The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 Part 59

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 187.

** Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 187-188.

Having thus defied the federal appointing power, the nomination of Colonel Steptoe as Young's successor might have been expected to cause an outbreak; but the Mormon leaders were always diplomatic--at least, when Young did not lose his temper. The outcome of this appointment was its declination by Steptoe, a pet.i.tion to President Pierce for Young's reappointment signed by Steptoe himself and all the federal officers in the territory, and the granting of the request of these pet.i.tioners.

Mrs. C. B. Waite, wife of a.s.sociate Justice C. B. Waite, one of Lincoln's appointees, gives a circ.u.mstantial account of the manner in which Colonel Steptoe was influenced to decline the nomination and sign the pet.i.tion in favor of Young.* Two women, whose beauty then attracted the attention of Salt Lake City society, were a relative by marriage of Brigham Young and an actress in the church theatre. The federal army officers were favored with a good deal of their society. When Steptoe's appointment as governor was announced, Young called these women to his a.s.sistance. In conformity with the plan then suggested, Young one evening suddenly demanded admission to Colonel Steptoe's office, which was granted after considerable delay. Pa.s.sing into the back room, he found the two women there, dressed in men's clothes and with their faces concealed by their hats. He sent the women home with a rebuke, and then described to Steptoe the danger he was in if the women's friends learned of the incident, and the disgrace which would follow its exposure.

Steptoe's declination of the nomination and his recommendation of Young soon followed.

President Pierce's selection of judicial officers for Utah was not made with proper care, nor with due regard to the dignity of the places to be filled. Chief Justice Kinney took with him to Utah a large stock of goods which he sold at retail after his arrival there, and he also kept a boarding-house in Salt Lake City. With his "trade" dependent on Mormon customers, he had every object in cultivating their popularity. Known as a "Jack-Mormon" in Iowa, Mrs. Waite declared that his uniform course, to the time about which she wrote, had been "to aid and abet Brigham Young in his ambitious schemes," and that he was then "an open apologist and advocate of polygamy." Judge Drummond's course in Utah was in many respects scandalous. A former member of the bench in Illinois writes to me: "I remember that when Drummond's appointment was announced there was considerable comment as to his lack of fitness for the place, and, after the troubles between him and the Mormon leaders got aired through the press, members of the bar from his part of the state said they did not blame the Mormons--that it was an imposition upon them to have sent him out there as a judge. I never heard his moral character discussed."

If the Mormon leaders had shown any respect for the government at Was.h.i.+ngton, or for the reputable men appointed to territorial offices, more attention might be paid to their hostility manifested to certain individuals.

* "The Mormon Prophet," p. 36, confirmed by Beadle's "Life in Utah," p. 171.

A few of the leading questions at issue under the new territorial officers will ill.u.s.trate the nature of the government with which they had to deal. The territorial legislature had pa.s.sed acts defining the powers and duties of the territorial courts. These acts provided that the district courts should have original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, wherever not otherwise provided by law. Chapter 64 (approved January 14, 1864) provided as follows: "All questions of law, the meaning of writings other than law, and the admissibility of testimony shall be decided by the court; and no laws or parts of laws shall be read, argued, cited, or adopted in any courts, during any trial, except those enacted by the governor and legislative a.s.sembly of this territory, and those pa.s.sed by the Congress of the United States, WHEN APPLICABLE; and no report, decision, or doings of any court shall be read, argued, cited, or adopted as precedent in any other trial."

This obliterated at a stroke the whole body of the English common law.

Another act provided that, by consent of the court and the parties, any person could be selected to act as judge in a particular case. As the district court judges were federal appointees, a judge of probate was provided for each county, to be elected by joint ballot of the legislature. These probate courts, besides the authority legitimately belonging to such tribunals, were given "power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, as well in chancery as at common law." Thus there were in the territory two kinds of courts, to one of which alone a non-Mormon could look for justice, and to the other of which every Mormon would appeal when he was not prevented.

The act of Congress organizing the territory provided for the appointment of a marshal, approved by the President; the territorial legislature on March 3, 1852, provided for another marshal to be elected by joint ballot, and for an attorney general. A non-Mormon had succeeded the original Mormon who was appointed as federal marshal, and he took the ground that he should have charge of all business pertaining to the marshal's office in the United States courts. Judge Stiles having issued writs to the federal marshal, the latter was not able to serve them, and the demand was openly made that only territorial law should be enforced in Utah. When the question of jurisdiction came before the judge, three Mormon lawyers appeared in behalf of the Mormon claim, and one of them, James Ferguson, openly told the judge that, if he decided against him, they "would take him from the bench d--d quick." Judge Stiles adjourned his court, and applied to Governor Young for a.s.sistance; but got only the reply that "the boys had got their s.p.u.n.k up, and he would not interfere," and that, if Judge Stiles could not enforce the United States laws, the sooner he adjourned court the better.* All the records and papers of the United States court were kept in Judge Stiles's office. In his absence, Ferguson led a crowd to the office, seized and deposited in a safe belonging to Young the court papers, and, piling up the personal books and papers of the judge in an outhouse, set fire to them. The judge, supposing that the court papers were included in the bonfire, innocently made that statement in an affidavit submitted on his return to Was.h.i.+ngton in 1857.

* This account is given in Mrs. Waite's "The Mormon Prophet."

Tullidge omits the incident in his "History of Salt Lake City."

Judge Drummond, reversing the policy of Chief Justice Kinney and Judge Shaver, announced, before the opening of the first session of his court, that he should ignore all proceedings of the territorial probate courts except such as pertained to legitimate probate business. This position was at once recognized as a challenge of the entire Mormon judicial system,* and steps were promptly taken to overthrow it. There are somewhat conflicting accounts of the method adopted. Mrs. Waite, in her "Mormon Prophet," Hickman, in his confessions, and Remy, in his "Journey," have all described it with variations. All agree that a quarrel was brought about between the judge and a Jew, which led to the arrest of both of them. "During the prosecution of the case," says Mrs.

Waite, "the judge gave some sort of a stipulation that he would not interfere any further with the probate courts."

* A member of the legislature wrote to his brother in England, of Drummond: He has bra.s.s to declare in open court that the Utah laws are founded in ignorance, and has attempted to set some of the most important ones aside,... and he will be able to appreciate the merits of a returned compliment some day."

* Tullidge, "History of Salt Lake City," p. 412.

Judge Stiles left the territory in the spring of 1857, and gave the government an account of his treatment in the form of an affidavit when he reached Was.h.i.+ngton. Judge Drummond held court a short time for Judge Stiles in Carson County (now Nevada)* in the spring of 1857, and then returned to the East by way of California, not concealing his opinion of Mormon rule on the way, and giving the government a statement of the case in a letter resigning his judges.h.i.+p.

* The settlement of what is now Nevada was begun by both Mormons and non-Mormons in 1854, and, the latter being in the majority, the Utah legislature organized the entire western part of the territory as one county, called Carson, and Governor Young appointed Orson Hyde its probate judge. Many persons coming in after the settlement of California, as miners, farmers, or stock-raisers, the Mormons saw their majority in danger, and ordered the non-Mormons to leave. Both sides took up arms, and they camped in sight of each other for two weeks. The Mormons, learning that their opponents were to receive reenforcements from California, agreed on equal rights for all in that part of the territory; but when the legislature learned of this, it repealed the county act, recalled the judge, and left the district without any legal protection whatever. Thus matters remained until late in 1858, when a probate judge was quietly appointed for Carson Valley. After this an election was held, but although the non-Mormons won at the polls, the officers elected refused to qualify and enforce Mormon statutes.--Letter of Delegate-elect J. M. Crane of Nevada, "The Mormon Prophet," pp.

4l-45.

After the departure of the non-Mormon federal judges from Utah, the only non-Mormon officers left there were those belonging to the office of the surveyor general, and two Indian agents. Toward these officers the Mormons were as hostile as they had been toward the judges, and the latest information that the government received about the disposition and intentions of the Mormons came from them.

The Mormon view of their t.i.tle to the land in Salt Lake Valley appeared in Young's declaration on his first Sunday there, that it was theirs and would be divided by the officers of the church.* Tullidge, explaining this view in his history published in 1886, says that this was simply following out the social plan of a Zion which Smith attempted in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, under "revelation." He explains: "According to the primal law of colonization, recognized in all ages, it was THEIR LAND if they could hold and possess it. They could have done this so far as the Mexican government was concerned, which government probably never would even have made the first step to overthrow the superstructure of these Mormon society builders. At that date, before this territory was ceded to the United States, Brigham Young, as the master builder of the colonies which were soon to spread throughout these valleys, could with absolute propriety give the above utterances on the land question."**

* "They will not, however, without protest, buy the land, and hope that grants will be made to actual settlers or the state, sufficient to cover their improvements. If not, the state will be obliged to buy, and then confirm the t.i.tles already given."--Gunnison.

"The Mormons," 1852, p. 414.

** Captain Gunnison, who as lieutenant accompanied Stansbury's surveying party and printed a book giving his personal observations, was murdered in 1853 while surveying a railroad route at a camp on Sevier River. His party were surprised by a band of Pah Utes while at breakfast, and nine of them were killed. The charge was often made that this ma.s.sacre was inspired by Mormons, but it has not been supported by direct evidence.

