Smith's autobiography contains this memorandum: "October 1, 1835. This afternoon I labored on the Egyptian alphabet in company with Brother O. Cowdery and W. W. Phelps, and during the research the principals of astronomy, as understood by Father Abraham and the Ancients, unfolded to our understanding. "When he was in the height of his power in Nauvoo, Smith printed in the Times and Seasons a reproduction of these hieroglyphics accompanied by this alleged translation, of what he called "the Book of Abraham," and they were also printed in the Millennial Star.* The translation was a meaningless jumble of words after this fashion:—

* See Vol. XIX, p. 100, etc., from which the accompanying facsimile is taken.

"In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence, and finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the Fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same, having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring to be one also who possessed great knowledge, and to possess greater knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness."

Remy submitted a reproduction of these hieroglyphics to Theodule Deveria, of the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris, who found, of course, that Smith's purported translation was wholly fraudulent. For instance, his Abraham fastened on an altar was a representation of Osiris coming to life on his funeral couch, his officiating priest was the god Anubis, and what Smith represents to indicate an angel of the Lord is "the soul of Osiris, under the form of a hawk."* Smith's whole career offered no more brazen illustration of his impostures than this.

* See "A Journey to Great Salt Lake City", by Jules Remy (1861), Note XVII.

A visitor to the Kirtland Temple some years later paid Joseph's father half a dollar in order to see the Egyptian curios, which were kept in the attic of that structure.

A well-authenticated anecdote, giving another illustration of Smith's professed knowledge of the Egyptian language is told by the Rev. Henry Caswall, M.A., who, after holding the Professorship of Divinity in Kemper College, in Missouri, became vicar of a church in England. Mr. Caswall, on the occasion of a visit to Nauvoo in 1842, having heard of Smith's Egyptian lore, took with him an ancient Greek manuscript of the Psalter, on parchment, with which to test the prophet's scholarship. The belief of Smith's followers in his powers was shown by their eagerness to have him see this manuscript, and their persistence in urging Mr. Caswall to wait a day for Smith's return from Carthage that he might submit it to the prophet. Mr. Caswall the next day handed the manuscript to Smith and asked him to explain its contents. After a brief examination, Smith explained: "It ain't Greek at all, except perhaps a few words. What ain't Greek is Egyptian, and what ain't Egyptian is Greek. This book is very valuable. It is a dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics. These figures (pointing to the capitals] is Egyptian hieroglyphics written in the reformed Egyptian. These characters are like the letters that were engraved on the golden plates."*

* "The City of the Mormons," p. 36 (1842).



CHAPTER V. SMITH'S OHIO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

When Rigdon returned to Ohio with Smith in January, 1831, it seems to have been his intention to make Kirtland the permanent headquarters of the new church. He had written to his people from Palmyra, "Be it known to you, brethren, that you are dwelling on your eternal inheritance." When Cowdery and his associates arrived in Ohio on their first trip, they announced as the boundaries of the Promised Land the township of Kirtland on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Within two months of his arrival at Kirtland Smith gave out a "revelation" (Sec. 45), in which the Lord commanded the elders to go forth into the western countries and buildup churches, and they were told of a City of Refuge for the church, to be called the New Jerusalem. No definite location of this city was given, and the faithful were warned to "keep these things from going abroad unto the world." Another "revelation" of the same month (Sec. 48) announced that it was necessary for all to remain for the present in their places of abode, and directed those who had lands "to impart to the eastern brethren," and the others to buy lands, and all to save money" to purchase lands for an inheritance, even the city."

The reports of those who first went to Missouri induced Smith and Rigdon, before they made their first trip to that state, to announce that the Saints would pass one more winter in Ohio. But when they had visited the Missouri frontier and realized its distance from even the Ohio border line, and the actual privations to which settlers there must submit, their zeal weakened, and they declared, "It will be many years before we come here, for the Lord has a great work for us to do in Ohio." The building of the Temple at Kirtland, and the investments in lots and in business enterprises there showed that a permanent settlement in Ohio was then decided on.

Smith's first business enterprise for the church in Ohio was a general store which he opened in Hiram. This establishment has been described as "a poorly furnished country store where commerce looks starvation in the face."* The difficulty of combining the positions of prophet, head of the church, and retail merchant was naturally great. The result of the combination has been graphically pictured by no less an authority than Brigham Young. In a discourse in Salt Lake City, explaining why the church did not maintain a store there, Young said:—

* Salt Lake Herald, November 17, 1877.

"You that have lived in Nauvoo, in Missouri, in Kirtland, Ohio, can you assign a reason why Joseph could not keep a store and be a merchant? Let me just give you a few reasons; and there are men here who know just how matters went in those days. Joseph goes to New York and buys $20,000 worth of goods, comes into Kirtland and commences to trade. In comes one of the brethren. Brother Joseph, let me have a frock pattern for my wife: What if Joseph says, 'No, I cannot without money.' The consequence would be, 'He is no Prophet,' says James. Pretty soon Thomas walks in. 'Brother Joseph, will you trust me for a pair of boots?' 'No, I cannot let them go without money.' 'Well,' says Thomas, 'Brother Joseph is no Prophet; I have found THAT out and I am glad of it.' After a while in comes Bill and Sister Susan. Says Bill, 'Brother Joseph, I want a shawl. I have not got any money, but I wish you to trust me a week or a fortnight.' Well, Brother Joseph thinks the others have gone and apostatized, and he don't know but these goods will make the whole church do the same, so he lets Bill have a shawl. Bill walks of with it and meets a brother. 'Well,' says he, 'what do you think of Brother Joseph?' 'O, he is a first rate man, and I fully believe he is a Prophet. He has trusted me with this shawl.' Richard says, 'I think I will go down and see if he won't trust me some.' In walks Richard. Brother Joseph, I want to trade about $20.' 'Well,'says Joseph, 'these goods will make the people apostatize, so over they go; they are of less value than the people.' Richard gets his goods. Another comes in the same way to make a trade of $25, and so it goes. Joseph was a first rate fellow with them all the time, provided he never would ask them to pay him. And so you may trace it down through the history of this people."*

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 215.

If this analysis of the flock which Smith gathered in Ohio, and which formed the nucleus of the settlements in Missouri, was not permanently recorded in an official church record, its authenticity would be vigorously assailed.

Later enterprises at Kirtland, undertaken under the auspices of the church, included a steam sawmill and a tannery, both of which were losing concerns. But the speculation to which later Mormon authorities attributed the principal financial disasters of the church at Kirtland was the purchase of land and its sale as town lots.* The craze for land speculation in those days was not confined, however, to the Mormons. That was the period when the purchase of public lands of the United States seemed likely to reach no limit. These sales, which amounted to $2,300,000 in 1830, and to $4,800,000 in 1834, lumped to $14,757,600 in 1835, and to $24,877,179 in 1836. The government deposits (then made in the state banks) increased from $10,000,000 on January 1, 1835, to $41,500,000 on June 1, 1836, the increase coming from receipts from land sales. This led to that bank expansion which was measured by the growth of bank capital in this country from $61,000,000 to $200,000,000 between 1830 and 1834, with a further advance to $251,000,000.

* "Real estate rose from 100 to 800 per cent and in many cases more. Men who were not thought worth $50 or $100 became purchasers of thousands. Notes (sometimes cash), deeds and mortgages passed and repassed, till all, or nearly all, supposed they had become wealthy, or at least had acquired a competence."—Messenger and Advocate, June, 1837.

The Mormon leaders and their people were peculiarly liable to be led into disaster when sharing in this speculators' fever. They were, however, quick to take advantage of the spirit of the times. The Zion of Missouri lost its attractiveness to them, and on February 23, 1833, the Presidency decided to purchase land at Kirtland, and to establish there on a permanent Stake of Zion. The land purchases of the church began at once, and we find a record of one Council meeting, on March 23, 1833, at which it was decided to buy three farms costing respectively $4000, $2100, and $5000. Kirtland was laid out (on paper) with 32 streets, cutting one another at right angles, each four rods wide. This provided for 225 blocks of 20 lots each. Twenty-nine of the streets were named after Mormons. Joseph and his family appear many times in the list of conveyors of these lots. The original map of the city, as described in Smith's autobiography, provided for 24 public buildings temples, schools, etc.; no lot to contain more than one house, and that not to be nearer than 25 feet from the street, with a prohibition against erecting a stable on a house lot.*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 438-439.

