Kansas City daily journal., 1895-06-03
BEAVER ISLANDS HISTORY.
HOME or THE MORMON COLONY uN.
DER KING JAMES J. sTRASG.
Career OF This Bogus Prophet - Fights
of His Followers with the Ma
tive Fishermen MI. Death
by Assassins.
From the New YORK Times.

men. then the center OF an internecine war
! between the first inhabitants and the Nor
! mon colony, which recognized king James
! j. Straug, the bogus Mormon prophet as
leader, and then lapslng into rude COM
In 1865 the islands OF the archipelago.
| which include the Big and Little Beavers,
the Foxes and the Manitous were organ
lied into county OF the state Of Michigan
| ana remained so until now, when the ISL
aud have been divided up between I.eele-
/ nav and Charlevoix counties. This was
made necessary from the fact that the old
| county Of Manitou was "A mass Of unor-
| ganizcd townships. County officials were
| accustomed to assess taxes, collect them,
and put the money in their pockets. but.
| as taxes were light there was not much
| money to pocket. which probably accounts
| for this condition OF things existing so
| long without protest AS the townships
| were unorganized, there were schools.
| the state refusing TO appropriate any OF
| the school funds. The recorder of deeds
| was accustomed TO have his office IN ms
| cohbler shop. where the records hohnohbed
ments of his trade There was court
! house-a dtapidated sort of structure.with
/ energetic prisoner could easily make his
! way between sundown and sunup. IL was
| this simple. unlettered folk was rarity,
| There is one church in the islauds-at ST.
| James, the old Mormon capital on the Big
! Beaver. where Father Gallagher refined
AMI educated priest oiiiciated, giving his
| time and substance to the saving OF souls.
Father Gallagher came from wealthy
Z
and soon after the war. Besides acting in
I h.s spiritual capacity as pastor. he IN
cluded the secular duty of governor Of the
Islands, the inhabitants OF which submit
ted Willingly to his mild reign. All this Is
now thing of the past
the history OF Beaver island dates back
into the period of the French occupation.
but u first came into public notoriety as
capital OF his wing of the Mormon church.
Prior to 1871 when Strang selected II as the
home OF the Latter bay Saints. the island
,,fssF1 I.u Nov
We're driven out by the Mormons. They did
not relish this rough eviction, and from
that time on II was war TO the knife be
tween the evicted and the evictors, in
which the former were assisted by all of
their class on the adjoining mainland.
There was no more unique character in
the history of the West than Strang, From
1874, when he first made claim to having
been selected by Joseph Smith to succeed
until his death in 1856, at the hands of as
sassns,, he was continually in the public
contemporaries admitted that StranE was
possessed OF an energy and executive abil-
Iy which in other channels would have
given him high place among the makers
Of the West. Strang. was born in Scipio,
Cayuga county y. Y, in 1873, and when
30 years of age. came to Burlington, Wis
consin Territory. Soon after his arrival he
became interested in the Mormon doctrine.
In lSii he paid a visit to Nauvoo. whore
he was baptised into the church by Jo-
plant a stake in Zion" in Wisconsin. This.
of Smith at the hands of mob followed a
few months later. Then Strang put forth
his claim to the leadership. This was based
on a letter which he claimed to have re
ceived from Joseph smith, and written just
before the death of the latter. The authcn-
tic!ty Of the letter was denied by the Brig
ham Young faction. Many of the Mormons
adhered to Strang, and from that time un-
the two factions. Young had the numbers.
but in the wordy warfare his followers
came off second best as Strang was
In iSl5i. to add strength to his position,
Srang went through the motions of finding
sealed plates a la Smith. which We're
translated by him and afterward became
the Book of the Law for the st. James
wing Strang had been a newspaper man,
and now saw the advantage of having a
paper with which TO fight the Brighamites
AcCordinGly the Voice Herald was started
publisher, With this, organ, he smote his
opponents hip and thigh. The paper was
published at Noree' the City Of Saints
miles west Of what Is now Racine. There
is but one complete file of the Herald and
the Northern Islander, its successor when
St. James was made the capital OF the ISL
and kingdom, in existence. This is owned
by an old friend of Strang, who has refused
Strang soon found that Vorce was too
strongly encompassed by Genties TO make
making it the center of Mormondom. From
the captains of lake vessels StranE had
heard of Beaver Island and its safe har-
Dor, and thither ne went in 1916 TO prospect. |
The next year preparations were begun for
migrating 10 the island. This was not
looked upon with any great degree Of |
favor by the fishermen who were then |
living there, but this made no difference TO |
Stang and his followers, The first Nor |
mons TO settle on the island had anything |
but comfortable time of it, In 1919 how |
ever. the real Mormon exodus occurred and |
the few fishermen remaining on the island |
found it convenient 10 move TO other points. |
Strang founded city about the head of |
the island and called it St James, which |
name the little cluster OF houses retains
TO this day.
He assumed the title of king as well as
prophet, at this time, and began the pub
court organ, and means of promulgating |
his official DEGREES .,: ana ,c,ont9undng, his !
iron hand. not always encased in a velvet |
glove. The prescribed court dress was. for |
men, common homespun. Besides publish
ing newspaper King Strang engaged in a |
general publishing business The Northern |
Islander Of January, 1856 gave the publica-
'"rhe Book of the Lord" so pages, POO cop
s G MiGntmqenna% san a6plsi + pages double
pages, double column, 100 copies; Book
Of the Law OF the Lord" then in press,
besides numerous pamphlets Copies OF
these books ana pamphlets are still in eN-
stence and in typography, binding and
presswork are equal to anything turned out
In those days.
All this time King Strang was engaged
In an earnest propaganda, which took him
to different parts of the country; but how
ever far away he might be- there was no
relaxation of his grip on his island king
dom.
During the seven years of his reign
Strang was constantly at war with The
fisherman on the mainland. guerrilla
warfare was carried on by both sides
Finally, the Michigan legislature created a
'ounty of the islands-Mackinac- about
700 miles of the mainland bordering on Lake
Michigan. King Strang was no less shrewd
is a politician than as a prophet As soon
as be learned of the formation of the coun-
~ he called a meeting at ST. James and
made that the county seat. As a majority
1f the population in the new county were |
MOrmons, this was all regular Having the
county seat 10 his liking, King Strang i'm |
ais role as party boss, directed the election |
lt fun set of Mormon officials. This was !
All right so far IL went, but the Gentiles |
would have none OF IL. They met in turn |
md made Macknac the county seat and |
elected a set of Gentle county officials |
rhe issue was clearly drawn, and both |
ldes recognized the fact that il would
.yentually end In battle. But few expected
hat the battle would come as soon as 1t
lid.
When the time came for holding a term
# court, the Mormon who had been elected |
~ the ST. James crowd 10 the circuit |
,ench issued call for grand Jury. The
yrits We're placed in the hands of the
Mormon sheriff to serve. Some of the
|