religion in Utah, was the wholesale perjury resorted to by her father and by others high in authority in the Mormon church, in order to circumvent the laws and to defeat justice."* "Daniel H. Wells, one of the oldest leaders and highest officers of the church, and the chief custodian of the Endowment House records at Salt Lake City, swore in court there that he knew of no record of Mormon marriages." In the case of Reynolds this same Wells who had solemnized the marriage a few months before swore positively that he had no recollection of performing the ceremony, though Reynolds had been in his employ and was at the time. Orson Pratt though a witness had never heard of such a marriage. The testimony of Mrs. Reynolds convicted these men of perjury, and Reynolds of polygamy. "Brigham Young, when arraigned, swore that he had but one wife, that he never was but once married." The harems of these men in Salt Lake City would themselves seem to cry out with horror at such unmitigated falsehood and purjury. And yet every good Mormon justifies such as religious duty. "Truth with them means simply that to a brother Mormon they must be true."¶

THEFT and ROBBERY from Gentiles are likewise to be reckoned among the virtues of Mormonism.|| In Sept. 1831 Joseph Smith tavored his people with a revelation touching this line of duty:. "Behold it is

*N. A. Rev. March '81 pg. 277-† Harper's Oct. '81.-‡ See P. M. C. M. pg 450 See Harper's Oct. '81. "I have sat in the Federal Court room" says R. G. McNeice "by the hour and heard officials high in the Mormon church swear they don't know in regard to things which it was their special business to be familiar with." (Pres. Rev. Apr. '81.) "Latter Day Saints, when placed upon the witness stand, have shown a wonderful facility in disregarding their oaths as witnesses, and commit perjury unhesitatingly and persistently, to shield those around whom the church has thrown its folds." Judge J. S. Boreman-See H. B. M. pg. 64) (See P. T. Van Zile U. S. Dist. Atty. Utah-W. of M. pgs. 323, 340)-W. of M. pg. 294.-See also Harpers, Oct. '81. ||Judge Cradlebaugh, M. U. pg. 23.

said in my laws and forbidden to get in debt to thine enemies but behold it is not said at any time that the Lord should not take where he pleases and pay as seemeth good. Wherefore as ye are agents and and ye are on the Lord's errand; whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord's business, and he hath set you to provide for his saints in these last days that they may obtain an inheritance in the Land of Zion."* This revelation has been faithfully attended to as abundant evidence goes to show. To trace the history of Mormonism from Kirtland Ohio, to Far West and Nauvoo, and its thirty years reign in Utah is to unfold the direful picture of these crimes. These depredations have been committed from the first under the full knowledge and sanction of the church authorities and the booty used for the benefit of the church.

MURDER. These depredations have often been accompanied by the murder of persons whom the "sairts" desired to dispose of, or whose property they desired to obtain for "sacred" purposes, and which they could not otherwise secure............ The sad tale of the Mountain Meadows Massacre is in point here, and is familiar in every household. Today no one familiar with affairs in Utah doubts that this and other well known massacres and assassinations were in direct accord with church decrees. There is now abundant evidence that Bishop Lee, who was sentenced and executed as principal in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, was but the scapegoat, to save Brigham Young himself and some of his higher officials. The dying statements of Bishop

* Doct. and Covs. See. P. M. C. M. pgs. 72, 90, 157,-160,

.......

Lee are well sustained by other and unquestionable authority. Let me quote from Lee's dying words. "The Mountain Meadows Massacre was the result of the direct teachings of Brigham Young and it was done by those high in authority in the Mormon church. After the Massacre I was sent to Brigham Young to make a report of it. I went and told him all. I said: 'sustain me or release me from my Endowment oath to avenge the blood of the prophet' Brigham on the following morning, said: 'Bro. Lee, the people did just right only they were a little too hasty I have evidence from God that the act was right. I sustain you and the brethren in all that you did. All I fear is treachery on the part of the brethren. Go home, tell the brethren I sustain them, and keep all as secret as the grave. Write me a letter throwing the blame on the Indians, and I will report it to the Government as an Indian massacre. Young was fully satisfied with me then and for years afterward. He gave me three wives after that, and appointed me Probate Judge of Washington Co............Nothing but cowardics has made him desert me now.' These words were spoken in 1877, twenty years after the massacre.

