1840 – 21 November, p. 4 – “The Mormonites or Latter-day Saints.” (Abridged from the Cheltenham Free Press.)

Their Origin.—On the night of the 22^nd of September, 1827, Joseph Smith, being at that time 17 years of age, had a vision. A holy angel appeared to him, assured him of his being a favourite of heaven, and designed to a great work if he were faithful, and directed him to a certain hill in Manchester, Ontario country, New York, America. Obeying the directions of the angel, he went and found the “Book of Mormon” buried in the earth, where it had lain since the year A.D. 120. “It was,” says the Star, “a large volume in the Egyptian language, engraven on plates of gold about the thickness of common tin, seven inches wide and eight inches long, fastened on one edge with three rings running through the whole; the volume was six inches in thickness. With this record was found a large breast plate apparently of copper, and also a curious instrument called by the ancients Urim and Thummim, which consisted of two transparent stones clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a bow of silver, by means of which and the gift of God Mr. Smith was enabled to translate the record into the English language.” The book was not printed till the year of 1830, and the society was first organised on the 6^th of April, in the same year, “by express commandment and revelation from the Almighty.” The first society in England was formed at Preston, in Lancashire: in April last they consisted of 32 churches in England and one in Scotland, embracing in the whole 1654 members, 31 elders, 52 priests, 38 teachers, and 8 deacons. The largest churches are in Preston, Manchester, the Potteries, and Herefordshire, including part of Worcestershire and part of Gloncestershire. “In Herefordshire and the adjoining county, forty preachers of other orders have submitted to the ordinance and united themselves to the Saints, by which means forty preaching places have been opened to our elders.” They have three settlements on the banks of the Mississippi, in America, to which a party have already emigrated.

Their proposed Object is “to restore truth to its primitive simplicity, usher in the millennium, restore the fulness of the Gospel, bring together the sheep of Christ into one fold, and restore to them their faith once delivered to the saints,” for which purpose they profess to have received an especial commission from the Holy Ghost, and whilst thus restoring the ancient principles of Christianity they expect to be the means of the gathering together of the Israelites.

Their Tenets.—They believe all prophecies will be literally fulfilled. They reject “Calvinism, Arminianism, Trinitarianism, Unitarianism, total depravity, and all such like terms.” They expect the personal appearance of Christ to usher in the millennium, an teach that all persons may immediately embrace the Gospel wherever it is preached and that by so doing they become saints or Christians, but may fall from grace. Salvation depends on baptism. “Cornelius and his friends,” say they, “would not have been saved after they had received the Holy Ghost if they had refused baptism.” When backsliders are restored they are re-baptised. They further state that “no special work is necessary to be done on the Lord’s part to convert our souls and make us Christians,” and that those who do not obey this Gospel will experience the vengeance of God.

Their Book of Mormon is said to contain a sketch of the history of the two nations or colonies who peopled America in early times. The first was a colony who came from the tower of Babel when the language was confounded. The second was from Jerusalem, mostly of the tribe of Joseph, (in the days of Jeremiah), from whom they say the present American Indians are descended. The inhabitants of America are said by this work to have known of the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. “They saw the rocks rend, the earth shake, and the heavens veiled in darkness at the time of his crucifixion.” Alluding to this work, the Star says, “the most glorious and important fact contained in this record is, that Christ visited America after his resurrection, and ministered the gospel in person to that remnant of Israel, in fulfilment of the words that he spake, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.” The book is said to contain historical and prophetical knowledge of the utmost importance in the present age, pouring a flood of light on the world on subjects before concealed.

Their Progress.—They are increasing rapidly in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, if we are to credit the following extract from a letter, dated May, 1840, giving an account of the preaching tour of two persons through these countries:—“By comparing minutes, we find there has been in these two weeks about 112 baptised, 200 confirmed; 2 elders, about 20 priests, and 1 teacher ordained; and the church in these regions now numbers about 320. Here are calls for preaching on almost every hand which we cannot fill.” Signed “William Richards.” Another letter, written at Ledbury, and dated June 2nd, says, “The work is rolling on.”

1841 – 29 May, p. 3 – Mormonite Preacher. A discussion was held on Monday evening, at the Temperance Hall, between Mr. Cluer, the temperance lecturer, and a man named Curtis, a preacher among the Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints. The preacher had that morning been convicted of blasphemy, and bound over to appear at the sessions, but, notwithstanding this, he had the audacity to come forward, and attempt “to prove that we are taught in the Bible to expect the Book of Mormon, or one like it.” Mr. Cluer, in the second place, “proposed to prove in opposition to a statement made by the ‘preacher,’” that the Gospel has been preached during the last 1700 years.” The discussion commenced at seven o’clock, and the room was crowded to suffocation. Curtis attempted to prove from Ezekiel 37:11–20, that the Book of Mormon was predicted in the Bible; but beyond this he did not offer a tittle of evidence in proof. This infamous proposition was successfully refuted by Mr. Cluer, and the arguments of the “preacher” scattered to the winds. After three hours had been expended in talking, the discussion was adjourned till Wednesday evening, when it will be resumed at the Assembly Rooms. The whole dispute might have been settled in three minutes, if Mr. Cluer had given an exposition of the passage quoted by the preacher, instead of defending the general principles of Christianity.

1841 – 31 July, p. 3 – If the following may be credited United States “authorities” do not seem disposed that the Mormonites with much ceremony; “tolerably would appear to have gone ahead with such speed to have outstripped the States themselves. The New (illegible) ____ writes as follows: “Joe Smith, the Mormon is caught and caged at last, and we are very glad to learn so. He was lately arrested on his way from Nauvoo to Quincy on a requisition from the Governor of Missouri, and carried into that State for trial. We take ___ there is not within the limits of the United States _____________ a band of scoundrels as these Mormons, and _____ the leaders are punished for their crimes, and _______ broken up, the better it will be for the ______ Latter-day Saints by the wagon and are making their way westward, for the purpose of forming _________ community of Mormons, at is ___________. Not less than 97 of them loaded into wagons, passed through Rochester a few days since. They will find, upon their arrival in the “holy land, that their prophet is in a Missouri jail ____________probably be taken, and either whipped _________according to his deserts.”

1841 – 28 August, p. 3 – The Latter-day Saint Swindle. We promised last week to present our readers with some further particulars respecting this extraordinary delusion, which has estranged the minds of the old and the young—persons of substance as well as the laboring classes—and induced them to leave their fatherland to become squatters in one of the most unhealthy parts of America, with wild savages for their neighbors, and an uncultivated tract of land for the scene of their operations. The party we alluded to last week is named Margretts, a small farmer and pig dealer, residing at Evington, about six miles from this town. It appears this man, by the persuasions of an itinerant Saint, who used to preach from the Book of Mormon at the house of a neighbor in the Leigh, was induced to sell his “little all,” and proceed with his wife and six children to this “land of promise.” They embarked at Liverpool on the 1^st of February last, and after undergoing the privations of a transatlantic voyage at that inclement season of the year, landed at New Orleans in the latter end of April. There, in company with 100 other converts (the entire vessel load), they proceeded by steamboat up to St. Louis, passing several villages on the way, and arriving at last at this new Jerusalem, which is situated on the banks of the Mississippi, in the state of Missouri, and is called Nauvoo. Here they found thousands of the disciples of Mormonism undergoing the most deplorable privations incidental on a new settlement, badly supplied with the necessaries of life—comforts completely out of the question. Mrs. Margretts, in a short conversation we had with her, said they had not been there more than a week before the flour stock of the colony was exhausted, and her children crying around her for bread. The woman saw through the affair quicker than her fanatical husband; but the cloud which for a time had obscured his common sense was soon doomed to pass away. In the numerous conversations he had with the renowned Joe Smith, the father of the sect, the prophet of Mormon upon earth; he found much more of the calculator than the Saint about him—he found that worthy and respectable impostor better acquainted with the mysteries of pounds, shillings, and pence, and the multiplication table, than he was with texts from the Book of Mormon. Instead of feasting our friend the pig dealer’s soul with further descriptions of the promised heaven, he was daily dunning him to purchase a “beautiful tract of land” in this town (?) of Nauvoo; instead of showing Mr. Margretts, of the Leigh, the identical gold plates on which the Book of Mormon was written by the Angel from above, he was making daily overtures for taking him into partnership in his store! Joseph told the Gloucestershire man that the Angel took the gold plates back again with him into heaven, and Joseph wanted to extract the gold from the poor deluded man’s pocket to replace them we should suppose. Margretts did not like the explanation, his wife did not like the country, his children did not fancy going without bread, the senses as well as the appetites of the party were sharpened, the opened their eyes and looked about them. They found, by enquiring of some of the deluded wretches who had been there some time, and were unable to move for want of funds, that the legal title of the apostle to the land he was vending to his followers was very questionable—they said that he had formerly taken possession of a large tract of land in another part of Missouri “in the name of the Lord,” but had been driven to this place of refuge by the authorities of the State; that they expected his right to the possession of Nauvoo would soon be disputed, and last not least, that the Book of Mormon was a delusion! That book on which Margretts had thought sleeping and waking for months past—that book which had occupied a prominent place in his mind while in the pig market or on his farm, was all a delusion! This was the unkindest cut of all. However, he was bound to believe it; no land buying transactions for him—no partnerships in stores could be thought of—flight, “inglorious flight,” was his only resource, so, after a three-weeks’ peep at the new Jerusalem, he, his wife and his family gave the slip, and halted not until they got to a Christian community, to the town of Port Louis; their reason for this secrecy was that they found an attempt might be made to stop them. The Apostle, fearing that they would not “settle,” had told a confidant of his to say that if they attempted to return through St. Louis they would be mobbed and probably murdered; but the intimidation had no effect on Margretts and his wife. Arrived at St. Louis, they found hundreds of Mormonites who had escaped the fangs of Mr. Smith, compelled to take up their residence there from sheer want of money to carry them further. To show the delusion in its true character it is only necessary to say that Mrs. Margretts told us money was Smith’s only object; if the disciples were poor, no more notice was taken of them, to use the good woman’s expression, “than as if they had been so many dogs.” One of the “elders” from England died during the short sojourn of the Margretts’, and his body was thrust into a hole, without shroud or coffin, “unwept, unhonored and unsung,” because he had no money. The yellow fever was raging at Nauvoo, the devotees dying like dogs. The stay of the family at St. Louis was short, they proceeded to New Orleans, took passage for Liverpool, and arrived safe and sound at their native village about three weeks ago, where they are now residing for a time under the roof of a friend. Tired, jaded and out of health, the party again met their neighbors, and the first piece of intelligence they heard was a paragraph copied from an American paper, stating that the redoubtable Joe Smith had been apprehended and committed to prison by the Missouri authentics for rebellion, in other words, for retaining by force the land at Nauvoo which did not belong to him, but which he was very desirous to palm upon others. An old proverb says, “Experience is no use until it has been bought.” Poor Margretts has bought and paid for his experience by the expenditure of more than £200; we hope it will be dearly cherished and remembered by him. The best of the matter (if there be anything good in so melancholy a tale) is that a former neighbor of Margretts—one who emigrated with him—has written to England stating that the reason of Margretts quitting Nauvoo was that “he had no faith.” A man must have a very extensive faith to go the length of a staunch Mormonite! One good has resulted from the return of this family—the Mormonites are no longer allowed to preach in the neighborhood, and Margretts declares that the first Latter-day impostor who next attempts to cross his threshold shall receive the contents of his old double-barrelled gun!!!” Cheltenham Journal.

1841 – 27 November, p. 2 – The Mormonite Fanatics. Last week a body of Mormons numbering about seventy individuals, passing through this city on their way to Nauvoo, Illinois, to join their fellow fanatics in that settlement. They were from Gloucester, England, and arrived at Quebec in the Collina. They appeared to be quiet inoffensive people and possessed of some means. Montreal Herald.

1842 – 20 August, p. 1 – Bankruptcy of the Mormon Impostors. This vile scheme has at last exploded: Smith, the grand concoctor of the fraud having applied to the Insolvent Debtors Court in America, to be released from liabilities amounting to 100,000 dollars! Of all the delusions of modern times, certainly Mormonism has been the most absurd and contemptible. Yet, strange to say, it has had thousands of followers, large numbers of whom have parted with everything of this world’s goods, and set out in search of the promised land. The conduct of the man Smith has been gross in the extreme. Whenever he wanted a pretext for his villainies, he impiously declared it had been revealed to him that he should do so. The poor creatures who left this country, confiding in Mormon promises, have been most cruelly treated, and are now in the greatest distress. A friend has furnished us with particulars of a letter, sent by a young woman who had joined them, detailing to her friends in this country some of the revolting immoralities openly practiced by the Mormon leaders, which we will not insult our readers by relating in the columns of The Antidote. We heartily rejoice that the scheme in its practical bearings, at least, has come to an end. Antidote, monthly magazine.

1842 – 17 September, p. 3 – Mormonism. A Cheltenham paper publishes the following letter addressed by the daughter of an inhabitant of that town to her mother. The writer is one of the many deluded females who had been induced by the “Mormon prophets” to give up their worldly goods and seek a saintly life in some unknown place in America. She left Cheltenham about three weeks ago with this purpose in view, and on her arrival in London, her eyes were first opened to the chicanery which had been practiced upon her, and she writes home thus: “London, Sept. 2, 1842. My dear Mother – I have had these few lines written you, hoping it will find you in health, as I am sorry to tell you that I am very ill indeed, and more sorry to think that I did not take your advice as I ought to have done, and I have found your words come to truth, as the people that I came from Cheltenham with behave very bad indeed to me. I hope that you will forgive me for this time, and send me a little money to get home with again, as you might depend upon my giving up their religion altogether, and if you do not forgive me this time and send a little money for me to get back with I shall not be in this world long. I am not able to go in service to earn any to get back with, so forgive me for once. I did not think that they were such a set of people as they are; but I see all through it now, and should be glad to get with you again. I should be glad to hear from you as I do nothing but cry day and night.”

1844 – 28 September, p. 4 – Emma, Joe Smith, the Mormon prophet’s wife, has had the box in which the dead body of Joe was carried from Carthage to Nauvoo, sawed into suitable strips for walking canes, and has sold them to the faithful as mementos of the prophet.

1844 – 5 October, p. 2 – America. The steamship “Hibernia,” Captain Ryne, arrived in the Mersey on Saturday night. She left Boston on the afternoon of the 16^th instant, and Halifax early on the morning of the 19^th. The advices by this arrival, though extending over a space of 15 days, furnish scarcely anything worth extracting. It appears from a statement, entitled the “Epistle of the Twelve,” that the Mormons have no further election or selection of a prophet, as head of the church, but that the succession to Joe Smith is given to a band of 12 men, whom they call apostles, and who are appointed to preach to the sect throughout Europe and America.

