The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 Part 38

But there were men at Nauvoo above the average of the Mormon convert as regards intelligence and wealth, who refused to follow the prophet in his new doctrine regarding marriage, and whose opposition took the very practical shape of the establishment of a newspaper in the Mormon city to expose him and to defend themselves.

In his testimony in the Higbee trial Smith had accused a prominent Mormon, Dr. R. D. Foster, of stealing and of gross insults to women. Dr.

Foster, according to current report, had found Smith at his house, and had received from his wife a confession that Smith had been persuading her to become one of his spiritual wives.*

* "At the May, 1844, term of the Hanc.o.c.k Circuit Court two indictments were found against Smith by the grand jury--one for adultery and one for perjury. To the surprise of all, on the Monday following, the Prophet appeared in court and demanded that he be tried on the last-named indictment. The prosecutor not being ready, a continuance was entered to the next term."--GREGG, "History of Hanc.o.c.k County," p. 301.

Among the leading members of the church at Nauvoo at this time were two brothers, William and Wilson Law. They were Canadians, and had brought considerable property with them, and in the "revelation" of January 19, 1841, William Law was among those who were directed to take stock in Nauvoo House, and was named as one of the First Presidency, and was made registrar of the University. Wilson Law was a regent of the University and a major general of the Legion. General Law had been an especial favorite of Smith. In writing to him while in hiding from the Missouri authorities in 1842, Smith says, "I love that soul that is so n.o.bly established in that clay of yours." * At the conference of April, 1844, Hyrum Smith said: "I wish to speak about Messrs. Law's steam mill. There has been a great deal of bickering about it. The mill has been a great benefit to the city. It has brought in thousands who would not have come here. The Messrs. Law have sunk their capital and done a great deal of good. It is out of character to cast any aspersions on the Messrs. Law."

* Millennial Star, Vol. XX, p. 695.

Dr. Foster, the Laws, and Counsellor Sylvester Emmons became greatly stirred up about the spiritual wife doctrine, and the effort of Smith and those in his confidence to teach and enforce the doctrine of plural wives; and they finally decided to establish in Nauvoo a newspaper that would openly attack the new order of things. The name chosen for this newspaper was the Expositor, and Emmons was its editor.* Its motto was: "The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth," and its prospectus announced as its purpose, "Unconditional repeal of the city charter--to correct the abuses of the unit power--to advocate disobedience to political revelations." Only one number of this newspaper was ever issued, but that number was almost directly the cause of the prophet's death.

* Emmons went direct to Beardstown, Illinois, after the destruction of the paper, and lived there till the day of his death, a leading citizen. He established the first newspaper published in Beardstown, and was for sixteen years the mayor of the city.

The most important feature of the Expositor (which bore date of June 7, 1844) was a "preamble" and resolutions of "seceders from the church at Nauvoo," and affidavits by Mr. and Mrs. William Law and Austin Cowles setting forth that Hyrum Smith had read the "revelation" concerning polygamy to William Law and to the High Council, and that Mrs. Law had read it.*

* These were the only affidavits printed in the Expositor. More than one description of the paper has stated that it contained many more. Thus, Appleton's "American Encyclopedia," under "Mormons," says, "In the first number (there was only one) they printed the affidavits of sixteen women to the effect that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon and others had endeavored to convert them to the spiritual wife doctrine."

The "preamble" affirmed the belief of the seceders in the Mormon Bible and the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," but declared their intention to "explode the vicious principles of Joseph Smith," adding, "We are aware, however, that we are hazarding every earthly blessing, particularly property, and probably life itself, in striking this blow at tyranny and oppression." Many of them, it was explained, had sought a reformation of the church without any public exposure, but they had been spurned, "particularly by Joseph, who would state that, if he had been or was guilty of the charges we would charge him with, he would not make acknowledgment, but would rather be d.a.m.ned, for it would detract from his dignity and would consequently prove the overthrow of the church.

