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SCHISMS AND APOSTASIES.
1844-1869.

The Strangites—the Gatherers—Brannan's Followers—the Gladdenites—the Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints—Alexander and David Hyrum Smith—the Utah Magazine—Trial of Godbe and Harrison—Success of the Godbeite Movement—the Struggle for Commercial Control—Persecution of Gentile Merchants—Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution—Extent of Its Operations—Disastrorous Effect on Gentile Trade—Reaction in Favor of the Reformers.

During the life-time of Joseph Smith there was but one organized secession from the church, though, as we have seen, apostasies were frequent during his later years. If the words of the prophet were not the living truth, then could no faith be placed in Mormonism, for he and none other was regarded as the fountain-head of inspiration. But with his death the source of infallibility was removed, and thus the way was opened for schism and dissension, few of the diverging sects, however, having sufficient faith in their leaders to preserve them from final dissolution. The saints who followed Sidney Rigdon to Pittsburgh in 1844 became gradually scattered among the gentiles, a few of them, with William Marks at their head, afterward rejoining the church. To J. J. Strang, a prominent elder, were vouchsafed, as he claims, numerous revelations that in Wisconsin was the true Zion, and several thousands accompanied him to that state. Strang afterward settled at Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, where he retained a small following until the time of his death. Parties also accompanied William Smith, the only surviving brother of the prophet, to northern Illinois, Elder Brewster to western Iowa, Bishop Heddrick to Missouri, and Bishop Cutler to northern Iowa. All of them were soon afterward dissolved, the remnants of Brewster's and Heddrick's disciples forming themselves into a new sect, under the name of the Gatherers, and settling in Jackson county, where they published a weekly periodical, styled the Truthteller. During the year 1846 a large Mormon settlement was made in Texas; and under the leadership of Apostle Lyman Wight the colony prospered and increased rapidly. Until 1852 they acknowledged allegiance to the first presidency, but when the doctrine of polygamy was proclaimed, they separated from the church. After the death of Wright, which occurred a few years later, his flock was scattered. A small portion of the members of most of these sects found their way to Salt Lake City, while others joined the reorganized church, as will be mentioned later, and the remainder cast in their lot with the gentiles.

Of the party that sailed with Brother Sam. Brannan for California, in the Brooklyn, in 1846, about one fourth apostatized; their leader laying the basis of a fine fortune by investing in real estate funds, to a great extent at least, belonging to the Latter-day Saints. 1 Of the Mormon colony, founded, as we have seen, at San Bernardino, in 1851, a considerable number fell into apostasy, though many joined the parent organization, and a few became members of the reorganized church.

In addition to the various sects already mentioned and to be mentioned, numerous parties and individuals fell away during the migration from Nauvoo, many of the stakes becoming settlements of recusant Mormons, while numbers of the saints settled at Omaha, Nebraska City, and other towns on the Missouri and its tributaries. Some, as I have said, merely remained in the western states to obtain means for their journey to Zion, but of the twenty thousand persons who followed the apostles from Nauvoo, it is probable that nearly one third were eventually absorbed among gentile communities.

In Utah, between 1852 and 1869, four distinct and organized attempts were made to throw off the yoke of Brigham, and establish what the apostates claimed to be a more perfect faith. These were the Gladdenite secession in 1852, the Josephite schism in 1860, the Morrisite movement in 1861, and the Godbe-Harrison schism in 1869.

When the doctrine of polygamy was openly avowed in 1852, some of the saints were sorely offended, and accusing the hierarchy of having fallen from grace in other respects, formed themselves into a new sect, appointing as their leader Gladden Bishop, whence the name of Gladdenites. Together with other recusants, Gladden, who was several times disfellowshipped and readmitted on profession of repentance, had again rejoined the church, 2 but being now disgusted with this new feature in the policy of the church dignitaries, worked with heart and soul against them. Among his followers was one Alfred Smith from St Louis, a man of great tenacity of purpose, and a bitter foe of Brigham, by whom, as he alleged, he had been stripped of his property. For a time the cause flourished, but on Sunday, the 20th of March, 1853, while Smith was holding services in front of the council-house, the gathering, though orderly and peaceable, was dispersed by the city marshal. Another meet called for the following sabbath was dispersed, Smith being taken into custody, and detained until he promised to desist. On the same day Brigham spoke a few words concerning the apostates in the tabernacle. The whole matter was regarded of no great consequence by the church; nevertheless it was deemed best to shun the very appearance of evil, and consequently the president gave the people clearly to understand that there must be no more of it. 3 Such warnings from the president of the church were never uttered in vain, and now the days of the Gladdenites were numbered. A few months later most of them set forth for California, the rest recanted, and after the year 1854 we hear no more of this apostasy.

