USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
From his secret retreat he sent forth epistles from time to time relative to the administration of the affairs of his various offices. In one of these, addressed to the Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion, he expressed his desires for peace and the supremacy of the law, but declared his determination to submit no more to mob violence and tyranny. Appeals were successively made to Governor Carlin by the Prophet, his wife Emma, and the ladies of the Nauvoo Relief Society, a benevolent institution that Joseph Smith had founded .* But all to no purpose. The Governor apparently was hand-and-
* The forerunner of the great Relief Society system now flourishing in Utah. 14-VOL. 1.
202
HISTORY OF UTAH.
glove with the anti-Mormons, who were doing all in their power to foment trouble and bring affairs to a bloody crisis. Carlin insisted that Joseph give himself up to the officers. This the Prophet refused to do, as his friends feared his assassination or kidnapping.
Joseph Smith, as repeatedly averred, was no coward; but neither did he court death, nor a repetition of his experience in a Missouri dungeon. It would have been eminently characteristic of him,-for his was truly a martial spirit,-to have taken the field with his legion and fought like a lion to the death rather than tamely submit to what he had endured, or was now enduring. But other considera- tions restrained him. Because he declined to surrender himself, he was represented as being with his people in an attitude of defiance to the laws. Public feeling ran high against him, and men were daily offering their services to Governor Carlin to arm and march upon Nauvoo.
Meantime, the State election had come round. Joseph Duncan, an ex-Governor of Illinois, was put forward by the Whigs for re-elec- tion. The Democrats nominated Adam W. Snyder for Governor, but he dying, Judge Thomas Ford became a candidate in his stead. Duncan was regarded as a brave and able man, and under ordinary conditions might have been elected. But he was an anti-Mormon, and took the stump against the Saints, expecting, it is said, to be elected on that issue. This solidified the Mormon vote against him, and in favor of his opponent. The result was the election of Thomas Ford as Governor of Illinois. At the same time William Smith, the Prophet's brother, was chosen a representative from Han- cock County to the Legislature. Jacob C. Davis-of whom more anon-was elected a state senator.
The Whigs were very angry at the outcome, and the papers of that party now teemed with accounts of the alleged iniquities of the Mormons at Nauvoo, and severely took to task the Democrats for deigning to accept support from the Prophet and his followers.
About the 1st of October Governor Carlin made public procla- mation offering a reward of four hundred dollars for the persons of
203
HISTORY OF UTAH.
Joseph Smith and Orrin Porter Rockwell. At the same time Gov- ernor Reynolds of Missouri increased his standing offer of a much larger sum for their capture.
In December, 1842, Carlin's term of office expired, and he was succeeded by Governor Ford. The new executive was reputed as a well-meaning man, though not a strong official; possessing some ability, but liable to be swayed from his convictions by the opinions of others. In his inaugural address to the Legislature, Ford recom- mended that the Charter of Nauvoo, as it was objectionable to other citizens of the State, be modified and restricted. This caused the Whigs to exult over the Mormons and ask them ironically what they thought of their democratic Governor.
Immediately after Governor Ford's installation, the Mormon leader, still in exile, appealed to him to recall the writs and proclama- tion of his predecessor. The case was fully presented to Ford by Justin Butterfield, Esq., the United States District Attorney. He, in common with several of the Judges of the Supreme Court, held that Carlin's writs were illegal. Ford, though sharing the same opinion, deemed it impolitic to interfere with the acts of his predecessor. He therefore advised the Prophet to submit his case to a judicial investi- gation.
This the latter finally concluded to do. Accordingly, on the 26th of December, he allowed himself to be arrested by General Wilson Law, and on the day following, in company with Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Willard Richards and others, he set out for Springfield, the State capital. There, on the 4th of January, 1843, occurred his celebrated trial before Judge Pope, which resulted in his again being set at liberty.
