The Van Buren press., 1874-04-14
Budget Of SciSsOrings.
oLIMsEs AT MORMON LIFE.
The Prophets Nineteenth Wife in the
Lecture Field.
From the New York Sun, April srd.


Mrs. Ann Eliza, the nineteenth and re
bellious wife of Brigham Young, iectured
in DR. Porter's Reformed Church, in
Bedford avenue, Wiliamsburgh, last
evening. Her subj jrct was MY Life of
Bondage a" The very large auditory was
nearly filled. and when Mrs. Young en-
tered BY side door, a stretching ofnecks
showed the general eagerRess to see her
She was conducted to the pulpit by DR..
Porter, and while he spoke briefly by
way Of introduction she sat demurely in
one of the great carved back chairs. AZ.
ter he was done, she advanced to the
desk, spread out her manuscript, and be
gan to speak. She is thirty years old,
but looks younger is rather tall, slender,
straight, and graceful. Between her and
Agnes Ethel, the actress, there is strik
ing likeness. There is in both the same
refined, comely, sad face and tremulous,
musical voice. She has none of the prac
,ised archness or coquettish wriggles of
the women of Eastern society. Her man
ner is subdued, ladyhkc, and very seldom
not entirely self possessed. She delivers
her words somewhat monotonously,
without the eniivenment Of infection or
gesture, but in an entirely unaffected
way. She wears black silk, cut in fash
ionable style, and her black hair is mode.
rately puffed and frizxled.
HER MARRIED LIFE
Starting with disclaimer Of oratorcal
ability, she told the story Of her married
life with the Mormon prophet She was
reared in the faith, and was baptized in
accordance with its formula at the age of
eight, and again at sixteen The latter
preceding the ceremony Of initiation into
the secret mysteries Mormonism, rite
conducted in temple with grotesquo
mummerics In that performance Brig
ham Young took the part Of God, and
Others personatcd Christ, Satan, and the
Apostles. Certain pledges were taken,
with barbarous penalties attached if
broken, and at the conclusion she was
anointed with oil and conscorated The
ceremony involved an oath Of hostility
10 the United States Government, and TO
avenge the murder of Joseph Smith
When eighteen years old Brigham select
ed her with others to act on the stage of
his theatre, and they spent their time in
stedp and performance without pay, even
finding their own wardrobes At nine
teen she was married to Mormon,
whose name she did not give, and was
his only wife, He treated her lily, and
she left him, with her two children, after
ward getting divorce. While living
with her parents again, Brigham began
his courtship, first by securing the active
cooperation Of her father. The prophet
said that he had intended to marry her
long before, but Congress been agtating
the question of polygamy, and while de-
laying on that account she had married
somebody else, She had been taught to
revere him, and although t.v 80. Ii . I, c c
itself was repugnant, she dared not qnes
ton the magnitude Of the proTered hon
or. nor tell to anybody her dislike Of it.
She delayed an answer, however, aud
was not married to Brigham, then over
TO- years old, until 1868. The ceremony
took place in tho :" sealing room where
they were solemnly joined for time and
eternity" Then she was sent back TO
her parents, aud did not again see her
husband, except for brief formal call,
during month, Attet that she lived
for year in cheaply furnished house
and received scanty ra,ious from Brig
hams stores. Next she was sent to take
care Of one Of his farms, four miles out
Of the city, where the butter and cheese
were made for his other wives and their
children.
THE PROPHET NE0LEcTING HER
She was neglected, humiliated, and in.
suited there for two years. She went to
balls with Brigham, but much to her cha.
grin another wife was taken along, and
from that time she went no where with
him. All this time her faith in Mormon
ism and its prophet waned, and when he
finally drove her mother away she began
to hate him Then she left him and sued
for divorce, which is still delayed.
The recital Of her experience. with ia
mliar descriptions of Brigham Young's
family and mode of living occupied an
hour and half She described him
personally rs tyrannical, parsimouious,
and hypocritcal, but under the suhjuga
tion of his favoritc wife, Amelia, n terma.
giant who leads him by the nose at will
The audience was attentive throughout,
applaudiny in places, and vigorously at
The close.