History of Salt Lake City, Part 136

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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LORENZO SNOW.

The distinguished Apostle of the Mormon Church, Lorenzo Snow, was born April 3d, 1814, in Mantua, Portage County, Ohio. His father and mother were New England born, being deseended from the genuine Puritan stock,

In childhood Lorenzo exhibited a decision of character which has been conspicuously apparent in subsequent life. After improving the best advantages afforded in common schools, he went to "Oberlin College " to complete hls education.

Two of his sisters being residents of Kirtland, Ohio, where the Latter-day Saints were then lo- eated, on leaving college he went there on a visit, but without the most distant thought of ever uni- ting his interests with that people. However, on acquaintance, he became convinced of the truth of the doctrines they professed, was baptized, and soon ordained an elder, and sent forth "without purse or scrip," to preach the gospel, like the disciples of old.

Like a veteran soldier constantly at his post, from that time to this, Lorenzo Snow has been an active missionary in the cause he espoused-either at home or abroad, wherever his labors were re- quired-having performed several missions in this as well as in foreign countries.

In 1837, with his father's family, he moved to Daviess County, Missouri, and in the next spring, when he was filling a mission in the South, his people were driven from Missouri into Illinois, where

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LORENZO SNOW.

he joined them, and, after performing a mission to the Eastern States in 1840, he was sent on his first mission to Europe. In England he succeeded his predecessors in the presidency of the Lon- don conference, and after the Twelve had left England, he acted as counsellor to Parley P. Pratt, who presided over the European mission.

A pamphlet entitled "The only Way to be Saved," which Elder Snow published while on this mission, has been translated into every language, where the fulness of the gospel has been preached under the Mormon dispensation.

At the close of this mission of nearly three years, he took charge of a large company of Saints, with whom he safely landed in Nauvoo, via New Orleans and the Mississippi River.

Before leaving England, President Brigham Young, who had succeeded in raising means to publish the Book of Mormon, gave directions for copies to be specially prepared and richly bound for presentation to her Majesty and the Prince Consort. The honor of this devolved upon Lorenzo Snow, who was at that time president of the London conference. The presentation was made in 1842, through the politeness of Sir Henry Wheatly ; and it is said her Majesty conde- scended to be pleased with the gift. Whether she ever read the Book of Mormon is not known, although if the presentation has not altogether faded from her memory, Mormonism has been since that date sensational enough to provoke even a monarch to read the book, if for nothing better than curiosity ; so, not unlikely Queen Victoria has read some portions, at least, of the Book of Mormon. The unique circumstance called forth from the pen of Eliza R. Snow a poem, entitled "Queen Victoria "

In the winter of 1845-6, he, with his family, crossed the Mississippi River, and joined the mass of pilgrims from their beautiful city, in that strange and eventful exodus of the nineteenth century, "From the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave " (!); stayed in Pisgah until the spring of 1847, when, taking charge of a train of one hundred wagons, he arrived in Salt Lake City in the autumn following. The next winter he was ordained into the quorum of the Twelve, and in the en- suing autumn called to go to Italy to introduce and establish the gospel in that land; his mission also extended to other nations and countries wherever opportunity should present.

After an absence of nearly three years he returned home via Malta, Gibraltar, Liverpool and New York, and in the following autumn was elected a member of the Utah Legislature.

The next mission of importance was to locate fifty families in Box Elder County, sixty miles north of Salt Lake City, where a small settlement had been formed, which, for want of the right master-spirit, had lost every vestige of enterprise, and was minus all aim in the direction of advance- ment. To diffuse active energies into this stereotyped condition of things, was not unlike raising the dead, and a man of less strengh of purpose would have faltered. Not so the one in question. He went to work, laid out a city, naming it "Brigham," in honor of the President of the Church, moved his family to the new city, and thus laid the foundation for the great financial co-operative enterprise that he there built up.

When the county was organized, by the authority of the Legislature, he took the presidency, as a stake of Zion, which position he still holds. He was elected member of the Legislative Council to represent the district composed of the counties of Box Elder and Weber, and served for a long while in that capacity.

A number of years ago, with Elders E. T. Benson and J. F. Smith, he visited the Sandwich Islands on important matters relative to the interests of the Saints on those Islands.