When the act organizing the territory was pa.s.sed, very little of the Indian t.i.tle to the land had been extinguished, and the Indians made bitter complaints of the seizure of their homes and hunting-grounds, and the establishment of private rights to canyons and ferries, by the people who professed so great a regard for the "Lamanites." Congress, in February, 1855, created the office of surveyor general of Utah and defined his duties. The presence of this officer was resented at once, and as soon as Surveyor General David H. Burr arrived in Salt Lake City the church directed all its members to convey their lands to Young as trustee in trust for the church, "in consideration of the good will which ---- have to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

Explaining this order in a discourse in the Tabernacle on March 1, 1857, H. C. Kimball said: "I do not compel you to do it; the trustee in trust does not; G.o.d does not. But He says that if you will do this and the other things which He has counselled for our good, do so and prove Him.... If you trifle with me when I tell you the truth, you will trifle with Brother Brigham, and if you trifle with him you will also trifle with angels and with G.o.d, and thus you will trifle yourselves down to h.e.l.l."*

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. IV, pp. 249, 252.

The Mormon policy toward the surveyors soon took practical shape. On August 30, 1856, Burr reported a nearly fatal a.s.sault on one of his deputies by three Danites. Deputy Surveyor Craig reported efforts of the Mormons to stir up the Indians against the surveyors, and quoted a suggestion of the Deseret News that the surveyors be prosecuted in the territorial court for trespa.s.s. In February, 1857, Burr reported a visit he had had from the clerk of the Supreme Court, the acting district attorney, and the territorial marshal, who told him plainly that the country was theirs.

They showed him a copy of a report that he had made to Was.h.i.+ngton, charging Young with extensive depredations, warned him that he could not write to Was.h.i.+ngton without their knowledge, and ordered that such letter writing should stop. "The fact is," Burr added, "these people repudiate the authority of the United States in this country, and are in open rebellion against the general government.... So strong have been my apprehensions of danger to the surveyors that I scarcely deemed it prudent to send any out.... We are by no means sure that we will be permitted to leave, for it is boldly a.s.serted we would not get away alive."* He did escape early in the spring.

* For text of reports, see House Ex. Doc. No. 71, 1st Session, 35th Congress.

The reports of the Indian agents to the commissioner at Was.h.i.+ngton at this time were of the same character. Mormon trespa.s.ses on Indian land had caused more than one conflict with the savages, but, when there was a prospect of hostilities with the government, the Mormons took steps to secure Indian aid. In May, 1855, Indian Agent Hurt called the attention of the commissioner at Was.h.i.+ngton to the fact that the Mormons at their recent Conference had appointed a large number of missionaries to preach among the "Lamanites"; that these missionaries were "a cla.s.s of lawless young men," and, as their influence was likely to be in favor of hostilities with the whites, he suggested that all Indian officers receive warning on the subject. Hurt was added to the list of fugitive federal officers from Utah, deeming it necessary to flee when news came of the approach of the troops in the fall of 1857. His escape was quite dramatic, some of his Indian friends a.s.sisting him. They reached General Johnston's camp about the middle of October, after suffering greatly from hunger and cold.

The Mormon leaders could scarcely fail to realize that a point must be reached when the federal government would a.s.sert its authority in Utah territory, but they deemed a conflict with the government of less serious moment than a surrender which would curtail their own civil and criminal jurisdiction, and bring their doctrine of polygamy within reach of the law. A specimen of the unbridled utterances of these leaders in those days will be found in a discourse by Mayor Grant in the Tabernacle, on March 2, 1856:--

"Who is afraid to die? None but the wicked. If they want to send troops here, let them come to those who have imported filth and wh.o.r.es, though we can attend to that cla.s.s without so much expense to the Government.

They will threaten us with United States troops! Why, your impudence and ignorance would bring a blush to the cheek of the veriest camp-follower among them. We ask no odds of you, you rotten carca.s.ses, and I am not going to bow one hair's breadth to your influence. I would rather be cut into inch pieces than succ.u.mb one particle to such filthiness .... If we were to establish a wh.o.r.ehouse on every corner of our streets, as in nearly all other cities outside of Utah, either by law or otherwise, we should doubtless then be considered good fellows."*

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. III, pp. 234-235

Two weeks later Brigham Young, in a sermon in the same place, said, "I said then, and I shall always say, that I shall be governor as long as the Lord Almighty wishes me to govern this people."*

* Ibid., p. 258.

In January, 1853, Orson Pratt, as Mormon representative, began the publication in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., of a monthly periodical called The Seer, in which he defended polygamy, explained the Mormon creed, and set forth the att.i.tude of the Mormons toward the United States government.

The latter subject occupied a large part of the issue of January, 1854, in the shape of questions and answers. The following will give an ill.u.s.tration of their tone:--

"Q.--In what manner have the people of the United States treated the divine message contained in the Book of Mormon?

"A.--They have closed their eyes, their ears, their hearts and their doors against it. They have scorned, rejected and hated the servants of G.o.d who were sent to bear testimony of it.

"Q.--In what manner has the United States treated the Saints who have believed in this divine message?

"A.--They have proceeded to the most savage and outrageous persecutions;... dragged little children from their hiding-places, and, placing the muzzles of their guns to their heads, have blown out their brains, with the most horrid oaths and imprecations. They have taken the fair daughters of American citizens, bound them on benches used for public wors.h.i.+p, and there, in great numbers, ravished them until death came to their relief."