The most successful of the recusant sects was the one established by Joseph Smith, the prophet's son, who, with his brothers Alexander H. and David Hyrum, remained a Nauvoo after the exodus. 4 A few years later the remnants of the Strangites and Cutlerites, being in search of a leader, organized a new church and requested Joseph to become their head. He at first refused, but in 1860, the number of members being then considerably increased by the breaking-up of other parties, he accepted the call as prophet, and began to preach the faith of his father, as he affirmed, in its original purity, repudiating the claims of Brigham and the doctrine of polygamy. The schism spread rapidly throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, the apostates being termed Josephites by the followers of Brigham, but styling themselves the Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints. In Utah it was checked by fear of persecution, and not until the summer of 1863 did the movement become pronounced. In July of that year two Josephite missionaries, named E. C. Briggs and Alexander McCord, arrived in Salt Lake City, having crossed the plains, they said, as heralds of the gospel, and calling on Brigham, told him the object of their mission, and asked permission to preach in the tabernacle. This was, of course, refused; 5 nor were they allowed the use of any other public building, whereupon the missionaries visited from house to house, offering up prayers for the inmates, and exhorting them to join the true faith.

At first singly, then by dozens, and afterward by scores, converts were gathered into this fold, and in the spring of 1864 the Josephites in Zion mustered more than three hundred, the number of proselytes elsewhere being at this date between two and three thousand. 6 Persecution followed, as they claimed; and in early summer about one half of the Josephites in Salt Lake City started eastward, so great being the excitement that General Connor ordered a strong escort to accompany them as far as Green River. To those who remained protection was also afforded by the authorities.

The excitement caused by the evangelism of Briggs and McCord was renewed in the summer of 1869, when Alexander H. and David Hyrum Smith arrived at Salt Lake City as advocates of the reformed faith. Their meetings were held at Independence Hall, then the principal public building belonging to the gentiles, and at the first service a vast audience assembled, among the number being several of the wives of Brigham. At first the followers of Brigham trembled for the supremacy of their leader, and opposition meetings were organized under the management of Joseph F., the son of Hyrum Smith. 7 But the mantle of the prophet had not fallen on his offspring; they were men almost without force of character, of lamb-like placidity, and of hopelessly mediocre ability; not shrewd enough to contend with their opponents, and not violent enough to arouse the populace. They accomplished little for the cause of the reorganized church.

In 1860 the headquarters of the Josephites were established at Plano, Illinois, where, between 1860 and 1875, was published by this sect The True Latter-day Saint's Herald, and where in 1877 their leader still resided, 8 Joseph being at that date president of the church, and Briggs the president of the twelve. A branch was also established at Malad in Idaho; a few of the sect gathered at Kirtland, 9 and the remainder were scattered throughout the states. They rapidly increased, mustering in 1870 not less than twenty thousand in the United States, while in Europe entire churches joined the reformed faith, the name of the sect, and the more conventional morality of its doctrines, being among the causes of its success.

While the controversy between the prophet's sons and the prophet's nephew was at its height, an article appeared in the Utah Magazine, a periodical first issued in 1867, and of which elders W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison were proprietors, wherein appeared the following passage: "If we know the true feeling of our brethren, it is that they never intend Joseph Smith's nor any other man's son to preside over them simply because of their sonship. The principle of heirship has cursed the world for ages, and with our brethren we expect to fight it till, with every other relic of tyranny, it is trodden under foot." While speaking thus boldly, the magazine essayed the part of umpire between the disputants, and otherwise gave sore offence to the church dignitaries. 11 About the same time an article was published urging the development of the mineral resources of Utah, a measure which found no favor with Brigham, for thus would the flood-gates be opened to the gentiles, while the saints might be tempted to worship at the shrine of Mammon, "I want to make a wall so thick and so high around the territory," he once exclaimed in the tabernacle, "that it would be impossible for the gentiles to get over or through it." Finally the elders were summoned before the school of prophets, by which offenders are examined before being sent for trial by the high council, and though the most serious charge against them was the publication of the article on mineral developments, both Godbe and Harrison were expelled from the church.