1844 – 12 October, p. 4 – Item #1 – [With reference to the absurdity of the Dorr insurrection of Rhode Island, the article continues.] Another illustration of the same kind is the avowal of Governor Ford, of New York, [sic] that if he were to call out the Militia to seize the murderers of Joe Smith, who was shot by rioters breaking into his person, that the posse comitatus would very likely take to rioting themselves in more extensive fashion, and would assault the whole Mormon city of Nauvoo. Such are the political morals of the great republic; you cannot evade the agents of the law, lest, instead of seizing its infractors they should utterly overset it. Spectator.

1844 – 12 October, p. 4 – Item #2 – Notwithstanding the death of the Mormon leader, Joe Smith, a number of dupes of this strange delusion left Lancashire for Nauvoo, the headquarters of the sect, last month.

1845 – 13 December, p. 4 – Mormonism. William Smith, the Mormon patriarch, has addressed a long letter to his brethren in which he dissuades them from listening to the counsels of Brigham Young and his associates at Nauvoo. “The Patriarch” expresses the opinion that Young and those acting with him have been privy to all the crimes that have been perpetrated at Nauvoo, and that their object in collecting at that place this winter all of the Mormons in the United States, for the purpose of moving to California in the spring, is merely to enrich themselves and perpetuate their power. When the Mormons gather at Nauvoo, they will be required to surrender all their property into the hands of the Twelve; and if their expedition to California should prove dangerous, the Twelve will desert their brethren; if, however, they should reach their destined home west of the Rocky Mountains the power of the leaders through their secret organizations, will be made despotic, and be exercised for the benefit of the few, to the degradation and ruin of their followers. “The Patriarch’s plan” is for most of the Mormons to abandon Nauvoo, and to cease to settle together in distinct communities and large bodies. He further urges that they should renounce the immoral doctrine and practices recently introduced into the Mormon church by Brigham Young, conduct themselves as all other religious sects do in this country, and trust to the same means of propagating their views. In that way he thinks further evils may be avoided, and the honest saved from the certain destruction that awaits them if they attempt to follow the Twelve to California. According to the statements, Brigham Young and his ten associates should be held responsible for the outcomes which have been committed in Nauvoo for the last six months. The Mormons in Nauvoo are kept in ignorance of the secret acts of the Twelve and their agents, and should not be made to suffer for the offences of a few. Missouri Reporter, Oct. 27.

1847 – 9 January, p. 4 – The Mormons Again. On Sunday week a party of Mormonites, or “Latter-day Saints,” assembled at the Delph, and after breaking the ice in the canal, proceeded to dip fifteen of their converts, the majority of whom (as usual in such cases) were females. A crowd of between three and four hundred persons assembled on the banks of the canal to witness the ceremony. We understand that another batch of the same sect were to undergo the same cooling process, at the same place, on Christmas day. From the progress of Mormon doctrines in this neighborhood it would appear that the people are in no very advanced stage of enlightenment, and that there is ample room for the labors of the schoolmaster, as well as the religious minister. A Manchester contemporary also mentions the following singular announcement—“A placard has this week been posted on the walls, in the town of Stalybridge, announcing that a tea party of Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, will be held in the Town Hall, on New Year’s Day, in which it is gravely stated that “three of the twelve apostles” will be present on the occasion. Some other great personage is also to be in attendance from the “Holy City,” in America.

1847 – 6 November, p. 4 – A Mormon Miracle. The Ottoway Free Trader gives the following, with an endorsement of its truth: “It appears the prophet Strang needed a new house, and he determined his followers should build it for him. So he called them together, and told them that in consideration that they would erect the house, the Lord had authorized him to promise them an extraordinary endowment. The building was soon completed, and now they apply for their reward. All the saints are gathered together in the church, the prophet takes them through a variety of ceremonies, such as head washing, feet washing, etc., and concludes by anointing the heads of all with a composition ‘that had a queer smell.’ They are then directed to adjourn to another room that was totally dark, where they were to receive the endowment, which was to be in the shape of an extraordinary and visible manifestation of the spirit, rendering them at once impregnable thenceforth to all the shafts of Satan. Arrived in the dark room, sure enough the heads of all shone as if lit up by the brightness of the sun, and great was the rejoicing of the saints thereat. But the prophet William, who was present, although staggered a little, mistrusted “that all was not gold that glittered,” so he took some of the ointment and submitted it to an examination, and lo the discovery! He found that it was a mixture of oil and phosphorus, and that hence the whole illumination was a gross cheat. He took the first opportunity to accuse prophet Strang, publicly and before the whole congregation, of the imposition, who, so far from denying it, coolly acknowledged the fact, and then preached a sermon justifying the act, and maintained that all the miracles of Christ and Moses, etc., were wrought in the same way—that is, by natural means. Of course, William could no longer hold fellowship with such a man.

1848 – 1 January, p. 4 – A Latter Day, or Mormon, preacher, has been taken into custody at Bronfre, near Llanayron [Llanerchaeron], on the charge of stealing a Welsh Dictionary from the Crown public house at Llandewi Aberarth. His reverence, who, we are ashamed to confess, is a printer, was preparing his sermon at the time he was apprehended with the book upon him.

1848 – 14 October, p. 4 – The great Mormon Temple, at Nauvoo, has been purchased for a Protestant College.

1848 – 16 December, p. 4 – Destruction of the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo. The celebrated Mormon Temple, in Nauvoo, has been entirely destroyed by incendiary fire. No effort was made to stop the progress of the flames. The magnificent structure was erected at an expense of 200,000 dollars. Nothing now remains but the blackened walls. The Mormons breathe terrible vengeance. The temple has just been leased by the trustees of the Mormon church for a term of years, for the purpose of being converted into an institution of learning, and the agent of the leases was to have taken possession of it on the morning that it was burned.

1849 – 27 January, p. 4 – Emigration to California. The gold-seeking mania has at last invaded the mountains of Wales, and the general desire to get suddenly rich has been well applied in the service of religious fanaticism. In consequence large numbers of the operatives of Merthyr district are preparing to visit California for the double purpose of obtaining gold in abundance, and of settling in the Canaan of the Mormon prophet. Whatever may be the immediate influence on the parent countries, England and the United States of America, there can be no doubt that the ultimate results of the founding new empires on the western shores of the North Pacific Ocean, will strongly affect the destinies of older settlements, and lead to a considerable extension of our commercial relations.

1849 – 15 September, p. 6 – A Mormon settlement has been formed on the Beaver Islands, in Lake Michigan. The population is already about five hundred, and rapidly increasing.

1850 – 5 January, p. 6 – “The Mormonites,” says the Worcester Herald, “are still preaching, as they call it, in this town, but we are glad to hear that they are put to considerable shifts to get an audience together. Last Sunday they announced that they should immerse twenty-six individuals in the miserable place which we mentioned before; but the whole affair turned out merely to be a ruse to attract somebody to hear their harangues, which consisted principally of an abuse of the doctrines of the Bible, and praise of themselves as the only persons ever likely to get to heaven.” To those who feel any interest either for or against these deluded creatures and dupes of designing demagogues, we heartily recommend the following abstract of a lecture delivered last week, at Birmingham, by Mr. John Bowes, of Manchester, (editor of the Christian Magazine,) on the character of Joseph Smith, the self-styled prophet and apostle of Mormonism, as also the characters of the various elders connected with him in his imposture. An opportunity was given to any connected with the Mormonites to refute any statements brought forward by the lecturer. Mr. Bowes entered into an examination of the character of this alleged “head of the church,” his polygamy, theft, abetting to murder, extortion of money, etc., under the pretence of special revelations from God. He gave a relation of Smith’s various warlike encounters with the natives of Illinois, in the states of America as “General Joseph Smith,” his various exhibitions of rage against his enemies, his fearful maledictions, interspersed with horrid oaths and curses when he anathematised them; charging them, not as he had done on a previous occasion, “to fight like devils,” but in that instance to fight like angels; and that God Almighty would take no notice of his swearing at such a d—d set as they were; facts which the lecturer intimated his willingness to prove by the affidavits of some formerly in his communion, and by documents in his possession. As it regarded his revelations, he pretended the spirit had commanded him not to work, as strength should not be given him for labour; for the church should support him and build him a house to live in. It had been lost sight of that he had strength to fight, whoever gave him it. When he fancied the wife of any of his followers, he invariably sent the husband on some foreign mission, and so persuaded the wife to add to the list of “spiritual wives,” he then possessed; and one very glaring case of a man named Young, connived at and abetted by the said pious Smith, occurred, in which the wife, pretending likewise a revelation, proposed a consultation with her husband, and she having afterwards exposed the affair, was compelled, with her father to flee to Manchester. One gross instance was known to some in the meeting, having relation to Birmingham. Many of the “elders” possessed from seven to twelve wives, and led the most abandoned lives. Several circumstances were related almost too horrible to be credited but for the sworn affidavits taken before some of the justices of the states in America. The lecturer then adverted to the oath of the Danites, a body of marauders among the chief of the Mormons, intimating their engagement to enter upon any expedition, whether right or wrong, should they be so desired, implicit obedience being demanded and enforced by a command, that if any shrunk from the deed, however enormous, they were to be immediately shot, and, if the companion demurred, his next neighbour was to do the same to both. Much information was given concerning many abominable matters relating to Mormonism. The lecturer was heard with great attention, but no one offered to refute his assertions. We trust that the projected school for boys, which we are glad to find meets with general approval and support, will be the means of spreading so much additional knowledge amongst this hitherto ignorant neighbourhood, as to make the hopes and attempts of the Mormonite impostors perfectly useless.

1850 – 9 February, p. 4 – Migration of Saints. A large number of the disciples of Mormon left Cardiff a few days since for Bristol, en route for California.

1850 – 14 September, p. 6 – Item #1 – Mormonism. People have often wondered what the word Mormon meant. It is easily explained. Mormo, or Mormon, is the Greek for humbug, or hobgoblin, and paraphrastically, for delusion or counterfeit. Little did that crafty impostor, Joe Smith, with all his craftiness, suspect the close-fitting cap he was asking for his newly-concocted imposture, when he gave his statute book the name of the Book of Mormon, literally the book of humbug. Such are sometimes the silent, unlooked-for, and mysterious incidents by which Providence brings to light the satanic inventions of revilers and gainsayers.

1850 – 14 September, p. 6 – Item #2 – Mormon women, it is said, have commenced dressing in pantaloons. It is not stated whether the men have undergone a change in their apparel. Burritt’s Christian Citizen.

1850 – 5 October, p. 8 – Lecture on Mormonism. Two lectures on the errors of Mormonism were delivered by Messrs. J. Williams and R. H. French, at the Town Hall, on Tuesday the 1^st of October. After the delivery of the two lectures an animated discussion took place between a Captain Wheelock and the lecturers. It was ultimately arranged that the captain should have an opportunity afforded him.

1850 – 2 November, p. 3 – A very large assemblage of people attended on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 22^nd and 23^rd ult., to hear the dispute between Captain Wheelock, the Mormon, and Messrs. French and Williams, which was held in the large room, at the Sunderland Arms Inn, Llanarth Street, the mayor refusing them admission into the Town Hall. The meeting lasted a considerable time, and room was crowded.

1851 – 15 February, p. 5 – Newport Atheneum and Mechanics’ Institute. At this institution on Tuesday last, Mr. French was announced to deliver a lecture on the “Genius and Writings of Milton;” and it was also stated that the lecturer would give his audience his reasons for following the tenets of the Mormon faith, against which he was some time ago engaged in lecturing, but to which he has recently become a convert. Considerable excitement prevailed on the occasion, and much disturbance and confusion occurred during the evening. The lecturer propounded 13 articles of “belief,” with reasons for entertaining which, he endeavored to “cram” his audience, adducing scripture most freely in support of his position. Some very ill-natured and uncalled for remarks were made by the lecturer in the course of the discussion which ensued, which were able and successfully rebutted by Mr. C. J. Cathcart, solicitor, one of the committee. Mr. Cathcart represented the gross inconsistency of the lecturer, who only a short time since was a strong opponent of the absurd principles which he now professed to uphold and admire; and had actually lectured in opposition to a Captain Wheeler. When asked the question how it was that he had so strangely and suddenly changed his mind on so important a question as religion, his answer was to the purpose that he did not then fully understand the Mormon “religion;” – rather a singular and inconsistent reply for one who had professed to be competent to confront its warmest admirers. In another month some other tergiversation which shall embrace some Joe Smithism, or any other strange and fanatical doctrine, might with equal logical land consistent reasoning be accounted for. Mr. French is considered to be a man of some ability, and his course of conduct seems so much the more unaccountable.

1851 – 19 July, p. 3 – Sanguinary Fanaticism of the Mormons. That fanatical body, the Mormons, presents a striking illustration of the fatal consequences of men indiscriminately constructing their own religion. We learn from Detroit, in Canada, that Thomas Bennett was murdered at Beaver Island, on the 6^th ult., under the color of ecclesiastical authority. Mr. Bennett was taken out and shot through the body with five rifle bullets and thirty-eight buck shots. His brother Samuel was also shot, but not killed. This was done by a part of about fifty Mormons. The greatest excitement prevailed.

1851 – 30 August, p. 6 – The Mormons—Their Creed and Their Kingdom.

Few histories of fanaticism will better repay perusal than that of Joe Smith, the Mahomet of the 19th century. Until the appearance of the complete history of the rise and progress of his imposture contained in the Illustrated Library, his creed and his kingdom were equally mere matters of report. We now have this wonderful and most instructive history in all its details. The following outline of it will only lead our readers to supply from the popular volume the minute facts for which we have not space.

