CHAPTER VII.
Social Conditions In Nauvoo
Character of its Population--Treatment of Immigrant Converts--Some Disreputable Gentile Neighbors--The Complaints of Mormon Stealings-- Significant Admissions--Mormon Protection against Outsiders--The Whittlers
HAVING followed Smith's political
operations to their close, it is now necessary to retrace our steps, and
examine the social conditions which prevailed in and around Nauvoo during the
years of his reign -- conditions which had quite as much to do in causing the
expulsion of the Mormons from the state as did his political mistakes.
It must be remembered that Nauvoo was a pioneer town,
on the borders of a thinly settled country. Its population and that of its
suburbs consisted of the refugees from Missouri, of whose character we have had
proof; of the converts brought in from the Eastern states and from Europe, not
a very intelligent body; and of those pioneer settlers, without sympathy with
the Mormon beliefs, who were attracted to the place from various motives. While
active work was continued by the missionaries throughout the United States,
their labors in this country seem to have been more efficient in establishing
local congregations than in securing large additions to the population of
Nauvoo, although some "branches" moved bodily to the Mormon
centre.1
1 Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled;" p. 135.
Of the class of people reached by the early
missionaries in England we have this description, in a letter from Orson Hyde
to his wife, dated September 14, 1837: --
"Those who have been baptized are mostly
manufacturers and some other mechanics. They know how to do but little else
than to spin and weave cloth, and make cambric, mull and lace; and what they
would do in Kirtland or the city of Far West, I cannot say. They are extremely
poor, most of them not having a change of clothes decent to be baptized
in."2
2 Elders' Journal, Vol. I, No. 2.
In a letter of instructions from Smith to the
travelling elders in Great Britain, dated October, 1840, he warned them that
the gathering of the Saints must be "attended to in the order that the
Lord intends it should;" and he explains that, as "great numbers of
the Saints in England are extremely poor,... to prevent confusion and
disappointment when they arrive here, let those men who are accustomed to
making machinery, and those who can command a capital, though it be small, come
here as soon as convenient and put up machinery, and make such other
preparations as may be necessary, so that when the poor come on they may have
employment to come to."
The invitation to all converts having means was so
urgent that it took the form of a command. A letter to the Saints abroad,
signed by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, dated January 15, 1841, directed those
"blessed of heaven with the possession of this world's goods" to sell
out as soon as possible and move to Nauvoo, adding in italics: "This is
agreeable to the order of heaven, and the only principal (sic) on which the
gathering can be effected."3
3 The following is a quotation
from a letter written by an American living near Nauvoo, dated October 20,
1842, printed in the postscript to Caswall's "The City of the
Mormons": --
"If an English Mormon arrives, the first effort of Joe is to
get his money. This in most cases is easily accomplished, under a pledge that
he can have it at any time on giving ten days' notice. The man after some time
calls for his money; he is treated kindly, and told that it is not convenient
to pay. He calls a second time; the Prophet cannot pay, but offers a town lot
in Nauvoo for $1000 (which cost perhaps as many cents), or land on the
'half-breed tract' at $10 or $15 per acre.... Finally some of the irresponsible
Bishops or Elders execute a deed for land to which they have no valid title,
and the poor fellow dares not complain. This is the history of hundreds of
cases.... The history of every dupe reaches Nauvoo in advance. When an Elder
abroad wins one over to the faith, he makes himself perfectly acquainted with
all his family arrangements, his standing in society, his ability, and (what is
of most importance) the amount of ready money and other property which h e will
take to Nauvoo.... They make no converts in Nauvoo, and it appears to me that
they would never make another if all could witness their conduct at Nauvoo for
one month.... In regard to this communication, I prefer, on account of my own
safety, that you should not make known the author publicly. You cannot
appreciate these fears {in England}. You have no idea what it is to be
surrounded by a community of Mormons, guided by a leader the most
unprincipled."