In 1872 he accompanied President George A. Smith on a tour through Europe, Egypt, Greece and Palestine. While in Vienna, on his return, he received information of his appointment as assistant counselor to President Young.

As a missionary he has traveled over one hundred and fifty thousand miles. Probably none of his compeers have been longer in the field, or traveled more, in preaching the gospel among the nations of the earth.

The foregoing brief passages of his life are given, not as an adequate sketch, but to introduce that noble scene in his life when he, as an apostle of his church, stood in the court of an earthly judge to receive sentence for his religious faith.

On Saturday, January 16th, Apostle Snow's case came up in the First District Court at Ogden. His attorney, F. S. Richards, made a few remarks setting forth the general good character of defen- dant, and requested that Apostle Snow's age and the fact that he had been convicted on three separ. ate indictments be taken into consideration.

Judge Powers then said : Mr. Snow, you may stand up. In indictment No. 743, Mr. Snow, you were indicted by the grand jury of this district and charged with the crime of unlawful cohab-

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itation during the year 1884. In indictment No. 742, you were charged with the crime of cohabi- itation during the year 1885, and in indictment No. 741 you were charged with cohabitation during the year 1883. You have been tried by a jury in each of these cases, and in each case a verdict of guilty has been found. Have you anything to say now why the sentence of the law should not now be passed in each case ?

Mr. Snow-I will say, your honor, that I will not detain the court more than five or ten min- utes, and will be as brief as possible.

"Your Honor, I wish to address this Court kindly, respectfully and especially without giving of- fense. During my trials under three indictments, the Court has manifested courtesy and patience, and I trust your honor has still a liberal supply, from which your prisoner at the bar indulges the hope that further exercise of those happy qualities may be anticipated. In the first place, the Court will please allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to my learned attorneys for their able and zealous efforts in conducting"my defense.

"In reference to the prosecuting attorney, Mr. Bierbower, I pardon him for his ungenerous ex- pressions, his apparent false coloring and_seeming abuse. The entire lack of evidence in the case against me on which to argue, made that line of speech the only alternative in which to display his eloquence ; yet, in all his endeavors, he failed to cast more obliquy on me than was heaped upon our Savior.

"I stand in the presence of this Court a loyal, free-born American citizen ; now, as ever, a true advocate of justice and liberty. 'The land of the free, the home of the brave,' has been the pride of my youth and the boast of my riper years. When abroad in foreign lands, laboring in the inter- est of humanity, I have pointed proudly to the land of my birth as an asylum for the oppressed.

"I have ever felt to honor the laws and institutions of my country, and, during the progress of my trials, whatever evidence has been introduced, has shown my innocence. But, like ancient Apostles when arrainged in Pagan courts, and in the presence of apostate Hebrew judges, though innocent, they were pronounced guilty. So myself, an Apostle who bears witness by virtue of his calling and the revelations of God, that Jesus lives-that he is the son of God ; though guiltless of crime, here in a Christian court I have been convicted through the prejudice and popular sentiment of a so- called Christian nation.

"In ancient times the Jewish nation and Roman empire stood versus the Apostles. Now under an apostate Christianity, the United States of America stands versus Apostle Lorenzo Snow.

"Inasmuch as frequent reference has been made to my Apostleship, by the prosecution, it be- comes proper for me to explain some essential qualifications of an Apostle.

"First, an Apostle must possess a Divine knowledge, by revelation from God, that Jesus lives- that He is the Son of the living God.

"Secondly, he must be divinely authorized to promise the Holy Ghost; a Divine principle that reveals the things of God, making known His will and purposes, leading into all truth, and showing things to come, as declared by the Savior.

"Thirdly, he is commissioned by the power of God to administer the sacred ordinances of the gospel, which are confirmed to each individual by a Divine testimony. Thousands of people now dwelling in these mountain vales, who received these ordinances through my administrations, are living witnesses of the truth of this statement.

"As an Apostle, I have visited many nations and kingdoms, bearing this testimony to all classes of people-to men in the highest official stations, among whom may be mentioned a president of the French Republic. I have also presented works embracing our faith and doctrine to Queen Vic- toria and the late Prince Albert, of England.

