The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-12
THE UTAH ABoMINATIoN.
How They marry-FrOm n BwIndIod
sssatmGo


From ire SaH Lake Uaron Tidetie, December IS.
The following Is portion OF a letter written
by an immigrant convert to polygamy, who was
formerly q respectable worldng-man in the en-
ploy of Lawrence Co., wine merchants of
Hertford, England After few years slavery
in Utah, he worked his way to Sacramento,
California, where he wrote this letter to Hert-
ford paper, hoping 1t would be the means of
preventing others in that country from being
deluded by the Misrepresentation OF Mormon
pToselytes, the pollutions of whose system he
became disgusted with and thus descrbes;-
SACRAMENTO CITY, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, September %, 1866;
-Sir:--In my last letter to mother, promised
TO send you little of my experience while in
Salt Lake, which was afraid to do while living
there, as my life would have been in danger by
so doing But as / am now in free country
can futter my wings, and can send to my friends
the truth of things as they exist there, without
being afraid
In my previous letters have been very silent
on the polygamy question. | think little news
of that kind will be very interesting to you and
few of your friends. In the first place, old
men of seventy marry girls at fourteen years of
age and in some instances they give the parents
of the child COW or an old gun, or some other
trifiing thing. In the next place, man will
marry girl, and that girls brother will marry
her husbands daughter, and very frequently a
man marries two or three sisters; but, worst of
all, many 80 so far as to marry woman and
her daughter, or daughters, as the case may
be. Again, the missionaries from there to the
old countries urge the emigration, especially
that of the females, and many women, when
they had not sufficient means to emigrate
with their whole family, emigrated with their
daughters, and left their husbands and the rest
of the family to follow them the next year, or
as soon after as they can procure the means. In
many instances, when the man gets there, he
finds out that his wife is married to another
man, and should he be so fortunate with his wife,
he has to keep one eye open all the time, or he
will lose her, especially If she has the appear
ance of being smart woman; for can assure
you that they are a set of old men with one leg
in the grave and the other out, crawling around
after women, and should they see one that they
think they would like, they tell the poor woman
that her husband can't save her, and persuade
her to get man higher in the priesthood than
her husband, and these old cripples often sue
can't help himself. 1t is the order of the King
dom of their God.
l have told you that they marry. 1 will now
tell you how some Of them live. / will speak of
those in the neighborhood ltvedln. Three of my
nearest neghbors were polygamists-one old
man who had no children; he lived pretty, fair
with his women. The other two lived like
devils; they used to fight and call each other
filthy names. If the man has means enough he
gets a house for each of his women; if not they
all live together.
One young woman that we were acquainted
with went and listened one night at the window
of the other wife of her husband, and heard
something she did not like She up with her
fist and broke almost every pane of glass in the
Frame and for the panes she broke her wages
was several of her teeth knocked out. Oh, Zion,
when think of thee A sister of one of the
apostles has no less than four husbands, and all
living. Women there, if they don't like their
husbands, go to Brother Brigham, and he gives
them bill of divorce, for which he charges $40,
which her late husband has to pay, aud calls
that his pocket money.
Mr.. W., ! can assure you that there is not
that happy smile there upon a woman's counte-
nance which characterizes an English woman.
Many of them, as soon as they get there, begin
to peep through the wool that has been drawn
over their eyes, probably for years, and some Of
them come out and say Mormonism in Utah
and Mormonism in England have no compari-
son. / found it so long before l got to Salt
Lake, but would like to have found it out
before l left my home. At any rate l am quite
satisfied now, and have come to this conclusion,
that if God olons that people, the Deuu ODns The
best. am sir, your humble servant,
W. HART.
P. S.-As am out of danger you can make
what use you like Of this letter.