MORMONDOM.
Mormon and G- eatile . Sentiment as to Ann- Eliza.
Brigham Young's Emigration. Swindle — How the Prophet Skins the Greenies.
" Obedience to Counsel Without Ques- tion "— The Case of Elder Stenhouse.
Matrimonial Ceremonies— The Process of " Sealing "-- Taking Degrees— " Endowment- Probes."
" 3! ood- Atonement "— The Garden of Eden and the Temptation of Eve— Brigham as Our Savior.
Special Correspondence of The Chicago Tribune. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 30.— The recent order of Chief- Justice White, releasing Brigham Young from imprisonment for contempt of court in refusing to pay the $ 9,500 alimony to Ann Eliza, his nineteenth wife, as ord& red by Justice Bore- man, is regarded as a Mormon victory, and the Saints are especially glorified over the news that the Attorney- General of the United States ap- proves of this action of Justice White in over- ruling an order of his predecessor, and construe it to mean that they can henceforth practice their " peculiar institution" in peace. The Gentile element, although they regret that THE PROPHET ESCAPES PUNISHMENT thereby, also claim a victory, as they uuderstand this order to mean that the United States, Courts do not intend to legalize the rights of a wife upon the nineteenth mistress of a man, even though he be a Prophet and without honor in his own country. This practically ends this case, which had almost grown as tiresome as the Roger- Tichborne suit, and whose claims were about as just. Our laws cannot discriminate in favor of apostate Mormons who forsake their lifelong faith and become virtuous suddenly after realizing that their ambitious hopes were blasted. This marriage was merely a " confi- dence" or " bunko" game on both sides,— purely a Mormon affair, and in defiant violation of the law ; therefore, our courts cannot recognize the Prophet and Ann Eliza, except to punish one as a bigamist, the other as an adulteress.
It seems strange that those who go forth to enlighten a Gentile world as to
THE DARK DEEDS OF MORMONDOM
confine their discourses mainly to their own grievances, and touch very lightly upon the accursed teachings and venal practices of the Mormon faith and its brutish leaders. After dwelling among the Saints lesB than three months, your correspondent can expose more of the rascality of Brother Brigham and his crew of cut- throat " Destroying Angels" than is con- tained in tha lectures of Mrs. Stenhouse and Miss Ann Eliza; and that is not saying much in favor of my own acquisitiveness. Neither of these lecturesses ventilates the greatest swindle perpetrated by the Mormon Church, or rather Brigham Young. It is called
THE " EMIGRATION SWINDLE."
The Mormon Conference, which meets twice a year,— April and October,— appoints missiona- ries to go forth and preach the Gospel of Mormon- ism to everybody. " They go without purse, scrip, or inflated greenbacks. Their most prolific vine- yard is England and Denmark. With' the de- scriptive powers of a land- speculator, the un- equaled fertility and picturesque beauty of this wonderfnl country are eloquently portrayed to the poor emigrant. The wonderful teachings of the Mormon faith sound like Divine inspiration to his ignorant ear; and on being told that Solo- mon and several other Patriarchs had more than one wife, and that it is a religious duty, he is at once converted, and smites his breast in anger that he has been living so long in disobedience to the " will of the Lord." The missionaries first endeavor to convert those families contain- ing the most women.
ESPECIALLY IF YOUNG. For instance : A family of ten are checked from Liverpool to New York, at a cost of $ 500. Their passage is paid by the agent, of the Church, at Liverpool out of the Church Emigration Fund." The agent of the Church at New York then forwards them to their destination, at a cost of, say, $ 500,— paying the money out of the " Church Emigration Fund " at that city. This " Church Emigration Fund " is raised by a sys- tem of taxation, called " tithing," which re- quires every member to give one- tenth of his gross receipts and income to the Church; and, further, every convert must give one- tenth of his entire possessions on joining the Church. When these emigrants arrive at Salt Lake City, the " President" of the Church counsels that they go to a certain part of the Territory, where ha prophesies the land will ba fruitful ; and he enjoins them to be the same. Brigham Young is also
A GREAT " SQUATTER."
He has located all of the most valuable agricul- tural and timber lands in the Territory, in his own and in the name of the Church; and, as " President" of the Church, ho is its ex- officio Trustee. These lands are carved up in small farms. The emigrants are sent to that par- ticular portion of the Territory he wishes settled up,— locating them on his own land, which ha sells to them at a pretty stiff price. The $ 1,000 passage- money— though paid out of the general Church Fund, and with the previous under- standing that they would ba brought oyer free of charge— is now charged against . them as a debt to Brigham Younq, with 8 per cent interest per year. At the time of each yearly harvest, the Tithing- master takes one- tenth of the poor emigrant's crop, in the name of the Lord. The collecting agent of " Zion's Mercantile Co- operative Store" ( where all Mormons are compelled to trade) next comes, and takes produce in payment of supplies furnished. Than comes Brigham's financial agent, and
TAKES THE BALANCE as part payment of the $ 1,000 passage- money ana accruing interest. After this has been set- tled the farm must be paid for, together with accruing interest on the purchase- price. And, by the time the poor emigrant pays all this, after yearly giving one- tenth of his labor to the Church, ha is about ready to yield up the ghost, and realizes, too late, that Mormonism is far different from what the seductive missionary painted it, and that Brigham Young is
A PROPHET ONLY TO HIMSELF.