The history of the Mormon church from its be

*Madame La Tour pg. 302-303 See Lee's confession M. U. pgs. 252 54 272-274.

Further says Judge Goodwin: "It is known that the murders were planned in Salt Lake City, that many of the effects of the victims were carried to that city and sold. Here in a meeting of the seventies in Salt Lake City. Brigham Young justified the massacre." (Harper's Oct. '81, pg. 758.

It became known by Mormon authorities after the execution of Lee that he had placed his confession in the hands of his attorney for publication. The "Blood Atoners" were sent to secure it and to kill Mr. Bishop if necessary to obtain the Ms. This was prevented only by an efficient guard stationed to protect him. When the Ms. w as edited and ready for the press the Wells, Fargo & Co. Express refused to receive it until they were furnished with an armed guard to protect them beyond the Mormon borders. (Pref. M. U, pg. 7).

ginning almost, is a record of the vilest crimes. Numberless cold-blooded murders have been committed in the name of religion and under sanction and authority of the church. "It has always been a well understood doctrine of the church," says Bishop Lee "that it was right and praiseworthy to kill every person who spoke evil of the prophet. This doctrine has been strictly lived up to in Utah, until the Gentiles arrived in such great numbers that it became unsafe to follow the practice, but the doctrine is still believed, and no year passes without one or more......being killed in a secret way.' "It was a common thing," he says "to see parties going out with suspected Gentiles, to send them 'over the rim of the basin,' and the Gentiles were always killed."

We have the detailed accounts of many of these murders committed by and through the agents of the church, in Missouri and Illinois, as well as during the years of bloody rule in Utah. The Aiken, the Parish, the Robinson andother well known assasinations in Utah are only prominent illustrations. It must be left for the secret history of Mormonism to unveil the blood-curdling story of the dark deeds of the "Destroying Angels," the secret executioners of the church.‡

*M. U. pgs. 20 and flg. 156-160 et. al.

†M. U. pg. 279, 284.

This same spirit was manifested while the Homestead and Preemption laws were under investigation. In 1875 Geo. Q. Cannon, in a discourse delivered on Sunday, July 20, 1875, said: "God has given us (meaning the Mormon people) this land and if any outsiders shall come in and take land which we claim, a piece six feet by two, is all they are entitled to and that will last them for all eternity." (Internat'l Rev. Feb. '82).

We may further illustrate by an incident related by the Wisconsin lady referred to above. She lived at the time in Salt Lake City in a house occupied by a Danite. This Danite's wife was intimate with, and had repeatedly, at the peril of her life, befriended her and warned her of approaching danger. She told her the incident which I here sketch. This Danite owned a meat market. One day late in the evening he came home and

4

RELATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT.

Enough has been said to show something of the relation of Mormonism to our Government. The question however is of marked importance and deserves specific consideration. Theoretically and practically, disloyalty and treason to the Government run through the entire system. Says Judge Goodwin; "With the leaders, the church is simply a colossal political and commercial machine. It holds itself above the Government of the United States or any other government, and claims that all other governments, founded merely by men, are illegal

.....That when men, poor and weak, groping in the darkness of this world, make laws which are contrary to their desires, or which conflict with their plans, they are not only not under the slightest obligation to obey or respect them, but haye a perfect right to commit perjury or any other crime to avoid obeying them."* Loyalty to the church and obedience to its leaders is the first great cardinal doctrine of Mormonism. With all good Mormons the practice is coordinate with the theory wherever and whenever the conditions warrant. There is no crime under the ban of national law that a good Mormon will not commit, even to the taking up arms against the country, in accordance with his endowment oaths. In the Endowment obligations one is re

told his wife to prepare breakfast for himself and several other Danites very early in the morning. She had not meat enough in the house for the breakfast, but did not venture to tell her husband. When he had gone she went to the market with a light concealed under her shawl. On the market floor was a strange-looking pile covered with a blanket. She lifted the blanket and saw there three dead bodies. They were the dead bodies of three Gentile miners who had been seen about town for several days and known to have quite a quantity of gold upon their persons. The mission of the "Avenging Angels" in the carly morning was to do away with the bodies of the murdered miners.

* Harper's, Oct. 1881-Judge C. C. Goodwin, See (H. B. M. pg. 43.)