Of course this Mormon capital must have a grand church edifice, to meet Smith's views, and he called a council to decide about the character of the new meeting-house. A few of the speakers favored a modest frame building, but a majority thought a log one better suited to their means. Joseph rebuked the latter, asking, "Shall we, brethren, build a house for our God of logs?" and he straightway led them to the corner of a wheat field, where the trench for the foundation was at once begun.* No greater exhibition of business folly could have been given than the undertaking of the costly building then planned on so slender a financial foundation.

* Mother Smith's "Biographical Sketches" p. 213.

The corner-stone was laid on July 23, 1833, and the Temple was not dedicated until March 27, 1836. Mormon devotion certainly showed itself while this work was going on. Every male member was expected to give oneseventh of his time to the building without pay, and those who worked on it at day's wages had, in most instances, no other income, and often lived on nothing but corn meal. The women, as their share, knit and wove garments for the workmen.

The Temple, which is of stone covered with a cement stucco (it is still in use), measures 60 by 80 feet on the ground, is 123 feet in height to the top of the spire, and contains two stories and an attic.

The cost of this Temple was $40,000, and, notwithstanding the sacrifices made by the Saints in assisting its construction, and the schemes of the church officers to secure funds, a debt of from $15,000 to $20,000 remained upon it. That the church was financially embarrassed at the very beginning of the work is shown by a letter addressed to the brethren in Zion, Missouri, by Smith, Rigdon, and Williams, dated June 25, 1833, in which they said, "Say to Brother Gilbert that we have no power to assist him in a pecuniary point, as we know not the hour when we shall be sued for debts which we have contracted ourselves in New York."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 450.

To understand the business crash and scandals which compelled Smith and his associates to flee from Ohio, it is necessary to explain the business system adopted by the church under them. This system began with a rule about the consecration of property. As originally published in the Evening and Morning Star, and in chapter xliv of the "Book of Commandments," this rule declared, "Thou shalt consecrate all thy properties, that which thou hast, unto me, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken," with a provision that the Bishop, after he had received such an irrevocable deed, should appoint every man a steward over so much of his property as would be sufficient for himself and family. In the later edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants" this was changed to read, "And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate thy properties for their support," etc.

By a "revelation" given out while the heads of the church were in Jackson County, Missouri, in April, 1832 (Sec. 82), a sort of firm was appointed, including Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery, Harris, and N. K. Whitney, "to manage the affairs of the poor, and all things pertaining to the bishopric," both in Ohio and Missouri. This firm thus assumed control of the property which "revelation" had placed in the hands of the Bishop. This arrangement was known as The Order of Enoch. Next came a "revelation" dated April 23, 1834. (Sec. 104), by which the properties of the Order were divided, Rigdon getting the place in which he was living in Kirtland, and the tannery; Harris a lot, with a command to "devote his monies for the proclaiming of my words"; Cowdery and Williams, the printing-office, with some extra lots to Cowdery; and Smith, the lot designed for the Temple, and "the inheritance on which his father resides." The building of the Temple having brought the Mormon leaders into debt, this "revelation," was designed to help them out, and it contained these further directions, in the voice of the Lord, be it remembered: "The covenants being broken through transgression, by covetousness and feigned words, therefore you are dissolved as a United Order with your brethren, that you are not bound only up to this hour unto them, only on this wise, as I said, by loan as shall be agreed by this Order in council, as your circumstances will admit, and the voice of the council direct.....

"And again verily I say unto you, concerning your debts, behold it is my will that you should pay all your debts; and it is my will that you should humble yourselves before me, and obtain this blessing by your diligence and humility and the prayer of faith; and inasmuch as you are diligent and humble, and exercise the prayer of faith, behold, I will soften the hearts of those to whom you are in debt, until I shall send means unto you for your deliverance.... I give you a promise that you shall be delivered this once out of your bondage; inasmuch as you obtained a chance to loan money by hundreds, or thousands even until you shall loan enough [meaning borrow] to deliver yourselves from bondage, it is your privilege; and pledge the properties which I have put into your hands this once.... The master will not suffer his house to be broken up. Even so. Amen."

It does not appear that the Mormon leaders took advantage of this authorization to borrow money on Kirtland real estate, if they could; but in 1835 they set up several mercantile establishments, finding firms in Cleveland, Buffalo, and farther east who would take their notes on six months' time." A great part of the goods of these houses, "says William Harris, "went to pay the workmen on the Temple, and many were sold on credit, so that when the notes became due the houses were not able to meet them."

Smith's autobiography relates part of one story of an effort of his to secure money at this trying time, the complete details of which have been since supplied. He simply says that on July 25, 1836, in company with his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery, he started on a trip which brought them to Salem, Massachusetts, where "we hired a house and occupied the same during the month, teaching the people from house to house."* The Mormon of to-day, in reading his "Doctrine and Covenants," finds Section 111 very perplexing. No place of its reception is given, but it goes on to say:—

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 281.

"I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies; I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion;...and it shall come to pass in due time, that I will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it, insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours. Concern not yourself about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them.... And inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city; for there are more treasures than one for you in this city."

"This city" was Salem, Massachusetts, and the "revelation" was put forth to brace up the spirits of Smith's fellow-travellers. A Mormon named Burgess had gone to Kirtland with a story about a large amount of money that was buried in the cellar of a house in Salem which had belonged to a widow, and the location of which he alone knew. Smith credited this report, and looked to the treasure to assist him in his financial difficulties, and he took the persons named with him on the trip. But when they got there Burgess said that time had so changed the appearance of the houses that he could not be sure which was the widow's, and he cleared out. Smith then hired a house which he thought might be the right one,—it proved not to be,—and it was when his associates were—becoming discouraged that the ex-money-digger uttered the words quoted, to strengthen their courage. "We speak of these things with regret," says Ebenezer Robinson, who believed in the prophet's divine calling to the last.*

* The Return, July, 1889.

Brought face to face with apparent financial disaster, the next step taken to prevent this was the establishment of a bank. Smith told of a "revelation" concerning a bank "which would swallow up all other banks." An application for a charter was made to the Ohio legislature, but it was refused. The law of Ohio at that time provided that "all notes and bills, bonds and other securities [of an unchartered bank] shall be held and taken in all courts as absolutely void." This, however, did not deter a man of Smith's audacity, and soon came the announcement of the organization of the "Kirtland Safety Society Bank," with an alleged capital of $4,000,000. The articles of agreement had been drawn up on November 2, 1836, and Oliver Cowdery had been sent to Philadelphia to get the plates for the notes at the same time that Orson Hyde set out to the state capital to secure a charter. Cowdery took no chances of failure, and he came back not only with a plate, but with $200,000 in printed bills. To avoid the inconvenience of having no charter, the members of the Safety Society met on January 2, 1837, and reorganized under the name of the "Kirtland Society Anti-banking Company," and, in the hope of placing the bills within the law (or at least beyond its reach), the word "Bank" was changed with a stamp so that it read "Anti-BANK-ing Co.," as in the facsimile here presented.

W. Harris thus describes the banking scheme:—

"Subscribers for stock were allowed to pay the amount of their subscriptions in town lots at five or six times their real value; others paid in personal property at a high valuation, and some were paid in cash. When the notes were first issued they were current in the vicinity, and Smith took advantage of their credit to pay off with them the debts he and his brethren had contracted in the neighborhood for land, etc. The Eastern creditors, however, refused to take them. This led to the expedient of exchanging them for the notes of other banks.

Accordingly, the Elders were sent into the country to barter off Kirtland money, which they did with great zeal, and continued the operation until the notes were not worth twelve and a half cents to the dollar."*

* "Mormonism Portrayed," p. 31

Just how much of this currency was issued the records do not show. Hall says that Brigham Young, who had joined the flock at Kirtland, disposed of $10,000 worth of it in the States, and that Smith and other church officers reaped a rich harvest with it in Canada, explaining, "The credit of the bank here was good, even high."* Kidder quotes a gentleman living near Kirtland who said that the cash capital paid in was only about $5000, and that they succeeded in floating from $50,000 to $100,000. Ann Eliza, Brigham's "wife No. 19," says that her father invested everything he had but his house and shop in the bank, and lost it all.

* "Abominations of Mormonism Exposed" (1852), pp. 19, 20.

Cyrus Smalling, one of the Seventy at Kirtland, wrote an account of Kirtland banking operations under date of March 10, 1841, in which he said that Smith and his associates collected about $6000 in specie, and that when people in the neighborhood went to the bank to inquire about its specie reserve, "Smith had some one or two hundred boxes made, and gathered all the lead and shot the village had, or that part of it that he controlled, and filled the boxes with lead, shot, etc., and marked them $1000 each. Then, when they went to examine the vault, he had one box on a table partly filled for them to see; and when they proceeded to the vault, Smith told them that the church had $200,000 in specie; and he opened one box and they saw that it was silver; and they were seemingly satisfied, and went away for a few days until the elders were packed off in every direction to pass their paper money."*

* "Mormons; or Knavery Exposed" (1841).

