Now when the wife of any man who is of good standing in the Church, and whom Brigham wishes to honour, comes to him for a divorce, he generally sends for the husband first, tells him about it, and they talk it over together. The husband is counselled to “make the matter up,” and a compromise is effected. In the case of my husband, Brigham acted otherwise. The clerk had been directed to make out the papers, which the second wife signed, and, as far as she was concerned, her marriage was dissolved. My husband was then notified that he was wanted at the Prophet’s office, and he had a very shrewd guess as to what the nature of the business was for which his presence was desired. He waited till the afternoon, when he knew that Brigham would be absent, and then as he was driving out with Joseph A., the Prophet’s son, he drew up before the office and asked Joseph to accompany him inside in order to witness a little business which he had to transact. Joseph agreed; but when he found what the business really was, he strongly urged my husband not to sign the papers, or, at least, to take time and consult with President Young first. Mr. Stenhouse, however, never for a moment doubted that Brigham had expected by this hasty move to bring him to his feet, and he would not therefore yield. So, asking the clerk for the papers, he signed them, and Joseph also signed them as a witness; the other witness was David Mackenzie, Brigham’s clerk. Belinda had already affixed her name. Ten dollars were then handed over as the usual fee. My husband took one copy of the “bill of divorce,” the wife had a right to a second copy, and the third was deposited in the archives of Zion. My husband had then, as we have seen, hastened home to tell me that he was “a free man:” and yet these two had been “sealed” to each other at the altar in the Endowment House “for all eternity!”
This is the way that divorces are granted in Utah. There is not the slightest difficulty about them, if only Brother Brigham is willing. The reader would, perhaps, be interested in seeing one of these terrible documents. I therefore append a true, perfect, and exact copy of my husband’s own bill of divorce. It is a fac-simile—type, signatures, and all. This is a specimen of an orthodox divorce among the bon ton in Salt Lake City. Out in the Settlements they do things in a much more primitive style, and some of their documents are rather amusing. The following is a correct copy of a Mormon divorce bill taken from the records of Beaver City:—
March 8th 1871
To whomsoever it may concern
This is to certify in the beginning of 1869 when I gave a bill of divorce to Sarah Ann Lowry I gave to her for the good of her four children the following property viz. A parcel of land of about nine acres enclosed all around with a house of two rooms and one cow and heifer
William C Ritter
I could, if space permitted, give many others equally interesting.
FAC-SIMILE OF A MORMON “BILL OF DIVORCE.”
To face p. 344.