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SSSIHBZE, 
 
 MormOTi Propliet, 
 
The True 
 
 Origin of Mormon 
 
 Polygamy 
 
 By 
 
 CHARLES A. SHOOK 
 
 If Joseph Smith ever taught or practiced the doc- 
 trine of polygamy, we ask, When ? Where ? or by 
 what testimony can he be thus convicted ? And until 
 these interrogatories are properly answered, we shall 
 feel justified in flaunting back the statement that he 
 taught or practiced polygamy in the face of his ac- 
 cusers as an unmitigated slander and villainous perse- 
 cution. Elder Willard J. Smith. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 The Standard Publishing Company 
 1914 
 
Copyright, 1914 
 
 The Standard Publishing Company 
 Cincinnati, O. 
 
Bancroft Library -|-i 
 
 Foreword 
 
 THE first edition of "The True Origin of Mormon Polyg- 
 amy" was published in the year 1910. This edition 
 being disposed df, the second is now presented to the public. 
 
 At the time that this book was first written, the author 
 had at hand but few of the original works of the Mormon 
 Church, but, since its appearance, through the kindness of 
 Mr. Z. H. Gurley, of Canton, Missouri, now deceased, and 
 Hon. A. T. Schroeder, of Cos Cob, Connecticut, he has had 
 access to nearly all of the old literature of Mormonisni, 
 from which he has made a number of extracts both for the 
 body of the work and also for a large number of footnotes 
 which confirm what has already been written. 
 
 To the Josephite Mormon who may chance to read this 
 production, we simply say : Consult your own early litera- 
 ture and you will find that what the author has written is 
 true. The celebrated Berrien collection of Mormon books, 
 pamphlets and papers in New York City and the Schroeder 
 collection in the State Historical Building at Madison, Wis- 
 consin, with the files of the Sangamo Journal at Spring- 
 field, Illinois, will afford you the facilities to ascertain what 
 the true character of things was at Nauvoo between the 
 years 1839 and 1844. 
 
 In putting this book out, our intention is not simply to 
 expose the foibles of Joseph Smith as a mere man. If he 
 had made no extraordinary claims, his mistakes would have 
 been buried long ago, as the mistakes of thousands of men 
 have been. But, when his followers present him to the 
 world as a prophet and religious teacher, so immaculate in 
 life that even God could use him as his monthpiece, it is 
 quite another thing, and they must answer for his misdeeds 
 before an intelligent and virtuous public. It will not do for 
 them to hide behind the plea that the charges made are 
 simply "a tissue of lies" or cringe beneath the mantle of 
 
iv FOREWORD 
 
 affected innocence. The stain of sin is upon the garment! 
 of Mormonism, and the world at large believes that the hand 
 of Joseph Smith placed it there. So, the evasive cry of "per- 
 secution" will not satisfy the ears of the enlightened people 
 of this generation nor draw out their sympathy when boldly 
 confronting them are the evidences which go to prove that 
 he was the author and originator of that polygamic system 
 which has been one of the foulest blots upon our national 
 escutcheon. Therefore, the duty that plainly confronts the 
 Reorganized Church is to meet the claims presented and 
 overthrow them, if they can. 
 
 To the fact that the members of the Reorganized Church 
 are usually good and law-abiding citizens, I cheerfully bear 
 witness. They will compare favorably with the members of 
 other churches, but they are no better. As I make this 
 acknowledgment, let no man put on a shoe that does not fit 
 him. What has been written is in respect to the evil de- 
 signs and practices of the original leaders, and does not 
 apply to the rank and file to-day. No one, who has studied 
 the history of the Mormon movement, will for one moment 
 believe that there is any more connection between the Jo- 
 sephite and Brighamite Churches than there is between the 
 Presbyterian and the Roman Catholic. The former have 
 fought their polygamic brethren with a zeal that would be 
 commendable if it were consistent. But, while they strongly 
 oppose polygamy now, they own and acknowledge as prophet 
 a man who has confessed to being the father of the cele- 
 brated "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," which has been 
 the basis of the doctrine of the plurality of wives in Utah. 
 (See Millennial Star, xxi. 715). 
 
 In closing, we wish to say a word in our own defense. 
 The charge has been made that this book has been written 
 that the author might "realize a little pecuniary profit" from 
 its sale. This charge is not true. Not one cent of profit or 
 royalty will find its way into his pocket. It is put out solely 
 in the interest of truth. CHARLES A. SHOOK. 
 
 EDDYVILLE, NEBRASKA, November i, 1913. 
 
[lustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH SMITH Frontispiece 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF SMITH 5 
 
 THE MORMON TEMPLE AT NAUVOO 46 
 
 DR. JOHN C BENNETT 62 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG 107 
 
 ORSON PRATT 130 
 
 JAMES J. STRANG 199 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 The Rise and Progress of Mormonism The Differences 
 Between the Brighamite and Josephite Churches The 
 Book of Mormon on Polygamy I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Reputation of the Smiths at Palmyra The Mormon 
 Attempt to Exonerate Them First Intimations of 
 Polygamy 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Bennett Expose Bennett Unites with the Mormons 
 Bennett Apostatizes and Exposes Joseph Smith The 
 Denials of the Mormon Church to Bennett's Charges 
 Bennett's Charges Sustained 46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Revelation on Celestial Marriage Preparation of the 
 People for the Revelation How the Revelation Came 
 to be Written The Revelation on Celestial Marriage 
 Proof that the Revelation Came from Joseph Smith 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Nauvoo Expositor The Events Leading up to Smith's 
 Assassination The Charges of the Expositor The 
 Charges of the Expositor Sustained 103 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Direct Evidence Connecting Joseph Smith with Polygamy- 
 Statements and Affidavits Certain Objections to These 
 
 Statements and Affidavits Considered 121 
 
 vii 
 
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Josephite Admissions Isaac Sheen William Marks J. W. 
 
 Briggs W. W. Blair The Robinsons Justus Morse.. 149 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mormon Denials Examined The Denials of Bennett's 
 Charges The Denials of Joseph and Hyrum Smith 
 The Denials of the Charges of Sidney Rigdon The De- 
 nial of John Taylor The Purported Denials of Emma 
 Smith 1/2 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Factions and Polygamy The Legal Battle Over Polyg- 
 amy Theoretical Polygamy Practical Polygamy 193 
 
The True Origin of Mor- 
 mon Polygamy 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Rise and Progress of Mormonism The Differences Be- 
 tween the Brighamite and Josephite Churches The Book of 
 Mormon on Polygamy. 
 
 Joseph Smith, the Mormon "Prophet," was born in 
 the village of Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, De- 
 cember 23, 1805. He was the fourth of ten children and 
 was reared in ignorance, poverty, indolence and super- 
 stition. In his tenth year, the family removed to Palmyra, 
 Ontario County, New York, four years afterwards re- 
 moving to Manchester, in the same county, where his 
 career as a prophet began. 
 
 When Joseph was in his fifteenth year, according to 
 his own account, he received his first religious impres- 
 sions. The three churches of his town, the Methodist, 
 Presbyterian and Baptist, had held long protracted meet- 
 ings and his feelings were considerably wrought upon, 
 while at the same time he was perplexed to know just 
 which of the churches to join. He finally decided to 
 make the matter a subject of prayer, and so, retiring to 
 the forest, he called upon the Lord, stating his desires and 
 perplexities. His prayer was soon answered by the 
 appearance of the Father and the Son, the former of 
 
2 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 whom told him that he must unite with none of the 
 existing sects, as they were all wrong and their professors 
 all corrupt. 
 
 On the 2 ist of September, 1823, he had another 
 vision, in which the angel Moroni appeared and revealed 
 to him the exact spot where a set of plates lay buried 
 on which was engraved, in the "Reformed Egyptian" 
 language, the history of ancient America. The following 
 day, he repaired to the spot, which was on a hill near 
 the village of Manchester, where he found them as 
 described, in a stone box buried underneath a large rock. 
 After viewing the plates, he was commanded to go his 
 way, being informed that the time had not yet come 
 for bringing them forth. 
 
 On the i8th of January, 1827, he eloped with Miss 
 Emma Hale, of Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsyl- 
 vania, and was married to her at the house of Squire Tar- 
 bill, of South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York. 
 On September 22 of the same year, the Nephite records 
 were given into his hands and, within the following 
 two years, were translated by the power of God through 
 the Urim and Thummim, two transparent stones set 
 in bows which he had found with them. The Book 
 of Mormon was finally completed, was copyrighted 
 June n, 1829, and was issued in book form early in 
 1830. 
 
 All the time that Smith was pretending to translate 
 the plates, he and his followers were busy teaching their 
 peculiar doctrines, and, on the 6th of April, 1830, he 
 organized the so-called "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints" at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, with 
 six members, himself included. From this time on, the 
 church continued to grow until at the time of Smith's 
 death in 1844, according to Mormon statistics, there were 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 3 
 
 two hundred thousand Mormons throughout the world. 1 
 In November, 1830, Sidney Rigdon, a Disciple minis- 
 ter at Mentor, O., who had heretofore played his part in 
 the background, came out openly with a large part of 
 his congregation and united with the Mormons. Rigdon 
 was an important accession to the Mormon ministerial 
 force, and Smith and his family, early in 1831, removed 
 to his vicinity and settled at Kirtland, which became the 
 capital of the new Mormon kingdom. The faithful from 
 the surrounding country began to gather there, and in 
 July, 1833, the corner-stone of an imposing temple was 
 laid, which was completed and dedicated with grand 
 ceremonies in March, 1836. 
 
 Early in June, 1831, a revelation was received in 
 which Joseph and certain of his elders were commanded 
 to assemble in the State of Missouri, the "land of Zion." 
 In company with Rigdon and several others, he left 
 Kirtland on the iQth of June, and, in the middle of the 
 following July, reached Independence, twelve miles west 
 of which, on August 2, the "land of Zion" was dedicated 
 and the foundations of a city were laid. 
 
 From this time on, Kirtland and Zion were the cen- 
 ters from which Mormon doctrine and influence radiated. 
 But in neither of these localities were the Mormons 
 on good terms with their Gentile neighbors, who ac- 
 cused them of various crimes and who were in turn 
 
 1 These are Josephite figures, based upon certain statements of Joseph 
 Smith. The Brighamites are much more modest in their estimate of the 
 size of the church at that time. Joseph F. Smith, Jr., in his "Origin 
 of the 'Reorganized' Church," gives the number of Mormons in Nauvoo 
 and vicinity as twenty thousand, which, he says, was the "great bulk of 
 the saints" in the United States. Adding to this the number of Mormons 
 in the British Isles in 1844, which was 7,797, we have a total of less 
 than thirty thousand. As the larger part of the church was found in 
 these two countries, I very much doubt if there were more than forty 
 thousand of Smith's followers in the world at the time of his assassination. 
 
4 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 denounced as the enemies of the Lord. Things reached 
 a climax at Kirtland in January, 1838, when, the Kirtland 
 "Safety Bank" having failed, Joseph and his counselor, 
 Rigdon, were forced to flee under cover of night in 
 order to escape the "persecutions" of their angry cred- 
 itors. In Missouri, trouble between the old settlers and 
 the Mormons arose when the latter began 1 to gather 
 there, and continued until they were finally driven from 
 the State by order of Governor Boggs in 1839. 
 
 After their expulsion from Missouri, the Mormons 
 found a welcome and a home in Illinois and soon began 
 the erection of a city which they named "Nauvoo." It 
 was here that Smith made his most lavish display. Be- 
 tween the years 1839 and 1844, he passed from a hunted 
 fugitive, fleeing from the vengeance of Missouri, to an 
 earthly potentate courted and flattered by the politicians 
 of Illinois. He had been a prophet, he now became 
 mayor of Nauvoo, a king to reign over the house of 
 Israel forever, lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion, 
 and, to cap the climax of his absurd pretensions, candi- 
 date for President of the United States on an indepen- 
 dent ticket! 
 
 But, like many another impostor, his career came to 
 an abrupt end. He had been accused of both immoral 
 and illegal conduct in New York, Ohio and Missouri, 
 but in all these States he had escaped justice. This made 
 him bolder in his arrogant and lawless conduct and he 
 
 1 "I went on to prove that the whole persecution from beginning to 
 end was grounded on our religious faith. For evidence of this, I referred 
 them to Porter Rockwell's testimony and P. Powell's. I stated that there 
 was abundant testimony to prove this to be a fact, among the documents. 
 I then gave a brief history of the persecutions from the first settlement 
 in the State to our final expulsion." Letter of Elias Higbee to Joseph 
 Smith, concerning his appearance before a committee of Congress, written 
 from Washington, D. C,, and dated February 20, 1840. See also Times 
 and Seasons, December, 1839, and "Church History," Vol. I., p. 183. 
 
-n 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 5 
 
 carried things with a high hand at Nauvoo. He was 
 accused of aiding and abetting a secret society, called 
 "Danites," in their depredations upon apostates and Gen- 
 tiles; of sheltering criminals fleeing from justice; of 
 attempting to bring about the assassination of his old 
 enemy, Governor Boggs; of counterfeiting the current 
 coin of the United States ; of speculating in Government 
 lands, and of the practice of immorality. 
 
 So strong were the evidences sustaining these and 
 other charges, that a respectable party broke off from 
 the church and attempted to make a public exposure of 
 the sins of the Prophet and his colleagues. These recu- 
 sants started to publish a paper, called the Nauvoo Ex- 
 positor, but it was* short-lived, for immediately after its 
 first issue of June 7, 1844, the press was broken and 
 the type pied by order of the city council and without 
 a trial, and the publishers were forced to flee for their 
 lives. 
 
 The leaders of the schism took refuge in the Gentile 
 town of Carthage, where, after some difficulty, they 
 secured the arrest of Smith and others of the Mormon 
 leaders, and he and his brother Hyrum were put in 
 Carthage jail, under a guard of State militia, to await 
 trial on the charge of treason. Here, on June 27, 1844, 
 at about five o'clock in the afternoon, a mob of infuriated 
 Gentiles stormed the jail, overpowered the guard and 
 shot Joseph and Hyrum dead. 
 
 No doubt the Gentiles, who were implicated in this 
 inexcusable crime, thought that the death of Smith 
 would put an end to Mormonism, but, instead, it was 
 the direst calamity that could possibly have befallen 
 the anti-Mormon cause. Had he been permitted to live 
 and to face trial, he undoubtedly would have been con- 
 victed and the eyes of his deluded followers would have 
 
6 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 been opened to his true character, but, as it was, his 
 tragic death gave him a new pose, that of a martyr, 
 and many of those whose faith had already begun to 
 weaken were again swung into line and Mormonism 
 received a new impetus such as it did not possess be- 
 fore. 
 
 Hardly had the flowers withered on the Prophet's 
 grave, than a number of claimants arose, each demand- 
 ing the Mormon throne. Sidney Rigdon based his claim 
 upon the fact that he had been Joseph's First Counselor, 
 which was next to the highest office in the church. But 
 Sidney had been out of favor with the Prophet during 
 the last years of his life 1 and had lost his popularity 
 with the people, on account of which he was almost 
 unanimously rejected by the church as its "Guardian" at 
 a public meeting held at Nauvoo, August 8, 1844, and 
 was excommunicated on September 8 of the same year. 
 He returned to his old home in Pittsburgh, crestfallen 
 over his defeat, and organized a Mormon Church of his 
 own, but this soon went to pieces. He died in the 
 year 1876. 
 
 James J. Strang was another of the leaders who 
 claimed authority as Joseph's successor. He produced 
 a letter which he declared was written by Smith himself, 
 shortly before his death, which appointed him to that 
 position. He succeeded in drawing a large faction away 
 from the main body and established his headquarters, first 
 at Voree, Wisconsin, and afterwards at Beaver Island, 
 Lake Michigan, where he met a tragic death at the hand 
 of an assassin in 1856. 
 
 William Smith based his claim to leadership mainly 
 upon the fact that he was brother of the Prophet, whom 
 
 1 Millennial Star, Vol. XX., p. 694. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 7 
 
 he also asserted had ordained him to that position before 
 his death. 
 
 But, of all these leaders, Brigham Young was the 
 most successful. He was popular with the Mormon 
 people and had been a steadfast friend of Joseph Smith. 
 He was not at Nauvoo at the time of the Prophet's 
 death, being in the Eastern States on a mission, but, 
 hearing of the catastrophe, he hurried home and reached 
 Nauvoo just in time to spoil the chances of Sidney 
 Rigdon. Through his popularity and influence, the 
 Twelve were accepted as the leaders of the church, which 
 gave him the controlling power, he being president of 
 that "Quorum." During the remainder of his life, Young 
 showed exceptional executive ability, successfully lead- 
 ing his people across the plains to Utah, where he es- 
 tablished" an hierarchy, which, for a time, bade defiance 
 to the Government of the United States. At his death, in 
 1877, he was succeeded by John Taylor, since which the 
 succession has been as follows: Wilford Woodruff, Lo- 
 renzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith (son of Hyrum), the 
 present head of the Utah Church. 
 
 There were still other factions of the original church, 
 those following such leaders as Lyman Wight, C. B. 
 Thompson, J. C. Brewster, William Bickerton, Alpheus 
 Cutler and David Whitmer, but these were short-lived 
 and soon went to pieces, leaving but few traces behind. 
 
 The branch of the Mormon Church known as Joseph- 
 ites, and officially named ''The Reorganized Church of 
 Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," had its beginning in 
 the year 1852 at Beloit, Wisconsin, in the union of two 
 former Strangite branches, that of Zenas H. Gurley, of 
 Zarahemla, Wisconsin, and that of Jason W. Briggs, of 
 Beloit. At a conference held at the place mentioned in 
 June, 1852, it was "Resolved, That the successor of 
 
8 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Joseph Smith, Junior, as the Presiding High Priest in 
 the Melchisedec Priesthood, must of necessity be the seed 
 of Joseph Smith, Junior, in fulfillment of the law and 
 promises of God." In April, 1853, at a conference held 
 at Zarahemla, Wisconsin, seven out of twelve of the 
 Quorum of Apostles were chosen and other officers or- 
 dained, and, on the 6th of April, 1860, at Amboy, Illinois, 
 Joseph Smith, the eldest son of the Prophet, was accepted 
 and became its First President and Seer. The Reor- 
 ganized Church, at the present time, maintains its head- 
 quarters at Lamoni, Iowa, and claims about sixty thou- 
 sand members throughout the world. 
 
 There is still another very small Mormon faction in 
 existence, "The Church of Christ," nicknamed the Hed- 
 rickites after its founder, Granville Hedrick. It has its 
 headquarters at Independence, Missouri, where it pub- 
 lishes a small paper, the Evening and Morning Star. 
 This branch rejects all of Smith's revelations which were 
 received after 1834, declaring that in that year he became 
 a fallen prophet. It numbers about two hundred com- 
 municants. 
 
 This, in brief, is the history of Mormonism from 
 its inception down to the present, a history presenting 
 features both interesting and repulsive. Unlike the other 
 sects which have sprung from American soil, that found- 
 ed by Joseph Smith was adapted neither to our society, 
 our Government nor our morals. It seemed to be ut- 
 terly out of harmony with the purest and best of our 
 existing institutions, and, after repeated conflicts, took 
 refuge in the Rocky Mountains, where it bade defiance 
 to American law and order until coerced into subjection 
 by the strong arms of the military 1 and civil powers. And 
 
 *In October, 1862, Gol. P. Edward Conner arrived at Salt Lake City 
 with fifteen hundred men and established Camp Douglas. "For nearly 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 9 
 
 Utah Mormonism is to-day as unwilling a subject as 
 ever to the laws of the United States of America. It 
 submits because it is forced to. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BRIGHAMITE AND 
 JOSEPHITE CHURCHES. 
 
 While both of the leading branches of the Mormon 
 Church accept the "Book of Mormon" and believe that 
 Joseph Smith was a prophet of God up to the time 
 of his death, there are at least five important doctrinal 
 differences between them: 
 
 I. The First Presidency. The Brighamites hold that 
 it is not essential that the First President of the church 
 be of the posterity of Joseph Smith, and that any in- 
 dividual chosen of God and approved by the church 
 may so act. They teach that an ordination to the Apos- 
 tleship fully qualifies the one ordained to officiate as 
 First President, as this officer is himself an Apostle. On 
 the contrary, the Josephites maintain that the presiding 
 officer of the church must be of the seed of Joseph 
 Smith, and declare that prior to his death he chose his 
 son, then twelve years of age, to be his successor. The 
 Brighamite side of the controversy is ably argued by 
 Elder Brigham H. Roberts, in his "Succession in the 
 Presidency of the Church," and the Josephite by Apostle 
 Heman C. Smith, in his reply, "True Succession in 
 Church Presidency." From the viewpoint of an un- 
 biased outsider, after a careful reading of the arguments 
 on both sides of the question, it appears to me that if 
 they would split the difference they would have about the 
 
 four years," writes Beadle, "General Conner maintained the rights of 
 American citizens, and protected and assisted many hundred dissenting 
 Mormons in their escape from Utah." Mysteries and Crimes of Mar- 
 monism, p. 202. 
 (2) 
 
10 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 truth, and that, as it now stands, the Josephites have the 
 President and the Brighamites the church. 
 
 2. Adam-god-ism. The Brighamites hold that there 
 are a multitude of gods ; in fact, that the number is being 
 constantly increased by the addition of pious Mormons. 
 They declare that God himself was originally as we are 
 now; in other words, that He is simply an exalted man, 
 and that those who keep the commandments will one day 
 be like Him. This doctrine the Josephites deny in toto 
 and challenge the claim that the Prophet ever taught it. 
 It may be well to say, however, that the charge was made 
 in the Nauvoo Expositor that the church was taught the 
 doctrine of a "plurality of gods above the God of this 
 universe, and his liability to fall with all his creations," 
 and that Smith himself, in a funeral sermon preached 
 over the dead body of Elder King Follett, in April, 1844, 
 said : "You have got to learn how to be gods yourselves ; 
 to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods 
 have done; by going from a small degree to another, 
 from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until 
 you are able to sit in glory as doth those who sit en- 
 throned in everlasting power." From which it would 
 seem that this doctrine originated with Smith himself. 
 3. Blood Atonement. The Brighamites have been 
 accused of teaching that the shedding of an apostate's 
 blood is an atonement for the sin of apostasy. This has 
 been indignantly denied, but the statements of Young, 
 Grant and other Utah leaders, which are to be found in 
 the bound volumes of their "Discourses," are too plain 
 to be misunderstood. For instance, President Jedediah 
 M. Grant said in a discourse delivered Sept. 21, 1856: 
 "I say there are men and women here that I would advise 
 to go to the President immediately, and ask him to ap- 
 point a committee to attend to their case ; and then let 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 11 
 
 a place be selected, and let that committee shed their 
 blood." The Josephites, of course, condemn this awful 
 doctrine and employ such statements as the foregoing 
 with telling effect in their controversies with the Utah 
 Church. 
 
 4. Gathering. The Brighamites declare that before 
 Smith's death he prophesied that the church would 
 "gather" to the mountainous regions of the West, and 
 that certain steps were taken with a view to such a 
 removal. The Josephites deny this and declare that the 
 only "Zion" is that in the State of Missouri. 
 
 5. Polygamy. The Brighamites assert than on July 
 12, 1843, and before, the Prophet received revelations 
 authorizing the practice of polygamy, and that in obe- 
 dience to these revelations he married a number of plural 
 wives. The Josephites, at first, conceded that their 
 prophet taught the doctrine, but claimed that he repented 
 of his connection with it before his death and that he 
 had the revelation commanding it burned. In later years, 
 however, they have denied emphatically that he was 
 ever a polygamist, and try to explain away the force 
 of their first concessions. Joseph Smith, the present 
 head of the Reorganized Church, gives the following 
 ingenious explanation of the origin and gradual develop- 
 ment of the spiritual-wife doctrine : 
 
 I believe that during the latter years of my father's life 
 there was in discussion among the elders, and possibly in prac- 
 tice, a theory like the following: that persons who might believe 
 that there was a sufficient degree of spiritual affinity between 
 them as married companions, to warrant the desire to perpetuate 
 that union in the world to come and after the resurrection, could 
 go before some high priest whom they might choose, and there 
 making known their desire, might be married for eternity, pledg- 
 ing themselves while in the flesh unto each other for the ob- 
 servance of the rights of companionship in the spirit; that this 
 
12 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 was called spiritual marriage, and upon the supposition that 
 what was sealed by this priesthood, before which this pledge 
 was made on earth, was sealed in heaven, the marriage relation 
 then entered into would continue in eternity. That this was not 
 authorized by command of God or rule of the church; but grew 
 out of the constant discussion had among the elders; and that 
 after a time it resulted in the wish (father to the thought) that 
 married companionship rendered unpleasant here by incompati- 
 bilities of different sorts, might be cured for the world to come, 
 by securing through this means a congenial companion in the 
 spirit; that there was but brief hesitancy between the wish and 
 an attempt to put it into form and practice. That once started 
 the idea grew; spiritual affinities were sought after, and in 
 seeking them the hitherto sacred precincts of home were in- 
 vaded; less and less restraint was exercised; the lines between 
 virtue and license, hitherto sharply drawn, grew more and more 
 indistinct; spiritual companionship, if sanctioned by a holy priest- 
 hood, to confer favors and pleasures in the world to come, 
 might be antedated and put to actual test here and so the en- 
 joyment of a spiritual companionship in eternity became a com- 
 panionship here; a wife a spiritual wife, if congenial; if not, 
 one that was congenial was sought, and a wife in fact was sup- 
 plemented by one in spirit, which in easy transition became one 
 in essential earthly relationship. From this, if one, why not two 
 or more, and plural marriage, or plurality of wives, was the 
 growth. That so soon as the prophet discovered that this must 
 inevitably be the result of the marriage for eternity between 
 married companions, which for the time was perhaps looked 
 upon as a harmless enlargement of the priesthood theory, and 
 rather intended to glorify them in doing business for eternity 
 and the heavens, he set about correcting it. But the evil had, 
 unnoted by him, taken root, and it was too late. What had been 
 possibly innocently spiritual became fleshly, sensual devilish. 
 He was taken away. The long train of circumstances burst upon 
 the people. He and Hyrum placed themselves in the front of 
 the impending storm and went down to death. That which in 
 life they were powerless to prevent rapidly took the successive 
 forms heretofore stated, and polygamy, after eight years of 
 further fostering in secret, rose in terrible malignity to essay 
 the destruction of the church. That my father may have been 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 13 
 
 a party to the first step in this strange development, I am per- 
 haps prepared to admit, though the evidence connecting him 
 with it is vague and uncertain ; but that he was in any other- 
 wise responsible for plural marriage, plurality of wives, or 
 polygamy, I do not know, nor are the evidences so far produced 
 to me conclusive to force my belief. TulUdge's History, pp. 
 798-800. 
 
 This, the son of the Mormon Prophet asks us to 
 accept as the true explanation of the introduction and 
 development of the doctrine and practice of polygamy! 
 Is it not, rather, the labored effort of the son to let the 
 father down easy and lighten his burden of responsi- 
 bility for the existence of this foul blot upon American 
 civilization, and so relieve the family name of the stigma 
 that has so long been attached to it? If polygamy was 
 introduced into the church before Joseph's death, as it is 
 admitted it was, could it have been introduced by any 
 one but Smith himself? His will was law, and the 
 manner in which he dealt with others 1 for daring to teach 
 doctrines contrary to his own shows how he would have 
 dealt with Young or any other man who might .have at- 
 tempted to introduce polygamy without his sanction. Be- 
 sides, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Lyman Wight, 
 and other noted polygamists, were among his closest 
 friends up to the very time of his death, while the Laws 
 and Higbees, Foster and Marks, who opposed this doc- 
 trine and practice, were out of favor with him during 
 the latter part of his life. 9 Straws tell which way the 
 
 1 Elders Gladden Bishop and Oliver Olney were ignominiously dis- 
 fellowshiped for claiming to receive revelations and for teaching doctrines 
 inconsistent with the faith of the church." Millennial Star, Vol. XIX., 
 pp. 151, 211. 
 
 8 "Whatever can be the matter with these men? [Law and Marks.] 
 Is it that the wicked flee when no man pursueth, that hit pigeons always 
 nutter, that drowning men catch at straws or that Presidents Law and 
 Marks are absolutely traitors to the church, that my remarks should 
 
14 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 wind blows, and Smith's friendship for polygamists and 
 his enmity toward monogamists plainly indicates where 
 he stood on the question of plural marriage. 
 
 The evidences all unite in proving that the foul doc- 
 trine of Mormon polygamy was conceived in the lustful 
 brain 1 of Joseph Smith; that it was practiced on the sly 
 at Kirtland and in Missouri ; that it was made the subject 
 of a revelation at Nauvoo ; and that, when the Mormons 
 were beyond the reach of Uncle Sam, it was openly 
 advocated and practiced in Salt Lake City. 
 
 THE BOOK OF MORMON ON POLYGAMY. 
 
 Both branches of the Mormon Church claim the 
 Book of Mormon as being on their side in the contro- 
 versy over polygamy. The Josephites contend that the 
 practice is condemned in the strongest terms, while the 
 Brighamites just as strongly contend that immediately 
 following the condemnation of the lustful practices of 
 David and Solomon a clause is inserted which provides 
 for the practice whensoever commanded by the Lord 
 and for the purpose of raising up seed unto Him. The 
 passage in question reads as follows: 
 
 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and con- 
 cubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord, 
 wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out 
 of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I 
 might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of 
 
 produce such excitement in their minds? . . . The people in the town 
 are astonished, almost every man saying to his neighbor, 'Is it possible 
 that Brother Law or Brother Marks is a traitor, and would deliver Brother 
 Joseph into the hands of his enemies in Missouri? If not, what can be 
 the meaning of all this? The righteous are as bold as a lion." Millennial 
 Star, Vol. XXII., p. 631. 
 
 1 In phrenological charts, prepared in the summer of 1842, by A. 
 Crane, M.D., for Joseph Smith, Willard Richards, Brigham Young and 
 Heber C. Kimball, they stood, respectively, n, 8, 7 and 10, on a scale of 
 12, in amativeness. This fact is significant. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 15 
 
 the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer 
 that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my 
 brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For 
 there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; 
 and concubines he shall have none: For I, the Lord God, de- 
 lighteth in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an 
 abomination before me : thus saith the Lord of hosts where- 
 fore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord 
 of hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes. Jacob 2 : 6. 
 
 This would be as clear-cut and strong a denuncia- 
 tion of polygamous practices as one could ask, were it 
 not for the qualifying clause which immediately follows, 
 and which reads : 
 
 For if I will, saith the Lord of hosts, raise up seed unto 
 me, I will command my people: otherwise, they shall hearken 
 unto these things. 
 
 This last clause has given the Josephites no little 
 trouble, and they have resorted to a far-fetched exegesis 
 to destroy its evident sense. Elder H. A. Stebbins writes : 
 
 Of course those who claim to find sanction for their own 
 evil and lustful deeds have tried to make a good deal of capital 
 out of this word otherwise. All that we really can understand 
 by it is that it means, "in other words" you shall hearken to 
 these things that I (the Lord) have spoken. Book of Mormon 
 Lectures, p. 197. 
 
 But, if the Lord had meant "in other words," why 
 did He not say so, and why did He use a term that is not 
 in the least synonymous, but conveys an entirely differ- 
 ent idea? "Otherwise" does not mean "in other words," 
 but is an adverb of manner indicating that the Nephites 
 were to refrain from the relations previously stated 
 unless there should come a divine command to the con- 
 trary. The plain import of this passage is: Polygamy 
 without a command from God and for the gratification 
 of the sensual appetite is an abomination before Him; 
 
16 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 polygamy with a command from God and prompted by a 
 desire to raise up seed unto Him is obligatory. 
 
 This passage, then, is no insuperable barrier to the 
 introduction of polygamy, and, upon the supposition that 
 God gave a revelation enjoining it upon Joseph Smith 
 and others at Nauvoo, July 12, 1843, can be explained 
 in perfect harmony with the theory and practice of the 
 Utah Mormon Church. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY. IT 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Reputation of the Smiths at Palmyra The Mormon At- 
 tempt to Exonerate Them First Intimations of Polygamy. 
 
 While it is not always true that as is the boy so 
 will be the man, it is, nevertheless, undeniable that youth- 
 ful training and environments are largely responsible for 
 what most men are in after life. This certainly was the 
 case with the Mormon Prophet. Being reared in an at- 
 mosphere of superstition, bigotry, dishonesty and lust, 
 he early inhaled those germs which poisoned his moral 
 system and finally brought him to his tragic and disgrace- 
 ful end. 
 
 Stephen S. Harding, one-time Governor of Utah, 
 who knew Smith at Palmyra, describes him as having 
 been a tall, long-legged and tow-headed youth, who 
 seldom srailed, hardly ever worked and never fought, 
 but who was hard on the truth and birds' nests. Others 
 of his acquaintances say that what little education he 
 had was picked up by chance and that his main occupa- 
 tions were fishing in the village mill-pond, digging out 
 woodchucks, hunting for lost treasure and reading the 
 lives of the notorious Captain Kidd and the clerical scoun- 
 drel, Stephen Burroughs, from which, without doubt, he 
 drew a large part of the inspiration for his spectacular 
 and unenviable career. 
 
 Time made some changes and the tow-head became 
 a light auburn, but the moral traits continued the same, 
 and secretiveness, untruthfulness, dishonesty and coward- 
 ice followed him to his assassination. Indeed, at no 
 time in his history was the last-mentioned trait more 
 
18 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 manifest than, when leaping from the window of Car- 
 thage jail, he cravenly called out the Masonic cry of dis- 
 tress, "Is there no help for the widow's son?" 1 with the 
 evident purpose of exciting the pity of his enemies. 
 
 THE REPUTATION OF THE SMITHS AT PALMYRA. 
 
 Joseph Smith, Sr., father of the Prophet, is described 
 as having been below the ordinary in veracity, honesty 
 and intelligence, and yet with a native shrewdness which 
 gave him power over others of the same class. He was 
 intensely superstitious, and spent a large part of his time 
 in "witching" for lost treasure, as the following account, 
 subscribed and sworn to by a neighbor, Peter Ingersoll, 
 at Palmyra, December 9, 1833, will show : 
 
 I was once ploughing near the house of Joseph Smith, Sen. 
 About noon, he requested me to walk with him a short distance 
 from his house, for the purpose of seeing whether a mineral rod 
 would work in my hand, saying, at the same time, he was con- 
 fident it would. As my oxen were eating, and being myself at 
 leisure, I accepted the invitation. When we arrived near the 
 place at which he thought there was money, he cut a small witch- 
 hazel bush, and gave me direction how to hold it. He then 
 went off some rods and told me to say to the rod, "Work to the 
 money," which I did, in an audible voice. He rebuked me 
 severely for speaking it loud, and said it must be spoken in a 
 whisper. This was rare sport for me. While the old man was 
 standing off some rods, throwing himself into various shapes, 
 I told him the rod did not work. He seemed much surprised at 
 this, and said he thought he saw it move in my hand. . . . An- 
 other time, the said Joseph, Sen., told me that the best time 
 for digging money was in the heat of summer, when the heat 
 of the sun caused the chests of money to rise near the top of 
 the ground. "You notice," said he, "the large stones on top of 
 the ground we call them rocks, and they truly appear so, but 
 
 1 Times and Seasons, Vol. V., p. 585. "Mormon Portraits," p. 154. 
 "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 153. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 19 
 
 they are, in fact, most of them chests of money raised by the 
 heat of the sun." 
 
 The mother, Lucy Smith, was not one whit behind 
 the father. Credulous to an extreme degree, she peopled 
 the air with familiar spirits and told many extravagant 
 stories of her experiences with them. She was a verita- 
 ble witch, and passed on to her son the secrets of her 
 calling. Mrs. Dr. Horace Eaton, who was a resident 
 of Palmyra for thirty-two years, has this to say of the 
 Smith family in general and the mother in particular : 
 
 As far as Mormonism was connected with its reputed 
 founder, Joseph Smith, always called "Joe. Smith," it had its 
 origin in the brain and heart of an ignorant, deceitful mother. 
 Joe Smith's mother moved in the lowest walks of life, but she 
 had a kind of mental power, which her son shared. With them 
 both the imagination was the commanding faculty. It was vain, 
 but vivid. To it was subsidized reason, conscience, truth. Both 
 mother and son were noted for a habit of extravagant assertion. 
 They would look a listener full in the eye, and, without con- 
 fusion or blanching, would fluently improvise startling statements 
 and exciting stones, the warp and woof of which were alike 
 sheer falsehood. Was an inconsistency alluded to, nothing 
 daunted, a subterfuge was always at hand. As one old man, 
 who knew them well, said to me, "You can't face them down. 
 They'd lie and stick to it." Many of the noblest specimens of 
 humanity have arisen from a condition of honest poverty; but 
 few of these from one of dishonest poverty. Agur apprehended 
 the danger when he said, "Lest I be poor and steal." Mrs. 
 Smith used to go to the houses of the village and do family 
 washings. But if the articles were left to dry upon the lines, 
 and not secured by their owners before midnight, the washer 
 was often the winner and in these nocturnal depredations she 
 was assisted by her boys, who favored in like manner poultry 
 yards and grain bins. Her son Joe never worked save at 
 "chopping bees" and "raisings," and then whiskey was the im- 
 petus and the reward. The mother of the high-priest of Mor- 
 monism was superstitious to the last degree. The very air she 
 breathed was inhabited by "familiar spirits that peeped and 
 
20 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 wizards that muttered." She turned many a penny by tracing 
 Jn the lines of the open palm the fortunes of the inquirer. 
 All ominous signs were heeded. No work was commenced on 
 Friday. The moon over the left shoulder portended calamity; 
 the breaking of a mirror, death. Even in the old Green Mountain 
 State, before the family emigrated to the Genesee country (the 
 then West), Mrs. Smith's mind was made up that one of her 
 sons should be a prophet. The weak father agreed with her 
 that Joseph was the "genus" of their nine children. So it was 
 established that Joseph should be the prophet. To such an 
 extent did the mother impress this idea upon the boy, that all 
 the instincts of childhood were restrained. He rarely smiled 
 or laughed. "His looks and thoughts were always downward 
 bent." He never indulged in the demonstrations of fun, since 
 they would not be in keeping with the profound dignity of his 
 allotted vocation. His mother inspired and aided him in every 
 scheme of duplicity and cunning. All acquainted with the facts 
 agree in saying that the evil spirit of Mormonism dwelt first in 
 Joe Smith's mother. 
 
 One of the means by which the Prophet deceived his 
 credulous followers was a stone found while digging a 
 well in the year 1822, and through which he claimed he 
 could find silver mines, the depositories of hidden treas- 
 ure, etc. What the "rod" had been to the father the 
 "peepstone" was to the son, and he always found a class 
 who were ready to believe his absurd pretensions. Mr. 
 Willard Chase, in whose well the stone was found, under 
 date of December n, 1833, gives the following account 
 of its finding and the use that was afterwards made of it : 
 
 I became acquainted with the Smith family, known as the 
 authors of the Mormon Bible, in the year 1820. At that time, 
 they were engaged in the money-digging business, which they 
 followed until the latter part of the season of 1827. In the 
 year 1822, I was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin 
 and Joseph Smith to assist me; the latter of whom is now 
 known as the Mormon prophet. After digging about twenty 
 feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly 
 appearing stone, which excited my curiosity. I brought it to 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 21 
 
 the top of the well, and as we were examining it, Joseph put 
 it into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. 
 It has been said by Smith, that he brought the stone from the 
 well; but this is false. There was no one in the well but myself. 
 The next morning he came to me, and wished to obtain the stone, 
 alleging that he could see in it; but I told him I did not 
 wish to part with it, on account of its being a curiosity, but would 
 lend it. After obtaining the stone, he began to publish abroad 
 what wonders he could discover by looking in it, and made 
 so much disturbance among the credulous part of the commu- 
 nity, that I ordered the stone to be returned to me again. He 
 had it in his possession about two years. I believe, some time in 
 1825, Hiram Smith (brother of Joseph Smith) came to me, and 
 wished to borrow the same stone, alleging that they wanted to 
 accomplish some business of importance, which could not very 
 well be done without the aid of the stone. I told him it was 
 of no particular worth to me, but merely wished to keep it as a 
 curiosity, and if he would pledge me his word and honor, that 
 I should have it when called for, he might take it; which he did 
 and took the stone. I thought I could rely on his word at this 
 time, as he had made a profession of religion. But in this I was 
 disappointed, for he disregarded both his word and honor. In 
 the fall of 1826, a friend called upon me and wished to see that 
 stone, about which so much had been said ; and I told him if he 
 would go with me to Smith's (a distance of about half a mile) 
 he might see it. But, to my surprise, on going to Smith's, and 
 asking him for the stone, he said, "You can not have it;" I told 
 him it belonged to me, repeated to him the promise he made 
 me, at the time of obtaining the stone ; upon which he faced 
 me with a malignant look and said, "I don't care who in the 
 Devil it belonged to, you shall not have it." ... In April, 1830, 
 I again asked Hiram for the stone which he had borrowed of 
 me; he told me I should not have it, for Joseph made use of it 
 in translating his Bible. I reminded him of his promise, and 
 that he had pledged his honor to return it; but he gave me the 
 lie, saying the stone was not mine nor never was. ... I have 
 regarded Joseph Smith, Jr., from the time I first became ac- 
 quainted with him until he left this part of the country, as a 
 man whose word could not be depended upon. Hiram's char- 
 acter was but very little better. 
 
22 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Perhaps no one was better acquainted with the pure 
 rascality of the Mormon Prophet than was his father-in- 
 law, Isaac Hale, of Harmony, Pennsylvania. Smith had 
 become acquainted with his daughter in the winter of 
 1825-26, when boarding at his house while on one of his 
 money-hunting expeditions, and, being refused her hand 
 on account of his bad habits, had eloped with, and was 
 married to, her on the i8th of January, 1827. After 
 their marriage, they went to Manchester, from which 
 place Joseph returned to Harmony in August, following, 
 for the purpose of procuring his wife's household goods. 
 Peter Ingersoll, who accompanied him, declares that 
 when Hale saw Joseph he burst into a flood of tears and 
 said: "You have stolen my daughter and married her. 
 I had much rather followed her to the grave. You spend 
 your time in digging for money, pretend to see in the 
 stone and deceive people." Joseph also wept and prom- 
 ised his father-in-law that he would give up his old 
 habits and settle down, at the same time confessing that 
 his former pretensions of being able to see things in the 
 stone were also false. On March 20, 1834, Hale swore 
 and subscribed to the following statement: 
 
 I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in November, 
 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men who 
 were called "money-diggers ;" and his occupation was that of 
 seeing, or pretending to see, by means of a stone placed in his 
 hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended 
 to discover minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at 
 this time was that of a careless young man not very well edu- 
 cated, and very saucy and insolent to his father. Smith, and 
 his father, with several other "money-diggers," boarded at my 
 house while they were employed in digging for a mine that they 
 supposed had been opened and worked by the Spaniards, many 
 years since. Young Smith gave the "money-diggers" great en- 
 couragement, at first, but when they had arrived in digging, to 
 near the place where he had stated an immense treasure could 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 23 
 
 be found he said the enchantment was so powerful that he 
 could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon after 
 dispersed. This took place about the i;th of November, 1825; 
 and one of the company gave me his note for $12.68 for his 
 board, which is still unpaid. After these occurrences young Smith 
 made several visits to my house, and at length asked my consent 
 to his marrying my daughter Emma. This I refused, and gave 
 my reasons for so doing; some of which were, that he was a 
 stranger, and followed a business that I could not approve; he 
 then left the place. Not long after this he returned, and while 
 I was absent from home, carried off my daughter, into the state 
 of New York, where they were married without my approbation 
 or consent. After they had arrived at Palmyra, N. Y., Emma 
 wrote to me inquiring whether she could take her property, 
 consisting of clothing, furniture, cows, etc. I replied that her 
 property was safe, and at her disposal. In a short time they 
 returned, bringing with them a Peter Ingersoll, and subsequently 
 came to the conclusion that they would move out, and reside 
 upon a place near my residence. Smith stated to me that he had 
 given up what he called "glass looking," and that he expected 
 to work hard for a living, and was willing to do so. He also 
 made arangements with my son Alva Hale, to go to Palmyra, 
 and move his (Smith's) furniture, etc., to this place. He then 
 returned to Palmyra, and soon after Alva, agreeable to the ar- 
 rangement, went up and returned with Smith and his family. 
 Soon after this I was informed they had brought a wonderful 
 Book of Plates down with them. I was shown a box in which 
 it is said they were contained, which had, to all appearances, 
 been used as a glass box of the common window glass. I was 
 allowed to feel the weight of the box, and they gave me to 
 understand that the Book of Plates was then in the box into 
 which, however, I was not allowed to look. I inquired of Joseph 
 Smith, Jr., who was to be the first who would be allowed to 
 see the Book of Plates? He said it was a young child. After 
 this, I became dissatisfied, and informed him that if there was 
 anything in my house of that description, which I could not be 
 allowed to see, he must take it away; if he did not I was deter- 
 mined to see it. After that, the plates were said to be hid in the 
 woods. . . . The manner in which he pretended to read and inter- 
 pret, was the same as when he looked for the "money-diggers," 
 
24 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the 
 Book of Plates was at the same time hid in the woods ! . . . I 
 conscientiously believe from the facts I have detailed, and from 
 many other circumstances, which 1 do not deem it necessary 
 to relate, that the whole "Book of Mormon" (so called) is a 
 silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness, got up for specu- 
 lation, and with a design to dupe the credulous and unwary 
 and in order that its fabricators may live upon the spoils of 
 those who swallow the deception. 
 
 On December 4, 1833, fifty-one citizens of Palmyra, 
 New York, signed the following statement relative to the 
 character of the Smiths: 
 
 We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith 
 family, for a number of years, while they resided near this place, 
 and we have no hesitation in saying, that we consider them 
 destitute of that moral character, which ought to entitle them 
 to the confidence of any community. They were particularly 
 famous for visionary projects, spent much of their time in dig- 
 ging for money which they pretended was hid in the earth ; and 
 to this day, large excavations may be seen in the earth, not 
 far from their residence, where they used to spend their time 
 in digging for hidden treasures. Joseph Smith, Senior, and his 
 son Joseph, were in particular considered entirely destitute of 
 moral character, and addicted to vicious habits. 
 
 The foregoing statements have given the Mormons 
 no little trouble, for while they freely admit that Joseph 
 was reared in poverty and ignorance, which they think 
 fulfills prophecy, they indignantly deny the charge that 
 his family were destitute of moral character, averring 
 that the stories told about them are the malicious inven- 
 tions of unscrupulous enemies. The fact, however, that 
 the Mormons have had ample opportunity to refute 
 these charges and have never done so is pretty good 
 evidence that in the main they are well founded. 
 
 THE MORMON ATTEMPT TO EXONERATE THE SMITHS. 
 
 The followers of Joseph Smith have made at least 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 25 
 
 one attempt to get testimonies favorable to his family 
 among the old citizens of Palmyra. In the Cadillac 
 (Michigan) Nezvs of April 6, 1880, appeared an article 
 from the Rev. C. C. Thorne, of Manchester, New York, 
 which contained a number of testimonies relative to the 
 poor character of the Smiths and Cowdery, as follows: 
 
 I knew Joe Smith, personally to some extent, saw him fre- 
 quently, knew well his reputation, he was a lazy, drinking fel- 
 low, and loose in his habits in every way. Danford Booth. 
 
 Smith's reputation was bad. I was acquainted with Oliver 
 Cowdery. He was a low pettifogger, the cat's-paw of the 
 Smiths to do their dirty work. Orrin Reed. 
 
 I knew the Smiths, but did not associate with them, for they 
 were too low to associate with. There was no truth in them. 
 Their aim was to get in where they could get property. They 
 broke up homes in that way. Smith had no regular business. 
 He had frequent revelations. Wm. Bryant. 
 
 This stirred the Mormons, who at that time were 
 carrying on mission work in Cadillac, to action, and, in 
 the spring of 1881, two of their elders, W. H. and E. L. 
 Kelley, went to Palmyra and vicinity, concealed their 
 identity, interviewed the parties who made the foregoing 
 statements, and others, and published their purported 
 interviews in the Saints' Herald, of Piano, Illinois, for 
 June I, 1 88 1. Their purported interviews with Booth, 
 Reed, Bryant and also J. H. Gilbert, reported by the 
 first named, I now give: 
 
 Having the names of Messrs. Bryant, Booth, and Reed, ob- 
 tained from a published communication in the Cadillac News, of 
 Michigan, about a year ago, by Rev. A. Marsh, of that place, 
 who had received it from a brother Reverend, one C. C. Thorn, 
 of Manchester, New York, who claimed to have interviewed 
 the above named gentlemen, and obtained from them wonderful 
 revelations about the Smith family, Cowdery, etc., making Mr. 
 Bryant to say that Smith was "a lazy, drinking fellow, loose in 
 his habits every way;" and Mr. Booth to say that their reputation 
 (3) 
 
26 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 was "bad," and that Oliver Cowdery was "a low pettifogger," 
 and "cat's-paw of the Smiths, to do their dirty work," etc.; and 
 Mr. Reed to say, "they were too low for him to associate with," 
 with a citation of the black sheep story, etc.; all of whom were 
 "astonished beyond measure" at the progress of this "imposture, 
 which they thought would not amount to anything." All of 
 which was sent to Rev. A. Marsh, of Cadillac, in order to coun- 
 teract the influence which had been created in favor of the faith 
 in that place, by the efforts of M. H. Bond and myself. 
 
