Mormon History
Confronting Mormon False Statements - 1886
Liberty Tribune – March 12, 1886
"MEMOIRS OF THE MORMONS.
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A Racy Extract from the Salt Lake
Evening News.
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False Statements Regarding Treatment of Mormons
During Their Sojourn in Clay County.
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We print below an article taken from the
Evening News of the 28th ult., a daily Mormon organ published at Salt Lake
City, Utah Ter., a copy of which paper was forwarded us with the article marked
with the request that we "answer it as it deserves." The length of the article
copied, and our consequent lack of space, precludes our privilege of a
systematic reply to the same. We therefore present a few facts relative to the
history, conduct and habits of [ye festive?] Mormons during their stay in Clay
and Jackson counties, and leave our readers, many of whom have personal
knowledge of the occurrences, to draw their own conclusions after reading two
sides of the question.
It is not denied that the Mormons were subjected to some harsh treatment at the
hands of the people of Jackson and Clay counties; but we submit that it was
nothing more than their just deserts, brought on by their own absurd, unlawful
and fanatical theories and practices. Here is the article referred to:
MISSOURI MEMORIES.
Deseret Evening News
...The
notorious Joseph Smith referred to above, the prophet and leader of the Mormons,
or Latter Day Saints, had, according to his profession, received by direct
communication from God orders to establish and build up, somewhere in the West,
a New Jerusalem. The exact location had not been revealed to him; but traveling
under divine guidance, he had been assured that his prophetic vision would
recognize the place when it had been reached. Accordingly, about the year 1831,
the famous Joseph started Westward from Kirtland, Ohio, in quest of the promised
land. When he had reached Jackson county, Mo., it was revealed to Joseph that
this was the promised land; which fact he communicated to his followers, and
thither came the dupes of his persuasion, in large numbers, and located. The
place where Independence is situated was elected as the site whereon the Temple
should be built; and under his direction the erection of the Temple was begun,
but extended no further than the commencement of the foundation. At the time of
the location of the Mormons there, Jackson county was comparatively sparsely
settled, and there remained yet much land subject to entry. The Mormons at once
set about to possess themselves of large landed interests and, at the same time,
inform and convince the oldest residents of that county of Joseph's divine
revelations, which were, in part, that the Mormons and heathens (meaning the
older residents, or gentiles,) could not dwell together in the same county, and
that God had bequeathed and set apart this land to their exclusive use and
benefit, and consequently the heathens must render up their possessions.
At about this time a newspaper called the Evening Star, was established
at Independence. It was a Mormon organ, and through this medium the revelations
to Joseph were made known to the people. It advocated the right, by divine
sanction, of the Mormons to absolute possession of the lands and the fullness
thereof, and insisted that all the trespassing heathens should depart. The rank
and file of the Mormons, fully impregnated with this idea, said unto the Jackson
county heathens: "What is yours is ours, and what is mine is my own;" and
suiting their actions to their words, they began to appropriate to their own use
the property and effects of the heathens. About this time the heathens, also,
had a revelation, which was to the effect that the festive Mormons were not
disposed to tote fair with them, and they began, accordingly, to expostulate
with their persecutors, but all to no purpose. The Mormons persisted in their
nefarious practices -- to pillage and over ride the heathen until forbearance
ceased to be a virtue. It then became necessary, in order to protect their
property and their rights, for the heathens to organize to resist the arrogant
and fanatical Mormons.