Smith believed in specie payments to his bank, whatever might be his intentions as regards the redemption of his notes, for, in the Messenger and Advocate (pp. 441-443), following the by-laws of the Anti-banking Company, was printed a statement signed by him, saying:—

"We want the brethren from abroad to call on us and take stock in the Safety Society, and we would remind them of the sayings of the Prophet Isaiah contained in the 60th chapter, and more particularly in the 9th and 17th verses which are as follows:—

"Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God.

"For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, etc."

The Messenger and Advocate (edited by W. A. Cowdery), of July, 1837, contained a long article on the bank and its troubles, pointing out, first, that the bank was opened without a charter, being "considered a kind of joint stock association," and that "the private property of the stockholders was holden in proportion to the amount of their subscriptions for the redemption of the paper," and also that its notes were absolutely void under the state law. The editor goes on to say:—

"Previously to the commencement of discounting by the bank, large debts had been contracted for merchandise in New York and other cities, and large contracts entered into for real estate in this and adjoining towns; some of them had fallen due and must be met, or incur forfeitures of large sums. These causes, we are bound to believe, operated to induce the officers of the bank to let out larger sums than their better judgments dictated, which almost invariably fell into or passed through the hands of those who sought our ruin.... Hundreds who were enemies either came or sent their agents and demanded specie, till the officers thought best to refuse payment."

This subtle explanation of the suspension of specie payments is followed with a discussion of monopolies, etc., leading up to a statement of the obligations of the Mormons in regard to the discredited bank-notes, most of which were in circulation elsewhere. To the question; "Shall we unite as one man, say it is good, and make it good by taking it on a par with gold?" he replies, "No," explaining that, owing to the fewness of the church members as compared with the world at large, "it must be confined in its circulation and par value to the limits of our own society." To the question, "Shall we then take it at its marked price for our property," he again replies, "No," explaining that their enemies had received the paper at a discount, and that, to receive it at par from them, would "give them voluntarily and with one eye open just that advantage over us to oppress, degrade and depress us." This combined financial and spiritual adviser closes his article by urging the brethren to set apart a portion of their time to the service of God, and a portion to "the study of the science of our government and the news of the day."

A card which appeared in the Messenger and Advocate of August, 1837, signed by Smith, warned "the brethren and friends of the church to beware of speculators, renegades, and gamblers who are duping the unwary and unsuspecting by palming upon them those bills, which are of no worth here."

The actual test of the bank's soundness had come when a request was made for the redemption of the notes. The notes seem to have been accepted freely in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where it was taken for granted that a cashier and president who professed to be prophets of the Lord would not give countenance to bank paper of doubtful value.* When stories about the concern reached the Pittsburg banks, they sent an agent to Kirtland with a package of the notes for redemption. Rigdon loudly asserted the stability of the institution; but when a request for coin was repeated, it was promptly refused by him on the ground that the bills were a circulating medium" for the accommodation of the public, "and that to call any of them in would defeat their object.**

* "Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 71.

** "Early Days of Mormonism," p. 163.

Other creditors of the Mormons were now becoming active in their demands. For failing to meet a note given to the bank at Painesville, Smith, Rigdon, and N. K. Whitney were put under $8000 bonds. Smith, Rigdon, and Cowdery were called into court as indorsers of paper for one of the Mormon firms, and judgment was given against them. To satisfy a firm of New York merchants the heads of the church gave a note for $4500 secured by a mortgage on their interest in the new Temple and its contents.* The Egyptian mummies were especially excepted from this mortgage. Mother Smith describes how these relics were saved by "various stratagems" under an execution of $50 issued against the prophet.

* Ibid., pp. 159-160.

The scheme of calling the bank corporation an "anti-banking" society did not save the officers from prosecution under the state law. Informers against violators of the banking law received in Ohio a share of the fine imposed, and this led to the filing of an information against Rigdon and Smith in March, 1837, by one S. D. Rounds, in the Geauga County Court, charging them with violating the law, and demanding a penalty of $1000 They were at once arrested and held in bail, and were convicted the following October. They appealed on the ground that the institution was an association and not a bank; but this plea was never ruled upon by the court, as the bank suspended payments and closed its doors in November, 1837, and, before the appeal could be argued, Smith and Rigdon had fled from the state to Missouri.



CHAPTER VI. LAST DAYS AT KIRTLAND

It is easy to understand that a church whose leaders had such views of financial responsibility as Smith's and Rigdon's, and whose members were ready to apostatize when they could not obtain credit at the prophet's store, was anything but a harmonious body. Smith was not a man to maintain his own dignity or to spare the feelings of his associates. Wilford Woodruff, describing his first sight of the prophet, at Kirtland, in 1834, said he found him with his brother Hyrum, wearing a very old hat and engaged in the sport of shooting at a mark. Woodruff accompanied him to his house, where Smith at once brought out a wolfskin, and said, "Brother Woodruff, I want you to help me tan this," and the two took off their coats and went to work at the skin.* Smith's contempt for Rigdon was never concealed. Writing of the situation at Kirtland in 1833, he spoke of Rigdon as possessing "a selfishness and independence of mind which too often manifestly destroys the confidence of those who would lay down their lives for him."** Smith was in the habit of announcing, from his lofty pulpit in the Temple, "The truth is good enough without dressing up, but brother Rigdon will now proceed to dress it up."*** Some of the new converts backed out as soon as they got a close view of the church. Elder G. A. Smith, a cousin of Joseph, in a sermon in Salt Lake City, in 1855, mentioned some incidents of this kind. One family, who had journeyed a long distance to join the church in Kirtland, changed their minds because Joseph's wife invited them to have a cup of tea "after the word of wisdom was given." Another family withdrew after seeing Joseph begin playing with his children as soon as he rested from the work of translating the Scriptures for the day. A Canadian ex-Methodist prayed so long at family worship at Father Johnson's that Joseph told him flatly "not to bray so much like a jackass." The prayer thereupon returned to Canada.

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 101.

** Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 584-585.

*** Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1880.

But the discontented were not confined to new-comers. Jealousy and dissatisfaction were constantly manifesting themselves among Smith's old standbys. Written charges made against Cowdery and David Whitmer, when they were driven out of Far West, Missouri, told them: "You commenced your wickedness by heading a party to disturb the worship of the Saints in the first day of the week, and made the house of the Lord in Kirtland to be a scene of abuse and slander, to destroy the reputation of those whom the church had appointed to be their teachers, and for no other cause only that you were not the persons." In more exact terms, their offence was opposition to the course pursued by Smith. During the winter and spring of 1837, these rebels included in their list F. G. Williams, of the First Presidency, Martin Harris, D. Whitmer, Lyman E. Johnson, P. P. Pratt, and W. E. McLellin. In May, 1837, a High Council was held in Kirtland to try these men. Pratt at once objected to being tried by a body of which Smith and Rigdon were members, as they had expressed opinions against him. Rigdon confessed that he could not conscientiously try the case, Cowdery did likewise, Williams very properly withdrew, and "the Council dispersed in confusion."* It was never reassembled, but the offenders were not forgotten, and their punishment came later.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, p. 10.

Mother Smith attributes much of the discord among the members at this time to "a certain young woman," an inmate of David Whitmer's house, who began prophesying with the assistance of a black stone. This seer predicted Smith's fall from office because of his transgressions, and that David Whitmer or Martin Harris would succeed him. Her proselytes became so numerous that a written list of them showed that "a great proportion of the church were decidedly in favor with the new party."*

* "Biographical Sketches," p. 221.

While Smith was thus fighting leading members of his own church, he was called upon to defend himself against a serious charge in court. A farmer near Kirtland, named Grandison Newell, received information from a seceding Mormon that Smith had directed the latter and another Mormon named Davis to kill Newell because he was a particularly open opponent of the new sect. The affidavit of this man set forth that he and Davis had twice gone to Newell's house to carry out Smith's order, and were only prevented by the absence of the intended victim. Smith was placed under $500 bonds on this charge, but on the formal hearing he was discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence.*

* Fanny Brewer of Boston, in an affidavit published in 1842, declared, "I am personally acquainted with one of the employees, Davis by name, and he frankly acknowledged to me that he was prepared to do the deed under the direction of the prophet, and was only prevented by the entreaties of his wife."

