CHAPTER XLIII.

THE STORM BURSTS UPON THE PEOPLE—THE MORALITY PLEA—WHO THE CRIMINALS ARE—TESTIMONY OF STATISTICS—A VISIT TO ARIZONA AND MEXICO—ASSAULT UPON THE PEOPLE IN ARIZONA—AN AMERICAN SIBERIA—SEEKING A PLACE OF REFUGE—IN SAN FRANCISCO—THREATENED WITH ARREST—RETURN TO UTAH—LAST SERMON—WARNING AND PROPHECY.

The "storm" increased in violence. Special appropriations were made in Washington to aid in the enforcement of the infamous Edmunds law. With those funds deputy marshals were multiplied, some of them being men of notoriously immoral lives. They usually went in squads, pouncing first upon one village and then another, raiding the homes of the most respected and honorable men in the community, who were suspected of living with their plural wives—with women they had honored with the name of wife in some instances for more than a quarter of a century, by whom they had reared large and respectable families: and because they would not abandon them—thrust them away like unclean, nameless things—this pack of human hounds were turned loose upon them, to dog their footsteps, to invade their homes and insult their families.

Spotters and spies were employed to betray their neighbors; children were hailed upon the streets and questioned about the affairs of their parents; wives—lawful wives—were dragged into the courts and compelled to testify against their husbands; shamefully indecent questions were put to modest maidens in jury rooms and in open court; juries were packed to convict; a Mormon accused of violation of the anti-polygamy laws stood before a jury of his avowed political and religious enemies; suspicion was equivalent to accusation; accusation to indictment; indictment to conviction; and conviction met almost invariably with the full penalty of the law, unless the victim was so recreant to every sense of honor as to push from him the women he had taken as wives for time and all eternity!

In the midst of this judicial "storm" which broke upon the Church in Utah and the surrounding territories, President Taylor moved calmly on, discharging his duties, counseling, encouraging and strengthening the people. At the same time he did not fail to rebuke and proclaim the hypocrisy of the men who were the prime movers in this unholy crusade, carried on, professedly, in the interests of morality. For this purpose he published the criminal statistics of Utah for the year 1883, by which he demonstrated that while the Gentile population was greatly in the minority, they furnished the overwhelming majority of criminals. Following are his statements:

"The population of Utah may be estimated at one hundred and sixty thousand in 1883.

"Of these say one hundred and thirty thousand are Mormons, and thirty thousand are Gentiles—a very liberal estimate of the latter.

"In this year there were forty-six persons sent to the penitentiary convicted of crime. Of these thirty-three were non-Mormons, and thirteen reputed Mormons.

"At the above estimate of population the ratio or percentage would be one prisoner for every ten thousand Mormons, or one hundredth of one per cent., and of the Gentiles one convict in every nine hundred and nine, or about one ninth of one per cent. So that the actual proportion of criminals is more than ten times greater among the Gentiles of Utah, with the above very liberal estimate, than among the Mormons.

"It is urged that these non-Mormon prisoners are not a fair representation of the average of crime throughout the country, but are the result of the flow of the desperate classes westward to the borders of civilization; with greater truth we reply that the Mormon prisoners are not representatives of Mormonism, nor the results of Mormonism, but of the consequences of a departure from Mormon principles; and of the thirteen prisoners classed as Mormons, the greater portion were only so by family connection or association.

"ARRESTS IN SALT LAKE CITY IN 1883:

Mormons 150

Non-Mormons 1,559

or more than ten times the number of Mormon arrests.

"Again it is estimated that there are six thousand non-Mormons and nineteen thousand Mormons in Salt Lake City, which shows of Mormons one arrest in one hundred and twenty-six and two-thirds.

"Non-Mormons, one arrest in a fraction less than four, or rather more than twenty-five per cent.

"If we were not on the defensive in this case," observed President Taylor, when presenting the above facts, "I would say nothing about these things; but it ill-becomes men who have ten criminals to our one, to come here as our reformers, and try to disfranchise men who are ten times as good as they are. These are facts that are not of my own getting up. They come from the public records and can be verified by the prison and other statistics."

In order to still further explode the defense made by those whom these facts placed in so unenviable a position, viz: that the scum of society from the eastern states had floated out here to the west, and consequently the Gentile population in Utah was not representative of Gentile communities elsewhere, he collected a number of statements from the sermons and writings of leading ministers and writers from various parts of the Union, on the subject of infanticide, foeticide and kindred crimes, that told a sad tale of sexual immorality, which every year, according to the authors he quoted, was growing worse and worse—something too much of this:

Handle it carefully,

Deal with it gently,

Speak of it tenderly,

Poor justice is blind!

