LEE'S CONFESSION.
Young Joe Smith's Disciples Satisfied with it.
The San Francisco Post, of March 28th, has this:
"From the fact that the Mormons ar-rived in this city in large numbers as early as in 1847—came here by the ship load—and made California an important missionary field ever since the Pacific Coast was acquired by the United States, it is not surprising that the execution of John D. Lee and his confession should have awakened more than an or-dinary interest among our citizens. The truth is there are quite a number of Mormons in California, Nevada and Oregon, and some few dis-ciples in Washington Territory, and two or three times as many thousands of per-sons who have at one time or another been Mormons, living in Utah and apos-tatized from the faith, abandoning it al-together and associated themselves with Christian societies where they reside. These 'apostates,' as they are called, as soon as ever they lost faith In Brigham invariably sought to flee from his rule, joined Gentile trains passing through Utah, and coming West have scattered all over the coast. The only organized body of these, however, is known as the 'Reorganized Church' of the Latter-Day Saints, and its members profess allegiance to Joseph Smith, the eldest son of their 'martyred prophet,' and the founder of their system. In San Francisco they are not numerous, but they are respectable, good citizens, es-chewing all the vagaries of polygamy and denouncing the doctrines of 'blood-atoning,' 'milking the Gentiles,' 'blind obedience to the priesthood,' and the other kindred teachings that have made Utah a veritable inquisition and pande-monium. Their numbers are quite large in San Bernardico county of this State, and in Ormsby county, of Nevada, and they have little batches of disciples in nearly every, county of the States and Ter-ritories of the Pacific. The present head-quarters of the new organization is at Piano, Ill., where their young prophet resides; but they adhere to their original faith, and are moving back again into Missouri where they expected to build up their New Jerusalem. To this new Church the confessions of Lee are particularly interesting, and better than any revelations their prophet could give them, and they mean to make use of it in their propagandism, Yester-day there was to have been a great out-pouring on the subject in the hall of the Grand Army of the Republic, on New Montgomery street, where the branch of disciples meet ; but, through the neglect of the deacon to advertise and bring the public together, Elder Andrews bad to defer his discourse till he had a larger audience, and so he and 'brother' Ander-son and Betts 'bore testimony,' as did dying Lee, to their faith in the original Joseph as a prophet. An erratic brother—Mc something—was boisterous and said so many confused things that they had to 'deal with him' and 'suspend him' till he got more sense. As journalists in-variably leave the pulpit to those bet-ter adapted for the work expected from it, of course 'we take no stock' in any shade of the Mormon faith; but in looking at the rivals, Brigham Young and young Joseph Smith, there is something to hope from the labors of the latter in breaking off the shackles that bind the people of Utah to that miserable fanat-icism which found its truest interpreta-tion in the massacre on the Mountain Meadows. One of the elders spoke cheerfully to a Post representative last evening at the hall, of the fact that there were large numbers of the Mormons in Utah coming over to young Joseph, and deserting Brigham, and the Gentile merchants and other well-to-do persons there were aiding them to erect a church in Salt Lake City."
