Charles W. Wandell
(1819-1875)

The "Argus" Letters
(Utah newspapers: 1870-71)


  • Sample Article (from Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Wandell's Biography
  • Excerpts from M. Newton
  • Excerpts from Will Bagley
  • 1870-71 Argus Letters Links
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  • Transcriber's Comments



  • Utah News Articles (1866-1899)   |   1863 Judge Cradlebaugh Speech   |   1875 The Lee Trial
    1884 C. W. Penrose booklet   |   1910 Josiah F. Gibbs book   |   Children of the Massacre

     

                      from Salt Lake Tribune on-line articles  (1870-79)                  



    Vol. VIII.                       Salt Lake City, Utah, December 29, 1874.                       No. 63.



    MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS.
    _______


    "Argus" Gives Some Further Revelations.
    _______

    Judge Cradlebaugh's Futile Attempt to Procure Evidence.
    _______

    Who Issued That "Order from Headquarters?"
    _______

    Open Letter to Brigham Young

    SIR: The following open letter was written at the date named, but failed to reach the office of publication; and as it contains the recital of certain facts which should not be lost sight of of by the community, and especially by yourself; and as those facts can never be considered old, stale, or unimportant, so long as Blood Atonement assassins and Mountain Meadows murderers, their aiders, abettors and counselors, go unwhipped of Justice, I again offer a copy for publication.   ARGUS.

    SIR: After Colonel Johnston's army entered the Salt Lake valley and established Camp Floyd, Blood Atonement murders and other high-handed acts of the "Deseret" Priesthood comparatively ceased. I say comparatively, because there still were occasional secret ecclesiastical murders. For example, there was Elder John Land, a gentleman with a superior education, and who was a fine man every way, who had formerly been a Justice of Peace at Monterey, in California, and was one of your followers. This gentleman went to live in Lehi, in 1859 or '60. Being a brother he was

    LET  INTO  DANGEROUS  SECRETS,

    but, disapproving of them, he was inveigled into some secret place, and has not been seen or heard of since. It was understood by the faithful that he had been put out of the way by the priesthood.

    Blood Atonement had taken too close a hold upon the Priesthood to altogether cease; but the bishops and elders became somewhat wary of publicly parading the revolting doctrine. The thousands of honest but mistaken disciples began to breathe freely, and were now to be the recipients of another kind of instruction. So, the bishops, taking the prompting from somewhere, left the crimsoned dogma for the time being, and ascended to the plane of holy lying.

    Our readers, perhaps, will start upon reading this, but, sir, you know it to be exactly sp; and will not doubt me when I say that your disciples were enjoined to keep the past criminal doings of the Priesthood a secret from the Gentiles, and were instructed that lying was not only a virtuous act, but a religious duty when necessary to that purpose! The second section of your "revelation" commanding polygamy, was quoted to sustain this position, and

    TO  SHOW  THAT  A  GENTILE  OATH,

    even in court, was of no account. The proposition was, that the Priesthood who laid themselves liable to a criminal action in the execution of the Church mandates, must be shielded from the action of the courts at all hazards. This sort of Gospel was not confined to any particular settlement, but was generally taught, and emphatically unpressed upon those communities which had received their "baptism of blood."

    I will not pause here to inquire into the divine direction and inspiration of the so-called Prophet, seer and revelator whose peculiar faith and ecclesiastical government could deliberately place an entire body of communicants in the dilemma of choosing between truth and duty to society accompanied with certain destruction upon the one hand, and perjury and a supposed church duty upon the other; because the unwisdom and even bald dishonesty, not to say something worse, of such a policy, is too manifest to need investigation. It was a wrong of inexpressible wickedness forced upon a simple people, who could just as easily have been led in a better direction.

    Judge Cradlebaugh felt the full force of these lying sermons when, in the spring of 1859, he proceeded to hold a term of the Court of the Second Judicial District, at Provo. The attention of the grand jury empaneled by him, was emphatically called to

    THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  PARRISHES

    and a list of other Blood Atonement murders, the perpetrators of which were well and publicly known; and, in addition, they had before them the sworn testimony of good and reliable witnesses. Yet, though kept in session two weeks, they utterly failed to do anything; thus "going back" on their oath, which, of course, as believers in your "revelation" commanding polygamy, they regarded as "of no force or effect," Judge Cradlebaugh discharged this loyal grand jury as a useless appendage to his court; then, sitting as a committing magistrate, caused a universal hiding of Blood Atonement assassins in Utah county!, Bishops, high priests, and elders, in crowds, fleeing as fugitives from justice! Fleeing from the fearful consequences of acts performed in pursuance of a "policy" initiated and publically proclaimed by yourself, and urged by your associates! Acts which had been publicly endorsed by the Priesthood as proper and right, and as based upon your religion. Its ministers burdened with conscious blood guiltiness, fleeing as felons flee, and hiding, in some cases for months, in the fastnesses of the mountains!

    The Judge closed his court, and shortly afterward, under the protection of a detachment of troops, proceeded to the Mountain Meadows. This produced in the settlement along his route

    ANOTHER  STAMPEDE  FOR  THE  MOUNTAINS!

    No running for a day or two with a loaf of bread and a blanket, but with animals well packed with provisions and arms, and prepared for a long stay! He passed the Meadows and went to Santa Clara, a branch of the Rio Virgin. There he was met by Jackson, the head chief of the Piedes, who admitted to him that a portion of his men were engaged in the massacre, but claimed that they were not there when the attack commenced. He said that after the attack had been made, a white man came to their camp with a piece of paper, which, he said,

    BRIGHAM  YOUNG  HAD  SENT,

    that directed them to go and help whip the emigrants. He further said that the band went, but did not assist in the fight. He gave as a reason, that the emigrants had long guns and were good shots, and named John D. Lee, President Haight, and Bishop John M. Higbee, as the big captains of the militia. (See Cradlebaugh's speech, as published in "THE MORMON PROPHET," by Mrs. C. V. Waite...).

    In describing the scene of the siege the Judge says

    The Meadow is about five miles in length and one in width, running to quite a narrow point at the southwest end, being higher at the middle than either end. It is the divide between the waters that flow into the great basin and those emptying into the Colorado River. A very large spring rises in the south end of the narrow part. It was on the north part of this spring the emigrants were encamped. The bank rises from the spring eight or ten feet, then extends off to the north about two hundred yards on a level. A range of hills is there reached, rising perhaps fifty or sixty feet. Back of this range is quite a valley, which extends down until it has an outlet, three or four hundred yards below the spring, into the main meadow:

    The first attack was made by going down this ravine, then following up the bed of the spring to near it, then at daylight firing upon the men who were about the camp-fires -- in which attack ten or twelve of the emigrants were killed or wounded; the stock of the emigrants having been previously driven behind the hill, up the ravine.

    The emigrants soon got in condition to repel the attack, shoved their wagons together, sunk the wheels in the earth, and threw up quite an entrenchment. The fighting after continued as a siege; the assailants occupying the hill, and firing at any of the emigrants that exposed themselves, having a barricade of stones along the crest of the hill as a protection. The siege was continued for five days, the besiegers appearing in the garb of Indians....

    Who can imagine the feelings of these men, women, and children, surrounded, as they supposed themselves to be, by savages....

    A wagon is descried, far up the Meadow. Upon its near approach, it is observed to contain armed men. See! now they raise a white flag! All is joy in the corral. A general shout is raised, and in an instant, a little girl dressed in white, is placed at an opening between two of the wagons, as a response to the signal. (Which of the murders was it that killed that little girl? and with that dress on?) The wagon approaches; the occupants are welcomed into the corral, the emigrants little suspecting that they were entertaining the fiends who had been besieging them.

    The Judge then says that the others in the wagon were President Haight and Bishop John D. Lee, and adds

    They professed to be on good terms with the Indians, and represented the Indians as being very mad. They also proposed to intercede, and settle the matter with the Indians. After several hours of parley, they, having apparently visited the Indians, gave the ultimatum of the Indians; which was, that the emigrants should march out of their camp, leaving everything behind them, even their guns.

    From the Meadows the Judge returned to Cedar City, where he was privately assured by some of the militia who had been forced into this tragedy, that they would furnish abundance of evidence in regard to the matter, so soon as they were assured of military protection. He states that their story corroborated the Indian version. You well perceive, sir, that this sad story as related to Judge Cradlebaugh by the militia and the Indians, and to myself by various actors on that scene, agree in all essential particulars.

    Captain Campbell of the Judge's military escort, and Deputy Marshal Rodgers took charge of the surviving children of the emigrants, and took them to Camp Floyd and Salt Lake City. From there they were taken, by the Government to the East for identification. Of those children the Judge says:

    "No one can depict the glee of these infants, when they realized that they were in the custody of what they called the Americans * * * They say they never were in the custody of the Indians. I recollect of one of them, 'John Calvin Sorrow,' after he found he was safe, and before he was brought away from Salt Lake City, although not yet nine years of age, sitting in a contemplative mood, no doubt thinking of the extermination of his family, saying: 'Oh, I wish I was a man; I know what I would do; I would shoot John D. Lee; I saw him shoot my mother.'

    That boy may be heard from yet. What is very singular about those children, they have never been identified by relatives ir friends. When last heard of ny me, they were at a school at St. Louis, and supported by the Government.

    I shall close my examination of the Mountain Meadows tragedy, with a brief reference to the principal actors therein:

    ISAAC  C.  HAIGHT  SUDDENLY  DISAPPEARED

    from Cedar City late last fall (1870). Whether he has been seen since, I do not know; your unexpected act of excommunication wounded him beyond expression. He, doubtless, felt he had been crushed by the very hand which had led him on to ruin, and may have felt disposed to be rebellious. If he is not living, that tells the story of his death! Haight was not of a murderous disposition; it was his implicit faith in you as an inspired teacher, his confidence in your superior understanding, and his perfect knowledge of your imperious rule, which compelled him to obey that fatal order from headquarters, in that terrible campaign.

    MAJOR  JOHN  DOYLE  LEE,

    a man prematurely old, with a partial imbecility, produced by the tormenting phantoms of his victims, slain, perhaps, at different times, but especially at the Mountain Meadows, if living, is at a point about twenty miles from Kanab. Lee is a man of low instincts, naturally a fanatic, and a full believer in all your pretensions. He is supposed to still have the military order under which he acted at the Meadows, and, by his own statement, has refused to surrender it for a large sum of money. He has, perhaps, made up his mind, that in a trial of his case, he would rely upon that irder as his defense. Life has been, and is, a perpetual hell to this man.

    In the early spring of 1858, he led a large company of prisoners westwardlt from Beaver, in search of "some secure hiding place," in which the Governor, himself and others, might secrete themselves from the wrath of outraged justice. When Lee reached Snake Creek, he took a small party and started southward in the direction of Mountain Meadows. During the first night he came rushing back into camp at the creek, frightened at the horrible spectres his guilty imagination had conjured up. At another time, while driving in his carriage between Cedar and Harmony, the straps of the harness broke, and the frightened forses, with a sudden spring, cleared themselves of the gear.

    LEE'S  IMAGINATION  SAW  THE GHOSTS

    which he afterwards declared, had unharnessed his team, "right in the road."

    It was during the publication of the "Argus" letters, that the chief high priest of Utah, while upon his usual Southern tour, stopped all night at Lee's house. Lee (as reported by one of his family) was in great mental anguish, as he detailed, and again reiterated to the "President" his apprehensions of a criminal prosecution. President Young did his best to reassure him, telling him he would defeat all efforts of the court in that direction. In this exceptional case he has made his word good, but evidently more for his own safety than for Lee's, whom he afterward

    CUT  OFF  FROM  THE  CHURCH

    for his Mountain Meadows crime -- another act of treason.

    John M. Higbee resides at Cedar City, and is nearly a mental wreck; always apprehensive of arrest, or assination, or of some undefined danger. Under no cicumstances, I am told, can he be induced to go out of his home at night; and sleeps with his dorrs barred. In tracing his present wretchedness back to its cause, the line of thought runs directly through the Mountain Meadows, the Brewer(y) murders, and bloody scenes; thence to the Endowment covenants, the "revelation" commanding polygamy, and ultimately to yourself. Sir, no wonder you dare not sleep without armed sentinels around you.

    Ira Hatch is at Kanab. At the time of the massacre he was in the employ of the Government as Indian Interpreter for the Pah-Utes.

    HIS  MERCILESS  MURDER

    at the Muddy, of the only survivor of the massacre, takes rank with the darkest and most revolting particulars of the tragedy at the Meadows. To this list we might add the names of some high in authority, but their whereabouts is well known, as also is their standing in relation to the Mountain Meadows.

    Leaving you, sir, to ponder over the very serious question of the propriety of shedding human blood by the quantity for the gratification of a mean spite, and for the purposes of treason, I close by subscribing myself, yours   ARGUS.
    Salt Lake City, Oct. 19. 1871.


    Notes: (forthcoming)




                      from Journal of History (1910-11) pp. 455-71, 60-70                  
     


    BIOGRAPHY OF
    CHARLES WESLEY WANDELL.


    BY INEZ SMITH.

    Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -- John 15: 13.

    There is a name that deserves to be better known among the children of the Reorganized Church. It is that of Charles Wesley Wandell. He was one of those who gave their lives, far from home and homeland, telling the story of the angel gift to men. With a glad heart he had for the second time crossed the great Pacific -- and this time on no false or mistaken errand. His people were not forsaken, he went to tell to them the glad story of a church reorganized and bid them "take hold anew of the rod of iron." There he died a stranger in a strange land, died amid strange faces and cared for by stranger hands. It was a pitifully small band of Saints who laid him to rest in that alien land, far from the sunny home land, but to-day in that land the few have grown to a host, who are giving loyal and loving allegiance to the cause for which he gave his life; and they have not forgotten him, either. On his grave they have placed a stone, a symbol of the love and gratitude of the Australian Saints for this their pioneer missionary. And that we also may know him better, we write this sketch to perpetuate the memory of a true and brave man.

    Charles Wesley Wandell was born upon the 12th day of April, 1819, at Courtland, Westchester County, New York. We can find nothing of his parentage, early life, or education. Whether or not he had an education, his writings in later life show a persistent and systematic study of some sort.

    In the official record of the Quorum of Seventy, we find that he was baptized January 5, 1837, by Hugh Herringshaw, at the age of eighteen years, and ordained to the office of elder in the same year, on the 6th day of April, at a conference held



    [Smith, 1910: p. 456]
    in New York City. Elder L. R. Foster officiated in the ordination.

    That he immediately became actively engaged in spreading the gospel is not to be doubted, as in 1844, but seven years later, he was appointed minister in charge of the State of New York, by the action of a special conference held at Nauvoo, Illinois. Under him were appointed forty-eight other elders for labor in New York, among whom were A. A. Farnham, Daniel Shearer, Samuel P. Bacon, Joseph B. Noble, Horace S. Eldredge, C. H. Wheelock, D. H. Redfield, and Charles Thompson. [1]

    Shortly after the death of the Martyr he returned to Nauvoo and was employed in the office of the historian. It was the work done in this department that disheartened him with conditions there. In his journal [2] a serious charge was made against the reprehensible methods employed in this department after the death of the Prophet. In commenting upon the history of Joseph Smith, as it was being published in the Deseret News about 1855, he says,

    I notice the interpolations because having been employed (myself) in the Historian's office at Nauvoo by Doctor Richards, and employed, too, in 1845, in compiling this very autobiography, I know that after oseph's death his memoir was "doctored" to suit the new order of things, and this, too, by the direct order of Brigham Young to Doctor Richards and systematically by Richards. [3]

    The state of affairs at Nauvoo in time became unbearable, and he quietly withdrew from the work, disgusted with the new order of things, but still retaining the old faith. Wandell went from Nauvoo to Saint Louis, where he successfully engaged

    __________
    1 Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 504. This Charles B. Thompson was subsequently the leader of a faction which gathered at Preparation, Iowa.

