Smith History Vault: 1886 Wyl book (excerpts)

Wilhelm Ritter von Wymetal
1838-1896)
Mormon Portraits I
(SLC: Tribune Printing & Pub., 1886)

Title Page

pp. 060-63 Sarah M. Pratt statement

pp. 077-81 Joseph & Hiel Lewis statements

pp. 205-12 the Kinderhook plates

pp. 230-31 Abel Chase statement

pp. 238-40 Spalding's manuscript

pp. 241-42 Rigdon and the manuscript

pp. 242-43 Thomas J. Clapp statement, etc.

pp. 249-51 Brewer & Frost statements

Transcriber's Comments

information on Wyl's collaborator, James T. Cobb | Joseph Jackson pamphlet (1844)

(This web-page is still under construction)

VOLUME FIRST

JOSEPH SMITH

THE PROPHET

HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS

A Study Based on Facts and Documents

WITH FOURTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS

SALT LAKE CITY
TRIBUNE PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY

1886

DEATH MASK OF JOSEPH SMITH.
From a Cast in the Possession of Brigham Young.

[ i ]

JOSEPH SMITH:

"Nobody knows what the other world will be."

"I have got the damned fools fixed and will carry out the fun."

"The world owes me a good living and if I cannot get it without, I'll steal it and catch me at it if you can."

"We will all go to hell together and convert it into a heaven by casting the Devil out; hell is by no means the place this world of fools supposes it to be, but on the contrary, it is quite an agreeable place."

BRIGHAM YOUNG:

"There is not a bishop in this whole Territory who is not a damned thief."

"We have the meanest devils on the earth in our midst and we intend to keep them, for we have use for them."

"I have many a time dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can; we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves and any other shade of character that you can mention. We can pick out elders in Israel right here who can beat the world at gambling; who can handle the cards; who can cut and shuffle them with the smartest rogue on the face of God's foot-stool. I can produce elders here who can shave their smartest shavers and take their money from them. We can beat the world at any game. We can beat them because we have men here that live in the light of the Lord; that have the holy priesthood and hold the keys of the Kingdom of God."

[ 2 ]

NOTICE.

Volume Second of MORMON PORTRAITS, which I have entitled Brigham Young and His People, will appear in a few months.

I respectfully solicit information, either in personal interviews or by post, from all trustworthy sources and shall be much obliged for the same; as well as for the pointing out of any errors of statement, however slight, that may by accident have crept into this volume. My address is

DR. W. WYL,
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

JULY 17, 1886.

[ 3 ]

The family is the unit of the modern State. Woman is the heart and crown of the modern family. In Mormonism womanhood has been outraged and crucified from Emma Smith to the last polygamous victim and martyr.

Looking around me and afar, and seeing no brighter or braver spirit opposing this monstrous evil, I take the liberty to inscribe this little volume on Mormonism to one who seems to be equally at home on either side of the Atlantic,

MISS KATE FIELD.

[ 4 ]

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[ 5 ]

TESTIMONIALS.
______

TERRITORY OF UTAH, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, SALT LAKE CITY, May 2, 1885.

To whom this may come:

Dr. W. Wyl, a representative of the Berliner Tageblatt, and who is commended to me from a high personal and official source as a "highly cultivated and thoroughly reliable gentleman," has for four months assiduously labored in the investigation of the questions involved in Mormonism. I am satisfied that he has given the subject careful study, and is therefore qualified to write advisedly of the situation, past and present. Respectfully,

ELI H. MURRAY,

Governor.

We, the undersigned, hereby certify that we know that Dr. W. Wyl, a German author and correspondent, has worked very earnestly for months to collect facts from a number of witnesses living in Salt Lake City, relating to the history of Mormonism. We believe that Dr. Wyl has done his work in a thoroughly honest and truth-loving spirit, and that his Book will be a valuable addition to the material collected by other reliable writers.

W. S. GODBE, H. W. LAWRENCE, E. L. T. HARRISON. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TER., April 28, 1886.

THE DAILY TRIBUNE, (EDITORIAL ROOMS,) ) SALT LAKE CITY, May 12, 1885. } Dr. W. Wyl:

MY DEAR DOCTOR: I have been doing myself the honor to keep a pretty close watch of you in this city for several months. I believe I never saw a more earnest, conscientious or persistent searcher after facts. I believe you know as much about Mormonism as any man who never spent more than twice the time you have in investigating it.

I believe you will be of good service to man and to free government by presenting the array of facts which you have accumulated either in book or lecture form. I believe the conclusions you have drawn from the facts are sound, and now, Dear Sir, "Hail and Farewell." Most sincerely yours,

C. C. GOODWIN.

SALT LAKE, UTAH, May 7, 1885. To Dr. W. Wyl:

DEAR SIR: I think, from the manner in which your inquiries have been conducted, that you have obtained a more thorough knowledge of the past history and present aspect of Mormonism than any one who has ever visited our Territory with this object in view. You have gathered materials for a book which ought to be of absorbing interest, and your ability as a writer ( if you will allow me to be the judge) insures the presentation of the facts in hand in such a manner that the reader who once opens your book will not be able to lay it aside until it is finished.

With the hope that your book may have the success that it is sure to deserve, I remain very sincerely yours,

CORNELIA PADDOCK.

To whom this may come:

I have been thoroughly acquainted with the Mormon Church for over fifty years. I attended grammar school

with Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, in the winter of 1834 and 1835, and assisted in teaching Joseph Smith, the prophet, English grammar. I witnessed the history of the Church in Kirtland, Ohio, in Caldwell and Davies counties, Mo., in Nauvoo, 111., and in Salt Lake City. I was intimately acquainted with Joseph Smith and his family for eleven years', also with all the leading men of the Church down to the present time. I have been thoroughly acquainted with the system and all the important facts of the history of the Mormon Church. In many interviews during March, April and May, 1885, I have given all the facts within my knowledge to Dr. W. Wyl, who wrote them down in shorthand. I think Dr. Wyl has enjoyed the best facilities for obtaining a thorough knowledge of Mormon History, and I look forward to his intended publication with great interest.

C. G. WEBB. SALT LAKE CITY, May 14, 1885,

To whom it may concern:

I was baptized into the Mormon Church forty-five years ago, in the river Mersey at Liverpool, by Elder John Taylor, now President of the Mormon Church. I have lived for twenty-five years in Southern Utah, city of Parowan, and have known personally nearly all those who were implicated in the "Mountain Meadows Massacre." I was cut off from the Church because I could not convince myself that murder and stealing were agreeable to God. I came very near being killed as an apostate by the "Danites" or "Destroying Angels" of the Church. I think there are few persons living in Utah who have a more complete knowledge of the history of Mormonism in Southern Utah, especially during the terrible time of the so-called ''Reformation," when the spirit of murder was supreme in the Church. I have told in many interviews all the important facts stored up in my memory to Dr. W. Wyl, and he has taken them down in shorthand. I feel satisfied that he has collected a great number of

facts which have never been published, and that he has acquired a very good inside view of the History and spirit of the Mormon Church.

JAMES McGUFFIE, N. 425 E. Third South Street. SALT LAKE CITY, May 14, 1885.

To whom it may concern:

This is to certify that the writer has been associated with the Mormons for a period of over thirty years, and for the past seventeen years principally in Salt Lake City. I, am personally and thoroughly acquainted with the political and religious institutions of the Mormons; also with their history as a people, as well as with their public character as a community residing in the Territory of Utah.

I have known the bearer, Dr. W. Wyl, author and correspondent of Berlin, Germany, for the past few months since he has resided in this city. He has been engaged in collecting data from which to write and publish a book on Mormonism. From the well-known characters and abilities of his "witnesses," I feel safe in saying that he has obtained a fund of the most trustworthy information possible, and such as no preceding writer has ever been able to disclose. Dr. Wyl, through his evident impartiality and the entire absence of personal prejudice, has made a host of substantial friends in this city, from whom he has obtained a clear and vivid insight into the inner life of this "peculiar people," as well as the most comprehensive conception of their objects, aims and purposes. From the pen of such an author the public may reasonably expect a thorough and complete elucidation of the subject to be treated, and learn probably for the first time that the Mormons are politically an aggressive people, and that Mormonism, as regards the secret aims and teachings of the leaders, is nothing less than organized TREASON. Yours truly,

JOSEPH SALISBURY.

SALT LAKE CITY, April 27, 1885.

To whom it may concern:

My friend, Dr. W. Wyl, has spent nearly five months in Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1885, anzzz< ^ ^ n April and May, 1886, and has made a special and exhaustive study of the history of the Mormon Church, from its inception to date. Having carefully digested most of the publications pro and contra on this subject, and having worked day after day with living witnesses, the very best to be had in the Territory, taking down their depositions in shorthand, Dr. Wyl has succeeded in collecting a mass of material which, in my opinion, will enable him to produce a book full of new facts relating to Mormon history. Such a book is much desired by all good citizens, and will do a great deal of good, especially in the present crisis of Utah affairs. Dr. Wyl's clear and full insight into Utah matters, past and present, his zeal and fidelity in collecting and sifting data, justify the earnest hope that he will ere long present to the reading public of this country, Great Britain and Germany, a really standard book on the characters and history of the most noted among the Mormon leaders. DAVID F. WALKER.

SALT LAKE CITY, May 9, 1886.

LETTER TO THE PUBLIC.
______

I do not wish to insult anybody in this book, or to hurt anybody's feelings. I desire to do my simple duty as a writer. That is all; to do it as a critic and observer, having the courage of my opinions, and being happily free from "all entangling alliances."

I came first to this fine Territory in December, 1884; stayed a few weeks and received my first general impressions about the state of Utah affairs; took my first dip into Mormon history and into the "Problem." I was received in the kindest manner by Governor Murray, Mr. David F. Walker, Judge C. C. Goodwin, Col. W. Nelson, Col. O. J. Hollister; by Wm. S. Godbe, H. W. Lawrence and E. L. T. Harrison, the well-known Mormon Apostates and Reformers and their friends; by the venerable and clear-headed widow of the "Paul of Mormonism," Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, herself an exhaustless mine of curious information; by the eminent authoress, Mrs. Cornelia Paddock; also by a number of Apostles, Priests and Presidents in the Mormon Church. My interest got awakened. I returned to Utah early in February, '85, remaining till the latter part of May. This second sojourn was devoted exclusively to the taking of depositions from the mouths of living witnesses: I have examined some eighty, all men and women of recognized probity, and most of them of superior intelligence. For months have I worked with them from eight to ten hours a day, repeating my interviews until I had all the information they had to give. I am still working daily in this way.

I have made studies in Rome, Naples and Sicily, in France and England; have published some books about Italy, and about the Passion Play in Oberammergau, but never have I felt so interested, in all my life, as now in the history and workings of Mormonism. What is the

secret charm of this study? I don't know. It may be the fact, that the study of a strikingly peculiar religious sect affords more insight into human nature than any other investigation; it may be, that the analysis of a modern theocracy calls back so vividly the forms, workings and general history, more or less dark, of older theocracies, as that of the Jews, the Mohammedans and the Jesuits; it may be that a book like the "Confession" of John D. Lee shows not only in vivid and startling colors the organism of one bloody fanatic and his murderous mates, but that it explains at the same time, by analogy, monsters like the Duke of Alva; shows that religious fanaticism has taught at all times that crimes committed in the name of God are meritorious, and shows, again, that such teachings find many believers, who, having devoted themselves to the service of some fancied "Lord,"' can lie and perjure themselves, rob and butcher, believing that they do the bidding of that God whom Jesus of Nazareth taught to be a loving father to all.

The witnesses whose depositions are contained in my book have been, for the most part, victims of a great delusion. The Mormon missionaries told them in Europe that the Gospel of Christ had been restored; that miracles of all kinds, including the gift of the Holy Ghost, daily revelations of the Almighty, and scores of other blessings would be given to the faithful followers of Joseph Smith, the great Seer and Prophet; that here in Utah was the "home of the pure;" a paradise of innocence and goodness; nothing but brotherly love, peace and fidelity; that this was the new "Zion." But when they came here, they saw a different picture. They saw that Brigham Young was just as Joseph Smith had been, the great shark and that the faithful were the carp. They did not hear any more of the Bible, as they had heard in the old country; in "Zion" the Gospel was: Pay your tithing, obey the priesthood in all things; ask never any question, but do as you are told; take more wives, and if you have only a little one-roomed log cabin, never mind, take wives and build up the Kingdom, so that Brigham Young might soon be king of an independent State of the Union; pay your

tithing and pay besides to swell all kinds of donations; give away your money; ask never for an account, but be happy in your poverty, while the High Priesthood are living upon the fat of the land. Be spied upon every day in your actions by the ' 'teachers," and even in your thoughts, and be a spy yourself on your neighbor; see whether he is strong in the faith, and if he is not, kill him "cut his throat to save his soul; that is the way to love your neighbor." * Hate your enemies "Pray for them," as Kimball said publicly; "yes, that God may damn and destroy them" and hate all that are not of your clan. Hate all that is American, and swear terrible oaths, in the Endowment House, that you will avenge the blood of the Prophet on this nation. To make it short: "You may do anything, you may be the most brutal wretch, you may marry twenty wives and neglect one after the other, you may rob and even kill your fellow-citizens (non-Mormons) if you pay and obey you are all right; so long as you do this you are a faithful and worthy brother, and sure of your kingdom and eternal glory in the other world." Such were the public teachings in the earlier times of the Utah theocracy. Since 1870 the talk and practice have become milder, but the principles are still the same.

How could this tale, told to me a hundred times over, fail to convince me that this whole "religion" was a speculation to enrich a few, give them gold, power and all the brute pleasure hidden in the Greek word "polygamy?" It has convinced me, sure enough; because this tale came from the mouths of good, honest, sincere people, who had "gathered to Zion" full of religious zeal, who were terribly disappointed, and finally, when they showed a change in their opinions, ostracized, robbed and threatened with violence and even death. Do you suppose, reader, that all these people lie, or is the lie. perhaps, on the other side? Is not all the interest in keeping up the original fraud and the highly profitable system on this other side? I should think so.

__________
* Literally quoted from the speeches of Brigham Young, the great philanthropist.

Mormonism has too long fooled the world, the new and the old. It has too long claimed immunity as a "religion," as an honest religious faith, with the known and long-established facts attending its original fabrication and its appalling development. Is it not indeed puerile for the great Government of the United States to still continue tampering and temporizing with the outrageous fraud as it has hitherto done? You prattle of ( 'polygamy" and refuse to see the constant rebellion and treason; you see a tree and are blind to the forest. You like to joke about the "old monarchical countries" and about ironclad Prince Bismarck. But I tell you, that he would solve the "Mormon Problem" in a week, while you are puzzled by it since fifty years. He would not, like you, stand a helpless babe before the high-schools of treason and licentiousness, called "Mormon Temples." He would bid them go, those builders of the Kingdom, and build elsewhere. Little Italy broke down the Pope's theocracy and great America stands a giant gagged and pinioned with red tape and circumlocution, helpless before that of King John Taylor!

But enough of this. I simply transcribe in my book what my witnesses have told me, respectable and respected people, who have been connected with Mormonism for fifty, forty and thirty years. I have not doctored one fact set forth in "Mormon Portraits." Let the Mormon leaders try to prove that I have lied or exaggerated, but do it in a decent manner, gentlemen, if you please. Don't get angry when a man expresses his honestly acquired conviction. In March, 1885, I wrote a dozen of letters to the great Berlin paper, the Tageblatt, published by my excellent friend, Rudolf Mosse. It seems that those letters were extensively circulated and much read. At least a Mormon missionary, a hopeful son of High Priest A. M. Musser, wrote from Mannheim to his "very dear" father: "In my last letter I enclosed some clippings written by a man named Wyl. The papers continue to publish like articles from him, strongly impregnated with the hatred and gall which Satan alone can furnish." (Deseret News, the official Church organ, May n, 1885.}

Now, this isn't fair. I have never been, to my best knowledge, in any literary connection with "Satan," and I have never had any other than superficial knowledge of him, till I got acquainted more intimately with some of his choice doings, for example the Yates and Aikins murders and the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Why abuse a man instead of fighting him with facts and argument? Let us come to an understanding. I am no enemy of the Mormon people. On the contrary, I sympathize with them. Leading merchants, bankers, etc., in this city, assure me that this people are good-hearted, industrious and honest, and I believe it readily. But the Mormon leaders are enemies of the Mormon people, enemies of the United States, enemies of the law, simply because they do not want to be disturbed in the piling up of great fortunes, exercising absolute power and lordship, and enjoying the embraces of as many "childbearing" (zzzid est young and tender) concubines as they have a mind to. I admire this Territory. I never saw a finer climate, never finer scenery. I find here the breezes of Naples and Palermo and all the grand sights of Switzerland. This should be a country full of independent men and happy women, teeming with freely developed talent and individual enterprise. The inhabitants of this paradise should learn to think and act for themselves, the women should learn to be men's equals and companions instead of their "handmaids." It is the duty of the Government of this great Republic to raise both men and women of Utah to the dignity of citizens truly free, and the duty of every honest writer to help on so noble a cause by telling the truth.

This is the purpose, the only purpose of "Mormon Portraits." I tell the truth so far as I have succeeded in finding it by diligent and honest search.

W. WYL.

SALT LAKE CITY, May, 1886.

[ 15 ]

PART I.

J O S E P H S M I T H,

HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS.
______

I had read of the several movings and strange migrations of the Mormons; of their troubles and turmoils with their always-persecuting neighbors; with state and national authorities. It was hard for me to believe that in free America any religious sect could be persecuted merely because it was too pure and good. Still, might not Mormonism be just the one exception proving the rule of perfect religious toleration in this most tolerant and easy-going Republic? I resolved to examine the matter and see for myself on which side was the burden of wrong-doing, and what of truth there might be in this strange and continual charge from the Mormon side of "persecution." It has been my way to study eccentric and exceptional movements, political and religious, in the personal characters of the leading spirits of such movements.

Having applied my usual method in the case of Joseph Smith and his associates, I find that the world at large and especially the thousands of Mormons in Utah know but little of the true life, character and actions of Joseph Smith and the ringleaders of the so-called Mormon Church and Kingdom. In my investigations I learned to my surprise that Mormons by the thousand have left their leaders in

16 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

the early times of the Church and neither came to Utah nor rejoined their ranks. The vast majority of the poor dupes in Utah and surrounding Territories, never having passed through such experiences as drove Mormons by the wholesale into rebellion and indignant apostacy, and drove those who continued steadfast in their infatuation from their places of settlement and sojourn in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, are utterly incredulous, even refusing to believe the facts when recited and fully sustained, and thus remain in profound and blissful ignorance of much they ought to know, and which, if known, would undoubtedly influence them to repudiate any institution making it possible to have committed such acts in the name of God and religion.