A rebellious spirit had manifested itself among the brethren in Missouri soon after Smith returned from his first visit to that state. W. W. Phelps questioned the prophet's "monarchical power and authority," and an unpleasant correspondence sprung up between them. As Smith did not succeed by his own pen in silencing his accusers, a conference of twelve high priests was called by him in Kirtland in January, 1833, which appointed Orson Hyde and Smith's brother Hyrum to write to the Missouri brethren. In this letter they were told plainly that, unless the rebellious spirit ceased, the Lord would seek another Zion. To Phelps the message was sent, "If you have fat beef and potatoes, eat them in singleness of heart, and not boast yourself in these things." It was, however, as a concession to this spirit of complaint, according to Ferris, that Smith announced the "revelation" which placed the church in the hands of a supreme governing body of three.

Smith himself furnishes a very complete picture of the disrupted condition of the Mormons in 1838, in an editorial in the Elders' journal, dated August, of that year. The tone of the article, too, sheds further light on Smith's character. Referring to the course of "a set of creatures" whom the church had excluded from fellowship, he says they "had recourse to the foulest lying to hide their iniquity...; and this gang of horse thieves and drunkards were called upon immediately to write their lives on paper." Smith then goes on to pay his respects to various officers of the church, all of whom, it should be remembered, held their positions through "revelation" and were therefore professedly chosen directly by God.

Of a statement by Warren Parish, one of the Seventy and an officer of the bank, Smith says: "Granny Parish made such an awful fuss about what was conceived in him that, night after night and day after day, he poured forth his agony before all living, as they saw proper to assemble. For a rational being to have looked at him and heard him groan and grunt, and saw him sweat and struggle, would have supposed that his womb was as much swollen as was Rebecca's when the angel told her there were two nations there." He also accuses Parish of immorality and stealing money.

Here is a part of Smith's picture of Dr. W. A. Cowdery, a presiding high priest: "This poor pitiful beggar came to Kirtland a few years since with a large family, nearly naked and destitute. It was really painful to see this pious Doctor's (for such he professed to be) rags flying when he walked upon the streets. He was taken in by us in this pitiful condition, and we put him into the printing-office and gave him enormous wages, not because he could earn it, but merely out of pity.... A truly niggardly spirit manifested itself in all his meanness."

Smith's old friend Martin Harris, now a high priest, and Cyrus Smalling, one of the Seventy, are lumped among Parish's "lackeys,", of whom Smith says: "They are so far beneath contempt that a notice of them would be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make." Of Leonard Rich, one of the seven presidents of the seventy elders, Smith says that he "was generally so drunk that he had to support himself by something to keep from falling down." J. F. Boynton and Luke Johnson, two of the Twelve, are called "a pair of young blacklegs," and Stephen Burnett, an elder, is styled "a little ignorant blockhead, whose heart was so set on money that he would at any time sell his soul for $50, and then think he had made an excellent bargain."

Smith's own personal character was freely attacked, and the subject became so public that it received notice in the Elders' Journal. One charge was improper conduct toward an orphan girl whom Mrs. Smith had taken into her family. Smith's autobiography contains an account of a council held in New Portage, Ohio, in 1834, at which Rigdon accused Martin Harris of telling A. C. Russel that "Joseph drank too much liquor when he was translating the Book of Mormon," and Harris set up as a defence that "this thing occurred previous to the translating of the Book."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 12.

There was a good deal of talk concerning a confession "about a girl," which Oliver Cowdery was reported to have said that Smith made to him. Denials of this for Cowdery appeared in the Elders' Journal of July, 1838, one man's statement ending thus, "Joseph asked if he ever said to him (Oliver) that he (Joseph) confessed to any one that he was guilty of the above crime; and Oliver, after some hesitation, answered no."

The Elders' Journal of August, 1838, contains a retraction by Parley P. Pratt of a letter he had written, in which he censured both Smith and Rigdon, "using great severity and harshness in regard to certain business transactions." In that letter Pratt confessed that "the whole scheme of speculation" in which the Mormon leaders were engaged was of the "devil," and he begged Smith to make restitution for having sold him, for $2000, three lots of land that did not cost Smith over $200.

Not only was the moral character of Smith and other individual members of the church successfully attacked at this time, but the charge was openly made that polygamy was practised and sanctioned. In the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," published in Kirtland in 1835, Section 101 was devoted to the marriage rite. It contained this declaration: "Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again." The value of such a denial is seen in the ease with which this section was blotted out by Smith's later "revelation" establishing polygamy.

An admission that even elders did practise polygamy at that time is found in a minute of a meeting of the Presidents of the Seventies, held on April 29, 1837, which made this declaration: "First, that we will have no fellowship whatever with any elder belonging to the Quorum of the Seventies, who is guilty of polygamy."*

* Messenger and Advocate, p. 511.

Again: The Elders' journal dated Far West, Missouri, 1838, contained a list of answers by Smith to certain questions which, in an earlier number, he had said were daily and hourly asked by all classes of people. Among these was the following: "Q. Do the Mormons believe in having more wives than one? A. No, not at the same time." (He condemns the plan of marrying within a few weeks or months of the death of the first wife.) The statement has been made that polygamy first suggested itself to Smith in Ohio, while he was translating the so-called "Book of Abraham" from the papyri found on the Egyptian mummies. This so-called translation required some study of the Old Testament, and it is not at all improbable that Smith's natural inclination toward such a doctrine as polygamy secured a foundation in his reading of the Old Testament license to have a plurality of wives.

For the business troubles hanging over the community, Smith and Rigdon were held especially accountable. The flock had seen the funds confided by them to the Bishop invested partly in land that was divided among some of the Mormon leaders. Smith and Rigdon were provided with a house near the Temple, and a printing-office was established there, which was under Smith's management. Naturally, when the stock and notes of the bank became valueless, its local victims held its organizers responsible for the disaster. Mother Smith gives us an illustration of the depth of this feeling. One Sunday evening, while her husband was preaching at Kirtland, when Joseph was in Cleveland "on business pertaining to the bank," the elder Smith reflected sharply upon Warren Parish, on whom the Smiths tried to place the responsibility for the bank failure. Parish, who was present, leaped forward and tried to drag the old man out of the pulpit. Smith, Sr., appealed to Oliver Cowdery for help, but Oliver retained his seat. Then the prophet's brother William sprang to his father's assistance, and carried Parish bodily out of the church. Thereupon John Boynton, who was provided with a sword cane, drew his weapon and threatened to run it through the younger Smith. "At this juncture," says Mrs. Smith, "I left the house, not only terrified at the scene, but likewise sick at heart to see the apostasy of which Joseph had prophesied was so near at hand."*

* "Biographical Sketches," p. 221.

Eliza Snow gives a slightly different version of the same outbreak, describing its wind-up as follows:—

John Boynton and others drew their pistols and bowie knives and rushed down from the stand into a congregation, Boynton saying he would blow out the brains of the first man who dared lay hands on him.... Amid screams and shrieks, the policemen in ejecting the belligerents knocked down a stove pipe, which fell helter-skelter among the people; but, although bowie knives and pistols were wrested from their owners and thrown hither and thither to prevent disastrous results, no one was hurt, and after a short but terrible scene to be enacted in a Temple of God, order was restored and the services of the day proceeded as usual."*

* "Biography of Lorenzo Snow," p. 20.

Smith made a stubborn defence of his business conduct. He attributed the disaster to the bank to Parish's peculation, and the general troubles of the church to "the spirit of speculation in lands and property of all kinds," as he puts it in his autobiography, wherein he alleges that "the evils were actually brought about by the brethren not giving heed to my counsel." If Smith gave any such counsel, it is unfortunate for his reputation that neither the church records nor his "revelations" contain any mention of it.

The final struggle came in December, 1837, when Smith and Rigdon made their last public appearance in the Kirtland Temple. Smith was as bold and aggressive as ever, but Rigdon, weak from illness, had to be supported to his seat. An eye-witness of the day's proceedings says* that "the pathos of Rigdon's plea, and the power of his denunciation, swayed the feelings and shook the judgments of his hearers as never in the old days of peace, and, when he had finished and was led out, a perfect silence reigned in the Temple until its door had closed upon him forever. Smith made a resolute and determined battle; false reports had been circulated, and those by whom the offence had come must repent and acknowledge their sin or be cut off from fellowship in this world, and from honor and power in that to come." He not only maintained his right to speak as the head of the church, but, after the accused had partly presented their case, and one of them had given him the lie openly, he proposed a vote on their excommunication at once and a hearing of their further pleas at a later date. This extraordinary proposal led one of the accused to cry out, "You would cut a man's head off and hear him afterward." Finally it was voted to postpone the whole subject for a few days.