We would ask him, on the other hand, if the overthrow of the church were not inevitable; to which he often replied that we would all go to h.e.l.l together and convert it into a heaven by casting the devil out; and, says he, h.e.l.l is by no means the place this world of fools supposes it to be, but, on the contrary, it is quite an agreeable place."

The "preamble" further set forth the methods employed by Smith to induce women from other countries, who had joined the Mormons in Nauvoo, to become his spiritual wives, reciting the arguments advanced, and thus summing up the general result: "She is thunderstruck, faints, recovers and refuses. The prophet d.a.m.ns her if she rejects. She thinks of the great sacrifice, and of the many thousand miles she has travelled over sea and land that she might save her soul from pending ruin, and replies, 'G.o.d's will be done and not mine.' The prophet and his devotees in this way are gratified." Smith's political aspirations were condemned as preposterous, and the false "doctrine of many G.o.ds" was called blasphemy.

Fifteen resolutions followed. They declared against the evils named, and also condemned the order to the Saints to gather in haste at Nauvoo, explaining that the purpose of this command was to enable the men in control of the church to sell property at exorbitant prices, "and thus the wealth that is brought into the place is swallowed up by the one great throat, from whence there is no return." The seceders a.s.serted that, although they had an intimate acquaintance with the affairs of the church, they did not know of any property belonging to it except the Temple. Finally, as speaking for the true church, they ordered all preachers to cease to teach the doctrine of plural G.o.ds, a plurality of wives, sealing, etc., and directed offenders in this respect to report and have their licenses renewed. Another feature of the issue was a column address signed by Francis M. Higbee, advising the citizens of Hanc.o.c.k County not to send Hyrum Smith to the legislature, since to support him was to support Joseph, "a man who contends all governments are to be put down, and one established upon its ruins."

The appearance of this sheet created the greatest excitement among the Mormon leaders that they had experienced since leaving Missouri.

They recognized in it immediately a mouthpiece of men who were better informed than Bennett, and who were ready to address an audience composed both of their own flock and of their outlying non-Mormon neighbors, whose antipathy to them was already manifesting itself aggressively. To permit the continued publication of this sheet meant one of those surrenders which Smith had never made.

The prophet therefore took just such action as would have been expected of him in the circ.u.mstances. Calling a meeting of the City Council, he proceeded to put the Expositor and its editors on trial, as if that body was of a judicial instead of a legislative character. The minutes of this trial, which lasted all of Sat.u.r.day, June 8, and a part of Monday, June l0, 1844, can be found in the Neighbor of June 19, of that year, filling six columns. The prophet-mayor occupied the chair, and the defendants were absent.

The testimony introduced aimed at the start to break down the characters of Dr. Foster, Higbee, and the Laws. A mechanic testified that the Laws had bought "bogus"--(counterfeit) dies of him. The prophet told how William Law had "pursued" him to recover $40,000 that Smith owed him.

Hyrum Smith alleged that William Law had offered to give a man $500 if he would kill Hyrum, and had confessed adultery to him, making a still more heinous charge against Higbee. Hyrum referred "to the revelation of the High Council of the church, which has caused so much talk about a multiplicity of wives," and declared that it "concerned things which transpired in former days, and had no reference to the present time."

Testimony was also given to show that the Laws were not liberal to the poor, and that William's motto with his fellow-churchmen who owed him was, "Punctuality, punctuality."* This was naturally a serious offence in the eyes of the Smiths.

* The Expositor contained this advertis.e.m.e.nt: "The subscribers wish to inform all those who, through sickness or other misfortunes, are much limited is their means of procuring bread for their families, that we have allotted Thursday of every week to grind toll free for them, till grain becomes plentiful after harvest.--W. & W. Law."