In 1825 there lived near a village called Palmyra, in the State of New York, a family of small farmers of the name of Smith. They were of bad repute in the neighbourhood—notorious for being continually in debt, and heedless of their business engagements. One of the sons named Joseph, who “could not read without much difficulty, wrote a very imperfect hand, and had a very limited understanding of the elementary rules of arithmetic,” in connection with a man named Sidney Rigdon, a quondam compositor, was the founder of the faith of Mormonism. The early history of the confederation of these worthies is very imperfectly and obscurely known. The account given by Smith is as follows:—He all at once found himself labouring in a state of great darkness and wretchedness of mind—in the first stage, in fact, of what is ordinarily known among Methodists as “receiving a call.” He was bewildered among the conflicting doctrines of the Christian world, and could find no comfort or mental rest. In this state he resorted to earnest and “vocal” prayer, kneeling in the woods and fields, and after long perseverance in this course, his prayers were answered by the appearance of a bright light in heaven, which gradually descended until it enveloped the worshipper, who found himself standing face to face with two supernatural beings. One of these he inquired which was the right and true religion of the world? The reply was that all doctrines were equally erroneous, but that the true doctrine and the crowning dispensation of Christianity should at a future period be miraculously revealed to himself. Several similar visitations ensued, and at length he was informed that the North American Indians were a remnant of Israel; that when they first entered America they were a great, enlightened, and favoured people; that their priests and rulers kept the records of their history and their doctrines; but that having fallen off from the true faith and worship, the great body of the nation were supernaturally destroyed—not, however, until after a priest and prophet named Mormon had, be celestial direction, drawn up an abstract of their national records and religious opinions. This abstract, Joseph Smith was told, still existed, buried in the earth, and he it was whom God had selected for the instrument of its recovery and its manifestation to all nations. The record, he was told, contained many prophecies unto these “latter days,” and would give instructions for the “gathering of the saints” into a temporal and spiritual kingdom, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah, which was at hand. After several of these preliminary visions, the spot in which the book lay buried was at length indicated. Joseph Smith went there, and, after digging, discovered a sort of box formed of upright and horizontal flags, within which lay a certain number of plates “resembling gold” and about the thickness of common tin. These plates were bound together by a wire, and were engraved with Egyptian characters. Beside them lay two transparent stones, “called by the ancients Urim and Thummim,” set in “the two rims of a bow.” These stones were evidently divining crystals, and the angels informed Joseph Smith that by using them he would be enabled to decipher the characters on the plates. What ultimately became of the plates in question—if such things existed at all—does not appear from the volume before us. They were said to have been seen and handled by eleven witnesses. With the exception of three persons these witnesses were either members of Smith’s family, or of a neighbouring family of the name of Whitmer. The Smiths, of course, gave suspicious testimony. The Whitmers have disappeared, and no one knows anything about them. Another witness (Oliver Cowdery) was afterwards an amanuensis to Joseph; and another (Martin Harris) was long a staunch and conspicuous Mormonite. There is some confusion, however, about this man. Although he signs his name as a witness who has seen and handled the plates, he assured Professor Anthon that he had never seen them, that “he was not pure of heart enough,” and that Joseph refused to show him the plates, but gave him instead a transcript of the characters engraved on them upon paper.

Meantime, however, Joseph Smith must have succeeded in working to a great extent on the soft-headedness of Martin Harris. This man, as we have just said, received from him a written transcript of the Egyptian characters, and took this transcript, as we have also mentioned, to Professor Anthon of New York, a competent philological authority. The professor’s account of the interview is of great importance. Harris then told him that he had not seen the plates, but that he intended to sell his farm, and give the proceeds to their proprietor to enable him to publish them. The Mormonite version of the interview represents Mr. Anthon “as having been unable to decipher the characters correctly, but as having presumed that, if the original records could be brought, he could assist in translating them.” On this statement being made, Professor Anthon publicly contradicted it. He described the document submitted to him as having been a sort of “pot pourri” of ancient marks and alphabets. “It had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him a book containing various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman Letters, inverted or placed side-ways, were arranged in perpendicular columns and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it was derived.”

The scheme of the new religion seems to have been, at all events, “in petto” when Joe Smith communicated with Harris; but the great clue to the fabrication is lost in our ignorance of the time and the circumstances under which Smith and Rigdon came together. It must, however, have been subsequently to that event that the “translation,” by means of the magic Urim and Thummim, was begun. This work Smith is represented as having laboured at steadily, assisted as an amanuensis by Oliver Cowdery, until at length a volume was produced containing as much matter as the Old Testament, written in imitation of the Biblical style, and containing, as Joe Smith said the angel had informed him, a history of the lost tribes and their pilgrimage to and settlement in America, with copious doctrinal and prophetic commentaries and revelations; the latter in particular distinguished by the grossest grammatical ignorance, as indeed are nine-tenths of the writings of the Mormons.

Where or how the New Bible was printed and published, we are not told. At first Joe’s doctrines were probably very mystical, in consequence of his not having exactly settled them himself. The first definite article of his creed was, however, that the disciples should believe in all the revelations vouchsafed to him: and such belief at once involved the most agreeable consequences to the “prophet.” inasmuch as he took care that the earliest of the revelations in question should enjoin upon “the saints” the necessity of making him comfortable. Thus, in February, 1831, a “revelation” pronounced that it was meet that the saints should build the “prophet’ a house; another enjoined upon them that, if they had any regard for their own souls, the sooner they provided him with food and raiment, and everything he needed, the better; and the third revelation informed the resigned Joseph that “he was not to labour for his living.” The ”Revelations” are masses of ungrammatical twaddle, apeing a quasi-biblical style, and the Supreme Being is always made to address the “Prophet” as “Joseph Smith, junior.” Meantime the Mormon Bible had been printed, and began to make some noise. The sect rapidly increased, and Joe Smith, by dint of his profitable revelations, flourished mightily. Unbelievers were proudly referred to the book. “How,” asked the Mormonites, “could this book have been written if not by inspiration? The prophet is not learned in a human sense, how could he have become acquainted with all the antiquarian learning here contained, if it was not super-naturally communicated to him.”

It was at this juncture that the real origin of the Mormon Bible became first known. Long before the fellow had ever dreamed of setting up for a Mahomet, there lived at New Salem a certain Solomon Spaulding. This individual had once been a clergyman, and possessed a literary turn, with a taste for the investigation of biblical antiquities. The discovery of some barrows and mounds near New Salem, supposed to be the work of an extinct aboriginal race, inspired Mr. Spaulding with the notion of writing a romance upon these ancient people; while the theory that the North American Indians were scattered descendants of the Lost Tribes, and which at one time was popular in America, seems to have been invoked in order to give the story a new and fanciful element of interest. The style adopted in treating such a theme was very naturally biblical. Mr. Spaulding called the theory “The Manuscript Found,” and as the work progressed he was in the habit of reading it to his neighbours—for, as it is stated, “their amusement.” Later in life Spaulding removed to Pittsburgh. There he became acquainted with a printer named Patterson, and gave him the manuscript of his Judaic-Indian story, with a view to its ultimate publication. Before, however, any arrangement was come to the author died. The MS. seems to have been left lying about the office for a length of time, during which it was lent to Sidney Rigdon, one of the compositors, and a preacher in connection with some fantastic Methodist sect. This man must have copied the story either in whole or in part. It is stated, indeed, that he avowed having done so, and he had probably ample opportunity, for a considerable time elapsed ere Mrs. Spaulding received back the original MS., which we believe still exists. The document lay by her for years, almost unnoticed, until Mormonism began to make rapid progress. These doctrines, with the Book of Mormon, at length reached New Salem. A female missionary summoned a meeting, and read copious extracts from the new Bible. Luckily among the congregations were many of Mr. Spaulding’s old auditory, who started up in the wildest amazement when they found that the Bible of the New Dispensation was nothing more or less than a partially mutilated version of their old friend “The Manuscript Found.” That such is the fact was vouched for by Mrs. Spaulding, the widow, and by Mr. Spaulding, the brother of the deceased author; and by a number of the most respectable inhabitants of New Salem, who could have no conceivable motive for alleging falsehood in this matter. When, therefore, they found that the new prophet, Joseph Smith, was closely associated with Sidney Rigdon, the compositor, the clue to the mystery of Mormonism was at once given, and the impudent and infamous hoax stood revealed.

The result of these facts is startling. In spite of two bitter persecutions, accompanied by murder, robbery, and arson, and two expulsions from flourishing settlements, in the course of twenty years the number of firm adherents to this faith has increased to upwards of 300,000 persons, of which a large number are now settled as an independent state, having a regular charter and organised local government, on a territory of which they possess not only the sovereignty, but the fee simple—a beautiful and exceedingly fertile tract as large as England, and situated upon the best “trail” from Eastern America to California and the Pacific. This state is called Deseret, or Utah, and will probably soon be added to the group of the American Union. Its capital is Salt Lake City, a large and flourishing town, which has sprung up like magic in the wilderness. Such being their head-quarters, the Latter-day Saints have agencies and missions in every capital in Europe, and in every large town in the United Kingdom. The great object of these undertakings is to make converts and to “gather the saints” to Deseret. From Great Britain, since 1840, upwards of 14,000 persons have inclined to the doctrines of Mormon, and have gone forth to join the settlement. The Mormon emigration, in 1849, passing through Liverpool, amounted to 2,500 persons, all of the better class of emigrants; and it is calculated that 30,000 Latter-day Saints then remained behind. In June, 1850, there were in England and Scotland, 27,863 Mormonites, of whom London contributed 2,529; Manchester, 2,787; Liverpool, 1, 018; Glasgow, 1,846; Sheffield, 1,920; Edinburgh, 1,331; Birmingham, 1,909; and Wales—South Wales principally, 4,342. And the Mormonite census was taken in last January, giving the entire number in the British Isles as 30,747 “Saints.” During the last fourteen years more than 50,000 had been baptised in England, of which nearly 17,000 had emigrated from her shores “to Zion.”

Mormon emigration is of the better class; but there are poor Mormons as well; and for behoof of these, and in order that they may, as well as their more prosperous brethren, be “gathered to Zion,” there is now amassed in Liverpool more than three and a half tons of Californian gold belonging to the sect, and destined for the purpose of emigration.

1851 – 6 September, p. 3 – Fruits of Mormonism. A Correspondent of a contemporary, writing from Ohio (U. S.) says – “On our way to and from the convention, we were compelled to spend part of two days at Detroit, Michigan. At the time we were there, two very important criminal trials were going on in that city, one in the circuit court of the United States, and the other in a supreme court of the State. In the former, one Strong, a Mormon prophet, with a large number of his subjects, were being tried for such crimes as the following: Interrupting, forcibly, the United States mail; passing counterfeit money; and murder. For want of proof, they were finally acquitted. Soon after the death of Smith, the founder of the sect, this Strong gave out that the prophet had visibly appeared to him, and formally constituted him his (Smith’s) successor. By this means Strong had after him several thousands of ‘the Latter-day Saints,’ and settled them on Beaver Island, in one of the upper lakes. Just before his arrest his followers had formally crowned him as supreme sovereign of the world, and as God’s vicegerent on earth; swearing not only absolute subjection to him, but, by solemn oath, dissolving all allegiance to all other earthly ‘principalities, potentates, power, and governments of every kind.’”

1851 – 8 November, p. 3 – The Arbroath Guide records the Mormonite way of paying old debts: “A Mormon preacher recently waited on a merchant here, who had dunned him somewhat sharply. Joe Smith’s disciple admitted the debt; but as to settling it, that was a very different matter. He now strictly followed the apostolic injunction: he took with him neither purse or scrip, and never troubled himself about worldly affairs of the kind in question. He nevertheless had considered it his duty to apprise the merchant of this change in his principles—in order that he (the merchant) might give himself no further thought about the trifle of the dross which perisheth, due to him by the preacher.”

1852 – 10 January, p. 5 – The Mormons are laboring at the Sandwich Islands, in companies of two, to convert the population (natives, foreigners, missionaries, and all) to their faith. It is not a little worthy of note, that while in England and Scotland they have made converts by thousands, in Hawaii they have met with no success whatever.

1853 – 16 April, p. 8 – Mormonism. Controversy at Newport. A series of discussions upon the tenets of the Latter-day Saints have created much excitement in Newport during the past week. Two elders of the Church of Latter-day Saints, Mr. R. H. French and Mr. Wm. Owen defended the new faith, and the fallacy of it was exposed by the Rev. John Barfield, B. A., of Dock Street chapel, and Mr. Flanagan, Scripture reader. The feeling of the meetings went against the elders; but Mr. Edward Thomas, draper, who occupied the chair, suppressed any unseemly interruption. The following graphic description of “a great gun” of the class is given in the Boston Herald, in announcing the death of Elder G. Adams, a Mormon preacher: “On his second visit (to Boston) the Elder preached, baptized converts, whipped a newspaper editor, and played a star engagement at the National Theater. He was industrious, and filled up all his time. We have a fund of anecdotes concerning this strange mortal, which we shall be glad to print at some other time. We close this article by briefly advertising to the chastisement he gave an editor for strongly criticizing his performance of Richard III. The office of the editor was in Washington Street, where Propeller now keeps. Adams armed himself with a cowhide, and watched for his victim. Soon the unsuspecting fellow came down the stairs, and Adams sprang upon him, exclaiming, ‘The Lord has delivered thee into my hands, and I shall give thee 40 stripes save one, Scripture measure. Brother Graham keep tally.’ So saying, he proceeded to lay on the punishment with heart goodwill. In the meantime, a large crowd had gathered around the avenging priest and the delinquent. When the tally was up Adams let the man go, and addressed the crowd as follows: ‘Men and brethren, my name is Elder George J. Adams, preacher of the everlasting Gospel. I have chastised mine enemy. I go this afternoon to fulfill an engagement at the Providence Theater, where I shall play one of Shakespeare’s immortal creations. I shall return to this city at the end of the week, and will, by Divine permission, preach three times next Sabbath on the immortality of the soul, the eternity of matter, and in answer to the question, ‘Who is the Devil?’ May grace and peace be with you. Amen!’”

1853 – 14 May, p. 7–8 – Latter-day Saints and Spiritual Wives. Mormonism and Miracles.

Some three summers ago a great captain appeared in these parts.His mission was from the far west, and he pitched his tent beside “Isca’s stream.”

The great captain declared himself to be “an Elder of the Mormons”—his name “Wheelock”—and his local habitation “the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.”

Latter-day sinners were to be converted into Latter-day saints, and the great captain, despite the danger and difficulty of the undertaking, adventured himself upon the great work of transmogrification.

He came; and lustily did he bellow forth the precepts of the Mormon faith. At first, however, the success of his mission seemed doubtful and precarious, for he was assailed by the unbelievers, and in the foremost of their ranks was a youth of goodly promise, more than a match for the great captain—one who could direct the lance of argument freely and vigorously; and the youth, by the name “French,” combated the great captain with such courage and earnestness that he quite bewildered the great captain; and while the youth in the estimation of all the decent people of those days in our locality acquired credit and renown, the great captain and elder of the saints found himself completely in a quandary.

But the great captain was old and wily, and the youth juvenile and imprudent. The Elder bided his time, and alas! the youth unwarily approached too closely to the enemy’s camp and there beheld a Mormon maid. Now the maid was pretty, and we fear she possessed the power of fascination. The youth admired the prettiness of the maid, and she reciprocated the kindliness of the youth, albeit the enemy of her faith. And suddenly a cloud descended upon the youth and obscured his better judgment—till, at last, French, the chivalrous champion of truth and Christianity, deserted from his colors and his cause and became the champion of error and the Mormons.