* "Early Days of Mormonism," Kennedy, p. 169.

But the two leaders of the church did not attend this adjourned session. Alarmed by rumors that Grandison Newell had secured a warrant for their arrest on a charge of fraud in connection with the affairs of the bank (unfounded rumors, as it later appeared), they fled from Kirtland on horseback on the evening of January 12, 1838, and Smith never revisited that town. In his description of their flight, Smith explained that they merely followed the direction of Jesus, who said, "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye to another." He describes the weather as extremely cold, and says, "We were obliged to secrete ourselves sometimes to elude the grasp of our pursuers, who continued their race more than two hundred miles from Kirtland, armed with pistols, etc., seeking our lives." There is no other authority for this story of an armed pursuit, and the fact seems to be that the non-Mormon community were perfectly satisfied with the removal of the mock prophet from their neighborhood.

Although Kirtland continued to remain a Stake of the church, the real estate scheme of making it a big city vanished with the prophet. Foreclosures of mortgages now began; the church printing-office was first sold out by the sheriff and then destroyed by fire, and the so-called reform element took possession of the Temple. Rigdon had placed his property out of his own hands, one acre of land in Kirtland being deeded by him and his wife to their daughter.

The Temple with about two acres of land adjoining was deeded by the prophet to William Marks in 1837, and in 1841 was redeeded to Smith as trustee in trust for the church. In 1862 it was sold under an order of the probate court by Joseph Smith's administrator, and conveyed the same day to one Russel Huntley, who, in 1873, conveyed it to the prophet's grandson, Joseph Smith, and another representative of the Reorganized Church (nonpolygamist). The title of the latter organization was sustained in 1880 by judge L. S. Sherman, of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas, who held that, "The church in Utah has materially and largely departed from the faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances and usages of said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and has incorporated into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial marriage and a plurality of wives, and the doctrine of Adam-God worship, contrary to the laws and constitution of said original church," and that the Reorganized Church was the true and lawful successor to the original organization. At the general conference of the Reorganized Church, held at Lamoni, Iowa, in April, 1901, the Kirtland district reported a membership of 423 members. BOOK III. IN MISSOURI



CHAPTER I. THE DIRECTIONS TO THE SAINTS ABOUT THEIR ZION

The state of Missouri, to which the story of the Mormons is now transferred, was, at the time of its admission to the Union, in 1821, called "a promontory of civilization into an ocean of savagery." Wild Indian tribes occupied the practically unexplored region beyond its western boundary, and its own western counties were thinly settled. Jackson County, which in 1900 had 195,193 inhabitants, had a population of 2823 by the census of 1830, and neighboring counties not so many. It was not until 1830 that the first cabin of a white man was built in Daviess County. All this territory had been released from Indian ownership by treaty only a few years when the first Mormons arrived there.

The white settler's house was a log hut, generally with a dirt floor, a mudplastered chimney, and a window without glass, a board or quilt serving to close it in time of storm or severe cold. A fireplace, with a skillet and kettle, supplied the place of a well-equipped stove. Corn was the principal grain food, and wild game supplied most of the meat. The wild animals furnished clothing as well as food; for the pioneers could not afford to pay from 15 to 25 cents a yard for calico, and from 25 to 75 cents for gingham.* Some persons indulged in homespun cloth for Sunday and festal occasions, but the common outside garments were made of dressed deerskins. Parley P. Pratt, in his autobiography, speaks of passing through a settlement where "some families were entirely dressed in skins, without any other clothing, including ladies young and old."

* "When the merchants sold a calico or gingham dress pattern they threw in their profit by giving a spool of thread (two hundred yards), hooks and eyes and lining. In the thread business, however, it was only a few years after that thirty and fifty yard spools took the place of the two hundred yards."—"History of Daviess County", p. 161.

The pioneer agriculturist of those days not only lacked the transportation facilities and improved agricultural appliances which have assisted the developers of the Northwest, but they did not even understand the nature and capability of the soil. The newcomers in western Missouri looked on the rich prairie land as worthless, and they almost invariably directed their course to the timber, where the soil was more easily broken up, and material for buildings was available. The first attempts to plough the prairie sod were very primitive. David Dailey made the first trial in Jackson County with what was called a "barshear plough" (drawn by from four to eight yokes of oxen), the "shear" of which was fastened to the beam. This cut the sod in one direction pretty well, but when he began to cross-furrow, the sod piled up in front of the plough and stopped his progress. Determined to see what the soil would grow, he cut holes in the sod with an axe, and in these dropped his seed. The first sod was broken in Daviess County in 1834, with a plough made to order, "to see what the prairies amounted to in the way of raising a crop." Such was the country toward which the first Mormon missionaries turned their faces.

We have seen that the first intimation in the Mormon records of a movement to the West was found in Smith's order to Oliver Cowdery in 1830 to go and establish the church among the Lamanites (Indians), and that Rigdon expected that the church would remain in Ohio, when he wrote to his flock from Palmyra. The four original missionaries—Cowdery, P. P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Peterson—did not stop long in Kirtland, but, taking with them Frederick G. Williams, they pushed on westward to Sandusky, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, preaching to some Indians on the way, until they reached Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, early in 1831. That county forms a part of the western border of the state, and from 1832, until the railroad took the place of wagon trains, Independence was the eastern terminus of the famous Santa Fe trail, and the point of departure for many companies destined both for Oregon and California. Pratt, describing their journey west of St. Louis, says: "We travelled on foot some three hundred miles, through vast prairies and through trackless wilds of snow; no beaten road, houses few and far between. We travelled for whole days, from morning till night, without a house or fire. We carried on our backs our changes of clothing, several books, and corn bread and raw pork."*

* "Autobiography of P. P. Pratt," p. 54.

The sole idea of these pioneers seemed to be to preach to the Indians. Arriving at Independence, Whitmer and Peterson went to work to support themselves as tailors, while Cowdery and Pratt crossed the border into the Indian country. The latter, however, were at once pronounced by the federal officers there to be violators of the law which forbade the settlement of white men among the Indians, and they returned to Independence, and preached thereabout during the winter. Early in February the four decided that Pratt should return to Kirtland and make a report, and he did so, travelling partly on foot, partly on horseback, and partly by steamer.

As early as March, 1830, Smith had conceived the idea (or some one else for him) of a gathering of the elect "unto one place" to prepare for the day of desolation (Sec. 29). In October, 1830, the four pioneers were commanded to start "into the wilderness among the Lamanites," and on January 2, 1831, while Rigdon was visiting Smith in New York State, another "revelation" (Sec. 38) described the land of promise as "a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh." This land they and their children were to possess, both "while the earth shall stand, and again in eternity." A "revelation" (Sec. 45), dated March 7, 1831, at Kirtland, called on the faithful to assemble and visit the Western countries, where they were promised an inheritance, to be called "the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of most High God." These things they were to "keep from going abroad into the world" for the present.

The manner in which the elect were told by "revelation" that they should possess their land of promise has a most important bearing on the justification of the opposition which the Missourians soon manifested toward their new neighbors. In one of these "revelations," dated Kirtland, February, 1831 (Sec. 42), Christ is represented as saying, "I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people which are of the house of Israel." Another, in the following June (Sec. 52), which directed Smith's and Rigdon's trip, promised the elect, "If ye are faithful ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land in Missouri, which is the land of your inheritance, WHICH IS NOW THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES." Another, given while Smith was in Missouri, in August, 1831 (Sec. 59), promised to those "who have come up into this land with an eye single to My glory," that "they shall inherit the earth," and "shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth." On the same date the Saints were told that they should "open their hearts even to purchase the whole region of country as soon as time will permit,...lest they receive none inheritance save it be by the shedding of blood." It seems to have been thought wise to add to this last statement, after the return of the party to Ohio, and a "revelation" dated August, 1831 (Sec. 63), was given out, stating that the land of Zion could be obtained only "by purchase or by blood," and "as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city."

* Tullidge, in his "History of Salt Lake City" (1886), defining the early Mormon view of their land rights, after quoting Brigham Young's declaration to the first arrivals in Salt Lake Valley, that he (or the church) had "no land to sell," but "every man should have his land measured out to him for city and family purposes," says: "Young could with absolute propriety give the above utterances on the land question. In the early days of the church they applied to land not only owned by the United States, but within the boundaries of states of the Union." After quoting from the above-cited "revelation" the words "save they be by the shedding of blood," he explains, "The latter clause of the quotation signifies that the Mormon prophet foresaw that, unless his disciples purchased 'this whole region of country' of the unpopulated Far West of that period, the land question held between them and anti-Mormons would lead to the shedding of blood, and that they would be in jeopardy of losing their inheritance; and this was realized."

