Mormon Coin. -- The monetary notions of the Mormons at their Great Salt Lake settlement are no less peculiar, it appears, than their ideas of society and religion. We have a very curious coin in our possession, which is manufactured and exclusively circulated among that remarkable people, and quite to the disparagement, travellers tell us, of every other species of gold currency. Of all the fanciful forms into which our golden wealth is wrought, this sainted shape excels in singularity. Its weight is about 15 dwts. Troy; its current worth among the Mormons, twenty dollars. Its circumference is that of a Spanish half doubloon. One side bears the inscription "Holiness to the Lord," with the All-seeing eye, surmounted by a prophet's cap; on the reverse appears the initials G. S. L. C. P. C.; the grasp of fellowship, with the date (1849) and value of the piece. It is clumsy, and in execution without merit.


Notes: (forthcoming)

POLIGAMY AMONG THE MORMONS. -- The Washington Globe publishes the extract we gave from a Salt Lake letter to the N. O. Delta, reiterating the statement that a man among the Mormons out there, may have as many wives [as] he can support, and expresses its entire disbelief in the charge. It adds: -- "We have been most positively assured by one of the Mormon Delegates, that the charge of poligamy and of bigamy, brought against the citizens of Deseret, is utterly unfounded, and that it is a cruel calumny."


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE MORMONS ON THE MOUNTAINS. -- A party of Mormon emigrants, on their way to the valley of the Salt Lake, while crossing the Rocky Mountains in October, were encountered by a terrible snow storm, which, in connection with the intense cold killed sixty head of cattle. It is remarkable, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, that not a single man, woman or child, was lost. With this exception, the account very much resembles that of Gol. Fremont and his party.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. -- There is some difficulty, and a great deal of animosity between the Mormons in Cincinnati and the Western states, and their brethren in Deseret. In the U. S. Senate on Thursday last, Mr. Underwood presented a petition from Isaac Sheen, who represents himself as first counselor to the Prophet Wm. Smith, and president of the Aaronic priesthood of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, together with two apostles and some twelve high priests, urging the very grave complaints against the Mormons of the Salt Lake, whom they designate as the banditti. These people set forth that Council Bluffs is principally settled by Salt Lake Mormons, who are governed in political as well as spiritual affairs by the secret Lodge of fifty men that also rules the Salt Lake territory, and Brigham Young, their governor, president, prophet, seer, revelator, and inquisitorial chief. They assert that these people obstruct the receipt of the religious newspaper called the "Melchisedek and Aaronic Herald," and letters to their friends and relations in that quarter, and imploring the protection of Congress from the tyranny, injustice, and political intrigues of the Salt Lake banditti, insist that the treasonable acts and designs of the Salt Lake combination are sufficient not only to show the impropriety of admitting Deseret into the Union, but also to convince government that no Salt Lake Mormon should be allowed to hold any office either at Salt Lake valley or Council Bluffs. They charge them also with having commenced a warfare against the liberty of speech and of the press, and against the religious rights of American citizens who do not acknowledge their supremacy.


Note 1: The "petition from Isaac Sheen" mentioned above was an entirely separate document from the memorial William Smith and Isaac Sheen presented to Congress and to the President of the United States. This petition, requesting that no Mormon hold the position of Post-Master at Council Bluffs, was sent to Washington, D. C. at about the same time as the Smith-Sheen document, but the second petition was submitted under Sheen's name and mentioned William Smith only in passing. Here is how H. H. Bancroft described the situation in his 1889 book: On Dec. 31st, Joseph R. Underwood of Kentucky presented a memorial from William Smith and Isaac Sheen -- the former a brother of the prophet -- representing themselves to be the legitimate presidents of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints, and from twelve members of that church... The memorial was referred to the committee on territories. Cong. Globe, 1849-50, xxi. 92. A second memorial from the same parties was presented to Mr. Underwood on March 14, 1850, preferring grievous complaints against the people of Deseret, and stating that the Mormons around Council Bluffs controlled the post-office in that district and obstructed the free circulation of newspapers. It was referred to the committee on post-offices and post-roads. Ibid., 524."

