The Americanization Of Utah For Statehood

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The Americanization Of Utah For Statehood

The Americanization of Utah For Statehood

Did not have chance to read through, but of course this is for your review.

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                                    THE
                          "AMERICANIZATION" OF UTAH
                                FOR STATEHOOD

PREFACE

CHAPTER SEVEN
On the Underground

CHAPTER EIGHT
  The Underground and the Visible Church


    Gustive O. Larson


                            THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY
                            San Marino, California



                            THE "AMERICANIZATION"
                            OF UTAH FOR STATEHOOD

                            by Gustive O. Larson

When President Cleveland issued the proclamation of January 4, 1896,
admitting Utah as our forty-fifth state, the event marked for Utah the end of
al long, turbulent territorial experience. In the eyes of the federal
government the Mormon theocracy violated the doctrine of church-state
separation: the Mormons, on the other hand, believed that the Constitution
upheld their right to religious freedom, and refused to abandon their beliefs,
even for the coveted prize of statehood. The issue was further confused by
that second of the "twin relics of barbarism," polygamy. Gentile politicians
and merchants were eager for a share in Utah's political and economic spoils,
a share that would be denied them so long as Utah remained under the
domination of the Mormon church. The polygamy issue was made to order for
their purposes, and under the guise of moral reform they enlisted federal
support in a campaign to "Americanize" Utah, as the author puts it. The
Mormons responded to this pressure with various forms of passive resistance,
disappearing into the underground to avoid arrest and imprisonment as
polygamists, or serving out their sentences only to return home as
martyr-heroes, unshaken in their faith. No less impressive was the
steadfastness of the Mormon women, the great majority of whom held firm in
their beliefs during these difficult years.
The impasse could not, however, last indefinitely. It became increasingly
evident that some accommodation of the Kingdom of God to the world around it
-- and of that world to the Mormons -- must take place. The tireless work of
the Mormon leadership, with the support of influential Gentile friends,
finally produced terms that were acceptable to both sides, and the long-held
dream of statehood became reality.
Professor Larson tells the story of these decades with clarity and
conviction making use of Mormon publications such as the Deseret News as well
as a number of unpublished letters and diaries. The result is a vivid
narrative, and a timely one. "We have a right to survive: we have a duty to
survive. It would be to the profit of the nation that we should survive,"
wrote Mormon leader George Q. Cannon. The year was 1887, but he could have
been speaking today for any minority group claiming the right to make its
contribution to society uninterrupted by intolerance and bigotry.
"No other historian has told the story of this conflict so well and with
such documentation." Ray Allen Billington.
Gustive O. Larson was born in Salt Lake City and graduated from the
University of Utah. He was Mission President for the L. D. S. Church in Sweden
during the thirties, and later became Director of an L. D. S. Institute of
Religion. He is now Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young
University. Among his published works is the Outline History of Utah and the
Mormons; he is also a frequent contributor to the Utah Historical Quarterly.

[vii] PREFACE

Echoes of the War between the States rumbled in Utah's mountains in the
1870's and 1880's. Polygamy, designated as the second "twin relic of
barbarism," served as a battle cry in the sound of which church and state
joined in a bitter power struggle. The prolonged controversy presented Utah as
an exception in America's more or less successful territorial process by which
her neighbors qualified for admission to the Union. The states' rights issue,
which persisted in the Mormon territory beyond the Civil War, was complicated
not only by the practice of polygamy, but by a political "Kingdom of God"
concept which, while blocking Utah's admission to the Union, sustained the
Latter-day Saints in their four-decade resistance to carpetbag government. In
their view, God had charged them with responsibility not only to restore the
Church of Christ upon the earth but literally to establish a political kingdom
controlled by the priesthood and destined ultimately to embrace all nations.
To this end the Mormon leaders labored mightily to retain political
control of their expanding community in the Great Basin until statehood would
vouchsafe it permanently. The Gentile minority on the other hand, enjoying
protection and political recognition through federal jurisdiction over the
territory, refused to surrender this advantage, which would be lost in
statehood. During the conflict the Mormon majority petitioned Congress
repeatedly for admission to the Union. Each time, while the minority resisted
their efforts, the federal government answered that the price of statehood was
abandonment of plural marriage, and separation of church and state in Utah
politics.
In the meantime, Congress multiplied antipolygamy legislation, which
federal officials tried to enforce in Utah. It was largely southern states
Reconstruction applied to the Utah situation. Resistance developed until a
judicial cru-[viii]sade drove the polygamist Church leaders underground. These
two words -- "crusade" and "underground" -- popularly employed to describe the
offensive campaign of the federal government to suppress plural marriage and
the Mormon defensive response through passive resistance, dominated the Utah
scene until the issuance of the Manifesto in 1890.
But while wiping plural marriage from the national scene might have
satisfied the expectations of the reformers, the moral issue served only as a
battle cry for the crusaders in the fight for political dominance. Locally it
became a struggle between the Mormon majority and the Gentile minority for
political control in Utah Territory, and nationally it involved efforts of the
federal government to "Americanize" Utah socially, economically, and
politically in preparation for admission to the Union. Generally, the "Radical
Republicans," fresh from their victory over the South, were inclined to drive
relentlessly toward their objective while the states' rights Democrats applied
the brakes. Beyond any moral issue, both parties eyed the territory in terms
of potential political advantage. So, while the Mormon-Gentile battle raged in
the shadows of the Wasatch mountains, national politics was shaping Utah's
destiny in Washington. To cover both, it has been necessary to bring together
both federal and territorial records.
Considerable research and writing has been done on Utah's half-century
struggle for statehood and the federal government's efforts to bring the
territory into conformity with the national standards. Richard D. Poll's
extensive research on the political aspect of Utah's territorial history has
been condensed in "The Political Reconstruction of Utah Territory," appearing
in the Pacific Historical Review; Leonard J. Arrington, in his Great Basin
Kingdom, has emphasized the economic phase of the conflict. The gist of Orma
Linford's doctoral dissertation on "The Mormons and the Law" has appeared in
Utah Law Review. Howard R. Lamar's The Far Southwest, 1846-1912; A Territorial
History has presented effectively the issues involved; Klaus [ix] Hansen's
studies of the Mormon Kingdom of God concept have appeared in his Quest for
Empire, and Stewart L. Grow has presented an analysis of "The Development of
Political Parties in Utah" in the Western Political Quarterly. A more recent
publication suggesting a new approach to the study of frontier America is The
Frontier Re-examined, edited by John Francis McDermott; particularly pertinent
to the present volume is a chapter therein by Oliver W. Holmes entitled
"Territorial Government and the Records of Its Administration." Unpublished
studies include Stewart L. Grow's doctoral dissertation on the Utah Commission
and Thomas G. Alexander's "The Federal Frontier: Interior Department Financial
Policy in Idaho, Utah, and Arizona."
The church-state power struggle in Utah was an ideological conflict in
which the Mormons sought to establish an independent theocracy within the
boundaries of the American democratic nation. In The "Americanization" of Utah
for Statehood the writer attempts to explain the motivating forces involved.
The term "Americanization" as employed by the writer does not imply moral
reformation of a people whose standards were generally high, nor a call for
allegiance to the United States constitution, which the Saints held in special
reverence. Rather, it was a demand for undivided loyalty to the United States
government, for the acceptance of the country's democratic processes under the
Constitution, including the separation of church and state. It was a call for
the maintaining of the practice as well as the form of the divided powers of
government, the elective processes, and the establishment of free public
schools. In other words, it involved abandonment of certain political,
economic, and social peculiarities, including plural marriage, which became
the battle cry under which the nation fought the states' rights issue during
the years following the Civil War.
From untapped sources in private, church, state, and national archives,
the author has drawn upon original manuscripts and documents to add flesh and
blood to the more formal accounts extant and to lend an intimate touch to [x]
the struggle which only personal journals, diaries, and letters can give. The
first two chapters of the book are introductory, providing in brief outline a
background for the church-state struggle in the 1870's and 1880's.
The writer is indebted to the National Archives and the Library of
Congress for access to many documents and manuscripts; also to the Church
Historian's Office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to
the Utah State Historical Society. Brigham Young University Library, as well
as the University of Utah, Henry E. Huntington, and Bancroft libraries have
cooperated in making significant manuscripts available. Some Brigham Young
letters from the William Robertson Coe Collection at Yale University Library
and a Mormon journal from Princeton University Library merely suggest the wide
range of available materials. Permission to quote from some journals privately
held is appreciated. All these collectively have made possible a more intimate
presentation of respective points of view and personal motivations involved in
the protracted Mormon-Gentile clash. Extensive quotations have been extracted
therefrom to reflect the views of those within "the Kingdom" and those outside
as they battled for political control.
Appreciation is extended to the staffs of the above-mentioned
institutions for their willing assistance in research. Chad Flake, in charge
of Special Collections at the Brigham Young University, has been very helpful,
as have my colleagues in the history department through encouragement and
pertinent suggestions. The services of typists are remembered with
appreciation, including my wife who also cooperated in research. My
indebtedness to the publishers is gratefully acknowledged with special mention
of editor Betty Leigh Merrell and her staff for bringing the publication to
fruition. Responsibility for the finished product rests with the writer
however, and he presents it herewith in the hope that it will not only add to
historical knowledge but will promote understanding and appreciation of our
Western heritage.