The original warrant issued by Governor Carlin not being at hand, it was duplicated for the purpose of this trial by his successor. Judge Pope granted a writ of habeas corpus, and the case was argued by Josiah Lamborn, Attorney-General of Illinois, for the prosecution, and by Justin Butterfield, Esq., for the defense. The Judge gave as the grounds for his decision in the prisoner's favor the
204
HISTORY OF UTAH.
insufficiency of the Boggs affidavit and the mis-recitals and overstate- ments in the documents of the two Governors. This decision rendered void the proclamation as well as the writs issued against the Prophet, and he was once more a free man.
He now enjoyed a brief season of peace. On the 6th of February, 1843, recurred the city election of Nauvoo. The officers chosen for the ensuing two years were: Joseph Smith, Mayor; Orson Spencer, Daniel H. Wells, George A. Smith and Stephen Mark- ham, Aldermen; Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Sylvester Emmons, Heber C. Kimball, Benjamin Warrington, Daniel Spencer and Brigham Young, Councilors. Liberality without extravagance in public officials, the establishment of markets, and the regulation of prices to protect the poor against avarice and monopoly, were among the measures proposed by Mayor Smith to the new council.
On the 25th of March the Mayor issued the following proclama- tion :
Whereas it is reported that there now exists a band of desperadoes, bound by oaths of secrecy, under severe penalties in case any number of the combination divulges their plans of stealing and conveying properties from station to station up and down the Mississippi and other routes: And
Whereas it is reported that the fear of the execution of the pains and penalties of their secret oaths on their persons prevents some members of said secret association (who have, through falsehood and deceit, been drawn into their snares,) from divulging the same to the legally-constituted authorities of the land :
Know ye, therefore, that I, Joseph Smith, Mayor of the city of Nauvoo, will grant and insure protection against all personal mob violence to each and every citizen of this city who will come before me and truly make known the names of all such abominable characters as are engaged in said secret combination for stealing, or are accessory thereto in any manner. And I respectfully solicit the co-operation of all ministers of justice in this and the neighboring states to ferret out a band of thievish outlaws from our midst.
Immigration continued pouring in at Nauvoo. On the 12th of April two large companies, led by Parley P. Pratt, Lorenzo Snow and Levi Richards, landed there. Among these arrivals were the Cannon family from Liverpool. They had crossed the sea in the fall of 1842, but were ice-bound at St Louis, and had there spent the winter.
205
HISTORY OF UTAH.
Mrs. Cannon, the mother, had died and been buried at sea. The father, George Cannon, with his sons, George Q., Angus M., David H. and three daughters, reached their destination in safety.
Another attempt, the final one, was now made to drag the Mor- mon leader back to Missouri. The charge this time was treason- treason against that State-a reiteration of the old charge upon which the Prophet had once suffered imprisonment. John C. Ben- nett was at the bottom of this new attempt upon the liberty and life of his former friend, and Samuel C. Owens and others in Jackson County assisted in the scheme. Governor Reynolds issued his writ, Governor Ford his warrant, and the ball was thus set rolling. Sheriff J. H. Reynolds of Jackson County was Missouri's officer to receive the prisoner, and Harmon T. Wilson of Carthage, Hancock County, the person authorized to make the arrest.
Late in June, 1843, they set out upon their errand. Learning that the Prophet was visiting with his wife at a Mrs. Wasson's- Emma Smith's sister-near Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, the two officers proceeded thither, passing themselves off as Mormon Elders. Arriving at Mrs. Wasson's, they inquired for "Brother Joseph." On his appearing, they covered him with cocked pistols, threatened him with death if he resisted, hurried him into a vehicle and were about to drive away. Stephen Markham, who was present, protested against this lawlessness,-Reynolds and Wilson having shown no warrant for their act,-but they threatened his life also and drove away with their prisoner toward Dixon. They compelled him to sit between them, and all along continued to threaten him, punching his sides with their pistols. The pain from these assaults was so excruciating that the Prophet finally begged them to cease torturing and kill him outright, whereupon they modified their abusive treatment.