 Believing then that the whole story was a trumped up thing, 
 I was determined to call on these gentlemen, and ascertain 
 whether this pious Rev. told the truth about what they said or 
 not. 
 
 At about 10 a. m. we called at the house of Mr. Bryant, 
 and knocked at the door, which was answered by a lady who 
 gave her name as Mary Bryant. She gave us seats in the room 
 where her husband, William Bryant, was sitting. He is now 
 eighty-five years of age, tall, and lean in flesh, and, during our 
 interview, sat in a stooping posture, with open mouth. His wife 
 informed us that for the last few years his mind had been 
 somewhat impaired. She has a good memory, is seventy-five 
 years of age, intelligent, and seemingly a great talker. We 
 announced that the purpose of our visit was to ascertain some 
 facts from the old settlers, with reference to the people known 
 as Mormons, who used to live there, as it is understood to have 
 been the home of the Smith family and others at the time 
 the Book of Mormon is alleged to have been discovered. 
 
 To this Mr. Bryant in a slow voice replied, "Yes, that big 
 hill you saw coming along, is where they say Joe Smith got 
 the plates ; you must have seen it coming along. Well, you can't 
 find out much from me; I don't know much about them myself; 
 I have seen Joe Smith once or twice; they lived about five 
 miles from where I did; was not personally acquainted with 
 any of them never went to any of their meetings, and never 
 heard one preach." 
 
 What do you know about the character of the family? How 
 were they for honesty.-' Were they industrious or lazy? We 
 want to know their character among their old neighbors. 
 
 "Well, I don't know about that. I never saw them work ; 
 the people thought young Joe was a great liar." 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 27 
 
 What made them think that? 
 
 "They thought he lied when he said he found that gold 
 bible." 
 
 Before this what was thought of him, as to his telling the 
 truth? 
 
 "I never heard anything before this." 
 
 What else did he lie about? And how did he get the name 
 of being such a great liar? 
 
 "The people said he lied about finding the plates; I don't 
 know whether he lied about anything else; they were all a 
 kind of a low, shiftless set." 
 
 What do you mean by that? 
 
 "The people said they were awful poor, and poor managers. 
 Joe was an illiterate fellow. If you come from Palmyra, you 
 could have got Tucker's work there and it would have told you 
 all about them. I have read a great deal about them." 
 
 Yes, we have seen Tucker's work, but there are too many 
 big stories in that. Thinking people don't believe them; they 
 ridicule them, and demand the facts; we wish to get some facts 
 which we can stand by. 
 
 "I don't know anything myself ; I wish I did. Have you been 
 to see Mr. Reed? He lives up north of Manchester; he knows." 
 
 Mrs. Bryant "My husband don't know anything about them ; 
 they did not live in the same neighborhood that we did, and 
 he was not acquainted with them ; he don't know anything." 
 
 Well, were they drunkards? 
 
 Mr. Bryant "Everybody drank whiskey in them times." 
 
 Did you ever see Joe Smith drunk or drinking? 
 
 "No, I can't say that I did; I only saw him once or twice, 
 when he came to the woolen mill where I worked." 
 
 Did you not see Joe drink sometime? 
 
 "N-o-e." 
 
 Mrs. Bryant "He ought not to say anything, for he knows 
 nothing about them; then it has been a long time ago." 
 
 Have you stated now all that you know about them? 
 
 Mr. Bryant "Yes ; I never knew much about them anyway." 
 
 Did you know any of their associates Cowdery, Harris 
 or others? 
 
 "No, I never knew any of them." 
 
 Mrs. Bryant "I knew Cowdery; Lyman Cowdery, I believe, 
 
28 THE 'iRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 was his name. They lived next door to us ; they were low 
 shacks, he was a lawyer, he was always on the wrong side 
 of every case, they said." 
 
 Did he ever teach school? 
 
 "No, not this one." 
 
 Did you know any other one? 
 
 "No, I only knew this one and his family; I know they 
 borrowed my churn once, and when it came home, I had to 
 scour it all over before I used it. My father owned the largest 
 house there was in the country at that time." 
 
 How were they about being honest, and telling the truth? 
 
 "I don't remember anything about that now." 
 
 Were they religious people pious? 
 
 "No, they did not belong to any church; I know they 
 didn't, for there were only two churches there, the Baptist and 
 Methodist, sometimes the Universalists preached there they 
 did not belong to either of those churches." 
 
 Mr. Bryant "He [Cowdery] was strong against the Masons; 
 he helped to write Morgan's book, they said." 
 
 What do- you know, now, about the Smiths or others; you 
 have lived here about seventy-five years, have you not, Mrs. 
 Bryant? 
 
 "Yes, I have lived here all my life, but I never knew any- 
 thing about the Smiths myself; you will find it all in Tucker's 
 work. I have read that. Have you been to see Mr. Booth? 
 He lives right up here, on the road running south; he knows 
 all about them, they say." 
 
 Very good; we will call and see him. Thank you for your 
 kindness in allowing us to trouble you. 
 
 "Oh, it is no trouble; I wish we knew more to tell you." 
 
 We then called upon Mr. David Booth, an intelligent gentle- 
 man, hale and hearty, and upwards of seventy years of age and 
 made known our business. 
 
 Mr. Booth promptly stated that he knew nothing of the 
 Smiths, or their character; did not live in their neighborhood, 
 and never saw either of them; did not know anything about 
 them, or their book. 
 
 Did you know the Cowderys? 
 
 "I knew one the lawyer." 
 
 What kind of a character was he? 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 29 
 
 "A low pettifogger." 
 
 What do you mean by that? 
 
 "Why, he was not a regular lawyer, but took small cases 
 and practiced before the justices of the peace. We call them 
 pettifoggers here." 
 
 What was his given name? 
 
 "Lyman; he never taught school; guess he was no church 
 member; he was a Mason; that was all there was to him. 
 They called him loose Cowdery." 
 
 What did they mean by that? 
 
 "Why, he would take small cases; would be on the wrong 
 side, and pettifog before justices, was the reason, I suppose." 
 
 Are you certain his name was- Lyman? Wasn't it Oliver? 
 
 "It has been a long time ago. I think maybe his name 
 was Oliver." 
 
 Did he drink? 
 
 "Everybody drank then. I never saw Cowdery drink." 
 
 Mr. Bryant, here in the village, told us that he was a strong 
 Anti-Mason, and helped to write Morgan's work. 
 
 "Oh, that is all nonsense ; they don't know anything about it. 
 Mr. Bryant hasn't been here more than thirty-five years; his 
 wife was raised here is his second wife. Cowdery was a 
 strong Mason, so they all said; that is all the religion he had." 
 
 Do you know Rev. Thorn, a Presbyterian minister at Man- 
 chester? 
 
 "Yes, I know him." 
 
 What kind of a fellow is he? 
 
 "He is a pretty sLarp fellow, and will look after his bread 
 and butter, you may depend on that." 
 
 Did he ever interview you on this subject? 
 
 "No, sir; he never did." 
 
 Did he not call to see what you knew about the Smiths 
 and Cowderys about a year ago? 
 
 "No, he never did, to my recollection." 
 
 Did you know he had a statement of yours published in 
 Michigan, in regard to this last year? 
 
 "No, sir; I never heard of it before." 
 
 Did you ever give him one to publish? 
 
 "I never did did not know he wanted one." 
 
 He will look out for himself, will he? 
 
30 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 "He will that ; that is him." 
 
 You have lived here all your life. Tell us of some one who 
 can tell us all about the people we wish to learn about some 
 of the old settlers. 
 
 "Squire Pierce and Mr. Reed live a few miles north from 
 here, in the neighborhood where the Smiths lived; they know 
 all about them, they say. The Smiths never lived in this neigh- 
 borhood." 
 
 ******* 
 
 Mr. Pierce having referred us to Mr. Reed, Orlando Saun- 
 ders, and Abel Chase, we took leave of him and his intelligent 
 family, and called next at the residence of Mr. Orrin Reed. 
 
 He was at his home doing some work about the barn. He 
 is a gentleman of about seventy years of age, hard of hearing, 
 and of pleasant and intelligent countenance. Breaking the object 
 of our call to him, he readily informed us that he knew nothing 
 whatever in regard to the character of Joseph Smith, or his 
 family. 
 
 Mr. Reed, were you not acquainted with the Smith family, 
 or some of those early connected with them? 
 
 "No, I was not. I lived in the town of Farmington when 
 the Smiths lived here. I knew nothing about any of them ; 
 was not personally acquainted with them, and never heard 
 any of them preach, nor ever attended any of their meetings. 
 I have seen Hyrum Smith. He bought a piece of land near 
 here, and lived on it sometime after the others left; but I 
 don't know anything against him." 
 
 We were given your name by a number of persons, who 
 claimed that you did know all about them, Mr. Reed. 
 
 "Is that so ? Well, they are mistaken ; I don't know any- 
 thing about it. I think Mr. Orlando Saunders, living up on 
 the road to Palmyra, will know more about that people than 
 anyone around here. He was better acquainted with them, or 
 lived right by them, and had a better opportunity of knowing 
 them." 
 
 Yes, we have his name already, but have not seen him yet. 
 Do you know Mr. Thorn, the Presbyterian minister at Man- 
 chester, over here? 
 
 "Yes, I know him slightly." 
 
 Did you not make a statement to him in regard to the 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 31 
 
 character of these men; that they were low persons, and not 
 good associates, or something of the kind? 
 
 "I never did." 
 
 Did he call on you to find out what you knew about it? 
 
 "No, sir, he never did ; at least he never let me know anything 
 about it if he did." 
 
 Did you ever see a statement he sent to Michigan last 
 year, and had published, purporting to be what you and others 
 knew about the Smiths and Cowderys? 
 
 "No, I never did; did not know that one was ever published 
 
 before." 
 
 ******* 
 
 Early in the evening we called upon Mr. John Gilbert, at 
 his residence, and made known our desire for an interview, 
 etc. He seemed quite free to give us all the information he had 
 upon the subject, and said he had been for the past forty-five 
 or fifty years doing all he could to find out what he could about 
 the Smiths and Book of Mormon. He is a man seventy-nine 
 years of age, and quite active even in this time of life. 
 
 What did you know about the Smiths, Mr. Gilbert? 
 
 "I knew nothing myself; have seen Joseph Smith a few 
 times, but not acquainted with him. Saw Hyrum quite often. 
 I am the party that set the type from the original manuscript 
 for the Book of Mormon. They translated it in a cave. I 
 would know that manuscript to-day, if I should see it. The 
 most of it was in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. Some in 
 Joseph's wife's; a small part though. Hyrum Smith always 
 brought the manuscript to the office; he would have it under 
 his coat, and all buttoned up as carefully as though it was 
 so much gold. He said at the time it was translated from plates 
 by the power of God, and they were very particular about it. 
 We had a great deal of trouble with it. It was not punctuated 
 at all. They did not know anything about punctuation, and we 
 had to do that ourselves." 
 
 Well; did you change any part of it when you were setting 
 the type? 
 
 "No, sir; we never changed it at all." 
 
 Why did you not change it and correct it? 
 
 "Because they would not allow us to; they were very par- 
 ticular about that. We never changed it in the least. Oh, well; 
 
32 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 there might have been one or two words that I changed the 
 spelling of; I believe I did change the spelling of one, and 
 perhaps two, but no more." 
 
 Did you set all of the type or did some one help you? 
 
 "I did the whole of it myself, and helped to read the 
 proof too; there was no one who worked at that but myself. 
 Did you ever see one of the first copies? I have one here 
 that was never bound. Mr. Grandin, the printer, gave it to me. 
 If you ever saw a Book of Mormon you will see that they 
 changed it afterwards." 
 
 They did! Well, let us see your copy; that is a good point. 
 How is it changed now? 
 
 "I will show you" (bringing out his copy). "Here on the 
 title page it says" (reading), "'Joseph Smith, Jr., author and 
 proprietor.' Afterwards, in getting out other editions they left 
 that out, and only claimed that Joseph Smith translated it." 
 
 Well, did they claim anything else than that he was the 
 translator when they brought the manuscript to you? 
 
 "Oh, no ; they claimed that he was translating it by means 
 of some instruments he got at the same time he did the plates, 
 and that the Lord helped him." 
 
 Was he educated, do you know? 
 
 "Oh, not at all then; but I understand that afterwards he 
 made great advancement, and was quite a scholar and orator." 
 
 How do you account for the production of the Book of 
 Mormon, Mr. Gilbert, then, if Joseph Smith was so illiterate? 
 
 "Well, that is the difficult question. It must have been from 
 the Spaulding romance you have heard of that, I suppose. 
 The parties here then never could have been the authors of it, 
 certainly. I have been for the last forty-five or fifty years trying 
 to get the key to that thing; but we have never been able to 
 make the connecting yet. For some years past I have been 
 corresponding with a person in Salt Lake, by the name of Cobb, 
 who is getting out a work against the Mormons ; but we have 
 never been able to find what we wanted." 
 
 If you could only connect Sidney Rigdon with Smith some 
 way, you could get up a theory. 
 
 "Yes; that is just where the trouble lies; the manuscript 
 was put in our hands in August, 1829, and all printed by March, 
 1830, and we can not find that Rigdon was ever about here, 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 35 
 
 or in this state, until sometime in the Fall of 1830. But I think 
 I have got a way out of the difficult now. A fellow that used 
 to be here, by the name of Saunders, Lorenzo Saunders, was back 
 here some time ago, and I was asking him about it. At first 
 he said he did not remember of ever seeing Rigdon until after 
 1830 sometime ; but after studying it over awhile, he said it 
 seemed to him that one time he was over to Smith's, and that 
 there was a stranger there he never saw before, and that they 
 said it was Rigdon. I told him about Cobb, of Utah, and asked 
 him if he would send Cobb his affidavit, that he saw Rigdon 
 before the book was published, if he (Cobb) would write to him; 
 he finally said he would, and I wrote to Cobb about it, and 
 gave Saunders' address, and after a long time, I got a letter 
 from him, saying he had written three letters to Saunders, and 
 could get no answer. I then sat down and wrote Saunders a 
 letter myself, reminding him of his promise, and wrote to Cobb 
 also about it, and after a long time Cobb wrote me again, that 
 Saunders had written to him; but I have never learned how 
 satisfactory it was, or whether he made the affidavit or not." 
 
 Is that Saunders a brother of the Saunders living down 
 here, Orlando Saunders? 
 
 "Yes, sir; they are brothers." 
 
 Is he older or younger? 
 
 "Younger; about fifteen years younger." 
 
 Then he must have been quite young before the Book of 
 Mormon was published ? 
 
 "Yes, he was young." 
 
 This Saunders down here don't talk like a great many people ; 
 he seems to think the Smiths were very good people; we have 
 been there to-day. 
 
 "Oh, I don't think the Smiths were as bad as people let on 
 for. Now Tucker, in his work, told too many big things; no- 
 body could believe his stories." 
 
 Did the Smiths ever dig for money? 
 
 "Yes; I can tell you where you can find persons who know 
 all about that; can take you to the very place." 
 
 Can you? All right, give us their names. 
 
 "The Jackaway boys two old bachelors, and their sister, an 
 old maid, live together, right up the street going north, near 
 
34 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 the north part of the town; they can tell you all about it, 
 and show you the very places where they dug." 
 
 What will you take for your copy of the Book of Mormon; 
 or will you sell it? 
 
 "Yes, I will sell it." 
 
 How much for it? 
 
 "I will take Five Hundred Dollars for it, and no less; I 
 have known them to sell for more than that." 
 
 Well, I am not buying at those figures, thank you. What 
 kind of a man was Martin Harris? 
 
 "He was a very honest farmer, but very superstitious." 
 
 What was he before his name was connected with the Book 
 of Mormon? 
 
 "Not anything, I believe; he was a kind of a skeptic." 
 
 What do you mean by his being superstitious? Was he re- 
 ligious ? 
 
 "Well, I don't know about that; but he pretended to see 
 things." 
 
 What do you think of the Book of Mormon, as a book; you 
 are well posted in it? 
 
 "Oh, there is nothing taught in the book but what is good; 
 there is no denying that; it is the claim of being from God 
 that I strike at." 
 
 Well, is it any more wonderful than that God gave the 
 Bible? 
 
 "No, not a bit; and there is a good deal more evidence 
 to show that that is divine than there is for some of the books 
 in the Bible. Why, it is all nonsense to think that Moses wrote 
 some of the books attributed to him, in the Bible." 
 
 Then you don't believe the "fish story," either, Mr. Gil- 
 bert? 
 
 "No; nor that Jonah swallowed the whale." 
 
 How about Sampson catching the three hundred foxes, and 
 the firebrands? 
 
 "Yes, that is a good one ; you fellows will do." 
 
 Much obliged, Mr. Gilbert. 
 
 "You are quite welcome. I wish I could give you more 
 than I have." From Palmyra to Independence, pp. 342-368. 
 
 Others who were interviewed at the time that the 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 35 
 
 foregoing persons were seen, were Ezra Pierce, Orlando 
 Saunders, Abel Chase, the Jackaway brothers, Dr. John 
 Stafford and Thomas Taylor. Mr. Pierce was made to 
 say that he knew the Smiths ; that Joseph was ignorant ; 
 that he heard he had dug for money, and that the people 
 thought the family were counterfeiters ; the conversation 
 ending with a discussion on the divinity of the Book of 
 Mormon, the gift of tongues, etc. Mr. Saunders stated 
 that they had come to a poor place to find out anything; 
 that he knew the Smiths well; that "they were very 
 good people," "the best family in the neighborhood in the 
 case of sickness;" that Harris was an honorable man, 
 and that Joseph was "always a gentleman." Mr. Chase 
 >aid that the family were poorly educated, ignorant, super- 
 stitious and shiftless and that Joseph used a "peepstone." 
 The Jackaways stated that they had seen the Smiths a 
 number of times ; that they knew them ; that they heard 
 they had dug for money ; that Joseph and his father got 
 drunk on cider once, and that Harris and the Cowderys 
 were good people. Dr. Stafford told the interviewers that 
 Joseph "was a real clever, jovial boy;" that the Smiths 
 dug for money; that Joseph got drunk once on boiled 
 cider; that he would do a good day's work, but was a 
 poor manager; that he (Stafford) did not believe the 
 story told about Smith and the black sheep, which it was 
 said the latter obtained from his father; that Cowdery 
 was a man of good character; that Harris was an hon- 
 orable farmer, and that he could not connect Rigdon 
 with Smith before the Book of Mormon appeared. 
 Mr. Taylor stated that the Smiths were "nice men," 
 ahead of the people of their time; that they had been 
 persecuted; that the people who told things about them 
 were d d liars ; that he thought that Smith had really 
 found plates in Mormon Hill ; that he had never seen the 
 
36 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Book of Mormon, and that Rev. Mr. Thorne was stuck 
 up and was preaching for his bread and butter. 
 
 If these reports of the interviews of the Kelleys with 
 the old residents of Palmyra and vicinity were correct 
 and truthful, there is no question that the characters of 
 Smith and Cowdery would be cleared somewhat, though 
 not entirely, from the stigma that has been attached to 
 them, for, according to these reports, some of those in- 
 terviewed seem to have had a better opinion of them than 
 they have generally been considered worthy of. But, 
 unfortunately for the Smiths and Cowdery in particular 
 and the Mormon Church in general, the interviewers 
 are charged with having taken undue liberties and not 
 publishing the questions and answers exactly as they 
 were given. No sooner did the reports of these inter- 
 views appear than at least three of the parties concerned 
 indignantly and emphatically denied under oath ever mak- 
 ing some of the answers attributed to them, two of them 
 reaffirming what had appeared over their names in the 
 article in the Cadillac News written by Rev. Mr. Thorne. 
 Their affidavits follow: 
 
 Danford Booth, of the town of Manchester and county of 
 Ontario, N. Y., being duly affirmed, deposes: He has read the 
 article in the Cadillac Weekly News of April 6th, 1880, re- 
 specting "Cowdery and the Smith family," over the signature 
 of C. C. Thorne. The interview therein mentioned between 
 deponent and Thorne did take place. The matters therein set 
 forth, alleged to have been stated by the deponent to Thorne, 
 were so stated by deponent to Thorne. He has read also in a 
 paper called the Saints' Herald, of June ist, 1881, an article 
 purporting to give what was said in an interview between W. H. 
 Kelley and another party and the deponent, in which it is stated 
 that deponent informed said parties that deponent and Thorne 
 never had an interview as alleged by Thorne. Deponent de- 
 clares that he did not so inform said parties, ^nd thM he has 
 
ZfORMOX POLYGAMY 37 
 
 no recollection of such a question being asked him by them. 
 
 (Signed) DANFORD BOOTH. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, July ist, 1881. 
 
 (Signed) N. K. COLE, J. P. 
 
 Orrin Reed, of the township of Manchester, county of Onta- 
 rio, N. Y., being duly affirmed, deposes : His age is 77. He was 
 born in the town of Farmington, about four miles from what is 
 called "Mormon Hill." During the last forty-six years he has 
 resided in the town of Manchester, and in the same school district 
 in which Joseph Smith and family, of Mormon notoriety, re- 
 sided, and three-fourths of a mile from "Mormon Hill." He 
 has read an article published in the Cadillac News of April 6th, 
 1880, respecting "Cowdery and the Smith family," over the 
 signature of C. C. Thorne. The matters therein set forth and 
 alleged to have been stated by deponent to Thorne were so 
 stated by deponent, at the time and in the manner stated in said 
 published article. (Signed) ORRIN REED. 
 
 Affirmed and subscribed before me, June 29th, 1881. 
 
 (Signed) N. K. COLE, J. P. 
 
 John H. Gilbert, of the town of Palmyra, Wayne county, 
 N. Y., being duly sworn, deposes : That in the article published in 
 the Saints' Herald, at Piano, 111., June 1st, 1881, over the signa- 
 ture of VV. H. Kelley, purporting to give an interview with the 
 deponent on Mormonism, the deponent is grossly misrepresented 
 in almost every particular. Words are put in the mouth of the 
 deponent that he never uttered. The pretended answers to 
 questions that the deponent did answer, are totally at variance 
 with the answers that the deponent really gave. The deponent 
 believes that such misrepresentation was done designedly. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN H. GILBERT. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, July I2th, 1881. 
 
 (Signed) M. C. FINLEY, J. P. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert, in regard to this interview, wrote the 
 following letter to Mr. Thomas Gregg, of Hamilton, 
 Illinois, dated at Palmyra, New York, June 19, 1881 : 
 
 I am in receipt of the Saints' Herald you sent me, also your 
 letter. I had received a Herald several days before I received 
 the one you sent, probably from Kelley, who signs the article. 
 His report of the conversation had with me is full of misrep- 
 
38 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 reservations. In the first paragraph, Hyrum said, "It was trans- 
 lated from plates by the power of God," etc., is utterly false. 
 I never had any conversation with Hyrum in regard to the trans- 
 lation. In regard to the change of spelling two words, he words 
 my answer entirely different from what I said to him. I told 
 him distinctly that I changed the spelling of one word, which oc- 
 curred twice in one form no believing about it. The word 
 changed was "travail," spelled "travel" in both instances, show- 
 ing that the copyist did not know the difference. I did not tell 
 him I set all the type, as he reports me saying. In regard to 
 Smith claiming to be author, etc., I told him I understood in later 
 editions he only claimed to be translator, etc.; the balance of 
 the story in regard to this authorship, is all his own coining and 
 answering. I told Kelley I thought the Spaulding MS. was the 
 foundation of the M. B., and gave him my reasons for thinking 
 so. The long paragraph in relation to Mr. Cobb and Lorenzo 
 Saunders is a mixed mess of truth and falsehood. When I 
 asked Mr. S. if he knew whether Rigdon was hanging around 
 Smith previous to the publication of the M. B., he said, "Yes, 
 at least eighteen months before." There was no hesitancy about 
 it; and this is what I told Kelly. You can see how he reported 
 the matter. I did not tell Kelley that I had known a copy or 
 copies of the M. B. to sell for $500, or more than that; that is 
 one of his misrepresentations. What he charges me with saying 
 about the Smiths and Tucker's book, is all his own coining. 
 
 Mr. Jackaway tells me he tlid not tell Kelley that Joe and 
 his father got drunk on cider, but on whiskey. 
 
 I do know that Kelley has misrepresented me in his report 
 of my answers and statements, and I have no doubt he has 
 misrepresented others also. What his object was I cannot di- 
 vine. He may think it will strengthen the faith of Mormons a 
 little. Well, if people are fools enough to believe in it, let 
 them; it is no worse than some other humbugs. 
 ******* 
 
 If you have any Mormon friends in your vicinity, who have 
 read Kelley's report in the Saints' Herald, you can say to them 
 that he is a great falsifier, and I consider him the champion 
 liar of America. Yours truly, 
 
 J. H. GILBERT. 
 
 The bold, but unsuccessful, attempt of the Kelley 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 39 
 
 brothers to relieve the character of Smith from the stigma 
 that has so long been attached to it is only another 
 example of the extreme to which Mormonism has gone, 
 while the denials of Reed, Booth and Gilbert leave Smith's 
 reputation just about where it was before. 
 
 FIRST INTIMATIONS OF POLYGAMY. 
 
 It can no longer be successfully maintained that Mor- 
 mon polygamy was an after-thought, first conceived of 
 and practiced at Nauvoo, for the facts that have leaked 
 out all tend to show that it was one of the first prin- 
 ciples of the Mormon faith that entered into Smith's 
 mind. Indeed, so convincing are these facts that a certain 
 Gentile scoffer 1 suggests that the first revelation on the 
 subject may have come during the period of pubescence, 
 if not before, while no less an authority than Apostle 
 Orson Pratt publicly declared that the principle was first 
 made known to the Prophet in the year 1831, though he 
 claims that the latter did not enter upon its practice until 
 some ten years afterwards. 
 
 As the laws of those States in which the Mormons 
 had their principal centers were particularly rigid against 
 the crimes of adultery and bigamy, Smith took great 
 pains to keep his practices secret, and this is, undoubtedly, 
 the reason why the evidences of plural wifery were so 
 meager before 1842, when Bennett came out with his 
 expose. Suffice it to say, however, that the conduct of 
 the leading Mormons prior to that date was of such a 
 character as to raise the suspicions of their Gentile neigh- 
 bors that some form of immorality was practiced among 
 them. 
 
 Whenever one of Smith's confederates turned traitor 
 and revealed the immoral conduct of his chief, he was 
 
 1 Dr. Wyl, "Mormon Portraits," p. 93. 
 
40 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 promptly cut off from the church, often on the same 
 charge that he had made against Smith and generally 
 without a hearing, while his accusations were met with 
 emphatic denials and protestations of innocence. The 
 Prophet's own denials and protestations were sometimes 
 accompanied with certificates of good character signed by 
 numbers of his followers, plenty of whom could be found 
 willing to attach their names to such a statement. Many 
 of these were undoubtedly ignorant of his private life 
 and signed their names in good faith, but some of 
 them, who had been let into his secrets, knowingly signed 
 a falsehood, having been taught that it was right and 
 proper to lie in the interests of the church and the 
 "Lord's Anointed." * 
 
 That Smith had in mind the introduction of polygamy 
 into the church, when he was pretending to translate 
 the Book of Mormon, is proved by the qualifying clause 
 of the passage prohibitive of polygamy in that book, 
 "For if I will, saith the Lord of hosts, raise up seed 
 unto me, I will command my people ; otherwise they 
 shall hearken unto these things." This qualifying clause 
 was, without doubt, intended to be a suggestion to the 
 believers in the Book of Mormon that God might, at 
 some future time, command his people to practice plural 
 wifery. 
 
 That Joseph, at this time, was not opposed to the 
 principle is proved by the testimony of Rev. Levi Lewis, 
 an uncle of his wife, who says: 
 
 I heard Joseph Smith and Martin Harris both say that 
 adultery was no crime. I saw him three times intoxicated while 
 he was composing the Book of Mormon and heard him use lan- 
 guage of the greatest profanity. 
 
 1 See the affidavits of Law, Robinson and Morse and the statement 
 of Sidney Rigdon. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 41 
 
 After the Mormons had settled at Kirtland, a num- 
 ber of things leaked out which have given the Gentiles the 
 right to suspect that the Prophet was not the pure, vir- 
 tuous servant of the Lord he let on to be. 1 W. W. 
 Phelps stated that, while he was translating the Book of 
 Abraham, he said that polygamy would yet be a practice 
 of the church. W. S. Smith declared that spiritual 
 wifery was so much talked of in Kirtland that it became 
 a byword on the street, while J. M. Atwater stated that 
 Martin Harris told him that the doctrine was first an- 
 nounced as a revelation by Rigdon in a meeting of the 
 church officials held in an old building near the temple. 
 Fanny Brewer, who for a time lived with the Saints at 
 Kirtland, but who afterwards apostatized because of the 
 evil and dishonest practices of the church leaders, made 
 a statement at Boston, Massachusetts, before Bradford 
 Sumner, J. P., September 13, 1842, nearly two years 
 before Smith's assassination, part of which is as follows : 
 
 In the spring of 1837, I left Boston for Kirtland, in all good 
 faith, to assemble with the Saints, as I thought, and worship 
 God more perfectly. On my arrival, I found brother going to 
 
 1 An attempt was made at the close of the celebrated Braden-Kelley 
 debate at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1884, to get testimonies from the old residents 
 of Kirtland favorable to the Smiths and their followers. Sworn state- 
 ments were obtained from Reuben P. Harmon, A. E. Sanborn, J. M. 
 Plaisted, Ezra Bond and F. C. Rich. These witnesses seemed to know 
 little one way or another, but generally stated that the character of the 
 Mormon leaders was usually considered good, although one of them stated 
 that there were reports about them. That their testimony can have but 
 little weight will be seen from two significant facts: first, none of them 
 were connected with the church, hence could not know what was going on 
 on the inside; and, secondly, most of them were too young at the time 
 the Smiths left in 1838 (some of the other leaders left before that year) 
 to know much about them personally, Harmon being twenty-three; Rich, 
 seventeen; Bond, twelve, and Plaisted, only seven, while Sanborn did 
 not move to Kirtland until 1836. At the same time, one of Braden's 
 witnesses, William S. Smith, testified that the report was circulated before 
 the Mormons left Kirtland that Rigdon had fallen out with Smith because 
 the latter wanted his daughter, Nancy, sealed to him. 
 
 (4) 
 
42 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 law with brother, drunkenness prevailing to a great extent, 
 and every species of wickedness. Joseph Smith, a prophet of 
 God, (as he called himself,) was under arrest for employing two 
 of the Elders to kill a man by the name of Grandison Newell, 
 belonging to Mentor; but was acquitted, as the most material 
 witness did not appear ! ! ! I am personally acquainted with one 
 of the employees, Davis by name, and he frankly acknowledged 
 to me, that he was prepared to do the deed under the direction 
 of the Prophet, and was only prevented from so doing by the 
 entreaties of his wife. There was much excitement against the 
 Prophet, on another account, likewise, an unlawful intercourse 
 between himself and a young orphan girl residing in his family, 
 and under his protection ! ! ! Mr. Martin Harris told me that the 
 Prophet was most notorious for lying and licentiousness ! ! 
 
 In the year 1835, when the "Book of Doctrine and 
 Covenants" was compiled, a section on marriage was 
 inserted, one article of which reads: 
 
 All legal contracts of marriage made before a person is 
 baptized into this church, should be held sacred and fulfilled. In- 
 asmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the 
 crime of fornication and polygamy: we declare that we believe 
 that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one 
 husband, except in case of death when either is at liberty to 
 marry again. 
 
 This article shows that, at this early date, both forni- 
 cation and polygamy were charged against the Latter- 
 day Saints and it was evidently intended to appear as 
 a denial of the charge. In reality, however, it is a mere 
 subterfuge, for, while it denies a belief in polyandry, a 
 practice never charged against the Mormons, it does not 
 necessarily deny a belief in polygamy. The restrictive 
 adverb "but," which appears before "one husband," is 
 omitted before "one wife," on account of which the 
 Brighamites, who employed this ceremony in their po- 
 lygamous marriages, construe it to mean : "One man 
 should have one wife, at least, and one woman but one 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 43 
 
 husband." Besides, notice, also, that fornication alone 
 is said to be a crime. This is only another case where 
 language has been made to quiet the suspicions of the 
 Gentiles, while at the same time it does not necessarily 
 deny the practices of the Mormons. 
 
 By the year 1838, the opinion had become so general 
 that the Mormons taught and practiced certain obnoxious 
 doctrines that it became necessary, in order to quiet the 
 public mind, for Joseph Smith to publish a number of 
 questions that were repeatedly propounded to him, and 
 his answers to the same. The seventh reads : 
 
 "Do the Mormons believe in having more wives than one?" 
 No, not at the same time. But they believe that if their com- 
 panion dies, they have the right to marry again. Millennial 
 Star, Vol. XVI., p. 150. 
 
 In a letter to the church, dated December 16, 1838, 
 which was published in the same paper, Vol. XVI., 
 page 627, Joseph says: 
 
 We have heard that it is reported by some, that some of us 
 should have said, that we not only dedicated our property, but 
 our families also to the Lord; and Satan, taking advantage of 
 this, has transfigured it into licentiousness, such as a community 
 of wives, which is an abomination in the sight of God. 1 
 
 That Smith was boldly accused of adultery by some 
 of the other leaders of the Mormon Church, is proved 
 by one of the charges preferred against Oliver Cowdery 
 on April n, 1838: 
 
 2nd. For seeking to destroy the character of President Joseph 
 Smith, Junior, by falsely insinuating that he was guilty of 
 adultery. Millennial Star, Vol. XVI., p. 133. 
 
 Parley P. Pratt, in a letter to the Millennial Star, Vol. 
 III., page 74, says: 
 
 See also Times and Seasons for April, 1840, for a similar admission. 
 
44 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 But for the information of those who may be assailed by 
 those foolish tales about the two wives, we would say that no 
 such principle ever existed among the Latter Day Saints and 
 never will. 
 
 The foregoing was written in August, 1842, and shows 
 that the report, that the Mormons believed in polygamy, 
 had even reached England at that early date. 
 
 The same writer, in 1840, in his "Persecutions of the 
 Latter-day Saints," page 10, states that it was a belief 
 held by the "ignorant" of Missouri that the Mormons 
 allowed "unlawful intercourse between the sexes." 
 
 I must, however, before leaving this subject, contradict certain 
 reports concerning our principles in regard to property, and also 
 in regard to matrimony. ... It is also a current report among 
 the ignorant that we do away (with) matrimony, and that we 
 allow unlawful intercourse between the sexes. Now this idea 
 originated and lias been kept alive by wicked and designing 
 persons, and by the credulity of those who are more ready to 
 believe falsehood than they are to believe truth. There has 
 never been the ohadow of anything to cause such a report. 
 
 In the summer of 1842, Dr. John C. Bennett openly 
 charged Smith with practicing polygamy. That this was 
 common report throughout the country before, is proved 
 by the following extract from a letter written by James 
 Arlington Bennett to Joseph Smith from the Arlington 
 House, New York, August 16, 1842: 
 
 You have nothing to expect from that part of community 
 who are bigotedly attached to the other churches. They have 
 always believed and still believe everything said to your dis- 
 advantage; and what General John C. Bennett is now saying 
 in the papers is nothing more than what was common report 
 before, throughout this whole community, insomuch that I had 
 to contradict it in the Herald under the signature of "Cincin- 
 natus," and even requested the Elders of the Mormon Church 
 to do so long ago. Millennial Star, Vol. XIX., p. 711. 
 
 These quotations, from Mormon publications, show 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 45 
 
 conclusively that there was a generally prevailing opin- 
 ion, even before the year 1840, that the Mormons were 
 guilty of practicing polygamy or licentiousness, while 
 their persistent denials count for little when viewed 
 either from the viewpoint of their reputation for veracity, 
 their subsequent history or their later admissions. 
 
46 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Bennett Expose Bennett Unites with the Mormons Ben- 
 nett Apostatizes and Exposes Joseph Smith The Denials of 
 the Mormon Church to Bennett's Charges Bennett's Charges 
 Sustained. 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1839, Joseph Smith and his 
 family left Quincy, Illinois, where they had found a 
 refuge and a welcome in their flight from Missouri, and 
 on the loth reached the little village of Commerce, in 
 Hancock County, where land had been purchased for a 
 Mormon settlement and which became the gathering- 
 point for the scattered bands of the Mormon people. On 
 the 2ist of April, 1840, the name of this place was 
 changed to Nauvoo, "The Beautiful," and, on the i6th 
 of the following December, charters were granted to the 
 city of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Legion and the Nauvoo 
 University. 
 
 The year 1841 opened with the brightest prospects 
 for the Mormon people. Their Prophet and leading 
 officials had escaped out of the hands of the Missourians ; 
 they had found refuge in a State whose citizens were 
 particularly friendly to them; they had begun a city 
 which claimed three thousand inhabitants ; their ministry 
 had been eminently successful both at home and abroad ; 
 and proselytes were flocking in daily to add to the 
 strength and glory of Nauvoo. Under these hopeful 
 conditions, the corner-stone of a large temple was laid 
 with appropriate ceremonies on the 6th of April, 1841, 
 and, at a conference held immediately after, larger plans 
 were laid for future work. 
 
THE MORMON TEMPLE AT NAUVOO, ILLINOIS. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 47 
 
 With these bright prospects before them, there is 
 no question that the Mormon people would have made 
 phenomenal success at Nauvoo had they kept out of 
 politics and devilment. But it seems that this was an 
 impossible thing for them to do. Instead of being con- 
 tent simply to preach their religious tenets, they allowed 
 themselves to be carried away with the spirit of revenge, 
 bigotry, greed and a desire for political power, which 
 finally resulted in their overthrow, and the ten years 
 which followed their establishment at Nauvoo saw their 
 Prophet slain, their warmest friends become their bitter- 
 est enemies, their city given into Gentile hands and their 
 church broken up into a number of contending factions. 
 
 DR. JOHN C. BENNETT UNITES WITH THE MORMONS. 
 
 No sooner had the Mormons become fully settled 
 at Nauvoo than a star arose upon their horizon which 
 was destined to fill a conspicuous place in their galaxy, 
 and, after a brief but spectacular career, to fall into the 
 darkness of obscurity. This star was Dr. John C. Ben- 
 nett, "Quartermaster-General of the State of Illinois/' 
 He was a man of considerable talent and education, but 
 of arrogant self-conceit, domineering ways and engross- 
 ing lust, and had the reputation of being "one of the 
 greatest scamps in the Western country." 
 
 His connection with Smith began through a series 
 of friendly and complimentary letters which he wrote the 
 Prophet during the summer of 1840 and which resulted 
 in him finally uniting with the Mormon Church. Al- 
 though he never filled any ecclesiastical position of im- 
 portance, 1 he was held in high esteem by the Prophet on 
 
 1 Heman C. Smith ("Church History," Vol. II., p. 460) says that 
 Bennett "held no high position of trust in the church," but the Times 
 and Seasons, Vol. II., p. 387, says: "Gen. J. C. Bennett was presented 
 
48 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 account of his political influence and became, in a secular 
 sense, his chief counselor. At a conference held at 
 Nauvoo in October, 1840, he, with Joseph Smith and 
 R. B. Thompson, were appointed a committee to draft a 
 bill for the incorporation of Nauvoo, and he was chosen 
 delegate to visit Springfield and urge its adoption by 
 the Legislature. Through his influence, it successfully 
 passed both houses, and became a law by the Governor's 
 signature, December 16, 1840, and, on the ist of Feb- 
 ruary, 1841, Bennett was elected first mayor of the newly 
 incorporated city. Subsequently, he became chancellor 
 of the Nauvoo University and major-general of the 
 Nauvoo Legion (Joseph Smith being chosen lieutenant- 
 general), which body of troops owed its organization, 
 discipline and equipment largely to his military knowl- 
 edge, skill and prestige. 
 
 At the time that Bennett united with the Mormons, 
 the following blessing was pronounced upon his head by 
 Hyrum Smith: 
 
 A Blessing pronounced on the head of J. C. Bennett, son of 
 J. and N. Bennett, born in the town of Fair Haven, Bristol 
 County, Massachusetts, August 3, A. D. 1804, by Hyrum Smith, 
 Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 
 September 21, 1840. 
 
 John C. Bennett I lay my hands upon your head in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, and inasmuch as thou art a son of Abraham, I 
 bless you with the holy priesthood, with all its graces, and gifts, 
 and with wisdom in all the mysteries of God. Thou shalt have 
 knowledge given thee, and shalt understand the keys by which 
 all mysteries shall oe unlocked. Thou shalt have great power 
 among the children of men, and shalt have influence among 
 the great and the noble, even to prevail on many and bring them 
 to the knowledge of the truth. Thou shalt prevail over thy 
 enemies ; and shalt know when thou hast gained power over 
 
 with the First Presidency, as Assistant President, until President Rigdon's 
 health should be restored." 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 49 
 
 them, and in this thine heart shall rejoice. Many souls shall 
 believe because of the proclamation which thou shalt make. The 
 Holy Spirit shall rest upon thee, insomuch that thy voice shall 
 make the foundation on which thou standest to shake, so great 
 shall be the power of God. 
 
 His favor shall rest upon thee in dreams and visions, which 
 shall manifest the glory of God. Beloved brother, if thou art 
 faithful, thou .shalt have power to heal the sick; cause the lame 
 to leap like an hart; the deaf to hear; and the dumb to speak, 
 and their voice shall salute thine ears; thy soul shall be made 
 glad and thy heart shall rejoice in God. Thou shalt be like unto 
 Paul, who, according to his own words, was like "one born out 
 of due time," and shalt have the visions of heaven open, even 
 as they were to him. 
 
 Thy name shall be known in many nations, and thy voice 
 shall be heard among many people. Yea, unto many of the 
 remnants of Israel shalt thou be known, and when they shall 
 hear of thy coming they shall rejoice, and thou shalt proclaim 
 the gospel unto many tribes of the house of Israel. 
 
 If thou shouldst step aside from the path of rectitude at any 
 time because of temptation, the Lord shall call after thee, because 
 of the integrity of thine heart, and thou shalt return to the path 
 from whence thou hast strayed, for God shall illume the path 
 by the light of his everlasting covenant, and with its light thou 
 shalt keep the way. 
 
 God is with thee, and hast wrought upon thine heart to come 
 up to this place, that thou mayest be satisfied that the servants of 
 God dwell here. God shall reward thee for thy kindness, and 
 thou shalt be fully satisfied hereafter. Thy soul shall be en- 
 larged, thy mind shall be clear, and thy judgment informed, and 
 the knowledge of all these things shall be made clear to thy 
 understanding. Thou wilt have to pass through tribulation, 
 but thou shalt remember the promises of the Lord, and shalt be 
 comforted, and shalt have the greater manifestations of the 
 power of God. 
 
 Thou must travel and labor for Zion, for this is the mind 
 and will of God. Let thy voice be heard, and thy prayers and 
 supplications and thy rejoicings be known. Turn not aside 
 from the truth for the popularity of the world, but be like 
 Paul. Let God be thy shield and buckler, and he shall shield thee 
 
50 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 forever. Angels shall guide thee, and shall lift thee out ol many 
 dangers, and difficulties; and after thou art delivered, them shah 
 know they have done it, and thy heart shall be comforted. 
 
 Thou shalt have power over many of thy friends and rela- 
 tions, and shalt prevail with them, and when thou shalt reason 
 with them, it shall be like Paul reasoning with Felix, and they 
 shall tremble when they hear thy words. Thou shalt be blessed 
 with the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and if thou art 
 faithful, thou shalt yet be a Patriarch, and the blessings thou 
 shalt pronounce shall be sealed in heaven. Thou shalt have an 
 inheritance among the Saints in time and in eternity, for this 
 is the will of God. If thou continue faithful and steadfast in 
 the Everlasting Covenant, thou shalt have power over the winds 
 and the waves, and they shall obey thy voice when thou shalt 
 speak in the name of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The power of God shall shield thee while thou art laboring 
 for Zion. Thou shalt outride the storm of adversity with pa- 
 tience, and shalt be crowned with immortality in the Celestial 
 Kingdom, when Christ shall descend. Even so, Amen. 
 
 R. B. THOMPSON, Scribe. 
 
 At least once, the Mormon deity recognized the work 
 of the doctor, and on January 19, 1841, the following 
 revelation was given to the Mormon Prophet concerning 
 him: 
 
 Again, let my servant, John C. Bennett, help you in your 
 labor in sending my word to the kings of the people of the earth, 
 and stand by you, even you my servant Joseph Smith, in the 
 hour of affliction, and his reward shall not fail, if he receive 
 counsel; and for his love he shall be great; for he shall be 
 mine if he do this, saith the Lord. I have seen the work which 
 he hath done, which I accept, if he continue, and will crown 
 him with blessings and great glory. 
 
 But Bennett was not only in high favor with the 
 Mormon deity, he was also very popular with the Mor- 
 mon people. In the Times and Seasons, Vol. II., page 
 351, I find the following extract from the Chicago Dem- 
 ocrat, with the editorial comment upon the same : 
 
 "Gen. J. C. Bennett, a very popular and deserving man, has 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 51 
 
 been elected Mayor of Nauvoo, Hancock county." Chicago 
 Democrat. 
 
 We cheerfully respond to the above statement respecting our 
 worthy Mayor, and we are indeed glad that any of our friends 
 of the press can nobly come forward and award to faithfulness 
 and integrity their due even if found in a Mormon. 
 
 We would say, that if untiring diligence to aid the afflicted 
 and the oppressed, zeal for the promotion of literature and intel- 
 ligence, and a virtuous and consistent conduct, are evidences of 
 popularity, &c., we* venture to say that no man deserves the 
 appellations of "popular and deserving" more than Gen. J. C. 
 Bennett. 
 
 Again, in an editorial in the same paper for June I, 
 1841, replying to certain charges made against Bennett 
 in the Warsaw Signal, we have the following : 
 
 It is obvious, that the intention is to make the community 
 believe that General Bennett is a mere renegade hypocrite 
 and all that is base in humanity. But General Bennett's character 
 as a gentleman, an officer, a scholar, and a physician, stands 
 too high to need defending by us; suffice it to say, that he is in 
 the confidence of the Executive, holds the office of Quarter- 
 master-General of this State, and is well known to a large num- 
 ber of persons of the first respectability throughout the State. 
 He has, likewise, been favorably known for upwards of eight 
 years by some of the authorities of the Church, and has resided 
 three years in this State. But being a Mormon, his virtues 
 are construed into defects, and is thought a proper object of the 
 base, cowardly, and ungentlemanly attack of the Editor of the 
 Signal. 
 
 But, notwithstanding his recognition by the Mormon 
 deity and his popularity with the Mormon people, Bennett 
 afterwards confessed that he had practiced duplicity and 
 had been insincere in his profession of faith in Mormon- 
 ism, which speaks but poorly for the omniscience of the 
 Mormon god. He says : 
 
 I find that it is almost universally the opinion of those who 
 have heard of me in the eastern part of the United States, that I 
 
52 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 united myself to the Mormons from a conviction of the truth 
 of their doctrines, and that I was, at least for sometime, a convert 
 to their pretended religion. This, however, is a very gross error. 
 I never believed in them or their doctrines. This is, and indeed 
 was, from the first, well known to my friends and acquaintances 
 in the western country, who were well aware of my reasons 
 for connecting myself with the Prophet; which reasons I will 
 now proceed to state. ... It at length occurred to me that the 
 surest and speediest way to overthrow the Imposter, and ex- 
 pose his iniquity to the world, would be to profess myself a 
 convert to his doctrines, and join him at the seat of his do- 
 minion. I felt confident that from my standing in society, and 
 the offices I held under the state of Illinois, I should be received 
 by the Mormons with open arms; and that the course I was 
 resolved to pursue would enable me to get behind the curtain, 
 and behold at my leisure, the secret wires of the fabric, and 
 likewise those who moved them. Expose of Joe Smith and 
 Mormonism, pp. 5, 6. 
 
 BENNETT APOSTATIZES AND EXPOSES JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 After several months of the closest intimacy, Smith 
 and Bennett fell out and began to expose each other 
 mercilessly. Bennett accused Smith of various crimes 
 and Smith replied by charging the same on Bennett. 
 The latter published his accusations, with the proof of 
 them, in the Sangamo Journal of Springfield, Illinois, 
 from the files of which now in the State Historical Li- 
 brary I have copied most of the testimony that appears in 
 this chapter, and the Prophet replied through the Times 
 and Seasons. ' 
 
 At first, it seems, Bennett was permitted to with- 
 draw quietly from the church, Smith, evidently, fearing 
 that a harsher course might impel the doctor to tell all 
 he knew and thus uncover the secret practices of the 
 Mormon leaders at Nauvoo. On the I7th of May, 1842, 
 the Prophet sent the following official request to the 
 church recorder : 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 53 
 
 BRO. JAMES SLOAN : You will be so good as to permit 
 General Bennett to withdraw his name from the Church Record, 
 if he desires to do so, and this with the best of feelings towards 
 you and General Bennett. JOSEPH SMITH.' 
 