The wrongs of these poor, deluded people are never heard. They bear the galling yoke sub- missively and in silence, and are not so fortunate as to be able to recuperate their broken for- tunes by playing upon the credulity of Gentile audiences.
One of th9 strongest suits in the Mormon faith is to " Obey counsel without questioning." If the " President" orders a brother- member to give up his own wife to him ( Brigham), he must do so. To refuse, he would be cut off from the Church as " disloyal," and tinned over to the " bufferings of Satan." After this, he is per- petually disgraced in the eyes of ah orthodox Mormons.
THE HUSBAND OF MRS. STENHOUSE,
the lecturess, while on a missionary- project in Denmark, converted to matrimony a beautiful young girl, and Elder Stenhouse dwelt in peace with his two wives for several years. The lecturess found no fault with polygamy then. Just before the Central and Union Pacific Rail- roads made the junction at Ogden, Brigham Young located all the laud in that vicinity, and cut it up into lots, with a speculative view. lie prophesied that it could not be built up prop- erly unless there was a newspaper there; which shows that the Prophet's head is level. Elder Stenhouse was than publishing a paper in this city. Brigham " counseled" Stenhouse to move his newspaper to Ogden; which, of course, he did. The new town grew up to ba a second- class eating- station and the great commercial centre of rail- road- ticket " scaipers "; and the paper collapsed for lack of patronage. Stenhouse then at- tempted to re- establish his paper here; but, in the meantime, another newspaper had bean started, and occupied the field be had left. In this attempt he lost all of his money; mort- gaged his office and dwelling- house, and lost that.
THEN HE LOST HIS FAITH ALSO. Ha saw that his own judgment was better than the Prophet's counsel, and ho and his wife re- nounced the Church. The politics, or rather religion, of his paper, was changed, and it became a " red- hot," " live" Gentile sheet. But it went the way of all flashy newspapers. He then turned his attention to writing books and drinking lager; she to lectur- ing. While in a Nevada town, last spring, I endured one of her two- and- a- balf- hour lectures, in which she went for the Prouhet. in a business- like way, detailed her personal in- juries at great length, but failed to reveal the secrots of the " Endowment House" and tho pernicious teachings of the Church,— all of which she must bo fully cognizant of. She touches lightly upon this interesting marraige- theme.. said she was vary much frightened, and that the ceremony lasted " fully seven hours." If it took seven hours to marry a woman to an Elder in the Church, it must have required at least fourteen hours to " seal" Ann Eliza to its " President," as the ceremonies are length- ened in proportion to tho rank of the bride- groom. There are quite a number of
DEGREES IN THIS " SEALING " PROCESS, some of which are only conferred upon the high- est officials of the Church. Tho common herd only take the first degree, which is almost simi- lar to our form of marriage; and as everybody is familiar with that, and some probably too much so, I need not describe it, excepting that the ceremony slightly varies when a man takes his second wife. Then his first wife " gives away" the bride. She is asked, " Sister, do you con- sent that Brother shall take Sister to
be his wife?" etc. She, of course, consents; and. taking the right hand of tho briaa, she places it in the right hand of her husband, then steps a few feet to tho rear, and the ceremony proceeds. Before marrying, however, the bride- groom must first walk up. to the Clerk's office and settle his indebtedness to the Church. The brido and bridegroom are thon led into a chapel, where they kneel, facing each other, and pray, and are forgiven for their many sins. This is called
RECEIVING THEIR " ENDOWMENTS." Thev are then separated,— the bride to the right, the bridegroom to the left,— and are conducted into bath- rooms, where they ara bathed by fe- male and male attendants, respectively. This is tvpical of washing away their sins— and real estate. Each is then anointed with olive- oil ( furnished by the bridegroom) from head to foot, poured over their bodies from small wood- en horns, called " horns of plenty"; and are then pronounced the " anointed of the earth." They are then dressed in what are called " en- dowment robes," which are a kind of a contin- uous garment, on the stylo of pants and jacket sewed together, reaching from the neck to tho ankles. " There is no distinction in tho " make- up" of the clothing on ac- count of sex. Over the heart and right kneo the garments are slit diamond- shaped. The33 pantaloon- sbirts are usually made of linen. Tho couple are each given a Biblical name, by which they will be known in Heaven. They are thon enjoined
NEVER TO TAKE OFF THEIR " ENDOWMENT ROBES," and warned that, as long as they are worn, no misfortune can over befall them; in other words, they are fire- proof against the tempta- tions of the world and the devil. ( These gar- ments are worn under tho nether clothing, and are worn by all orthodox Mormons, even to tho day of their death, and then they serve as a shroud. It is proper to state, in justice to the Saints, that tho same garments are not always literally worn. When a change becomes neces- sary, one is gradually taken off while the other is being put on).