                        Gustive O. Larson

Provo, Utah
July 24, 1970


                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE
The Political Kingdom of God .........................................1

CHAPTER TWO
Plural Marriage Among the Mormons ...................................37

CHAPTER THREE
Passive Resistance ..................................................61

CHAPTER FOUR
Launching the Crusade ...............................................91

CHAPTER FIVE
Cohabs vs. Deputies ................................................115

CHAPTER SIX
At the Edge of War .................................................139

CHAPTER SEVEN
On the Underground .................................................155

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Underground and the Visible Church .............................165

CHAPTER NINE
The "Pen" Community ................................................183

CHAPTER TEN
The Price of Statehood .............................................207

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Hopeful Signs ......................................................223

CHAPTER TWELVE
The Manifesto ......................................................243

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Denouement .........................................................265

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Statehood ..........................................................283

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................305


ILLUSTRATIONS following pages 98, 184, and 254.

[155] CHAPTER SEVEN

On the Underground

When President John Taylor went on the "underground" on February 1, 1885,
he took the headquarters of the Mormon Church with him. During the next two
and a half years spiritual encouragement and official direction in all Church
affairs emanated from hiding places known only to a few trusted individuals.
Some of these served as messengers, guards, and personal attendants to the
President and his counselor, George Q. Cannon. Included in the little group
which disappeared that winter evening was, in addition to the two Church
leaders, an able and trusted secretary in the person of L. John Nuttall, who
had long served President Taylor in that capacity. There was also Charles H.
Wilcken, coachman and guard, and Samuel Bateman, who joined the group later in
similar capacity. Other trusted men served in various localities as the
hideout shifted from place to place in and near Salt Lake City as safety
dictated.
The personnel of the administrative corps was well selected to assure
concealment and safety while in performance of its manifold duties. Wilcken
was a veteran of the German army who had been decorated with the Iron Cross
for bravery on the battlefield. He had come to Utah with General Albert Sidney
Johnston's invading army in 1858 only to attach himself to Brigham Young as
his devoted protector. Following Young's death, his allegiance shifted to
George Q. Cannon, whom he was now pleased to serve, together with the
President. H. C. Bartell and his alert, deaf-mute wife lived in the basement
apartment of the Church Historian's office, where extra guest rooms were
available. One of these rooms was occupied for a time by the Church
Historian's secretary, John W. Whitaker, whose duties included admitting, at
all hours of the night, polygamous fugitives dodging the U.S. deputy marshals.
Mr. Whit-[156]aker's journal is particularly valuable in disclosing the
operations of the Church in the open as it functioned through the office of
Church Historian Franklin D. Richards. Samuel Bateman was a powerfully built
man who had led the first platoon under Captain Lot Smith in the guerrilla
action against the invading U.S. Army in 1857. Later he had accompanied
Brigham Young on his tours throughout the territory and served on the Salt
Lake City police force. All of these stalwart men could be counted on to
protect the president with their lives if necessary. Two of them, Secretary
Nuttall and Samuel Bateman, were also polygamists and high on the wanted lists
of the U.S. marshal.
There was daily, or to be more accurate, nightly communication between
underground "headquarters" and the various church administrative centers,
including the President's office, the Tithing office, the Gardo House, and
particularly the Historian's office where Apostle Franklin D. Richards served
as representative of the "visible church." Council meetings were held
sporadically by the high Church officials in various places. Some of these
were arranged by George Q. Cannon, who moved about more freely than the
president. "In the evening I got a team from the tithing office," wrote A. H.
Cannon on May 13, 1885, "and took Bros. Erastus Snow, H. J. Grant and William
Budge to Father's farm where we met Pres. Taylor, Father, John Nuttall and
Chas. Wilcken. It was nearly midnight before these brethren completed their
business." On June 3 he wrote, "In the evening I took Mr. Salmon [a local
police officer] to the farm with me and in a short time six other policemen
came and stationed themselves at various places around the farm house to look
out for intruders. At 9:30 o'clock Pres. Taylor, Father and nine of the Twelve
assembled at the farm where a council meeting was held which lasted until
midnight when we all dispersed and went to our various places of abode. I was
around with the police all evening and did not reach home until almost 2
o'clock in the morning. It would not have been healthy for deputy marshals to
have attempted a raid on the farm this evening." [157] The following day
another meeting was held at the Cannon farm with similar police protection.
(1)
So effectively did the underground system operate that, with the
exception of Lorenzo Snow's capture and George Q. Cannon's arrest in Nevada en
route to Mexico, no high Church officials fell into the net of the U.S.
marshal. As already noted, Cannon, by jumping his exorbitant bail, was soon
back with his chief on the underground, where he remained until under more
propitious circumstances he gave himself up to the federal authorities and
served a short prison sentence. Contributing to the effectiveness of the
President's concealment, as he moved from place to place, was the loyalty of
the Saints, who felt a personal responsibility for his safety. Although hordes
of deputy marshals swarmed the city and surrounding communities, spying,
raiding, threatening, and tempting with bribes, there was little danger that
the man whom the Saints regarded as their modern prophet would be betrayed.
Private diaries kept by men closely associated with the underground
processes give daily accounts of the problems and labors of the closely knit
group and their confidential relations with frequent official visitors. Only
incidentally do clues to their whereabouts flash through, and that usually
with reference to some past location. Current locations are listed by such
names as "safe retreat," "Do," or "Halfway House." Also in some of the
journals it was common procedure to designate individuals by initials such as
GQC, HCB, or CHW. Journals contributing most to our present account include
those of L. John Nuttall, Samuel Bateman, and John M. Whitaker.

