Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/24

* MOKMONS. 12 MORMONS. eixty wagons in charge of captains of fifties, captains of tens, and toiitiactiug commissaries. The versatility of the American pioneer was dis- plajed in the establislinient of way stations, with various repair shops and willi a Uouring mill built by Voung himself. The largest cumpauy, which started from Elk Horn River on July 4tli, included 1553 i)ersons, with 506 wagons. By 1848 all the Mormons hud crossed the plains except a few left on the ilissouri as forwarding agents for emigrants from the Eastern States and Europe. By March, 1848, the population of Salt Lake City numbered 1671, with 423 houses built. In spite of the failure of the crops and the conse- quent suH'ering of the first winter, glowing ac- counts of the new Zion were sent to England, with the result that within two years the English immigrants included men of many professions and trades. Voung early projected cotton, woolen, and glass factories, for there were no sources for manufactured goods nearer than one thousand miles. In all this the aim of the leaders was to establish a State entirely self-supporting. But the balance sheet in 18.52 showed a deficit. Young undertook to retrench expenses by giving less as- sistance to immigrants, but this ])olicy turned 01(1 disastrously. The economic salvation of Mor- niondom was not due to the financial abilities of the body, but to outside causes. Abimdance of nmney was brought to .Salt Lake City by those who were hastening to California for gold, and by the building of the Pacific Kailroad. The political success of Mornionism was equally fortuitous. The war with Mexico having transferred the sovereignty of this region to the l"nited States (Jovernment, on March 4, 1849, a convention at Salt Lake City adopted a con- stitution for the State of Deseret. The con- fusion of the Mormon political ideas was mani- fested in calling Deseret a State and at the same time in dis|)ateliing a Territorial dele;.'.ite to Washington. Babbitt's application was rejected largely bceau.se of the hostility of the Illinois Democrats. The growth of Young's dictatorship depended on mixed personal and religious reasons. He was known as hard-working Brigham Young; and his word was counted the word of God to his people. The power of the head of the Church was also increased by the issuance of paper money, by the strict application of the tithing system, and by the order that no man should hoard up his property. Young's addresses in the temple show that, with the development of his despiitism, there came a loss of personal liberty among the laity. In connection with the School of the Prophets he appointed Church confessors to go among all families. In 1856 occurred the so- called 'Reformation,' in which the discontented were weeded out. After the murder of the would-be apostate, William R. Parrish, a deed instigated by Young himself, there came the organization of four hundred 'Wolf Hunters.' whose object was to prevent sneh rare escapes as that of Frederick Lobn and his wife. By 1856 the doctrine of blood atonement was in opera- tion. Apostasy was practiciitly declared a capital crime to be atoned for only by bavins the blood spilled upon the ground, and Rosmos .Anderson, who wanted to marry hi~ stepdaughter against the wishes of the ward bishop, had his throat cut by the ecclesiastical executioners, so that his blood might run into liis freshly dug grave. The murder of the Aikin party in 1857 came under Young's policy of keeping the Uentiles out of Utah. Six men from San Francisco, with an outfit valued at $25,000, were shot while be- ing escorted' by 'Bill' Hickman, who was known as Brigham's Destroying Angel.' In the same year occurred the most wholesale of these affairs, the Mountiiin Meadows Massacre ((|.v.). Chief among the reasons for governmental neg- lect of the Mormons were the a])pointment of mere party hacks as Territorial officers and judges and the impotence of the Federal Gov- ernment at the ajiproach of the Civil War. Fur- thermore, the authorities were ignorant concern- ing !Moriii(in practices and ambitliius. Upon the establishment of the Territory of Utah, in 1851, Brigham Young was appointed Governor. When the Federal ap|iointce, .liulgc Brocchus, ventured to criticise polygam.v. Young publicly called him a coward and asked him to "ajjologize to the sat- isfaction of the ladies." President Pierce's offer of the Governorship to Lieutenant-Colonel Step- toe led Young to threaten vengeance for this 'infringement' upon his indiviilual rights and ])rivileges. By 1850 the ])olitii-al parties began to make capital out of the Mormon situation. .Stephen A. Douglas asserted that it was the duty of the President to remove Brigham Young and all his followers from office. In his message of 1857, President Buchaiuui declared that there was no longer any government in I'tah but Brigham Young. All this was declared to be a Democratic scheme to blind the Xorth regarding the pending slavery issue. However, a force of 1.500 triKips was dispatched under General Scott, whereupon Y'oung announced that he "would ask no odds of Uncle Sam or the devil." The Xauvoo Legion was recruited from all able-bodie<l males between eighteen and forty-five, martial law was declared in the Territory, and the Mormons harassed the Federal column by .setting fire to the grass, stampeding their cattle, and burning the supply trains. An advance by winter into the Salt Lake Valley being deemed out of the question. Colonels .Tobnsfon and Ali'xander joined forces near Fort Bridger. Jleanwhile Young, determined upon being the civil as really as he was the ecclesiastical head, commissioned Col. T. L. Kane as lobbyist at Washington. Taken with the pro-ilormon report of Governor Cumming. the result was a full and free pardon offered by President Buchanan to the very leaders whom .Tudge Eckles had chargeil with adultery. The attitude of the Church being considered treasonable during the Civil War, in ilay. 1862, Utah was put under military supervision. Colonel Connor's plans to overawe Yoimg were frustrated by Lincoln's kl -alone policy, and it was not imtil the lapse of a generation (hat the TMormon leaders unwillingly traded polygamy for State- hood. The anti-polygamy legislation began with the Morrill bill of February. ISfiO. The severest pun- ishment beint' nierely the statutory penalty for biframv. the measure was ineffective. The CuUom bill of 1800 was fought by Delegate Hooper on the groimd that (he Mormon views of the mar- riage relation were an essential part of their relipious faith and therefore constitutionally (T'arnnteed. Convictions under the Poland bill of 1874 being appealed, the Unit«d States Su-