Cooper Skelton Manuscript

In the 1930's, the Work's Progress Administration (WPA) in something called the "Historical Record Project" set about collecting local records of historic value. Cemeteries were catalogued, family Bibles were collected and indexed and older residents were interviewed with the intent of documenting their memories of local history. The Cooper Skelton Manuscript (official project no. 465-44-3-115) was one of these.

The manuscript is a typed copy (I've held the original in my hands) of a newspaper clipping saved by Katie Cooper who lived "15 miles east of Hohenwald," Tennessee. It was hand copied by Mrs. Lillie L. Skelton and later typed by Mrs Josie Smith. I have found many documents quoting this newspaper clipping, but not the original.

The manuscript quotes selections from a history of Lewis County originally written by W. L. Pinkerton in 1909. Pinkerton claims that living witnesses will attest to the truth of his stories. He then provides a lurid claim of sexual assault without giving names of victims, witnesses, or perpetrators. He describes all three in only the most general terms, a young southern girl, her boyfriend, and two Mormon missionaries, leaving the reader to mentally associate these people with ones he already knows. He does not even give a date or place. The crime, if it happened at all, is referenced nowhere else in written form.

The most appalling selection sounds a little like the infamous missing newspaper article. It makes me wonder if Pinkerton found the newspaper article. Pinkerton's version reads…

Big meetings were held, and baptisings were conducted the followers becoming imbued with the new religion. In their zeal, husbands who had hitherto been devoted in attention to their wives now were resigned in their natures and with indifference silently sat by listening to the elders affectionately address the wife of a brother as his wife and other endearing terms. To even be plainer it is asserted that when one's wife would be baptized in to the church, the Elder would then say: Sister you are now as much my wife as you are your husbands’ ", A significant fact worth recording here was the manner in which the HOLY GHOST would be bestowed. If a woman joined the church and was baptized it is said she would be then carried to some nearby house in order that she could receive the HOLY GHOST. Men folks, however, could have it bestowed on the creek bank, as well as anywhere else. Why this difference? Can hellish reasons not be inferred from what has been said already. If any man doubt for one moment these statements there are still living witnesses in this vicinity who can testify to them. If any man doubt a moment that this was a rotten and corrupt deception by which simple excited women were attempted to be seduced then let him visit this immediate neighborhood and hear the story from the lips of a pure woman who was at that time a girl of tender years.

Hear her statement then say whether or not the citizens who banded themselves together for the purpose of driving the "Elders" out of the community acted rashly or without just cause.

The young girl, though uneducated, and while little versed in what the world would term refinement and culture, at the same time possessed a virtuous soul and indignantly rebelled against the hypocrisy and sin they sought to palm off on her as a part of Mormon worship.

It is further narrated that the "Elders", not satisfied with having failed to deceive this innocent young woman, and not content with finding she would not yield to their infamous persuasion, they even went so far as to lay hold of her with violent hands.

Think of such designing hypocrisy. Think of preachers in the guise of the church and in the name of religion entering our homes for the purpose of seducing our wives and daughters: and then think of the stupid father who under the sway and influence of these scoundrels become so blinded as to look upon them as saints and who could not realized what was being done before his own eyes.

Think of the bashful, timid country boy who stood by as a witness and saw the girl he loved, nay the sweet innocent country girl he had worshipped from early boyhood ensnared and captivated, dethroned of all reason, excited and entranced and lured off under the bewilderment that he has discovered a new religion which will allow her to commit fornication and where adultery is no longer a sin.; and you ask if his was done on Cane Creek in LEWIS COUNTY did the saints and Elders practice anything like this?

Yes, all this and even worse things were done, if possible and that is why good citizens rose up against it with a determination to put an end to the corruption that was then becoming so notorious among certain families in the neighborhood. These were the causes which led to the subsequent killing of the preachers and three other parties and which resulted in running the others out of the country.

This passage is pure fiction. This did not happen on Cane Creek, though I cannot speak for anywhere else. This article was designed to incite animosity against all Mormon missionaries on behalf of all young southern girls and their boyfriends. The article could not have be more specific, or else the writer would not get the desired result. If, as I suspect, this is taken from the missing newspaper article, this was read by many before August 10, 1884, and the actual result was 5 deaths and one wounding.