    The president and his associates had to move from place to place very
    frequently. At this particular time [no date given] President Taylor was
    stopping out at Cottonwood. Breakfast was just prepared under the trees
    in a grove near the home of his brother (William Taylor-Aunt Jane). They
    had just arose from morn-[158]ing prayer when President Taylor arose and
    said, "Charlie [Wilcken, the coachman], hitch up the horses as quickly as
    possible, I feel that the deputies will be here within twenty minutes."
    The brethren hastened away to more secure safety and within twenty
    minutes, here comes a number of deputy marshalls. Someone had informed
    the deputies of the whereabouts of the President, but the Lord inspired
    him to move in time.(2)

L. John Nuttall, who was with the President during the entire underground
period, reflected similar confidence in providential care in a revealing
letter dated April 20, 1886. "It is really wonderful how we have been
protected as we have not been 10 miles from the City, since we left now over
14 months."(3) In his journal dated September 10, 1889, he disclosed where
the President went when he retired from public view on the night of February
1, 1885. "Bp. Samuel Bennion of North Jordan Ward died last night. I would
have been pleased to see him for he and wife were very kind to Pres. Taylor &
Party as theres [sic] was the first house we stopped at when we went out on
the underground."(4)
Upon revisiting another of the early hideouts, Nuttall allowed his diary
to disclose its location.

      July 3, 1889 at 5:30 p.m., President Joseph F. Smith . . . and
    myself with Bro. Chas. H. Wilcken as driver, started for Wasatch -- the
    church quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon. After a pleasant trip, we
    arrived at 8:30.
      Thursday, July 4, 1889. This is a beautiful morning, I walked around
    the place and found it much improved to what it was when I was here
    before with Pres. Taylors party."(5)



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21st Dec, 2007 - 2:47am / Post ID: #
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Statehood Utah Americanization The

Continued...

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[159] It is possible that the paper mill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon
also served as a temporary hideout for the exiles; at least it was raided by
the deputies in the hope of locating them there.
Samuel Bateman sheds some light on locations of the underground
operations in his journal, the available part of which begins in August 1886.
His repeated reference to "Do" as the residences occupied is clarified
editorially in a footnote as being the homes of William White and John W.
Wooley in Bountiful and later the home of Thomas F. Rouche in Kaysville.
Contemporary correspondence, particularly that of L. John Nuttall with
his son Leonard and with Daniel H. Wells, presiding over the British Mission,
also discloses much, not only of the doings at the underground headquarters
but of progress of the crusade raging outside. Several of these letters are
headed "Safe Retreat" with no further clue as to location. Excerpts from one
of his revealing reports to Wells, dated May 19, 1885, follows:

      I feel very grateful that you are thus privileged and have your
    liberty in attending to the labors of the ministry.... Others of the
    brethren who labored with you are non est. . . . The Spirit is plainly
    manifested that these brethren should keep out of the hands of the enemy,
    for the present at least. That we have been able to do so is very
    remarkable and a striking evidence of the care the Lord has had over
    us....
      Elder B. Young and M. Thatcher are now in Mexico waiting upon the
    National authorities in the interest of our people who are desirous of
    locating in Chihuahua or Sonora in Northern Mexico. Bros. WW -- LS, and
    JT are comfortably situated. Bros. ES, FDF, AC, FML, JH, Sr., HGG, and
    JWT are around considerably among the people and who have not yet been
    interfered with.(6)

Two months later Nuttall penned another letter from "Safe Retreat," this
time to his son in England:

      July 30, 1885. We are among kind friends who do everything possible
    to make us comfortable. We are [160] well fed, well clothed and well
    housed. We have the presence and assistance of the spirit of the Lord....
      Our affairs in Mexico for opening settlements for our people, are
    quite satisfactory at present. . . . . When the United States find they
    have not got us in a corner, and cannot prey upon us, they may see that
    the business of crushing out Mormonism is not likely to be successful as
    they had anticipated.(7)

When Nuttall wrote Daniel Wells again nearly a year later, he could
relate many happenings of interest to the ex-mayor of Salt Lake City. There
was the shifting of Church leaders in their underground assignments, some even
to Mexico, where escape colonies were being established; judicial sentencing
and releasing of cohabs from the "Pen" was maintaining a steady turnover in
prison population, which currently included one of the Twelve in connection
with the important segregation test case. Following dismissal of their
predecessors, there was now a new governor and a new U.S. marshal, and there
was much speculation as to what their course would be. A letter from Nuttall
dated April 20, 1886, pictured to his friend on the underground in England the
way things appeared at that time to a Mormon on the underground in Utah:

    Notwithstanding the vigorous attempt of our enemies to bring the
    Presidency and brethren into bondage, they have so far signally failed.
    Pres. Taylor has not enjoyed as good health for years as he has whilst we
    have been from home and with the exception of a few brief spells he has
    been able to perform his labors as effectually as though he was in the
    office at the City all the time....
      Pres. Cleveland has expressed himself to Bro. [John T.] Caine as not
    being in favor of persecution and the harsh and severe execution of the
    law.
      Judge Zane by his intemperate speech in the opera house his shown
    himself a bitter partisan and should be removed. . . . We do not know
    much about Mr. Dyer, the new marshall, but look for him to be an
    improvement on Marshall Ireland who has shown him-[161]self to be a
    facile tool in the hands of stronger men. The Tribune ring have virtually
    controlled his every movement and exercised every power belonging to the
    Marshall's office....
      Brother Woodruff is in this neighborhood but is in concealment as
    also is brother Thatcher in the North. Bros. E. Snow and George Teasdale
    with the Saints in Chihuahua. A piece of land has been purchased there
    for settlement....(8)

The arrival in Utah of Governor Caleb W. West and U.S. Marshal Frank Dyer
on May 5 and June 17, respectively, was viewed optimistically by the Mormons.
With some justification they felt that these Cleveland appointees might prove
less exacting in their discharge of official duties. Their hopes were
partially realized when the new governor extended conditional offers of
amnesty to the cohabs serving terms in the penitentiary. But when these offers
were respectfully declined as previously noted, he issued a stern proclamation
on July 16 that the Edmunds Law must be obeyed."(9) The Gardo House was
raided on September 23 by the new marshal and a squad of deputies in search of
Presidents Taylor and Cannon. This was followed by a similar raid on the
Historian's office on November 4. Then, in response to tips from informers,
they extended their operations northward into Centerville and Bountiful.
In the meantime, Samuel Bateman had joined the president's underground
party, and his available diary, beginning August 26, 1886, discloses the
party's whereabouts and some of its activities."(10)

  Bateman's services as guard, coachman, and personal attendant to the
President kept him generally engaged during the night, leaving most of the
daylight hours free. His diary, therefore, includes little with reference to
the President's official transactions, but records leisure activities such as
reading, pitching quoits, and playing checkers in monot-[162]onous succession.
He delighted in recording "played checkers with the boss [President Taylor]
and beat him" or "pitching quoits -- the boss and I beat them bad." Their
opponents were usually the other attendants, but frequently they included
underground visitors such as A. M. Cannon, George Reynolds, or James Jack,
trusted friends and Church officials close to the presidency. At other times
Bateman, a resourceful jack-of-all-trades, speaks of doing odd jobs around the
place of residence such as plowing, harvesting or making repairs. Reports of
fishing and hunting also appeared frequently in the journal. Regular Sunday
services were held, and the privilege of conducting the meeting was rotated;
"fast day" on Thursday was also observed.(11) No daily report was complete
without "I [or someone else] went with the mail." These horse-and-carriage
journeys to the city with the "ingoing" mail were always at night, and the
return trip with the "outgoing" mail was accomplished before daylight.

