New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-08-30
OBITUARY..
BRIGHAM YOUNG.

prevented from the first all passage through them,
and by continued swelling toward the throat final
ly stopped respiration. He conscious as long as
failing breath permitted him to speak, but only
briefly answered questions during the last forty
eight hours.
Brigham Young Prophet and Ruler of the Church
of the Latter-Day Saints is dead The singuarrelig-
iOus delusion commonly called Mormonism, com
pounded OF Judaism, Mohammedansm, Pagansm
and perverted Christianity has been kept alive for
the rast thirty years in spite of the Influences OF
civilization and modern morality. chiefly by his force
of character and his remarkable talent for leadership
He was an extraordinary man. With scarcely any
education and with no such gifts of eloquence and
spiritual insight possessed by the founders OF
most new sects, he established powerful
theocracy In the midst of q vast desert,
gathered adherents from all nations of the earth
and introduced system of domestic life wholly at
variance with the religion, moral ideas and temper
ament of the peoples from whom he drew his prose-
lytes. Polygamy, an institution confined IN all
ages to the luxurious races inhabltlng warm Gil
mates he domestcated among the rocks aud SHOWS of
Utah, and so associated with religious tanatlclsm
that it has held ground in defiance of the laws Of
the United States. He became possessed OF great
wealth, and ruled with an absolute sway thousands
scf-government interfering at his pleasure with
their business and private affairs, disposing OF
their lives families and property with the Tyranny
of Tartar Khan. Recent times have produced few
such phenomenal characters. Most famous men
achieve prominence by deXterity and power IN
riding on the current OF their age, but the Mormon
leader successfully antagonized all the forces
of modern thought and civilization. Ills won
derful career made possible only by the
fact that there is i'll the most advanced comnu
mites sediment of superstition, fanaticism and
bestiaty which a strong and INSCRIPTIONS man can
stir up and utilize to serve his selfish AMBITION
Brigham Young was born at Nottingham. Wind
ham County, Vt, June 1, 1901. His grandfather
was surgeon the French and Indian war;
His father, John Young, was born IN 1853 IN
Hopkinton MiGdleseX County, Mass, served under
General Washington in three campaigns, married
Nabby Hume in 1850, settled in Vermont in 1901,
and removed to Shcrburne, Chenango County, n.
Y. Brigham was the ninth Of eleven children.
All of the family became MoumOus, and the father
died in 1889 at Quincy, Ill., with the honOrs of first
Patriarch Of the church
The chronicles of MormOnism are silent as to the
youth and early manhood of Brigham, except to say
that he learned the trade Of painter and glazeri
was converted and baptized as a Baptist and, II IS
said, showed some ability as religious exhorter 1t
does not appear that he did anything remarkable
for a working mechanic until his thrty-first year,
when he was converted to Mormonism by Samuel
H. Smith and Elcazer Miller, who were then preach
ing the new gospel in Central New-lOrk. The
Book Of Mormon had been printed two
years before, and the first company of the
Saints had already gathered at Kirtland
Ohio, at the house of Sidney Rigdon, wmth-
er Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum
proceeded in Japaary from their home in Manches-
ter Ontario County, n. Y, where Joseph pretended
to discover the golden plates Of the original vol
ume Young made his way TO Kirkland soon after
and was there gathered with the Saints and or
daiued as an elder. He began preaching and al
though deficient in education, he had certain
rude. strong oratorlcal power and succeeded IN
making converts He displayed great shrewdness
and knowledge OF character, and his powerful will
enabled him to impress his opinions upon Others so
that he soon gained firm footing in the infant
church.
ORIGIN OF MORMONIsM.
II was an epoch of great religious excitement a
season of ferment, and gave birth to many new
forms Of faith. The Campbellites or Disciples, now
a large and respectable denomination, arose about
fine same time-indeed, the first converts made by
Smith and RigdOn at Kirkland were Disciples who
had Just seeded from the old sect. Mierism, or
Second-Adventisn, was just beginning to make
headway. number of other new sects that have
since died out or dwinded down to small dimen-
sons, were then vigorously PROSECUTING in the same
field where MormOnism made its first efforts. The
Latter-Dav Saints were at first looked upon
only new sort of Christians, and their revelation
pretending to be a sacred book of one of the lost
tribes of Israel was only put forth as supplement
TO the Old Testament They were not Polygamists
as long as they remained in Krtland and their de-
parture from that place was caused more by the
failure of their bank and the pressure of their debts
than by hostility to their religion In 1880 Young
was ordained as one of the Twelve Apostles, body
Organized for the special purpose Of spreading
the faith Four years before Joseph smith
had received revelation that the final
electromagnetic of the SAINTS to be in Missouri,
and in the summer Of 1881 he had founded Nor
mon settlement at Independence in Jackson County.
Smith went backward and forward between the two
colonies but Young remained in Kirkland until after
he was made an Apostle, and thus escaped the dan
gers of the miniature war between the Mssourians
and the Independence settlement. Receiving the
" gift of tongues in 1885, Young sent mis-
sion to the Eastern States and returned with a num-
Der of converts. His next advancement was
in 1896. when he was chosen President of the
Twelve Apostles In 1887 the Kirkland colony
was abandoned, the fine stone temple erected there
stil standng) was seized for debt, and Young with
Smith aud others went to Davis county, Missouri,
where the town Of Far West had been founded by
Mormons driven from Independence. As the city of
revelation independence had grown 10 be the prin-
cipal Mormon settlement, and the reigonists, when
expelled by the Missourians, had gone to the Coun-
ties of Davis, Carroll and Caldwell, then
quite new. In DAVIS County new troubles
arose, conflicts occurred between the Mormons
and the militia in which blood was shed