President Young’s Answer
In replying to General Sherman’s telegram, President Young thanked him for the opportunity of presenting the facts. He said, dispatches sent from Utah to the East were not reliable; there had been no such assassinations as the General had been led to believe. “On May 17, a soldier shot a gentleman named Mayfield, and a Mr. Brassfield came home and seduced a Mormon’s wife, and was shot on the street by some unknown person; but neither I nor the community at large knew any more about it than an inhabitant of St. Louis. Citizens who are not of our faith do not suffer from intimidation here. In no other communities could men pursue the course many do here without experiencing the vengeance of a vigilance committee.” President Young closed his telegram as follows: “There are a few speculators here who are anxious to make it appear that American citizens’ lives are in danger through religious fanaticism, hoping thereby to have troops sent here to make money out of contracts. Gentiles’ lives are as safe here as ‘Mormons’ and acts of violence occur more rarely in this city than any other of its size in any of the new States or Territories.”
Citizens of Utah to General Sherman
Another telegram was sent by prominent “Gentile” citizens of Utah, confirming the telegram of President Young. Among the signers were some of the leading business men and officers from Camp Douglas. General Sherman replied to President Young as follows: “Sir: Your dispatch is received and I am much gratified at its substance and spirit.”
A Proposed “Gentile” Exodus
Due to the bitterness existing in Utah, President Brigham Young counseled the “Mormon” people not to patronize business institutions which were run by the enemies of the people. This was as a matter of self-defence and preservation. The result of this counsel was that a communication from “Gentile” merchants and addressed to the Church authorities, was received in which they agreed to leave the territory on certain conditions. Their conditions were as follows: The Church would guarantee the payment of their outstanding accounts owing to them by the members of the Church, and the purchase of their merchandise, chattles, houses, improvements, etc., at a cash valuation, after a deduction of twenty-five per cent had been made from the total amount. “To the fulfilment of the above,” said they, “we hold ourselves ready at any time, to enter into negotiations, and on final arrangement being made and terms of sale complied with, we shall freely leave the Territory.”
President Young Answers the Merchants
In a signed communication dated Dec. 21, 1866, President Young declined to entertain their offer. He kindly pointed out to them that if they could secure such sales, they would make more money than merchants had ever made before, and perhaps “Mormon” merchants would like to sell out on the same kind of terms. They were at liberty to remain or go, just as they pleased; no intimidation or coercion had been used in the community to have them stop trading with any class, and no man had been ostracised because he was not of the “Mormon” faith. Every man who had dealt fairly and honestly, and confined his attention to his legitimate business, whatever his creed, had found friendship among the Latter-day Saints. “To be adverse to Gentiles, or Jews, because they are Jews,” said President Young, “is in direct opposition to the genius of our religion. It matters not what a man’s creed is . . . he will receive kindness and friendship from us, and we have not the least objection to doing business with him; if in his dealings he acts in accordance with the principles of right and deport himself as a good, law-abiding citizen should.”
Attention was called to the fact that there were those doing business in the territory who for years had been the avowed enemies of the community. The disrupture and overthrow of the Church had been the object of their labors. “Missionaries of evil, there have been no arts too base, no stratagems too vile for them to use to bring about their nefarious ends,” said President Young. While soliciting the patronage of the people, from whom they drew their support, they had used their means thus derived “in the most shameless and abandoned manner,” to destroy the very people whose favor they found it to their interest to court. They had “fostered vice and vicious institutions to oppose the unanimously expressed will of the people, to increase disorder, and to change the city from a condition of peace and quietude to lawless anarchy.” The question was asked what claims such persons could have upon the patronage of the community, and what community on the earth “would be so besotted as to uphold and foster men whose aim is to destroy them.” In closing his epistle, President Young declared: “It is to oppose these men whom I have described, and to these alone that I am opposed, and I am determined to use my influence to have the citizens here stop dealing with them and deal with honorable men.”
Two days later in a discourse before the Saints, President Young said: “We advise you to pass by the shops and stores of your enemies and let them alone, but give your means into the hands of men who are honest men, honorable men, and upright men—men who will deal justly and truly with all. Shall we deal with the Jew? Yes. With those who call themselves Gentiles? Certainly. We calculate to continue to deal with them.”[1]