The Stakes of Zion located in Arizona suffered quite as much from this judicial crusade as those living in Utah, and they were further away from the chief pastors of the flock, and hence greater perplexity and excitement. On learning of this, President Taylor determined to visit them, learn the true situation of their affairs and counsel them as the Lord should give him wisdom.

Accordingly a party of brethren was made up including his second counselor, Joseph F. Smith, and also Apostles Moses Thatcher and Francis M. Lyman, Bishop John Sharp and others. They were joined in the south also by Apostle Erastus Snow.

The party left Salt Lake City on the 3rd of January, 1885, by the Union Pacific Railway to Denver, thence to Albuquerque, in New Mexico, thence to the settlements of the Saints in Apache County, Arizona, in the vicinity of Winslow.

President Taylor went to St. David, in the extreme south-east corner of Arizona, near Benson, where he met with the Presidents of the four Stakes in that Territory; Jesse N. Smith, Christopher Layton, Alexander F. McDonald and Lot Smith. He found the Saints in a lamentable condition. They had been set upon in the most ruthless manner by their enemies. Nearly all the forms of law had been abandoned in dealing with them, and outrages had been heaped upon them, under the pretext of executing the law, that were well nigh unendurable. Those who had been convicted and sentenced had been shipped off to Detroit, a distance of two thousand miles, notwithstanding there was a good available prison at Yuma, within the Territory.

Under these circumstances President Taylor thought it better for the brethren to evade the law; and in order that those who were being hunted might find a temporary place of refuge, he sent two parties down into Mexico to find suitable place for the settlement of those who had to flee from this unhallowed persecution.

During the absence of these parties, he visited with a portion of his party Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, in the state of Sonora, Mexico. On the return trip he stopped off at Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora, where he and his party were received at the residence of Governor Torres, with distinguished consideration.

Returning to Benson he met with the brethren sent in search of a place of refuge, and decided in his capacity as Trustee-in-Trust of the Church to assist in purchasing a place which had been selected by Christopher Layton, just over the line in the state of Sonora.

After giving general directions to guide the Presidents of the Stakes in Arizona as to their future policy and movements, President Taylor and party visited the settlements of the Saints in Maricopa County, on Salt River; and from thence via Los Angeles went to San Francisco. Here he spent a day or two visiting points of interest. Among other features of his visit was a call at the famous library of the veteran historian, Hurbert H. Bancroft.

While in San Francisco he received despatches to the effect that it would not be safe for him to return home, as his arrest had been determined upon. Notwithstanding this information he immediately started for Salt Lake City, where he arrived on Tuesday, January 27th, 1885, having traveled nearly five thousand miles since the 3rd of the same month.

The Sunday following, February 1st, he preached his last public sermon. In it he related the principal incidents of his late mission into Arizona, described the wrongs inflicted upon the people there, and told the counsel he had given them.

As the vindictiveness of the courts had increased during his absence, he gave the same advice to the people of Utah.

He deplored the condition of things in the Territory, not so much on account of the Latter-day Saints, as on the account of the great government of the United States, which had stooped from the proud position it had hitherto boasted as the asylum for the oppressed of all nations, to that of a persecutor of a righteous people for their religion, until they had to find an asylum in an adjoining republic! Referring to the outrages perpetrated both in Arizona and in Utah, he asks:

"What would you do? Would you resent these outrages and break the heads of the men engaged in them, and spill their blood? No;" said he, "avoid them as much as you possibly can—just as you would wolves, or hyenas, or crocodiles, or snakes, or any of these beasts or reptiles. * * * Get out of their way as much as you can. What! Won't you submit to the dignity of the law? Well, I would if the law would only be a little more dignified. But when we see the dignity of the ermine bedragged in the mud and mire, and every principle of justice violated, it behooves men to take care of themselves as best they can. * * * But no breaking of heads, no bloodshed, rendering evil for evil. Let us try to cultivate the spirit of the gospel, and adhere to the principles of truth. * * * While other men are seeking to trample the Constitution under foot, we will try to maintain it. * * * I will tell you what you will see by and by. You will see trouble! trouble! TROUBLE enough in these United States. And as I have said before, I say today—I tell you in the name of God, WOE! to them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against them!"

Such was his last admonition, his last warning, his last prophecy delivered in person in public to the people of God, to the nation in which he had labored as a faithful servant of God, with such untiring zeal, wisdom and skill for half a century.