Stories and reports of the criminal conduct of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and their henchmen, did not rise from nothing, but are found to have had their origin in facts, which can be fully established and proven under the rules of historical investigation and criticism, Let me first introduce those of my witnesses who knew Joseph Smith's parents. It must be interesting to the reader to know the tree from which fell this prodigious apple.

THE PROPHET'S PARENTS.
______

The Old Patriarch and Blesser, Joseph Smith, Sr. -- A Mother of Lies -- A Pair of Splendid Gypsies -- The Father of the Prophet Lectures on Money-Digging and Geology.

Mrs. P. states: "Joseph's father, the first Patriarch (if not President) of the Mormon 'Church' was very tall; his crooked nose was very prominent; he was a real peasant, without any education. Joseph looked very much like him. Old Smith sold the blessings, which he used to pronounce on the heads of the faithful, at $3 apiece, and sold a good many of them for years."

A Pair of Splendid Gypsies. 17

Mr. W. states: "I knew old father Smith when he was about eighty years old; he was a great fanatic, and believed that Joseph was inspired from his boyhood on."

Mrs. P. states: "Joseph's mother was a little woman; she looked very vulgar. She was full of low cunning; no trick was too mean for her to make a little money. You could not believe a word of what she said. She used to talk a great deal about Mormonism. Everybody's opinion of her was, that she was a thorough liar. Her daughter wrote that book about Joseph for her. She and her husband looked like a pair of splendid gypsies. They looked wild and ignorant. Seeing them, nobody could doubt the stories about their money-digging, fortune-telling, etc."

Now, this is rather hard on the old couple. I know that the excellent lady who gave me these details spoke the absolute truth, but I cannot enjoy it. I rather like old "Mr. Smith" and Mrs. Lucy Smith, nee Mack. Why admire Mr. and Mrs. Micawber and be hard on Mr. and Mrs. Smith? They are splendid people in their way. Lying was as natural to them as drinking water, and they do it in a delightful way; it's prestidigitation with the truth, you see; artistic skill, acquired by a life's practice. Just read old Lucy's book on Joseph the prophet, for instance where she tells that Mrs. Harris wanted to force money on her, and that she refused it scornfully; read her description of the "breast-plate," which she valued at five hundred dollars, and that other of the "Urim and Thummim," which consisted of "three-cornered diamonds set in glass." And Joseph wore them always on

his person It is not vulgar lying, it is the talent

of Sheherezade, without the bloody Sultan, and without alas! the dreamy atmosphere of the Orient.

Old "Mr. Smith" is the Micawber of the family. His imagination is an Ophir of delightful absurdities, hatched in an atmosphere filled with the sound of the urgent but never-heeded claims of his countless creditors. I will give you one example of his, a little lecture on money-digging, with a smack of geological discoveries of his own, showing a real but neglected talent for this

18 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

branch of science. Peter Ingersoll, an old acquaintance of his, puts it in this shape: *

"I was once ploughing near the house of old Joseph Smith. When about noon, he requested me to walk with him a short distance from his house, for the purpose of seeing whether a mineral rod would work in my hand, saying at the same time he was confident it would. When we arrived near the place at which he thought there was money, he cut a small witch-hazel bush and gave me direction how to hold it. He then went oft some rods, and told me to say to the rod, ' Work to the money? which I did in an audible voice. He rebuked me severely for speaking it loud, and said it must be said in a whisper. While the old man was standing off some rods, throwing himself into various shapes, I told him the rod did not work. He seemed much surprised at this, and said he thought he saw it move in my hand. . . . Another time he told me the best time for digging money was in the heat of summer, when the heat of the sun caused the chests of money to rise near the top of the ground. ' You notice,' said he, * the large stones on the top of the ground we call them rocks, and they truly appear so, but they are, in fact, most of them, chests of money raised by the heat of the sun."

Now, let us compare a little tale of Mother Lucy's with one of Abigail Harris:

LUCY SMITH. ABIGAIL HARRIS.

"Joseph Smith the Prophet" page Affidavit dated Palmyra, Nov. 28, no. 1833.

"She ( Mrs. Harris ) commenced urging upon me a considerable sum of money, I think some seventy-five dollars, to assist in getting the plates translated. I told her that I came on no such business; that I did not want her money. . .

"Old Lucy Smith took me into another room, and after closing the door, said: ' Have you four or five dollars that you can lend until our (Gold Bible) business is brought to a close?

The Spirit has said that you shall receive fourfold.'

I asked her what her particular want of money was,

Yet she was determined to assist in the business, for

she said she knew that we should

to which she replied: ' Joseph

want money, and she could spare

wants to take the stage and come

two hundred dollars as well as

home from Pennsylvania to see

not." what we are all about.' To which

I replied, he might look in his

stone, and save his time and

money. The old lady seemed

confused, and left the room."

__________
* Affidavit dated Palmyra, Dec. 2, 1833.

Astrology and Atheism. 19

This surely shows talent, or I don't understand anything about such things. But let us leave the humble parents, and turn to the great son, irreverently called by the wicked, "Joe Smith."

VIEWS OF JOSEPH SMITH.
______

The Prophet Believes in Astrology -- Laughs Heartily About Mormonism -- Does not know what the other World will be -- Elder Rockwell's Curiosity.

There are two things you would naturally expect from a prophet. First, a belief in some sort of a religion, and then a belief in his own particular shop. Now, Joseph Smith didn't believe in any religion, he had no hopes of a future life, and as to Mormonism, he laughed about it just as you would expect from an impostor who had, as he said himself, "fixed the damned fools," and "wanted to carry out the fun." The only thing the Prophet believed in was astrology. This is a fact generally known to old "Nauvoo Mormons." Wm. Clayton, his chief clerk, used to cast figures and make calculations for him. Brigham Young copied Joseph in this as in many other things.

John C. Bennett says in his book: "I will mention a short conversation that passed between Joseph and myself, as we were one day riding together up the banks of the Mississippi. After a short interval of silence, Smith suddenly said to me, in a peculiarly inquiring manner: ' General Harris says you have no faith, and that you do not believe we shall ever obtain our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri. ' Though somewhat perplexed by the Prophet's remark, and still more by his manner, I coldly replied: ' What does Harris know about my belief or the real state of my mind? I like to tease him now and then about it, as he is so firm in the faith and takes it all in such good part.' 'Well, I said Joe, laughing heartily,

20 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

'I guess you have got about as much faith as I have. Ha! Ha! Ha! ' 'I should judge about as much, ' was my reply." (This anecdote, told by Bennett, pp. 175 and 176 of his book, was fully confirmed to me by Mrs. Sarah Pratt, to whom it was told by Bennett shortly after the dialogue occurred.)

Mr. Johnson told me in the presence of Lawyer Jonasson, now deceased, the following story: "Port Rockwell zzz who used to be Joseph's coachman and factotum in Nauvoo, once asked the Prophet the following question: 'Brother Joseph, how is it in the other world? ' Joseph said in answer: ' Don't you bother, Brother Rockwell, about the other world; try co be as comfortable as possible in this and make the most of it; nobody knows what the other world will be." Mr. Johnson was a guard at the Penitentiary, and having heard that Rockwell had made such a statement, he went to him and asked him, whether the Prophet had really expressed himself in such a manner. Rockwell confirmed fully what he had told to others, and repeated Joseph's answer word for word."

JOSEPH SMITH AND HIS PLATES.
______

The Prophet's Curious Proposition to His Bosom Friend, Bennett -- The Same Fully Confirmed by Mrs. Pratt.

The truth about the golden plates, from which Joseph pretended to "translate" the Book of Mormon, has been established since 1834, by E. D. Howe. I give the substance of the very curious affidavits, obtained by him from Smith's neighbors, in the Appendix to Part I. of this book. There were never any plates of any kind. The book, a stupid historical novel, was written by Solomon Spaulding, stolen and "religiously" remodeled by Sidney Rigdon and published through Joseph Smith, whose wide-spread fame as "Peeper" and "Treasure-finder" enabled him admirably to assume the role of discoverer of golden plates. Sidney Rigdon was a man of taste in the matter

Joseph Wants False Plates. 21

of choosing the right kind of a rascal to do his dirty jobs. But he failed in one respect; he thought he found a tool and he really found a master in Peeping Joe.

Now it will surely be interesting to the reader, that I can not only convict Joseph Smith out of his own mouth, giving his full confession of the original fraud, but I am also able to show that he contemplated an additional fraud with the "plates," and that, as usual, he thought to make a pile of money out of the second fraud, too. The witness in the case is Joseph's Nauvoo accomplice, Dr. John C. Bennett. Those who would refuse his testimony, will not be able to contradict that of Mrs. Sarah Pratt.

Bennett says: ' Shortly after I located in Nauvoo, Joe proposed to me to go to New York and get some plates engraved and bring them to him, so that he could exhibit them as the genuine plates of the Book of Mormon, which he pretended had been taken from him, and ' hid up ' by an angel, and which he would profess to have recovered. He calculated to make considerable money by this trick, as there would of course be a great anxiety to see the plates, which he intended to exhibit at twenty-five cents a sight. I mentioned this proposition to Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, on the day the Prophet made it, and requested her to keep it in memory, as it might be of much importance." When asked by me in the spring of 1885 about this statement of John C. Bennett, Mrs. Pratt confirmed it fully and stated also that Bennett had reported to her this conversation with Joseph on the very day when it happened.

JOSEPH LIKES HIS GLASS.
______

The Prophet Gets Drunk Now and Then -- His Sprees and Adventures -- "Awfully Funny."

Let Bacchus to Venus libations pour forth and vive la Let the sober historian of Joseph paint him

22 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

as he was. Who could be vindictive or malicious with such an eccentric as Joe? The prophet with all his vices and wickednesses was yet neither malicious nor vindictive. He had a very strong, healthy stomach, excellent digestion. He was almost the very antipode of dyspeptic, reticent Brother Brigham. Joseph dearly loved the social glass. Brigham much preferred a flowing bowl of oatmeal porridge. The great prophet of this dispensation of the fullness of time was a real Bacchant. Perhaps he thought with his long-time bosom-crony, the famous O. Porter Rockwell, Esq., that he should "lose the spirit and testimony of Mormonism," if not "steamed up." The intelligent reader of this book will not fail to see that the inspiring deities of Joseph were rather Venus, Bacchus; and Pluto, than the pretended Scriptural Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Mrs. P.: "A good deal of whisky was consumed in Nauvoo. Joe himself was often drunk. I have seen him in this state at different times. One evening one of the brethren brought Joseph to my home. He could not walk and had to be led by a helpful brother. The prophet asked me to make some strong coffee, which I did. He drank five cups, and when he felt that he could walk a little better, he went home. He dared not come before Emma in this state. Joseph was no habitual drunkard, but he used to get on sprees. When drunk he used to be 'awfully funny.' He sometimes went to bed with his boots on."

Mr. W.: "Whisky, good whisky, was then 25 cents a gallon. No wonder that Joseph sometimes went to bed with his boots on, or that he slept, as he sometimes did, in a ditch. He was a right jolly prophet. No sanctimonious humbug about him."

Mrs.J.: "Joseph used to preach: 'Brethren and sisters, I got drunk last week and fell in the ditch. I suppose you have heard of it. I am awfully sorry, but I felt very good. 7 He used to get drunk on military occasions, after the parades of the Nauvoo Legion."

A Jolly Prophet. 23

JOSEPH THE WRESTLER.
______

Joseph and the Tax Collector -- Passion for Fine Horses -- Foot-Races -- The U. S. A. Major -- Two Reverends Who do not Want to Wrestle.

No, there was no holy humbug about Joseph. He made no "long face" he gave himself as the jolly brigand he was, and that is what made him loved and admired by the motley crowd of impecunious vagabonds and adventurers that surrounded him. Brigham was, though always obeyed, feared and hated by his "friends; 17 they knew that he would sacrifice anything and anyone to his passion for ( gold; but Joseph was a good comrade in the midst of brigands of a lower order; they admired his physical strength and agility and loved his jolly, cordial ways. He had physical courage, he even died game, while Brigham was the greatest coward of his time, the greatest among a whole set of cowards like Geo. A. Smith and the rest of them. There was something of Macbeth in that fellow Joseph and he died like Mac. But hear our witnesses:

Mr. K.: "A tax collector once asked a certain amount from Joseph; he stopped the prophet, who was riding in his carriage. Joseph said that he had paid him and owed him nothing. The collector said: "If you say this, you are a liar." Joseph jumped out of his carriage and struck the collector such a blow that he went flying a distance of three or four yards. Joseph took his seat in the carnage and drove away."

Mrs. P.: "Joseph had a passion for fine horses. He had a fine carriage. He used to drive the buggy himself, but the carriage was generally driven by a coachman."

Mr. K.: "Charlie" was the favorite family horse; Emma used to drive him. Emma often rode on horseback in company with Joseph, especially on military parades. Joseph was always ready to show his force and cleverness

24 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

in some sport. He liked foot races and would have his boots off in a moment, to the great grief of old bigots. I remember the visit of a U. S. A. major, who came as a guest to the Nauvoo House. The major was of higher build than Joseph, but not so strong as the prophet. Joseph wanted to wrestle with him. He threw off his coat and cried: 'I bet you five dollars that I will throw you, come on!' The major declined. Joseph laughed and said: ' Now you see the benefit of one 's being a prophet; I knew you wouldn't wrestle,' One of the Saints felt so scandalized by this joke of the prophet that he left the Church."

"Two reverends came one day to Nauvoo. They wanted to see the Prophet and to hear the principles he was teaching. Joseph took them to his study, and talked to them about repentance, baptism, remission of sins, etc. The two reverends interrupted Joseph frequently. After half-an-hour or so, getting impatient the Prophet said to the two holy men, while he stood up in his full height: ' Gentlemen, I am not much of a theologian, but I bet you five dollars, that I will throw you one after the other' The reverends ran away and Joseph laughed himself nearly to death."

JOSEPH AS A STUDENT.
______

A Poor Writer and Reader -- Little Tricks Played by Him and the Elders -- Study of Hebrew -- Kimball's Desperate Fight With Grammar.

When, surely to his own surprise, arrived at the height of his ambition, Joseph, who was naturally "smart," felt keenly the want of some ornamental learning. s usual he decided to make the world believe that he had what, in fact, he had not. He did in this respect just the same thing which he had done in regard to plates, apparitions of angels, etc. Let the witnesses talk:

The Prophet Photographed. 25

Mrs. P.: "Joseph was a very poor writer and reader. He readily confessed this; it was a fulfillment of Scripture."

Mr. W.: "Joseph was the calf that sucked three cows. He acquired knowledge very rapidly, and learned with special facility all the tricks of the scoundrels who worked in his company. He soon outgrew his teachers. He studied Hebrew, he wanted to be fit for his place and enjoy the profits and power alone. He learned by heart a number of Latin, Greek and French common-place phrases, to use them in his speeches and sermons. For instance: Vox populi: vox diaboli; or Laus Dens (sic) or amor vincet omnium (stc), as quoted in the Nauvoo ' Wasp.' Joseph kept a learned Jew in his house for a long time for the purpose of studying Hebrew with him; the Jew used to teach his language in a room of the -Temple" to Joseph and a number of the elders." It was probably his rapidly augmenting knowledge of the sciences, that made him say, a few months before his death: ' / know more than the whole world. ' "I taught him the first rules of English Grammar in Kirtland in 1834. He learned rapidly, while Heber C. Kimball never came to understand the difference between noun and verb."

JOSEPH'S HABITS, APPEARANCE, ETC.
______

The Prophet at Table -- Uses Tobacco -- Is Well Dressed -- The Prophet's Jewelry -- The Prophet on Horseback -- His Laughter --His Conversation.

Mrs. P.: "Joseph was no gourmand at all. He ate heartily, but was not particular about the kind of food. I believe that he used tobacco in some form. He was always well dressed, generally in black with a white neck-tie. He looked like a Reverend. On the little finger

26 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

of his left hand he wore a heavy gold ring; he wore a gold watch and chain; people used to make him presents of such things. When I saw him for the first time he rode on a splendid black horse that had been given to him by some admirer. He was a very good horseman. He was, when walking, very lank and loose in his appearance and movements."

Mr. K.: "People coming to Nauvoo expected to find a kind of John the Baptist, but they found a very jolly prophet. He used to laugh from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, it shook every bit of flesh in him."

Mrs. P.: "Joseph did not talk much in society, his talk was not very fluent. He used to make a remark now and then, letting the others talk. Whenever he spoke of Church affairs, his talk grew intelligent. He had no great choice of words, and generally expressed his ideas in a very humble, common-place way. At all events, he was by no means interesting in company. It looked as if he wanted to keep those who surrounded him in respect by talking little."

JOSEPH AS A PREACHER.
_____

Strong Voice, no Oratorical Art, but much Magnetism -- Gets very Pale -- Joseph and Brigham Young Compared.

There was an old Dane in a Mormon settlement. He had half a dozen buxom daughters; one of them had been sealed to the bishop. Whenever the bishop was absent from his flock, the old Dane used to preach in his stead in the Sunday meeting. Once the bishop was in Salt Lake our old Dane goes on the "stand" with a letter in his hand. "The Bishop writes from Salt Lake," says he, "that Brother Brigham does not want any round dancing any more. The bishop writes that this command must be

Mahomet and His Army. 27

obeyed. The bishop is the representative of God and I am his father-in-law. Amen." This may be taken as no unfair example of "preaching" as introduced by the founder of this motley "creed." Joseph used to say whatever came on his tongue, and so do all who are Joseph's. Jokes and curses, meekness and bravado, temporal and spiritual, the Holy Ghost and stock-raising, irrigation and baptism for the dead all is "preaching."

Mr. K.: "Joseph's voice was very strong and could easily fill the remotest corner of a big hall."

Mrs. P.: "Joseph was no orator. He said what he wanted to say in a very blundering sort of way. John Taylor is the best speaker the Church ever had. Joseph had great magnetic influence over his audience, more than Brigham ever had. He had uncommon gifts in this line; he was what spiritualists call a strong medium. His eyes had nothing particular. When excited in speaking, he used to get very pale. The Saints thought that this change of colour came through the influence of the Holy Ghost. Whenever he had been 'tight,' he used to confess it in next Sunday's meeting. In the same way he confessed often that he had been wrong in some act. Brigham never did such a thing. But Joseph lied at the same time, stating that he had done so to try the faith of the Saints. The Lord would have a tried people."

