The Placer herald., 1858-01-23
Mormonism in a New Shape.

A correspondent from San Bernardino
writes to the State Jou,nul as follows:
There is a genius at this place who has. in
humble imitation of the famous Joe Sni h,
S arted up new doctrine, in which he, like
Joe in his, is the chief parsonage. His name
is "a. Potter and he has conceived that he
is an elder brother of Jesus Christ He says
that he was on the way to this country from
Australia, where he had been on Mormon
mission, when an angel appeared to him, and
revealed the great truth;' and that he, Pot
ter, then remembered the Circumstance of
having been born many thousand years ago,
and of having passed from earth to heaven
and beck several times. Potter has num-
Der of reams of foo!scap which are closely
written, and which, he says is the Celestial
Law which is being revealed to him from
time to time. 1t would be fortune to a
printer to publish it, if the new re,eator
could furnish the cash for so doing, which he
hopes to do as soon as he can strike st me
wealthy convert. have conversed with him
several times, but Potter rains down scriptu-
raj quotations upon me SO heavily that gave
up all hopes of getting fair idea of the mat
ter. This character has ta:ooed sailor fash
ion, on his forehead:
"a. POTTER CHRIsT,
The TRUE AND LIVING Cop
The MORNING STAR"
There is a cross under the inscription, and
star above. He calls this the seal of his
new church, and promises all who wear it
and who will be faithful, that they shall never
die. He also carries white banner with the
;pc IL bo
raises it Mormonism shall fall. He raised it
two months since in San Bernardino, the
Mormon flag staff was blown down the same
day, and Mormonism has gone in, or rather
gone out, ever since. lie triumphantly al
ludes to this fact. Potter doesn't look much
like Celestial person, he is about fifty, wears
an extremely short tail coat and shocking
bad hat. His eyes are small and black dan
cling about continually. After his meetings
on Sundays, which are tolerab' we'll attend
ed, he does not object to taking drink, if
invited, and he quotes scripture to justify
himself Strange to say this person has sew
era converts in the town. One is very
respectable, intelligent, and in any other res
pect sensible young man, by the name of
Kimball, who, with his family, are converts.
Mr.. Kmball will compare favorably with any
of the Mormons who have gone to Salt Lake,
in point of character. He also has the "seal, "
and firmly believes he has become immortal
Persons are admitted to the church by bapt-
ism, and the seal is not essential to member
ship, though it is to immortality. Potter
does not baptise them. He requires pied
&c that they immerse all over, to suit them
selves, and trusts to their honor to perform
it.
The new church head is very bitter against
Brigham Young, and denounces him on
every occasion. There appears just about
as much reason in this new tangled idea as
in the far-famed Mormonism, and apparently
it is likely to create much less mischief, as
Potter is non-resistant There is food for
deep reflection, especially medical men in
these strange hallucinations.
Although Overton d Bibbs steam wagon
is not yet completed, it is not abandoned.
Workmen are busily engaged in finishing
up its complicated machinery, and they soon
bo,o 70 bova ,tc i've, lox, ~ ,v,ot;or II ac