Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/89

Rh to ask that the Mormons might be allowed to settle again in Jackson county, but Governor Dunklin refused to interfere, on the ground that it was impracticable.

On the 19th of June "Zion's Camp" reached the vicinity of Clay county, where the exiled Saints had located, and tried to effect a junction with them, but were unsuccessful. That night Joseph's, or "the Lord's," army encamped between the Little and the Big Fishing rivers, and the "mobbers," or anti-Mormons, who had learned of their coming were not far from them and ready for attack. At this important moment the elements interfered, the camp of the anti-Mormons scattered to the winds, their horses stampeded and one was killed by lightning.

On the second day (June 21st) the cholera broke out with terrible fierceness in "Zion's Camp." So sudden and overpowering was the attack that the strongest men fell to the ground with their guns in their hands. In four days, sixty-eight were attacked and fourteen of them died. Joseph went about laying on hands and "rebuking the destroyer," until he was himself prostrated. This visitation he ascribed to the disobedience of some, showed the necessity of submission, and promised that if they would "humble themselves and covenant to obey him as the Prophet of the Lord," the plague should be stayed. The Mormon historians assert that "not another was stricken with the cholera from that hour."

The previous "revelations" of Joseph Smith admitted of no verification beyond that of individual faith and experience; but this concerning "the redemption of Zion" revealed the revelator himself. While giving to it all the scope that the utmost devotion could claim, it must be allowed that it carries upon its surface anything but the evidence of a divine origin. The overthrow of "Zion's Camp" was a palpable failure and disappointing in every particular. There was a native honesty in Mohammed going to the mountain when the mountain would not come to him, which commands admiration, but the American Prophet lost his opportunity when, in the midst of "Zion's Camp" on the banks of the Big Fishing river, he failed to contribute to posterity a companion picture to that of his Arabian brother. Instead of that, he received another revelation: