Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-08-31
SOMETHING OF POLYGAMY AND
BRIGHAM YOUNG.

1t was stated in yesterdays Enterprise that
Brigham Young proclaimed and Instituted
polygamy at Salt Lake City in 1852. Doubt
less this is correct but as to his authority for
making the polygamous relation an institution
of the Church over which he presided it dates
back as much as nine years prior to that time.
It was at Nauvoo, Illinois, on the 18th day of
July 1S43 that Joseph Smith WAS made Gas he
claimed), the subject of revelation from God
empowering the Mormon priesthood to marry
as many wives as they deemed proper to have,
under certain conditions, something of which
is indicated in the following, which is an ex-
tract from the said revelation, (Pomeroy Tuck
er's book, page 1S1. "And again, as pertain
ing to the law of the priesthood if any man
espouse q virgin, and desire to espouse an
other, and the first give her consent, and if
he espouse the second, and they are virgins,
and have vowed to no other man, then he is
justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they
are given unto him for he cannot commit
adultery with that belonging unto him, and
70 none else; and if he have ten virgins given
unto him by this law he cannot commit adul-
terry, for they belong to him, and they are
given unto him; therefore he is justified, etc.
This Interpolation into the Book of Mormon
was not to be made without encountering some
serious misgivings and embarrassments. The
laws Of Illinois pronounced polygamy {" big
amy" and there were also some doubts as to
Il - II j Il j
be received. As Tucker says The occasion
called for the exercise of extraordinary ingen-
uity, and his invention was this: To those of
his believing councillors whose dissent he
ticipated he professed great concern of mind
on account of the spiritual mandate under
which he had been placed, and appointed a
convocation of the Council to take action upon
the subject. When the time for assembling
arrived, he went through the solemn farce of
fleeing the city on horseback, rather than be
the medium OF communicating revelation so
repugnant to his mind But he soon returned
with the awful story that he was met by an
angel with drawn sword, who commanded
him, at the peril of instant death, to return
etc. So much for one item in the earliest his
tory of Mormon polygamy. Ii was the at
tempt to practice the ''sealing" process under
this ordinance which capped the climax of
the Prophets troubles and led to his arrest
and incarceration in the county jail of Han
cock county, at Carthage. 1t was while they
were in this jail that Joe Smith and his
brother Hyrum were shot to death by the |
mob. This catastrophe took place on the af- |
ternoon of the 9th of June 1914 With re-
gard to Brigham Young's succession to the
Presidency of the Church Mr. Tucker informs |
Us as follows: "The general CONSERVATION
having subsidized, Mormondom became the |
arena of agitation and contest for the dicta
torship Sidney Rigdon very naturally
claimed the successorship by priority of in
Coequally with Smith, he had been associated
with the origin of the upbuilding OF the Nor
mon church and hierarchy. He was, equally
with his deceased accomplish, ''the author
and proprietor" of the miraculously trans
lated metallic book forming the basis of that
power. He had ever been his predecessors
first counsellor and bosom friend, from the
beginning of the grand experiment. Brigham
Young was alike ambitious; he disputed the
pretensions of Rigdon, and aspired himself
to the high position of "Prophet of the
Lord" The strife became rancorous and
unrelenting Rigdon's reign was brief, and
the termination of his career inglorious.
Young was president of the Twelve Apostles,
and was popular and influential in the Church.
Rigdon lacked these elements of success, and
was the inferior of his rival in the adroitness
Of demagogism. Young denounced him as an
mpostor, and his revelations as Examinations '
from the devil" This spiritual and political c
warfare eventuated in Rigdons expulsion s
from the Church. and he was formerly !
delivered over to the buffeting of Satan, in $
The name of the Lord Amen" Young f
was unanimously elected to the presidency of $
the Church, and has ever since maintained :.
MS despotic sway" a