# Wife No. 19/Chapter 10
### CHAPTER X.
#### THE UTAH "REFORMATION." — "A REIGN OF TERROR." — THE BLOOD-ATONEMENT PREACHED.

* The Beginning of the Reformation.
* The Payson Saints Stirred Up.
* What the Wicked "Saints" had been Doing Secretly.
* The Old Lady who stole a Radish.
* Confessing the sins of Others.
* A System of Espionnage.
* Brigham bids them "Go Ahead!"
* The Story of Brother Jeddy's Mule.
* The Saints receive a terrible Drubbing.
* Great Excitement in Mormondom.
* How the Saints were Catechized.
* Indelicate Questions are put to Everybody.
* My Mother and Myself Confess.
* The Labors of the Home Missionaries.
* Making Restitution.
* Everybody is Re-baptized.
* "Cut off Below their Ears."
* The "Blood-Atonement" Preached.
* Murder recommended in the Tabernacle.
* Cutting their Neighbors' throats for Love.
* A "Reign of Terror" in Utah.
* Fearful Outrages Committed.
* Murdered "by the Indians"?
* Brigham advises the Assassination of Hatten.
* Murder of Almon Babbitt, Dr.
* Robinson, the Parrishes, and Others.
* Bloodshed the Order of the Day.
Awakening the Saints.HILE my father was in England on mission, my mother was urged very strongly to go to Payson, a town about seventy miles south of Salt Lake City, and start a school there.
She had taught in Kirtland, and in Salt Lake City, and was considered a person of superior attainments by the Saints. Her reputation as a teacher was quite extended among them, and since her arrival in Utah she had often been solicited to resume her profession. She had always hith​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/190 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/191 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/192 ​and somewhat jaded; and although he made no remarks at the time, but, on the contrary, was suavity itself, yet he did not let the brother go unrebuked. After every one had spoken at the meeting, testifying to the utmost good feeling themselves, and exhorting faithfulness on the part of their hearers, Brother Grant arose for the last word. He accused the speakers who had preceded him of inconsistency and hypocrisy; charged the bishop with inefficiency, "Scene During Reformation." and his people with all manner of crimes, and then personally attacked the unfortunate brother for ill-treating his mule. He called upon everybody to repent, and "do their first works over again," or the judgment of God would speedily overtake them. This was the beginning of the famous Utah "Reformation," of which the local movement at Payson was the immediate forerunner. It was the same thing on a much larger scale; confessions were the order of the day, and accusation was as prevalent as confession. ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/194 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/195 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/196 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/197 ​the order of the day. If any person or family were supposed to be lacking in the faith, and failing to exhibit the usual blind submission to the teachings of the priesthood, that person or family was sure to be visited by some disaster — whipped, mobbed, or murdered, and their property destroyed or confiscated to the use of the church. Some instances came under my own observation, and I tell the incidents from actual knowledge, and not from mere hearsay.
A merchant of Salt Lake City, an Englishman, named ——, was suspected of being cool in the faith, and to have little or no sympathy with the fanatical proceedings which attended the Reformation and formed its chief feature. His store was entered one evening by Saints in disguise, he was pulled over the counter by the hair of his head, dragged into the street and thrown into the snow, his store plundered, all the money taken away, his house set on fire, and his two wives barely given time to escape with their children. As an excuse for all this he was accused of having "spoken against the authorities, and had entertained Gentiles at supper."
One of the wives of Mr. wrote quite a thrilling account to some of her English friends respecting their treatinent; and as her story is so simply and yet plainly told, I shall insert it here, as being the best description I can give of it and similar scenes. It is dated from "Weston, Missouri," the August following the year of the Reformation.
   "After Mr. Grimshaw left Salt Lake, Mr. —— made known to Brigham Young his intention to leave the Territory and return to the States, with his reasons for so doing; but his letter was never answered. Brigham made some allusion to it in public, which seemed to convey the idea that he approved of the course Mr. had taken, rather than try to leave clandestinely. From that time we began to dispose of our property, and draw everything into as small a compass as possible. As the winter drew on, various reports were circulated; such as, that we intended to dispose of our large house to the soldiers, and were buying grain to store it for them. This is a capital' offence in the Salt Lake Valley, for the Mormons protest that no soldier shall sleep in Salt ​Lake City one night. It was also said that Mr. —— had sworn to take the life of President Young; that he was boarding States officers at his house; and many more such stories, as strange and unlikely as they were untrue; for when Mr. —— wrote to President Young, he made the offer of all or any part of his property to him first, if he chose to purchase it, and told him that he would rather sell it to the church than to any one else. Time passed on, and we heard some whispers that something dreadful was going to happen to us; but we thought little about it, and felt perfectly safe, until the 13th of January, 1857, when, at half past six in the evening, a man knocked at the front door, which was locked, and Dealing with a Weak Brother. asked for some trifling article out of the shop. While Mr. —— was attending to him, two men walked in and hastily stepped up to him. One of them caught him by the hair and by the collar, and pulled him across the counter, saying, 'You are my prisoner. Mr. —— said, For what? If you have any charge against me, I will go where you wish.' To this no answer was returned but oaths and curses. They dragged him on the ground some distance, and then brought him back into the doorway, all the time trying to strangle him, and threatening to shoot him if he made any noise. One of them made a desperate kick at him but missed his aim. ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/200 ​in the way I have described; and one of my front teeth was loosened, and my limbs most mercilessly bruised.
