The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-20
HORIZONS mAKING CONVERTS.
Elders Boldly at Work in the souti, Gather
ing in the Women.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala, March TO- 1SSS.-Before
the late war 4 few Mormon missionaries from
Utah visited various sections OF the south and
made few converts to the religion of Joseph
Smlth, but the work was not prosecuted with
much vigor.
Soon after the close of the hostilities the
work was resumed in a spasmodic way, but it
was not until some eight or ten years ago that
the attention of the church was drawn to the
fruitful fields to be found in tho baclwoods
sections of the states of Tennessee, Alabama,
Georgia and North Carolina.
In 1873 Elder John Morgan. of Salt Lake, n
prominent pillar in the church and the author
of a widely circulated work on Mormonism.
established his headquarters at Chattanooga
Tenn, and assumed charge of the work in the
above named state. The mountain regions of
East Tennessee and western North Carolina
proved most fruitful fields for the work OF the
Mormon elders.
The simple people of this section were easily
deceived by the smooth talking and plausi-
bic elders, and embraced Mormonism in the
hope OF bettcring their pecuniary condition in
the home promised them in Utah. From
Chattanooga the elders radiated in every di-
rection, and reaped rich harvests of converts
who were ut once sent off to Utah. AT last the
people became aroused and the lynching of
two elders in Tennessee and the severe tlog-
ging OF several in North Carolina stopped their
work i'll those states for awhile The head
quarters at Chattanooga were not abandoned,
however, and the elders sought new fields in
Georgia and Alabama.
WORKING GEORGIA.
In north Georgia they established several
churches and carried on their work without
trouble for two years. In this field they were
very successful, and mt one time sent u batch
of seventy converts to Utah. Finally the bet
ter and more intelligent citizens rose in arms
and drove the elders from the ncichborhood.
They reported to Elder Morgan, at Chatta-
nooga, and council of war was held. 1t was
decided to sock new fields, and the elders were
sent prospecting i'll Alabama.
The counties Of Clay, Cleburne and Ran
dolph in northeast Alabama, were, until re-
Gently, remote from railroads and towns of any
size and were inhabited principally by small
farmers who were both poor and ignorant
This section proved fertile field for the Nor
mon missionaries.
CLINGING TO ALABAMA.
About twenty years ago John Mootry, of
Randolph county, went west and drifted finally
to Salt Lake City, where he joined the Nor
mon church and soon became an elder. When
Morgan's men had been driven from North
Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, and it was
decided to inv AIDE Alabama, Mootry, who was
living at Salt Lake City, was ordered to report
at Chattanooga. He came, and Morgan Or
dered him to lead an expedition to Alabama
and attempt the establishment of q church. or
recruiting station. Mootry left CHATTANOOGA
i'll company with Elders Kasiah, Stevens, De
Lameyer, Foam, Engel and Davis, and went
direct TO his old home i'll Randolph county,
Ala He found his relatives scattered, but ut
the home OF nephew, Thomas Mitchell who
lived in Clay county, Mootry and his men were
allowed to establish their headquarters The
second Sunday in July, 1881 these seven Nor
mon elders held Il public meeting at Oak Ridge
school house, III Clay county, Elder Kasah
leading the service. From this beginning has
grown the largest Mormon mission in the
south, and so bold have the elders
and their converts become in that section,
they defy those who seek to drive them away
Mootry had left Randolph county Il poor man.
and by his carefully wortIed stories of the
wealth acquired III Utah and the purity Of the
Mormon religion he had no difficulty in in
ducing nearly all his old friends and relatives
to embrace the faith of the Latter Day
Saints Elder John Morgan left his Office
in Chattanooga to visit tho mission of Clay
county, and no was 50 well pleased with the
situation that he ordered all the elders to
remain in that vicinity and gradually extend
the work as the number OF converts in-
creased. SO quietly was the work carried on
that It was nearly two years before the Nor
mon settlement was heard of beyond the
immediate vicinity OF their mission. In the
meantime about one hundred converts had
been made and the force of elders increased to
ten.
READY 20 FIGHT r II THE FAITH.
When driven from other sections the elders
had never dared resent tho rough treatment
they received, but when they became so firmly
established in Alabama they displayed more
nerve. Having aroused the Indignation OF the
better citizens by some of their peculiar relp-
Gus rites, the first trouble in Alabama was
brought about some two years after the mis-
sion was established at Oak Ridge. A com
mittee of citizens waited on the elders aud or
dered them to leave the neighborhood at once.
ave will not leave and we defy YOU" was the
answer made the committee by Elder Stevens
When the newly made converts learned that
the elders were i'll danger they were up in
arms at once. One Of the boldcst converts was
ism, together with his family of five daughters
and two sons. The elders spent much of their
time OF the house of Harrison and few nights
after the first warning was given the citizens
committee, headed ly a man named Boiling,