1857 – 31 January, p. 3 – Mormon Life in Hull. The Hull Packet states that at the opening of the police court on Saturday morning, Mr. Pettingell, solicitor, of this town, stated to his worship that he had an application of a peculiar kind to make. A young married female of respectability, in this town, has applied to him, whose husband has just deserted her under the following circumstances: After being married for four years, he had recently got among the Mormons in this town, and under the teachings of two elders of that body, who had recently come from the borders of the Salt Lake on a proselytizing mission, his client’s husband had joined that church, and since his admission into it, had conceived himself to be living in a state of sin so long as he remained with his present wife, unless she would consent to become one of that body also, and submit herself to all its carnalities. On her refusing to do this, or to be remarried by one of the elders in question, the husband had deserted her, leaving her with nothing but the furniture and house. Acting under his advice, the female had been to the workhouse to claim relief, but as she was not in a destitute position, the relieving officers were considering whether to grant her any relief or not. Under the peculiar circumstances of the case, Mr. Pettingell asked his worship to recommend that relief should be given, in order that steps might be taken forthwith to apprehend her husband, who it was expected, was about to leave the town. The magistrate immediately made the order. It was subsequently heard that the man, anticipating legal measure, had left the town.

1857 – 14 February, p. 3 – Letters from the American plains report numerous deaths and great suffering among the Mormon emigrant teams, from want and cold.

1857 – 28 February, p. 3 – An Insane Mormon. A young man, named Nielson, an horticulturist, in the village of Brahetralleborg, in the Isle of Fionia, became, two years ago, converted to Mormonism. He was continually pressing his wife to embrace Mormonism also, but she positively refused to abandon the Lutheran creed. Finding his efforts vain, he became much excited, and recently declared that he would repudiate her, and go with his three children to the country of the Mormons, in America. A few days back they had a violent quarrel on the subject, and, in the dead of the night, he aroused his wife, and, to her surprise, she saw that he had a torch in one hand and a poniard in the other. He said that an angel had appeared to him, and had charged him in the name of God, to convert her to the faith of the Mormons. The young woman said that she would sooner die than change her religion, whereupon he cried – “Then perish in final impenitence!” and, at the same moment, he stabbed her three times in the abdomen with his poniard; but, finding that did not kill her, he went into the kitchen for a large knife, and with it cut her throat. Shortly after he called up his servant, made her prepare him a breakfast, of which he partook heartily; and he then went to the authorities, stating the preceding circumstances, and was, at his own request, lodged in jail. There cannot be any doubt that he is deranged.

1857 – 7 March, p. 3 – Item #1 – Mormon Marriage. Alice Young, Brigham’s eldest daughter by his first wife, was “sealed” a short time since to Hyrum Clawson, a pimp or spy of the governor, as his third wife. Miss Alice was first engaged to a young sergeant in the army, who came to the valley with Captain Beckwith, and joined the Mormons in order to secure her. As soon as his term expired he returned to Salt Lake to be – rejected! She, in the meanwhile, had engaged to marry a young Mormon, named Wright, upon the condition that he would go on a mission to Australia, and serve faithfully for three years. He accordingly started last spring, but will be doomed to disappointment, for Brigham has found it necessary to practice as well as to preach. Correspondence of the New York Tribune.

1857 – 7 March, p. 3 – Item #2 – Mormon Children. In regard to the Mormon children, they appear like a neglected, uncared-for set, generally dirty and ill-clad. The majority of them are girls, and this troubles the women very much, for they know that a female is doomed to slavery and a life of misery. It is also a singular fact that a large proportion of them are white-headed. These children are suffered to grow up in ignorance and vice. Without the hallowed influence of home to restrain them they are vicious, profane, and obscene. Some of the worst language I ever heard fell from the lips of urchins in the streets; but when the most profane and indecent language is heard in their tabernacle, and all other public meetings, no one can expect any other result. The Mormons feast or exult in calling thins, as they say, by their right names; all parts of the human body are spoken of familiarly, in terms that would make anybody but a Mormon blush, and they say it is a part of their duty, if not of their religion, to teach their children a knowledge of the “issues of life,” as they term it. As to education, there is none here. I suppose that not less that four hundred Indian children are held in bondage under the pretense of apprenticeship! These children are purchased from the Indians (who steal them from the neighboring tribes) for sums varying from 20 dollars to 40 dollars. This traffic is thus encouraged by Mormons, and in fact sanctioned by their laws. Correspondence of the New York Tribune.

1857 – 14 March, p. 3 – The Mormons at Great Salt Lake City are threatened with famine. Their crops have been destroyed by drought, grasshoppers, and worms.

1857 – 28 March, p. 2–3 – New York Tribune. A Mormon Worthy. Mr. David Wilkins of New York, already happy in the possession of two better halves, who were sisters, fell in love with a pretty Scotch girl. This beauty, however, had an aged mother, whom she refused to leave. David thereupon, with the consent of Brigham, overcome the difficulty by marrying both mother and daughter. But last spring, finding that with the enormous rates for provisions and breadstuffs he could not support four wives without making large inroads into his pile of the needful, he gave the two sisters notice that he had supported them long enough, and that they must find accommodation elsewhere. Accordingly, they had to leave him, and now support themselves by washing for some of the Gentiles. Again, you will find at Springville, on Utah Lake, Mr. Aaron Johnson (its bishop) serving the Lord by supporting as his spirituals five sisters, his own nieces, and the report is that he has engaged to marry the sixth as soon as she reaches her teens.

1857 – 4 April, p. 3 – Item #1 – Mormon Tactics. Last spring, a man named Phillips (says the New York Tribune) in making preparations to get away, sold half his property for four hundred dollars. The church, knowing his intentions, immediately seized and confiscated the remaining half for taxes. They then persuaded an intimate friend of his to borrow the remainder of the money, which he succeeded in obtaining some three hundred dollars, by stating that he wished it but for a few days, and giving some suitable reason for asking it. When the time had elapsed, and Phillips asked for the money, he was told that Brigham had taken possession of it, and refused to return it, if it was to be taken out of the territory. In confirmation of the above, the following is taken from a sermon of the Governor of the Mormons: “If an elder has borrowed from you, and you find he is going to apostatize, then you may tighten the screws upon him; but if he is willing to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, it is none of your business what he does with the money he has borrowed from you. And if the Lord wants it to use, let it go, and it is none of your business what he does with it. And if you murmur against that elder, it will prove your damnation. The money was not yours, but the Lord Almighty put it into your hands to see what you would do with it.”