   "Finding I could not enter to ascertain the state of affairs in the house, I determined to let the neighborhood know, and for many minutes stood shouting for help, until I was exhausted. I could hear that the windows were all being broken, and the furniture destroyed; when I was appalled by hearing Mrs. M. shriek out, O, Mrs. ——, the house is on fire!' I instantly ran in desperation, and got in at the back part of the shop, — and O, my dear sister, what a scene! Flames and smoke up to the ceiling; Brutal Assault upon Mrs. ——. the goods in the store, or shop, burning; and two men, almost suffocated, still intent upon the work of destruction — carrying lighted paper, and setting fire to everything that would burn!
   "The thoughts of my three boys sleeping up stairs; my husband, I knew not where, — perhaps murdered, — and seeing no hope of saving the house — for three rooms were then burning; the thought that to-morrow I and my children would have no home, no shelter, and be penniless, with the snow two feet deep, and not a friend that dare open the door to us, — they dare not do it, however much disposed they might be; for they were threatened with the same, and were told that if they heard the cry of fire they were to take no notice; all these things rush​ing into my mind at once, I grew desperate, and forced my way in at the front door, and implored the ruffians to let me fetch my children down stairs. They muttered, "There's none of them there.' I said, 'Yes, they are asleep in bed.' Then he said, Go.' On passing up stairs, I saw on one side the shop in flames, and the room, the furniture and windows broken, and our clothes scattered about, on fire. I shrieked out, when a man caught me by the throat, and I had to gasp for breath. I saved my children in their night-dresses, and the oldest had to run out with the snow up to his hips.
   "When we found that the villains were gone, we put out the fire, throwing water upon it; and on one shelf was a large canister of gunpowder, within six inches of the flame, of which I did not know. I saved the house from being blown up, but I got my hands severely burned. Four large windows were broken out, one dozen chairs and a table destroyed; a stove and three tables broken; carpets, clothes, and goods burned in the store; and many silver watches and other substantial things stolen, making the damage sustained amount to nearly eight hundred dollars. Every day after was a living death, — a dying daily. We were never safe for an hour. When we appealed to the authorities, they advised us to be quiet about it, and 'let it slide.' And so we did; for we could obtain no redress.
   "The outrage upon us was never mentioned in the newspaper. We had to pocket the insult, and bear the loss; and now we are thankful we are out of it. We exchanged our property for land in the States, hired conveyances, and left on the 22d of April. We are now at Weston, eight miles from Leavenworth, where we arrived without any interruption; but we suffered greatly from the heat. We shall remain here till Mr. J—— makes arrangements for our future abode."
My father knew these people well in England; they were from Leeds, where they were highly respected. I have met them quite recently in Burlington, Iowa, where they are living in very comfortable circumstances. They have outgrown all tendencies towards Mormonism, and are now among its bitterest opponents.
This outrage is somewhat remarkable, because it was ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/203 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/204 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/205 ​shockingly mutilated, were placed in a wagon, and exposed to the crowd by being driven through the streets, attended by a jeering, taunting mob, who could not cease their insults though their victims were still in death. I did not see the bodies, nor did my mother, although they were driven past our door; we both shunned the fearful sight. But there were plenty of women who did look at them, and who gloried in their death as a deed of service to the Lord. Mrs. Jones was mixing bread at the time she was shot, and the dough still remained clinging to her hands after her death.
This was the way that "the Lord" was "worshipped" in Utah in 1856 and 1857. I have heard men say, "If I apostatize, I hope some of my brethren will love me well enough to slay me." The Saints are by no means a bloodthirsty people, but these are some of the results of the teachings during the Reformation.
It may be a matter of wonder to many how honest-hearted people could remain in a church that taught and practiced so many and such fearful evils. Concerning the murders, the majority of the people knew nothing, and supposed that the Indians were the assassins, as they were always told so. Yet some were sufficiently fanatical to ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/207
* ↑ The name is not given from personal considerations, and at the special request of the writer of the letter. Publisher.