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CHAPTER VII.

GENTILES IN UTAH.

A New Element - Livingston and Kinkead - "Jack-Mormonism at Washington" - Judge Drummond - M. Jules Remy - Gilbert and Sons - Heavy trade - Later Gentile Merchants - Walker Brothers Sales at Camp Floyd - "Crushing the Mormons" - Ransohoff & Co. - Mormon outrages again - Murders of Brassfield and Dr. Robinson Whipping of Weston - Evidence in case of Dr. Robinson - Outrages on Lieutenant Brown and Dr. Williamson - Gentiles driven from the Public Land - Territorial Surveyor - Success of General Connor's Administration - The Government returns to the old policy - Murders of Potter and Wilson - Horrible death of "Negro Tom" - The last witness "put out of the way" - " Danites" again - Murder each other - Death of Hatch - Flight of Hickman - Forty-three murders - Another change of officials - Doty - Durkee - Shameful neglect by the Government - Flight of the Gentiles - Comparative quiet again - A better day - The author arrives in Utah.

    A NEW element now enters into Utah affairs, and demands attention. There had previously been Gentiles resident in Salt Lake, but before 1858, they seem to have created no special interest. The history of Gentile merchants from the earliest times to the present exhibits a singular record of "pluck" and enterprise, contending against the ever-varying complications of political and religious fanaticism. The first Gentile merchants to make a permanent establishment in Salt Lake, were Messrs. Livingston and Kinkead, who began business there in 1850, and taking the tide of Mormon prosperity at its height, when the young colony had just realized on the California trade, their profits were immense. At the date they reached the city there were no Eastern goods in the Valley, and the first day their store was open they took in $10,000 in gold! Other merchants passed through doing some trade, but none had done so well. The custom of these early merchants was to start from the Missouri with large stocks, which they opened at Salt Lake, remaining only one autumn and winter, trading for cattle, grain and flour, which they took on to California the next season.

     From 1850 till 1862, "jack-Mormonism" ruled at Washington to a considerable extent, and the Gentiles of Utah had but little help, either by protection or moral influence, from Federal appointees. Judge Kinney, who was appointed Chief Justice in 1854, came that year to the valley with his family and a large stock of goods. He kept a hotel, sold goods, speculated in various ways, and spared no pains to keep on good terms with his Mormon customers; afterwards he joined the Mormons, was baptized in the holy Jordan - it is reported that he paid the officiating priest $10 to have the job done in the night-and represented the Territory one term in Congress.

     For a short time he was the colleague of Judge Drummond, the Government thus, by immorality on one side and "jack-Mormonism" on the other, playing into the hands of the Saints most effectually. Kinney had a difficulty with Brigham Young early in 1855, as reported by M. Jules Remy, who visited Salt Lake that summer, and Brigham declined the invitation of the Frenchman to dine with him at Kinney's hotel, on that account. It is a subject of curious conjecture what sort of an impression this state of affairs made on the courtly Frenchman, accustomed to see the representative of the supreme power treated with the utmost deference. Kinney left the next year, retaining, however, the office and its emoluments till 1857, and in 1860 was reappointed.

     The entrance of Johnston's army, with the government contracts thereby rendered necessary, and the more complete establishment of the Overland Stages, mark the beginning of a new era in Gentile history; here is a point of departure, so to speak, between the old and the new, separating ancient and modern history. Nearly all the late merchants came in with that army, or following soon after.

     During the interval from 1853 to 1858, the Mormons had fallen behind, and great destitution often prevailed, particularly in the southern settlements. One year the crops were short from drought, and another they were entirely destroyed by grasshoppers; during two seasons there was no surplus except a little wheat which could only be sold in barter for fifty cents per bushel; one winter thousands of the people subsisted largely upon sego roots, and another, of unusual severity, a third of the cattle throughout Utah died from exposure. In the period known in Mormon chronicles as "The Reformation," the Ward Teachers visited every family in their jurisdiction, and made a thorough examination of their flour barrels and meat chests, taking away the surplus, where there was any, to divide it among those who had none. In the summer of 1855, M. Jules Remy, French traveler and savin, and Mr. A. M. Brenchley, his English companion and botanist, journeyed from Sacramento to Salt Lake City, by the Central Nevada route and south of the lake, and spent several weeks studying Mormon institutions. Their publication, a copy of which may be found in the State Library at Sacramento, describes a condition of extreme poverty in Utah; provisions of all sorts were at premium prices, and their tour of two months, with the poorest accommodations, cost them more in gold than a first-class tour of Europe would have done. Wheat and a few other bare necessaries alone were tolerably cheap. The season of 1856-57 might be justly denominated the "Winter of Mormon discontent." And it is remarkable that during those two years were committed most of those crimes which form so black a chapter in the annals of Utah.

