Show ONCE A LITTLE KINGDOM GRAND RAPIDS mich jan 21 A bill has been introduced in the state legislature to dissolve the organization of manitou county it is alleged that the population is not sufficient to maintain a separate country organization and that better and more satis satisfactory factor y results will be gained if the territory is is annexed to leebenaw Lee lenaw and charlevoix counties whether or not the proposed change will meet with the wishes of the people most interested will not be known untie the legislature is nearly ready to adjourn and it is doubtful it the people will even be informed of what is going on until it is too late manitou county is made up of the dozen or more islands which lie off the grand traverse regions in the northern end of lake michigan the largest of the islands is the beaver at the extreme north of the group which extends over a distance of of sixty miles ending at the south with the manitou islands with the fox islands between the total population of the islands is about and of the inhabitants live on the beaver mostly at the northern end in and around the village of st james the island is twenty miles from the mainland I 1 and from the time navigation 1 closes in the autumn until the ice breaks up in the spring the only communication with the mainland is across the ice a dangerous trip taken perhaps once or twice if the conditions condition sare are favorable during the winter but in many seasons not at all the government might be overthrown but the islanders would know naught of it until the ice went out they will be in ignorance of the scheme to dissolve their county organization until well along in april or may beaver island was once the seat of a modest little kingdom it had a king and a castle and if the stories that are still told in the north country be true the king levied tribute upon the settle ments along the mainland and even upon the shipping that passed that way island james ames I 1 strang was the king of beaver island and the people he be ruled over were mormons cormons strang was born in new york state studied law and after his admission to the bar and his marriage went west he settled at voree wis and became a mormon when the great body of mormons cormons went with brigham young to utah after the murder of joseph smith shiang headed beaded a party of se ceders and after a jew adew prospecting trips led them to beaver island island ana and founded the village of st james naming it after himself atie ane site of the village was at the head of a landlocked land locked deepwater harbor at the northern end of the island this was in 1847 the island asland was heavily timbered and houses were constructed of logs put together either without nails or with spikes wrought by the blacksmith for his own accamo dation strang built a house more pretentious tent ious than any of the others two stories in height and oft he heaviest timbers the logs were put together with spikes the doors had heavy wrought iron hinges and locks and the lower windows were barred his place was called the castle and it was solid enough to stand a siege until two or three years ago the castle was still stand ing then sparks from the pipe of a drunken sailor started stalled a fire which destroyed it the mormons cormons also erected a tak tab made of logs as solid as the castle of which not a trace now remains the services were conducted by strang himself when he was at home but he had a dozen young men as apostles in constant training to take his place when he was away the services were held on sunday and it was not unusual for strang to attend in his bare feet the mormon settlement nourished flourished for two or three years and in st james had a po population pu lation of or then strang had a revelation on july 8 1850 1850 he summoned the people to the castle aney assembled at the appointed hour and from the balcony he addressed them he said that he had been visited by an angel of the lord and that the angel had directed him to be crowned king of the mor mons and had instructed him how to make his people happy when he em braced the mormon faith he did not believe in polygamy but the angel had advised him that he had erred in judgment and told him to take more wives to his bosom after the address strang repaired to a large chamber in the castle and was formally crowned king and set upon a throne he was robed in scarlet by a couple of young women and a crown was placed upon his head b by a couple more and ethen one of the clief chief destroying angels or deacons of the church stepped forward and assured the people that strang was a great ind and good man and enumerated some of the benefits which would surely come of them if the they paid him the right sort of homage the the ceremonies ceremonies closed with music very soon after the coronation strang began to marry and in the next five years he formed a collection of six wives wives not counting his first wife who lel thim when he acquired the marrying habit he urged the deacons and other high churchmen to do likewise burthey but they were handicapped somewhat by the scarcity of women to marry strang monopolizing the supply according to the law as ex expounded bounded by strang the highest duty of of man was to have many children the marriage of the first wife was public but the subsequent ceremonies were con ducted in private in a fashion known only to those initiated in the faith if a man died one or several widows without children it was incumbent upon his brother to take the widow it the widows had children they could marry whom they chose in ohp church were two secret societies so cities one called the society of the illuminati for men only and the other for both men and women called the covenant in the covenant ironclad oaths were taken to defend the church even to the shedding of blood and to stand by one another through thick and thin the secret obligations and work of the illuminati were never made public strands St reign was brief the peculiar religion of the mormons cormons evan ev n the plurality of wives did not serious serious y trouble the consciences of the fishermen and sailors who lived in the small towns along the mainland but the mormons cormons had a habit at looking upon the property of the gentiles as something to which they were privileged to help themselves whenever it could be done without getting caught they made frequent raids on the mainland and went even to milwaukee and chicago on their marauding ma excursions if a vessel was thrown upon the shore of beaver island or sought shelter in the harbor of st james from a storm the islanders levied