles from Far West, where

there were a flour mill, blacksmith shop, and other buildings. The

Mormons there were advised, the day after the fight on Crooked River,

to move into Far West for protection, but the owners of the buildings,

knowing that these would be burned as soon as deserted, decided to

remain and defend their property.

On October 30 a mounted force of Missourians appeared before the place.

The Mormons ran into the log blacksmith shop, which they thought would

serve them as a blockhouse, but it proved to be a slaughter-pen. The

Missourians surrounded it, and, sticking their rifles into every hole

and crack, poured in a deadly fire, killing, some reports say eighteen,

and some thirty-one, of the Mormons. The only persons in the town who

escaped found shelter in the woods. The Missourians did not lose a man.

When the firing ceased, they still showed no mercy, shooting a small boy

in the leg after dragging him out from under the bellows, and hacking to

death with a corn cutter an old man while he begged for his life. Dead

and wounded were thrown into a well, and some of the wounded, taken out

by rescuers from Far West, recovered. "I heard one of the militia tell

General Clark," says Corrill, "that a well twenty or thirty feet deep

was filled with their dead bodies to within three feet of the top."*

* Details of this massacre will be found in Lee's "Mormonism

Unveiled," pp. 78-80; in the Missouri "Correspondence, Orders, etc.,"

p. 82; the Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 507, and in Greene's "Facts

Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri," pp. 21-24.

The Mormons have always considered this "massacre," as they called it,

the crowning outrage of their treatment in Missouri, and for many years

were especially bitter toward all participants in it. A letter from two

Mormons in the Frontier Guardian, dated October, 1849, describing the

disinterred human bones seen on their journey across the plains, said

that they recognized on the rude tombstone the names of some of their

Missouri persecutors: "Among others, we noted at the South Pass of the

Rocky Mountains the grave of one E. Dodd of Gallatin, Missouri. The

wolves had completely disinterred him. It is believed that he was the

same Dodd that took an active part as a prominent mobocrat in the

murder of the Saints at Hawn's Mill, Missouri; if so, it is a righteous

retribution." Two Mormon elders, describing a visit in 1889 to the

scenes of the Mormon troubles in Missouri, said, "The notorious Colonel

W. O. Jennings, who commanded the mob at the [Hawn's Mill] massacre, was

assaulted in Chillicothe, Missouri, on the evening of January 20, 1862,

by an unknown person, who shot him on the street with a revolver or

musket, as the Colonel was going home after dark." * They are silent as

to the avenger.

* "Infancy of the Church" (pamphlet).

Governor Boggs now began to realize the seriousness of the situation

that he was called to meet, and on October 26 he directed General John

B. Clark (who was not the ranking general) to raise, for the protection

of the citizens of Daviess County, four hundred mounted men. This order

he followed the next day with the following, which has become the most

famous of the orders issued during this campaign, under the designation

"the order of extermination":--

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE MILITIA,

"CITY OF JEFFERSON, Oct. 27, 1838.

"GEN. JOHN B. CLARK,

"Sir:--Since the order of this morning to you, directing you to cause

four hundred mounted men to be raised within your Division, I have

received by Amos Rees, Esq., of Ray County and Wiley C. Williams, Esq.,

one of my aids, information of the most appalling character, which

entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the

attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made

war upon the people of this state. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten

your operations with all possible speed.

"The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or

driven from the State if necessary for the public peace--their outrages

are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are

authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary. I have

just issued orders to Maj. Gen. Willock, of Marion County, to raise

five hundred men, and to march them to the northern part of Daviess, and

there unite with Gen. Doniphan, of Clay, who has been ordered with five

hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of intercepting

the retreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to

communicate with you by express; you can also communicate with them if

you find it necessary.

"Instead therefore of proceeding, as at first directed, to reinstate

the citizens of Daviess in their homes, you will proceed immediately to

Richmond and then operate against the Mormons. Brig. Gen. Parks, of Ray,

has been ordered to have four hundred of his brigade in readiness to

join you at Richmond. The whole force will be placed under your command.

"I am very respectfully,

"Your ob't serv't,

"L. W. Boggs, Commander-in-chief."

The "appalling information" received by the governor from his aids was

contained in a letter dated October 25, which stated that the Mormons

were "destroying all before them"; that they had burned Gallatin and

Mill Pond, and almost every house between these places, plundered the

whole country, and defeated Captain Bogart's company, and had determined

to burn Richmond that night. "These creatures," said the letter, "will

never stop until they are stopped by the strong hand of force, and

something must be done, and that speedily."*

* For text of letter, see "Correspondence, Orders, etc.," p. 59.

The language of Governor Boggs's letter to General Clark cannot be

defended. The Mormons have always made great capital of his declaration

that the Mormons "must be exterminated," and a man of judicial

temperament would have selected other words, no matter how necessary he

deemed it, for political reasons, to show his sympathy with the popular

cause. But, on the other hand, the governor was only accepting the

challenge given by Rigdon in his recent Fourth of July address, when

the latter declared that if a mob disturbed the Mormons, "it shall be

between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them

till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to

exterminate us." What compromise there could have been between a band