The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-01-23
Burton j. Hendrick, in McCures, Names Prominent
Men Who, He Says Have Become Lawbreak-
ers and Violators of Pledges Since 1890
by the Practice of Plural Marriage
FRAUD EMPLOYED TO SPREAD DOCTRINE
High Ecclesiastics Chief Offenders He Declares,
and Adds That Non-Mormons Are Justified
i'm Scouting the Protestations of Church
Leaders That PoIygamy Is Dead

was member of one of the richest and
tather, Moses Thatcher was an espe-
cially fine product of Mormonism-one OF
the few intelligent. cultured broad mind
ca men in the church. Although a dcvout
Mormon-a polygamlst with three wives
Moses Thatcher had Won national dis
tnetion for himself in 1896 by openly
making a fight against the domination
OF Inc Mormon church in politics. had
stood for the United States senatorship
In defiance of his own quorum. and. for
this act, had been deposed from the
apostleshlp. This independent spirit. as
Vel as his personal charm, had endeared
Moses Thatcher to the non Mormon pop
Ice. inherited his qualities Of mind and
character. as we'll his unquestioning
devotion TO the Mormon faith. She was
a polygamous child. the daughter os
Thatchers third wife and like most po-
lygamous children. had fanatioal belief
III the principle to which she owed her
own existence She represented well that
type OF Mormon woman-a type that the
non Mormon mind has never understood
which readily accepts polygamy as the
ultimate testimony OF faith. AS the av-
erage Christian sees IT, this order OF
marriage means. for the polygamous wife.
the destruction OF all happiness upon this
earth. it calls for the fullest measure OF
self-sacrifice. That is precisely the res-
son why polygamy appeals so strongly TO
certain fanatical natures among the Nor
mon women, II represents the. giving
mand OF God. of earthly pleasures and
saIisfactions to advance the kingdom of
heaven: These women believe unaues-
tioningly that Joseph Smith was pro-
phet of God; that Cod through him. com
nanded the practice OF plural marriage
and who are they. that they should aues-
tion the wisdom OF the Almighty?
In the latter part of 1902 the fact be-
came public property that Clarce That
cher had entered the celestial order, Peo-
pie obtained the earliest intlmations of
n bearSn
dead body OF the first baby OF Miss
Thatcher and Henry S Tanner. her po-
streets of Salt Lake City. Like his plu-
raj wife. Tanner belonged 10 the higher
social classes. At the time OF his po-
lygamous marriage no was thirty.two
Young university at Provo. and of the
law school (class OF lSe9l OF the Untver-
sity Of Michigan. Neither Tanner nor
social or ecclesiastical penalties for their
act. Clarice Thatcher now lives quietly
In the Cannon ward OF Salt Lake City.
"auntie''-ard. with her husband. enjoysE
The privileges of the church and is closely
identified with It's work: Tanner himself
has prospered temporarily, and has be-
come identified unquestionably through
ecclesiastical influence with church land
schemes
has been disfellowshiped by the twelve
apostles for the offense of polygamy,
proving the charge as made.1
A Representative Case.
This interesting couple are representative
of the younger generation. they have
experienced the influence of that modern
education which. II is generally believed.
has sounded the death knell OF Mormon
polygamy, In fact. there are many in
fluences that make the allegiance OF the
younger generation stronger than that or
the old. Their mothers and grandmoth-
ers bad many early preiudlces TO over
como. polyeamy ran counter to theif
it was something new. strange. and
essentially ahhorrent. With the present
generation. however, this institution
persuaded to keep the sacred ordinance
alive,
According to Mormon ideas. all Latter;
day Saints may have Immediate personal
Communication with heaven. They have
the spirit of the Lord they are i'm
pressed or they feel, to do ,SeTSnn SeTsa,n
Of divine intelligence, Enthusiastically
pointing the way of righteousness. Many
Of the apostles now proiesscd 20 nave
OF the Woodruff manifesto. God really
Intended that polygamy should still 90
on: The Deity himself had personally
was merely a trick-"an attempt 10 beat
the devil at his own game" as one aPos-
tie is said to have described IT. its only
purpose was to gain statehood. which
meant the control of secular power by
the hierarchy and the practice of the
sacred institution under state protec-
ton. Everywhere Mormons, under the
leadership Of these men, now began 10
fast and pray; they had dreams and
visions. In which, in many cases. they
were commanded TO take new plural
wives Some of them even pretended
that God had shown them, in vision the
Identical women whom they were TO
marry, Many high ecclcsiasts went about
quietly persuadipg men and women TO
marry plurally; these reactionary apos-
tles-Briglam Young. Jr., Owen Wood
ruff Matthias +. Cowley and John w
a specially of performing
the marriage rites II was their partlcu-
lar aim 10 make new polygamists OF
the leading churchmen. Many or these
same churchmen have described to the
writer the attempts of these zealots to
persuade them into new plural marriage.
Abraham n. Cennon's Case.
Abraham Fl. Cannon. n son OF the
great Mormon leader George @, Can
non, was one of the best beloved of the
apostles. In the early eighties
Abraham II, Cannon had married three
wives. and had served a term In the
Utah pententlary for his crimes. Soon
after the publication OF the manifesto.
however he became outSpoken in in
sisting upon its honorable observance
Deceit and trickery seemed allen to Alb
raham Cannon'S character; he was ehe
one apostle OF the Mormon church In
whom the Gentle population had implicit
faith: in their eyes. he had precisely
the qualities needed in the leader OF the