    2 The manuscript of this journal was lodged in the Historian's Office, and destroyed with other valuable documents in the Herald Office fire of January 5, 1907.

    3 Church History, vol. 4, p. 97.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 457]
    in the local river trade as a steamboat officer. Some few years later he went around Cape Horn to California, and there again met with old-time friends.

    In 1846 Samuel Brannon had conducted a colony from New York, setting sail on the good ship Brooklyn and arriving after a long voyage in California where the first "Mormon" colony was founded. Whether or not Charles Wandell was a member of the colony when they started is a matter of conjecture, he rounded the Horn, whether in 1846 or later we are unable to learn; at any rate he became identified with the famous Brannon colony after it was established in California.

    About this time (1851) Parley P. Pratt was in California. It was at the time of the great revival and reorganization of the Utah church, and Pratt carried on the good work in California. During this reorganization, it will be remembered that every good Latter Day Saint was expected to be rebaptized. In Pratt's own words, in telling of his success in a letter to Brigham Young, he writes,

    We have called together the old members and others, and preached repentance and reformation of life. We have rebaptized many of them, and reorganized the church. [4]

    Wandell was rebaptized [5] in San Francisco, July 20, 1851, by F. A. Hammond, and the church was reorganized on the day following. Wandell immediately became an efficient and trusted worker in the new church. August 31, 1851, a meeting was held at the home of Barton Morey. Parley P. Pratt, president, Charles W. Wandell, clerk. At this meeting "James Murdock was set apart by the laying on of hands for a mission to South Australia. Charles W. 'Wandell was then reordained

    __________
    4 Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, page 432.

    5 We are indebted for this item, as for many that follow, to Elder George S. Lincoln, historian for Northern California, who has lately done some' careful research among the early records of the Brannon colony.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 458]
    to the office of apostle, and member of the Quorum of Seventy, and appointed a mission with Elder Murdock." [6]

    We find no record of the date these missionaries sailed from California, but under date of Thursday, October 30, the following item is chronicled in the Church Chronology, published by the Utah church. [7]

    October 30. -- John Murdock and Charles W. Wandell arrived in Sydney, as Latter Day Saint missionaries to Australia, and commenced to preach the Gospel.

    And under November

    The first meeting by Latter Day Saint Elders in New South Wales, [8] Australia, was held by Elders John Murdock and Charles W. Wandell at Sydney.

    Wednesday, 3. -- The first baptism by divine authority in New South Wales, Australia, took place in Syndey. [9]

    January, Sunday 4. The first branch of the church in New South Wales, Australia, was organized at Sydney, with twelve members. [10]

    During this mission Charles W. Wandell was successfully kept in ignorance of the true state of affairs in Utah, as is shown by his vigorous appeals against the "misrepresentation" of opponents. He couched his indignation in the following language in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, of May 1, 1852, a quotation from which we reprint from the January, 1910, Gospel Standard.

    Elder Wandell writes from No. 66 Pitt, Sydney, and says he wishes to reply to an article previously published in the paper "which is calculated to place the Latter Day Saints in a false light before the people and to bring down a torrent of unmerited persecution upon the Saints in this
    __________
    6 Manuscript history of Brannon colony, by Elder George S. Lincoln.

    7 Church Chronology, by Andrew Jenson, p. 44.

    8 This is a mistake, as William Barrett was sent to Australia by George A. Smith, in 1840 (Bancroft's History of Utah, page 410). Also Times and Seasons, vol. 6, page 980, speaks of "a branch in Australia consisting of nine members organized by Elder Andrew Anderson," who must have been in Australia in 1841, judging from the context of this article.

    9 Church Chronology by Andrew Jenson, pp. 44 and 45.

    10 Bancroft says that there were thirty-six members in this branch. (Page 410, History of Utah.)



    [Smith, 1910: p. 459]
    city.... I consider it my duty to reply to the said article and to briefly lay a few facts before your readers.... The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, like all other religious bodies, is regulated and governed by certain clearly expressed and definitely fixed laws, among which we find the following relating to matrimony." (Quotes from Covenants and Commandments, See. 119, the matter on marriage, one wife" etc.; also Book of Mormon, p. 116, Jacob, Chap. 2, See. 6.) Elder Wandell continues: "I might quote several other passages contained in our sacred records, all of which would show that the Latter Day Saints do not tolerate immoralities of any kind, and especially sexual immoralities: and that no person living in adultery or guilty a f fornication or illegal sexual intercourse of any kind can have place among us. The Latter Day Saints have been constantly reproached from the beginning until now with the grossest kind of abominations. Yet these approaches have been uniformly false; and we have suffered without a cause. On behalf of a reviled and persecuted, yet innocent people.   C. W. WANDELL.

    And he was sincere, too. Little did he think when he framed this manly defense, that he was defending a false faith and a corrupt people. He believed every word that he wrote, and his letters to the Millennial Star during his Australian ministry reveal this fact and also his ignorance of the conditions that obtained in the mountains

    In December, 1852, he writes to Elder Richards, and among other things says: [11]

    There is here a constant influx of Australio-Californians, who are sure to be more or less prejudiced against us by California newspaper stories; and those who are professors of religion are the ones who take the utmost pains to influence the people against us. During my absence at Melbourne, many base lies were told of the Saints in Zion, and with so much plausibility, that I was obliged to return and refute them.... Shut up as we are in this far-off land, cut off from all hasty communication with our brethren in Europe or America, it seems as though we were left almost to our own resources, to fight our way along as best we could.... We are making up a sum for the House of the Lord, which we expect to remit to you per Captain Staynor, unless the way opens before he sails, to forward it direct to Zion.

    Elder Wandell carried on A very successful mission in Australia. He was always ambitious and zealous in the accomplishment of the highest good possible. He found time, too, to

    __________
    11 Millennial Star, vol. 15, p. 220.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 460]
    write several articles for publication in the Millennial Star. One is an interesting account of gold digging in the Australian colonies. There was much excitement at this time, due to the discovery of gold there, and people flocked from all lands to share these prospects. The picture that Wandell paints of the fate of these gold diggers in their search for wealth is not alluring, and he advises all Saints not to be led away by any exciting stories of the fabulous gold fields there. He closes by contrasting the conditions in Zion, as he dreamed them: [12]

    It would be apposite, in this place, to contrast the beauties and glories of Zion.... I recommend you to think for a few moments of any one company of Saints who have left England for Zion. Follow them in your mind across the Atlantic. They have had some little inconveniences to put up with, but they had the satisfaction of knowing that they were in the way of their duty -- they were going to Zion, as the Lord had commanded. On their arrival in Council Bluffs, they take their overland journey, they experience fatigue to be sure, but they are amazingly supported by the consciousness that they are fulfilling the express commands of God -- they are going to Zion. And when they get to the Vallies who is there to meet them? A parcel of voracious hyenas, who stand open mouthed, ready to devour them, as is the case in Australia? No, but the best, the most honorable, virtuous, kind, and hospitable people that live, are there to welcome them to Zion, to the healthiest country that can be found upon the face of the earth. And when they have exchanged greetings of the holiest, as well as the heartiest kind, and begin to look around them for a home they find a country of surpassing loveliness, inviting them to occupy its richest soils, to quaff its health-inspiring fountains, and to breathe its salubrious atmosphere, and not only salubrious, but free! Ah: free did I say? Yes, they are now indeed free! They are no more the slaves to heartless taskmasters in the factories, coalpits, or what not -- no, they are free! O freedom! sacred to the hearts of Israel's noblest sons and fairest daughters, within Zion's consecrated borders. How sweet it is to breath thy balmy air, to tread thy sacred soil, to drink of thy pure streams of living water, to satisfy our hunger with thy choicest dainties, to feel the consciousness that we are no longer the creatures of others, but that we are God's favored freemen.... Excuse these rapturous expressions but what real Saint can think of Zion, and not feel the irresistible impulses of the heart's deepest, holiest longings to be with that people, to whom be is attached by that threefold cord which is not easily broken?

    Let us follow these brethren a little further. They are in no danger of settling upon unproductive soils, for the Presidency will freely give them
    __________
    12 Millennial Star, vol. 15, p. 294.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 461]
    wise counsels, and point them to the best farming localities in the country. And the very day that they settle upon these lands, they are richer by far, than if they were to toil in Australia for a long time.... I want to fit out several missions and then leave this field of labor and return to New York and take my family to Zion.

    He had never seen the Zion in the mountains, but in fancy he thought of it constantly, and glory and joy of the dream city filled him with a fierce home longing, and his eyes and heart turned always Zionward. It was with a happy heart and the consciousness of finished work that he set sail upon the 6th day of April, 1853, with a small band of Saints bound for America, on the ship Envelope.

    When he arrived is not certain, but he did not go immediately to Salt Lake City. In July, upon the 18th day, 1853, at North Beach, San Francisco, we find he baptized Eliza Evans and Catherine Keney.

    Upon the 24th of October, 1854, when the San Francisco Branch was re-organized by Parley P. Pratt, C. W. Wandell's name is recorded as a high priest. November 11, 1855, at a meeting of the branch "brother Wandell being present made some remarks, saying that his business connections with the world had led him to exercise a worldly spirit for the past year or a little over, but his determination then was to renew his covenant, to remove to San Bernardino, and from there to Zion, or wherever he 'might be counseled to go. And as he was a member of this branch of the church he desired a letter of commendation if the branch were so disposed. It was motioned that he... receive letter of commendation." The motion being seconded, it was left for discussion,. and some objections were made to giving Brother Wandell a letter. The objections were first, "that he had not conducted himself according to his own confession in a becoming manner to his profession and standing in the church, and second he had had difficulty in some way with Parley P. Pratt." After considerable discussion, it was considered that nothing of a serious



    [Smith, 1910: p. 462]
    nature could be brought against him by the branch, and he was granted the letter.

    Probably at some time in 1857 he started for Salt Lake City, at any rate we find that he was traveling with a small company in that direction. In the biography of Joseph F. Smith, as published in Latter Day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia, we read the following:

    With this outfit the two elders [Smith and Partridge] started down the coast to Santa Cruz County, California, where they joined a company of Saints under the captaincy of Charles W. Wandell, with whom they traveled through the country southward as far as the Mojave River, where Joseph F. and others left the company and made a visit to San Bernardino.... Being under no obligations to continue traveling with Charles W. Wandell's company any further, he engaged to drive a team for George Chrisman, etc. [13]

    Wandell, with his company, continued on their way to Utah, and passed through the southern part of the State just after the terrible Mountain Meadow massacre had taken place. This was his introduction into the glories of Zion, the glamour of the city he had sung and dreamed of faded, and in its place stood the brutal reality, a city gross and material, a den of vice and crime. In bated breath the people told of the horrors inflicted upon them by their leaders unless they obeyed counsel, and Wandell thus at last was privileged to breathe the "freedom" of which he had written so often. But he was not one to condemn quickly and he went to work quietly, but determinedly to get at the facts of the Mountain Meadow affair. The result of his investigations was the amassing of a volume of evidence, which has probably never been exceeded since. He was convinced that Brigham Young was implicated, and he was in the possession of well-nigh insurmountable evidence against him.

    These facts he embodied in a clear and logical "Series of Open Letters to Brigham Young," openly charging him with implication in the crime. He had never

    __________
    13 Latter Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 463]
    been able to publish this document, and it was with the rest of his papers turned over to the church after his death, and finally placed with other historical documents in the Historian's Office, where with nearly all of the contents of the Herald Office it was destroyed by fire in 1907. The loss is much to be regretted, as it would have proven interesting and valuable.

    He was still in Utah as late as 1862, it is said, but from that time on until the year 1873, history leaves a blank, as far as record goes.

    Upon the third day of March, 1873, a. revelation was given to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Reorganized) through their president, Joseph Smith, the son of the Prophet, which in part read,

    Let my servants E. C. Brand, Charles W. Wandell, and Duncan Campbell be appointed as special witnesses of the seventy in their places; and let my servants Joseph Lakeman, Glaud Rodger, John T. Davies, and John S. Patterson be also appointed as witnesses of the seventy before me.

    The only peculiar thing about this was that at the time of this revelation no such name as Charles W. Wandell was on the church records, and the man was unknown to the church in the East. Charles Wesley Wandell was in fact not a member of the church at the time this revelation was given, and he presents the anomaly of being the only man ever called to take a place in the church before he was a member. Upon the day following this revelation in the East, and altogether ignorant of its reception, Wandell became a member of the San Francisco Branch, being received on his original baptism, March 4, 1873.

    This peculiar circumstance is one of the wonderful things that has inspired latter day Israel.

    He was rebaptized July 6, 1873, to satisfy some objections

    __________
    14 Doctrine and Covenants 117: 8.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 464]
    made to the original baptism. The rite was performed by Elder Glaud Rodger, and he was confirmed by Elders Glaud Rodger, Hervey Green, and John Roberts. His name was not reported to the church recorder as a member until some three months after he was called.

    Alexander H. Smith writes to the Herald, volume 22, page 22, the following:

    On my return to San Francisco, having notified Brother Wandell of my instructions, [15] I met him and did, on the 22d day [16] of August, 1873, ordain him to the office of an especial witness in the Quorum of Seventies, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Brother John Roberts, being witness thereto.

    Elder Wandell immediately entered the active missionary field and at different times thereafter he wrote letters to the Herald. Below are extracts from some of them showing the extent of his labors. [17]

    SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, June 30, 1873.    
    Dear Brother Joseph: I arrived here from Carson City, on Saturday evening, and spoke twice to the Saints on yesterday. No collections had been made for me previously; but now they have raised about $20 for me.

    The Saints in Nevada did nobly, and it appeared to be a pleasure for them to manifest their faith by their works. Brother Johns will send you the account. I like Brother Johns. He is evidently a sincere man. In connection with him, I mention with very great pleasure, Brothers John Hawkins and David R. Jones.... Preached seven discourses, most of which were to the Saints.
    __________
    15 Moved by Elder E. C. Briggs and George H. Hilliard that Charles W. Wandell be ordained a seventy in the place of Elder William D. Morton. Carried. -- Conference Minutes, Saints' Herald, vol. 20, p. 290.

    16 He was also received by vote into the First Quorum of Seventy upon the 12th day of April, 1873. A license was issued to him, September 6, 1873, by J. C. Crabb, president pro tern, and F. Reynolds, secretary, by order of the September conference at Council Bluffs, in 1873, and by order of the First Quorum of Seventy. The date of Wandell's ordination is given on the church record as the 23d of August, 1873, but as both in his letter written to the Herald at the time, and a memorandum made in his private journal, Alexander H. Smith gives the date as the 22d, we think it to be correct.

    17 Saints' Herald, vol. 20, 1). 524.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 465]
    There is much less luke-warmness and division among the Saints than I expected to find.... I leave here to-day for Stockton.

    SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, July 29, 1873.    
    Brother Joseph: On the 10th instant, Brother John R. Cook and [18] myself commenced a series of discourses in this aristocratic town, which has hitherto been gospel proof. We preached seventeen discourses, and baptized three persons. Others are investigating. We are obliged to give them a breathing spell, but expect to hold meetings here again in about two weeks, unless the way opens for us to proceed on our foreign mission. We have had great freedom of demonstration; and although our congregations have not been large, we have been listened to attentively, and treated with uniform courtesy and respect.... Brother Cook will leave to-day for San Francisco, and I for San Juan, where I am told a number of "Morrisites" are living. That I may be blest in my labors in the gospel is the earnest prayer of yours in the New Covenant.

    SAN JUAN, CALIFORNIA, September 16, 1873..    
    President A. H. Smith: Your postal card reached me Saturday last. You have no doubt received my letter in answer to the only letter received from you since I left San Francisco. That letter was detained at this place while I was away filling preaching engagements. On last Sunday we baptized eight persons, four of whom were heads of families. On yesterday we baptized four; on next Sunday we are to baptize several more. Since your arrival from the East, Brother Cook and I have baptized and confirmed twenty-one persons, nine of whom have been heads of families; and have blessed four children. We feel that the Lord has greatly blessed our labors; for which we feel duly thankful, and give to him the glory. On Sunday next we will probably organize the San Juan Branch....

    His labors were reported to the fall conference of the Pacific coast, which convened at G. A. R. Hall, in San Francisco, California, October 5, at 10 a. m.

    Dear Brethren: At the special conference, held at San Francisco on the 5th to 7th of July last, the undersigned were appointed to labor in the field, as the way might open and the Spirit direct.

    Pursuant to that appointment, we preached our first discourse at the Puebla de San Jose, on the 10th of July. After holding twenty-one meetings and preaching seventeen discourses, we baptized and confirmed three persons. During this time we were the guests of Elder Henry Burgess, where we found a pleasant home and a family of true Latter Day Saints.

    From San Jose we went to San Juan (South); and from that time to the present we have labored at three several points, on the San Benito,
    __________
    18 Saints' Herald, vol. 20, p. 551.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 466]
    in Monterey County. Upon our entrance upon our labors there, the prospect was discouraging; but we persevered in faith, and preached fully thirty discourses; and baptized and confirmed twenty-four persons; blessed eleven children; ordained two priests; one teacher, one deacon, and organized the San Benito Branch of the church.

    We feel that the Lord has greatly blessed our labors; and we feel to give him the glory. The prospect is good for still further additions to the church in the vicinity of San Juan.
                                Respectfully submitted,
    C. W. WANDELL.       
    JOHN R. COOK.       

    At this same conference a resolution was passed endorsing appointment of the first missionaries of the Reorganized Church to the Australian Mission. It read:

    Resolved that we hereby indorse the Australian Mission, together with its appointments, Elder C. W. Wandell and Glaude Rodger, by our faith, prayers, and means.

    A reception was given the two missionaries shortly before they sailed, at the home of Elder John Roberts. Wandell tells the story of the voyage in a more interesting manner than it could be told for him. He says in a letter to President Smith, published in Herald, volume 21, number 5.

    Brother Joseph: On the 6th of November, 1873, Elder Glaud Rodger and myself sailed from San Francisco on a mission to Australasia. Our vessel was the barque Domingo; our business -- to preach the gospel. 'We cast off from the pier at Stuart street wharf at 3 p. m. and at sunset were outside the Golden Gate and upon the bosom of the broad Pacific. After dark, and when the coast became shut out from our view, we still kept watch on deck until the Government light on North Point disappeared below the horizon, when we bid our final good-bye to America, and all that it held dear to us, and went below for the night. On the next morning nothing was to be seen from the deck of our vessel but the vast expanse of troubled water beneath, and the sky above, limited only by an uninterrupted horizon; but the light of blue water showed that we were still "on soundings," and the great number of sea birds reminded us that land was at no great distance.

    Brother Rodger was suffering from seasickness; but in a couple of weeks he got his "sea legs" on, and then he was "all right." To explain, I will say, that it is natural for some persons at first going to sea to resist the unceasing motion of the vessel; this produces seasickness. After a while they learn to accommodate themselves to this motion, that is, they walk with limber legs and supple joints, and sit with a limber back bone; this is having their sea legs on.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 467]
    On the second morning the deep ultramarine blue of the water showed that we were "off soundings"; that we were fully upon the bosom of the Great Deep. Here was the time for a multitude of thoughts to come unbidden, compelling us to a rigid examination of ourselves; showing the sacredness of the trust confided to us, of carrying to a remote portion of the earth the pure gospel of the Son of God, and the message of love that we bear to the misled sons and daughters of the covenant. We can only pray for strength and opportunity; for wisdom, integrity and industry in the pursuit of our calling, leaving results in the hands of him who both called us.

    On the fifth day out we were called to witness a burial at sea. One of our passengers bad suddenly died. He was taken upon deck, sewed up in canvas, with a part of a pig of lead at his feet; laid upon a plank which projected somewhat over the ship's side; then, after the bell had tolled its funeral notes and the vessel had been hove to, we offered up a solemn prayer, not for the dead but for the living, and the plank was tipped up, and the corpse went with a plunge into the sea. The body would probably descend half a mile during the first twenty-four hours; an eighth of a mile during the next day; and continue decreasing in its rate of descent in inverse ratio to the increasing density of the ocean, until it would finally reach the bottom, there to rest secure from sharks and from decay until, at the command of Him who sitteth upon the throne, the sea shall give up its dead.

    As soon as the corpse had disappeared in the water the order was given to "fill away," and soon our ship was coursing her way for Australia. The weather continuing fine, and the wind fair, we made on the average about one hundred and sixty miles per day. We watched the North Star in its continual change of altitude, until in latitude 12 degrees north we lost sight of it altogether. I spent a great deal of time in a critical examination of the Lute of Zion; Fresh Laurels; and Sabbath School (double) Bell, making selections of the choicest gems for use in Australia. It was a pleasant occupation, and I found myself well repaid for my trouble.

    On the 19th of November, in Latitude 19 degrees, 25 minutes north, London 135 degrees 50 minutes West, at about 9 o' clock a. m., I saw a novel sight; it was nothing less than a sperm whale in the air! He leaped from the water directly across my line of vision; and, during the five or six seconds he was in the upper elements, he must have gone his entire length (about 60 feet). As he struck the water the ocean all around him was lashed into foam. It was grand! Besides him we had seen a large finback, who crossed our bow at a quarter of a mile distant; and a grayback, who played around the ship for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Besides these, and a sperm whale feeding near the Australian coast, we saw no whales upon our passage. We saw an occasional shoal of porpoises and many flying fish.

    We are now (December 26) within the tropics where the sun, nearly vertical at Meridian, has a terrible power. And such magnificent sunrise;



    [Smith, 1910: p. 468]
    and sunsets. Sometimes the heavens all aglow with mimic fire and gold, too bright for the naked eye to gaze at steadfastly (we have a piece of stained window glass which we can use when necessary), while a lower range of clouds, black with moisture, stands in bold, and oftentimes fantastic relief in the foreground. One evening the view was particularly grand. The sun was setting; a dark, ponderous rain cloud, in the western horizon, representing a huge mountain. From the south side of the lofty apex an enormous column of fire shot upward for more than a mile, with its top canted southward by the force of an upper air current. It was a mimic volcano! Upon the side directly toward us, about half way down the mountain, the lava had burst forth and was running down to the sea. Farther up on the northern side, and near the top, two additional streams of lava were coursing their way down, running first northerly, then striking a mimic canyon, their course turned toward us, and down the canyon to the sea. The scene was grand, and as seen through our stained glass the illusion was perfect.

    Early on the morning of the 3d of December we crossed the equator in Longitude 145 degrees west from Greenwich. The wind was steady and fresh from the southeast. This was an exciting day. We parted the port after-fore shroud; and also a leak in the ship's bows, which had been growing worse for several days, became so bad that we had to shorten sail to keep the ship from plunging. The captain went below to examine. He found the apron split, and a stream of water coming through. The starboard knighthead was also fractured, and it leaked badly when the ship plunged the hawse pipes under. He stuffed a lot of oakum in the apron, and nailed a piece of board over it to keep it there. This lessened the leak, but the captain and the ship's officers determined that it was unsafe to attempt to conclude the passage in her present condition; so we bore up for Tahiti, one of the Society Islands, a little over one thousand miles distant. * * *

    On the 13th of December, we made the island. The formation is volcanic, and the main peak rises nearly 8,000 feet in the air. The island is surrounded by a coral reef, with an occasional opening through which vessels can pass. The ever restless ocean dashes its great waves against this reef with a fearful roar that can be heard five miles off; but the inside channel is as smooth as a mill pond. A miniature steam tug comes outside the reef and takes us in tow, and we head for the-western entrance of Matavia Bay.

    The French have erected two bastioned earthworks to protect this entrance, one of which mounts six, and the other ten guns. We afterwards visited the latter, and found the armament to be eight thirty-two pounders, and two ten-inch shell guns. They were very formidable to look at, but when we looked into their muzzles and saw bow rough they were inside, we concluded that the United States military department would condemn all such guns. We dropped our anchor close into the quay at Papeete.



    [Smith, 1910: p. 469]
    Here is the seat of the French Protectorate for this and other of their Polynesian possessions. The American and British governments have each a consul; and Queen Pomare (the native sovereign) here holds her court, and exercises a certain authority, but apparently in harmony with the Protectorate. Papeete is a town of perhaps 2,000 inhabitants. Its mercantile business is mainly in the hands of the Americans. The streets are narrow, and in many places the trees on each side join branches overhead, forming a perfect shade. They are macadamized, and kept surprisingly clean. The French Protestants, and also the English, have well established missions. The Catholics have a cathedral building partly finished; it is built of coral rock, with door and window facings of basalt. The walls of their monastery are also up; the outside walls of the half basement are fully five feet thick; and the little square window holes are protected by iron gratings to keep out intruders! * * *

    We remark that the natives are a great, strapping, well-made set of men, and the women are not lacking in good looks or in splendid physical development. Situated in this delightful climate, entirely within the Tropic of Capricorn, clothing ceases to be necessary for either the health or comfort of the body. It is only used for purposes of ornamentation, and out of regard for the conventionalities of civilization. The natives are not clothed -- they are draped. For instance, the men wear a breechcloth, (a cloth about two yards long by one wide) wrapped around the loins. It covers the body from the waist to the knee, and over this they wear a shirt. These, with a hat, constitute the male dress. The breechcloth is a very tasty affair. It is of a very showy pattern, with large white figures on a blue ground, and looks exceedingly well. The natives, high and low, rich and poor, male and female, go barefoot. We saw the Catholic priest parading with his school, and excepting his professional robe, he was barefooted, barelegged, and in his breechcloth! The womens' dress consists of first, the inevitable breechcloth; second, a handsomely made, loose gown fastened at the neck falling well to the feet, and trailing behind, (but it is never allowed to trail in the mud.)

    We visited the native houses, and were surprised to find so much cleanliness and neatness displayed, and so little of slovenliness and dirt. They all read and write the Tahitian language; and once in a while we found one who could make himself known in English. We found books in every house; sometimes quite a library. By an examination of their grammar, we find that their language is nearly all vowel, and but few consonant sounds; that is, it is. spoken mainly by the throat, tongue, and teeth; and the lips are seldom used.

    Apropos of this, how is it that language adapts itself to the climate in which it originates? In Russia, with the aid of consonants, the people are enabled to speak mainly through the lips and teeth, thus shielding the throat and lungs from direct contact 'with the. frozen air. As we proceed towards the Tropics the consonants disappear; the vowels predominate,



    [Smith, 1910: p. 470]
    and in conversation the organs of articulation are thrown open.

    It sounds oddly enough to us to hear whole sentences uttered without a single movement of the lips. Upon the whole, we prefer the English tongue, notwithstanding that odious hissing sound of the aspirates, which so incessantly recurs to mar its euphony. It is said that when Caesar returned from the conquest of Britain, he reported that he had conquered a people who spoke the language of serpents. But we are again digressing!

    Here is the home of the bread-fruit tree. We see it all around us; it is the commonest tree in Papeete. It is a good bearer, and grows to be a very large tree. We saw specimens of the fruit on the tree, fully two thirds the size of a person's head. When boiled or fried it tastes like the potato.

    Queen Pomare has opened, macadamized, and embowered, a public road which, following the seashore, extends all around the island making a most delightful drive one hundred miles in extent. It is kept in repair by convict labor. We did ourselves the honor of visiting the queen. She received us very kindly; conversed with us in English, through her niece, the heiress apparent to the throne; and when we arose to leave, bade us a friendly adieu. She is now quite old -- perhaps seventy-five years -- but still straight as an arrow, and retaining all her faculties in perfection. * * *

                                    THE LOST FOUND.

    On Friday, December 19, as we were straying out of town on the Queen's road, two middle aged men accosted us, and wanted to know if we were missionaries. They could not speak a word of English, and we gave them to understand, as well as we could, that we were missionaries bound for Sydney. They still clung to us, frequently using the name, Parato. The fact is, they were brethren of our faith; mysteriously led to accost us; and were inquiring if we knew Addison Pratt. Their persistency became so marked that we began to suspect them of being police spies, and got away from them as soon as we decently could.

    We passed along the open country, and there finding the Queen's road overseer, who spoke good English, we were informed that there was a settlement of Mormons at Siona (pronounced Zeona) five miles west of town. Be could give us no names; he said there were none of our people living in Papeete; that they bad been somewhat persecuted in times past, and for the sake of peace had all settled at Siona (Zion).

    Well, well! and so we have found our brethren at last-at the eleventh hour, for the ship is to sail to-morrow afternoon. We prayed for her detention, and she was detained, until the following Thursday (Christmas;).

    On Saturday, the 20th, we started before breakfast for Siona. At Fa-a-a we stopped at a house reported to us to be the residence of Mormons. They were very friendly, gave us cocoanut milk to drink, and furnished us a guide to show us the Mormon missionary, (all preachers



    [Smith, 1910: p. 471]
    here are called missionaries.) We found Bro. David Brown, who speaks good sailor English; and through him we soon found the rest of a devoted little branch of the church. We can not find words to convey to you an adequate idea of the joy of these Saints in beholding us; it had been so many years since they had seen a white elder; and our coming was so unexpected. Brother Brown is an East Indian; learned his English on board a whaler; and has been here for about ten years. He is a very influential man in the church in Tahiti, though he holds no presiding authority. After introducing us to the Saints he took us to his own house, which he appropriated to our use, and which remained our headquarters during our stay. All was now excitement in Siona; a meeting was called for 3 p. m.; the traditional yellow-legged chicken was duly prepared for our benefit, and at 1 p. m. we broke bur fast on fried chicken, boiled breadfruit, cocoanut milk, etc.

    We were quite surprised at the neatness of everything around us; the floor, and the large mats which covered it, answering the purpose of a carpet; the tablecloth and bed were scrupulously clean, reconciling us at once to the (to us) novel manners and customs of our Polynesian Sionars.

    The Saints' meeting house at Siona is a bamboo structure; is well situated; is comfortably seated; is furnished with a bell, a pulpit and a communion table. There is an entrance at each end of the building -- one for the brethren -- the other for the sisters' use.

    At 3 o'clock we commenced our meeting. The society has a well-trained choir, with Sister Pipi as leader; Brother Reipu, (Raepoo) her husband leads the bass. When the hymn was given out the congregation arose and heartily joined in with the choir in a well-executed piece of music. The peculiar accentuation of the language gives character and style to the music; and its novel, yet pleasing harmonies corresponded with all our strange surroundings; and excited emotions within us not easy to describe.