The great captain, wily waiting, observed the result, and so far his mission was accomplished. The youth of goodly promise, under the influence of passion and credulity, became the representative of the Mormons, and Mormonism acquired at Newport an advocate of no ordinary ability. The great captain observed all this and he departed—and now we hear no more of this Elder of the saints—he has gone out—probably returned to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, there, as we hope, ‘to correct his errors,’ before he departs for his final resting-place.

And now, ever and anon, generally in the quiet stillness of our back-streets on a Sunday morning, when decent people are about preparing to issue forth to pay due reverence to religion, may be heard the tinkling of a little bell; such as old association irresistibly reminds us of muffins; but which all the Elders, and all the Deacons, and all the High Priests of the Mormon church intend should seriously incline the ears of all true believers in the Mormon faith to the fact that the hour is approaching when the saints should congregate at the large room behind the Sunderland public-house; and the said Elders and others also intend that the tinkling of the little bell should at the same time indicate to unbelievers—but such only as gently incline towards the faith—that at the same hour and place they may listen to the teachings and the preachings of Elder French.

And occasionally, here, in Newport, Mormonite men take their departure for the valley of the saints; and soon after their departure it is discovered that they are accompanied by “spirituals” of the other sex, while their wives and other little obligations are left behind—abandoned and flung away—forlorn and unprotected—to fight the battle of life, and struggle with the world and all its difficulties, alone, and to the best of their poor ability.

And here, too, in Newport, one Reuben Brinkworth, one of the “rogue and vagabond” species, aided by others of the saints, practices a gross deception; and thereupon Orson Pratt, one of the apostles of the saints, by means of Mormon literature publishes to all the world the rank imposture as a Mormon miracle effected by Mormon agency, that all men may understand that the faith of this Church is not founded upon human testimony alone but upon the power of God.

And we are told that for many years past Mormonism has become a great fact among the nations of the earth, and that under the beguiling influence of Mormon missions and Mormon lies thousands of credulous sinners have been induced to abandon their native homes to go forth to seek for happiness, spiritual and temporal, among the saints in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

And Mormonism is a great fact, and it yields reason to passion. For Mormonism, though at first glossing the fact under the cant of “spiritual wives,” now openly and avowedly practices bigamy and polygamy; that which our law, founded “upon the perfection of reason,” prohibits and punishes as a crime; and that which all civilized communities, where woman holds her fair position in society, repudiate and repress. But Mormonism seeks the gratification of gross sensuality, and to do it would debase woman and degrade her from her fair position; and Mormonism attempts to “sanctify the means” by a miserable perversion of the true meaning of scripture.

And the saints issue forth printed lies and blasphemy, and call them “miracles,” and they walk abroad upon our highways erect, and in our public places boast of their extreme propriety.

And they shirk about our byeways, and there work insidiously, so that Mormonism progresses. But Mormonism is a “delusion, a mockery, and a snare”—an outrage upon civilization, and, above all, an outrage upon Christianity. And therefore Mormonism ought to be checked, and, if possible, crushed, extinguished, and utterly put out.

And here in Newport, good men and true—friends of humanity—have started to the rescue; and at our Town Hall, before crowded audiences, they have dragged this thing, Mormonism, before the light, and Mormonism has been thoroughly discussed with Elder French and Elder Owen, and the good men and true, Messrs. Barfield, Thomas, Flannigan, and the rest, richly merit the thanks of the town for having most ably and convincingly exposed Mormonism and proved it to be an abomination and an infamous imposture.

1853 – 21 May, p. 5 – The Alleged Mormon Miracle at Bristol. At a Public Meeting, held at the Town Hall, Newport, Monmouthshire, on the 6^th inst., the following Resolution was unanimously passed: “That this meeting is of opinion that the fullest reliance may be placed upon the statements of Mr. Thomas, with reference to the alleged Mormon miracle, in the case of Selina Bounsell; and can come to no other conclusion from Mr. Thomas’s statements, as well as from those of Mr. Bounsell, the father of the child, given at this meeting, than the pretended miracle is a deliberate and complete imposture.” Signed on behalf of the meeting, Edward Thomas, Chairman. Anchor House, 175, Commercial Street, Newport, May 12, 1853.

1853 – 16 July, p. 8 - Mormonism. The minds of all the thinking community, particularly the better educated Christians, in this neighborhood, are seriously contemplating the effects this mania has had, and will have, on many from whom you would expect better things. Fancy the fact of an aged widow, lately, in this neighborhood, who has seen seventy summers, and about fifty of those in a married life, with a numerous family of grown-up sons and daughters, selling her little all, consisting of a cow, hay, pigs, etc., buying a new suit of clothes for her husband, who has been dead several years, and starting off in an emigrant ship for the Salt Lake, there to meet him again in perfect health. A Mormon a few days ago, said that his faith was such that he could remove a mountain in this neighborhood from where it is, and place it in front of Sir Chas. Morgan’s seat in Tredegar-park, only that he had too much respect for the baronet. But this is not as striking as the following performance between Blaina and Nantyglo, where a Mormon priest met a cripple walking on crutches. He accosted him, inquiring how long he had lost the use of his limbs. On receiving a reply, he asked him if he had faith in Mormonism. The poor fellow acknowledged his ignorance, but, after a tedious explanation of the fixed principles of the sect, he asked in loud voice if he h ad any faith. He replied that he had. Then throw those crutches away. This was done. Walk—and he walked. Run—and he ran. The priest said—“Now that you have the use of your limbs, tell me if your faith is strong on you now.” “Strong,” rejoined the cripple. “Then I don’t see why I could not make you fly.” In a moment the fellow began to flutter, and away he went for the Salt Lake. Passing over Risca, he sung out “Cuckoo!” when a fellow ran out of his house with a gun, fired, and fetched him down like a crow. Alas! poor Joe Smith. His “mockery, delusion, and snare” is becoming the laughing stock of every right-minded person.—Correspondent.

1853 – 13 August, p. 6 – A murderous attack was made upon a body of Mormons in Beaver Island on the 13^th of July. It appears that, by late legislative acts, that island, which is settled with a majority of Mormons has been set off into a county, towns, etc., and the inhabitants had proceeded to organize and elect officers. The great contest for power lay between the Mormons and a class of denominated Gentiles, but the former, being in the ascendancy, carried the day. The Gentiles, however, determined that they would be subject to no Mormon law. Notwithstanding, the legalized authorities, the Mormons to wit, proceeded to the township of Pine River to summon three jurymen to attend the County Court, then in session at Beaver harbor. On the landing of the Sheriffs they were received with a volley of musketry, and compelled to take to their boats and row for their lives. They were pursued by a number of Gentiles in a large fishing boat, a continual fire being kept up, which riddled the boats of the pursued, and wounded a large number of myrmidons of the law. When about 10 miles out, and on the point of being captured, and no murdered the Mormons made the bark Morgan, Captain Stone, and were taken on board. The “Gentiles” forbade the captain to receive the Mormons on board, asserting that they were pirates and deserved death. Finding their declarations were unheeded, they rowed away. The party, on arriving at Beaver Island, went ashore in their own boats; but, from appearances, it was thought the matter would not be settled without further bloodshed.

1854 – 4 February, p. 4 – A Freight of Mormonites. On Sunday morning last, the Newport up train arrived at the Abergavenny station, when the unusual number of carriages attached caused no little excitement to the parties collected at the station. It appeared that the carriages contained between 200 and 300 of those deluded fanatics called Latter-day Saints, who were proceeding to Liverpool, from whence they take their departure for the Salt Lake River [sic], to join the wolves in sheep’s clothing; who inform them that upon their arrival at their place of destination, they will not only lead a heavenly life, but that their deceased relatives will be restored to them and live together as they formerly did. Nearly the whole of these deluded creatures are natives of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.

1854 – 4 February, p. 8 – The Mormons. On Saturday morning last, about 250 men, women, and children, from the neighboring hills passed through Newport, en route to Liverpool, there to embark for the Mormon’s Land of promise—the valley of the Great Salt Lake. By Mr. Mann’s report upon the various forms of religious worship at present existing in this country, it is stated that there are at least 30,000 persons in England belonging to the Mormon community, and that 20,000 have already departed.

1854 – 15 April, p. 7 – The Errors of Mormonism. At the Town Hall on Tuesday evening Mr. French, who two years back somewhat startled his friends by becoming a convert to Mormonism, having, just before his conversion, been publicly lecturing in opposition to the sect, delivered a lecture upon Russia and Turkey, and at the conclusion of the lecture recanted his adhesion to Mormonism, alleging his belief that the doctrine, as now taught, was full of error.

1855 – 24 February, p. 2 – The Mormonites in the West. For some time past there has been a small colony of Mormons in Taunton, and their practices have rendered them so offensive that they have on more than one occasion been attacked by mobs. These attacks have at last become so serious that the matter was brought before the magistrate a few days since. A large crowd of persons, it appears, assembled round the meeting house of the Mormons, and broke the windows and did other damage, which rendered it necessary to call in the assistance of the police, when several of the offending parties were apprehended. The magistrates said that, however objectionable the doctrines of the Mormons might be—and no one felt stronger on the subject than himself—they must be protected by the law, and he therefore inflicted a small fine upon the offenders.

1855 – 7 April, p. 6 – Horrible Mormon Revelations. Horrible Mormon Revelations. The father (residing in Islington) of the young lady who has written home the following letter to her friends in England, has forwarded it for publication, with the view of placing, in its true light, the character of the “Latter-day Saints.” He adds, in a private note, that his “daughter has wasted a nice little fortune amongst the infatuated and deceiving Mormonites.” The letter makes some extraordinary revelations respecting the morals of these “Latter-day Saints”—

Great Salt Lake City, 1854. Dear Father, Mother, Brothers, and Friends—

After leaving St. Louis, and traveling seven days up the Missouri River, we camped seven weeks in Fort Leavenworth, on account of not having wagons sufficiently heavy for the machinery belonging to the sugar company. We finally made a start in July, 1852. The road is enough to frighten the senses out of weak-nerved people; sometimes a mile and a half to ascend, then the contrary to descend, the most frightful places. We are obliged to have ropes fastened to the back of the wagons, and all hands of the male sex were employed in holding back the ropes adjusted over pulleys for that purpose. From my lamentable lameness I was obliged to remain in our wagon, as it was an impossibility for me to have ascended and descended such steep mountains—further difficulties, there are rivers and creeks without number.

Well, finally, we got in sight of the “Kingdom of God,” so called, but I think it more like the kingdom of the Devil than anything else I ever saw under the sun; full of all kinds of abominations—theatres, ballrooms, drinking taverns, swearing, lying, cheating, murdering, &c. The valley itself is most like St. James’s Cemetery, Liverpool, of anything I can compare it to, surrounded by mountains, some of which are a mile and a quarter high; it is a dismal place. The people are bound down by oppression, and some of them love to have it so. Brigham Young, the Governor, has fifty to sixty wives and concubines; he is the most ill spoken man, telling people that cannot believe in his notorious doctrines of polygamy, etc., that they are man performers of the devil, and other destroying angels for cutting throats, shooting, etc. By the by, there are marriages and divorces, for which five dollars is the charge. Some women have seven living husbands, having been divorced seven times. Most of the men have two or more wives, however poor and distressed they may be. There are lots of people, men, women, and children, nearly naked for want of clothing, almost perished, begging bread and a little firewood; and these brought out by the Ten Pound Company, others by the emigration funds, when they arrive “in the kingdom,” so called, they have to buy the old messing utensils; and have, too, frequently to find a refuge under the roof of some deceived, yet more humane, than the heads of the Church. The tenth is taken from all Mormons, except the widow, orphans, or afflicted, on arrival, to build large houses for the “Big Bugs,” so designated by Apostates of the faith, together with theatres, dancing-rooms, grand stables, carriage houses, and to support their truly practical polygamical abominations. The poor are employed in the Tithing Offices—Tradesmen, 3 dollars, laborers, 1 dollar 50 cents per day, but they must take it out in flour, potatoes, squash, and other valley produce. However large their family, no matter, they are only allowed 10 lbs. of flour a week. Their surplus they barter with Californian emigrants for sugar, coffee, clothes, or anything they can catch; but thy always mind to keep the poor fellows in the background—in arrear of wages; then they are “counseled” to give their arrears to the “Storehouse of the Lord.” If they cannot see to approve, they are cut off from the church for not obeying Counsel, and told “to go to hell, cross lots, and be damned.” Such is the doom of the poor fellows. Some sit down in poverty eating dry bread, and potatoes and salt, from one month to the other, well satisfied—believing Brigham to be a prophet, seer, revelator, and king—the only God they seem to want. Thus far I wrote prior to leaving the Valley—that, in case of my death, you might have a true account sent you from my own hand, of doings in the valley. On the 1^st of June, 1854, we quitted the “City of Abominations,” for such it truly is to all intents and purposes, and arrived at this place, K----, on the 15^th of August. We are looking out for some land on the outskirts of the town. There are men here who profess to be Christ in the flesh, Spirit-knockers, writers, etc., all calculated to deceive the very Elect. Let us watch and pray for our immortal souls, lest we fail headlong into hell.

1855 – 25 August, p. 3 – Progress of Mormonism. Twenty-five years ago, the “Prophet” Joseph Smith organized the Mormon Church with six members. At the present time the Church in Utah Territory contains three presidents, seven apostles, 2026 “seventies,” 715 high priests, 994 elders, 514 priests, 471 teachers, 227 deacons besides the usual ratio of persons in training for the ministry, but not yet ordained, and 489 missionaries abroad. During the six months ending with the beginning of April last, 965 children were born in the territory of Utah, 278 persons died, 479 were baptized in the Mormon faith, and 86 were excommunicated from the Church. New York Paper.

1855 – 15 September, p. 6 – Orson Hyde, one of the Mormon saints, was lately in St. Louis, for the purpose, it is said, of marrying twelve more wives, to whom he is affianced!

