The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-12-16
D DEC. i6, 1881.
THE MoRMoNS.
BY W. A. wYMAN NJ. D.


The message of President Ar
thur has again called the attention
of the public to the mormon ques-
ton. Perhaps a brief sketch of
the history of mormonism may
not be out of place. Joseph
Smith, the originator and founder
of this religious sect, was born in
Sharon, Vt, Dec. %, 1906, but
afterwards moved to Manchester,
N. Fl. His parents did not bear
an enviable reputation. In 1880
Smith published his book, the
contents of which had been, as he
claimed, revealed to him in a mys-
terious way by a special inspira-
ton of Providence, through the
medium of certain hieroglyphics
engraven upon a set of curious
tin plates and a wonderful pair of
goggles, by means of which these
writings were deciphered. Like
all new things, this wonderful
religion rapidly gained a~dherents,
and the opposition which it met
from other religious creeds only
served to give it strength and
friends.
AT this time polygamy was not
onlynot advocated but condemned.
As early as 1929, Smith united
fortunes with one Sidney Rigdon,
who is supposed to have received
his inspiration and religious ideas
from a romance written by a
clergyman named Solomon
Spaulding, in 1916. The first
whisper of polygamy arose in
1881, when Rigdon induced Smith
to introduce the spiritual wife
system, another mystery by which
unmarried women and other mems
wives were sealed to the heads of
the church in order hat their
spiritual welfare might be adj
vanced in the next world.
The first church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day saints was organized
ut Manchester, N. Y, April 6,
1880. In 1881 a colony was es-
tablished in Jackson county, Mis-
sour, and previously, in the same
year, Smith settled in Kirkland,
Ohio. Owing to the prosecutions
by the gentiles they were driven
into Clay county, No., and after
wards, in 1888, they removed to
Nauvoo, Ills. In 1914, June 9th,
John Smith and his brother,
Hiram, shot by a party of
roughs while lodged in Jail at
Carriage, Ills. The death ofSmith,
while a severe blow to the NOR
mons, was really a means of adj
vancement since he Immediately
became in their eyes a martyr,
and the event served to CONSOLE
date and make them more deter
mined than before. "The blood
of the martyr is the seed of the
church" BY the death of Smith
the leadership devolved upon
Brigham Young, a man wonder
fully adapted to fill the position.
Under his direction the mormons
emigrated to the site of Salt Lake
City, the first detachment arriving
July oath, 1847.
In 1855 Utah was admitted as
a territory, with Young as gov
ernor, and from that time began
their opposition to the United
States government. 1t was as
much as q mans life was worth to
go among them unless he was a
mormon believer, and many a
gentle mysteriously disappeared
during the years hat followed
while attempting to leave Utah.
The notorious Mountain Meadow
massacre occurred in 1857, but
this event needs no comment.
Not until August 29th, 1852, was
the doctrine of polygamy formally
announced, and then it was based
on a revelation said to have been
received by Smith before his
death. From that time until the
present day they have carried on
their operations in open defiance
of the United States government,
and now they openly make their
boast that they will soon hold the
balance of power in the United
States. This is no idle boast
either, for to-day they are 1900 0O
strong in Utah, they hold the bal
ance of power in Idaho and Ari-
IONA, and are rapidly populating
Washington, Montana, Wyoming
and Colorado, and this, too, with
the fixed purpose of gaming the
controlling power. Under the
management of ambitious and
INSCRIPTIONS men, controlled
and soul by the leaders of
the church, the rank and file of
.ormons to-day yield a blind and
implicit obedience to its mandates