Show THE oratorical CONTEST THE oratorical bociey of the university of michigan was organized some live five years ago the object is to foster an in terest in and to take part in the contests of the northern oratorical k SK league there are seven competing orators in the contest which takes place annually chosen from the students of the uni university hersity ver sity that have not received a degree and these are chosen by a preliminary contest from the senior junior and sophomore classes of the literary and law departments the contestants in the preliminary contest receiving first and second positions are sent to the final contest as representatives of their classes the seniors only being granted two representatives the otner classes one each utah received the highest honors in in the first contest through the efforts of J E hickman in true oratory and an earnestness that thai was inspiring he told of the sufferings ot of the mormons cormons and of 0 their pilgrimage from missouri to utah the audience was held spellbound during the entire oration and when he told ol of his cifes mother carrying her babe across the plains a deathlike silence filled the room mr hickman did not expect to win when he began his oration if I 1 can only get into university hall with my speech spec ch and vindicate my people from the wrongs which have been heaped upon them I 1 shall be satisfied he said some weeks ago he has done more than that THE banishment OF THE MORMON PEOPLE my subject is a most unpopular one it was chosen not to herald an lar faith but to defend the cause of civil and rel bious liberty against unwarranted prejudice not to advocate adv 0 cate the I 1 tenets ot ol any religion but defend the cause of virtue and order against the enemies of all divine and human lawf law I 1 keenly realize the disadvantage at ai which I 1 am placed in defend ng this thi much misunderstood peddle and I 1 am not ignorant of the prejudice existing upon this subject there ore I 1 ask you do not ude ludve until their history is held up to the light ol of reason though this people originated in in new york I 1 will not speak of their his tory until we find them in the western part of missouri where they had gone and built themselves comfortable homes with the view of worshipping wor shipping gud god ac cording to the dictates of thier conscience but as their religion was dil dif terent from the accepted belief belie of the day they soon began to be ridiculed then to be persecuted finally organized rn mobs abs assembled and burning their hom homes es tarred feathered and whipped many of their people in their extreme suffering they applied for protection to judge priest and governor but received none they even petitioned president van buren who replied your cause is just but I 1 can do nothing lor for you bancroft Han cruft the great american historian ays that banded mobs went from sett sime ement to settlement of the mormons cormons Mor mons burning their homes killing or driving vie toe unoffending inhabitants inhabitant into exile in one place they murdered every man woman oman i and child and among the number killed was an old revolutionary veteran who had fought for our inde pen dence says the never in ravage or other warfare was there fin an act more dastardly or brutal the Missour missourians ians in order that they might have a mantle to cover their cruelty drew up resolutions they said that the mormons cormons believed in prophets etc etc in revelations and that they were superstitious that being mostly from the new england states they believed in freeing the slaves and finally they were poor poverty superstition unpopular doctrines these were the crimes for such crimes fourteen lour teen thousand inhabitants were driven from their homes in midwinter mid winter in the middle ages no in the nineteenth century in russia no in america fourteen thousand inhabitants driven from their homes in the dead of winter the sick were torn from their beds and thrust out into the midnight air and compelled to seek safety in in some bleak forest there were shivering little children there were infants homeless but tor for a mothers arms couch less but for a mothers breast in such distress pursued by merciless oppressors they left the tracks of their bleeding feet upon the snows of their pathway homeless shivering heartbroken and plundered they sought shelter in the uninhabited plains of 01 illinois in this bleak wilderness far from the inhumanity of man the fugitives did for a time find peace and rest during the six years which they were permitted to remain in illinois they built several vili villages ages besides nauvoo a city of twenty thousand inhabitants they established schools founded a university and built a magnificent temple it must be admitted says gays bancroft tuat mat the mormons cormons in missouri and illinois were more honet honest temperate hardworking self denying and thrifty people than those by bv whom they were surrounded whatever was the cause that led to their expulsion from illinois it was not due to any crimes ol of theirs unless it was an offense to profess pro fetes a different creed and worship at a different shrine but governor Ford isaid said that all manner ol of trumped up charges were brought against i them hem and those charges were without foundation for the mor muns mons had bad committed no such offenses on a pretended charge joseph smith and others were arrested ana taken to carthage under the sworn protection of the governor it is said that juseph joseph smith had a premonition of his terrible late and said 1 I am ying going like a lamb to the slaughter but 1 am as calm as a summer morning I 1 have a conscience void of 0 offense towards god and to wards all men I 1 shall die innocents innocent and it yet will be said of me he was murdered in cold blood the next day after this Is prediction he and his brother were killed in Cartha carthage gp jail again mob law reigned and men lost their reason the mormons cormons were or ered from the state their homes were wem robbed and laid mashes ane scenes ol of missouri were being repeated scarce had the lights of their burning home died out when with scanty hoard they cro crossed ased the mississippi on the first night of their exodus february fth 1844 nine wives became mok mothers hers how those innocent babes sick and tie delicate licate mothers were were cared for under such conditions is left t the im imagination ina itin ot of the sensitive hearer beater ma was it in russia or Hin doostan that people had to for opinions sake As those exiles departed at the top of every hill they could be seen looking back like banished