JOSEPH AS A GENERAL.
______

Lots of Generals -- Colonel Orson Pratt -- The Modern Mahomet -- A Terrible General Order -- "Blood must be Shed" -- Fine Uniforms -- A Jolly General.

Yes, he was even a general at Nauvoo, not. only a "prophet, seer and revelator." There were innumerable colonels in the Nauvoo Legion; even dreamy Orson Pratt bore that warlike title. But Joseph and his next friends

28 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

were generals, of course. And he looked fine in his military rig-out, to be sure.

I quote from a letter in the New York Herald, dated Nauvoo, May 8, 1842:

"Yesterday was a great day among the Mormons. Their Legion, to the number of two thousand men, was paraded by Generals Smith, Bennett and others, and certainly made a noble and imposing appearance. There are no troops in the States like them in point of enthusiasm and warlike aspect, yea, warlike character Joseph, the chief,

is a noble-looking fellow, a Mahomet every inch of him."

It was in perfect keeping with this style, when Hugh McFall, Adjutant General, gave the following "General Order" at "Head-Quarters, Nauvoo Legion," "by order of Lieut. -General Joseph Smith:"

"The requisition from the Executive of Missouri, on the Executive of Illinois, for the person of the Lieutenant-General for the attempted assassination of ex-Governor Boggs, makes it necessary that the most able and experienced officers should be in the field, for if the demand should be persisted in, BLOOD MUST BE SHED."

Hear now a living witness:

Mrs. P.: "There was a great deal of gold on his uniform. Bennett was the man who introduced this grand style, he always wanted everything of the finest; they both rigged themselves out wonderfully. The Nauvoo Legion looked very well. Bennett understood parading thoroughly. Bennett did not look well on a horse, but Joseph looked splendid, and so did 'General' Hyrum. Notwithstanding all this style, Joseph was very cordial with everybody, shook hands with all the world, and was always addressed 'Brother Joseph.' The people fairly adored him."

No Help for the Widow's Son. 29

JOSEPH AS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
______

Joseph's Vertigo at Nauvoo -- The "Times and Seasons" in May and in June, 1844 -- Danite John D. Lee as Canvasser -- The Cry of a Mason.

Joseph got crazy about his greatness in Nauvoo. His general's uniform, the Urim and Thummim, the Plates, the Breastplate, Laban's sword all went to his head at once and made a fool of him. In this state of vertigo he conceived the glorious idea to. be a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. It is a very curious sight, that announcement * in the Times and Seasons:

FOR PRESIDENT,

GENERAL JOSEPH SMITH.

FOR VICE-PRESIDENT,

SIDNEY RIGDON, ESQ.

The greatest impostors and swindlers of the time, as bidders for the highest gifts of the Nation! And, looking over the yellowish leaves of the same Church organ, to see only a few numbers later the sacred columns in mourning, announcing the tragic death of the great candidate!

Well, he has paid for his crimes and his follies! Let us honor death, even in the corpse of an impostor. At that moment, when he cried out of the window of Carthage jail: "Is there no help for the widow's son?" hoping to find mercy from the hands of some brother Mason, he felt the bitterness of death as keenly as it can be felt. In this terrible moment he must have become

__________
* And this announcement was a lie. Joseph presents himself "of Illinois," but Sidney Rigdon, who had resided with Joseph all the time in Nauvoo, hails "of Pennsylvania." This was done to satisfy the well-known necessity of naming two different States. "They can't do a thing without lying!" as an old apostate said to me the other day, with flaming eyes and clenched fist.

30 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

aware that the hour of his own "blood atonement" had come, the hour of payment of his tremendous debt to outraged, swindled, robbed and murdered humanity.

Joseph sent 337 elders to canvass for him all over the country. John D. Lee was one of them, and though an admirer of the Prophet, he says in his book, pp. 148-149: "I left Nauvoo on the fourth of May, 1844, with greater reluctance than I had on any previous mission. It was hard enough to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, but it was nothing compared to offering a man with the reputation that Joseph Smith had, to the people as a candidate for the highest gift of the Nation. I would a thousand times rather have been shut up in jail than to have taken the trip, but I dared not refuse."

Mrs. P.: "The Mormons found it very natural that Joseph Smith wanted to be President of the United States, and Sidney Rigdon Vice-President. They thought the time was sure to come soon when he would be at the head of the Nation. This belief was part of their fanaticism, Joseph and Sidney spoke in public about their candidacies, and gave instructions to the elders whom they sent abroad. They said they would soon get the whole United States, and then they would make laws to suit themselves; and the people believed what they said."

JOSEPH AND NERO BOGGS.
______

"The Land of Your Enemies" -- The House of Israel Claiming the State of Missouri -- A Noble Deed -- "Lend Me Your Husband's Rifle" -- Elder Rockwell's Reward.

Missouri was to be the Canaan of the Saints. "My servants Sidney and Joseph" had promised it to them a thousand times, just as Don Quixote promised to Sancho Panza the idol of his wishes, the island. Look at the "revelation" of June, 1831, where the Lord speaks to the elders assembled in Kirtland:

The Mormon Troubles Explained. 31

"And thus, even as I have said, if ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, which is now THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES."

And the same Lord, who is evidently a first-class Mormon himself, says to the same elders in February, 1831:

"For it shall come to pass, that which I spake by the mouth of my prophet, shall be fulfilled; for I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people which are of the House of Israel."

Now let any person possessed of common sense read these two communications of the Mormon Lord, and he will need no other explanation of the "Mormon war" in Missouri and of the tribulations and turmoils of the Saints in general. Everywhere they go, there is "Zion"; what is not theirs, is their "enemies" and what is their "enemies'" must become theirs. It did not take the Missourians long to find out the kind intentions of the "House of Israel" towards them, and a civil war with its attending horrors ensued. Boggs, a faithful officer of the metal of our Murray, found out soon that quick amputation was the only method of healing this case of blood poisoning. He gave his celebrated order to drive the Mormons away or, "if it should become necessary for the public peace," to exterminate them. Would not any energetic patriot have acted just the same in such a case? Look at the evidence given in the trial of Joseph Smith and others, quoted in our Appendix to Part I., and then call Boggs the "Nero of Missouri," as the Mormon leaders did then and do to-day. *

__________
* Here is an example of a modern Mormon Sunday school teaching as to Governor Boggs. This is one instance out of hundreds showing how the minds of the young in Utah get filled with lies and hatred of the American name:

Q. "Who acted as the chief persecutor of the Saints?"
A. "The infamous Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of the State of Missouri."

Q. "Whom did Governor Boggs unjustly charge with this attempt to murder him?"
A. "Brother O. P. Rockwell, and that Joseph Smith prompted him to do it, or was accessory before the fact."
(Deseret Sunday School Catechism No. I. Questions and answers on the life and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. 1882.)

32 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Boggs was the embodiment of the lawful wrath of the Missourians, kindled by the arrogance and the crimes of the band of fanaticized adventurers called "Mormons." Boggs was, even in Nauvoo times, Macbeth-Smith's Banquo; while he lived there was no rest for the King of Nauvoo. He was hated for what he had done and feared for what he could do. While he lived Joseph's extradition at the call of the Missouri authorities was only a question of time. He must die, like Banquo, and then, what a fine effect on the "Mormon people," themselves, was to be expected from a sudden violent death of Nero! Was there not an admirable opportunity to show that Joseph, having predicted it, was the greatest of all prophets? The Lord was always on hand to smite his enemies with a timely stroke of lightning, and would not the death of Boggs, the "persecutor," deter other would-be Boggses from interfering with the Lord's chosen people and frighten the enemies of Zion in general?

Let us first glance at Bennett's book again. He says: "Joseph Smith in a public congregation in the city of Nauvoo, in 1841, prophesied that Lilburn W. Boggs, Ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands within a year. Smith was .speaking of the Missouri difficulties at the time, and said that the exterminator should be exterminated, and that the Destroying Angel should do it by the right hand of his power. 'I say it' said he, 'in the name of the Lord God! ' In the spring of the year 1842 Smith offered a reward of five hundred dollars to any man who would secretly assassinate Gov. Boggs. I heard the offer made at a meeting of the Danites in the Nauvoo lodge room . . . O. P. Rockwell left Nauvoo from one to two months prior to the attempted assassination of Governor Boggs, and returned the day before the report reached there. The Nauvoo Wasp, of May 28, A. D. 1842, a paper edited by William Smith, one of the twelve Mormon apostles, and brother of the Prophet, declared: "Who did the noble deed remains to

To Fulfill Prophecy. 33

be found out." * Some weeks after Rockwell left Nauvoo I asked Smith where he had gone. ' Gone? ' said he; "gone to fulfill prophecy,' with a significant nod, giving me to understand that he had gone to fulfill his prediction in relation to the violent death of Governor Boggs. Soon after Rockwell's return, Smith said to me, speaking of Governor Boggs: "The destroying angel has done the work, as predicted, but Rockwell was not the man who shot; the angel did it." †

No impartial writer about Mormon history has ever doubted Joseph's connection with this attempted assassination, ‡ but nobody has yet given direct proof. I am able to lay it before the reader, introducing the testimony of Mrs. Sarah Pratt: "One evening Dr. Bennett called at my house and asked me to lend him my husband's rifle. This was an excellent arm, brought from England by Orson Pratt; it was known to be the best rifle in that part of the country. I asked him what he wanted the rifle for, and he said: "Don't be so loud; Rockwell is outside Joseph wants it; I shall tell you later."... I suspected some foul play, and refused to give him the rifle, stating that I dared not dispose of it in the absence of my husband. Bennett went away, and when the news came that Gov. Boggs had been shot at and all but killed, Bennett came and told me that he had wanted the rifle of my husband

__________
* This is correct. The author saw the Wasp in the Historian's office at Salt Lake. And, en passant, I observe that President John Taylor in his celebrated discussion in France, in the year 1850, is strangely oblivious of this noble deed, dismissing with a virtuous flourish the charge as a weak invention of the enemy; in effect denying (as he also at the same time and place denied polygamy, etc.,) that Boggs' life had ever been sought by Mormon thugs: "Governor Boggs is residing at the present time in the State of California."

† Bennett, pp. 281-2.

‡ May 6th 1842, Boggs was shot at Independence, Mo., while reading a newspaper. The pistol was loaded with buckshot and three balls took effect in his head, one penetrating his brain. His life was despaired of for several days, but he recovered. See Wasp of May 28.

34 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

for "that job," and that Joseph had sent him to get it. I have not the slightest doubt that Joseph had planned and ordered the assassination of Gov. Boggs."

So far Mrs. Pratt, whose testimony, as all decent people in Salt Lake City well know, is absolutely reliable. It shows that our aspiring friend, Bennett, was an accomplice in the murderous plot, as he was in the other rascally schemes of his friend, the prophet; he was, indeed, in this college of crime, more teacher than disciple; and, not unlikely, the first suggestion of murdering Boggs came from Bennett himself. But, as to his own guilt, his book is like that of John D. Lee, telling any amount of truth concerning others, while lying about and screening himself.

Rockwell, it seems, got a good reward from the prophet for his zeal in fulfilling prophecy; Joseph was much more liberal in this respect than Brigham, who wanted his assassins to work for the Lord at their own expense, to murder "without purse or scrip."

John C. Bennett: "I would further say that Rockwell was abjectly poor before he left Nauvoo, but since his return he has an elegant carriage and horses at his disposal, and his pockets filled with gold. These horses and carriage belonged to Smith, and the gold was furnished by him."

C. G. Webb: "I saw the fine carriage, horses and harness which Rockwell got from Joseph after the attempt on the life of Gov. Boggs."

Some of My Witnesses. 35

THE LORD'S BANKERS IN KIRTLAND.
______

My Friend Webb, the aged Father of Wife Number Nineteen -- Interviews with Webb, James McGuffie and his Wife -- Joseph as Land Speculator, Banker and Auctioneer of Town-lots -- Those Window-glass Boxes and fine Bank Notes.

Do you remember, my excellent friend Webb, that balmy Sunday afternoon, in April, 1885, when you told me about that famous bank whose President and Cashier were the two chosen servants of the Lord, Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith? It was one of our many interviews in that cosy house of stalwart, sterling old James McGuffie and his good, honest soul of a wife. We sat, as usually, in the kitchen, not far from McGuffie's pride, that stove with "Zion" in shining nickel letters on it. I put question after question, with note-book and pencil in hand, and you and James McGuffie were busy answering. I have studied a great many old paintings in many cities of the old world, in Rome, Florence and Venice, in Vienna, Berlin and Paris, in Amsterdam, Brussels and London. But, I assure you, I have never seen better heads in any picture than yours and McGuffie and wife's; I never saw more sound sense, solidity and crystallized honesty in old heads, and good, well-meaning eyes besides, shining with all that makes eyes dearest to us love of truth and interest in humanity's progress and welfare. I wish those over-cultivated people in the East could have some interviews with you three "vile apostates." They would soon see what Mormonism really is, and not talk any more nonsense about it. But I want to dish before the reader what you said about that famous bank, friend Webb. So let me introduce you in your own words, dear old Liveoak:

"I personally lost $2, 500 in that famous bank, of which Sidney Rigdon was President and Joseph Smith Cashier. I got for my money the blessing of the Lord, and the

36 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

assurance that bye and bye the notes of that bank would be the best money in the country! The bank was founded in 1836. Its origin dates from Joseph's idea to secure to all the Saints 'inheritances,' which they should possess in this life and in the other. Consequently, many elders were sent east with the instruction to get as much money as possible. The elders returned with money, and Smith now bought a tract of land called the ' Smith farm. ' The temple was built and the city lots surveyed. But instead of receiving their 'inheritances,' the Saints had to buy them, and at good round prices, too. Joseph played auctioneer, and a very good auctioneer he was. The Saints were full of enthusiasm and lots went up from a hundred dollars to three and four thousand. This transaction brought some money into Joseph's capacious pockets and he now began to think of starting a bank in Kirtland. It was to be secured by real estate; but this was never done. They went to New York and had notes engraved, beautiful notes, the finest I had ever seen. In the bank they kept eight or nine window-glass boxes, which seemed to be full of silver; but the initiated knew very well that they were full of sand, only the top being covered with Accent pieces. The effect of those boxes was like magic; they created general confidence in the solidity of the bank, and that beautiful paper money went like hot cakes. For about a month it was the best money in the country. But the crash came soon, as everybody knows."

Yes, the crash came and the two bankers of the Lord had to leave Kirtland "between two days." But not because of their bank-swindle; the above-quoted "Sunday School Catechism No. zzzi" tells us that they left "to escape mob-violence." The swindled mob behaved shamefully indeed towards the man who had been appointed "Commander-in-chief of the Armies of Israel," and to whom Moses, "the great law-giver to ancient Israel," had given personally "the keys of the gathering of Israel." All that is in this useful little Catechism of 1882.

They Stole too Much. 37

COUNTERFEITING APOSTLES.
______

Brigham Young' s Official Money a Counterfeit -- A Jewel of a Confession, Contributed by Brigham' s Brother -- Nine Apostles as Criminals -- Brigand William Smith.

I am glad to be able to give some positive and partly very picturesque proof for this department of Mormon elders' iniquity. Should you come to Utah, reader, some old Mormon or apostate will show you the gold coins of Zion, coined by Brigham Young. Even this official money of the Kingdom, now out of course, is counterfeit; it bears on its face "Five Dollars.'' and is in reality only worth about $4.30. For proof of my assertions as to the earlier times of the "Church," the times in Missouri and Illinois, I rely principally on the confession of that daisy, Phineas Young, brother of Brigham, which, in my opinion, is worth fifty volumes on Mormon history. I give it in the very words of my informant, who is one of the most cultivated and reliable men of Salt Lake City:

"Phineas Young, a near relative of mine, said to me in 1875: 'We have been driven (from Missouri and Illinois) because our people stole too much. They stole horses, cattle and beehives, robbed smokehouses, and anything you may imagine, and then scores of us passed counterfeit money on the Gentiles."

Gov. Thomas Ford: "During the winter of 1845-6 the Mormons made the most prodigious preparations for removal (from Nauvoo). The twelve apostles went first, with about two thousand of their followers. Indictments had been found against nine of them in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the District of Illinois, at its December term, 1845, for counterfeiting the current coin of the United States" *

In the beginning of May, 1885, while stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in Salt Lake City, I met a lady of

__________
* History of Illinois, pp. 412-413.

38 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

the name of Mrs. E , who had lived in Nauvoo as a

child. She told me the following story: "My parents lived for a time at what was called ' Joseph Smith's Tavern,' in Plymouth, thirty-three miles from Nauvoo, and fifteen miles from Carthage. We children played hide and seek, one day, as we often did. We came, by chance, to an upper room, which Apostle Bill Smith, Joseph's brother, used as a bedroom when he was at the ' tavern.' While running about and trying to hide, we suddenly came upon a long, heavy sack, which we opened and found full of coined money silver and gold. At least, it looked so. We were very happy to become so rich. We little girls put lots of money in our small aprons, called together the children of the neighbors, and gave them some of the money. Our parents were not at home, but when they came we ran up to them: ' Oh, pa! oh, ma! we have a whole bread-pan full of money for you! ' Father gave us a severe rebuke, and ordered us to get all the money together, and to get back from our little friends all that we had given to them. We obeyed, with our eyes swimming in tears, and laid all the money before our father, who put it back in the sack and buried the sack: He said he would wait till Bill Smith and his comrades would ask him for the money. A few days after, Apostle Bill came to the 'tavern,' and with him came Zinc Salisbury and Luke Clayborn, both brothers-in-law of Bill. They searched for the money, and, not finding it, invited my father to go coon-hunting with them. My father divined that they wanted to punish him for the disappearance of the money, so he said to them: ' Why don't you tell me, honestly, that you wanted your money?' And so saying he showed them where he had buried the treasure. They took it, and threatened my father that they would kill him if he talked to anybody about it. There was great excitement in the country about this bogus money, and it finally became so intense that the authorities had to interfere. The officers found the machinery, with which the money was made, in Plymouth. Whenever Joseph Smith owed money he paid with this kind of coin."

Thus Saith the Lord. 39

JOSEPH IN MONEY MATTERS.
______

The Lazy Prophet and His Secretary -- A Hotel for the New Abraham and His Posterity -- The Prophet Robs and Defrauds Poor and Rich Alike.