    After prayer and the singing of the second hymn, we explained to them the history of the church; the death of Joseph the Martyr; the subsequent wickedness and scattering of the people; and finally the Reorganization, with young Joseph at the bead.

    One peculiarity we noticed was, that they had brought their Bibles with them, and when we incidentally made reference to the writings of the prophets or apostles, these Bibles were at once opened and the quotations examined.
                                    (To be continued.)




    [Smith, 1911: p. 57]

    BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES WESLEY WANDELL.

    (Continued from volume 3, page 471.)

    We showed bow singularly God had ordered events to bring us to Tahiti, and for a purpose, too, which all could see; and advised them to at once recognize the Reorganization, and labor under the leadership of Joseph.

    With the instinct of true Latter Day Saints they applied for baptism, etc. Resting satisfied with the assurance of the brethren that we would not be violating any municipal regulation, we appointed the next day, (Sunday,) to attend to ordinances; and at the same time gave notice that we should transact important business connected with the Reorganization.

    In the evening all hands and the choir met at our rooms and entertained us with, "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning," and other inspiring songs of Zion, all sung in the Tahitian language. But anxious as they were to give us pleasure, they were still more anxious to hear from us; and so we entertained them with a discourse upon the history of the church; in which we averred that polygamy was a device of the Devil to corrupt the Saints and overcome them.

    On the next day the morning service commenced at 8 a. in. At its conclusion we found that nearly the entire branch with certain visiting brethren from the neighboring islands, were intending to be rebaptized.

    Knowing that this would create an excitement in the public mind, we again questioned the brethren concerning our right in the premises; and being assured by them that it was "all right," we repaired to the seaside, and there in the pure blue waters of the Pacific, Brother Rodger baptized fifty-one persons.

    There were many bystanders present, and a Catholic church stood within the distance of a half mile, while one of its spies was in our midst taking notes of our doings. The baptisms being accomplished, we retired to change, and then to reassemble at the meetinghouse.

    At the afternoon meeting we confirmed the newly baptized; after which we organized for business purposes, with Elder C. W. Wandell in the chair, and Elder Reipu, clerk. The following native elders were present:

    From Tonboni, Te-a-po and Pe.

    From An-a-a, (chain island) Ta-ra, Pa-ra-ta, and Te-na-te.

    From sundry places, Ta-ve, Pa-e-a, Ra-i-do-a and Pa-i-ta.

    From Tahiti, Ta-ni-e-ra, Re-i-pu and David Brown.

    Taniora is the presiding elder at Siona. He is a gentleman of education and refinement, and was formerly connected with the Protestant mission at Papeete. By a regular vote in each case these brethren were reordained elders, and were appointed specific fields of labor, with instructions that they were to do no ordaining except for branch government



    [Smith, 1911: p. 58]
    purposes, until they should hear from Brother Joseph, or until an elder should be sent from America to preside.

    That afternoon the Saints appeared in their best. The brethren were dressed in pants, shirt, and coat, scrupulously clean. The sisters modestly and tastefully dressed in the American style; in fact the congregation would anywhere have been considered decidedly respectable. After the meeting the regular old-fashioned hand shaking had to be gone through with. The meeting, however, had been a very long one; and so m2iny confirmations and ordinations, with the instructions, had made me very tired, and I went to our room and lay down for a nap. I had been there but a few minutes when Brother Rodger came and awoke me, telling me that he had been arrested for baptizing without a license.

    A Brother Smith, whom we had just baptized, was arrested with Brother Rodger. He had unquestionably been mistaken for me. Brother Rodger returned to the meetinghouse, where the officer was, and I started to follow him, but was prevented by the brethren. Amid the wailings of the sisters and the protests of the brothers, Brethren Rodger and Smith followed the officer about a quarter of a mile to a public house, where it was ascertained that the officer was drunk; that he had no papers; and was acting without authority. Our brethren were then set at liberty, and soon they came returning to giona with songs of rejoicing upon their heads. During the afternoon while I was in the meetinghouse writing out licenses and letters of instruction, this same officer came and made a great bluster as to what he would do the next day; but he said nothing to me, nor interfered with me in any way.

                                      THE FEAST; THE ADIEUS.

    In the morning we all met at the meetinghouse, where we well improved the time in instructing the Saints in their duties. At dismissal it was agreed that our adieus could not be delayed longer than to-morrow at noon. The Saints wanted to go in a body to see us on board; but being satisfied that we had in some manner violated an ordinance of the Protectorate, for which action we were liable, we thought it the part of wisdom, if possible, to avoid any further excitement.

    The next morning we finished our writing; met with the Saints at the meetinghouse, and then tried to get away; but a feast was preparing, and there was no letting us off before that was over. So at 11 a. m. we sat down to the feast under the grateful shade of a patriarchal breadfruit tree. A raised platform was fixed for Brother Rodger and me, upon which was set for our use boiled breadfruit, raw bananas, coconut milk, fried chicken, scrambled eggs, etc., etc., all of which was laid upon a tablecloth of spotless purity.

    Our table was at the head of a large oblong circle, some thirty feet across, covered with taro leaves, (a large, broad leaf,) which gave it the look of green carpeting. Around the edge of this circle the feast was set; the center of the circle being graced by a canoe-shaped wooden vessel, which held a barbecued hog.

    However, before we had time to compose ourselves for the work in hand,



    [Smith, 1911: p. 59]
    a difficulty arose in the shape of several dogs, chickens, and a pig, which incontinently broke through this charming circle of hungry Saints, and made a splendid charge on the edibles around them. Then such a time! But in all such contests man will come off victorious; so one brother whipped off his bandanna, festooned it around one of the pig's fore feet, led him outside to a sapling, and there triumphantly tied him! The dogs and chickens were also finally got outside, and a patrol established to keep them there. So order was restored, and then, after lifting the voice in thanksgiving to the great Author of all our mercies, we set to in good earnest to do the amplest justice to what was before us.

    Brother Rodger and myself were told that we could help ourselves to such as was set particularly for us, or we could call for anything in the feast. In order to show them that we entered heartily into their arrangements, and felt to be one with them, we immediately called for some pig in the canoe! We were rewarded by a general smile of gratification, and the first cut of the pig.

    The feast proceeded. It was wonderfully strange to us; all the circumstances conspired to make it so. We had started in good faith for Australia, and here we were at Siona, in Polynesia! Why should the good bark Dontinga (Sunday) spring a leak in fine weather, and in that particular part of the ocean which necessarily made Tahiti our only available refuge? Was it not one of those special providences which occasionally occur to keep us in remembrance of the unceasing watchcare which Jehovah has for the cause of Zion? And who are those whose fine open countenances show the kindly spirit within? They are Latter Day Saints; not all of them old-timers, for it is probable not more than half a dozen of them ever heard Addison Pratt or any other white elder. They have come into the church through the labors of the native elders, since Brother Pratt was compelled by the French to abandon this mission. The greater part of these Saints have now for the first time heard the voices of elders from America; and how their trusting hearts are drawn to ours! We are to them almost as though we had come from the courts of heaven! Instinctively they love us; and yet after so brief a sojourn, we are about to leave them. Such thoughts as these would come to us; but we were unprepared for that exhibition of intense emotion just now to surprise, charm, and capture us, by the irresistible force of its own impulse!

    We wrote you from Tahiti how they, at parting, embraced and kissed us -- how they hung upon our necks and wept like children! There were Brethren Brown, Taneira, Avaepii and Reipu among the rest; and then among the sisters was Sister Pipi, the choir leader. Poor Sister Pipi, should her eyes ever see these lines, (and they will if you print them), we beg her td rest assured that if our kind wishes can do her good, or add to her happiness, she has them without limit.

    That we could remain unmoved amid such a scene, was impossible! Indeed, we were quite overcome, and found it necessary to get away as soon as we consistently could. Brother Reipu had been selected to see us



    [Smith, 1911: p. 60]
    safe on board; but he was so overcome by his feelings, that a less sensitive brother had to take his place. One sister followed us for fully a half mile; then, kissing our hands, returned weeping toward Siona.

    On our way to Papeete we had time to discuss the situation. We had not yet been arrested, which fact was almost a guarantee that we would not be. If we should, either one or both of us, we would not pay any fine; but rather, go to prison, believing that God intended us to remain at Tahiti far a season; but if we were left free to pursue our voyage, we should take it as a sign that God had ordained that the Reorganization here, should be started without placing itself under any obligations, either directly or indirectly to the papacy.

    We passed through Papeete the cynosure of all eyes, for the proceedings of yesterday had been blazed abroad; the gens d'armes stared; but nobody troubled us. We had two hours of time yet before we needed to go on board, and we went to the house of Brother Parato, to rest and refresh ourselves. Here we learned that information had been duly laid against us at the proper tribunal; but upon consultation it was determined not to prosecute. The fact was, they were glad enough to get rid of us without creating any further excitement.

    On Christmas Day we hove up our anchor and stood out to sea, all in high spirits at the prospects of soon accomplishing the remainder of our passage. On Thursday, January 8, we crossed the 180th degree of longitude, and instead of calling the next day Friday, the 9th, we ignored it entirely, and called it Saturday, the 10th. Our time thus corrected would correspond with the Sydney time.

    On Thursday, January 22, 1874, we entered the harbor of Sydney. I left Brother Rodger on board to take care of the baggage, while I went on shore to secure lodgings. Went to John Benneth. They were very glad tQ see me. Brother Benneth took me to the batters and fitted me out with a new hat, and then took me to Brother Ellis's. Had a good talk there. Sister Ellis had seen us in a dream, and was expecting us. Brother Ellis went with us to Brother Pegg's and from there to Brother Nichols, where I hired a room, and the next day Brother Ellis paid for the drayage of our things to our lodgings. We immediately began visiting the Brighamites and distributing tracts.

    On Saturday we went to visit Elder Beauchamp, at his lodgings. He is the Brighamite missionary. We urged the privilege of speaking to his congregation on the next day. He refused, and also challenged us to a discussion, we to select the subjects. We returned home, wrote out and sent him the following:

    1st. Was polygamy a tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at any time during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, the Martyr? 2d. In whom is the right of Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Joseph Smith or in Brigham Young? Authorities: Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Times and Seasons; and by courtesy, the Millennial Star; time to be



    [Smith, 1911: p. 61]
    equally divided -- expenses, ditto. After dilly-dallying for two or three days, he sent us word that he declined the discussion as too unequal and one sided!

    We continued to occupy the time in visiting and distributing tracts. Brother Rodger visited in the country a few miles and preached. On Sunday evening, February 1, we formally opened the mission by a meeting at our lodgings. Our room was well filled with a select audience. We had a good meeting, and an excellent feeling prevailed. Being now sure that the mission would be successful, we hired the United Temperance Hall for three months, at a rate unexpectedly low. The hall is centrally situated. On Sunday, February 8, we baptized Richard Ellis and Albert Aspinall, and held an afternoon and an evening meeting in our new hall. At both meetings the congregation seemed greatly interested. We have an appointment to baptize on Sunday next, and feel that the mission has made a secure lodgment in Australia.
    C. W. WANDELL.       
    GLAUD RODGER.       

    On the 20th of November, 1874, Wandell writes from Sydney, devoting most of his letter to Brigham Young, whose nineteenth wife was at that time suing him in the courts. He, however, says that his work in Sydney is status quo, and expresses the desire to make the personal acquaintance of Joseph Smith, "upon any field of labor where duty calls and may call." This desire was never gratified. On the July preceding they bad reported that although the work was difficult, it was not altogether discouraging. Wandell said:

    In Sydney we are increasing slowly as yet. I baptized two on Tuesday last, and have an appointment to baptize two more on Sunday next.

    At this time Brother Wandell was delivering lectures on Spiritualism. The Saints of Sydney had two meetings on Sunday, testimony meetings on Thursday evenings, choir practice on Friday evening, and on Tuesday evening a "scripture meeting," at which the doctrines of the church were considered.

    In December we learn through letter to Sister Rodger from her husband that Brother Wandell "was in Sydney quite lame with rheumatism." In his report to the April conference Brother Wandell asks for a release. He says:



    [Smith, 1911: p. 62]
    Dear Brother Joseph: Yours of December 14 came duly to hand per last steamer, also three numbers of Heralds and Hopes. The news from you is encouraging and interesting. I hope that the Utah mission will never be given up so long as polygamy is maintained by an organization. This you may say, shall not be very long; but you must remember that besides the many influences that bind polygamists together, there is an entire generation in Utah, born and brought up under the influence of the many wife system. Polygamists may move away; but as a rule they will not give up their social system.

    I send you Brother Rodger's last note to me.... The mission at Sydney is at a standstill. I should be able to bear off this mission to a successful termination, but ill health prevents. I have had a relapse which threatened to close up my labors for this world. My chest and lungs are in a very bad condition, my muscular power is gone, and now my feet and legs are so swollen that locomotion is almost impossible. My cough is dreadful at times, and is worse when I am exercising the lungs in public speaking. I could not finish my sermon on Sunday evening in consequence of paroxysms of coughing, and unless I feel better than I do now I shall not undertake to preach again in Sydney. This being the situation, of course I have to give up all idea of the Tahitian mission.

    I feel desirous of doing my duty, and dislike to be released; but you see the circumstances, and should I live to breathe the equable climate of California once more, it might add a space to my life. I have now arrived at a point at which something must be done in my case. Hitherto I have been able to fill the regular preaching appointments and to visit the Saints more or less; but I have a painful realization that I can not do so any more unless a great improvement in my physical condition takes place.

    There are lights, however, around this dark picture; I have sought with all my heart to fulfill every duty upon this mission, with an eye single to the glory of God and of the church. I have taught the true doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and have not been slow to expose deceit and imposture. For myself I have no fears of the future, because I know that the great Judge of all the earth will do right; and should I be called upon to rest from my labors, I have conclusive assurance that such rest shall be sweet and undisturbed by malice and persecution, or by other disturbing causes.

    The letter from Brother Rodger had been written to Brother Wandell one week before the letter which he sent to the conference, and in it he says:

    I am sorry to hear of the state of your health, and I fear that your labors in this life are but short. Your weakness is seemingly increasing. You can have but little comfort, only in the hope of the gospel. I believe you have done your utmost to fill your mission, and the Lord, who rules all things well, will be your helper in the end. We can but pray and hope for the best.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 63]
    The conference took action on the report of Charles W. Wandell; it was moved and carried that

    C. W. Wandell and Glaud Rodger were sustained in their mission to Australia, with permission to Brother Wandell to return home if the state of his health demanded it.

    But the release came too late. While the conference was considering this motion they little dreamed that for nearly a month Wandell had been "called to rest from his lajbors," and even then was sleeping in an alien land.

    It was nearly a month later than this even, before the friends at home heard the sad news of the death of this pioneer missionary. On the 19th of May, 1875, came the letter from Brethren Rodger and Ellis, containing particulars of the last sickness and the death of Brother Wandell.

    He remained at the home of Brother Ellis until he could no longer get around about his work, and then he asked Brother Ellis to take him to Saint Vincent's Hospital, where he thought he could be completely cured of what he thought was bronchitis; but upon his arrival he was told that he was suffering from heart disease and that a cure was impossible. "He was happy, and had no fear of death," says Brother Ellis, and although the body of Brother Wandell was failing, his mind was as active as it ever was, and he prepared for death "as one who wraps the drapery of his couch around him and lies down to pleasant dreams." He died upon the 14th day of March, 1875, and was buried in Balmain cemetery.