That night he went into retirement, to escape the ruthless persecution aimed at him by the unrelenting and hate-blinded enemies of the Church of Christ.

CHAPTER XLIV.

PRESIDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES—GENERAL EPISTLE—AN INFAMOUS CRUSADE—HOMES INVADED—JUDICIAL LEGISLATION—COHABITATION—PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S DEPORTMENT.

From his places of retirement among the Saints, President Taylor continued to preside over the Church, and under God to shape its policy and direct its movements. Prevented by the mistaken zeal of the United States officials and the vigilance of their myrmidons—the spotters and spies—from attending the public meetings and conferences of the Church, he, with his counselors, addressed general epistles to the Saints in which they imparted such counsel and instruction as they considered necessary and suited to the conditions by which they were environed.

These papers are remarkable for their conservative tone and wisdom; for the total absence of anger or vindictiveness, as also for the scope and variety of the subjects they treated upon. They compare favorably with the wisest and best state papers ever issued by kings or presidents, ministers of state or cabinet councils. The flock of Christ, therefore, was not left without the counsel of heaven or the care of the shepherds.

Still those were dark days. The seats reserved and usually occupied by the leaders of Israel in the public assemblies were either vacant or filled by comparative strangers. The recent enactments of Congress infamous in themselves, were still more infamously enforced. The courts and United States officials in Utah seemed utterly reckless in their methods of executing the law. Men who at the most were guilty of what the law defined to be a misdemeanor, punishable by six months imprisonment and three hundred dollars fine, were hunted as if they were guilty of the grossest crimes which could endanger the peace and safety of the community.

Frequently, and I may say usually, deputy marshals in the night would surround the houses suspected as being the places where their victims were to be found, and then in the morning, before the inmates were astir, would pounce upon them in the most unceremonious and brutal manner. No place was so sacred in the homes of the people but these minions under the color of law would force their way into it. Even the bed chambers of modest maidenhood were rudely entered before the occupants could dress, and in some instances the covering of their beds stripped from them in the pretended search for violators of the law; and they the while compelled to listen to their low blasphemies.

In proof of these allegations, which may seem too hard for belief as time with its ever-moving wheels carries us away from the years in which these acts of petty tyranny were perpetrated, I insert a few statements of parties who suffered them. These statements are to be found in a memorial addressed to Congress by the women of Utah, presented in the Senate on the 6th of April, 1886, by Senator Blair of New Hampshire, and ordered printed by that body:

"On January 11th, 1886, early in the morning, five deputy marshals appeared at the residence of William Grant, American Fork, forced the front door open, and, while the inmates were still in bed, made their way up stairs to their sleeping apartments. There they were met by one of the daughters of William Grant, who was aroused by the intrusion and, despite her protestations, without giving time for the object of their search to get up and dress himself, made their way into his bedroom, finding him still in bed and his wife en deshabille in the act of dressing herself."

Mrs. Easton, of Greenville, near Beaver, relates the following:

"About seven a. m. deputies came to our house and demanded admittance. I asked them to wait until we got dressed, and we would let them in. Deputy Gleason said he would not wait, and raised the window and got partly through by the time we opened the door, when he drew himself back and came in through the door. He then went into the bedroom; one of the young ladies had got under the bed, from which Gleason pulled the bedding and ordered the young lady to come out. This she did, and ran into the other room, where she was met by Thompson. I asked Gleason why he pulled the bedding from the bed, and he answered, 'By God! I found Watson in the same kind of a place.' He then said he thought Easton was concealed in a small compass, and that he expected to find him in a similar place, and was going to get him before he left."

Miss Morris, of the same place, says:

"Deputy Gleason came to my bed and pulled the clothing off me, asking if there was any one in bed with me. He then went to the fireplace and pulled a sack of straw from there and looked up the chimney. One of them next pulled up a piece of carpet, when Gleason asked Thompson if there was anyone under there. Thompson said 'No,' and Gleason exclaimed, 'G—d d—it, we will look, any way.' They also looked in cupboards, boxes, trunks, etc., and a small tea chest, but threw nothing out."

Deputy Thompson, referred to in the above, is the man who, a few months afterwards, December 16th, 1886, killed Edward M. Dalton at Parowan by shooting him down in the street under the plea that Dalton was trying to escape arrest for unlawful cohabitation. The testimony of eye witnesses to the whole transaction, however, does not bear out the claims of the man upon whose hands will be found innocent blood when he shall stand before that tribunal where there is no shuffling—where the action will be seen in its true light—where the guilty man himself, even in the teeth and forehead of his offending, must give in the evidence.

