menu_book Chapter 41

CHAPTER XXXI. MY HUSBAND DISFELLOWSHIPPED. WE APOSTETIZE. BRUTAL OUTRAGE UPON MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF. NOT WISTANDING ALL MY OWN PERSONAL TROUBLES, AND THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH SURROUNDED US, THE

LOSS OF MY DEAR FRIEND AFFECTED ME VERY DEEPLY, AND YET HER STORY IS THE SAME AS MIGHT BE TOLD OF HUNDREDS OF OTHER ENGLISH GIRLS WHO HAVE BEEN LURED FROM THEIR HAPPY HOMES AND HAVE DIED BROKEN-HEARTED AND NEGLECTED IN UTAH. NOW CAME THAT CHANGE IN OUR LIFE WHICH I HAD SO LONG HOPEFOR, BUT WHICH ALWAYS SEEMED TO ME SO VERY FAR DISTANT.

WE HAD BEEN TOSSED BY MANY A STORM, BUT THE VIOLENCE OF THIS LAST GAIL WAS SUCH THAT IT FORCED US CLEAN OUT OF THE SEA OF MORMANISM AND LANDED US HIGH AND DRY UPON THE FIRM GROUND OF APOSTECY. MY HUSBAND HAD BEEN SO LONG ENGAGED IN THE DEFENSE OF MORMANISM THAT IT HAD BECOME ALMOST A PART OF HIMSELF.

HIS DOCTRINES AND OBSERVANCES SEEMED TO HIM BEYOND A QUESTION. ITS WEAK AND DOUBTFUL POINTS WERE IGNORED, AND IMPLICIT OBEDIENCE TO THE BEHESTS OF THE PRIESTHOOD WAS WITH HIM AN ARTICLE OF FAITH. WHEN THEREFORE I HEARD HIM WITH OTHERS TALKING OVER SOME OF THE QUESTIONABLE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH, CRITICIZING BRIGAM'S COUNSELLINGS, DOUBTING SOME OF HIS MEASURES, AND SPEAKING

OF HIM AS THEY WOULD OF ANY OF THE OTHER BRETHERIN, I WAS SATISFIED THAT HIS DAYS OF FAITH WERE NUMBERED. THE POINT THAT I HAD ALL ALONG BEEN AIMING AT WAS TO GET HIM TO THINK FOR HIMSELF, FOR HITHERTO HE HAD BEEN A MERETOOL IN THE HANDS OF THE PRIESTHOOD. LONG YEARS OF SUBMISSION AND RECEIVING AS DIVINE INSPIRATION ALL THAT A PROFIT IS PLEASED

TO SAY, UNNECESSARILY, BENUMS THE SOUL, AND WHITHERS ITS LIFE UNTIL, UNCONSCIOUSLY, THE VICTIM BECOMES AN ABJECT SLAVE. AND THIS IS THE POSITION TODAY OF MANY OTHERWISE WELL-INFORMED AND INTELLIGENT PEOPLE IN THE MORMAN CHURCH. THEY ARE MERE AUTOMATTA. ABOUT THE TIME WHEN MY HUSBAND RETURNED WITH HIS PAPER TO SALT-LIKE CITY, THE UTAH MAGAZINE, A LIBERAL JOURNAL JUST STRUGGLING INTO EXISTENCE, BEGAN TO CALL IN QUESTION SOME OF BRICKHAM'S

MEASURES, AND THE EDITORS, WHO WERE ALL MEN OF SOME MARK IN THE MORMAN CHURCH, PRESUMED TO HINT THAT THE PEOPLE HAD RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES AS WELL AS THE PRIESTHOOD. THIS WAS DONE IN A VERY QUIET, UNABTRUSIVE WAY, BUT IT WAS NEVERTHELESS PRONOUNCED REBELLION AND APOSTASE. MY HUSBAND'S PAPER WAS SILENT UPON THE SUBJECT, AND IN CONSEQUENCE, HE WAS SUSPECTED OF BEING IN LEAGUE WITH THE ENEMY. THIS WAS ANOTHER

GOOD REASON WHY THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE COUNSELLED NOT TO TAKE IN THE TELEGRAPH. ALTHOUGH HE WAS NOT YET SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED IN THOUGHT TO GIVE MUCH DIRECT AID TO THE QUESTIONERS OF BRIGGAM'S AUTHORITY, I SAW WITH PLEASURE THAT HE DID NOT WISH TO OPPOSE THEM. THE TONE OF HIS PAPER WAS EVIDENTLY CHANGING, AND THE ARTICLES WHICH APPEARED FROM TIME TO TIME GAVE SERIOUS OFFENSE TO BRIGGAM YOUNG.

