| Show ACCOUNT OF F HIS BIS by eider elder william martindale nowery bowery sunday afternoon ati all aug ang 16 1857 1557 REPORTED BY J T V LONG brethren and sisters it is with feelings that are easier felt than described that I 1 arise arisa before you to speak for a short time some of you will remember perhaps that about three years and three months ago I 1 was called to go oil on a mission to texas I 1 believe belleve it was the eidth day of april that I 1 was called and on the tenth day of may I 1 left loft this city in company with a few other brethren br benjamin L clapp being appointed president of tile tiie company lashed asked a blassl blessing ing on tiie the bread since that time I 1 have llave passed through very different from that presented before me today to day and when I 1 contrast those scenes with the tile present I 1 feel that if ir I 1 had not had some acquaintance with the saints in the tha mountains with their looks their feelings and their spirits that I 1 should be constrained to think that I 1 had in my transit across the plains by some meals menus got wot got oil on lo 10 some other planet when I 1 witness the intelligence sparkling from your eyes the unparalleled peace love and union that dwell in your bosoms and surround your moun mountain taia tala homes and the joyous expressions of your countenances the contrast between these and the ilia darkening wicked and murderous eyes and countenances that I 1 have been called in some degree to ml mingle agle with in the world is beyond my power of language Ian lan guage to portray when I 1 started on my mission I 1 said I 1 was goin iny to hell and I 1 have found it just so I 1 have llave found a little worse rookery than I 1 expected but by the tha blessing of my heavenly father I 1 live have performed my mission got the privilege to return to the valleys and meet with a hearty welcome from the prophet of god that stands at the head 0 of the church on the earth and this has recompensed me roe for all the liell hell that I 1 have been in I 1 have had the privilege since I 1 have been gone of baptizing quite a number of good faithful people who have confidence in th the presidency of the church of jesus christ and in your humble servant from whom they received tile the gospel and they have thanked god the tile first presidency decy and your humble servant for being tiie the means of their receiving the gospel and they tiley are also thankful that they had honest honesty enough to embrace it times were such in the sunny land laud of the south that they could not dispose of their property so as to gather up here the present season reason some of them have llave negroes cattle and lands and they could not flad fiad any market for them this season and consequently they could not comb here otherwise they would be gad to gather with the saints of god the tha united states are aro being visited by the judgments of the almighty for three years past past they have not had but half a crop cotton the tile queen of the south lias has failed for three years in succession aed and while I 1 was in genoa I 1 had a letter from one of or the brethren who stated that it froze so on the tho ath of april uial that it killed their corn their cotton and their sassafras they said sald they thay must kill hill that old oid Mormon Mor mony mons for prophesying and ai d bringing evil upon them such being bein their circumstances in april I 1 cannot tell how their crop will aeme out this season in that region of or country where br clapp traveled a great storm arose and a whirlwind took people up in the air and killed seventeen of them by twisting their heads round goods were found scattered 50 0 O miles away from the stores and one storekeeper store keeper was found with head bead twisted round tho the only family that escaped was that hat 0 of a widow woman who saw the hurricane co coming in ing and ran into the prairie fell flat on her face and held heid on to her ben children the judgments cf god are failing falling upon that people to a great extent and yet they continue to make long prayers and to pull long faces for such auch things are popular there for them to have frost and aud d snow in that country why it quite astonishes them they hardly got over exulting at the news which they had received about the grasshoppers grasshopper eating up the tha crops of the mormons cormons Mor mons n s and a nd about abo ut tile the general government being determined to straighten up that great governor of utah till a severe freezing winter came aud and killed OLT off half ther their cattle last spring on the of MY muy I 1 stood oil on snow a feet feel deep and there is ii no gr grass ass for their animals and no wheat for themselves there ia is not as much wheat in richmond coun ly ty as there is upon two jots in grantsville Grants vaile ville where I 1 live and richmond I 1 s one of tile llie best iest best wheat gr growing counties in illinois illinois there were not net any persons there who knew me and therefore I 1 could ask as many question as I 1 had a mind for I 1 was dih dib lag cattle cattie catt calt leand and of course could cond pass off for a frontier drover I 1 said to a man who talked with me you are as bad as the mormons cormons Mor mons 1 I 1 talked with him some time lime and finding