The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-10-13


may be said of all the Mormons, with
the exception of those who were en-
gagged in it. 1t don't seem to me that
Brigham Young could have deliberately
ordered that massacre, nor do l believe
he knew of it until afterward. John D.
Lee was a fiend incarnate, and half his
crimes will never be known"
Do you know of any instances where
Brigham Young used force to compel the
marriage of women to Mormons?"
" Yes, do. know one particular in.
stance where a woman defiei the whole
Mormon Church, but which defiance
would have been fatal to her but for the
protection of Brigham Young, who had a
purpose in defending her. He wanted
her to be the wife of his son, Joseph A.
Young, and he would have compelled her
to marry him, but she managed to escape
from the Territory. This was the case
of Sara Alexander, the handsomest wom-
an that ever walked in Utah. Joseph A.
Young was a rather dissipated young
man, and was great drain on his
fathers purse, with his wine and bill
iards and the like. Sara Alexander was
Mormons. She did not like the institu-
ton, and when she grew up she had no
hesitation in saying so. She possessed
great dramatic talent, and, being very
beautiful, she resolved to adopt the
stage for profession l remember well
the night of her debut at Brigham
Young's Theater. 1t was late in the fall
of 1868. The play was, Marriage at
Any Price, and Miss Alexander played
the part of Matilda PeppercOrn. She
succeeded entirely, and half dozen
Mormon elders went wild over her
charms, and she at once became the OBJ
ject of the most unheard-of prosecutions.
She was forcibly taken by a prominent
Mormon to his residence, and an appeal
by her father to Brigham Young was ali
that saved her. 1t was then that the
idea struck the Prophet that as Miss
Alexander had very profitable future
before her it would be wise thing TO
make her the wife of the prof1igate son,
Joseph A., who would then have her
purse to depend upon, and the ex-
chequer of the father would be the
gamer. But Miss Alexander refused to
enter into the bargain. Brigham then
told her that she must marry his son,
and to make preparations at once. She
was placed in quarters near the Prophets
residence, but she managed not only to
escape from her improvised prison, but
to reach SanFrancisco. She was closely
followed, however, by Joseph A. Young
and three other Mormons. They reached
San Francisco on the night previous to
that on which she was advertised to ap-
pear at a theater in that city, she having
applied for and obtained an engagement.
The papers announced the arrival of
Young, and Miss Alexander was afraid
to appear. Giving her reason, however,
the Mormon emissaries were served with
notice that it would be best for them to
quit San Francisco, which they lost no
time in doing. Joseph A. Young has
since died, but do not know what ever
became of the beautiful Sara Alexander.
my disgust at the practice of the Nor
mons was great from my first entrance
to the Territory, and even now l cannot
understand how man so honorable and
upright as my husband could accept the
religion as the truth. 1t was only my
love for him that kept me so long among
the iniquitous people. One of the first
things that filled me with horror was the
condition of the Mormon poor. Every
winter scores of children actually starve
or freeze to death. l have seen dozens
of these offspring of the poor classes
standing barefoot and ragged around
Camp Douglas, snatching up the refuse
food thrown out from the camp, and
gathering bits of coal, wood, etc, that
the soldiers threw to them from their
store. The winter before l left the city
poor woman-although she was the
second wife of rich Mormon dignitary,
who had five others-left her child, a
cripple, some three years old, alone in
the house while she went few steps
away on an errand. The child's cloth
ing was set on fire by coal swapping
out from the stove, and when the mother
returned the poor little thing was
wrapped in flames. The mother received
terrible burns on the hands and face in
attempting to subdue the flames, but the
child was burned to death. The father
heard of its death in time, and going to
the miserable quarters where it lay, and
where its mother was suffering from her
wounds, he charged the latter with set
ting the cripple on fire to get rid of it,
and after beating her soundly told her to
bury it as best she could, as he would
contribute nothing towardit. This mans
name was Lyon. l dressed the child for
the grave, and with the help of two
others furnished funds to bury it. l was
never in place SO thoroughly destitute
of everything as this poor womans apart
ments were. There were three other
children who had been out begging for
something to eat when the casualty &C.
CURED. The bishop of the ward had re-
fused to contribute anything to the wom-
ans support, because her husband was
rich. learned then, as l had often
heard, that such cases of poverty as this
among the deserted wives of well do
Mormons were very common.
81 arrived in Utah about the time the
'In9uisitorial Reform began. The out
side world knows little about this. The
authorities of the church caused it to lie
proclaimed that the people, by their
dilatoriness in taking plural wives, their
scanty payment of tithes, and other short
comings, had displeased the Lord. The
Territory was traversed by missionaries
who preached to that effect, and con-
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