Of the Prophet’s moral character, the less said the better. He has been remorseless and cruel in his enmities, and he has connived at and even suggested, if nothing more, some of the most atrocious crimes that have ever been perpetrated on the face of the earth. In business matters, in the payment of money—to use a popular phrase—his word is as good as his bond, but in the accumulation of wealth he has evinced an amount of dishonesty which can scarcely be credited. Brigham always meets his obligations, and pays his debts, and gets a lawful receipt:—the prophetic business could not otherwise be carried on; but the way in which he has obtained his wealth would put to the blush the most dishonest member of any “ring” in New York, or elsewhere. When he attended his first Conference, he says he had to borrow certain masculine garments and a pair of boots before he could put in an appearance. Now it would be difficult to estimate the value of his property. He has taken up large tracts of land all over the Territory, he has the uncontrolled and unquestioned command of all the tithing and contributions of the Saints, and from gifts and confiscations, and innumerable other sources, his revenue pours in. It was once rumoured that he had eighteen or twenty millions of dollars in the Bank of England; but Brigham said that the report was not true. “The Church,” he added, had a little money invested abroad. The difference between “The Church” and the individual Brigham Young has yet to be determined.
In the year 1852 the “Prophet of the Lord” found that he had borrowed an inconveniently large sum from the funds of the Church. He is “Trustee in Trust” and, of course, legally responsible; but he never renders an account of his stewardship, and no one ever asks him for it. His sense of honesty was, however, so strong that he resolved to have his account balanced, and he went down to the Tithing-Office for that purpose. There he found that his indebtedness amounted to two hundred thousand dollars, and he proceeded to pay it after his own fashion: the clerk was instructed to place to his credit the same amount “for services rendered.” In 1867, he owed very nearly one million dollars, which he had borrowed from the same fund, and he balanced his account in the same way. His contract for the Pacific Railroad is said to have yielded him a quarter of a million, and his other contracts and mining speculations, purchases and thefts of lands, houses, &c., have been very profitable. The expenses of such a family as Brother Brigham’s must be something enormous, but the contributions which by honest and dishonest means he has levied have been so large that he must still be one of the wealthiest men in the States.
Brigham is not a generous man. He has given occasionally, as for instance at the time of the Chicago fire, when he presented a thousand dollars for the sufferers, but even then his motive was evident—the affairs of “Deseret” were under discussion in Congress. Without the certainty of a profitable return, Brigham never gave a cent. The story of his sordid avarice and his contemptible meanness in the accumulation of money would fill a volume.
Morally and physically the Prophet is a great coward. When he and other Church leaders were arrested a year or two ago, charged with the very gravest crimes, the effect upon the Prophet was most distressing. He had solemnly sworn in the Tabernacle that he would shoot the man who attempted to arrest him; but when Judge McKean opened court and placed him under arrest, he swallowed his threats and played the coward’s part. Before this the world has seen wretches who were notorious for their cruelty and tyranny, and who were also remarkable for their cowardice. For many years he has imitated royalty and has had a strong body-guard to keep watch and ward around his person every night. No man has less cause to apprehend personal violence than Brother Brigham, but the voice of conscience, which, as the poet says, makes cowards of us all, suggests his fears.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE WIVES OF BRIGHAM YOUNG:—THEIR HISTORY AND THEIR DAILY LIFE.
The wives of Brigham Young have always been subjects of interest to Gentiles who visited Zion; and having spoken of their husband, I think it is only fair that I should say a few words about them.
For many years I have known personally all the Prophet’s wives who reside in Salt Lake City, and I wish to speak of them with kindness and respect. They are women whom any one would esteem—conscientious, good, earnest women; faithful, true-hearted wives, who have devoted their lives to the carrying out of what they believe is the revealed will of God.
When I first knew Brother Brigham, poor man, he had only sixteen living with him in Salt Lake City; and even now he has no more than nineteen! Perhaps I ought to say eighteen, since Eliza-Ann has run away from him, and left the poor old gentleman desolate and forlorn. The three whom he took after I came to Utah, were Amelia Folsom, Mary Van Cott Cobb, and Eliza-Ann. But the reader will perhaps be interested in hearing about them all, and so I will state the names and order of the ladies as they at present stand—according to the date of their marriage; making mention of the proxy wives last of all, for the sake of convenience and without reference to date. Of course Brother Brigham has had many more than nineteen wives, but the following are the living ladies; others are dead or have strayed away, no one knew whither, and perhaps, as Brother Heber once said to me, nobody cared.