Frequently George Q. Cannon or others accompanied the mail carriers as
passengers to make hasty contacts at the Church offices or to remain in the
city for a day or two to conduct necessary business. Sometimes they risked
visits with their families. From August 1886, when Bateman's available diary
begins, until November 22, the hideout was in Bountiful, a driving distance of
about twelve miles from the Church offices. From there the round trip could be
made easily under cover of darkness. The following excerpts from Bateman's
diary omit much of the repetitious material referred to above.

      Aug. 26 (1886) All day at Do, reading, pitching quoits, D. R.
    Bateman came to where we were at night. Pratt and Burt came. They thought
    the Deps [deputy U.S. marshals] were on our track.
      Sept. 2 At Do all day. Held fast [day] meeting. I was presiding, had
    a good meeting. 11 were present. [163] CHW [Charles H. Wilkins] on guard
    L. Pratt went with the mail, I was standing guard.
      4 All day at Do, reading, pitching quoits, at half past three I went
    on guard, at about four, two shots were fired. This was the signal that
    the Deps were coming; this was from the picked guard out on the road. All
    were asleep. I woke all in the house, the president and the rest of our
    party got dressed and got out of the way. It proved to be a false report.
    It was our team coming from town, Bro. Levi Pratt driving it.
      November 1 President John Taylor's birthday. He is 78 years old.
    Looks strong. I went out hunting early this morning. At night we were all
    invited over to Loren C. Wooley's & Supper. . . . C. H. Wilkin went with
    the mail. G. Q. Cannon went with him.
      5 All day at Do. Reading. . . . President's wife, Mary came to see
    him. At night C.H.W. went with the mail, took Sister Mary home.
      8 ...H.B.B. came about 5 o'clock. Sister Margaret the President's
    wife, came to see him about 11 o'clock at night. CHW went out with G. Q.
    Cannon and took the mail. Came back and took Margaret home.
      22 All day at Do. Got up to guard at half past 4 a.m. Snowing at 10
    o'clock. . . . Packing up our things. At night left Brother Wooley's. He
    went with us, went to Bro. T. F. Rouche. Got there a little after 10
    o'clock. G.Q. Cannon and C.H.W. came a little after 12 o'clock.

The President had now moved to Kaysville, which proved to be his last
hideout. The driving distance between the two church headquarters had doubled.
Now the nocturnal journeys became either one-way ventures, or involved two
conveyances leaving simultaneously from Salt Lake and Kaysville to meet at a
halfway house to exchange ingoing and outgoing mail bags. This latter
arrangement also accommodated passengers.



21st Dec, 2007 - 2:50am / Post ID: #
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The Americanization Of Utah For Statehood Studies Doctrine Mormon

QUOTE
Chapter 7 Footnotes
(1) Abraham H. Cannon journal, in BYU Library, Special Collections.
(2) John M. Whitaker journal no. 2, Jan. 1883 -- May 1886; original in
Univ. of Utah Library, copy in Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
(3) L. John Nuttall to Daniel H. Wells, Apr. 20, 1886. Letter Press Book,
box 4, bk. 4. BYU Library, Special Collections.
(4) The Nuttall journals (1859-1904) are located in BYU Library. Special
Collections; copy in Huntington Library.
(5) Nuttall journal (1887-1901), 3:28.
    (6) L. John Nuttall Letter Press Books, box 4, bk 3, pp. 328-334.
(7) Ibid.
(8) L. John Nuttall Letter Press Books, box 4, bk. 4, p. 75.
(9) RG 48, Territorial Papers, L.R. 1880-96, box 211, no. 56, NA.
(10) Samuel Bateman journal, Aug. 1886 to 1909, BYU Library, Special
Collections.
(11) Until 1897 the Latter-day Saints observed as a "fast day" the first
Thursday of each month, on which a religious service was held and fast
donations were contributed for use of the poor. In 1897 the days was shifted
to the first Sunday in each month.


[165] CHAPTER EIGHT

The Underground and the Visible Church

The "Temple block" in Salt Lake City included the square lying north and
west from the intersection of Main and Brigham (South Temple) streets. Here in
the 1880's was located the already famous Mormon Tabernacle and the
controversial Endowment House, where plural marriages were performed.
Workshops and construction equipment surrounded the unfinished walls of the
Temple. Huge blocks of granite lay in their shadows, ready for shaping to
complete the sacred structure.
The square lying across from Main Street directly east of the Temple
block was one of bustling activity. The main street entrance led into the
tithing yard, which was edged on the north by stables and on the south by the
tithing storehouse. Here wagons moved in and out, loaded with tithes which
were being paid in kind. This consisted of agricultural products including
livestock, to be temporarily enclosed until merged with the Church herds on
the range. Here also entered scores of wagons and carriages of "conference
visitors" who lacked relatives or close friends to host them during their stay
in the Mormon mecca. The north side of the square afforded ample room for care
of their teams, while their wagons provided sleeping quarters. The south half
of the square facing South Temple Street contained the Deseret store and
Tithing office on the Main Street corner. Then eastward were the Lion House,
the President's office, and finally the Beehive House on the State Street
corner. These last three were built by Brigham Young for his families,
including his office in the center. Directly across South Temple Street facing
the Beehive House was the Gardo House, home of President Taylor, and next to
it directly across from the President's office was the Church Historian's
office.
[166] By the vote of the April 1879 General Conference, $5,000 had been spent
to remodel Brigham Young's beautiful mansion, known as the Amelia Palace, into
a suitable residence for President John Taylor. The President with his wives
moved into the renamed Gardo House the last of December 1881 and showed his
appreciation with a public reception on January 2, 1882. The two thousand
people who responded to an open invitation and toured the palatial residence
could best appreciate the turn of events which shortly robbed the president's
wives of its comforts and exiled him to the discomforts of "underground"
living. In an effort to comply with the Edmunds Law, he arranged for each of
his wives to live in a separate modest home, and as the crusade closed in on
him, he disappeared to avoid arrest.
But the Gardo House was by no means vacated. It was left in charge of
Samuel Sudbury as custodian, and the president's widowed sister, Agnes
Schwartz, as matron. John M. Whitaker, who courted the President's daughter
there, complained, "It was rare that Ida and I could be alone because of the
many girls and women at the Gardo House. . . . Young women, wives of
polygamists, whose husbands were either in the Penitentiary or hiding outside
the confines of the United States; others would risk coming there to see their
wives and others for consultation." He continued:

      The Gardo House was a rendezvous where the brethren and sisters on
    the Underground would often come in the night to meet their loved ones.
    Among such was President of the Salt Lake Stake, Angus M. Cannon, and his
    counselor, Charles W. Penrose, going under the name of Dr. Williams and
    also Editor of the Deseret News. It was in this famous building that he
    wrote many of his Editorials for the Deseret News. . . . Samuel Sudbury,
    a mysterious man, was custodian of the Gardo House and was ever alert for
    the approach of Marshalls [sic] and Deputies searching for polygamists.
    It was the rule that the Gardo House was to be closed at 10 P.M. without
    exception, and no stranger was permitted after that hour....
[167]
      Sister Agnes Schwartz . . . often stood at the front door of the
    Gardo House and refused entrance to the U.S. Marshall, until he showed
    his warrant to enter.(1)

The President's plural family, after moving into separate homes,
continued under the watchful eyes of the deputies. Whitaker's diaries reveal
his personal concern through observations that the wives and children were
"hounded and watched," that the children dared not appear in public for fear
of arrest, and that families had to dress so as to hide their identity. In
this, he said, they did so well that their closest friends sometimes failed to
recognize them. He might have added that fictitious names protected the
children of prominent church leaders from becoming innocent sources of
information for inquisitive deputies and reward hunters. A surviving son of
one of the Church Presidency relates that he never knew his real name during
childhood.
The young Whitaker who complained about lack of privacy while courting
President Taylor's daughter in the Gardo House had ample opportunity for
keeping an eye on the place from his window in the Historian's office. Here,
as scribe and secretary to the Church Historian Franklin D. Richards, he felt
the heartbeat of the Church as it struggled to survive the federal crusade.
Richards' office was the executive end of the underground channel which led
from the unseen Presidency. In the words of his biographer, "Of those who
remained at liberty and were not being sought by the Federal authorities,
Franklin D. Richards was the leading Church official. He was referred to as
the `visible head of the Church' and directed its affairs under the advice and
[168] instruction, so far as possible, of the exiled Presidency."(2)
Referring to his activity in Richards' office, Whitaker recorded,

    At this time, 1886, practically all the official outside work of the
    Church was transacted at the Historian office and across the street, at
    the President's office, where Elder James Jack had charge of the finances
    of the Church under the direction of the First Presidency, and at times,
    the officials of the Church in hiding would come in secret to transact
    such business as they could. . . . Many secret matters to the First
    Presidency, and others to sacred were written in person by Apostle F. D.
    Richards, so as to preserve the hiding places and secret matters confined
    strictly to only a few....
      May 11, 1886: I continued my labor at the office taking dictation
    from Bro. F. D. Richards, reporting sermons and blessings, court
    proceedings and making reports, documents and letters to the Governor,
    and state officials and congressman delegate John T. Caine, trying to
    preserve our rights and constitutional liberties.

Pressing at the time was the question of "escape" colonization. Whitaker
continued,

    The General Authorities of the Church are sending out leading brethren to
    Mexico, Moses Thatcher, Wilford Woodruff; John Henry Smith, Francis M.
    Lyman and President John Morgan of the First Council of Seventy to Salt
    River Valley, Montana [?] and other uninhabited places, -- John W. Taylor
    and Matthias Cowley to the Northwest Canada, also uninhabited, to see if
    lands may be purchased and our polygamists and families sent out of the
    confines of the United States.

Among familiar figures at the Historian's and President's offices were
Assistant Historian John Jacques, Church Attorney Franklin S. Richards, Church
Treasurer James Jack, and Utah's Delegate to Congress, John T. Caine. Others
included a few regular employees and occasional church officials who moved
stealthily in and out as safety from capture permitted.
[169] Until his marriage, which took him to a private residence, John Whitaker
continued to live at the Church Historian's headquarters.

    On account of the precarious conditions existing regarding polygamists,
    [I] was induced to board in one of the basement rooms, where I could let
    in at night, other men being wanted for polygamy and the General
    Authorities of the church as they came from other hideouts, and in this
    way became very intimate with all the General Authorities, and others who
    came to see Apostle Franklin D. Richards, who was the only one of the
    General Authorities of the Church not living with his plural wives. And I
    had to do many secret errands, take the monthly allowances to his wives
    and to others, keep a daily record of events, shield many a friend hiding
    away from deputies.

On June 17, 1886, he recorded,

    Tonight about midnight, I heard nocks [sic] on my door in the basement of
    the Historian Office. I thought they came from deputies because they are
    around everywhere in search for the UNDERGROUND runways [sic], and after
    a while, finding out they were not deputies, I opened the doors and lo,
    there stood Apostles John Henry Smith and Heber J. Grant anxious to get
    away from the deputies who had been following them. I led them to a place
    of safety and they were glad.



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Statehood Utah Americanization The

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Three months later, September 6, he recorded a "miraculous" escape of
Apostles Wilford Woodruff and Erastus Snow from the Historian's office when
the building was surrounded by twenty deputies headed by Marshal Frank Dyer.
It fell to Mr. Richards' lot to preside at most of the general
conferences of the Church held during the underground. As already noted, these
conferences were shifted from Salt Lake City to areas less threatened with
interruption by U.S. deputy marshals. In April and October of 1885 they were
convened in Logan, in April of 1886 in Provo and in October in Coalville, in
April of 1887 in Provo again, and the following October back to Salt Lake
City. [170] The First Presidency participated in the first Logan and Provo
meetings through "general epistles" which were read to the congregations. The
conferences served to bolster the faith of the harassed Saints and in 1887
bore witness to continued solidarity in opposition to any surrender to the
government. In April of that year, Mr. Richards, to counteract growing rumors
to the contrary, presented and won support for a resolution expressing love
and "undiminished confidence" in the absentee Presidency.(3)
In the meantime young Whitaker had overcome problems of formality
presented by the underground and had married President Taylor's daughter Ida.
His contact with the Gardo House and relationship with the Taylor family
brought certain advantages, including use of the President's buggy and
high-spirited black team. Returning with some of the family from Centerville
one evening, he unwittingly crossed the underground trail.

