The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-14
SOCIAL LIFE IN UTAH.
The ERccts OF Poly9amy--Complica ted
KinshiP-Frightful Death hate.

KinshiP-Frightful Death hate.
Salt Lake correspondent Of the Cincinnati
Commercial writes as follows
Another evil beginning to show itself is the
mixing of kindred blood. The marriage of
eral cases have occurred were uucle and niece
were married, but know personally of no such
case.
There are several cases of man MARRYING
both mother and daughter, and the marriage
OF two or three sisters by one man is quite
common. Robert Sharkey, q merchant OF this
city, married three sisters, one Of whom was
divorced from her first husband o marry hun.
They all lived in one house, and quite happily
1t is said, for several years, when in some
strange manner they all became convinced
that polygamy was wrong. One OF the sisters
started East, but soon returned and adeavor-
ed to make como Arrangement for him to put
away the other two. There were difficulties in
the way. aud Sharkey's trouble was SO great on
the subject that his mind became disordered,
and last August he committed suicide by shoe
ing himself through the head. The widowed
sisters still live together. and are determined
opponents Of polysamy; Two OF Brigham
Decker seely, are sisters, the second having
been the widow OF DR.. Isaac Seeiy, Of Nauvoo,
Illinois. The Mormon leaders advise q man to
marry sisters whenever !, can be done. as they
usually agree better han others. One family
within my knowledge consists of two men and
four women. the mems first wives beng
sisters, and their second wives each q sister Of
the other man, all living IN one house. Or to
state it n1athematically. A and b first marry
sisters, lhen A marries BIS sister and AS sls-
ter. Here IS no marriage Of blood relations.
aud yet it looks like terrible mixture some
where. The question arises for lawyers: sup
pose each Of the women to have children, what
akin are they respectively? And which OF them
could lawfully marry according to Leviticus and
Chancellor Kent2 II polygamy continues,
these mixtures are nothing to what must take
place in the next generation, for without
chemical analysis no - Heraldry Harvey" could
ever succeed In finding the oonsanguineous
circulation, to say nothing of the collateral.
'As it now is. it seems like half the children
in the city are related in some way or another
to the Klmballs, the Pratts, or the Youngs and
many OF them to all three" Among my ac-
over the Jordan River, who Was the widow OF
an apostate who died in California, but is now
the third wife Of o Norman. The brother Of
her first hus band, now living here, is also an
lady has handsome daughter, now seventeen
years old, the offspring of her first husband and
the niece Of my friend.
The lady is kind-hearted and hospitable,
and, IN company with my friend, I enjoy visit
| at. her house very much, as long as we can
avoid the subject or MOrmonlsm. Lately this
lady's husband has proposed in form for her
daughter to marry him. and can see that it is
the strongest tl1al the mothers faith has had.
but such Is her devotion to the doctrine that
che has given her consent, '.if Bf other Brig
ham says 1t is the will Of the Lord" The
daughter, however, assures her uncle that she
''w1l die before she will marry him or any
other Mormon" For the sake Of peace she
says nothing at home, but declares her lnten-
ton to run away rather than submits The
mother, like many others, says she "would ra-
ther see her daughter in the coffin than mar
RED to GENTLE, for that would be her eternal
ruin for both worlds" All, however, are not
SO zealous on this subject, and there is quite q
number Of Mormon women who think that a
mistake has been made somehow. that poly
gamy is not OF the Lord, that it is not true
Mormonism, 60. Those who believe in it
in this world for their exaltstion IN the next,
This oity already shows it's bad effect on the
offspring. Tho site to AGO feet above the level
ly free from extremes Of heat and cold, and
consequently it should be one Of the healthiest
cities IN the world. Exactly the reverse is the
S hae hae tSss asse ass ssts ~ aasg s little
and greater than that Of New York or New Or
| leans. When we oome to children, the dis
parity is still more trlghtful. BY actual statis-
t. shown hat ne norsht the
other IN America. except Now orleans, and the
death rate OF Utah Is only exceeded by that Of
Louisiana. The Mormons have greatly exas
really contains ! little less than 1S. 600 souls.
aud IN this'small number the sexton's report
| for October last the healthieat month in
the year, gives tho 7ntermentS at SIXTY,
OF which forty-tO were children. Last year
was unusually healthy. and yet the death rate
exceeds that OF any other State or Territory
west OF the Mississlppi. The Mormous explain
this by SAVING that their people are generally
poor and exposed to hardships, but much 81
that povef,y IL directly traceable 10 their rsi.
gion. Another sad fact is she general neglect
OF medical care, or rather o general tendency
to ru"sa wild aud absurd scLemes OF DOCTOR
ing. They olaim that laying on II hands and
the prayer Of faith" will heal the sich, aud vet
no people within my knowledge are 80 given to
''TnomsOnianism," steam doctoring,b - s.yarb
medicne," and every other irregular mode OF
treating the sick But s few dsys ago thfss
young children died in the Seventeenth Ward,
OF atarlet fever. In neither case Was o physi-
cian called the blshop came and ''laid on
hands, with the holy amounting" and an old
w0n.an treated TWO Of them with o mild pallia-
tive sueh ~ 10 used for q sore throat.
| IL the .paiIents live, AFTER such treatment, II
10 miracle; and i they dc, 1t is tho twill Of
| the ord" Two-thirda OF the polygsmists do
not and cannot attend properly to their chill
dren. Heber Q. Kimball had sixty-three sops.