As a foot note, when other websites have quoted the Lewis County version of the Massacre from Pinkerton’s history, this selection is usually edited out. Even people with an axe to grind against the LDS Church recognized this is so obviously false that it would damage their own credibility.

Lovenia Nicholson Sylvester Berry's Biography

I, Lovenia Nicholson Sylvester Berry was born on the 24th of June, 1854, at Springville, Utah County, Utah, the eighth child of James and Rebecca Nicholson Sylvester. I lived with my parents in Springville seven years and I remember the hard times there. One winter we had to ration; my father and two older sisters gleaned twenty bushels of wheat and had it ground into flour which had to last all winter. Mother would make small biscuits and we could each have two a day. Mother said after times were better we still wanted our two biscuits.

When I was seven years old I moved with my parents to Gunnison, Sanpete County, Utah, where my father was advised to go by the Church authorities, because he was a blacksmith and one was needed in that place. The settlement was first made along the Sanpitch River where it was very muddy. In the spring the water over-flowed the banks and it went all over the country. We had to move out of our nice log rooms onto higher ground. The settlement was later moved on the bench where it still is.

I was well acquainted with Black Hawk and his squaw. My father and mother were in the choir and they used to have choir practice at our place. Black Hawk and his wife used to come and listen to them sing and were very interested. Mrs. Black Hawk was very pretty. I well remember when the news came to Gunnison that Mr. Lowry, from Manti, whipped an Indian boy and the Indians had gone on the warpath. The war went on for two or three years. The war was raging during the time we lived in Gunnison and a fort was built for protection of the settlers. They were all counseled to build their houses in such a way that the back of each house formed a part of the wall of the fort. A space was left between the houses which was roofed to form a kitchen for each family. At the back of the wall were port holes which could be used to shoot through if necessity demanded. There were four gates to the fort and these were guarded both day and night, also two picket-guards were stationed outside of the fort on the hill west of Gunnison and these had bunches of straw with which to make torches in case any evidence was given of the approach of Indians. If such a thing happened the picket-guards would light their straw so the gate-guards could see and be getting prepared for fear of a break on the town. They could not call because they did not want the Indians to know they had seen them coming and, in fact, they were often too far away to be heard.

The men had to go in groups to put their crops in, in order to be protected from the Indians. In fact, all their work had to be done in crowds; wood hauling, going to the mill at Manti or traveling in any form. Anyone who disobeyed counsel "to travel in groups" was endangering his life and those of his dear ones. All the towns above Gunnison on the Sevier River were broken up on account of the Indians running their teams off, breaking into their towns, etc. The men from Gunnison had to go and bring the people down. I well remember seeing the ox train coming into town with the up-river people and each family had to take another family for the winter, my father took two families. The John Angus' family lived in our home with us.

At the close of the Black Hawk War, and the last season we lived in Gunnison, before time to harvest our beautiful waving grain, the grasshoppers came and literally mowed our fields. This was so discouraging that all the young men went to work on the railroad that was just being run into Salt Lake Valley. About this time my father went over to Nephi to take charge of the grist mill owned by my brother-in-law, Joseph Birch. We all went with him and stayed about two years. While living in Gunnison, at the age of fourteen years, my partner and I took the prize for the best waltzing.

In 1868 Joseph Birch came to our place and wanted my father to move to Dixie where he had been living for some time. He offered my father some land and water and was anxious for us to move there as he thought it offered considerable inducement. My father was converted and we were soon ready to go. We settled on a place called Bellerue, now Pintura, and began the construction of a home. We children worked hard as well as our parents. The soil was good for all kinds of fruits, vegetables, etc. In time we made a comfortable home and pleasing surroundings.