We have seen how hard-pressed Smith was for money with
which to meet his obligations for the payment of land purchased. It was not
necessary that a newcomer should be a Mormon in order to buy a lot, special
emphasis being laid on the freedom of religious opinion in the city; but it was
early made known that purchasers were expected to buy their lots of the church,
and not of private speculators. The determination with which this rule was
enforced, as well as its unpopularity in some quarters, may be seen in the
following extract from Smith's autobiography, under date of February 13, 1843:
"I spent the evening at Elder O. Hyde's. In the course of conversation I
remarked that those brethren who came here having money, and purchased without
the church and without counsel, must be cut off. This, with other observations,
aroused the feelings of Brother Dixon, from Salem, Mass., and he appeared in
great wrath."
The Nauvoo Neighbor of December 27, 1843,
contained an advertisement signed by the clerk of the church, calling the
attention of immigrants to the church lands, and saying, "Let all the
brethren, therefore, when they move into Nauvoo, consult President Joseph
Smith, the trustee in trust, and purchase their land from him, and I am bold to
say that God will bless them, and they will hereafter be glad they did
so."
A good many immigrants of more or less means took
warning as soon as they discovered the conditions prevailing there, and
returned home. A letter on this subject from the officers of the church said:
--
"We have seen so many who have been
disappointed and discouraged when they visited this place, that we would have
imagined they had never been instructed in the things pertaining to the Kingdom
of God, and thought that, instead of coming into a society of men and women,
subject to all the frailties of mortality, they were about to enjoy the society
of the spirits of just men made perfect, the holy angels, and that this place
should be as pure as the third heaven. But when they found that this people
were but flesh and blood . . . they have been desirous to choose them a captain
to lead them back."
The additions to the Mormon population from
the settlers whom they found in the outlying country in Illinois and Iowa were
not likely to be of a desirable class. The banks of the Mississippi River had
long been hiding-places for pirate bands, whose exploits were notorious, and
the "half-breed tract" was a known place of refuge for the horse
thief, the counterfeiter, and the desperado of any calling. The settlement of
the Mormons in such a region, with an invitation to the world at large to join
them and be saved, was a piece of good luck for this lawless class, who found a
covering cloak in the new baptism, and a shield in the fidelity with which the
Mormon authorities, under their charter, defended their flock. In this way
Nauvoo became a great receptacle for stolen goods, and the river banks up and
down the stream concealed many more, the takers of which walked boldly through
the streets of the Mormon city. The retaliatory measures which Smith encouraged
his followers to practise on their neighbors in Missouri had inculcated a
disregard for the property rights of non-Mormons, which became an inciting
cause of hostilities with their neighbors in Illinois.
The complaints of thefts by Mormons became so frequent
that the church authorities deemed it necessary to recognize and rebuke the
practice. Lee quotes from an address by Smith at the conference of April, 1840,
in Nauvoo, in which the prophet said: "We are no longer at war, and you
must stop stealing. When the right time comes, we will go in force and take the
whole state of Missouri. It belongs to us as our inheritance; but I want no
more petty stealing. A man that will steal petty articles from his enemies
will, when occasion offers, steal from his brethren too. Now I command you that
have stolen must steal no more."4
4 Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled;" p. 111.
The case of Elder O. Walker bears on this subject. On October 11,1840, he was brought before a High Council and accused of discourtesy to the prophet, and "suggesting (at different places) that in the church at Nauvoo there did exist a set of pilferers who were actually thieving, robbing and plundering, taking and unlawfully carrying away from Missouri certain goods and chattels, wares and property; and that the act and acts of such supposed thieving, etc., was fostered and conducted by the knowledge and approval of the heads and leaders of the church, viz., by the Presidency and High Council."5
5 Millennial Star, Vol. XVIII, p. 185.
The action of the church authorities themselves
shows how serious they considered the reports about thieving. As early as
December 1, 1841, Hyrum Smith, then one of the First Presidency, published in
the Times and Seasons an affidavit denying that the heads of the church
"sanction and approbate the members of said church in stealing property
from those persons who do not belong to said church," etc. This was
followed by a long denial of a similar character, signed by the Twelve, and
later by an affidavit by the prophet himself, denying that he ever
"directly or indirectly encouraged the purloining of property, or taught
the doctrine of stealing." On March 25, 1843, Smith, as mayor, issued a
proclamation beginning with the declaration, "I have not altered my views
on the subject of stealing," reciting rumors of a secret band of
desperadoes bound by oath to self-protection, and pledging pardon to any one
who would give him any information about "such abominable
characters." This exhibition of the heads of a church solemnly protesting
that they were opposed to thieving is unique in religious history.