    The following notice appeared in the Sydney papers of the 15th:

    The friends of Richard Ellis are invited to attend the funeral of Rev. Charles Wesley Wandell; to move from his residence, Catharine street, Forest Lodge, at half past two p. m. this day, Monday, March 15, for Balmain Cemetery.

    The few Saints of that locality met the expense of sickness, death and burial with willing hearts. The testimony of



    [Smith, 1911: p. 64]
    Brother Ellis in his letter (Saints' Herald, p. 344, vol. 22) is worth repeating.

    Dear brother, I can bear my testimony that Elder Wandell has been a faithful Latter Day Saint and a servant of God while in this far-off land, and has left a name that will never be forgotten by the Saints here.

    The ceremony over his last resting place was simple.

    Brother Rodger, whom he had left alone to finish the work which he heartily loved, spoke a few words over his grave, and the handful of Saints gathered round the grave sang a few verses of the hymn Wandell, himself, had written, "Weep, weep not for me, Zion."

    The last words that Wandell left to us were the closing paragraphs in his journal he wrote,

    Know all men that I want all my home books and other church books to be the property of the Australasian Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I want all of my clothes, all of them, to be given to the elder whom the church may send out to take my place. The trunk goes with the clothes. I here (March 2) feel it my duty to state that I believe young Joseph Smith to be the true leader and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as against the claims of Brigham Young to that office; and to be the legal prophet, seer, and revelator thereof. He must increase and Brigham shall decrease.

    After my decease, I wish the church to assemble in a conference capacity, take action with reference to me that may be just and proper. I feel more than ever convinced that a splendid work will yet be done here. Also, I here record my unlimited faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ as the world's Savior. It is in view of the completeness of that atonement that I am enabled to think so calmly about it. God and Christ are true and so is a Universal Providence.

    After the conference meeting spoken of shall have been held I want this diary to be carefully and properly prepared for post-office and sent direct to Plano to Brother Joseph, to be preserved in the archives of the church. To any of my personal friends in America, who would ask after certain inner emotions, etc., I will say that all is calm and serene. The eternal future is bright, and one night the angels sang a beautiful song. The adversary has not showed himself in any distinctive form, and I am truly and greatly blessed.   CHARLES WESLEY WANDELL.

    Thus lived and died one of the bravest soldiers in the "Army of the Lord." Joining the church at the age of eighteen, and becoming an elder in the same year, he spent almost a lifetime



    [Smith, 1911: p. 65]
    in the defense of the gospel message. Part of it was given to a mistaken defense, but when he discovered he was in the wrong, Wandell was not slow in renouncing his error, and became just as valiant in attacking the wrong, as he had been in defending what he believed to be right. His life was one of sorrow and sacrifice. He gave his all, simply and uncomplainingly. He spent a lifetime in the service of others, and sealed his testimony with his life, dying a stranger in a strange land.
    Surely his life is worth remembrance, and his name is worthy of living in the heart of every true Latter Day Saint. Albert W. Aspinwall wrote of Elder Wandell as follows:

              TO THE MEMORY OF C. W. WANDELL.

    President, poet, philosopher, friend!
    Sweetest of lines in our hymns hast thou penned.
    Thousands delighted with musical voice,
    Sinners by scores thou hast made to rejoice.
    In this foreign land we follow thy bier,
    For thy voice alone our spirits could cheer.
    Thy calmness and meekness we have in full view;
    Thy courage unsurpassed to dare and to do.
    Denial of self in the great Master's cause,
    Heroic and strict in keeping his laws;
    While far from home shall give thee the name
    Of Martyr on heaven's fair scroll of fame.
    What voices are these that are borne on the breeze,
    In that little graveyard, surrounded by trees?
    Over thy grave they are singing thy hymn,
    "Weep, weep not for me," with eyes that are dim.
    The bursting emotion finds vent in the song,
    Which, beautiful, plaintive, is wafted along.




    [Smith, 1911: p. 66]

    OPEN LETTER OF CHARLES W. WANDELL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.


    [Following the biography of Charles W. Wandell we think it appropriate to insert his "Open letter to the President of the United States." This was written in the early seventies. His contrast between genuine and spurious Mormonism is well stated, and is the relation of one who has experienced both, and is therefore a competent witness. This is therefore not an opinion deduced from evidence only, but is history told by a participant in the scenes related. -- EDITOR.]

    AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

    Mr. President: I feel impressed to conclude this volume, by calling the attention of the Government to a few thoughts upon the Mormon question, which question I regard as of much greater possible consequence to the country than many of our public men seem to think. I shall certainly bring to the discussion of my subject an understanding of its character.

    When Joseph Smith commenced preaching his new and

    strange religion, it was at once set down by the churches as so altogether fanatical and false, that its spread in a Christian country would be very limited, and that it would soon die away and cease to exist. This expectation has not been realized. On the contrary, Mormonism has steadily fought its way through all opposition; until it numbers many hundred thousands of zealous disciples, and presents to-day an advancing front remarkable for its solidity and firmness. The Mormon problem is yet unsolved. Indeed, as stated in its text-books, it is incapable of such a solution as its adversaries seek. This brings me to the grave and perhaps startling proposition, that original Mormonism has become a permanent institution among men.

    This being the case, as I shall proceed to show, it becomes a matter of serious importance to the nation to clearly understand its general character, quite as much as it is to know



    [Smith, 1911: p. 67]
    that of any other large and increasing body of religionists. Mormonism has its primitive and genuine character; and its subsequent and spurious one.

    PRIMITIVE MORMONISM.

    By this term is to be understood the doctrines of the Church of the Latter Day Saints as found in their text-books, and particularly in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which contains their ecclesiastical constitution. This book in defining its ruling priesthood says:

    Of the Melchisedec priesthood, three presiding high priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayers of the church, form a quorum of the presidency of the church. The twelve traveling councilors are called to be the twelve apostles or special witnesses of the name of Christ, in all the world; thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling. And they form a quorum equal in authority and power to the three presidents, previously mentioned. The seventy are also called to preach the gospel, and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all the world. Thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling: and they form a quorum equal in authority to that of the twelve special witnesses or apostles, just named. And every decision made by either of these quorums, must be by the unanimous voice of the same; that is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to its decisions in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity one with another.... And in case that any decision of these quorums is made in unrighteousness, it may be brought before a general assembly of the several quorums which constitute the spiritual authorities of the church, otherwise there can be no appeal from their decision.

    The twelve are a traveling, presiding high council, to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the presidency of the church, agreeably to the institution of heaven; to build up the church, and regulate all the affairs of the same, in all nations; first unto the Gentiles, and secondly unto the Jews.

    The seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the twelve, or the traveling high council, in building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same, in all nations; first unto the Gentiles, and then to the Jews;-the twelve being sent out holding the keys, to open the door by the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ; and first unto the Gentiles and then to the Jews.

    The standing high councils at the stakes of Zion, form a quorum equal in authority, in the affairs of the church, in all their decisions, to the quorum of the presidency, or to the traveling high council.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 68]
    The high council in Zion, forms a quorum equal in authority, in the affairs of the church, in all their decisions, to the councils of the twelve at the stakes of Zion.

    It is the duty of the traveling high council to call upon the seventy when they need assistance, to fill the several calls for preaching and administering the gospel, instead of any others.

    It is the duty of the twelve in all large branches of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they shall be designated unto them by revelation." -- Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 3, pp. 102-104, Nauvoo edition.

    The following is its faith as epitomized by Joseph Smith:

    We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

    We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression.

    We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

    We believe that these ordinances are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

    We believe that a man must be called of God by prophecy and by laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

    We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.

    We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.

    We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

    We believe all that God has revealed, and that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

    We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaic glory.

    We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience, and accord to all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

    We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

    We believe in being honest true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, "We believe all things, we hope all things," we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." -- Times and Seasons, vol. 3, p. 706.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 69]
    Upon ethical questions it affirms:

    And again, I say, thou shalt not kill: but he that killeth shall die.

    Thou shalt not steal; and he that stealeth and will not repent, shall be cast out.

    Thou shalt not lie; he that lieth and will not repent, shall be cast out.

    Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else; and he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her, shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit, and if he repents not he shall be cast out.

    Thou shalt not commit adultery; and he that committeth adultery and repenteth not, shall be cast out; but he that has committed adultery and repents with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more, thou shalt forgive; but if he doeth it again he shall not be forgiven, but shall be cast out.

    Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any harm. -- Doctrine and Covenants, section 13, page 168, Nauvoo Edition.

    Of governments and laws in general, it says:

    We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man, and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or administering them, for the good and safety of society.

    We believe that no government can exist, in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property and the protection of life.

    We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same, and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people, (if a republic,) or the will of the sovereign.

    We believe that religion is instituted of God, and that men are amenable to him and to hiin only for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinion prompts them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul.

    We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent inalienable rights by the laws of such governments, and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest, at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 70]
    We believe that every man should be honored in his station: rulers and magistrates as such being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror: human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man, and divine laws, given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker.

    We believe that rulers, states and governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief; but we do not believe that they have a right, in justice, to deprive citizens of this privileges or proscribe them in their opinions, so long as a regard and reverence is shown to the laws, and such religious opinions do not justify sedition nor conspiracy.

    We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense: that murder, treason, robbery, theft and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed; and for the public peace and tranquility, all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders, against good laws, to punishment.

    We do not believe it is just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied.

    We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct according to the rules and regulations of such societies, provided, that such dealing be for fellowship and good standing; but we do not believe that any religious society has authority over men on the right of property or life, to take from them this world's goods, or put them in jeopardy either of life or limb, neither to inflict any physical punishment upon them, -- they can only excommunicate them from their society and withdraw from their fellowship.

    We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted, or the right of property or character infringed, where such laws exist as will protect the same; but we believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons, in times of exigencies, where immediate appeal can not be made to the laws, and relief afforded. -- Doctrine and Covenants, section 110, page 440, Nauvoo edition.

    The foregoing quotations make up the sum of original Mormonism as stated by its founder, and formally indorsed by the priesthood and membership in conference assembled; and show,



    [Smith, 1911: p. 71]
    First, That it is purely an ecclesiastical system;

    Second, That its priesthood is so balanced in its quorum organizations, that, in its practical administration, it is theo-democratic.

    Third, That its moral code is unexceptionable;

    Fourth, Its faith is orthodox in its definition of the Deity;

    Fifth, For a church organization, it takes the original Christian church, as described in the New Testament, for its model; that is, with apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers;

    Sixth, And, %as the ancient church did, they baptize for the remission of sins, lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

    It is no marvel, that the doctrines founded upon this basis, and preached with a zeal which knew no obstacles and disregarded persecution, spread with wonderful rapidity during the life of Joseph Smith, gathering its thousands of disciples, fully ninety per cent of whom were from Christian churches.

    That among these should be many fanatics, and dishonest persons, is a matter of course; and that these, with many worthy but mistaken members, should follow a leader of extraordinary ability to the desert of Utah, is not to be wondered at. Such things have been done before. But time is the great physician to heal mental excesses, and the offspring of enthusiasts and fanatics are not apt themselves to be fanatics. When Mormonism shall have sloughed off its extreme fanaticism, it will probably settle down into an order of severe pietism.

    Now, as to the permanent character of the Church of Latter Day Saints, I will instance the fact, that its first prophet did enough to perpetuate his reputation as a prophet in the minds of its members. Among his many prophecies, I will refer to one of his last. On the 19th of January, 1841, he produced a "revelation" commanding the building of the Temple at Nauvoo. In this the Almighty is made to say:



    [Smith, 1911: p. 72]
    And if my people will hearken unto my voice, and unto the voice of my servants whom I have appointed to lead my people, behold, verily 1 say unto you, they shall not be moved out of their place. But if they will not hearken to my voice, nor unto the voice of these men whom I have appointed, they shall not be blessed, because they pollute mine holy grounds, and mine holy ordinances, and charters, and my holy words, which I give unto them.

    And it shall come to pass, that if you build a house unto my name, and do not the things that I say, I will not perform the oath which I make unto you, neither fulfill the promises which ye expect at my hands, saith the Lord; for instead of blessings, ye, by your own works bring cursings, wrath, indignation and judgments upon your own heads, by your follies, and by all your abominations which you practice before me, saith the Lord.-Doctrine and Covenants, p. 400, (306).

    This prophecy was delivered at Nauvoo, during a term of profound peace, and with no likelihood of its serious disturbance. Three years after this Joseph was killed; but the work of building the "house of the Lord" went on to partial completion. But it was then most impiously desecrated by the "endowment ordinances" held therein, which included the blasphemy of a dramatic representation of the Deity; the enunciation of treason against the nation, and the practices of polygamy. These were among the deeds and abominations committed in that temple; and swiftly after them came the forced removal of the people "out of their place"; and, as if the Almighty was determined that nothing should be lacking to convince them of his displeasure, the temple itself was completely destroyed.

    There are to-day in the United States perhaps fifty thousand persons whose parents were Latter Day Saints, and who are not familiar with any phase of Christianity except Mormonism. To such the above prophecy has all the force and authority of inspiration; and they fully believe, and will teach their children, and they in turn will teach their children to believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be equally the word of God.

    Then again, in Mormonism, Joseph Smith is the modern Levi, whose posterity are the "legal" heirs to the priesthood; and so long as that posterity remain, there will not be wanting



    [Smith, 1911: p. 73]
    ministers whose business will be to keep up the organization and propagate its doctrines. This idea of legitimacy is a remarkable feature of Mormonism, and fixes its indefinite duration quite as -much as any other thing. It is the idea of "legality" that has made the Church of Rome what she is, and renders it as certain as the future can be, that the promised successors of Saint Peter will continue to the end of time.

    Mormonism claims that the Church of Rome lost the priesthood by transgression, but that it was restored to Joseph Smith by Peter, James and John, who appeared to him and Oliver Cowdery as ministering angels, and ordained them to be apostles. This event is thus referred to in the Book of Covenants, page 271, (113) Nauvoo edition:

    And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry.

    To the Mormon mind, this fixes the apostolic succession with absolute certainty; and has furnished a weapon of no mean power to the elders upon missions, in their controversies with people or clergy.

    To this idea of legitimacy must be added the doctrine of the "gathering," through which the disciples from all the world, are gathered to the same section of country, where they can be taught the faith in large congregations, and be under the ministrations of the chief priests and where their children be thoroughly instructed in its principles. This gathering involves the labor of forming settlements, the investment of property; the development of material interests generally; and the interlacing of those interests by marriage and otherwise. By these means the society of the Latter Day Saints becomes cemented together; and where a common faith and a sameness of interest unite to perpetuate a religious system, who will say that it is ephemeral, and will soon pass away?



    [Smith, 1911: p. 74]

    SPURIOUS MORMONISM.

    By this term is understood those doctrines claimed to be a part of Mormonism, yet are not found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and have not been submitted to the church for adoption. These are:

    First, A Theocracy, based upon a pure Theogamy: that is a government of God; and that man is God. This is commonly known in Utah as, "The One Man Power."

    Second, The nullity of all Gentile "covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, vows, performances, connections, associations or expectations."

    Third, Blood Atonement, which includes the death penalty for apostasy; and,

    Fourth, Polygamy.