Meanwhile Stephen Markham, mounting a horse, preceded the party to Dixon, where he secured legal counsel for his friend. Rey- nolds and Wilson, on their arrival, at first refused to allow the prisoner to confer with his attorneys, but finding the citizens of
206
HISTORY OF UTAH.
Dixon opposed to them, demanding that their brutality cease, they finally consented .*
A writ of habeas corpus was obtained for the Prophet, returnable before Judge Caton, at Ottawa, but he being absent another writ was secured, returnable before the nearest tribunal in the fifth judicial district authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus. This district included Quincy and Nauvoo. Reynolds and Wilson, who were now themselves under arrest for abuse, threatening and false imprisonment, obtained a writ of habeas corpus, made returnable before Judge Young at Quincy. Toward that place the whole party now proceeded, in charge of Sheriff Campbell, of Lee County.
Meeting a party of his friends from Nauvoo,-for the city had been alarmed and the whole surrounding region was being scoured by the Mormons in quest of their leader,-the Prophet asked per- mission of the sheriff to go to Nauvoo, instead of to Quincy, where he feared treachery. The attorneys present, one of whom was Cyrus Walker, Esq., giving it as their opinion that the hearing might legally be held there, the sheriff consented and to Nauvoo they went accord- ingly. Reynolds and Wilson fiercely protested against this change in the program, probably fearing violence at the hands of the Mor- mon citizens. The Prophet, however, took them to his own home and seated them at the head of his own table, thus heaping upon them, in a scriptural sense, "coals of fire." They were not in the least molested, but treated kindly by all.
A hearing before the Municipal Court followed,-the Prophet's case coming up on its merits,-and the defendant was again dis- charged. Reynolds and Wilson, denying the court's jurisdiction, applied to Governor Ford for the use of the militia to re-take their prisoner, but His Excellency, being fully informed of the matter, refused the request, and Sheriff Reynolds returned; crest-fallen to Missouri.
* It is said that the Prophet, on being taken to the Dixon hotel, found a Masonic friend in the landlord, who rendered him timely succor.
207
HISTORY OF UTAH.
Why he and his confrere Wilson,-against whom the prosecu- tion for false imprisonment, etc., seems to have deen dropped,- failed to show their warrant at the time of the Prophet's arrest, and acted, instead of as officers, in the role of kidnappers, has never been satisfactorily explained. Possibly kidnapping was their purpose, and not anticipating the intervention of officers and courts, they deemed the warrant superfluous and unnecessary.
Another election occurred. Cyrus Walker was the Whig candidate, and Joseph P. Hoge the Democratic candidate for Congress, from the district of which Hancock County was a part. The Whigs, it seems, had been counting upon, and fully expected to receive the Mormon vote; notwithstanding their former criticism of the Democrats for condescending to accept it. What gave the Whigs hope of securing it at this election was the fact that Mr. Walker, their candidate, had defended the Mormon leader in his latest legal difficulty and rescued him from the clutches of the would-be kidnappers, Reynolds and Wilson. Judge Pope, whose decision in January had liberated the Prophet, was also a Whig, as was Mr. Browning, the eloquent champion of the prisoner's cause on that occasion. These con- siderations, it was thought, would be of sufficient weight to turn the majority of the Saints in favor of Mr. Walker.
The Mormons, however, or the majority of them, stood by their democratic principles, and cast their ballots for Mr. Hoge; while a minority, including the Prophet, being Whigs, voted for Mr. Walker .* Hoge was elected by a majority in the district of 455 votes.
The Whigs were now angry again ; not only at the Mormons, for failing to solidify in favor of Mr. Walker, but also at the Democrats, for again accepting Mormon assistance.
It is not at all clear, however, that the Mormons were respon- sible for the defeat of Mr. Walker at this election. Many of the Whigs, being sincere anti-Mormons, were "highly indignant" at
* The Mormons in Adams County, being Whigs, voted at this election for Mr. O. H. Browning, the party candidate in that district.
