Читать книгу The Coming of the Mormons - Jim Kjelgaard - Страница 5

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When their leaders were murdered, ten of the apostles were in various parts of the East to do all they could to help elect Joseph Smith to the Presidency. There were no telephone, telegraph, radio, or even any trains that were dependable. Therefore, messages were slow.

Brigham Young and Orson Pratt, an Elder of the Mormon Church, were in the East when the terrible news reached them.

By trade Brigham Young was a carpenter and glazier. His entire formal education consisted of exactly eleven days in school. Although more schooling would have helped Brigham Young, he was by nature such a strong, forceful, and intelligent man, that lack of education could not keep him from rising to high places. Like Joseph Smith, he was a born leader.

He had allied himself with the Mormons for the same reason that any sincere person devotes his time and energies to any cause. He believed in Mormonism with his heart and soul. Already he had accomplished miracles as a Mormon missionary, making at least one trip to England, and never had he received so much as one penny for this work. Always he had depended on his own resources to support himself and to raise money for the cause he was trying to further.

His love for Joseph Smith was much more than a brotherly love. To Brigham Young, Joseph Smith was The Prophet, a man to be adored and revered. The news of his death was shocking, and even more shocking was the way he had died. But, though Brigham Young suffered heartbreak and had time for tears, he also saw the need for action.

He did not linger in New Hampshire, but went at once to Boston where he met Wilford Woodruff, who was later to be President of the Mormon Church. From Boston word was sent to the other apostles. They were to gather in Boston, the message said, and by July 23 eight of them were there. Two of the apostles, Parley Pratt and George Smith, took a different route and arrived in Nauvoo August 3. The eight in Boston started at once for their headquarters city.

They took the train to Buffalo, where they boarded a lake steamer for Detroit. From Detroit they traveled by steamer to Chicago, and transferred to the stage for Galena, Illinois. At Galena they took a river steamer for Nauvoo, where they arrived on the evening of August 6. Thus, though they hurried as fast as they could, a journey that today would take a few hours in an airplane took them almost two weeks.

The enemies of the Mormons were happy over the assassinations of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They thought that the whole idea of Mormonism centered around and depended upon these two men, and that now the Mormons would disband. Even the Mormons themselves, in mourning for their leaders, were confused.

John Taylor, a Mormon who might have taken command, had been wounded by the same volley that killed Joseph and Hyrum, and it was thought that he could not live. Willard Richards, an apostle, did not care to assume authority until the rest of the apostles arrived and they could form a course of action.

Various people, who saw in disaster an opportunity to better themselves, were trying to put themselves in charge of all public property. This was a great deal, since most Mormons gave one-tenth of what they earned to the Church.

There were other people, some of whom were sincere, who saw the need for a leader and were trying to fill that need. The main struggle for leadership was between the twelve apostles and Sidney Rigdon.

Rigdon, who had been one of Joseph Smith's two personal advisers, thought that the mantle of leadership would naturally fall on his shoulders and he said so. He had influential Mormons to back his claims.

Parley Pratt, a staunch Mormon, kept leadership from being taken over in secret council. Largely owing to his efforts, it was decided that the people as a whole must vote on who should lead them. As a result, on August 8, a vast number of Mormons gathered around a temporary platform built for speakers.

For two hours and a half, standing on a wagon, Sidney Rigdon addressed the gathering. He spoke with force of the Mount of Olives, battles, and almost everything else except the Mormons and their problems. Rigdon sought to accomplish by oratory what he could not do any other way. He had no real touch with the people; he was an actor on a stage and had very little to do with the people who stood before him or the many problems they faced.

When Sidney Rigdon was finished, Brigham Young arose.

Until now, Brigham Young had always been content to serve Joseph Smith, and to do as Joseph bade him. Only in this time of trouble did he emerge as the man he was.

For twelve years he had served the Mormons, always gladly. Often, as he himself expressed it, he had walked with "blood in my shoes" that he might serve more fully. But during those twelve years he had taught himself as much as he could about Mormons and Mormonism.