Lying and laziness there is an alliteration for you were the two great characteristics of Joseph in early youth. There are extenuating circumstances in the case, however: he inherited both qualities from the "splendid gypsies," his parents, so that telling the truth and working hard would really and literally have been against his nature. His innate hatred of all serious work made him a money-digger and a fortune-teller, and finally a prophet. As such he had in his employ a factotum and secretary, who wrote down all that Joseph needed for the execution of his plans, which always tended to his power, profit or lust. This secretary, or chum of his, he used to call the "Lord," and what he had dictated to him, "revelations." Brigand Joseph and his next friends knew this funny circumstance perfectly well, but thousands of dupes swallowed the celebrated formula "Thus saith the Lord'' notwithstanding.

Let us hear some of those funny "revelations," dictated by Joseph to his "Lord" and then published in the latter 's name:"

"If thou lovest me thou shalt keep my commandments and thou shall consecrate all of thy properties unto me, with a covenant and deed which cannot be broken."

"Deed" shows the smart Yankee in dictating Joseph, He is not content with a religious "covenant," he wants a good, solid, ironclad deed. I proceed to quote from the official church books:

"Who receiveth you receiveth me and the same will feed you and clothe you and give you money and he who does not these things is not my disciple."

40 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

That secretary of the prophet is a thoroughly good fellow, it seems. But he can do better:

"And let all the moneys which can be spared, it mattereth not unto me whether it be little or much (!), be sent up unto the land of Zion, unto those I have appointed to receive it."

Now, getting all the spare money people have is surely very nice, but Joseph had to show to the people still more clearly what he could do with his above mentioned "pard." So he made him write:

"It is meet that my servant Joseph should have a house built in which to live and translate. And, again, it is meet that my servant Sidney Rigdon should live as seemeth him good, inasmuch as he keepeth my commandments. Provide for him (Joseph) food and raiment, and whatsoever he needeth and in temporal labor thou (Joseph! shalt have no strength, for this is not thy calling."

This is one of those great contradictions in nature to puzzle even a Darwin. Joseph, the wrestler, 6 feet high, and weighing 212 pounds, is too feeble to work. But the chum can do better. Joseph has a house and whatsoever he needeth, but he wants the comfort of a hotel, you see, with bar and all other appurtenances. Such a concern is just the thing for the necessities of a daily increasing polygamous or celestial household. So the chum sits down and writes:

"And now, I say unto you, as pertaining to my boarding house, which I commanded you to build for the boarding of strangers, let it be built unto my name and let my name be named upon it, and let my servant Joseph and his house have places therein from generation to generation. For this anointing have I put upon his head that this blessing shall also be put upon the heads of his posterity after him, and as I said unto Abraham even so I say unto my servant Joseph, in thee and in thy seed shall the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Therefore, let my servant Joseph and his seed after him have place in that house from generation to generation forever and ever, saith the Lord, and let the name of that house be called the "Nauvoo House." (January, 1841.)

Now this is perfectly delightsome. It is religion, you know. Don't you see the smart Yankee-eyes through the zzz/

The Plundering Prophet. 41

But I have to hasten to my notes and introduce my witnesses after this reproduction of old, well-known * 'revelations," without which, however, no biography of the imposter would be complete. Let us hear first

Mrs. P.: "Whenever a man of means came into the Church Joseph was sure to get a revelation that the money of the new comer must be "consecrated." He had no rest till he got hold of it. Examples are, Hunter, Shurtliff, Bosley and others. Joseph had not so much opportunity to make money, as Brigham, but both acted just alike. Joseph had great talents in the art of making himself agreeable to those whom he wanted to plunder. He borrowed money wherever he could and never returned a cent of it. If you wanted your money back he laughed in your face. He grew rapidly worse under the influence of John C. Bennett in this and every other respect. To rob people was called "consecrate to the Lord."

Mrs. Sw.: "Two good, honest people, Mr. and Mrs. Farrar, came to Nauvoo from England. They had been in the service of Sir Robert Peel and had amassed a little competence, about eight hundred pounds of English money, each. Joseph got the money from them. He told them that he would build up the kingdom with it, and, said he, emphatically: ' I shall die for you, if necessary! ' When Joseph was shot, Mr. Farrar became crazy; Mrs. Farrar died long afterwards, a pauper in Salt Lake."

Mr. W.: "Joseph was in money matters just like Brigham and Taylor. Whoever had money had to consecrate it to the Lord. When people were stripped of every dollar they had, they got sometimes a little pittance from the tithing office; that was all. I am convinced that Joseph never entertained the least idea of returning any money he had borrowed. He became rich through the sale of town lots."

Mrs. P.: "When people asked for their money, Joseph sometimes made dreadful scenes. How could, they dare to ask for money from the Lord's priesthood, which has the right to use everybody's money for the upbuilding of the kingdom! In this regard, indeed,

42 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Joseph's mantle fell on the shoulders of Brigham Young." Mr. S.: "Whenever Joseph sold a lot to somebody, he gave a church deed. Soon afterward the buyer got "counsel" to join the order of Enoch, and in this way Joseph got the lot back and kept the money. He sold as Mayor and took back as Enoch. For either emergency he had another name."

Mr. K.: "Money was like sand in Joseph's hands; it ran through his fingers. Bishop Hunter gave Joseph eleven thousand dollars in gold." [In Kirtland money was sand, as we have seen.]

Mr. R.: "Solomon Wixom was a poor but hard-working farmer in Nauvoo. Out of his scant earnings he managed to save about one hundred and twenty dollars, and laid it by in the Fall to buy a yoke of cattle in the Spring, to enable him to work a piece of land. Joseph Smith got wind of the little treasure by a 'revelation' an unsuspecting brother, to whom Wixom told his plans, chanced to speak of it in the presence of a confidant of Joseph. The prophet went to see Wixom, and after a few commonplace remarks which rather flattered the latter, said: 'Brother W., I am hard up for some money, I need it badly; do you know of anyone that could lend me a little?" Well, Brother Joseph, really I don't know. I have a little laid by, but I cannot spare it, for I want it to buy a yoke of cattle in the Spring.' 'Oh,' was Joseph's reply, "let me have it, Brother Wixom, and I can easily pay it back before you want it, and God will bless you.' 'Well, well, if you can, Brother Joseph, I'll lend it you.' He went and put the amount in Joseph's hand. When the prophet counted the money, he turned to Wixom and said: 'It's all right, I need not give you a note, Brother Sol., I suppose.' * Oh no, no, Brother Joseph, your word is good enough to me for that.' Spring came, and advancing toward the middle, but Joe never advanced toward Wixom, The poor man becoming uneasy went to his prophet-debtor: ' The Spring is come, Brother Joseph, and I come to ask you to be kind enough to give me that money I lent you.' 'Money, what money, Brother Sol.?' 'Why, don't you

The Prophet Robs the Poor. 43

recollect the money I lent you last Fall which you promised to pay me in the Spring to buy my oxen? ' After a moment's pause, apparently to jog his memory, the prophet replied:; No, Brother Sol., I never got any money from you that I know of. Have you got a note?' 'No, I haven't; you said there would be no need to give a note, for you would be sure and pay it, as it obliged you so much.' 'I don't remember any such transaction, and will not pay it,' said the man of God. The poor man never received his money, and when asked what he thought of the dishonest trick, he said that Joseph must have done it to try his faith."

This incident comes from a near relative of Wixom who is now a faithful polygamous Saint in Utah.

The following is a most characteristic story: Among the proselytes who came to Kirtland to enjoy the blessings of the new gospel, was a good honest spinster by the name of Vienna J , who herself related the occurrence. She came from away down East, where she had accumulated by hard work, dime by dime, some fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars. Joseph hearing of it immediately got a revelation concerning this money. He told Vienna, that the Lord wanted her to return East, gather up her substance and bring it on to Kirtland. Vienna obeyed and brought the money. When she arrived, Joseph was away from Kirtland. Some of the Elders, who were in the secret, itched to get hold of the money; one of them succeeded in getting a loan of fifty dollars from Vienna, one of those loans that are like Shakespeare's immortal traveler that never returns. Vienna followed the prophet to the place where he had gone. She had made up her mind, good soul, to give the prophet a big present in money a hundred dollars! She thought that was much, and, considering her circumstances and the way she had saved her dimes, it was much, sure enough. Well, she finds Joseph, and full of pious zeal, eager to surprise the prophet of the Lord, she hastens to lay before him the hundred dollars, well counted. But Joseph's countenance darkened and fell; he assumed a searching, severe look and cried: "Where is the rest of it? What have you done with the

44 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

money, sister?" The poor thing "shelled out" very soon; her whole earnings and savings went to Joe. Being asked what was done with it? "Oh," said she, "Joseph bought a gold watch, and Hyrum got a gold watch, and so did some others." Asked further: "And this did not shake your faith in the prophet?" "Oh no," said the good soul. "The Lord said I should have an inheritance in Zion. But I was to be industrious. You can see the revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants. I saw it in manuscript before it was printed, only they changed it a little in the print. In the revelation it first read her money, they made it say the money. But it was all right. Well, I never was lazy in my life, but I suppose the Lord saw I might get lazy." Well, that poor, old creature died "fixed" in the faith, over ninety years old, and the story shows what hold such a "religion" can have on simple, confiding, devout souls.*

SECRET MURDERS IN NAUVOO.
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Fine Nauvoo Tales by Brother Lee -- Thrown in the Lime Kiln, Body, Clothes and All -- The Drowning of the Good Old Woman, Described by R. Rushton -- Some Graceful Lies by John Taylor.

They are "secret" no more since Lee's book, and they will be less so after this little book of mine shall have seen the light. Murder is the most natural thing in the world with despotism; look for instance at Venice, Spain, etc. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Mormon form of theocracy, the most searching, brutal and absolute form of all tyrannies ever known in history, should resort to murder for the purpose of protecting itself from enemies Boggs, for example and screening its criminal and treasonable secrets, which form such an important part of

__________
* Told to the author by a witness, who heard it more than once recited by the old aunt, now in heaven.

Danite Lee Talks Plain. 45

this "religion." We are, therefore, not surprised in the least to find, that from the infancy of this "Church" up to our days, murder has always been the preferred instrument for fighting the enemies of the "Kingdom." Only a few weeks ago U. S. Attorney Dickson was attacked by a number of Mormon hoodlums, bearing the name of Cannon, a name synonymous with the most impudent kind of lying and misrepresentation. And why was Dickson attacked? Because he is the most able, energetic and incorruptible of all public accusers Utah ever had. Deputy Marshal Collin escaped barely with his life, a few months ago, while attacked by three or four "Danites" in a dark alley. The reason? He is a faithful officer.

Let me first introduce the testimony of John D. Lee, who, while in Nauvoo, (like Abraham O. Smoot and Hosea Stout), was only a modest Danite and policeman, but later became the most celebrated of assassins in the service of Brigham Young, outshining even stars like Porter Rockwell and Bill Hickman. What he says cannot but be true; there is too much proof for it.

"I knew of many men being killed in Nauvoo by the Danites. It was then the rule that all the enemies of Joseph Smith should be killed, and I know of many a man who was quietly put out of the way by the orders of Joseph and his apostles while the church was there. It has always been a well-understood doctrine of the church that it was right and praiseworthy to kill every person who spoke evil of the prophet. This doctrine has been strictly lived up to in Utah, until the Gentiles arrived in such great numbers that it became unsafe to follow the practice; but the doctrine is still believed, and no year passes without one or more of those who have spoken evil of Brigham Young being killed in a secret manner. In Springville it was certain death to say a word against the authorities, high or low. In Utah it has been the custom with the priesthood to make eunuchs of such men as were obnoxious to the leaders. This was done for a double purpose; first, it gave a perfect revenge, and next, it left the poor victim a living example to others of the dangers of disobeying counsel, and not living as ordered by the priesthood. In

46 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Nauvoo it was the orders from Joseph Smith and his apostles to beat, wound and castrate all Gentiles that the police could take in the act of entering or leaving a Mormon household under circumstances that led to the belief that they had been there for immoral purposes. I knew of several such outrages while there."

The official murderers in the service of the Mormon priesthood were always called "City Police," and are so called to-day.

Lee, one of the high priests who officiated at the great religious sacrifice, called "Mountain Meadows Massacre" by wicked Gentiles and apostates, says (Confession, p. 287): "Soon after I got to Nauvoo I was appointed seventh policeman. I had superiors in office, and was sworn to secrecy and to obey the orders of my superiors, and not let my left hand know what my right hand did. It was my duty to do as I was ordered, and not to ask questions. I was instructed in the secrets of the priesthood to a great extent, and taught to believe, as I then did believe, that it was my duty, and the duty of all men, to obey the leaders of the church, and that no man could commit sin so long as he acted in the way that he was directed by his church superiors. I was one of the lifeguard of the prophet Joseph."

I now introduce living witnesses.

Mrs. Pa.: "It was not rare for people who owned fine pieces of property in Nauvoo to disappear all of a sudden. An English family sold all the property they had in England, and then went to "Zion." The husband and father arrived first in Nauvoo, and soon wrote home to England that he owned a fine house and garden. The wife came later, but could not find her husband or his property. He had simply disappeared. She was told that he had died suddenly, but they could not show his grave. The woman had sold her property in England after her husband had left, but she was smart enough not to say a word about it in Nauvoo, that she had the money in her pockets. She told the prophet that she had tried to sell her property, but had not succeeded, and that she left it in trust. She managed to get out of Nauvoo."

Dead Men Tell No Tales. 47

Mrs. J.: "While I was in Nauvoo, the following was very common talk there: .'What is it?' 'Oh, nothing, only a dead man has been picked up.' I had been very strong in the faith, but such things opened my eyes."

A man by the name of Thompson is authority for the following statement. He was for years an employee of the Tithing office in Salt Lake; he had been a long time in Nauvoo and apostatized in 1860. He told one of my chief witnesses, who thinks him a perfectly reliable man, the following: "All those that were inimical to the Kingdom of God in Nauvoo, were put away. I knew a man who was looked upon as an enemy to the church. They threw him, body, clothes and all, in the lime kiln and burned him up. But I believed' then [ just like John D. Lee] that it was all right; it had been commanded by Joseph the Prophet and was done for the safety of the Kingdom."

"Dead men tell no tales" was a favorite word of Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young adopted and used it very frequently. One might say that it was the motto of the two prophets as to the treatment of their enemies. But sometimes the motto was changed a little and then it had to read: "Dead women tell no tales." This is proved by a terrible tale related by old Richard Rushton, the faithful steward of the "Nauvoo Mansion," where Joseph lived as hotel-keeper.

"Old Sister , well-known in early times in

Nauvoo was a good, generous woman, a faithful Saint, and tried to be worthy the name by being kind and truthful. Having some means she could spare, she helped the: prophet' and gave amply to the ' church.' She attended to the sick and there were many there alleviating their distresses and speaking words of cheer to the disconsolate. She was respected by many as a ' mother in Israel.' But she was outspoken, and seeing so much that appeared to her corrupt, she would sometimes ' blab ' about the brethren's doings. Her reproofs showed that she knew too much, and she might become dangerous to them. Though she knew but little, comparatively, of what was going on, the priesthood became alarmed, and as it was easier to get

48 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

rid of an old woman that to reform their lives, it was considered necessary to ' attend to her case. ' A council was held in Joseph's room, at which were Joseph Smith, O. P. Rockwell and a few others. After Rockwell had accused her, the subject was broached of drowning her, the council concluding that for the safety of some of the brethren, and especially Joseph, although she was a zzzi purty good 'oman,' she must be silenced at all hazards. The plan devised then and there, was that, as she was 'kind o' kind to the church/ the church would make her a present of a piece of land and a house on it which they owned ' over the river.' The next night they would take her ' over the river' and land her safely ' on the other side.' All present consented, and the evening being dark and propitious to carry out the plan, a few of those consenting met at the boat at the river-side to execute 'the will of the Lord concerning her."

"It was a dark night. Darkness on the city and on the great stream, rolling peacefully but a few rods distant. Profound silence in the low part of the city. But hark! a wild shriek is heard by a trembling listener in the little orifice of the ' Mansion,' coming as from a throat gurgling with water; it was only a moment, and again silence; but hark! another shriek from the same quarter, from the same voice, a piercing shriek as from some one struggling for dear life; and again silence. Then a final shriek, much fainter, telling the breathless listener that the end had come. All is now hushed as death. The cry is heard no more, the old soul is silenced now, the baptism is complete without the usual religious formula, and the lifeless body floats in the broad arms of the Father of the Waters, no more to vex the souls of these pitiless conspirators, until the great day of account, when "the sea shall give up its dead. "

"In less than five minutes after the ceasing of the screams from the drowning victim, the prophet, O. P. Rockwell and two others rushed wildly into the hotel. The prophet was dripping wet. He was loudly expostulating with ' Port ' and the others: * You should not have drowned her; she couldn't have done us much harm.'

Joseph Walks on the Water. 49

'We had to do it,' was the response, 'for your safety and our own, as well as for the good of the church. She can't harm us now.' 'I am very sorry;' said the prophet, ' if I had thought of it a few minutes sooner, you wouldn't have drowned Sister.' It appears that although the prophet consented the night previous to her murder, under the impulse of the misrepresentation and fears of her accusers, he relented on reflection and expected to appear with the murderers at the river's edge in time to prevent them from putting their purpose into effect. He was too late, and in his effort to save her then he was wet through and through, being baffled by the combined strength of his followers. The prophet was impulsive and fitful, and in his better moments, no doubt, thought the poor old soul should not be ' blood-atoned,' and really tried to save her. But what a state of society, that made it possible to drown an innocent, defenceless, confiding old woman!" (Richard Rushton heard the shrieks of the victim while sitting in the office of the "Mansion.")

There must have been strong rumors current about the secret crimes committed in Nauvoo at that time, since the church organ called Times and Seasons, while advocating Joseph Smith's election as President of the United States, found it necessary to issue the following characteristic denial to those floating rumors:

"Gentlemen, we are not going either to murder ex-Governor Boggs, nor a 'Mormon in this State ' for not giving us his money;' nor are we going to ' walk on the water,' * nor 'drown a woman,' nor defraud the poor of their property,' nor ' marry spiritual wives,' etc.