     The entrance of Johnston's army proved a real god send to many, and being followed by a season of unusual fruitfulness, the Mormons were again rendered prosperous. The firm of Gilbert & Sons was established in Salt Lake City about that time, though one of the firm had done business there before. This firm made large profits during the five succeeding years, their sales on one particular day amounting to $17,000 in gold. Coin was the only currency, all large payments being made in the Mormon five-dollar piece, a coin struck by the Church, which, however, contained but $4.30 in gold. Another prominent firm of that period was Ransohoff & Co., long the leading Jewish firm, who built the best stone store-house in the city. They had extensive dealings with Brigham Young, who was for a while on the best of terms with Gentile merchants, and when Johnston's army left and the camp property was sold, Brigham borrowed $30,000 off Ransohoff to invest in army pork. Following the entrance of the army came a heavy trade with Nevada, and not long afterwards considerable with Colorado; and at this period was the rise of the firm of Walker Brothers, now par excellence, the Gentile merchant princes of Utah. The Walkers, four young and middle aged gentlemen, were of Mormon parentage and reared among the Saints; having, by great industry and enterprise, secured a small stock in trade before the entrance of the army. The stores at Camp Floyd were sold early in 1861, with immense profits to the Saints; iron which had retailed at a dollar per pound, became as plentiful as in the East, and Brigham Young, Walker Brothers and other firms bought immense quantities of pork at one cent per pound, which they afterwards retailed at sixty. Thus did Buchanan "crush the Mormons." The Overland Mail service grew into greatness, furnishing another source of profit, and the Gentile merchants shared largely in the general prosperity. During 1859 and '60, though there was hostility between Camp Floyd and the Mormon hierarchy, money was plenty; sufficient supplies had been forwarded to last the army ten years, and great quantities of leather, gearing, cavalry equipments, clothing, blankets and small stores were sold for one tenth their value; Brigham was on the best of terms with the Gentile merchants; gifts and donations on both sides were common; there was for a time little or no social distinction between Mormon and Gentile, and an era of general good feeling prevailed.

    The General Government soon returned to the old policy, and with the return of Kinney, Judges Flenniken and Crosby were appointed to succeed Sinclair and Cradlebaugh, removed. In 1861 Governor Cumming left Utah, and was succeeded by John W. Dawson, of Indiana, who was soon entrapped into "a base attempt on the virtue of a Mormon woman," and in consequence of many threats precipitately fled the Territory. He was waylaid, however, in Weber Canyon, and received a terrible beating, which he richly deserved for his cowardice, and, if the charge above be true, for his detestably bad taste. Notwithstanding these differences with the officials the Mormons continued on good terms with the merchants, trade was free, and the people rather prosperous. The opening of the war signaled a sudden change; the disloyalty of the Mormons was only equalled by the disgust of the Gentiles, and the whole gist of Mormon sermons for a year or two might have been compressed into that aggravating after-prophecy, "Didn't we tell you so?" With them it was only the realization of what Joe Smith had prophesied in 1832, and Sunday after Sunday the Tabernacle resounded with the harangues of Brigham Young and Heber Kimball, in fiendish exultation over the prospect that "the war would go on till nearly all the men, North and South, would be killed, the rest would become servants to the Saints, the women of the United States would come begging for the Mormon elders to marry them, and a general cry would go up, 'come and help us preserve the race of man in this land.'"

CEREMONY OF CONFIRMATION.