Thus matters grew from bad to worse until the gentiles of Jackson county, from
sheer necessity, drove the pestilential Mormons across the river into Clay
county. Their printing press and materials were hurled into the Missouri river
after them; and thus set the Evening Star, and it is still setting,
presumably, -- at the bottom of the river. The time when the Mormons were driven
into Clay county, was mid-winter, and the morning of the first day after their
arrival on Clay county soil, between the hour of midnight and daybreak, was the
time when the stars fell; and it was at this season, also, according to the
recollection of its builder, that the first jail in Clay county was built at
Liberty -- a cut of which building is given above, the sight of which aroused to
such an extent the editorial flow of the Salt Lake City Evening News. The
good people of Clay county, through pity for the destitute Mormons who were
driven to their doors hungry, cold and homeless, took compassion upon and kindly
received them. They generously provided for and gave employment in their
families to the Mormons, as well as on their farms and as teachers of schools;
which acts on the part of the Clay countians, by the way, won for them, from the
people of Jackson county, the title of "Jack Mormons." But in the course of
time, the ungrateful hostages, unmindful of the hospitality which had been
extended them by the generous heathen people of Clay, began again their
perfidious practices, and claimed to have received through their prophet-leader,
Joseph, another revelation to the effect that Clay county was the Canaan of
which they were in quest, and that this land, too, was theirs by divine gift;
that here the Temple was to be erected, and the heathen must render up their
property and possessions and depart from the land. The Mormons here became even
more fanatical than before and asserted that they were above the operation and
control of the laws of Missouri, being subject only to the edicts of the twelve
Mormon apostles -- (wondrously treasonable, this.) -- The ill feeling thus
[engendered] between the Mormons and the people of Clay county grew and waxed
stronger as the absurd professions and intolerable conduct of the misguided
Mormons increased, and in time the gallent sons of Clay, exasperated beyond
further endurance, arose in their might and informed the Mormons that they must
go; and they went, but at the point of the bayonet.
Subsequent to their expulsion from Clay county the Mormons, after remaining a
short time at other places, finally congregated at Far West, where again it was
revealed to Joseph that the Temple should be built. The depraved natures of the
Mormons, not having been changed by past bitter experiences, again asserted
itself, and their depredations -- such as stealing, house-burning and, even,
murder, as was charged, -- were practiced by them until the State authorities
sent troops, under the command of Gen. A. W. Doniphan, who marched upon Far West
and compelled the settlement to surrender. Here Joseph and Hiram Smith, Lyman
Wright [sic]. Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, et al. were surrendered to the
authorities. -- These leaders of the Mormons were first sent to Richmond for
preliminary trial before Judge Austin A. King, whence they were taken to Daviess
county to await the action of the grand jury; but, owing to the insecurity of
the jail there, they were returned to Clay county and incarcerated in the old
jail at Liberty. The prisoners, upon their own motion, were granted a change of
venue from Daviess to Boone county, and were there tried by Judge David Todd.
They were ably defended by Gen. Doniphan, who commanded the force that captured
them, and were acquitted.
The charge that, whilst the prisoners were confined in jail at Liberty, they
were fed on or offered "Mormon beef, or human flesh, is as false as
Dicer's oaths, and is too preposterous to be entertained even for a moment by
any other than the most ridiculous Mormon fanatic; as is, also, the charge that
poison was administered to them in their food, which, through divine
interposition on behalf of the Mormons, had no other effect upon them than that
of "a most powerful emetic." The flagrant falsity of this latter charge is at
once apparent to the Christian world, and the expression of such an idea, fully
endorsed by the Mormons, is certainly sufficient to lead the average
Christianized American to accept, in this instance, the old Latin maxim, "falsus
in unum, falsus in omnibus," and totally discredit every part of the
senseless wrangle of the poor deluded Mormon editor.
Note 1: The editor's assertion, that while the Mormons resided in Clay county,
they claimed the land as their own and intended to build a temple there, is
largely unsubstantiated. Caldwell county, however,
was formed from the northern half of Ray, the county adjoining Clay on the
east , and the LDS soon after dedicated a temple lot in Caldwell -- the LDS also
claimed part of neighboring Daviess county, as the holy first residence of Adam
and Eve, following that ancient couple's departure from the Garden of Eden.
Considered in a much broader sense than the editor indicates, the Mormons
probably did lay claim to Jackson, Clay and Ray counties, prior to 1836, as part
of the region "round about" their promised land -- a region which they felt they
would rightfully come to possess in the millenarian near future.