1855 – 3 November, p. 6 – Mormonism at the Salt Lake. A letter appeared in the Edinburgh News two weeks ago, from a Mormonite, who signs himself “One of the Deluded.” He has been one of this anti-Christian sect for eight years. With many others, he was induced to emigrate to the Salt Lake. They had to purchase wagons and oxen to drag their good across the plains, having previous assurance that at headquarters they might either be sold or retained for their own advantage; but on the third or fourth day after their arrival, the prophet, priest, and king of “Zion,” Brigham Young, sold off all, and left them to shift as they best could. The state of things was deplorable, as the means of most of the settlers was gone, and starvation stared them in the face in the “land of promise.” Their state was so wretched, that some, unable to provide themselves with any kind of house or room, had to dig holes in the earth for shelter. Mark how the victims are fleeced—A brother lent one of the elders £100, which was to be paid on arrival. On appealing for it, he was referred to Young, who told him he must have a revelation from God ere he could give an answer. On the following Sunday he declared, in the presence of 4,000 or 5,000, “I (Brigham) know by the spirit that is upon me, that elders, while on foreign missions, have occasion to borrow money from their richer brethren for the purpose of carrying on the work of the Lord. Thus saith the Spirit—‘Verily, verily, I say unto those elders, your Father in heaven is well pleased with you; and He does not expect you to pay such moneys back; for His servants are worthy of their hire; and in his own good time the Lord will repay those benevolent brethren, and will open the windows of heaven, and shower down blessings upon them.” This is only one of many instances which came under this person’s observation. Brigham wants to be rid of one who is perhaps a little troublesome, or he may have a beautiful wife. The licentious scoundrel tells him that he has got a revelation from God to send him on a foreign mission, and that during his absence he is to raise up seed for him! Should he demur, the “destroying angels” have a commission to shoot him or drown him, as they do other refractory members! Among these must be included persons who desire to leave, lest they should make revelations of a different kind. Brigham impresses it upon the “saints” to destroy such, and if they cannot, to bring them to him, and he will baptize them in blood! Thousands would gladly make their escape if they could. Brigham had 57 wives and concubines; some of the “twelve apostles” have as many; “elders” may have as many as they like. Women are terribly degraded. Should a wife have no child, she is taken from her husband and given to another; the change may be repeated, and finally she is disposed of like refractory members, should she still be unfruitful.

1856 – 23 February, p. 6 – A Mormon Elder in Siam. A King with 1000 Wives. A Letter from Salt Lake City, dated Oct. 31^st, gives a detailed account of the Great Mormon Conference which took place there on the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th of the month. The proceedings were of no general interest. Several returned missionaries gave accounts of their journeyings and works in foreign lands. One Elder Luddington had been on a rather unsuccessful mission to Siam, having only baptized the captain of one of the ships he sailed in, and his wife. Considerable sensation was observed among his Mormon auditory when he informed them that the first King has one thousand wives, and the second five hundred. He stated that each king has fifty dancing girls, selected for their faultless forms and beauty; each of these wears a skirt, fastened at the waist, a crown of gold and diamonds upon the head, a heavy gold chain pendant from the neck, and bands of gold around the wrists and ankles. He said they were the most supple persons he had ever seen, at pleasure unjointing their limbs, or throwing themselves into innumerable positions, from the bending of the fingers, so as to make them lay upon the back of the hand, to the most graceful attitudes imaginable. He saw the worshipful animal, the white elephant, and also a mad elephant, who acted just as a mad creature of such huge proportions might be supposed to act, making a clear way through the streets of Bangkok to the river, where he amused himself by tossing native boats and cargoes in the air, until mounted by his keeper, who, by the frequent use of his pike, guided him back to the palace from whence he had escaped, when a troop of the King’s elephants came out, and, after surrounding the hydrophobic animal, conducted him safely back to his quarters. He gave the lengthy titles of the two kings, the pith of them being that they both were the highest of mortals, and the one “lord of the white elephant,” and the other “lord of the white peacock.” Elder Luddington, during his residence in Bangkok, lived in a “haunted house,” and one night succeeded in retaining within his grasp part of the robe and wings of an angelically disguised visitor. Meeting with considerable opposition from “Gentile” missionaries and native sinners, he left Siam, and, in the course of his wanderings, found himself the only white man in the kingdom of Malacca, in honor of which event the King wished to make a feast for him; but he contented himself with a ride upon one of the King’s elephants, through the otherwise impenetrable jungles.

1856 – 1 March, p. 7 – Cardiff. Mormon Delusions. At the Cardiff police court, the Mayor, C. Vachell, Esq., announced that he had received a letter from a person who had recently returned from Utah, after spending two or three years in that settlement amongst the Mormons. The communication will, it is to be hoped, have the effect desired by the writer, namely, that of preventing his countrymen from being duped by the false and infamous teaching of the Mormons. We give the letter: “London, Feb 6^th, 1856. Sir—After a boisterous passage of near fifteen months, thank God, I have arrived safe in England, by the ship William, Captain John M’Phee. My object in sending this note is, in the first place, I consider it my duty from the favors you have bestowed on me previously. Secondly, knowing this to be about the time when parties leave Wales for the Mormon country, I wish to you caution them against any false delusion they might be laboring under. I have lived amongst them nine months, and the supposed Zion I found to be a city of the Sultan. Virtue or good deeds are never placed in the balance of justice. Should this caution be insufficient, be kind enough to let them know that they must take care of their money, as it is very scarce in Salt Lake Valley. Laboring men, if they can get employment, which is difficult, cannot get money, except under peculiar circumstances, but must take anything their employer thinks proper to give—say flour, potatoes, timber, etc. I myself have lived for weeks on bread and potatoes only, at the same time being fully employed, and I can state without fear of contradiction that many others have done the same. I hope, please God, soon to be in Cardiff, and shall then be able, with God’s assistance, to fully explain to you and others, the false delusion thousands have labored under. Hundreds at this present moment would leave the talked-of Zion, but are without means to do so. I left myself in the dead of the night, and traveled on foot 1400 miles, at times with great privations. Nothing but a Divine Providence has brought me here to explain to the world the supposed Zion. My eyesight is no better after the Mormon prophet laying hands on me. I am waiting here to see Dr. Alexander, who I trust will relieve me. I remain, sir, your humble servant, John Davis.

1856 – 12 April, p. 6 – Mormon Conference. The Latter-day Saints held a grand conference at the Sunderland Arms Assembly Room on Sunday last, when a number of “elders,” “saints,” “brothers,” etc., held a “great talk,” the subject being, of course, the delights of Mormonism, and the advantages of a sea-trip to the other side of the Atlantic—where Mormon settlements do most abound. England and Wales can well afford to spare the deluded creatures.

1856 – 19 April, p. 7 – Flight of Mormons. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning last a number of men, women, and children arrived in this town from the hills; at first it was represented that they were miners and colliers emigrating to America, but on Sunday afternoon all conjectures were put to an end by a member of the fraternity holding forth on the delightful prospects of their safe arrival at the Salt Lake, and to feast their eyes with a view of Brigham Young and his beautiful pair of spectacles, which were discovered by Joe Smith in the rock when he found the tables which now form the Book of Mormon. About 250 started on Monday morning from the Abergavenny station on their journey to Liverpool. We wish them a pleasant journey across the Atlantic to join their fanatic brothers and sisters.

1856 – 7 June, p. 8 – “The Mormons. The blessing of Joe Smith rests upon our town, in that many have been converted to the “true faith,” his principles being adopted, and all the absurdities he propounded being believed by a larger number than we before suspected. To guide this flock, the presence of a no less personage than a prophet has been vouchsafed for some time past. This prophet has regularly preached and expounded and argued to the Monmouth Latter-day Saints, in a shoemaker’s house, in which he lodges, towards the bottom of Monnow-street, to their future benefit and present edification, no doubt, as much as to his own profit. Now, the prophet is young; probably, not ill looking; certainly, with plenty to say for himself; while his high position and holy mission entitle him to every consideration. Can it excite wonder, then, that he should make an impression upon the heart of one of his young female hearers? The daughter of a laboring man living in the Baptist chapel yard, who is himself a devoted Latter-day Saint, and contemplates a journey to the Salt Lake, frequently accompanied her father to hear the exposition of “the great (un) truths,” became personally acquainted with the holy man, and if they did not feel the tender passion for each other, he, at all events, persuaded poor Mary Ann to entrust herself to his keeping, for the purpose ultimately of accompanying him to the goal of all Mormon aspirations—the Great Salt Lake. She accordingly quitted her home in the course of last week, and took refuge with the prophet. The father by no means objected to it; but the mother, with more sense and feeling, made frequent application at the house for her daughter, who was as often denied her. After eleven o’clock, on Tuesday night, however, the poor woman went in a determined manner, and the shoemaker then admitted that the daughter was in his house, saying she was his lodger, and defying any of the crowd which had collected, to attempt to take her away from under his protection. P. C. Harris, who was attracted by the commotion, went in and endeavored to persuade the young woman to go home, and the shoemaker to allow her to do so. But of no avail. The mother returned without having accomplished her purpose. The next day she was taken very ill; and some friends then succeeded in prevailing upon her daughter to return. She has since been living at home, but still expresses her determination to leave for the Salt Lake, whenever the prophet shall require her to do so.

1856 – 2 August, p. 7 – The Mormons and their Wives. The Cleveland Herald, an American journal, has recently published some letters from Salt Lake, exposing the tyrannous conduct of the Mormons over their wives, and, moreover, showing the depraved condition of the sect. Everything is in confusion, and the women, instead of loving their lords, would make their escape to California, or the States, if they were not hemmed in by desert plains on every side. One letter, dated February 25, says: “I detailed to you in previous letters the debased condition of the women at Utah. The Mormons, after their passions (or, as they call it, their holy desire to people the earth) are gratified, seldom pretend to support their numerous wives. Brigham Young declared last conference that he did not know how many wives he had. ‘Tell the Gentiles,’ said he, ‘I do not know half of them when I see them.’ The majority of these poor women are compelled to work for their daily bread, and many are in such a destitute condition that they are forced to seek the charity of strangers. One of the wives of the ‘Chief of the Apostles’ gains her livelihood by washing for the boarders of a public house in town. It was but yesterday that a widow with her daughters called upon me, and after asking me to lock the door of my room for fear she should be surprised in the house of a Gentile, unfolded her story of bitter wrongs and sufferings. The bishop of her ward had demanded her whole family, including herself, in marriage. She had given up all she had for tithes and other taxes, and was now in the dilemma of either starving or being compelled to share an incestuous bed with the daughters of her own body.”

1856 – 2 August, p. 8 – Mormonism Exposed. (From a Correspondent.) Four Mormon preachers, on Monday night last, held a public service in the open air Over Monnow, where a number of working men listened attentively to an address on Latter-day Saintism. And we were sorry to find that several uneducated people of this town have been initiated into the Mormon delusion. The principles of Mormonism are deeply rooted in sensuality; therefore, many find in that creed liberty and facilities to satiate their base desires—the secret of their amazing success.” About twenty-five years ago the “Prophet” Joseph Smith organized the Mormon church with six members. Previous to its formation, Smith had met with a manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding, a Presbyterian preacher. In that work, Spaulding chose for his subject “The History of the North American Indians.” This narrative purported to be a record buried in the earth by Mormon, its last compiler, and was entitled, “The Manuscript Found.” The widow of Spaulding’s brother, and an individual, named Henry Lake, positively swore that the “Book of Mormon” is identical with Spaulding’s manuscript—that “it was no other than the rejected and forgotten manuscript of poor Solomon Spaulding, which had either been purloined by Smith’s associate, Sidney Rigdon (who had been employed in a printing office where it was once deposited), or had been stolen out of the trunk of Mrs. Spaulding, who lived about this time in the neighborhood of Smith’s father.” – Edinburgh Review, April, 1854. So much for Smith’s New Revelation. The Mormons also profess to have the power to work miracles. The following extract is from the Millennial Star, Mormon publication, which gives an account of two women, Mary and Elizabeth Murray, who had been seized with the cholera while at work in a mill at Govan. “Elizabeth was soon relieved of her wet clothes, and put into a warm bed in the house of a Mormon. The elders were sent for, and they came and anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, laid their hands upon her, and prayed the Lord to manifest His power in her behalf, and rescue her from the grasp of the destroyer. During the night Mary was also seized with the same disease, but was not laid in the same bed. They bore their sufferings patiently for a short time, but soon they became weary of suffering, and besought the elders to lay their hands upon them, and pray the Lord to take them to Himself, for they had suffered enough. The brethren did so. They were eased from pain, and went off so calmly and quietly, that those around could hardly tell when the last breath left the body.” Thus, from their own statement of the case, we learn that neither the oil nor the prayers of the elders alleviated the sufferings of the women, or in any way arrested the progress of the disease. One writer states that, at the present time, the Mormon church in the Utah territory comprises three presidents, seven apostles, 2,026 “seventies,” 715 high priests, 994 elders, 514 priests, 471 teachers, 227 deacons, besides the usual ratio of persons in training for the ministry, but not yet ordained, and 489 missionaries abroad. We have not space now to expose all the Mormon doctrines. Some of our intelligent readers will be astonished to learn that an inhabitant of Monmouth, a married man and a Mormon disciple, has publicly averred his adhesion to the doctrine of plurality of wives! – [On the same evening, a disturbance took place at the house of Thomas Hewlett, shoemaker, living at the bottom of Monnow Street, whither the preachers retired after the open-air service, followed by a large mob. He has rendered himself obnoxious to the neighborhood in consequence of his profession of the Mormon belief and the part he took in harboring the young woman who was induced by a Mormon prophet to leave her home in the Baptist-chapel yard, as recently detailed in this paper. Hewlett and other votaries of “the faith” were severely handled, and the inmates of the house were compelled to resort to extreme measures to defend themselves against the crowd which collected. It is likely the matter will be brought before the magistrates, when our readers will be presented with the whole particulars of the attack upon misguided people.]

1856 – 11 October, p. 7 – The Mormons. Some of the “great guns” of the Mormon church have, according to announcement, been holding forth here on the propriety of polygamy—the horrid creatures!

1857 – 11 April, p. 4 – “The Mormons. Thomas Hewlett was charged with assaulting William Webb. Mr. W. Wanklyn for the prosecution. The defendant is a Mormon and claims for himself the honors of a prophet, favoring Monnow Street by choosing therein a residence. Not far off live the family of the prosecutor, whose sister was, some time ago, induced to join the religious ranks of which the defendant is, in our locality, leader. Her sweetheart, her kindred, and her home, were abandoned by her, as being of an erroneous faith, and she took refuge with Hewlett and his wife. The fact that a plurality of wives is allowed among the followers of Joe Smith, and the suspicion that Miss Webb was about to be drawn into some snare of the kind, caused much indignation among the neighbors, and they have many times gone with the relatives to demand the restitution of the deluded girl. Sometimes they succeeded; but she returned, and is now not forthcoming. From the excited state of feeling on both sides, arose the present case.

William Webb said—I was going down the street on the 30^th of March last, and was told that Mr. Hewlett said I had been putting dirt in his house. I went to him and asked him if he had said so. He then pushed me, and collared me, and his wife laid hold of the hair of my head. In consequence of the blows he gave me, my mouth was full of blood.

To defendant—I went into your house in an orderly manner. I did not say, “You have said I threw that muck into your house on Sunday morning, you ---- -----.” You did not say you would not have that discourse in your house. You came towards me, and collared me, your wife caught me by the hair, and you struck me on the mouth. I did not say I would not go out of the house, and you could not make me go out. I did not push you back, nor pull out your hair. [Defendant produced a good crop of hair, which he said prosecutor had pulled out of his head.] I did not say when I went out of your house that I would give you some more.