    We arrived at Beck's Hot Springs and there overtook a carriage that
    thought we were deputy marshalls after them -- the carriage ahead of us
    turned off abruptly to the west out of the road and we came on to Salt
    Lake. Finding that we were not deputies, they came back on the main road
    and followed us to the city. Next morning when I went to the office, here
    comes Charles Wilcken, the driver of that carriage and told me he was
    bringing George Q. Cannon to the City on special business, and he thought
    we were deputy marshalls. And he said to me, `President Cannon said if we
    were deputies he [Wilcken] was to shoot both horses, for [171] he was not
    going to be taken by deputies if he could help it.(4)

April and May passed, and still young Whitaker was not informed as to the
location of his father-in-law's underground station. On June 27 he wrote:

    As Brother Sudbury found I was going north toward Centerville, he warned
    me it was rather dangerous for the President's buggy to be going in that
    direction, as the deputies would surely follow it to find out where
    President Taylor was hiding.... But he also told me that President Taylor
    is very sick and I had better be careful so as not to give the Deputies
    any clues as to where he might be.... And so after this, for the present
    anyway, I will refrain from going there again until things quiet down
    somewhat.(5)

The two-story adobe farm house of the Thomas F. Rouche family located on
the outskirts of the Kaysville settlement provided tolerable living quarters
for President Taylor and his underground associates after November 22, 1886.
Surrounded by shade trees, it blended comfortably into the farmstead with its
commodious outbuildings, including a barn, granary, and corral. Facing
eastward, it looked across a mile of farm land to the village and the
mountains rising above it. Twice a day the exiles could hear the whistle of
the Utah Central steam locomotive as it shuttled its string of cars back and
forth across the rails connecting Salt Lake City and Ogden. In the rear of the
house stood a modest cottage which had served as the original domicile of the
pioneer settlers, and a mile to the west marshes edging Great Salt Lake teemed
with water fowl.
Proud to serve as hosts to such distinguished guests as the Presidency of
the Church, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Rouche and family, including a daughter and
several sons, assumed the burden willingly and entered with enthusiasm upon a
course of passive resistance to the government. While [172] the women made
necessary dining and sleeping adjustments indoors, the men accepted guard duty
and coachman service outside. Their services were expanded to enlist trusted
neighbors, who were assigned to watch the highways and warn of approaching
danger.
Undercover contact with the church offices in Salt Lake City continued
from the new location despite the doubled driving distance. The usual
procedure of exchanging mail and passengers at a halfway house in Bountiful
was varied by through trips of about twenty-six miles into the city and
stopovers until darkness would again cover their return journey. While the
seventy-eight-year-old President did not risk these nocturnal journeys
himself, his younger counselor, George Q. Cannon, passed regularly by team
between the two Mormon headquarters. Less often the President's secretary, L.
John Nuttall, was a passenger in these horse-drawn carriages driven by Charles
H. Wilcken, Samuel Bateman, or the Rouche sons.
Samuel Bateman's diary,(6) which recorded the underground move from
Bountiful to Kaysville on November 22, 1886, continued to disclose the
movements of the Church leaders while they remained in hiding in Kaysville:

      Nov. 23. All day at Rouches reading, fixing up our things.
      Nov. 24. (same) at night I went with the mail. Met D.R.B. at Brother
    Wooley's with our mail, we changed. I got back at 12 o'clock.(7)
      Nov. 27. Went with mail. G.Q.C. went with me. Met Abram Cannon and
    J. E. Taylor.
      Dec. 1. Fast meeting. Wooley presiding..... C.H.W. got back at 2
    o'clock A.M. Cannon came with him.

So the diary marks off the days of December in routine order. George Q.
Cannon continued his visits to the Salt Lake offices and usually stayed over
at least one day to [173] return with the mail carrier the following night.
Lesser Church officials, in the confidence of "the Brethren," frequently came
with the underground "night express" to consult with President Taylor.
Christmas and New Year's came and were recorded as follows:

      Dec. 24. At night George Q. Cannon and A. M. Cannon went to the city
    and took the mail.
      Dec. 25. Had a good Christmas dinner, the President carved the
    turkey. Bro. Cannon and H. C. Birrell [sic] were at home. At night I went
    with the mail to the half-way house. Bro. L. J. Nuttall went with me. He
    met his wife there and little boy ....
      Dec. 26.... at night C. H. Wilcken went to the half-way house for
    Bros. G. Q. Cannon and L. J. Nuttall.

On January 11, 1887, he noted "G. Q. Cannon was 60 years old today." Then
on the nineteenth he recorded an incident of momentary excitement:

    I went to the half-way house with mail and to bring G. Q. Cannon back. .
    . . Met him at hot springs. A. M. Cannon, Alfred Solomon, the Marshal
    [City] and Mack at the tithing yard. They went right on, I turned round
    and followed them, hailed them but they would not stop, and drove faster.
    . . . They thought it was the deps. I drove passed them again. By this
    time they had loaded there [sic] guns. I got ahead of them and got them
    between me and the fence and stopped them. Then they found out who I was.
    Then we had a big laugh. They had heard that 10 deps. had gone north and
    they had prepared themselves to defend G. Q. Cannon. They were bringing
    him to the half-way house.

The appearance on the underground in February of Church Attorney Franklin
S. Richards, H. B. Clawson, and Charles Penrose suggested early stirrings of
the political activity that was to come to a boil in the following months.

      Feb. 5. I took G. Q. Cannon to half-way house to meet Franklin S.
    Richards who had just returned from Washington. We were there half day.
    (Left Cannon at half way house and took F. S. Richards to city) -- went
    home to family.
[174]
      Feb. 7. . . . went to the President's office.... There was great
    rejoicing over the reversing of the Snow case. Jacob R. and I then went
    on home. Got there at 2 o'clock A.M. Found all well and rejoiced over the
    good news we had brought.
      February 15. Jacob to city on horseback with important letter... at
    night the President, G. Q. Cannon, L. J. Nuttall, C. H. Wilken and myself
    went to Bro. Barnes. Met F. S. Richards, Bro. Penrose, H. B. Clawson;
    William Rouche. Rode on horseback to pilot us. . . . Jacob brought the
    brethren from the city and took them back.
      Feb. 22. All day at Do. Jacob returned with the mail on the UCRR
    [Utah Central Railroad].



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On February 27 came the news of Sophia Taylor's death:

      Sunday, President Taylor received a letter this morning that his
    wife Sophia died at 6 o'clock a.m. It made us all feel sorrowful, more
    especially on his account for he could not go to see her in her sickness
    and could not see her after she was dead for fear of being arrested as
    there were men watching the house most of the time.... At night C.H.W.
    took G. Q. Cannon to the City. Bro. Wooley went in the afternoon to the
    city with a special telegram to he sent to Washington.

There was constant risk of capture in this hide-and-seek game they were
playing with the deputy marshals. On the night of March 4, President Cannon
was driven to the city as usual but directed Bateman to take him to the Cannon
farm on the outskirts of the city. The home visit was cut short, however, when
he was informed that "spotters" had been seen in the vicinity. So they drove
back to the President's office -- the carefully guarded rendezvous of the
Church leaders. Bateman then spent April 5 at the home of Mrs. Andrew Burt,
widow of the late city marshal under whom he had served on the police force.
Here close friends, including one of his wives, came to visit and keep him
informed on affairs of the day. He recorded:

      At night went to the President's office. Ate supper with George Q.
    Cannon and wife, Bros. Lorenzo Snow [recently released from prison],
    Franklin Richards, Wil-[175]liams, George Rumell, then GQC and I started
    for our exile home. Got in two hours drive 26 miles. All well glad to see
    us back.

On the sixteenth he wrote:

      L. W. Wooley came on the 13th with a message to us that the Marshall
    [sic] has put men to watch our buggy. At night Jacob went with the mail
    on the U.C.R.R.