THIS HOWEVER WAS NOT ALL HIS WRONG DOING. HE HAD OF LATE BEEN NEGLECTFUL IN HIS ATTENDANCE AT THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS, A MEETING WHICH WAS THEN HELD EVERY SATURDAY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ELDERS, BUT WHICH HAS NOW FOR A TIME BEEN DISCONTINUED ON ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE BROTHER AND TURNING TRAITOR AND REVEALING ALL THAT WAS SAID. TOGETHER WITH THE EDITORS OF THE U-TAU MAGAZINE, MR. STENHOUSE AND ONE OR TWO OTHERS WERE SUMMONED TO APPEAR AT

THE SCHOOL ON THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY TO GIVE THEIR REASONS FOR PREVIOUS NON-ATTENDANCE. They had all along anticipated, and were therefore not surprised at the summons, but they hardly expected that Brigham would act so precipitately, for without waiting to hear their reasons, he disfellowshipped them all for irregular attendance. Brigham's assumption of the right to disfellowship men from the church because of irregular attendance

at the school was a stretch of authority which startled my husband. What will he not do next, he said? To submit would be to acknowledge him absolute and me a slave. There is but one alternative now, slavery or freedom. Cost what it may, I will be free. Those who have never been enslaved by a superstitious faith which mentally and bodily enthralls

its devotees, as Mormonism does, can form no idea of the joy, the happiness which is experienced when, after years of spiritual servitude, the shackles are burst asunder, and the slave is free. There is pleasure even in the thought itself that one is free, free to think and free to act, free to worship according to the dictates of one's own conscience, and free to speak one's own opinions and sentiments without the constant fear that some spy is

listening to every word and that the consequences may be far from pleasant. In August of the same year my husband sent a respectful and kindly letter to the bishop of our ward, stating that he had no faith in Brigham's claim to an infallible priesthood, and that he considered that he ought to be cut off from the church. I added a post-script, stating that I wished to share my husband's fate, little thinking that within three days

my request would be answered in a too literal manner. A little after ten o'clock on a Saturday night, succeeding our withdrawal from the church, we were returning home together. The night was very dark, and as our residence is in the suburbs of the city, north of the temple block, and the road very quiet, the walk was a very lonely one, and perhaps not altogether too safe.

We had gone about a third of the way, when suddenly we saw four men come out from under some trees, at a little distance from us. In the gloom of the night we could only see them very indistinctly, and could not distinguish who they were. They separated, and two of them came forward and stumbled up against us, and two passed on beside us. For a moment I thought that they were intoxicated, but it was soon clear that they were acting from

design. As soon as they approached, they seized hold of my husband's arm, one on each side, and held him firmly, thus rendering him almost powerless. They were all masked, for it was supposed that thus we should not be able to discover their identity, and that if by any chance an investigation should subsequently be made into the doings of that night, it would not be possible for anyone to witness against them.

I am inclined to think that these wretches, when they planned the attack, had not calculated upon my being present with my husband, and I imagine that when they saw me with him they supposed I should scream and run away, after the manner of many women. In this, however, they were mistaken. I still clung to my husband's arm, but with my left hand caught hold of one of the ruffians by the collar of his coat, for I apprehended the worst, well knowing

of what atrocities these men were capable. It is no secret that the police of Salt Lake City, for it is the police who there commit murders and other inhuman outrages, treat with the greatest brutality all the unhappy Gentiles and apostates whose misfortune it is to fall into their power. This also is the wretched effects of the fanatical teaching of the Church. These men believe that Utah

is Zion, the Kingdom of God, and that citizens of the United States are but intruders upon this holy ground, that they ought to be driven out and despoiled of everything and even murdered if opportunity offers. They make no secret of these feelings towards the Gentiles and towards apostate Mormons. It is shown, if possible, in a somewhat stronger manner. The movements of the two men who held my husband were somewhat impeded by my clinging to his

arm, and they seemed to hesitate for a moment. The other two, who stood a few feet distant from us, also hesitated. One of the men who held my husband said to them, Brethren, do your duty. We recognized his voice at once as that of a certain policeman, a young man whom we had known in England when a child, and with whose family we had been upon the most friendly terms. In an instant I saw them raise their arms, as if taking aim, and for

one brief second I thought that our end had now surely come, and that we, like so many obnoxious persons before us, were about to be murdered for the great sin of apostasy. This I firmly believe would have been my husband's fate if I had not chanced to be with him, or had I run away they would probably have beaten him to death. They, who I have every reason to believe, were two of the regular and two of the special policemen. And then

the next morning they would have discovered the body, and it would have been said that he had been murdered by Gentiles or apostates in a personal quarrel or a street brawl. My presence somewhat disarranged their plans, and it was that, probably, which caused the two men to hesitate, not knowing what would be considered their duty under present circumstances. A much less noble fate than assassination was reserved for us. The wretches, although

otherwise well armed, were not holding revolvers in their hands as I at first supposed. They were furnished with huge garden syringes charged with the most disgusting filth in the preparation of which they took a special pains. So kindred to their own base natures was such an act that I doubt not they found it quite a labor of love. The moment the syringes were pointed at us my husband, thinking a shot was coming, moved his head, and thus to a certain extent

