Show topete to dule dull NAUVOO HANCOCK CO ill lii december 1869 editor presuming that a few lines from a former city of the saints might not be uninteresting to your many readers who were once oneo res identa of this place I 1 give you a few items sterns that have come under my observation since my ray sojourn here accompanied by brother wm bringhurst I 1 made a detour from the direct route to the east for the purpose of visiting nauvoo also some relatives iela lela tives residing in the vicinity we found communication ni by rail to montrose on bunday nov we crossed the mississippi to nauvoo the river niver was full of floating ice and it was with some difficulty that we crossed on arriving at nauvoo we went to the nauvoo mansion and found major biderman derman Bl the husband of emma smith and tor of the house engaged in playing cards the fire having gone down the major with sundry twists of the poker as assisted silted by some oaths too profane to be mentioned here succeeded in arousing the fire I 1 mention this as it forcibly struck me to think of the contrast between that house now and the days wilen wh en it was occupied by its original proprietor at dinner I 1 saw emma smith for the first time I 1 must confess I 1 was somewhat disappointed in her appearance pe ea rance arance since my arrival I 1 have been een engaged in visiting my relatives and other acquaintances who reside in the prairie east of nauvoo I 1 have been received with the greatest friendship and cordiality we expect to leave here on the morrow for cleveland ohio it has been with peculiar feelings that I 1 have haxe trodden the streets and viewed this ruined city the thought suggests bug sug tests itself where are the many faithful faith falth fal fui bouls souls who by their hard labor in so short a time raised these piles of brick and stone where are the masons whose trowels rang over the walls of oi the nauvoo house masonic hall and the temple where are the stone cut whose hammers clinked on the hard limestone of the adjoining quarries where are the tha carpenters the sound of whose chisels and axes rang ran in the construction of the homes of the ini fui gutive sainte where are the plough aboya who first turned the prairie sod and planted the corn forthe for nor the sustenance odthe of the brethren ii where are the brick makers hw the he hewers of wood and drawers of water ater the merchant the printer and the preacher of the word where is the prophet by whose instrumentality in the he house of god arose the city the ruins of which I 1 see around me where is a 9 the temple whose grandeur was vas tir tl pride ride nide of the salata baiata and the greate greatest A or in ament of the mississippi valley they sare lare all all gone at Moti montrose trose garden grove mount pisgah council bluff a winter quarters and over the hills and dales from the missouri river elver to beyond the rocky mountains are to be found the final resting place of many of them rhese these at least have found lan an asylum is mb forever secure from the wrath of 1 mobs with their numerous descendants are to be found in happy homes in the peaceful valleys of the great basin babin and some painful thought yielded fielded to the pressured pressure nd turned from the truth the prophets blood Is at carthage jail he too is forever secure from rom the handsor handsol hand those who shed his alood alood and the temple once the owning browning tr sr glory of this city by the rland lland lands of wicked men is not latone istone lefo left one atone upon another what a complete metamorphosis neta the next question that naturally arrives is what is the cause of all this none of the present inhabitants of nauvoo can tell me they shrug their shoulders e rs they shake their heads at the q question u est on I 1 must go farther for an answer I 1 must not ask the prejudice of the american people it would not answer truly he who would answer me truly would say the cause lies in the intolerance with which religious truth has ever been received upon the earth in the proclivity the world has everead ever had bad to crucify their messiahs in the same saine cause that shed the blood of christ christaud and desolated the houses of the former day saints an old inhabitant took me to the spot where once stood the noble temple I 1 not a vestige of it lemal ze maIns ns grape gra e vines sand and weeds encumber the soly soil the tones stones of which it was built are scatter tto ito to the four winds some have been used in the construction of less pretentious 1 edifices some shipped to bt st louis and other cities and some are used for the j adoor door steps of the neighboring farmhouses the nauvoo house is just as ft lit was left the walls are in as at perfect a condition conditions 1 as when the masons left them the masonic hall remains and is used for the purpose for which it was built the seventies hall has haa been torn down and rebuilt for a church I 1 think the residence of bros brigham kimball hyde snow jos JOB Young sen and othera others