The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-08
TWO CHIEFS OF MoRMoNS.
SKETCHES OF BRIGHAM II. ROB-
ERTs AND LORENZO SNOW.

From Blacksmith to Orator, Mis-
sionary, Tramp, Detective, sunday
school Leader and EditOr-A visit
to Lorenzo snow at the ''LiOn"
HOuse-POVer of the Head of the
Church-A Vigorous Old Man of So.
Tells the Marvellous story of His
Career-HOw New Mormon Con-
Verts Are Made-NIOrmOns' Church
Raising Bonds of $500, OOO-What
President snow Saw About POIyg-
amy.
Salt Lake CITY. Jan. 6.-Recent political
events in Utah have made the Mormons
and their leaders objects of special inter
est an over the country. The chief cause
of this was the election Of Brigham II
Roberts to Congress in the face of the
campaign declaration OF his opponents that
he was living in polygamy Some of the
stories circulated here in Utah and repro
duced on larger scale in the East would
give one the impression that Mr.. Roberts
is something of Turk in his domestic ar
rangements. This sketch Of the man is
written from The vew-p point Of a non Nor
mon who knows Mr. Roberts personally
and is familiar with his political record.
This knowledge is supplemented by a close
acquaintance with representative Mormon
people in their own homes, in the city and
country over a large part of the state.
Personally, the congressman elect would
be a grave disappointment TO any one who
expected TO meet the typical Mormon elder
as ne appears in the magazines. He is a
stalwart. broad-shouldered man, 40 or Al
years old, say feet inches in hight, with
noticeable frmuess of frame acquired when
he learned his trade as a blacksmith His
brown mustache partially hides well-shap-
cd lips and his hair, which is almost cur
ly, frames good forehead. His face Is
rather broad and the features have the
ruggedness of one who has borne hard
ships. The eyes are gray, with an unex-
pected flash in them when he is pleased or
angry. One who has seen him under the
stress of strong emotions would call has
temperament sanguine and perhaps ac-
cuse him of a tendency to hasty action in
excitement. Even his enemies-and he has
many-concede his leadership in this state
as an orator. He got the most of his ear
ly education at the Slate University, and
has supplemented it since by constant
study and travel He has written much
ried lt by newspaper work
In conversation, Mr.. Roberts is earnest,
his voice strikingly smooth and weH mod
ulated, and he is too serious TO appreciate
a joke much. Put him in dress suit
crop his hair and introduce him in a Wash
ington drawing room and it would be long
odds that he would attract favorable al
tention, His voice might betray the boy
hood spent in England, for no such smooth
resonant tone ever had it's carly o11fixrat foY,
in the dry air of the mountains.
one incident is Characteristic enough to
show the mans courage. A .mob had
murdered two Mormon missionaries in
Tennessee. Roberts was in charge of all
the Southern missions, with headquarters
at Chattanooga. Disgusting himself as
tramp he Ventured into The region where
the murder was committed although he
knew discovery would probably mean
rope and tree Tor him. He recovered
the bodies of the murdered men and made
his way back 10 headquarters in safety.
Roberts Political Rise.
So much for the personality of the man.
His political rise began when he made a
noteworthy speech in opposition to woman
suffrage during the session of the state
constitutional convention. Both the ma
tional parties were committed to suffrage
in their stale conventions, and few of the
onize their party declarations. Roberts
position raised storm, but ne was backed
by his own constituents, whether they
agreed with him on this one question or
not. He was beaten finally in the conven-
ton, but accepted the result and now
stands committed to vote for suffrage leg
islation in Congress because~the state has
adopted it.
The next step was nomination for
Congress on the Democratic ticket in
1895. The campaign was fierce. and at
Its hight the leaders of the Mormon
Church issued a manifesto which in eff
feet was a notice to their people that
Roberts had ignored his church obi
cations when he accepted the nominal
ton without taking counsel" with his
co-laborers. The Democratic leaders
Roberts among them, in a reassembled
slate convention, charged that this
manifesto was a clear case of ecclesi-
astical interference in state affairs-a
violation of the state and federal consti-
tutions. Whether the charge was true or
not, Roberts was defeated It is worth
whiie, in This connection, to notice that
the question of Roberts domestic rela-
lions was not raised once during the
campaign, although the Utah people knew
as much about those relations then as
they do now.
The attitude taken by Roberts 'on the
relations of church and state. together
with some of his utterances was followed
by a liberal dose of church discipline. He
was sent east on a mission and after two
years was recalled to take charge Of The
church Sunday school organ, called the
Juvenile Instructor. He was stil serving
in this capacity when he was nominated
last September
Charged With Living in POIygamy.
The campaign had barely opened when
"a n ME =