The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-02 00:00:00

SUSPICIOUS AND REVOLTING CASE.

A young and very prepossessing lady came with an emi-
grant train bound to Oregon. She became acquainted
with a man, apparently a gentleman, who represented
himself to her as being single, and possessing a large
property. Other arts and intrigues were brought to bear
upon her, and she finally consented to become his wife.
The marriage took place in the morning, and the same day
her friends resumed their journey. But judge of her con-
sternation and astonishment, on being conveyed to his
home, to find it tenanted by a wife, whose appearance be-
tokened her a perfect tigress. She took no further notice
of the new wife, than to order her into the kitchen, and
bidding her remember that henceforth that was to be her
place._ Julia looked at her husband.
. .

" Margaret is right," my dear," he said. " You must
always obey her; indeed, on that condition only she con-
sented to my bringing you here."
Julia was too deeply grieved to speak, and retired to the
kitchen ; and from that hour a system of tyranny and
cruelty was practised by the first wife on the second that
almost exceeds belief. Julia applied to her husband in
vain.

" The wife's first duty was obedience," he said.
" Obedience to yourself," suggested Julia.
" Obedience to me comprises obedience to her likewise,"
answered the husband, because it is my command that you
obey and serve Margaret ; but don't bother me with your
fusses." And so Julia was constrained to perform all the
household drudgery, and not unfrequently was subjected to
physical punishment of a cruel and revolting kind. For
though the rules of Mormondom actually forbid the exer-
cise of authority or punishment by one wife over another,
the husband is at perfect liberty to suspend these rules any
moment when he sees fit.

Julia found the trials and miseries of her lot increasing
every day, and she finally informed her husband that she
had made up her mind to leave him with the first emigrant
train that came along, and one was then expected every
day. The husband approved her plan, and said that he
would give her money, and seemed perfectly satisfied.
But two or three evenings subsequently she disappeared,
and was never seen or heard of afterwards. Nothing,
however, was done about it. Some of the women ex-
pressed surprise, but were silenced by a Mormon elder,
who assured them that Satan had carried her off bodily,
because she presumed to be discontented with her happy
lot among the children of God.
Another source of mystery and terror in Utah, was the
almost constant exercise of Lynch law; and of this, too.
women were mostly the victims. Let a woman, if she
dare, commit such acts as would be likely to bring poly-
gamy into disrepute, expose the weakness or sensuality of
an elder, or manifest a disapprobation of the existing state
of things, and some hideous punishment would be sure to
be hers—when, where, or what, it would he impossible to
tell, though none the less hideous and certain—that is, if
it ever reached the ears of the elect and sanctified.
In this respect matters daily, and almost hourly, grew
worse. On our first arrival at Salt Lake, and some time

122

subsequently, we enjoyed a tolerable degre era freedom,
but the reins gradually tightened, until it 'nerved that our
very thoughts were under a strict surveillance. And the
worst feature of the case was the deep and unfathomable
mystery attending it. Punishments were inflicted for words
lightly spoken, long after the words and the occasion of
them were forgotten. Lynch laws were summarily exe-
cuted on helpless victims, entirely ignorant of the crimes
of which they were accused. Few women thus punished
ever recovered from the effects of it; and many were ren-
dered nervous, and half insane, from apprehension of the
like.

The secret and mysterious punishment and dis-
appearance of individuals supposed to be inimical
or dangerous to the leaders of this obnoxious sect
form frequent subjects of observation, and con-
stitute fertile themes for remark by our authoress,
mingled in not a few instances with apprehen-i
mons and misgivings of a serious nature on her
own account. She thus pointedly summarises the
GENERAL POLITY AND WORKING OF THE MORMON

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL ST

returned with ardour by the lady, whose band had been
demanded by a Mormon elder, already the husband of
nine wives. Ignorant of danger, and intent only on the
gratification of Lis passion, the lover remained in Utah
while his friends prosecuted their journey. Arabel, from
the commencement of his attentions, had been strictly
watched ; yet love laughs at locksmiths, and they had
concerted a plan of escape. This, by some unaccountable
means, was betrayed, and the eloping lady leaped from
the window of the room in which she was confined--not
into the arms of the youth, but those of the man she loathed
and hated. But where is the lover? To this day no one
knows—that is, if their words are regarded as the truth;.
but there are those who blench at the mention of his name.
Several women disappeared in the same manner—generally
disaffected wives. Brigham very laconically explainedt the
matter in a newspaper published by his direction, and
under his supervision, by stating that Indian Walker was
passionately fond of the Mormon women, and that unless
husbands were more careful of their wives in future,, they
would lose yet more of them. But Mormon husbands• are
careful of their wives with a vengeance : and it seemed•
remarkable that the Indians should only meddle with: such
as had become obnoxious to their husbands.

From the preceding extracts, it is sufficiently
evident that the working of the Mormon. system
is socially as dangerous and wicked as itsreligious
teaching is blasphemous and degrading. The
expose contained in this little work is earnest, and
seemingly executed with a scrupulous attention to
fidelity. It ought to be valuable as a means of
opening the eyes of the unsuspecting and credu-
lous, who are apt to be led away by the artful
tales of those practised in the ways of deceit. The
pictures of misery and degradation contained in
this delineation of female life among the Mormons
are so hideous and revolting that, as warning
beacons, they must prove salutary..

The Poetical Works of Charles Churchill. With
Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory
Notes, by the Rev. George GiMan. Edin-
burgh : James Nichol.
The volume before us is, it many respects, the
crowning wonder of the series of which it consti-
tutes a part. It is the last lut one of the third
year's issue, and in point of quantity of matter it
exceeds all the previous volunes, without having,
in any degree, deteriorated in quality of paper or
printing, or being enhancel in price. Such
liberality on the part of the spirited publisher is.
deserving of the highest comnendation, and must
serve still further to estabish the well-earned
popularity of the work as a whole. The poems
of Churchill, although "narked by extraordinary
vigour of diction, and a manly independence of_,
thought, have been less generally known than the
writings of many a less giftel son of the Xuses ;
and on this account will be, to many, a more
welcome gift than the repubicatinn of the works
of others, with which the public is mare exten-
sively familiar. An obstacle to their general
popularity has no doubt existed in the ephemeral
character which usually attaches to works of
satire ;. but in the case of Churchill there is so,
much generalization in the style of treatment, that
the object satirised, although fleeting in its indi-
vidual interest, is still as valuable as ewer, when
looked on as the medium hr conveying merited
censure., Folly as folly,, vies as vice, are assailed
with so truculent a style of battle, that the vigour
of the combat and the glory of the victory re-
main as striking and as valuable as ever, although
the objects of the satirist's castigation and disdain
have long faded from recollection.
Like the other volumes of the series, the pre-
sent is prefaced with a bi)grapical essay by the
Rev. George Gilfillan, in which that gentleman
displays his wonted fearlessness of investigation
and his customary independence of opinion. In
the beginning of this essay we have the annexed
ESTIMATE OF CHURCHILL'S CHARACTER AND
WRITINGS.

Possessed of powers and endowments which might
have made him, under favourable circumstances, a poet,