Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-04-23
HEseeiIa
MOrmOnism as Revealed by the
Chief Justice of Utah.


MormOnism as Revealed by the
Chief Justice of Utah.
Judge w. W. Drummond, who has re-
signed the office of Chief Justice of Utah
Territory, has lately arrived in New Or.
leans, and from the New Orleans Courier
we get an account of matters at Salt Lake
as given to that paper from Judge Drum
mond's lips. The Courier says:
His Judge D.'s) duties as the represent
ative of federal judicial authority have
shown him where the supreme rule of that
superstition-fettered host rests, whose is the
will that sways the destinies of consider
able nation, what the motive that binds a
hundred thousand inhabitants to the girdle
of Brigham Young, and what the use made
of their power by that astute, capable and
bold hypocrite and his subordinates.
A leading characteristic of the followers
of the modern Mahomet seems to be set
tied and abiding hatred of all "Gentiles, !"
as they are pleased to style all who do not
subscribe to their dogmas and conform to
their unique and revolving creed. Al
though they come mainly from the North
ern of the Republic, they look upon the
United States government as an oppres-
i've one, whose authority they have right
to resist. All who are without the pale
of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, wheth-
in or out of the Territory which they have
usurped, they regard as their enemies
They either set at open defiance the DEGREES
of our courts, or dictate to grand or petit
jurors the indictment they shall report or
the verdict they shall render. In notable
cases, where the guilt of criminals has
been as apparent as the noon-day sun,
Young and his fellow prophets have for
hidden Mormon juries to render n verdict
of conviction. In one instance, where a
poor, helpless, dumb boy was tortured in ma
ny ways for months, barbarously beaten,and
then, while in the agony of his mortal
wounds, was fettered and drowned in a
brook, when his brutal murderer was SEN
fenced 10 the penitentiary, Brigham Young
took him from the hands of the officers. led
him into the tabernacle, proclaimed his alb
solute pardon, forbade any one to arrest
him, and gave him a seat at his righ hand
If Indians commit depredations upon the
Mormons they are punished without delay
or scruples, but if they rob or murder
"Gentiles," the prophet extends his protec-
ton, and forbids jurors to pronounce them
guilty. No law, except what emanates
from the supreme hierarchy, receives the
slightest regard.
+. The right ofprivate property among the
Mormons is almost unknown. Whatever
the rulers need they always find means to
obtain. "The Lord needs it." is warrant
sufficient to enable Young and his Council
to seize upon any property in Utah, and
remonstrance or resistance is not only use
less but dangerous. If wealthy disciple |
arrives from the States, the Church (Young)
Immediately lays hold of just such share
of his goods as he pleases. The portion,
of which the former owner is suffered to
retain nominal possession, he is compelled
to manage according to the dictation of
some prophet or priest. If the prophet
says TO his neigbor: "Plant that field
with potatoes" the former would loose his
lands, and perhaps his lif', were he to re-
fuse. The counsel he is thus obliged to
obey, he is also compelled to ask. The
result is, that the actual possession of the
great mass of all the real and personal pro-
perty in Utah is in the the foul oligarchy /
of Young and his immediate subordinates.
But if the control over the property of
Mormons is tyrannical, that exercised over
their most sacred and private family affairs
is still more so. If a father has child,
fair and innocent, whom he loves and cher
ishes, and if she captivates the fancy of
some leading Mormon, she will be taken
from her home by decree of the elders,
and given up by the ceremony of Sealing"
to become the fortieth or fiftieth wife to an
old william, while her predecessors, who
have grown old in the same guilty and
abominable connection, become his house
hold or cornfeld servants. 1t often hap
pens that man is sealed to two women at
the same ceremony, and cases are not rare
when one of the wives so acquired is lost
by divorce before breakfast the next
.. e.. i
The account given by Judge Drummond
of many of these connections, where some
times mother and two or three of her
daughters were all sealed to one man, pre-
sents picture of beastly barbarity.-
Could correct idea Of these horrible tram
sactions be made known throughout the
country, a crusade would be preached
against this foul horde that would soon put
an end to their sway.
REsIaNATIoN OF JUDGE DRUMMoND.
To the Hon. jeremiah S. Black, attorney
General of the United States, Wash
ington City, d. c.:
Nv Dear Sir:-As l have concluded to
resign the office of Justice of the Supreme
Court of the Territory of Utah, which po
sition 1 accepted in A. D. 1854, under the
administration of President Pierce, deem
it due to the public to give some of the
reasons why l do so. In the first place,
Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah
Territory, is the acknowledged head of the
"Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-Day
Saints" commonly called "Mormons,"
and as such head the Mormons look to
him, and to him alone, for the law by
which they are to be governed; there
fore no law of Congress is by them consid-
cred binding in any manner.
Secondly, l know that there is secret
oath-bound organization among all the
male members of the church, and to ac-
knowledge no law save the law ofthe "Holy
Priesthnodn which comes to the neonla |