CHAPTER 51.
ELEVATION TO PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH, 1889.
Arrest of George Q. Cannon.—Governor Murray's Dismissal.—Death of President Taylor.—President Woodruff Appears in the Tabernacle.—Change in Federal Officers.—April, 1889, Wilford Woodruff Became President of the Church.—Visit to California.—M. W. Merrill, A. H. Lund, and Abraham H. Cannon Called to Apostleship.—Senator Morgan Visits President Woodruff.
The highest point of intensity in the crusade against the Latter-day Saints was reached during the year 1886. Although President Woodruff had been in exile previous years he had always enjoyed in some measure the privilege of meeting with the Saints and of exercising himself in the vindication of his calling as an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Persecution became most bitter, the whole atmosphere of anti-Mormon association was charged with intense hatred. Hundreds were in prison and in exile and leading men were hunted down with a fury perhaps unsurpassed by the Roman persecutions in the days of the early Christians. During that year he did not appear once in public nor did he preach a single discourse. He passed some time in Ashley Valley and enjoyed such diversion in fishing and hunting as his circumstances would permit. At the opening of the new year he recounted the experiences of the past year and prophecied concerning the year to come. He felt that the Lord would fight the battles of the Saints and that those who were prominent in the persecution would be humiliated. On the 13th of February that year President George Q. Cannon was arrested in Nevada. A few days later he was brought to Salt Lake City in the custody of United States officers. To intensify excitement abroad and to make it appear that the Territory was on the verge of revolt, Governor Murray sent troops to guard the prisoner to Salt Lake City. Upon George Q. Cannon were heaped various indignities and on his arrival in Utah he was placed under forty-five thousand dollar bonds. John Sharp and Feramorz Little went on his bonds for twenty-five thousand, and Francis Armstrong and H. S. Eldredge for twenty thousand. In view of the extreme bitterness then manifested toward him and in view of the fact that offenses might be segregated to imprisonment for life, President Cannon decided to forfeit the bonds. Sharp and Little paid promptly the twenty-five thousand, while Armstrong and Eldredge declined to pay until the question of excessiveness of bail should be determined by the courts. When the case was carried to the supreme court at Washington it was finally dismissed. Later, by action of Congress, the 25,000 dollars was returned.
Governor Murray was removed from office, and under the restraining influence at Washington, the persecution in Utah became less offensive. Murray's conduct had for some time been unsatisfactory to President Cleveland, especially in view of the misrepresentation of conditions in Utah. When Murray vetoed the general appropriation bill passed by the Territorial Legislature the President of the United States decided to remove him. The President further considered Murray's effort to coerce legislation wholly unjustifiable, and his attempt to appoint officers by proclamation as revolutionary. He also remembered that he had been twice deceived by Murray on the "Mormon Uprising."
While the close of the year did not by any means witness the end of the crusade, the hand of God was visible in defeating certain purposes of the enemy. President Taylor and his associates were vindicated. The course taken by them and the changed attitude of the general government marked the fulfillment of prophecy uttered by President Woodruff at the beginning of the year.
At the close of the year Edward M. Dalton of Parowan was shot and killed by Deputy Marshal Thompson. The feelings of resentment among the people were high. They felt more and more the force of President Taylor's words at the beginning of the crusade when he informed the people that nothing was to be done except to turn up their coat collars and as much as possible turn their back to the storm until it passed over. Outrages were daily increasing and there was an evident determination on the part of the federal officers to stand by one another and manipulate the machinery of government for their own protection as well as for the oppression of the Mormons. However, federal zeal in Utah exceeded so far the bounds of all propriety that the authorities in Washington determined to exercise some restraint over their agents in Utah.
General McCook was transferred to another post. Marshal Ireland and Judge Powers went out of office.
On the 8th of February, 1886, a circumstance transpired by which President Woodruff and Apostle Erastus Snow escaped arrest. President Woodruff thought the circumstance worthy of a place in history. Early in the morning of that day he and Erastus Snow went to the Historian's office in pursuance of an appointment to meet a number of the brethren there. Before he had been long in the building it was surrounded by deputy marshals. He and Elders Snow and Richards had been watching the officers from the windows as they searched the Gardo House. They had also observed the raid made upon the President's office and the tithing office. When the marshals, however, came to the Historian's office, President Woodruff offered a silent, fervent prayer in his heart that the Lord would blind his enemies. He then, in company with Andrew Jenson, went into the street in the midst of nearly twenty officers. They were apparently dazed as he walked before them and he attracted no attention. He crossed the street to the President's office, passed through the east gate, entered a buggy with Seymour B. Young, and was driven to the home of Elder Young's mother. In the evening he made his way to his home in Farmers Ward, then took his departure for a year of exile from his family and associates in office. During the year he traveled about sixteen hundred miles and closed the year in the city of St. George, accompanied by his wife Emma and some of her children.