The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-11-16
ANN ELIZA YOUNG.
She Opens Her Subject on the Woes
fMOrmOndOm.

tOuIL vi pOlN "a -
.roduced Mrs. YouEg-a rather tall
well-f.rmed woman. of say tbirty-fve,
with a clear, gray eye and dark hair
'sdone up" smoothly and modestly, with
a well.formed, oval face and features
that are regular il not exactly hand
some. dressed becomingly in a dark suit,
Ann Eliza made a favorable impression
on her audience before she openncd her
mouth. She appeared with roll of
manuscript in her hand, to which she oc-
casionally referred to refresh her mem
orv, and in clear and well.modulated
voice, commenced as follows:
81 am fugitive from the despotism OF
one of our institutions, an institution
anctioned, preserved and recognized by
the American Congress-an Institution
whose victims are not black men and
black wompn-but rLite women and
children, borne Of your bone, flesh
OF your flesh; with the same
characteristics, the same ancentry,
same aspirations same religion (al-
belt perverted as the same Bible from
which it sprung WAS also perverted IN
the interests OF black bonduge) an in
sttuuon which the great party that an
initiated negro slavery so.cmnly pledged
itself to DESTROY, but has left undistuIb-
ed to blast the lives Of my sisters in
Utah; an institution which is the deadly
flower of all the injustice which my sex for
apes has suffered from the lust and selfish
ness of men That institution Is Polyg-
amy. 1t is the slavery of white women
m the foulest form. have fed from it,
and | have consecrated my life to Its de-
struction. Ny only weapon is wound
ed heart that does not fear to tell the
story of its WRONGS. II is not because ]
have feelings of revenge that | ask you
to listen TO the narrative OF my life, be-
cause ! am free, and there Is no Fugitive
Slave Law to take me back to slavary,
but because ! suffer with my sisters still
in bondage as if bound with them,
and because | know that the cruel sys-
TEN that frtlcrs them Is built on
YOUR indifference, which only your ig-
norance of its nature can maintain. /
came to tear away the veil that hides the
enormity of Polygamy from your eyes,
in order that YOU NAV raise shout OF IN
dignation which shall level the walls OF
Jericho that encompasses them round
about. You free women OF free America,
YOU alone can do it, and as the voice Of
twenty thousand bleeding hearts | stand
before you tonight, to beg you to deliver
them. ! shall tell in the briefest style
the story of my own life in bondage, not
to excite you to anger against individuals,
not even against the Prophet whose
teachings and conduct cursed my own
home and HE, but to show you how
women of intelligence and medesty and
religious character are brought into the
fold of the wolves and kept there,
"Mv parents were born in New York;
nv father Joined the Mormon Church at
Lwenty-three years of age, while my
mother became convert ut the early
age of sixteen. She was converted by
Brigham Young, the present head of the
Church. Mormonism brought them to-
gcther, and they were married IN k!rt-
land, Ohio, and inmiSrated with the
Church to Nauvoe. The had five child.
rem, three boys and two girl, l being
the Youngest | WAS born IN Nauvoo,
Illinois, on the 18th of september, 1914.
When | was about year old my father
brought home second wife. She was
good woman, and lived in our house
twelve years. Their external relations
vera always pleasant. Whatever trials
they encountered were borne resiSnedly
for the sake of their religion. ! still re-
member my mother frequently in tears,
and tryiag with childs ready sym
pathv to ascertain the cause Of her sor-
row. She checked by curiosity then, but
now know that even her strong faith
in Mormanism could not overcome her
natural rcpugnance to her polygamic re-
lations. My father entered into polyga-
my as II religious duty, and | still think
his duty therein has been such rs TO ex-
emplify the practice in its best aspect.
In lS45 ,hc emigrated with her father
and the great vanguard Of the Mormon
Church to Utah She had never known
any teachings but Mormonism. She be.
lieved those teachings because her
parents believed them, and had raised her
in the same belief Her mother han been
a schoel-teachcr in Ohi0 aud, in spite OF
the gross teachings Of the religion that
she had embraced had retained the re-
fnements of thought and lite to which
she had been accustomed in her early
days, and endcavorcd to instill
them in her children. She raised her
chileren carefully. For all this she Ann
Eliza never knew, until she had reached
the years of womanhooI, any other mode
of life or any religion than that preached
by Brigham Young aud his elders. At
the age of eight years she was baptized
in this faith, and at the age of sixteen
was rebaptizcd, as preparatory ste? to
endowment, which uebrr krmbsll said
would restore her to health. This rite
of endowment, however, proved nugato'
ry in her case and her health was. not
improved by it.
At the age of eighteen, when she had
arrived at womans estate, Brigham
wanted her to 90 on the stage OF his the
stre at Salt Lake City. This theatre was
one of the institutions OF the Church and
all the performers on its stage were
chosen by Brigham. She accepted his
call, and played there during one season
When she was nineteen years old she
married James l.. Dee, and was his only
wife, having by him two children.
After living together for several
years, they separated, she beng
driven IN that stem Nv his crun1ty-