Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-11-04
NOTES ON MoRMoNIsM.


ruE NIGHTMARE OF SALT LAKE cITY-A BRIE
KxPKRIRNcE AND sohE NoTEs CONCERNING 1T.
SAN FEANcIsco, October 20 1869.
At q distance of two thousand miles, Mormon
ism is ajoke; but to tho brlefest dweller In Sal
Lake City 1t lisa nightmare. We jest Of Brigham
Young, at home, as simply man ',much mar
risd, but In Utah he IL a veritabe being, fiesl
aud blood monster. Contact with tho system o
which he Ia the head, brings 10 every ono will
whom have met sincere sensations of dIsgus
and Indignation.
From Uintah, thlrty-nve miles away, the near
est station on the Pacific Railroad, you now stag,
it to Salt Lake City, but the branch railroads.
which Brigham Young ls President, and the othel
officers his creatures-will be running very soon
say by New Year, Of farhest. The stage road
winds over some steep hills soon after leaving
Uintah, but finds, for the most part, a tolcrably
level bed, near the base Of the mountain on the
East side Of the valley, through thickly settled
country, and several villages.
Five hours' ride brings you TO the City. III
streets arc immensely broad, and il covers about
sixteen hundred acres. For magnificent distances
-tiresome, painful distances Washington hence.
forth pales Its Intellectual fires, in comparison.
The houses are scattered, because they haya
universally, large plots of yard and garden, and
they are hidden both by the cottonwoods and
l0cnsts on the sidewalks, and the fruit trees
planted inside their own Enclosures. The popu-
lation is 10000 to 10000. There arc twenty
church. There is Mayor, Daniel IL. Wells by
name, Mormon, one of the three councillors Of
Young, narrow-minded and illiterate man, with
several wives. There is police force, whose
Individuality has no external badge, changed at
frequent Intervals, whose business is not so much
to enforce order as to spy upon oil who are not
Mormons. There is no public school system,
properly so called, gas or water works, of course
not, and paving or matchmaking none. 1t Is
really only regularly laid cut village, somewhat
conpactly built on one or two business streets.
Tho snow streams which come down from the
neighboring mountains are trained into the gut
ters, and they flow with rapid, clear and spark
ling volume all over the city. Al certain intervals
of time they are turned of at the corners of the
streets, to be. applied, first to this and then to
that section, for irrigation of the yards and gar
dcRs.
We attended the Mormon Theatre on the even
ing Of our arrival. 1t Is roomy, decent, and
properly constructed, but nothing more. 1t is
not elegant pretty, nor even strictly clean. Brig
ham and several of his wives were present. He
was in a private box, but they were scattered
Of his sons, Joseph and Brigham, Jr. The play
was "a New Way to Pay Old Debts" with an
imported actor as "star, !" and the regular COM
pany belonging to the Theatre TO fill the bill
The whele affair as q dramatic effort was very
deficient, of which the "star" contributed his
full share.
The audience consisted largely of women, and
some of us closely scanned their appearance. II
was, with the exception of one dantily-dressed
bright girl, daughter OF Brigham. who sat on
one side, In the seats specially reserved for his
family, simply forlorn. The Mormon woman
are not Gods creatures, partners OF men in doing
Ills good works, but poor, down-trodden and
spiritsss forms Of clay. The look at them in
the theatre--and also stood by the door as the
srowd poured forth when the play was over
will serve for all opportunities OF observation.
The slaves of the Eastern Pachas may be physi-
cally beautiful, but these victims arc apparently
no windows for any soul whatever, lovely or
otherwise. Most of them, especially in the out
side settlements, come from the poorest ranks OF
Europe, where toll, exposure, hunger, and igno-
rance, have hardened and pinched body and soul,
hut after you make all allowance for them, there
isvcry little Improvement among The other. All
nrc sad, vacant, pnssionlcss faces. The Mormon
woman is wreck, and she knows it, She is told
by the chsrch that obedience to the rule which
makes her miserable and ashamed here, will give
her high place In Heaven. Those who believe
that-a mnjortyno doabt-haye something which
barely lightens despair.