Father was a faithful man and would administer to us in case of sickness and invariably we would feel better. We always had family prayer and a blessing on our food. He was presiding Elder there for many years and was very careful to keep the commandments of the Lord. He always held Sunday School and such religious meetings as he could, with six or seven families, for they all belonged to the Toquerville Ward. Perhaps the worst drawback of all was the meager chance for an education. There were no schools to speak of so our parents tried to teach us all they could. My parents were both good singers and lovers of music. In Father's old age he learned to play the organ which he had purchased for the family's entertainment. The whole family could sing together while one played the accompaniment. Father also had a violin which we danced by. There were few young people there in those days and we would meet at each other's home and enjoy ourselves, sometimes dancing in our big room while my father played the violin.

I used to go to St. George to visit my sister, Mary. I once worked about a year in my Uncle Birch's shop making men's clothing. I was well acquainted with quite a lot of young folks there and we had good times together. When we first came to Dixie we would take walks on the hills and sometimes we would visit the caves under what is known as "Peter's Leap", a place where they used to let their wagons down with ropes, on their way to Southern Utah, there being no roads constructed at that time. It is located northwest of Bellevue and the cave under the rock is possibly one hundred feet long. "Peter's Leap" is situated on a creek of the same name and it flows east into the North Ash Creek. It's name was given in honor of Peter Shirts, we were told.

In my girlhood home we learned to work; we pieced quilts. We got wool, washed, carded and spun it. The Washington factory furnished the warp and color and wove our filling into cloth which made us quite pretty dresses. We carded and spun yarn enough to make my father and brother each a suit of clothes. I have never had prettier dresses or any that wore as long as those homemade ones. We knitted our own stockings and socks.... The hospitality of our family ran high, everybody from rain soaked strangers to aristocratic people stayed at our free tavern. Some evenings we spent in great pleasure and congeniality, and others weren't so pleasant, but we had a wonderful chance to study human nature.

After regular calls from William Shanks Berry for a year or more I finally decided that he was trying to get acquainted with me with intent to marry, and being favorably impressed with him and learning that his wife was willing for our marriage, we went to the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City and were sealed for time and eternity on the 22nd of June, 1874. We made our home in Kanarra, Utah. Four children were born to us before he left on his mission to the Southern States and one child about six weeks after he left. My husband left on the 3rd of April, 1884. He had not been gone long when he wrote home. His letter seemed sad. He had had a dream he didn't like and was afraid something was going to happen at home. He said to tell the girls to keep off the horses. He had been gone a little over four months when he was killed by a mob at Conder’s farm, Cane Creek, Lewis County, Tennessee. We at home felt sad as if something had happened, but did not hear of the terrible occurrence until three days later. I was sitting in the doorway mending a dress for one of the girls when I saw three men approaching the house. They were Bishop Willis of Kanarra and Bishop Lunt and Brother Palmer of Cedar City. When I first saw them I became very nervous and weak. They came into the house, sat down, and were talking about Grandmother Berry's other boys who had been killed by the Indians. Grandma Berry was with me at the time as an afternoon caller and they talked to her at first. Bishop Lunt, who had broken the news about the drowning of Bishop Roundy in the Colorado River a short time before to his family, said he was on the same kind of an errand today. "Elder William S. Berry is no more for he has been shot by a mob in the missionary field." Grandmother Berry was a great help to me and my family in this great trouble. She would tell us to brace up and have courage in our afflictions. She had borne so much of sorrow that she had learned how to endure it.

William and his companion, Elder Gibbs, were killed on the tenth of August, we got word on the thirteenth, and my husband's body arrived in Kanarra on the twenty-third and was buried on the twenty-fourth. Brigham H. Roberts and others expected great difficulty in getting possession of the bodies which had been buried in Lewis County, Tennessee, for three days. B. H. Roberts disguised himself and let the reins of his horses loose, in this way the Lord aided him in procuring the remains of the two Elders and to ship them to their respective homes. Elder Cowley accompanied my husband's body from Salt Lake and preached the funeral sermon. Sometime later twin boys were born to the wife of Willis E. Robison, one of the missionaries who helped bring the bodies to Utah. They named them Gibbs and Berry.

No will had been made by William so the property was probated and fairly divided. My husband's brother, John Berry, my parents, sister and everyone was so kind and good to me. My five children were all under ten years of age but through careful management the property left me by my husband has been the means of raising our children.