Note 2: As an anti-slavery editor, Isaac Sheen evidently developed a special interest in the problem of non-delivery of the federal mails by parties who disagreed with the purpose of certain publications sent out though the postal system. Sheen himself had served as a mail-carrier (or "papers-carrier") and understood the serious consequences of anyone's tampering with the post. Beyond that, Sheen was probably able to gather first-hand accounts of postal irregularities in western Iowa from his brother-in-law, the Hon. Almon W. Babbit, who was then in the process of establishing a newspaper at Council Bluffs. The Council Bluffs Frontier Guardian of June 13, 1851 mentions this newspaper, The Bugle, in these words: "Our readers will recollect that this is the paper he [Babbit] brought to Kanesville, to start in opposition to us [Orson Hyde and Whig-affliated Mormons]..."

Mormonism in France. -- The Frontier Guardian says that the Mormon doctrine has found its way into Havre, and other parts of France. A Mormon preacher, by the name of Taylor, is laboring in Havre.

Notes: (forthcoming)

EMIGRANTS FROM PENNSYLVANIA. -- The Steamer Mt. Vernon passed Louisville, Ky., on the 17th, with 150 Mormons from the neighborhood of Philadelphia, who are emigrating to the "Salt Lake," in Deseret. -- She also had some 60 or 70 emigrants to Iowa, from eastern Pennsylvania.

Notes: (forthcoming)

THE MORMONS OF THE SALT LAKE. -- The "Third General Epistle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" has been issued, from the city of Salt Lake. It is dated April 12th, and is very long, entering into many particulars in regard to the immediate concerns of the church. It describes the sufferings of the emigrants as very great during the late severe winter. The Mormons have had some difficulty with the Utah Lake Indians, and as it was absolutely necessary to chastise them, and there were no U. S. troops to do it, the citizens accompanied by Capt. Stansbury and other army officers, attacked the Indians on the 18th of February. The fight lasted two days. About forty Indians were killed. One of the Mormon brethren was killed and a few wounded, who have since recovered. The settlements in the villages are flourishing. The General Assembly of Deseret, which has been in session at various times, has erected counties, established Courts, and a general judiciary system. A State University at Salt Lake has also been established, with an annual appropriation of $500 for its support for twenty years. The public buildings are progressing; furnaces and forges are much needed, and it is hoped they will be started this season. There is a disposition among the saints to go hunting after California gold, but some of the elders act as guards to prevent such expeditions.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Author of the Mormon Bible.

The New England Puritan states that at a public meeting held lately in Cherry Valley Judge Campbell said:

"Rev. Solomon Spaulding, one of the earliest preceptors of the Academy of Cherry Valley, was the actual composer of most of what is known as the Mormon Bible. He wrote it during a period of delicate health, to beguile some of his weary hours, and also with a design to offer it for publication as a romance. Dr. Robert Campbell, late of Cherry Valley, and foster father of the first Mrs. Grant of the Nestorian mission, calling some years since upon Mr. Spaulding, had the manuscript of this noble book shown to him, and was also informed by Mr. Spaulding that he had hopes of reaping some preliminary advantage from it for himself and family. Mr. Spaulding has been dead some years, though it is believed that his wife is still living in the United States. How it passed from the possession of his family into the hands of Joe Smith, it is probable Mrs. Spaulding could tell."


Note1: This article first appeared in the New England Puritan, about the second week in October. It was reprinted in the New-York Organ of Oct.19, 1850 and in a mid-November issue of the Milwaukee Democrat, and the Nov. 23, 1850 issue of the Syracuse Journal. A shortened version was published in the New York Daily Tribune on Nov. 19, 1850, which occasioned a reply from a reader that was printed in the Tribune's Dec. 6th, issue and hence reprinted (along with the quote from the Puritan) in the Feb. 7, 1851 number of Orson Hyde's Frontier Guardian.

Note2: The Campbell family were early settlers of Cherry Valley, Otsego. co., NY. Dr. William Campbell operated a drug and hardware store in the village in the early 1800s and Solomon Spalding's name occurs in the druggist's account book as a customer, even after Spalding moved to Richfield, several miles away. Also, Dr. Robert Campbell was a contemporary of Solomon Spalding during their residence in that place, c. 1795-1800. The 1820 and 1830 U. S. Census reports both show a Robert M. Campbell living in Cherry Valley, Otsego Co., NY. The "Mrs. Grant" mentioned in the article was an associate of Miss Fidelia Fiske, who, following a solicitation for teachers among the faculty at Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1843 by Rev. Dr. Perkins, taught at the Nestorians Mission in Oroomiah, Persia. She is called by William W. Campbell the "adopted daughter of Dr. William Campbell, of Cherry Valley" ("Centennial Address, Delivered at Cherry Valley, Otsego County, N.Y., July 4th, 1840.") Her name appears to have been Elizabeth. The relationship of the Otsego Co. Campbells to the Rev. Dr. John P. Campbell, author of the 1816 article "The Aborigines of the Western Country," remains unclear.

