The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-05-22
IN A MORMON TOWN.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PoLYsAxY L1FB-
As Seen by n Minister Employed by
the Home Missionary Society
Paets About n Peculiar
Peonle.

the Home mtsNtOuary SoeiehI- [
Paets About Peculiar
People.
Writing from I-ehi, Utah, not long ago,
w. Forbes Cooley gives some interesting
facts about Mormon life. lie says:
Let me extent to you and your readers
q cordial invitation to pay our beautiful
Utah villages visit and study Rocky
Mountain poIygamy, offspring of a
Yankee Mohamnleds fertile BRAIN in its
final stronghold The balmy airs of an
early spring, the Rreen-carpeted earth,
the fruit trees just bloSsoming into
wealth Of beauty, together with the deep
blue OF lake and sSKy, and the glLstening
whiteness of the snOw-clad peaks of the
Wasatch and OQuirrh ranges, which I
! shut us in all Join with us in giving you .
welcome as you step from the train.
Naturally you curious TO see what .
Mormon town is like, and how polygamy
looks at close quarters. The uninviting
streets, the barren-looking adobe houses
with groves of fruit trees, forlorR fences,
and general air of shiftlessness, tell moth
ing except the fact that this peculiar peo-
pie, while individually industrious, Is
careless of Appearances, and has no eyefor
beauty. A few words OF explanation
here
kept by polygamists. Let pass down
the street to the east. The first house, q
cheerless- looking adobe is the house Of a
woman who was formerly No to a far
mer In town Becoming enamored with
another man, she secured divorce that
she might join her affinity. Meantime,
however, the latter gave her the slip and
departed with another woman, so that for
the present the dropping vine has no oak
on which 10 cling. Passing the adjoining
adobe dwelling, yet more dssolate, where
Gentle supplies youthful saints with
whiskey on the sly (the rising generation
in Zion is prone to seek more for the spirit
which flows from the keg than for that
which is claimed to descend through the
Laying on of the hands Of the elders OF
Israel ~, we come next to the house OF the
former Bishop, a man who passed from
, this earth to his reward while ago full
of years and, II the testimony Of aPostate
, Normops is to be received, full OF crimes.
Certain it is he was the father Of forty
i two children and had six women as his
l. wives. including q mother and her
DAUGHTER. Certain 1t is that nothing but
a runaway match in the night deferred
him from laying unholy hands on second
daughter OF the same woman
q One block to the right, down this next
street past the houses OF two more poly
7 Ralnists. Is the wretched hoyel OF a
:, Mountain Meadow murderer, while at =
like distance to the left lives polygen-
n ist who is said, on good authority TO have
= = been a partner in the same horrible crime
I A block further on we reach our little
! mansion. whose hospitality Is cordially ex-
"a tended to you, and whose history, after
: you have settled yourselves comfortably
= ( within, offers some items OF interest. ii
70 was built by burly Dane, famous for an
= enormous appetite, who q few years age
emigrated to Arizona, became Bishop ID
-, the latter Day kingdom. and, as usual II
~ ~ such cases, took TO himself a second
~ woman The benighted people OF thai
"a Territory, however, not quite educated uI
- to that sort OF religion, have recently De
&c trayed the rnalignity oftheir unregeneratt
IN sE. on HOheSt q 1uG ~ tne'' ed ps5ILse .
r 30 o9at nc CON m nonwealth The next occupan
re second wife to a polygaInist in auothe,
Town. fell In love with a married man her,
"a IN Lem and wanted to marry bir,
4 Brother K, the object of her afTectjsns
II was not desirous of going into a rnArriaOe
p business by the wholesale. but she was
K not TO be rebuffed. She induced the pa
d trlareh of the Church to grant her a di
II Eorce the divorce system in Zion is more
d 9 oeI9IloraIlzlng g than in any part OF the East
q end persuaded him to use his in tiuence
r, with Brother x to induce him to accede
L 70 her wishes. The intercession OF the
o Ratrlarch was successful Brother
made the love smitten sister his second
wire and she lived with him here for sew
t eraI years, bearing him four children In
3 course OF time, however. the m1cb-mar-
e ried and very religious sister again he
: came restless. Bishop living to the
8 south OF here had only two wives, and
, MRS Y pined te become No. 8 TO this Of
ncer In the Lords kingdom Once more
the uiVorce MACHINERY was put in motion
! Sh SIlo she departed to her new bridegroom.
Sne now Is quite equal, it would seem to
her husband, he having three wives iiv-
Ing and she three husbands This is no
zd strange o snd exceptional case. 1t excites
no comnotlon In Mormon society. I have
heard OF one woman who has seven hus-
T. bands now living
D
greeted BY the neat little cottage of neg
1ected first wife, a wife whose husband
ives In the upper part Of the town with
another woman. and who has never
crossed her doorsill since the house was
quit years ago He boRsted some time
slnce that he had never been closer to her
oWeIIlng than within sight of its Chin
neys Just opposite this poor woman
nVes Mormon wife who has had the rare
snlilty to hold her husband in check when
ms mind was set on polygamy. For thir-
y years and more she has fought plural
marriage, even going 50 far ss to inform
her huspsnd that If he took another wife
sne would Kill him. This argument sus-
tanned by her flashing black eyes prevail
eoi and the lifelong battle was decided in
1sr taVor. or ,Pro5ably not half dozen
In lighting the relic OF barbartsm' The
great mass of them have succumbed to
the pressure brought to bear upon them
and a saddened life home filled with
ussenslon and strife, and a FASTENED
grave have commonly marked the tri-
umPh OF the man or the beast
fouwIn note that every housereferred
70 thus far has been within the range of
your vision as yon walked the three
I pIocks from the station to this corner
Inc houses OF some half a dozen more
| polygamists might have been pointed out
on the way had 1t been necessary Dol
need TO go further and tell the status Of
the town at large Do / need to tell of
prutalities, dis9raceful deceptions and
Iylng OF men tyrranniZing over their first
wives; or TWO sisters married to the same /
man OF our Bishop who, in obedience to /
the priesthood, secretly took his woman /
servant for his second wife and long after I
joined with her in denying the fact, even 1
allowing her to pass for a common strum- /
pet before he acknowledged hers These 4
shameful things are so common iu this /
precious Zion that you are doubtless fa
miliar with them
''1 on cannot pierce the surface anyubera
m Utah without finding In the life below
. greater or less amount of baseness cru-
city and suffering The cry which would
paturally arise from thousands of aching I
hearts is suppressed by the strong hand o7
the Church Every smothered shrek I
which is heard must be multiplied many 1
times II you would get any correct idea Of
the state OF things in the inner life of this
people Advantage is taken of wou5an's
strong religious nature and she Is kent
quiet under the curse which is bfiohtin0 I
ner life sy the threat that to rebel Is to
lose her chance of salvation and to be
doomed to eternal punishment Only oc- /
ceslonally does this powerful lever fail tn
Keep down the struggling passion within
OCCaqf0nallY fa1l