 This request was granted and the following note was 
 sent to Smith in return : 
 
 In accordance with the above I have permitted General 
 Bennett to withdraw his membership from the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter Day Saints this i;th day of May, 1842 the 
 best of feelings subsisting between all parties. 
 
 JAMES SLOAN, 
 General Church Clerk and Recorder. 
 
 On the same date, Bennett resigned the office of 
 mayor and was forced by Smith to make the following 
 affidavit under the threat of death if he refused: 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS, , 
 
 ss. 
 
 s, ) 
 
 City of Nauvoo. j 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Daniel H. Wells, an Alder- 
 man of said city of Nttuvoo, John C. Bennett, who being duly 
 sworn according to law, deposeth and saith : that he never was 
 taught anything in the least contrary to the strictest principles of 
 the gospel, or of virtue, or of the laws of God, or man, under 
 any circumstances, cr upon any occasion, either directly or in- 
 directly, in word or deed, by Joseph Smith ; and that he never 
 knew the said Smith to countenance any improper conduct what- 
 ever, either in public or private; and that he never did teach 
 to me in private that an illegal, illicit intercourse with females 
 was, under any circumstances, justifiable, and that I never knew 
 him so to teach others. JOHN C. BENNETT. 
 
 1 That Bennett had in his possession such a writing on the date 
 mentioned, is proved by the affidavit of D. H. Wells (Millennial Star, V. 
 XIX., p. 615). Wells says: "After signing and being qualified to the 
 affidavit aforesaid, he requested to speak with me at the door. I followed 
 him out; he told me some persons had been lying about him, and showed 
 me a writing granting him the privilege to withdraw from the church." 
 Joseph tacitly admits the existence and genuineness of this writing, for 
 he gives Wells' affidavit without comment in his "Diary," and adds: 
 "Daniel H. Wells, Esq., is an old resident in this place and not a Mormon." 
 
54 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed, before me, this i^th day of May, 
 1842. DANIEL H. WELLS, Alderman. 
 
 Two days later, on the iQth, he was compelled to go 
 before the city council and make a statement which, as 
 published in the Times and Seasons, is as follows : 
 
 I know what I am about, and the heads of the church know 
 what they are about. I expect I have no difficulty with the 
 heads of the church. I publicly avow that anyone who has said 
 that I have stated that General Joseph Smith has given me au- 
 thority to hold illicit intercourse with women is a liar in the face 
 of God; those who have said it are damned liars; they are 
 infernal liars. He never, either in public or private, gave me any 
 such authority or license and any person who states it is a scoun- 
 drel and a liar. I have heard it said that I should become a 
 second Avard by withdrawing from the church, and that I was 
 at variance with the heads and should use an influence against 
 them because I resigned the office of Mayor; this is false. I 
 have no difficulty with the heads of the church, and I intend to 
 continue with you, and hope the time may come when I 
 may be restored to full confidence and fellowship, and my former 
 standing in the church ; and that my conduct may be such as 
 to warrant my restoration ; and should the time ever come that I 
 may have the opportunity to test my faith, it will then be known 
 whether I am a traitor or a true man. 
 
 At this meeting of the city council, Joseph Smith 
 was chosen mayor to succeed Bennett, and the following 
 resolution was drafted and adopted: 
 
 Resolved, By the City Council of the City of Nauvoo. That 
 this Council tender a vote of thanks to General John C. Bennett, 
 for his great zeal in having good and wholesome laws adopted 
 for the government of the city, and for the faithful discharge of 
 his duty while Mayor of the same. 
 
 Passed May igth, 1842. JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor. 
 
 JAMES SLOAN, Recorder. 1 
 
 By the passing of this resolution, Smith and his 
 
 1 This resolution was published in the Mormon secular paper, the 
 Wasp, May 21, 1842. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 55 
 
 confederates no doubt thought that Bennett might be 
 pacified and that he might be deterred from his avowed 
 purpose of exposing the corruptions that existed at Nau- 
 voo. But it had no such effect, and on the I5th of June 
 the following notice of his expulsion from the Church 
 of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was published in 
 the Times and Seasons: 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 The subscribers, members of the First Presidency of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, withdraw the hand 
 of fellowship from General John C. Bennett as a Christian, he 
 having been labored with from time to time to persuade him to 
 amend his conduct, apparently to no good effect. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH. HYRUM SMITH. WILLIAM LAW. 
 
 The following members of the Quorum of the Twelve concur 
 in the above sentiments: 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG. JOHN E. PAGE. 
 
 HEBER C. KIMBALL. JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 LYMAN WIGHT. WILFORD WOODRUFF. 
 
 WILLIAM SMITH. GEORGE A. SMITH. 
 
 WILLARD RICHARDS. 
 
 We concur in the above sentiments: 
 
 N. K. WHITNEY. V. KNIGHT. GEORGE MILLER. 
 Bishops of the above-mentioned church. 
 
 NAUVOO, May n, 1842. 
 
 There are two important things in the foregoing 
 notice to which I wish specially to direct the reader's 
 attention: First, the date, May n, 1842, and, secondly, 
 the conspicuous absence of the names of President Sid- 
 ney Rigdon and Apostle Orson Pratt, with the substitu- 
 tion of Hyrum Smith's name as a member of the First 
 Presidency. Now, if Bennett was expelled from the 
 church on May n, 1842, why was he permitted to with- 
 draw his name from the church record, "with the best 
 of feelings" toward him, on the I7th, and why was tfof 
 
56 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 publication of the notice of his expulsion deferred until 
 after he had begun to make his damaging charges against 
 Joseph Smith and the Mormon people? As for the 
 absence of the names of Rigdon and Pratt, it is easily 
 explained: Bennett was their friend and had warned 
 Rigdon's daughter, Nancy, and Orson Pratt' s wife of 
 the designs of Smith upon them, on account of which 
 they, undoubtedly, entertained a feeling of gratitude 
 toward him, while, at the same time, their feelings to- 
 ward Smith were not the most friendly. The substitution 
 of the name of Hyrum Smith, in place of that of Sidney 
 Rigdon, as a member of the First Presidency, was a de- 
 ception. Hyrum was not one of Joseph's Counselors at 
 this time, being, instead, Patriarch of the church, which 
 office he held from January, 1841, to the time of his 
 death. He, evidently, signed his name to the notice to 
 make it appear that the entire First Presidency was op- 
 posed to Bennett, which was not true, as Rigdon was 
 one of his supporters. Bennett, also, charges that the 
 names of at least three of the Apostles were forgeries, 
 John E. Page and William Smith being in Pennsylvania, 
 and Lyman Wight in Tennessee, at this time. 1 
 
 The notice of Bennett's expulsion was followed by 
 an editorial in the Times and Seasons of July I, 1842, 
 from the pen of Joseph Smith, setting forth the charges 
 made against him. In this editorial, Bennett was accused 
 of being "a very mean man," who "had a wife and two 
 or three children in McConnellsville, Morgan County, 
 Ohio ;" of paying attentions, notwithstanding this, to one 
 of the young ladies of Nauvoo; of circulating the report 
 
 1 Bennett says: "This Bull was signed by the Mormon Hierarchy, who 
 forged the names of Lyman Wight, who was then in Tennessee; William 
 Smith, who was in Pennsylvania; and John E. Page, who was in Pitts- 
 burgh! These are three of the Mormon Apostles." Expose, p. 41. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 57 
 
 "that promiscuous intercourse between the sexes was a 
 doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints and that 
 there was no harm in it;" of telling the women that 
 Joseph himself "not only sanctioned, but practiced," the 
 same; of attempting to commit suicide by taking poison; 
 and of allying himself with the Missourians for the pur- 
 pose of delivering Smith into their hands. 
 
 Bennett replied to these accusations with great vigor 
 and published a number of affidavits very damaging to 
 Smith's reputation. In a letter published in the Sanga- 
 mo Journal of July 7, 1842, he says: 
 
 Joseph Smith, the great Mormon seducer, one who has 
 seduced not only hundreds of single and married females, but 
 more than the great Solomon, attempted to seduce Miss Nancy 
 Rigdon, the eldest single daughter of Sidney Rigdon, to submit 
 to his hellish purposes, and become one of his clandestine wives 
 under the new dispensation. Call upon Miss Rigdon, who re- 
 pulsed him with commendable firmness, and I will abide her testi- 
 mony call, likewise, upon Gen. George W. Robinson, and Col. 
 F. M. Higbee, to state what they know upon this subject. Gen. 
 Robinson and Col. Higbee can tell some astounding facts in 
 relation to this matter. Joe approached Miss Rigdon "in the name 
 of the Lord and by His authority and permission," as he said. 
 Joe attacked Mr. Rigdon, Gen. Robinson, Col. Higbee and myself, 
 in order to destroy the influence of ALL of us to prevent the 
 exposition of this case. But it is all true, and the legal evidence 
 shall be forthcoming. Call upon Miss Martha Brotherton, of 
 Warsaw, and see what she will say as to the base attempt at 
 seduction in her own case. She can tell a tale of woe, that would 
 make humanity shudder. Call upon Miss Mitchell, of this city, 
 one of the most chaste and spotless females in the west, and 
 see what she knows as to the PROPHET'S SECRET WIVES. Hundreds 
 of cases can be instanced, and if the Danites do not murder me, 
 you shall hear a tale of pollution and sorrow. Joe's licentious- 
 ness is unparalleled in the annals of time. 
 
 In another letter, dated at Carthage, July 2, 1842, he 
 tells how he was forced to make his affidavit of May 17, 
 
 (5) 
 
58 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 and his statement to the city council on the I9th of the 
 same month : 
 
 To the Editor of the Journal: 
 
 I am now in this place to attend to some of my official duties 
 as Master in Chancery, and having some leisure time, I shall 
 proceed with my history of Joe Smith and the Saints. It is my 
 determination to state facts, and such facts as will arouse the 
 public indignation if there is yet virtue and courage left in man 
 for we are exhorted to be enterprising and courageous but the 
 beast and false prophet (Joe Smith) shall tremble in the days 
 of his captivity like an aspen leaf in the wilderness. The "Lord's 
 Anointed," as Joe is called, must be washed in the lavar of the 
 law, until his polluted carcass and corrupt soul be purified 
 by fire. And to begin: 
 
 ist. The Duresse. On the i;th day of May, A. D. 1842, 
 Joe Smith requested to see me alone in the preparation room 
 of the Nauvoo Lodge, U. D., on some important business. We 
 entered, and he locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and 
 drew a pistol on me and said: "The peace of my family re- 
 quires that you should sign an affidavit, and make a statement 
 before the next City Council, on the iQth, exonerating me from 
 all participation whatever, either directly or indirectly, in word or 
 deed, in the spiritual wife doctrine, or private intercourse with 
 females in general; and if you do not do it with apparent 
 cheerfulness, I will make cat-fish bait of you, or deliver you 
 to the Danites for execution to-night; for my dignity and purity 
 must and shall be maintained before the public, even at the 
 expense of life. Will you do it, or die?" I replied that he had 
 better procure some other person, or persons, to do so, as there 
 were plenty who could do it in truth. "No," said he, "that will 
 not do; for it is known that you are well acquainted with all 
 my private acts, better than any other man ; and it is in your 
 power to save me or damn me ; and as you have now withdrawn 
 from the Church in an honorable manner, over my own signa- 
 ture, a privilege never granted to any other person, you must 
 and shall place it out of your power to injure me or the Church. 
 Do it, or the Mississippi is your portion; will you do it?" 
 
 I remarked that it was a hard case and that I would leave 
 peaceably, and without any public exposition, if he would excuse 
 me. He replied: "I tell you, as I was once told, 'Your die is 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 59 
 
 cast, your fate is fixed, your doom is sealed' if you refuse. 
 Will you do it, or die?" I remarked that I would, under the 
 circumstances, but that it was hard to take the advantage of an 
 unarmed man. "If you tell that publicly," he said, "death is your 
 portion remember the Danites!" He then unlocked the door, we 
 went into the room below, and I gave the affidavit as subscribed 
 before Alderman Wells (who was then doing business in the 
 lower room), and made the statement required before the City 
 Council on the ipth. I was not aware, until Sunday last, that 
 any other person was apprised of the fact of the threat of mur- 
 der, but on that day Col. Francis M. Higbee told me, in the 
 presence of Geo. W. Robinson, that if it came to the worst, he 
 was in possession of a secret that would open the eyes of the 
 people, and that he would file his affidavit if necessary; but he 
 would not tell me what the secret was. Gen. Robinson, how- 
 ever, informed me afterwards that it was a knowledge of Joe's 
 threat of murder. . . . Yours Respectfully, 
 
 JOHN C. BENNETT. 
 
 With this letter, Bennett published another affidavit 
 in which he denied, absolutely, the statements that he 
 had made in his first: 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) 
 
 > ss. 
 Hancock County, j 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Samuel Marshall, a Justice 
 of the Peace in and for said county, John C. Bennett, who, 
 being duly sworn, according to law, deposeth and saith, that the 
 affidavit taken before Esquire Wells, on the I7th of May, 
 and the statement before the City Council of Nauvoo, on the 
 igth, as published in the Wasp of the 25th of June, 1842, are 
 false, and were taken under duresse, as stated in this letter. . . . 
 
 JOHN C. BENNETT. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed, this 3d day of July, 1842. 
 
 SAMUEL MARSHALL, J. P. (L. S.). 
 
 THE DENIALS OF THE MORMON CHURCH TO THE CHARGES 
 OF BENNETT. 
 
 When the charges that Bennett was making through 
 the columns of the Sangamo Journal reached the Mor- 
 mons at Nauvoo, they caused no little astonishment and 
 
60 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 indignation, and every effort was made to make it appear 
 that the "Lord's Anointed" was being grossly maligned 
 and slandered. One of Smith's tools, Stephen Markham 
 by name, a man of very questionable veracity, made an 
 affidavit reflecting upon the character of Nancy Rigdon, 
 with the evident design of helping the Prophet out of his 
 difficulty, 1 and, on the 2Oth of July, the city council made 
 the following sworn statement : 
 
 We the undersigned, members of the City Council of the 
 City of Nauvoo, testify that John C. Bennett was not under 
 duress at the time that he testified before the City Council May 
 19, 1842, concerning Joseph Smith's innocence, virtue and pure 
 teachings. His statements that he has lately made concerning 
 this matter are false; there was no excitement at the time, nor 
 was he in any wise threatened, menaced or intimidated. His 
 appearance at the City Council was voluntary; he asked the 
 privilege of speaking, which was granted. After speaking for 
 some time on the city affairs, Joseph Smith asked him if he 
 knew anything bad concerning his public or private character. He 
 then delivered those statements contained in the testimony vol- 
 untarily, and of his own free will, and went of his own accord 
 as free as any member of the council. 
 
 This affidavit was sworn and subscribed to by Wilson 
 Law, John Taylor, W. Woodruff, Vinson Knight, H. C. 
 Kimball, John P. Green, William Marks, Geo. A. Smith, 
 Geo. W. Harris, N. K. Whitney, Brigham Young, Charles 
 C. Rich and Orson Spencer. 
 
 On the 22d of the same month, at a mass-meeting 
 of the citizens of Nauvoo, the following resolution was 
 introduced by Gen. Wilson Law : 
 
 Resolved, That having heard that John C. Bennett was 
 circulating many base falsehoods respecting a number of the 
 citizens of Nauvoo, and especially against our worthy and re- 
 spected Mayor, Joseph Smith, we do hereby manifest to the 
 
 See Expose, p. 250. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 61 
 
 world that so far as we are acquainted with Joseph Smith we 
 know him to be a good, moral, virtuous, peaceable and patriotic 
 man, and a firm supporter of law, justice and equal rights; that 
 he at all times upholds and keeps inviolate the Constitution 
 of this State and of the United States. 
 
 When this resolution was put to vote, the entire as- 
 sembly, numbering, it is said, about one thousand men, 
 voted in the affirmative with the exception of two or 
 three. One of these was Apostle Orson Pratt, who after- 
 wards arose and explained his negative vote, evidently 
 making some reflections on the Prophet. After his ex- 
 planation had been made, Joseph Smith arose and asked 
 the following question: "Have you personally a knowl- 
 edge of any immoral act in me toward the female sex, 
 or in any other way?" To which Pratt answered: "Per- 
 sonally toward the female sex, I have not." Mrs. Pratt 
 afterwards testified that prior to this time, and while her 
 husband was on a mission in England, Joseph had made 
 indecent proposals to her which had so enraged her that 
 she refused to accept any help from the church tithing- 
 house. This, without doubt, was the reason why Pratt 
 cast a negative vote. Personally, he knew of no immoral 
 act on the part of the Prophet, but he did know what his 
 wife had told him concerning Smith's evil proposals to 
 her, and had his speech been recorded there is no ques- 
 tion that we would have in it a great deal to support the 
 charges of the apostate Bennett. 1 
 
 1 "Some days ago Joe Smith got up a large meeting at Nauvoo, for 
 the purpose of whitewashing himself. A resolution was prepared making 
 out Joe all sorts of a moral and pious man, which was voted for by all 
 present except four or five. Orson Pratt gave his reasons for his negative 
 vote. They relate, as we understand, to the attempted outrages upon his 
 wife by the impostor." Editorial in Sangamo Journal, August 6, 1842. 
 That Pratt was disaffected to the degree of nearly leaving the church, is 
 proved by a letter written by his brother, Parley, at Chester, Illinois, 
 January i, 1843, and addressed to Thomas Ward, editor of the Millennial 
 Star. In this letter Parley says: "I have not heard from Nauvoo, except 
 
62 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 The Mormon women were not behind the Mormon 
 men in their efforts to defend Joseph Smith, and the 
 "Ladies' Relief Society" drew up a paper signed by 
 about one thousand of the women of Nauvoo which 
 spoke in the highest terms of their Prophet's virtue, 
 philanthropy and benevolence. Later, in October, a simi- 
 lar paper, stating that "John C. Bennett's 'secret-wife 
 system' is a disclosure of his own make," was signed by 
 Emma Smith, President; Elizabeth Ann Whitney and 
 Sarah M. Cleveland, Counselors; Eliza R. Snow, Secre- 
 tary, and fifteen other leading Mormon women. 
 
 BENNETT'S CHARGES SUSTAINED. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the vehement denials of the 
 Mormon people and Bennett's poor reputation for verac- 
 ity, the evidences which he produced, or which came out 
 at the same time from other sources, are so strong that 
 we are led to believe that there was something more than 
 bare falsehood in his charges. 1 And this belief is strength- 
 ened by the fact that some of those who were the most 
 emphatic in their denials afterwards confessed that they 
 
 by the public prints. From these I learn that Brother O. Pratt is still 
 a member of the church." Millennial Star, April, 1843, p. 206. 
 
 1 Since first writing the above, I have had the pleasure of reading the 
 Times and Seasons, Joseph Smith's "Diary" in the Millennial Star, and 
 other Mormon and anti-Mormon papers and documents of that period, 
 and, from the direct and incidental confirmations of Bennett's charges, I 
 am convinced, no matter what his foibles may have been, that he told the 
 truth in regard to the utter licentiousness of the Mormon Prophet. The 
 only objection to be made to his "Expose" is that he has told only one- 
 half of the truth: he has left out that part relating to himself. On this 
 point, Gregg, in his "History of Hancock County," page 288, says: "We 
 have been utterly unable to obtain possession of the Wasp, the Nauvoo 
 paper of that period. [The period of the controversy between Bennett 
 and Smith.] The Mormon side in the controversy, it is remembered, 
 was not left behind in the use of 'names' and invective. So that about 
 the proper conclusion for the outside public to adopt, was to believe both 
 sides, a conclusion which time has only strengthened." 
 
DR. JOHN C. BENNETT. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 63 
 
 either knew of Smith's polygamous practices or were 
 living in the polygamous relation themselves in the sum- 
 mer of 1842. Some of these try to excuse themselves 
 for signing a denial of Bennett's charges on the plea that 
 the spiritual-wife doctrine he claimed to expose was only 
 a counterfeit of the pure and holy principle taught and 
 practiced by Joseph Smith, but this is only a flimsy excuse 
 made to shield them from the just charge of lying. 
 
 Of the members of the city council, who signed the 
 affidavit of July 20, 1842, the majority afterwards went 
 to Utah, where they practiced polygamy and claimed that 
 Smith was a polygamist as early as 1841,' while Wilson 
 Law and William Marks, both, opposed him during the 
 latter part of his life for the very sins charged against 
 him by Bennett, the former being one of the publishers 
 of the Nauvoo Expositor. Of the women who signed 
 the certificate of the "Ladies' Relief Society," both Eliz- 
 abeth Ann Whitney and Eliza R. Snow subsequently 
 stated under oath that they knew of Smith's polygamous 
 relations in the summer of 1842, the first declaring that 
 she witnessed the sealing of her daughter, Sarah Ann, 
 to the Prophet on the 27th of July of that year, and 
 the other that she had become his plural wife on the 
 29th of June preceding. Of the rest of the women, 
 Mrs. Pratt says that the most had been seduced by Smith 
 before they signed the certificate. 
 
 1 That in 1841 Smith had begun to agitate his spiritual- wife doctrine 
 is proved by the following from Ebenezer Robinson: "In the spring of 1841, 
 the doctrine of 'spiritual wives' began to be secretly talked about. In June, 
 1841, Don Carlos Smith and myself left Nauvoo for Cincinnati, to settle 
 with Mr. Shepherd, and also to lay in a stock of paper and other printing 
 material for our office in Nauvoo. We went to Keokuk to take a larger 
 class of steamboat than passed over the rapids in a low stage of water, 
 and while there, waiting for a steamer, we conversed upon the subject of 
 that new doctrine, when Don Carlos Smith said: 'Any man who will teach 
 and practice the doctrine of spiritual wifery will go to hell, I don't care 
 if it is my brother Joseph.' " Return, June, 1890. 
 
64 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 That Smith contemplated putting Bennett out of the 
 way, is fully established by the affidavit of Francis M. 
 Higbee, for years a leading Mormon: 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 Hancock County, 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Hiram Kimball, an Alderman 
 of the City of Nauvoo, Francis M. Higbee, who, being duly 
 sworn according to law, deposeth and saith, that Joseph Smith 
 told him that John C. Bennett could easily be put aside or 
 drowned, and no person would be the wiser for it, and that it 
 ought to be attended to ; and he further remarked, that the 
 sooner this was done, the better for the Church, fearing, as he 
 said, that Bennett would make some disclosures prejudicial to 
 said Smith. This was about the time of Bennett's withdrawal 
 from the Church, or a short time before; and further this depo- 
 nent saith not. FRANCIS M. HIGBEE. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed, this 3Oth day of June, A. D. 1842. 
 
 HIRAM KIMBALL, Alderman. 1 
 
 This confirms the charge of Bennett that Smith 
 threatened to make "cat-fish bait" of him, and proves that 
 the Prophet had been pressed to that point in his hypo- 
 critical and criminal career where he would even have 
 committed murder in order to cover up his wicked deeds. 
 And yet some good and honest, but misguided, people 
 condone his faults and look upon him as a martyr ! 
 
 One of the specific charges that Bennett made against 
 Smith, as already mentioned, was that he had attempted 
 to seduce Nancy, the daughter of his Counselor, Sidney 
 Rigdon. After a careful sifting of the evidence, I regard 
 
 1 Higbee was somewhat of a coward, and, touching his affidavit, wrote 
 to Bennett as follows, July 6, 1842: "As it respects my affidavit, sir, for 
 God's sake, my sake, and the sake of my people, do not show it to any 
 one on earth, as yet, never until I give you liberty. Stiles has seen it, 
 and you must swear him that he will keep dark as hell. I am yet true 
 as death, and intend to stick or die, but you must keep my name back, 
 because I am not ready as yet to leave; and as soon as you bring my 
 name out, they are certain to take my life they go it like hell, yet." 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 65 
 
 the accusation as above question or doubt, it being sus- 
 tained by the testimonies of Captain Olney, formerly of 
 the Nauvoo Legion; George W. Robinson, her brother- 
 in-law, and John W. Rigdon, her brother, although the 
 last-named places the occurrence a year or more later, 
 "in the latter part of the year 1843, or the first part 
 of the year 1844," which is certainly a mistake. 
 
 Bennett says that Smith offered him his choice of five 
 hundred dollars or the best lot on Main Street if he 
 would procure Nancy for his harem. This, he says, he 
 declined to do, and, moreover, that he warned her of 
 the Prophet's intentions. And this, I am certain, was 
 one of the causes for the break in friendship between 
 the two. Joseph then secured the assistance of a Mrs. 
 Hyde and Apostle Willard Richards, but his attempt was 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 The story goes that the Prophet arranged with Nancy 
 to meet him at a certain place. Having been warned by 
 Bennett, stie went prepared, and, when he told her that 
 she was the idol of his affections and attempted to kiss 
 her, she flew into a rage and told him that if he did 
 not open the door she would arouse the neighborhood. 
 This he was forced to do, but later he sent her a letter 
 in which, in very guarded language, he pressed his suit. 
 In this letter, he told her that "even things which might 
 be considered abominable to all who understand the order 
 of heaven only in part" are in reality right "because God 
 gave and sanctioned them by special revelation," and that 
 "our heavenly Father is more liberal in his views and 
 boundless in his mercies and blessings than we are ready 
 to believe or receive." Nancy carefully copied this letter, 
 and the next that was heard of it was when it appeared 
 in the columns of the Warsaw Signal, a Gentile paper. 
 
 On the attempted seduction, George W. Robinson, in 
 
t>6 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 a letter to James Arlington Bennett, of New York, dated 
 
 at Nauvoo, July 27, 1842, says : 
 
 Smith sent for Miss Rigdon to come to the house of Mrs. 
 Hyde, who lived in the under rooms of the printing-office. Miss 
 Rigdon inquired of the messenger who came for her what was 
 wanting, and the only reply was, that Smith wanted to see her. 
 General Bennett came to Miss Rigdon, and cautioned her, and 
 advised her not to place too much reliance on revelation; but 
 did not enlighten her on the object of Smith, but advised her to 
 go down to Mrs. Hyde's and see Smith. She accordingly went, 
 and Smith took her into another room, and locked the door, 
 and then stated to her that he had had an affection for her for 
 several years, and wished that she should be his; that the Lord 
 was well pleased with this matter, for he had got a revelation on 
 the subject, and God had given him all the blessings of Jacob, 
 &c., &c., and that there was no sin in it whatever; but, if she 
 had any scruples of conscience about the matter, he would marry 
 her privately, and enjoined her to secrecy, &c., &c. She repulsed 
 him, and was about to raise the neighbors if he did not unlock 
 the door and let her out; and she left him with disgust, and 
 came home and told her father of the transaction; upon which 
 Smith was sent for. He came. She told the tale in the presence 
 of all the family, and to Smith's face. I was present. Smith 
 attempted to deny it at first, and face her down with the lie; 
 but she told the facts with so much earnestness, and the fact 
 of a letter being present, which he had caused to be written to 
 her, on the same subject, the day after the attempt made on her 
 virtue, breathing the same spirit, and which he had fondly 
 hoped was destroyed, all came with such force that he could 
 not withstand the testimony, and he then and there acknowledged 
 that every word of Miss Rigdon's testimony was true. Now, 
 for his excuse, which he made for such a base attempt, and for 
 using the name of the Lord in vain, on that occasion. He 
 wished to ascertain whether she was virtuous or not, and took 
 that course to learn the facts ! 1 
 
 1 On this meeting, Joseph says: "Previous to the Council, I, in com- 
 pany with Bishop Miller, visited Elder Rigdon and his family, and had 
 much conversation about John C. Bennett and others. Much unpleasant 
 feeling was manifested by Elder Rigdon's family, who were confounded 
 and put to silence by the truth." Entry in Smith's Diary for June 28, 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 67 
 
 In answer to the affidavit of Stephen Markham, and 
 in defense of his daughter's character which Markham 
 had traduced, Sidney Rigdon made the following sworn 
 statement : 
 
 NAUVOO, Sept. 3, 1842. 
 
 Personally appeared before me, E. Robinson, a Justice of 
 the Peace, within and for the county of Hancock, and State 
 of Illinois, Sidney Rigdon, who, being duly sworn, cleposeth and 
 saith, that he is personally acquainted with Stephen Markham 
 of this city, and that said Markham is not to be believed, that 
 his word for truth and veracity is not good that he could 
 not believe said Markham under oath, and that he did on a 
 certain occasion testify under oath to that which deponent 
 knows to be false, and he verily believes said Markham knew the 
 same to be false while testifying; and further this deponent 
 saith not. SIDNEY RIGDON. 
 
 Sworn to this 3d day of Sept., A. D. 1842, before me. 
 
 E. ROBINSON, J. P. 1 
 
 1842; Millennial Star, Vol. XIX., p. 519. The following, from Bennett, 
 shows how effectually the Rigdons were silenced on that occasion: "On 
 Tuesday, the 28th of June last, Joe went to Mr. Rigdon's, accompanied 
 by his High Priest, George Miller, of Sable Sister notoriety, for a witness 
 for him that he had successfully confronted Miss Rigdon, and, by boister- 
 ous words and violent gestures, tried to deny the attempted seduction and 
 alarm the girl; but, with daring bravery, she met the Monster of Inquity, 
 and told him he was a 'cursed liar;' that all that she had said of him was 
 true to the letter, and dared him to face her to the contrary. Joe then 
 made a full acknowledgment of the whole affair, in the presence of the 
 family, and several other persons who were present. The demoniacal High 
 Priest, George Miller, then groaned in the spirit, and cried aloud, 'You 
 must not harm the Lord's Anointed; the Lord will not suffer his Anointed 
 to fall!!!'" Expose, p. 245. 
 
 1 It seems that Rigdon tried to avoid making public the inward 
 wickedness of the Mormon system, probably because of his own com- 
 plicity in that wickedness. In his letter to the Sangamo Journal, of 
 which we give extracts, J. F. Olney says: "It is true that Mr. Rigdon has 
 endeavored to allay the excitement upon this subject, and has evaded a 
 direct answer to the public, as far as he^could consistently with the truth; 
 but that part which is true he has left" untouched." That there was ill 
 feeling between Smith and Rigdon over what occurred at the time of the 
 withdrawal of Bennett, is proved by a letter which Smith wrote his 
 Counselor, March 27, 1843 (Millennial Star, Vol. XX., p. 694), and in 
 which he charged him with being "with John C. Bennett and George W. 
 
68 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 This affidavit appeared in the Sangamo Journal of 
 September 23, 1842, in which, also, the following letter 
 from Capt. J. F. Olney was published: 
 
 LA HARPE, Hancock Co., Sept. 10, 1842. 
 EDITOR SANGAMO JOURNAL: 
 
 Dear Sir I wish to make, through the medium of your 
 paper, a public withdrawal from the church of Latter Day Saints, 
 as I cannot longer consent to remain a member of said church 
 while polygamy, lasciviousness and adultery are practiced by 
 some of its leaders. That crimes of the deepest dye are toler- 
 ated and practiced by them, cannot be doubted. I have heard 
 the circumstances of Smith's attack upon Miss Rigdon, from the 
 family as well as herself and knowing her to be a young 
 lady who sustains a good moral character, and also of undoubted 
 veracity, I must place implicit confidence in her statement, the 
 foul insinuations of that miserable little insect the Wasp, to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 ******* 
 
 STEPHEN MARKHAM, 
 
 who has favored the public with his affidavit, with the apparent 
 design to help Smith out of his dilemma in the extraordinary 
 affair with Miss Rigdon, is a man of little or no reputation, and 
 I could not believe his statement, although made under oath; 
 and Smith, it appears in the Wasp of the 3d inst, has already 
 become disgusted with this worthy helpmeet, and it certainly is a 
 wonder that others of the same character should not share the 
 
 Robinson in the whole of their abominable practices." He closes with 
 these words: "I must, as a conscientious man, publish my withdrawal of 
 my fellowship from you to the church through the medium of the Times 
 and Seasons, and demand of the Conference a hearing concerning your 
 case; that, on conviction of justifiable grounds, they will demand your 
 license." In his reply, Rigdon denied all of these charges, but, subse- 
 quently, in August (Millennial Star, Vol. XXI., p. 828), Joseph declared 
 that he bad been "writing falsehoods to Missouri" concerning him, and 
 he was disfellowshiped ; but, having explained his course satisfactorily to 
 the saints, though not to Smith, he was received again, and, later, the 
 trouble was patched up to the degree that he was sent to take charge of 
 the work in Pittsburgh shortly before the Prophet's death. In the history 
 of no other religious movement can be found the great number of charges, 
 countercharges, denials, reaffirmations, excuses and evasions that can be 
 found in the history of Mormonism. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 69 
 
 same fate, for Smith must know they are an injury to his cause. 
 The Mormon elders are now scattering in every direction through 
 our country, laden with lies to injure the innocent and op- 
 pressed. Very respectfully, etc., 
 
 J. F. OLNEY. 
 
 The following affidavit of John W. Rigdon, sworn 
 and subscribed to on the 28th of July, 1905, also cor- 
 roborates the charge of Smith's attack upon his sister. I 
 leave out of this affidavit those parts relating to the 
 question of the ordination of the son of the original 
 Prophet, and certain quotations from the Nauvoo Expos- 
 itor which will appear later. 
 
 STATE OF UTAH, 
 
 County of Salt Lake. 
 
 John W. Rigdon, being duly sworn, says: I am the son of 
 Sidney Rigdon, deceased. Was born at Mentor, in the State 
 of Ohio, in the year 1830, and am now over seventy-five years of 
 age. My father, Sidney Rigdon, joined the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter Day Saints that year, and was in 1833 ordained 
 to be Joseph Smith's first counselor, which position he held 
 up to the time Joseph the Prophet was killed, at Carthage jail, 
 
 in 1844. 
 
 ******* 
 
 As to the truth of the doctrine of polygamy being introduced 
 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, deponent further says: Joseph 
 Smith was absolute so far as spiritual matters were concerned, 
 and no man would have dared to introduce the doctrine of polyg- 
 amy or any other new doctrine into the "Mormon" Church at 
 the city of Nauvoo during the years 1843 an d J844, or at any 
 other place or time, without first obtaining Joseph Smith's 
 consent. If anyone had dared to have done such a thing he 
 would have been brought before the High Council and tried, 
 and if proven against him, he would have been excommunicated 
 from the Church and that would have ended polygamy forever, 
 and would also have ended the man who had dared to introduce 
 such a doctrine without the consent of the Prophet Joseph. 
 
 And deponent further says: Joseph the Prophet, at the 
 City of Nauvoo, Illinois, some time in the latter part of the year 
 
70 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 1843, or the first part of the year 1844, made a proposition to my 
 sister, Nancy Rigdon, to become his wife. It happened in this 
 way: Nancy had gone to Church, meeting being held in a grove 
 near the temple lot on which the "Mormons" were then erecting 
 a temple; an old lady friend who lived alone invited her to go 
 home with her, which Nancy did. When they got to the house 
 and had taken their bonnets off, the old lady began to talk to her 
 about the new doctrine of polygamy which was then being taught, 
 telling Nancy, during the conversation, that it was a surprise to 
 her when she first heard it, but that she had since come to believe 
 it to be true. 1 While they were talking Joseph Smith the Prophet 
 came into the house, and joined them, and the old lady imme- 
 diately left the room. It was then that Joseph made the proposal 
 of marriage to my sister. Nancy flatly refused him, saying if 
 she ever got married she would marry a single man or none at 
 all, and thereupon took her bonnet and went home, leaving 
 Joseph at the old lady's house. Nancy told father and mother 
 of it. The story got out and it became the talk of the town 
 that Joseph had made a proposition to Nancy Rigdon to become 
 his wife, and that she refused him. A few days after the occur- 
 rence Joseph Smith came to my father's house and talked the 
 matter over with the family, my sister Mrs. Athalia Robinson 
 also being present, who is now alive. The feelings manifested 
 by our family on this occasion were anything but brotherly or 
 sisterly, more especially on the part of Nancy, as she felt that 
 she had been insulted. A day or two later Joseph Smith returned 
 to my father's house, when matters were satisfactorily adjusted 
 between them, and there the matter ended. After that Joseph 
 Smith sent my father to Pittsburg, Pa., to take charge of a 
 little church that was there and Ebenezer Robinson, who was 
 then the Church printer, or at least had been such, as he was 
 the printer of the paper in Kirtland, Ohio, and a printer by trade, 
 was to go with him to print a paper there, and nine days before 
 Joseph Smith was shot at Carthage we started, reaching Pitts- 
 burg the day before he was killed. 
 
 * * 
 
 JOHN W. RIGDON. 
 
 1 This agrees in sentiment with what Bennett said in 1842: "Mr?. 
 Hyde told her that these things looked strange to her at first, but that she 
 would become more reconciled on mature reflection." Expose, p. 243. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 71 
 
 Sworn to before me this 28th day of July, 1905. 
 (Seal.) JAMES JACK, Notary Public. 1 
 
 In the foregoing, Rigdon agrees with the other wit- 
 nesses in every particular, except the time in which the 
 attempted seduction occurred, he placing it in the latter 
 part of 1843 or the first part of 1844. But this is cer- 
 tainly erroneous, as the affair took place before Bennett 
 left Nauvoo, which was in June, 2 1842. The witnesses all 
 agree, however, on the important facts, that Nancy Rig- 
 don, sometime before the Prophet's death, received a 
 proposal to become a plural wife and that the one who 
 made the proposal was none other than Smith himself. 
 
 Another woman, whom Joseph Smith attempted to 
 seduce about this time, was Mrs. Melissa Schindle, wife 
 of Col. George Schindle. Her sworn statement, which 
 is given in language too plain and specific to be quoted 
 here, 3 was made before A. Fulkerson, justice of the 
 peace for McDonough County, Illinois, on July 2, 1842, 
 and was published in the Sangamo Journal of the I5th 
 of the same month. Mrs. Schindle states that in the fall 
 of 1841, while she was visiting in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith 
 
 1 Bishop E. L. Kelley, Josephite, says that Mr. Rigdon "is a gentle- 
 man in the highest sense." Palmyra to Independence, p. 392. 
 
 8 In the first edition we gave May as the month in which Bennett 
 left Nauvoo. This was probably a mistake, although the movements of 
 the doctor at this time were somewhat obscure. It is known, however, 
 that he left Nauvoo at some time prior to June 23, 1842, according to a 
 letter written by Smith on that date, and that he made a somewhat ex- 
 tended trip through Carthage and Virginia, in Cass County, to Springfield, 
 being followed to Carthage by the Danite, Porter Rockwell, and to Spring- 
 field by another Danite, Capt. John D. Parker. But he was back in 
 Nauvoo by June 26, for on the following day he penned his first letter 
 to the Sangamo Journal. It is also known that, before the 24th of that 
 month, Smith suspected that he, with David and Edward Kilbourn, was 
 in Galena, Illinois, posting bills to excite the people against the Prophet 
 (Millennial Star, Vol. XIX., p. 503). 
 
 3 "The whole truth about Mormonism can not be printed it is too- 
 filthy for type." Mormon Portraits, p. 128. 
 
72 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 came to her sleeping-room one night at ten o'clock and 
 made an indecent proposal to her, declaring that "it was 
 the will of the Lord." He further promised her that 
 if she would consent "she could make his house her 
 home as long as she wished to do so, and that she should 
 never want for anything it was in his power to assist 
 her to." Upon her refusal, he threatened to ruin her 
 character if she made the matter public. The affidavit 
 of Mrs. Schindle shows the depths of depravity to which 
 the "Lord's Anointed" descended in his attempt to gratify 
 his insatiable appetite for sensual pleasure. 
 
 About the time that the Prophet made his unsuccess- 
 ful attempts upon Miss Rigdon and Mrs. Schindle, he 
 became mixed up, with Young and Kimball, in another 
 scandal. This time it was with a buxom English girl by 
 the name of Martha Brotherton, whom Brigham wanted 
 as a plural wife. Her parents, with herself, had em- 
 braced Mormonism in England and had come to Nauvoo 
 to join the faithful. It took them about three weeks to 
 get their eyes open to the true condition of things, and 
 the whole of them, according to report, apostatized. Her 
 affidavit, which I have copied from the Sangamo Journal 
 of July 22, 1842, I now give: 
 
 ST. Louis, Mo., July I3th, 1842. 
 GEN. JOHN C. BENNETT: 
 
 Dear Sir I left Warsaw a short time since for this city, 
 and having been called upon by you through the Sangamo Jour- 
 nal to come out and disclose to the world the facts of the case in 
 relation to certain propositions made to me at Nauvoo, by some 
 of the Mormon leaders, I now proceed to respond to the call, 
 and discharge what I consider to be a duty devolving upon me 
 as an innocent but insulted and abused female. I had been at 
 Nauvoo near three weeks, during which time my father's family 
 received frequent visits from Elders Brigham Young and Heber 
 C. Kimball, two of the Mormon apostles, when early one morning 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 73 
 
 they both came to my brother-in-law's (John Mcllwrick's) house, 
 at which place I then was on a visit, and particularly requested 
 me to go and spend a few days with them. * I told them I could 
 not at that time, as my brother-in-law was not at home ; however 
 they urged me to go the next day and spend one day with them 
 the day being fine, I accordingly went. When I arrived at 
 the foot of the hill Young and Kimball were standing conversing 
 together. They both came to me, and, after several flattering com- 
 pliments, Kimball wished me to go to his house first. I said it 
 was immaterial to me, and accordingly went. We had not, how- 
 ever, gone many steps when Young suddenly stopped and said 
 he would go to that brother's (pointing to a little log hut a few 
 yards distant) and tell him that you (speaking to Kimball), 
 and brother Glover or Grover (I do not remember which), will 
 value his land. When he had gone Kimball turned to me and 
 said, "Martha, I want you to say to my wife, when you go 
 to my house, that you want to buy some things at Joseph's 
 store (Joseph Smith's) and I will say I am going with you to 
 show you the way. You know you want to see the prophet, 
 and you will then have an opportunity." I made no reply. 
 Young again made his appearance and the subject was dropped. 
 We soon reached Kimball's house, when Young took his leave, 
 saying, "I shall see you again, Martha." I remained at Kimball's 
 near an hour, when Kimball seeing that I would not tell 
 the lies he wished me to told them to his wife .himself. He 
 then went and whispered in her ear, and asked if that would 
 please her. "Yes," said she, "or I can go along with you and 
 Martha." "No," said he, "I have some business to do, and I 
 will call for you afterwards to go with me to the debate," mean- 
 ing the debate between himself and Joseph. To this she con- 
 sented. So Kimball and I went to the store together. As we 
 were going along he said, "Sister Martha, are you willing to do 
 all that the Prophet requires you to do?" I said I believed I 
 was, thinking of course he would require nothing wrong. "Then," 
 said he, "are you ready to take counsel?" I answered in the 
 affirmative, thinking of the great and glorious blessings that had 
 been pronounced upon my head if I adhered to the counsel 
 of those placed over me in the Lord. "Well," said he, "there are 
 many things revealed in these last days that the world would 
 laugh and scoff at, but unto us is given to know the mysteries of 
 (6) 
 
74 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 the kingdom." He further observed, "Martha, you must learn 
 to hold your tongue, and it will be well with you. You will see 
 Joseph, and very likely have some conversation with him, and he 
 will tell you what you shall do." When we reached the building 
 he led me upstairs to a small room, the door of which was 
 locked, and on it the following inscription "Positively no ad- 
 mittance." He observed, "Ah, brother Joseph must be sick, 
 for strange to say he is not here. Come down into the tithing 
 office, Martha." He then left me in the tithing office and went 
 out, I know not where. In this office were two men writing, 
 one of whom, William Clayton, I had seen in England; the 
 other I did not know. Young came in and seated himself before 
 me and asked where Kimball was. I said he had gone out. 
 He said it was all right. Soon after Joseph came in and spoke 
 to one of the clerks, and then went upstairs followed by Young. 
 Immediately after Kimball came in. "Now, Martha," said he, 
 "the Prophet has come; come upstairs." I went and I found 
 Young and the prophet alone. I was introduced to the prophet 
 by Young. Joseph offered me his seat, and, to my astonishment 
 the moment I was seated Joseph and Kimball walked out of the 
 room and left me with Young, who arose, locked the door, 
 closed the windows, and drew the curtain. He then came and 
 sat before me and said, "This is our private room, Martha." 
 "Indeed, sir," said I, "I must be highly honored to be permitted 
 to enter it." He smiled, and then proceeded, "Sister Martha, 
 I want to ask you a few questions; will you answer them?" 
 "Yes, sir," said I. "And will you promise not to mention them 
 to anyone?" "If it is your desire, sir," said I, "I will not/' 
 "And you will not think any the worse of me for it, will you, 
 Martha?" said he. "No, sir,' I replied. "Well," said he, "what 
 are your feelings toward me?" I replied, "My feelings are 
 just the same towards you that they ever were, sir." "But to 
 come to the point more closely," said he, "have not you an 
 affection for me, that, were it lawful and right, you could 
 accept of me for your husband and companion." My feelings 
 at that moment were indescribable. God only knows them. 
 What, thought I, are these men that I thonght almost perfection 
 itself, deceivers, and is all my fancied happiness but a dream? 
 'Twas even so; but my next thought was, which is the best 
 way for me to act at this time ; if I say no, they may do as they 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 75 
 
 think proper; and to say yes, I never would. So I considered 
 it best to ask for time to think and pray about it. I therefore 
 said, "If it was lawful and right perhaps I might; but you know, 
 sir, it is not." "Well, but," said he, "brother Joseph has a 
 revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have 
 two wives; for as it was in the days of Abraham, so it shall 
 be in these last days, and whoever is the first that is willing 
 to take up the cross will receive the greatest blessing ; and if you 
 will accept of me I will take you straight to the celestial king- 
 dom; and if you will have me in this world, I will have you 
 in that which is to come, and brother Joseph will marry us here 
 today, and you can go home this evening and your parents will 
 not know anything about it." "Sir," said I, "I should not like 
 to do anything of the kind without the permission of my parents." 
 "Well, but," said he, "you are of age, are you not?" "No, sir," 
 said I, "I shall not be until the 24th of May." "Well," said he, 
 "that does not make any difference. You will be of age before 
 they know, and you need not fear. If you will take my counsel 
 it will be well with you, for I know it to be right before God 
 and there is no sin in it, I will answer for it. But brother 
 Joseph wishes to have some talk with you on the subject he 
 will explain things will you hear him?" "I do not mind," said 
 I. "Well, but I want you to say something," said he. "I want 
 time to think about it," said I. "Well," said he, "I will have a 
 kiss anyhow," and then rose and said he would bring Joseph. 
 He then unlocked the door, and took the key and locked me up 
 alone. He was absent about ten minutes and then returned with 
 Joseph. "Well, Martha," said Joseph, "it is lawful and right 
 before God I know it is. Look here, sister, don't you believe 
 in me?" I did not answer. "Well, Martha," said Joseph, "just 
 go ahead and do as Brigham wants you to he is the best 
 man in the world except me." "Oh !" said Brigham, "then you 
 are as good." "Yes," said Joseph. "Well," said Young, "we 
 believe Joseph to be a prophet I have known him near eight 
 years, and always found him the same." "Yes," said Joseph, 
 "and I know it is lawful and right before God, and if there is 
 any sin in it, I will answer for it before God ; and I have the 
 keys of the Kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is bound in 
 heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven and 
 if you will accept of Brigham, you will be blessed God shall 
 
76 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 bless you, and my blessing shall rest upon you, and if you 
 will be led by him you will do well; for I know Brigham will 
 take care of you, and if he don't do his duty to you, come to me 
 and I will make him and if you do not like it in a month or 
 two, come to me and I will make you free again ; and if he 
 turns you off I will take you on." "Sir," said I, rather warmly, 
 "it will be too late to think in a month or two after. I want 
 to think first." "Well, but," said he, "the old proverb is nothing 
 ventured, nothing gained, and it would be the greatest blessing 
 that ever was bestowed upon you." "Yes," said Young, "and 
 you will never have reason to repent it that is, if I do not turn 
 from righteousness, and that I trust I never shall, for I believe 
 God who has kept me so long will continue to keep me faithful. 
 Did you ever see me act in any way wrong in England, Martha ?" 
 "No, sir," said I. "No," said he, "neither can any one else 
 lay anything to my charge." "Well, then," said Joseph, "what 
 are you afraid of, sis? come let me do the business for you." 
 "Sir," said I, "do let me have a little time to think about it, 
 and I will promise not to mention it to any one." "Well, but 
 look here," said he, "you know a fellow will never be damned 
 for doing the best he knows how." "Well, then," said I, "the 
 best way I know of is to go home and think and pray about it." 
 "Well," said Young, "I shall leave it with brother Joseph, whether 
 it would be best for you to have time or not." "Well," said 
 Joseph, "I see no harm in her having time to think if she will 
 not fall into temptation." "O, sir," said I, "there is no fear of my 
 falling into temptation." "Well, but," said Brigham, "you must 
 promise me that you will never mention it to anyone." "I do 
 promise it," said I. "Well," said Joseph, "you must promise me 
 the same." I promised him the same. "Upon your honor," 
 said he, "you will not tell." "No, sir, I will lose my life first," 
 said I. "Well, that will do," said he, "that is the principle we 
 go upon." "I think I can trust you, Martha," said he. "Yes," 
 said I, "I think you ought." Joseph said, "She looks as if she 
 could keep a secret." I then rose to go, when Joseph com- 
 menced to beg of me again he said it was the best opportunity 
 they might have for months, for the room was often engaged. 
 I, however, had determined what to do. "Well," said Young, "I 
 will see you tomorrow. I am going to preach at the schoolhouse, 
 opposite your house. I have never preached there yet; you will 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 77 
 
 be there, I suppose." "Yes," said I. The next day being Sunday, 
 I sat down, instead of going to meeting, and wrote the conversa- 
 tion and read it to my sister, who was not a little surprised, but 
 who said it would be the bes* to go to meeting in the afternoon. 
 We went, and Young administered the sacrament. After it was 
 over, I was passing out and Young stopped me, saying, "Wait, 
 Martha I am coming." I s->id, "I cannot my sister is waiting 
 for me." He then threw his coat over his shoulder and followed 
 me out and whispered, "Have you made up your mind, Martha ?" 
 "Not exactly, sir," said I, and we parted. I shall proceed to a 
 justice of the peace, and make oath to the truth of these state- 
 ments, and you are at liberty to make what use of them you may 
 think best. Yours Respectfully, 
 
 MARTHY H. BROTHERTON. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me this I3th day of July, 
 A. D. 1842. DuBouFFAY FREMON, 
 
 Justice of the Peace for St. Louis County. 1 
 
 The foregoing affidavit proves not only that Smith, 
 but also that a number of other leading Mormons, either 
 taught or practiced polygamy at Nauvoo, and that Young 
 and Kimball deliberately lied when they denied the 
 charges of Bennett in July, 1842. As this affidavit was 
 made nearly two years before Smith was shot, and as no 
 action was ever taken against Miss Brotherton for libel, 
 the charge of Bennett, that Joseph Smith was a seducer 
 and polygamist, stands. 
 