a heavy tribute the plunder thus captured was divided among the fa faithful i ahful always reserving a tenth for the church the piratical ways of the mormons cormons excited the hatred of the mainland people and that the latter did not retaliate sooner was because a favorable opportunity did not often offer la ift 1855 strang strain promulgated a new revelation it was to 0 o the effect that women must wear bloomers the bicycle had not yet been invented and the women rebelled and this rebellion led to revolution mrs bedford and mrs campbell both of whom are still living in charlevoix were the leaders in the rebellious element mrs johnson mrs wentworth and mrs me mc culloch were also vigorous in their protests against heavenly interference with what they wore strang swore a mighty oath that the orders from heaven must be obeyed even though he were obliged to wade ankle deep in the blood of his subjects most of the re finally complied with the decree dacree but mrs bedford remained obstinate the woman was abetted by he her husband who for a long time had been on unfriendly fy terms with the monarch the rebellion of thel the wife afforded an opportunity port unity to punish the husband and 90 strang tran g ordered him to be publicly whipped the punishment was inflicted forty seven lashes were administered upon Bed fords bare back and the tree to which he was tied is still pointed hinted out to visitors in summer bedford bedford sulked around the island for a few days swearing vengeance and then disappeared he went to mackinac island where he was joined by wentworth who had a grievance of his own and the two planned lanned the assassination of the king an fn in this design they were secretly encouraged cou raged by mcculloch who had aspirations to succeed strang on the throne the conspirators remained away several months in may 1856 they secretly returned and awaited an opportunity on june 15 when the united states vessel michigan which is still plying the lakes was in in harbor the conspirators concealed themselves in a wood pile near the pier ard and waited for the king kine to pass on con his way to the boat when came along 7 in the evening bedford and W antworth antworth sprang out and both fired at him one with a horse pistol the other with a navy revolver three shots took effect and strang staggered and ai as he fell he saw and recognized the assassins and grabbed bedford by the leg bedford struck him over the head with the pistol and then fled with wentworth to the steamer and gave himself into custody of the government officers to escape the wrath of the islanders the two men were taken to mackinac where their trial resulted in an acquittal the sentiments being all in their favor strang was mortally wounded but death did not relieve him from suffering until several weeks later the news or of his shooting reached the mainland very early next morning and the king being as good as dead the fishermen along the shore organized to com complete lete the job bands were formed at charlevoix Chare east jordan harbor springs and cross village and at an appointed time a united raid was made on the island no resistance si was offered by the dismayed and disorganized islanders the attack ing party first visited the tabernacle and razed that to the gr ground 0 und the harem where strands St wives lived was next cleaned out and today all that remains of it is the site where it stood on a tow low hill directly back of the castle the village itself then received attention and everything of value was carried away anav notice was given to the mor 1 mons to get out within a specified time and they obeyed taking such household effects as they could carry with them they scattered some to chale where they still live but nat as mormons cormons Mor mons some to chicago some to milwaukee strang realized what was coming and before the raid reached the island he put off for milwaukee to receive surgical assistance for his wounds and to escape the wrath which he knew would break as soon as his downfall should he died a few weeks later at racine wis and by his bedside is as a faithful attendant was the wife of his youth whom he had married in the east before becoming a mormon and who left him when he became a polygamist she alone of his wives remained by his side until his death today the inhabitants of the island are chiefly hs fishermen hermen with a few farmers in the in brior during the winter considerable sid erable wood is cut and a few logs and telegraph po poles es are got out f for or summer shipment the people are almost unanimously irish by descent and the catholic is the only religion ton observed the rev father gallagher has been priest of the parish for a quarter of a century and is as much an autocrat as king strang ever was the island has no courthouse or lawyer it differences arise in business or otherwise the matter is taken to father gallagner gallagher who listens to the evidence and then pronounces judgment and the man who will not accept his judgment becomes an outcast on beaver island socially and in business bu sines very few appeals are taken from the decrees of the priest and it is worthy of note that when appeals have been taken courts the judgment of the priest has in nearly every instance been sustained the priest is in politics a democrat and in in the last presidential election of the votes cast only four were for harrison in 1852 strang laid aside his robes of royalty and went to lansing as a member ot of the legislature from the northern counties he made a fairly good representative senta tive at least he averaged well up ui with the others and the bill manitou county was one of the measures which he fathered strang established a newspaper on the island in his days of prosperity and had a small publish ing house in connection with the plant his press was an old fashioned one which he purchased in detroit and which was the first press brought to michigan by the rev father richards who served in congress as a delegate from michigan before michigan had been admitted into the union strang published his version of the bible and the revelations elat ions as they were received and als also wrote a history of the mackinac region in which he vigorously defended himself and his religion from the attacks of the gentiles gentile his newspaper was published weekly and in the last issue was given an account of the assassination when the raiders canie came the prin printing printies tinS press was taken to the mainland an and the type was scattered the books and p papers apers were destroyed and original editions are now extreme extremely ly rare |