Now I assert that the Mormon leaders did commit the crimes and abominations charged to them by public rumor in 1844 and denied impudently in the church organ. I have proved the attempted assassination of Governor

__________
* I am informed that Mr. Deming, of Painesville, Ohio, is prepared to prove in his book that old story of Joseph's having "walked on the water" in Kirtland to imitate one of the best known miracles of the Savior. There were, it seems, planks put some inches below the surface of the water, and Smith walked (in perfect security) over the deep & But a wag having contrived to remove one of the planks, the modern miracle-worker took a dip that nearly cost him his interesting life.

50 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Boggs and the drowning of the old woman; the truth of the remaining charges admits of no doubt in the light of proofs furnished on all sides for similar and worse offenses. Was not polygamy confessed officially in 1852, after having been denied most solemnly by the church organ and leaders up to that time, and by John Taylor in a public discussion in 1850, in Boulogne, France? "We are not going to marry spiritual wives." How does this read, I ask thee, O righteously indignant Mormon doubter, in the glaring light of historic truth emblazoning polygamy since the time that Lieutenant General Joseph Smith was posing as presidential candidate?

STEALING IN NAUVOO.
______

Ridiculous "Gentile" Notions -- John Taylor very Solemn -- Abel, the Colored Priest -- Stealing Cattle and Healing the Sick.

To understand this chapter fully, you have to get rid of your Gentile notions and prejudices first, gentle reader. To kill a fellow in some canyon, because he is an apostate, is not murder in Mormonism, but saving the poor fellow's soul. Taking from the Gentiles is not stealing, but consecrating to the Lord what rightfully belongs to him. This is a "higher law," too. For is not "the earth the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and the cattle on a thousand hills?" Now just stick to this, reader, and don't forget that it is more than an official test of Mormon faith; it is a part of the life blood of the elders of the school of Joseph and Brigham. Nobody ever expressed this axiom better than John Taylor did once in New York, A Mormon lady told him that her servant girl used to bring home bits of silverware and like articles whenever she had been visiting Gentile friends. "What shall I do, Brother Taylor?" said the lady. "Dear Sister H," said the

They Steal as the Lord's Agents. 51

man of God, with that ghostly unction of his, "you CANNOT steal from Gentiles!"

No, you cannot. Taylor is right, and his answer was a masterpiece of strict logic. Can it be stealing, if you take from your enemies, whom God will destroy very soon for not accepting the gospel of Joseph Smith? What the wicked Gentiles possess is stolen from the Lord; so bring it back, brethren, to the Lord, that obliging "pard" of Joseph's, who hands the trash over to Joseph, of course.

But hear another of the Lord's choice "revelations" and you will understand fully that the "founder" of Mormonisrn authorized his followers directly to appropriate "whatsoever HE needeth:"

"Behold, it is said in my laws, or forbidden to get in debt to thine enemies (the Gentiles); but, behold, it is not said, at any time, that the Lord should not take when he please and zzz/#y as seemeth him good'; wherefore, as ye are agents, and ye are on the Lord's errand, and whatsoever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord�s business, and he has sent you to provide for his Saints�"

Here's richness. This is from the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," a book, remember, as sacred in the eyes of a fanatic Mormon as the New Testament is to any zealous Christian. Hear now our brave old witnesses:

Mr. W: "Abel was the name of a colored man in Nauvoo who had received the Priesthood from Joseph. This was an exception to the rule, colored people not being entitled to the blessings of Mormon priesthood (but Joseph and Co. fixed it). Abel, the black priest, at Joseph's command, stole a quantity of lumber, which was needed for coffins, at one time there being great mortality in Nauvoo on account of malaria. A little later Joseph ordered Abel to steal a whole raft of lumber. Abel had scruples about this second order. The first one he had considered all right, since the lumber served to bury the dead. But he was a good Saint, the black priest, and stole the raft all the same. He told me the story himself.

"One day I was ordered to go and lay hands on the sick, in a place up the river some miles from Nauvoo. Elder M. R., now a bishop in Salt Lake, went with me.

52 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

We laid our hands on the sick and it seemed to have good effect: they felt better. Not long ago I met Bishop M. R. in the street. Says he, ( Do you remember how we cured the sick near Nauvoo? I cannot understand how we could succeed, since I had been the very same day driving in forty-five head of cattle which the brethren had stolen on the plains.' W. answered: 'Well, I had not been stealing) and that, perhaps, explains our success."

Mrs. Pa.: "Vilate Kimball, the apostle's first wife, an honest woman, told many things to her intimate friends. She used to say that her house in Nauvoo was a regular deposit of the 'spoils of the Gentiles.' It was a favorite sport with the Mormons to rob the stores of their enemies, and to ' consecrate' all the goods to the Lord. Mrs. Kimball had in her house innumerable pieces of calico, muslin, etc., generally of the length of fifty yards. ' I know it to be a fact that our people used to go out nights for the purpose of stealing the wash from the lines of the Gentiles in a circuit of twenty miles around Nauvoo,' sister Vilate used to say."

W. W. Phelps, a prominent saint in olden times, "Joseph's Speckled Bird," and for many years "Devil" in the Endowment House, said to an old friend of his in Salt Lake: "If the Mormons had behaved like other people, they would never have been driven from Illinois and Missouri; but they stole, robbed and plundered from all their neighbors, and all the time." (The daughter of Phelps' friend told this little confession to the author.)

Mr. Sh.: "When I came to the church at Nauvoo my first experience was this: The priesthood wanted me to be captain of a band whose task it was to stampede the cattle of the apostates, and to kill them if they offered any resistance. I had given the church all I had $23,000 and I declined the honor of being captain of such a band."

Mr. W.: "Bogus Brigham, alias Bishop Miller (of Prove), was a big, fleshy, stupid fellow. He had a flatboat on the Mississippi. He went down the river and stole from a mill a whole boat-full of flour. He has told me this himself."

Joseph, Lee, and Brigham. 53

THE DON JUAN OF NAUVOO.
______

Don Juan in Seville and in Nauvoo -- A Well-Counted Hecatomb of Victims -- Celestial Assignation Houses -- The Little Oil Bottle -- The Innocent Girl at the Keyhole -- Eliza R.; first Spy and then Mistress -- Orgies in Nauvoo -- Abortion and Infanticide.

Yes, "Don Juan"; that's a good name. I remember to have heard that glorious opera of Mozart at least thirty times. I remember how I used to be overcome with two powerful sensations whenever I left the Vienna Opera-house: one was a strong emotion in my breast, such as a decent fellow must always feel after having witnessed the punishment of an unscrupulous libertine; and second, any amount of smell of burnt gunpowder in my nostrils, proceeding from the fireworks which represented pretty well a middle-sized, old-fashioned, fire-and-brirnstone hell to burn the great sinner in.

Now, Joseph's career and fearful end are, to my heart and nose, exactly the same over again; same emotion, same smell, coming now from the smoking rifles of those treacherous "Carthage Grays." So let us say "Don Juan," and introduce Joseph's amorous history as such.

It is now a well established historical fact that the origin of Mormon polygamy, or "celestial marriage," was nothing but the unbounded and ungoverned passion of the prophet for the other sex. "Joseph and John D. Lee were the most libidinous men I ever knew" says my friend Webb, who knew the prophet for eleven years. "Joseph was the most licentious and Brigham Young the most bloodthirsty of men" says Mrs. Sarah Pratt, who has known all these Mormon leaders during almost their whole career in the church.

In one of my many interviews with the aged, life-long martyr of polygamy, I said once to her: "I have seen

54 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

a statement in a book that Joseph had eighty wives at the time of his death. Is that true?" Mrs. Pratt smiled and said: "He had many more, my dear sir; at least he had seduced many more, and those with whom he had lived without their being sealed to him, were sealed to him after his death, to be among the number of his "queens "in the other world. All those women were divided among his friends after his tragic death, so that they might be "proxy-husbands" to them on earth; while in the celestial kingdom they would, with their offspring, belong to Brother Joseph, the Christ of this dispensation."

Notwithstanding that I had lost, while pursuing my study of Mormon history, a good deal of my original faculty of becoming surprised, it astonished me a little to hear of five scores of ladies entitled to the high distinction of being called "wife of the prophet." But, comparing notes, which I have collected from many witnesses, I cannot but come to the conclusion that Mrs. Pratt has not exaggerated: that Brother Joseph, as a wholesale sealer "for time, and all eternity," was the greatest Don Juan of this or any other dispensation.

Mrs. P.: "Everybody knew in Nauvoo that the Partridge girls lived with Joseph a long time before he got his celebrated revelation about celestial marriage, dated July 12, 1843. The Partridge girls were very good-natured. After Joseph's death one was sealed to Brigham and the other to Apostle Amasa Lyman. Joseph's taste was of very large dimensions, he loved them old and young, pretty and homely. He sometimes seduced mothers to keep them quiet about his connection with their daughters. There was an old woman called Durfee. She knew a good deal about the prophet's amorous adventures and, to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss. I don't think that she was ever sealed to him, though it may have been the case after Joseph's death, when the temple was finished. At all events, she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph's wives. Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young took the lion's share at

The Little Oil Bottle. 55

the division of Joseph's wives after his death. Joseph had a number of lady friends, sealed or not sealed, who permitted him to use their houses as a kind of assignation houses for rendezvous with other women."

Mr. Jo.: "You remember that passage in the Revelations about celestial marriage, where 'the Lord ' says to Joseph: 'and if she be with another man, and I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery.' Well, an old Mormon, who had been very intimate with Joseph in Nauvoo, assured me that the prophet always carried a small bottle with holy oil about his person, so that he might ' anoint ' at a moment's notice any woman to be a queen in Heaven. A curious little anecdote was told me by a gentleman who had it direct from that pure man of God, Heber C. Kimball. Brigham's alter ego said as follows: 'I sat once with Joseph in his office in the Mansion House. He looked out of the window and saw weeding in a garden a young married woman whom we both knew. He told me to go to her and request her to come to him, and he would have her sealed to himself this very moment. I went and told the woman to come to Brother Joseph. She ran to the house to comb her hair and 'fix up' generally, and then followed me to the prophet. I performed the sealing ceremony, and retired."

Mr. J. W. C.: i( Joseph knew himself well. He said to one of his intimate friends, ' If the Lord had not taken me in hand, I would have become the greatest

w of the world.' And to another friend, he said:

' Whenever I see a pretty woman, I have to pray for grace.'

Mrs. P.: "Joseph did not content himself with his spiritual brides, who surrendered themselves to him 'for Christ's sake.' There lived on the Mississippi, near the steamboat landing, a certain young woman, a Mrs. White, very pretty and always very fashionably dressed. She was in the habit of being very hospitable to the captains of the steamboats . . . Joseph was one of her customers and used to contribute to the expenses of her establishment."

Mr. Wa.: "I used to employ a poor Mormon woman for domestic sewing. She had been a fanatic Mormon in

56 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

her time, but had cooled down considerably in consequence of her experience in the direction of celestial marriage. Her husband had taken < another woman ' and entirely neglected her, and that is what made her shaky in the faith. She once felt very dull, and in this mood she told me the following little story. ' When in Nauvoo, I was a very young girl, and there I happened to be witness of an event that gave me the first doubt about Joseph the prophet. I was servant in the house of a Mr. Ford, a merchant who had a store in Nauvoo. He was wont to go by steamer to St. Louis, to make purchases. Whenever Mr. Ford was absent from his house, the prophet used to call on Mrs. Ford.* He would come, chat with her awhile, and then, they would retire to the lady's chamber. For a while I saw nothing in this, being a very young, innocent girl, and very strong in the faith. But some way or other suspicion arose in my mind. So when Joseph called again Mr. Ford had gone to St. Louis the day before I could not master my curiosity any more. I followed the pair

stealthily, and putting my eye to the keyhole I saw

. ' Here the poor woman gave me a description of

a scene which was surely calculated to shake even the most fanatic faith. But this is not all. She said: ' Whenever Mr. Ford came home from St. Louis, he used to complain about business: 'I cannot understand it,' he used to say, ' when I am here money comes in all the time, and when I am away not a red cent gets into the house.' Now the explanation is very simple. Whenever Joseph had prayed with Mrs. Ford, she used to give him all the money in the till, to the last cent. Since that time I do ask myself sometimes, whether Joseph was really the right kind of a prophet."*

The women in Nauvoo considered it a high honor to receive their celestial blessings from Joseph himself. He was prophet, seer and revelator, lieutenant general, mayor; he was not only the Lord's mouthpiece, but might be President of the United States. At any rate, he was,

__________
* This story has been told the author by a perfectly reliable gentleman, a business man of high and long standing in Salt Lake.

He Seals Them All. 57

without having the title, the autocrat, the emperor of the rapidly growing Mormon empire. Is it any wonder that those poor souls should feel greatly elated whenever the anointed of the Lord deigned to accept their all?

Mr. W.; "Joseph's dissolute life began already in the first times of the* church, in Kirtland. lie was sealed there secretly to Fanny Alger. Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house."

Mrs. D.: "A Mrs. Granger proved a very reliable and useful friend to the prophet. He was once at her house, in bed, and not alone. The bed had old-fashioned curtains. All at once Sister Emma, the prophet's wife, came in, and said excitedly to Mrs. Granger: ' Is Brother Joseph here?' * No,' said Mrs. Granger, ' he has jusr been in, but went out again,' getting Sister Emma out of the house as hurriedly as possible. Joseph used to tell his intimate friends how dreadfully he had felt in that bed, expecting every moment that his wife might look behind the curtains."

Mrs.J.: "Eliza Partridge, one of the many girls sealed to the prophet, used to sew in Emma's room. Once, while Joseph was absent, Emma got to fighting with Eliza and threw her down the stairs. i That finished my sewing there,' Eliza used to say."

"In Kirtland, Joseph was once caught in a house

with one of the sisters. This house might be called the

humble birthplace of the revelation on celestial marriage."

Mr. W.: "Joseph kept eight girls in his house, calling them his 'daughters.' Emma threatened that she would leave the house, and Joseph told her, ' All right, you can go.' She went, but when Joseph reflected that such a scandal would hurt his prophetic dignity, he followed his wife and brought, her back. But the eight 'daughters' had to leave the house."

"Miss" Eliza R. Snow, one of the most curious figures in the history of Mormondom, played an important part in the events relating to celestial hymenology. She is the great poetess (and such a poetess!), and is a

58 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

sort of high priestess generally of Mormonism. She used to anoint the sisters in the Endowment house and to play the part of Eve in the celestial drama enacted there. She is now over eighty years old, yet doing the same thing in the Logan temple in Utah. * Sister Eliza became the church's "elect lady" when "the Lord" became thoroughly incensed with Sister Emma for her contumacy. She is the very prototype of what is called "female roosters" in Zion, always ready to enslave and drag men and women into polygamy. She was one of the first (willing) victims of Joseph in Nauvoo. She used to be much at the prophet's house and "Sister Emma" treated her as a confidential friend. Very much interested about Joseph's errands, Emma used to send Eliza after him as a spy. Joseph found it out and, to win over the gifted (!) young poetess, he made her one of his celestial brides. There is scarcely a Mormon unacquainted with the fact that Sister Emma, on the other side, soon found out the little compromise arranged between Joseph and Eliza. Feeling outraged as a wife and betrayed as a friend, Emma is currently reported as having had recourse to a vulgar broomstick as an instrument of revenge; and the harsh treatment received at Emma's hands is said to have destroyed Eliza's hopes of becoming the mother of a prophet's son. So far one of my best informed witnesses. Her story becomes corroborated by another reliable source. Elder Bullock, who was church historian at that time, used to tell the following little tale: "Joseph said on the morning of the first parade of the Nauvoo Legion ' This is the proudest day of my life.' Many people believed that this outburst of pride was entirely of a military character. But I and some other intimate friends of the prophet knew very well that he was proud of another thing, not of a parade, but of a conquest, the conquest of Eliza."

Mr. W.: "There were many small rooms, with beds, in the temple in Nauvoo. They turned the house of the Lord into a house of prostitution. The wife of Amasa Lyman, apostle and apostate, used to say that they had many little bedrooms in the temple, and that the

High Jinks in Nauvoo. 59

newly-sealed couples used to retire to those rooms with provisions for two or three days."

Mr. S.: "Amasa Lyman, the apostle, who later became a 'vile apostate,' told me that Joseph, Brigham Young, and other apostles used to dance in the Endowment house with the Lord's ' hand-maids,' their spiritual wives. Those dances were performed in Adamic costume; and a fiddler was ' ordained and set apart ' for the purpose. I know this to be an absolute fact; it has been confirmed to me by other w r ell-informed persons. That fiddler went with a party of Mormons to California, San Bernardino County, and remained there."

It seems that the "souvenir" of the orgies in .'Nauvoo was kept alive by some of the men who had been initiated into the jolly secrets of the innermost ring of the prophet's friends, of both sexes. Elder Thomas Margetts, while in England, established, in Southampton, a "mock endowment house," whose walls were ornamented by the most obscene of pictures, and where orgies were performed at least the equals in brutality to those celebrated in Nauvoo. I know this to be a positive fact. It was attested to me by two former elders of the church who held positions of influence in the "conferences." One of them was present at the church trial of the offenders. Margetts was later killed on the plains by Elder Porter Rockwell, whose sacramental duty consisted in blowing out the brains of all suspected or guilty persons.

Mrs. P.: "You hear often that Joseph had no polygamous offspring. The reason of this is very simple. Abortion was practiced on a large scale in Nauvoo. Dr. John C. Bennett, the evil genius of Joseph, brought this abomination into a scientific system. He showed to my husband and me the instruments with which he used to * operate for Joseph. ' There was a house in Nauvoo, 'right across the flat,' about a mile and a-half from the town, a kind of hospital. They sent the women there, when they showed signs of celestial consequences. Abortion was practiced regularly in this house."

Mrs. H.: "Many little bodies of new-born children floated down the Mississippi."

60 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

May 21, 1886, I had a fresh interview with Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had the kindness to give me the following testimony additional to the information given by her in our interviews in the spring of 1885. "I want you to have all my statements correct in your book," said the noble lady, "and put my name to them; I want the truth, the full truth, to be known, and bear the responsibility of it.

"I have told you that the prophet Joseph used to frequent houses of ill-fame. Mrs. White, a very pretty and attractive woman, once confessed to me that she made a business of it to be hospitable to the captains of the Mississippi steamboats. She told me that Joseph had made her acquaintance very soon after his arrival in Nauvoo, and that he had visited her dozens of times. My husband (Orson Pratt) could not be induced to believe such things of his prophet. Seeing his obstinate incredulity, Mrs. White proposed to Mr. Pratt and myself to put us in a position where we could observe what was going on between herself and Joseph the prophet. We, however, declined this proposition. You have made a mistake in the table of contents of your book in calling this woman "Mrs. Harris." Mrs. [G. W.] Harris was a married lady, a very great friend of mine. When Joseph had made his dastardly attempt on me, I went to Mrs. Harris to unbosom my grief to her. To my utter astonishment, she said, laughing heartily: "How foolish you are! I don't see anything so horrible in it. Why, I AM HIS MISTRESS SINCE FOUR YEARS!"

