Conference of that year was postponed until May 7th, in consequence of the prolonged stay of President Young that winter in St. George. On his return, President Young gave out as a key-note of the conference, the subject of the United Order, a subject that had evidently weighed upon his mind during that winter. When free from all strife, from his struggles and contentions, he enjoyed the communion of the spirit, which opened to him the great duty that rested upon the Saints to put in operation God's purposes with regard to the United Order, by the consecration of the private wealth to the common good of the people. The underlying principle of the United Order was that there should be no rich and no poor, that men's talents should be used for the common good, and that selfish interests should make way for a more benevolent and generous spirit among the Saints.
Wilford Woodruff, before closing his biography for the year 1874, recorded one of those accidents with which his life was peculiarly beset. He fell from a tree, a distance of about ten feet, and was quite seriously hurt, especially in his side and hip. One naturally wonders what a man at his time of life was doing up a tree. In the first place, with Elder Woodruff it was never a question of age when he saw something he thought ought to be done, provided it was possible for him to do it. He was everywhere. It never required any length of time for him to change his surroundings or labors, he was ready for any emergency at any time. If he saw a limb in the top of an apple tree that should be sawed off, the thought barely took possession of him before he was in the top of the tree, and it was always hard for him to ask anybody else to do a thing that he could do himself.
CHAPTER 45.
ST. GEORGE TEMPLE DEDICATED.
Visit to Randolph.—Governor Axtell.—Visit of President Grant.—Visit of Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil.—Dedication of St. George Temple.—A Grand Birthday Celebration.
On January 6th, 1875, Elder Woodruff accompanied by his son-in-law, Jesse Moses, left for Randolph, Rich County. Although the winter there was very cold he hauled wood from the mountains for the use of his family. He records that on the 17th of the month three men, while on their way from Evanston to Woodruff, had their feet badly frozen. With Bishop Lee he went to visit them and did all he could to save the unfortunate persons from the necessity of having their feet amputated. While in that section of the country he visited the Saints in Bear Lake as far north as Paris. On his return to Salt Lake City he met on the train, and became acquainted with the new Governor of Utah, Samuel B. Axtell. "I was much pleased with his sentiment and spirit," writes Elder Woodruff in his journal. Axtell was so honest and fair with all parties that the anti-Mormon element, whose tool he refused to become, by their opposition succeeded in obtaining his removal in about one month after he reached Utah. He was then made Governor of one of the southern territories. While in Utah, he spoke one night in the Liberal Institute, and related some of the iron-clad laws of the Medes and Persians. "God grant," he said, "that such a rule may never come to Utah." He was a man of good education and of refinement, and was fairly opposed to the corrupt methods of Judge McKean, as well as to those of other Federal officials.
On the 19th of February he went to York, terminus of the Utah Southern, where he met President Young and George A. Smith on their return from St. George. On the anniversary of Washington's birthday, February 22, that year he records the fact that he sealed for time and eternity the first Lamanite receiving the celestial marriage ceremony in this dispensation.
It was during this year that President Young was subjected by Judge McKean to the latter's court indignities in consequence of Ann Eliza's divorce suit; and on the eleventh day of March 1875, President Young was sent to the penitentiary for contempt of court for one day because of his refusal to pay her alimony. Elder Woodruff went to the penitentiary with President Young and asked the privilege of spending the night with him, but was denied his request. However, D. H. Wells and Doctor S. B. Young were allowed to remain with the President. "This was the first time," says Elder Woodruff, "that President Young was ever confined in prison by order of any court." A few days later, March 17th, word came that Judge McKean had been removed and his successor appointed. "Glory Hallelujah, the Lord has answered our prayers and Judge McKean is removed out of his place!" Elder Woodruff wrote. Some time before this Elder Woodruff had written in his journal a prophecy of his in the name of the Lord, that Judge McKean would have his downfall and his disgrace. His words were literally fulfilled; the Judge became almost a cipher in the community. His health was shattered and he died of typhoid fever a little less than four years later in Salt Lake City. There is, perhaps, no more interesting study in Mormonism than the fate of those who have been conspicuous in the oppression of the Saints. Since the days of Joseph Smith men have sought popularity and honors by their bigoted efforts to solve the Mormon problem. To one of these so-called reformers has come obscurity, to another misfortune, to another disgrace, some have been handed over to the buffetings of Satan, and others have died in obscurity and unmourned.