The prophet declared that the conduct of such men, and of such papers as the Expositor, was calculated to destroy the peace of the city. He unblus.h.i.+ngly a.s.serted that what he had preached about marriage only showed the order in ancient days, having nothing to do with the present time. In regard to the alleged revelation about polygamy he explained that, on inquiring of the Lord concerning the Scriptural teaching that "they neither marry nor are given in marriage in heaven," he received a reply to the effect that men in this life must marry in one of eternity, otherwise they must remain as angels, or be single in heaven.

Smith then proposed that the Council make some provision for putting down the Expositor, declaring its allegations to be "treasonable against all chartered rights and privileges." He read from the federal and state const.i.tutions to define his idea of the rights of the press, and quoted Blackstone on private wrongs. Hyrum openly advocated smas.h.i.+ng the press and pieing the type. One councillor alone raised his voice for moderation, proposing to give the offenders a few days' notice, and to a.s.sess a fine of $300 for every libel. W. W. Phelps (who was back in the fold again) held that the city charter gave them power to declare the newspaper a nuisance, and cited the spilling of the tea in Boston harbor as a precedent for an attack on the Expositor office. Finally, on June 10, this resolution was pa.s.sed unanimously:--

"Resolved by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo that the printing office from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor is a public nuisance, and also all of said Nauvoo Expositors which may be or exist in said establishment; and the mayor is instructed to cause said printing establishment and papers to be removed without delay, in such manner as he shall direct."

Smith, of course, made very prompt use of this authority, issuing the following order to the city marshal:--

"You are hereby commanded to destroy the printing press from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor, and pi the type of said printing establishment in the street, and burn all the Expositors and libellous hand bills found in said establishment; and if resistance be offered to the execution of this order, by the owners or others, destroy the house; and if any one threatens you or the Mayor or the officers of the city, arrest those who threaten you; and fail not to execute this order without delay, and make due return thereon.

"JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor."

To meet any armed opposition which might arise, the acting major general of the Legion was thus directed:--

"You are hereby commanded to hold the Nauvoo Legion in readiness forthwith to execute the city ordinances, and especially to remove the printing establishment of the Nauvoo Expositor; and this you are required to do at sight, under the penalty of the laws, provided the marshal shall require it and need your services."

JOSEPH SMITH,

"Lieutenant General Nauvoo Legion."

The story of the compliance with the mayor's order is thus concisely told in the "marshal's return," "The within-named press and type is destroyed and pied according to order on this loth day of June, 1844, at about eight o'clock P.M." The work was accomplished without any serious opposition. The marshal appeared at the newspaper office, accompanied by an escort from the Legion, and forced his way into the building. The press and type were carried into the street, where the press was broken up with hammers, and all that was combustible was burned.

Dr. Foster and the Laws fled at once to Carthage, Illinois, under the belief that their lives were in danger. The story of their flight and of the destruction of their newspaper plant by order of the Nauvoo authorities spread quickly all over the state, and in the neighboring counties the anti-Mormon feeling, that had for some time been growing more intense, was now fanned to fury. This feeling the Mormon leaders seemed determined to increase still further.

The owners of the Expositor sued out at Carthage a writ for the removal to that place of Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo counsellors on a charge of a riot in connection with the destruction of their plant. This writ, when presented, was at once set aside by a writ of habeas corpus issued by the Nauvoo Munic.i.p.al Court, but the case was heard before a Mormon justice of the peace on June 17, and he discharged the accused. As if this was not a sufficient defiance of public opinion, Smith, as mayor, published a "proclamation" in the Neighbor of June 19, reciting the events in connection with the attack on the Expositor, and closing thus:

"Our city is infested with a set of blacklegs, counterfeiters and debauchees, and that the proprietors of this press were of that cla.s.s, the minutes of the Munic.i.p.al Court fully testify, and in ridding our young and flouris.h.i.+ng city of such characters, we are abused by not only villanous demagogues, but by some who, from their station and influence in society, ought rather to raise than depress the standard of human excellence. We have no disturbance or excitement among us, save what is made by the thousand and one idle rumors afloat in the country. Every one is protected in his person and property, and but few cities of a population of twenty thousand people, in the United States, hath less of dissipation or vice of any kind than the city of Nauvoo.