On this fateful day, the forty-three-year-old Brigham Young spoke to the people in language they could understand. With his calm, sure words and his forceful personality he literally held the vast gathering in the palm of his hand.

He cared not, he said, who led the Mormons. But were all their sacrifices, and all their hardships, in vain? Joseph and Hyrum Smith were dead, but the course they had laid out for their people would never die. Only their bodies were gone. The Mormons could elect anyone they wished to lead them, and they would still triumph as long as they held firm to the principles which they had followed so far.

When Brigham Young finished speaking, a vote was taken. Ten hands were raised in favor of Sidney Rigdon. All the rest voted to let the twelve apostles take over in Joseph Smith's place. Brigham Young was senior member of the twelve; for all practical purposes he had inherited the presidency of the Mormons.

He had, and knew that he had, succeeded to little except a crown of thorns. The enemies of the Mormons, enraged because the Mormons did not fall apart, would not stop their vicious attacks. But there were many things to be done. The terrible trip to the Rocky Mountains might be postponed until travel conditions were better. Joseph Smith had not indicated that his people must set out at once.

For the immediate present, there was a temple to be built and furnished. This was a place in which the Mormons might gather and worship. There were also numerous other undertakings. Though Nauvoo was already the finest city on the frontier, the Mormons wished to make it even finer. But the temple was the first consideration.

It was a magnificent structure that cost the Mormons more than a million dollars in money, but not all of this was given by the people in Nauvoo. By this time the Mormons had many converts throughout the Eastern states and in foreign countries. Some were wealthy and all gave what they could. The labor, of course, had to be done by those on the grounds.

While the temple was being built, again and again Brigham Young proved himself a wise and just leader. Though he did not forget that his people must cling to things of the spirit, at the same time he knew that they must have things of the flesh too. It was right, he said, to sing and dance, for people could not give all their time to work. The ill, the old, and the weak could and did receive all they needed out of the "tithing," the one-tenth of everything which the Mormons gave to their church. But any men or women who were able to provide for themselves had to do so. If they asked for anything out of the tithing stores they were told to go to work, and there was plenty of work for all.

Meanwhile, the Mormons were still enduring persecution and the hatred of their neighbors. The authorities took a full part in this. Again and again warrants were issued for the arrest of Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders. However, no Mormon forgot what had happened to Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and few would submit to arrest. They knew that no Mormon would receive justice in the Illinois courts.

Such determination, backed by a willingness to act, proved to the border dwellers that the Mormons would not easily give up, and for a short period there was peace. During this time work on the temple and on various other buildings proceeded swiftly.

It was no use. More and more people came to Illinois and joined forces with those who hated the Mormons. Stronger and stronger their enemies became.

Finally all Mormons recognized the truth. They could not stay in Illinois but must, as Joseph Smith had said, plunge again into the wilderness and build new homes. The question was no longer should they go, but where should they go?

There were several places open to them: California, Oregon, Vancouver Island, the Salt Lake Valley. This last, about which he knew from reading General Fremont's account, probably held Brigham Young's interest more than any other place.

Again and again the Mormons had tried to build homes for themselves. Again and again they had been driven from them. Suppose that, instead of traveling to some fertile country where there was sure to be trouble with settlers already there or those to come, the Mormons deliberately went to a desert which no one else wanted? Would they not have a better chance of living as they saw fit?

Meanwhile, the city of Nauvoo became one vast, bustling beehive of activity. Wagons by the score were built. Teamsters went in all directions to buy iron for tires and to strengthen other parts of the wagons. Seeds, fruits, and other provisions were gathered.

All through the fall and winter of 1845 the Mormons made ready for their mass migration. They were going into the West, an almost unknown country and certainly a savage one. All the luxuries of Nauvoo were to be left behind, and a good yoke of oxen would be worth its weight in gold.

In the bitter February days of 1846, the Mormons started.