That the elders should have openly advocated the development of the rich mineral resources of Utah may appear from a gentile standpoint a slight provocation for so extreme a measure; but it should be remembered that from the earliest occupation of the territory mining for the precious metals had been strongly discountenanced by the priesthood. This was in fact a most essential part of the policy in accordance with which the Mormons had sought for seclusion in the vales of Deseret, in order to preserve their liberty and individuality as a religious community. From the day when news arrived of the gold discovery, their leaders had denounced all emigration to California. Gold-seekers were indiscriminately classed as worldlings and apostates, or at least held to be weak in the faith. Nevertheless, the accounts received from members of the Mormon battalion, who had witnessed the discovery and shared in the excitement which followed it, produced a crisis that threatened their very existence as a people, and one which, perhaps, none but the Mormons could have withstood. When, in later years, mineral prospects were disclosed in Utah, and prospecting largely carried on by gentiles, all such efforts were discouraged; for they could result only in drawing into the territory a class of men dangerous to its institutions, and might even seduce from their allegiance the members of the church. Thus in the light of its full history must the policy of the Mormon hierarchy be considered in excluding from its fold this disturbing element.

No attempt was made, however, by either of the elders to excuse this portion of the charges brought against them. Their defence was confined merely to the question of their alleged apostasy, and to the authority of the priesthood. When their case was handed to the high council, the recusants, instead of pleading their cause, merely read a series of resolutions touching measures of church reform, Godbe denying Brigham's right to enforce obedience, whether in matters secular or spiritual, and Harrison stating that if it was apostasy to differ conscientiously from the priesthood, then he must be considered an apostate. "We claim," they said, "the right of respectfully but freely discussing all measures upon which we are called to act. And if we are cut off from this church for asserting this right, while our standing is dear to us, we will suffer it to be taken from us sooner than resign the liberties of thought and speech to which the gospel entitles us; and against any such expulsion we present our solemn protest before God and angels." It remained only to pass sentence of excommunication, and in due form the elders were delivered over to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years.

But a few days later there appeared in the Utah Magazine an account of the trial, together with a protest and appeal to the brethren, afterward copied in the New York Herald and other leading journals. "It had been argued," remarked the recusants, "that we must passively and uninquiringly obey the priesthood, because otherwise we could not build up Zion. A nation built up on such a principle could be no Zion. The only glory or beauty there could be in a Zion must result from its being composed of people all of whom acted intelligently in all their operations." Supported as it was by a portion of the wealth and intelligence of Utah, the Walker brothers, the Tullidge brothers, Stenhouse, Lawrence, and Eli B. Kelsey, 14 the reformation gathered weight. On Sunday, the 19th of December, 1869, services were held for the first time by the reformers, in the chapel of the assembly-rooms in the thirteenth ward, and in the evening at the Masonic hall. 15 Before a dense audience, was sung by the choir the first hymn in the Mormon hymn-book, composed by Parley P. Pratt:

"The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled;
The dawning of a brighter day,
Majestic rises on the world."

[paragraph continues] Then followed speeches by Godbe, Harrison, and Lawrence, in which the gentiles, who formed one-third of the audience, were assured that the reformation would be continued with a purpose that would swerve not before Brigham and his apostles.

