Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/852

 834 MORMONS the time a book containing various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flour- ishes, Roman letters, inverted or placed side- ways, were arranged and placed in perpen- dicular 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." This letter was written to con- tradict a report set afloat by Smith that Prof. Anthon had pronounced the characters to be Egyptian hieroglyphics. Smith and Rigdon seem at first to have had vague and confused ideas as to the nature and design of the church they were about to establish. They were both inclined to teach millenarianism, which at that time was beginning to attract attention in western New York ; and they accordingly settled into the doctrine that the millennium was close at hand, that the Indians were to be speedily converted, and that America was to be the final gathering place of the saints, who were to assemble at New Zion or New Jeru- salem, somewhere in the interior of the conti- nent. With the " Book of Mormon " as their text and authority, they began to preach this new gospel; and Smith's family and a few of his associates, together with some of Rig- don's previous followers, were soon numerous enough to constitute the Mormon church, as it was styled by the people around them, or the church of Latter Day Saints, as they presently began to call themselves. The church was first regularly organized at Manchester, N. Y., April 6, 1830, and the first conference was held at Fayette, N. Y., in June, at which time the number of believers had increased to 30. Smith, directed as he said by revelation, in January, 1831, led the whole body of believers to Kirtland, Ohio, which was to be the seat of the New Jerusalem. Here converts were rapidly made, and soon, desiring a wider field for the growth of the church, Smith and Rig- don travelled westward, looking for a suitable location, which was found in Independence, Jackson co., Mo., where in August Smith dedi- cated a site for the temple to be erected by the saints, and named the place New Jerusalem. On their return to Kirtland, where they pro- posed to remain for five years " and make money," Smith and Rigdon established a mill and a store, and set up a bank without a charter, of which Smith appointed himself president, and made Rigdon cashier. The neighboring country was flooded with notes of very doubt- ful value ; and in consequence of this and other business transactions in which Smith and Rig- don were accused of fraudulent dealing, a mob on the night of March 22, 1832, dragged the two prophets from their beds, and tarred and feathered them. About a year afterward a government for the church was instituted, con- sisting of three presidents, Smith, Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams, who together were styled the first presidency, a revelation from the Lord having declared that the sins of Rig- don and Williams were forgiven, " and that they were henceforth to be accounted as equal with Joseph Smith, jr., in holding the keys of his last kingdom." About this time Brigham Young, a native of Vermont, a painter and glazier about 30 years of age, became a con- vert to Mormonism. (See YOUNG, BRIGHAM.) He arrived at Kirtland toward the close of 1832, and was soon ordained an elder, and began to preach. His talent and shrewdness speedily made him prominent, and in Febru- ary, 1835, when a further step was taken in the organization of a hierarchy by the institution of the quorum of the twelve apostles, he was ordained one of the twelve, and sent out with the other apostles to preach the new doctrines. His field of labor was the eastern states, and he was signally successful in making converts. In 1836 a large and costly temple, which had been for three years in process of building, was con- secrated at Kirtland ; and in 1837 Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball, the latter of whom had become a convert in 1832, were sent as mis- sionaries to England. In January, 1838, the bank at Kirtland having failed, Smith and Rig- don, to avoid arrest for fraud, fled in the night, hotly pursued by their creditors, and took refuge in Missouri. In that state, meanwhile, large numbers of Mormons had collected, and had become involved in quarrels with the people, by whom they were charged with plundering and burning habitations, and with secret assassinations; and after various con- flicts with mobs, who drove them successively from Jackson co. and from Clay co., they set- tled in Caldwell co., at the town of Far West, where Smith and Rigdon joined them. The conflicts with the Missourians still continued, and many outrages were committed and sev- eral persons killed on both sides. In the midst of their external troubles, internal dissensions broke out among the Mormons. Several of their leading men apostatized and accused Smith of gross crimes and frauds. On Oct. 24, 1838, Thomas B. March, president of the 12 apostles, and Orson Hyde, also one of the apostles, made before a justice of the peace in Ray co., Mo., an affidavit in which March said, corroborated by Hyde: "They have among them a company, consisting of all that are considered true Mor- mons, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong. . . . The plan of said Smith, the proph- et, is to take this state; and he professes to his people to intend taking the United States, and ultimately the whole world. This is the belief of the church, and my own opinion of the prophet's plan and intentions. The prophet inculcates the notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are superior to the law of the land. I have heard the prophet say that he would yet tread down his enemies and walk over their dead