The Russellville Democrat., 1877-05-10
THE WAR ON THE MORMONS.

THE WAR UN HE MUNMVNos Brigham Young Responsible for the
 Mountain Meadow Massacre--.State-
 ment of n Mormon Woman.
 The following is extracted from an in- terview of Herald correspondent with Mormon woman residing in Lockport:
 Mrs. Eliza J. Webb, mother of " Ann Eliza" the recently divorced wife of Brigham Young, has resided here since her return from Utah, where she back slid from the Mormon faith with her daughter more than two years ago. Mrs. Webb was one of the original Mormons, having joined the sect in New York, in 1883, when she was sweet sixteen and dreadfully poor. Three years later she was married in Kirtland, Ohio, to Chauncey G. Webb. Mormon like herself, whom she followed through years of vicissi- tudes to Missouri, to Nauvoo, in Illinois, in the long journey to Utah, and through the wilds and settlements of that famous territory She has encountered hard ships enough to drive sensitive woman crazy, yet neither her health nor her spirits are broken. The worst thing she had at first to endure after Joseph Smiths revelation" in 1S43 concern ing polygamy, was the accession of her husband to other wives. First he brought one wife, who, according to Mrs. Webb, was "very good girl" When he brought three more wives, and all in the course of month";" says Mrs. Webb, "I felt that my heart was sore" Mrs. Webb's long residence in Utah, her acquaintance of 42 years with Brigham Young, and the former close connection of her daughter with the prophet, ren- dered her statements in regard to his re- sponsibility for the Mountain meadow massacre very important.
 ! EVIDENCE AGAINST BRIGHAM YOUNG.
 She received me pleasantly this morn ing at her cottage home, and thus re- sponded to my questions:
 /" Have you any opinion or evidence J I asked, Gin regard to Young's connec- tion with the Mountain Meadows affair ?''
 "I have positive conviction" she re- piled.
 "To what effect?"
 "Tnat Brigham Young instigated, and probably ordered, the slaughter. This conviction was long in forming, but it has been matured since fifteen months. ''
 Please state your reasons"
 "They are several. They spring out of thorough knowledge of the life and character of Brigham Young, experience of the fanaticism and regulations of the Mormon church, recollection of circum. stances at the time of the massacre. and the testimony of men familiar with tLe facts. Brigham Young's abilities arc not to be despised, although he is popu larly credited with many that he has not To this day, after all the shocks the Mormon church and his own reputation have met with, he continues to hold 200 900 people in subjection. Some he holds through their fears or their sense of self | interest; but the most of them are stil physically, morally and intellectually prostrate before him. At the time o the butchery at Mountain Meadows hi mastery over his people was far mor' absolute than the pope of Rome coult ever have boasted of.
 BRIGHAM AS GODS MoUTHPIECE.
 His word was law; it was, in fact accepted as the word of God himself I, among thousands of others, implicitl, believed it to be so, and every membe of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte Day Sainsts was sworn, as John D. Le was sworn, to obey all the orders of tn priesthood of which Brigham Young wa the head. He was acknowledged, almos ,worshipped, as prophet, priest, revelator To the most ignorant of the Mormon he was the only God they knew any thing about, and to the rest he stood a mediator between them and the Al mighty. All, excepting, of course, wh held the mental reservations whicl nobody can allege for or against felloy being, imagined that they must compl. with Brigham Young's requirements o suffer the Supreme Gods displeasure.
 A BRUTAL TYRANT.
 "Did this feeling, that they mus obey Young and the priesthood go to al lengths? Did it not stop short at crime?
 "Wby, no. The command of tn prophet to do anything whatever mad obedience sacred duty. It took ava, from all crimes, so called, the taint o criminality. It made vice virtue. sanctified practices totally abhorrent t Christians-even to civilized human ma ture. For example, Young frequentl, permitted or directed the marriage 0 his favorites to their own wives daugh ters by other men. Privately he encoul aged the marriage of brothers and sisters , and once he married couple who wer children of the same mother but not b the same father. He-admiJted that tn , people were not sufficiently advanced t 5 bear much of this, but no one dare openly gainsay him when asked by hil to swallow it. The man who wielded a , influence like this had no difficulty 3 getting anything accomplished. H made himself feared, as we'll as respected through the terrible order of the Danite {. from which the Destroying Angels { 3 the Church were selected. John l ! Lee, Dame, and others, all belonged l. this misnamed, devilish elan. The |. were ready to strike at anybody at u 2 lifting of Brigham Young's finger, eve e at such a signal as the scratching of h