 1 The charge that Miss Brotherton made against Smith, Young and 
 Kimball was probably in circulation a number of weeks before the apostasy 
 of Bennett. The Times and Seasons (Vol. III., p. 763) gives the account 
 of an address delivered by Hyrum Smith at a conference held April 6-8, 
 1842, of which the following is an extract: "He then spoke in contradic- 
 tion of a report in circulation about Elder Kimball, B. Young, himself, 
 and others of the Twelve, alleging that a sister had been shut in a room 
 for several days, and they had endeavored to induce her to believe in 
 having two wives." 
 
78 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" Preparation of the 
 People for the "Revelation" How the "Revelation" Came to 
 be Written Text of the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" 
 Proof that the "Revelation" came from Joseph Smith. 
 
 On the 1 2th day of July, 1843, Joseph Smith received 
 his famous, or infamous, "Revelation on Celestial Mar- 
 riage," "Patriarchal Order of Matrimony" or "Plurality 
 of Wives." Prior to this date, he had claimed divine 
 authority for his licentious practices, but the time had 
 come when some of his followers demanded a "thus saith 
 the Lord," and this "Revelation" was given to satisfy 
 them. Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had not merely a peep, 
 but a continuous view, behind the scenes at Nauvoo, de- 
 clares that the "Revelation" was first suggested by Ben- 
 nett. The Prophet complained to him that he had had 
 trouble with Emma over his intimacy with other women, 
 when Bennett said: "Get a revelation that polygamy is' 
 right, and all your troubles will be at an end." The 
 "Revelation" came, but Joseph found that with its ap- 
 pearance his troubles did not end, but grew in magnitude 
 and intensity. 
 
 That Joseph claimed a revelation, or revelations, upon 
 the subject of polygamy before July 12, 1843, * s estab- 
 lished beyond question of doubt. Even one of the found- 
 ers of the Josephite Church, Jason W. Briggs, when on 
 the stand in the celebrated Temple-lot Suit, in which the 
 Josephites and Hedrickites fought for possession of the 
 Temple lot at Independence, Missouri, conceded that he 
 had heard rumors of such a revelation in 1842. He said: 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 79 
 
 "I heard something about a revelation on polygamy, or 
 plural marriage, when I was in Nauvoo, in 1842." The 
 claim of Orson Pratt was that Joseph had the principle 
 revealed to him as early as 1831, and that he had plural 
 wives sealed to him as early as 1841. The probability 
 is, as we have shown, that the principle was in his mind 
 as early as 1827, and the reports circulated about him 
 and other leading Mormons in the '30*3 would lead us 
 to suspect that he was guilty of licentious conduct be- 
 fore he reached Nauvoo. On this point, the Deseret 
 News, a Brighamite organ, says : 
 
 The revelation on celestial marriage, published in the Doctrine 
 and Covenants, was given July 12, 1843. The principles it con- 
 tains, with further intelligence on the same subject, were revealed 
 to the Prophet many years before, but not formulated in writing 
 for the church. Acting under instructions from the Lord, the 
 Prophet had several wives sealed to him before the date of that 
 revelation. There are other matters spoken of in the revelation 
 that pertained to the time when it was written, showing that the 
 statement in the heading, as it appears in the book, is correct; 
 namely, that the revelation was given on that date, although the 
 doctrines it contains were known and had been acted upon under 
 special instructions previous to that date. 
 
 PREPARATION OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE "REVELATION." 
 
 In order to ascertain just how the Mormon people 
 would take the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," Smith 
 hit upon a novel plan. He appointed a man by the name 
 of Udney H. Jacobs to select from the Old Testament 
 those passages pertaining to polygamy, put them in 
 pamphlet form and advocate the doctrine. This Jacobs 
 did, and the pamphlet was published by the Mormon 
 paper, the Times and Seasons, of which Smith was the 
 editor. But the pamphlet caused such a stir in the 
 Mormon camp that Smith published a notice in the issue 
 
80 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 of that paper for December i, 1842, in which he posi- 
 tively disclaimed any knowledge of the character of its 
 contents at the time in which it was published. 
 
 There was a book printed at my office a short time since, 
 written by Udney H. Jacobs, on marriage, without my knowl- 
 edge ; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it ; 
 not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges, but I 
 do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such 
 an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsense, folly and trash. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 But this notice bears the ear-marks of evasion. In 
 the first place, it is wholly improbable that a pamphlet 
 or book on such a subject as polygamy, which the pre- 
 ceding summer had been charged against the Mormons 
 so strongly by Bennett, should have been published by 
 a paper of which Smith was the editor without his at- 
 tention being called to it. In the second place, he states 
 that he was not "opposed to any man enjoying his 
 privileges," but that he did not wish his name associated 
 with the authors, which shows that he was not opposed 
 to Jacobs advocating polygamy if he wished to, so long 
 as he did not connect his name with it. And, in the 
 third place, he did not brand polygamy as a sin and 
 openly condemn it, but simply spoke of the pamphlet 
 as "an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsense, folly and 
 trash." 
 
 John D. Lee, of Mountain-Meadows-massacre fame, 
 who was an elder in good standing in the church at 
 that time, in his "Mormonism Unveiled," page 146, gives 
 us the following interesting information on the relations 
 of Smith and Jacobs : 
 
 During the winter, Joseph, the Prophet, set a man by the 
 name of Sidney Hay Jacobs, to select from the Old Bible such 
 scriptures as pertained to polygamy, or celestial marriage, and to 
 write it in pamphlet form, and to advocate that doctrine. This 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 81 
 
 he did as a feeler among the people, to pave the way for celestial 
 marriage. This, like all other notions, met with opposition, while 
 a few favored it. The excitement among the people became so 
 great that the subject was laid before the Prophet. No one 
 was more opposed to it than was his brother Hyrum, who de- 
 nounced it as from beneath. Joseph saw that it would break up 
 the Church, should he sanction it, so he denounced the pamphlet 
 through the Wasp, a newspaper published at Nauvoo, by E. 
 Robinson, as a bundle of nonsense and trash. He said if he had 
 known its contents he would never have permitted it to be pub- 
 lished, while at the same time other confidential men were ad- 
 vocating it on their own responsibility. Joseph himself said on 
 the stand, that should he reveal the will of God concerning them, 
 that they, pointing to President W. Marks, P. P. Pratt and 
 others, would shed his blood. He urged them to surrender 
 themselves to God instead of rebelling against the stepping-stone 
 of their exaltation. In this way he worked upon the feelings 
 and minds of the people until they feared that the anger of the 
 Lord would be kindled against them, and they insisted upon 
 knowing the will of heaven concerning them. But he dared not 
 proclaim it publicly, so it was taught confidentially to such as 
 were strong enough in the faith to take another step. About the 
 same time the doctrine of "sealing" for an eternal state was 
 introduced, and the Saints were given to understand that their 
 marriage relations with each other were not valid. 
 
 And yet poor Jacobs has been made to bear the 
 entire curse of Josephite Mormonism for the part he 
 played at that time, and the "Lord's Anointed" is per- 
 mitted to go free! Charles Wesley Wandell, a Josephite 
 elder, in an open letter to the President of the United 
 States, says: 
 
 In so far as polygamy is concerned, its first connection with 
 the Mormons is traceable to Udney R. Jacobs' pamphlet, and no 
 further. This man, an elder in the Church, in 1843, at Nauvoo, 
 published a pamphlet, in which he discoursed of the polygamy 
 of the ancient patriarchs and kings of Judea, and defended the 
 practice on both scriptural and physiological grounds. Joseph 
 Smith before the congregation and elsewhere, emphatically and 
 
B2 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 unmistakably condemned this pamphlet and its doctrine. Saints' 
 Advocate, Vol. III., p. 19.* 
 
 The facts are, however, that Jacobs wrote the pam- 
 phlet under the direction of Smith, and that when he had 
 served the Prophet's purpose and had unwittingly been 
 the means by which the latter discovered how the people 
 would take plural marriage, he was made his scapegoat 
 and was sacrificed by him as Cowdery, Whitmer and 
 Harris had been before. Smith sought to rise, not by 
 good and virtuous deeds, but on the ruined characters 
 of men, many of whom he himself had caused to fall. 
 
 now THE "REVELATION" CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 
 
 At the time that the "Revelation on Celestial Mar- 
 riage" was put in writing, Elder William Clayton was 
 confidential clerk of the Prophet and it was he who 
 wrote the "Revelation" down as it was dictated to him. 
 In his affidavit, dated at Salt Lake City, February 16, 
 1874, he tells the following story : 
 
 Inasmuch as it may be interesting to future generations of 
 the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
 Saints to learn something of the first teachings of the principle 
 of plural marriage by President Joseph Smith, the prophet, seer, 
 revelator and translator of said church, I will give a short rela- 
 tion of facts which occurred within my personal knowledge, 
 and also matters related to me by President Joseph Smith. 
 
 I was employed as a clerk in President Joseph Smith's office, 
 under Elder WillarJ Richards, and commenced to labor in the 
 office on the loth day of February, 1842. I continued to labor 
 with Elder Richards until he went East to fetch his wife to 
 Nauvoo. 
 
 After Elder Richards started East, I was necessarily thrown 
 constantly into the company of President Smith, having to attend 
 to his public and private business, receiving and recording tith- 
 ings and donations, attending to land and other matters of 
 
 *I have copied this from W. J. Smith's "Joseph Smith: Who Was 
 He?" p. 68. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 83 
 
 business. During this period 1 necessarily became well acquainted 
 with Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet Joseph, and also 
 with the children Julia M. (an adopted daughter), Joseph, 
 Frederick and Alexander very much of the business being 
 transacted at the residence of the prophet. 
 
 On the 7th of October, 1842, in the presence of Bishop 
 Newell K. Whitney and his wife, Elizabeth Ann, President 
 Joseph Smith appointed me temple recorder, and also his private 
 clerk, placing all records, books, papers, etc., in my care, and 
 requiring me to take charge of and preserve them, his closing 
 words being, "When I have any revelations to write, you are the 
 one to write them." 
 
 During this period the prophet Joseph frequently visited my 
 house in my company, and became well acquainted with my 
 wife Ruth, to whom I had been married five years. One day 
 in the month of February, 1843, date not remembered, the 
 prophet invited me to walk with him. During our walk he said 
 he had learned that there was a sister back in England to 
 whom I was very much attached. I replied there was, but 
 nothing further than an attachment such as brother and sister 
 in the church might rightfully entertain for each other. He 
 then said: ''Why don't you send for her?" I replied: "In the 
 first place, I have no authority to send for her, and if I had, I 
 have not the means to pay expenses." To this he answered: 
 "I give you authority to send for her, and I will furnish 
 you the means," which he did. This was the first time the 
 prophet Joseph talked with me on the subject of plural marriage. 
 He informed me that the doctrine and principle was right in the 
 sight of our heavenly Father, and that it was a doctrine which 
 pertained to celestial order and glory. After giving me lengthy 
 instructions and information concerning the doctrine of celestial 
 or plural marriage, he concluded his remarks by the words, "It 
 is your privilege to have all the wives you want." After this 
 introduction our conversations on the subject of plural marriage 
 were very frequent, and he appeared to take particular pains to 
 inform and instruct me in respect to the principle. He also 
 informed me that he had other wives living besides his first wife 
 Emma, and in particular gave me to understand that Eliza R. 
 Snow, Louisa Beaman, Desdemona C. Fullmer and others, were 
 his lawful wives in the sight of Heaven. 
 
84 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 On the 2;th of April, 1843, the Prophet Joseph Smith mar- 
 ried to me Margaret Moon, for time and eternity, at the residence 
 of Elder Heber C. Kimball and on the 22nd of July, 1843, he 
 married to me, according to the order of the church, my first 
 wife Ruth. 
 
 On the ist day of May, 1843, I officiated in the office of an 
 elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, 
 at his own residence. 
 
 During this period the Prophet Joseph took several other 
 wives. Amongst the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, 
 Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora 
 Woodworth. These all, he acknowledged to me, were his lawful, 
 wedded wives according to the celestial order. His wife Emma 
 was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all, of these being his 
 wives, and she generally treated them very kindly. 
 
 On the morning of the I2th of July, 1843, Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith came into the office in the upper story of the "brick store," 
 on the bank of the Mississippi river. They were talking on the 
 subject of plural marriage. Hyrum said to Joseph, "If you 
 will write the revelation on Celestial Marriage, I will take and 
 read it to Emma, and I believe I can convince her of its truth, 
 and you will hereafter have peace." Joseph smiled and re- 
 marked, "You do not know Emma as well as I do." Hyrum re- 
 marked, "The doctrine is so plain, I can convince any reasonable 
 man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin," or words 
 to that effect. Joseph then said, "Well, I will write the revela- 
 tion and we will see." He then requested me to get paper and 
 prepare to write. Hyrum very urgently requested Joseph to 
 write the revelation by means of the Urim and Thummim, but 
 Joseph in reply said he did not need to, for he knew the revela- 
 tion perfectly from beginning to end. 
 
 Joseph and Hyrum then sat down and Joseph commenced to 
 dictate the revelation on Celestial Marriage, and I wrote it, sen- 
 tence by sentence, as he dictated. After the whole was written, 
 Joseph asked me to read it through slowly and carefully, which 
 I did, and he pronounced it correct. He then remarked that 
 there was much more that he could write, on the same subject, 
 but what was written was sufficient for the present. 
 
 Hyrum then took the revelation to read to Emma. Joseph 
 remained with me in the office until Hyrum returned. When he 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 85 
 
 came back Joseph asked him hcrv he had succeeded. Hyrum re- 
 plied that he had never received a more severe talking to in 
 his life, that Emma was very bitter and full of resentment and 
 anger. 
 
 Joseph quietly remarked, "I told you you did not know Emma 
 as well as I did." Joseph then put the revelation in his pocket, 
 and they both left the office. 
 
 The revelation was read to several of the authorities during 
 the day. Towards evening Bishop Newell K. Whitney asked 
 Joseph if he had any objections to his taking a copy of the reve- 
 lation; Joseph replied that he had not, and handed it to him. 
 It was carefully copied the following day by Joseph C. Kings- 
 bury. Two or three days after the revelation was written Joseph 
 related to me and several others that Emma had so teased and 
 urgently entreated him for the privilege of destroying it, that he 
 became so weary of her teasing, and to get rid of her annoyance, 
 he told her she might destroy it and she had done so, but he 
 had consented to her wish in this matter to pacify her, realizing 
 that he knew the revelation perfectly and could rewrite it at 
 any time if necessary. 
 
 The copy made by Joseph C. Kingsbury is a true and correct 
 copy of the original in every respect. The copy was carefully 
 preserved by Bishop Whitney, and but few knew of its ex- 
 istence until the temporary location of the Camp of Israel at 
 Winter Quarters, on the Missouri River, in 1846. 
 
 After the revelation on celestial marriage was written Joseph 
 continued his instructions, privately, on the doctrine, to myself 
 and others, and during the last year of his life we were scarcely 
 ever together, alone, but he was talking on the subject, and ex- 
 plaining that doctrine and principles connected with it. He ap- 
 peared to enjoy great liberty and freedom in his teachings, and 
 also to find great relief in having a few to whom he could un- 
 bosom his feelings on that great and glorious subject. 
 
 From him I learned that the doctrine of plural and celestial 
 marriage is the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed 
 to man on the earth, and that without obedience to that principle 
 no person can ever attain to the fullness of exaltation in celestial 
 glory. 
 
 The reader will discover, as we proceed, that Clay- 
 ton's testimony agrees with that of others to be given. 
 
86 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 THE 
 
 The following is the celebrated "Revelation on Celes- 
 tial Marriage," said to have been received July 12, 1843 :' 
 
 1. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, 
 that inasmuch as you have enquired of my hand, to know and 
 understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, 
 Isaac and Jacob ; as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, 
 as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many 
 wives and concubines: Behold! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, 
 and will answer thee as touching this matter : Therefore, prepare 
 thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about 
 to give unto you ; for all those who have this law revealed unto 
 them must obey the same; for behold! I reveal unto you a new 
 and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not in that cove- 
 nant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant, 
 and be permitted to enter into n"j glory ; for all who will have a 
 blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed 
 for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as was instituted 
 from before the foundation of the world : and as pertaining to the 
 new and everlasting covenant it was instituted for the fullness 
 of my glory; and he that receiveth a fullness thereof, must and 
 shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God. 
 
 2. And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law 
 
 1 In his "Diary" for July 12, 1843, Joseph made the following entry: 
 "Wednesday, i2th. I received the following revelation in the presence 
 of my brother Ilyrum and Elder William Clayton: [Here follows the Rev- 
 elation on Celestial Marriage.] Hyrum took the Revelation and read it 
 to Emma." Millennial Star, Vol. XXI., pp. 715 and 731. The Josephites 
 usually try to evade the force of this and other entries in Smith's "Diary" 
 by questioning its authenticity. They assert that it was carried to Utah 
 by the Brighamites, and that these entries were, or may have been, made 
 by that church in order to sustain their positions. But one thing is very 
 noticeable: they question the correctness of this "Diary" only when it 
 happens to conflict with their opinions; ordinarily they quote from it 
 without question. For proof of this, I refer the reader to the extensive 
 quotations from it in Heman C. Smith's '"Church History," Vols. I. and II. 
 These quotations cover over two hundred pages of these volumes by actual 
 count, and are introduced with such expressions as "Joseph Smith records 
 the following," "Joseph writes," "We quote from Joseph Smith as fol- 
 lows," "Joseph states," etc., etc. If this document is sufficiently accurate 
 to be quoted as good history to establish other points, why is it not 
 sufficiently accurate to be quoted as good history when it comes to establish 
 the polygamous teachings of Joseph Smith? 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 87 
 
 are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths r 
 vows, performances, connections, associations or expectations 
 that are not made and entered into, and sealed by the Holy 
 Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time 
 and for all eternity, and that too most holy by revelation and 
 commandment, through the medium of mine anointed whom f 
 have appointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have ap- 
 pointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last 
 days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on which 
 this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred}, are of 
 no efficacy, virtue or force in and after the resurrection from 
 the dead ; for all contracts that are not made unto this end, have 
 an end when men are dead. 
 
 3. Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord 
 God, and not a house of confusion. Will I accept of an offering, 
 saith the Lord, that is not made in my name? Or, will I re- 
 ceive at your hands that which I have not appointed? And will 
 I appoint unto you, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I 
 and my Father ordained unto you before the world was? I am 
 the Lord thy God, and I give unto you this commandment, that 
 no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word 
 which is my law, saith the Lord ; and every thing that is in the 
 world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principal- 
 ities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, 
 that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be 
 thrown down and shall not stand after men are dead, neither 
 in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God ; for what- 
 soever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not 
 by me shall be shaken and destroyed. 
 
 4. Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and 
 he marry her not by me, nor by my word ; and he covenant 
 with her so long as he is in the world, and she with him, their 
 covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead and 
 when they are out of the world ; therefore, they are not bound 
 by any law when they are out of the world; therefore, when 
 they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in 
 marriage, but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are 
 ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy 
 of a far more and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory; 
 for these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot be 
 
88 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation in 
 their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are 
 not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever. 
 
 5. And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, 
 and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if 
 that covenant is not by me, or by my word, which is my law, 
 and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him 
 whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it 
 is not valid, neither of force when they are out of the world, be- 
 cause they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my 
 word ; when they are out of the world, it cannot be received there, 
 because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom 
 they cannot pass ; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory, for 
 my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God. 
 
 6. And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife 
 by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting 
 covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of 
 promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed 
 this power, and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said 
 unto them, ye shall come forth in the first resurrection ; and if it 
 be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and 
 shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, domin- 
 ions, all heights and depths then shall it be written in the 
 Lamb's Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby 
 to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant and 
 commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be 
 done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put 
 upon them, in time, and through all eternity, and shall be of 
 full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass 
 by the angels and the Gods, which are set there, to their exalta- 
 tion and glory, in all things, as hath been sealed upon their 
 heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the 
 seeds forever and ever. 
 
 7. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; there- 
 fore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting because they 
 continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are 
 subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all 
 power, and the angels are subject unto them. 
 
 8. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law, 
 ye cannot attain to this glory; for straight is the gate and 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 89 
 
 narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continua- 
 tion of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye re- 
 ceive me not in the world, neither do ye know me. But if ye 
 receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive 
 your exaltation, that where I am, ye shall be also. This is 
 eternal lives, to know the only wise and true God and Jesus 
 Christ whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my 
 law. Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the 
 death; and many there are that go in thereat; because they 
 receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. 
 
 9. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife 
 according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit 
 of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall 
 commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting 
 covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they 
 commit no murder, wherein they shed innocent blood yet 
 they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into 
 their exaltation ; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall 
 be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of re- 
 demption, saith the Lord God. 
 
 10. The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be 
 forgiven in the world, nor out of the world, is in that ye commit 
 murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my 
 death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, 
 saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law, can in 
 no wise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the 
 Lord. 
 
 11. I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law 
 of my holy priesthood, as was ordained by me and my Father, 
 before the world was. Abraham received all things, whatsoever 
 he received, by revelation and commandment, by my word, saith 
 the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation, and sitteth upon 
 his throne. 
 
 12. Abraham received promise concerning his seed, and of the 
 fruit of his loins from whose loins ye are, namely, my servant 
 Joseph which were to continue so long as they were in the 
 world; and as touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world 
 they should continue; both in the world and out of the world 
 should they continue as innumerable as the stars ; or, if ye were 
 to count the sand upon the seashore, ye could not number them. 
 
 (7) 
 
90 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 This promise is yours, also, because ye are of Abraham, and the 
 promise was made unto Abraham; and by this law are the 
 continuation of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth 
 himself. Go ye, therefore, and do the works of Abraham ; enter 
 ye into my law, and ye shall be saved. But if ye enter not into 
 my law, ye cannot receive the promise of my Father, which he 
 made unto Abraham. 
 
 13. God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to 
 Abraham to wife. And vhy did she do it? Because this was 
 the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, 
 was fulfilling, among other things, the promises. Was Abra- 
 ham, therefore, under condemnation? Verily I say unto you, 
 Nay; for I, the Lord, commanded it. Abraham was commanded 
 to offer his son Isaac, nevertheless it is written, Thou shalt not 
 kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted 
 unto him for righteousness. 
 
 14. Abraham received concubines, and they bare him children, 
 and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they 
 were given unto him, and he abode in my law, as Isaac also, and 
 Jacob did none other things than that which they were com- 
 manded ; and because they did none other things than that which 
 they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, 
 according to the promise, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels, 
 but are gods. David also received many wives and concubines, as 
 also Solomon and Moses my servants ; as also many others of my 
 servants from the beginning of creation until this time; and in 
 nothing did they sin, save in those things which they received 
 not of me. 
 
 15. David's wives and concubines were given unto him, of 
 me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the 
 Prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these 
 things did he sin against me, save in the case of Uriah and his 
 wife; and, therefore, he hath fallen from his exaltation, and re- 
 ceived his portion ; and he shall not inherit them out of the world ; 
 for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord. 
 
 16. I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my servant 
 Joseph, an appointment; and restore all things; ask what ye 
 will, and it shall be given unto you according to my word ; 
 and as ye have asked concerning adultery verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, if a man receive a wife in the new and everlasting 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 91 
 
 covenant, and if she be with another man, and I have not ap- 
 pointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed 
 adultery, and shall be destroyed. If she be not in the new and 
 everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she has 
 committed adultery; and if her husband be with another woman, 
 and he was under a vow, he hath broken his vow, and hath 
 committed adultery, and if she hath not committed adultery, but 
 is innocent, and hath not broken her vow, and she knoweth it, 
 and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall you 
 have power, by the power of my Holy Priesthood, to take her, 
 and give her unto him that hath not committed adultery, but 
 hath been faithful; for he shall be made ruler over many; for 
 I have conferred upon you the keys and power of the Priesthood, 
 wherein I restore all things, and make known unto you all things 
 in due time. 
 
 17. And verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you 
 seal on earth, shall be sealed in heaven ; and whatsoever you bind 
 on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall 
 be eternally bound in the heavens ; and whosesoever sins you re- 
 mit on earth, shall be remitted eternally in the heavens; and 
 whosesoever sins you retain on earth, shall be retained in heaven. 
 
 18. And again, verily I say, whomsoever you bless, I will 
 bless, and whomsoever you curse, I will curse, saith the Lord; 
 for I, the Lord, am thy God. 
 
 19. And again, verily I say unto you, my servant Joseph, 
 that whatsoever you give on earth, and to whomsoever you give 
 any one on earth, by my word, and according to my law, it 
 shall be visited with blessings, and not cursings, and with my 
 power, saith the Lord, and shall be without condemnation on 
 earth, and in heaven ; for I am the Lord thy God, and will be with 
 thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; 
 for verily, I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne 
 for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your 
 father. Behold, I have seen your sacrifices and will forgive all 
 your sins ; I have seen your sacrifices in obedience to that which 
 I have told you; go, therefore, and I make a way for your es- 
 cape, as I accepted the offering of Abraham, of his son Isaac. 
 
 20. Verily I say unto you, a commandment I give unto mine 
 handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto 
 you, that she stay herself, and partake not of that which I 
 
92 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 commanded you to offer unto her ; for I did it, saith the Lord, to 
 prove you all, as I did Abraham ; and that I might require an 
 offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice; and let mine 
 handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given 
 unto my servant, Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before 
 me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were 
 pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God; for I am the Lord 
 thy God, and ye shall obey my voice ; and I give unto my servant 
 Joseph, that he shall be made ruler over many things, for he 
 hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I 
 will strengthen him. 
 
 21. And I command my handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide 
 and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if 
 she will not abide this commandment, she shall be destroyed, 
 saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy 
 her, if she abide not in my law ; but if she will not abide this 
 commandment then shall my servant Joseph do all things for 
 her, even as he hath said ; and I will bless him and multiply him, 
 and give unto him an hundred fold in this world, of fathers 
 and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and 
 children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds. And 
 again, verily, I say, let mine handmaid forgive my servant Joseph 
 his trespasses; and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, 
 wherein she hath trespassed against me; and I, the Lord thy God, 
 will bless her, and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice. 
 
 22. And again, I say, let not my servant put his property 
 out of his hands, lest an enemy come and destroy him, for 
 Satan seeketh to destroy; for I am the Lord thy God, and he is 
 my servant; and behold, and lo, I am with him, as I was with 
 Abraham, thy father, even unto his exaltation and glory. 
 
 23. Now, as touching the law of the priesthood, there are 
 many things pertaining thereunto. Verily, if a man be called of 
 my Father, as was Aaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice 
 of him that sent me; and I have endowed him with the keys 
 of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, 
 and according to my law, and by my word, he will not commit 
 sin, and I will justify him. Let no one, therefore, set on my 
 servant Joseph; for I will justify him; for he shall do the sac- 
 rifice which I require at his hands, for his transgressions, saith 
 the Lord your God. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 93 
 
 24. And again, as pertaining to the law of the Priesthood; 
 if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and 
 the first give her consent ; and if he espouse the second, and they 
 are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justi- 
 fied; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him; 
 for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him 
 and to no one else; and if he have ten virgins given unto 
 him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong 
 to him, and they are given unto him, therefore is he justified. 
 But if one or either of the ten virgins after she is espoused 
 shall be with another man she has committed adultery, and shall 
 be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and re- 
 plenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill 
 the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation 
 of the world; and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, 
 that they may bear their souls of men; for herein is the work 
 of my Father continued, that he may be glorified. 
 
 25. And again, verily, verily I say unto you, if any man 
 have a wife who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches 
 unto her the law of my priesthood as pertaining to these things, 
 then shall she believe, and administer unto him, or she shall 
 be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; 
 for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and 
 abide in my law. Therefore, it shall be lawful in me if she re- 
 ceive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, 
 the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not min- 
 ister unto him according to my word; and she then becomes 
 the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who 
 administered unto Abraham according to the law, when I com- 
 manded Abraham to take Hagar to wife. And now, as per- 
 taining unto this law, verily, verily I say unto you, I will reveal 
 more unto you hereafter; therefore, let this suffice for the 
 present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega, Amen. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 Although they have not always done so, the Josephites 
 now unanimously deny that Joseph Smith ever had any 
 connection with the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," 
 
94 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 contending that it was undoubtedly the product of Brig- 
 ham Young, and that it was first brought to the notice 
 of the church at Salt Lake City, Utah, on August the 
 2Qth, 1852, eight years after the Prophet's death. 1 Elder 
 Willard J. Smith, one of their leading writers, says: 
 
 It is utterly incredible that Joseph Smith ever saw or heard 
 of that sham revelation. There is not one scintilla of evidence, 
 that would be accepted in any court of equity, connecting Joseph 
 Smith with that base forgery. All the evidence which would be 
 accepted by any court of justice contribute to show the absurdity 
 and folly of the Brighamite claim that Joseph Smith received that 
 revelation on July I2th, 1843, or that he ever taught or practiced 
 polygamy; and this extreme absurdity becomes more and more 
 apparent the further one proceeds in its examination. Not one 
 syllable can be found anywhere where Joseph Smith in any way 
 ever countenanced, sanctioned or condoned the doctrine of polyg- 
 amy, aside from that sham revelation; and, as we have shown, 
 this bungling thing is so unlike him in its verbiage so unlike 
 any revelation ever given to the church, or anything ever written 
 or spoken by him, and besides, its being opposed in all its essen- 
 tial features to everything he ever did give to the church or the 
 world, and then its being kept securely hid away from the 
 church, caged up under that "patent lock" for more than eight 
 years after Joseph's death, and then when introduced, being 
 neither in the handwriting of Joseph Smith nor in the hand- 
 writing of any scribe or secretary ever employed by him, but 
 
 1 "Who is the author of this immoral, degrading document? Was it 
 Brigham Young, as the Reorganized Church has tried to maintain? or was 
 it Joseph Smith, as all other branches of the Mormon Church have ever 
 declared it to be? Take the utterances of Brigham Young as we find them 
 in the 'Journal of Discourses,' published in Salt Lake City, and other 
 Mormon publications, and compare them with this revelation of 1843, and 
 you will discover at a glance that Brigham Young could not have been its 
 author; the language, the style and composition are not his. But, on the 
 other hand, compare this production with any of the acknowledged 'rev- 
 elations' of the Prophet, especially that of 1841 (see "Doc. and Cov.," p. 
 301), and you will at once see that the language, the diction and style 
 are unmistakably peculiar to Joseph Smith. The style is his, the language 
 is his, and the conception is his." D. H. Bays in his "Doctrines and 
 Dogmas of Mormonism," p. 356. Mr. Bays was for twenty-seven years 
 an elder in the Josephite Church. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 95 
 
 in the handwriting of one of Brigham's colleagues, and no wit- 
 nesses to it attesting its genuineness as a certified copy of the 
 original not a thing but the bare, bald, unqualified statement of 
 the notorious polygamist, Brigham Young, to give it validity, 
 and it just seems to me, with this array of facts before us, that 
 it requires more credulity and less brains than is generally needful 
 for ordinary intelligence, to swallow such an unreasonable con- 
 glomeration of inconsistency. Joseph Smith: Who Was He?, 
 pp. 65, 66. 
 
 I can not refrain from saying, after going over the 
 evidences, that the assertions made in the foregoing are 
 utterly baseless and that there is abundant evidence that 
 Joseph Smith both taught and practiced polygamy, and 
 was the author of the notorious revelation in question. 
 There is one feature which is certainly uncommendable 
 in the book from which this quotation is taken: it pre- 
 sents only part of the evidence in the case, and from this 
 the author draws his conclusions. While he emphasizes 
 strongly the purported statements of Emma Smith and 
 the denials of Joseph and Hyrum made through the 
 Times and Seasons, he touches only lightly a few of the 
 opposing facts, while the great mass of evidence on the 
 other side is entirely ignored. But this is not exclusively 
 the weakness of this writer, for all Josephites are afflicted 
 with the same malady. 
 
 In order to show that polygamy was not a tenet of the 
 Mormon faith until after the Mormons reached Salt 
 Lake City, the Josephites quote certain statements made 
 by the Brighamites themselves. 
 
 Geo. Q. Cannon says: 
 
 A prevalent idea has been, that this prejudice against us owes 
 its origin and continuation to our belief in a plurality of wives ; 
 but when it is recollected that the mobbings, drivings and ex- 
 pulsions from Cities, Counties and States which we endured, 
 and our exodus to these mountains, all took place before the 
 revelation of that doctrine was publicly known, it will be seen, 
 
96 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 that our belief in it has not been the cause of persecution. . . . 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith were persecuted to death previous to 
 the church having any knowledge of this doctrine. Journal of 
 Discourses, Vol. XIV., pp. 165, 166. 
 
 H. B. Clawson says: 
 
 Polygamy at that time (when the Mormons left Nauvoo) 
 was unknown among those of the Mormon faith. . . . The doc- 
 trine of polygamy wac not promulgated until they got to Salt 
 Lake; not in fact until some little time after they arrived there. 
 Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 9, 1882. 
 
 And Lorenzo Snow, in the famous Temple-lot Suit, 
 said: 
 
 No, sir, the church never accepted the revelation on polygamy 
 during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, for it was not during his 
 lifetime that it was presented to the church for acceptance. 
 Plaintiff's Abstract, p. 322. 
 
 To the casual reader, these quotations may appear to 
 be virtual concessions that polygamy was wholly unknown 
 as a doctrine and practice until after the immigration to 
 Utah. But when they are taken in connection with their 
 contexts and when the purpose of those who made them 
 is discovered, it is readily seen that they sustain no 
 such conclusion. In the first place, polygamy was prac- 
 ticed at Nauvoo, as we know by the testimonies of the 
 Rigdons, the Laws, Cowles, Marks and scores of 
 others, though it was practiced in secret, while, in the 
 second, it was not "publicly" known, "promulgated" nor 
 "accepted" as a revelation by the "church" (though re- 
 vealed to and accepted by a few of Smith's most con- 
 fidential followers) until the Mormons were beyond the 
 reach of Uncle Sam. The foregoing statements, then, 
 may all be true and yet polygamy may have flourished 
 in secret, during the last days of the Mormon Prophet, 
 like a green bay-tree. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 97 
 
 When the Josephites say that there are no evidences 
 to connect Smith with the "Revelation on Celestial Mar- 
 riage," they say what they ought to know, at least, is 
 not so. This revelation was received on July 12, 1843, 
 and on August 12 following was read before the High 
 Council, all of "whom accepted it with the exception of 
 William Marks, the President; Austin Cowles, one of 
 his Counselors, and Leonard Soby. I shall now give 
 the testimonies of three of those who were present on this 
 occasion and heard the "Revelation" read. The following 
 is the affidavit of David Fullmer: 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, ^ 
 County of Salt Lake, j S: 
 
 Be it remembered on this fifteenth day of June, A. D. 1869, 
 personally appeared before me, James Jack, a Notary Public in 
 and for said county, David Fullmer, who was by me sworn in 
 due form of law and upon his oath saith, that on or about the 
 I2th day of August, A. D. 1843, while in meeting with the High 
 Council, (he being a member thereof), in Hyrum Smith's brick 
 office, in the City of Nauvoo, County of Hancock, State of 
 Illinois, Dunbar Wilson made inquiry in relation to the subject of 
 a plurality of wives, as there were rumors about respecting it, 
 and he was satisfied there was something in those remarks, and 
 he wanted to know what it was, upon which Hyrum Smith 
 stepped across the road to his residence, and soon returned, 
 bringing with him a copy of the revelation on celestial marriage, 
 given to Joseph Smith, July 12, A. D. 1843, and read the same 
 to the High Council, and bore testimony of its truth. The said 
 David Fullmer further said that to the best of his memory and 
 belief, the following named persons were present: William 
 Marks, Austin A. Cowles, Samuel Bent, George W. Harris, Dun- 
 bar Wilson, Wm. Huntington, Levi Jackman, Aaron Johnson, 
 Thomas Grover, David Fullmer, Phineas Richards, James Allred 
 and Leonard Soby. And the said David Fullmer further saith 
 that Wm. Marks, Austin A. Cowles and Leonard Soby were 
 the only persons present who did not receive the testimony of 
 Hyrum Smith, and that all the others did receive it from the 
 teaching and testimony of the said Hyrum Smith. And further, 
 
98 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 that the copy of said revelation on Celestial Marriage, published 
 in the Deseret News extra of September fourteenth, A. D. 1852, 
 is a true copy of the same. DAVID FULLMER. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said David Fullmer the day 
 and year first above written. JAMES JACK, Notary Public. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter written 
 by Thomas Grover, another member of the High Council 
 at Nauvoo: 
 
 The High Council, of Nauvoo, was called together by the 
 Prophet Joseph Smith, to know whether they would accept the 
 revelation on celestial marriage or not. 
 
 The presidency of the Stake, Wm. Marks, Father Coles and 
 the late Apostle Charles C. Rich, were there present. The 
 following .are the names of the High Council that were present, 
 in their order, viz: Samuel Bent, William Huntington, Alpheus 
 Cutler, Thomas Grover, Lewis D. Wilson, David Fullmer, Aaron 
 Johnson, Newel Knight, Leonard Soby, Isaac Allred, Henry G. 
 Sherwood and, I think, Samuel Smith. 
 
 Brother Hyrum Smith was called upon to read the revela- 
 tion. He did so, and after reading it said: "Now, you that be- 
 lieve this revelation and go forth and obey the same shall be 
 saved, and you that reject it shall be damned." 
 
 We saw this prediction verified in less than one week. Of the 
 Presidency of the Stake, William Marks and Father Coles re- 
 jected the revelation; of the Council that were present, Leonard 
 Soby rejected it. From that time forward there was a very 
 strong division in the High Council. These three men greatly 
 diminished in spirit day after day, so that there was a great 
 difference in the line of their conduct, which was perceivable 
 to every member that kept the faith. 
 
 From that time forward we often received instructions from 
 the Prophet as to what was the will of the Lord and how to 
 proceed. 
 
 The following is the affidavit of Leonard Soby: 
 
 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, ) 
 
 C. ^Q 
 County of Burlington. J 
 
 Be it remembered that on this fourteenth day of November, 
 A. D. 1883, personally appeared before me, J. W. Roberts, a 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 99 
 
 Justice of the Peace, county and State aforesaid, Leonard Soby, 
 who was by me sworn in due form of law, and upon oath 
 saith, that on or about the I2th day of August, 1843, in the city 
 of Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, in the county of Hancock, 
 before the High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter 
 Day Saints, of which body and council aforesaid he was a 
 member, personally appeared one Hyrum Smith, of the first presi- 
 dency of said church, and brother to Joseph Smith, the presi- 
 dent and prophet of the same, and presented to said council the 
 Revelation on Polygamy, enjoining its observance and declaring it 
 came from God; unto which a large majority of the council 
 agreed and assented believing it to be of a celestial order, 
 though no vote was taken upon it, for the reason that the voice 
 of the prophet, in such matters, was understood by us to be the 
 voice of God to the church, and that said revelation was pre- 
 sented to said council, as before stated, as coming from Joseph 
 Smith, the prophet of the Lord, and was received by us as 
 other revelations had been. The said Leonard Soby further saith 
 that Elder Austin A. Cowles, a member of the High Council 
 aforesaid, did, subsequently to the I2th day of August, 1843, 
 openly declare against the said revelation on polygamy, and the 
 doctrines therein contained. LEONARD SOBY. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Leonard Soby, the day 
 and year first above written. JOSHUA W. ROBERTS, 
 
 Justice of the Peace. 1 
 
 These testimonies were presented to the public in 
 the year 1886, in a discussion carried on through the 
 columns of the Utah Journal, of Logan, Utah, by Joseph 
 Smith, representing the Josephites, and L. O. Littlefield, 
 representing the Brighamites. During this discussion, 
 
 1 Soby has left another affidavit, made on March 23, 1886, in which 
 he says: "I have read and examined carefully said revelation, since pub- 
 lished in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants of said Church, and say 
 to the best of my knowledge and belief it is the same, word for word, as 
 the revelation then read by Hyrum Smith. The deponent says further, 
 that the revelation did not originate with Brigham Young, as some persons 
 have "falsely stated, but was received by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and 
 read in the High Council by his authority as a revelation to the Church 
 of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." At the time that Soby made his 
 affidavits, he was not a member of the Mormon Church. 
 
100 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 the President of the Reorganized Church challenged his 
 opponent to give the names of those who were present 
 and heard the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" read 
 before the High Council, and these statements were the 
 answer to that challenge. 
 
 The testimonies of Fullmer, Grover and Soby estab- 
 lish that there was a revelrtion on "Celestial Marriage" 
 in Nauvoo before the Prophet's death ; that this revelation 
 was read before the High Council on the I2th of August, 
 1843, by his brother Hyrum, who declared that it came 
 from God; and that it was received as of divine origin 
 by a majority of those who were present. Through whom 
 did this revelation come? There can be but one answer 
 to this question It came through Joseph Smith, and 
 Joseph Smith alone. 
 
 But, behold, verily, verily I say unto thee, No one shall be 
 appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this 
 church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for he receiveth 
 them even as Moses. Revelation given through Smith to Cow- 
 dery, "Doctrine and Covenants" Section 27. 
 
 Ebenezer Robinson, 1 who was with the church through 
 the trying scenes at Nauvoo, gives us the following 
 interesting information on the condition of things as they 
 existed in 1843 : 
 
 Nauvoo was denominated a stake of Zion, with three Presi- 
 dents, and a High Council. Wm. Marks was President, Austin 
 Cowles and Amasa Lyman as his counselors, which constituted 
 the three Presidents over the stake and High Council. 
 
 Presidents Marks and Cowles were among the good, solid 
 men of the age. Both were opposed to polygamy, but Brother 
 Cowles was far more outspoken, and energetic in his opposition 
 
 1 In a letter to Frank Reynolds, dated at Piano. Illinois, January 21, 
 1867, President Joseph Smith, of the Reorganized Church, says of Rob- 
 inson: "I regard Bro. Robinson as one of a scarce work, viz.: a noble- 
 minded man, not only an honourable man of the earth, but an honourable 
 man of Israel." Return, April, 1889. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 101 
 
 to that doctrine than almost any other man in Nauvoo. In fact, 
 I think, his opposition excelled all others. 
 
 Hyrum opposed it at first, but afterwards became its warm 
 advocate, to my certain knowledge. 
 
 One day, in July, before I got ready to start on my mission 
 to New York State, I met Bro. Cowles on Main Street, when he 
 said to me : "Brother Robinson, how can you go out on a mis- 
 sion under these circumstances, with things as they are?" I re- 
 plied : "I can go readily, for I would preach the gospel of our 
 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Yes," said he, "and when 
 people have obeyed that, have them come here to this sink of 
 iniquity." I replied, "that was no part of my mission, that 
 when they obeyed the gospel I left them in the hands of their 
 heavenly Father, before him they must stand or fall." 
 
 On the I2th of this July it is claimed the revelation on 
 polygamy was given through Joseph Smith. I did not see the 
 revelation, but was told a few days after, and before leaving 
 Nauvoo, that such a revelation had been given. 
 
 I started on 'hat mission on the last day of July, 1843, 
 accompanied by my v ife, Gen. Wilson Law and wife, who were 
 going to Pennsylvania, and my wife to stop in Ohio visiting our 
 relatives there, while I should prosecute the mission in the state 
 of New York. 
 
 Gen. Law and myself employed President Wm. Marks to take 
 us in his family carriage to Chicago, 111., where we took a 
 steamer for Ohio and Pennsylvania. On our way to Chicago the 
 subject of spiritual wives, or polygamy, was freely discussed, 
 when President Marks also told us that a revelation had been 
 received on the subject, or, to use his own words, "They have 
 got a revelation on the subject." 
 
 From Bro. Marks' testimony and what I had been told in 
 Nauvoo, before leaving home, I as firmly believed that Joseph 
 Smith had given a revelation on polygamy as that he had ever 
 given one on any subject, in his life. 
 
 Notwithstanding the revelation, every member of our party 
 was opposed to the doctrine. 
 
 We returned home from that mission the latter part of 
 November, 1843. Soon after our return, I was told that when we 
 were gone, the revelation on polygamy was presented to, and read 
 in, the High Council in Nauvoo, three of the members of which 
 
102 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 refused to accept it as from the Lord, viz. : Presidents Marks and 
 Cowles, and Counsellor Leonard Soby. At that time and place, 
 and on that occasion, President Austin Cowles resigned his po- 
 sition as one of the presidents of the High Council, which neces- 
 sarily included his presidency of the church at Nauvoo. After 
 this he was looked upon as a seceder, and no longer held a 
 prominent place in the church, although morally and religiously 
 speaking, one of the best men in the place. 1 
 
 Return, February, 1891. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 103 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Nauvoo "Expositor" The Events Leading up to Smith's 
 Assassination The Charges of the "Expositor" The 
 Charges of the "Expositor" Sustained. 
 
 No sooner did the members of the High Council and 
 other leading Mormons learn that their Prophet had re- 
 ceived a revelation authorizing polygamy, than a num- 
 ber of them followed his example and married plural 
 wives. On the other hand, a large and influential element 
 rebelled, refused to obey the revelation and accused those 
 living up to the "law of Sarah" of practicing immorality. 
 During the fall of 1843 an d the winter of 1843-44, the 
 lines became distinctly drawn and by spring the Mormon 
 priesthood was divided into two contending and irrecon- 
 cilable factions, one supporting the Smiths and polygamy, 
 the other denouncing both. 1 
 
 The trouble at Nauvoo reached a climax on the i8th 
 of April, 1844, when several prominent Mormons were 
 cut off from the church on the charge of "unchristian- 
 like conduct" and without a trial. The notice of this 
 
 1 "I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints 
 prepared to receive things of God; but we frequently see some of them, 
 after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like 
 glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they 
 can not stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial 
 law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as 
 many are called, but few are chosen." Extract from a sermon preached 
 by Smith at Nauvoo, January 20, 1844 (Millennial Star, Vol. XXII., p. 
 664). Polygamy was contrary to "tradition" and was that "celestial law" 
 by which the Saints received their "exaltation." (See "Revelation on 
 Celestial Marriage," paragraph 8.) 
 
104 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 action, which appeared in the Times and Seasons, reads 
 as follows: 
 
 NAUVOO, April 18, 1844. 
 
 Robert D. Foster, Wilson Law, William Law, and Jane Law, 
 of Nauvoo, and Howard Smith, of Scott County, Illinois, for 
 unchristianlike conduct, were cut off from the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter Day Saints, by the authorities of said Church, 
 and ordered to be published in the TIMES AND SEASONS. 
 
 W. RICHARDS, Church Recorder. 
 
 This was followed, on the 6th of May, with the arrest 
 of Smith by F. M. Higbee, another dissenter, who claimed 
 damages to the amount of five thousand dollars for 
 slander. The warrant having been issued by the clerk 
 of the circuit court of Carthage, Smith secured a writ 
 of habeas corpus and was tried before the municipal 
 court at Nauvoo with the result that he was discharged, 
 the complainant not daring to appear against him. 
 
 On the 1 8th of the same month, Higbee, with Austin 
 Cowles, James Blakeslee 1 and Charles Ivins, was ex- 
 communicated on the charge of apostasy. 
 
 On June 7, the Nauvoo Expositor made its appear- 
 ance. It was published by Sylvester Emmans and was 
 backed by the Laws, Fosters and other apostates. In it, 
 certain charges were made against the Smiths and a 
 number of affidavits were given to sustain them. 
 