"Respecting the doctrine of plural or celestial marriage to which the prosecution, so often re- ferred, it was revealed to me, and afterwards in 1843, fully explained to me by Joseph Smith, the Prophet.

"I married my wives because God commanded it. The ceremony, which united us for time and eternity, was performed by a servant of God, having authority. God being my helper, I would pre- fer to die a thousand deaths than renounce my wives and viclate these sacred obligations.

"The Prosecuting Attorney was quite mistaken in saying . the defendant Mr. Snow was the most scholarly and brightest light of the Apostles;' and equally wrong when pleading with the jury to assist him and the ' United States of America,' in convicting Apostle Snow, and he ' would predict that a new revelation would soon follow changing the Divine law of celestial marriage.' Whatever fame Mr. Bierbower may have secured as a lawyer, he certainly will fail as a prophet. The severest

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prosecutions have never been followed by revelations changing a Divine law, obedience to which brought imprisonment or martyrdom.

"Though I go to prison, God will not change His law of celestial marriage. But the man, the people, the nation, that oppose and fight against this doctrine and the Church of God will be over- thrown.

" Though the Presidency of the Church and the Twelve Apostles should suffer martyrdom, there will remain over 4,000 Seventies, all Apostles of the Son of God, and were these to be slain, there would still remain many thousands of High Priests, and as many or more Elders, all possess- ing the same authority to administer gospel ordinances.

" In conclusion, I solemnly testify, in the name of Jesus, the so-called Mormon Church is the Church of the living God ; established on the rock of revelation, against which ' the gates of hell cannot prevail.'

"Thanking your Honor for your indulgence, I am now ready to receive my sentence."

At the close of the reading the Court said :

" Mr. Snow, the Court desires to ask you, for its own information, what course you propose to pursue in the future concerning the laws of your country ?"

Mr. Snow .- "Your Honor, in regard to that question ; I came into this court-the prosecuting attorney had, perhaps, sixteen witnesses. By the evidence of those witnesses I was proved guiltless of the charge contained in the indictments. I had three witnesses. Only two of them were able to testify anything in relation to my case. There was not, your Honor, one scintilla of evidence show- ing that I had cohabited during the last three years, or since the passage of the Edmunds law, with more than one woman. This, your Honor, I believe, would readily concede. Well, I have obeyed that law. I have obeyed the Edmunds law. Your Honor, I am guiltless, I am innocent. Well, now, your Honor asked me what I am going to do in reference to the future. Having been con- demned here and found guilty after having obeyed that law, I am sorry-I regret that your Honor should ask me that question, and, if your Honor please, I should prefer not to answer it."

Court .- "The Court, Mr. Snow, from its own knowledge of you and from your reputation, which came to the Court before you ever were arraigned here, became and is aware that you are a man of more than ordinary ability. The Court is aware that you are schr lar. The Court is aware that you are naturally a leader of men; that you have a mind well adapted to controlling others, and for influenc- ing and swaying others, and for guiding others. No matter in what land you might have lived, or in what position you might have been placed, you have those attributes which would naturally have caused people to turn towards you for advice and for counsel. You are a man well advanced in years, and you have been favored by time, because it seems to have touched you but lightly with its finger.

" The Court feels that, in view of your past life, of the teachings that you have given to this people, of the advice and counsel that you desire to stand as an example of one who advocates, and the jury has found, also, practices in violation of the law, the Court must pass sentence in these cases in a way and manner that will indicate to this people that the laws of the land cannot be vio- lated with impunity, even by one as aged, as learned and as influential as yourself.

" The sentence of the court, therefore, is : That in indictment No. 741 you will be confined in the penitentiary for the period of six months; that you pay a fine of $300 and the costs of prosecu- tion, and that you stand committed until the fine and costs are paid ; and that at the expiration of your sentence in that case, that to you must be given-believing as you state to me you do believe concerning the laws of your country ; and recognizing, further, that you are among the very leaders -a leader of leaders among those who advocate that it is right that the law of the land should be violated, it cannot exercise the leniency and the mercy that it would be glad to extend to a man of your age, if it were not for your great influence and your great power for good or for evil. I sin-

cerely believe that Lorenzo Snow could cause this people to obey the laws of the Union, and put an end to the trouble and discord in this Territory, if he chose so to do. Believing that, and being fully aware that you will not do that-aware of indictment No. 742-you will be confined in the peni- tentiary of Utah for the period of six months and pay a fine of $300 and the costs of prosecution, and that you stand committed until the fine and costs are paid; and that at the expiration of your sentence in that case, that in indictment No. 743 you will be confined in the penitentiary for the period of six months, and that you pay a fine of $300 and the costs of prosecution, and that you stand committed until the fine and costs are paid.

