Show OT ok JAMES J STRANG the detroit journal of feb 19 under the heading king strands St sons still live in michigan gives an account of the family and career of a man whose connection with the mormon church and defection have become matters of history portions of it do not read like carefully prepared and strictly authentic history but it to is here reproduced for whatever it may be worth sunfield mich feb 18 special this little village has the distinction of numbering among its inhabitants a son of the famous mormon king who reigned with indisputable power and authority on the islands of northern michigan tor for so many years the citizen to whom reference is made is clement J strang editor and proprietor of the sunfield sentinel who is one of the most industrious and honored residents of this village another son charles J strong strang is a printer in the employ of the robert smith printing company state printers and binders he is secretary of the lansing typographical union and stands well among the craftsmen in that city neither of i the sons it is said bald have any sym sympathy pathy with the teachings of their somewhat distinguished father the career of james J strang or king strang as he was better known is full of interest the records of the state pioneers society show that thai in 1847 he led a colony of immigrants who settled aled on beaver island the largest island in the group comprising the now disorganized county of manitou Man itou st james the county seat was founded at that time and named in honor of the king who located there with his followers soon after the colony at nauvoo was broken up by the murder of joseph smith both strang and brigham young claimed to be smiths legitimate successor but young succeeded in enlisting by tar far the greater number of followers while strang after being excommunicated for his pretensions took his band of faithful adherents first to voree wis and soon after af ter to reaver beaver island where he pet up his kingdom St tr angs native shrewdness was manifested infested in his selection of the location for the establishment of his colony there were grave doubts as to the jurisdictional po position sitton of the island so that when th the mormon king set up his court at st james there was no legal authority hority to dispute his right to do so the monarchy he established there was both ecclesiastical and religious and he assumed the prerogative of both high priest and king he promulgated laws enforced rules of morality and not only prohibited the sale of ardent spirits but actually enforced such prohibition hibi tion he placed all the local offices in the hands of his followers and the poor settlers whom they found there carrying on a peaceful business trading fishing and in a few instances farming were forced to betake themselves to a more congenial locality all visits and advances of outsiders were discouraged by king strang who however established a newspaper introduced trod stock raising on quite an extensive scale observed the seventh day of the week as the sabbath and built a tabernacle collecting from the people one tenth of all their earnings or incomes 0 for religious uses and of course never failing to come in for a liberal share of these tithes for his own personal use and benefit under these conditions the colony appeared to flourish for a time but before it had been long established bitter dissensions arose among the mor mons and the mackinaw fishermen the feud increased until a case was finah finally I 1 instituted against the former for interfering ter fering with the united states mails and the armed steamer Michi michigan gaA was dispatched from detroit for the purpose of arresting king strang and the leading officials of his kingdom the complaint however was not well founded and uie U e case was dismissed the only result resul tf of the proceedings being to show up the mormons cormons in a rather unenviable it light ht the Ingo introduction of polygamy into the colony in 1849 proved to be a most serious disturbing element it led to constant trouble and collision with the gentiles and caused many of the mor mons to renounce their allegiance to king st strang g these seo eders finally accomplished strafes rafts St downfall seven years later in 1856 1956 as he was waa boarding the steamer michigan at the island he was murdered by some of the dissatisfied mormons cormons Mor mons and the people of the mainland then proceeded to revenge themselves for the indignities he and his followers had heaped upon them they organized a raid upon the latter and confiscated every movable article belonging to them the plunder including several good boats and many choice animals the lack of an organized county government rendered proper action impossible in this emergency and only a weak and ineffectual attempt was as made to bring the raiders to justice this failure was however due in a measure to public sentiment the people of the state generally being of the opinion that as lawlessness had cypre prevailed only against something they eon con worse than lawlessness no great harm had been done it was by this means that a colony which had in a single decade increased from a few families to fully 2000 people was broken up and scattered |