1857 – 4 April, p. 3 – Item #2 – The Mormon prophet, Young, recently denounced a man named Gideon, who had spoken against polygamy, in this wise: “Who is this Gideon that has come amongst you? He used to sell tape in St. Louis, and now he is here to blaspheme the Lord, and to destroy the house of Israel. And what should ye, children of the covenant, do in return for this evil work? Out with the bowie knives ye wore like breastpieces at Nauvoo, and, in the name of God and the prophet, give him h—ll!

1857 – 11 April, p. 1 – Mormon Exodus. About 150 persons from Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Bristol, left Worcester on Tuesday last, for the Salt Lake, via Liverpool. The party contained persons of all ages, from decrepit old men and women down to infants in arms; and what was a significant fact, there were more females than males.

1857 – 2 May, p. 3 – English Mormons. On Tuesday afternoon one of the continental steamers brought about 560, in all, men, women, and children, to Grimsby, en route to Liverpool, thence to the Salt Lake. The majority of them looked in a healthy condition, and seemed to enjoy their transmigrating life. So far as intoxicating liquors are concerned, they are said to be total abstainers; and it is also asserted that out of that vast number there is not one who smokes or chews tobacco. Eastern Counties Herald.

1857 – 16 May, p. 4 – A Yankee Vatican. The Mormons regard Brigham Young as the successor of Joe Smith, and Joe Smith as the viceregent of Heaven. It would be an interesting question to propound to a rapping spirit, whether Mormonism will, or not, ever become a great ecclesiastical organization, and, if it does, whether the United States will not one of these days have to conclude a Concordat with Utah?—Punch.

1857 – 23 May, p. 3 – Item #1 – The Mormons. The revolting tenets and violent behavior of this sect in the territory of Utah have at length reach such a pitch that Judge Drummond, of the Supreme Count of that district, has transmitted to the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Attorney General of the United States, Washington City, an elaborate official report, declaring his resignation of the office which he has held for three years, in which he gives at considerable length his reasons for so doing, among which are the following: “In the first place, Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the ‘Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,’ commonly called ‘Mormons,’ and as such head the Mormons look to him, and to him along, for the law by which they are to be governed; therefore, no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any manner. That there is a set of men set apart by special order of the church to take both the lives and property of persons who may question the authority of the church. That the records, papers, etc., of the Supreme Court have been destroyed with direct knowledge and approbation of Governor B. Young, and the Federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise a single question about the treasonable act. That the said officers are constantly insulted, harassed, and annoyed by the Mormons, and for those insults there is no redress. That his (Judge Drummond’s) predecessor was poisoned under the same influence.” Finally the worthy judge expresses his belief that “if there were a man put in office as Governor of the territory who is not a member of the church (Mormon), supported with a sufficient military aid, much good would result from such a course; but, as the territory is now governed, it is noonday madness and folly to attempt to administer the law in that territory. The officers are insulted, harassed, and murdered for doing their duty, and not recognizing Brigham Young as the only lawgiver and lawmaker on earth.” This is certainly a most deplorable state of things, and we trust that the Government of the United States will take energetic steps to remove the evil.

1857 – 23 May, p. 3 – Item #2 – Mormonism. Dear John, Kimball has declared in the Deseret News that you shall not run at large and lecture against Mormonism; also that Lavinia is divorced from you. Pray take care of yourself, and write at once to Fred. – (American papers please copy.)” Advertisement in London Times.

1857 – 6 June, p. 1 – The Mormons. At the present time, this notorious sect numbers 100,00 persons: they possess a beautiful and fertile country in California, almost as large as England, bearing the name of Utah; and they have lately sought to obtain admission as a free state into the confederation of the American republic, but Congress has refused to recognize them. The latest intelligence from Utah informs us, that, in January last, a party of Mormons, under the advice of Brigham Young (their present prophet, priest, and chief) broke into the offices of the United States district, and carried away by force all the papers, books, etc., belonging to the Supreme Court at Utah. Upon which Judge Drummond resigned his office, assigning among other reasons, that the tyranny of the Mormon governors was so great, that no juries would convict for the greatest crimes committed by the brethren against “the Gentiles.” An armed band has been sent across the desert to chastise these violators of justice and morality. This will make way for the escape of many women, who are living in a state of prostitution – thirty, forty, and fifty wives being claimed and appropriated by a single husband. Among the blasphemous tenets held by these Mormons, they assert, that “man being a creature of eternal progression, the time must certainly arrive when he shall know as much as God now knows; and that hereafter we shall swarm out of this old world like bees, and make more worlds.”1

1857 – 6 June, p. 2 – The Crisis of Mormonism. The adage runs that “when matters come to the worst, they are sure to mend,” and we sincerely hope that such will be the case in the aspect of affairs in the community who follow the peculiar tenets of Joe Smith, the Mormon saint. Surely matters could not by any concatenation of circumstances have attained to a greater degree of lawlessness and disgusting immorality than is now the case, so that we may fairly augur that the sequitur involved in the proverb will now come to pass. That such a state of things could exist in these days was for a time doubted, but the proofs brought to hand by every mail are overwhelming; and we on this side the Atlantic cordially unite with the American people in their demand that a powerful demonstration shall be made by the Government against such social atrocities. It will be recollected that the chief authority in the Utah district, Judge Drummond, lately threw up his appointment in disgust, and addressed a long manifesto to the Government as to the disaffected state of the Mormon territory, and the Times correspondent at New York now sends the following further confirmation:

“Governor Drummond has arrived in Washington from Utah, and with him have come letters to the New York journals from, to use an Americanism, ‘reliable sources.’ They picture a despotism compared with which John Leydon standing over Fides with a drawn dagger is an amiable gentleman. The general outlines of the picture have reached us before, but here we have the filling up. The correspondent of the Daily Times tells us of a Federal Court terminated with the bowie knife and the revolver; of a Mormon prosecuting officer entering nolle prosequis against Mormon murderers of Gentiles; of a federal intimidated by pistols placed at his head and dirks at his throat while sitting on the bench; and of what they call in Kentucky a ‘free fight’ within the bar, while these exciting amusements were going on upon the bench. The correspondent of the Tribune deals more in social matters. He tells how he heard a Mormon bishop – one Kimball – ‘in the presence of between 2,000 and 3,000 people deliver a discourse on the intercourse of the sexes, in which he made use of language too obscene for the most degraded to utter, literally calling things by their right names.’ He says that the Rabbi and chiefs of the Sanhedrin accuse women by name, in their public discourses, of being ‘prostitutes,’ to further their own lascivious purposes; and gives the name of a bishop who accused a married woman to her husband of infidelity to gain her to his own uses. He gives names and dates, also, for other outrages too horrible to be repeated. The circumstantiality of these narratives forbids us to disbelieve them. Public opinion loudly calls upon the Government to do something to check the tide of corruption and treason. It is understood, however, that if the Texas Ranger to whom the post of governor has been offered shall decline, it will be given to Judge Drummond, with a sufficient military force to enable him to put down the despotism of the fanatics, and protect all who wish to leave the superstition. Just at this juncture there is a report that the Mormons themselves have risen against their tyrant, and expelled him from their settlement, and that he is now, if alive, a wanderer among the Indians. The rumor is not credited here. It is believed to be a lie, set on foot by his agents to prevent the Government from sending a force this year to restore order in the territory. Unless dispatched at once, it will be impossible for any force to traverse the great plains between the settlements and the Rocky Mountains, and cross the high passes before winter. It is thought that these rumors are intended to impede the action of Government until a demonstration is impossible the present year.”

1857 – 13 June, p. 1 – Open air preaching is now practiced in Bristol and Clifton, both by Clergy of the Establishment and by Nonconformists. It is hoped by this means to counteract the designs of the Mormons, who are constantly forcing their pestiferous trash on domestic servants and others who will receive them.

1857 – 13 June, p. 1 – A Yankee Vatican. The Mormons regard Brigham Young as the successor of Joe Smith, and Joe Smith as the viceregent of Heaven. It would be an interesting question to propound to a rapping spirit, whether Mormonism will, or not, ever become a great ecclesiastical organization, and, if it does, whether the United States will not one of these days have to conclude a Concordat with Utah?—Punch.

1857 – 13 June, p. 4 – The Mormons and the United States Government. It is stated that the Government has determined upon adopting vigorous measures as regards the Mormons. A large military force is to be dispatched thither, probably under command of General Harney. The Movements of Brigham Young had attracted some attention since the receipt of the report that he had fled from Utah. Now that it has been ascertained that there is no truth in this report, his proposed expedition to the north forms the interesting feature of Mormon intelligence. It was stated, on reliable authority, that the Mormons are about commencing a settlement near Council Bluffs for an outpost or receiving station. The leading men of the new settlement are to be Eastern men, who have not been initiated into the real mysteries of Mormonism, and who will, therefore, be better fitted for taking charge of young disciples and giving them their first lessons in the new faith. It is more than probable that the founding of this settlement is the real cause of Brigham’s “secret expedition to somewhere in the North.”

1857 – 20 June, p. 3 – Item #1 – The news from America is not very satisfactory. The Mormon difficulty seems growing upon the Government, and indeed they seem scarcely competent to grapple with it. Brigham Young, the successor of the false prophet Joe Smith, seems to feel his power to be on the increase, for he is now threatening banishment to all who do not give in their adherence to his strange doctrines.

1857 – 20 June, p. 3 – Item #2 – Mormonism Vindicated. Elder J. Bond, from the Great Salt Lake City, delivered a lecture in the Victoria Room, Newcastle, on Tuesday, in refutation of the charges made against Mormonism. He defended polygamy on Scriptural grounds—contrasted Moses and Brigham Young at the expense of Moses—contrasted civilized and savage life at the expense of civilization—and spoke of the “peculiar institutions” of Utah in language which the Newcastle Chronicle declines to print. At the close, he seems to have been driven by something more than “moral suasion” into arrangements for a public discussion. Gateshead Observer.

1857 – 20 June, p. 4 – Mormon Leader. We have to record today another painful narrative of Mormon iniquity, seduction, and villainy, followed up in this instance, however, as it will be seen, by a summary vengeance from the injured husband. The deceased, whose name was Parley Parker Pratt, was a man of note among the Mormons, and judging from his diary and his letter to Mrs. M’Lean, he was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and ability. He had been a preacher and missionary of the Mormons at San Francisco, California, where he made the acquaintance of Mrs. M’Lean, whom he induced to embrace the Mormon faith.

She was at that time living with her husband, Hector H. M’Lean; they were happy and prosperous until she made the acquaintance of Pratt, and embraced the Mormon faith. She is the mother of three children by M’Lean, two boys and a girl, and seems to be an intelligent and interesting lady; converses fluently, and with more grace and ease than most ladies. About two years ago, and soon after she became a convert to Mormonism, she made an attempt to abduct two of her children to Utah, but was detected and prevented by her brother, who was then in California, and residing with his brother-in-law, Mr. M’Lean. She soon after, however, found means to elope with the said Pratt to Salt Lake, where it is said that she became his ninth wife.

After the elopement of Mrs. M’Lean, her parents, who reside near New Orleans, wrote to Mr. M’Lean, in California, to send the children to them. He did so. Several months after this Mr. M’Lean received news that his wife had been to her father, in New Orleans, and eloped with the two youngest children. He immediately left San Francisco for New Orleans, and on arriving at the house of his father-in-law he learned from them that Mrs. M’Lean had been there, and, after an ineffectual effort to convert her father and mother to Mormonism, she pretended to abandon it herself, and so far obtained the confidence of her parents as to induce them to entrust her into the city of New Orleans with the children; but they soon found she had betrayed their confidence, and eloped with the children. They then wrote to M’Lean, in San Francisco, who, upon the receipt of their letter, went to New Orleans, and learning from them the above facts in relation to the affair, immediately started in pursuit of his children. He went to New York, and then to St. Louis. While in St. Louis he learned that the woman and children were in Houston, Texas. On his arrival at Houston, he found that his wife had left some time before his arrival, to join a large party of Mormons en route for Utah. He then returned to New Orleans, and from thence to Fort Gibson, in the Cherokee nation, with the expectation of intercepting his wife and children at that point. On arriving at Fort Gibson, and while there, he found letters in the post office to his wife from Pratt, some of which were mailed to St. Louis, and others at Flint post office, Cherokee nation. M’Lean then, upon affidavit made by himself, obtained a writ from the United States commissioner at this place, for their arrest, and succeeded in getting them arrested by the United States marshal. They were brought to this place for trial, and after an examination before the commissioner, were discharged. Pratt, as soon as released, mounted his horse and left the city. M'Lean soon after obtained a horse and started in pursuit, and overtook Pratt about eight miles from the city, and shot him. Pratt died in about two hours after receiving the wound. Deeply do we sympathize with M’Lean in the unfortunate condition in which Mormon villainy and fanaticism has placed him.