As to their obligation to pay for any of the "good things" purchased of their enemies, a "revelation" dated September 11, 1831 (the month after the return from Missouri), gave this advice:—

"Behold it is said in my laws, or forbidden, to get in debt to thine enemies;

"But behold it is not said at any time, that the Lord should not take when he pleased, and pay as seemeth him good.

"Wherefore as ye are agents, and ye are on the Lord's errand; and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord, it is the Lord's business, and it is the Lord's business to provide for his Saints in these last days, that they may obtain an inheritance in the land of Zion."—"Book of Commandments," Chap. 65.

In the modern version of this "revelation" to be found in Sec. 64 of the "Doctrine and Covenants," the latter part of this declaration is changed to read, "And he hath set you to provide for his saints in these last days," etc.

So eager were the Saints to occupy their land of Zion, when the movement started, that the word of "revelation" was employed to give warning against a hasty rush to the new possessions, and to establish a certain supervision of the emigration by the Bishop and other agents of the church. Notwithstanding this, the rush soon became embarrassing to the church authorities in Missouri, and a modified view of the Lord's promise was thus stated in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1832, "Although the Lord has said that it is his business to provide for the Saints in these last days, he is not BOUND to do so unless we observe his sayings and keep them." Saints in the East were warned against giving away their property before moving, and urged not to come to Missouri without some means, and to bring with them cattle and improved breeds of sheep and hogs, with necessary seeds.



CHAPTER II. SMITH'S FIRST VISITS TO MISSOURI—FOUNDING THE CITY AND THE TEMPLE

On June 7, 1831, a "revelation" was given out (Sec. 52) announcing that the next conference would be held in the promised land in Missouri, and directing Smith and Rigdon to go thither, and naming some thirty elders, including John Corrill, David Whitmer, P. P. and Orson Pratt, Martin Harris, and Edward Partridge, who should also make the trip, two by two, preaching by the way. Booth says: "Only about two weeks were allowed them to make preparations for the journey, and most of them left what business they had to be closed by others. Some left large families, with the crops upon the ground."*

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled."

Smith's party left Kirtland on June 19, and arrived at Independence in the following month, journeying on foot after reaching St. Louis, a distance of about three hundred miles. Smith was delighted with the new country, with "its beautiful rolling prairies, spread out like real meadows; the varied timber of the bottoms; the plums and grapes and persimmons and the flowers; the rich soil, the horses, cattle, and hogs, and the wild game.... The season is mild and delightful nearly three quarters of the year, and as the land of Zion is situated at about equal distances from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as from the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, it bids fair to become one of the most blessed places on the earth."* The town of Independence then consisted of a brick courthouse, two or three stores, and fifteen or twenty houses, mostly of logs.

* Smith's "Autobiography," Millennial Star, Vol. XIV.

The usual "revelation" came first (Sec. 57), announcing that "this is the land of promise and the place for the City of Zion," with Independence as its centre, and the site of the Temple a lot near the courthouse. It was also declared that the land should be purchased by the Saints, "and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line running directly between Jew and Gentile" (whatever that might mean), "and also every tract bordering by the prairies." Sidney Gilbert was ordered to "plant himself" there, and establish a store, "that he might sell goods without fraud," to obtain money for the purchase of land. Edward Partridge was "to divide the Saints their inheritance," and W. W. Phelps* and Cowdery were to be printers to the church.

* Phelps came from Canandaigua, New York, where, Howe says, he was an avowed infidel. He had been prominent in politics and had edited a party newspaper. Disappointed in his political ambition, he threw in his lot with the new church.

Marvellous stories were at once circulated of the grandeur that was to characterize the new city, of the wealth that would be gathered there by the faithful who would survive the speedy destruction of the wicked, and of the coming of the lost tribes of Israel, who had been located near the north pole, where they had become very rich. While not tracing these declarations to Smith himself, Booth, who was one of the party, says that they were told by persons in daily intercourse with him. It is doing the prophet no injustice to say that they bear his imprint.

The laying of the foundation of the City of Zion was next in order. Rigdon delivered an address in consecrating the ground, in which he enjoined them to obey all of Smith's commands. A small scrub oak tree was then cut down and trimmed, and twelve men, representing the Apostles, conveyed it to a designated place. Cowdery sought out the best stone he could find for a corner-stone, removed a little earth, and placed the stone in the excavation, delivering an address. One end of the oak tree was laid on this stone, "and there," says Booth, "was laid down the first stone and stick which are to form an essential part of the splendid City of Zion."

The next day the site of the Temple was consecrated, Smith laying the cornerstone. When the ceremonies were over, the spot was merely marked by a sapling, from two sides of which the bark was stripped, one side being marked with a "T" for Temple, and the other with "ZOM," which Smith stated stood for "Zomas," the original of Zion. At the foot of this sapling lay the corner-stone—"a small stone, covered over with bushes."

Such ceremonies might have been viewed with indulgence if conducted in some suburb of Kirtland. But when men had travelled hundreds of miles at Smith's command, suffering personal privations as well as submitting to pecuniary sacrifices, it was a severe test of their faith to have two small trees and t wo round stones in the wilderness offered to them as the only tangible indications of a land of plenty. Rigdon expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, as we have seen; Booth left the church as soon as he got back to Ohio; members of the party called Cowdery and Smith imperious, and the prophet and Rigdon incurred the charge of "excessive cowardice" on the way.

Smith made a second trip to Independence, leaving Ohio on April 2, 1832, and arriving there on his return the following June. His stay in Missouri this time was marked by nothing more important than his acknowledgment as President of the high priesthood by a council of the church there, and a "revelation" which declared that Zion's "borders must be enlarged, her Stakes must be strengthened."



CHAPTER III. THE EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY—THE ARMY OF ZION

The efforts of the church leaders to check too precipitate an emigration to the new Zion were not entirely successful, and, according to the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, the Mormons with their families then numbered more than twelve hundred, or about one-third of the total population of the county. The elders had been pushing their proselyting work throughout the States and in Canada, and the idea of a land of plenty appealed powerfully to the new believers, and especially to those of little means. The branch of the church established at Colesville, New York, numbering about sixty members, emigrated in a body and settled twelve miles from Independence. Other settlements were made in the rural districts, and the non-Mormons began to be seriously exercised over the situation. The Saints boasted openly of their future possession of the land, without making clear their idea of the means by which they would obtain title to it. An open defiance in the name of the church appeared in an article in the Evening and Morning Star for July, 1833, which contained this declaration:—

"No matter what our ideas or notions may be on the subject; no matter what foolish report the wicked may circulate to gratify an evil disposition; the Lord will continue to gather the righteous and destroy the wicked, till the sound goes forth, IT IS FINISHED."

With even greater fatuity came the determination to publish the prophet's "revelations" in the form of the "Book of Commandments." Of the effect of this publication David Whitmer says, "The main reason why the printing press [at Independence] was destroyed, was because they published the 'Book of Commandments.' It fell into the hands of the world, and the people of Jackson County saw from the revelations that they were considered intruders upon the Land of Zion, as enemies of the church, and that they should be cut off out of the Land of Zion and sent away."*

* "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 54.

Corrill says of the causes of friction between the Mormons and their neighbors:—*

* Corrill's" Brief History of the Church," p. 19.

"The church got crazy to go up to Zion, as it was then called. The rich were afraid to send up their money to purchase lands, and the poor crowded up in numbers, without having any places provided, contrary to the advice of the Bishop and others, until the old citizens began to be highly displeased. They saw their country filling up with emigrants, principally poor. They disliked their religion, and saw also that, if let alone, they would in a short time become a majority, and of course rule the county. The church kept increasing, and the old citizens became more and more dissatisfied, and from time to time offered to sell their farms and possessions, but the Mormons, though desirous, were too poor to purchase them."*

* After the survey of Jackson County, Congress granted to the state of Missouri a large tract of land, the sale of which should be made for educational purposes, and the Mormons took title to several thousand acres of this, west of Independence.