I was called to preside over the Kanarra Ward Relief Society about 1889 and continued in that office some nine years. After my children had married I was persuaded by my sister to go to St. George and work in the House of the Lord. She had a large record of Sylvester and Nicholson names, so I used to go there every winter and work in the Temple for our dead kindred. While my mother was living I would go with her to the Temple. I have done many Berry names and a great many sealings for our dead.

The winter of 1912, on the seventh of December, while moving to St. George to do Temple work, the spring seat of our wagon was thrown out, and I was thrown against a rock breaking both my wrists. They took practically all winter to heal. I sold my home in Kanarra and bought one in St. George to be near the Temple. On February 15, 1924, I was set apart as an ordinance worker in the St. George Temple by President David H. Cannon. I was a Temple ordinance worker ten years. I stayed until December the 7th, 1934, when, through an accident, I had both wrists broken in the same place, on the same day of the same month as they were before. I couldn't go anymore after that. I was then 80 years of age. During the time I was working in the Temple a prize was offered to the older women for the one keeping her hair looking the nicest. To my delight I was chosen to receive the prize, which was a permanent.

I can count my many blessings and my faith in the Gospel is strong and unwavering although many trials have come my way, not only the death of my husband in early womanhood, but the death of two married sons, one died of pneumonia in 1927, and the other was killed in the Castle Gate coal mine disaster on the 8th of March, 1924; also an infant grandson, Arthur, died. I had one son and two grandsons who filled missions for the L.D.S. Church.

After being hurt I made my home in Hurricane with my daughter, Emma, who has been very kind to me. I have two other children living, my eldest daughter in Cedar City and my oldest son is now in Colorado. I have twenty-three grandchildren and twenty-nine great-grandchildren. I will be 84 years old in June 1938. The people of Hurricane have been very kind to me and I have enjoyed their society very much. (End of Journal)

Late in March 1955 Lovenia Nicholson Sylvester Berry passed away, having celebrated her one hundredth birthday June 24, 1954.--Phyllis W. Heaton

This copy was given to Pat Miller from Dolores Van Wagoner , Lovenia Berry’s great-granddaughter.

The Threatening Note

Elder Gibbs transcribed the note left on the burned down church. He admits to correcting some but not all of the spelling errors. The original note is supposed to be in the John H Gibbs collection at BYU.

This is the last time that we will notify you that we will not have any more mormons preaching in Hickman Perry and Lewis Counties we are the [Shiloh] men and we are going to have it as we will take some or all of lives for we know too much about them for to have any more of it carried op in this county it is a long way from here and we dont want to come back for if we do it wont be good for you as about one hundred and fifty or that if they are needed it has been good long while since we traveled any but our men is ready to start at any time we are called out. I have been in Shiloh for some time and I did not know you were so many in this parts of the country until I recd a letter from one of my friends who told me that he wanted me to come with my men and drive you out and I will do it if you dont leave at this order we will use these hickory (they put several hickories at the tree stump and to these they refer) freely whenever we come up with the ones that keeps them around. They will suffer just as much as the preachers themselves: the book speeks of faulty teachers. and you are them you are the low down scrapings of the devil and we are going to stop it if we will have to cause wor.

The Burned Down Chapel

In May 1884, on the morning of a Sunday meeting, the Elders arrived at the location of a log meeting house recently built by the saints to find it had been burned down. Near the smoking remains of the chapel a note was found. It was signed the Shiloh Men. The author claimed responsibility for the arson and warned the missionaries to leave the area or face worse consequences. Elder Gibbs ignored the warning, preaching a sermon under a nearby tree and with some of the arsonists listening in. After preaching some asked to be baptized immediately. His brash disregard for the demands of the Shiloh Men, most likely added fuel to the building resentment directed at the Mormon missionaries in general and at Elder Gibbs specifically. It also added to his success.

The incident is recorded in an undated entry in Elder Gibbs journal. Elder Gibbs appears to have copied the account from a letter he wrote to his brother George.