     Such was the stuff then preached by men who are now prating loudly of their loyalty. It was hard for an American to listen to it quietly, and but little else was heard in Salt Lake for the first two years of the war. Early in 1862 Judges Flenniken and Crosby left Salt Lake City. If they did anything while there to forward the cause of truth, to add to the dignity of the Government, to increase the moral force of the Gentiles or protect the victims of Brighamism, it appears not on the record. President Lincoln was advised by telegraph of their departure, and on the 3d of February, 1862, appointed Thomas J. Drake, of Michigan, and Chas. V. Waite, of Illinois, to succeed them. On the 31st of March following, Stephen S. Harding, an "original abolitionist," of southern Indiana, was appointed Governor, and the new officials reached Salt Lake in July of the same year. In October following Colonel (now General) P. Edward Connor arrived with fifteen hundred men and established Camp Douglas. This administration may well be styled the "golden age" of Gentiles in Utah. For nearly four years General Connor maintained the rights of American citizens, and protected and assisted many hundred dissenting Mormons in their escape from Utah. Their prompt action in protecting American citizens and recusant Mormons from injury, together with the anti-polygamy features of Governor Harding's first message, and the action of the Judges in asking Congress for an amendment to the Organic Act of the Territory, excited the Brighamites to great anger for a time; the hostility increased, and when an unusually large number of miners came to winter in Salt Lake, Brigham assumed entire control of Mormon trade and flour was put up at once from $3 to $6 per hundred in gold, then equal to twice that amount in currency. Great was the indignation at this move, but the miners could not help themselves at that season and submitted, though their curses were both loud and deep. The opening of spring relieved this embargo, and the Mormons soon discovered that though Camp Douglas was something of an eye-sore, yet the presence of two regiments added materially to their trade. The triumph of the Union arms through 1864, the prompt payment of claims against the Government, and the appointment of rather more acceptable officials, convinced the Mormons that "loyalty would pay" for awhile, and another era of free trade and tolerably good feeling followed. The years 1864-65 were seasons of prosperity to the Gentiles; Ransohoff & Co. cleared large sums dealing in general supplies, and Walker Brothers, who had meanwhile apostatized from Mormonism, took rank as millionaires.

    The era of free trade and good feeling was short and the change sudden. In 1865 and 1866 all the California and Nevada volunteers and most of the other troops were withdrawn, and the hostility of the Church was manifested with tenfold more fierceness. All the Gentiles, who had pre-empted land west of the city, were whipped, ducked in the Jordan, or tarred and feathered, and their improvements destroyed; many were threatened and ordered out of the country; Weston, of the Union Vedette, was seized at night, taken to Temple Block and cruelly beaten; Brassfield was shot; Dr. Robinson assassinated, and general consternation seized upon the Gentile residents. Some of these events demand a more particular account.

     Squire Newton Brassfield, formerly a citizen of California, and more lately of Nevada, while sojourning temporarily in Salt Lake City, formed the acquaintance of a woman who had been the polygamous wife of a Mormon, named Hill, but had left him, repudiated this so-called marriage and claimed that she was entitled at common law to the possession of her children by this Hill, as the offspring of an illegal marriage, or, rather of no marriage at all. She and Brassfield were married in legal form by the U.S. Judge, H. P. McCurdy, on the 28th of March, 1866; a writ of habeas corpus was issued from the United States Court for the possession of her children, and the trial set for the night of April the 3d, but adjourned till the 6th. Meanwhile Brassfield had taken a trunk containing her clothing from her former residence, and was arrested by the Mormon authorities on a charge of grand larceny! The ground assumed for this action was that the clothing taken was the property of her husband. It was also charged that he had resisted the officer attempting to make the arrest - an offence universally considered worthy of death by the Mormons. In this case also an appeal was had to the United States Court. On the evening of April 6th, about 8 o'clock, while Brassfield was passing along Second South street, in the custody of, or in company with United States Marshal, J. K. Hosmer, he was shot in the back by a concealed assassin; as near as could be determined, from an alley on the opposite side of the street. The assassin escaped, and no especial effort was made to arrest him. The Gentiles offered a reward of $4,500 for his apprehension; the Mormon press and speakers were either non-committal on the subject, or mildly sustained the assassin, and dared the Gentiles to publish their names to the offered reward. The possession of her two children was afterwards confirmed to Mrs. Brassfield by the United States Court, and she left the Territory with them. The following telegram was at once forwarded to General Connor, still in command of the district, but temporarily absent in New York:

GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, April 8, 1866.

     Brigadier-General P. E. Connor, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:- I married S. N. Brassfield to a Mormon woman, on the 28th ultimo. Brassfield was assassinated on the night of the 6th instant. I have been denounced and threatened publicly. Government officials here have telegraphed to the Secretary of War to retain troops here until others are sent to relieve them. Call on Secretary of War, learn his conclusions and answer; I feel unsafe in person and property without protection.

H. P. McCURDY,
Associate Justice Supreme Court, U. T.

     A similar dispatch was forwarded by Colonel C. A. Potter, who was ordered to retain troops until the regulars arrived.

    Dr. Robinson was assassinated on the night of the 22d of October. The following biography is taken from the Union Vedette of October 25th, 1866.