Note 3: In his 1878 book, The History of Otsego County, 1740-1878, Duane Hamilton Hurd says: "In 1796 the names of fifty-four others are entered as "members of the first Presbyterian congregation." Among these is that of Rev. Solomon SPAULDING, a man whose literary labors subsequently became an instrument in supporting the most scandalous imposture our county has produced. We read in Scripture of... lost Tribes of Israel. On this he wrote a romance, detailing an imaginary history, and identifying them with the aborigines of this continent... a handsome building was erected for an academy... Mr. SPAULDING to have taught in this institution, and doubtless he occasionally preached in the church..." Hurd does not say that Spalding wrote his "romance" in Cherry Valley, however.

Note 4: The article's conjecture about Spalding's unpublished writings being "sold at auction" following the failure of "a publishing house" was echoed by William H. Whitsitt, nearly four decades later: "Sidney [Rigdon] had the period from the 28th of January to the last day of December 1822 in which to cultivate the kind regards of Lambdin, before the commercial crash of the first of January 1823 befell the firm of R. Patterson & Lambdin. This disaster would [have been] a favorable occasion to take an inventory and to cleanse the printing office of the soiled accumulations of many years. Among the jetsam and flotsam of such a wreck it is not unlikely was found Solomon Spaulding's copy of the Book of Mormon... if the contents of the printing office were sold under the hammer, Sidney might have purchased the manuscript Book of Mormon for a song. There is no kind of necessity to suppose that anything improper was connected with the transaction..."

Note 5: The article's presumption of how Spalding's writings could have ended up in the possession of Joseph Smith, is similar to that voiced by Captain Gunnison on page 95 of his book on the Mormons: "When the Book of Mormon appeared, and its almost identity with the Manuscript was discovered... enquiry was made for the whereabouts of that paper. It had mysteriously disappeared, and the "Manuscript Found " has ever since been the Manuscript lost. The trunk was hunted up and searched... How the Manuscript could have been taken out, and when, remains a mystery... it seems fair to conclude, that the Manuscript Found escaped from its prison and perched upon some farmer's shelf; or fell direct, by accident or design, into the hands of Joseph Smith, and opportunely met the mind that could mould it into a religious fiction."

(From the Detroit Mich. Advertiser, June 12)

MORMON  OUTRAGES

(read original article from Detroit paper)

---

THE MORMONS. Salt Lake Valley. -- The Deseret News, of April 8th, contains the "Fifth General Epistle" of the "Latter Day Saints, from Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints scattered throughout the earth." This Epistle contains much statistical information concerning the prosperity and productiveness of this people and country.

This Epistle of the Saints jubilates over the extension of Mormonism to all lands -- in Europe, Asia, Africa, the East and West Indies, and America. This extension and rapid gathering of the Saints is proclaimed as a token of the Messiah's near approach. Then, again, the "Saints" declare that civil dissentions, the cholera, quarrels among Christian sects, earthquakes, whirlwinds, hurricanes, tornadoes, &c., "are sure signs that the second coming of Christ is near at hand." Leaving heavenly theorizing, the "Saints" come down to earth. They say the winter has been mild, and very little snow; several grain and lumber mills have been built. Shingles have been made, threshing machines put into use, the council-house nearly finished, a woolen factory to be erected, and China-ware and cutlery to be manufactured.

In March the farmers sowed their wheat. A colony of Mormons has been formed at Iron county, 250 miles south of Salt Lake city -- a few families, and 130 men, with teams, seeds and tools, were sent out Dec. 7th last, and when last heard from they had a field of 2,600 acres, 400 of it sown, plenty of water, wood, iron, ore, alum, and prospects of coal.

The "Quorum of Seventies" have agreed to erect a great Rotunda in Salt Lake city, to be called the "Seventies" Hall of Science. Gov. Young is trustee and superintendent.

About three hundred emigrants wintered with the "Saints," and left for the gold diggins in the spring.

A settlement is to be formed in the southern part of California, not far from San Diego, and one hundred and fifty wagons, under the charge of Elder Lyman and Charles Rich, started in March for the place. A continuous line of stations or places of refreshments to the Pacific, on this route, is to be established. The city is being formed into blocks, instead of wards; shade trees are planted, school houses built, and measures taken to prevent depredations by California emigrants.