    These monstrous doctrines are all included in a mock revelation of Brigham Young's, ascribed to Joseph Smith; but which has never been traced back to him; and, indeed, can not be by any rule of evidence admissible in a court of law or equity.

    In so far as polygamy is concerned, its first connection with the Mormons is traceable to Udney R. Jacobs' pamphlet and no further. This man, an elder in the church, in 1843, at Nauvoo, published a pamphlet, in which he discoursed of the polygamy of the ancient patriarchs and kings of Judea, and defended the practice on both scriptural and physiological grounds. Joseph Smith before the congregation and 'elsewhere, emphatically and unmistakably condemned this pamphlet and its doctrines; as he did also the libertinism of John C. Bennett and others, who were subsequently excommunicated from the church on that account.

    In 1846-47 Brigham Young led a large body of the Mormons to Salt Lake, and established his church upon this spurious



    [Smith, 1911: p. 75]
    Mormonism; and as there is but a step between the church and the state, it is no marvel that in his isolated position the state should disappear in the church. This was precisely the result of his experiment in government; and was and is the cause of the difficulties which have existed between "Deseret" and the United States. And I will here predict, that so long as this condition of things remain, the Territorial Government of Utah will be a practical nullity in so far as the Mormons are concerned.

    The Government should understand that to-day, while his excellency George L. Woods is the legally appointed governor of Utah, Brigham Young is equally the elected governor of Deseret, with a legislative body which formally and solemnly enacts laws for the State; and has also a judicial system practically independent of the territorial courts. It is true, that the laws passed by the legislature of Deseret, are mainly identical with those passed by the territorial legislature, which may well be, when the same members which compose the Council and House of the one, compose the Senate and House of the other, and were duly voted for by separate ballots at the same general election. I know as well as it is possible to know, that the disciples of Brigham Young, in Utah, care nothing for the Territorial Government. They submit to it passively, because they must; and if they do not openly seek to repudiate it, it is because of the impolicy of such a course.

    Upon the first settlement of the Salt Lake country, it was beyond successful contradiction, the purpose of Brigham Young to establish an independent government; which idea has never been abandoned, even though it should take another exodus to accomplish it; and he is sustained in this by polygamists, and blood-atonement assassins, who for manifest reasons prefer his government to that of the United States.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 76]
    The fact is, that they have become so deeply compromised in this spurious Mormonism, that they can not well repudiate it, and can see neither certain peace nor safety outside of its pale.

    It is idle for the Government to seek to compromise with them short of giving them an absolute independence. Even a state government would not satisfy them; though they would be glad enough to get that for the time being. They are bound to the "kingdom" with bands which they can not sever. The despotic rule of Brigham with its blood-atonement suits them, because it protects their polygamy and other offenses. With these parties, it is less a conscientious conviction of the importance or truth of polygamy and blood-atonement as mysteries of Christ, or parts of his gospel, than the fear or the consequences of their great criminality, which binds them so closely together, and holds them with such tenacity; and their plea of the rights of conscience in this matter has not the force it would have in an honest faith in something better.

    There is, however, a large body of Mormons in Utah who have lost confidence in their leaders; and that number is increasing. Some have openly repudiated him; others, secretly many of these latter even continue to pay tithes to avoid collision with this power once so terrible, and still so strong in the completeness of its organization and fearful earnestness. These persons are, and desire to be, good citizens. They are noted for their industry and economy, and their peaceable disposition. Should Brigham Young ever deem it advisable to make another great removal these persons will not follow him. In fact, were he to order an exodus the present year, in my opinion, not one half of what are now considered good church members would consent to leave Utah. He would take with him only that class which the United States could very well spare.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 77]
    In conclusion, permit me to say that the Mormonism of Joseph Smith was that of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, while the religion of Brigham Young is that of his "revelation" on polygamy:

    That the religious system of Joseph Smith was substantially a democracy; that of Brigham Young a theocracy;

    That the monogamic Mormonism of Joseph Smith is loyal to the Government of the United States, but that the polygamic system of Brigham Young is not.

    That monogamic Mormonism has become a fixed institution in the United States, and so has the polygamous system of Utah, if the Government permit.

    That polygamy, if let alone, increases in the number of its votaries, principally because Brigham Young has made it a

    __________
    'Mr. Stenhouse, in his very able work, "The Rocky Mountain Saints," on page 185, appears to have arrived at the conclusion that Joseph Smith was either a polygamist or a "free-lover," and that the evidence to prove that conclusion was "overwhelming." Certainly Mr. Stenhouse (who never knew Joseph Smith personally) has suffered himself to be imposed upon by the perjured statements of John C. Bennett and others, who had been cut off, by Joseph, from the church for their "free-love" teachings and practices. And as for the statement of Brigham's to a certain "brother," (page 186) "years after," on the "banks of the Missouri," that his wife belonged to Joseph, and that he, (Brigham,) as Joseph's proxy must take her! is exactly like Brigham Young. -- And further, I venture to say, that there is not a truthful woman in Utah that will solemnly affirm that she was Joseph's wife during his lifetime. There are many who have been sealed to him for eternity by Brigham since his death.

    Now, I knew Joseph Smith personally, in Nauvoo. I knew him both in private and in public, and his confidence in me was such, that in the spring of 1844, he appointed me president over all the branches of the church in the State of New York, the most important mission of that year. And I here affirm that he never taught me the doctrine of polygamy. Neither did I ever hear him mention it, nor Bennett's "free-love" system, except in condemnation of the same. And if the duty was laid upon me to prove before a legal tribunal, by good and reliable witnesses, that he was either a polygamist or "free-lover," I could not do it with any testimony with which I am acquainted. It was Joseph Smith's fate in this life, to be a target for unnumbered calumnies.



    [Smith, 1911: p. 78]
    matter of faith; that the young Mormon men are not generally averse to it; and the opposition of the young women is practically weak and ineffective.

    That polygamy is actually on the increase in Utah; and the time has manifestly come when the Government should adopt some definite policy with regard to it. What that policy ought to-be I will not presume to suggest, except that when the State of Deseret shall have been admitted into the Union, not Polygamy only, but the complete theocracy of Brigham Young will become fixtures in the United States.

    I am, Mr. President,
              Your fellow-citizen and midst obedient servant,
                        C. W. WANDELL.




     

                    from JWHA Monograph Series No. 1 (1992) pp. 39-51                
     


    Hero or Traitor:

    A Biographical Study of

    Charles Wesley Wandell


    By Marjorie Newton
    ________


    Copyright © 1992 by Herald Pub. House
    All rights reserved -- "fair use" excerpts
    only are reproduced on this web-page



    ... At a conference in San Bernardino early in 1856, Wandell was called to serve under the presidency of George Q. Cannon and labored as a proselyting missionary in northern California until late 1857.... Eventually, when the recall occasioned by the approach of Johnston's Army saw the general sellout in San Bernardino, Wandell was appointed captain of a company of fifty-two traveling to Utah. They left San Bernardino on 2 November 1857... and passed through southern Utah a few months after the Mountain Meadows massacre; Wandell actually spent three days in the home of John D. Lee early in February 1858. [80 Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks. eds., A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876 vol, 1... 147.]




    [Newton, 1992: p. 41]
    ...Wandell's first venture in Utah Territory was a school in Beaver. At a concert and dance held in Beaver on 18 August 1858, it was reported that 'the school children, under the care of Professor C. W. Wandell, formed a conspicuous part' of the entertainment.... By 1862 Wandell's 'Provo Seminary' was the subject of a news item in the Millennial Star...

    Wandell, described on the 1860 census as a farmer, became active in civic affairs. He was elected notary public for Beaver County in January 1859 and was thrice elected to the territorial legislature as the representative for Beaver County (1859, 1860, and 1863). As a legislator, he served on many committees, at least once as chairman pro tem of the Committee on Education.... He also claimed to have been elected U.S. commissioner for Utah on 5 February 1861 and to be




    [Newton, 1992: p. 42]
    a federal magistrate... a testimonial written by George L. Woods in Salt Lake City as late as 1873 identified him as "Judge' Wandell.... he was appointed one of 162 U.S. commissioners for the Union Pacific Railroad, a joint government and private enterprise venture. Wandell and the other commissioners had the responsibility of watching the government's interests in the project....

    The Argus Letters

    During the 1860s Charles Wandell collected an enormous volume of evidence relating to the Mountain Meadows massacre. This was a tragic episode in which members of an emigrant wagon train bound for California were murdered in southern Utah by Mormons and Indians... [a] massacre, in which every adult and every child old enough to give evidence was slain.... the massacre was and remains what Wandell called it, "a foul blot" on the history of Utah and the LDS Church. Wandell began to amass evidence which, he was convinced, showed that Brigham Young had ordered the massacre....




    [Newton, 1992: p. 43]
    ... [Wandell wrote] a series of open letters to the church president published under the pseudonym "Argus" in the Corinne Utah Reporter in July and August 1871...

    Wandell's open letters attracted a considerable amount of attention, reaching a wider audience when they were substantially republished in T. B. H. Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints two years later. After a detailed reconstruction of the massacre according to the information he had, Wandell concluded with a forthright indictment of Brigham Young.

    No inquest was held over the remains of those slaughtered ones... no arrests were made of the murderers, although they were well and notoriously known, and ... no official notice was taken of the matter... during the remainder of your term as Governor.... As you were at that time the Chief Magistrate of Utah, [the American people] have the right to demand why you took no official steps to inquire into that sanguinary affair which is the shame and damning disgrace of your administration.... It is a foul blot upon the workings of our system of American jurisprudence that the Mountain Meadow Massacre should have been committed nearly sixteen years ago. and to this present writing you, and Lee, and Dame, and Haight, are at large, and come and go unquestioned by the proper authority... As a Mormon, I demand of the proper authorities that this long-neglected affair be investigated, in order that the innocent may no longer suffer that reproach which belongs to Brigham Young and others only. [94 ...Stenhouse,... 1874): 453-455. Italics in original.]

    Although Wandell's records of his investigations perished in the Herald Publishing House fire in 1907 and cannot be checked with later research for accuracy, it can easily be seen that he was in a favorable position to amass such information. He passed near the site of the massacre as he led a company of Saints from San




    [Newton, 1992: p. 44]
    Bernardino to Utah between November 1857 and January 1858, within weeks of the tragedy. As they passed from town to town, he later alleged, he and George Q. Cannon "both knew from the statements of the bretheren [sic] in Southern Utah that it was Governor Brigham Young's militia that did the job." [95 Charles W. Wandell to William Geddes, Sydney, Australia (21 August 1874), copy in Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (26 September 18741, Henry A. Stebbins Papers, Reorganized Church Library-Archives.]   As president of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society for Beaver and Iron counties during 1860, he traveled through the southern settlements promoting the society, even accepting John D. Lee's hospitality in the course of his rounds. [96 Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 253-254.] Ironically, he Is also recorded as a speaker at a church conference in Parowan in March 1860, on the same program as William H. Dame and Isaac B. Haight, two of the men widely suspected of having been implicated in the massacre. [97 Journal History of the Church (1 March 1860).]

    Another possible source of Wandell’s information has now been disproved. Juanita Brooks and Robert G. Cleland noted the connection between Charles W. Wandell and one of his Australian converts, James McKnight, who, they stated, served as clerk to Apostle George A. Smith during his official church investigation of the massacre. [98. Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 1. 319, 323] Many years later, according to Brooks and Cleland, during McKnight's long service as bishop of Minersville Ward, he was excommunicated for apostasy -- apostasy possibly resulting, they stated, from knowledge of the massacre gained during the investigation. [99. Ibid., 323. Brooks included a similar statement in her John Doyle Lee: Zealot --Pioneer -- Builder—Scapegoat, 245] Brooks and Cleland were mistaken; the James McKnight who acted as clerk for the Mountain Meadows investigation was not the Scottish-born McKnight who... served faithfully as bishop of Minersville...




    [Newton, 1992: p. 45]
    Cleland and Brooks also state that John D. Lee believed it was the publication of Wandell's 'Argus' letters that led to his own excommunication. [101 Cleland and Brooks. A Mormon Chronicle, 319] However, Lee could not have blamed the "Argus" letters for his excommunication, as, according to his own diary, Lee was excommunicated in October 1870 and the "Argus' letters were not published until the following July and August. It is more likely that by 1870, Wandell, already classed as an apostate, [102 Journal History of the Church (30 January 1870)...] was actively campaigning for legal action in regard to the massacre and this may have helped bring about the church court action. Certainly his "Argus" letters, given worldwide circulation in Stenhouse's book, may have helped bring about Lee's eventual arrest, trials, and execution. If so, Wandell never knew. He died halfway across the world six months before Lee's first trial and a full two years before his execution.

    As his Interest in the massacre increased during the 1860s, Charles Wandell grew steadily more disaffected. In his later correspondence with leaders of the Reorganized Church, Wandell told Alexander Smith, "I have not been an advocate of or apologist for Brigham Young's authority since 1860, [103 Charles W. Wandell to Alexander H. Smith, San Juan, California (31 July 1873), Henry A. Stebbins Papers, Reorganized Church Library-Archives.] in a letter to Joseph III, he gave 1864 as the date for his "break" with Brigham Young, after which, Wandell asserted, a "conspiracy" started against him, so he resigned from the LDS Church. In that year Wandell apparently was disfellowshipped for prospecting. [104 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (26 September 1874).] ...




    [Newton, 1992: p. 46]
    ... In view of Wandell's antipathy to polygamy and theocracy, his Interest in prospecting, and the publication of his letters in the Corinne Utah Reporter, it might seem logical to find Wandell associated with the Godbeites. However, no trace of any such association has been found beyond Stenhouse's republication of the "Argus" letters in Rocky Mountain Saints....

    Wandell removed himself and his family from Utah in July 1866. [111. Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (26 September 1874).] settling in Pioche, Lincoln County, Nevada, where he remained for the next four-and-a-half years. Here, he alleged, a vicious rumor circulated that he had himself taken part in the Mountain Meadows




    [Newton, 1992: p. 47]
    massacre, the site of which was less than fifty miles from Pioche. Wandell was certain the rumor was started by Young or his "creatures"... [112. C. W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (26 September 1874), 3.]

    On 1 January 1873 Wandell left his Nevada home, telling Ms wife and family he had a fight to make with Brigham Young. "It was a mission which I had to fulfill, and... I was determined to do it," he recalled later. [113 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith 111, Turlock, California (25 May 1873). Henry A. Stebbins Papers, Reorganized Church Library-Archives.] With the full support of his Wife, [114 Charles W. Wandell to Alexander H. Smith (31 July 1873)] and references from some leading citizens of Pioche, Wandell headed for Salt Lake City on the first leg of what he intended to be a lecture tour of the United States. In Salt Lake City he delivered two public lectures, naming Brigham Young as being responsible for the Mountain Meadow horror." [115 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (25 May 1873).] After waiting in vain for a public denial by Young, Wandell left Salt Lake City on 17 February for San Francisco, where he intended to publish a book that would contain the "Argus" letters...