In addition to the foregoing, we have been placed in possession of some of the letters from Elder Pratt to his victim, after she had returned from Salt Lake, in order to get the children from their custody in New Orleans. She had succeeded in doing so, and fled to Texas. The letter is addressed, “Mrs. Lucy R. Parker, by P. Parker Pratt, from near Fort Gibson, Cherokee nation” dated April 14, 1857.

“Dear Eleanor – M’Lean is in St. Louis; he has offered a reward for your discovery, or your children, or me. The apostates have betrayed me and you. I had to get away on foot, and leave all to save myself. If you come to Fort Gibson, you can hire a messenger, and send him to Riley Perryman’s mill, and let him inquire for Washington N. Cook, Mormon missionary, and when he has found him he will soon tell where Elder Pratt – Parker is. Do not let your children or any friend know that I am in this region, or anywhere else on earth; except it is an elder from Texas, who is in your confidence, and even him under the strictest charge of ‘keep you it.’” St. Louis Democrat.

1857 – 11 July, p. 3 – The news from America, so far as our own country is concerned, is favorable. The difficulties of the United States with the Mormons, and with Mexico, however, continue. United States troops have been dispatched to Utah, to enforce American laws among the Mormons, and preparations against a rising in Mexico are being forced upon the American Government.

1857 – 25 July, p. 3 – The Millennial Star, the organ of the Mormons, in noticing the murder of Parley P. Pratt, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, thus commences to lament his death: “Another martyr has fallen!-another faithful servant of God has sealed his pure and heavenly testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon with his blood.” Our readers will recollect that the apostle was murdered by a man whose wife he had seduced. If they had begun their chant thus – “Another rascal has fallen,” it would have been more suited to the occasion.

1857 – 1 August, p. 3 – The Mormons in Sweden. A Stockholm journal says: The Mormons who are somewhat numerous in the district of Vestra Sallerup, near Malmoe, in Sweden, have built in the village of the former name a house and chapel. On the 25^th June they assembled in the chapel for some grand ceremony of their form of assembled in the chapel for some grand ceremony of their form of worship, and when they were so engaged a band of peasants, armed with thick sticks, some of them with guns also, marched on the chapel, and summoned them to disperse. The Mormons refused, on which the peasants expelled them by force, and drove them from the village. As some of the Mormons were armed with guns, and made use of them, several of the combatants on both sides were wounded. The peasants having driven the Mormons to a tan-pit, dipped several of them in it, and then let them go. At Burlof, the local authorities have decided that any person who may lend his house to the Mormons for their meetings, or may take any of that sect into his service, or even receive them into his house, shall be fined 25 rixdalers. Several inhabitants of the district who had embraced Mormonism have abandoned it, to return to the Lutheran religion.

1857 – 8 August, p. 3 – Owing to a preaching crusade against Mormons and Mormonism, by Dr. Brindley, in Birmingham, the Latter-day Saints in that town are mobbed in the streets and in their own places of worship.

1857 – 29 August, p. 4 – We have extracted the following extraordinary narrative from a recent number of the Edinburgh News. It is from a private letter, dated – “Western Missouri, July 11, 1857.”