 On the loth of June, the city council declared the 
 Expositor a nuisance and the mayor was ordered to have 
 
 1 "Last week, individuals of the Mormon faith (Messrs. Blakesly and 
 Higbee), representing the dissenters, addressed a large number of our 
 citizens in reference to the 'flare-up' at Nauvoo. We were not present, 
 but have it from others who were, that the dissenters made out that Joe 
 Smith was pretty much of a rough customer, especially in relation to the 
 'spiritual wife' doctrine. Their whole aim was principally against the 
 church, of which they still claimed to be members. They painted Smith 
 as anything but the saint he claims to be, and, as a man, to the last degree 
 corrupt in his morals and religion." Quincy Whig, May, 1844. Blakeslee 
 afterwards became an apostle in the Reorganized Church. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 105 
 
 it removed in any way he might see fit* The latter, who 
 was none other than Smith himself, then issued an order 
 to the marshal, John P. Green, who proceeded with a 
 posse to the office of the Expositor and destroyed the 
 press, type, paper and fixtures. 
 
 Following this, the apostates fled from the city and 
 procured a warrant for the arrest of Smith and several 
 of his followers on the charge of riot. When the war- 
 rant was served, the Prophet played his habeas corpus 
 game again and so secured a hearing before the munici- 
 pal court at Nauvoo, by which he was discharged. 
 
 By the advice of Judge Jesse B. Thomas, however, 
 he again submitted to arrest, evidently to satisfy some 
 legal technicality, and was tried before Daniel H. Wells, 
 justice of the peace of Nauvoo, by whom he was again 
 discharged. 
 
 Following this, the writ for riot in destroying the 
 Nauvoo Expositor being renewed, he and Hyrum fled to 
 Iowa, from which State they returned to Carthage on the 
 24th of June and gave themselves up to be tried on the 
 charge of treason. Here, on the 27th of the same month, 
 they met their tragic end. 
 
 Having given the events that occurred during the 
 two or three months preceding the Prophet's death, I now 
 pass to the charges that were made against him and his 
 associates in the Nauvoo Expositor. And let the reader 
 keep in mind that this paper was published twenty days 
 before his assassination. 
 
 These charges, in brief, were: (i) Unfairly cutting 
 individuals off from the church. (2) Introducing false 
 and damnable doctrines, such as Adam-god-ism and 
 polygamy. (3) Attempting to unite church and state. 
 
 (8) 
 
106 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 (4) Manifesting a spirit toward Missouri contrary to 
 Christianity. (5) Screening certain individuals from 
 justice. (6) Employing their ecclesiastical positions as 
 an influence in secular affairs. (7) Countenancing at- 
 tendance at houses of reveling, dramshops, dance-halls 
 and theaters. (8) Teaching the doctrine of gathering in 
 haste and by sacrifice. (9) Using the church funds in 
 speculation. (10) Organizing secret societies in the in- 
 terest of the church and under penal oaths and obliga- 
 tions. And (n) countenancing the spoiling of the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 There is no question that the authorities of the church 
 proceeded unfairly, and with the evident design of keep- 
 ing hid the Prophet's sins, when they expelled the Laws, 
 Foster and Smith. The account of their action, as given 
 in the Expositor, is as follows: 
 
 On Thursday evening, the i8th of April, there was a council 
 called, unknown to the Church, which tried, condemned, and cut 
 off brothers Wm. Law, Wilson Law, and sister Law (Wm/s 
 wife), brother R. D. Foster, and one brother Smith, with whom 
 we are unacquainted; which we contend is contrary to the book 
 of Doctrine and Covenants, for our law condemns no man 
 until he is heard. We abhor and protest against any council 
 or tribunal in this church which will not suffer the accused to 
 stand in its midst and plead his own cause. If an Agrippa 
 would suffer a Paul, whose eloquence surpassed, as it were, 
 the eloquence of men, to stand before him and plead his own 
 cause, why should Joseph, with others, refuse to hear individuals 
 in their own defense? We answer, it is because the court fears 
 the atrocity of its crime will be exposed to public gaze. We 
 wish the public to thoroughly understand the nature of this court, 
 and judge of the legality of its acts as seem to them good. 
 
 On Monday, the I5th of April, brother R. D. Foster had a 
 notice served on him to appear before the High Council on 
 Saturday following, the 2oth, and answer to the charges preferred 
 against him by Joseph Smith. On Saturday, while Mr. Foster 
 was preparing to take his witnesses, 41 in number, to the 
 
BRIGHAM YOUNG. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 107 
 
 council-room, that he might make good his charges against 
 Joseph, president Marks notified him that the trial had been on 
 Thursday evening, before, the I5th (i8th), and that he was cut 
 off from the Church, and that same council cut off the brothers 
 Law, sister Law, and brother Smith, and all without their 
 knowledge. They were not notified, neither did they dream 
 of any such thing being done, for William Law had sent Joseph 
 and some of the Twelve special word that he desired an investi- 
 gation before the Church in General Conference, on the 6th 
 of April. The court, however, was a tribunal possessing no 
 power to try Wm. Law, who was called by special revelation 
 to stand as councillor to the President of the Church (Joseph) 
 which was twice ratified by General Conferences assembled at 
 Nauvoo, for Brigham Young, one of the Twelve, presided, 
 whose duty it was not, but the President of the High Council. 
 
 This puts the matter in an unfavorable light for 
 Joseph for the following reasons : First, the Laws, and 
 their supporters, had made certain grave charges against 
 him; secondly, they had the witnesses to prove their 
 charges; thirdly, they were prevented from doing so by 
 being cut off secretly, not by the church nor the High 
 Council, but by the "authorities" of the church ; and, 
 fourthly, it was Brigham Young, the arch-polygamist, 
 who presided over the "court" that excommunicated them. 
 This cowardly and unfair procedure plainly indicates that 
 there was a "nigger" in the Mormon woodpile at Nau- 
 voo. Smith was, evidently, afraid to have Law and his 
 witnesses appear before the General Conference. 
 
 The Nauvoo Expositor boldly charged Smith with 
 practicing spiritual wifery: 
 
 It is a notorious fact that many females in foreign climes 
 and in countries to us unknown, even in the most distant 
 regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, have been induced, by the 
 sound of the gospel, to forsake friends and embark upon a 
 voyage across waters that lie stretched over the greater portion 
 of the globe, as they suppose to glorify God, that they might 
 thereby stand acquitted in the great day of God Almighty. But 
 
108 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 what is taught them on their arrival at this place? They 
 are visited by some of the Strikers, for we know not what else 
 to call them, and are requested to hold on and be faithful, for 
 there are great blessings awaiting the righteous; and that God 
 has great mysteries in store for those who love the Lord and 
 cling to brother Joseph. They are also notified that brother 
 Joseph will see them soon and reveal the mysteries of Heaven 
 to their full understanding, which seldom fails to inspire them 
 with new confidence in the Prophet, as well as great anxiety to 
 know what God has laid up in store for them in return for the 
 great sacrifice of father and mother, of gold and silver, which 
 they gladly left far behind, that they might be gathered into the 
 fold and numbered among the chosen of God. They are visited 
 again, and what is the result? They are requested to meet 
 brother Joseph, or some of the Twelve, at some isolated point, 
 or at some particularly described place on the bank of the Mis- 
 sissippi, or at some room, which wears upon its front 
 
 POSITIVELY NO ADMITTANCE. 
 
 The harmless, inoffensive and unsuspecting creatures are so 
 devoted to the Prophet and the cause of Jesus Christ, that they 
 do not dream of the deep laid and fatal scheme which prostrates 
 happiness and renders death itself desirable; but they meet him 
 expecting to receive through him a blessing, and learn the will of 
 the Lord concerning them, and what awaits the faithful follower 
 of Joseph, the Apostle and Prophet of God, when in the stead 
 thereof they are told, after having been sworn in one of the 
 most solemn manners to never divulge what is revealed to 
 them, with a penalty of death attached, that God Almighty has 
 revealed it to him, that she should be his (Joseph's) spiritual 
 wife, for it was right anciently and God will tolerate it again; 
 but we must keep those pleasures and blessings from the world, 
 for until there is a change in the government we will endanger 
 ourselves by practicing it but we can enjoy the blessings of 
 Jacob, David and others as well as to be deprived of them, if 
 we do not expose ourselves to the law of the land. 
 
 What gives the above importance in the present con- 
 sideration is that it was written or sanctioned by those 
 who were in a position to know whereof they affirmed 
 and that it was published twenty days before the Prophet 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 109 
 
 was shot. Reader, does it not look as if Joseph Smith 
 was the real author of Mormon polygamy, after all? 
 
 Several resolutions appeared in the Expositor, one of 
 which is interesting because it contains the charge that 
 polygamy was introduced into the Mormon Church by 
 Joseph Smith himself: 
 
 Resolved 2nd, Inasmuch as we have for years borne with 
 the individual follies and iniquities of Joseph Smith, Hyrum 
 Smith, and many other official characters in the Church of 
 Jesus Christ (conceiving it a duty incumbent on us to bear), 
 and having labored with them repeatedly with all Christian love, 
 meekness and humility, yet to no effect, feel as if forbearance 
 has ceased to be a virtue, and hope of reformation vain; and 
 inasmuch as they have introduced false and damnable doctrines 
 into the Church, such as plurality of gods above the God of 
 this universe, and his liability to fall with all his creations; 
 the plurality of wives for time and eternity; the doctrine of 
 unconditional sealing up to eternal life, against all crimes except 
 that of shedding innocent blood, by a perversion of their priestly 
 authority, and thereby forfeiting the holy priesthood. 
 
 Along with this matter, there also appeared three 
 affidavits, one from William Law, another from his wife, 
 Jane, and another from Austin Cowles, certifying that 
 the affiants had either read or heard read the "Revelation 
 on Celestial Marriage." These affiants agree with Full- 
 mer, Grover and Soby in the statements which they have 
 made. 
 
 I hereby certify that Hyrum Smith did (in his office) read 
 to me a certain written document, which he said was a revelation 
 from God. He said that he was with Joseph when it was re- 
 ceived. He afterwards gave me the document to read, and I 
 took it to my house and read it and showed it to my wife and 
 returned it the next day. The revelation (so called) authorized 
 certain men to have more wives than one at a time, in this world 
 and in the world to come. It said this was the law, and com- 
 manded Joseph to enter into the law. And, also, that he should 
 
110 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 administer to others. Several other items were in the revelation, 
 supporting the above doctrines. WM. LAW. 
 
 I certify that I read the revelation referred to in the above 
 affidavit of my husband. It sustained in strong terms the doc- 
 trine of more wives than one at a time, in this world and 
 in the next. It authorized some to have to the number of ten, 
 and set forth that those women who would not allow their 
 husbands more wives than one should be under condemnation 
 before God. JANE LAW. 
 
 To all whom it may concern: 
 
 Forasmuch as the public mind hath been much agitated by a 
 course of procedure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter 
 Day Saints, by a number of persons declaring against certain 
 doctrines and practices therein (among whom I am one), it is 
 but meet that I should give my reasons, at least in part, as a 
 cause that hath led me to declare myself. In the latter part of 
 the summer, 1843, the patriarch, Hyrum Smith, did, in the High 
 Council, of which I was a member, introduce what he said 
 was a revelation given through the prophet; that the said Hyrum 
 Smith did essay to read the said revelation in the said Council; 
 that according to his reading there was contained the following 
 doctrines: 1st, the sealing up of persons to eternal life, against 
 all sin, save that of shedding innocent blood or of consenting 
 thereto; 2nd, the doctrine of a plurality of wives or marrying 
 of virgins ; that "David and Solomon had many wives, yet in 
 this thing they sinned not, save in the matter of Uriah." This 
 revelation, with other evidence that the aforesaid heresies were 
 taught and practiced in the church, determined me to leave the 
 office of first counselor to the president of the church at Nauvoo, 
 inasmuch as I dared not to teach or administer such laws. And 
 further deponent saith not. AUSTIN COWLES. 
 
 The foregoing statements were all sworn and sub- 
 scribed to before Robert D. Foster, justice of the peace, 
 at Nauvoo, on the 4th of May, 1844. 
 
 We are now prepared to show, by certain internal 
 evidences, that the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," 
 given in the preceding chapter, was the one that was 
 presented to the High Council at Nauvoo on the I2th 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 
 
 111 
 
 of August, 1843, and the one that was read by William 
 Law and his wife, Jane, later, and that it contains certain 
 doctrines advocated by Joseph Smith. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE "REVELA- 
 TION ON CELESTIAL MAR- 
 RIAGE." 
 
 And again, as pertaining to 
 the law of the PRIESTHOOD: If 
 any man espouse a VIRGIN, and 
 desire to espouse another, and 
 the first give her consent ; and 
 he espouse the second, and they 
 are VIRGINS, and have vowed 
 to no other man, then is he 
 justified. (Paragraph 24.) 
 
 And if he have TEN virgins 
 given unto him by this law, he 
 cannot commit adultery, for 
 they belong to him. (Par. 24.) 
 
 And again, verily, verily I 
 say unto you, if any man have 
 a wife who holds the keys 
 of this power, and he teaches 
 unto her the law of my priest- 
 hood as pertaining to these 
 things, then shall she believe, 
 and administer unto him, or 
 she shall be DESTROYED. (Par. 
 25.) 
 
 Go ye, therefore, and do the 
 works of Abraham; ENTER YE 
 INTO MY LAW and ye shall be 
 saved. (Par. 12.) 
 
 And if ye abide in my cove- 
 nant, and commit no murder 
 
 WHEREBY TO SHED INNOCENT 
 
 BLOOD, it shall be done unto 
 them in all things. (Par. 6.) 
 
 SWORN STATEMENTS MADE BE- 
 FORE THE DEATH OF JOSEPH 
 SMITH. 
 
 The revelation authorized 
 CERTAIN MEN to have more 
 wives than one at a time, in 
 this world and in the world 
 to come. WM. LAW. 
 
 The doctrine of a plurality 
 of wives or marrying of VIR- 
 GINS. COWLES. 
 
 It authorized some to have 
 to the number of TEN. JANE 
 LAW. 
 
 And set forth that those 
 women who would not allow 
 their husbands to have more 
 wives than one should be UN- 
 DER CONDEMNATION. JANE LAW. 
 
 It said this was the law and 
 commanded Joseph TO ENTER 
 
 INTO THE LAW. WM. LAW. 
 
 Against all sin save that of 
 
 SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD Or of 
 
 consenting thereto. COWLES. 
 
112 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 David also received many That David and Solomon 
 
 wives and concubines, as also had many wives, yet in this 
 
 Solomon and Moses my serv- they sinned not SAVE IN THE 
 
 ants . . . and in none of these MATTER OF URIAH. COWLES. 
 things did he sin against me, 
 
 SAVE IN THE CASE OF URIAH 
 
 AND HIS WIFE. (Pars. 14, 15.) 
 
 These comparisons will show the reader that the 
 "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," which Cowles and 
 the Laws saw, agreed in a number of its expressions with 
 that which we have to-day, and this is good grounds for 
 a strong presumption that they were one and the same. 
 
 But there are also other reasons for believing that 
 the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," given in the 
 preceding chapter, originated with Joseph Smith. Certain 
 doctrines appear in it which were taught by the Prophet 
 during his lifetime, but which are now denied by the 
 Josephites. 
 
 In the first place, the doctrine of Adam-god-ism is 
 unmistakably taught in the "Revelation" as it was by 
 Joseph Smith. Paragraph 14 of the "Revelation" reads: 
 "Abraham received concubines, and they bare him chil- 
 dren, and it was accounted unto him foi righteousness, 
 because they were given unto him, and he abode in my 
 law, as Isaac also, and Jacob did none other things than 
 that which they were commanded ; and because they did 
 none other things than that which they were commanded, 
 they have entered into their EXALTATION, according to 
 the promise, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels, 
 but are GODS." In the funeral sermon which Joseph 
 Smith delivered over the dead body of Elder King Fol- 
 lett 1 at Nauvoo, in April, 1844, he said: "You have got to 
 learn how to be GODS yourselves ; to be kings and 
 
 1 Josephites now question the genuineness of the "King Follett Ser- 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 113 
 
 priests to God, the same as all GODS have done; by 
 going from a small degree to another, from grace to 
 grace, from EXALTATION to EXALTATION, until you are 
 able to sit in glory as doth those who sit enthroned in 
 everlasting power." 
 
 Again, in the second place, the exclusive authority 
 of only one at a time to perform or authorize polygamous 
 marriages was taught by Smith as it is taught in the 
 "Revelation." The "Revelation" reads: "And I have ap- 
 pointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in 
 the last days, and there is never but one on the earth 
 at a time on whom this power and the keys of this 
 priesthood are conferred." In his "Diary" of October 5, 
 1843, Smith wrote: "Gave instructions to try those per- 
 sons who were preaching, teaching or practicing the 
 doctrine of plurality of wives ; for according to the law, 
 I hold the keys of this power in the last days ; for there 
 is never but one on earth at a time on whom the power 
 and its keys are conferred; and I have constantly said 
 no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the 
 Lord directs otherwise." 
 
 And, again, William Marks declared, in 1853, that 
 polygamy was introduced into the Mormon Church, dur- 
 ing Smith's lifetime, as "a principle of EXALTATION." 
 
 mon," but they have not always done so. In the True Latter-day Saints' 
 Herald of May i, 1864, I find the following: 
 
 "JOSEPH SMITH'S DOCTRINE. 
 
 "Joseph Smith, the martyr, preached a sermon at Nauvoo, 111., during 
 the April Conference of 1844, called the 'King Follett Sermon,' in which, 
 while speaking on the resurrection, he had occasion to say (see Vol. V., p. 
 615, Times and Seasons'): 'So I must come to the resurrection of the dead, 
 the soul, the mind of man, the immortal spirit, etc.* " 
 
 The writer then proceeds to quote verbatim a part of this sermon as 
 published in the Times and Seasons, as the very language of Joseph Smith 
 himself. If that sermon, as it appears in the True Latter-day Saints' 
 Herald, is "Joseph Smith's Doctrine," the Josephites can no longer 
 that the doctrine of Adam-god-ism sprang from him. 
 
114 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 This agrees with the "Revelation," in which the Lord 
 says: " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide in 
 my law (of a plurality of wives), ye cannot attain to 
 this glory; for straight is the gate and narrow the way 
 that leadeth unto the EXALTATION and continuation of the 
 lives." 
 
 I regard these points of identity, with the other evi- 
 dences which I have given, as conclusive proof that the 
 "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" originated with Jo- 
 seph Smith. 
 
 THE CHARGES OF THE "EXPOSITOR" SUSTAINED. 
 
 The secular Mormon paper of Nauvoo at the time of 
 Smith's assassination was the Neighbor. On the I7th of 
 June, 1844, this paper put out an "Extra" containing a 
 summarized report of the proceedings of the City Council 
 on the 8th and loth preceding, when the Expositor was 
 declared a nuisance and was ordered removed. This 
 report, which was accompanied with the certificate of 
 Willard Richards, "Recorder and Clerk of the City Coun- 
 cil," is important as it reveals the proceedings of one of 
 the most irregular and illegal trials ever conducted, and 
 also the fact that there was a "Revelation on Celestial 
 Marriage" at Nauvoo at this time. 
 
 According to this report, the charges that were made 
 against the Laws and their friends were about as follows : 
 Sylvester Emmans, editor of the Expositor, was poor 
 and had tried to get the post-office away from Sidney 
 Rigdon ; William Law oppressed the poor, dunned the 
 Prophet, offered a reward for his life and attempted to 
 deliver him to the Missourians ; Wilson Law was guilty 
 of seduction; R. D. Foster was guilty of improper con- 
 duct with certain females, of carrying a pistol and of 
 writing Joseph a saucy letter ; and they all misrepresented 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 115 
 
 the spiritual-wife doctrine. But those parts of this re- 
 port which are of most importance to us here are the ad- 
 missions of Hyrum and Joseph Smith relative to the 
 existence of a "Revelation on Celestial Marriage." They 
 are as follows: 
 
 Councilor H. Smith . . . referred to the revelation read to 
 the High Council of the Church, which has caused so much talk 
 about a multiplicity of wives ; that said revelation was in answer 
 to a question concerning things which transpired in former days, 
 and had no reference to the present time. . . . 
 
 Councilor C. H. Smith proceeded to show the falsehood of 
 Austin Cowles in the Expositor, in relation to the revelation re- 
 ferred to, that it was in reference to former days, and not 
 the present time, as related by Cowles. Mayor (Joseph) said 
 he had never preached the revelation in private, as he had in 
 public; had not taught it to the anointed in the Church in private, 
 which statement many present confirmed ; that on inquiring 
 concerning the passage in the resurrection concerning "they 
 neither marry nor are given in marriage," etc., he received for 
 answer, "Men in this life must marry in view of eternity, other- 
 wise they must remain as angels, or be single in heaven, which 
 was the amount of the revelation referred to ;" and the Mayor 
 spoke at considerable length in explanation of this principle. 
 
 Here, in a Mormon paper, published ten days before 
 the Prophet was shot, we have incontestable proof, prop- 
 erly certified to by the "Recorder and Clerk of the City 
 Council," that there was a "Revelation on Plural (or 
 Celestial) Marriage" at Nauvoo at this time, though 
 both Joseph and Hyrum try to tone down its repugnant 
 features, one claiming that it referred to the world to 
 come, the other that it referred to ancient times. 
 
 At the time in which the events described in this 
 chapter occurred at Nauvoo, Thomas Ford was Governor 
 of the State of Illinois. As that State was threatened 
 with a civil war, he went in person to Hancock County 
 to investigate the causes of, and settle, if possible, the 
 
116 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 trouble, and his testimony is, therefore, of the utmost 
 interest and importance. Although he evidently tried to 
 act in all fairness, each side accused him of being partial 
 to the other, and he goes down in history charged by 
 one with having attempted "to make a case against the 
 old citizens," the Gentiles, and by the other with having 
 "in a weak and vaccillating way sacrificed his own honor 
 and betrayed the faith of the people he represented." 
 The conditions, as he found them, are described in his 
 "History of Illinois," from which I take the following 
 extract, emphasizing those parts which are of most in- 
 terest in the present consideration. The reader will read- 
 ily observe that William Law had just cause for denounc- 
 ing the Prophet. 
 
 Soon after these institutions were established, Joe Smith 
 began to play the tyrant over several of his followers. The 
 first act of this sort which excited attention, was an attempt to 
 take the wife of William Law, one of his most talented and 
 principal disciples, and make her a spiritual wife. By means of 
 his Common Council, without the authority of law, he established 
 a recorder's office in Nauvoo, in which alone the titles of prop- 
 erty could be recorded. In the same manner and with the 
 same want of legal authority, he established an office for issuing 
 marriage licenses to Mormons, so as to give him absolute 
 control of the marrying propensities of his people. He pro- 
 claimed that none in the city should purchase real estate to sell 
 again, but himself. He also permitted no one but himself to have 
 a license in the city for the sale of spirituous liquors; and in 
 many other ways he undertook to regulate and control the 
 business of the Mormons. This despotism, administered by a 
 corrupt and unprincipled man, soon became intolerable. William 
 Law, one of the most eloquent preachers of the Mormons, who 
 appeared to me to be a deluded but conscientious and candid 
 man, Wilson Law, his brother, Major-General of the Legion, 
 and four or five other Mormon leaders, resolved upon a rebellion 
 against the authority of the Prophet. They designed to enlighten 
 their brethren and fellow-citizens upon the new institutions, the 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 117 
 
 new turn given to Mormonism, and the practices under the new 
 system, by procuring a printing-press and establishing a news- 
 paper in the city, to be the organ of their complaints and views. 
 But they never issued but one number; before the second could 
 appear, the press was demolished by an order of the Common 
 Council, and the conspirators were ejected from the Mormon 
 Church. 
 
 The Mormons themselves published the proceedings of the 
 Council in the trial and destruction of the heretical press; from 
 which it does not appear that any one was tried, or that the 
 editor or any of the owners of the property had notice of the 
 trial, or were permitted to defend in any particular. 
 
 The proceeding was an ex parte proceeding, partly civil 
 and partly ecclesiastical, against the press itself. No jury was 
 called or sworn, nor were the witnesses required to give their 
 evidence upon oath. The councilors stood up one after another, 
 and some of them several times, and related what they pre- 
 tended to know. In this mode it was abundantly proved that 
 the owners of the proscribed press were sinners, whoremasters, 
 thieves, swindlers, counterfeiters and robbers; the evidence of 
 which is reported in the trial at full length. It was altogether 
 the most curious and irregular trial that ever was recorded in 
 any civilised country; and one finds difficulty in determining 
 whether the proceedings of the Council were more the result 
 of insanity or depravity. The trial resulted in the conviction of 
 the press as a public nuisance. The Mayor was ordered to see it 
 abated as such, and, if necessary, to call the Legion to his 
 assistance. The Mayor issued his warrant to the City Marshal, 
 who, aided by a portion of the Legion, proceeded to the obnoxious 
 printing-office, and destroyed the press and scattered the types 
 and other materials. 
 
 After this, it became too hot for the seceding and rejected 
 Mormons to remain in the holy city. They retired to Carthage, 
 the county seat of Hancock county, and took out warrants for 
 the Mayor and members of the Common Council, and others 
 engaged in the outrage, for a riot. Some of those were arrested, 
 but were immediately taken before the Municipal Court of the 
 city on habeas corpus, and discharged from custody. 
 
 On the seventeenth day of June following, a committee of a 
 meeting of the citizens of Carthage presented themselves to me 
 
118 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 with a request that the militia might be ordered out to assist in 
 executing process in the city of Nauvoo. I determined to visit 
 in person that section of country, and examine for myself the 
 truth and nature of their complaints. No order for the militia 
 was made; and I arrived at Carthage on the morning of the 
 2ist day of the same month. 
 
 Upon my arrival, I found an armed force assembled and 
 hourly increasing under the summons and direction of the 
 constables of the county, to serve as a posse comitatus to assist 
 in the execution of process. The general of the brigade 
 had also called for the militia, en masse, of the counties of Mc- 
 Donough and Schuyler, for a similar purpose. Another assem- 
 blage to a considerable number had been made at Warsaw, under 
 military command of Col. Levi Williams. 
 
 The first thing that I did on my arrival was to place all the 
 militia then assembled, and which were expected to assemble, 
 under military command of their proper officers. I next dis- 
 patched a messenger to Nauvoo, informing the Mayor and Com- 
 mon Council of the nature of the complaint made against them; 
 and requested that persons might be sent to me to lay their side 
 of the question before me. A Committee was accordingly sent, 
 who made such acknowledgments that I had no difficulty in 
 concluding what were the facts. 
 
 It appeared clearly, both from the complaints of the citizens 
 and the acknowledgments of the Mormon Committee, that the 
 whole proceedings of the Mayor, the Common Council, and the 
 Municipal Court, were irregular and illegal, and not to be 
 endured in a free country; though, perhaps, some apology might 
 be made for the Court, as it had been repeatedly assured by some 
 of the best lawyers in the State, who had been candidates for 
 office before that people, that it had full and competent power to 
 issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases whatever. The Common 
 Council violated the law in assuming the exercise of judicial 
 power ; in proceeding ex parte without notice to the owners of 
 the property; in proceeding against the property in rem; in not 
 calling a jury; in not swearing all the witnesses; in not giving 
 the owners of the property, accused of being a nuisance, in 
 consequence of being libelous, an opportunity of giving the truth 
 in evidence; and in fact, by not proceeding by civil suit or 
 indictment, as in other cases of libel. The Mayor violated the 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 11$ 
 
 law in ordering this erroneous and absurd judgment of the 
 Common Council to be executed. And the Municipal Court erred 
 in discharging them from arrest. 
 
 As this proceeding touched the liberty of the press, which 
 is justly dear to any republican people, it was well calculated 
 to raise a great flame of excitement. And it may well be ques- 
 tioned whether years of misrepresentation by the most profligate 
 newspaper could have engendered such a feeling as was produced 
 by the destruction of this one press. It is apparent that the 
 Mormon leaders but little understood, and regarded less the 
 true principles of civil liberty. A free press, well conducted, is a 
 great blessing to a free people; a profligate one is likely soon to 
 deprive itself of all credit and influence by the multitude of 
 falsehoods put forth by it. In addition to these causes of ex- 
 citement, there were a great many reports in circulation, and 
 generally believed by the people. 
 
 Fortunately for the purposes of those who were active in 
 creating excitement, there were many known truths which gave 
 countenance to some of these accusations. It was sufficiently 
 proved in a proceeding at Carthage whilst I was there, that 
 Joe Smith had sent a band of his followers to Missouri, to kidnap 
 two men who were witnesses against a member of his Church 
 then in jail, about to be tried on a charge of larceny. It was also 
 a notorious fact, that he had assaulted and severely beaten an 
 officer of the county, for an alleged non-performance of his duty, 
 at a time when that officer was just recovering from a severe 
 illness. It is a fact also, that he stood indicted for the crime 
 of perjury, as was alleged, in swearing to an accusation for 
 murder, in order to drive a man out of Nauvoo, who had been 
 engaged in buying and selling lots and land ; and thus interfering 
 with the monopoly of the Prophet as a speculator. It is a fact 
 also, that his Municipal Court, of which he was Chief Justice, 
 by writ of habeas corpus, had frequently discharged individuals 
 accused of high crimes and offenses against the laws of the 
 State; and on one occasion had discharged a person accused of 
 swindling the Government of the United States, who had been 
 arrested by process of the Federal Courts; thereby giving 
 countenance to the report, that he obstructed the administration 
 of justice, and had set up a government at Nauvoo, independent 
 of the laws and Government of the State. This idea was further 
 
120 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 corroborated in the minds of the people, by the fact that the 
 people of Nauvoo had petitioned Congress for a Territorial 
 Government, to be established there and to be independent of the 
 State Government. It was a fact also, that some larcenies and 
 robberies had been committed, and that Mormons had been con- 
 victed of the crimes, and that other larcenies had been committed 
 by persons unknown, but suspected to be Mormons. Justice, 
 however, requires me here to say, that upon such investigation 
 as I then could make, the charge of promiscuous stealing ap- 
 peared to be exaggerated. 
 
 The foregoing disclosures prove that Joseph Smith 
 was not only guilty of immorality, but that he was also 
 guilty of a number of other crimes, both against the 
 State and the Nation, and yet we are told that he was 
 "as great a lover of his country as could be found among 
 men" and that "he often wept that mobs should arise 
 under the glorious institutions of the United States"! 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 121 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Direct Evidence Connecting Joseph Smith with Polygamy State- 
 ments and Affidavits Certain Objections to These State- 
 ments and Affidavits Considered. 
 
 The truth of the charge that Joseph Smith was con- 
 nected with polygamy is attested by Sidney Rigdon 
 and William Law, members with him in the First Pres- 
 idency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
 Saints; by every member of the Quorum of Twelve 
 Apostles, excepting William Smith, 1 and his denial was, 
 evidently, made in the interests of his nephew, the present 
 head of the Josephite Church, as he introduced the 
 practice in his own faction in 1851; by the President 
 of the High Council, William Marks, and his two Coun- 
 selors, Cowles and Rich ; by over one hundred men and 
 women to whom Smith taught, or with whom he prac- 
 ticed, the doctrine, and by the admissions of some of 
 the leading Josephites themselves. 
 
 It is sometimes asked: "If Joseph Smith was a 
 polygamist, where are the offspring of his polygamous 
 marriages ?" 
 
 1 In an interview with Apostle Blair, Josephite, he was asked the 
 following question: "Did Joseph the Seer teach that polygamy was 
 essential to salvation and a fullness of glory?" To which he replied: "My 
 answer is, Joseph taught no polygamy not to ray knowledge." But this 
 is too thin. William claimed to be a stickler for the doctrines taught by 
 Joseph, and yet he was the first to preach polygamy from the stand after 
 his death; was excommunicated from the Strangite faction for adultery, 
 and, in 1851, introduced polygamy into his own faction, according to the 
 ex-Josephite Jason W. Briggs, "in the name of God and his brother Joseph." 
 His system must have been even more corrupt than that of Young, for the 
 first document put out by the Josephite Church ("A Word of Consola- 
 tion," p. 21 ) speaks of it as "the fouler system (of whoredom) taught by 
 William Smith." 
 
 (9) 
 
122 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Joseph Smith was a strong, well proportioned, plethoric man, 
 weighing two hundred and ten pounds and standing six feet 
 high in his stocking feet. He was the father of eight children by 
 his wife, Emma, whom he married in 1827, but where is his issue 
 or the children born to him by any other woman? Echo an- 
 swers, Where? It is, therefore, unreasonable to say he was 
 married to or had marital relations with ten or a dozen other 
 women, or perhaps more, and had no children by any of them. 
 Joseph Smith: Who Was He?, p. 27. 
 
 In answer to the question propounded in the fore- 
 going, Mrs. Pratt says: 
 
 You hear often that Joseph had no polygamous offspring. 
 The reason of this is very simple. Abortion was practiced on a 
 large scale in Nauvoo. Dr. John C. Bennett, the evil genius of 
 Joseph, brought this abomination into a scientific system. He 
 showed to my husband and me the instruments with which he 
 used to "operate for Joseph." There was a house in Nauvoo, 
 "right across the flat," about a mile and a half from the town, 
 a kind of hospital. They sent the women there, when they 
 showed signs of celestial consequences. Abortion was practiced 
 regularly in this house. Mormon Portraits, p. 59. 
 
 Of the women who have declared that they were 
 polygamous wives of the Prophet, or who have been 
 declared by others to have been such, may be mentioned 
 the following : Louisa Beaman, married to Smith April 5, 
 1841 ; Zina D. Huntington, October 27, 1841 ; Eliza R. 
 Snow, June 29, 1842; Sarah A. Whitney, July 27, 1842; 
 Martha McBride, summer, 1842; Almira W. Johnson, 
 spring, 1843; Lucy Walker, May I, 1843; Emily D. P. 
 Young, May n, 1843; Rhoda Richards, June 12, 1843; 
 Melissa Lott, September 20, 1843 ; and Maria and Sarah 
 Lawrence, Desdemona C. Fullmer, Helen Kimball and 
 Flora Woodworth, the dates of whose marriages I am 
 unable to give. 
 
 It is my purpose in this chapter to give a number 
 of statements and affidavits which Implicate Joseph Smith 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 123 
 
 both in teaching and practicing polygamy. Some of 
 these were made by women who were his plural wives ; 
 others by men who were married by him to plural wives ; 
 still others by women who were married by him as plural 
 wives to other men ; and still others by those to whom he 
 taught the doctrine or who knew of his connection 
 with it. 
 
 THE STATEMENT OF SIDNEY RIGDON. 
 
 Sidney Rigdon was born in Allegheny County, Penn- 
 sylvania, on the iQth of February, 1793, and spent his 
 early life in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. In March, 1819, 
 he was licensed to preach and became a Baptist min- 
 ister. He united with the movement under the Camp- 
 bells in August, 1824, and openly became a Mormon in 
 the fall of 1830, though there is no question that he 
 was secretly connected with Joseph Smith before that 
 time in foisting the Mormon fraud upon the public. He 
 became a member of the First Presidency on the i8th 
 of March, 1833, which position he held up to the time 
 of Smith's assassination. In the winter of 1838, he re- 
 moved from Kirtland, where he had previously made his 
 home, to Far West, Missouri, where he lived until the 
 spring of 1839, when he removed to Illinois. During 
 the stormy scenes at Nauvoo, he and the Prophet fell 
 out, presumably over the latter's advances to his daugh- 
 ter Nancy, but the difficulty was patched up and Rigdon 
 was sent East, shortly before Smith's death, to take 
 charge of the church in Pittsburgh. When the Prophet 
 was killed, he returned to Nauvoo and presented his 
 claim to the leadership of the Mormon people, but was 
 rejected by an almost unanimous vote on August 8, 1844, 
 and was expelled one month later. He then returned to 
 Pittsburgh a disappointed man and set up a church of his 
 
124 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 own. He died at Friendship, New York, in the year 
 1876. 
 
 Probably no individual was more intimately acquainted 
 with the private life of the Prophet than was he. In a 
 lengthy letter to his official paper, the Messenger and 
 Advocate, in 1845, he says of the plural-wife doctrine: 
 
 This system was introduced by the Smiths some time before 
 their death, and was the thing which put them in the power 
 of their enemies, and was the immediate cause of their death. 
 Vol. II., p. 475- 
 
 Prior to this, in the same paper (Vol. I., p. 176), he 
 gave as one of the reasons for separating from the church 
 that they had abrogated "the marriage contract" and had 
 substituted, "under the professed sanction of Heaven, a 
 system of extreme licentiousness," evidently referring to 
 the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage." 
 
 He declared that in order to conceal this doctrine and 
 practice from the Gentiles, it was taught "that it is some- 
 times lawful to lie." 
 
 Whereas, the better to conceal the justly odious system 
 of polygamy, duplicity, hypocrisy, and falsehood are inculcated 
 as virtues, the most sacred obligations constantly violated, and 
 families and individuals plunged into irrevocable ruin and de- 
 spair. 
 
 As Rigdon left Nauvoo within the three months fol- 
 lowing the death of Smith, it can not be successfully main- 
 tained that these abuses arose wholly after that event, 
 and that the Twelve, alone, were responsible for them. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM LAW. 
 
 William Law, the Second Counselor of Joseph Smith, 
 was a Canadian by birth, and was a man of more than 
 ordinary intelligence and of considerable wealth. He 
 united with the Mormons under the preaching of Elders 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 125 
 
 John Taylor and Almcn W. Babbitt, and soon after re- 
 moved to Nauvoo. On January 24, 1841, he was called 
 to fill the office mentioned, which had been made vacant 
 by the appointment of Hyrum Smith to the Patriarchate. 
 Law continued as Smith's Second Counselor until after 
 the latter had brought out his "Revelation on Celestial 
 Marriage," when he apostatized and led a party of dis- 
 senters in opposing Smith and his practices. After the 
 death of the Prophet, he removed to Rock Island, Illinois, 
 but during the latter part of his life, he made his home 
 at Shullsburg, La Fayette County, Wisconsin. 
 
 In July, 1885, he made an affidavit in which he de- 
 clared that polygamy, and other corrupt practices, existed 
 in the Mormon Church at Nauvoo during the Prophet's 
 lifetime, and with his knowledge and sanction. This 
 affidavit is now in the possession of Mr. Zenas H. Gurley, 1 
 of Canton, Missouri, son of one of the founders of the 
 Reorganized Church, and himself an Apostle in that 
 church at the time of his apostasy in 1886. Mr. Gurley 
 informs me that Law "during his life objected to publi- 
 cation in newspapers, but directed to publish in book," 
 and that this is the reason why it has never been given 
 to the public before. The following is an exact copy, 
 carefully prepare! by myself with the full consent of the 
 owner of the original, and properly attested to put it 
 above reasonable question or doubt. This document, 
 coming as it does from one of the original leaders of the 
 Mormon Church, is one of the most damning pieces of 
 evidence that has ever been put before the public on the 
 character of Joseph Smith and his confederates. 
 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 
 
 I, the undersigned, being aware that many contradictory re- 
 ports are in circulation as to the origin of Polygamy in the 
 
 1 Since deceased. 
 
126 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Mormon Church, make the following statements concerning po- 
 lygamy and some other matters. In 1843 Hyrum Smith handed 
 to me a writing to read, and to be returned to him. I took 
 it home and upon reading found that it purported to be a 
 revelation to Joseph Smith, authorizing polygamy in the Church. 
 After reading it I went directly to Joseph Smith and showed 
 him the document. He looked at it, and said it was all right. 
 Said it was a great privilege granted to the High Priesthood. 
 He spoke strongly in its favor. I remarked that it was in con- 
 tradiction to the "Doctrine and Covenants." He said they were 
 given when the Church was in its infancy, when they were 
 babes, and had to be fed on milk, but now they were strong 
 and must have meat. He seemed much disappointed in my 
 not receiving the revelation. He was very anxious that I would 
 accept the doctrine and sustain him in it. He used many argu- 
 ments at various times afterwards in its favor. I suppose he 
 dreaded my official influence in opposing and utterly rejecting 
 the so-called revelation as I was at that time a member of the 
 First Presidency. Joseph told me that he had several wives 
 sealed to him, and that they afforded him a great deal of pleas- 
 ure. He kept some of them in his own house. He said his wife 
 Emma had annoyed him very much about it, but he thought the 
 revelation would cause her to submit peaceably, as it threatened 
 her removal if she did not. Mrs. Smith complained to me about 
 Joseph keeping his young wives in her house and elsewhere, 
 and his neglect of her. She spoke freely about the revelation 
 and its threat against her life, etc. She seemed to have no faith 
 in it whatever. From what she said to me and from what 
 I learned from other sources I have good reason to believe 
 that Joseph and Hyrum Smith and others in the Church had been 
 practicing polygamy for a long time before the revelation came 
 forth, although it was vehemently denied from the public stand, 
 and those who spoke of its existence were denounced as slan- 
 derers of the Church. But after the revelation came out, polyga- 
 my was rampant and the man who dared to speak against it 
 was considered an apostate. Joseph Smith required every man 
 and woman to believe in him, believe in all his revelations, 
 believe in all his teachings, and uphold and sustain him in every 
 thing right or wrong, without any regard for the teachings of 
 Christ and His Apostles, as recorded in the Scriptures. Smith 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 127 
 
 was opposed to the use of the Scriptures for I heard him 
 say that "the time would come when it would be a curse to any 
 family to have a Bible in their house." The teaching of Christ 
 was in direct opposition to the teachings of the Smiths, they 
 taught polygamy, spoiling (robbing) the Gentiles, murder, swin- 
 dling, lying and many other evils. I do not say that Joseph 
 Smith murdered any one with his own hand, but I say this, 
 that Joseph told me that he sent a man to kill Governor Boggs 
 of Missouri. The fellow shot the Governor in his own house, 
 shot him through a window, wounding him severely, but failed 
 to kill him. In looking over the whole field at that time, the 
 past and the then present of the Church, I could see no God 
 in it, but a great deal of Satan. Consequently / withdrew from it 
 forever. And now after more than forty years, I am thoroughly 
 convinced that I was right, that it never was a Church of 
 Christ, but a most wicked blasphemous humbug, gotten up for the 
 purpose of making money. Had it been the Church of Christ, 
 its ministers would have taught the Doctrine of Christ, would 
 have taught the Gospel of Christ, which is the Gospel of Salva- 
 tion, to them that believe. If the Gospel was Salvation to 
 believers in the days of the Apostles, it is Salvation to believers 
 now, and always will be. And if so, what more do we want. 
 Paul said, "Though we or an angel from heaven preach any 
 other gospel, let him be accursed." The Mormon Church has 
 been running for more than fifty years and what has it done 
 for the Cause of Christianity or Morality? Nothing that I know 
 of but a great deal against both. It must be a bad tree to bear 
 such evil fruit, evil all the way from the Kirtland Bank Swindle 
 down to the present time, and yet I have no doubt thousands of 
 honest virtuous people joined the Church not knowing (at the 
 time) anything of the wicked workings of the leaders, and 
 thousands (probably in ignorance) still cling to the delusion. 
 After I withdrew from the Mormons, I held several public 
 meetings in the City, told the people many things that I thought 
 they ought to know. I warned them of the ruin they would 
 bring upon themselves by obeying the unchristian teachings of 
 the Smiths and others. I called on the Smithites to come forward 
 and defend their cause, and have an open discussion of the 
 questions at issue between us. But there was not a man to open 
 his mouth in their defense. The fact was they had no ground 
 
128 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 to stand on. I next went to my friends and talked over the 
 propriety of purchasing a Printing Press and publishing a 
 Paper to be called the Nauvoo Expositor. We concluded to do 
 so. We bought a Press, paper and issued No. I of the Expositor. 
 No. 2 we had printed on one side when the City Council and 
 Joseph Smith, Mayor, ordered the destruction of the Press, 
 which was done immediately by the breaking the press into 
 pieces with sledges,' throwing the type into the street and 
 burning up the furniture, printing paper, etc. 
 
 This unlawful destruction of private property and infringe- 
 ment on the Sacred Freedom of the Press sealed their doom. 
 It was more than the people would bear. What followed is al- 
 ready well known to the Public. 
 
 After the Press was destroyed, my friends came to me and 
 urged me to leave Nauvoo immediately for my personal safety. 
 So on the second day after the destruction of the Press I with 
 my family and some friends, left for Burlington, Iowa. This 
 was in June, 1844. 
 
 More than forty years have pass'd since the foregoing 
 events transpired, therefore I may not have been able to give 
 the precise words used in the conversations referred to, but 
 the substance of what I have stated is positively true. I speak 
 from actual knowledge. 
 
 I hope my testimony may be of use to those who are seeking 
 after the truth, for truth's sake. It is much safer to trust in 
 God, than in man. The wisdom of man may perish but the 
 wisdom and goodness of God endureth forever. 
 
 July I7th, 1885. WM. LAW. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me this I7th day of July, 
 A. D. 1885. C T. DOUGLAS, 
 
 (Seal) Notary Public. 
 
 This is to certify that Charles A. Shook, being duly sworn 
 according to law, deposeth and saith that the foregoing is a 
 verbatim copy of an affidavit bearing the signature of a certain 
 William Law and also the official seal of Charles T. Douglas, 
 Notary Public, LaFayette Co., Wis., which affidavit is now 
 the property of Mr. Zenas H. Gurley, of Canton, Missouri, 
 and which was loaned to the deponent by the said Zenas 
 H. Gurley that he might make the foregoing copy. 
 
 CHARLES A. SHOOK. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 129 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me at Palmer, Illinois, this 
 27th day of December, 1909. R. E. BEST, 
 
 (Seal) Notary Public. 
 
 This is to certify that A. L. Shrout, being duly sworn 
 according to law, deposeth and saith that he has compared 
 the foregoing copy with an affidavit bearing the signature of a 
 certain William Law and also the official seal of Charles T. 
 Douglas, Notary Public, LaFayette Co., Wisconsin, and that he 
 has found said copy to be a correct transcription of the original. 
 
 A. L. SHROUT. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me at Palmer, Illinois, this 
 37th day of December, 1909. R. E. BEST, 
 
 'Seal) Notary Public. 
 
 THE STATEMENT OF SARAH M. PRATT. 
 
 Pratt was the wife of Orson Pratt and shared 
 with him the privations and hardships incident to his 
 office of Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints, until he became a polygamist, when she 
 renounced both him and the church. She resided in Salt 
 Lake City from the year 1847 up to the close of her 
 life, and died respected for her virtues. The following* 
 statement will show the esteem in which she was held: 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY, May, 1886. 
 
 We, the undersigned, cordially bear witness to the excellent 
 reputation of Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt. We feel well assured 
 that Mrs. Pratt is a lady whose statements are absolutely to be 
 depended upon. Entire frankness and a high sense of honor 
 and truth are regarded in this community, where she has dwelt 
 since 1847, as her ruling characteristics. 
 
 CHARLES S. ZANE, 
 Chief Justice Utah Territory. 
 
 ARTHUR L. THOMAS, 
 Secretary Utah Territory. 
 
 REV. J. W. JACKSON, 
 U. S. A. Chaplain, Fort Douglas. 
 
 Mrs. Pratt had exceptional opportunities, while liv- 
 ing at Nauvoo, to see what was going on behind the 
 
130 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 scenes, and once, when her nusoand was upon a mission 
 in England, Joseph Smith made an immoral proposal 
 to her. The following statement was made to Dr. W. 
 Wyl, a German author, who at that time was collecting- 
 material for a work on Mormonism, on May 21, 1886: 
 
 I have told you that the prophet Joseph used to frequent 
 houses of ill-fame. Mrs. White, a very pretty and attractive 
 woman, once confessed to me that she made a business of it 
 to be hospitable to the captains of the Mississippi steamboats. 
 She told me that Joseph had made her acquaintance very soon 
 after his arrival in Nauvoo, and that he had visited her dozens 
 of times. My husband (Orson Pratt) could not be induced to 
 believe such things of his prophet. Seeing his obstinate incredu- 
 lity, Mrs. White proposed to Mr. Pratt and myself to put us 
 in a position where we could observe what was going on between 
 herself and Joseph the prophet. We, however, declined this 
 proposition. You have made a mistake in the table of contents 
 of your book in calling this woman "Mrs. Harris." Mrs. Harris 
 was a married lady, a very great friend of mine. When Joseph 
 had made his dastardly attempt on me, I went to Mrs. Harris 
 to unbosom my grief to her. To my utter astonishment, she 
 said, laughing heartily: "How foolish you are! I don't see 
 anything so horrible in it. Why, I am his mistress since four 
 years !" 
 
 Next door to my house was a house of bad reputation. 
 One single woman lived there, not very attractive. She used to 
 be visited by people from Carthage whenever they came to 
 Nauvoo. Joseph used to come on horseback, ride up to the 
 house and tie his horse to a tree, many of which stood before 
 the house. Then he would enter the house of the woman from 
 the back. I have seen him do this repeatedly. 
 
 Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the 
 reorganized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a 
 long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined to believe 
 the truth about his father, so I said to him: "You pretend to 
 have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord 
 to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?" He 
 answered : "If my father had so many connections with women, 
 where is the progeny?" I said to him: "Your father had mostly 
 
ORSON PRATT. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 131 
 
 intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. 
 Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened." 
 