     "The late Dr. J. K. Robinson, whose assassination last Monday has sent a thrill of horror to the heart of every law abiding citizens of this Territory, was a native of Calais, Maine, and was in his thirty-first year. He came to Utah from California in the spring of 1864, as an Assistant Surgeon of the United States volunteers, and reporting to General Connor, was set to Camp Connor at Soda Springs, Idaho; but during the following winter was ordered to Salt Lake, and took charge of the hospital at Camp Douglas, and remained on duty there and in this city until last winter, when he was mustered out of the service, leaving a record in the army which stands without a blemish. After leaving the service of his country, Dr. Robinson settled down in this city and engaged in the practice of his profession, in which he had taken the lead among the practicing physicians of Salt Lake, and has occupied an equally prominent position in the advancement of all religious and educational schemes of the city. He was one of the most intimate friends and the room-mate of the Rev. Norman McLeod, and cooperated with him in all his measures for the advancement of the social condition of the people - of Utah. In this capacity he had, up to the time of his death, filled with great credit the position of superintendent in the Gentile Sunday School. On the afternoon of Mr. McLeod's departure for the East, in March last, he united Dr. Robinson in the bonds of matrimony with Miss Nellie Kay, the accomplished daughter of the late Dr. Kay. No citizen of Salt Lake stood higher, morally or socially, than Dr. Robinson; we have never heard of his having a personal enemy, or that he ever infringed upon the legal or moral rights of any man living, and the only conceivable cause for his assassination is the fact that he saw fit to contest the title of a piece of land with the city in the Supreme Court. No other cause can be assigned, for had the object of the assassins been plunder, they could have obtained it, as the Doctor had upon his person a large sum of money and a valuable gold watch, which had been untouched when the body was found."

    In common with many others, Dr. Robinson had held that the Territorial Legislature had no right to make grants of public land, and the city no right to pre-empt. He, accordingly, filed a claim upon the land surrounding the Warm Springs near the city, and erected some improvements which were torn down at mid-day by an armed force of police. He appealed his case to the U. S. Court, bringing an action of ejectment; in the course of the trial, his counsel raised the question that the city, because of the non-performance of certain acts, had no legal existence; which was argued before Chief Justice Titus, and by him decided in favor of the city. Dr. Robinson then gave notice of his intention to appeal. On the 11th of October, a bowling alley belonging to the Doctor was destroyed by a party of some twenty men with blackened faces. For this a number of persons were arrested, Chief of Police Burt and two subordinates identified and bound over by the Chief Justice. Soon after, Dr. Robinson called on Mayor Wells, in regard to the matter, was denied any answer and ordered to leave the house. This affair was thus chronicled the next morning by the Telegraph, then edited by the late renegade Mormon, T. B. H. Stenhouse:

     "As WELL TRAINED - The admiration for Zebra, Napoleon and Leopard, on Friday night, was snuffed out by the greater admiration for Dr. Ball-alley as he cleared from the Mayor's house yesterday afternoon. His honor had only to open the door, direct his finger and the man of pills and bluster vamoosed with a grace that fairly eclipsed little Leopard under the admirable direction of Bartholomew."

    For several Sundays Brigham and other leaders had preached the most inflammatory harangues in the Tabernacle, advising the people "if any man attempted to preempt their land to 'send him to hell across lots'" and the like. In more than one instance assassination was openly counseled and threatened, and the people were ripe for any desperate outrage. The second night after the above publication, between the hours of eleven and twelve, a man called at the house of Dr. Robinson, stated that "his brother, John Jones, had had his leg broken and required the Doctor's assistance;" the Doctor started with the man, they were joined by others, and a few steps away, at the corner of Main and Third South Street, he was struck two blows on the head, and immediately shot through the brain. One witness saw one of the assassins running down the street westward; two others saw three of them running eastward, and three were seen running southward, making seven persons engaged in the murder. On the investigation Mayor Wells swore that he was not informed of the murder "till ten o'clock the day after;" the policemen swore there were but eight of them on duty that night, of whom three were at the circus and "all the rest at the City Hall;" the Mormons examined swore there had been no threats made, and Stenhouse and one or two others refused to answer most of the questions asked. The investigation utterly failed to show that Dr. Robinson had a personal enemy in the world and showed that he had had difficulty with none but the city authorities. Evidence subsequently developed has fixed the guilt of this murder unmistakably upon the Mormon authorities.