To Mr. Wanklyn—I did not throw the dirt in the house.

To the Mayor—He was sat on the shoemaker’s seat when I went in.

Caroline Baker said—I saw Hewlett strike Webb in the mouth, and then Webb struck Hewlett in the eye. I was at the beginning of the row almost. Webb went in but just before I did.

To defendant—I saw Webb go into your house. I had called at your house just before. Webb had been in about a minute when I went in. I did not see any one but yourself at the door when I went in. Gwilliam came to your door with Webb, but went straight on home. You were in the doorway, between the shop and the passage, when you struck Webb. I cannot say which was nearest the door. I was frightened. I did not see you holding the doorpost to prevent Webb dragging you out. Your wife nor you never offended me.

This being all the evidence for the prosecution, the defendant said—On Sunday week there were about two bucketfuls of sludge thrown under my door. In consequence of Webb’s sister having gone off to America, I had received much abuse. I accused Berkeley, who had formerly kept company with her, and his party, with flinging this muck in. When Webb came into my house, he said, “You have been saying I flung muck in your house, you --- ---.” I said I would not allow such language in my house. He then caught hold of me by the neck, to try to pull me out of the house, and my wife assisted me to make a resistance. When he went out, he said he would give me some more. Defendant called, in corroboration of this statement, his wife.

Pamela Hewlett, who said—Webb walked right into the shop, and said, “You said I have been flinging this muck,” etc. He refused to go out, and my husband got up and went towards him, when he caught my husband by the neck and struck him in the eye. He seized my husband’s hair, and then, seeing the blood coming down the side of his face, I caught hold of Webb’s hair. Mrs. Baker then came in and told me to loose the man’s hair. I did so. Matthias Berkeley then dragged Webb and Mrs. Baker out.

To Mr. Wanklyn. –The blood on my husband’s face came from a cut on his eye, not from Webb’s mouth. Those words were used by Webb. Webb struck my husband first. My husband did not get from his seat and collar him. I know nothing about Webb’s mouth being full of blood. I did not see any blood about Webb.

To her husband—I saw no blood on his mouth at the door. Mrs. Baker accused you of striking Webb first.

Sarah Ann Hewlett, a little girl of 13, daughter of defendant, after being examined as to her capacity for taking an oath, said—I recollect Webb coming to our house. He called father a “--- ---.” Father went to take him by the shoulder to put him out, but he said he would not go. He then caught father round the neck, and they went into the passage. I could not see the blows, as the passage was full. I heard Webb say afterwards that if father would not go out, he would give him a bellyful. I did not hear Webb say anything else. This took place between 10 and 11 o’clock on Monday morning. I was not at school all that week.

There being a cross summons, the decision of the Court was adjourned until the other case had been heard.

THE OTHER SIDE.

William was charged, on the other hand, with assaulting Thomas Hewlett. Hewlett repeated the statement he had made just before.

Cross-examined by Mr. Wanklyn—He came in the manner I have stated. I should naturally have gone to inquire if any one accused me of throwing muck into his house. Webb knows who did it. They are the oldest enemies I have in the town.

The evidence in the former case having been considered, the Bench returned into Court. His Worship said they weighed the evidence on each side, and had come to the decision that both cases should be dismissed, on payment by each party of its own expenses, which amounted to 3s. 6d. Should they come before the Court again, and the Mayor hoped they would prove better neighbors, he should bind them all over to keep the peace.

1857 – 2 May, p. 6 – 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 this vast number there is not one who smokes or chews tobacco. – Eastern Counties Herald.

1857 – 6 June, p. 4 – The state of things in the Mormon territory grows worse and worse, and every law of decency and nature is now violated in that wretched place. The forcible debaucheries are too horrible to be told, and as women are becoming scarce, it seems the merest children are seized to replenish the harems. President Buchanan must put these monsters down with the strong arm of the sword, and we hear he will do so. General Walker is reported at his last gasp as usual.

1857 – 6 June, p. 6 – Extensive Robbery by a Mormon. On Monday last a number of Mormons left Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, for Liverpool, en route for Utah. Among them was a man named Robert Wright, who was one of the executive officers of an Odd Fellows’ lodge held at the Angel Inn, the funds of which were kept in a strong box, locked with three locks, each key being in the possession of a different member, one of whom was Wright. Among the papers and money was a cheque for £218, ready drawn and signed. After Wright had left the town on Monday, some of the members caused the box to be broken open, when it was discovered the cheque was missing. It was subsequently found that the cheque was cashed so far back as the 13^th of April. The police started in pursuit of Wright, and arrested him and his family on their way to the station at Sheffield, en route for Liverpool. A portion of the money was found upon the prisoner, who was taken before the magistrates and remanded.

1857 – 6 June, p. 8 – The news from Utah is becoming anxious; at one time Brigham Young is said to have taken flight—then that the greatest atrocities have been committed to retain his power. From New York it is reported that Major M’Culloch had declined the Presidentship of Utah, and that recent information had caused a change in the policy hitherto contemplated, the condition of Utah now being such as to require vigorous measures. Troops in large numbers would be sent thither, probably under command of General Harney. Then we are told, in justification of this measure: The last accounts from the Great Salt Lake contain a narrative of startling facts, showing that unmitigated treason, murder, arson, robbery, and forcible debauch, are everyday incidents of Mormon life, and that not an effort is made to check the perpetration of any of these terrible crimes. Brigham Young was at Great Salt Lake City organizing a secret expedition to somewhere in the north, for some purpose unknown to the Gentile world. This fact is corroborated by a dispatch from St. Louis. His negotiations with the chief Pah-Utah for his cooperation in the plans of the expedition fully explain the statement that he had been treating with the Indians for safe conduct out of the country. Women were becoming scarce in the territory, and the Mormons consequently are resorting to the merest children to replenish their harems; while the most fiendish oppression is resorted to for the purpose of forcing reluctant females to become the “spirituals” of Mormon Turks. A new doctrine had been practically introduced into the Mormon creed, and was expected soon to be promulgated—to wit, that of furnishing proxies to supply the place of husbands to wives of missionaries absent on foreign service, so that “the duty of raising up a kingdom to the Lord” may not fail of performance during their absence.

1857 – 13 June, p. 4 – America sends us intelligence of some importance. The Mormons are to be driven out of Utah root and branch, and a large army is now on its way to Salt Lake, under the able command of General Harney. It is reported that Brigham Young, the Mormon chief, is in treaty with the Indians for a grant of land on which to form a new settlement somewhere on the banks of the Red River. This looks like giving up possession of his old quarters without fighting, and indeed there can be no doubt that discretion would be the better part of valor in his case, being without soldiers or money to pay them with.

1857 – 20 June, p. 7 – The American papers record the death of Orson Pratt, the famous Mormon elder. He seduced the wife of a man named M’Lean, in San Francisco, and was conveying her and her children into Utah, where she was to live with him as his ninth wife. M’Lean followed the fugitives and shot Pratt dead at Van Buren, in Arkansas. The deceased was a man of considerable ability, and had traveled as a missionary through Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany. He was next in influence to Brigham Young, and was one of the original followers of Joe Smith, the Mormon founder.

1857 – 27 June, p. 3 – According to a report from the Great Salt Lake, the schism in the Mormon church had assumed a formidable character. Brigham Young was said to have deserted the Tabernacle and remained shut up in his own house, guarded night and day by his friends.

1857 – 11 July, p. 8 – The last mail from New York states that General Scott had been summoned to Washington to perfect arrangements for the dispatch of troops to Utah; the troops were already in motion for the Mormon territory, but it is said that no attempt will be made to interfere with the religious or social arrangements of the Mormons, the only purpose of the Government being to secure the enforcement of the laws of the United States.

1857 – 8 August, p. 4 – Turning our eyes again to Utah, we find those abominable pests to humanity, the Mormons carrying matters with a high hand, and the feeling of these misguided zealots will be seen in an original letter we publish in another part of our paper. President Buchanan has fallen on troublous times, but we believe him equal to the emergency; and it will be remembered that a great man is greatest in the hour of danger.

1857 – 12 September, p. 5 – The annual Mormon conference in London is a disgrace to the age. This miserable delusion so far from abating, seems really to be taking a firmer hold on the public mind, and the fact that one thousand persons of both sexes can be brought together to testify to its success in the metropolis of the civilized world, is a phenomenon not easily account for. The assembly is said to have been composed chiefly of elders and saints, but we should imagine the far great number was made up of egregious dupes.

1857 – 10 October, p. 5 – The Mormons it is quite evident are a great source of trouble to President Buchanan, and Brigham Young seems to be a man of action, for he has suspended relations with the American government, closed the Mormon chapels in New York, and bids the great ruler at Washington open defiance. It would be strange indeed if the Mormon boast should be fulfilled that ultimately the whole of the United States will fall under their sway. Yet it is no less strange but a certain fact that President Buchanan is unable to march an army upon Utah owing to the numerous desertions from the ranks, and this shows either military disorganization or a want of sympathy in the cause on the part of the American people.

1857 – 14 November, p. 6 – The St. Louis Republican publishes a discourse delivered by Heber C. Kimball, at Salt Lake City, August 30^th, in which strong grounds are taken against the United States Government, and a determination is expressed to resist their troops to the last extremity. The “Mormon Children” are called upon to arm themselves and people generally are exhorted to lay up grain and otherwise prepare for the conflict. During the discourse, Kimball says: “We are the Kingdom of God and the State of Deseret, and will have Brigham Young for Governor just so long as he lives.” Young made a speech equally bold in its declarations of hostility against the United States.

1857 – 28 November, p. 8 – The military expedition against the Mormons has been postponed. A military officer sent across the Rocky Mountains to report on the state of affairs found the Mormons bent on resistance; and, as the only road into their valley from the Missouri country is a deep and rugged pass fifty miles long, he was of opinion that they resist great odds without much difficulty. It is also reported that the Mormon militia, under Brigham Young and Heber Kimball, had marched from Salt Lake City to meet the advancing United States troops at a pass in the mountains known as the Steeple Rocks, “with an almost certainty of ‘wiping out’ the force sent against them.” Should they fail in defeating the invaders, the Mormons would found a new Zion in Russian territory.

1857 – 5 December, p. 4 – The Mormons are victorious so far. It is now quite evident that the martial prowess of these misguided people has been much underrated, and their Yankee foes will have a dangerous enemy to encounter. But the great strength of the Mormon territory is in its natural position, surrounded by bleak plains, and these protected again by insurmountable hills, only penetrated by narrow passes, which can be easily defended by a few resolute men against hosts of contending antagonists. Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, has issued a bombastic proclamation, fairly throwing off the American yoke, and to show that he means deeds as well as words, the forces under his command have already seized a train of American baggage wagons, he is fortifying the tortuous defiles entering into Utah, and making every preparation for a most desperate resistance. Already President Buchanan acknowledges their present superiority, having suddenly given orders to abandon his winter campaign, and so far the Mormons have by far the best of the game.

1857 – 26 December, p. 5 – Further intelligence from the Utah expedition states that, on the 3^rd of November, Colonel Cook’s command was 150 miles west of Fort Laramie, proceeding as fast as possible towards the winter quarters fixed upon by Colonel Johnson, on the Honey Fork of Green River. A rumor prevailed that Brigham Young intended to fight the troops this winter, while there was a chance for an equal, or rather for an unequal conflict, and that before reinforcements could be sent out in the spring, he would destroy all the Mormon possessions in Utah, and proceed to some other locality. Various Indian tribes had offered their services to the Federal Government in the suppression of the Mormon rebellion.

1857 – 26 December, p. 6 – Decided measures are called for against the Mormons, and the formation of four new regiments is urged. A territorial government for Arizona, and construction of a railroad to the Pacific, are recommended. Other portions of the message possess only local importance. . . The Mormons are giving more trouble to the Federal troops. Some of them in a skirmish had been taken prisoners.

1858 – 16 January, p. 4 – The Mormon cancer is coming to a crisis. President Buchanan, although having so many irons in the fire, is doing his best to extirpate this noxious excrescence from the American Constitution, and by the last accounts the States troops were making good progress, and would soon be fairly within the territories of the Salt Lake. Then Brigham Young will find himself in contact with well disciplined soldiery, and it remains to be seen what head his fanatical followers will be able to make in this case. In truth through, President Buchanan has lots of little jobs in hand, for civil war is raging in the debatable land of Kansas, and the filibustering Walker, who has been arrested only to defy the Government, and be at once set free again, will get up a precious hubbub in the Southern States, so that the fame of Buchanan is not over promising as it appears on the face of the cards.

1858 – 30 January, p. 3 – The state of America becomes truly alarming. With fierce civil war raging in Kansas, the Mormons prepared for war to the knife, no people fighting so desperately as fanatics, and no fanatics so fanatical as the Mormons with the filibustering Walker stirring up the Southern democracy in his favor, and hardly recovering from the severest commercial panic of modern times, President Buchanan has indeed no child’s play in hand, but he bears out bravely as yet, and has had the courage to denounce the piracy of Walker even in the teeth of his own supporters in the cabinet. But the Mormons are too strong to be easily put down, the Kansas fighting too fierce and factious to be soon quelled, and Walker much too popular to be despised. The news from America may thus possess absorbing interest for months to come.

1858 – 30 January, p. 4 – Reinforcements were under orders for Utah, as the Mormons were determined on resisting to the utmost; a late telegram from St. Louis, however, says they were preparing to leave Utah for a British territory.

1858 – 30 January, p. 5 – A telegram, dated St. Louis, January 12, conveys further information respecting the Utah expedition. On the 1^st of December, the troops were all in winter quarters at Fort Bridger, with the exception of Colonel Cook’s command, which was posted 40 miles distant on Henry’s Fork, where a scant supply of grass remained. Fort Bridger was being rebuilt, for the purpose of protecting the provisions. The troops were comfortably stationed in tents with stoves. The weather had been very mild, and good health prevailed. The provisions on hand were sufficient to last till next June by close allowance. Captain Marcy had been sent to Taos and Santa Fe to obtain supplies. Nearly two-thirds of the animals of the expedition had died. The Mormons were preparing to leave for the British possessions, and pioneer parties had already left. Brigham Young had sent a quantity of salt to Colonel Johnston, which that officer sent back, stating that he would hang any messenger from the same quarter on a similar errand. Young had invited the officers of the army to partake of his hospitality and spend the winter at Salt Lake City. It was said that Colonel Johnston was so well assured that the Mormons would leave in the spring that he asked for no increase of the force now under his command. Governor Cummings had signed a proclamation, declaring that the territory in a state of rebellion, and stating that a court would be organized in Green River County, near Fort Bridger, whence the proclamation is dated by Chief Justice Eckles, for the trial of offenders; that a posse of the inhabitants of the territory would first be used to enforce obedience to the laws, and that failing, military force would be resorted to; and commanding all armed bodies of men to immediately disband and return home, under the penalty of punishment as traitors.