"Next door to my house was a house of bad reputation. One single woman lived there, not very attractive. She used to be visited by people from Carthage whenever they came to Nauvoo. Joseph used to come on horseback, ride up to the house and tie his horse to a tree, many of which stood before the house. Then he would enter the house of the woman from the back. I have seen him do this repeatedly.

"Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined

A Little Job for Joseph. 61

to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: 'You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?' He answered: 'If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened.'

It was in this way that I became acquainted with Dr. John C. Bennett. When my husband went to England as a missionary, he got the promise from Joseph that I should receive provisions from the tithing-house. Shortly afterward Joseph made his propositions to me and they enraged me so that I refused to accept any help from the tithing-house or from the bishop. Having been always very clever and very busy with my needle, I began to take in sewing for the support of myself and children, and succeeded soon in making myself independent. When Bennett came to Nauvoo, Joseph brought him to my house, stating that Bennett wanted some sewing done, and that I should do it for the doctor. I assented and Bennett gave me a great deal of work to do. He knew that Joseph had his plans set on me; Joseph made no secret of them before Bennett, and went so far in his impudence as to make propositions to me in the presence of Bennett, his bosom friend. Bennett, who was of a sarcastic turn of mind, used to come and tell me about Joseph to tease and irritate me. One day they came both, Joseph and Bennett, on horseback to my house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., -- this explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: 'Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in trouble.' Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I

62 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

heard afterwards that the operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.

"Bennett was the most intimate friend of Joseph for a time. He boarded with the prophet. He told me once that Joseph had been talking with him about his troubles with Emma, his wife. 'He asked me,' said Bennett, smilingly, 'what he should do to get out of the trouble ?' I said, 'This is very simple. GET A REVELATION that polygamy is right, and all your troubles will be at an end.'

"The only 'wives' of Joseph that lived in the Mansion House were the Partridge girls. This is explained by the fact that they were the servants in the hotel kept by the prophet. But when Emma found out that Joseph went to their room, they had to leave the house.

"I remember Emma's trip to St. Louis. I begged her to buy for me a piece of black silk there.

"You should bear in mind that Joseph did not think of a marriage or sealing ceremony for many years. He used to state to his intended victims, as he did to me: 'God does not care if we have a good time, if only other people do not know it.' He only introduced as marriage ceremony when he had found out that he could not get certain women without it. I think Louisa Beeman was the first case of this kind. If any woman, like me, opposed his wishes, he used to say: 'Be silent, or I shall ruin your character. My character must be sustained in the interests of the church.' When he had assailed me and saw that he could not seal my lips, he sent word to me that he would work my salvation, if I kept silent. I sent back that I would talk as much as I pleased and as much as I knew to be the truth, and as to my salvation, I would try and take care of that myself.

"In his endeavors to ruin my character Joseph went so far as to publish an extra-sheet containing affidavits against my reputation. When this sheet was brought to me I discovered to my astonishment the names of two people on it, man and wife, with whom I had boarded for a certain time. I never thought much of the man,

Hyrum Saves the Church. 63

but the woman was an honest person, and I knew that she must have been forced to do such a thing against me. So I went to their house; the man left the house hurridly when he saw me coming. I found the wife and said to her rather excitedly: 'What does it all mean?' She began to sob. 'It is not my fault,' said she. 'Hyrum Smith came to our house, with the affidavits all written out, and forced us to sign them. 'Joseph and the church must be saved,' said he. We saw that resistance was useless, they would have ruined us; so we signed the papers.'"

Let us now introduce a statement as to the reliability of Mrs. Pratt...

(pages 63-72 under construction)

Joseph's Anatomical Museum. 73

in January 1885, which gave me the first insight into the pernicious working of a system invented by impostors and carried out by outlaws all the way through.

EMMA, THE PROPHET'S WIFE.
_______

Old Hickory Hale -- Emma Loves the "Peeper" -- King and Pope -- Wretched and Proud -- "All Guesswork" -- Emma Wants to Expose the Humbug -- A Crushing Document -- "Peeper" Joseph -- The White Dog Sacrificed -- Joseph a Crocadile -- That old White Hat -- The Bleeding Ghost -- The Prophet of the Lord Becomes a Methodist -- Emma Finds out What "Spiritual" Means.

Yes, don't doubt it a moment, I have looked out for a bright point in Joseph's life and would have been very happy in finding it. I am naturally given to admiration of all that is good and noble in human nature. I have learnt, besides -- I am on the wrong side of forty -- that man is a curious composite of good and bad, and that a little good goes far in making up for a great amount of bad. Thackeray is right. Each of us has his "skeleton in the closet." Why should I rattle with the bones in my neighbor's cellar, lest somebody might come and open the door of my own well-guarded closet?

But the case of our prophet is different. There is nothing but skeletons. His house is full of them, and so is his city. Rattling becomes a public duty. The proprietor of this vast anatomical museu, claims to be the founder of a new religion, the best religion of all, the restorer of truth and moral purity all over the wide world. Don't you think I am justofied in rattling?

No, I could not find a bright point, an extenuating circumstance, in the whole life of the great impostor. It is lie and crime all through. Just think of the multitude of excellent people, virtuous, devout women and good men.

74 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

who have staked their all in this life upon the prophetship of "Joseph Smith, Junior!" Why. Joe would have been the captain of a pirate-ship or a slave-dealer as soon as a prophet. There is not even a beam of light in those days that are such happy ones for purer minds -- the days of wooing and early wedlock. He likes old Hale's daughter, but the first thing he does is to pervert the moral sense of the honest farmer's darling, and make her an accomplice of his fraud. The proud, intelligent young wife becomes likewise an impostor; he crushes her conscience, and it appears a crushed one even on her death bed, when she declared that Joseph had never been in polygamy. She had learned from him to lie to further her ends. But what he could not crush in her were the wife and mother. He tried hard to make an Eliza R. Snow of her, a harem-queen. He did not succeed. He had to cow before this firm wife and proud mother. In this she remained old Hale's child, even when threatened with destruction by that climax of silly impudence and impious balderdash, the "revelation on celestial marriage." You might even construe that death-bed lie of hers as the outcome of her pride, her firmness and her love for her family, which she wanted to appear pure and decent before the world. Though tainted ith her husband's fraud, the prophet's wife shines out from Mormon History as a great, sympathetic figure.

Emma was the bright, handsome, black-eyed daughter of a sturdy, honest, humbug-hating Pennsylvania farmer, Isaac Hale. His character may be fairly jusged by a letter which he wrote in 1834 about his son-in-law and the Gold Bible; the reader finds this remarkable document, among others, at the end of Part I, of this volume.

When Emma fell in love with young Joe, he was a shiftless vagabond, swindling money-digger and fortune-teller. who got his living, as he called it himself, by "glass-looking." This was not the kind of son-in-law fancied by old Hickory Hale. Oh, no! He would have liked a steady-going, hardworking farmer, with 320 or at least 100 acres of good land, fine horses, cows, good house, barn and stables, a family Bible and good fences. Seven

Emma Marries the Peeper 75

years after Smith's elopement with the old man's darling, Emma, the wound was yet smarting; you feel it in every line line of that letter of 1834. But Emma fell in love with the money-digger all the same. How do you explain it? Why, Emma was a country girl after all. Joe must have had a certain mysterious charm for her, with his secret "looking" powers, his wonderful stone and that old white hat filled with dark secrets. She didn't believe in it altogether, but still there was something out-of-the-way in it, it was more interesting than that absurd talk about cows and bulls, corn and barley, ocen and sheep. Father wouldn't hear of her taking "that sliuching, shiftless fellow from New York State," so she ran away with him. A near relative of hers, a Mr. Hiel Lewis, says about that elopement and its effect in old Isaac's Hale's house: "The Hale family was greatly exasperated, and perhaps it would not have been safe for Smith to have shown himself at his father-in-law's house. Emma was or had been the idol or favorite of the family, and they all still felt a strong attachment for her, and the permission to return and reconciliation was effected and accomplished by her and perhaps her sister, Mrs. Wasson, who lived near Bainbridge, N. Y. The permission for Smith to return all came from the other side, not from Mr. Isaac Hale or his familt in Harmony, Pa." *

Later on in married life Emma found out fully, no doubts, that Joseph was a wretched impostor. But what could she do, even if the blood of honest old Hale did rebel in her veins against the continual negation of all honor and truth in her husband's life and actions? Was she not his wife, the mother of his children? And then, ('don't you forget it") there was a good deal of womanly satisfaction in this part, too. Joseph was a daring brigand, and woman has always admired and loved and will always admire and love a daring brigand. I have seen that in Sicily, where beautiful girls told me

__________
* I quote from a letter of this old gentleman, most kindly furnished to me by my learned friend, James T. Cobb, Esq., who has very great merits in investigating the earliest history of Mormonism. The letter is dated Amboy, Lee Co., Ill., Sept. 11, 1879.

76 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

with flaming eyes of the heroic deeds of the Mafiosi." Smith became the Lord's friend and mouthpiece, a prophet, soon after his marriage; in time the founder of cities and temples, a general and mayor, a leader of the people, a ruler of thousands of votes, flattered and cajoled by demagogues of all parties; his role was important and to a certain degree picturesque, imposing and brilliant. All that other men have to toil for was showered upon him, fat living, landed property, money, jewelry, good houses, fine horses, titles, honors, the admiration and submission of thousands. Yes, he was a king, that blue-eyed, wandering "peeper" and money-digger of yore, the only king in America, forsooth! A king and a pope in one!

Was it not nice to ride out with him, the prophet and general, in a fine carriage, or dash with him on horseback over the prairie, or shine on a charger at the parade of the Nauvoo Legion? Was it not fine to be the focus of general admiration, to be the first lady of the kingdom, yea, the queen, to have everybody greet and bow to the "elect lady" of the church?

And Emma played her part well. Let our witnesses take the stand; "She was tall, dark, dignified and very ladylike," says one of them who knew her intimately; "she was rather above the average for talent and would have passed for a lady anywhere. Her education had not been a careful one; she had attended very indifferent schools, but she had any amount of good, sound sense, and knew how to use everything to the best advantage. She loved Joseph very much, and felt most wretched over his oft-recurring trespasses see revelation of July 12, 1843 and others), but she was too proud to talk about her grief."

"Emma was very proud," says Mrs. P.; "pride was one of her characteristics. She gave me to understand that she would like to know whether Joseph had any relations with other women, and I saw how unhappy she felt through her well-founded jealousy; but she struggled hard to conceal the real state of her feelings, and never showed it to her children.

John Taylor and Napoleon III. 77

"She was very much attached to her family; this was her chief thought and care. She was capable of talking " says another contemporary of the "elect lady." The same witness affirms that Emma was squint-eyed. But this last I prefer not to believe. Such things are never true. "Her figure was very stately and after Joseph's violent death, when she had overcome the first shock, she looked rather fresher and stouter than before. She had been too much worried by Joseph's conduct with the sisters." So says another informant, an old lady yet living in Salt Lake, to whom Emma once said in 1846 while talking about his revelation, "It was all guesswork." Pretty good for the wife of the greatest prophet that had ever lived, and herself aiding and abetting her son Joseph in still riviting the fraud -- minus polygamy!

It was not long after the martyrdom of her liege lord that the elect lady and Attorney Woods (the last legal counselor of the Lord's anointed prophet) laid their heads together to reveal the exact truth about the Mormon leaders and the Mormon humbug in general. For some reason this most laudable design was never executed. Probably because Sister Emma saw that she could not possibly make such a crushing disclosure without seriously incriminating herself. At any rate, I am positively informed that old lawyer Woods still holds in his possession the material then compiled for their joint exposure of Mormonism. The Times and Seasons, the church organ, denied at the time any such design existed, but denials of this kind have about the same value as those of my lamented friend Napoleon III, that is, they prove the exact contrary of what they assert.

I am now going to introduce a document of the very greatest importance, which will enable the reader to see Joseph, Emma and the Gold Bible humbug in a kind of family picture, not brillantly drawn, but full of the color of life. It is a letter from the brothers Hiel and Joseph Lewis, sons of the Rev. Nathaniel Lewis, of old Harmony, Pennsylvania, and all of them near relations of Emma

78 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Hale. It is dated Amboy, Lee County, Ill., April 23, 1879. The original belongs to Mr. James T. Cobb, the above-named pathfinder in early Mormon history. The document concerns what two gentlemen "saw and heard of the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph Smith while he was engaged in peeping for money and hidden treasures and translating his Gold Bible in our neighborhood, township of Harmony, Susquehannah County, Pa., our home and residence being within one mile of where he lived and transacted his business." The most prominent citizens of the little town of Amboy, the mayor, aldermen, attorneys, editors, merchants, bankers, justices of the peace, etc., testify that the witnesses are "trithful, honorable, Christian gentlemen," and that "their statements are entitled to the fullest credence." Here is the document:

"Some time previous to 1825, * a man by the name of Wm. Hale, a distant relative of uncle Isaac Hale, came to Isaac Hale and said that he had been informed by a woman named Odle, who claimed to possess the power of seeing under ground, (such persons were then called peepers), that there were great treasures concealed in the hill northeast from Isaac Hale's house, and by her directions Wm. Hale commenced digging. But being too lazy to work, and too poor to hire, he obtained a partner by the name of Oliver Harper, of York state, who had the means to hire help. But after a short time operations were suspended for a time; during which Wm. Hale heard of PEEPER Joseph Smith, jr., and wrote to him and soon visited him; he found Smith's representations were so flattering that Smith was either hired or became a partner with Wm. Hale, Oliver Harper and a man by the name of Stowell, † who had some property.

__________
* This would be, according to Mormon annals, after the time when "the Father and the Son" appeared to the prophet Joseph and held a conference with him.

† Lucy Smith, the mother of the prophet, and Munchhausen of the family, lets a good-sized cat out of her bag in her biography of Joe. She confesses in it, unwittingly, to all the money-digging part of the prophet, and this was one of the reasons that made Brigham put her gossipy little book on the Mormon Index liborum prohibitorum. Munchhausen-Lucy says (pp. 91-92): "A man by the name of Josiah Stoal, came from Chenango County, N. Y., with the view of getting Joseph to assist him in digging for a silver mine. He came for Joseph on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye.

The Lord and the White Dog 79

They hired men and dug in several places. The account given in the history of Susquehanna County, p. 580, of a pure white dog to be used as a sacrifice to restrain the enchantment, and of the anger of the Almighty at the attempt to palm off on Him a white sheep for a white dog, is a fair sample of Smith's revelations, and of that God that inspired him. Their digging in several places was in compliance with 'Peeper' Smith's revelations, who would attend with his peep-stone in his hat, and his hat drawn over his face, and would tell them how deep they would have to go; and when they found no trace of the chest of money, he would peep again, and weep like a child, and tell them the enchantment had removed it on account of some sin or thoughtless word, and finally the enchantment became so strong that he could not see, and so the business was abandoned. Smith could weep and shed tears at any time, if he chose to. *

"But while he was engaged in looking through his peep-stone and old white hat, directing the digging for money, and boarding at uncle Isaac Hale's, he formed an intimacy with Mr. Hale's daughter, and after the abandonment of the money-digging speculation, he consummated the elopement and marriage to the said Emma Hale, and she became his accomplice in his humbug Golden Bible and Mormon religion.

"The statement that the prophet Joseph Smith, jr. made in our hearing, at the commencement of his translating his book in Harmony, as to the manner of his finding the plates, was as follows: He said that by a DREAM he was informed that at such a place in a certain hill, in an iron box, were some gold plates with curious engravings, which he must get and translate, and write a book; that the plates were to be kept concealed from every human being for a certain time, some two or three years; that he went to the place and dug till he came to the stone that covered the box, when he was knocked down; that he again attempted to remove the stone, and was again knocked down. This attempt was made the third time, and the third time he was knocked down. Then he exclaimed, ;Why can't I git it?' or words to that effect; and then he saw a man standing over the spot, who to

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Joseph endeavored to divert him from his vain pursuit, but he was inflexible in his purpose, and offered high wages to those who would dig for him in search of said mine, and still insisted upon having Joseph to work for him. Accordingly,Joseph and several others returned with him and commenced digging. After laboring for the old gentleman about a month, without success, Joseph prevailed upon him to cease his operations, and it was from this circumstance of having worked by the month, at digging for a silver mine, that the very prevalent story arose of Joseph's being a money-digger."
(The italics are mine.)
* Let any half-witted person compare this testimony with those of Ingersoll, Chase and others, in our Appendex of Part I., and deny that Joseph was the champion humbug of our time!

80 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

him appeared like a Spaniard [Oh, you great son of Lucy!], having a long beard coming down over his breast to about here (Smith putting his hand to the pit of his stomach), WITH HIS (the ghost's) THROAT CUT FROM EAR TO EAR, AND THE BLOOD STREAMING DOWN, who told him that he could not get it alone; that another person whom he (Smith) would know at first sight must come with him, and then he could get it; and when Smith saw Miss Emma Hale, he knew that she was the person, and that after they were married she went with him to near the place and stood with her back towards him while he dug after the box, which he rolled up in his frock, and she helped carry it home; that in the same box with the plates were spectacles; * the bows were of gold, and the eyes were stone, and by looking through these spectacles all the characters on the plates were translated into English.

"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 Mormon books, were afterthoughts, revised to order. While Smith, was in Harmony, he made the above statements, in our presence to Rev. N. Lewis. It was here, also, that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He presented himself in a very serious and humble manner, and the minister, not suspecting evil, put his name on the class-book, in the absence of some of the official members, among whom was the undersigned Joseph Lewis, who, when he learned what was done, took with him Joshua McKune and had a talk with Smith. We told him plainly that such a character as he was a disgrace to the church; that he could not be a member of it unless he broke off his sins by repentance, made public confession, renounced his fraudulent and hypocritical practices, and gave some evidence that he intended to reform and conduct himself somewhat nearer like a Christian than he had done. We gave him his choice, to go before the class, and publicly ask to have his name stricken from the class-book, or stand a disciplinary investigation; he chose the former, and immediately withdrew his name. So his name as a member of the class was on the book only three days. It was the general opinion that his only object in joining the church was to bolster up his reputation and gain the sympathy and help of Christians; that is, putting on the cloak of religion to serve the Devil in."

