Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-06-08
WHO WAS ATTACHED ?"


Our contemporaries have been In
dulglng IN a great deal Of fiction relat-
ing 10 an alleged ATTACK on Rev, d, j
Mcmillan, DID. OF New York, by Elder
Penrose, and the comments OF the Pres
byterian preacher on the purported at
tack" For the benefit Of the reading
public we win state the facts concern
ing this matter, so far as they have
been substantiated by reliable evil
dence:
In the first place, no attack has
been made on Dr. Mcmillan, either by
Elder Penrose, or any other member
Of the rMormon" Church. II has not
been explained, yet, by any OF the pa
pers or individuals that have said so
much about that "attack" of what 1t
consisted. Nor are they able to do so,
because It cannot be- made to appear
by any fair construction Of language
that there has been anything in the ma
ture Of an attack upon the gentle
man. during his visit here on his way
TO or from the assembly at Los Angeles.
Further, the doctor emphatlcally
denies having used the words attributed
to him in reference TO Elder Penrose,
and explains that "the Bible in one
hand and pistol in the other story
was, 10 some extent at least told by
way OF metaphor" He does not claim
now at any rate. that ne ever exhib-
tied such weapons IN the pulpit Now,
as to the Sunday services on May 2Srd'
In the morning the DR.. preached in a
local church and, according TO the Mon
day papers repeated the old and ex-
ploded Sanpete story about the Bible
and pistol He emphasized as true the
terrible tale about his life being in dan
yer when preaching in Sanpete twenty
right years ago In the afternoon the
speaker in the Tabernacle incidentally
defended his Church against the error
published in n pamphlet, 60 the effect
that the "Mormons" believed that all
the great reformers such as Luther CAL
vim, Knox, ct al were impostOrs, He
showed that. on the contrary, the Lat
ter-day Saints regarded them with
honor, as they did all persons who sim
cerely promulgated their beliefs and led
mankind to believe In God and Jesus
Christ. The speaker went on to men
ton other statements in the pamphlet,
which he said bore the name OF q New
York d. d. without mentoning the
name) and which he doubted, because
Of the story which the author had told
about being under the necessity Of taxi
pistol as well as a Bible into pulpit
In Sanpete
1t appears that the Or. was incensed
at this, and retold the story IN the
evening. Whereupon some afiidavits
that were published az the time Of its
first PRONUNCIATION were reproduced in
the Deseret News, accompanied by
present statements from former pupils
Of DR.. Mcmillan, refutlng his tale Of a
gun, and completely upsetting It. The
romance had not the merit Of original
ity, as 1t was plagiarized from the fc-
tion published few years before by a
Methodist preacher named Lyford,
then located at Provo.
Now IL will be seen by all fair-minded
readers that the 'attack," originally
and by repetition, came from Or. Mil
lsn. and that all that has been said
and published cut II has been by way
OF reyus.ai. II matters not whether the
ftory was metaphorical in the start or,
like DR.. Iliffs falsehood about Senator
Smoot, told "by way Of pleasantly
Il was an "attack" on the "Mormons'
Of a Quartec OF a century or more ago.
ana the evidence Is overwhelming that
there was no occasion FOR any preacher
to go armed, either into the pulpit or
anywhere else among the "Mormons'
in sanpete.
And. further, the proof Is positive that
the threat said to have been uttered
TO Mcmillan, that mo Gentle should be
permitted TO set foot on the sacred soil
OF sanpete." was sheer 0ctlon, because
about one-fourth Of the population Of
Mount Pleasant when he taught school
there was composed Of Genulcs.
Now, we do not care anything about
the stupid story, any further than We
do not like the public to be misled as to
the character Of our people, who are
peaceable and always Kind, generous
and hospitable to strangers who act
with any semblance Of decenoy. But We
think our contemporaries are not d0lng
fairly In the little breeze OF controversy
that has arisen, by horping 50 much on
the alleged attack On Dr. Mcmillan,
when nothing OF the kind has been at
tempted. on the contrary, after his al
legged personal remarks and his re-
vamping OF his old story the only re-
venge we took was 10 publish, without
charge. notice thta h. would preach IN
the Westminster Presbyterian church
on Sunday evening, and TO furnish a re-
porter 20 take sketch Of his sermon.
We wish him no harm and have only
sorrow for him and his associate
.scrushers," In their violent attacks
upon "Mormonism" and the Nor