Show MORMONS AND citizenship thursday november judge A called up the application of john Moore for naturalization which had been objected to because he had been through the endowment house it being alleged that all who received the endowment ceremony took an oath that is incompatible with the duties of a citizen the large federal court room was filled with a multitude mostly non mormons cormons Mor mons eager to hear the anticipated exposure of the endowment ceremonies baskin and dickson had seats mats in front abod along 9 side of lipman and it was seen that they were the chosen ones to lead in the desperate assault on the mormon church for mr moore the applicant legrand dearaya young J H moyle and B R W young appeared among the interested te listeners were apostle J H smith M W merrill and A H lund und during the proceedings edinge whenever any of the witnesses made a particularly pointed assertion against the church a loud guffaw would arise from the throats of the non mormons cormons both within and outside of the railing B R N baskin announced that wm win H dickson and himself bad been engaged to appear on behalf ot of the I 1 liberals or those objecting to the naturalization of mormons cormons Mor mons mr dickson said they were ready to go on but might not be completed today as some of the witnesses had not yet been reached court this investigation is rather a novel one and a reasonable time will be given but it must not be delayed too long JOHN BOND was the first witness he testified I 1 have been a mormon left the church in 1869 have been through the endowment house this was january 25 1886 1 I took an oath or obligation there they gave a grip of the hand described by the witness which was a token of the priesthood mr moyle the court said this examination should be confined to an oath against the government court anything that does doea not tend to establish that will be irrelevant I 1 understand the counsel here is ignorant of the modus operandi operand of initiating members into the church and must let the witness tate state 8 what was done and the court will determine if there is anything that I 1 is incompatible with citizenship if it is shown that anything is immaterial we will not allow it mr moyle we have no objection to the obligation referred to but we do object to any obligation that does not relate to the government R W young objected to any ceremony or obligation but that alleged to be in relation to the government mr bickson said there were several obligations that were antagonistic 8 to the government court urt let the witness state what transpired but not unnecessarily expose the procedure except in regard to this oath le grand young inquired whether all the minutia of the endowment ceremony was to be testified to this man moore was accused of taking an oath against the govern ment and the court had bad stated that the inquiry would be confined to the alleged oath court let the witness state what transpired the witness bond testified I 1 went through several rooms in room 6 5 1 I to took ok what I 1 call cal I 1 an obligation named the priesthood which confined me to obey every doctrine of the church especially against ainest the government of the unit states the penalty was tha 44 I 1 was to have my throat cut and my tongue torn out then I 1 was required to take an oath that I 1 would avenge the blood of joseph smith on this nation and teach my children and my chil children drenIs children to the latest generation the penalty was to have my heart and bowels torn out another obligation was to obey the priesthood in all things wilford woodruff put me through this ceremony and married me I 1 was sorry I 1 took the oath and resigned from the church the next year I 1 did not want to go through but I 1 had asked harrison sperry to marry me mr moyle objected to this as immaterial objection overruled bond continued sperry sent me to the bishop who said he could not marry me but would give rae me a recommend to the endowment house which I 1 took mr moyle asked the coart whether it would confine the evidence to that which was legal court the witness may proceed mr moyle the reason for bonds action has no BO relation to mr moore this proceeding is without warrant of law court 1 I think if the applicant has taken an obligation that is incompatible with citizenship he cannot be admitted he swore that he did not take such an oath mr moyle will this man state the oath that moore took mr dickson no he will not court if it is not shown that moore took it it will not affect him mr baskin moore has admitted that he is a member of the mormon bioni church we will show that any man who belongs to the mormon church should not have catl zenshin extended to him bim we expect to convince this court that no man who belongs to that organization has any right to citizenship we may not bring the oath home to mr moore we propose to show what the endowment ceremonies are court this investigation may be attended with important consequences quen ces if it is shown that it is a necessary part of a mormon to take this oath it should be known it depends de ads whether membership in that surch church is inconsistent with citizenship it is claimed that this can be shown the witness bond continued there were about 50 other persons there who went through