When interrogated as to the time of Joe's joining the Methodist Church, Mr. Hiel Lewis wrote back that it was in June, 1828

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* The celebrated "Urim and Thummim" of Mormon history. One can "catch on" nicely here: Spaniards having buried treasures, whether of gold or golden plates, the ghost of a Spaniard would naturally have to stand guard over them, whatever the state of his windpipe.

A Look Into the Prophet's Household. 81

This disclosure will prove vastly edifying to the world in general, and to Mormons in particular. Joseph, with the sacred plates in his possession and while he is "translating" them, BECOMES A METHODIST!! And this, too, after the Lord's (both the Father and the Son) telling him that all existing religions are false and corrupt and on no account to join any of them, he being the favored instrument elected by Them in founding the true one!! I think the great jury, called public opinion, Mormons included, might give their verdict in the impostor's case without leaving their seats.

Our letter goes on:

"We will add one more sample of his prophetic power and practice. One of the neighbors, whom Smith was owing, had a piece of corn on a rather wet and backward piece of ground, and as Smith was owing him, he wanted Smith to help hoe the corn. Smith came on, but to get clear of the work and the debt, said: 'If I kneel down and pray in your corn, it will grow just as well as if hoed.' So he prayed in the corn and insured its maturity without cultivation, and that the frost would not hurt it. But the corn was a failure in growth and killed by the frost. This sample of the prophetic power was related to us by those present, and no one questioned its truth." *

The "revelation on celestial marriage" is a much more candid document than could be supposed. It permits us to "peep" into the peeper's household. We see how he tries to overcome the desperate resistance of the strong wife against -- let me use the exactly significant term -- religious whoredom. What scenes must there have been enacted in that prophetic household! He begs and flatters, thunders and threatens -- all in vain. Finally, he

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* This startling document, which I have copied from the original most carefully, is attested in the following manner:
STATE OF ILLINOIS,|
Lee County. | ss.
I, Everett E, Chase, a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Lee, State aforesaid, do hereby certify that the above named Joseph Lewis and Hiel Lewis, personally known to me to be respectable, truthful and honorable men, came before me and in my presence signed the above statement, and each of them before me made affidavit to such and all of the allegations therein set forth according to their best memory. EVERETT E. CHASE, J. P.

(Pages 82-204 have not yet been transcribed)

Emma Fingers the Plates. 205

(top part of page not yet been transcribed)

THE KINDERHOOK PLATES.
_______

A Superlative Hoax -- John Taylor Prematurely Happy -- Affidavit of Fugate on his Hieroglyphics -- The Dollar Sign as Hieroglyphic -- Joe Finds and Gives the Key -- The Royal Descendant of Ham -- A King Nine Feet High -- Orson Pratt Knows the Fraud -- The "Sincerity" of a Lot of Cheats.

The day came when the seer and translator was caught in a trap. The true story of the celebrated plates "found" at Kinderhook, Illinois, April 23, 1843, and unearthed for the second time, by my indefatigable friend Cobb, after long digging and delving, nails the translator down

206 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

for all eternity. Let me introduce the documents. The first is an article in the Nauvoo church organ, the Times and Seasons. I reproduce it in toto from the original:

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "TIMES AND SEASONS.")

On the 16th of April 1843, a respectable merchant by the name of Robert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place; he excavated to the depth of ten feet and came to rock. About that time the rain began to fall, and he abandoned the work. On the 23d he and quite a number of the citizens, with myself, repaired to the mound, and after making ample opening, we found plenty of rock, the most of which appeared as though it had been strongly burned; and after removing full two feet of said rock, we found plenty of charcoal and ashes, also human bones that appeared as though they had been burned; and near the eciphalon a bundle was found 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 clasped with two clasps, the ring and clasps appeared to be of iron, very much oxidated; the plates appeared first to be copper, and had the appearance of being covered with characters. It was agreed by the company that I should cleanse the plates: accordingly I took them to my house, washed them with soap and water, and a woolen cloth; but finding them not yet cleansed, I treated them with dilute sulphuric acid, which made them perfectly clean, on which it appeared that they were completely covered with characters [sic - hieroglyphics?] that none, as yet, have been able to read. Wishing that the world might know the hidden things as fast as they come to light, I was induced to state the facts, hoping that you would give it an insertion in your excellent paper, for we all feel anxious to know the true meaning of the plates, and publishing the facts might lead to the true translation. They were found, I judge, more than twelve feet below the surface of the top of the mound.

I am most respectfully, a citizen of Kinderhook,
W. P. HARRIS, M. D.

The following Certificate was forwarded for publication, at the same time: --

We the citizens of Kinderhook, whose names are annexed do certify and declare that on the 23d April, 1843, while excavating a large mound in this vicinity, Mr. R. Wiley took from said mound six brass plates, of a bell shape, covered with ancient characters. Said plates were very much oxidated. The bands and rings on said plates mouldered into dust on a slight pressure....
Robert Wiley, G. W. F. Ward, Fayette Grubb,
W. Longnecker, Ira S. Curtis, W. P. Harris,
George Deckenson, J. R. Sharp, W. Fugate.

John Taylor Sure of the Translation. 207

John Taylor, now become "the invisible head of the church," was then editor of the church organ. In an editorial about the Kinderhook "find" he says: "Circumstances are daily transpiring which give additional testimony to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.... The man who owns the plates has taken them away for a time, but has promised to return with them." So says Taylor, and he feels that this "find" will "go a good way to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon;" expressing finally his firm belief that "the seer, the seer, Joseph, the seer," * will prove himself equal to the task of solving this new mystery. "We have no doubt," says he, "but Mr. Smith will be able to translate them." And Taylor, as a sequel shows, was fully justified in his confidence; a confidence expressed a second time in the Times and Seasons in the following lively manner:

"Why does the circumstance of the plates recently found in a mound in Pike county, Illinois, by Mr. Wiley, together with etymology and a thousand other things, GO TO PROVE THE BOOK OF MORMON TRUE? Answer: Because it is true!" -- (Times and Seasons, p. 406, Dec. 1, 1843 [sic - Jan. 15, 1844?]).

But let us look at the trap with the translator's leg in it. Here it is, in the shape of a letter from Mr. Wilbur Fugate to Mr. James T. Cobb, in Salt Lake City:

Mound Station, Ill., June 30, 1879.

Mr. Cobb: --

I received your letter in regard to those plates, and will say in answer that they are a HUMBUG, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitton and myself. Whitton is dead. I do not know whether Wiley is or not. None of the nine persons who signed the certificate knew the secret, except, Wiley and I. We read in Pratt's prophecy that "Truth is yet to spring up out of the earth." We concluded to prove the prophecy by way of a joke. We soon made our plans and executed them, Bridge Whitton cut them (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

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* The title of a popular Mormon hymn composed by John Taylor.

† Wiley's name stands first and Fugate's last of the nine signers of the "certificate" touching the excavation.

208 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

made of nitric acid, old iron and lead, and bound them with a piece of hoop iron, covering them completely with the rust. Our plans worked admirably. A certain Sunday was appointed for digging. The night before, Wiley went to the Mound where he had previously dug to the depth of about eight feet, there being a flat rock that sounded hollow beneath, and put them under it. On the following morning quite a number of citizens were there to assist in the search, there being two Mormon elders present (Marsh and Sharp). The rock was soon removed, but some time elapsed before the plates were discovered. I finally picked them up and exclaimed, "A piece of pot metal!" Fayette Grubb snatched them from me and struck them against the rock and they fell to pieces. Dr. Harris examined them and said they had hieroglyphics on them. He took acid and removed the rust and they were soon out on exhibition. Under this rock [it] was dome-like in appearance, about three feet in diameter, there were a few bones in the last stage of decomposition, also a few pieces of pottery and charcoal. There was NO SKELETON found. Sharp, the Mormon Elder, leaped and shouted for joy and said, Satan had appeared to him and told him not to go (to the diggings), it was a hoax of Fugate and Wiley's, -- but at a later hour the Lord appeared and told him to go, the treasure was there.

The Mormons wanted to take the plates to Joe Smith, but we refused to let them go. Some time afterward a man assuming the name of Savage, of Quincy, borrowed the plates of Wiley to show to his literary friends there, and took them to Joe Smith. The same identical plates were returned to Wiley, who gave them to Professor McDowell, of St. Louis, for his Museum.

W. FUGATE.

STATE OF ILLINOIS,
BROWN COUNTY. ss
W. Fugate, being first duly sworn, deposes and says that the above, letter, containing an account of the plates found near Kinderhook, is true and correct, to the best of his recollection.

W. FUGATE.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 30th day of June, 1879.

Jay Brown, J. P.

Since 1843 the Kinderhook plates have been relied upon by the Mormon leaders as a strong argument in favor of Joe's plates, from which he translated his new "bible," and, in fact, they are coin from the same mint almost, id est, silly fabrications. You don't find deep mysteries on any of them, like the dark formula, 21 + 4 =, but their characters seem inspired by a mind very much occupied

Dollar Sign Hieroglyphics. 209

with worldly affairs. At least, I find the vulgar DOLLAR SIGN more than two scores of times in these "hieroglyphics," now very clear, and then as the original idea of a sign. In this way I can trace it about ten times alone in this single plate of the "engravings," two or

three of them very clearly. Notwithstanding the obvious clumsiness of the fraud (Mr. Fugate calls it a joke) a number of writers on Mormon history, among them the best, including John Hyde and Captain Burton, have reproduced a fac simile of the plates, and spoken seriously of them, leaving the reader to guess what they might mean, and apparently puzzled by them themselves.

I am able to solve the mystery. They are hieroglyphics, and Mr. Smith could translate them. The British church organ, called the Millennial Star, printed in Liverpool, "gives us the key," as old Lucy would say. In

210 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

Vol. XXI., number of January 15, 1859, is an extract from "Mr. Smith's" diary, dated Monday, May 1, 1843, a week or so after the discovery of the plates was made. Mr. Smith says: "I insert fac similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Ill., on April 23, by Mr. R. Wiley and others; while excavating a large mound, they found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton, and were covered on both sides by ancient characters."

"I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain a history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of Heaven and Earth." (On pages 41, 43, Millennial Star, Vol. XXI., is a fac simile of these plates.)

There you have him in his full glory, son of the old Lucy-Munchhausen. He was not present at the excavation of the plates, but he finds a great many more things then the buriers and excavators found themselves. The discoverer and translator of the "Book of Abraham" finds in that Illinois mound the skeleton of an antique monarch. The peeper knows even the size of the fellow: he was nine feet, the odd inches are not given. And then, you see, the plates were found on the breast of the skeleton -- another touching and picturesque detail. And then comes the crowning and glorious translation! That ruler came of illustrious ancestors, but rather in a roundabout and labyrinthic sort of way. He descended (think of it and faint) from Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Which Pharaoh? No doubt the father of that royal wench whose bones were diskivered by old Lucy-Munchhausen. * And then, who cares? Don't you see that this Dime Museum giant received his kingdom from our excellent friend, Joe's "pard?" And a tremendous kingdom it must have

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* See next chapter.

Pratt Tells the Truth, But Secretly. 211

been, the kingdom of a chap nine feet high and perhaps two or three odd inches!

Don't you see it now in the trap, the peeper's leg? And still, gentle reader, you say: But surely the Mormon leaders do not know about such villainous frauds, 'twould make accomplices of all of them, and show that they are all deceivers, liars and hypocrites! Now just hear what was told me by a Mormon elder, an eye and ear witness: "A 'class of elders,' eleven or twelve, of whom I was one, was assembled in the Endowment House in 1858. Apostle Orson Pratt told us that he had been reading a work in which an account was given of the Kinderhook Plates. An archeological society had heard of the plates and they wanted to get a reliable account of them. They sent down to Kinderhook, Ill., two men to investigate the matter. These men had been there for two or three weeks without result. At last they learnt the names of the parties concerned, and that the plates were made by a blacksmith; they were told so by the artist himself. Pratt told the 'class' that he was well convinced that the plates were a fraud."

But let us return to the "Seer." The plates were taken to him and he made a rough estimate that their translation into English would make a volume of some ten or twelve hundred pages! * Joseph, however, smartly refused to translate them until they were presented to some of the learned societies for translation. They were sent to one and returned with the word, that they could not be translated. And then Joseph went to work, aided by the "grace of God!"

Brigham Young and the other heads of the church knew the silly fraud of the "Book of Abraham" since the real translation of the papyrus by the French savant. They know that the "Spaulding myth" is no myth, but the naked and damning truth. And still there is scarcely a book put forth on Mormonism that does not

__________
* This detail is contained in another letter of Mr. Fugate to James T. Cobb; also the circumstance that Bridge Whitton, who cut out the plates, was a blacksmith.

212 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Joseph Smith.

ventilate gravely the question, whether Joseph, Brigham, Cannon, Taylor & Co., were sincere, or are so at this moment in their "faith!" ...

(Pages 213-229 have not yet been transcribed)

230 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

down to Philadelphia to market. Lawrence asked Joseph of he was not deceiving him; 'no,' said he, 'for I have been there and SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES, and if you do not find it so when you get there, I will bind myself to be your servant for three years.' Lawrence agreed to go with him, had to bear his expenses on the way, and when he wished to see the silver mine, they found nothing. After his marriage Joseph, still out of money, set his wits at work, how he should get back to Manchester, his place of residence. He went to an honest old Dutchman, called Stowel, and told him that he had discovered on the bank of Black River, a cave, in which he had found A BAR OF GOLD, AS BIG AS HIS LEG and about three or four feet long; that he could not get it out alone, and if he would move him to Manchester, N.Y., they would go together, get a chisel and mallet, and get it and Stowel should share the prize with him. Stowel moved him. After their arrival in Manchester Stowel reminded Joseph of his promise, but he calmly replied that he would not go, because his wife was now among strangers, and would be very lonesome if he went away. Mr. Stowel was then obliged to return without any gold

"In April, 1830, I again asked Hyrum for the stone; he told me I should not have it, for Joseph MADE USE OF IT IN TRANSLATING HIS BIBLE. The Smiths were regarded by their neighbors, as a PEST TO SOCIETY. I have always regarded Joseph Smith, Jr., as a man whose word could not be depended upon. Hyrum's character was but very little better. The whole family were WORTHLESS PEOPLE. After they became thorough Mormons their conduct was more disgraceful than ever. Their tongues were continually employed in spreading scandal and abuse. Although they left this part of the country without paying their just debts, yet their creditors were glad to have them do so, rather than to have them stay."

I introduce now the statement of a living brother of Willard Chase, Mr. Able D. Chase. never published before. It has a special interest in showing up Rigdon's secret visits at the Smiths at the time when he and Joe were engineering the Gold Bible fraud:

PALMYRA, Wayne Co., N.Y. May 2, 1879.

I, Able D. Chase, now living in Palmyra, Wayne Co., N.Y., make the following statement regarding my early acquaintence with Joseph Smith and the incidents about the production of the so-called Mormon Bible. I was well acquainted with the Smith family, frequently visiting the Smith boys and they me. I was a youth at the time from twelve to thirteen years old, having been born Jan. 19, 1814, at Palmyra, N. Y. During some of my visits at the Smiths, I saw a STRANGER there WHO THEY SAID WAS MR. RIGDON. He was at Smith's several times, and it was in the year of 1827 when I first saw him there, as near as I can recollect. Some time after that tales were circulated that young

Sidney Rigdon Hanging Around Smith's. 231

Joe had found or dug from the earth a BOOK OF PLATES which the Smiths called the GOLDEN BIBLE. I don't think Smith had any such plates. He was mysterious in his actions. The PEEPSTONE, in which he was accustomed to look, he got of my elder brother Willard while at work for us digging a well. It was a singular looking stone and young Joe pretended he could discover hidden things in it

My brother Willard Chase died at Palmyra, N. Y., March 10, 1871. His affidavit, published in Howe's "History of Mormonism," is genuine. Peter Ingersoll, whose affidavit was published in the same book, is also dead. He moved West years ago and died about two years ago. Ingersoll had the reputation of being a man of his word, and I have no doubt his sworn statement regarding the Smiths and the Mormon Bible is genuine. I was also well acquainted with Thomas P. Baldwin, a lawyer and Notary Public, and Frederick Smith, a lawyer and magistrate, before whom Chase's and Ingersoll's depositions were made, and who were residents of this village at the time and for several years after.

ABEL D. CHASE.

Able D. Chase signed the above statement in our presence, and he is known to us and the entire community here as a man whose word is always the exact truth and above any possible suspicion.

PLINY T. SEXTON,
J. H. GILBERT. *

The statement of Abel D. Chase is corroborated by a letter from J. H. Gilbert, addressed to my friend Cobb, dated Palmyra, October 14, 1879. Mr. Gilbert says:

Last evening I had about 15 minutes conversation with Mr. Lorenzo Saunders of Reading, Hillsdale Co., Mich. He has been gone about thirty years. He was born south of our village in 1811, and was a near neighbor of the Smith family -- knew them all well; was in the habit of visiting the Smith boys; says he knows that RIGDON was hanging around Smith's for EIGHTEEN MONTHS PRIOR TO THE PUBLISHING OF THE MORMON BIBLE."

PARLEY CHASE, another brother of Willard, states: --

"The Smith family were lazy, intemperate and worthless men, very much addicted to lying. IN THIS THEY FREQUENTLY BOASTED THEIR SKILL."

DAVID STAFFORD: --

"Old Joseph Smith was a drunkard and a liar and much in the

__________ * Mr. Sexton was at the time of this affidavit the village President of Palmyra and President of the first National bank there. Mr. Gilbert is the same who printed the first edition of the Book of Mormon.

232 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

(under construction)

Testimony of Sixty-two Decent Folks. 233

(under construction)

234 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

(under construction)

A Jury Rejects Joe's Testimony. 235

II.

THE GOLD BIBLE COMPANY.
_______

STATEMENT OF HENRY HARRIS: --

I became acquainted with the family of Joseph Smith, Sen., about the year 1820, in the town of Manchester, New York. They were a family that labored very little -- the chief they did, was to dig for money. Joseph Smith, Jr., used to pretend to TELL FORTUNES; he had a stone which he used to put in his hat, by means of which he professed to tell people's fortunes.

Joseph Smith, Jr. Martin Harris and others, used to meet together in private, a while before the gold plates were found, and were familiarly known by the name of 'THE GOLD BIBLE COMPANY.' They were regarded by the community in which they lived, as a lying and indolent set of men and no confidence could be placed in them.