Dear Brother, Often have I longed for an opportunity of writing to you, but it was totally out of my power to write what I really thought, and, of course, it was of no use me writing what I did not think. You will no doubt wonder who this could come about; but it will cease when I inform you that the Mormons at the Salt Lake City, having full control of the Post Office, all the letters that will raise Mormonism and Brigham Young to the skies are sent on, but all that make known the true state of affairs are kept back, and the writers are “marked.” So, you see that the Post Office is very convenient for Brigham Young receiving revelation. It would be absurd in me to attempt at this time to tell you all I have seen, or known, or passed through since I left Edinburgh . . . We started from Iowa with our hand-barrows for Utah, at which place we arrived, weary and worn down, the bones almost through the skin, not only of myself but of all that were in the company, having walked from Iowa city to the Great Salt Lake city, a distance of 1,850 miles, and were half starved to the bargain, our whole allowance being 12 ounces of flour per day, and we did not even get so much. You will, no doubt, feel inclined to ask me if little ---- and ---- walked all the road. Yes, they did; and not only that, but had to draw a handcart besides. Old and young had to do it. I know one little boy of six years of age who did it, and an old woman of 60 who did the same thing. It is the policy of the Church to leave the weak, the inform, and the old by the way, that they may have no paupers to support. I have seen both old and young drop by the way, and one young man, Conrad Elliker, became so feeble that he was unable to walk forward with the company; so he fell back, and was lost in the desert plains, and of course he made a supper for the wolves. Two of his sisters died before this, and were put into a hole, but poor Conrad was never heard tell of. His old father, through sorrow, soon fell a victim to death too. We buried him at Hams Fork, a fort of Green River. As I passed on my way back to the States I visited his grave; it was entire. What makes me remark this is, that most of the graves are dug up by wolves or man-eaters. One old man named M’Leve, who was borne down by hunger and fatigue, we buried at Bien River; he was put in clothes and all. As I returned, I saw his bones strewed around; and little ______ took out of his pocket some nails that were in them. Another old woman, whom we buried at the South Pass, we saw her remains likewise. As I passed, I saw her long brown hair was mingled with the tattered garments that covered her poor worn carcass. Some fell dead while pulling their handcarts; one a little ahead of us was struck down by lightning. His name was Walker. But it is scarcely worth naming instances where there were so many. We were the first company that got into the valley; the company that followed fared far worse. Of Martin’s company, consisting of 500, only 300 arrived, and of these a great many were good for nothing. Their feet and hands were so frozen that they dropped off. Lots of them when they took off their shoes took the feet with them; many less their fingers, and some their sight. One, whose name was Whitten, from Preston Conference, Lancashire, ate the fingers off his own hands, he was so famished, and then expired. Another, while in the act of cutting some wood to make a fire, dropped on his knees, with the axe still on his shoulder, and was found dead. I would not have known this had it not been for a man of the name of Hill, who helped to bring the above company over, but left Utah with me. He showed me where he put nine in one grave, and had to lay them on their sides to get them all in. A man of the name of Pears, from Bradford, with whom I was acquainted, fell here; and another of the name of Peel, and one from Leith, named Gibb. But were these things ever published? No. There is but one paper published in Utah, and its contents are all one-sided. If a murder or a suicide is committed—and there were both while I was there—no notice is taken of it, but they can republish such things from other papers. But let me not dwell too long upon this subject; suffice it to say that I arrived at Salt Lake City almost used up, but my pluck as good as ever, and with my eyes wide open, my pockets empty, and without clothes or tools. All I had was my case of instruments and a rag of a shirt, having to leave all our chests behind to come on with the wagons, having paid their carriage previously. The amount paid by me for my cases, with clothes and tools, was twenty-three dollars. But the wagons were overtaken by the snow, so my goods had to be put into a hut at a place called Devil’s Gate, three hundred miles from Salt Lake, so that I never saw them. But more of this by-and-by. After our arrival on the public square, crowds came round us, some having the impudence to ask the young women to marry them right away, and among the most forward in this were the old men; others, more sly, offered the single women a home; and I afterwards learned from some of them, that on refusing to “marry” they were turned out; and, let me tell you, I was forced to allow little ---- to go and serve for her “grub;” and, because she refused to go in for second or third wife, she was treated in like manner; but she acted nobly, poor thing. However, I fell sick on the square, and was carried off by a gentleman who had known me in Leeds. After I had regained my health, I advertised my profession, expecting that my cases would come with my tools within a few weeks at the most; but, alas! I never saw them; they were hemmed in with the snow. I might have won to the amount of thousands of dollars, but, of course, I could not do it for the want of my goods. There would have been no pay in cash; that would have been out of the question. Flour, or squash, or pumpkin, or beets, but a dollar is not to be had. After some time, I was visited by the teachers. Of course, all are required to be re-baptized after their arrival, but I told them a little bit of my mind. They said I should shut my eyes and open my mouth, and swallow everything; at least it amounted to that. A man dare not give his opinion here without running the risk of having his throat cut, and such liberty I did not like. There is a band called the “Danites,” belonging to the Church, whose duty it is to kill all that say a word against, or express an opinion adverse to Brigham Young or the doings here. Whenever a man offers to leave, he runs the risk of his life. They send a “destroying angel” after him. There was one, while making his escape (his name was Petrie) shot through the hand, and another, of the name of Taber, through the nose. One of the name of Petter, of Spring Vale [Springville], south of Salt Lake, a man of excellent character—he lived beside Robert Menzies, of Edinburgh—he and other two men of the name of Parish, father and son, all three were murdered. The elder Parish had his throat cut, and stabbed besides; they were afterwards exhibited in the school room. R. Menzies saw them. Plenty are put away privately. All who are opposed to such doings are considered unfaithful. I, myself, was watched wherever I went, because I told them I could not tolerate such conduct. They came and listened at the door where I lived, to try if they could hear anything of conspiracy. What a way for the Lord’s “prophet” to discover things! Poor little ------ nearly came in for losing his life one night, the man that he lived with having spoken a little freely, or in other words, a little truth, and, like myself, had been cut off from the Church for unchristianlike conduct, as they said, and our names posted in the Deseret News, to be circulated throughout the world. This man was visited by a band of “destroying angels” all muffled up round the mouth, and hats drawn over their eyes. They pulled poor Jarvis out of his bed by the hair of his head, set fire to his house and store, taking away whatever valuable property they could lay their hands on. Poor ----- was upstairs in bed at the time, as also the other helpless children. Mrs. Jarvis got up to them; and ----- had just time to pull on his trousers—but no shoes, jacket, vest, or cap; and as he was running out, one of the “Danites” caught him, and would have thrown him back in the burning house; but on telling him that he did not belong to the Jarvises he permitted him to escape; so poor ----- had to find his way to me—a distance of more than a mile—through four feet deep of snow. Some have their houses pulled down, some their horses, oxen, and other property stolen. Good honest people! And all this is done under the name of religion! No man knows anything about it till he comes here, and the faithful bigots rejoice in such doings. It is commonly preached in their meetings that they will cut the d---d throats of all the apostates and gentiles; so I will leave you to judge the state of affairs at Utah. After witnessing such proceedings, and a thousand times worse, I became determined to leave; so, with other fifty men, or 300 souls in all, I left the Lake.

[He then describes how he got back to the States with nothing left but his “pluck,” which we should say was considerable. The Edinburgh News adds to this statement: “We have purposely suppressed the names mentioned in the above letter, but the writer was well known to many of our citizens; was about fifteen years a member of the Mormon body, and an active propagandist; but has at length abandoned that body, having seen the villainy of its leaders, and the misery of their dupes.”]

1857 – 12 September, p. 2 – News from Mormon Land. The accounts received from the Great Salt Lake City increase in interest, as affairs are evidently teaching a crisis. The ruffianly behavior of the Mormon leaders is almost indescribable, and were it not that the testimony received is unimpeachable, doubts might well be entertained of the truth of many reports. By a letter from San Francisco, July 19, we have accounts from the Mormon territory to the beginning of June, brought by a party of 20 persons, who escaped from the Mormons after enduring much persecution. These persons had resided for some time with the Mormons, but did not become inoculated with their doctrines, and decided not to reside permanently with them. Some of them are married and have families. They say one-half the population of Salt Lake will leave, if the United States Government sends a military force sufficient to protect them from the punishments inflicted upon apostates. This party brings the usual accounts of all sorts of atrocious practices, a few of which we cull: “Open and avowed murder of all who have and are becoming obnoxious is advocated in public assemblages.” “The ‘Destroying Angels’ are busily engaged at their hellish works, murdering and robbing those who are apostates.” It appears that notwithstanding all the stringent means adopted to keep their body united, the numbers of the “Saints” are continually thinning by desertion; and no wonder, for here is a sufficient cause: The account says, “That which produces the most ill feeling is Brigham Young (the Mormon King) ‘sealing’ young girls to old men, frequently in violation of the laws of consanguinity. “Several heads of families have been ‘put out of the way,’ as they call it, on suspicion of their being apostates, by which means the families are prevented from leaving, and several who, heretofore, have been in the confidence of the high priests, have been known to have been murdered in attempting to leave.” “Seven ladies, with their families, whose husbands had made their escape, begged to be taken away,” by the party proceeding to California, “as they expected daily some of their number would be dragged to the harem of some of the ‘anointed.’” “Brigham Young has preached open rebellion against the United States.” One of his latest edicts is a “new law by which he governs disobedient wives, by degrading and making menials of them, depriving them of the right to marry or have a ‘protector.’” It is called “the Earthly Hell,” and a very appropriate title no doubt.