that he be was anticipating more troubles I 1 remarked ea your faith is so may it be what is 13 the matter matters some inquired they are in hell and L can say that pres youngs words are true and that lie he is a prophet of god for lie says that to want todo to do something and cannot I 1 is hell and that is just their condition for thefts they want vyant to do something to the tiie latter day saints san they wish to wille wipe the hing king kingdom doin doln of go god gad out of existence and they cannot the papers boasted when parley was killed that there was one mormon less and that is tha the way they feel they want to do something they itch all over and they hardly know where ta scratch and if they knew where it hurt most they would bite there was a man came through the country where I 1 was who professed to have been through salt lake city and lie he told the people that martindale was a better speaker than pres young I 1 thought the man a very poor judge they brought many charges against me while I 1 was among them they first said I 1 was a honsa horsa stealer and that I 1 found all the good horses in tilo tho country and then set the boys to steal them I 1 was then charged with being a negro stealer and than when that would not pass any longer they said I 1 was wa at the tha head of a party of abol zionists after this a man came along through the country and I 1 was pointed out to him as a Mor mormon mon mou 2 As soon as he lie saw me roe he lie told me bebe he had known main new york and lie he told the people that I 1 was the smartest lawyer in tile the country and said he be if he be ilas lias undertaken to study mormonism you might just as well weil all shut up at once 2 just so sure as they commenced upon me tiba tha lord put something between them and me in ao so much that they became exceedingly angry and do dared if I 1 baptized any person or organized a branch there they would take my lire life the first they knew of my operations was that I 1 had a branch organized an old baptist there said if I 1 baptized any of his family he would kill hill me but tile the first the old man knew I 1 had baptized his son sort and daughter I 1 baptized 36 in that regon of country most of them are still good faithful saints orla oria ordained ined some to the ilia priesthood and when I 1 came away I 1 left two elders to preside I 1 did the grubbing and ah the po ploughing sloughing eughing hing I 1 planted the tiie seeds seed irrigated it and G god d al almighty in eighty gave the inc increase tease there thera are those that I 1 am as sure of or almost as I 1 am of my existence my heart would rejoice to see them gathered into these valleys my aly heart beart rejoices in what we have heard today to day I 1 feel that it is first rate and just suitable to our cond condition lion ilon for zion must ba be free the first thing that I 1 had my attention called to in the sundy south was polygamy I 1 was asked what we believed about it we could not preach baptism and the first principles of f the gospel for the people were determined to hear bear sim something ething about polygamy while tipon upon this subject T r have a notion of showing you what christianity will do though thou gli perhaps you hear bear a great deal about it from itie tha elders who return from their various missions mission ss but I 1 will still throw ilmy in my mile the tho christians down in the lower world have haw a great deal to say about the mormons cormons Mor Alor mons having more than one wife in the mountains one very pious long faced gentleman had considerable to say tome to me on this subject said lie he do edo the mormons cormons Mor mons have more than one wife I 1 answered yes sir sar 9 2 he continued what what grounds have you for such a practical do you find grounds for it in gods holy word it is astonishing and many of your leading men we have reason to believe are arc men of talent and some of them indeed are men of taste and your ladies are ladies of taste it is astonishing that you believe belleve ia in such an erroneous doctrine such corruption 0 it is a stink utah will fall in its own corruption 5 how liow d do you think I 1 should feel by this tima timo voice I 1 should feel as if I 1 should want to wipe my nose we believe the united states government are going to straighten you up un there in utah and to mak make e you a code codo of moi mor morals morais als ais to live by I 1 replied to such remarks by saying I 1 acknowledge we are aarein in the tops of the he mountains and ana we are so peculiar that we do not allow the name of god to be profaned we are far away from civilization as known in the tiie world and we have not the houses bofill fame nor licensed brothels brot hels helf and not many court houses bouses then I 1 turned round and said I 1 would like to know who abo who owns these colored children here the thene these half breeds these three fourths one eighths and one sixteenths I 1 see them here all grades and shades of color and now I 1 want to know who are the fathers of all these mulatto children I 1 know men in the south who drive their own sons and daughters at the plough and sell them at public auctions for tor one half the children in that countr ylare of mixed blood it ia is profitable business there thera to raise In aisene iggers