The active manifestation of hostility toward the new-comers by the residents of Jackson County first took shape in the spring of 1832, in the stoning of Mormon houses at night and the breaking of windows. Soon afterward a county meeting was called to take measures to secure the removal of the Mormons from that county, but nothing definite was done. The burning of haystacks, shooting into houses, etc., continued until July, 1833, when the Mormon opponents circulated a statement of their complaints, closing with a call for a meeting in the courthouse at Independence, on Saturday, July 20. The text of this manifesto, which is important as showing the spirit as well as the precise grounds of the opposition, is as follows:—

"We, the undersigned, citizens of Jackson County, believing that an important crisis is at hand, as regards our civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious sect of people that have settled, and are still settling, in our county, styling themselves Mormons, and intending, as we do, to rid our society, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must; and believing as we do, that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee, or at least, a sufficient one, against the evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing, by the said religious sect, we deem it expedient and of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose—a purpose, which we deem it almost superfluous to say, is justified as well by the law of nature, as by the law of self preservation.

"It is more than two years since the first of these fanatics, or knaves, (for one or the other they undoubtedly are,) made their first appearance amongst us, and, pretending as they did, and now do, to hold personal communication and converse face to face with the Most High God; to receive communications and revelations direct from heaven; to heal the sick by laying on hands; and, in short, to perform all the wonder-working miracles wrought by the inspired Apostles and Prophets of old.

"We believed them deluded fanatics, or weak and designing knaves, and that they and their pretensions would soon pass away; but in this we were deceived. The arts of a few designing leaders amongst them have thus far succeeded in holding them together as a society; and, since the arrival of the first of them, they have been daily increasing in numbers; and if they had been respectable citizens in society, and thus deluded, they would have been entitled to our pity rather than our contempt and hatred; but from their appearance, from their manners, and from their conduct since their coming among us, we have every reason to fear that, with but few exceptions, they were of the very dregs of that society from which they came, lazy, idle, and vicious. This we conceive is not idle assertion, but a fact susceptible of proof, for with these few exceptions above named, they brought into our county little or no property with them, and left less behind them, and we infer that those only yoked themselves to the Mormon car who had nothing earthly or heavenly to lose by the change; and we fear that if some of the leaders amongst them had paid the forfeit due to crime, instead of being chosen ambassadors of the Most High, they would have been inmates of solitary cells.

"But their conduct here stamps their characters in their true colors. More than a year since, it was ascertained that they had been tampering with our slaves, and endeavoring to rouse dissension and raise seditions amongst them. Of this their Mormon leaders were informed, and they said they would deal with any of their members who should again in like case offend. But how specious are appearances. In a late number of the Star, published in Independence by the leaders of the sect, there is an article inviting free negroes and mulattoes from other states to become Mormons, and remove and settle among us. This exhibits them in still more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their society to inflict on our society an injury, that they knew would be to us entirely insupportable, and one of the surest means of driving us from the county; for it would require none of the supernatural gifts that they pretend to, to see that the introduction of such a caste amongst us would corrupt our blacks, and instigate them to bloodshed.

"They openly blaspheme the Most High God, and cast contempt on His holy religion, by pretending to receive revelations direct from heaven, by pretending to speak unknown tongues by direct inspirations, and by divers pretences derogatory of God and religion, and to the utter subversion of human reason.

"They declare openly that their God hath given them this county of land, and that sooner or later they must and will have the possession of our lands for an inheritance; and, in fine, they have conducted themselves on many other occasions in such a manner that we believe it a duty we owe to ourselves, our wives, and children, to the cause of public morals, to remove them from among us, as we are not prepared to give up our pleasant places and goodly possessions to them, or to receive into the bosom of our families, as fit companions for our wives and daughters, the degraded and corrupted free negroes and mulattoes that are now invited to settle among us.

"Under such a state of things, even our beautiful county would cease to be a desirable residence, and our situation intolerable! We, therefore, agree that, if after timely warning, and receiving an adequate compensation for what little property they cannot take with them, they refuse to leave us in peace, as they found us—we agree to use such means as may be sufficient to remove them, and to that end we each pledge to each other our bodily powers, our lives, fortunes, and sacred honors.

"We will meet at the court-house, at the Town of Independence, on Saturday next, the 20th inst., to consult ulterior movements."*

* Evening and Morning Star, p. 227; Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 516.

Some hundreds of names were signed to this call, and the meeting of July 20 was attended by nearly five hundred persons. There is no doubt that it was a representative county gathering. P. P. Pratt says that the anti-Mormon organization, which he calls "outlaws," was "composed of lawyers, magistrates, county officers, civil and military, religious ministers, and a great number of the ignorant and uninformed portion of the population."* The language of the address adopted shows that skilled pens were not wanting in its preparation.

* "Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 103.

The first business of the meeting was the appointment of a committee to prepare an address stating the grievances of the people with somewhat greater fulness than the manifesto above quoted. Like the latter, it conceded at the start that there was no law under which the object in view could be obtained. It characterized the Mormons as but little above the negroes as regards property or education; charged them with having exerted a "corrupting influence" on the slaves;* asserted that even the more intelligent boasted daily to the Gentiles that the Mormons would appropriate their lands for an inheritance, and that their newspaper organ taught them that the lands were to be taken by the sword. Noting the rapid increase in the immigration of members of the new church, the address, looking to a near day when they would be in a majority in the county, asked: "What would be the state of our lives and property in the hands of jurors and witnesses who do not blush to declare, and would not upon occasion hesitate to swear, that they have wrought miracles, and have been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural cures, have conversed with God and his angels, and possess and exercise the gifts of divination and of unknown tongues, and are fired with the prospect of obtaining inheritances without money and without price, may be better imagined than described." That this apprehension was not without grounds will be seen when we come to the administration of justice in Nauvoo and in Salt Lake City.

* The Mormons never hesitated to change their position on the slavery question. An elder's address, published in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, said: "As to slaves, we have nothing to say. In connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing toward abolishing slavery and colonizing the blacks in Africa." Three years later, in April, 1836 the Messenger and Advocate published a strong proslavery article, denying the right of the people of the North to interfere with the institution, and picturing the happy condition of the slaves. Orson Hyde, in the Frontier Guardian in 1850 (quoted in the Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 63), said: "When a man in the Southern states embraces our faith and is the owner of slaves, the church says to him, 'If your slaves wish to remain with you, and to go with you, put them not away; but if they choose to leave you, and are not satisfied to remain with you, it is for you to sell them or to let them go free, as your own conscience may direct you. The church on this point assumes not the responsibility to direct.'" Horace Greeley quoted Brigham Young as saying to him in Salt Lake City, "We consider slavery of divine institution and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants" ("Overland journey," p. 211).

The address closed with these demands:—

"That no Mormon shall in future move and settle in this county.

"That those now here, who shall give a definite pledge of their intention within a reasonable time to remove out of the county, shall be allowed to remain unmolested until they have sufficient time to sell their property and close their business without any material sacrifice.

"That the editor of the Star (W. W. Phelps) be required forthwith to close his office and discontinue the business of printing in this county; and, as to all other stores and shops belonging to the sect, their owners must in every case strictly comply with the terms of the second article of this declaration; and, upon failure, prompt and efficient measures will be taken to close the same.

"That the Mormon leaders here are required to use their influence in preventing any further emigration of their distant brethren to this county, and to counsel and advise their brethren here to comply with the above regulations.

"That those who fail to comply with the requisitions be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them"*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 487-489.

A recess of two hours was taken in which to permit a committee of twelve to call on Bishop Partridge, Phelps, and Gilbert, and present these terms. This committee reported that these men "declined giving any direct answer to the requisitions made of them, and wished an unreasonable time for consultation, not only with their brethren here, but in Ohio." The meeting thereupon voted unanimously that the Star printing-office should be razed to the ground, and the type and press be "secured."

A report of the action of this meeting and its result was prepared by the chairman and two secretaries, and printed over their signatures in the Western Monitor of Fayette, Missouri, on August 2, 1833, and it is transferred to Smith's autobiography. It agrees with the Mormon account set forth in their later petition to Governor Dunklin. It particularized, however, that the Mormon leaders asked the committee first for three months, and then for ten days, in which to consider the demands, and were told that they could have only fifteen minutes.

What happened next is thus set forth in the, chairman's report:—

"Which resolution (for the razing of the Star office) was with the utmost order and the least noise and disturbance possible, forthwith carried into execution, AS ALSO SOME OTHER STEPS OF A SIMILAR TENDENCY; but no blood was spilled nor any blows inflicted."