Here are warnings enough, one would think, to prevent deluded women from throwing themselves into the fangs of these lecherous, incestuous murderers. One blushes to hear that many of these wretched victims are English and most Welsh. There is a powerful sprinkling of native Americans also. But, wherever they come from, it is quite clear that their fate is the most cruel and degrading that coarse-minded and vulgar men can assign them, for the Mormons at home and in private do not even cloak their bestiality with the mantle of religion. I see it stated that “Young in secret council sits with a crown upon his head, as representing God’s vice-regent upon earth.” This fellow is a vulgar ruffian who can’t speak decent English!

1857 – 12 September, p. 4 – Item #1 – The “Times” on the Mormons. Mormonism has found its level at last, and the excesses of its chosen priests and ambassadors will have been the main instruments in accelerating its downfall, which every right-thinking person must rejoice at. The Times thus comments on the Mormons and their doctrines:

“It said that Mr. Buchanan is resolved to put down Mormonism—at any rate, to break up the community at Utah. There will be great difficulties, owing to the weakness of the Federal Government, half of whose force is reported to have deserted already. But the new President is a resolute man when he has undertaken a thing, and we hope the days of this abomination are counted. We certainly ought to wish for this, for it must be confessed that we are a good deal concerned in the growth of Mormonism. It is a fact that the majority of the community—Mr. Carvalho says nine-tenths—are English, Scotch, and Welsh. How is this? Who is responsible for this? What have our orthodox parish priests been doing, and what have our orthodox Dissenting ministers been doing, that their own congregations have been the feeders of such an enormity as this?

“It is a very poor consolation, but, perhaps, it is some little consolation, to find that with respect to our own people fanaticism has had more to do with the current to this wretched delusion than vice. It would, indeed, be dreadful to think that so many thousands of our men, and especially our women, had designedly, and with their eyes open, joined a system of the grossest polygamy. But it is only just to say that to a great extent this was not the case. The new religion was, indeed, itself a sensuality, but it was not joined by the great mass under that idea. The prophets had the wickedness to disguise its grossness till their miserable victims had got so deeply imbedded in the system that they could not extricate themselves. . . The subject of prophecy has ever since the Reformation had an extraordinary hold over the minds of religious people in this country. The Puritans were mad upon it. They dreamt of the battle of Armageddon, of Gog and Magog, of the seven seals and the seven trumpets, of the star which was called Wormwood, and the angel whose name was Abaddon, till, wound up at last to frenzy, they thought the world was coming to an end, and that all these mysterious events were close at hand, every military officer of any distinction imagining that he was the person who was to have the especial honor of capturing the great dragon and delivering the saints. These speculations have never lost their charm among us, and, though we do not make such warlike prophets as our Puritan ancestors, prophecy is still the fashion. The religious world throws itself into the future, and fixes the era of the millennium with untiring ingenuity. . .

“Every remarkable event of the day is sure to be followed by a general shaking of the prophetic kaleidoscope, because it must be brought into the figure. If a King falls or a King rises there are three or four books in the course of as many weeks to prove his connection with one of the horns of the beast, and the coup d’état of Louis Napoleon produced a general excitement in the prophetic world.

“Such being the prophetic bias of many industrious writers, imagine the influence at work in a low and uneducated class. Imagine these rude and uncultivated minds intent, so far as they think of religion at all, upon the prophetic aspect of it, full of ideas of a millennium and a sort of earthly paradise, which they have caught up from the glowing pages of Old Testament prophecy, and which, literally interpreted, does bear that meaning, however a more refined and a truer interpretation may spiritualize it.

“When educated men, and even clever men, run into such extraordinary dreams and follies on this subject, it is not very surprising if a coarse illiterate class has gone a step further, and not only indulged the dream, but acted upon it. It is a very good maxim, that no one class in society errs without the rest being in some degree implicated. The prophetic mania in our religious world in more or less responsible for the Mormonite emigration from these islands. This extravagant adventure is only a coarse reflection of that wild prophetic speculation which so large a portion of the religious public has indulged. The Mormonite emigrant went in quest of a sort of earthly paradise; he thought the millennium had come, and that he would take the earliest advantage of it. We are speaking, of course, of the dupes of Mormonism, not of its prophets, and of the fanaticism of the system, not of its grossness and sensuality. These wretched dupes have been prepared for their delusion by the extravagance of their betters. The ridiculous brochures that sell by thousands if they only hazard a new prediction, the nonsense which is read with avidity on any subject connected with prophecy, is the upper-class shape of Mormonism. We rush into a visionary future as a relief either from the inequalities of the present scene or its difficulties or its dullness. This has made the Millenarian, and it has made the Mormonite. The Mormonite is the English arm of Socialist. Both aim at utopias, only one in connection with prophecy, the other in connection with social progress and the political regeneration of the world.”

1857 – 12 September, p. 4 – Item #2 – Extraordinary Mormon Conference in London. Mormonism is making a stir just now. Simultaneously with very gloomy intelligence from the Mormon Paradise at Utah, we have Conferences held in London, presided over by two of the veritable “apostles,” Brothers Orson Pratt and Ezra Benson—arcades ambo. They took place on Sunday and Monday, the first taking place at the Adelaide Gallery, Lowther Arcade, Strand, and the reports of the proceedings are rich in the extreme. One delegate (a gentleman from Utah), said the saints in his district were not rich, “but good looking,” as they enjoyed the spirit of the Lord, which made them look and feel well!” He himself had been baptized and received the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands! They were (he said) the most temperate people in the world. Just go into the houses. Where were their pipes? They had thrown them away. Where were their tea pots? They had no use for them. He declared that Joe Smith had done more good than any man since our Savior, and that Brigham Young was a great and mighty prophet and father in Israel.