1858 – 6 February, p. 4–5 – Advices from New York are to the 20^th inst. The St. Louis Republican had received information of a meeting on the 23^rd of December, between 600 and 700 Cheyenne and Comanche Indians returning from Salt Lake to their village. They were accompanied by about 20 Mormon leaders. It was their intention to remain in the camp erected there until spring, and the employ themselves, under Mormon influence, in harassing and cutting off the supply trains sent to the relief of Colonel Johnston. The Leavenworth City Ledger of the 8^th inst. Says that three young men arrived there on Thursday afternoon, the 7^th; direct from Fort Bridger. They came the whole distance, 1200 miles, on foot, and accomplished their journey in 45 days. They report that the day they left, six Mormons came into camp and reported that the Mormons were in a state of civil war. Brigham Young and about one-half desiring to march against the troops; the other half being in favor of the troops coming into Salt Lake and establishing a military government there, and overthrowing the present powers that be.

1858 – 13 February, p. 5 – Mormon Newspapers. A file of newspapers from the Mormon capital produces an impression like that which might be suggested by the reappearance of some extinct species in juxtaposition with the most familiar domestic animals. Common place advertisements and paragraphs of foreign intelligence are placed by the side of addresses and sermons, in which scriptural texts and the language of ordinary business are mixed up after the Puritanic model of the seventeenth century. The clumsy forgery known as the Book of Mormon has been tacitly discarded, and the Bible seems to have taken its place as the written standard of faith; but the Latter-day Saints, like the Puritans, exhibit a marked preference for the prophetic portions of the Old Testament. It is on this model that all their appeals to public opinion are framed. Sermons, and speeches, and leading articles universally take the form of prophesies. The fidelity of the copy is not diminished by the constant reference to passing events; but the contrast between the native dialect of the speakers and their borrowed phrases is sometimes rather startling. President Heber Kimball, the second dignitary of the Church, for example, after describing, in scriptural terms, the new dispensation, adds that “We are the boys that are being brought to this test.” Brigham Young himself supplies a comment of his own on the well-known proverb “Laborare est orare.” “There is a time,” he says, “for all things, and I never saw a better time than now to secure potatoes and other crops, and thus do our preaching in the season thereof, and digging potatoes in the season thereof. And I could almost wish that our Conference could be dismissed this morning, and all hands go and secure the potatoes, squashes, and corn. Accordingly, after a very short address, and “putting the Motion for himself to be sustained as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator,” the President adjourns the Meeting. At the present time the revelations and prophecies of Utah naturally refer for the most part to the threatened collision with the forces of the United States; but the Prophet and his Apostles understand their business too well to reveal their intentions or to pledge their credit to any infinite result. The Saints are assured in general terms that all will be well with them, and that their enemies will fail to overthrow the Church. If the Federal force, then, miscarries, there will be a visible fulfillment to the prophecy; and as long as any Mormons are left they may boast that in defeat and in exile they are spiritually or metaphorically triumphant. It seems probable that Brigham Young will maintain a bold front until it becomes necessary to meet the troops in the field. If an irresistible force is brought against him, he may not improbably lead his followers in a second migration. The destruction of Nauvoo and the treacherous murder of Joseph Smith by the citizens of Illinois, have strengthened the sect and given it a political existence. Beyond the limits of the United States the Mormons may possibly commence a new career of prosperity. Their pretensions to supernatural blessing in the present life will often give them a preference over more modest sects in the favor of needy and ignorant populations.

1858 – 13 March, p. 5 – A dispatch from St. Louis of the 20^th says: “The Independence correspondent of the Republican, under date of the 16^th, says the Salt Lake mail arrived there last night. Conductor Denver reports the snow from one to six feet deep on the mountains, and the weather intensely cold. He left Camp Scott January 1, and the troops were in good spirits, earnestly wishing to make a descent on Salt Lake City. From the Mormon prisoners and straggling Utah Indians Colonel Johnston was well advised of the movements of the Saints, who were making active preparations to continue their resistance to the troops in the spring. Their municipal regulations were very stringent, and they looked with suspicion upon everybody the least inclined to favor the action of the United States Government. Governor Cumming was performing the duties of his office as far as he was able. The outward-bound mails were making good progress, and the many Indians whom they met manifested friendly feelings.”

1858 – 27 March, p. 8 – The Mormons under Brigham Young are preparing to fight to the last, and are said to have invented some infernal projectiles of the most deadly character to be thrown as hand grenades.

1858 – 10 April, p. 5 – The war with the Mormons is assuming serious proportions. Brigham Young and his fanatical followers shut up in the valley of Utah, and protected by their surrounding fastnesses, are evidently more than a match for the existing military power of the United States. Colonel Johnston, the Yankee commander, hard pressed at Fort Laramie, writes to headquarters for immediate s supplies of ammunition, in fact he has fired away his powder before coming up with the enemy, and penned up in an insecure border encampment, he is almost at the mercy of the Mormons. Since the days of John of Leyden no such vast military movement in the guise of a religious imposture has taken place as that now under notice. The address from the Legislative Assembly of the Mormons to the Senate at Washington, extracts from which we give in another part of our impression, is about the most arrant piece of bombast and impudence that can be conceived, but underneath this mask of buffoonery lies hidden a deep danger in the traces of cunning observable here and there, as if the writer knew more of the truth than it suits him to admit. Mormonism in sooth lives in a sensual atmosphere of its own, it is a creature not of the feelings but the passions, and when these are let loose, men lose the attributes of humanity and become demons. It is against such foes that President Buchanan and his generals have to encounter, and, in sad reality, there is hard work before them.

1858 – 17 April, p. 3 – Private letters from Colonel Johnston, at Camp Scott, Utah, to the 5^th of February, have been received. He describes the Mormons as manifesting a decided intention to set up an independent government of their own, and expresses an earnest hope that supplies will be forwarded to him at as early a day as possible. A large train with supplies, and two regiments of infantry and two of cavalry, have already left Fort Leavenworth for Utah.

1858 – 29 May, p. 2 – Mormon Moralities. The New York Times of May 1, just received, devotes three or four columns to a detailed account of the “experiences” of one Frederick Loba (a “repentant Mormon sinner”), while in Utah, and his escape from the Salt Lake City. Loba is a Swiss, of a strong metaphysical turn of mind, with a great predilection for speculative theology; and, although a professed Protestant, he felt some years ago “rather uneasy with respect to sacred things and a future existence.” Like Faust, he tried all sorts of expositions of different views in regard to man’s final destiny, but found them all unsatisfactory, although he ranged the continent of Europe in the prosecution of his metaphysical studies. Thus, although in easy circumstances, Loba was wretched; and, when at length Mormonism was presented to him, he was, as he himself asserts, deceived into a reception of the impious and immoral heresy. His gross gullibility may be estimated when we inform our readers that he gave implicit credence to all the assurances of his Mormon instructors, that “the Valley” (or Utah) was the appointed place for the gathering of the pure and honest; that all the blessings of Heaven were their happy lot; that peace and plenty prevailed, and that no evil or wickedness was to be found in the terrestrial paradise! He was thus “completely deceived, won over, and baptized into the faith,” with all his family. He arrived at St. Louis (on his way to the “Happy Valley”) in December, 1853, and was then appointed temporary president of a Mormon “chapel.” The “tricks and rascalities” of the Mormons at St. Louis shook our friend’s faith not a little, but still he hoped to find in “the Rev.” Brigham Young, at Utah—“all the characteristics and virtues befitting a man of God.” In this faith he persisted, although plundered at every opportunity by his Mormon guides to the Salt Lake City. Mr. Loba proceeds—“Immediately after my arrival in the Valley the Prophet took me out in one of his wagons, and showed me some of his houses and other property. During this excursion he presented me with one of his houses and some land, with the condition that I should manufacture gunpowder. However, I was grievously disappointed to find that all I had been told in Switzerland of this beautiful land was far from truth, and that it was anything but fertile and fruitful. Shortly after this I was made a ‘professor chemistry,’ became a high priest and received the endowments. Thus I was initiated into all their principles and mysteries, and became acquainted with many of their secret plans and transactions. These opened my eyes at once, and I saw at a glance the terrible position in which I was placed. I now found myself in the midst of a wicked and degraded people, shut up in the midst of the mountains, with a large and helpless family, and deprived of all resources with which to extricate myself. The conviction had been forced upon my mind that Brigham himself was at the bottom of all the clandestine assassinations, plundering of trains, robberies of mails, and the exemplar of every other species of wickedness practiced among his followers. I saw also that the system of polygamy was anything but conducive to peace and happiness in the human family, but only calculated to gratify the carnal propensities of men, and to destroy at the same time, all that is delicate, refined, or noble in woman’s character, reducing her in fact, merely to the position of an article of merchandise. I have seen two sisters sold by their own father to General Horace Eldridge for some groceries. I have seen men marrying both mother and daughter. I have known another have incestuous intercourse with his own sister, and then witnessed Brigham Young taking this last woman as his wife when she was about to become a mother. One of my own personal acquaintances, W. C. Stains, one of Brigham’s favorite ‘destroying angels’ and spies, applied to the Prophet to take a third wife. Leave was granted. The next day the lover appeared before Brigham with his betrothed, when, greatly to his astonishment, that worthy changed the program slightly, and married the lady to himself, as he found her a very pretty woman. Poor Stains accepted his bereavement “as a trial from the Lord.” Crimes of all sorts were, he found, committed with impunity, and any person accused of “uttering disparaging remarks concerning the head of the church” was certain to disappear suddenly and mysteriously, being “privately destroyed.” The vengeance of these miscreants was especially wreaked on those of their “initiated” victims who attempted to escape from the Valley. Loba had lost his wife on his journey across the plains; he took another in the city of the Salt Lake, and, although frequently urged to help himself to more wives, refused. On the 1^st of April, 1857, he resolved to escape with his wife only, leaving his eight children in the care of his mother-in-law and her brother; and after many hardships, mountain adventures, and risks by flood and field the unhappy couple at length reached Green River, and were kindly received by the Snake Indians and some Canadian traders there encamped. Brigham Young had started 32 horsemen on Loba’s track to recapture him, but after incredible exertions to do so they were forced to return. Loba arrived at Kickapoo last December, after several attacks of fever, in a state of perfect destitution. His relatives and children have rejoined him. Mr. Loba thus concludes—“This is a very brief outline of what I and mine have suffered from Mormonism. Every educated man will realize much more readily than I can describe it how keen has been my mental suffering amid the degraded, uncultivated, and besotted followers of Brigham Young. Could all that be obliterated from the pages of my memory, how lightly should I esteem the physical privations and sufferings of the last few years. But nothing remains to me but regret for the past, and joy that I have escaped the trammels of the Salt Lake, and that the remnant of my family are spared the contamination and ruin, which a life among ‘the Saints’ would inevitably involve.” Will this narrative operate as a caution to the gullible greenhorns who are even now flocking, like geese, to the “Happy Valley?”

1858 – 29 May, p. 3 – Advices from St. Louis report the arrival of three men direct from Camp Scott. The Mormons were preparing to harass the troops. The weather and roads were unfavorable for their progress.

1858 – 29 May, p. 4 – If any of our readers have not had enough exposure already of the gross immorality of the Mormon imposture, we beg to refer them to a paragraph on this subject in another column, giving a faithful history of the degrading mode of the inner life of Mormonism. It is written perhaps warmly by one who fortunately has escaped those horrors, but bears the impress of truth, and we inset it at once as a fearful revelation and an instructive warning.

1858 – 5 June, p. 3 – From Utah we learn that the United States Commissioners had proceeded to Salt Lake City to confer with the Mormons who were apparently ready to receive them in a friendly spirit.

1858 – 5 June, p. 4 – The Mormon campaign seems likely to come to a very strange and abrupt conclusion. We hear that Brigham Young has abdicated his ruling functions, fled from Utah, and that delegates have met General Cumming to arrange terms of peace.

1858 – 12 June, p. 4–5 – Another Mormon Exodus has to be reported. Spite of all the big words used by Brigham Young, of his intention to defend the Great Salt Lake City to the last against the Gentiles, he has found it better not to await the attack of the American forces dispatched against him. It is supposed that the Mormons will attempt to establish a settlement in the Mexican territory, where they will perhaps be able to set the weak government of that country at defiance. Sonora, Lower California, or one of the isles of the Pacific are mentioned as the intended settlement of the new “Zion,” but probably the “Saints” themselves were not very clear as to their destination. Brigham Young and his councilors, it is needless to say, placed themselves out of reach of American Marshals, or the possibility of arrest. In many points of view, it is melancholy to reflect on the hardships which must be incurred by the women and children in this flight from the country which they had so fertilized and improved to some place they know not whither.

1858 – 19 June, p. 4 – Mormonism seems likely to give more trouble than was expected in its repression. For the life of us we cannot make out from the last accounts whether, Brigham Young has fled from Utah or not, but one thing appears certain, that the Mormons are determined to make a stand now to the last, and that even by force of arms. Governor Cumming, the American Commissioner, has been expelled from the territory by force, and what makes the matter of more significance is that the roving Indians; Comanche, Sioux, and other predatory tribes, are preparing to assist the followers of Joe Smith in driving their enemies from the so-called land of the Saints. This imposture strikes us as a cancer eating into the heart of society, it has deprived u s of many good and virtuous but credulous men, women, and children,, who otherwise would have been creditable and exemplary members of the world at large; and for the sake of human brotherhood, as well of Christianity itself, we must protest against the countenance of this gross immorality in any way, and President Buchanan would be far more worthily occupied in putting down and exterminating such vile practices, than in threatening a war with England in defense of a custom nearly as bad. America is a great republic, it is true, but slavery and Mormonism are deadly diseases at its core.

1858 – 26 June, p. 4 – In reference to the Utah advices which had been received, the New York Daily Times says:

“The telegraphic dispatches received from day to day, purporting to give us news from Utah, are of so contradictory a character as to render it impossible to fix upon anything as reliable. A dispatch which we publish this morning, for instance, is in direct contradiction of one published a day or two since, though fully confirming one published previously. It is now stated positively that Governor Cumming has not been driven from Salt Lake City, and that the intentions of the Mormons are not belligerent; but, on the contrary, that the Governor had been well received; that Brigham was perfectly willing to transfer all authority to him, and that the Mormons had given up all idea of fighting, and had gone to work on their farms. The report that Captain March’s train had been cut off is also contradicted, nothing whatever having been heard from him.”