The Epistle informs us that the "twelve apostles are abroad," except for two. Orson Hyde is in Iowa; [Parley] Pratt is on his way to the Society and Sandwich Islands and Chili; Orson Pratt is in the States, but expected home; Taylor was at Boulogne, France, preaching, translating and publishing; Snow has visited the Italian States and is now located in Switzerland; Erastus Snow is in Copenhagen, and the "good work is prospering in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and all that region." Richards is now presiding over the "Church" in the British isles -- his office being in Liverpool; Smith is presiding in Iron county, and the two Rich's are en route to establish a settlement near San Diego.

Finally, the Epistle exhorts the Saints in the United States and Canada, "if they wish to see the work of the Lord prosper." to arise as one man, and come to Deseret, "where they can do more for Zion in one year than they can do in many years where they are." -- Cin. Gaz.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Mormons --Salt Lake Valley.

The Deseret News, of April 8th, contains the "Fifth General Epistle" of the "Latter Day Saints, from Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints scattered throughout the earth." -- This Epistle contains much statistical information concerning the prosperity and productiveness of this people and country.

This Epistle of the Saints jubilates over the extension of Mormonism to all lands -- in Europe, Asia, Africa, the East and West Indies, and America. This extension and rapid gathering of the Saints is proclaimed as a token of the Messiah's near approach. Then, again, the "Saints" declare that civil dissentions, the cholera, quarrels among Christian sects, earthquakes, whirlwinds, hurricanes, tornadoes, &c., "are sure signs that the second coming of Christ is near at hand." Leaving heavenly theorizing, the "Saints" come down to earth. They say the winter has been mild, and very little snow; several grain and lumber mills have been built. Shingles have been made, threshing machines put into use, the council-house nearly finished, a woolen factory to be erected, and China-ware and cutlery to be manufactured.

In March the farmers sowed their wheat. A colony of Mormons has been formed at Iron county, 250 miles south of Salt Lake City -- a few families, and 130 men, with teams, seeds and tools, were sent out December 7th last, and when last heard from they had a field of 1,000 acres, 400 of it sown, plenty of water, wood, iron, ore, alum, and prospects of coal.

The "Quorum of Seventies" have agreed to erect a great Rotunda in Salt Lake city, to be called the "Seventies Hall of Science." Gov. Young is trustee and superintendent.

About three hundred emigrants wintered with the "Saints," and left for the gold diggins in the spring.

A settlement is to be formed in the southern part of California, not far from San Diego, and one hundred and fifty wagons, under the charge of Elder Lyman and Charles Rich, started in March for the place. A continuous line of stations or places of refreshments to the Pacific, on this route, is to be established. The city is being formed into blocks, instead of wards; shade trees are planted, school houses built, and measures taken to prevent depredations by California emigrants.

The Epistle informs us that the "twelve apostles are abroad," except for two. Orson Hyde is in Iowa; [Parley] Pratt is on his way to the Society and Sandwich Islands and Chili; Orson Pratt is in the States, but expected home; Taylor was at Boulogne, France, preaching, translating and publishing; Snow has visited the Italian States and is now located in Switzerland; Erastus Snow is in Copenhagen, and the "good work is prospering in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and all that region." Richards is now presiding over the "Church" in the British isles -- his office being in Liverpool; Smith is presiding in Iron county, and the two Rich's are en route to establish a settlement near San Diego.

Finally, the Epistle exhorts the Saints in the United States and Canada, "if they wish to see the work of the Lord prosper." to arise as one man, and come to Deseret, "where they can do more for Zion in one year than they can do in many years where they are." -- Cin. Gaz.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Spiritual Wifeism in Illinois. -- William Smith, brother of the Mormon prophet, Joe, is before the Circuit Court of Illinois, sitting in Lee County, on a charge of having more wives than the law allows. One of the female members of the church has made affidavit that she had been induced to believe that it was necessary for her salvation that she should become his spiritual wife. -- Smith has himself now pending in the same court, an application for a divorce, on the ground that his wife, while at Nauvoo, was initiated into the mysteries of, and, as he says, "took seven degrees" in spiritual wifery. So that it seems, according to his ideas of the doctrines of that particular branch of the church militant, what is sauce for the goose is not "sauce for the gander."


Note: This news item probably came from a Chicago newspaper, which, in turn, had copied it from the Illinois Dixon Telegraph of Apr. 9, 1853.