The proceedings of the afternoon were varied by refreshments, such as ginger beer, ice, and other cooling drinks. Here and there might be seen affectionate pairs with their arms round each other’s waists.

The second meeting took place at the Teetotal Hall, Broadway, Westminster, when the proceedings were certainly of such a character as were never witnessed in a “conference” before. The attendance was not very numerous, but it comprised all the leading members of the conference. When the reporter entered, the assemblage was engaged in singing, in loud strain, one of their favorite hymns, led by the Elder Bernard, to the tune of “The Low-backed Car.” The purport of this song was the long-looked-for day when they would get all to Zion (Utah). It seemed to be rather a painful effort to Brother Bernard, and it was decidedly so to those of the audience who happened not to be Mormons.

Brother Silver, one of the elders, next obliged the company with “a little harmony.” It was something about—

“I never knew what joy was

Till I became a Mormon,” etc.

In this song the audience was favored with an accompaniment by an ass in an adjoining stable. The wall was so thin as to render everything audible; and the earnest warnings of the Mormon apostles were mixed up with the braying of the ass, and the urgent entreaties of his keeper that he would “come over.”

Another of the reverend gentlemen, or very reverend elders, or right reverend apostles, or whatever their ecclesiastical titles may be, favored the company with a song. He was followed by Elder Snow, who recited a story about “The Gambler’s Wife,” with a degree of ability which does not entitle him to any commendation. The blessing of God was frequently asked upon these extraordinary proceedings, and asked with a flippancy and irreverence very shocking to a well-regulated mind.

One of the Yankee Elders, fresh from the Salt Lake valley, said he “felt fust rate.” He could fetch in firing if they wanted it; and he calculated he was always “to hand” when anybody wanted to move the fixins, to hunt up the lost sheep, or to drive the oxen. When anything of this kind was to be done, he was at hand, to do the best he could; but he wasn’t much of a hand at discoursing. He drew a pitiable picture of the heathenism of this country, and gave a glowing description of the enlightenment and happiness of the saints in Utah. He said he had been persecuted with the saints all his life; and just as he was sitting down in peace at Utah, the servant and the Lord sent him forth to England to warn this wicked generation, and he obeyed, although it was a great trial to him.

A Mr. Harrison, who was one of the very few Englishmen amongst the Mormon prophets, next addressed the meeting, but the donkey again interrupted, and the animal’s exertions were ably seconded by several of the youngsters, some of whom were eventually obliged to be removed.

The congregation then indulged in some doggerel verses, which they sung to the popular air of “Minnie,” of the words of which song their “psalm” was a wretched parody.

Elder George Read then recited a piece about “The Bishops’ Banquet,” after which another elder indulged in a “little harmony” about “Sleepy Parsons,” the chorus of which was—

“Heigho! you sleepy parsons!

Ha! ha! ha! ha! what a lark!

After all your college learning.

You will find you’re in the dark.”

The very reverend elder gave this song with much vigor to the air of a well-known nigger melody, “Oh, Susannah, don’t you cry for me,” and he added to the effect by vigorous slaps of his hands upon his stalwart thighs, after the most approved fashion of the Ethiopian Serenaders. The effort was very much relished by the audience, who loudly applauded.

An Elder, with a strong Yankee brogue, advised the sisters to sell off all their ornaments, which took them so long every day to dust, and to put the money into the emigration fund, to enable them to “gather out of Babylon,” i.e., to leave this country for Utah.

The Apostle Orson Pratt then gave the “Sisters” some advice on the subject of marriage, quite in the Mormon stye.

Ezra Benson, another Apostle from the Salt Lake Valley, addressed the audience in his shirt sleeves. His speech was full of Yankee humor, rather coarse, but it told well with the saints. He said he felt “fust rate.” He referred to the subject of marriage, and to his own wives and children whom he had left in Utah, and said he believed that all his wives would not apostatize, and that, therefore, he would not be likely to undergo the misery of remaining single in Heaven. He described Brigham Young as the best and holiest man in the world, and said he did not wonder at the sisters falling in love with him. Every good man, he said, ought to have more than one wife. He said he would advise the editors who abused them to consult their works, and they would find everything “as right as taturs.” He indulged in a variety of jokes of the same class.

The proceedings terminated shortly after ten o’clock.

1857 – 19 September, p. 4 – Mormon Secretiveness. The new “Deseret Alphabet” is completed, and a fount of pica type has been cast in St. Louis. Specimens of the type are published in the St. Louis papers, but they are unproducible in types that common people use. The type founders have supplied the Mormons with molds and other apparatus for re-casting their old metal. So the Deseret News will probably hereafter be a profound mystery, at least in part, to all but the initiated. The new characters are 41 in number, and bear a striking resemblance to those of the Ethiopic alphabet. The ukases of Brother Brigham will hereafter be a sealed letter, literally, to Gentile eyes. New York Paper.

1857 – 3 October, p. 3 – Mormon theatricals at Salt Lake are opened with prayer, and the actors dismissed with a benediction.

1857 – 31 October, p. 3 – The Mormons have been fortifying For Bridges, with the intention of contesting the progress of the United States troops now on their way to Utah.

1857 – 7 November, p. 3 - The chief Siamese Ambassador acknowledges to the luxury of no fewer than fifty-eight wives.” He is called “the Eastern Mormon.”