    [Newton, 1992: p. 48]
    ... Wandell attended the San Francisco conference on 4 March 1873 and was invited to join the Reorganization... which he did... He was accepted on his original 1837 baptism




    [Newton, 1992: p. 51]
    ..."I take it you have a field of labor laid out for me," he wrote. [127 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III, San Francisco (21 April 1873), Henry A. Stebbins Papers, Reorganized Church Library- Archives.] However, he was still hopeful of raising funds to publish his book. "My book deals heavy blows at Brigham, but it considers him as an unprincipled apostate from the system of religion taught by Joseph; and for which said system is not responsible," he told Joseph's son. [128 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith III (15 April 1873).] He sent Joseph III >font color=maroon>the proposed title page: "The Argus letters: A Free and Complete History of the Massacre at the Mountain Meadow. Brigham Young's Treasonable Administration in Utah Reviewed: and His 'Revelation' Commanding Polygamy and Human Sacrifices, and Establishing the Doctrines of the 'One-Man-Power,' and Nullity of Gentile Oaths, Critically Examined and Refuted by C. W. Wandell. Ex-United States Commissioner for Utah."


    By the end of May Wandell had given up the idea of publishing without Smith's approval. "There are a number of Utah seceders here.... These parties are frightened at the idea of the book being published here, as it will perhaps create some excitement, which might work them an injury in business," he explained. [129 Charles W. Wandell to Joseph Smith 111, San Francisco (30 May 1870 [sic 1873). Henry A. Stebbins Papers. Reorganized Church Library-Archives.] Joseph III had ordered a copy when Wandell first told him of the proposed publication, but later he worried that Wandell was likely to lose money on the venture.... If Wandell had hoped for official RLDS Church backing -- and perhaps funds -- to publish his book, he was disappointed....

     

                 from Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets (2002) pp. 268-75             
     



    BARBAROUS  TRAGEDIES:
    ARGUS

    Perhaps nothing did more to expose the lies surrounding Mountain Meadows than the revelations of Charles W. Wandell. A Mormon since 1837, Wandell had worked in the historian's office in Nauvoo and served a mission to Australia...

    Copyright © 2002 by University of Oklahoma Press
    All rights reserved -- "fair use" excerpts
    only are reproduced on this web-page

    On his way to Utah from California in 1857 he heard rumors "that white men and not Indians were the principals in the massacre, and that they were men in authority in the Mormon Church." He saw the scattered bones of the victims at the meadows. [2] And he and George Q. Cannon soon learned from "statements of the brethren in Southern Utah that it was Governor Young's militia that did the job!" [3] Beginning in summer 1870 and with mounting outrage during 1871, the Utah Reporter, voice of the rollicking "Gentile capital" of Utah since the arrival of the railroad, published a series of open letters to Brigham Young asking him hard questions about the massacre. Wandell wrote the articles using the pen name "Argus."

    __________
    2. "Wandell's Lecture," Salt Lake Tribune, 31 January 1873, 3/3.

    3. Wandell to Joseph Smith III, 26 September 1874, Typescript, Community of Christ Archives, 2.




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 269]
    Argus painted a dramatic picture of the condition of the Fancher train as it passed through Utah. He claimed Eleanor Pratt identified one or more members of the party in Salt Lake and charged they had been present at Parley Pratt's murder. Even while camped in the city, the company was weary and footsore and "their work cattle nearly 'used up' by the labors of the long and toilsome journey." Brigham Young ordered the emigrants "to leave their camp at the Jordan with almost empty wagons," and by the time they reached Mountain Meadows their supplies were nearly exhausted. Argus blamed the hostility the outsiders encountered on the territorial governor, whose duty it was to protect them. Far from being protected, the Arkansans "were ordered to break up their camp and move on; and it is said that written instructions were sent on before them, directing the people in the settlements to have nothing to do with them." The emigrants would not have faced certain death by starvation as Argus claimed, but at Mountain Meadows they had only forty days' rations for the seventy-day journey to San Bernardino. [4]

    The Reporter's letters directly challenged Brigham Young. Wandell had been disfellowshipped from the LDS church in 1864 for prospecting. When he moved to Nevada in July 1866, Young's "creatures" circulated reports at Pioche that Wandell was a veteran of Mountain Meadows, and they later charged that he wrote the Argus articles to exonerate himself. Although he realized the Mormons would never forgive him, Wandell hoped his friends would "not suffer Brigham Young to altogether overwhelm [him] with calumnies and to destroy [him] simply because he thinks he can." [5] In addition to writing articles, Wandell gave a series of lectures, including a January 1873 speech to some three hundred people in Salt Lake. Faithful Mormons in the audience could not believe Brigham Young was responsible for the massacre. But Wandell did and continued to challenge Young to answer his charges in public. His letters contained a strange mix of truth and fiction, and some of his stories appear to be based on intentional falsehoods fed to him by Mormon authorities. Even western newspapermen found that Wandell's bitterness often led to "exaggerations not exactly truthful, and thr[e]w suspicion on [his] reliability." [6]

    While flawed and sometimes suspect, Wandell's research was often surprisingly accurate, even though many Americans simply could not believe the bizarre story and disturbing details of the massacre. Yet Wandell's relentless pursuit of the truth eventually produced the first confession by a participant, and the interrogation he conducted as Argus put before the public a host of questions Brigham Young would never answer.

    AS SUDDENLY AS A WELL-DRILLED REGIMENT: THE NEW STORY

    As public attention again focused on Mountain Meadows, the subject hounded the LDS church, from its general authorities to its rank-and-file missionaries. In the public mind Mormon Participation in mass murder was a stubborn fact. The tales added credibility to anti-Mormon claims that the church engaged in the systematic

    __________
    4. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints, 431-34; and Stenhouse, Tell It All, 326.

    5. Wandell to Joseph Smith III, 26 September 1874, Typescript, Community of Christ Archives, 2.

    6. "Wandell's Lecture," Salt Lake Tribune, 31 January 1873, 3/3; Carson State Register, 12 February 1871, 2/4, referencing an 11 February 1871 issue of the Utah Reporter that is no longer available.




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 270]
    assassination of its enemies. As one Montanan asked, if the Saints "would murder people by the hundred and more, might we not very reasonably believe they would murder a single individual?" [7]

    It is impossible to determine exactly what drove the LDS church to change its policy, but as the 1860s drew to a close there was no doubt church leaders faced mounting pressure to account for the murders at Mountain Meadows. Territorial delegate William Hooper allegedly swore to several senators that no Mormon had anything to do with the massacre, and he employed journalists to write the Latter-day Saint version of the story. Journalist J. H. Beadle, sometime editor of the Corrine Reporter, wrote that in about 1865 the Saints grudgingly began to admit that "a few reprobate whites were engaged -- men of no standing in the community." [8] As late as November 1869, Brigham Young, Jr., publicly defended the story that the massacre was simply an Indian affair. He retold the poison story and added new details to the evil emigrant tales for a Philadelphia newspaper. "That is the history of the 'Mountain Meadow Massacre,... Brigham Young, Jr., insisted, "for which we have always received the blame." [9]

    An entertainer named Sinclair commented on Mountain Meadows at the Salt Lake Theatre in November 1869. Nothing in her lecture offended the audience, the Deseret News commented, but simple justice demanded the facts be stated correctly. News editor and Apostle George Q. Cannon repeated the old story that the Arkansas company was hostile to the Indians and poisoned an ox at Corn Creek and probably poisoned the spring. Ten Paiutes died, and the survivors rallied their neighbors to attack the emigrants at Cane Spring. Cannon had known the truth for more than a decade, but he claimed the citizens from Cedar City heard rumors of a battle but arrived too late to help. Brigham Young later offered to use every effort "to sift the matter to the uttermost, and discover the guilty ones," but the story justified keeping troops in Utah. Cannon claimed Young and the people had always "been ready to give every aid in their power to have this occurrence rigidly examined." [10]

    Cannon's December 1869 article was the last official LDS attempt to deny Mormon involvement in the massacre. Such crude dismissals failed to persuade even the LDS people, for most of them had long known the truth. Convert John MacNeil warned his parents in Scotland early in i874 not to believe stories in the church newspaper, for "there has been & is Lies told in the Millennial Star." He complained, "We was told in the Millennial Star that the Mountain Meadow Massacre was Committed by Indians but It is known by Everybody here to have been done by Mormons'" Brigham Young called it "a heartless butchery but harbors the very Men that did it and there is One if Not More of them Bishops'" [11] Pressure from outside Utah probably had little effect on Mormon leaders, but questions from loyal church members and the probing revelations of internal dissenters like the Godbeites convinced Brigham Young the official he could stand no longer.

    __________
    7. Joseph C. Walker, History of the Mormons in the Early Days of Utah, 58.

    8. Beadle, Western Wilds, 503, 514.

    9. "A Second Interview with Brigham Young, Jr.," Philadelphia Morning Post, 1 November 1869, 1/4.

    10. "Mountain Meadow Massacre," Deseret Weekly News, 1 December 1869, 3/1-3. Brooks, Mountain Meadows Massacre, 213, identified Cannon as the article's author, but the text is derived from a George A. Smith letter. As noted, Cannon had learned in 1858 that Mormons "did the job." See Newton, Hero or Traitor, 44, 81n95.

    11. Buchanan, A Good Time Coming, 181.




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 271]
    The Salt Lake Tribune later noted the policy change. "For twelve years their voice was one of indignant denial that any Mormons were engaged in the affair. [After a few hesitating admissions, in 1871] the whole Mormon people changed front as suddenly as a well-drilled regiment," the paper noted caustically. LDS newspapers had furiously denounced the Tribune for accusing Mormons, but the denunciations were now aimed at Haight, Higbee, and Lee. "The defense they then had for all the Mormons they now reserve for Brigham Young and the heads of the Church," the Tribune noted. "If they were so badly mistaken in the former case, is it not just possible that they are mistaken as to Brigham's innocence?" [12]

    THE ONLY MAN WHO WOULD STAND IN THE GAP: THE SCAPEGOAT

    Erastus Snow, southern Utah's senior church official, had long been forced to deal with the consequences of Mountain Meadows. In 1870 he reported the massacre had created a new crisis, but the cause of this crisis is not known. A Snow family tradition told that when the apostle gave him the bad news, Brigham Young said, "Oh God! Now it will start again." [13]

    As Brigham Young realized he could no longer defend Lee, he began to cut his ties to his adopted son. During one of Young's I870 trips to southern Utah, he apparently convened a summit meeting to discuss what to do about the massacre problem. Thomas Judd witnessed a meeting in I870 with Haight, Dame, Nephi Johnson, George A. Smith, Daniel Wells, Jacob Hamblin, Brigham Young, and John D. Lee. Judd did not recall what took place, except "the whole matter was heard in toto." [14] Mormon chronicler Josiah Rogerson reported that Young called Haight, Lee, and Dame to St. George "for a full hearing and investigation of the whole matter and to find out who was the person that led and brought about the fearful tragedy." Rogerson claimed Lee "was heard in his own behalf to the fullest extent, and was then and there found to be the one most guilty" There is, however, no documentary evidence to indicate that such a church trial ever took place. Rogerson was soft on specific details, dating the hearing to both 1868 and 1870, and he represented the vague memories of his informants as fact. [15]

    At this time a mysterious rumor claimed that an 1857 letter containing Brigham Young's orders for the massacre had surfaced. The tale appears connected to the church's renewed attention to Lee. Charles Wandell charged that Lee could produce written proof that he had simply executed orders at Mountain Meadows, acting as a subordinate officer under Young's command. Argus claimed Lee was heard to say in January 1871 that Young "offered him $5,000 for that fatal order." [16] Other anti-Mormon sources said Young offered Lee $4,000 for the letter, while the faithful insisted it was a forgery created by Lee to blackmail the Mormon president. [17]

    The story told in Lee's journals is certainly incomplete. According to the journals, Lee met Brigham Young at Beaver in February 1870 and sat with him during church

    __________
    12. Salt Lake Tribune, 27 July 1875, cited in Dwyer, The Gentile Comes to Utah, 100-1.

    13. Morgan to Brooks, 7 September 1942, Box 1, Folder 1, Brooks Papers, Marriott Library.

    14. Rogerson to J. H. Smith, 22 May 1911, Mountain Meadows File, Folder 21, LDS Archives.

    15. Rogerson, "The Guilt of John D. Lee," Mountain Meadows File, LDS Archives, 9.

    16. Argus, "Lee and the Mountain Meadow Massacre," Carson State Register, 12 February 1871, 2/4, quoting from an 11 February 1871 issue of the Utah Reporter.

    17. The "forged letter" story is told in several variations in the Caroline Party Woolley Collection. Southern Utah University.




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 272]
    services. The prophet privately advised Lee to sell his Utah holdings and move south. With his farms and families prospering, Lee failed to heed the advice. Young returned south in September, and Lee joined his entourage as a commissioner to locate a road to the Colorado River with explorer John Wesley Powell, Dimick Huntington, and William Dame. If a hearing was held to assign blame for the massacre, it probably took place at about this time, but Lee wrote nothing about it in his diary. While the party camped on the Kanab River, Young gave Lee "some kind Fatherly council." He advised Lee to move his family across the Colorado, where he could "Enjoy Peace the balance of [his] days." Young repeated his advice that Lee move south. Lee said, "By the help of the Lord I will try & Make a Move in that direction." A guard interrupted the conversation at that moment, and Lee was sent with messages to Kanab....

    Wilford Woodruff's journal confirms that Lee was excommunicated on October 8, 1870. The twelve apostles unanimously "Cut off Isaac Haight, John D. Lee & [George] Wood for Commtting a great Sin & they were not to have the Privilege of Returning again to the Church again in this life."...




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 273]
    ... A curious tale apparently was crafted to help Lee disappear. In February 1871 Argus announced, "John D. Lee is dead!" The story claimed Lee's body had been found at Grapevine Springs. Argus denounced the murder as another vile assassination of a man of rare courage by Brigham Young, adding more evidence of his complicity at Mountain Meadows. [28] This odd story suggests that Charles Wandell, whose articles were a mix of fact, folklore, and propaganda, was occasionally a conduit for misinformation from well-placed Mormons.

    __________
    28. Argus, "Lee and the Mountain Meadow Massacre," Carson State Register, 12 February, 1871, 2/4, quoting from an 11 February 1871 issue of the Utah Reporter.




    [Bagley, 2002: p. 275]

    ACTS OF HOSTILITY: KLINGENSMITH CONFESSES

    The gaunt figure of "Philip Klingon Smith" appeared before the clerk of the Seventh judicial District Court of the State of Nevada on April 10, 1871. He swore out an account of the massacre at Mountain Meadows in which a participant finally described what had happened to the Fancher party in 1857 with reasonable honesty.

    Of all the officials involved in the affair, only Klingensmith had voluntarily left the LDS church. A horse kicked him and fractured his skull in 1858, and the next year George A. Smith released him as bishop. He began wandering the remote settlements, helping to establish Toquerville and Adventure, living in Pocketville and Rockville, and hiding in the mountains with Lee. Klingensmith Joined Jacob Hamblin's 1863 expedition to open a wagon road to the Little Colorado and gather the Hopi Indians under what Brigham Young called "the wings of Israel's Eagles." He answered a call to settle the desolate country of the Muddy River, but by 1870 Klingensmith had abandoned Mormonism and settled near Bullionville, Nevada. [29]

    The Salt Lake Tribune later claimed Klingensmith exposed "the butchery at Mountain Meadows more for self-protection than anything else." He allegedly quarreled with his son, "Bud" who pointed him out to the people of Hiko, Nevada, during winter 1867 -- Wandell, serving as a local judge, warned him that his son had implicated him and helped to hurry him out of town. Klingensmith said he had told his story to Wandell but no one else before making his statement. For years he carried an 1871 letter from US. Attorney George Caesar Bates offering him a presidential pardon if he would testify against his fellow murderers. [30] ...