A month later he recorded: "At night James [Malin, who had come to
replace C. H. Wilcken temporarily as driver and remained with the company
until the President's death] went to the half-way house with the mail on
horseback to bring our new buggy for one horse." Again on the seventeenth of
May, "Bro. Wooley came with a letter about 3 o'clock P.M. containing news that
the deps were calculating to make a general raid from Bountiful to Kaysville.
I had Bro. Rouche see that the guards put out promptly at night."
Sunday, April 10, Bateman casually noted that the President wasn't
feeling well. He repeated on the eighteenth, "The President is sick this
morning, taken sick in the night," and on the twentieth, "The President is
sick again." However the church leader's illness was not taken seriously, for
the next day he pitched a game of quoits. Bateman took him for a ride on the
night of May 15, but on Sunday, the twenty-second, he wrote, "Had our meeting,
the President wasn't present." Reference to quoits was repeated twice more, on
June 6 and 13, after which President Taylor's growing illness confined him
indoors. From the middle of June, Bateman's diary deals increasingly with the
President's declining health.
As late June days became memories, nocturnal conveyances passed
increasingly over the dusty roads, with President Cannon spending more and
more time in Salt Lake City. There was not only the multiplicity of church
affairs to attend to, but a sixth effort to obtain statehood for Utah was in
the making, with the planning taking place [176] and directives issuing from
the hide-away in Kaysville and the underground rendezvous in Salt Lake City.
The Bateman diary is supplemented by that of the secretary L. John
Nuttall,(8) which casts light on the proceedings in the various meetings
between "the brethren." He joins with Bateman on June 25, 1887, in a daily
report of the President's condition as seen from a more intimate angle.

      June 25. Pres. Taylor arose early and was out of his room by 7
    o'clock and sat up until after 8 o'clock and then laid down and
    afterwards arose and took a very little food. He kept his room all the
    day ....Brother James Malin came out this evening and brought Dr.
    Anderson with him. They arrived about 12 o'clock and reported that Elder
    John W. Taylor was coming out but he had missed his way.
      26. Sunday. Pres. George Q. Cannon sent out a letter with our mail
    explaining why Dr. Anderson and Elder John W. Taylor were coming out. It
    appears that the President's family had heard of his being sick and they
    desired that the doctor and some member of the family should come and see
    him. . . . After breakfast they conversed together for some two hours on
    the President's condition, etc. after which he took a rest. He appeared
    quite cheerful in his mind and conversation.
      30. Thursday. Pres. Taylor is much weaker this morning, he refused
    to take his usual bath. He does not partake of any nourishment, excepting
    a little wine and a glass of beer occasionally.

As he continued to fail, the President sent for his sons, with whom he
conversed at some length on July 3. A week later he suffered a decided change
for the worse, and when his two wives, Mary O. and Maggy, were brought out to
see him, he scarcely recognized them. President Cannon had the guard around
the Rouche home doubled by adding a daytime watch to the usual night vigil.
The patient lapsed more and more often into periods of unconsciousness, and
[177] on July 14 the doctor announced that the end was near. Taylor seemed,
however, to recognize the unexpected presence of his counselor, Joseph F.
Smith, who had arrived from Hawaii after two years' absence. He passed away
quietly on the evening of July 25.
Arrangements were made for Joseph A. Taylor to come from the city to take
care of the body. It was conveyed to Salt Lake the following midnight in a
special car secretly supplied by the Utah Central railroad. The Kaysville
hide-out was broken up, with Presidents Cannon and Smith going to Salt Lake to
make necessary announcements and funeral arrangements. Last to leave was
Samuel Bateman, who recorded:

    I started for the city 20 minutes past 8 o'clock. It was a hard task for
    me to part with Bro. Rouche and family for we had been there 8 months and
    four days and had been treated very kindly. . . . I called to see Bro.
    Taylor, one of our guards. I thanked him and the other brethren for their
    kindness in being so diligent in guarding the servants of the Lord and I
    had made arrangements with Bro. Rouche to pay them for their services and
    I told Bro. Taylor to dismiss the guards under his charge at 1 o'clock
    a.m. as all would be out of the way by that hour.

The corpse was taken to the Gardo House, and funeral services in the
Tabernacle were set for noon on Friday, July 29. The scattered Church leaders
were informed by telegraph of the President's demise, and general information
about funeral arrangements was sent abroad through the stake presidents and
the Deseret News.
While the remains of the departed Church leader were carried from the
Gardo House to the Tabernacle at 7:00 A.M. on the twenty-ninth for viewing by
long lines of mourners, the remaining Church officials secluded themselves in
the President's office to arrange the program for the funeral services.
Secretary Nuttall arrived in Salt Lake City to meet with them at 5:00 A.M. In
addition to Presidents Cannon and Smith, Wilford Woodruff appeared from his
southern Utah underground, and Daniel H. Wells arrived, [178] having recently
returned from England. The latter decided to attend the funeral rites. So
while Wells, Heber J. Grant, and Lorenzo Snow risked attendance at the
services in the Tabernacle, the others, who had spent the last two and a half
years in intimate association with their leader, waited in the President's
office. Nuttall wrote:

    We all saw the funeral procession pass the office. There was 1 hearse, 7
    bands of music and hand carriages, 43 carriages, 31 buggies, 19 wagons
    and one cart. Total vehicles 107. . . . For details of Funeral services
    see this evenings `Deseret News.'



21st Dec, 2007 - 2:54am / Post ID: #
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Not only the Deseret News, but the Salt Lake Tribune had much to say
about the passing of the Mormon leader. Characteristically, the latter sounded
off-key in the community chorus of lamentations and eulogies. The irreverence
of its first comments on July 26 emphasized its "outside" position.

    The co-op flag was an object of interest all day yesterday, for many
    expected to see it half-masted at any moment as a notice that John Taylor
    was dead. There was a discredited report in the morning that he had died
    in the night, though whether in the city or outside no clue was given. .
    . . A prominent ex-Mormon said Taylor would probably be dead twelve hours
    before public notice would be given, as that time would be taken by the
    big guns of the church for a sort of pow-wow over the dead body. That the
    President was lying in this city he believed. . . . At the Marshal's
    office, however, it was believed Taylor was somewhere in the direction of
    St. George.(9)

Later that same day subscribers to the Deseret News read the official
announcement of the President's demise, together with a public eulogy written
by George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith.

      Once more the Latter-day Saints are called upon to mourn the death
    of their leader -- the man who has held the keys of the Kingdom of God
    upon the earth. [179]. . . In communicating this sad intelligence to the
    church, over which he has so worthily presided for nearly ten years, we
    are filled with emotion too deep for utterance . . . few men have ever
    lived who have manifested such integrity and such unflinching moral and
    physical courage as our beloved President who has gone from us.
      The title of "Champion of Liberty," which he received in Nauvoo, was
    always felt to be most appropriate for him to bear. . . . By the
    miraculous power of God, President Taylor escaped death which the
    assassins of Carthage Jail designed for him. His blood was then mingled
    with the blood of the martyred prophet and patriarch. He has stood since
    then as the living martyr for the truth. But today he occupies the place
    of double martyr. President Taylor has been killed by the cruelty of
    those officials who have, in this Territory, misrepresented the
    Government of the United States.(10)

The following day the Tribune came to the defense of the federal
officials who, it held, were conscientiously discharging their
responsibilities in the line of duty.

