New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-30
&" 1.-THE TWIN RELIC
ALETrER IRON MRS. coRNELIA PADDOCK.
president TAYLOR AND HIS DEFENcE or NOR
MoNIsM REVIEWED BY THE AUTHOR OF THE


MONIsM REVIEWED BY THE AUTHOR OF " THE
| FATE OF MADAME LA TOUR
/ To the EdttOr Of The Tribune.
SIR; In the January number of The North Amer'-
can RcrieW, Governor Murray, of Utah, and " Presi-
dent Taylor, OF the Mormon Church organization,
present widely different views of the situation m
Utah. As l am well acquainted with the public
career of both. l may be able 70 furnish some eX-
/ PLANTATION of the causes which have made Fr">i-
dent " Taylor represent the Utah MormOns as the
most vrtuous and law-abiding community on the
face of the earth and OF Governor Murray's reasons
for warning the country that combination to
nulify laws of Congress exists in Utah.
Nv first acquaintance with " President Taylor
was on this wise: Iarrived in Utah in April. 1871,
during the session Of the Mormon remi-annual confer
ence and having natural curiosity to witness pub
lie gathering of the Saints went with few friends
to the first service in the Tabernacle Nearly 1000
people were packed in the building when our party
entered, and many more were gathered outside.
We inferred from this that there was some unusual
attraction and looked with interest for the orator
of the day. who proved to be John Taylor the pres
ent head of the Mormon Church Orr interest,
however gave place TO another feeling in the course
of twenty minutes. Taylor's address was a coarse
| and abusive harangue in which he denounced the
people Of the United States rs our enemies" aud
deiied the authority of the Government. They
tell u.s. he cried that the Government will send
troops here to enforce the laws. Who the -- cares
for their troops? As long as the United States let's
us alone we'll let them alone, hut let them dare TO
! lay much as a finger us and We II soon snow
them what we can do At this point his voice rose
to YELL and his features were fairly demoniac IN
their expression. while the vast congregation Of
Saints shouted vociferOus amens.'
TAYLOR's HISTORY.
! oil rieht 70
little more of the history of who could with
| mpunIty defy the Government under which he
| lived, and dare the authorities 20 lay much as
! finger upon him and his co-Tcligonists. | found,
| upon inquiry that Taylor one of the earliest
English converts to MOTm0nsm and also one OF the
first to embrace the doctrine of polyGamy. he having
taken plural wives in Nauvoo. previous 10 the Nor
mon exodus from Illinois. l learned further that IN
! 1896, when TAYLOR in France IN the character
of Mormon missionary, the European converts 10
! Mormonism, who had hitherto known nothing OF
polygamy. began to hear rumors that such prac-
tice prevailed in Utah. These minors caused doubt
| and dissatisfaction. and it was plain that many
valuable acquisitions to the Mormon Church would
be lost unless they authOritaively denied In
! this emergency Taylor caused a tract 70 be pnb-
| shed in which he asserted that polygamy was I'M
known among the Saints and that the stories about
| men in Utah who had more than one wife were base
| inventions of the enemies Of the Mormon people.
Taylor, at the date Of the publication of this
tract, had five wives himself, but he did not allow
such a trifing circumstance to deter him from the
work Of encouraging the timId and confirming the
wavering by a positive denial Of the injurious re-
| ports they had heard.
For this good deed he deserved and received pro-
motion and we hear of him next not only as one OF
the chief of the Apostles, but as member or the
| Utah Legislature, III which he has been proui-
| nent figure for many years 1t would take much
longer space than you can well allow for the present
article 10 recount all the services rendered to the
Church by Apostle TAYLOR IN the various temporal
| Offices he has filled. In the Legislature lie could
| always be relied upon to put down any Gentle
Governor who limited ever remotely IN his mess
age 10 that body that there wrongs to he rghcd
and abuses 10 be corrected in the Territory 1t hap
pened in 1874 that the Governors biennial message
/ contained a recommendation that some law should
! he enacted for the suppression Of polygamy. As
nearly every member of the Legislature was living
! in polygamy at the time, this recommendation
sounded TO outsiders like piece Of grim irony but
the body to which il was addressed did not receive
! il as a pleasantly. The members sat with sullen'
| lowering cOunten8nccs until the reading was nm
ished then Taylor sprang to his feet eXcaiming
The Governors impUdcnce Is only equalled by ms
! ,gnorance II | had a boy ten years old who could
| "a
! This was the prelude to torrent of invective and
! abu,e TO which the Governor obliged to listen
! in silence the valiant Apostle having the might
/ which makes right on his side.
/ n, the death of Brigham Young the English Nor
| mons. who largely outnumher the Americans, de-
! tcrmined to take the reins In their own hands
! .rbis refers TO adult Mormons. The children Of
foreigners born in Utah, give the native-bOrn popu-
| lation a preponderance in the census tables IN
pursuance of this detern nation Taylor was ele-
waited TO the first Presidency. and George Q. Can
non the unnaturalHed Englishman who repre-
scented Utah in Congress for eight years, was associ-
! oted with him IN the government of he Church.
" v1pT1roUs. HONEST AND UPRIGHT" PoLYGAMIsTs.
president" Taylor's article is too long to review
! in full. but few of his statements require more
than passng notice. On page he says:
None but the very best Of our communlty-t4 virti-
ous the honest and upTight-alc permitted 10 TAKE oc
/ than one VIE.
There are scores of men in this city whose very
nresence is an insult to pure woman, drunken,
nrofane. brutal wretches,-who have from two to
! seven wives apiece John y. Lee who was exc
cuted for completely in the Mountain Meadows
massacre. had egbteen wives, all of them sealed
10 him by the highest authority in the Mormon
| Church. and three Of these wives were given to nm
| by Brigham Young GttT the massacre. 1t may be
remarked en- PEASANT that Lee was an adopted son
! of the Prophet Brigham, ana was perhaps ohuo"
on that account with a superabundance OF VIRTUE
| inteqritru etc. Bill" Hickman, the notorious
DANTE. who according TO his own published CON
! fession killed nineteen men in obedience TO
| . counsel was a member of the Mormon Church
! throughout his career of crime, and at different
neriods a member Of the Utah Legislature Hick-
man was SO yIrtuous. honest and upright that
the Mormon Prophet bestowed on him ten wives
all Of whom must receive salvation at his hands or
miss II forever. A late Mormon Bishop who had
much influence in the Church. and likewise filed
several important Territorial Offices, married five OF
his own nieces. One of these women said TO me " /