The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-11-26
MORMON CHIEF DEAD
AT SALT LAKE CITY
PRESIDENT SMITHS END COMES
AFTER A LONG AND REMARK
ABLY ACTIVE CAREER.
PROMINENT In BUSINESS AS
BANKER AND RAIL Way DIRECTOR

Had Five Wives and 43 Children He
Refused to Abandon When Anti
Polygamy Law Was Passed-Life's
History Reads Like Romance.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah.-Joseph
F. Smith, president of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints
(Mormon) died at his home here
early today after a long illness.
Death was due, indirectly, to par
alytic stroke suffered last April. Not
withstanding his illness President
Smith attended the recent semi-an-
nual conference of the church and
spoke strongly against polygamous
marriages, which it was rumored had
been surreptiously performed during
the last few years.
Heber j. Grant, president of the
quorum of twelve apostles of the
Mormon church, automatically be-
came president of the church through
the death of Mr.. Smith. Ratification
of his succession will probably not
take place until the next general con-
ference to be held next April. Owing
to the influenza epidemic private
funeral services will be held for Pres
ident Smith.
Joseph Fielding Smith was presi-
dent of the Mormon church, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, the seat of which cult is in
Utah, though its members are scat
tered in colonies throughout the
world to the number of some AGO.
600. The church is ruled by a coun-
Gil, but Smith was its nominal head
and laid claim to the authority of the
original Mormon prophet, Joseph
Smith, his uncle. This claim was dis
puted by several apostate organiza-
lions, including the Missouri branch,
at the head of which was Joseph
Smith, son of the prophet, who died
in 1914.
Father Slain by Mob.
With the death of both Smiths has
passed probably the last of Mormon
leaders whose birth occurred prior to
the settlement of the cult in Utah.
Joseph Fielding Smith was 80 years
old. His father, Hyram Smith, and
his uncle, the original Prophet Jo-
seph, were shot to death by a mob
which stOrmed the jail in Carthage, /
Mo-, where the two men were con-
fined shortly after they began to .
preach plurality of wives. When his |
mother, with the rest of the Mormons, !
was driven from Uauvoo, ILL.,, the g. |
year-old Joseph Fielding Smith drove
an OK team across the plains into
Utah and became herd boy, and /
then missionary, when in 1852 Brig |
ham Young established tn eheadquar-
tiers of the Mormon sect at Salt Lake |
City, Utah. He was sent on a mis-
sion to Hawaii when only Is years
old.
He entered the army which Young
dispatched to intercept the United !
States troops which were about to in
wade Utah, and perforemd active serv-
ice as a scout, harassing the federal |
expedition until the presidents proc !
lamation ended the Mormon war"
Joseph Fielding Smith was an avow-
ed polygamist. According to his own /
testimony in the United States SEN |
ate inquiry into the case of Reed |
SmOot, United States senator from
Utah, Smith had five wives 1t is
Sald MS children numbered forty |
three.
Had Plural Family.
In 1890, after the supreme court
had upheld the Edmunds-Tucker act
making polygamy unlawful in the
territOries-which resulted in the i'm
prisOnment of more tain 1000 Nor
mOns-President Woodruff of the
church issued a manifesto declaring
that polygamy was no longer prac-
ticed by the Mormons In public ad-
monitions President Smith upheld his
manifesto, but as to his own case, he
said, before the Smoot inquiry, that,
although it was contrary to the law of