"Just returned from a trip to Lewis County, Tenn. Had quite an interesting time. The ball opened by my receiving a notice from what is known as the Ku Klux or Shiloh Band, to the effect that I must leave in 30 days or die; that they would give me timely warning by burning the meeting-house, after which if I was found preaching 'death was my doom.' On Sunday morning I made for the meeting-house expecting to hold services, but found the building and contents in ashes.

Not allowing such vandalism to affect the performance of my duty, I immediately notified the people that I would hold the meeting under the shade of an immense old elm tree, whose shade covered a large stretch of ground.

A CRITICAL SITUATION.
The people responded to my invitation, coming from all quarters, some to hear me preach, others to see the shooting, and others again to ascertain our intentions. It is very evident that I have friends here in the shape of fair-minded and honorable men, for the sheriff of the county was present prepared to see "fair play." while others came armed, and took pains to let people see they were "heeled," and other had shotguns hid away close at hand in the event of an outbreak. This was entirely unknown to me until after the meeting was over; but I tell you, it was very gratifying information, not so much because my person was in danger out because the evidence it bore of men's willingness to risk their lives in the cause of right. Such men are worthy the blessing and admiration of all good people, irrespective of religious belief.

The meeting was largely attended. The people seated themselves on the grass, while I stood among them speaking for two and a half hours. The peculiar and unusual character of the occasion is the only apology I can offer for the length of my sermon. It seemed as though I could not stop, and the people listened with patience and interest to the close. The supposed leader of the "Shiloh band" and burner of the house was present. I learn from old veterans of the late war that if it was intended to arouse a man's feelings beyond control, all one had to do was to tell him to "go to Shiloh!"[6] In comparison hell is supposed to be a sweet-scented place compared with Shiloh.

A NUMBER OF BAPTISMS.
To my utter astonishment after the close of the meeting, three converts straightway demanded baptism, and, I guess, to the astonishment of others, I baptized them there and then, there being "much water" nearby. This proved a shock to the members of the Shiloh Band; it changed, or as we say sometimes, it corrected the atmosphere. The situation was ours, and the honest in heart present felt it as well as I. We held a second meeting, and five more applied for baptism. I baptized them on the Monday, when I held another meeting when I was favored with another application for baptism. Thus the Lord overruled in our favor by pouring out His Spirit so abundantly upon the honest in heart as to convince them of the truth, and to give them holy boldness sufficient to demand baptism under such alarming circumstances. Thus were the efforts of a band of wicked men frustrated. It may be that this will only tend to incite them to persist in their bold plans. I have strictly cautioned the Saints, numbering now 27, who are united to a man, to be cool and patient, to seek to the Lord in humility of spirit for wisdom and power to suffer wrong rather than do wrong. It is hard, very hard indeed to hold a Southerner when his rights are infringed upon. Threats and notices of leave are now the order of the day."

The Red-Hot Address

Early in 1884, a Utah newspaper known for its anti-Mormon editorial bias published a letter. The newspaper claimed it was sermon given by a Mormon Bishop by the name of West and delivered in Juab, Utah. The sermon, called the Red Hot Address, was inflammatory and called for violence against those not of the Mormon faith

When the Red Hot Address came out in the papers, it kick started the already simmering anti‑Mormon sentiment. At Cane Creek, Tennessee, Parson Vandiver figured prominently in the spreading of this inflammatory “Mormon” sermon. He reprinted copies at his own expense. The sermon was easily proven a fabrication. When shown the evidence the Utah paper that originally published the letter agreed. They printed a retraction but added a caveat that although this particular sermon was a fraud, the sentiments expressed in it were an accurate representation of older Mormon teachings.

In Lewis County, Tennessee, Parson Vandiver, continued passing around copies even after being sent a letter by Elder Gibbs with the proof that the sermon was a fraud.

Below is the address and a letter written by George Teasdale refuting it. I'm still looking for the retraction.

A Red-Hot Address
(From the Salt Lake Tribune.)
Stenographical report of Bishop West's harangue in the Juab school-house,
Sunday, March 9th, 1884.
Reported by Tobias Tobey for the Salt Lake Tribune.