208
HISTORY OF UTAH.
their candidate for defending the Prophet in the Reynolds and Wilson affair.# It is not improbable, therefore, that the dissatisfied ones repudiated him at the polls. Still it cannot be doubted that this exhibition of anti-Mormon animus on the part of the Whigs was not likely to attract Mormon votes, and it may have accounted in part for the large majority rolled up at Nauvoo for the democratic candidate.
Naturally the Whigs were angry, but they ought not to have been surprised. After denouncing the Democrats for receiving on a former occasion Mormon support, and filling their journals with accounts of alleged Mormon atrocities at Nauvoo, they should have been prepared for what awaited them. A little queer, too, that the fox, having once pronounced the grapes sour, should make another desperate attempt to taste them, and be angry because they were still out of reach. It beats the original fable. But such is politics.
Jealousy of the political power of the Mormons was now much enhanced. In August, several of them, chosen for county offices at the late election, proceeded to Carthage, the county seat of Hancock, to qualify. They were there threatened by an armed mob, led by Constable Harmon T. Wilson, who swore that they should not be installed. The Mormons, however, filed their bonds and took the required oaths of office, while their opponents were deliberating upon how best to prevent them.
The anti-Mormon party, which for some time had been discon- tinued, was now reorganized, with "war to the knife "-figuratively speaking-as its motto. Not altogether figurative, either, was that motto, if what followed may be taken as a criterion. The party pledged itself to assist Missouri in any future attempt that she might make against the Mormon leader.
Nor was this all. Mobs began attacking and burning Mormon houses outside Nauvoo, and even threatened to come against the city. Governor Ford being appealed to for protection, answered much in
Gregg's History of Hancock County, page 295.
209
HISTORY OF UTAH.
the same vein as President Van Buren when visited by the Prophet on a former occasion. "You must defend yourselves," was the inference drawn from Ford's reply. The Nauvoo Legion was there- fore held in constant readiness to repel any mobocratic assault that might be made upon the city or the surrounding settlements.
210
HISTORY OF UTAH.
CHAPTER XIII. 1843-1844.
CELESTIAL MARRIAGE-WHY THE MORMONS PRACTICED POLYGAMY-THE PROPHET AND THE POLITICIANS-JOSEPH SMITH A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES-HIS PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES-PLANNING THE WESTERN EXODUS-THE LAWS, FOSTERS, AND HIGBEES EXCOMMUNICATED-THE "EXPOSITOR " ABATEMENT-ARREST OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF NAUVOO-A GATHERING STORM-NAUVOO UNDER MARTIAL LAW- GOVERNOR FORD DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF THE MORMON LEADERS-THE PROPHET AND HIS FRIENDS START FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS-THE RETURN-THE SURRENDER- CARTHAGE JAIL-MURDER OF THE PROPHET AND PATRIARCH.
HE question has probably occurred to the reader, was there really any ground for the charges of immorality and licen- tiousness hurled against the Mormon leaders by their enemies, personal, political and ecclesiastical. What of John C. Bennett's story to the effect that Joseph Smith sanctioned illicit rela- tions between the sexes ? Was the tale true or false ? We propose to answer these queries.
First let us ask if it seems consistent,-except upon the theory that the Mormon leaders were double-dyed hypocrites, arrant knaves, who were wont to sacrifice on occasion one of their own number in order to throw a halo of virtue around the rest,-that such men as John C. Bennett, D. P. Hurlburt and others, expelled from the Mormon Church for unchastity, would have been so expelled if unchastity had been sanctioned by that Church or those leaders ? Again, where was their cunning, that shrewdness for which their enemies gave them credit, to have thus alienated from their cause for such a purpose- their own preservation-men fully cognizant of their crimes ?