escaped the full force of the discharge. I, however, was not so fortunate. My hair, bonnet face, clothes, person, every inch of my body, every shred that I wore, were in an instant saturated, and my husband and myself stood there reeking from head to foot. The villains when they had perpetrated this disgusting and brutal outrage turned and fled. We ran after them for some little distance, but we had no arms and nothing with which to defend

ourselves. In fact, we pursued them instinctively rather than with any idea of overtaking them. There was another man standing a little distance off in the direction in which they were running, and we could not tell how many might be concealed. The place, too, was dark and lonely, for they had gone behind the temple block, a fit corner for murderers to skulk in, a convenient spot for the commission of any unholy deed. I was burning with indignation and longed to revenge

myself upon the brutal cowards who had assaulted us. In my anger I called upon them to come out and kill us outright, for I would have preferred death to such an indignity. I almost wondered that they did not take me at my word and return and finish their foul work, for they have long acted upon the principle that dead men tell no tales. There were at that time in Utah a great many special or secret police who were always ready for any dirty,

brutal, or murderous work. Just near our home in Salt Lake City there is one miserable old fellow who has not yet been called to account for his numerous crimes and felonies. In his younger days he was one of these secret police, and to judge from his language, his only regret now is that he is no longer fit for active service. He has often told a neighbor of mine who he believes is a good Mormon, that nothing would give him more pleasure than to serve

my husband and myself as he thinks we deserve, simply because we have dared to oppose Mormonism. The wife of one of the men whom we had suspected not long after came to see me and told me that she did not doubt that her husband had been engaged in the affair, for she had accused him of it, and he had not denied it. It seems perhaps strange that any wife should act thus, but this poor woman had a great regard for me, but none at all for her husband who treated

her most brutally. I shall never forget that night. I declared that henceforth I would tear from my heart every association, every memory, every affection, which still remained to bind me to Mormonism. Not one solitary link should be left. Henceforth I would be the declared and open enemy of the priesthood. To the utmost of my power, weak though I might be, I would arouse the women of Utah to a sense of the wrongs which they endured. I

would proclaim to the world the disgrace which Mormonism is to the great American nation, the foul blot that it is upon Christianity and the civilization of the age. I do not blame the mass of the Mormon people that such outrages as this can be perpetrated in their midst. I blame the priesthood, and I blame the leaders and their teachings. I know the honest hearts of the Mormon community at large, and that as a body they revolted at the atrocious

wrong that had been done to us. Although no one who valued their standing in the church dared openly express what they felt, hundreds did so in private, while the whole Gentile community was aroused and indignant, and letters came from all parts of the country, and visitors daily called upon me to express their sympathy. My son-in-law, Joseph A. Young, on the night of the attack, offered a reward to the chief of the police for the apprehension of the

Ruffians, but we knew well enough they would never be discovered. A few Gentile friends also offered a reward of $500 for any evidence that might lead to their identification, but nothing of course was elicited. The Mormon paper, in order to divert attention from the guilty parties, insinuated that the outrage had been provoked by some family difficulty, and suggested that the brothers of my husband's second and now divorced wife were the offenders.

This I knew was utterly false, for they were respectable young men who would have scorned such an action, and between them and my husband not the slightest ill feeling existed. I therefore sent a letter to Belinda, telling her what had been said, and asking her to write to me stating that it was all untrue. I felt sure that she would willingly comply with my request, and I proposed, as I informed her, to publish her reply, and thus exonerate

her brothers from all blame. A lady who was present when Belinda received the note, told me that she asked her mother who was also there at the time what she should do about it, and that her mother said, You had better take the letter to Brother Brigham, and do whatever he counsels you to do. She did so, and Brother Brigham told her to pay no attention to it. Brigham did not care whether her brothers or anyone else were disgraced, or who was

made the scapegoat, so that the vile minions of the priesthood might escape undetected. The suggestion that a personal difficulty or a family matter had provoked the outrage was by no means a new one. In the same way the Indians had been credited with many a deed of blood when apostates fleeing from Zion were found murdered and horribly mangled in the canyons or on the plains. The same course also was adopted when Dr. Robinson,

of whom I have already spoken, was assassinated. On the following Sunday in the tabernacle Brigham Young suggested that the doctor had met his death in a gambling quarrel, and that some man whom he had personally wronged had dealt the fatal blow. But everyone in Salt Lake City, whether Mormon or Gentile, Brigham Young included, knew that Dr. Robinson was innocent of any gambling predilections and was the last man to make a personal enemy.

Then Brigham offered a reward of $500 for the discovery of the murderers. But subsequently, when several of the brethren had been arrested, charged with that very crime, and indictments against them had been found by the grand jury, he withdrew his offer lest, as he said, some evil-minded person might commit perjury for the sake of the reward. It was the same with ourselves. Everyone could conjecture with tolerable accuracy who it was that had planned

the outrage. But the reward which was offered was, as well we knew it would be, all in vain. Good Mormons did not dare to express their thoughts, but we all knew that the outrage was the direct result of the teachings of the Tabernacle, and that, although the authorities might not, and probably did not, directly command it, they connived at it and never took the first step towards the discovery of the wretched scoundrels who perpetrated

the deed.