 It was in this way that I became acquainted with Dr. John 
 C. Bennett. When my husband went to England as a mis- 
 sionary, he got the promise from Joseph that I should receive 
 provisions from the tithing-house. Shortly afterward Joseph 
 made his propositions to me and they enraged me so that I 
 refused to accept any help from the tithing-house or from the 
 bishop. Having been always very clever and very busy with 
 my needle, I began to take in sewing for the support of myself 
 and children, and succeeded soon in making myself independent. 
 When Bennett came to Nauvoo, Joseph brought him to my 
 house, stating that Bennett wanted some sewing done, and that 
 I should do it for the doctor. I assented and Bennett gave me 
 a great deal of work to do. He knew that Joseph had his 
 plans set on me; Joseph made no secret of them before Bennett, 
 and went so far in his impudence as to make propositions to me 
 in the presence of Bennett, his bosom friend. Bennett, who was 
 of a sarcastic turn of mind, used to come and tell me about 
 Joseph to tease and irritate me. One day they came both, Joseph 
 and Bennett, on horseback to my house. Bennett dismounted, 
 Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a 
 book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. 
 I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform 
 myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., this 
 explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his 
 book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his 
 coat. Bennett smiled and said: "Oh, a little job for Joseph; 
 one of his women is in trouble." Saying this, he took the thing 
 out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a 
 kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was 
 crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the operation 
 had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that 
 Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she re- 
 covered. 
 
 Bennett was the most intimate friend of Joseph for a time. 
 He boarded with the prophet. He told me once that Joseph 
 had been talking with him about his troubles with Emma, his 
 wife. "He asked me," said Bennett, smilingly, "what he should 
 do to get out of the trouble?" I said, "This is very simple. 
 
132 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Get a Revelation that polygamy is right, and all your troubles 
 will be at an end." 
 
 The only "wives" of Joseph that lived in the Mansion House 
 were the Partridge girls. This is explained by the fact that 
 they were the servants in the hotel kept by the prophet. But 
 when Emma found out that Joseph went to their room, they 
 had to leave the house. 
 
 I remember Emma's trip to St. Louis. I begged her to buy 
 for me a piece of black silk there. 
 
 You should bear in mind that Joseph did not think of a 
 marriage or sealing ceremony for many years. He used to 
 state to his intended victims, as he did to me: "God does not 
 care if we have a good time, if only other people do not know 
 it." He only introduced a marriage ceremony when he had 
 found out that he could not get certain women without it. I think 
 Louisa Beaman was the first of this kind. If any woman, like 
 me, opposed his wishes, he used to say : "Be silent, or I shall ruin 
 your character. My character must be sustained in the in- 
 terest of the church." When he had assailed me and saw 
 that he could not seal my lips, he sent word to me that he would 
 work my salvation, if I kept silent. I sent back that I would 
 talk as much as I pleased and as much as I knew to be the truth, 
 and as to my salvation, I would try and take care of that my- 
 self. 
 
 In his endeavors to ruin my character Joseph went so far 
 as to publish an extra-sheet containing affidavits against my 
 reputation. When this sheet was brought to me I discovered 
 to my astonishment the names of two people on it, man and 
 wife, with whom I had boarded for a certain time. I never 
 thought much of the man, but the woman was an honest person 
 and I knew that she must have been forced to do such a thing 
 against me. So I went to their house ; the man left the 'house 
 hurriedly when he saw me coming. -I found the wife and said 
 to her rather excitedly: "What does it all mean?" She began 
 to sob. "It is not my fault," said she; "Hyrum Smith came 
 to our house, with the affidavits all written out, and forced 
 us to sign them. 'Joseph and the church must be saved,' said he. 
 We saw that resistance was useless, they would have ruined us; 
 so we signed the papers." Mormon Portraits, pp. 60-63. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 133 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF LORENZO SNOW. 
 
 In the month of April, 1843, I returned from my European 
 mission. A few days after my arrival at Nauvoo, when at 
 President Joseph Smith's house, he said he wished to have some 
 private talk with me, and requested me to walk out with him. 
 It was toward evening. We walked a little distance and sat 
 down on a large log that lay near the bank of the river. He 
 there and then explained to me the doctrine of plurality of 
 wives; he said that the Lord had revealed it unto him, and 
 commanded him to have women sealed to him as wives; that 
 he foresaw the trouble that would follow, and sought to turn 
 away from the commandment; that an angel from heaven then 
 appeared before him with a drawn sword, threatening him with 
 destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the command- 
 ment. 
 
 He further said that my sister Eliza R. Snow had been 
 sealed to him as his wife for time and eternity. He told me 
 that the Lord would open the way, and I should have women 
 sealed to me as wives. This conversation was prolonged, I 
 think one hour or more, in which* he told me many important 
 things. 
 
 I solmenly declare before God and holy angels, and as 1 
 hope to come forth in the morning of the resurrection, that the 
 above statement is true. LORENZO SNOW. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, ") 
 Box Elder County. J 
 
 Personally came before me, J. C. Wright, Clerk of the County 
 and Probate Courts in and for the County and Territory afore- 
 said, Lorenzo Snow, and who being duly sworn deposeth and 
 says that the foregoing statement by him subscribed is true to 
 his ,own certain knowledge. 
 
 Witness my hand and seal of Court, at my office in Brig- 
 ham City, Box Elder County, Utah Territory, this 28th day 
 of August, A. D. 1869. J. C. WRIGHT, Clerk. 
 
 (Seal.) 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF ORSON HYDE. 
 
 Orson Hyde was born in the village of Oxford, New 
 Haven County, Connecticut, January 8, 1805. He united 
 with the Mormon Church in Ohio on the 3ist of October, 
 
134 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 1831, being baptized by Sidney Rigdon. In 1835 he was 
 ordained an Apostle. In October, 1838, he and Thomas 
 B. Marsh apostatized and made affidavits incriminating- 
 Joseph Smith and others. He was suspended from fel- 
 lowship, May 4, 1839, but on June 27 of the same year, 
 having made confession, he was restored both to fellow- 
 ship in the church and to his former standing in the 
 Quorum of Apostles. He went to Utah with Brigham 
 Young, where he died November 28, 1878. His affidavit 
 follows : 
 
 SPRING-TOWN, Sept. 15, 1869. 
 
 I, Orson Hyde, do hereby certify and declare according to 
 my best recollection that on the fourth day of September I was 
 married to Miss Marinda N. Johnson, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the 
 year of our Lord, 1834, and in the month of February or March, 
 1843, I was married to Miss Martha R. Browitt, by Joseph Smith, 
 the martyred prophet, and by him she was sealed to me for time 
 and for all eternity in Nauvoo, 111., and in the month of April 
 of the same year, 1843, I was married by the same person to 
 Mrs. Mary Ann Price, and by him she was sealed to me for 
 time and for all eternity, in Nauvoo, 111., while the woman to 
 whom I was first married was yet living, and gave her cordial 
 consent to both transactions, and was personally present to 
 witness the ceremonies. ORSON HYDE. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed to before me this I5th day of Sep- 
 tember, 1869, at Springtown, Sanpete County, U. T. 
 
 GEORGE BROUGH, 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF JOSEPH B. NOBLE. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, | 
 County of Salt Lake, j Sl 
 
 Be it remembered that on the 26th day of June, A. D. 1869, 
 personally appeared before me, James Jack, a notary public in and 
 for said county, Joseph Bates Noble, who was by me sworn in 
 due form of law, and upon his oath saith, that on th2 fifth day 
 of April, A. D. 1841, at the city of Nauvoo, County of Hancock, 
 State of Illinois, he married or sealed Louisa Beaman to Joseph 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 135 
 
 Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
 Saints, according to the order of celestial marriage revealed to 
 the said Joseph Smith. JOSEPH B. NOBLE. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Joseph Bates Noble, the 
 day and year first above written. JAMES JACK, 
 
 (Seal) Notary Public. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF HOWARD CORAY. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, j gs 
 County of Salt Lake, j 
 
 As many false statements have been made in relation to 
 the authorship of the revelation on celestial marriage, I deem 
 it but justice to all lovers of truth for me to express what I 
 know concerning this very important matter. 
 
 On the 22nd day of July, A. D. 1843, Hyrum Smith, the 
 martyred Patriarch, came in a carriage to my house in Nauvoo ; 
 he invited me and my wife to take a ride with him ; accordingly, 
 as soon as we could make ourselves ready, we got into his car- 
 riage and he set off in the direction of Carthage. Having gone 
 a short distance, he observed to us that his brother, Joseph Smith, 
 the Prophet, had received a revelation on marriage, that was not 
 for the public yet, which he would rehearse to us, as he had 
 taken pains to commit it to memory. He then commenced re- 
 hearsing the revelation on celestial marriage, not stopping till 
 he had gone quite through with the matter. After which he re- 
 viewed that part pertaining to plurality of wives, dwelling at some 
 length upon the same, in order that we might clearly understand 
 the principle. And on the same day (July 22, 1843) he sealed 
 my wife, formerly Martha Jane Knowlton, to me ; and when 
 I heard the revelation on celestial marriage read on the stand 
 in Salt Lake City, in 1852, I recognized it as the same as that 
 repeated to me by Brother Hyrum Smith. Not long after this 
 I was present when Brother David Fullmer and wife were 
 sealed by Brother Hyrum Smith, the martyred Patriarch, ac- 
 cording to the law of celestial marriage. And, besides the fore- 
 going, there was quite enough came within the compass of my 
 observation to have fully satisfied my mind that plural marriage 
 was practiced in the city of Nauvoo. HOWARD CORAY. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, this i8th day of June, 
 A. D. 1882. JAMES JACK, Notary Public. 
 
 (Seal.) 
 
136 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF JOSEPH KELTING. 
 
 For some time previous to the death of Joseph Smith, the 
 Mormon prophet, I lived at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. I 
 acted for some years as agent for Bishop George Miller, and was 
 also a deputy sheriff in Hancock County. I heard rumors to the 
 effect that Joseph Smith was practicing polygamy, the matter 
 frequently being repeated, especially by Wm. and Wilson Law, 
 and the Higbees. Calling at the house of the prophet one day, 
 early in the spring of 1844, on some business or other not now 
 remembered, the prophet invited me into a room upstairs in his 
 house, called the mansion. After we entered the room he locked 
 the door and then asked me if I had heard the rumors con- 
 necting him with polygamy. I told him I had. He then began 
 a defense of the doctrine by referring to the Old Testament. I 
 told him I did not want to hear that, as I could read it for 
 myself. He claimed to be a prophet I believed him to be a 
 prophet and I wanted to know what he had to say about it. 
 He expressed some doubts as to how I might receive it, and 
 wanted to know what stand I would take if I should not be- 
 lieve what he had to say about it. I then pledged him my word 
 that whether I believed his revelation or not, I would not 
 betray him. He then informed me that he had received a reve- 
 lation from God, which taught the correctness of the doctrine 
 of a plurality of wives, and commanding him to obey it. He 
 acknowledged to having married several wives. I told him that 
 was alright. He said he would like a further pledge from me 
 that I would not betray him. I asked him if he wanted me to 
 accept the principle by marrying a plural wife. He answered 
 yes. A short time after this I married two wives in that order 
 of marriage. 
 
 On the occasion of Alexander H. Smith, son of the prophet, 
 visiting me in this country some few years ago, I related to him 
 the above circumstances. . . . JOSEPH A. KELTING. 
 
 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, "I 
 
 County of San Bernardino, j 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public, this 
 first day of March, A. D. 1894. D- JOHNSTON, 
 
 (Seal.) Notary Public in and for San Bernardino 
 
 County, State of California. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 137 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF LUCY WALKER SMITH. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA t \ 
 State of Utah, 
 
 County of Salt Lake. ) 
 
 Lucy Walker Smith Kimball, being first duly sworn, says : 
 I was a plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was mar- 
 ried for time and eternity in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, on the 
 first day of May, 1843, by Elder William Clayton, [see his affi- 
 davit, Chapter IV.]. The Prophet was then living with his first 
 wife, Emma Smith, and I know that she gave her consent to the 
 marriage of at least four women to her husband as plural 
 wives, and she was well aware that he associated and cohabited 
 with them as wives. The names of these women are Eliza and 
 Emily Partridge, and. Maria and Sarah Lawrence, all of whom 
 knew that I too was his wife. 
 
 When the Prophet Joseph Smith mentioned the principle of 
 plural marriage to me I felt indignant, and so expressed myself 
 to him, because my feelings and education were averse to any- 
 thing of that nature. But he assured me that this doctrine had 
 been revealed to him of the Lord, and that I was entitled to 
 receive a testimony of its divine origin for myself. He coun- 
 seled me to pray to the Lord, which I did, and thereupon received 
 from Him a powerful and irresistible testimony of the truthful- 
 nesss and divinity of plural marriage, which testimony has 
 abided with me ever since. 
 
 On the 8th day of February, 1845, I was married for 
 time to President Heber C. Kimball, and bore to him nine 
 children. And in this connection allow me to say to his ever- 
 lasting credit that during the whole of my married life with 
 him he never failed to regard me as the wife for eternity of his 
 devoted friend, the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 
 LUCY WALKER SMITH KIMBALL. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, this i;th day of Decem- 
 ber, 1902. JAMES JACK, Notary Public. 
 
 (Seal.) 
 
 (10) 
 
138 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF CATHERINE PHILLIPS SMITH. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ~\ 
 State of Utah, 
 
 County of Salt Lake. j 
 
 Catherine Phillips Smith, being first sworn, says: 
 
 I am the daughter of Thomas Denner and Sarah Godshall 
 Phillips, and was born in Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, 
 on the first day of August, 1819. My present residence is East 
 Jordan, Salt Lake County, Utah. 
 
 I was married to Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith, as his plural wife, and lived with him as his 
 wife. The sealing was performed by the Prophet Joseph Smith 
 himself, in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, in August, 1843, m tne 
 brick office belonging to my husband, and occupied at the time 
 as a dwelling by Brother and Sister Robert and Julia Stone, 
 and was witnessed by my mother, Sister Stone and her daughter 
 Hettie. 
 
 In consequence of the strong feeling manifested at the time 
 against plural marriage and those suspected of having entered 
 into it, I, with my mother, moved to St. Louis near the close 
 of the year, where I was living when the Prophet Joseph and 
 my husband were martyred. 
 
 The purpose of this affidavit is that my testimony to the 
 truthfulness and divinity of plural marriage may live after I 
 shall have passed away; and in this spirit I commend it to all 
 to whom it may come. CATHERINE PHILLIPS SMITH. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 28th day of January, 
 1903. L, JOHN NUTTALL, 
 
 (Seal.) Notary Public. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF ALMIRA W. JOHNSON SMITH BARTON. 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, 
 
 County of Iron, S ' 
 
 Be it remembered on this first day of August, A. D. 1883, 
 personally appeared before me John W. Brown, a notary public 
 in and for said county, Almira W. Johnson Smith Barton, who 
 was by me sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath says: 
 I am a citizen in the Territory of Utah, over the age of twenty- 
 one years, that I am the daughter of Ezekiel Johnson and 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 139 
 
 Julia Hills Johnson, his wife; that I was born at Westford, in 
 the State of Vermont, on the 22nd day of October, A. D. 1813; 
 that I had nine brothers who were named respectfully Joel H., 
 Seth, David, Benjamin F., Joseph E., Elmer, George W., William 
 D., and Amos; and six sisters named respectfully Nancy, 
 Dulcena, Julia, Susan, Mary and Esther, all of whom, with my- 
 self, were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 Day Saints with the exception of Elmer, who died in infancy. 
 
 Deponent further says, that in the years 1842 and 1843, I 
 resided most of the time at Macedonia, in the County of Han- 
 cock, State of Illinois, sometimes with my sister who was the 
 wife of Almon W. Babbitt, and sometimes with my brother 
 Benjamin F. Johnson. During that time the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith taught me the principle of celestial marriage including 
 plurality of wives and asked me to become his wife. He first 
 spoke to me on this subject at the house of my brother Benjamin 
 F. I also lived a portion of the time at Brother Joseph Smith's, 
 in Nauvoo, when many conversations passed between him and 
 myself on this subject. On a certain occasion in the spring 
 of the year 1843, the exact date of which I do not now recollect, 
 I went from Macedonia to Nauvoo to visit another of my sisters, 
 the one who was the widow of Lyman R. Sherman, deceased, at 
 which time I was sealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. At the 
 time this took place Hyrum Smith, Joseph's brother, came to me 
 and said I need not be afraid. I had been fearing and doubting 
 about the principle and so had he, but he now knew it was true. 
 After this time I lived with the Prophet Joseph as his wife, and 
 he visited me at the home of my brother Benjamin F. at Mace- 
 donia. 
 
 Deponent further says that I had many conversations with 
 Eliza Beaman who was also a wife of Joseph Smith, and who 
 was present when I was sealed to him, on the subject of plurality 
 of wives, both before and after the performance of that cere- 
 mony. And also that since the death of the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith I was married for time to Reuben Barton of Nauvoo, 
 Hancock Co., 111., by whom I have had five daughters, one only 
 of whom is now living. ALMIRA W. JOHNSON SMITH BARTON. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Almira W. Johnson 
 Smith Barton the day and year first above written. 
 
 (Seal.) JOHN W. BROWN, Notary Public. 
 
140 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF MARTHA M^BRIDE KIMBALL 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, 
 County of Millard. 
 
 Be it remembered that on this eighth day of July, A. D. 
 1869, personally appeared before me Edward Partridge, Probate 
 Judge in and for said county, Martha McBride Kimball, who was 
 by me sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath saith that 
 sometime in the summer of the year 1842, at the city of Nauvoo, 
 county of Hancock, state of Illinois, she was married or sealed 
 to Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints, by Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve 
 Apostles in said Church, according to the laws of the same 
 regulating marriage. MARTHA MCBRIDE KIMBALL. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by said Martha McBride Kimball 
 the day and year first above written. EDWARD PARTRIDGE, 
 
 .(Seal.) Probate Judge. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF MELISSA LOTT WILLES. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, , 
 
 ss* 
 
 County of Salt Lake. J 
 
 Be it remembered that on this twentieth day of May, A. D. 
 1869, personally appeared before me, James Jack, a notary public 
 in and for said county, Melissa Lott Willes, who was by me 
 sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath saith that on tne 
 twentieth day of September, A. D. 1843, at the city of Nauvoo, 
 county of Hancock, state of Illinois, she was married or sealed 
 to Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints, by Hyrum Smith, Presiding Patriarch of 
 said Church, according to the laws of the same regulating 
 marriage, in the presence of Cornelius P. Lott and Parmelia 
 Lott. MELISSA LOTT WILLES. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Melissa Lott Willes, the 
 day and year first above written. JAMES JACK, 
 
 (Seal.) Notary Public. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, 
 
 ' ss. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF SARAH A. KIMBALL. 
 
 County of Salt Lake, j 
 
 Be it remembered that on this nineteenth day of June, A. D. 
 1869, personally appeared before me Elias Smith, Probate Judge 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 141 
 
 for said county, Sarah Ann Kimball, who was by me sworn in 
 due form of law, and upon her oath saith that on the twenty- 
 seventh day of July, A. D. 1842, at the city of Nauvoo, county 
 of Hancock, state of Illinois, she was married or sealed to 
 Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints, by Newel K. Whitney, Presiding Bishop of 
 said Church, according to the laws of the same regulating mar- 
 riage, in the presence of Elizabeth Ann Whitney, her mother. 
 
 SARAH A. KIMBALL. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Sarah Ann (Whitney) 
 Kimball, the day and year first above written. E. SMITH, 
 
 Probate Judge. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF ELIZABETH A. WHITNEY. 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, 
 
 County of Salt Lake. ' SS * 
 
 Be it remembered that on this thirtieth day of August, A. D. 
 1869, personally appeared before me, James Jack, a notary public 
 in and for said county, Elizabeth Ann Whitney, who was by me 
 sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath saith that on the 
 twenty-seventh day of July, A. D. 1842, at the city of Nauvoo, 
 county of Hancock, state of Illinois, she was present and 
 witnessed the marrying or sealing of her daughter Sarah Ann 
 Whitney to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for time and all eternity, 
 by her husband Newel K. Whitney then Presiding Bishop of the 
 Church. E. A. WHITNEY. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Elizabeth Ann Whit- 
 ney the day and year first above written. 
 
 JAMES JACK, Notary Public. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF EMILY D. P. YOUNG. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, *) 
 County of Salt Lake. J S ' 
 
 Be it remembered that on this first day of May, A. D. 1869, 
 personally appeared before me, Elias Smith, Judge of Probate 
 for said county, Emily Dow Partridge Young, who was by me 
 sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath, saith that on the 
 eleventh day of May, A. D. 1843, at the city of Nauvoo, County 
 of Hancock, State of Illinois, she was married or sealed to 
 Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter Day Saints, by James Adams, a High Priest in said 
 
142 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 church, according to the law o" the same regulating marriage, 
 in the presence of Emma (Haie) Smith and Eliza Maria Par- 
 tridge (Lyman). EMILY D. P. YOUNG. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Emily D. P. Young, 
 the day and year first above written. E. SMITH, 
 
 Probate Judge. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF RHODA RICHARDS SMITH. 
 
 TERRITORY OF UTAH, j gs 
 County of Salt Lake, j 
 
 Be it remembered that on this first day of May, A. D. 1869, 
 personally appeared before me, Elias Smith, Probate Judge 
 for said county, Rhoda Richards, who was by me sworn in due 
 form of law and upon her oath saith that on the twelfth day 
 of June, A. D. 1843, at the city of Nauvoo, County of Hancock, 
 State of Illinois, she was married or sealed to Joseph Smith, 
 President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 
 by Willard Richards, one of the Twelve Apostles of said Church, 
 according to the laws of the same regulating marriage. 
 
 RHODA RICHARDS. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to by the said Rhoda Richards, the 
 day and year above written. ELIAS SMITH, Probate Judge. 
 
 (Seal.) t 
 
 This completes the direct testimony that we have to 
 offer to prove that Joseph Smith both taught and prac- 
 ticed polygamy. Much more might be given, but we 
 deem this sufficient to establish the point at issue. Of 
 the statements and affidavits presented, two are from 
 his Counselors ; another is from a woman whom he tried 
 to seduce ; two are from men to whom he taught the doc- 
 trine ; another is from a man whom he married to a plural 
 wife; another is from a man who officiated at one of his 
 plural marriages ; another is from a man who was taught 
 the doctrine by his brother Hyrum ; another is from a 
 woman whom he married to her husband as a plural wife ; 
 another is from a woman who witnessed his sealing to 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 143 
 
 her daughter in plural marriage ; and seven are from 
 those who became his plural wives. 
 
 CERTAIN OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 The Josephites, feeling the force of the foregoing 
 affidavits, contend that they are simply lies, told and 
 sworn to by interested parties in order to justify their 
 own polygamous practices, and claim that they contradict 
 themselves and other statements. 
 
 But these charges are more easily made than proved. 
 While it is true that most of those who have affirmed 
 that Joseph Smith both taught and practiced polygamy 
 have been interested parties that is, have been connected 
 with the Utah Church it is, nevertheless, true that their 
 affirmations upon this particular point agree with the 
 charges that were made both before and after the Proph- 
 et's death by men and women who were not members 
 of that church and who were bitterly opposed to polyg- 
 amy. And this strengthens our belief that the individ- 
 uals, whose sworn statements we have given, have told 
 the truth. Among those who were not members of the 
 Utah Church, who have declared that the doctrine and 
 practice of plural marriage originated with Smith himself, 
 may be mentioned John C. Bennett, Captain Olney, Sid- 
 ney Rigdon, George W. Robinson, Sarah M. Pratt, Will- 
 iam Law, Jane Law, Austin Cowles and Leonard Soby. 
 
 After a careful examination, I also regard the charge 
 that the parties, whose affidavits we have given, have 
 contradicted themselves and others or known facts, as 
 overdrawn and exaggerated. That there may be found 
 among the hundred, or more, affidavits a few points of 
 conflict in unimportant details, need not surprise us when 
 we consider the lapse of time between the events them- 
 selves and the dates when the affidavits were made; the 
 
144 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 various viewpoints of the affiants ; the difference in point 
 of opportunity; and the diverse circumstances in which 
 they were placed. But these do not prove untrue the 
 claim, upon which they all agree, that Joseph Smith both 
 taught and practiced polygamy. The Josephites, however, 
 have collected a few of these apparent discrepancies, 
 and by them attempt to discredit not only those affidavits 
 in which they are found, but all the rest and so remove 
 from the field this mass of incriminating evidence against 
 the Prophet. I am not here as an apologist for the 
 Brighamites, but a desire for the truth impels me to 
 point out a number of inconsistencies in the arguments 
 that have been advanced by the leaders of the Reor- 
 ganized Church against the affidavits which I have sub- 
 mitted. Unfortunately, I have not been able to procure 
 several of the works to which they refer, but in most 
 instances the poor logic of their arguments is so apparent 
 that little research is required in order to refute them. 
 
 I. In the first place, the Josephites try to discredit 
 the testimony of Joseph B. Noble because he states that 
 "on the fifth day of April, A. D. 1841, at the city of 
 Nauvoo, County of Hancock, State of Illinois, he married 
 or sealed Louisa Beaman to Joseph Smith, President 
 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ac- 
 cording to the order of celestial marriage revealed to the 
 said Joseph Smith." : 
 
 It is objected that if Noble married Miss Beaman to 
 the Prophet on the date given, she became the latter's 
 
 1 Bennett confirms Noble's statement by the following (Expose, p. 
 256) : "In concluding this subject, however, I will semi-state two or more 
 cases, among the vast number, where Joe Smith was privately married to 
 
 his spiritual wives in the case of Mrs. A S , by Apostle Brigham 
 
 Young; and in that of Miss L B , by Elder Joseph Bates Noble." 
 
 Who was Miss L B , married to Smith by Noble, but Miss 
 
 Louisa Beaman? Bennett's charge was made in 1842; Noble's affidavit ap- 
 peared in 1869. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 145 
 
 plural wife before she was baptized, which they consider 
 a very improbable thing, that event occurring on May n, 
 1843, according to an entry in the Prophet's "Diary," and 
 also two years, three months and seven days before the 
 "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" was received. 
 
 The entry in the Prophet's "Diary," relating to the 
 baptism of Louisa Beeman, reads: "Thursday, nth. At 
 six a. m. baptized Loisa Beeman, Sarah Alley, and 
 others." But, in the first place, it is not proved that the 
 "Loisa" Beeman mentioned in this entry is the Louisa 
 Beaman whom Noble says he married to the Prophet 
 Joseph; there may have been another woman or girl of 
 the same name in Nauvoo. In the second place, if this 
 identity should be proved, her baptism may have been a 
 rebaptism. 1 And, in the third place, it is positively ab- 
 surd to say that she would have to be a baptized member 
 of the church in order to become a consort of the Prophet 
 in 1841. 
 
 As for the second objection, it has little force when 
 the fact is taken into consideration that Smith claimed 
 that the principle of plural marriage was revealed to him 
 long before July 12, 1843, and that by the divine com- 
 mand he took plural wives as early as 1841, though the 
 "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" was not received until 
 the former date. That Joseph had taken wives before 
 the I2th of July, 1843, and that, too, with the divine 
 sanction, as he claimed, is shown by a clause in the "Rev- 
 elation" which reads : "Let mine handmaid Emma Smith, 
 
 1 The Mormon Church practiced both baptism for the dead and rebap- 
 tism, as is proved by the following entries in Smith's "Diary": "Tuesday, 
 z8th [December, 1841], I baptized Sidney Rigdon in the font, for and in 
 behalf of his parents; also baptized Reynolds Cahoon and others." 
 Millennial Star, Vol. XIX., p. 7. "My dear Emma was worse. Many fears 
 were entertained that she would not recover. She was baptized twice in 
 the river, which evidently did her much good." Millennial Star, Vol. 
 XX., p. 87. 
 
146 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 receive all those that have been given unto my servant 
 Joseph." And that there were other revelations on po- 
 lygamy before 1843, is made certain by the admission of 
 J. W. Briggs, who said on the witness-stand in the 
 Temple-lot Suit: "I heard something about a revelation 
 on polygamy, or plural marriage, when I was in Nauvoo 
 in 1842." In addition to all this, let the reader also notice 
 that the affidavit does not state that Miss Beaman and 
 the Prophet were married according to the "Revelation 
 on Celestial Marriage," but according to "the order of 
 celestial marriage revealed to the said Joseph Smith." 
 The former, it is claimed, was received July 12, 1843 ; 
 the latter was known as early as 1831. 
 
 A labored effort is also made to prove that Noble 
 contradicts his affidavit in his testimony given in the 
 celebrated Temple-lot Suit. In the latter he says: 
 
 I never heard Joseph Smith teach the church the doctrine 
 of polygamy, or that a man could have more wives than one, 
 either publicly or privately. 
 
 In commenting on this, Elder W. J. Smith says: 
 
 Would any man living have perfect and complete confidence 
 in such a man's oath? If Joseph taught him polygamy in 1841, 
 and he then and there sealed to Joseph Miss Beeman, did he not 
 swear to a lie in 1892 when he swore that he never heard Joseph 
 teach "EITHER PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY" that a man could have 
 more wives than one"? Joseph Smith: Who Was He?, p. 77. 
 
 But Noble does not say that Smith never taught him 
 the doctrine of plural marriage, but that he never heard 
 him teach it to the church. That it was taught to 
 certain individuals is proved beyond doubt, but that it was 
 taught in the church, as a body, has always been denied. 
 But even if it had been and Noble had not been present 
 to hear it, he could consistently have given the testimony 
 that he did. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 147 
 
 2. Mr. Smith labors hard to make Lucy Walker 
 Smith Kimball contradict herself. In one of her affidavits 
 (I employ his asterisks and emphasis) she says: 
 
 Shortly afterwards I consented to become the prophet's wife, 
 and was married to him May ist, 1843. * * * I am also able to 
 testify that Emma Smith * * * GAVE HER CONSENT to the marriage 
 of at least four other girls to her husband, and that she was well 
 aware that he associated with them as wives within the meaning 
 of all that word implies. 
 
 In her testimony in the Temple-lot Suit, as given 
 by Mr. Smith, she says of her own marriage to the 
 Prophet : 
 
 Emma Smith was not present, and she did NOT CONSENT 
 
 to the marriage; and did not know anything about it at all. 
 
 No, sir, she did not know anything about my marriage to her 
 husband. 
 
 But there is no contradiction here. In her affidavit, 
 she does not say that Emma consented to her marriage 
 to Joseph, but to the "marriage of at least four other 
 girls;" in her testimony in the Temple-lot Suit, she 
 simply denies that Emma gave her consent to her own 
 marriage. I am astonished beyond measure that any 
 fair-minded man should not see this. The capitals used 
 by way of emphasis may deceive the superficial, but they 
 can not deceive the one who carefully compares the two 
 statements. 
 
 3. Emily D. P. Young's testimony is objected to 
 on the score that it is stated in the third person and that 
 she declares that she was married to Smith "under the 
 revelation on plural marriage" on the nth of March, 
 
 1843- 
 
 Apostle Heman C. Smith, in his "The Truth De- 
 fended," page 1 68, states the first objection as follows: 
 
 The testimony of Emily D P. Young is written in the third 
 
148 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 person and shows on the face of it that it was framed by some 
 other person for her, and she in some way induced to sub- 
 scribe to it. 
 
 But there is no force to this objection for the reason 
 that it is only legal form, most affidavits being written 
 in the third person. But Mr. Smith's inconsistency is 
 betrayed only two pages further over in his own book, 
 where he introduces the testimony of R. W. Southard, 
 one of his own witnesses, which is also stated in the third 
 person. Was Southard's affidavit framed for him, and 
 was he in some way induced by the Josephites to sub- 
 scribe to it? 
 
 As for the objection that Mrs. Young could not have 
 been married to the Prophet "under the revelation on 
 plural marriage" on May n, 1843, because it is claimed 
 that that revelation was not given until July 12 follow- 
 ing, we have only to say, as has been said before, that 
 it never has been claimed that the revelation of July 12, 
 1843, was the only revelation that Smith ever received 
 on celestial marriage. It was only a restatement of what 
 both Smith and the "Revelation" itself claim was re- 
 vealed before. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 149 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Josephite Admissions Isaac Sheen William Marks J. W. 
 Briggs W. W. Blair The Robinsons Justus Morse. 
 
 The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints properly had its beginning at a conference 
 held at Beloit, Wisconsin, in June, 1852. The leaders 
 in this movement were Zenas H. Gurley and Jason W. 
 Briggs. The first-named had united with the Mormons 
 in 1838, and after the Prophet's death, had successively 
 followed the fortunes of Brigham Young and James J. 
 Strang; while Briggs, having become connected with 
 the original church in 1841, had thrown in his fortunes, 
 first with the Brighamites, then with the Strangites and, 
 lastly, with the followers of William Smith. Becoming 
 tired of these leaders, these men brought their folio w- 
 ings together and started the Reorganization, in the year 
 named, on the theory "that the successor of Joseph Smith, 
 Junior, as the Presiding High Priest in the Melchisedec 
 Priesthood, must of necessity be the seed of Joseph 
 Smith, Jr., in fulfillment of the law and promises of 
 God." It may be interesting to the reader to know 
 that, though Gurley died in the church which he had 
 helped to found, Briggs and Gurley's family withdrew 
 in 1886 and ever afterwards held aloof. 
 
 But very few of those who were prominent in the 
 affairs at Nauvoo in the days of Joseph Smith, and who 
 were in a position to know at first-hand of his polygamous 
 practices, ever united with the Josephites. Indeed, either 
 the factions of Rigdon or Strang had a greater number 
 of the leaders of the original church among them than 
 
150 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 were ever to be found among the followers of Briggs and 
 Gurley, while the whole number of original Mormons 
 who united with the Reorganization would not exceed 
 one thousand, and would probably fall far below that 
 number. 1 
 
 Most conspicuous among those who, after filling 
 positions of prominence in the original church, united 
 with the Reorganization, may be mentioned Emma Smith, 
 wife of the Prophet; William Smith, who became con- 
 nected with it in 1878 ; William Marks, former President 
 of the High Council at Nauvoo, and Ebenezer Robinson, 
 one-time editor of the Times and Seasons. Of these, 
 Marks and Robinson both confessed that polygamy had 
 been taught by the church officials at Nauvoo, while 
 William Smith, himself, advocated it at a conference of 
 his faction held at Palestine, Lee County, Illinois, in 1851. 
 The authorities of the original church, evidently, steered 
 clear of the Reorganization because they could not truth- 
 fully say, either that Joseph Smith had not practiced 
 polygamy or that he had repented of his connection with 
 it before his death. 
 
 At first, in fact as late as 1860, the leading Joseph- 
 ites acknowledged that Smith had been connected with 
 polygamy, but claimed that he afterwards repented of it 
 and had the revelation enjoining it burned. But, sub- 
 sequently, when the son of the Prophet became their 
 leader, they changed their position and denied that Joseph 
 had ever taught or practiced it, claiming that it originated 
 with Brigham Young or some one else. 
 
 David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the 
 
 J W. W. Blair, Josephite, in the Temple-lot Suit, said that "one 
 thousand was probably too high an estimate for the members of the 
 original church that joined the 'Reorganized* Church." The number that 
 followed Young was at least twenty thousand. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 151 
 
 Book of Mormon, who, falling out with Smith, aposta- 
 tized in 1838, but who ever afterwards watched the move- 
 ments of the church with great interest, says on this 
 point: 
 
 I see that when the Reorganized Church was established, 
 the fact that Joseph received this revelation was then known and 
 acknowledged in editorials in the Herald. The reason why these 
 articles were written in the Herald was to explain why the 
 Reorganized Church rejected the revelation received by Brother 
 Joseph on polygamy, and to "xplain that he repented of his con- 
 nection with polygamy just previous to his death. As time 
 rolled on, many of the Reorganization saw that to continue to 
 acknowledge that Brother Joseph received this revelation would 
 bring bitter persecution upon themselves, as the public feeling, 
 at that time, was very bitter. . . . The leaders of the Reorganized 
 Church, after a time, began to suppress their opinions concerning 
 this matter. They would answer the question when asked 
 about it: "/ do not know whether Joseph Smith received that 
 revelation or not." This was a truthful but evasive answer, 
 as it was not a matter of knowledge, except with a few. All, 
 or nearly all, of the pioneers of the Reorganization who were 
 living in Nauvoo in 1843 and 1844 have now passed away, and 
 you see what time has done in this regard. To-day nearly 
 all of the Reorganization do not believe that Brother Joseph 
 received the revelation on polygamy, or ever had any connection 
 whatever with the doctrine of polygamy, openly and firmly 
 denying this fact; some through ignorance, and some who 
 should not be so ignorant about this matter. They charge it all 
 to Brigham Young. An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 39. 
 
 The first position assumed by the Reorganized Church 
 was that the Prophet had received the "Revelation on 
 Celestial Marriage" attributed to him, but that he had 
 been deceived, that the revelation was a false revelation 
 given to those who had set up idols in their hearts, 
 and that, as a consequence of giving this false revelation, 
 he had been cut off from the midst of the people. This 
 position was defended by both Isaac Sheen and W. W. 
 
152 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Blair, 1 who based it upon the language of the prophet 
 Ezekiel (14:7-11) : 
 
 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger 
 that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, 
 and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling- 
 block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet 
 to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer 
 him by myself: 
 
 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him 
 a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of 
 my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, 
 I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my 
 hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my peo- 
 ple Israel. 
 
 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the 
 punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him 
 that seeketh unto him; 
 
 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, 
 neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but 
 that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the 
 Lord God. 
 
 It is my purpose in this chapter to lay before the 
 reader some of the admissions that have been made by 
 the leaders of the Reorganized Church which plainly 
 connect Joseph Smith with both the doctrine and prac- 
 tice of polygamy. 
 
 ADMISSION OF ISAAC SHEEN. 
 
 Isaac Sheen became connected with the Reorganized 
 Church in the year 1859. In the following January, he 
 became editor of its official organ, the True Latter-day 
 Saints' Herald, which office he filled up to 1865. At a 
 conference held at Amboy, Illinois, in April, 1860, he 
 was ordained President of the Quorum of High Priests, 
 
 1 The True Latter-day Saints' Herald, March, 1860 (p. 64), July 15, 
 1864 (pp. 23, 24), and November 15, 1864 (pp. 155, 156). 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 153 
 
 which position, I believe, he held the remainder of his 
 life. - 
 
 In an article published in the first issue of the paper 
 mentioned, he says: 
 
 The Salt Lake Apostles also excuse themselves by saying 
 that Joseph Smith taught the spiritual-wife doctrine, but this 
 excuse is as weak as their excuse concerning the ancient kings 
 and patriarchs. Joseph Smith repented of his connection with 
 this doctrine, and said that it was of the devil. He caused the 
 revelation on that subject to be burned, and when he voluntarily 
 came to Nauvoo and resigned himself into the arms of his 
 enemies, he said that he was going to Carthage to die. At that 
 time he also said, that if it had not been for that accursed spirit- 
 ual-wife doctrine, he would not have come to that. By his 
 conduct at that time he proved the sincerity of his repentance, 
 and of his profession as a prophet. If Abraham and Jacob 
 by repentance can obtain salvation and exaltation, so can Joseph 
 Smith. 
 
 Over forty years after the foregoing was published, 
 the editor of the same paper tried to explain away its 
 evident sense in the following: 
 
 It is possible that if there was anything of the kind going 
 on Joseph Smith may have had some knowledge of it, without 
 being implicated in it. In this there is not a suggestion as to 
 what was the connection of Joseph Smith to the dogma, or 
 practice of polygamy. Isaac Sheen was not a resident of Nauvoo, 
 and was not a leading man in the church in 1844, and possibly 
 had never more than seen Joseph Smith, and could have known 
 nothing personally about it. He is in error about causing the 
 revelation to be burned, or, if not, he makes the case better 
 for Joseph Smith in connection with that paper; for if he 
 burned it, or caused it to be done, no one had the right to 
 revive it, or reproduce even a copy of it. Again, he makes 
 Joseph Smith to say it is an accursed doctrine and "of the 
 devil," a thing incredible upon the assumption that he had a 
 revelation authorizing it which he believed to be from God. 
 The statement made by Isaac Sheen does not implicate Joseph 
 Smith as either teaching or practicing polygamy, 
 (ID 
 
154 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 That Isaac Sheen could have known nothing per- 
 sonally about Joseph Smith's polygamous relations, I 
 readily concede, but that he believed that the Prophet had 
 been guilty of favoring such relations and that he was 
 expressing a well-founded conviction, which at that time 
 was practically unquestioned, I most emphatically affirm. 
 That his sentiments in this particular were not ques- 
 tioned, even by the Reorganizers, is proved by the facts 
 that not a voice was raised against him for publishing 
 this article and that he continued for a number of years 
 an honored and official member of their church. His 
 statement plainly shows that it was the general, if not 
 the universal, belief among even the Josephites that po- 
 lygamy existed before the Prophet's death and that there 
 was a revelation on the subject; that Smith, himself, had 
 some connection with this doctrine; that he afterwards 
 repented of this connection, which shows that it must 
 have been one of favor and advocacy; and that he had 
 the revelation commanding it burned. No amount of 
 special pleading can destroy the force of Sheen's ad- 
 mission; it is before the public as conclusive proof that 
 even the Reorganizers, in the early days of their move- 
 ment, conceded that their Prophet was connected with 
 the doctrine of polygamy, though it also proves that they 
 differed from the Brighamites in the claim that he had 
 repented of his connection with it before his death. 1 
 
 1 Since writing the above, I have had the pleasure of examining the 
 first six volumes of the True Latter-day Saints' Herald, which I have 
 done with some care, and nowhere have I found a denial that Joseph 
 Smith taught and practiced polygamy, although the doctrine itself is con- 
 demned in the strongest terms. The writers for this paper seem to have 
 avoided as much as possible any reference to his polygamous teachings, but 
 where they have referred to them they give the impression that they be- 
 lieved that there was a revelation on polygamy, but that it was not given 
 to the church as a body, only to those who had set up idols in their 
 hearts, in agreement with Ezek. 14:7-11. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 155 
 
 In an editorial in the same paper, Sheen says of the 
 Mormon people : 
 
 This adulterous spirit had captivated their hearts and they 
 desired a license from God to lead away captive the fair daugh- 
 ters of His people, and in this state of mind they came to the 
 Prophet Joseph. Could the Lord do anything more or less than 
 what Ezekiel hath prophesied? The Lord hath declared by 
 Ezekiel what kind of an answer he would give them, therefore 
 he answered them according to the multitude of their idols. 
 Paul had also prophesied that "for this cause God shall send them 
 strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all 
 might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure 
 in unrighteousness." Both these prophesies agree. In Ezekiel's 
 prophecy the Lord also says, "I will set my face against 
 that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will 
 cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know 
 that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he 
 hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, 
 and I will stretch out my hand upon him and I will destroy him 
 from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the 
 punishment of their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet 
 shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; 
 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither 
 be polluted any more with all their transgressions ; but that they 
 may be my people, and I may be their God saith the Lord God," 
 8c., llv. We have here the facts ac they have transpired and as 
 they will continue to transpire in relation to this subject. The 
 death of the prophet is one fact that has been realized although 
 he abhorred and repented of this iniquity before his death. 
 
 Here polygamy is called an "iniquity," and, as the 
 Prophet "repented" of it before his death, he must have 
 been at some time in his career guilty of either advo- 
 cating or practicing it, or both. 
 
 ADMISSIONS OF WILLIAM MARKS. 
 
 William Marks was born in Rutland, Vermont, No- 
 vember 15, 1792. Just when he united with the Mormon 
 Church, is not known, but he is prominently mentioned 
 
156 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 as early as 1837, in which year he was chosen a mem- 
 ber of the High Council at Kirtland. In July, 1838, he 
 and N. K. Whitney were commanded to remove to Mis- 
 souri, where he lived until the Mormons were driven 
 from that State, when he went to Illinois. He was 
 chosen President of the High Council at Nauvoo on 
 October 3, 1839, and held that position until after the 
 Prophet's death, although part of the time he was without 
 the latter 's favor. After the assassination of Smith, 
 he supported the claims of Rigdon for a time, but finally 
 dropped him and threw in his fortunes with the polyga- 
 mous Twelve, as the following will show : 
 
 NOTICE ! ! ! 
 
 After mature and candid c. liberation I am fully and satis- 
 factorily convinced that Mr. Sidney Rigdon's claims to the 
 Presidency of The Church o* Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 
 are not founded in Truth. I have been deceived by his specious 
 pretenses, and now feel to warn every one over whom I have 
 any influence to beware of him and his pretended visions and 
 revelations. The Twelve are the proper persons to lead The 
 Church. WILLIAM MARKS. 
 
 NAUVOO, Dec. 9, 1844. 
 
 After this, however, he left the Twelve and became 
 a member of the Strangite faction, but, becoming dissatis- 
 fied, he subsequently renounced Strang and threw in his 
 fortunes, for a time, with the Baneemyites under Charles 
 B. Thompson. He next, with others, started an inde- 
 pendent faction, but this soon went to pieces. As a last 
 resort, he united with the Reorganized Church on June n, 
 1859, and the year following assisted at the ordination of 
 Joseph Smith to the First Presidency, to whom he later 
 became First Counselor. 
 
 Having had ample opportunity to know what was 
 going on in the inner circles at Nauvoo, his testimony is 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 157 
 
 of very great importance. In a letter, dated at Shabbona, 
 DeKalb County, Illinois, October 23, 1859, and addressed 
 to Isaac Sheen, he says: 
 
 About the first of June, 1844 (situated as I was at that time, 
 being the Presiding Elder of the Stake at Nauvoo, and by ap- 
 pointment the Presiding Officer of the High Council), I had a 
 very good opportunity to know the affairs of the Church, and 
 my convictions at that time were, that the Church in a great 
 measure had departed from the pure principles and doctrines of 
 Jesus Christ. I felt much troubled in mind about the condition 
 of the Church. I prayed earnestly to my Heavenly Father to 
 show me something in regard to it, when I was wrapt in vision, 
 and it was shown me by the Spirit, that the top or branches 
 had overcome the root, in sin and wickedness, and the only 
 way to cleanse and purify it was, to disorganize it, and in due 
 time, the Lord would reorganize it again. There were many 
 things suggested to my mind, but the lapse of time has erased 
 them from my memory. A few days after this occurrence, I 
 met with Brother Joseph. He said that he wanted to converse 
 with me on the affairs of the Church, and we retired by ourselves. 
 I will give his words verbatim, for they are indelibly stamped 
 upon my mind. He said he had desired for a long time to have 
 a talk with me on the subject of polygamy. He said it eventually 
 would prove the overthrow of the Church, and we should soon 
 be obliged to leave the United States, unless it could be speedily 
 put down. He was satisfied that it was a cursed doctrine, and 
 that there must be every exertion made to put it down. He 
 said that he would go before the congregation and proclaim 
 against it, and I must go into the High Council, and he would 
 prefer charges against those in transgression, and I must sever 
 them from the Church, unless they made ample satisfaction. 
 There was much more said, but this was the substance. The 
 mob commenced to gather about Carthage in a few days after, 
 therefore there was nothing done concerning it. After the 
 Prophet's death, I made mention of this conversation to several, 
 hoping and believing that it would have a good effect, but to 
 my great disappointment, it was soon rumored about that Brother 
 Marks was about to apostatize, and that all that he said about 
 the conversation with the Prophet was a tissue of lies. 
 
158 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Apostle Heman C. Smith, of the Reorganized Church, 
 in his "The Truth Defended," pages 181, 182, says on the 
 foregoing : 
 
 The purport of this testimony is : 
 
 1. That Joseph Smith declared it (polygamy) to be "a cursed 
 doctrine." 
 
 2. That he would proclaim against it in the public congre- 
 gation. 
 
 3. That he would prefer charges against those in trans- 
 gression. 
 
 4. He instructed the President of the High Council to "sever 
 them from the Church, unless they made ample satisfaction." 
 
 All this is commendable and a credit to Joseph and the 
 church. 
 
 It is not very probable either, that Joseph Smith would 
 publicly proclaim against a doctrine, and prefer charges against 
 those practicing it, when he himself was practicing it, and it was 
 known to those against whom he was proceeding. 
 
 Let the reader observe that Mr. Smith draws the 
 above deductions wholly from the latter part of Marks' 
 letter; they do not cover the whole. He has nothing to 
 say about "the top or branches" overcoming "the root 
 in sin and wickedness" or the "long time" in which po- 
 lygamy had been tolerated (?) in a church of which 
 Joseph was the Prophet, Priest and King and in a city 
 of which he was Mayor, with a legion back of him of 
 which he was Lieutenant-General. If Joseph Smith had 
 power, on the ist day of June, 1844, to put down po- 
 lygamy, did he not have the same power a "long time" 
 before? If he was not a friend to this doctrine and 
 practice, why did he tolerate (?) it so long, until it threat- 
 ened the church with destruction and himself with death? 
 
 The deductions of Mr. Smith only about half ex- 
 plain the situation. The facts are that Joseph had 
 come to see where he and the church were drifting, and 
 to save both he made a show of repentance because of 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 159 
 
 which he could with apparent consistency proceed against 
 those who, like he himself had been, were in transgres- 
 sion. Marks was a man who never fell in with polygamy, 
 and it was to him that the Prophet came with his con- 
 fession, hoping thereby to save himself and the church 
 from ruin. 
 