The couple then meet in an adjoining room, and again kneel at prayer. They can marry at this stage of the proceedings, if they wish ; or can take another " degree, by being led. into another room, elaborately furnished, and decorated with allegorical paintings representing Heaven, Earth, Hell, etc., with the Prophet in the back- ground, in the kneeling attitude of receiving a revelation commanding him to do something— probably take unto himself some brother- mem- ber's young wife, or sell some of the Church- lands to the " Ring" of which he is the chief. There is also a painting of Abraham about to slay his son Isaac. This is cited in defense of thoir doctrine of
" BLOOD- ATONEMENT "; which is, if any female commits adultery,— an unpardonable sin.— she must authorize the Church- authorities to kill her in like manner. This murderous doctrine was practiced twenty years ago,- when Mormon- aom was in the' height of its power. There are also portraits of Solomon and other " boss" polygamists, and one representing an imaginary case, of a man clawing the unoffending air in his impotent attempt to fly out of this world, while seven women are cleaving to his spiked coat- tails. In short, this room may be called a cross between a museum and an art gallery.
Prayers are again repeated. The marriage ceremony can also bo performed at this junc- ture, unless the high joint contracting parties are of such importance as to entitle them to the last degree, when they are led into still another room. Only the highest Church officials— such as the Twelve Apostles, etc.— are permitted to take this degree. About this time the bride and groom, as well as the attendants, are supposed to be hungry. If so, they eat lunch, which is usually provided on such state occasions. Tha lower classes bring theirs from home, a la school- boy.
This last inner room is
A TYPICAL GARDEN OF EDEN, with a dim, soft, mellow- whitish light pervading it, representing the Garden at early dawn. In its centre is a pine bush, about 4 feet high, representing the " Tree of Knowledge." On its branches are bunches of ( California) grapes, — emblamatio of that historical apple Eye ate. At the root of this tree reclines a real, live man, dressed in dark, close- fitting tights, similar to tho Magician in the phantom- dance. All can guess who he represents. On entering, the bride takes a seat near him, while the bride- groom, being of an inquisitive nature, takes a walk around the Garden, admir- ing its beauties, etc. Satan flirts with Eve ( tho bride),— she Jis highly insulted; he begins talking,— she listens; he argues,— she slowly shakes her head; ho persuades,— her head is now motionless; he flatters,— she hesitates, and is lost. Just as he is in the act of handing her the apple, or rather bunch of grapes, Brigham Young ( representing Our Savior) enters the Garden, and drives them hence. The attend- ants then give each a small apron of genuine fig- leaves, when they re- enter the Garden
AND ARE MARRIED. W. W. Phelps essayed the role of Satan until his death, a few years ago. A Saint named Pope is the present " star." At the conclusion of the ceremony, tho Prophet inflicts upon them a turgid homily on their religious duties, loyalty to the Church, " obedience to counsel without question"; and, after enjoining them to place implicit faith in the infallibility of himself, and to go forth and sin no more, ho dismisses them with a " God bless you!"
WOMEN CAN HAVE TWO HUSBANDS.
It is an erroneous idea that a woman can have but one husband at a time. The ceremony is so accommodatingly constructed that a Saint or Saintoss can marry for this world or the next, only, or for both. For instance: A woman is married to her husband for life,— that is, for this world. She can marry another man for eternity, — the conjugal duties not to commence until they meet in the next world. There is no provis- ion made for the event of their going in opposite directions. But, if a man wishes a monopoly, both in this and tho next world, the ceremony is varied so as to marry them for both time and eternity. A man marries the widow of a de- ceased brother- member, who married for both timo and eternity. The children by this union are scored to the credit of the deceased first husband, and not the second, as he is only per- forming a Church duty. In the next world he also surrenders her to husband No. 1.
In marrying a second husband for eternity, the wife is forbidden by the administration of
THE MOST HORRIFYING OATHS to tell husband No. 1, to whom she is only mar- ried for this world. So he is in the dark about his successorship. Gentile women have been converted to this faith, and, under the persua- sion that their Gentile marriage was illegal, have married Mormon dignitaries, and thus not only rejoiced in the luxury of two husbands, but the choice of partners from the ranks of both sin- ners and saints.
