Plain Talk to the Mormon Prophet.
The Rocky Mountain Christian Advocate contains and open letter to Brigham Young by a Mormon, which gives some strong statments about him of a damaging character. That such things were done no ono has questioned, but the specific and balf humorous way of putting them are quite refreshing. He says. Sir—I wish to remind you in this article of a number of instances of your avarice, for I hear of them almost daily, and from members of the Church. You used to swear in the pulpit, and said as an apology for the same that you always did your swearing in that place. I will name a few of your robberies to refresh your memory. The first is the poor-farm, laid out expressly for the benefit of the poor, in five acre lots, but now appropriated for your individual use, forty acres in a ring fence.
2d. Fonr quarter sections in Sugar House Ward, which you got four poor men to preempt, and to swear that it was for their own individual use.
3d. Twenty-five thousand acres in the same way in the settlements in Cache Valley, giving the men seven bushels and a half of wheat for perjuring themselves.
4th. The hundreds of thousands of dollars collected in Europe and America to build the Temple, and the building all done in tithing labor, while you pocket the money, and then take the rock from the Temple to build the Theater with tithing labor.
5th. You have done the same with every appropriation made by Government, such for instance as the Council House, State House, Court House and Penitentiary. Appropriations for expeditions against the Indians have likewise been mysteriously absorbed—perhaps you can tell what has become of them. Can you enlighten the people as to what became of the money collected to start Brigham Young's Pony Express to the States? Can you tell what became of the sixteen thousand pounds collected in England to assist the people here at the time of the move south? Also the money collected to send the Elders home, when every one was furnished with clothing, blankets and arms to assist in the fight against Uncle Sam? And who was it that, when they came here, stripped them of all they were furnished with, and then demanded of them their fare for which the Saints in England had paid? When donations have been made here to assist the emigrants on their way, you have demanded payment for such assistance.
19th Century Mormon Article Newspaper Index