Juab, Utah, March 9th.
It is time, my brothers and sisters, that we ceased this cowardly silence and humble submission to the rulings and machinations of the devil and his fiery imps at the capitol of this God-forsaken Gentile government; and it is time for us to fling their defiance and scurrilous domination back in their faces. We are the elect of Christ, and the day of judgment is at hand, and it's our turn then if it isn't now, which I say it is. When Gabriel sounds his trumpet on that awful day, the Gentile hellhounds will find the Saints of God have got all the front seats reserved, and that they can't find standing room for themselves in the gallery. The cause is flourishing in the Juab Stake of Zion, and many souls are being daily rescued from the flames of heathenism. If I had my way not a house would be left standing which sheltered a knavish Gentile. They are eyesores in the sight of the Lord and His vengeance is sure to come. They persecute His Saints and He has commanded them to destroy their persecutors. He has commanded the Saints to rid the earth of the sin-besmudged heretic. He has revealed unto us the foundation of the Gentile Church that it is the devil. (II Nephi ch. 4, verse xx.) Hell is filled with the scurrilous Gentiles and the floors of hell are paved with the skulls of apostates. He who kills a Gentile rids the earth of a serpent and adds a star to his own crown. The Saints are gathering together from sea to sea and they will rise in their awful might and fall upon the enemies of Zion. Let the tabernacles resound with joyful voices for the fulfillment of the prophecies of Moroni are at hand. The minions of the devil are set loose in our midst by the crime soaked politicians who rule our land. The shades of the sainted martyr Smith call aloud for vengeance at the hands of his followers. The blood of the Gentile persecutors shall be spilled on their own thresholds to appease the anger of our prophet. Tune the lyre and beat the cymbals; for our revenge is now at hand. We will wipe out the scum of the Washington blood suckers and the high priest of the devil who assumes to rule in our very midst shall be cut off with a sharp instrument. The thieving Murray issues orders to the Saints of God, and defies everyone but the devil, who is his sponsor. His head will be placed upon the walls of our city and his entrails scattered throughout the street of Zion that every Gentile adventurer may behold and take a care that we are left to pursue our road to Paradise unmolested. Our strength is greater than the world believes and our will is powerful and undaunted by heretic menaces. The Lord is our shepherd and we cannot fail. The red man is our firm ally and he thirsts for the blood of the enemy of Zion. We are powerful and unassailable in our mountain home and we will roll the massive boulders of destruction down from the mountain tops upon the heads of the unregenerate. Our secret places are stored with crafty explosives with which we will surely destroy the strongholds of the government of Satan. Our young men are drilling for the conflict, and pure wives and daughters are making themselves ready to minister to our wants, and the day is close at hand. Let the Gentile leeches and poltroons beware and win our forbearance, if yet they may. The Lord is sorely angered at our persecutors, and He has said to our counselors in a vision that He will deliver our enemy into our hands as He delivered Laban into the hands of Nephi. He will visit the earth, through us, with a worse destruction than He did in the days of the flood, and the ungodly will bite the dust with rage, and their blood will flow in the streets of Zion even as much as the waters in the day of Noah. Behold, I declare unto you, all ye Saints who revere the memory of the Prophets that you must begin to gird up your loins and whet your knives. Let the religious fervor of the Saints who are dead and gone recur to your weaker spirits and fire you with the zeal of the destroying angels. Eli Murray is the Cain of our generation. He hates our people and he "works for our destruction that he may win for himself a reputation of valor among the ungodly. He is a damned scoundrel, and a pestiferous leper. He is the polluted scum of corruption. He reeks with ungodliness, and he is rotten with heresy. I command every true disciple of Christ to watch out for this damned Yankee interloper, and ye know that there is protection enough for you in Zion if ye kill the whole Gentile race. Last night, as I lay in my bed thinking over the affairs of the Church, and possessed of a strange restlessness, and praying the while for inspiration from the Most High, that I might see the way more clearly to a sure release of my brethren from bondage, behold a great and glorious light suddenly filled my apartment with a glow brighter than the sun. I was at first afraid, and inclined strongly to leap from my bed and flee. But of a sudden I heard a voice which caused my heart to beat with tumultuous joy, for it was that of Joseph Smith. I gazed at him earnestly, expecting and hanging on the words which should perchance fall from his lips, and I beheld that his garments were of a dazzling whiteness, and that his skin was of a dazzling and heavenly whiteness, save the blood-red spots and livid wounds where the bullets of the cursed Gentiles had entered his sainted body, and which were now visible to their eternal damnation, as were the marks of the nails which pierced the hands and feet of Christ. Joseph spoke to me in a voice of wondrous sweetness blended with strains of the direst severity when he spoke of the fate in store for those Saints who neglected what he should now command them. Joseph bade me to cast my eyes about and behold the presence in the midst of the Saints of an emissary of the devil. It was the will of the Most High that this man should be removed, and if other emissaries were chosen to fill his place, even as many as were so chosen should be similarly dealt with. If allowed to remain in our midst, the sin would be on our heads, for it was the command of the Most High God of Abraham and Isaac. It lay in our power to be our own rulers, and our cowardice was the cause of sore distress to the departed Saints who had left us a kingdom. Eli H. Murray was possessed of a devil, and had only the outward semblance of a man. He should and must be trod upon until his bowels gushed out in the streets. The incarnate fiend lurked invisibly behind his hellish disciple, and was intent upon the destruction of Zion. The time was short, and vigorous and immediate action premptory. The curses of eternal damnation awaited those who failed in this holy mission. The work must not stop at the destruction of one of these hell-hounds, these Erebus-like pestilences in the folds of the anointed, but must extend even to the farthermost corners of the earth, until every heretic out of hell was sent home, and the Latter-day Saints were rulers of the land. Much more the beloved Joseph said to me which I am commanded not to reveal unto you until you prove the sincerity of your faith and love for the prosperity of Zion from what has already been revealed. The direst plagues shall be immediately visited upon you and your children if these divine commands go unheeded. I call upon you who sit there trembling in your seats to beware, and to rise in your strength and win your crown. Let every Saint in Zion be present at the meeting in this building on Sunday next at this hour, and I will discourse further upon these matters which I have, for wise reasons, kept from you during the day up to this minute. The Lord bless you. Amen.