Reader, the Latter-day Saints, with all their faults-for they have never pretended to be perfect-are a chaste and virtuous people. We speak of course of the generality of them. There are black sheep in
211
HISTORY OF UTAH.
every fold. No community on earth values virtue more highly. They require chastity in man, as well as in woman, and next in enormity to murder, in their minds and according to their doctrines, are the sins of seduction and adultery. Had they their way the adulterer and the seducer, no less than the murderer, should answer for his crime with his life. Those who do not know this, do not know the Latter-day Saints, and they who state to the contrary simply state what is not true.
Then why so much talk about Mormon immorality ? It springs, aside from sheer falsehood, from this fact. The Mormons believed in a doctrine called by them Celestial Marriage, but by others named polygamy. Whatever may be thought of the propriety of the former term, the latter, strictly speaking, is a misnomer. Polygamy means "many marriages," and may imply a plurality of husbands as well as wives. That a woman should have more than one husband, living and undivorced at the same time, the Mormons have never believed, but that a man, upright and moral, might under proper regulations, and in conformity with religious principle, have more than one wife, they have believed and in times past have practiced according to that belief. Polygeny, meaning "many wives," and not polygamy, which may mean "many husbands," is a more correct term to use in this connection.
With the Mormons this was a religious principle,-a tenet of their faith. They ceased its practice after nearly half a century's observance, because of a manifesto issued by the President of their Church, indicating as the will of the Lord that it should be dis- continued. Congress had previously passed laws against plural marriage, making it a crime, and the Supreme Court of the United States had declared those laws constitutional. Not immediately, however, did the Mormons cease the practice of polygamy. They thought that Congress was wrong in thus legislating against their religion ; that the Supreme Court was wrong, and might yet see its error, as it did in the Dred Scott case, and reversing its former ruling declare the anti-polygamy laws unconstitutional. But finally, after
212
HISTORY OF UTAH.
much suffering, resulting from prosecutions, fines, imprisonments and some deaths, the manifesto was issued and the practice of Mor- mon polygamy was at an end.
Many, perhaps most of the Latter-day Saints, still believe in the plural-wife doctrine,-there being no law against their belief,-and consider that the former practice of the principle was eminently right and proper. Some, however, disbelieve the doctrine, while crediting those who accepted and practiced it with perfect sincerity. Only a small percentage of the Mormon people were ever practical polygamists, for the observance of the principle was not compulsory. But those who engaged in it-most of them at least-were actuated by high moral and religious motives. This, however difficult for some to believe, is nevertheless true. Their honesty of purpose was not questioned by those who knew them best, in or out of the Church. They proved their sincerity in many ways, suffering much as individuals and as a community rather than relinquish, even at the behest of the parent government, this tenet of their faith.
They were wont to give various reasons for the practice of this principle, among them the following: the right and privilege of every honorable woman to be a wife and mother, which in monog- amy, under existing conditions, preponderance of women over men, disinclination of men to marry, etc., was virtually denied : the extir- pation of the social evil; the production of a healthier posterity, and the physical, mental and moral improvement of the race. These were among the temporal or tangible reasons put forth. But they also believed, and this was the spiritual phase of the question, that those who faithfully obeyed this principle here would be exalted to the highest glory hereafter, as the ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob, et al, and their plural wives had been. It was to the Latter-day Saints the key to the Celestial Kingdom, where, according to their faith, family relationships formed on earth according to divine law will be perpetuated. Hence the revelation enjoining Celestial Mar- riage was entitled : "Revelation on the Eternity of the Marriage
213
HISTORY OF UTAH.
Covenant including Plurality of Wives." The more pertinent parts of it are here given :
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand, to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines :
Behold ! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter :
Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto yon ; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same ;
For behold ! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant ; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned ; for no one can reject this covenant, and be per- mitted to enter into my glory ;
For all who will have a blessing at my hands, shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world :
And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the full- ness of my glory ; and he that receiveth a fullness thereof, must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.
And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these :- All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time, on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead ; for all contracts that are not made unto this end, have an end when men are dead.
Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word ; and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world ; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world ;
Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage ; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory ;
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.