    George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith seized upon the opportunity
    presented by the death of a worn-out old man to grossly slander some
    gentlemen whose only crime has been their efforts to perform their
    official duties under their oaths. They charged John Taylor's death to
    the persecution of Federal officials. There has not been one moment
    during the past two and a half years that John Taylor could not have
    shaken all fear of Federal officials by simply appearing before the
    District Court and promising to henceforth obey the laws.(11)

Thus simply it appeared to the crusader mind which, from outside the
Kingdom, could scarcely sense the grip of religious conviction which motivated
the Mormons. To the Latter-day Saints, John Taylor was not acting in
self-interest when he went into hiding.

[180]
    In taking this step [said the News] he did so more to preserve peace and
    to remove all possible cause for excitement than from any desire for
    personal safety. He perceived that there was a determination on the part
    of men holding official positions here to raise an issue, and, if
    possible, involve the Latter-day Saints in serious trouble. He was
    determined that, to far as he was concerned, he would furnish no pretext
    for trouble, but would do everything in his power to prevent the people
    over whom he presided from being involved in difficulty.(12)

So, with the passing of John Taylor, those of the Kingdom and those
outside walked the same streets side by side in two different worlds. In the
Gentile mind the Mormon leader was a fugitive from justice,(13) defying the
laws of the United States; to the Latter-day Saints he was loyal to a divine
commission, in which course death marked him as a martyr.
There had been much speculation, both in and out of the Church, as to
President Taylor's successor. The answer was not long delayed. Following the
funeral services George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, counselors to the
departed President, met with five of the Twelve Apostles. It was agreed that
the two counselors would continue to preside over the Church until the entire
Council of the Twelve could convene. This body met on August 3, when Cannon
and Smith were reinstated in their respective places in the Quorum. Wilford
Woodruff, President of that body by right of seniority, issued, with Quorum
consent, an address "To the Saints throughout the world." It conveyed an
account of the death of President Taylor and announced the responsibility of
the Apostles' Quorum to preside over the Church for the time being. Thus
Woodruff assumed leadership which eighteen months later was crystallized
through formation of the Church Presidency composed of himself, Cannon, and
Smith.



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21st Dec, 2007 - 2:55am / Post ID: #
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The Americanization Utah Statehood

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[181] Meanwhile the crusade continued, with the Church leaders at the head of
the wanted list. Samuel Bateman's diary continues:

      Aug. 2. I got up at quarter to 4 o'clock a.m. On guard at the Cannon
    farm to a quarter to 8 o'clock. A covered wagon came to take GQC, JFS,
    and myself to the city. Had in the wagon for a disguise a bundle of hay,
    3 or 4 artesian well pipes, plow handles sticking out behind, a chicken
    coop on behind with some chickens in. We got in and pulled the cover down
    in front and were driven to the tithing yard. G. Q. Cannon and J. F.
    Smith got out at the President's barn and went through the Lion House
    into the President's office. Then he drove me down to the city hall yard.
    I got out and went into the barn. CHW and DRB got the way clear and told
    me to start. . . . I got to Sister Burts all right....
      5 Friday. I went to the tithing yard and then to the President's
    office . . . got a single horse and buggy . . . got Bro. Cannon and went
    to the Cannon farm to stay all night.

So the game of cohabs versus deputies continued, with the participants
playing closer in. Local police officers apparently remained aloof, but there
was little doubt in the minds of the federal officers that they covertly lent
assistance to the underground. The drivers' services came to include relaxing
night tours and delivery of the wanted officials to the theater, or even to
carefully screened social events. Bateman sheds some light on these
activities, about which information would have been welcomed by the deputies.

      Aug. 16. C.H.W. and I took President Woodruff and President Cannon
    out riding.
      19. Friday. At night I went to the Presidents office. Then went and
    got the single horse and buggy and took President Woodruff down to his
    farm. Went to see his flowing well.... I then took President Woodruff to
    the President's office.

The year of change in Church leadership gave way to 1888, which was to
see more cohabs sent to the penitentiary [182] than in any other year. But
somehow the principals kept free of the legal snare until a more friendly
judiciary coaxed some of them to surrender voluntarily. Meanwhile they made
the best of a difficult situation. Bateman wrote on February 3, 1888:

    At night DR brought our team and I drove to the farm and got the
    President and wife and took them to Pres. Cannon's. Some of the
    undergrounders with some others that could be trusted were going to have
    a dance at President Cannons school house. There were some 30 of the
    brethren and quite a number of the sisters. Amongst the prominent ones
    that were there were President Woodruff, President Cannon, President J.
    F. Smith, President Wells, Apostle Lyman, Apostle J. H. Smith, Apostle
    Grant, Apostle Richards, Bro. Penrose, Bro. Rouche and wife, Bro. John
    Wooley & wife and daughter, Amy, from Centerville. The Presidency spoke
    to us encouraging words. We had a splendid dance, the music furnished by
    Bro. Beesley, calling done by Joseph E. Taylor and Samuel Bateman. At 10
    o'clock President Cannon's family passed around sandwiches, pie and cake
    and lemonade. We all enjoyed ourselves.... The dance was dismissed at 12
    o'clock midnight. I then took President and wife back to the farm.

Chapter 8 Footnotes
(1) Whitaker journal no. 3, folder no. 4, May 1886 -- Sept. 1887. The
daily journals of John M. Whitaker, consisting of shorthand notes and
typescript of the same, have been acquired by the Univ. of Utah Library from
Edison T. Whitaker. Copies of the transcript contained in manila folders are
also located in the Huntington Library, San Marino. Calif. The quotations from
Whitaker in this chapter are from the Huntington copies of journals no. 2
(Jan. 1883 -- May 1886) and no. 3 (May 1886 -- Sept. 1887). Since the journals
are inadequately dated and much duplication occurs, specific dating of
citations is not always attempted.
(2) Franklin L. West, Life of Franklin D. Richards (Salt Lake City,
1924), pp. 199-200.
(3) B. H. Roberts, Life of John Taylor (Salt Lake City, 1892), p. 406.
The resolution read in part: "In view of recent occurrences and the assaults
which have been made upon the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, I move that we, the officers and members of the Church
in conference assembled, express to our faithful brethren who preside over us,
and to the world at large, by our vote, our undiminished confidence in and
love for them.
"That inasmuch as President John Taylor is our Prophet, Seer and
Revelator chosen of the Lord, we do express to him in this manner, our love
and respect for him and unite in saying that we have viewed with admiration
the steadfastness, integrity and valor which he has displayed in the cause of
God."
(4) Whitaker journal no. 3, folder 4, pp. 14-15, n.d.
(5) Ibid., p. 42, June 27, 1887.
(6) MS in BYU Library.
(7) Henceforth, unless the mail drivers made a one-way nocturnal trip
between Kaysville and Salt Lake City, they met at a "halfway house" and
exchanged mail.
(8) The L. John Nuttall journal (1859-1904) quoted in the following pages
is located in BYU Library, Special Collections; copy in Huntington Library.
(9) Salt Lake Tribune, July 26, 1887, p. 4.
(10) Deseret News, July 26, 1887. p. 2.
(11) Salt Lake Tribune, July 28, 1887, p. 2.
(12) Deseret News, July 26, 1887, p. 2.
(13) So referred to in Salt Lake Tribune, July 27, 1887.





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