1857 – 28 November, p. 4 – The Mormon Church Militant. The Mormons are now, among their other Old Testament revivals, reviving the “sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” and apparently, at least for the time, to some purpose. The occupation by the army of Utah of a strong pass in the mountains has postponed the meditated invasion, and the Mormons for the present defy, with perfect impunity, the whole military strength of the United States. Captain Van Vliet’s report has induced the Federal Government to abandon the expedition for this year. This temporary triumph will suggest, we have no doubt, a vast number of comparisons to the successors of the Patriarchs and Old Testament Saints. The Federal forces will be compared to the army of the four kings whom Abraham overtook, to the army of the five kings whom Joshua overcame, to the army of Moab, to the army of the Philistines, and to the army of the Chaldees. Mr. Buchanan will stand for Chedorlaomer, King of Elam, and Tidal, King of Nations, for Adonizedec, for Balak, for Goliah, or for Nebuchadnezzar, according to the chronological fancy of the bards of Utah, who will exult over the Amorites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Jubusites, and all the enemies of Israel in all ages, as collected by representation in the army of the United States. Washington will be the modern successor of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, or of heathen Nineveh, or of impious Babylon. Our Puritan forefather—to whom, however, we should apologize for naming them in the same breath with these wretched, besotted, sensual dreamers—were very liberal in their use of such comparisons, and could always find out an Old Testament likeness for an enemy; and the Mormonites have borrowed the Old Testament partialities of the Puritans, together with their dreams of prophecy; and also we may now add, their pugnacity. They are fighters, at least they appear to be prepared to fight and make a bold stand. We should not quarrel with them for being able to fight, if it was for a good cause, but death in the cause of concubinage is a strange martyrdom. The Puritan was savage and relentless, but his severe morals redeem him. He fought cruelly, but it was for a stern creed and an ascetic standard of life. A sensualized Puritan is an abomination and a monster. Such a monster is Mormonism. The Mohammedan is perhaps this mixture. He is a pugnacious sensualist; yet even the Mohammedan did not fight for his sensualism, but for his creed. The Mormonite fights for sensualism; he fights for what he calls the patriarchal system—that is to say, for polygamy. He combines all the vigor of Puritanism with all the dregs of Mohammedanism, and calls it the religion of the Old Testament, and fight for that religion. The courage of such men is a brute passion—it is the rage of beasts disturbed near their feed, the darting of the serpent, the despair of the rat, who, from the last corner where all escape is cut off, flies madly at his pursuer. Courage takes its moral color from the general character with which it is accompanied; it is the highest or the lowest impulse, the most generous or the most vile, a demonstration of the extreme spirit of self-sacrifice, or of the extreme of selfish tenacity and obstinacy, according to the motive which has excited it and the cause in which it is enlisted. Times.

1857 – 12 December, p. 4 – “Prospect of the Mormon ‘Saints.’”

The military expedition sent against “the Saints” of Utah (says the Times correspondent) may be pronounced a failure.” It will not reach Zion on the Salt Lake this winter, as it is understood it has gone into quarters at some station short of the holy city, with the loss of 75 wagons loaded with stores, on which a roving and armed body of Mormons pounced suddenly, finding the train marching without a guard, plundered it of what suited them, and burnt the rest, the wagons inclusive. It was a bold stroke, and a clear act of rebellion; but, as a military operation, it was very neatly executed. It was not supposed, probably, that so audacious an act of defiance of the Federal troops would be attempted. The expedition started six months too late; the force was kept in Kansas till after the election, which took place in October; to attempt the march then was most ill-judged; as snow always sets in along the White Mountain range early in the winter. The insolent summons sent by Brigham Young to the office in command of the troops to disarm the men – in fact, to surrender – as the only condition on which he (Brigham) would permit them to winter within his territory, is on the whole one of the most astonishing of recent documents. The policy of the Saint is quite inscrutable. Young is far too shrewd not to have estimated exactly the power of the central Government. Such an expedition as the present is merely an advanced guard compared with the force that could ultimately be launched against him if he proceeds to extremities, and seizing and burning the military stories looks as if he is prepared to do so. One supposition is that the community, rather than submit to have “Gentile” officers and judges sent among them by the Federal Government, will abandon Utah altogether, as they abandoned Missouri, burn their city, and seek new refuge either in the British settlements, where they would scarcely be welcome, or southward in the territory of Mexico. Of the two the latter is the more probable, as they would find a warmer climate and a Government too weak to molest them. It is well known that the Mormons have a kind of league with the Indian tribes of the southwest, and the Indians have for many years been driving back the Spanish race along the whole northern border of Mexico, and reassuming the land. They carry their raids with impunity to within two hundred miles of the capital, and it almost seems that the doom of the descendants of the Spanish colonists is at hand, either by falling again under the rule of Spain itself, or being a second time conquered by the power, regular or irregular, of the north, on being overrun and barbarized by the Indians. A territory belonging to a State too weak to exercise any authority would exactly suit the present condition of the Mormons, and the compact community well able to fight if necessary, they could defy the Indians, with whom the Mexicans can neither be at peace nor make head by war. But the Saints are not driven to move yet, though finally they will have to choose between submission to the civil power or migration.

1859 – 30 April, p. 3 – Advices from Utah to the 9^th of March had reached New York, from which it is evident that the citizens of that territory conclude that it is about time to again knock at the door of Congress and apply for admission into the Union as a sovereign State. From private sources we learn that the Mormons are satisfied that sending the army and new Federal officers to their territory, though at first it promised a collision, is turning to their advantage in a political point of view. Many of the charges against them have, in the course of investigation, been refuted, and consequently the prejudice of the Gentiles in the States is somewhat diminished. Every mail brings confirmation of a good understanding between the military and civil chief in the territory on Mormon matters. It is stated, however, but with what degree of truth we do not vouch, that Brigham Young is unpopular with the Mormons and that he has agents in the northern provinces of Mexico, and also in Central America, prospecting for a location to which he and his partisans may remove, and set up an independent hierarchy.

1859 – 15 October, p. 3 – The state of things in Utah (says an American correspondent of the Morning Post) continues to be most disgraceful to us. Polygamy is on the increase there. Old men marry (?) young women by the half-dozen; and cases are known in which mothers and daughters are the wives so-called of the same aged ruffians. One instance is mentioned in which a “venerable gentleman” has among his wives a mother and four daughters; and in another, a man has 10 wives, three of whom are sisters, and he is about to espouse their sister, who is about 13 years old. Of his other wives it is not stated they are relatives. Five thousand Mormons have arrived in Utah this season from Europe.

1859 – 10 December, p. 3 – News has been received from the Great Salt Lake City to the 18^th October. A man named Vincent was murdered on the night preceding, making the seventh murder since the commencement of Judge Sinclair’s court in the latter part of July last! Vincent was a gambler by profession, and a man of most desperate character. Six of the murders were committed by Mormons, none of whom were brought to justice. Ferguson, the Gentile, who killed a shopkeeper at the close of a drunken spree, has been sentenced to be hanged. A pretty state of things, truly!