The Life of John Taylor. B. H. Roberts

of the state and county where they lived, and possessing all the qualifications of voters, they essayed to cast their ballots at the aforesaid election, but some of the old settlers sought forcibly to prevent them; a thing which the brethren would not quietly submit to, and a disturbance was the result. Upon that difficulty the mob founded their pretext for the commencement of open hostilities. The clouds which had been gathering hatred and jealousy for so long, burst almost without warning upon the unprotected heads of the Saints.

      Scenes of mob violence were of almost daily occurrence; property was destroyed, men were tied up and beaten until blood streamed down their backs; the chastity of women was forcibly outraged; cattle and hogs were wantonly shot down; houses were ruthlessly burned in the presence of their owners; fields of grain destroyed—but this was not the worst—helpless women and children were brutally murdered together with defenseless old men, some of whom had fought in the continental army during the American Revolution. Elder Taylor, in relating these scenes some thirty years after they had occurred, refers to one who had been of the class last named:

      "My mind wanders back upwardly of thirty years ago," he says, "when in the state of Missouri, Mr. McBride, a gray-haired, venerable veteran of the Revolution, with feeble frame and tottering steps, cried to a Missouri patriot: 'Spare my life, I am a revolutionary soldier, I fought for liberty, would you murder me? What is my offense, I believe in God and revelation?' This frenzied disciple of a misplaced faith said, 'Take that you God d—d Mormon,' and with the butt of his gun he dashed his brains out, and he lay quivering there, his white locks clotted with his own brains and gore, on the soil that he had heretofore shed his blood to redeem—a sacrifice at the shrine of liberty!"

      Taking advantage of the disturbance at the election in Gallatin, some of the old settlers at Millport, in the same county, set fire to their log huts and then fled southward, spreading the report that the Mormons had burned their houses and driven them from their lands. At this rumor, false though it was, a wave of popular indignation passed through the state, which Governor Boggs took advantage of to issue an exterminating order, and called out the militia of the state to execute it.

      Governor Boggs was the more ready to issue this infamous order, because he himself had imbibed a hatred of the Saints, and had been an active participant against them in the Jackson County troubles.

      By this edict the Governor virtually converted the mobs that had been plundering the Saints into the state militia, and gave them full license to continue the war on the Saints, which they did in the most brutal manner.

      The result of these outrages was that some four hundred of the Saints were either murdered outright or died from exposure and hardship inflicted upon them in this unhallowed persecution; from twelve to fifteen thousand citizens of the United States were expelled from the state of Missouri—from the lands they had purchased of the general government; while their homes were destroyed, and their stock and much other property were confiscated. Many of the leaders in the Church, among them the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, were cast into prison.

      Elder Taylor was a witness of these high-handed and unlawful proceedings, and a sufferer in some of them. One circumstance he relates which I do not remember to have seen elsewhere, and hence give it here:

      "On one occasion, when some thirty-five hundred of the mob forces were approaching Far West, our officer, Colonel Hinkle, sought to betray us, and as a preliminary step, ordered us to retreat. 'Retreat!' exclaimed Joseph Smith. 'Why, where in the name of God shall we go?' Then turning to our men he said: 'Boys, follow me.' About two hundred men went out on the open prairie to meet the thirty-five hundred. While these forces faced each other, a flag of truce came in from the mob bearing the message that it was their intention to destroy Far West; but there was a man and his family—of the name of Lightner—not Mormons, who had friends among the attacking party, and they desired this family to leave the city before it was destroyed. This message was sent to the family. They replied that they had always been treated with consideration by the Mormons, and they would stay with them. This reply the Prophet Joseph took in person to the flag of truce man; and just then a troop of cavalry, two hundred strong, was seen approaching, and Joseph added this to the answer sent by the non-Mormon family: 'Go tell your general for me that if he does not immediately withdraw his men, I will send them to hell!'"

      Notwithstanding their superiority in numbers the mob beat a hasty and inglorious retreat.

      Such were the scenes enacted in Missouri during the stay of Elder Taylor in that state; and it was in the midst of such scenes as these, on the 19th of December, 1838, that he was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.

      Footnotes

       Table of Contents

      1. Ether XIII, and III. Nephi XX and XXI.

CHAPTER VII.

       Table of Contents

      BANISHED FROM MISSOURI—RETURNS TO FULFILL A PROPHECY—STARTS ON HIS MISSION TO ENGLAND—SICKNESS BY THE WAY—ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.

      The Saints, after their expulsion from the State of Missouri, found a temporary resting place in Quincy, Illinois, and to that city, after visiting the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty prison, the place of his incarceration, Elder Taylor made his way.

      Several of the Apostles who met there held a consultation in respect to the revelation which had been given the July previous, commanding their quorum to take leave of the Saints in the city of Far West, on the 26th day of April, 1839, at the building spot of the Lord's house, previous to crossing the Atlantic on a mission to foreign lands. It had been the constant boast of the mob from the time the revelation was made known, that this was one of "Joe Smith's" revelations that should fail of fulfillment if no other did. But the several Apostles who took part in the above mentioned consultation, among whom was Elder Taylor, were determined that the revelation should not fail, and agreed to return to Far West by different routes, and meet at the temple site on the day appointed.

      Their undertaking was successful. Five of the Apostles were at the temple site before daylight of the day appointed, together with a number of high priests, elders and priests. At this meeting they excommunicated a number of persons from the Church, ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith apostles, and others were ordained to the office of seventy. Prayer was offered up by the apostles in the order of their standing in their quorum. It was a brilliant, moonlight night, according to Elder Taylor, and out on the still air, strong and clear rose that glorious song of Zion—

      ADAM ONDI-AHMAN.^[1]

      This earth was once a garden place,

       With all her glories common;

       And men did live a holy race,

       And worship Jesus face to face—

       In Adam-ondi-Ahman.

      We read that Enoch walked with God,

       Above the power of mammon;

       While Zion spread herself abroad,

       And saints and angels sang aloud—

       In Adam-ondi-Ahman.

      Her land was good and greatly blest,

       Beyond old Israel's Canaan;

       Her fame was known from east to west,

       Her peace was great, and pure the rest

       Of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

      Hosanna to such days to come—

       The Savior's second coming,

       When all the earth in glorious bloom

       Affords the saints a holy home,

       Like Adam-ondi-Ahman.

      At the conclusion of the hymn, Elder Alpheus Cutler, the master workman of the Lord's