The so-called Godbeite movement, however, though for a time it excited considerable interest in business circles, was a matter of small moment to the church generally, producing little effect on the masses of the members. The movement in its incipiency was the immediate occasion rather than the real cause of Godbe and his adherents leaving the church. No man can consistently be continued a member of any church if he persists in refusing to submit to the final decisions of the church authorities. His arrival at that point of insubordination is almost always the result of a growth of greater or less rapidity, and occupying more or less time in development. Godbeism at first professed to be an attempt to reform and purify the church, in part by the aid of spiritualism, but the reform pretensions were evanescent, quickly fading away, so that for many years nobody has looked upon the movement as a religious one in any respect. In fact with the fleeting religious pretensions the very name of the movement soon died out, and the prominent persons connected with it early manifested a skeptical spirit toward religion of every kind, and directed their energies more completely into channels of business and money-making. "I have been instrumental," writes Godbe in 1884, "in establishing and conducting enterprises that have required an outlay of

[paragraph continues] $1,000 a day for ten years, and have given employment to many hundreds of people."

The struggle for the commercial control of Utah began at an early date in its history. Among the Mormons there were few men of business training, and until the advent of the overland railroad made it certain that Salt Lake City would become a commercial centre, the policy of Brigham was to discourage commerce and commercial intercourse. Nevertheless, gentile merchants, by whom traffic was mainly conducted, as late as 1860 were subject to a running fire of ridicule and condemnation directed against them from the tabernacle. The objection to them was twofold: first, the dislike to the presence of gentiles, in whatever capacity; and second, the fact that they absorbed the small amount of floating capital that the brethren possessed. He who should hold traffic with a gentile was considered weak in the faith, but as goods could be purchased from gentile merchants to advantage, the saints were tempted sometimes to trade with them, and frequently did so, and that without the severe censure on the part of the church, which has been often alleged.

Among those who had transactions with gentile merchants were the Walker Brothers, who in 1868 were among the prominent merchants of Salt Lake City, and had contributed in no small degree to its commercial prosperity. The firm subscribed liberally for all the purposes to which the church funds were applied, but refused to pay tithes or to recognize the right of the church to collect tithing.

During this year, and partly with a view to placing the trade of Utah under church control, so far at least as the brethren were concerned, the Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution was organized. 18 Aside from such motives, however, there were good reasons for securing to the country the benefits of the cooperative system, for, as we shall see later, the prices of imported commodities were still extravagantly high. 19 To protect the people from these high prices by importing from first hands and in large quantities was the professed, and perhaps the main, purpose of the promoters. After passing through some financial difficulties, the enterprise seems to have obtained a permanent foothold, and is yet a successful competitor with gentile tradesmen, supplying at wholesale many of the settlements in Utah, in addition to its local and retail trade. In 1883 the total sales exceeded $4,000,000, a half-yearly dividend of five per cent being paid in October of that year. At this date the association had a reserve fund of about $125,000, and a capital of $1,000,000, divided into $100 shares, and distributed among 700 or 800 stockholders. 20 The head of the church continued president of the institution after it was no longer under control of the church, but managed simply on business principles, representing Mormon as against gentile trading interests. 21 Branches were established at Ogden, Logan, 22 and Soda Springs, and, as we shall see later, the coöperative movement spread rapidly throughout the country, though most of these ventures resulted in failure, many of the stores being compelled to close during the commercial panic of 1873.

The first effect of this movement on the trade of gentile merchants was disastrous, the sales of the Walker Brothers, for instance, decreasing in a brief space from $60,000 to $5,000 per month, 23 while those of the Auerbach Brothers fell off in like ratio, 24 these two firms, among others, offering to dispose of their entire property to the directors of the Zion's Coöperatire Institute for fifty cents on the dollar, and leave the territory. 25 The offer was refused. Hence, perhaps, as will presently appear, the rapid development of the mining resources of the country after 1869, toward which purpose several prominent merchants, among them Godbe and the Walker Brothers, applied the remnants of their fortunes. Soon, however, even the Mormons began to disregard the warnings of their leaders against trading with gentiles or apostates. The spell was broken, and during the conference of 1870 the stores of the latter, and especially of the Walker Brothers, were so crowded with purchasers that it was almost impossible for them to serve their patrons. The reformers preached against and wrote against the president, and the better to support their cause, established a newspaper named the Salt Lake Tribune, at first a weekly and afterward a daily publication, in which the church dignitaries and their policy were severely criticised. Thus of all the apostasies the Godbeite movement, with its attendant incidents, was the most formidable, and wrought more harm in Zion than any which had preceded it, appealing, as it did, to the common sense and the self-interest of the community.