The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-09
1.-THE BRETHREN" SLEW HIM.

As going further to show the imperi-
alistic defiance Of the Mormon leaders
at Nauvoo, we present another quota
tion from the book, Something OF
Men | Have KNOWN by Hon. Adlai
T.. Stevenson. which authority has been
brought forward by the Descret News
in comparison of positions ms between
that paper and The Tribune. We find
the following on page 2O7 of Mr.. Stew
cnson S work:
In order To protect their leaders from
arrest, IL was doCrccd by the city coun-
ell OF Nauvoo that no writ unless issued
and approved by its mayor should be exc
cuted within the sacred city, and that any
officer attempting TO execute Il WIFI
otherwise issued. within the city, should
he subject TO imprisonment for life, ana
that the pardonIne power OF the governor
Of the State was In such cases suspended.
This ordinance when published created
great aStonishment ana Indignation. The
belief became general that the Mormons
separate government wholly independent
OF that OF the state. This belief was
strengthened by the presentation OF
petition to Congress praying for the cs-
tahlishmont OF a Territorial government
for Nauvoo and vicinity.
Apparently oblivous Of the gathering
storm. Joseph Smith early In lSAi COM
mitted his crowning act OF folly by an
nounCng himself n candidate for the high
office of President of the United States,
It will be remembered that in the
narration of Bishop Denison L. Harris
concerning the events of that period,
he said that it was in the spring of
1914 that the Mormon conspirators held
those three meetings which he attended
mt the house Of William Law, who was
first counsellor TO Joseph Smith. 1t was
Immediately after Joseph "committed
his crowning act Of folly AS indl-
eating the magnitude of this conspir-
acy. which was then in its formative
were two hundred persons at tho third
meeting who subscribed TO the oath Of
vengeance upon Joseph. At that meet
ing, too, all sorts of complaints were
lodged against Joseph and Hyrum, from
political to moral turpitude. That poll
tics entered very largely into this Nor
mon disaffecton is evidenced in the
nature of that oath taken as against
fJoseph Smith and his party We
will again reproduce that oath, as re-
cited by Bishop Denison L. Harris, and
as printed in the Contributor Can Off
cial Mormon publication for April,
1884, as follows:
You solemnly swear. before God and
all holy angels. and these your brethren
by whom you arc surrounded, that you
will give your life. your liberty, your
influence, your all: for the destruction OF
Joseph Smith and his party. so help you
God.
There were none but Mormous who
subscribed to that deadly oath, as will
be observed in the fact that the obi
your brethren by whom you are sur
rounded.'
1t is matter Of history, as shown
in these columns heretofore, and as
taken from Mormon writers and his.
torians, that in the final events imme-
diately preceding the killing Of Joseph
and Hyrum the warrants for the ar
rest of Joseph were issued at the insti-
CATION Of the Laws and other Mormons
Their hatred for the "prophet' was
so intense that when he was released
upon one charge he was Immediately re-
arrested upon another-the last and
most damaging accusation being that
of treason-in levying war against
the State, declaring martial law in Nau-
WOO, and ordering out the Legion to re-
sst the execution OF lawful process -
The acts recited were committed, as
even Mormon history will show, and
the recalcitrant Mormons at Nauvoo
and vicinity were made to suffer under
the tyrannies possible Of imposition un-
der the extraordinary charter Of Nau-
VOC.
The more this matter is looked into,
the more apparent it becomes that
they were Mormons who formed the
final and fatal conspiracy; that they
were Mormons who banded themselves
together under a bloody oath to exc
cute that conspiracy; that they were
Mormons who actually fred the fatal
shots. The latter fact Is attested by
one Of the witnesses at the trial of
the supposed murdcrers, who testified
that after the shooting n bright and
shining light descended upon the head
of Joseph, and that several OF the con
spitators were stricken with total
blindness, and that he heard supornat-
ural voices in the air confirming the
divine mission of the murdered
"prophct." No one but a Mormon
would have given such testimony, be-
cause others did not believe in Joseph
sufficiently to imagine any such circum
stance; and il this Mormon had not
been one of the mob he could not have
sworn that he saw anything of the
kind.
AS we have asked before, Is it moi
about time for the Deserct News and