"Of the correctness of our conduct in this affair, we appeal to every high court in the state, and to its ordeal we are willing to appear at any time that His Excellency, Governor Ford, shall please to call us before it. I, therefore, in behalf of the Munic.i.p.al Court of Nauvoo, warn the lawless not to be precipitate in any interference in our affairs, for as sure as there is a G.o.d in Israel we shall ride triumphant over all oppression."

JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor.

CHAPTER XIII. -- UPRISING OF THE NON-MORMONS--SMITH'S ARREST

The gauntlet thus thrown down by Smith was promptly taken up by his non-Mormon neighbors, and public meetings were held in various places to give expression to the popular indignation. At such a meeting in Warsaw, Hanc.o.c.k County, eighteen miles down the river, the following was among the resolutions adopted:

"Resolved, that the time, in our opinion, has arrived when the adherents of Smith, as a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into Nauvoo; that the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their hands, and, if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged, to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his adherents."

Warsaw was considered the most violent anti-Mormon neighborhood, the Signal newspaper there being especially bitter in its attacks; but the people in all the surrounding country began to prepare for "war" in earnest. At Warsaw 150 men were mustered in under General Knox, and $1000 was voted for supplies. In Carthage, Rushville, Green Plains, and many other towns in Illinois men began organizing themselves into military companies, cannon were ordered from St. Louis, and the near-by places in Iowa, as well as some in Missouri, sent word that their aid could be counted on. Rumors of all sorts of Mormon outrages were circulated, and calls were made for militia, here to protect the people against armed Mormon bands, there against Mormon thieves.

Many farmhouses were deserted by their owners through fear, and the steamboats on the river were crowded with women and children, who were sent to some safe settlement while the men were doing duty in the militia ranks. Many of the alarming reports were doubtless started by non-Mormons to inflame the public feeling against their opponents, others were the natural outgrowth of the existing excitement.

On June 17 a committee from Carthage made to Governor Ford so urgent a request for the calling out of the militia, that he decided to visit the disturbed district and make an investigation on his own account.*

On arriving at Carthage he found a considerable militia force already a.s.sembled as a posse comitatus, at the call of the constables. This force, and similar ones in McDonough and Schuyler counties, he placed under command of their own officers. Next, the governor directed the mayor and council of Nauvoo to send a committee to state to him their story of the recent doings. This they did, convincing him, by their own account, of the outrageous character of the proceedings against the Expositor. He therefore arrived at two conclusions: first, that no authority at his command should be spared in bringing the Mormon leaders to justice; and, second, that this must be done without putting the Mormons in danger of an attack by any kind of a mob. He therefore addressed the militia force from each county separately, urging on them the necessity of acting only within the law; and securing from them all a vote pledging their aid to the governor in following a strictly legal course, and protecting from violence the Mormon leaders when they should be arrested.

* The story of the events just preceding Joseph Smith's death are taken from Governor Ford's report to the Illinois legislature, and from his "History of Illinois."

The governor then sent word to Smith that he and his a.s.sociates would be protected if they would surrender, but that arrested they should be, even if it took the whole militia force of the state to accomplish this.

The constable and guards who carried the governor's mandate to Nauvoo found the city a military camp. Smith had placed it under martial law, a.s.sembled the Legion, called in all the outlying Mormons, and ordered that no one should enter or leave the place without submitting to the strictest inquiry. The governor's messengers had no difficulty, however, in gaining admission to Smith, who promised that he and the members of the Council would accompany the officers to Carthage the next morning (June 23) at eight o'clock. But at that time the accused did not appear, and, without any delay or any effort to arrest the men who were wanted, the officers returned to Carthage and reported that all the accused had fled.