are still stand standing him hig brother brothers parleys house is used for i a temporary catholic church and a fine edifice for the same purpose is being erected adi joining it the arsenal has been con averted into a private residence many of the smaller buildings have been torn down the majority of the larger ones remain the inhabitants of nauvoo are nearly all wine bibbing beer drinking germans aud and number about three thousand I 1 have respectfully asked what has haa become of those who drove the saints from their homes and the unvarying testimony es has been that those who are alive silve are socially and politically dead mr INI al morrill an attorney m annau nau V oo 00 brother of senator morrill of 01 maine who is an old inhabitant of the place in reply to the above question said they are either dead in the penitentiary or gone to h 1 I 11 palma the fiend who set the temple on fire is now a conviction convict jn in the penitentiary ai at fort madison the rev bev thos brockman commander of the mob forces who expelled the remaining saints from their homes in sept 1846 afterwards ran for the office of county clerk for fon this county he made his eminent servi services cesin in expelling the saints a radical point in his claims upon his party for election he was defeated overwhelmingly and left the country in dis dib disgust rust be before re leaving he made a valedictory address to the citizens of carthage in which he bitterly complained of the treatment he h had bad a d received from the citizens of ot han ran Hancock cock co in being ungrateful to him for his mighty services rendered in expelling their enemies during his address he had the flag which waved over his bis myr amidons laying on the desk before him he pathetically said he wished to bequeath the nag flag to some citizen of hancock co who would preserve it and asked who would take the fla fia flag g no one made answer for sometime finally a man whose name I 1 have forgotten stepped forward aud and roee roce ivel that glorious flag which had waved over fifteen h hundred un dred brave heads 0 2 who had an succeeded in driving a few defence less men women and ind children from their homes brockman and col williams are both dead died enjoying the res respect act of no one as far as I 1 can learn cot cof col coi mccally McC anly olle one of the leaders of the mob still lives but in a state of ab abject fordering tor eor act poverty and his faculties are axe close bordering dering on idiocy tom sharp still lives it is said ild his nose lengthens aa as he grows in years the present citizens of hancock county as far as I 1 can learn leam deprecate the expulsion of the saints and none of those engaged in the unholy act ever enjoyed any social respect afterward nay more they thy were e d despised e by their neighbors tz au and Q former normer orm r mends friends joseph smith certainly had an eye for for fox the beautiful when he selected this for the site of a city it is one of the most beautiful situations for a city that I 1 ever saw efforts are being made by certain parties to have nauvoo selected as a site for the proposed new national capitol the whole city Is now a vineyard an d wine is nearly the whole traffic of the inhabitants to me there appears to he be a gloom settled over this locality the streets are not animated with the busy buby throng as was once the age abe at the grog geries culminate all the apparent life of the ifie inhabitants and the houses generally appear to be occupied by a very untidy class how mow different is the scene now from that which would be presented had the peaceful industrious saints been permitted to remain instead of a squalid dilapidated town the traveler would nind find fina here the handsomest hanso city in the mississippi dippi valley surrounded by a paradise when wehen will the world learn who are its benefactors bro bringhurst joins me in love to you and all friends your brother W V H A western man bas has invented an hink ink link pencil which is said to be the best thing yet it consists of a tube about the size of an ordinary pencil contain ing ingin eink oink k near the point of the pencil penell is a little iron sto stop pen per resting on a spiral spring inside wel mel when the point of the pencil is placed on the paper the stopper is forced up epand anu and the ink flows evenly without blotting the them paper it needs ino no adjustment and can call be carried in the pocket the official returns of emigration show that since 1853 one million and a halt half of people emigrated from ireland aa wisconsin paper gives an account of the capture in northern montana of an animal of a species unknown by the naturalist which is claimed by some to be a relic ef the mastodon this marvelous creature is only two years old but stands seven feet high ll 11 ebig the famous agricultural chemist declines to accept the fund being raised for him in germany he will accept a silver medal but at his request the fund will be devoted to the encouragement of scientific agriculture |