0fpublic buildings, none arc especially inter-
teresting, save the Tabernacle. Cut a not.inuch-
pointed egg shell In half, lengthwise, and put II
ior roof on hundred supporting pillars, and
you will have that building in miniature. The
roof is wholly OF frame and Is said to be the
largest single arch built of wood, and without
any centre supports whatever, In the world. Its
span is about 15O feet. The building is said to
actually seat ten thousand people; perhaps il
will the interior Is very spacious. 1t is entirely
bare Of any ornament, except the great organ
which stands on the elevated platform across one
cnd Of the room. 1t is claimed that this organ ID
next largest in the United States after that al
Boston, but 1t is yet only partially built, some
four hundred out OF eighteen hundred pipes
being in place. Mr., Drexel, Of our party, an ac
complished organist, played upon IL, and spoke
favorably of its construction and powers. We
climbed up upon the root of the building, and
enjoyed the best view of the city to be had, ex
cept by ascending some of the mountain heights
Within the same enclosure as the Tabernacle Il
The foundation for the proposed Temple. 1t is
massive work, constructed of immense blocks O
granite but they looked to Ms as though they
were not entirely proof against disintegraton By
the elements, notwithstanding their size. Thir
teen years Of labor have been spent upon thes'
foundations, and they arc now Just above th'
surface of the ground. Work has been suspended
for some time, in consequence, il Is said, of th
withdrawal Of the laborers to aid in the construc
ton of the railroad
The gentleman who showed US around Templ,
enclosure is tall, broad-shouldered, heavily
bearded man, who was once Major In the British
army, man Of education, OF intelligence, an.
general information. How came he here Will
these peoplel Is he none too educated to be
fool, or lust enough so for knave? He has ON
or two am not sure-wives, beside the on
who, he must know, is his first mate. When on
OF the ladies asked concerning them, ms gianc
fell, and he changed countenauce visibly.
Accompanying us, too, In our walk around th
Temple enclosure, Is the Oldest bishop OF th
Church. His name Is Edward Hunter, and he
n big, broad-shouldered man, Of sixty-hye, VIII
bears heavily upon his cane. He was born Il
Delaware county, Pennsylvania, but remove
from Chester county, where he owned two goo
farms, up in one of the Nantmeal townships, an
Joined the Mormons Mt Nauvoo. His father, b
said, belonged TO the Episcopal church; HI
mother came Of Quaker stock. When his pcopl
were driven from Nauvoo he followed the leadei
ship of Brigham, to Salt Lake, and has now bee
there over twenty-five years. Heis not regarde
is head of the bishops, and indeed the duties {
that Office are mainly of n practical tempor,
character. 1t Is one Of the less important pos
lions among the rulers, charged with the cole
affairs among the people. This man, Hunter,
kindly, shrcwd, eccentric old man, with limlte
natural capacity, and slender education. He is
victim to that pressure upon our American bra
which produces on one hand an acute genius, ar
on the ether q srazea visionary. lmpelled
this hungering, torturing, American demon, th
good Old Chester county farmer has bccon
cracked In his little capacity, warped In his sob
Judgment, and here among these deludcd victim
lives with three or four women, and calls hims'
bishop! Such is Merm0nism, and OF kindr'
nature Is spirltualism, communionsm. what nc
The Independence Of the human mind must pr
coed carefully, or 1t wrecks itself.
There is another ef the bishops from Chest
county. His name is Jacob Weiter, and he liv
somewhere in the lower part OF the Territor
Hunter referred to him as "Jake ; o, yes, Jak
He's = safe man; Dutch; yes, from Chest
There are other Mormons who came from sc
tions near to Wilmington. One OF the twel
Apostles Gssrge @. Cannon, Is connected wi
our Delawareans OF that name, though und
stand he was born, himself, In one OF the ole
SO much for one letter on Mormonism.
find my material will occupy one or two more
II. M. j.
HEBER KIMBALLs FORTY eHILDREN-scBot
AT SALT LAKE-A ROMANCE OF MISSING M
ETC.
SAN Francisco, Oct %
Heber G. Kimball, the most prominent Morn
after Young, died over year ago, and the ret'
made to the United States Assessor for the tax
the legacies received by his children, I saw
Salt Lake City. He died aged 60, and left for