The following which occurred in Idaho is also from the aforesaid Memorial:

"February 23rd, 1886, at about eleven o'clock at night, two deputy marshals visited the house of Solomon Edwards, about seven miles from Eagle Rock, Idaho, and arrested Mrs. Edwards, his legal wife, after she had retired to bed, and required her to accompany them immediately to Eagle Rock. Knowing something of the character of one of the deputies, from his having visited the house before, when he indulged in a great deal of drinking, profanity, and abuse, she feared to accompany them without some protection, and requested a neighbor to go along on horseback while she rode in the buggy with the two deputies. On the way the buggy broke down and she, with an infant in her arms, was compelled to walk the rest of the distance—between two and three miles. They could have no reason for subpoenaing her in the night, and compelling her to accompany them at such an untimely hour, except a fiendish malice or a determination to heap all the indignities possible upon her, because she was a Mormon woman, for she never attempted to evade the serving of the warrant, and was perfectly willing to report herself at Eagle Rock the next day. She was taken to Salt Lake City to testify against her husband."

After reading such atrocities—such unjustifiable invasions of the homes of the people—one instinctively asks himself if in the great republic the wheels of civil liberty have not been turning backward instead of forward. More than a century before these things transpired, the eloquent Lord Chatham announced the great doctrine for all England and her colonies, including those in America, that a man's house was his castle; that though it might be so poor that the rains of heaven could penetrate it, and the winds whistle through its crevices, yet the king of England could not cross its threshold without its owner's permission.

Not satisfied with the penalties affixed to the laws against unlawful cohabitation, the Utah courts determined to increase them by means little short of legislation itself. The trick resorted to was to decree that the time a man had cohabited with more women than one as wives, could be divided up into years, months or weeks, and separate bills of indictment be found for each fragment of time. So ruled the Chief Justice, Charles S. Zane. Judge Orlando W. Powers of the First Judicial District, carried the infamous doctrine still further, and in charging a grand jury, on the 23rd of September, 1885, said: "An indictment may be found against a man guilty of unlawful cohabitation, for every day, or other distinct interval of time, during which he offends. Each day that a man cohabits with more than one woman, as I have defined the word cohabit, is a distinct and separate violation of the law, and he is liable for punishment for each separate offense."

His definition of cohabitation was as follows:

"The offense of cohabitation is complete when a man, to all outward appearances, is living or associating with more than one woman as his wife. To constitute the offense it is not necessary that it be shown that the parties indulge in sexual intercourse. The intention of the law-making power, in enacting the law, was to protect monogamous marriage by prohibiting all other marriage, whether evidenced by a ceremony, or by conduct and circumstances alone."

So held all the courts, and under that ruling such infamies as the following were possible:

"In the case of Solomon Edwards recently accused of this offense—unlawful cohabitation—it was proved by the evidence for the prosecution that the defendant had lived with one wife only since the passage of the Edmunds act, but after having separated from his former plural wife, he called with his legal wife at the former's residence to obtain a child, an agreement having been made that each party should have one of the two children, and the court ruled that this was unlawful cohabitation in the meaning of the law, and defendant was convicted."[1]

It is but proper to say that the Supreme Court of the United States, on an appeal being taken to it, decided against this infamous doctrine. But it held sway for a time and exhibited the venomous disposition of those entrusted with the execution of the laws in Utah.

In this crusade every effort was made to find President Taylor. His own houses, the Church offices, and the Gardo House, were well-nigh always under the surveillance of spies or deputy marshals, and the latter places were several times searched, but always in vain. That the place of his concealment was not discovered is little short of the miraculous, since the business to which he continued to give his personal attention was considerable, and required frequent communication with agents who were at liberty to act. He owed his safety, however, more to the promptings of the Holy Spirit than to the cunning of man. More than once, in obedience to its whisperings, and when to all outward appearances there was no danger to be feared, he would leave his place of temporary abode. By frequently changing his place of concealment, while running considerable risk of discovery in moving, he kept his enemies mystified as to his whereabouts.

Though driven into retirement by a malicious and perverted administration of the Edmunds law, he never allowed it to embitter his thoughts or disturb the calmness and patience of his disposition. No, not even so much as to lead him to speak evil of those who persecuted him. "God forgive them," he would say, "they know not what they do." "I pity them, with all my heart." The following letter addressed to his family that had convened to celebrate the anniversary of his birth—a custom with them for years—is the very best evidence both as to his sentiments toward his enemies and the grandeur of his soul.

Footnotes

1. Women's Memorial to Congress.