The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-16
MORMONISM.

''Did You take slaves to Utah, Mr.. Hooper,"
eyes: 1 was allowed to hold two there
They had been left to me and were anxious to
have me keep them. Most of the leading
Mormons were New England and New York
men, opposed to slavery; but was allowed to
hold those negroes temporarily"
''Have the Mormons any patriotism, Mr..
Hooper, Do they feel Loyalty towards the
United States ?"
"why, sir! we claim to be the most Ameri-
can of all the American people"
''The Book of Mormon is a native Ameri-
can Bible. The Mormon's Land of Canaan
was Mexico what we call the Lamanites are
the American Indians; our Jerusalem is not
in Asia, but to be set up in the United
States. We have no flag but the American
flag we have marched under it-fve hundred
Mormons-to fight in the Mexican war.
Why, sirl Just as we were driven from our
pleasant homes in Illinois, and were wander
ing about Council Bluffs in search of some
len or cleft to give US refuge, Captain James
Allen, of the United States army, demanded
five hundred men to fight for the flag that
could not protect u.s. President Young's re-
ply was:-''Yeu shall have your battalion if
we have to take our elders to make it up"
And, sir, the Mormon battalion marched to
Santa Fe, to San Diego, and to Los Angeles,
where it served year, receiving the praise of
such distinguished men as Stoneman, Philip
st. George Cooke, and A. j. Smith. Some
of these men re-enlisted for the whole Mexi-
can war; but while the men were gone, sir, to
fight for the country, the sick, the infrm, and
the helpless were driven to the prairies of
Iowa.
"Loyal to the flag? Why, sir almost every
leading man in the Church was born under it.
Some of the greatest events in the history of
the country are associated with the enterprise
of the Mormons: the discovery of gold, the
Il - ILL AAfo IA
such as Omaha, Leavenworth, and Salt Lake;
which were first staked out by Mormon
wagoners. The Stars and Stripes went up
over the first camp ever seen in the Valley of
Salt Lake. All that is needed to make the
Mormon people the most obedient and the
most patriotic Americans is to deal with them
gently"
Suppose the General Government were to
pass the Cullom bill, and President Grant
were to enforce it, would the Mormons aban-
don Utah rather than give up their peculiar
institution"
'That is hard question. If l were COM
PEELED to answer it, would say that they
would leave their all, submit to exile, to i'm
prisonment yea, to death, rather than break
up the homes that they have made and give
up their religion. My impression is that they
would permit the law to be enforced upon
them; that they would go to Jail as firmly as
they have taken to the desert, and trust to
the sympathy they would arouse amongst the
American people for their deliverance."
(Here spoke up the Gentle bystander-'T
reckon, Captain Hooper, that they would cut
that railroad first about two hundred miles
each way"
The captain made an indescribable wink
and grimace of very suggestive sort. THAT
nothing.D
'Then do you think that if the Govern
ment should abstain from interfering with
polygamy it would perish of itself ?"
"That am not intelligent enough to reply
to. Sometimes L think it would. I should
say that if it was of God that it would not
perish, if of man, that it would die"
Captain, if the Mormons believe that their
faith is never to perish, and if they are also
loyal to the Government of the United States,
what is the logical conclusion?"
''The reply to that leading question, my
friend, is this:-The Mormops expect to con-
vert the whole population of the United
States, and then patriotism and Mormonism
will be the same. Why, sir, there never was
religious denomination with the proselyting
energy of the Saints they have not only
preached and been imprisoned in France,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia,
Chill, West Indies, Australia, but they have
visited Palestine, the Society Islands, Glib
raltar, Hindostan, Guiana, Ceylon, Siam,
Malta, the Sandwich Islands, and Africa, and
they expect to convert mankind"
"Why have you never taken more than
one wife, Mr.. Hooper,"
''Well, sir, that is between me and my
God. I suppose that am not as good as
should be. People often say to me, IF you
believe in polygamy, why don't you practise
it ~ That is my business"
''Have you any children, Mr.. Hooper? ?"
''Five, sir. have had two wives, but not
at the same time"
''You are said to be the most prosperous
man in the Territory, Mr.. Hooper,"
"Oh no, sir; not at all
Mr.. Hooper seemed to think that the cross
examination had become too close at this
point, and he turned me over to Colonel
Head, who, he said was much more impair
tial witness about affairs in Salt Lake than
himself.
One of the first requests made of Colonel
Head was that he point out to me in the
Appendix to the Book of Mormon, which lay
near by, the particular paragraph in Joe
Smiths revelation which authorized poly
gamy.
The Colonel at once indicated it, as fol-
lows
''If any man espouse virgin, and desire
to espouse another, and the first give hel
consent, and if he espouse the second, and
they are virgins, and have vowed to no Other
man, then is he justified; he cannot commit
adultery, for they are given unto him; for he
cannot commit adultery with that that be-
longeth unto him and to no one else; and il
he have ten virgins given unto him by this
law, he cannot commit adultery, for they be
long to him, and they are given unto him
therefore is he justified. But if one or either