The Patriarch, Hyrum Smith, made an announcement to the
conference of 1843, which further confirms the charges of organized thieving
made by the non-Mormons. While denouncing the thieves as hypocrites, he said he
had learned of the existence of a band held together by secret oaths and
penalties, "who hold it right to steal from anyone who does not belong to
the church, provided they consecrate one-third of it to the building of the
Temple. They are also making bogus money.... The man who told me this said,
'This secret band referred to the Bible, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and
Book of Mormon to substantiate their doctrines; and if any of them did not
remain steadfast, they ripped open their bowels and gave them to the
catfish.'" He named two men, inmates of his own house, who, he had
discovered, were such thieves. The prophet followed this statement with some
remarks, declaring, "Thieving must be stopped."6
6 Millennial Star, Vol. XX, pp. 757-758.
The Rev. Henry Caswall, in a description of a
Sunday service in Nauvoo in April, 1842 "City of the Mormons," p. 15)
says: --"The elder who had delivered the first discourse now rose and said
a certain brother whom he named had taken a keg of white lead. 'Now,' said he,
'if any of the brethren present has taken it by mistake, thinking it was his
own, he ought to restore it; but if any of the brethren present have stolen a
keg, much more ought he to restore it, or else maybe he will get catched.'...
Another person rose and stated that he had lost a ten dollar bill. If any of
the brethren had found it or taken it, he hoped it would be restored."
This introduction of calls for the restoration of stolen property as a feature
of a Sunday church service is probably unique with the Mormons.
That the Mormons did not do all the thieving in the
counties around Nauvoo while they were there would be sufficiently proved by
the character of many of the persons whom they found there on their arrival,
and also by the fact that their expulsion did not make those counties a
paradise.7 The trouble with them was that, as soon as a man joined
them, no matter what his previous character might have been, they gave him that
protection which came with their system of "standing together." An
early and significant proof of this protection is found in the action of the
conference held in Nauvoo on October 3, 1840, two months before the charter had
given the city government its extended powers, which voted that "no person
be considered guilty of crime unless proved by the testimony of two or three
witnesses."8
7 "Long afterward, while the
writer was travelling through Hancock, Pike and Adams Counties, no family
thought of retiring at night without barring and double-locking every
ingress." -- Beadle, "Life in Utah," p. 65.
8 Millennial Star, Vol. XVIII, p. 153
It became notorious in all the country round that it was practically useless for a non-Mormon to attempt the recovery of stolen property in Nauvoo, no matter how strong the proof in his possession might be. S. J. Clarke9 says that a great deal of stolen stock was traced into Nauvoo, but that, "when found, it was extremely difficult to gain possession of it." He cites as an illustration the case of a resident of that county who traced a stolen horse into Nauvoo, and took with him sixty witnesses to identify the animal before a Mormon justice of the peace. He found himself, however, confronted with seventy witnesses who swore that the horse belonged to some Mormon, and the justice decided that the "weight of evidence," numerically calculated, was against the non-Mormon.
9 "History of McDonough County," p. 83.
A form of protection against outside inquirers for property, which is well authenticated, was given by what were known as "whittlers." When a non-Mormon came into the city, and by his questions let it be known that he was looking for something stolen, he would soon find himself approached by a Mormon who carried a long knife and a stick, and who would follow him, silently whittling. Soon a companion would join this whittler, and then another, until the stranger would find himself fairly surrounded by these armed but silent observers. Unless he was a man of more than ordinary grit, an hour or more of this companionship would convince him that it would be well for him to start for home.10
10 Lee's "Mormonism
Unveiled," p. 168.