"You will be remanded into the custody of the United States Marshal."

The case of Lorenzo Snow was carried up to the Supreme Court of the United States [see 14

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sketch on his attorney F. S Richards]; and after its decision, the new Governor, Caleb W. West, visited the Penitentiary, accompanied by Marshal Ireland, Secretary Thomas, Mr. Adam Patterson (the court reporter) Mr. W. C. Hall and Mr. Webb.

Apostle Snow having been brought into the room where the Governor awaited him, his Excellency informed him that he had come to submit to him a proposition consented to by Judge Zane and Mr. Dickson, as follows : " I have come to say to you and your people here that we would unite in a petition to the Executive to issue his pardon in these cases upon a promise, in good faith, that you will obey and respect the laws, and that you will continue no longer to live in violation of them ;" to which Apostle Snow replied :

" Well, Governor, so far as I am concerned personally, I am not in conflict with any of the laws of the country. I have obeyed the law as faithfully and conscientiously as I can thus far, and I am not here because of disobedience of any law. I am here wrongfully convicted and wrongfully sen- tenced."

A long conversation then ensued, the pith of which will be found in the subjoined document. After this conversation the rest of the Mormon prisoners were called out and addressed by the Governor, with his proposition; the answer was not required until they had duly weighed the matter. In due time the answer came, as follows :

"UTAH PENITENTIARY, MAY 24th, 1886. " To His Excellency, Caleb IV. West, Governor of Utah:

"SIR .- On the 13th instant you honored the inmates of the penitentiary with a visit, and of- fered to intercede for the pardon of all those enduring imprisonment on conviction under the Ed- munds law, if they would promise obedience to it in the future, as interpreted by the courts. Grati- tude for the interest manifested in our behalf claims from us a reply. We trust, however, that this will not be construed into defiance, as our silence already has been. We have no desire to occupy a defiant attitude towards the Government, or be in conflict with the Nation's laws. We have never been accused of violating any other law than the one under which we were convicted, and that was enacted purposely to oppose a tenet of our religion.

" We conscientiously believe in the doctrine of plural marriage, and have practiced it from a firm conviction of its being a divine requirement.

" Of the forty-nine elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now imprisoned in the penitentiary for alleged violation of the Edmunds law, all but four had plural wives from its passage to thirty-five years prior to its passage. We were united to our wives for time and all eter- nity by the most sacred covenants, and in many instances numerous children have been born as a result of our union, who are endeared to us by the strongest paternal ties.

"What the promise asked of us implied you declined to explain, just as the courts have done when appeals have been made to them for an explicit and permanent definition of what must be clone to comply with the law.

" The rulings of the courts under this law have been too varied and conflicting heretofore, for us to know what may be the future interpretations.

" The simple status of plural marriage is now made, under the law, material evidence in secur- ing conviction for unlawful cohabitation, thus, independent of our act, ruthlessly trespassing upon the sacred domain of our religious belief.

"So far as compliance with your proposition requires the sacrifice of honor and manhood, the repudiation of our wives and children, the violation of saered covenants, heaven forbid that we should be guilty of such perfidy ; perpetual imprisonment, with which we are threatened, or even death itself, would be preferable.

"Our wives desire no separation from us, and were we to comply with your request, they would regard our action as most cruel, inhuman and monstrous, our childen would blush with shame, and we should deserve the scorn and contempt of all just and honorable men.

The proposition you made, though prompted doubtless by a kind feeling, was not entirely new, for we could all have avoided imprisonment by making the same promise to the courts; in fact, the penalties we are now enduring are for declining to so promise rather than for acts committed in the past. Had you offered us unconditional amnesty, dearly as we prize the great boon of liberty, it would have been gladly accepted ; but we cannot afford to obtain it by proving untrue to our conscience, our religion and our God.

