Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-09-05

MOrmOnS and chlet 1nSugatOr OF the
Mountain Meadows massacre, died at
Salt Lake City on the evening Of August
90, in the 18th year of his age. Brig
ham Young was born at Nottingham,
Vermont, June LIST, 1901 his father was
farmer and Of his early life nothing
is known. In 1882 he became converted
to Mormonism and appeared at Kirt-
land, Ohio, where Joseph Smith had
formed sort of colony. Through that
ambition and indomitable push that
always characterized his life, Young
rapidly made his way to the front of
the community, and in February, 1885,
ties and sent out to make accessiOns to
the faith AS usual in everything he
undertook his success was great and his
converts were numbered by hundreds.
In 1914, the Mormons having in the
meantime settled at Nauvoo, Joseph
Smith undertook to inculcate his
schemes for polygamy by producing
revelation on the subject This
document, owing to the lecherous char
acter of the prophet y was received
with great dissatisfaction and in the
excitement attendant upon this new
movement violent alterations took
place, in one Of which Smith was shot
and killed. Though there were sever
al aspirants for the leadership, Brigham
Young was elected president, and Sid
ney Rigdon, his contumacious rival,
was deliberately consigned to the care
and keeping of the devil for thous-
and years NauvoO gradually drlfted
into an organized hell on earth" and
in 1916 its charter was revoked by the
State of Illinois. Soon after, in the
fall of that year, the citizens of the sur
rounding country stOrmed the city
with musketry and cannonading. The
saints fled precipitately, and a large
part of them congregated at Coun-
Gil Bluffs, Iowa. In this emergency
Young was equal to the occasion, and
Immediately laid his schemes for find
ing home beyond the jurisdiction of
the United States. He crossed the
plains and arrived at Salt Lake valley
ia July, 1S47. Here he determined to
locate the promised land, and ordered
the hosts to follow him. This territory
almost Immediately came into posses
sion of the government through cedure
from Mexico, and the prophet found
himself once more in danger of federal
interference. To establish himself Sc
curely, he equipped a splendid little
army and began series of crimes that
will live forever as lasting stigma upon
his character.
President Fillmore appointed Young
governor of the newly organized terri
tory of Utah, in 1S49, but the commits
sion was soon revoked, as the Mormons
began to assert their independence by
driving out the federal judges. The
history of Brigham Young from this
time is familiar to ALL 1t has certainly
been strange one. In the midst of an
enlightened republic, where bigamy is
an offense punishable by severe penal
ties, this remarkable impostor has sue
ceeded in attaching to his so-called
church over 100000 members That
he has been the instigator of the black
est crimes, there is scarcely the shadow
of a doubt, and plying death has
snatched him from an ignominious fate
at the hands of the law
At the time of his death, Brigham had
eighteen wives and sixty-four children;
he had during his life thirty-three wives
and about one hundred and twenty
children. His son Joseph Young, it is
said, will succeed him as president of
his so-called church.