Part Four

"Sir.-I knew little about the Mormons previous to my arrival among them. Living at a great distance from the theatre of their operations, all my knowledge of them was derived from the testimony of others. I knew indeed that they were a deluded-but I thought them to be a persecuted people. I was disposed to censure the inhabitants of Missouri and Illinois, for the part they took in driving them out of their respective states. Some of the people in Vermillion [sic], Ohio, will bear me record, that during the time of the great excitement, consequent upon driving the Mormons form Nauvoo, I publicly declared my conviction, that those measures were both implitic and unjust, and Jo Smith was truly a murdered man. I make this remark that the reader may understand that I did not go into the valley with my mind overcharged with prejudice against the Mormons-that I was neither an actor nor sympathizer with those who imbued their hands in the blood of that prince of imposters-Jo Smith. A great deal had been said in our part of the country, about their abominable practices, but I believed there was much exaggeration, if not misrepresentation. That these leaders were licentious I had no doubt, for it is in accordance with history that such is the character of all imposters. But I also thought that to their followers and to the world they would put on a virtuous garb, and maintain outwardly the appearance of decency at least. Such a state of open, unblushing, beastly impurity and vileness as I found to actually exist among them, I had never dreamed of, and did not suppose could possibly exist among civilized beings. Although from my earliest infancy I had been taught the doctrine of human depravity, I had never expected to witness, on this earth, such glaring development of it."
Yes, sir, let it be known that here, in christian America-in a land of Sabbaths and bibles, there exists a large community practicing deeds, openly, in the face of the sun, which one cannot even speak of without shame."
The marriage institution-an institution framed by Jehovah himself, and worthy his perfections-...This institution the Mormons have trampled under foot, and in its place have reared a system of concubinage of as vile a character as ever debased a ruined man and woman, body and soul, for time and eternity."
"...the Mormons-young and old, high and low, male and female, are by far the most profane people I ever met with. In a life of more than forty years, I never heard so much profane swearing as during the few months I spent in that wretched, mountain-walled prison." (A Winter with the Mormons, David L. Bigler, The Tanner Trust Fund, 2001, pgs, 61-70)