 In a letter to the Zion's Harbinger and Baneemy's 
 Organ of July, 1853, Marks gives a slightly different ver- 
 sion of his conversation with Joseph to that given in his 
 letter to Isaac Sheen. He says: 
 
 During my administration in the Church I saw and heard 
 of many things that was practiced and taught that I did not 
 believe to be of God; but I continued to do and teach such 
 principles as were plainly revealed, as the law of the Church, 
 for I thought that pure and holy principles only would have 
 a tendency to benefit mankind. Therefore when the doctrine of 
 polygamy was introduced into the Church as a principle of 
 exaltation, I took a decided stand against it ; which stand rendered 
 me quite unpopular, with many of the leading ones of the 
 Church. I was also witness of the introduction (secretly) of a 
 kingly form of government, in which Joseph suffered himself 
 to be ordained a king, to reign over the house of Israel forever ; 
 which I could not conceive to be in accordance with the laws 
 of the Church, but I did not oppose this move, thinking it none 
 of my business. 
 
 Joseph, however, became convinced before his death that he 
 had done wrong; for about three weeks before his death, I met 
 him one morning in the street, and he said to me, "Bro. Marks, 
 I have something to communicate to you," we retired to a byplace, 
 and sat down together, when he said : "We are a ruined people." 
 I asked, how so? he said: "This doctrine of polygamy, or 
 spiritual-wife system, that has been taught and practiced among 
 us, will prove our destruction and overthrow. I have been de- 
 ceived," said he, "in reference to its practice; it is wrong; it is 
 a curse to mankind, and, we shall have to leave the United 
 States soon, unless it can be put down, and its practice stopped 
 in the Church. Now," said he, "Bro. Marks, you have not re- 
 ceived this doctrine, and how glad I am. I want you to go into 
 
160 THE TRUh ORIGIN OF 
 
 the high council, and I will have charges preferred against all 
 who practice this doctrine; and I want you to, try them by the 
 laws of the Church, and cut them off, if they will not repent, 
 and cease the practice of this doctrine ; and," he said, "I will go 
 into the stand and preach against it, with all my might, and in 
 this way, we may rid the Church of this damnable heresy." 
 
 If polygamy was introduced into the church "as a 
 principle of exaltation," who introduced it? There can 
 be but one answer Joseph Smith. 
 
 From the two letters of William Marks, we draw 
 the following deductions: 
 
 1. The "top or branches/* having "overcome the 
 root in sin and wickedness," polygamy was introduced 
 "as a principle of exaltation" and was both "taught and 
 practiced." 
 
 2. This principle, on June i, 1844, had been in the 
 church "for a long time." 
 
 3. Joseph on that date had become convinced "that 
 he had done wrong" and had been "deceived." 
 
 4. He stated that it was a "cursed doctrine" and a 
 "damnable heresy" that would have to be put down or 
 the church would have to leave the United States. And 
 
 5. He said that he would go into the stand and 
 preach against it, and he ordered Marks to sever from the 
 church those who would not repent. 
 
 The evident import of these two letters is, that 
 Joseph Smith, being influenced by certain wicked and 
 designing men, introduced into the Mormon Church the 
 doctrine and practice of polygamy; that, after a long 
 time, the opposition which was caused by the introduc- 
 tion of this principle became so bitter that it threatened 
 to disrupt and destroy the church ; that the Prophet, fore- 
 seeing the impending storm, became alarmed, repented of 
 his connection with it and acknowledged his mistake; 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 161 
 
 and that, having done this, he began laying plans to 
 cleanse his church by casting out of it those who would 
 not follow his example and give up their sinful prac- 
 tices. It may be charitable to say that, had the Prophet 
 lived and had the opportunity, the latter might have been 
 the program. 
 
 ADMISSIONS OF JASON W. BRIGGS. 
 
 Jason W. Briggs, while on the stand in the Temple- 
 lot Suit, admitted that he had heard of a revelation on 
 polygamy, or plural marriage, before the death of the 
 Mormon Prophet. He says: 
 
 I heard something about a revelation on polygamy, or plural 
 marriage, when I was in Nauvoo, in 1842. I heard there was 
 one : there was talk going on about it at that time, and continued 
 to be; but it was not called plural marriage; it was called 
 sealing. 
 
 I was asked in my direct examination if I did not hear of 
 the doctrine of polygamy, etc., and I answered that I talked with 
 members with reference to stealing, and I understood that the 
 doctrine of sealing, was for eternity; it was sealing a man's wife 
 to him for eternity, or wives either. 1 Record, pp. 349, 505. 
 
 On February 13, 1888, Mr. Briggs, writing from 
 Wheeler, Iowa, addressed a letter to Mr. J. T. Clark, 
 part of which, relating to the origin of the "Revelation 
 'on Celestial Marriage," is as follows: 
 
 BRO. J. T. CLARK: Yours of late date duly received. The 
 excessive cold weather and some ill health has prevented my writ- 
 ing sooner. The experiences at Nauvoo and Independence were 
 characteristic of the times and places named. I was at Nauvoo 
 
 1 In his "Diary," Joseph says of marriage, or sealing, for eternity: 
 "Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be 
 married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority 
 of the Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they 
 will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are 
 married by the power and authority of the Priesthood in this life, and 
 continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue 
 to increase and have children in celestial glory." Millennial Star, Vol. 
 XXI., p. 1 08. 
 
162 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 in 1843, the year it was found necessary to legalize polygamy 
 by a revelation. No, I have no doubt as to the authorship of that 
 (so-called) revelation of July 12, 1843. It has all the ear- 
 marks to identify it as the production of the mouthpiece 1 of those 
 days. William, the only surviving brother, got up a similar one 
 (at Palestine near Amboy) in 1851. I united with the church 
 at Potosi, Grant Co., Wisconsin, in 1841. The following year 
 I settled near Beloit, Rock Co., Wisconsin, where I raised up a 
 branch in 1843. When the Twelve assumed the leadership in 
 1844, we gave a nominal adherence to them until the spring 
 of 1846, when we, as a branch, rejected them and accepted 
 James J. Strang as the true successor, on the authority of the 
 letter of appointment from Joseph Smith but polygamy and 
 other kindred teachings and practices cropping out, we dropped 
 Strang, and in 1850-51 accepted William Smith as the suc- 
 cessor, so so; but in less than one year he exhibited the 
 cloven foot and boomed polygamy afresh in the name of God 
 and his brother Joseph. Published in the Return (Whitmerite 
 paper), December i, 1895. 
 
 ADMISSION OF W. W. BLAIR. 
 
 William W. Blair, one of the early leaders of the 
 Reorganization, serving first in the capacity of Apostle 
 and afterwards as First Counselor to the President, 
 Joseph Smith, the present Prophet, made the following 
 admission, relative to the existence of the "Revelation 
 on Celestial Marriage," in the True Latter-day Saints' 
 Herald of March, 1860 (p. 64) : 
 
 The plurality-wife revelation was never given unto the 
 church by Joseph, and when it was made public, the first 
 organization of the church had ceased. The church had been re- 
 jected of God, and counterfeit churches under the direction of 
 greedy wolves had supplanted the true church. The church 
 was not commanded to give heed unto revelations which were 
 
 1 "Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his 
 words and commandments, which he shall give unto you, as he receiveth 
 them, walking in all holiness before me; for his word ye shall receive, as 
 if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith." Revelation concern- 
 ing Smith, "Doctrine and Covenants," Sec. 19, par. 2. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 163 
 
 not given unto them, but only those which Joseph gave unto 
 them, and as that revelation was withheld from the church, 
 and was repudiated and denounced by him, and as it was only 
 intended for those, who (according to the prophecy of Ezekiel), 
 had "set up their idols in their hearts," therefore the church was 
 not commanded to receive it. The Lord knowing that Joseph 
 would never give any revelation unto the church that was 
 contrary to the mind and will, and holy law of God, therefore 
 he commanded the church to "give heed unto all his words and 
 commandments," otherwise he could not consistently with his love 
 for the saints have given them such a commandment, for their 
 future observance, to be a law unto them, from the commence- 
 ment of the organization of the church. 
 
 In the foregoing, Mr. Blair admits that the "plurality- 
 wife revelation" was in existence before Smith's death, 
 as it "was repudiated and denounced by him;" but, he 
 tells us, that it was not given to the church, as a body, 
 only to those who had, in fulfillment of Ezek. 14: 7, "set 
 up their idols in their hearts." But, no matter to whom 
 it was given, if that revelation existed, as admitted, it 
 proves Joseph Smith guilty of teaching the doctrine of 
 polygamy, frees Brigham Young from the stigma of be- 
 ing the author of this revelation, and gives it a birth some 
 years anterior to the date commonly fixed upon by the 
 Josephites of to-day. 
 
 ADMISSIONS OF THE ROBINSONS. 
 
 Ebenezer Robinson united with the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints on the i6th of October, 1835, 
 the same year being united in marriage to Miss Angeline 
 Works. In 1838, he became clerk of the High Council, 
 and in November, 1839, he and Don Carlos Smith became 
 joint editors of the Times and Seasons, he continuing 
 with that paper, except for a short time, up to February, 
 1842. After the death of Smith, he united with the 
 Rigdonites and became Sidney Rigdon's Second Coun- 
 
164 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 selor, but, subsequently, left them and afterwards, in 
 1863, joined the Reorganization, in which he was or- 
 dained a High Priest in April, 1866. Sometime later, 
 he and his wife made the following affidavits : 
 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 
 
 We, Ebenezer Robinson and Angeline Robinson, husband 
 and wife, hereby certify that in the fall of 1843 Hyrum Smith, 
 brother of Joseph Smith, came to our house in Nauvoo, Illinois, 
 and taught us the doctrine of polygamy. And I, the said Ebenezer 
 Robinson, hereby further state that he gave me special instruc- 
 tions how I could manage the matter so as not to have it known 
 to the public. He also told us that while he had heretofore 
 opposed the doctrine, he was wrong and his brother Joseph was 
 right; referring to his teaching it. EBENEZER ROBINSON. 
 
 ANGELINE E. ROBINSON. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me this 2Qth day of Decem- 
 ber, 1873. J. M. SALLEE, Notary Public. 
 
 (L. S.) 
 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : 
 
 This is to certify that in the latter part of November, or in 
 December, 1843, Hyrum Smith (brother of Joseph Smith, Pres- 
 ident of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) 
 came to my house in Nauvoo, Illinois, and taught me the 
 doctrine of spiritual wives or polygamy. 
 
 He said he heard the voice of the Lord give the revelation 
 on spiritual wifery (polygamy) to his brother Joseph, and that 
 while he had heretofore opposed the doctrine, he was wrong, 
 and his brother Joseph was right all the time. 
 
 He told me to make a selection of some young woman 
 and he would cend her to me, and take her to my home, and 
 if she should have an heir, to give out the word that she had 
 a husband who had gone on a mission to a foreign country. 
 He seemed disappointed when I declined to do so. 
 
 E. ROBINSON. 
 DAVIS CITY, Iowa, October 23, 1885. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, a Notary Public in and 
 for Decatur County, Iowa, this 24th day of October, A. D. 
 1885. Z. H. GURLEY,, Notary Public. 
 
 (L. S.) 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 165 
 
 D. H. Bays introduces these affidavits in his "Doc- 
 trines and Dogmas of Mormonism," and says, further, 
 that Robinson assured him in 1865 that he knew more 
 about the early days of the church than he cared at that 
 time to disclose. In his reply to Bays, "The Truth De- 
 fended," pages 190, 191, Apostle Heman C. Smith tries 
 to overthrow this testimony. 
 
 He says, in the first place, that "these statements, 
 if true, implicate no one but Hyrum Smith/' While it 
 is true that they implicate no one directly but Hyrum 
 Smith, it is also true that indirectly they implicate Joseph. 
 Robinson tells us what Hyrum said, that much is estab- 
 lished by the testimony, and as Hyrum was the brother 
 of Joseph and was one of his most confidential advisers, 
 one of two things is true: either he lied about Joseph 
 or else the latter did advocate polygamy. Let the 
 Josephites fall on either horn of the dilemma that they 
 may choose. 
 
 The second objection that Mr. Smith urges against 
 the foregoing statements, is that Robinson and his wife 
 "were associated with the Reorganization for many years, 
 right at the time when representatives of the church from 
 pulpit and press were demanding evidence that polygamy 
 was taught by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and they were 
 as silent as the tomb, until they became disaffected, and 
 in various ways tried to destroy the fair fame of the 
 church and its founders." But, according to the state- 
 ment of Bays, Robinson was not "as silent as the tomb" 
 in 1865 when he told him that "he knew more about 
 those early days than he then wished to disclose, but that 
 he intended at some future time to make a statement of 
 facts as he knew them to exist," and if I am not mis- 
 informed it was the very claim that he makes in his 
 
166 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 affidavits which was one of the reasons why he was not in 
 harmony with the Reorganization. 1 
 
 Lastly, Mr. Smith objects to the testimony of the 
 Robinsons on the score that it conflicts with other testi- 
 mony given by Mr. Bays. 
 
 It will be observed that these witnesses claim that this 
 interview with Hyrum Smith took place in the fall of 1843 No- 
 vember or December and that he then said "he had heretofore 
 opposed the doctrine ;" while three of Bays' witnesses ; viz. : Mrs. 
 Thompson (p. 171), Leonard Soby (p. 1/4), and David Fullmer 
 (P- i?S) declare that Hyrum Smith read the revelation and 
 indorsed the doctrine on the I2th of August before. Bays should 
 notice that his witnesses condemn each other. 
 
 Now, I may be blind, but I can not see the force of 
 this argument. These witnesses do not contradict one 
 another, but are in perfect agreement. In his affidavit, 
 Robinson says that Hyrum said "he heard the voice of 
 the Lord give the revelation on spiritual wifery (polyga- 
 my) to his brother Joseph, and that while he had hereto- 
 fore (before July 12, 1843) opposed the doctrine, he was 
 wrong, and his brother Joseph was right all the time." 
 Mr. Smith makes his mistake by supposing that "here- 
 tofore" means before "the latter part of November, or 
 in December, 1843," whereas it means before July 12, 
 
 1 In the Return of January, 1889, Robinson says of his opposition to 
 Certain teachings of the Reorganized Church: "United with the Reorgan- 
 ized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April, 1863, having 
 been acquainted with it for several years. Protested from the first against 
 some of its practices and teachings. Was baptized into the church of 
 Christ (Whitmerites) on the i3th day of April, 1888, by Elder John C. 
 Whitmer, of Richmond, Mo." As Robinson made his first affidavit in 
 1873 and did not leave the Reorganization until 1888, be stands as 
 publicly charging that the Smiths taught polygamy at Nauvoo for fifteen 
 years while a Josephite. So, for fifteen years, while associated with that 
 church, Robinson was not "as silent as the tomb" on the origin of 
 polygamy, and it was not after he left that church that he began to charge 
 this on Joseph and Hyrum, but before fifteen years before, and right 
 at the very time, too, "when representatives of the church from pulpit and 
 press were demanding evidence that polygamy was taught" by these men. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 167 
 
 1843, the date on which the "Revelation on Celestial Mar- 
 riage" is said to have been received. And this explanation 
 agrees with the facts as we know them. When Udney 
 Jacobs' pamphlet was published in the fall of 1842, Hyrum 
 Smith, according to John D. Lee, was very much opposed 
 to it and denounced polygamy as "from beneath;" on the 
 1 2th of July following, he was very favorable to it, ac- 
 cording to William Clayton, and said that he could con- 
 vince any reasonable man or woman of the truthfulness 
 of the "Revelation," and this agrees with what Hyrum 
 told Robinson that he had, on that date, heard the voice 
 of the Lord and had been converted to the doctrine of 
 polygamy; on the I2th of August he read the "Revela- 
 tion" to the High Council, as claimed by Mrs. Thompson,. 
 Fullmer and Soby, and again expressed himself as favor- 
 able to it; and later he had the conversation with the 
 Robinsons given in their affidavits, at which time he also 
 favored it. Where do these "witnesses condemn each 
 other"? 
 
 ADMISSION OF JUSTUS MORSE. 
 
 The original of the following affidavit was for a num- 
 ber of years in the possession of Mr. Zenas H. Gurley, 
 of Canton, Missouri, but has recently been turned over 
 by him to R. B. Neal, of Pikeville, Kentucky. While 
 Mr. Morse was not a leader among the Josephites, he 
 was a member of their church, which makes his testi- 
 mony most important. It plainly shows that polygamy 
 was strongly intrenched at Nauvoo as early as 1842, 
 which never could have been had Joseph Smith been op- 
 posed to it. Although this affidavit covers more ground 
 than we have been considering, as it plainly shows that 
 Joseph Smith was guilty of a number of things denied 
 by the Josephites, I give it in full. 
 
168 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : 
 
 This is to certify that in the year 1833, I was made a 
 member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and 
 have been a member in fellowship since then, uniting with the 
 Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the 
 beginning of the year of 1870. Held the offices of an Elder, of 
 Seventy, and of High Priest, in the first Church under. Joseph 
 Smith, the founder, and the office of an Elder and of High 
 Priest, which last I now hold in the Reorganization, of which 
 Joseph Smith, the second, is President. 
 
 In the year 1834, I was numbered with the "Camp of Zion" 
 or "Zion's Camp," numbering some 233 men, who were led 
 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, according to Revelation into the 
 State of Missouri, for the purpose of delivering "Zion" (the 
 lands previously purchased of the Government by members 
 of the Church). I was chosen with nine others out of the 
 "Camp" as sharp shooters. The whole company were armed 
 with guns, pistols and knives, and we expected to deliver said 
 "lands" from the mob who occupied them, and to avenge the 
 Lord on His enemies as provided in the Prophet's revelations 
 but the latter part of June (the 22nd day I believe), of the 
 year 1834 aforesaid we were visited by the Sheriff of Clay 
 County, Missouri, we having camped on what is known as 
 Fishing River, who wished to know the object and purpose we 
 had in coming into the State as an armed body of men where- 
 upon the Prophet receiving another revelation, that we had been 
 "brought thus far as a trial of our faith, etc.," we disbanded, 
 some settling in Missouri, others returning to their homes in the 
 eastern states. 
 
 In the year 1838, at Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, 
 I was made a Danite, in an organized meeting for that purpose 
 in a schoolhouse at that place. Brother Dr. Sampson Avard had 
 charge in organizing this Band, divided into tens, fifties, and 
 hundreds Joseph Smith, Sydney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith were 
 present frequently at our meetings and were cognizant of what 
 was going on, being present at our secret meetings when a guard 
 were placed around us admitting none but members, excepting 
 the said Joseph Smith, Sydney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith I 
 further state that in company with nine others of the Danites 
 I was taken not far away from Far West, in a deep ravine, in 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 169 
 
 the year 1838, aforesaid, and with a guard around us on the 
 high ground to prevent interruption or being heard, was there 
 taught and instructed by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and 
 Hyrum Smith, that the Church could not advance without means, 
 and we must obtain, must get money and means to carry on 
 the work whether right or wrong, honest or dishonest that 
 the Church should "suck the milk of the Gentiles," that we had 
 been injured by the mob in Missouri, and to take from the 
 Gentiles was no sin, but should we get caught in this work 
 then in that case, we were to stand by each other and help each 
 other out of trouble at any cost or hazard, and the said Hyrum 
 Smith particularly emphasized, that if we found it necessary 
 in helping each other out of trouble to swear to a lie, to do so, 
 and to do it with such positiveness and assurance that no one 
 would question our testimony. Shortly after these events, the 
 troubles increased between the Saints, and the mob, finishing 
 with the expulsion of the Saints, in 1839, from the State; 
 prior to our expulsion and during our troubles, Joseph Smith, 
 Sydney Rigdon, and other leaders of the Church were incarcera- 
 ted in Liberty Jail, Clay County, Mo. While there several epis- 
 tles were sent by the Prophet to the brethren, in one of which 
 he refers to the organization of "bands or companies, by cove- 
 nant or oaths, by penalties or secrecies," etc., suggesting their 
 "impropriety" this news was received with thankfulness by me 
 as it took a great burden off of my mind, for I felt it my duty to 
 obey the heads of the Church in all matters but to my sorrow 
 this hope proved fallacious, for in the year 1841 or 2, Danite 
 brethren came to my house in McDonough County, Illinois, 
 and asked me to secrete goods which they had taken from a 
 store, one of whom stated to me when and how, they had "sucked 
 the milk of the Gentiles" by robbing this store. I refused to ac- 
 commodate them at this time, and they never forgave me up to 
 the time of their death, dying in full faith. And I further state 
 as I have reason to believe that this and similar practices was 
 continued by members of the Church during the remainder of 
 their stay at Nauvoo. 
 
 I further state that in the year 1842, at Nauvoo, Illinois, 
 Elder Amasa Lyman, taught me the doctrine of sealing, or mar- 
 rying for eternity, called spiritual wifery, and that within one 
 year from that date my own wife and another woman were 
 (12) 
 
170 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 sealed to me for eternity in Macedonia, by father John Smith, 
 uncle to the Prophet. This woman was the wife of another 
 man, but was to be mine in eternity and the said father John 
 Smith, also taught me that if an unmarried woman was sealed 
 to me that she was mine for time as well as eternity and that I 
 was not limited as to number. 
 
 In the years 1843-4, at Macedonia, Illinois, father John Smith 
 aforesaid, instructed me in the things of the kingdom, and 
 stated that Joseph fearing he would be killed before the mys- 
 teries of the Endowment were given, had given Endowment to 
 twenty-four of the priesthood, with their wives at Nauvoo, 111. 
 And having been shown the Endowment Garment, and Robe, 
 by father John Smith, at the time aforesaid, and subsequently 
 at Nauvoo, and in Utah having seen their Endowment Garments 
 and Robes I testify and say that to all appearnce of style they 
 are identical with those shown me by the said father John 
 Smith. 
 
 In the years 1843 and 4, Elder Amasa Lyman and father 
 John Smith again taught me the doctrine of spiritual wifery 
 or polygamy, and in the years 1845 and 6 Brigham Young and 
 Heber C. Kimball taught me the doctrine also, and this doctrine 
 was commonly talked, discussed and argued among the Saints 
 during these years, especially was this the practice among those 
 who were able to stand strong meat. 
 
 In May, 1844, was sent by the Prophet Joseph Smith, to 
 Ohio, and instructed by him and councilors to electioneer and 
 work for Joseph's election to the Presidency of the United 
 States, was thoroughly provided with papers and documents 
 showing the Prophet's views on Government, etc. Just before 
 getting on board the boat in Nauvoo, 111., was blessed by the 
 Prophet at the water's edge and promised great blessings on 
 my mission, and especially instructed to maintain his character 
 against all calumnies, which thing I was bound to do under 
 any and all circumstances and to sustain him, because of my 
 oath as a Danite. 
 
 I am now just turning seventy-eight years. And after fifty- 
 four years of experience in the Church as aforesaid, and seeing 
 now the errors and wrongs of the past committed in the name of 
 the Lord by the Prophet and his people, and while I still believe 
 that Joseph Smith was called of God, I feel it my duty to give 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 171 
 
 and make this statement that whoever reads these lines that they 
 may be benefited by them, and take heed and be wise, and 
 never follow any man, excepting those who follow Christ, ac- 
 cepting no man as an exemplar no, none but the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, for, I do not know as I testify, that men who are 
 recognized and noticed in the revelations of Joseph Smith in 
 the Doctrine and Covenants as men of God, were Danites and 
 practiced the obligations of their oaths at the selfsame time. 
 
 JUSTUS MORSE. 
 
 PLEASANTON, Iowa, March 23, 1887. 
 
 Witness: S. Beach. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me a Notary Public in and 
 for Decatur County, Iowa, this 24th day of March, 1887. 
 
 (Seal) ROYAL RICHARDSON, Notary Public. 
 
 STATE OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 County of Pike. S! 
 
 I, W. B. Taylor, Clerk of the Pike County Court for 
 the County and State aforesaid, certify that the foregoing is a 
 true and correct copy of an original affidavit produced to me 
 by Rev. R. B. Neal, of Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky, of 
 Justus Morse, an Elder and High Priest of The Reorganized 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Given under my 
 hand and seal of office this 22nd day of December, 1909. 
 (Seal) W. B. TAYLOR, Clerk Pike County Court. 
 
172 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mormon Denials Examined The Denials of Bennett's Charges 
 The Denials of Joseph and Hyrum Smith The Denials 
 of the Charges of Sidney Rigdon The Denial of John 
 Taylor The Purported Denials of Emma Smith. 
 
 Denials have at different times been made to the 
 charge that Joseph Smith and the Mormon people taught 
 and practiced polygamy. The most important of these 
 are the ones made by certain individuals at Nauvoo to 
 Bennett's charges in October, 1842; those of Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith in the Times and Seasons of 1844; those 
 of different individuals to the charges of Rigdon in 1844 
 and 1845 : that of John Taylor in a debate at Boulogne- 
 sur-mer, in France, in 1850; and the purported denials of 
 Emma Smith said to have been made in 1867 and 1879. 
 The Josephites grasp at these like a drowning man grasps 
 at a straw, contending that they prove that Joseph Smith 
 not only did not teach and practice, but openly condemned, 
 polygamy, and that this doctrine was not an original 
 tenet of the church. 
 
 But these denials are stated in such ambiguous lan- 
 guage that they leave the impression that they were in- 
 tended, simply, to silence the suspicions of the Gentiles, 
 while at the same time they did not necessarily deny the 
 practices of the Mormons. 
 
 It is my purpose, in this chapter, to examine these 
 denials to ascertain just how far they go to sustain the 
 Josephite position, and to uncover the corruption and 
 wickedness that they have been made so long to conceal 
 from the eyes of the casual and uncritical reader. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 173 
 
 THE DENIALS OF BENNETT'S CHARGES. 
 
 In the Times and Sea-sons of October i, 1842, Joseph 
 Smith replied to the charges of John C. Bennett. He 
 first quoted the following rule of marriage from the 
 "Doctrine and Covenants": 
 
 Marriage should be celebrated with prayer and thanksgiv- 
 ing; and at the solemnization, the persons to be married, stand- 
 ing together, the man on the right, and the woman on the left, 
 shall be addressed by the person officiating, as he shall be 
 directed by the Holy Spirit; and if there be no legal objections, 
 he shall say, calling each by their names: "You both mutually 
 agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife, observ- 
 ing the legal rights belonging to this condition; that is, keeping 
 yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others, during 
 your lives." And when they have answered "Yes," he shall 
 pronounce them "husband and wife" in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and by virtue of the laws of the country and 
 authority vested in him: "May God add His blessings and 
 keep you to fulfill your covenants from henceforth and forever. 
 Amen." 
 
 He then said : 
 
 We have given the above rule of marriage as the only one 
 practiced in the church, to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett's secret- 
 wife system is a matter of his own manufacture; and further, 
 to disabuse the public ear and to show that the said Bennett and 
 his misanthropic friend, Origen Bachelor, are perpetrating a 
 foul and infamous slander upon an innocent people, and need but 
 be known to be hated and despised. 
 
 With this denial of Joseph Smith, appeared two cer- 
 tificates from residents of Nauvoo, as follows : 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter Day Saints, and residents of the city of Nauvoo, 
 persons of families, do hereby certify and declare that we know 
 of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published 
 from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this 
 certificate to show that Dr. John C. Bennett's secret-wife system 
 
174 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 is a creature of his own make, as we know of no such society 
 in this place, nor never did. 
 
 S. BENNETT. N. K. WHITNEY. 
 
 GEORGE MILLER. ALBERT PERRY. 
 
 ALPHEUS CUTLER. ELIAS HIGBEE. 
 
 REYNOLDS CAHOON. JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 WILSON LAW. E. ROBINSON. 
 
 WILFORD WOODRUFF. AARON JOHNSON. 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of the Ladies' Relief So- 
 ciety, and married females, do certify and declare, that we know 
 of no system of marriage being practiced in the Church of 
 Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, save the one contained in the 
 Book of Doctrine and Covenants; and we give this certificate to 
 the public, to show that J. C. Bennett's secret-wife system is a 
 disclosure of his own make. 
 
 EMMA SMITH, President. 
 ELIZABETH ANN WHITNEY, Counselor. 
 SARAH M. CLEVELAND, Counselor. 
 ELIZA R. SNOW, Secretary. 
 
 MARY C. MILLER. CATHERINE PETTY. 
 
 Lois CUTLER. SARAH HIGBEE. 
 
 THYRSA CAHOON. PHEBE WOODRUFF. 
 
 ANN HUNTER. LEONORA TAYLOR. 
 
 JANE LAW. SARAH HILLMAN. 
 
 SOPHIA R. MARKS. ROSANNAH MARKS. 
 
 POLLY Z. JOHNSON. ANGELINE ROBINSON. 
 
 ABIGAIL WORKS. 
 
 The Josephites contend that these statements pos- 
 itively deny the existence of any plural- wife system in 
 the church at all, while the Brighamites declare that they 
 were aimed solely at the "secret-wife system" of John 
 C. Bennett, which, they tell us, was "as far removed 
 from the plural-marriage system set forth in the revela- 
 tion of 1843 as lechery is from virtue and foulness is 
 from purity." * On this point, the Deseret Nezjs of May 
 20, 1886, says: 
 
 1 Arena, November, 1902, p. 492. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 175 
 
 So with that spiritual-wife doctrine which lustful men at- 
 tempted to promulgate at that period. Joseph the prophet was 
 just as much opposed to that false doctrine as any one could be. 
 It was a counterfeit. The true and divine order is another thing. 
 The errors which those ladies who signed the affidavits declared 
 were not known to them as doctrines of the church, were not, 
 are not, and never will be part of the creed of the Church of 
 Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were conscientious 
 in their statements. 
 
 This explanation may do for a Mormon, but to an 
 outsider, after a careful study of their phraseology, these 
 statements are nothing more than ingenious subterfuges 
 made to make it appear that plural marriage was not 
 taught or practiced in the church in any form, while, in 
 reality, they deny only the existence of Bennett's system, 
 declaring it to be "a matter of his own manufacture" and 
 a "creature" and a "disclosure of his own make." 
 
 The passage quoted from the "Doctrine and Cove- 
 nants," which on the face of it is strongly monogamic in 
 sentiment, occurs in a rule of marriage, which, we are 
 informed, has never been a bar to polygamy, but which 
 was employed "in every polygamous marriage performed 
 in the endowment house in Salt Lake City during the 
 palmy days of Brigham Young, and, in fact, by every 
 other polygamous branch of the Mormon Church." ] It 
 was first published at a time when the Mormon people 
 were "reproached with the crime of fornication and po- 
 lygamy," and is found in the same section with that 
 ambiguous declaration : "We believe that one man should 
 have one wife; and one woman but one husband." At 
 this time, it was undoubtedly shoved out as a blind to 
 silence the suspicions of the world and hide the deviltries 
 practiced secretly under the professed sanction of Heaven 
 at Nauvoo. 
 
 "Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism," p. 327. 
 
176 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 As proof that these evasive statements do not estab- 
 lish that there was no system of plural marriage in 
 Nauvoo at the time in which they were made, I call the 
 attention of the reader to the fact that afterwards some 
 of the very ones who signed them admitted that at this 
 very time they knew of the existence of such a principle 
 and practice. Of the thirty-one who signed these certifi- 
 cates, at least sixteen have declared that Joseph Smith 
 did introduce polygamy into the Mormon Church, and 
 while some of them may have believed him innocent of 
 Bennett's charges on October i, 1842, others, according 
 to their confessions afterwards made, knew that he both 
 taught and practiced plural marriage. John Taylor, who 
 signed one of the certificates and who succeeded Young 
 as the head of the Brighamite Church, states that Smith 
 revealed the principle to himself and the rest of the 
 Twelve in 1841. Wilford Woodruff, who succeeded him, 
 said under oath, that he "undoubtedly knew of its being 
 taught to certain individuals at Nauvoo in 1841 and 1842." 
 Elizabeth A. Whitney made affidavit, as we have seen, 
 that she witnessed the marriage of her daughter Sarah 
 to the Prophet as his plural wife on the 27th of July, 
 1842, and that her husband, N. K. Whitney, who signed 
 the first certificate, performed the ceremony. And Eliza 
 R. Snow, who posed as a "Miss" at this time, but who 
 signed the certificate as a "married" female, afterwards 
 made oath that she had been united to the Prophet as a 
 plural wife on the 2Qth of June preceding. Of the rest, 
 Wilson and Jane Law became apostates in 1844 and 
 charged, among other things, that Smith was a polyga- 
 mist, while Ebenezer 1 and Angeline Robinson declare in 
 
 1 Robinson gives the following reason for signing the denial of October 
 i, 1842: "From what has been stated heretofore it is to be seen that great 
 effort was made to counteract the influence that was brought to bear 
 against the church through the disaffection of Dr. J. C. Bennett. In 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 177 
 
 their affidavits that Hyrum taught them the doctrine in 
 the fall of 1843. * n tne Kg nt of tnese facts, these cer- 
 tificates can not be accepted as proof that polygamy 
 was not practiced at Nauvoo in the year 1842. 
 
 THE DENIALS OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH. 
 
 In the Times and Seasons for February I, 1844, there 
 appeared a notice, and in the same paper, in March of 
 the same year, a letter, which are among the choicest 
 gems in the Josephite cabinet, they considering that they 
 are examples of the monogamic sentiments of Joseph 
 and Hyrum Smith. The notice is as follows : 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 As we have lately been credibly informed that an elder of 
 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by the name 
 of Hiram Brown, has been preaching polygamy, and other false 
 and corrupt doctrines, in the county of Lapeer, State of Mich- 
 igan: 
 
 This is to notify him and the church in general, that he has 
 been cut off from, the church for his iniquity; and he is further 
 notified to appear at the special conference, on the 6th of April 
 next, to make answer to these charges. JOSEPH SMITH, 
 
 HYRUM SMITH, 
 Presidents of said Church. 
 
 October, 1842, a statement was written out, and signed by a large number 
 of the brethren and sisters, including myself and wife, setting forth the 
 fact that we knew of no other form of marriage ceremony in the church 
 except the one published in the 'Book of Doctrine and Covenants,' which 
 statement was true at that time, as we had no knowledge of such a cere- 
 mony, or that 'spiritual wifery,' or 'polygamy,' was taught by the heads 
 of the church, as they had not up to that time taught it to us. We knew 
 it was talked of in secret, and had been for more than a year, as I have 
 heretofore stated, that Don Carlos Smith, in his lifetime, in June, 1841, 
 had said to me that 'any man who will teach and practice spiritual wifery 
 will go to hell, no matter if it is my brother Joseph.' These secret 
 rumors could not constitute a knowledge that certain persons taught such 
 things when they had not taught them to us. Dr. Bennett had published 
 the statement that Joseph Smith taught the doctrine of 'spiritual wifery' and 
 had instituted a certain marriage ceremony connected therewith, of which 
 we had no knowledge, and the certificate was given to counteract Bennett's 
 statement." Return, February, 1891. 
 
178 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 The letter mentioned, which was written by Hyrum 
 Smith, reads: 
 
 NAUVOO, March 15, 1844. 
 
 To the Brethren of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter 
 Day Saints, living on China Creek, in Hancock County, Greeting: 
 Whereas, Brother Richard Hewitt has called on me to-day, to 
 know my views concerning some doctrines that are preached in 
 your place, and states to me that some of your elders say that 
 a man having a certain priesthood may have as many wives as he 
 pleases, and that doctrine is taught here: I say unto you that 
 that man teaches false doctrine, for there is no such doctrine 
 taught here; neither is there any such thing practiced here. And 
 any man that is found teaching privately or publicly any such 
 doctrine, is culpable, and will stand a chance to be brought before 
 the High Council and lose his license and membership also: 
 Therefore, he had better bewaie what he is about. 
 
 And again I say unto you, an elder has no lusiness to under- 
 take to preach mysteries in any part of the world, for God has 
 commanded us all to preach nothing but the first principles unto 
 the world. Neither has any elder any authority to preach any 
 mysterious thing to any branch of the church, unless he has 
 a direct command from God to do so. Let the matter of the 
 grand councils of heaven, and the making of Gods, worlds and 
 devils entirely alone; for you are not called to teach any such 
 doctrine for neither you nor the people are capacitated to under- 
 stand any such principles less so to teach them. For when 
 God commands men to teach such principles the Saints will 
 receive them. Therefore, beware what you teach ! for the mys- 
 teries of God are not given to all men ; and unto those to whom 
 they are given they are placed under restrictions to impart only 
 such as God will command them; and the residue is to be kept 
 in a faithful breast, otherwise he will be brought under con- 
 demnation. By this God will prove his faithful servants who 
 will be called and numbered with the chosen. 
 
 And as to the celestial glory, all v/ill enter in and possess 
 that Kingdom that obey the gospel, and continue in faith in the 
 Lord unto the end of his days. Now, therefore, I say unto 
 you, you must cease preaching your miraculous things, and let 
 the mysteries alone until bye and bye. Preach faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ; repentance and baptism for the remission of sins; 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 179 
 
 the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost; teaching 
 the necessity of strict obedience unto these principles; reasoning 
 out of the Scriptures ; proving them unto the people. Cease your 
 schisms and divisions and your contentions. Humble yourselves 
 as in dust and ashes, lest God should make you an ensample of 
 his wrath unto the surrounding world. Amen. 
 In the bonds of the everlasting covenant, I am, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 HYRUM SMITH. 
 
 The question before us is : Are this notice and this 
 letter either real or tacit denials of a belief in and a 
 practice of polygamy, or are they only carefully worded 
 evasions made to quiet suspicion while at the same time 
 they do not deny this belief and practice? 
 
 That both Joseph and Hyrum, with other leading- 
 men of the church, were actually teaching and practic- 
 ing polygamy at this time, is proved by the sworn testi- 
 monies of Cowles, Soby, Fullmer, Grover, John W. Rig- 
 don, the Robinsons and others. But all this was done 
 behind the scenes to keep it from the eyes and ears 
 of the world, and when an injudicious elder, like Hiram 
 Brown, brought it out into the lime-light he was imme- 
 diately brought to time and neatly worded statements 
 were issued to silence suspicion. 
 
 Hiram Brown's "iniquity" consisted, not in believing 
 in or practicing, but in "preaching polygamy.'' This was 
 decidedly premature and was directly contrary to the 
 will of the Prophet, who held "the keys of this priest- 
 hood" and who guarded with a jealous care this "holy" 
 institution that it might not come to the knowledge of 
 vulgar and profane Gentiles. Brown was the wrong 
 man to preach it, and then, again, Lapeer County, Mich- 
 igan, was the wrong place. This heavenly doctrine was 
 to be taught wholly within the sacred precincts of Nau- 
 voo, and then not to unappreciative Gentiles, but to 
 
180 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Latter-day Saints who were "willing to take up their 
 cross" and "live their religion." So, with the wrong 
 man preaching it, in the wrong place and to the wrong 
 crowd, there is no wonder that Brown was cut off from 
 the church first and cited to appear for trial afterwards. 
 But it seems that he was not the first to be called to 
 account for this offense. Four months before, on Octo- 
 ber 5, 1843, the Prophet made the following entry in his 
 "Diary": 
 
 Gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, 
 teaching or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives; for, 
 according to the law, I hold the keys of this power in the last 
 days; for there is never but one on earth at a time on whom 
 the power and its keys are conferred; and I have constantly 
 said no man shall have but one wife at a time unless the Lord 
 directs otherwise. 
 
 The Prophet wanted the same monopoly in the plural- 
 marriage business that he tried to have in Nauvoo real 
 estate. 
 
 The letter of Hyrum Smith, like the notice which we 
 have been considering, is a mere evasion. It does not 
 deny either the teaching or the practice of polygamy, 
 but that "a man having a certain priesthood may have as 
 many wives as he pleases." This doctrine was certainly 
 not taught at Nauvoo, as it was never taught at Salt 
 Lake City. Polygamy was never restricted to "a certain 
 priesthood," while, in the entry in his "Diary" just cited, 
 Joseph says: "No man shall have but one wife at a 
 time unless the Lord directs otherwise." So, while the 
 doctrine, that "a man having a certain priesthood may 
 have as many wives as he pleases," was not taught in 
 Nauvoo, polygamy, at the same time, did flourish as a 
 green bay-tree. 
 
 The caution that follows the foregoing denial is also 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 181 
 
 of interest, as it shows that there were "mysteries" which 
 were not intended for all men, but only for the Saints, 
 and that they were not to be taught unless God so com- 
 manded, until which time they were to be "kept in a 
 faithful breast." Martha Brotherton, the Nauvoo Ex- 
 positor, the Robinsons and others tell us that the greatest 
 precautions were taken in order to keep the spiritual- 
 wife doctrine from the world. It was one of those "mys- 
 teries" which were not for all men, nor yet for all 
 Latter-day Saints, but only for the select few of the 
 inner circle. The caution of Hyrum was a gentle re- 
 minder to Hewitt and others that they were to keep mum 
 on such "mysteries" and to preach only "first principles." 
 On this point the Deseret News, of May 20, 1886, says : 
 
 Until the open enunciation of the doctrine of celestial mar- 
 riage by the publication of the revelation on the subject in 1852, 
 no elder was authorized to announce it to the world. The 
 Almighty has revealed things on many occasions which were 
 for His servants and not for the world. Jesus enjoined His 
 disciples on several occasions to keep to themselves principles that 
 he made known to them. And this injunction, "Cast not your 
 pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet 
 and turn again and rend you," has become as familiar as a 
 common proverb. In the rise of the church the Lord had 
 occasion to admonish His servants in regard to revelations that 
 were afterwards permitted to be published : 
 
 "I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to 
 make all things known unto the world concerning this matter." 
 
 "And now I say unto you, keep these things from going 
 abroad into the world until it is expedient in me." 
 
 "But a commandment I give unto them that they shall not 
 boast themselves of these things, neither speak of them before the 
 world, for these things are given unto you for your profit 
 and your salvation" (Doc. & Cov.). 
 
 Under these instructions elders had no right to promulgate 
 anything but that which they were authorized, to teach. And 
 when assailed by enemies and accused of practicing things which 
 
182 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 were really not countenanced in the church, they were justified in 
 denying those imputations and at the same time avoiding the 
 avowal of such doctrines as were not yet intended for the world. 
 This course which they have taken when necessary, by com- 
 mandment, is all the ground which their accusers have for 
 charging them with falsehood. 
 
 THE DENIALS OF RIGDON^S CHARGES. 
 
 After Sidney Rigdon had been expelled from the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he charged 
 that people with "abrogating the marriage contract, and 
 substituting, under the professed sanction of Heaven, 
 a system of extreme licentiousness." Coming as this did 
 from a man who had been with Smith nearly from the 
 beginning of his movement up to the hour of his death, 
 it increased the widespread ill-feeling that was held 
 against the church and demanded the immediate attention 
 of the leaders at Nauvoo. 
 
 These replied by accusing Rigdon of having been a 
 friend of J. C. Bennett and of agitating the spiritual- 
 wife doctrine introduced by him, at the same time deny- 
 ing the charges made against them and affirming their 
 own innocence. Elder E. M. Webb wrote as follows for 
 the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette: 
 
 The Latter Day Saints are charged by their enemies with 
 the blackest crimes. Treason, murder, theft, polygamy and 
 adultery, are among the many crimes laid to their charge. 
 . . . Mr. Rigdon's spiritual-wife system was never known until 
 it was hatched by J. C. Bennett, who was cut off from the 
 church for seduction. As to the charge of polygamy, I will 
 quote from the "Doctrine and Covenants," which is the sub- 
 scribed faith of the church and is strictly enforced. 
 
 And Parley P. Pratt, in an article entitled "Fragments 
 of an Address," published in the Millennial Star under 
 date of July I, 1845, says: 
 
 Again, beware of seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 183- 
 
 as first introduced by John C. Bennett, under the name of 
 "Spiritual Wife" doctrine; and still agitated by the Pittsburg 
 Seer, and his followers under the same title. It is but another 
 name for whoredom, wicked and unlawful connection, and every 
 kind of confusion, corruption and abomination. . . . "The Spirit- 
 ual Wife Doctrine" of J. C. Bennett, and numerous other apos- 
 tates, is as foreign to the real principles of the church as the 
 devil is from God, or as sectarianism is from Christianity. 
 
 That Sidney Rigdon did advocate a spiritual-wife 
 system of his own will not be denied, but as both Joseph- 
 ites and Brighamites now admit 1 that at this very time 
 the Twelve and their followers were secretly teaching 
 and practicing a similar principle, their denials may be 
 looked upon as pure falsifications made with the purpose 
 to deceive. 
 
 THE DENIAL OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 During the course of a public discussion held in 
 Boulogne-sur-mer, France, between Elder John Taylor 
 
 1 The Josephites are often rather vague and uncertain in fixing the 
 responsibility for polygamy and the time when it was introduced into the 
 church. Sometimes they charge its introduction to Brigham Young and the 
 year 1852 (R. C. Evans, in "Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural 
 Marriage," p. 38) ; at others, to John C. Bennett and 1842 (A. H. Smith, 
 in "Polygamy: Was It an Original Tenet of the Church?" p. 6); and, at 
 others, to Udney Jacobs and 1842-43 (Charles W. Wandell, in Saints' 
 Advocate, Vol. III., p. 19). These conflicting theories are so noticeable 
 that even Josephites have remarked upon them. Elder C. L. Snow, in 
 the Saints' Herald for March 24, 1909, says: "Some of our people will 
 claim that polygamy was never taught in the church till after the death 
 of Joseph Smith, and that it was first taught and practiced ia Utah about 
 1852, and they will cite Utah Mormons to prove it was never taught and 
 practiced till they went to Utah. Then, probably in their same article, 
 they will prove it was taught and even practiced at Nauvoo, Illinois, 
 before the death of Joseph Smith, and that Joseph Smith claimed it 
 would be the overthrow of the church if it was not put down; and that 
 Joseph and Hyrum had men cut off from the church for teaching it and 
 practicing it. So I have read so much of such contradiction that I have 
 often thought such brethren did not have the Spirit that was to guide 
 them into truth." At the present, however, most Josephites concede that 
 polygamy was taught and practiced by some at Nauvoo before Smith's 
 death. The Brighamites, at first, and as late as 1852, strenuously denied 
 the doctrine and the practice, but since that date they have admitted its 
 existence as early as 1841. 
 
184 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 and the Reverends C. W. Cleeve, James Robertson and 
 Philip Cater, in July, 1850, Taylor said : 
 
 We are here accused of polygamy, and actions the most 
 indelicate, obscene and disgusting, such that none but a cor- 
 rupt and depraved heart could have contrived. These things are 
 too outrageous to admit of belief; therefore leaving the sisters 
 of the "White Veil," the "Black Veil/' and all the other veils, 
 with those gentlemen to dis^ s of, together with their authors, 
 as they think best, I shall content myself by reading our views 
 of chastity and marriage, from a work published by us, contain- 
 ing some of the articles of our faith. Doctrine and Covenants, 
 P- 330. 
 
 We would have more respect for this gentleman and 
 more confidence in his word were it not known that 
 at this very time he was living with ten wives. Their 
 names are: Leonora Cannon, his legal wife, Elizabeth 
 Kaighn, Mary Ramsbottom, Miss Ballintyne, Annie 
 Ballintyne, Miss Oakley, Harriet Whitaker, Sophia Whit- 
 aker, and two others whose names are unknown. 
 
 The Brighamites try to excuse this lying by the fol- 
 lowing explanation: 
 
 The polygamy and gross sensuality charged by Bennett and 
 repeated by those ministers in France, had no resemblance to 
 celestial or patriarchal marriage which Elder Taylor knew ex- 
 isted at Nauvoo, and which he had obeyed. Hence in denying 
 the false charges of Bennett, he did not deny the existence 
 of that system of marriage that God had revealed; no more 
 than a man would be guilty of denying the legal, genuine cur- 
 rency of the country by denying the genuineness and denouncing 
 what he knew to be a mere counterfeit of it. Life of John 
 Taylor, p. 223. 
 
 But let the reader notice that it is not the spiritual- 
 wife system of Bennett, particularly, that Taylor denies, 
 but polygamy in general. He says: "We are here ac- 
 cused of polygamy, and actions the most indelicate, ob- 
 scene and disgusting." It would look a great deal better 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 185 
 
 to-day if the representatives of the Mormon Church had 
 made the same explanation of the difference between the 
 spiritual-wife system of Bennett and the plural-marriage 
 system of Smith that they now make, instead of condemn- 
 ing the first in unqualified terms and deceiving the people 
 by their silence on the second. It is this little game 
 of artfully concealing the facts that Mormonism has 
 played with the public from its inception down to the 
 present that has given it the poor reputation for veracity 
 that it now possesses. 
 
 THE DENIALS OF EMMA SMITH. 
 
 Emma Smith, the wife of the Mormon Prophet, is 
 said to have made two statements relative to polygamy, 
 in both of which she denied that there had ever been a 
 revelation upon the subject, stating further in one of 
 them that her husband had never had, to her knowledge, 
 more wives than herself. The first of these statements, 
 which is said to have been made to Elder J. W. Briggs 
 in the form of answers to certain questions asked by 
 him in an interview in April, 1867, is as follows : 
 
 J. W. Briggs. Mrs. Bidamon [she at that time was the wife 
 of Major Lewis C. Bidamon], have you seen the revelation on 
 polygamy, published by Orson Pratt, in the Seer, in 1852? 
 
 Mrs. B. I have. 
 