    __________
    29. Backus, Mountain Meadows Witness, 177, 181, 188-89, 191, 196-97, 203, 214, 220

    30. "Klingensmith... Murdered by Mormons," Salt Lake Tribune, 4 August 1881, 2/3; "Remarks on the Lee Trial," Salt Lake Tribune, 29 July 1875, 4/3; Brooks and Cleland, eds., Mormon Chronicle, 1:319n17.




    The "Argus" Letters
    1870-1871




    Feb. 11, 1871  |  Aug. 05, 1871  |  Aug. 12, 1871  |  Aug. 19, 1871

    Sep. 02, 1871  |  Sep. 09, 1871  |  Sep. 16, 1871  |  Sep. 30, 1871

    Oct. 07, 1871  |  Oct. 14, 1871

    (under construction -- links subject to change)




    Links to Related Sources
    1870-1871



    History of Lincoln County, Nevada (1881)
    pp. 476-477

    It was in the winter of 1863-64, when the Indians were cold and hungry, that an Indian went to Wm. Hamlin, at Meadow Valley, and offered to show him mines for a consideration. In this way the famous Panaca Ledge was found. Hamlin, although he had worked in placer diggings years before, knew nothing about silver ores, so he went to Salt Lake City with his specimens and showed them to Governor Reed. They were examined and approved by General Connor and others, and then expeditions were fitted out and sent to the Meadow Valley mines. The first, headed by J. M. Vandermark and Stephen Sherwood, reached the mines in April, 1864, and after making some locations proceeded to form " Meadow Valley Mining District." Up to this time Brigham Young had resisted all attempts to prospect in Utah for the precious metals, and generally with success. This time, however, he and the Mormons were taken by surprise, and in order to get the balance of power in the district they suddenly turned miners, and Erastus Snow, the Mormon High Priest of southern Utah, came from St. George, accompanied by a host of "saints," and proceeded immediately upon their arrival to locate the country. As Sherwood, who was the Recorder of the District, had returned to Salt Lake, taking with him the records, Snow formed a new mining district, and the second expedition, under C. W. Wandell, having arrived, they united with each other in locating mines and making laws for the new district....

    p. 478: "District Attorneys"

    William H. Clipperton, appointed May 27, 1867; Chas. S. Colton, elected Nov. 3, 1868, did not qualify; C. W. Wandell, January 16, 1869; G. S. Sawyer, elected November 8, 1870,

    p. 479: "County Surveyors"

    Charles Schenk, appointed April 22, 1867; S. R. Nichols, elected November 3, 1868, did not qualify; C. W. Wandell, appointed April 5, 1869... a claim surveyed February 7, 1872, by CW Wandell, deputy surveyor of Lincoln County, State of Nevada...



    The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer  (1970)
    p. 64

    ...Charles W. Wandell became one of the most conspicuous for a time. He came to the front at once. He went to the Legislature, and was very prominent at all church and political affairs, but soon apostatized and turned to be a bitter enemy of the Saints. Men that try to climb so fast soon fall...



    The Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Thursday, June 17, 1875
    Vol. IV. No. 73

    People and Things

    A San Francisco paper says the "Josephite" branch of the Mormon Church announce the recent death of Elder Charles Wesley Wandell, at Sydney, New South Wales. This Elder was extensively known some years ago on the Pacific coast, both as a missionary and writer in the interest of Brigham Young's Mormonism. Wandell appears to have been a conscientious disciple, for when he saw the bones of the victims of the Mountain Meadows massacre bleaching on the prairie, his heart sickened against Brigham Young, and he gradually traveled away from him into what is conventionally termed "apostacy." He was a man of good education and plucky as a writer. After he left Brigham's church he addressed to him twenty "open letters," which were published in the Corrine (Utah) Reporter, reviewing the Prophet's life, and charging home upon him the responsibility of that dreadful crime -- the massacre of over 120 Gentile emigrants. The Saints in Southern Utah made Wandell's residence among them very uncomfortable, and he went over the boundary line into southern Nevada, where he was well and favorably known. It was through his labors that Bishop Klingnon Smith was induced to make the confession of his part in the Mountain Meadows massacre, which subsequently led to the apprehension of John D. Lee and Bishop Dame, and to the indictment of about twenty leading Mormons. Wandell claimed to be in possession of evidence to convict Brigham Young and his two councilors of ordering that massacre, and only awaited an opportunity before a court to produce that evidence. Whether he has left that evidence in such shape as to be of service in the trial of Lee next month is unknown. He was to have been called upon in the trial, but he is now beyond the reach of earthly tribunals, and Brigham, Smith, and Wells will no doubt rejoice in his departure.



    New York Herald  May 17, 1877
    Letter from William H. Wandell, Greenpoint, New York

    The Eastern friends and relatives of Judge C. W. Wandell, of Utah, are apprehensive that he has been "taken off" by Brigham Young's satellites, the Danites, in revenge for a scathing lecture on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, delivered by him at Salt Lake City, in the Liberal Institute, on the evening of January 30, 1873, a full account of which appeared in the columns of the Herald on the 10th of the following month. During the delivery of the lecture, Brigham Young and the leaders of the Mormon Church were directly charged by Judge Wandell with being the real instigators of the massacre. This was indeed bearding the lion in his den. An old lady who had spent a score of years among the Mormons and knew Brigham well, after reading the Herald's account of the lecture, turned to the writer of the article and remarked that that of itself was enough to seal the fate of a dozen such men as Judge Wandell was.

    DISAPPEARANCE OF THE JUDGE.

    Since that time but few letters have been received from him, the last being dated San Francisco, November 6 of the same year, just as he was about to leave that city for some point not designated, being addressed to a sisrer in Brooklyn, E. D. Whether his family were with him is not known. It was afterward, through Mormon sources learned that he went to Sidney, Australia, where it is said, he died in May, 1875. The Sidney Register, however has been thoroughly searched by Mr. J. H. Williams, the United States Consul, at the solictation of his (the Judge's) relatives, without finding his name. Neither was it entered on the Consul's books of the arrivals of American citizens, who always report at his office. Indeed, not the slightest clew has been found that he ever went there at all.

    VICTIMS TO MORMON WRATH.

    Since the publication of John D. Lee's confessions, Judge Wandell's friends and kindred have come to the conclusion that he and his friends have fallen victims to the wrath of the Mormon despot, being followed (if they ever left San Francisco alive) by Brigham's human bloodhounds and hunted to death.

    Judge Wandell was an old resident of both Nevada and Utah, and had for a number of years held numerous positions of trust both under the Territorial and General Governments. He had been engaged for several years in ferreting out the real authors of the massacre, with a view to bring them to justice, notwithstanding the warning of friends and the scowling of Brigham himself. He was also the author of the famous "Open Letters," signed "Argus," addressed to Brigham Young, in which he solemnly charged him with the whole responsibility of the slaughter of the emigrants. These letters were inserted in Stenhouse's "Rocky Mountain Saints," published a year or two ago. No wonder, then, that Brigham wanted him out of the way.



    The Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Thursday, June 4, 1881

    A Mormon Crime.

    Interview with Jerome P. Cross,
    a Deputy Marshal when John D. Lee
    was Executed.

    ... In his North American Review article, George Q. Cannon reiterates a broad denial, which Mormon leaders have frequently felt it necessary to make, of the complicity of Mormon leaders in the famous Mountain Meadow massacre...

    says Mr. Cross... I was at that time, in 1875, a deputy United States marshal under George R. Maxwell, and I remember some things that became known to me while discharging my duties as Deputy Marshal... on the first [Lee] trial... These witnesses were Mormons, and, as I said, mone of them could be found. I searched the country over, not only the Territory of Utah, but in Arizona... On the second trial, however, all of this was changed, and we had no trouble in finding the same witnesses...

    One of the most important witnesses for the prosecution, and one whom we had been utterly unable to get, Philip Klingensmith, was a Mormon bishop at Cedar City at the time of the massacre. Klingensmith left the country soon after the massacre and was hid away, and it is reported that he suffered great remorse for the crime which he had helped to commit, and that at the same time he had made a full confession of his connection and that of other Mormon leaders with the massacre, and had made an effort to give this to the public, but that it had been suppressed by the Mormon leaders. When we were getting ready for the second trial we were put on the track of Klingensmith and told where we could find him. I started for him, traveling seventy miles by railroad, then 200 by stage into Arizona, and then secured horses and a buggy and followed him until I found him in San Bernardino... He finally concluded to go with me, and our journey home to Utah was in many respects a remarkable one, and was an experience which I hope never to pass through again. He was tormented until nearly crazy; ot would seem at some times by fear of violence which he said would be visited upon him by Mormons if he returned to give evidence in this case.... Klingensmith... in his delirium, told the story of the massacre, and protested his sorrow for carrying out the part which he did at the orders of George A. Smith, and many times repeated the statement that George A. Smith had these orders direct from Brigham Young, and gave them to Klingensmith and other Danites in the name of Brigham Young. I finally got Klingensmith to court, which had been kept waiting twelve days for my return... [further details on Sumner Howard -- a missing John D. Lee confession -- Mormon bribery, etc.]



    The Steelville Mirror, (Steelville, MO) March ?, 1879

    A Strange Experience.

    Survivor of the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

    There resides at Oak Hill in this county, a man by the name of Wm. Garrett, who has a remarkable history as one of the few survivors of the terrible Mountain Meadow Massacre, in Sept., 1857.... [description of Garrett's survival of a massacre, life with the Indians, etc. -- perhaps a survivor of some other massacre of that period, and not of the MMM]



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Oct. 19, 1871

    "ARGUS" LETTERS.

    The Corinne Reporter has a contributor who signs himself "Argus," who for some months has occasionally discussed the Mormon question with a candor unusual, and a vim and force more effective than often displayed by either party on this exciting topic. This apostate Mormon, for such he evidently is, has given Brigham Young's dynasty some of the most telling blows it has ever received. -- Carson Register.

    This ablest of all writers on Utah will shortly publish in book form, a history of Mormonism, which will be, in fact, the only genuine narrative on that subject.



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Sept. 14, 1872

    ... New York, Sept. 14. -- The fact that the Mountain Meadow Massacre was Mormon work, is fully confessed in an affidavit of Philip Klingen Smith, now of Lincoln county, Nevada. Smith says [he], at the time a Mormon bishop, at Cedar City, Utah, was forced to muster with a militia regiment, perpetrating the crime, that the assailed party, after four days fight, were induced to lay down their arms under promise of protection, after which all were shot down by the Mormon militia, except seventeen young children who were taken in charge by Smith and saved. The affidavit gives particulars and carries conviction to its truth.

    Note: The first national news of the 1871 Klingensmith affidavit came in the form of a short Associated Press release, dated "Salt Lake City, September 4th," which merely said: "New and exciting testimony has been obtained with regard to the memorable Mountain Meadow massacre. The documents will be sent to the Department of Justice at Washington..." Other AP telegraphic bulletins from Salt Lake City followed, including one dated Sept. 13th, which reported: "An affidavit by one of the least guilty among the participants in the affair, showing conclusively that the terrible Mountain Meadow massacre was the act of the Mormon authorities, has been made here... the deponent is Phillip Smith, who was at the time of the massacre the Mormon Bishop of Cedar City..." Both the New York Times and the New York Herald published the entire Klingensmith affidavit in their issues of Sept. 14th, but a rival paper, the New York Tribune appears to have scooped them by printing the text on Sept. 11th. Strangely enough, although the news report originated in Salt Lake City, the Tribune there did not run Klingensmith's statement until Sept. 23rd.



    Salt Lake Daily Herald Sept. 14, 1872

    ... [James W.] Simonton, chief of the associated press bureau in New York, sends a telegram west over his own signature, charging the Mormon people with the Mountain Meadow massacre, on the alleged confession of one Smith, now in Lincoln county, Nevada. This Smith, by Simonton's showing, is either a murderer or a perjured scoundrel, and in either case is amenable to the laws. He should be promptly arrested and brought to Utah on a requisition from Governor Woods to Governor Bradley, and if his statements could be substantiated by any credible testimony the guilty should be punished. But, the attempt made to charge the crime upon the Mormons, as a people, is an infamy only less in magnitude than the massacre itself. It has suited the malevolent policy of a few bitter anti-Mormons to refuse to avail themselves of every opportunity to fully investigate this matter, and continue to make general charges, which it seems they have at last got a second Bill Hickman to make affidavit to....



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Sept. 27, 1872

    ...A correspondent of the Pioche Record endorses Philip K. Smith being formerly bishop of the Mormon Church, and says he is ready to return to Utah and give testimony in person relative to the Mountain Meadow atrocity.



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Jan. 16, 1873

    "ARGUS" LECTURING -- The celebrated writer on Utah history is announced to lecrure in this city to-morrow evening. See the advertisement pf "Argus" on Mountain Meadow, and be prepared to listen to a narrative such as finds no equal in the annals of cruelty and woe.

    PERSONAL.

    Colonel C. W. Wandell, of Pioche, Nevada, arrived here to-day from the West.

    LECTURE ON THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE BY "ARGUS"...

    SYNOPSIS.

    Part I. In the Fall of 1857, the lecturer left San Francisco for Salt Lake, via the Mountain Meadows -- Startling rumors of the massacre -- the armed sentinel at the Cajon Canyon -- Excitement at Fort [Tojon] and at San Berbardino -- The desert road -- The ruins of the emigrants fort -- The fatal waters -- The scene of the massacre -- The skulls and hair -- The vow.

    Part II. The arrival of the emigrants in Utaj -- They are ordered to break camp and leave -- Their pitiable condition -- Hostilities neagative and positive -- The mission of the Governor's Aid-de-camp -- The council of war -- The Militia called out -- the siege -- The treacherous flag of truce -- The emigrants surrender -- The massacre -- The apostrophe -- O! ye slaughtered ones!

    Part III. The closing atrocities of the massacre -- The emigrant children -- The spoils -- Meeting of Governor Young and the chief demon of the massacre -- Who was responsible? -- The present whereabouts of the Murderers -- Incidents -- Conclusion.



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Jan. 17, 1873

    Judge Wandell's lecture on Sunday evening, on the massacre at the Mountain Meadows, was worthy of a larger attendance than it received. It abounded in pathetic passages, and was a succinct and authentic account of that terrible wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women and children. The Judge goes hence to Corinne, Utah, this evening. His genial manners and earnest conservation have attracted many, who have acquired the pleasure of his acquaintance, and wish him a prosperous journey and better success.

    We clip the above notice from the "Sentinel," of Eureka, and have no hesitancy in coinciding with it, having known Judge Wandell for several years, and as a writer and a lecturer we take pleasure in recommending him to our citizens and hope to see them turn out and give him a rousing house this evening at half past seven o'clock in the Opera House.



    Corinne Daily Reporter, Jan. 18, 1873

    ED. REPORTER -- Permit me through the columns of your paper, to assure the Salt Lake "Herald" man, that in my lecture last night in Corinne, I did "touch the meat question" -- the most slaughtered at the Mountain Meadows by the butchers of Brigham Young, the governor of Utah. C. W. Wandell.

    Judge Wandell's very interesting lecture upon the subject of the Mountain Meadows Massacre will be repeated to-night at the Opera House. It commences at eight o'clock and is free to all.

     



    Transcriber's Comments



    Charles W. Wandell (1819-1875)


    (under construction)

     



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