    The case of those Gentiles who were driven from the public land presents a flagrant violation of law, The Legislature of Utah has passed an Act appointing a Territorial Surveyor; under its provisions any man can get the Surveyor to run a line around a piece of the public land, then stick up stakes at the four corners and he has a claim upon the land. It has been the custom to pay no regard whatever to the National laws in regard to the public land. But should a Gentile attempt under these laws to take up a piece of land thus surveyed, he would be driven off. A number of the discharged volunteers, among them a Surgeon Williamson and Lieutenant Brown, entered upon some unoccupied land west of the Jordan, without a sign of an improvement upon it. While erecting their cabins some Mormons came out and claimed the land. They informed the Mormons that they did not wish to intrude on any other man's land, and if the latter would show they had taken up this land or made any improvements upon it, they would leave it. To this reasonable request no reply was made, but that night some twenty men with blackened faces came to their shanties and captured both Brown and Williamson. They rolled them both up in an old tent and carried them towards the Jordan. Lieutenant Brown, a cool and brave man, simply said: "Well, gentlemen, all I have to say is, if you intend to take my life, kill me like a man, and don't drown me like a dog." Upon this one of the crowd stepped up and remarked: "You shan't put that man in there. I know his voice; it's Lieutenant Brown, and once when he commanded the provost guard I had trouble with the soldiers, and he took my part and got me off. I didn't know this was the man till he spoke."

    After consultation the mob tore down their shanties and released the men on their promise to leave the country. The other settlers were ducked in the Jordan, and one of them shot through the leg while swimming the river.

     The administration of General Connor had been almost a perfect success, and the American name was then respected and Gentile safety secured in the most remote valleys of Utah; outside influences of all kinds had rapidly augmented, and a flourishing Gentile church, school and paper had been established. But Brigham and his tools had never ceased to work and intrigue at Washington for a change, and Johnson's administration proved disastrous to Utah. In a few months after General Connor was removed and the troops withdrawn, there were three atrocious murders and numerous outrages upon Gentiles.

    Soon after, three apostates named Potter, Wilson and Walker, were arrested at Coalville in Weber Valley, on a trumped up charge of stealing a cow. This Potter was a brother of those murdered at Springville in 1857, and had been pursued with unrelenting hatred. Several times he had been arrested on various charges and as often acquitted. His death was now determined upon, and one "Art" Hinckley, a "Danite" and Salt Lake policeman was sent for. Evidence afterwards obtained, shows that he was accompanied by another policeman, and joined by parties at different points on his way. They proceeded to the school-house where the three men were confined, and took them out. Walker suspecting foul play, saw two of his guards level their guns at him, when he dodged down and the shots only slightly wounded him in the neck. At the same instant the contents of a heavily loaded shot-gun were fired into Potter's body. Walker being an agile man escaped by jumping a near fence, receiving another slight wound in so doing, and made his way through cañons and ravines to Camp Douglas. Wilson also ran a little way, but was shot dead. On the evidence of Walker the assassins were arrested, but by the connivance of Mormon officers escaped from the Territorial Marshal, who had them in charge. The Mormon papers labored to explain the affair, stating that the prisoners were shot in attempting to escape from custody; but it is the testimony of all who saw the corpse of Potter, that the gun must have been almost touching his body when fired, and that his throat was cut after death. This was no doubt in fulfillment of the penalty in the Endowment oath. Walker remained about Camp Douglas for some time, then suddenly disappeared, and has since never been heard of. Shortly after, a colored man generally known as "Negro Tom," who had been brought to the Territory by the Mormons as a slave, and lived many years in the family of Brigham Young and other dignitaries, called upon some Federal officials and stated that he could give important evidence in regard to some of these murders. A few days after, his body was found upon the "bench" two miles east of the city, horribly mangled, his throat cut from ear to ear, and on his breast a large placard marked:

"LET WHITE WOMEN ALONE."

In all such cases of assassination the Mormons can command abundant evidence that the victim has "insulted a Mormon woman." Thus the last witness of these crimes was removed, and the proof put beyond the reach of earthly courts.