the same ceremony there were two lots my wife was asked if she would allow her husband to take more wives than one a vote was taken and all responded aye retook we took obligations not to divulge these ceremonies and penalties were attached which I 1 do not remember le grande young 1 lam am 45 went through in 1868 when the obligation in regard to polygamy was taken male and females were in the same room when the obligations or oaths were taken we were all together some of the time the men were separated I 1 took the obligation about avenging the blood of the pro prophets b ets mr ar young you are an exceedingly I 1 angl willing witness bond I 1 am a conscientious witness mr young I 1 always find men who are not conscientious making such declarations we only want you to tell the truth witness bond I 1 lived at hennefer at the time I 1 could not get married without I 1 tried to get away from the territory last year because of what I 1 have been through I 1 took an obligation to avenge the blood of the prophets on the united states I 1 took the obligation to go into polygamy I 1 denounced the whole thing the following year the obligations were apart from the endowment ceremony I 1 always did as I 1 was told in the church MARTIN MARIIN D WARDELL who was deaf testified I 1 live over the sixth ward bridge am a contractor am 67 was born in england and came to pennsylvania in 1848 joined the mormons cormons in 1847 came to utah in 1862 in my business I 1 superintended super intended carpenter work for the church six years in 1863 or 1864 1 I went through the endowment en house I 1 went through a second time about a year later I 1 took an oath that we would avenge the blood of joseph smith on this nation from the president down they put ut the lock on to us with an oath stat that if we revealed any of the secrets we would have ur throats cut and our bowels torn out we were asked to take an oath to obey the church in all matters but I 1 backed out I 1 saw the death penalty inflicted on a man named green in 1862 about twenty miles west of green river W H dame was captain of the train le grand young if this man knows of a crime he should be called before the grand jury court he may go before the grand jury but he can tell it h here ere le grand young it has nothing to do with mr moore if wardell he helped d to commit a murder fitness witness continuing billy williams now dead and mark surridge were there joseph follett of cottonwood saw the tromble tron ble so did dave mcbride of iron county and blackburn john W young of iron county george snyder now dead and others my son george was there he now lives at peoa geoa summit county green the man killed had two wagons with three yoke of cattle to each a gentile was with green the latter was killed about 9 in the evening when we got to the place lace captain dame led me outsize outside of the train I 1 saw gaw eleven buckskin clothes whom he called mountaineers and told jold me to warn people not to go outside of camp at night green was called by three men he would not come and they dragged him out one caught him by the hair bair and ana another cut his throat they got from him some of us began to 0 o object and john W young said if f we did not shut up we would be served the sane same next day dame said green had apostatized once and now he be bad apostatized and gone to lell bell my son and the gentile took greens outfit to the tithing yard it was john W young of iron county cousin to john W young of this city it was not joseph W young the emigration agent legrand ecung we move that this be stricken out as having no connection with the endowment ceremony this highway robbery and murder one of the worst stories I 1 ever heard of is rung iu in here to prejudice the th e application of a man who had bad not the remotest connection with it no man pretends to justify this crime if this man is honest why has he not told it to the grand jury mr dickson we wish to t show that the penalty of the endowment house was waa enforced we think we have lone done it dames remarks meant that the man had gone back on his covenants the penalty was to have his throat cut and it was cut there was a time when it was not safe for a man to tell this to a grandeury gran grand djury jury baskin to witness was there anything said al a out apostasy wardell yes an apostate was to have his throat cut court let the objection to strike out be overruled the testimony moDy will be admitted witness to mr young I 1 went through the endowment house the names of joseph and hyrum smith and all of the martyrs were mentioned so was the government of the united states the murder I 1 have havel told of was before I 1 went through the endowment house the three men who took green out of the wagon were seen by the others I 1 have mentioned one of th the three ethree was Bill Hickman john R young was not there there were more than ten of us present when the three men took him and we did not try to save him green had a wife and two or three children he lived near farmington he told me he had had 1 I saw the men take the money I 1 made no protest we had bad no idea that the men were danett canites Da s but they were bill bilchick hick man was the captain he afterwards told me he was there I 1 left the church about five years after the killing W H