One Mr. Tennant, a gentleman residing in Lancashire, England, embraced Mormonism. His property was estimated at over $70,000. He was soon marked as a victim. By appliances and representations brought to bear with much assiduity, he was induced to purchase of Brigham Young a house in Salt Lake, which he had never seen, and pay for the same the sum of $20,000; about four times its value. In addition to this, large sums of money were obtained from him by the Elders, under pretence of his becoming a
share-holder and partner with Young in grist-mills, sugar machinery, iron-works, &c., solemnly assuring him in relation to its safe investment and future profits. Mr. Tennant died while crossing the Plains, leaving a wife, with a young child. On arriving in Salt Lake, Mrs. Tennant, instead of being comfortably installed in the house purchased by her husband, found herself placed in lodgings, the carriage, horses, and other property seized upon, and herself placed under the control of a guardian. This, together with the loss of her husband, so worked upon her mind, that she became insane. Afterward Brigham gave her in marriage to Daniel Spencer, as his fourth or fifth wife, and thus completed the wrongs for which the poor woman will call him to account in the day of judgment. She now lives upon a miserable pittance doled out from the tithing-office.
A Mr. Williams, well known to the writer, became a Mormon in England. He was a man of considerable property, and while on his way crossing the Plains, was induced to invest $15,000 in an iron company formed for working the iron mines in Southern Utah. The money was paid over, and invested by the Elders, in goods, in St. Louis. The goods were duly transported across the Plains, and unloaded within the enclosure of Young, in Salt Lake City. Mr. Williams received, in St. Louis, a receipt for his money, stating that the same would entitle him, upon his arrival in Utah, to certificates of stock in the company. But he never was able to get any stock or other equivalent for his money, nor any statement of the affairs of the company. Indeed, the dignitaries of the church, after one or two conversations upon the subject, refused to converse with him further in relation to it. Soon after, the Legislature of Utah, composed in good part of the same men, repealed the Act incorporating the company, and thus the whole thing "vanished into thin air." In 1862, which was several years after the money had been paid, Mr. Williams took legal advice, and was told he could file a bill in chancery, against all persons implicated in the transaction,
requiring them to answer under oath. He hesitated to do so, giving as a reason that he thought "the time had not yet come," and that such a course would imperil his life.
This mode of getting money by the Elders from the wealthy saints, and the retaining the same, is not only excused, but openly justified and encouraged by Brigham. The following extract from one of his published sermons will show his views upon these questions, and the character of his morality and financial integrity:—
"I wish to impress another thing on your minds. An Elder who is willing to preach the gospel, borrows a hundred or a thousand from you, and you never breathe a word of complaint against him, until you come home to this valley; but after you have been here for a few days, you follow me round and fill my ears with complaints against this brother, and ask me what he has done with your money? I say 'I do not know.' Thus you are distressed, and in misery all the day long, to get it back again. If an Elder has borrowed from you, and you find he is going to apostatize, then you may tighten the screws upon him; but if he is willing to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, it is none of your business what he does with the money he has borrowed from you. If you murmur against that Elder, it will prove your damnation. . . .
"No man need judge me. You know nothing about it, whether I am sent or not; furthermore, it is none of your business, only to listen with open ears to what is taught you, and serve God with an undivided heart."[147:A]
Stephen Goddard owned a store on Main Street, Salt Lake City, which he desired to sell. He was offered its value by a gentile, but before selling, consulted "Brother Brigham." The President said he wanted the store, and would give him $8,000 for it. To this Goddard demurred, as the sum was less than half what he had been offered. Young said when the Lord wanted his property, that should be the end of it, and the price was none of his business. Goddard and Bishop Woolley, who was present, retired outside and talked the matter over. The Bishop remarked, "He thought when a
man had worked hard to accumulate property for the benefit of his family, he should be permitted to sell it for a fair price." This was overheard by a spy, and reported to headquarters. The Bishop was sent for and sharply reprimanded. He was told that he was in a spirit of apostasy. Goddard, afraid to do otherwise, sold the store to Young for $8,000.
Besides the property acquired through the machinery of the tithing system, a large amount is obtained under the "law of consecration." Under this law, those saints who can be induced to do so, place their whole property in the hands of the President, as trustee in trust for the church, to be used when the necessities of the church require it. The object is to guard against apostasy. Brigham Young says:—