iggens ai bene sere 1 for those mixed breeds will fetch from an hundred bundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars more than a full blooded 1 it is frequently the case that a man is d riving one on of his daughters about as a slave while be he h has asan another other in the parlor brummi drumming n music out of 0 a piano I 1 have sometimes wanted the privilege that was g given ven today to day by br brigham if I 1 had had that pr privilege when among the Ec scoffing offing gentiles r ah should oid old hax bax hae e been very much inclined to fight for I 1 frequently felt quite a disposition to mash rial in in some of their wicked mouths see sea them selling and ard bartering off their own flesh and alid blood and then justifying themselves in it you know five fire or ten cents for a moments carnal gratification occasionally is not so costly as it is to board and clothe and honorably support a woman all the time and they say cit it is is no harm to take a little if it is black sach snell is the corruption of that part of the world where I 1 have been I 1 i br brigham has told ond one of the true tru causes oa oll the great hue and cry about the corruptions corrupt ions of i utah he and his bis brethren have more than one i wife honorably given to them according to the i law of god and as such they honorably main maln maintain rain tain them in the south where I 1 have been they pursue a little different course from this and they have from one to twenty wives sand and nineteen out of the twenty are BLACK j but we are the saints of the most high and we stand by those men who have the keys of the kingdom of god plurality is not the only cause of our being hated bated but to sum the matter UD up in brief we are hated oi all the world because we have in our midst men who hold bold the keys leys of the ein tin 9 dom of heaven he avenand and the enemies of truth bepin begin to see some things just as they are and among among the rest they see that speedy inevitable and irretrievable Jrie trie vable vabie destruction is co coming mi ng upon themselves they are divided and subdivided suad i vided aided and the more i I 1 enlightened portion of t them b e in begin to see eee that neighbor heigh bor is losing conal confidence d e n ce in in neighbor and that men generally are losing confidence in each j baher they perceive that something dreadful is i coming upon the earth talk about the corruptions corrupt ions of utah maili it is a j shame to mention them if even our enem enemies es imort diabolical lies could be true in connection with the damned abominations of the gentile world I 1 traveled tra veledin in four counties during my mission to texas and some portion of the time t line traveled a gittlein litt little lein in louisiana during my travel in those four cour counties there were 21 men shot down and only one prosecution followed and in that case the man was taken to prison and put under a five thousand dollar bail that is a specimen of the he people wll wil who desi reto come here and teach the mormons cormons Mor mons morals but I 1 am thinking myself that should they come here they will find scholars that will not be so easily educated in their school the spirit that prevails here fills me with joy jop it is a spirit that does me good and makes my soul swell within me I 1 rejoice 11 oice olce in in the th e privileges that are granted unto me and in the promises made nade unto the faithful if we live our reli rell religion blon zion we need not fear the tyranny and oppression designed to be brought upon udon us by our enemies it is true we have been afflicted and tormented in in days gone by but the hand of the lord has been over us for good yet we have not realized our privileges and the bless ings bestowed upon us I 1 thought when here that I 1 realized the blessing 0 o f the society of the saints buti never comprehended that blessing so fully as I 1 now do since I 1 have bave returned from hell bell when I 1 was there it seemed to me that if I 1 could once a again ain aln get back into the mountains nobody should ever ever hear me grunt or growl at anything my aly mission has given me one more stron strong proof of the oppression and corruption which cx ex 11 1 ests in the world I 1 have never heard beard eard or read of a worse hell bell than the he one that exists down where I 1 have been excepting perhaps the he bottom of the bottomless pit which tile methodists tell of which they say is so very hot you go to the south and you will find men secretly sian slandering slandering derin and ti undermining n der mining each other whenever they llave have an opportunity they are friendly when they meet but as quick as they are arc separated they are at their old game As soon as I 1 got on the top lop of the biz mountain a come over me theatmus the atmosphere loe the here seemed more agreeable after we arrived the south pass and it gradually improved got better and still better as we adran advanced ced towards home it seemed quite a different climate another place in short I 1 felt that I 1 had got home where I 1 might be free and untrammeled to do a as s I 1 pleased if I 1 did right and I 1 please and desire to do right all the time I 1 rejoice in the good spirit that is among the brethren I 1 see men before me who |