The Foul Libel Refuted
NEPHI, JUAB Co., TJ. T.
March 18, 1884.
Editor Deseret News:
Please pardon me for referring to a sheet published in your city, called the "Salt Lake Tribune,," although I do not presume that it is sustained by any respectable person in this Territory where it has so unenviable a reputation; still it may be sent abroad and fall into the hands of some simple-minded persons who might perhaps be deluded into the impression that it was a truthful sheet, or reliable authority. Not that I think for a moment that any sane person would be so woefully deceived. I wish to refer to a manufactured sensational piece in the issue of Sunday the 16th inst. that has been called to my attention, headed a "Red-Hot Address;" also a short editorial on the subject in which the truthful (?) editor states it had been "forwarded by a friend. " O, tempore! O, mores! It purports to be a "stenographical report of Bishop West's harangue in the Juab schoolhouse, Sunday March 9, 1884, reported by 'Tobias Tobey' for the Salt Lake Tribune." Then follows an address which charity would suggest had been written by an insane person or worse, the offspring of a dreadfully corrupt heart, a miserable disgrace to the genus homo, worthy only to rise to "shame' and everlasting contempt."
Now, the facts are these: It is all a gross fabrication, Juab is a small town occupied by hotel and boarding house keepers, a store or two and the railroad hands; there is a small branch of the Church, presided over by Elder James Wilson, who is very much respected, but no bishop. On the Sunday referred to there had been a wash-out and all the hands were busy, so that there was no meeting held on that day; and as far as the "Bishop West" is concerned, there is no such bishop there or in the "Mormon" Church, and who "Tobias Tobey" is no one knows.
I have been requested to inform you of these facts, and kindly request that you will waive any feeling of dislike you may have to, in any way, refer to the existence of such a sheet, for the sake of our young Elders on missions, who might perchance meet with this shockingly vile fabrication.
Very Respectfully,
GEORGE TEASDALE.

[The paper printed a retraction. I have reproduced it here.]