    In the long list of murders and outrages, I have thus far particularly noted only those upon Gentiles, or in which Gentiles were specially interested. But it must be said of the Mormons, that they have always treated their own people worse than outsiders; and while they only molested those Gentiles who were particularly obnoxious, or had property to reward their assassins, they have visited apostates and dissenters with extreme vengeance. It were a wearisome and disgusting task to recount all the memoirs of those who fled or attempted to flee from the Territory, and the bloody fate which has overtaken many, even of the tools of the Church, when suspected. One incident, however, is so notorious in the early annals of Utah, that, as an instance of the course often pursued, it deserves to be noted. Chief among the cut-throats of the earlier period, were three who merit an immortality of infamy, viz.: "Port" Rockwell, "Ephe" Hanks, and " Bill" Hickman. Closely associated with the last for many years was one "Ike" Hatch; but at length he grew weary of his mode of life, and, confiding in Hickman, announced his intention to escape from the Territory. Soon after Hickman and Hatch started from Salt Lake City on horseback for Provo. While crossing a small stream on the road, lined with a thick growth of willows, Hatch, who was in advance, was shot from behind, and fell from his horse. Hickman at once galloped back to the city and reported that they had been attacked by Indians, and Hatch killed. The latter, however, had strength to climb upon his horse and reach the city before he died, and informed his father that he had been shot by Hickman. The latter had the hardihood to attend the funeral of Hatch, and actually assisted in shoveling the dirt into the grave. While in this work, the father of Hatch, overcome by sudden anger, aimed a blow at the murderer with a spade, which would certainly have ended his career had not the blow been warded off a friend of Hickman, who was on the watch. This murder, as well as several others by Hickman, is not even questioned among the Mormons; and yet this man was for years on friendly and even intimate terms with Brigham Young! Hickman also fell under suspicion soon after the " Morrisite war," of which an account will hereafter be given, and fled to Nevada. While there, he was taken violently ill, and sent for a "Josephite " Mormon preacher to administer absolution. It is reported that he then confessed participation in no less than forty-three deliberate murders! He recovered, and is still seen occasionally in Utah.

    The vigilant administration of General Connor, and the firm position assumed by the Governor did not meet the approval of the authorities at Washington. In 1863 Harding was removed and appointed Chief Justice of Colorado, being succeeded as Governor by Hon. James Duane Doty, who had for some time been Indian Superintendent for Utah. About the same time Judge Kinney went to represent the Territory in Congress and was succeeded as Chief Justice by Hon. John Titus, of Philadelphia. He was an able and impartial Judge; but seemed too often bound by precedents, and unwilling to disturb the order of administration which had existed from the first in the Territorial Courts, even when it was clearly proved to be contrary to a just rendering of the Organic Act. Dr. Frank Fuller, who had been Secretary of the Territory, from '61 to '63 was succeeded in the autumn of the latter year by Mr. Amos Reed. Judge Waite, after several ineffectual attempts to administer the law, resigned in disgust in 1864, and was succeeded by Judge McCurdy, who gave place in 1867 for a Mormon lawyer, named Hoge, appointed by President Johnson. Governor Doty filled the office with all the dignity and efficiency possible to a man in such circumstances, almost without command and entirely without the moral support of the Government. He died in 1865 and was succeeded by Hon. Charles Durkee, also of Wisconsin, who retained the office till late in 1869, and a few weeks after his removal died at Omaha, Nebraska. He was quite old, very feeble, without the power or energy to command, and was expressly instructed from Washington to pursue a conciliatory policy; as he once informed the writer, he "was sent out to do nothing," and it need only be added that he succeeded admirably in doing it.

    The Secretary, Reed, was succeeded in the autumn of 1866 by Edward P. Higgins, of Michigan, who filled that office with marked ability till the spring of 1869. The first half of that year he acted as Governor, in the absence of Durkee, and won golden opinions for the able manner in which he performed the duties of that office. His message to the Territorial Legislature is noted as among the most able ever presented in Utah.

     Soon after being relieved of his command, General Connor took up his residence in Stockton, Rush Valley, forty miles west of the city, where he has since been extensively engaged in mining.

     A general stampede of Gentiles from Utah seemed likely to follow the withdrawal of all protection by the Government; and soon after Robinson's death, the Gentile merchants, with two or three exceptions, joined in a written proposal to Brigham, that they would all leave the Territory, if he or the Church would pay a nominal price for their property. To this Brigham complacently made reply that he "had not asked them to come, and did not ask them to go; they could stay as long as they pleased." This excitement subsided like the rest, and a whole year passed away without any serious outrages, or unusual threats. The influence of the approaching railroad began to be felt, resulting in another era of good feeling.

    The amount of travel increased, and with it the amount of money; trade was free, with no distinction between Mormon and Gentiles; contracts on the railroad were taken by both, and little distinction made in giving employment, and in July, 1868, at a great railroad meeting, Mormon, Jew and Christian fraternized in the Tabernacle, and seemed to feel they had a common interest in the country's prosperity.

     And thus stood affairs in the early autumn of 1868, when the author first entered the Territory.