Mobs do not generally act with the "utmost order," and this one was not an exception to the rule, as an explanation of the "other steps" will make clear. The first object of attack was the printing office, a two-story brick building. This was demolished, causing a loss of $6000, according to the Mormon claims. The mob next visited the store kept by Gilbert, but refrained from attacking it on receiving a pledge that the goods would be packed for removal by the following Tuesday. They then called at the houses of some of the leading Mormons, and conducted Bishop Partridge and a man named Allen to the public square. Partridge told his captors that the saints had been subjected to persecution in all ages; that he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake, but that he would not consent to leave the country. Allen refused either to agree to depart or to deny the inspiration of the Mormon Bible. Both men were then relieved of their hats, coats, and vests, daubed with tar, and decorated with feathers. This ended the proceedings of that day, and an adjournment as announced until the following Tuesday.

On Tuesday, July 23 (the date of the laying of the corner-stone of the Kirtland Temple), the Missourians gathered again in the town, carrying a red flag and bearing arms. The Mormon statement to Governor Dunklin says, "They proceeded to take some of the leading elders by force, declaring it to be their intention to whip them from fifty to five hundred lashes apiece, to demolish their dwelling houses, and let their negroes loose to go through our plantations and lay open our fields for the destruction of our crops."* The official report of the officers of the meeting** says that, when the chairman had taken his seat, a committee was appointed to wait on the Mormons at the request of the latter.

* Greene, in his "Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons from the State of Missouri (1839), says that the mob seized a number of Mormons and, at the muzzle of their guns, compelled them to confess that the Mormon Bible was a fraud.

** Millennial Star Vol. XIV, p. 500.

As a result of a conference with this committee, a written agreement was entered into, signed by the committee and the Mormons named in it, to this effect: That Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, W. E. McLellin, Edward Partridge, John Wright, Simeon Carter, Peter and John Whitmer, and Harvey Whitlock, with their families, should move from the county by January 1 next, and use their influence to induce their fellow-Mormons in the county to do likewise—one half by January 1 and all by April 1—and to prevent further immigration of the brethren; John Corrill and A. S. Gilbert to remain as agents to wind up the business of the society, Gilbert to be allowed to sell out his goods on hand; no Mormon paper to be published in the county; Partridge and Phelps to be allowed to go and come after January 1, in winding up their business, if their families were removed by that time; the committee pledging themselves to use their influence to prevent further violence, and assuring Phelps that "whenever he was ready to move, the amount of all his losses in the printing house should be paid to him by the citizens." In view of this arrangement there was no further trouble for more than two months.

The Mormon leaders had, however, no intention of carrying out their part of this undertaking. Corrill, in a letter to Oliver Cowdery written in December, 1833, said that the agreement was made, "supposing that before the time arrived the mob would see their error and stop the violence, or that some means might be employed so that we could stay in peace."* Oliver Cowdery was sent at once to Kirtland to advise with the church officers there. On his arrival, early in August, a council was convened, and it was decided that legal measures should be taken to establish the rights of the Saints in Missouri. Smith directed that they should neither sell their lands nor move out of Jackson County, save those who had signed the agreement.** It was also decided to send Orson Hyde and John Gould to Missouri "with advice to the Saints in their unfortunate situation through the late outrage of the mob."***

* Evening and Morning Star, January, 1834

** Elder Williams's Letter, Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 519.

*** Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 504.

To strengthen the courage of the flock in Missouri, Smith gave forth at Kirtland, under date of August 2, 1833, a "revelation" (Sec. 97), "in answer to our correspondence with the prophet," says P. P. Pratt,* in which the Lord was represented as saying, "Surely, Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fail, NEITHER BE MOVED OUT OF HER PLACE; for God is there, and the hand of God is there, and he has sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation and her high tower." The same "revelation" directed that the Temple should be built speedily by means of tithing, and threatened Zion with pestilence, plague, sword, vengeance, and devouring fire unless she obeyed the Lord's commands.

*Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 100,

The outcome of all the deliberations at Kirtland was the sending of W. W. Phelps and Orson Hyde to Jefferson City with a long petition to Governor Dunklin, setting forth the charges of the Missourians against the Mormons, and the action of the two meetings at Independence, and making a direct appeal to him for assistance, asking him to employ troops in their defence, in order that they might sue for damages, "and, if advisable, try for treason against the government."

The governor sent them a written reply under date of October 19, in which, after expressing sympathy with them in their troubles, he said: "I should think myself unworthy the confidence with which I have been honored by my fellow citizens did I not promptly employ all the means which the constitution and laws have placed at my disposal to avert the calamities with which you are threatened.... No citizen, or number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society." He advised the Mormons to invoke the laws in their behalf; to secure a warrant from a justice of the peace, and so test the question "whether the law can be peaceably executed or not"; if not, it would be his duty to take steps to execute it.

The Mormons and their neighbors were thus brought face to face in a manner which admitted of no compromise. The situation naturally seemed rather a simple one to the governor, who was probably ignorant of the intentions and ambition of the Mormons. If he had understood the nature and weight of the objections to them, he would have understood also that he could protect them in their possessions only by maintaining a military force.

His letter gave the Mormons of Jackson County new courage. They had been maintaining a waiting attitude since the meeting of July 23, but now they resumed their occupations, and began to erect more houses, and to improve their places as if for a permanent stay, and meanwhile there was no cessation of the immigration of new members from the East. Their leaders consulted four lawyers in Clay County, and arranged with them to look after their legal interests.

This evident repudiation by the Mormons of their part of their agreement with the committee incensed the Jackson County people, and hostilities were resumed. On the night of October 31, a mob attacked a Mormon settlement called Big Blue, some ten miles west of Independence, damaged a number of houses, whipped some of the men, and frightened women and children so badly that they fled to the outlying country for hiding-places. On the night of November 1, Mormon houses were stoned in Independence, and the church store was broken into and its goods scattered in the street. The Mormons thereupon showed the governor's letter to a justice of the peace, and asked him for a warrant, but their accounts say that he refused one. When they took before the same officer a man whom they caught in the act of destroying their property, the justice not only refused to hold him, but granted a warrant in his behalf against Gilbert, Corrill, and two other Mormons for false imprisonment, and they were locked up.* Thrown on their own resources for defence, the Mormons now armed themselves as well as they could, and established a night picket service throughout their part of the county. On Saturday night, November 2, a second attack was made by the mob on Big Blue and, the Mormons resisting, the first "battle" of this campaign took place. A sick woman received a pistolshot wound in the head, and one of the Mormons a wound in the thigh. Parley P. Pratt and others were then sent to Lexington to procure a warrant from Circuit Judge Ryland, but, according to Pratt, he refused to grant one, and "advised us to fight and kill the outlaws whenever they came upon us."**

* Corrill's letter, Evening and Morning Star, January, 1834.

** Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 105.

On Monday evening, November 4, a body of Missourians who had been visiting some of the Mormon settlements came in contact with a company of Mormons who had assembled for defence, and an exchange of shots ensued, by which a number on both sides were wounded, one of the Mormons dying the next day.

These conflicts increased the excitement, and the Mormons, knowing how they were outnumbered, now realized that they could not stay in Jackson County any longer, and they arranged to move. At first they decided to make their new settlement only fifty miles south of Independence, in Van Buren County, but to this the Jackson County people would not consent. They therefore agreed to move north into Clay County, between which and Jackson County the Missouri River, which there runs east, formed the boundary. Most of them went to Clay County, but others scattered throughout the other nearby counties, whose inhabitants soon let them know that their presence was not agreeable.

The hasty removal of these people so late in the season was accompanied by great personal hardships and considerable pecuniary loss. The Mormons have stated the number of persons driven out at fifteen hundred, and the number of houses burned; before and after their departure, at from two hundred to three hundred. Cattle and household effects that could not be moved were sold for what they would bring, and those who took with them sufficient provisions for their immediate wants considered themselves fortunate. One party of six men and about one hundred and fifty women and children, panic-stricken by the action of the mob, wandered for several days over the prairie without even sufficient food. The banks of the Missouri River where the fugitives were ferried across presented a strange spectacle. In a pouring rain the big company were encamped there on November 7, some with tents and some without any cover, their household goods piled up around them. Children were born in this camp, and the sick had to put up with such protection as could be provided. So determined were the Jackson County people that not a Mormon should remain among them, that on November 23 they drove out a little settlement of some twenty families living about fifteen miles from Independence, compelling women and children to depart on immediate notice.

The Mormons made further efforts through legal proceedings to assert their rights in Jackson County, but unsuccessfully. The governor declared that the situation did not warrant him in calling out the militia, and referred them to the courts for redress for civil injuries. In later years they appealed more than once to the federal authorities at Washington for assistance in reestablishing themselves in Jackson County,* but were informed that the matter rested with the state of Missouri. Their future bitterness toward the federal government was explained on the ground of this refusal to come to their aid.