The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-14
THE WAY 1T WAS DONE.

Ii
In another portion of this issue we
print communication from Mr.. George
4. Hicks pertaining to the origin Of the
Mormon doctrine of polygamy. Mr..
Hicks makes rather caustic reference TO
the silly pretenslon that an angel ap'
peared to Joseph Smith, drawn sword
in hand, and commanded him to be-
come the master Of harem or lose his
life as punishment fer disobedience of
that command. Mr.. Hicks suggests
that possibly the CANCEL" referred to
was the late Truman o. Angel.
He was. In sermon which Presi~
dent Joseph j.. Smith delivered in the
Salt Lake Tabernacle on July 7, 1878,
and which is recorded in the Deseret
News of Septcmbe: Z, 1878, he said:
To put this matter more correctly be-
fore you, here declare that the principle
OF plural marriage was not first revealed
on the 10Th day OF July. 1S43. Il was
written for the first time on that date,
but 1t had been revealed 10 the prophet
many years before that, perhaps as early
as 1882.
brigham Young's first wife was
Niuam Works. She died in tho State
of Now York on September s, 1882
brigham was a5 that time an elder N
the church, and after the death of his
wife he mo yel westward to Kirkland
Hherc he met Joseph Smith for the
first time. 1t was notorious in Kirt-
land that Joseph Smith had defiled a
woman, whose name is known, as he
had done with many other women The
fuss created over these immoralities
placed Joseph in bad predicament.
He was at a loss TO know how to get
rid of the woman and to himself escape
with anything like a clean bill. Tru-
man o. Angel was the brother of Mary
Ann Angel, one woman whom Joseph
had wronged, and he was tho "angel'
who one day caught the bogus prophet
alone and declared to him that if he
did not make right the wrong perpe-
trated upon his sister he would kill
Joseph, 1t was under this stress that
the revelation" commanding the prac-
tice Of polygamy occurred to Joseph
Smith Under the laws of the State of
Ohio, it was impossible openly to prac-
tlce plural marriage, and Joseph was at
his wit S end to know what TO do in
the case of the Angel woman. But
Brigham Young soon became a willing
partner in his villainies, accepting the
woman as his wife, under promise that
he also should be 'ffavored of the Lord'
with numerous other conjugal partners
Thus was made the bargain out Of
which eventually grew the polygamous
'revelation,' the promulgation of
which was left to the receiver of de-
spoiled women, Brigham Young. 1t re-
quired a period from 1892 to 1S43. to-
gether with wanderings and sufferinps
of which the innocent followers of
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were
the chief sufferers, to muster up suf.
fcient courage to even privately pre-.
tend TO have received the "revela-
ton" The hypocritical wretches pub
lished broadcast, when accused of their
gross immoralities, that no such doc
trine or practice existed in the church
th'y PipNuiSh tJS VI women
TO that effect, while yet those women
submitted their bodies to the lechers
who "inspired' their Internal lies. But
in the end the truth was brought home
TO Joseph Smith, because he prophesied
to William Marks, president Of the
Nauvoo high council, just before the
death of himself and his brother Hyrum,
that polygamy would yet be the means
Of destroying the church. That prophecy
is being fulfilled as fast as the polyg~
amylovIng Smiths can bring about full
| lfillment, The Smiths of today In Utah
would rather make Joseph a true
prophet at the cost Of destruction to
the church than they would drive out
polygamy to give renewed life to the
organization and thus cause one of
Joseph Smith's forecasts TO fail Be
cause, you see, in the meantime the
Utah prophetic Smiths are having
''the time of their lives,' and are
raising hell' in the community, Just
as Joseph and Hyrum did, and just as
any of their descendants will do until
they are properly curbed in their un-
righteousness.
Funny thing about the Deseret News
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