1858 – 10 July, p. 4 – Mormonism is undergoing a new exodus. The conflicting accounts to hand last week are explained in the fact that there are two parties among the Mormons, one being for peace and the other for war, but the former is understood to have gained the day. Truly these are a strange people, girding up their loins for another long and perilous march over the snowy mountain and across the trackless desert in search of a home in the Far West, squatting in the wigwams of the Red Indian, to remain exposed to toil and privation, until once more routed out either by the scalp-hunting warrior, or the pioneers of advancing civilization. The faithful history of this huge imposture has yet to be written, but its band of cohesion is evidently sensuality, acting on fanaticism.

1858 – 10 July, p. 5 – President Buchanan is unwell, much upset, it is said, by the conflicting accounts from the Mormon territory. The Mormon abandonment of Salt Lake City is confirmed, but they intended to have set fire to it had they not been discovered in rendezvous at Provo City, and fortify it against the Government troops. General Johnston was expected to commence a forward movement. The Peace Commissioners had reached the camp.

1858 – 31 July, p. 4 – Brother Jonathan has made it all right with Brigham Young. The olive branch has conquered instead of the sword and the eventful Mormon rebellion is at an end. Mormonism is one of the most monstrous impostures that ever disgraced the face of God’s fair earth, it is a revival of the obscene Pagan rites to Venus, an attempt to introduce the “social evil” into the sacred arena of every family fireside. It is really laughable to read how speedily the blustering “Angels and Saints” doffed their guise of war, and had their tongues dumbfounded at sight of a real army of guns, rifles, and revolvers. Our readers should note particularly too that promised obedience to the laws of the United States is among the conditions of peace, and as polygamy is forbidden by these, our old friend Brigham Young must needs part him with a score or two of superfluous wives and make the hard choice of selecting one only for the future partner of his joys and sorrows. The probability is that the Mormons will emigrate down south with their wives and families, and leave Utah in undisturbed possession of General Johnston and his followers.

1858 – 31 July, p. 5 – Item #1 – The New York Herald says: “We have later news from Camp Scott and Salt Lake City. The army was to commence its march towards the Mormon capital on the 17^th of June. The troops were in high spirits at the prospect of a release from inactivity. General Johnston had issued a proclamation, assuring the Mormons of his desire and intention of affording them protection. He had received a communication from the peace commissioners, advising him of the peaceful disposition of the Mormons. The peace commissioners had had a meeting, and it was reported that they had agreed upon conditions of settlement between the rebellious saints and the general government.”

1858 – 31 July, p. 5 – Item #2 – The Utah correspondent of the St. Louis Republican, under date of June 18, says: “The conditions agreed upon at the conference between Governor Cumming, the peace commissioners, and the heads of the Mormon Church, are, that the troops shall enter the city without opposition, that the civil officers shall be permitted to perform their duties without interruption, and that unconditional obedience shall be paid to the laws of the land, while, on the other hand, past offences are to be forgiven, as was stated in the President’s proclamation. All the houses in the city had been closed against both civil officers and strangers, except one, which was occupied by the governor and his family. Everyone else were obliged to sleep in the wagons or on the ground.”

1858 – 31 July, p. 5 – Item #3 – Official advices from Utah give promise that the Indians in that territory might be relied on to remain neutral in case of hostilities with the Mormons.

1858 – 31 July, p. 5 – Item #4 – A Washington telegram says the Utah peace commissioner, in a dispatch to the government, states that they have settled the difficulty between the government and the Mormons. The dispatch substantially confirms the previous accounts.

1858 – 31 July, p. 8 – Important to Emigrant Mormonites. A letter has been received by Mr. Watkin, Little London, Willenhall, from his brother Thomas, who some time ago emigrated with others of the Mormon faith, in which he expresses his regret that he had ever been led astray by the accursed Mormons, who, he states, are in an entirely different condition to that represented by their advocates in this country. Trade is also very bad, and the climate is very objectionable.

1858 – 14 August, p. 4 – Item #1 – From Utah we have news to the 23^rd of June. Everything was quiet in the territory, and the Mormons were returning to their homes. Brigham Young and the heads of the Mormon Church had returned to Salt Lake City. Reports of gold deposits in the vicinity of St. Varian’s Fort were made by some of the returning teamsters, but not much credit was given to them. General Johnston had passed through the city and encamped 30 miles beyond. Brigham Young was anxious to be tried for treason, provided the jury should consist of Mormons only. Leavenworth advices to the 23^rd state that an express had arrived from General Harney’s headquarters, with instructions as to the disposition of the forces in Utah.

1858 – 14 August, p. 4 – Item #2 – By the last advices the Mormons were fast returning to their homes in Utah, and Brigham Young is to be tried for high treason, proffering the modest request, so characteristic of the man, that it shall be by a jury of Mormons only! Such a lame and impotent conclusion to a tirade of unsurpassed bluster and bravado, has rarely been recorded. What do the saints think of their Prophet now?

1858 – 21 August, p. 8 – Later news had been received from Utah. The territory was perfectly tranquil, and the general officers were in high favor with the Mormons. None of the soldiers of General Johnston’s army were allowed to enter Salt Lake City, and strict orders had been issued, prohibiting any interference with the Mormons. The Peace Commissioners had left for Washington.

1858 – 28 August, p. 3 – Mr. President Buchanan has, it must be confessed, some reason to be proud of the results of his policy as supreme head of the United States executive and leader of the Councils of Congress. By a firm resolve, in the face of a most menacing opposition, and by a judicious exercise of his patronage, he has so far settled the Kansas question, which at one period seemed to threaten a complete break-up of American parties and a disorganization of the Union itself. Scarcely less conspicuous has been his success with respect to the Mormon rebellion. Mormonism is a social fungus of American origin, but it largely owes its growth to accessions received from Great Britain; and perhaps sufficient attention has not been given to it in this country. The blasphemy of its theological doctrines cannot be gainsaid. It is pure blasphemy. But the cause of its existence at all and the practical results of its social creed and maxims are worthy of study. For instance, one can understand how the gospel of Mahomet with respect to a plurality of wives came to be received and to flourish in the East, where Christianity was at the time unknown; but how such a monstrous, disgusting, and anti-social system could spring up in the midst of a people supposed to be trained to Christian morality surpasses conjecture. The face, we are afraid, must be accounted for by admissions not at all flattering to either the religious of moral feeling of large classes, both in the United States and in Europe. The imposture conceived and published by Joe Smith was so gross that only the crassest ignorance could be taken in by it; the deadly nature of the domestic institution subsequently developed from it—its inevitable effect in stifling all the family sentiments and kindling the most debasing sensuality, must have deterred any but the stupid and the knavish from joining the Mormon sect. It is discreditable to the age and to the two nations—one people indeed—which lead civilization in their respective hemispheres that such a phenomenon as this should make its appearance among them and assume a form of permanence. The statesmen, moralists, and religious teachers of England and America cannot greatly felicitate themselves in presence of this accusing fact.

As we have on former occasions explained, the inhabitants of the Utah territory, all Mormons, with their high priest, Brigham Young, at their head, committed various acts of rebellion against the authority of the Federal Government. Young, besides being the prophet and inspired teacher of the sect, was also the legally appointed governor of the territory, from which the judge, the marshal, and other territorial officers, all deriving their powers from Washington, were rudely expelled. The Mormons charged these officials with harboring a deliberate design to undermine and subvert the Mormon faith and system, and the officials recriminated by imputing rebellious motives to Young and the other elders. It appears, indeed, obvious that in a community based entirely upon the religious opinion that certain men are directly inspired by Heaven, and by it appointed to be teachers and governors of the people, no authority save the authority of these men can ever be admitted by the believers. Mormondom is a pure theocracy, and as long as the belief lasts nothing save sheer force and superior strength can sustain the exercise of any external authority. The Federal Government must be considered external to Mormonism; but as the Saints have taken up their abode in a United States territory nothing remains for the Cabinet of Washington but to compel them to submit to the law—a task which, although considered by many as impracticable, and by all as extremely difficult and dangerous, Mr. Buchanan has just succeeded in accomplishing, and that without any hostile collision.

Brigham Young, although a consummate knave, is a person of great shrewd sense, and he showed it by doing what was necessary to avoid an encounter with the military. The troops, sufficiently numerous to beat the Mormons and take possession of the Salt Lake City, had been detained all the winters by the snows and the want of necessary supplies and conveyance at some two hundred miles’ distance. Towards the end of spring they were in the vicinity of the place, and could have entered it. But Mr. Buchanan, notwithstanding the aggravating conduct of the Mormons and the numerous petty acts of guerilla warfare which they perpetrated against eh advancing forces, was anxious to effect a bloodless settlement of the difficulty, and he therefore took steps to offer to Brigham Young a locus penitentiae. An acceptable mediator was found in the person of Colonel Kane, who seems to have had the confidence both of the Mormons and of the President. Governor Cumming was appointed to supersede Governor Young, and every assurance, we believe, was given, that the protection of the law would be maintained in the territory, and the property and peculiar tenets and institutions of the Mormons respected. Young submitted to the arrangement with the best grace he could, but he did so under the moral pressure of the vicinity of a United States army ready to compel obedience if it were refused. It is understood that he and his chief adherents, with most of the Mormon families, apprehensive of the entrance of the soldiery into the city—a thing which these fanatics have always expressed the utmost abhorrence at the thought of—went off to a spot some fifty or sixty miles distant, with the intention of ultimately proceeding to Sonora, or some other place beyond the reach of the hostile Yankees. They, however, revised their plans and returned to the Salt Lake City, whence by the latest accounts perfect order is reported. The holy place has not been defiled by the foot of a United States’ soldier. Governor Cumming is installed in office, and seems likely to become a Mormon himself, for the Gentiles complain that he sides with the Saints in every dispute. Brigham Young is about to turn his attention and energy to the improvement of the irrigation of the valley, and the Mormon rebellion may be for the present set down as extinguished.

The most interesting question for us, however, remains. What effect will this have upon Mormonism itself—its peculiar doctrines and polygamous practices? All history extant proves that opinion, and more especially religious or quasi-religious opinion, is not to be suppressed by authority; and we do not anticipate that this case of the Latter-day Saints will prove any exception to the rule. They have indeed been taught that they cannot defy the laws of their country with impunity, notwithstanding the loud boastings of their prophet that Heaven was directly on their side and would aid them in defeating their enemies. And that lesson may not be without its effect in weakening absolute obedience to Brigham Young, and belief in his infallibility as prophet and head of the Church. If doubt once creeps in, the dissolution of so hollow an imposture as Mormonism it must be rapid; but the probability is that things will go on at Salt Lake City much in the old way. Our hope in the final extinction of the impure humbug rests upon the increasing spread of knowledge and Christianity among the populations whence Mormonism has been chiefly recruited, for a polygamous community contains no element of natural increase and development. It perishes when it ceases to receive additions from without, and this will be the fate of the Latter-day Saints. Morning Herald.

1858 – 4 September, p. 3 – The American Peace Commissioners arrived at Washington on the morning of the 14^th from Utah. Their representations of the agreement between the Mormons and the Government did not vary in any material points from what had already been published. The most important consideration was the fact that peace at all events had been secured, and the supremacy of the laws and the authority of the Government recognized. Still, the commissioners did not hesitate to say that much remains to be done before the Mormons will be brought to that obedience which is necessary for the continuance of amicable relations. The commissioners also verified the accounts published of the conduct of the redoubtable Brigham Young towards his deluded followers. So unjust and tyrannical had this become, that it was deemed necessary to repeat the instructions heretofore given to the officers of the Government in Utah, to afford them all the protection in their power.

1858 – 4 September, p. 4 – We have a curious item of intelligence from Utah. The Peace Commissioners report to the Federal Government that no passage is to be found in the Book of Mormon authorizing polygamy or concubinage, so that Brigham Young in establishing the system of many wives in his community, has directly contravened an express command. This is a pretty exposure verily for the poor deluded women who have fallen in the power of his clutches, but happily they are now free if they please, and may live in something like comfort under the protection of the American Government. As for the arch fiend Young himself, it was expected he would be tried for treason and banished from the State, which will be a happy riddance for his followers, who complain of being worn down by his tyrannies and exactions.

1858 – 18 September, p. 5 – Letters from Salt Lake City, of July 30^th, mention that preparations were going forward in Utah for the territorial elections, and those of the residents who were so disposed would have an opportunity to vote for candidates to fill the offices occupied by members of the Mormon priesthood. Brigham Young was residing at Utah.

1858 – 25 September, p. 4 – An election has been held in Utah, in the Great Salt Lake City, when all the Mormon candidates were returned by large majorities. A proof, however, that there is a satisfactory return to something like order has been the giving up of a little girl to her English father, Mr. Henry Polydore of Gloucester. It appears that his wife left her husband and joined the Mormons; subsequently, in 1854, abducted their child, a girl eight years old, and carried her off to Utah. For a considerable time, all trace was lost, but intelligence being obtained, the intervention of the Foreign-office was sought, and the active assistance of Lord Napier was obtained. Instructions were immediately given to General Johnston, commanding department at Utah, through the War department, to adopt such measures as might seem to him advisable to bring about the release of the little girl from the Mormon community. The General delivered over the papers to the civil authorities, whereupon the Attorney General, W. J. Cormack, prepared a petition, and brought the parties before Judges Eckels and Sinclair upon a writ of habeas corpus. The case was before the Court for three consecutive days, and was finally disposed of by a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Henry Polydore. The little girl is now in custody of the United States Marshal, and will be sent on to the British Legation at Washington as soon as her wardrobe can be prepared for so long a journey, and a responsible person to take charge of her. Another year, and the child would have been of age to be assigned to the harem of some Mormon.

1858 – 2 October, p. 3 – One week’s later news from Salt Lake City has been received. The dates are to the 14^th ult. There is little of importance from that quarter. The Indians were somewhat troublesome, and the murder of several Mormons was reported. On the arrival of the judges in the territory, the trials of Mormon leaders indicted for treason would be commenced. It will probably be merely an investigation, as the President’s proclamation pardoning the rebels upon their submission will be honorable carried out.

1858 – 16 October, p. 2 – A Mormon preacher traveling about the country on a velocipede has been taken up at Bedford on suspicion of stealing that instrument of locomotion.

1859 – 5 November, p. 2 – There are at present in the world about one hundred and twenty-one thousand Mormons. Eighty-three thousand live in Utah, of whom four thousand six hundred and seventeen have sixteen thousand five hundred wives.

1859 – 26 November, p. 2 – The Boston Courier says: The family of the great Mormon prophet, Joe Smith, still dwell in Nauvoo. No persuasions can prevail on them to remove to Utah. His widow has married again, and with her husband keeps the Mansion house, the only house of entertainment that the city affords. The eldest son, who bears his father’s name of Joseph, is a justice of the peace, and a useful and much respected citizen. Great inducements have been offered him to remove to Great Salt Lake City, but he steadily resists all such importunities.