 J. W. B. Have you read it? 
 
 Mrs. B. I have read it, and heard it read. 
 
 J. W. B, Did you ever see that document in manuscript 
 previous to its publication by Pratt? 
 
 Mrs. B. I never did. 
 
 J. W. B. Did you ever see any document of that kind pur- 
 porting to be a revelation, to authorize polygamy? 
 
 Mrs. B. No; I never did. 
 
 J. W. B. Did Joseph Smith ever teach you the principles 
 of polygamy, as being revealed to him, or as a correct and right- 
 eous principle? 
 
 Mrs. B. He never did. 
 (13) 
 
186 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 J. W. B. What about that statement of Brigham Young, 
 that you burnt the original manuscript of that revelation? 
 
 Mrs. B. It is false in all its parts, made out of whole cloth; 
 without any foundation in truth. 
 
 A short time prior to her death, in 1879, Mrs. Bida- 
 mon is said to have made the following answers to ques- 
 tions propounded to her by her son, Joseph Smith, present 
 head of the Reorganized Church : 
 
 Q. What about the revelation on polygamy? Did Joseph 
 Smith have anything like it? What of spiritual wifery? 
 
 A. There was no revelation on either polygamy, or spiritual 
 wives. There were some rumors of something of the sort, of 
 which I asked my husband. He assured me that all there was to 
 it was, that, in a chat about plural wives, he had said, "Well, 
 such a system might possibly be, if everybody was agreed to it, 
 and would behave as they should; but they would not; and, 
 besides, it was contrary to the will of heaven." 
 
 No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, 
 publicly or privately, before my husband's death, that I have now, 
 or ever had, any knowledge of. 
 
 Q. Did he not have other wives than yourself? 
 
 A. He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowl- 
 edge ever have. 
 
 Q. Did he not hold marital relation with women other than 
 yourself? 
 
 A. He did not have improper relations with any woman 
 that ever came to rny knowledge. 
 
 Q. Was there nothing about spiritual wives that you rec- 
 ollect? 
 
 A. At one time my husband came to me and asked me if 
 I had heard certain rumors about spiritual marriages, or any- 
 thing of the kind; and assured me that if I had, that they were 
 without foundation ; that there was no such doctrine, and never 
 should be with his knowledge, or consent. I know that he had 
 no other wife or wives than myself, in any sense, either spiritual 
 or otherwise. 
 
 The Josephites consider the answers said to have 
 been given by Mrs. Bidamon during these interviews as 
 
-# 
 
 MORMON POLYGAMY 187 
 
 conclusive proof that Joseph Smith had no connection 
 with the "Revelation on Celestial Marriage," and that he 
 did not either teach or practice polygamy. But, to me, 
 their value as evidence has been greatly overestimated 
 for the following reasons: First, their genuineness has 
 never been authenticated; secondly, there were strong 
 temptations at the time in which they were given for 
 falsification ; thirdly, they do not deny that Smith either 
 taught or practiced polygamy, but that he taught and 
 practiced this doctrine within the knowledge of his wife ; 
 and, fourthly, they admit that plural marriage had come 
 to be a subject of conversation at Nauvoo and that 
 Joseph Smith was not strongly opposed to the principle, 
 if at all, only to its abuse, for he said: "Such a system 
 might possibly be, if everybody was agreed to it, and 
 would behave as they should." 
 
 While the answers in the foregoing interviews are 
 said to be the exact language of Mrs. Bidamon, we have 
 to depend for their genuineness and accuracy entirely 
 upon the word of Elder J. W. Briggs and her son, 
 Joseph Smith, as this lady, although there was ample 
 opportunity and an occasion for it, never left a sworn 
 statement upon the subject. What is still further sus- 
 picious is, the second, and most important, of these in- 
 terviews was never published until this lady was dead 
 and in her grave, and then it was put out as the "LAST 
 TESTIMONY OF SISTER EMMA." That Briggs and Smith 
 would wish to make matters look as favorable for the 
 Prophet as possible is proved by the denominational af- 
 filiation. 
 
 If Mrs. Bidamon answered the questions propounded 
 to her as given, she stands alone, among those who 
 were in a position to know the facts, in regard to the 
 origin of Mormon polygamy, opposed by the Rigdons, 
 
188 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 La\vs and Robinsons, Cowles, Soby and scores of others, 
 all of whom testify that her husband was connected with 
 this doctrine and that he did have a revelation on the 
 subject. As the case stands, we must conclude that she 
 falsified if she made the answers attributed to her. That 
 there were strong temptations for her to do so, will 
 appear when we consider that the transactions at Nauvoo 
 had put a stigma upon the family name and that her 
 son had become head of the monogamic Mormon Church. 
 She may have felt that it would both remove the stigma 
 and advance his cause if the world could be made to 
 believe that the Mormon Prophet was not the libertine he 
 was declared to be after all. 
 
 That her son long had a strong suspicion that his 
 mother might know more about polygamy than he cared 
 to know is proved by his own admission that he had 
 "never questioned her upon the subject until near the 
 close of her life." As her death occurred thirty-five 
 years after his father was shot and nineteen years after 
 he became head of the Reorganized Church, this is cer- 
 tainly remarkable when we consider that all this time 
 his father was openly charged by Brighamites, apostates 
 and Gentiles alike with being a polygamist, and he him- 
 self was twitted with the charge and was repeatedly 
 asked: "Why don't you ask your mother; she dare not 
 deny these things ; you do not dare to ask your mother." 
 The fact of his cowardice and his mother's almost total 
 silence raises a very strong suspicion that he thought 
 that there had been something wrong in his father's con- 
 duct after all, which it was unpleasant to talk about. 
 
 Mrs. Bidamon has certainly erred in saying that 
 "there was no revelation on either polygamy or spiritual 
 wives." Her purported denial can not be made to set 
 aside the sworn testimony to the contrary of the Laws 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 189 
 
 and Cowles, published twenty days before the Prophet's 
 death and corroborated afterwards by the affidavits of 
 Fullmer, Grover, Soby and the Robinsons. These wit- 
 nesses testify under oath that there was such a revelation, 
 some of them affirming that it was read before the 
 High Council. To ask the Gentile public to accept the 
 purported statements of Mrs. Bidamon, when they are 
 not in her own handwriting, not even signed with her 
 own name, and one of them not given to the public until 
 after her death, in preference to these affidavits, which 
 even the Josephites are forced to admit were made as 
 claimed, is asking altogether too much. 
 
 But, even, if the interviews are correctly reported 
 and Mrs. Smith, so far as her knowledge went, has told 
 the truth, her testimony does not prove that her husband 
 did not claim to receive the "Revelation on Celestial 
 Marriage" or that he was not a polygamist. In her inter- 
 view with Mr. Briggs, she is reported as denying, simply, 
 that her husband ever taught her the "principles of polyg- 
 amy," while in the interview with her son she is repre- 
 sented as saying "no such thing as polygamy or spiritual 
 wifery was taught publicly or privately, before my hus- 
 band's death, that / have now, or ever had, any knowl- 
 edge of," "he had no other wife but me ; nor did he to my 
 knowledge ever have," and "he did not have improper 
 relations with any woman that ever came to my knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 Joseph, then, may have had a dozen wives, but if a 
 knowledge of this was kept from Emma she could have 
 conscientiously given the answers that are attributed to 
 her. 
 
 But Mrs. Bidamon's assertion, that Smith never had 
 any other wife but herself, as far as her knowledge went, 
 is denied by some of those who were most intimately 
 
190 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 acquainted with her. Lovina (Smith) Walker, daugh- 
 ter of Hyrum, affirms : 
 
 I, Lovina Walker, hereby certify that while I was living 
 with Aunt Emma Smith, in Fulton City, Fulton Co., Illinois, 
 in the year 1846, that she told me that she, Emma Smith, was 
 present, and witnessed the marrying or sealing of Eliza Part- 
 ridge, Emily Partridge, Maria Lawrence, and Sarah Lawrence 
 to her husband Joseph Smith, and that she gave her consent 
 thereto. LOVINA WALKER. 
 
 We hereby witness that Lovina Walker made and signed 
 the above statement on this i6th day of June, 1869, at Salt 
 Lake City, S. L. County, Utah Territory, of her own free will 
 and accord. HYRUM S. WALKER. 
 
 SARAH E. SMITH. 
 JOSEPH F. SMITH. 
 
 Here is a statement, signed by the one who made it 
 and properly witnessed, which contradicts the purported 
 statement of Mrs. Bidamon that, to her knowledge, 
 Joseph Smith did not have more wives than herself. 
 This is corroborated by the sworn testimony of Mrs. 
 Lucy Walker Smith Kimball : 
 
 I was a plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was 
 married for time and eternity in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, on 
 the first day of May, 1843, by Elder William Clayton. The 
 Prophet was then living with his first wife, Emma Smith, 
 and I know that she gave her consent to the marriage of at 
 least four women tc her husband as plural wives, and she was 
 well aware that he associated and cohabited with them as wives. 
 The names of these women are Eliza and Emily Partridge, and 
 Maria and Sarah Lawrence. 
 
 That Emma knew of plural wives being sealed to 
 her husband is further corroborated by the testimony of 
 Emily D. P. Young. Of her own marriage to Joseph, 
 she says : 
 
 This was done without the knowledge of Emma Smith. 
 1'wo months afterwards she (Emma) consented tp give her 
 husband two wives provided he would give her the privilege of 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 191 
 
 choosing them. She accordingly chose my sister Eliza and 
 myself, and to save family trouble Bro. Joseph thought it best 
 to have another ceremony performed; accordingly on the nth 
 of May, 1843, we were sealed to Joseph Smith a second time in 
 Emma's presence, she giving her free and full consent thereto. 
 Crooked Paths, p. 5.* 
 
 In his affidavit, before given, William Law says of 
 Emma's knowledge of Joseph's polygamous practices : 
 
 Mrs. Smith complained to me about Joseph keeping his 
 young wives in her house and elsewhere, and his neglect of her. 
 She spoke freely about the -evelation and its threat against her 
 life and she seemed to have no faith in it whatever. From 
 what she said to me and from what I learned from other 
 sources I have good reason to believe that Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith and others in the Church had been practicing polygamy 
 for a long time before the revelation came forth, although it was 
 vehemently denied from the public stand, and those who spoke 
 of its existence were denounced as slanderers of the Church. 
 
 Reader, does this not make "THE LAST TESTIMONY OF 
 SISTER EMMA" look slightly suspicious? 
 
 But, whether we consider the purported interviews 
 with Mrs. Bidamon as stating the truth or not, we can 
 not escape from the fact that the latter of these leaves an 
 unfavorable impression for Joseph in the mind of the 
 reader. It is admitted that there were "rumors" of 
 polygamy. But how Mrs. Smith only heard "rumors" 
 when she lived at Nauvoo through the trying scenes of 
 1842-1844, when the leading men of the church were 
 turning against her husband and denouncing him for 
 alleged immorality, is not explained. She declares, how- 
 ever, that Joseph assured her that there was no basis to 
 these "rumors," and that they started from a "chat about 
 plural wives," in which he had said : "Well, such a system 
 might possibly be, if everybody was agreed to it and 
 
 1 "Joseph Smith: Who Was He?" p. 79. 
 
192 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 would behave as they should; but they would not; and, 
 besides, it was contrary to the will of heaven." Reader, 
 do you think that a man who was an out-and-out op- 
 ponent of polygamy, as the Josephites try to make Smith 
 out to have been, would say : "Well, such a system might 
 possibly be, if everybody was agreed to it and would 
 behave as they should"? Do these very words not make 
 it appear that he was not so much opposed to the prin- 
 ciple of polygamy after all, only to the abuse of that 
 principle? No matter what the Josephites may say, or 
 how they may try to explain away their force, these 
 words will strike the ordinary reader as being the glim- 
 merings of plural wifery through the thin gauze of Mrs. 
 Bidamon's purported statement 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 19S 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Factions and Polygamy The Legal Battle over Polygamy 
 Theoretical Polygamy Practical Polygamy. 
 
 Following the assassination of Joseph Smith, the 
 Mormon people divided into a number of independent 
 and warring factions, each claiming to be the divinely 
 authorized successor of the original church. Besides 
 the main body under Brigham Young, and the larger 
 following of Rigdon, Strang and Briggs, there were 
 the smaller factions of Wight, Smith, Thompson, Brew- 
 ster, Bickerton, Cowles, Cutler, Whitmer, Bishop, Mor- 
 ris, Emmett, Hinkle and Hedrick. But all of these fac- 
 tions were short-lived and soon went to pieces, with the 
 exception of those following Young, Briggs and Hedrick, 
 which are with us to-day. 
 
 Of the original twelve Apostles, nine went to Utah, 
 viz. : Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, 
 Parley Pratt, Orson Hyde, John Taylor, Wilford Wood- 
 ruff, Willard Richards and George A. Smith. Of the 
 remaining three, Lyman Wight broke off from the main 
 body in 1844 or ^4S an d organized a party of his 
 own; John E. Page threw in his fortunes, first with 
 Strang, and afterwards with Hedrick ; and William Smith 
 first affiliated with the Brighamites, then with the Strang- 
 ites, then headed a faction of his own, and, lastly, in 
 1878, united with the Reorganization. 
 
 There is one significant fact which it is difficult for 
 the Josephites, satisfactorily, to explain : Every member 
 of the original Quorum of Twelve Apostles, and at least 
 six of the factions, are known to have advocated the doc- 
 
194 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 trine and practice of polygamy. 1 That those Apostles 
 who followed Young advocated this doctrine, is well 
 known. It is also conceded that Lyman Wight both 
 taught and practiced it. That William Smith held it, is 
 proved by his advocacy of it as late as 1851. And, as 
 for John E. Page, his legal wife, Mrs. Mary Eaton, of 
 Independence, Missouri, told Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and 
 others, in 1904, that she gave him plural wives. 2 On the 
 practice of polygamy among the factions, President Jo- 
 seph Smith, of the Reorganized Church, in a letter to 
 Mr. Joseph Davis, of Wales, and dated at Lamoni, Iowa, 
 October 13, 1899, says: 
 
 Nearly all the factions into which the church broke had 
 plural marriage in some form. None in the form instituted by 
 President Young. Sidney Rigdon had one form practiced by but 
 a few, and that spasmodically, as an outburst of religious fervor 
 rather than as a settled practice. William Smith had a sort of 
 Priestess Lodge, in which it was alleged there was a manifesta- 
 tion of licentiousness. This he denied, and I never had actual 
 proof of it. Gladden Bishop taught something like it, but I be- 
 lieve he was himself the only practicer. James J. Strang had a 
 system something like Mahomet, four, I think, being allowed 
 the king. Lyman Wight had a system, but it had no very ex- 
 tended range. President Young's system you may know of. 
 
 On the polygamous practices of various factions, "A 
 Word of Consolation to the Scattered Saints," the first 
 
 1 The following are the wives of Brigham Young, married before 
 the death of Joseph Smith, with the dates of their marriage and decease: 
 
 NAME. MARRIAGE. DEATH. 
 
 Miriam Works. October 8, 1824. September 8, 1832. 
 
 Mary Ann Angell. February 18, 1834. June 27, 1882. 
 
 Lucy Decker. June 15, 1842. January 29, 1890. 
 
 Harriett E. C. Campbell. November 2, 1843. 
 
 Augusta Adams. November 2, 1843. 1886. 
 
 Clara Decker. May 8, 1844. January 5, 1885. 
 
 In all, Brigham Young had twenty-five wives and fifty-six children. 
 Some of his wives were sealed to him by Joseph Smith himself. 
 
 8 "Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage," p. 59. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 195 
 
 document ever issued by the Reorganized Church, says: 
 
 We cannot forego this opportunity to raise our voice against 
 an evil which has well nigh completed the overthrow of the 
 Church: which Sampson like hath lain hold upon the very pil- 
 lars of society. And instead of order, it has produced anarchy, 
 instead of union, division; in short, instead of confidence and 
 love, distrust and hatred. We refer to the system of spiritual 
 wif ery, taught by Brigham Young, to the "plurality" doctrines of 
 James J. Strang, and the fouler system (of whoredom) taught 
 by William Smith, and his joint occupant, called "Spokesman." 
 These systems though unlike each other are all known as a system 
 of polygamy: under which they themselves take shelter: hence 
 we will not treat them under their proper names, but under 
 the less offensive or semi-legal one, viz. : polygamy. 
 
 Mr. J. H. Beadle gives the following account of the 
 system of spiritual wif ery as advocated and practiced by 
 Sidney Rigdon and his faction : 
 
 Shortly after the settlement of Nauvoo also, Sidney Rigdon 
 had advanced his "spiritual-wife" doctrine, which regular Mor- 
 mons now denounce as the great mystery of abominations, "sent 
 by the devil to bring dishonor upon the true order of celestial 
 marriage." Rigdon's theory of "spiritual wifery," as reported by 
 old Mormons, was as follows: 
 
 In the pre-existent state souls are mated, male and female, 
 as it is divinely intended they shall fill the marriage relation in 
 this life; or, in more poetic phrase, "marriages were made in 
 heaven." But in the general jumble of contradictions and cross- 
 purposes attending man in this state, many mistakes have been 
 made in this matter; A. has got the woman first intended for 
 B., the latter has got C.'s true mate, and thus on, utterly de- 
 feating the counsel of the gods in the pre-marriage of the 
 spirits. But the time had come for all this to be set right, and 
 though they might not put aside their present wives, which would 
 throw society somewhat out of gear, yet Smith might in addition, 
 exercise the privileges of husband toward Brown's wife and 
 vice versa. This seems to have been merely the Mormon version 
 of modern "free-loveism," and from recent evidence it is quite 
 probable it also was practiced to some extent in Nauvoo, thus 
 making polygamy equally free to men and women; but it is 
 
196 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 quite different, in theory at least, from the present "spiritual 
 wifeism" of the Mormons, as will presently appear. Mysteries 
 and Crimes of Mormonism, p. 340. 
 
 The connection of Lyman Wight and his faction with 
 polygamy is brought out in the following interview be- 
 tween Elder Brigham H. Roberts and Mr. Gideon Carter, 
 who was formerly a member of Wight's faction. The 
 statements herein given were sworn to by Mr. Carter 
 before J. C. Christy, a notary public in and for San 
 Bernardino County, California, on the 27th of February t 
 1874: 
 
 Question by B. H. Roberts: Did Lyman Wight teach and 
 practice plural marriage? 
 
 Answer: He did. I remember that while he and his company 
 were stopping at Prairie La Crosse in the fall and winter of 
 1844-45 Lyman Wight's son, Orange L. Wight, who was the 
 husband of my sister Matilda, married a plural wife, a young 
 lady to whom he had been engaged before marrying my 
 sister, but with whom he had broken through some misunder- 
 standing. I understand that Lyman Wight performed the cere- 
 mony. En route from Texas one Joel Miles married a plural 
 wife; and Lyman Wight himself, before we arrived in Texas, 
 also married a plurd wife; and I remember distinctly that 
 while living in Texas he had three wives, and I think he had 
 four. 
 
 Question by B. H. Roberts: Mr. Carter, did Lyman Wight 
 say that Joseph Smith taught plural marriage, and did he prac- 
 tice it by virtue of the prophet Joseph Smith having intro- 
 duced it? 
 
 Answer: He did. He said that he saw and heard read the 
 revelation establishing plural marriage before Joseph Smith's 
 death. I have heard Lyman Wight relate many times how 
 Joseph Smith announced the revelation to his brother Hyrum. 
 Hyrum did not at first receive it with favor. His whole nature 
 revolted against it. He said to Joseph that if he attempted to 
 introduce the practice of that doctrine as a tenet of the Church 
 it would break up the Church and cost him his life. "Well," 
 Joseph replied, "it is a commandment from God, Brother Hyrum, 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 197 
 
 and if you don't believe it, if you will ask the Lord He will 
 make it known to you." The matter caused Hyrum much 
 distress and anguish of heart, he well-nigh sweat blood over it, 
 so repugnant was it to his feelings, and such his dread of seeing 
 it introduced into the Church ; but he inquired of God, according 
 to Wight's statement, and he received from the Lord the same 
 revelation that Joseph had that it was a true doctrine, and a 
 commandment from God. 
 
 That revelation was made known to some of the Twelve 
 before Joseph Smith's death; and after it was read in one of the 
 council meetings with some of the Twelve. Joseph bore testi- 
 mony that it was of God, and that it was a principle wherein 
 there was wisdom, truth and virtue, and capable of bringing 
 great good to the world; but owing to the sinfulness of men, 
 and their weakness, it would damn more men than it would save. 
 This is the explanation that Lyman Wight gave for the existence 
 of polygamy in that branch of the church over which he held 
 jurisdiction; the explanation given to the younger members 
 of his following who found no warrant for the practice in the 
 Book of Mormon or in the Doctrine and Covenants. 
 
 Lyman Wight also said that Joseph Smith had given him 
 authority to perform these plural marriage ceremonies in con- 
 nection with other ceremonies in the church. Mr. Wight, to 
 meet the inquiries of some of his followers, in a pamphlet that 
 was gotten out published what purported to be a copy of the reve- 
 lation received by Joseph Smith, but in connection with it there 
 were many ' rules to be observed by those entering into those 
 plural marriage relations which I do not find in the revelation 
 published by the Mormons in Utah. There were things in that 
 revelation that caused some dissatisfaction, and the pamphlets 
 were withdrawn from circulation and soon afterwards the 
 practice of plural marriage in what may be called his branch 
 of the Church was discontinued. Mr. Wight gave as a reason 
 for this step the prejudice of the world against it; and said 
 the people were not pure enough to live up to that order of 
 marriage. After this there were no more plural marriages among 
 his followers, though those who had already entered into that 
 order maintained the wives they had taken. 
 
 Question by B. H. Roberts: Did Orange L. Wight marry 
 your sister Rizilla as his third wife? 
 
198 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 Answer: He did, in Galispia County, Texas, in 1849. 
 
 Question by B. H. Roberts: What relation do you sustain 
 to the Mormon Church in Utah, Mr. Carter? 
 
 Answer: No relation whatever. I am not a member of that 
 Church. 1 
 
 The connection of William Smith and his faction 
 with polygamy has been conclusively proved. Three 
 of his wives, Priscilla, Sarah and Hannah, went to Utah 
 with the Brighamites, and one of them was still living a 
 few years ago. 2 We also have evidence to show that 
 he advocated the doctrine from the stand at Nauvoo 
 shortly after his brother's death and that he introduced 
 it into his own faction as a tenet of faith at a conference 
 held at Palestine, Lee County, Illinois, in October, 185 1. 3 
 It was the latter that caused Jason W. Briggs to leave 
 his faction. 
 
 That he publicly taught polygamy, soon after the 
 death of Joseph, is proved by the testimony of Cyrus H. 
 Wheelock given during the course of the Temple-lot Suit. 
 
 I never heard Joseph Smith teach the practice of polygamy 
 from the stand; never heard any elder of the church preach 
 it publicly from the stand in Nauvoo, until after the death of 
 Joseph Smith. After Joseph Smith was dead I heard polygamy 
 preached from the pulpit publicly in Nauvoo, by William Smith. 
 
 1 "Succession in the Presidency of the Church," pp. 122-125. 
 
 a "Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage," p. 58. In 
 the celebrated Temple-lot Suit, Mary Ann West testified: "I was married 
 to William Smith by Brigham Young; there was nobody but William Smith 
 and myself present at the time of the marriage. I witnessed one other 
 plural marriage to William Smith; her name was Mary Jones. Brigham 
 Young performed that ceremony; nobody was present that I remember of." 
 Abstract, pp. 379, 380. Again: "He married me first, then married 
 Mary Jones, and then a young girl by the name of Priscilla Morgridge. 
 I did not consent to either one of the marriages." Ibid, p. 382. 
 
 8 J. W. Briggs says of the introduction of polygamy at this confer- 
 ence: "October 6th of that year (1851) they threw off the mask, in a 
 council called at Priests' Lodge, and confessed to the belief in and 
 practice of polygamy in the name of the Lord." Veil Lifted, p. 9. 
 
JAMES J. STRANG. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 199 
 
 He stated a great many things; undertook to prove that polyg- 
 amy was right, and that that order of marriage would be 
 restored, and he preached so many strange things there to the 
 people that Elder John Taylor got up and corrected him. . . . 
 Yes, sir, it was forbidden, and William Smith was cut off from 
 the church because he preached that. That was in the winter of 
 1844. Abstract, p. 384. 
 
 The faction under James J. Strang, judging by their 
 official utterances, did not take up polygamy until 1848. 
 Prior to that time, their prophet vehemently denounced 
 it as a doctrine and practice of the devil and pronounced 
 a curse upon the heads of those who advocated it. In 
 August, 1846, at a conference held at Kirtland, Ohio, 
 the following resolution was adopted : 
 
 Resolved unanimously. That we utterly disclaim the whole 
 system of polygamy known as the spiritual wife system lately 
 set up in Nauvoo, by the apostates (Brighamites) who claim 
 the authority there, and will neither practice such things nor 
 hold any fellowship with those that teach or practice such 
 things. 
 
 This was followed in July, 1847, by an article from 
 the pen of Strang, entitled "Polygamy Not Possible in 
 a Free Government," which appeared in the Strangite 
 paper, Zion's Reveille, and during the same year a number 
 of his most influential followers were cut off for holding 
 this doctrine. 
 
 But, in 1848, Strang's views underwent a change and 
 he became a polygamist, claiming to have received a reve- 
 lation in which the practice was enjoined upon him. The 
 report goes that when Strang adopted plural marriage 
 his wife left him, taking with her their three children, 
 and that he traveled over the country on his proselyting 
 tours with one of his plural wives, to whom he gave the 
 name of "Charles Douglas," dressed in the apparel of 
 a man. Strang often boasted that "Charlie" was the 
 
200 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 best missionary he had. However, when Strang was 
 shot and it was told him that he must die, he pleaded 
 to be carried home to his first wife, "Mary." This was 
 done, and it is said she forgave him all and that he died 
 peacefully in her arms. 
 
 As for the rest of the factions, I have not the data 
 at hand from which to speak, but, as we have seen, it is 
 admitted by the President of the Josephite Church that 
 "nearly all" of them had plural marriage in some form. 
 Now, as all of the original Apostles and a majority of 
 the factions, independent of, and antagonistic to, one an- 
 other as they were, taught and practiced polygamy, is 
 it not natural to infer that they obtained this doctrine 
 from the same fountain-head the teachings of the Mor- 
 mon Prophet himself? 
 
 THE LEGAL BATTLE OVER POLYGAMY. 
 
 Polygamy was first publicly announced as a doctrine 
 of the Mormon faith on the 2gth day of August, 1852, 
 at a meeting held in the tabernacle at Salt Lake City, 
 Utah. At the morning service, Apostle Orson Pratt de- 
 livered a lengthy discourse in defense of the doctrine, 
 during the course of which he said: 
 
 It is quite unexpected to me, brethren and sisters, to be 
 called upon to address you this forenoon; and still more so, 
 to address you upon the principle which has been named, namely, 
 a plurality of wives. It is rather new ground for me; that is, 
 I have not been in the habit of publicly speaking upon this 
 subject; and it is rather new ground to the inhabitants of the 
 United States, and not only to them, but to a portion of the in- 
 habitants of Europe; a portion of them have not been in the 
 habit of preaching a doctrine of this description ; consequently, 
 we shall have to break up new ground. It is well known, 
 however, to the congregation before me, that the Latter Day 
 Saints have embraced the doctrine of a plurality of wives, as a 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 201 
 
 part of their religious faith. Journal of Discourses, Vol. L, p. 54. 
 At the afternoon session, Brigham Young said : 
 
 You heard Brother Pratt state, this morning, that a Revela- 
 tion would be read this afternoon which was given previous to 
 Joseph's death. It contains a doctrine, a small portion of the 
 world is opposed to; but I can deliver a prophecy upon it. 
 Though that doctrine has not been preached by the Elders, 
 this people have believed in it for many years. The original 
 copy of this Revelation was burnt up. William Clayton was the 
 man who wrote it from the mouth of the Prophet. In the mean- 
 time, it was in Bishop Whitney's possession. He wished the 
 privilege to copy it, which Brother Joseph granted. Sister 
 Emma burnt the original. The reason why I mention this, is, 
 because that the people who did know of the Revelation sup- 
 pose it is not now in existence. 
 
 The revelation will be read by you. The principle spoken 
 upon by Brother Pratt, this morning, we believe in. And I 
 tell you for I know it it will sail over, and ride triumphantly 
 above all the prejudice and priest-craft of the day; it will be 
 fostered and believed in by the more intelligent portions of the 
 world, as one of the best doctrines ever proclaimed to any 
 people. . . . This Revelation has been in my possession many 
 years; and who has known it? None but those who should 
 know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk, and there does not 
 anything leak out that should not. Deseret News, Sept. 14, 
 1852. 
 
 How dismally this prediction has failed, is well known 
 to all who are familiar with the history of the Mormon 
 Church in Utah. 
 
 With the public promulgation of the doctrine, polyg- 
 amy in all its glory was ushered in, and for the thirty 
 years following was practiced without much effective 
 opposition from the Federal Government. 
 
 The first enactment against polygamy was in the 
 passage of the Morrill bill through Congress in 1862, 
 which became a law by the signature of President Lin- 
 coln in July of that year. This, however, was ignored 
 
 (14) 
 
202 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 by the Mormon people under the plea that it was un- 
 constitutional. 
 
 It was followed by the Poland bill, which passed 
 Congress and became a law by the approval of President 
 Grant in July, 1874. Under this enactment, a test case 
 was arranged and Elder George Reynolds was arrested 
 on the charge of being a polygamist. His case was tried 
 before the Third District Court of Salt Lake City in 
 March and April, 1875, by which he was found guilty 
 and was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary and 
 to pay a fine of $300. The case was then appealed to 
 the Supreme Court of Utah, by which he was discharged 
 on the ground that the grand jury that had found the 
 bill of indictment against him was illegal. But, on No- 
 vember I, following, Reynolds was again arrested and 
 was tried on the pth of the following month, with the 
 result that he was again found guilty. An appeal was then 
 made to the State Supreme Court, which on July 6, 1876, 
 confirmed the decision of the lower court. Subsequent 
 to this, the case was carried to the U. S. Supreme Court, 
 which, on January 6, 1879, unanimously handed down a 
 decision confirming the constitutionality of the law against 
 bigamy and polygamy under which he had been tried, 
 and on the I4th of June he was resentenced to the 
 penitentiary. 1 
 
 The next step in anti-polygamy legislation was in the 
 passage of the celebrated Edmunds act of March, 1882. 
 Under it, there were twenty-two hundred convictions for 
 unlawful cohabitation, though there were only about one- 
 half dozen on the charge of polygamy, which was more 
 difficult to prove. It is declared that during these trials 
 Mormon women, believed before to be truthful and vir- 
 
 ^osephite "Church History," Vol. III., p. 361. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 203 
 
 tuous, went on the stand and swore that they did not 
 know who the fathers of their babes were, in order to 
 shield their husbands from the penalties of the law against 
 bigamy and polygamy. Under the Edmunds act, all 
 persons living in the relations mentioned were disfran- 
 chised, and it is estimated that fully twelve thousand 
 names, of both men and women, were stricken from the 
 registration rolls. It is stated that at this time there 
 were 3,500 polygamous families in Utah, or 3,500 men 
 living with 11,500 women in the polygamous relation. 
 Upon Mormon authority, it is declared that the number 
 of such families has rapidly decreased, there being only 
 897 such families in 1902 and 647 in 1903." 
 
 So zealously were the laws against polygamy and 
 bigamy executed after 1882, that eight years later the 
 President of the Brighamite Church issued his celebrated 
 manifesto, which, as it may be of interest to the reader, 
 I now give: 
 
 OFFICIAL DECLARATION. 
 
 To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Press dispatches having been 
 sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have 
 been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, 
 in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege 
 that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty 
 or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since 
 last June or during the past year; also that in public discourses 
 the leaders of the church have taught, encouraged and urged 
 the continuance of the practice of polygamy; 
 
 I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter Day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, de- 
 clare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy 
 or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its 
 practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of 
 plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our 
 temples or in any other place in the Territory. 
 
 1 The Edmunds law was supplemented in 1887 by a more drastic 
 measure known as the Edmunds-Tucker act. 
 
204 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 One case has been reported, in which the parties alleged 
 that a marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in 
 Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1889, but I have not been able 
 to learn who performed the ceremony; whatever was done in 
 the matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this 
 alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instruc- 
 tions, taken down without delay. 
 
 Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbid- 
 ding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced con- 
 stitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my in- 
 tention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with 
 the members of the church over which I preside to have them 
 do likewise. 
 
 There is nothing in my teachings to the church or in those 
 of my associates, during the time specified, which can be rea- 
 sonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy, and when 
 any elder of the church has used language which appeared to 
 convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. 
 And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter Day 
 Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden 
 by the law of the land. WILFORD WOODRUFF, 
 
 President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 
 
 Following this official announcement of the head of 
 the Mormon Church (which was also sanctioned by a 
 unanimous vote of the church in General Conference 
 assembled) of his purpose to do all in his power to in- 
 fluence his people to live up to the laws of the land, 
 Benjamin Harrison, who was then President of the 
 United States, issued a proclamation of amnesty : 
 
 I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by 
 virtue of the power in me vested, do hereby declare and grant 
 full amnesty and pardon to all persons liable to the penalties 
 of said act, by reason of unlawful cohabitation under color of 
 polygamous or plural marriage, who since November i, 1890, 
 have abstained from such unlawful cohabitation, but upon the 
 express condition that they shall in future faithfully obey the 
 laws of the United States hereinabove named, and not otherwise. 
 Those who shall fail to avail themselves of the clemency hereby 
 offered will be vigorously prosecuted. 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 205 
 
 Since 1890, the Mormon people have made a show 
 of living up to the law of the land, and when Utah be- 
 came a State a constitution was adopted, by which polyg- 
 amy is forever abolished, which received the support of 
 the church leaders. But just how far they have been 
 law-abiding, has been shown by the facts that were 
 brought out during the Roberts and Reed Smoot cases. 
 During the first, it was plainly brought out that Mr. 
 Roberts had been guilty of living in the polygamous re- 
 lation after 1890, and, during the latter, it was proved 
 by the admissions of President Joseph F. Smith, him- 
 self, that he had had eleven children by his five wives 
 after that date. It is also declared that Apostles Can- 
 non and Teasdale have taken plural wives since the man- 
 ifesto was issued, while the sudden disappearance of some 
 of the church officials from their homes in order to es- 
 cape appearing before the Smoot Committee, strengthens 
 the suspicion that there are others, also, who are guilty 
 of similar conduct. 1 It is evident from these flagrant 
 violations of their pledges and the law of the land, that 
 the Mormon word of honor is not to be depended 
 upon. 
 
 THEORETICAL POLYGAMY. 
 
 It will readily be seen that the theory of polygamy, 
 as it was advocated in Utah after 1852, drew its in- 
 
 1 According to the evidence produced in the Smoot case, the following 
 prominent Mormons married plural wives after the Manifesto of 1890: 
 Apostle Abraham H. Cannon to Lillian Hamlin in 1896; Apostle George 
 Teasdale to Marion Scholes; Apostles Cowley and Taylor to one or more 
 plural wives each; James Francis Johnson to Clara Mabel Barber in 1896; 
 and Apostle M. W. Merrill, J. M. Tanner, superintendent of church 
 schools, Benjamin Cluff, president of Brigham Young University, besides 
 many more. Proceedings before the Committee on Privileges and Elec- 
 tions of the U. S, Senate in the matter of the protests against the right of 
 Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator from the State of Utah, to hold his seat 
 (Vol. IV., pp. 476-478). 
 
20G THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 spiration and form from the "Revelation on Celestial Mar- 
 riage." This "Revelation" presents two new and unique 
 theories relating to marriage, that a man may have more 
 wives than one in the present dispensation and that mar- 
 riage contracts made here may be perpetuated for all 
 eternity. The first is termed a plurality of wives; the 
 second, spiritual wifery. The additional information is 
 also given, that those who are married for time only will 
 not attain to the fullest glory, become gods, in the world 
 to come, but will only be angels to minister unto those 
 who have entered their exaltation. 
 
 In order to sustain the doctrine of celestial marriage, 
 the Mormon Church appeals to the Old Testament, citing 
 the cases of Abraham, Jacob, David and other men who 
 were polygamists, but who were favored of the Lord. 
 They argue that, as Abraham was a polygamist and 
 as the blessings of Abraham were to come upon the 
 Gentiles, one of them to be bestowed was a plurality 
 of wives. They also tell us that the prophet Isaiah had 
 in mind the introduction of this principle in the last 
 days, when he said : "And in that day seven women shall 
 take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own 
 bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called 
 by thy name, to take away our reproach" (Isa. 4:1). 
 
 It is also asserted that the New Testament sanctions 
 polygamy. Those passages which, to the ordinary reader, 
 teach monogamy, to the Mormon teach, simply, that men 
 should enter the marriage relation. Thus, Paul's in- 
 junction to Timothy, "A bishop then must be blameless, 
 the husband of one wife" (i Tim. 3:2), is made to mean 
 that a bishop should be the husband of one wife at least, 
 not the husband of one wife only. 
 
 But the most repugnant claim that Monnonism makes, 
 is that Jesus Christ was a polygamist. Apostle Orson 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 207 
 
 Hyde, during the course of one of his sermons, declared 
 that the marriage at Cana of Galilee, at which Christ per- 
 formed his first miracle, was his own, at which he be- 
 came the husband of Martha and Mary. "We say it was 
 Jesus Christ who was married, whereby he could see his 
 seed before he was crucified." This reference is to Isa. 
 53: 10: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for 
 sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and 
 the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." But 
 here the prophet, evidently, has in mind Christ's spiritual 
 seed, not babes begotten by the ordinary course of gen- 
 eration. 
 
 The Mormon priesthood claims to get its authority 
 for performing marriages for eternity from the words of 
 Christ : "And I will give unto thee the keys of the king- 
 dom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, 
 shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
 on earth, shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16: 19). 
 
 It explains Christ's language, "They which shall be 
 accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- 
 rection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in 
 marriage," to mean only that there will not be any mar- 
 riage contracts made in the world to come, though those, 
 they say, which have already been entered into may con- 
 tinue. Bancroft Library 
 
 So, by a misapplication of Scripture, this most de- 
 basing and disgusting practice is clothed with divine 
 sanction, forcibly bringing to our minds the words of 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 "In religion, 
 
 What damned error, but some sober brow 
 Will bless it and approve it with a text, 
 Hiding the grossness with fair ornament." 
 
208 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 PRACTICAL POLYGAMY. 
 
 The Mormon Church declares that plural marriage 
 is a most holy institution and that, when the divine rules 
 governing it are lived up to, it can only be productive 
 of good here and happiness in the world to come. It 
 charges that the stories which have been circulated 
 against this system are false, and that on the whole it 
 has proved acceptable to those who have adopted it. On 
 the contrary, apostates and Gentiles, alike, condemn it in 
 the strongest terms, denouncing it as the most debasing, 
 heart-breaking and soul-crushing religious institution 
 known to America, and declare that its tyranny was sub- 
 mitted to, largely, for fear of losing celestial glory. That 
 some of the Mormon women, also, have shared this 
 opinion, is proved from the spirited language of a daugh- 
 ter of President Jedediah M. Grant, "Polygamy is alright 
 when properly carried out on a shovel." 
 
 One of the most distressing concomitants of this 
 system was incest. Men, in their rush for plural wives, 
 married their own half-sisters, nieces and first cousins, 
 or two sisters, or a mother and her daughter or daugh- 
 ters. Two of Brigham Young's wives, Clara and Lucy 
 Decker, were sisters. William Hepworth Dixon, who 
 was one of the few Gentiles to whom Brigham expressed 
 himself on the subject, says in his "New America" : 
 
 Perhaps it would not be too much to say that in the Mormon 
 code there is no such crime as incest, and that a man is prac- 
 tically free to woo and wed any woman who may take his 
 eye. ... It is known that in some of these saintly harems, the 
 female occupants stand to their lords in closer relationship of 
 blood than the American law permits. It is a daily event in Salt 
 Lake City for a man to wed two sisters, a brother's widow, and 
 even a mother and daughter. In one house in Utah may be 
 seen the spectacle of three women who stand toward each other 
 in the relation of child, mother and grand-dame, living in one 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 209 
 
 man's harem as his wives! I asked the President (Young) r 
 whether, with his new lights on the virtue of breeding in and in, 
 he saw any objection to the marriage of brother and sister. 
 Speaking for himself, not for the Church, he said he saw none 
 at all. Quoted in Beadle, pp. 369, 371. 
 
 Another debasing feature of the Mormon polygamous 
 system was that it begot disrespect for womanhood and 
 childhood. During the early days of the practice in 
 Utah, men, in their eagerness to get wives, traded daugh- 
 ters with the same cold-blooded spirit that they mani- 
 fested in trading horses. Heber C. Kimball, who had 
 forty-five wives, was wont to speak of them, lovingly, as 
 his "cows;" while Brigham Young said of his children: 
 "I pay no attention to the children, but leave that to 
 their mothers, according to the law of nature. The bull 
 pays no attention to his calves." A young Mormon 
 woman, after marrying a Gentile, said: "I don't know 
 half a dozen men here who really respect their wives. It is 
 a constant wonder to us, the way the Gentiles treat their 
 women." 
 
 With such a system, it will not be easy to make 
 people believe that everything was as lovely in the polyg- 
 amous homes in Utah as the Mormons have tried to 
 make it appear. No true woman, who has experienced 
 the sweet sensations of love, will be made to believe their 
 stories. As long as human nature is human nature, 
 polygamy will be viewed by right-thinking men and 
 women as cruel, debasing and unjust. And, no matter 
 how hard the Mormons may try to tone down its glaring 
 faults or touch up its feeble virtues, if it has any, the 
 human heart will cry out against it unless the tender 
 principle of love is made the servile slave of a fear of 
 the loss of celestial glory. 
 
 That Mormon women, themselves, have found this 
 
210 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 system a galling yoke and an intolerable burden, is 
 proved, beyond doubt, by several statements on the sub- 
 ject which appear in Mormon works. 
 
 Helen Mar Whitney, the enthusiastic advocate of this 
 doctrine among Mormon women, makes this confession: 
 
 In my younger days, in the early scenes of trial and tempta- 
 tion, I thought that I would be perfectly happy if the plural-wife 
 system could be relinquished. I felt unwilling to sacrifice my 
 earthly happiness for the promise of future reward. Plural Mar- 
 riage, p. 37. 
 
 President J. M. Grant, as reported in the Deseret 
 News, Vol. VI., p. 235, said of the rebellion of the Mor- 
 mon women against polygamy : 
 
 And we have women here who like anything but the celestial 
 law of God; and if they could, would break asunder the cable 
 of the Church of Christ; there is scarcely a mother in Israel 
 but would do it this day. And they talk it to their husbands, 
 to their daughters, and to their neighbors ; and say they have 
 not seen a week's happiness since they became acquainted with 
 that law, or since their husbands took a second wife. 
 
 But Brigham, in his own rough, crude way, tells the 
 story of how the women of Utah felt over polygamy: 
 
 Now for my proposition ; it is more particularly for my sis- 
 ters, as it is frequently happening that women say they are 
 unhappy. Men will say: "My wife, though a most excellent 
 woman, has not seen a happy day since I took my second wife; 
 no, not a happy day for a year," says one ; and another has not 
 seen a happy day for five years. It is said that women are tied 
 down and abused ; that they are misused, and have not the lib- 
 erty they ought to have; that many of them are wading through 
 a perfect flood of tears, because of the conduct of some men, 
 together with their own folly. Journal of Discourses, Vol. IV., 
 P- 55- 
 
 Again : 
 
 Now recollect that two weeks from tomorrow, I am going 
 to set you at liberty. But the first wife will say: "It is hard, 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 211 
 
 for I have lived with my husband twenty years or thirty, and 
 have raised a family of children for him, and it is a great trial 
 to me for him to have more women." Then I say it is time 
 that you gave him up to other women who will bear children. 
 If my wife has borne me all the children that she ever would 
 bear, the celestial law would teach me to take young women 
 that would have children. . . . Sisters, I am not joking; I do 
 not throw out my proposition to banter your feelings to see 
 whether you will leave your husbands, all or any of you. But 
 I do know that there is no cessation to the everlasting whining 
 of many of the women in this Territory. And if the women 
 turn from the commandments of God and continue to despise the 
 order of heaven, I will pray that the curse of the Almighty 
 may be close to their heels, and that it may be following them 
 all the day long. And those that enter into it and are faithful, 
 I will promise them that they shall be queens in heaven, and rulers 
 to all eternity. Journal of Discourses, Vol. IV., pp. 56, 57. 
 
 As these quotations are taken from the published 
 works of the Mormon Church, they can not be denied. 
 In a leaflet, "Are Mormon Women Happy in Polyg- 
 amy?", Mrs. A. G. Paddock gives the following account: 
 
 Mrs. H came to Utah a devout Mormon. When her 
 
 husband decided to take another wife, she accompanied him to 
 the Endowment House, as the cruel law of "celestial marriage" 
 commands, but when Brigham Young asked the prescribed ques- 
 tion: 
 
 "Do you give this woman to your husband, even as Sarah 
 gave Hagar to Abraham?" she answered: 
 
 "Yes and No." 
 
 "What do you mean by such an answer?" the Prophet de- 
 manded. 
 
 "I mean yes, if he cannot go into the presence of his God 
 without this sacrifice on my part; but if I consult my own heart, 
 No, NO! a thousand times NO!" 
 
 She says, "On my way home from the Endowment House 
 that day, I fainted three times; yet, so determined was I to do 
 my whole duty, that I welcomed the new bride to my house, as a 
 sister but, oh! the martyrdom of the weeks that followed. At 
 last, when on the verge of madness and suicide, I thought "I 
 
212 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF 
 
 will know whether the fault is in the system, or in my own re- 
 bellious heart; I will go to those who are wiser and better than 
 I, and learn whether they have become reconciled to such a 
 life. Accordingly, I paid a visit to two of the Prophet's plural 
 wives, to whom we were always taught to apply for counsel." 
 
 One of them said : "I have shed tears enough since I have 
 been in polygamy to drown myself in twice over." The other 
 said : "The plains, from the Missouri to this valley, are strewed 
 with the bones of those whom this system has killed, and the 
 cemetery on the hill is full of them, but every one of these 
 women is now wearing a martyr's crown." 
 
 Miserable comforters, truly. But I thought I would make one 
 
 more trial. I went to Brother C 's. This was called a model 
 
 polygamous family. The two wives were said to live together 
 like the most affectionate sisters. I called on the first wife ; 
 
 told her how I felt, and asked : "Sister C , is the fault in our 
 
 religion, or in my own wicked heart? Are you happy in 
 polygamy?" 
 
 She replied: "I have never seen a happy day or hour since 
 my husband's second marriage ; I have never laid down on my 
 bed at night without drenching my pillow with tears." 
 
 "But perhaps the second wife feels differently," I said. 
 
 "You can ask her. She is in the next room." 
 
 I did so, and this was her reply: "For the sake of peace, 
 I have given up everything. I have no longer a single right, 
 either as woman or wife. If it had not been for my child, I 
 would have ended my troubles by throwing myself into the river 
 long before this." 
 
 "No comfort or help here," but deliverance was near, though 
 I knew it not. I used to go down into my cellar to pray, and 
 there, with my burning forehead pressed against the cold stones, 
 I would plead that my rebellious will might be subdued; but the 
 more I prayed the worse I felt; the more it seemed that if God 
 had laid such an intolerable burden on women, he must be a 
 cruel tyrant instead of a kind Father. At last, one day when I 
 was praying, these words came to me, as distinctly as though 
 a human voice had spoken them in my ear: 
 
 "My child, it is man, not God, who has laid this cruel burden 
 upon you." 
 
 From that moment I was free. I no longer prayed to be 
 
MORMON POLYGAMY 213 
 
 reconciled to polygamy, but fought against it with all the 
 strength of my soul. 
 
 This, reader, is only one of hundreds of such ex- 
 periences with this hope-blighting, soul-crushing and 
 ^art-breaking doctrine and practice. 
 
 By way of a summary, in bringing this book to a 
 close, let me say that if human testimony is to be de- 
 pended upon and if circumstantial evidence has any 
 weight, we have proved the following points : 
 
 1. That Joseph Smith Was born and reared in the 
 atmosphere that produces impostors, knaves and liber- 
 tines. 
 
 2. That the many and persistent reports of immoral 
 conduct among the Mormons in the '30*5 justify the in- 
 ference, strengthened into a belief by subsequent devel- 
 opments, that they were guilty of some form of sexual 
 sin at Kirtland and in Missouri. 
 
 3. That Joseph Smith did both secretly teach and 
 practice polygamy while at Nauvoo, and that it was this 
 doctrine and practice that helped to bring about his as- 
 sassination. And 
 
 4. That there was a revelation on celestial marriage 
 at Nauvoo which was read before the High Council and 
 which, in a number of respects, was identical with the 
 "Revelation on Celestial Marriage" which the Utah 
 Church declares came from Joseph Smith. 
 
 In the face of these facts, who dare say -that Joseph 
 Smith, the Mormon Prophet, was not the father of Mor- 
 mon polygamy? 
 
 THE END. 
 
I