As loyal citizens of this great Republic, whose Constitution we revere, we not only ask for, but claim our rights as freemen and, if from neither local or national authority we are to receive equity

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and mercy, we will make our appeal to the Great Arbitrar of all human interests, who in due time will grant us the justice hitherto denied.

" That you may, as the Governor of our important' but afflicted Territory, aid us in securing every right to which loyal citizens are entitled, and find happiness in so doing, we will ever pray."

This document was signed by Lorenzo Snow, Abram H. Cannon, Hugh S. Gowans, Rudger Clawson, Wm Wallace Willey, David M. Stuart, Henry W. Naisbitt, I. D. Watson, Culbert King, Wm. D. Newsom, William Grant, John Price Ball, Amos Maycock, Oluf F. Due, John Y. Smith, John W'm. Snell, Henry Gale, Thomas C. Jones, John Bowen, Wm. G. Sanders, Andrew Jensen, John Bergen, Joseph H. Evans, James E. Twitchell, Geo. C. Lambert, George H. Taylor, Helon H. Tracy, James Moyle, Hyrum Goff. H. Dinwoodey Joseph McMurrin, Herbert J. Foulger, Stanley Taylor, James H. Nelson, Frederick A. Cooper, James O. Poulson, Robert McKendrick, Robert Morris, Samuel F. Ball, S. H. B. Smith, Geo. B. Bailey, Nephi J. Bates. John Penman, Thos. Burmingham, Wm. J. Jenkins, Thomas Porcher, C. H. Greenwell, William H. Lee.

The conduct of Governor West, in the case, exhibits a noble example of the Nation's magnanimity and his own great heartedness and humanity. Doubtless it also fairly represented the wish and intent of President Grover Cleveland towards the Mormon community. But Apostle Lorenzo Snow, and his compeers in bonds, could only answer as they have done, maintaining the integrity of their cause and the righteousness of their lives. Even were it possible to accept the amnesty, it would have to be done by the voice of the whole Chuich. Judge Powers and the Governor, as also all others of their class generally, have a misconception when they think that any one of the Apostles could lead the Mormon people in a schism over the patriarchal systems of their church, of which plural marriage is the keystone of the arch. Had Lorenzo Snow accepted the offer of Governor West-noble and magnanimous in him, the mediator-he, the Apostle, would have been transformed in the eyes of his Church, to the image of deformity and would no longer have been one of its Apostles. In fine, the last act and conduct of Lorenzo Snow is eminently consistent with his dis- tinguished Apostolic life and character.

ANGUS M. CANNON,

The brother of the distinguished Apostle, George Q. Cannon, is the son of George Cannon and Ann Quayle, whose mothers were first cousins. They were born at Peel, Isle of Man.

Angus was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, May 17th, 1834. At the age of three and a half years he went to live with his grandmother Quayle. This is his earliest recollection. His father and mother were baptized in Liverpool on the 11th of February, 1840, by Apostle John Tay- lor, who had married Leonora, sister of Captain Cannon. Angus was blessed in the Church the same year.

The family, composed of parents and children-George Q., Mary Alice, Angus MI., Ann, David Henry and Leonora, in the summer of 1842, took passage with a company of Saints in the ship Sidney, presided over by Elder Levi Richards. On the second day out the mother was taken sick, and after a six weeks' illness, she died and was buried in the ocean. She had anticipated this fate [see sketch on George Q.]-but she could not be deterred from undertaking the voyage to gather her children to the bosom of the Church ; such was the exalted religious nature of this Apos- tolie mother, two of whose sons were destined to become leaders in the Church.

After a voyage of eight weeks the family reached New Orleans and finally St. Louis, where they spent the winter, and in the spring of 1843, they went up to Nauvoo with a company of Saints on the Maid of Iowa; the boat was owned by the Church and commanded by Captain Dan Jones.

In the summer of 1843, Angus and his brothers and sisters were prostrated with fever and ague, and young Angus was anxious to be baptized for fear he would die without the administration of the

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 136

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194