moos on their abandoned homes and their distant temple with its glittering spires let me observe here that there were many honest souls in missouri and illinois who cried out Bicain st such in justice but as is too often the case cafe they were in the minority after the death of joseph smith brigham young by right and choice of the people organ iced and led them into the wilds of america and while missouri was dividing the property of fourteen thousand inhabitants whom she had recently expelled while illinois was trying to over cover up the blood of the murdered prophets while all the united states looked on with silent indifference one of the most persecuted and down trod den people that history records were marching nar ching westward beyond the pale of civilization and now comes an episode inthe history of the mormons cormons which I 1 should not dare to relate were it not part 0 the official records of the government otherwise it would be iq incredible credible while in the wilderness on their westward march for the rocky mountains Mount dins war was declared between our government and mexico strange as it may seem the president sent a messenger to brigham young to ask lor for five hundred volunteers to enter the army and march against mexico remember that two states of the nation had thrust this people from their borders had permitted mobs to plunder them rob them ot of their homes murder their prophets and drive them into exile remember that their appeals in their sore afflictions though made to governors judges and to the tee president were invariably iab y ignored i or denied remember finally that they were marching through a country unparalleled for dangers that they were enduring hardships which at times threatened their very existence had they not sufficient cause tor for refusing to listen to the presidents appeal and yet it was their country calling that country to which their pilgrim an had fled for which their patriot sires had fought and suffered whose deeds of heroism were among their highest and noblest traditions it was enough brig brigham young said colonel allen alien jau you shall have your men if there are not enough young men I 1 will call upon the old men and then if not enough I 1 will call upon the women when the call was made those sacrificing roa pi pilgrims rims forgot their wrongs wrong kissed the rod that smote them and with one accord answered their count rys call ransack the records oi of history ancient end modern and match if you can this example axam pile of patriotism heroine oice mothers while their husbands laap and sons were at the front defending the country that had driven them into exile drove their own teams twelve hundred miles over those trackless plains hundreds of them had neither wagons nor teams handcarts Hand carts were made and in them they placed their scanty hoard men and women pulled those carts across the desert wastes of america could not this destitute and exiled people receive aid they were offer sd d peace if they would relinquish their religion and all alle biance to their faith but to relinquish their religion for peace to them it was treason suc ii 1 sin an act would have made a mockery of their high profession which had been wi itten in blood and tears during duling that dreary march hunger bunger sickness and death followed in their wake many times death was a welcome visitor to those weary and footsore pilgrims many lying down with their burdens tor for pillows never awoke and tonight rest in 16 unmarked araje graves from the lips of aged veterans L have been told that when they were exhausted and could go no farther bare beaded barefooted bare footed tooted and in their tattered clothing they knelt upon those trackless plains and importuned importuner their father my god and your god for strength upon arising their weariness was gone you may not believe in miracles but it is true that even as with the ancient israelites in the wilderness the quails came by the thousands to feed those starving pilgrims riaLs my own cifes widowed mother peace be to her demor memory Y walked and carried her babe from the missouri river to the rocky mountains picture if you can that banished peo pie on those plains almost destitute of food and clothing mothers stripping off their scanty clothing to protect their little ones from the cold winds that swept across the bleak prairies in their extreme hunger they were obliged to eat roots and thistles whistles es yea more they were forced to cook and eat old raw hides the history of the sufferings of that people though often attempted is yet unwritten As the pioneers reached the heights ot of the for the first time they saw their destined home and as moses stood on Pis gahs heights and viewed the promised land so they from those silent peaks viewed their asylum ol of rest around them silence and desolation a desolation of centuries rugged mountains with huge spurs decorated with towers and pinnacle raising their towering summits into the domain of the clouds rich with the aspiring forms of gothic type far below they saw the blue waters of the dead sea of america glittering in the summer sunlight like a silver shield and as tar far as the eye could reach stretched the arid and desert miles on miles of sagebrush sage brush and snowwhite snow white alkali eternal desolation yet to them it was home and at the sight of it their hearts were glad they descended into the valley to pitch their tents and rest in peace there was now no fear of molestation from vandal hordes how sweet must have been that sleep as upon the earth parched and seared through untold centuries they slumbered beneath the friendly skies amidst eternal soli solitude though that coun ry to which they had bad gone was then under mexican rule they u unfurled the stars and stripes an ensign peak and in solemn assembly they voted to revere the constitution and anci its principles as a divinely inspired document they also decreed that this land should be a home for the oppressed they forgave all men that had injured them and lifted an ensign of peace to every nation under heaven my friends I 1 have couched in simple language the pathetic story of the exodus of this people I 1 have kept back striking events pitiable sufferings and terrible wrongs the words that I 1 should speak burn within me and tremble on my lips but I 1 shall not utter them it is enough I 1 am willing to leave the judgment to future generations when the clouds of hatred and mistrust which hang like a pall over the genius of that people are dispelled the history of their living martyrdom will make the heart of the nation ache with pity and remorse |