The character of Joseph Smith, Jr. for truth and veracity was such, that I would NOT BELIEVE HIM UNDER OATH. I was once on a jury before a justice's court and THE JURY COULD NOT AND DID NOT BELIEVE HIS TESTIMONY to be true. After he pretended to have found the gold plates I had a conversation with him, and asked him where he found them and how he came to know where they were. He said he had a revelation from God that told him they were hid in a certain hill and he looked in his stone and saw them in the place of deposit; that an angel appeared and told him he could not get the plates until he was married. I asked him what letters were engraved on them: he said ITALIC LETTERS WRITTEN IN AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE and that he had copied some of the words and sent them to Dr. Mitchell and Professor Anthon, of New York. By looking on the plates he said he could not understand the words, but it was made known to him that he was the person that must translate them, and on looking through the stone was enabled to translate.

236 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

After the Book was published I frequently bantered him for a copy. He asked fourteen shillings a piece for them; I told him I would not give so much; he told me had had a REVELATION that they must be sold at that price. Sometime afterwards I talked with Martin Harris about buying one of the books, and he told me they had had a NEW REVELATION that they might be sold at ten shillings a piece.

STATEMENT OF ABIGAIL HARRIS: --

PALMYRA, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1833.

In the early part of the winter in 1828, I made a visit to Martin Harris's and was joined in company by Joseph Smith, Sen. and his wife. The Gold Bible business, so called, was the topic of conversation, to which I paid particular attention, that I might learn the truth of the whole matter. They told me that the report that young Joseph had found golden plates was true, and that he was in Harmony, Pennsylvania, translating them; that such plates were in existence, and that young Joseph was to obtain them, was revealed to him by the SPIRIT of one of the Saints who was on this continent previous to its being discovered by Columbus. Old Mrs. Smith observed that she thought he must be a QUAKER, AS HE WAS DRESSED VERY PLAIN. They said that the plates he 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 discovered 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 -- admitance twenty-five cents. She calculated it would bring in annually an enormous sum of money -- that money would then be very plenty and the book would also sell for a great price, as it was something entirely new -- that they had been commanded to obtain all

Martin Wishes to Make Money. 237

the money they could borrow for present necessity, and to repay with GOLD. The remainder was to be kept in store for the benefit of their family and children. (Here follows the little anecdote related on p. 18).

In the second month following, Martin Harris and his wife were at my house. In conversation about Mormonites, she observed that she wished her husband would quit them, as she believed it was all false and a delusion. To which I heard Martin Harris reply: "What if it is a LIE; if you will let me alone I WILL MAKE MONEY OUT OF IT!" I was both an eye and an ear witness of what has been stated above

STATEMENT OF LUCY HARRIS: --

PALMYRA, Nov. 29, 1833.

Being called upon to give a statement to the world of what I know respecting the Gold Bible speculation and also of the conduct of Martin Harris, my husband, who is a leading character among the Mormons, I do it free from prejudice, realizing that I must give an account at the bar of God for what I say. Martin Harris was once industrious, attentive to his domestic concerns, and thought to be worth about $10,000. He is naturally quick in his temper and at times while I lived with him he has whipped, kicked and turned me out of the house. About a year previous to the report being raised that Smith had found gold plates, he became very intimate with the Smith family and said he believed Joseph could see in his stone any thing he wished. After this he apparently became very sanguine in his belief.

Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive to me. His WHOLE OBJECT WAS TO MAKE MONEY OF IT. I will give one circumstance in proof of it. One day, while at Peter Harris' house, I told him he had better leave the company of the Smiths, as their religion was false; to which he replied, "If you would let me alone, I could make money by it." It is in vain for the Mormons to deny these facts, for they are all well known to most of his former neighbors.

238 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

The man has now become rather an object of pity; he has spent most of his property, and lost the confidence of his former friends. He now spends his time in traveling through the country spreading the delusion of Mormonism and has no regard whatever for his family.

III.

SPAULDING'S "MANUSCRIPT FOUND."

_______

STATEMENT OF JOHN SPAULDING:--

Solomon Spaulding (my brother) was born in Ashford, Conn., 1761, and in early life contracted a taste for literary pursuits. He entered Dartmouth College, where he obtained the degree of A. M. and was afterwards regularly ordained. After preaching three or four years, he commenced the mercantile business. In a few years he failed in business and in 1809 removed to Conneaut, Ohio. The year following, I found him engaged in building a forge. I made him a visit in about three years after and found that he had failed and was considerably involved in debt. He then told me he had been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the "Manuscript Found," of which he read to me many pages. 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 tribes. 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. They buried their dead in large heaps, which caused the mounds so common in this country. Their arts, sciences and civilization

They All Recognize the Cranky Book 239

were brought into view in order to account for all the antiquities found in various parts of North and South America. 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 wrote, with the exception of the religious matter.

STATEMENT OF HENRY LAKE:--

CONNEAUT, OHIO, September, 1833.
I left the State of New York late in the year 1810, and arrived at this place about the first of January following. Soon after my arrival I formed a co-partnership with Solomon Spaulding for the purpose of rebuilding a forge. He very frequently read to me from a manuscript which he was writing, which he entitled the "Manuscript Found," and which he represented as being found in this town. I spent many hours in hearing him read said writings and became well acquainted with its contents. He wished me to assist him in getting his production printed, alleging that a book of that kind would meet with a rapid sale. This book represented the American Indians as the descendants of the lost tribes, gave an account of their leaving Jerusalem, their contentions and wars. 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 to my surprise, that it stands there just as he read it to me then. Some months ago I borrowed the Golden Bible, put it into my pocket, carried it home and thought no more of it. About a week after, my wife found the book in my coat pocket and commenced reading it aloud as I lay upon the bed. She had not read twenty minutes till I was astonished to find the same passages in it that Spalding had read to me more than twenty years before, from his "Manuscript

240 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

Found." Since that I have more fully examined the said Golden Bible and have no hesitation in saying that the historical part of it is principally, if not wholly, taken from the "Manuscript Found." I 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.

STATEMENT OF JOHN N. MILLER:--

SPRINGFIELD, Pa., Sept., 1833.
In the year 1811 I was in the employ of Henry Lake and Sol. Spaulding, at Conneaut, engaged in rebuilding a forge. While there I boarded and lodged in the family of said Spaulding for several months. I was soon introduced to the manuscripts of Spaulding and perused them as often as I had leisure. From the "Manuscript Found" he would frequently read some humorous passages to the company present. It purported to be the history of the first settlement of America, before discovered by Columbus. He said that he designed it as an historical novel, and that in after years it would be believed by many people as much as the history of England.

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." Many of the passages in the Mormon book are verbatim from Spaulding, and others in part. The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and in fact all the principal names are brought fresh to my recollection by the Gold Bible.

STATEMENT OF AARON WRIGHT:-- *

Spaulding showed me and read to me a history he was writing, of the lost tribes of Israel, purporting that they
_________
* A Mr. Jackson, who was in a meeting at Conneaut when a Mormon preacher read from the Book of Mormon, says that "Squire" Wright shouted out: "OLD-COME-TO-PASS HAS COME TO LIFE AGAIN!" "And it came to pass," occurs in the book only about fourteen hundred times.

Rigdon the Originator of the Fraud. 241

were the first settlers of America, and that the Indians were their decendants. The historical part of the Book of Mormon I know to be the same as I read and heard read from the writings of Spaulding more than twenty years ago. The names, more especially, are the same, without any alteration. I once anticipated reading his writings in print, but little expected to see them in a new Bible.

STATEMENT OF OLIVER SMITH:--

All his (Spaulding's) leisure hours were occupied in writing a historical novel, founded upon the first settlers of this country; he would give a satisfactory account of all the old mounds, so common to this country. Nephi and Lehi were by him represented as leading characters. But no religious matter was introduced. When I heard the historical part of the Book of Mormon related I at once said it was the writings of old Solomon Spaulding.

IV.

RIGDON AND SPAULDING'S MANUSCRIPT.

_______

Rev. John Winter, who was intimate with Rigdon, states:

"In 1822 or 1823, Rigdon took out of his desk on his study a large manuscript, stating that it was a Bible romance written by a Presbyterian preacher, whose health had failed and who had taken it to the printers to see if it would pay to publish it."

James Jeffries testified Jan. 20, 1884:

"Forty years ago I was in business in St. Louis. The Mormons then had their temple in Nauvoo. I had business transactions with them. I knew Sidney Rigdon. He told me several times that there was in the printing office with which he was connected, in Ohio, a manuscript of the Rev. Spaulding, tracing the origin of the Indians from the lost tribes of Israel. This MS was in the office several years. He was familiar with it. Spaulding had wanted it published, but had not the means to pay for the printing. He (Rigdon) and Joe Smith used

242 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

to look over the MS and read it on Sundays. Rigdon said Smith took the MS and said: 'I'll print it,' and went off to Palmyra, New York."

Adamson Bentley, Rigdon's brother-in-law, states:

"I know that Sidney Rigdon told me as much as two years before the Mormon book made its appearance, or had been heard of by me, that there was a book coming out, the manuscript of which was engraved on GOLD PLATES."

Statement of Thomas J. Clapp, son-in-law of Adamson Bentley:

"Elder Adamson Bentley told me that as he was one day riding with Sidney Rigdon * and conversing upon the Bible. Mr. Rigdon told him that another book of equal authority with the bible, as well authenticated and as ancient, which would give an account of the history of the Indian tribes on this continent, with many other things of great importance to the world, would soon be published. This was before Mormonism was ever heard of in Ohio, and when it appeared, the avidity with which Rigdon received it convinced him that if Rigdon was not the author of it he was at least acquainted with the whole matter some time before it was published to the world," [Letter from Mr. Clapp. dated Mentor, Ohio, April 9, 1879. †]

Alexander Campbell was present at the conversation between Bentley and Rigdon, and says about it:

"Rigdon, at the same time, observed that on the plates dug up in New York there was an account not only of the aborigines of this continent, but it was stated also that the Christian religion had been preached on this continent, during the first century, just as we were then preaching it on the Western Reserve."

Darwin Atwater, of Mantua, Ohio, testifies:

"That Sidney Rigdon knew beforehand of the coming of the book of Mormon is to me certain, from what he said the first of his visits to my father in 1826. 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 book to be published containing an account of those things."

Zebulon Ruldolph, Mrs. Garfield's father, states:

"During the winter previous to the appearance of the Book of Mormon, Rigdon was in the habit of spending weeks away from home, going no one knew whither. Hee often appeared preoccupied and

_________
* Rigdon married a niece and adopted daughter of Bentley, living with and upon B. for quite a length of time.
[† Clapp's Apr. 9, 1879 letter was written to James T. Cobb. -- transcriber]

Rigdon Steals Spaulding's Manuscript. 243

would indulge in dreamy, visionary talks, which puzzled those who listened. When the Book of Mormon appeared and Rigdon joined in the advocacy of the new religion, the suspicion was at once aroused that he was one of the framers of the new doctrine."

Mrs. A. Dunlap, of Warren, Ohio, a niece of Sidney Rigdon, visited her uncle, at Bainbridge, in 1826. She says:

"My uncle went to his bedroom and took from a trunk which he kept locked, a certain manuscript and came back, seated himself by the fire and began to read. His wife came into the room and exclaimed: 'What, are you studying that thing again? I mean to burn that paper.' Rigdon replied: 'No, indeed, you will not. THIS WILL BE A GREAT THING SOME DAY.' When he was reading this MS. he was so completely occupied that he seemed entirely unconscious of anything around him."

Rigdon was on terms of intimate association with one J. Harrison Lambdin, printer. Patterson's partner and active business manager, as well as with Silas Engles, the long-time foreman of Patterson's printing establishment in Pittsburg. This comes from Mrs. R. J. Eichbaum, who with her husband and father had the Pittsburg postoffice for over thirty years. Spaulding, while living in Pittsburg, had prepared a copy of his "Manuscript Found," for the printer, which he strongly suspected Rigdon of having appropriated. Mrs. Eichbaum has often heard foreman Engles say that Rigdon was forever hanging round the printing office. Lambdin died in 1825 and Engles in 1827. "Dead men tell no tales."

V.

THE ARMY OF ZION.

_______

In obedience to direct revelation, Joseph had located Zion in Jackson County, Missouri. August 3, 1831, he located the Temple of Zion, three hundred yards west of the Court House, in Independence, Missouri. But the "House of Israel" did not behave in Missouri in a popular

244 Mormon Portraits. -- Sidelights.

and acceptable way. The Mormons had to leave the new Zion, and October 30, 1833, there had even been a fight between the Mormons and "mine enemies." The Mormons killed two Missourians and shed the first blood in the war.

The Commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel could not remain a quiet, remote observer of so much wrong. Zion had to be redeemed....

(Pages 245-248 have not yet been transcribed)

A Revelation in the Nick of Time. 249

(upper portion of page not yet transcribed)

VI.

AFFIDAVITS OF FANNY BREWER AND OTHERS.

_______

The following documents help to illustrate the characters of Joe, Hyrum and William Smith, Brigham Young, a nd other leading Saints:

FANNY BREWER states (Boston, Sept. 13, 1842): --

In the spring of 1837, I left Boston for Kirtland, in all good faith, to assemble with the Saints, as I thought, and worship God more perfectly. On my arrival I found brother going to law with brother, drunkenness prevailing to a great extent, and every species of wickedness. Joseph Smith, A Prophet of God, (as he called himself,) was

250 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Sidelights.

under arrest for employing two of the elders to KILL a man of the name of Grandison Newell, but was acquitted, as the most material witness did not appear! 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 from so doing bt the entreaties of his wife. There was much excitement against the prophet on another account, an unlawful intercourse between himself and a young orphan girl residing in his family, and under his protection! Martin Harris told me that the prophet was most notorious for lying and licentiousness. In the fall of 1837 the Smith family all left Kirtland; the prophet left between two days. I carried from this place (Boston) to Kirtland goods to the amount of 1,400 dollars, as I was told I could make ready sales to the Saints, but I was disappointed. I accordingly sent them to Missouri to be sold by H. Redfield. There they were stored in a private room. Smith, the prophet, hearing that they were there, took out a warrant, under pretence of searching for stolen goods, and got them into his possession. They were then, by a sham court, which he held, adjudged to him and the boxes were opened. As the goods were taken out, piece by piece, HYRUM SMITH, who stood by, said, in the most positive manner, that he could swear to every piece and tell where they had been bought, although a Mr. Robbins, who was present, told him that he knew the boxes and the goods were mine, for I had charged him to take care of them. Dr. Williams, likewise, told them that they were my goods, and that Hyrum never saw a piece of them. They, however, refused to give them up, but kept them for their own profit."

G. B. FROST (Boston, Sept. 19, 1842): --

"In July, 1837, WILLIAM SMITH, brother of the prophet and one of the Twelve Apostles, arrived at Kirtland from Chicago, drunk, with his face pretty well banged up; he had black eyes and a bunged nose, and told John Johnson that he had been MILKING THE GENTILES to his satisfaction for that time. * In October William told Joseph that if he did not give him some money, he would tell where the Book of Mormon came from, and Joseph gave him what he wanted.

"About the last of August, 1837, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and others were DRUNK at Joseph Smith the prophet's house, all together; Bishop Vinson Knight supplied them with rum, brandy, gin and port wine from the (Mormon) cash store. Joseph told Knight in my hearing not to sell any of those liquors, for he wanted them for his own use. They were drunk and drinking for MORE THAN A WEEK

"Joseph Smith said that the BANK was got up on his giving a revelation from God, and said it was to go into circulation to MILK THE GENTILES. I asked Joseph about the money. He said he could not

__________
* Most probably by circulating counterfeit money.

"Sealing" a By-word on the Street. 251

redeem it; he was paid for signing the bills, as any other man would be paid for it -- and they must do the best they could about it. The prophet and others went to Canada in September. Said he, Joseph, he had as good a right to go out and get money as any of the brethren. He took nine hundred dollars in Canada from a certain Lawrence and promised him a farm in Kirtland; but when he arrived there, Joseph was among the missing, and no farm for him."

D. W. AND EDWARD KILBOURN: --

"Joseph said once the world owed him a good living, and if he could not get it without, he would STEAL it -- 'and CATCH ME AT IT,' said he, 'if you can.'"

VII.

POLYGAMY IN KIRTLAND.

In the article on marriage in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants adopted by the conference in Kirtland April, 1834, we read: "Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been charged with fornication and polygamy." We have already seen it stated that young Joseph declared that adultery was no sin. Martin Harris told J. M. Atwater and Mr. Clapp and many others, that POLYGAMY WAS TAUGHT AND PRACTICED by Smith in Kirtland under the name spiritual wifery." W. W. Phelps stated that Smith while "translating" the Book of Abraham declared that polygamy would yet be a practice of the faith. Martin Harris told J.M. Atwater that the doctrine of spiritual wifery was first positively announced as a revelation by RIGDON, before a meeting of the officials of the church, in an old building that used to stand southwest of the Kirtland Temple. W.S. Smith and others testify that the practice of sealing women to men was so much talked of in Kirtland, that it became a by-word on the street; and that common report said that a bitter quarrel between Rigdon and Smith shortly before they left Kirtland was because Smith wanted to have Nancy Rigdon, then a girl of sixteen, sealed to him. Smith confesses

252 Mormon Portraits. -- I. Sidelights.

himself that all classes of persons asked him daily and hourly, while he was journeying between Kirtland and Far West, "Do Mormons believe in having more wives than one?" All this accords perfectly with the statement of Apostle Pratt that the principle was made known to the Prophet as early as 1831....

Transcriber's Comments

Mr. Wyl's Joseph Smith Book

This 320 page book was advertised as being the first of two "Mormon Portraits" volumes compiled by Wilhelm R. von Wymetal and scheduled to be published (under the pen-name of "W. Wyl") in the mid-1880s. The second volume in the series (on Brigham Young and his family) was never published.

Wyl obtained some important research material from James T. Cobb, an adopted son of Brigham Young and an active anti-Mormon journalist in Salt Lake City during the late 1870s and early 1880s. Among the various items passed on by Cobb to Wyl was 1879 correspondence between Cobb and relatives of Emma Hale and between Cobb and the Clapp family of Mentor Ohio. A portion of this correspondence appeared in the columns of the Salt Lake Tribune and the Amboy Journal during 1879, but a few interesting pieces did not see print until Wyl published them in his 1886 book.

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