dame lives south somewhere he is the man who was with john D lee I 1 doit do it know whether or not green had had bad his endowments he told me men were spying about him and he was timid about getting to salt lake he did not say he was afraid of any penalty we had traveled together from wood river there were about 70 wagons altogether the three men took greens body away with them there was another man present but I 1 do not remember his name he kept a green grocer store on ihorst first south street it was not billy gilbert or chadd or davis it was sanders several persons prot protested hated against the murder these were billy williams follett surridge sanders and myself surridge after wards apostatized joseph follett is now living near the mouth of cottonwood legrand young renewed his motion to strike out because it was that the murder had bad no connection with the church the court overruled the motion and said there might be a fair inference that the murder grew out of the fact that green had bad been a member of the church and had apostatized mr moyle lt it is not shown that any of these men who committed the crime were of the traveling company or connected with the church B R W young remarked that mr moora would like to get through in time to vote at the next election baskin sneeringly it would be a great pity if a member of that organ organization aaion should not be allowed to vo vote court if this man has taken such an obligation he should not be in a hurry burry ANDREW testified I 1 came to utah in 1848 joined the church in 1833 in kirtland was a member till 1871 1 I was a bishop 18 years was one when I 1 left the church I 1 received my endowments dow ments 44 years ago and aad am familiar with the ceremony so far as my memory goes never offic officiated got fot my endowments in 1815 or 1846 1816 I 1 took obligations there everyone has to there are oaths administered there they relate to obeying the priesthood and to avenge the blood of the prophets this was u understood to mean joseph J and hyrum the blood was to be avenged on any who were guilty of shedding the blood or consented to it there was also a covenant to yield implicit obedience at all times to the priesthood the penalty was death for revealing any of the secrets I 1 did not understand how the penalty was to be inflicted the understanding dent der anding standing was that if a man apos and divulged the secrets he should meet the death penalty there was something about the throat being cut and being disemboweled disembowel ed the right hand was also forfeited one of the penalties was for disobedience to the priesthood the highest allegiance was to the mormon church or the kingdom of god there was nothing said of obedience to the law of the government they were instructed that polygamy was a command of god that all must endorse it or be damned it was not practiced there is no age set for a person to go through the endowments it was expected that all members would avail themselves of the of going through A man cannot be r legally legally married except there as the church does not recognize any other marriage A civil or legal marriage is considered good as long as parties live they regard it as legal in the eyes of the law but not legal as pertaining r to the priesthood anra this is taught in the endowment ceremony to mr young in the obligations to avenge the blood of the prophets the idea conveyed was the blood of all the prophets and especially 0 of joseph and hyrum on a aal I 1 con connected act with their death or who con consented to it there was an instruction of allegiance to the church there was no instruction to break the laws of the land but we were to obey the priesthood we were not taught to be immoral we were taught to be good men and not to break any law of morality only the doctrines of the church were considered highest I 1 considered the general teaching of the church was in hostility to the law of the land wherein it advised obedience to the priesthood I 1 know instances but cannot name one I 1 never heard it taught directly that we were to take from our foes 1 I never taught it because I 1 did not believe it some did but I 1 cannot name who except lyman wight at adam andi ondi ahman I 1 did not see it but I 1 did the results Lyman Wight apostatized more than forty years ago the doctrine of taking from our enemies was not taught publicly the cahoon family were not trusted with secrets I 1 was told it would be no harm barm to put a man out of the way I 1 dont donit know that any man i was put ut out of the way I 1 dont remember eer any man who was referred to it was some man who had been in some mischief never heard he was put out of the way I 1 was not connected with any of the work and dont donit know a man that was put out of the way I 1 knew indirectly that men were put out of the way but it is out of of my power to name one almon W babbitt was killed I 1 dont donit know who did it or who ordered it I 1 dont know that it was ordered but he be was killed and it was reported that it was done by I 1 indians n I 1 dont know knew but what bill hickman done the job indians may have killed him I 1 was never advised to break the law of the land but that was implied in the teaching to obey the priesthood it was understood that we should obey the priesthood |