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Show I KNEW JOS. SMITH WHENBEWASABOY "1 was n schoolmate of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon rrhurch. as well as of hi brother Hvrum. " was the Introductory state-nenl state-nenl made to a representative of The I B Herald-Republican last night, by Pe-1 M or S. Morrison, who is in Salt Lake nn hio way from Mew York state to B aiR home near Marrsvale, Cal. B 'I was born nearly a hundred years ; B Jgo." continued Mr Morrison 'While HI i B naturally my parents told mf, and it in so written in our family records, i that I was born on a sailing vessel twen;y days out from Glasgow. Scotland, Scot-land, and bound tor America. March I 11. 1813. I was mo months old when my parents landed with me at what was then Manhattan and now New Tort port, the voyage requiring two. months nnd twenty days. Mr. Morrison yesterday called upon Joseph F. Smith, president of the Mormon church, and had a long talk' with him. Mr Smith invited the, ag?d man Into the Beehive house.; where he was served with an after-, noon meal. "My parents lived at Harrington,, Yates county, N. Y , ' aid Mr. Morrison Morri-son in telling his story, "and myj father was killed by a horse there j when I was very young. This left my mc'lier with thirteen chMdren to carr- for. In order to help her heir her heavy burden, families in that j vicinity took a child each from amonc the older ones, and 1 fell to the family fam-ily of Joseph Smith Sr at Palmyra, N. Y. I wen' to school In school J season with Joseph and Hyrum Smith I -"-ell remember that Joseph was considered con-sidered somewhat of a dull pupil that is, whenever he look up a book to study he would soon forget all about It and go off Into absent -mlndedness His First Visions. "1 shall never forget what his father fath-er said to him when Joseph announced an-nounced his first vision His father said that he had only been dreaming, and 1 thought so. too, knowing his peculiarity of apparently day-dreaming. But he persisted In his assertions asser-tions and after a hit we all began to think seriously of the matter. "From New York I moved to Elyria. Lorraine county, Ohio, where 1 lived until I was 33 years old. or up to the year 1840. when I enlisted for the war with Mexico and fought under General Zachary Taylor Ru' while living in Ohio 1 heard of Joseph and Hyrum and their followers being at Nauvoo, 111., and having been told so much about their wonderful religion, my wife and myself determined to visit them This wo did in June. 1844. Ve had been there only a da or two when Joseph was arrested and taken to Carthage. One night in that June 1 became so uneasy on account of the trouble that 1 left the house and went t to Carthage. The next day I was when the mob came up. It was in leaninc against a fence near the Jail tthe afternoon, and with me was the man who afterwards drove .he team I .which carried Joseph Smith s body to Nauvoo. When the mob approached the Jail the guards opened a space I for them to pass through, and the as- j sault began Scene at Jail. ) "I saw Joseph Smith as he rushed to the window, apparently to leap out, and saw him fall to the ground when shot while in the act of leaping "No, I did not become a member of the Mormon church, although I had that Idea in my mind when 1 went .to visit the boys at Nauvoo. Since .that time 1 have been thrown apart ifrom the Mormon people and probably prob-ably that In part accounts for my sti'l remaining a nonmember 1 was in all of General Zacharr Taylor's battles fought with him In two engagements in Texa3, crossing the Rio Grande with him and afterwards after-wards goln to Monterey. Mexico. - here we rapmrcd the fort by storm. Inside that fort wore so many prisoners pris-oners that we could not care for them. The on'y thing to be done was to parole them and turu them loose I "While we were at Monterey town.l General Winfie'.d Scon came rJong on bis march to the City of Mexico.' ThinktnK that General Taylor had done all the fighting he had to do, I Gencrrl Scott took all of Taylor's ret ulara. leaving him with only 40001 green volunteers. V.'Ihii Generrd Sattta Ana discovered how- Taylor h;d been left, he swflng away from his Intended In-tended course and fell upon the green .volunteers This was at Buena Vista, and Taylor with his 4u00 r?w men. whipped Santa Ana In open baft!? out on cbe opeti ground, the Mexican .general, having LI, 000 of the flower . .' the Mexican army. Santa Ana .afterwards said thai he had Taylor licked twice, but the stubborn American Amer-ican dldn t krow It. "After I h?.d served my time 1 took 136 comrades of that war and weut with lliein to Calfornla. it as In September. 1S4?, that we camped out near the lake, where there was spring of water " i From Mr. Mom-sons Mom-sons description it must have been somewhere near where the Garfield smelter now Is. I "We rested here for a day or two and Brigham Young paid us a visit or two. He and the remainder re-mainder of the Mormons who came to us at the camp treated U6 very klqdb Toward the end of that vear we reached California. It was when the gold excitement was at Its height. I have Uvcd there since that time, my home now being near Marysvale. I Have fust been to New York state to visit some of my children and I am now on ray way back home 1 will be 100 years old March 11. 101" " |