THE CRUSADE OPENS, 1883-1885.

Exemplary Deacons.—Adam-ondi-Ahman.—Visit to Colorado.—The Patriarchal Order of Marriage.—Andrew Burt.—Farm Life.—The Crusade Opens.—The Family Celebration of His Birthday.—Call of Jno. W. Taylor.—Call of Wm. B. Preston.—Land Troubles in Arizona.—Dedication of the Logan Temple.—A Visit to Snake River Country, Idaho.—Growth of Children After the Resurrection.—Call of John Morgan.—In Exile.—Conference at Fish Lake.

On the 2nd of January, 1883, President Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith spoke at the funeral of Captain William H. Hooper. He had occupied a prominent place in the history of Utah. Besides representing the people in Congress he was one of a small number of strong financiers, who had much to do with the material development of the Territory. On the 20th of the same month he makes mention of the appointment of L. W. Shurtliff, bishop of Plain City, to succeed David H. Peery as the president of the Weber Stake of Zion, at the same time Elders Chas. F. Middleton, and N. C. Flygare were chosen as counselors.

On the 27th of the same month Elder Woodruff attended a Stake Quarterly Conference at Nephi where George Teasdale had been called to preside. A circumstance took place on Saturday at that conference which was exceptionally gratifying to Elder Woodruff and he desires that it have a place in his journal and history. He said, "As the meeting-house was not large enough to hold all the people, some fifteen deacons gave up their seats. Leaving the meeting-house they obtained axes and went directly to President Teasdale's home where they cut up several cords of wood. They then went to the homes of some half dozen widows in the place where they cut up the wood they found there. They also cut up the wood at the home of one of the deacons who had met with an accident so that he was unable to cut his own wood. They continued in this employment throughout the day. When Brother Teasdale arrived home, to his surprise he found all his wood pile missing, but was much gratified to find it all cut up and in his wood shed. God bless such deacons." During the early months of 1883 a number of prominent men throughout the Church died. It was always a gratification to Elder Woodruff to record his testimony to the character of men who died devoted to the Church, true to their covenants and faithful to the last. He makes special mention of the death of John Van Cott, Bishop William Bringhurst of Springville, Harrison Burgess, Bishop L. E. Harrington, and David Evans. The latter two, however, died about the last of June.

On the 22nd of February Elder Woodruff was present at the dedication of the Gardo House. The prayer was offered by Franklin D. Richards. This residence had been in process of construction for some time and its use was delayed in consequence of litigations begun by the heirs of President Young against his executors. President Taylor was therefore its first occupant. That he himself might be in position to ward off the persecutions of himself as head of the Church, he left his families in the homes he had built for them and made his sister matron of the new official residence. His care, however, proved unavailing since persecution was aimed specially at him.

During their lifelong experiences in the Church, President A. O. Smoot of Provo, and Elder Woodruff were devoted friends. Their associations had been intimate, and in the trying times of early Church history their relations were the most cordial and brotherly. The home of President Smoot in Provo always gave the fullest hospitality to Elder Woodruff on his visits to that town. On the 12th of May he records the circumstance that President Smoot's wife began immediately to regain her speech, after it had been lost through paralysis, by the special administration of Elder Woodruff and others. At that time his old friend related a peculiar circumstance of history that occurred at Adam-ondi-Ahman. President Smoot said that he and Alanson Ripley, while surveying at that town, which was about 22 miles from Jackson County, Missouri, came across a stone wall in the midst of a dense forest of underbrush. The wall was 30 feet long, 3 feet thick, and 4 feet high. It was laid in mortar or cement. When Joseph Smith visited the place and examined the wall he said it was the remains of an altar built by Father Adam and upon which he offered sacrifices after he was driven from the Garden of Eden. He said that the Garden of Eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri. The whole town of Adam-ondi-Ahman was in the midst of a thick and heavy forest of timber and the place was named in honor of Adam's altar. The Prophet explained that it was upon this altar where Adam blessed his sons and his posterity, prior to his death.

On the 5th of June Apostle Woodruff with President Smith, Brigham Young, and President John Morgan, paid a visit to the Saints in San Louis Valley, Colorado. The Saints there were emigrants largely from the Southern States. It was during this visit that Silas S. Smith was sustained as stake president. While traveling on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Elder Woodruff felt and expressed his admiration for the beauty of the scenery. Whenever he contemplated the laws of God or his Creator's marvelous works it intensified his religious devotion and his sense of gratitude. It was to him also a source of satisfaction that much of the work in the construction of the railroad over which he passed was the work of his brethren.

On his return to Salt Lake City the next important circumstance he mentions was the threatened destruction of the great Tabernacle by a spark of fire which had been thrown by an explosion from the old wagon yard just across the road south of the Temple block. On the 21st of June this year the old Council House and Savages Art Callery were burned to the ground. This threatened destruction of the great Tabernacle led to the removal of its old shingled roof and the substitution therefor of an iron one.

Soon after this we find him at a conference in Nephi. As plural marriage was then attacked from all sides, it received special attention from the leaders of the Church who maintained the importance as well as the divinity of the institution. In his discourse at Nephi he quoted himself as having made the following remarks, "The law of the Patriarchal Order of marriage belongs to this dispensation, and after it was revealed to the Prophet Joseph, he was commanded to receive it. If he and the people had rejected it, the Church and Kingdom of God would have advanced no further and God would have taken it from them and given it to another people. It has been said that the Patriarchal Order of marriage has caused more sorrow to the daughters of Eve than any other principle ever revealed from Heaven to men, but this is not true. No divine principle brings trouble to those who faithfully obey it. If they who are in it have troubles it is not the fault of the principle but because of weakness and of the false traditions which surround them. The Lord never gave a law to the children of men which will give to them exaltation and glory except through the observance of that law. The Lord's people who abide that law are entitled to His protection by the oath and covenant which He has made with them. From the day that the apostles and elders published that law to the world with the determination to maintain it, the Lord has fought their battles."

The 24th of that year was celebrated in the Tabernacle with great enthusiasm. Ten thousand people were present. On the anniversary of that day Wilford Woodruff was always reminiscent. As time went on, the earlier impressions of his mind were confirmed in the fulfillment of God's promises which year after year were to his mind more plainly fulfilled. He felt that the observance of that day was a duty which the people owed to their God because of the care He had manifested over them and the wonderful manner in which He had made the desert blossom like the rose.

In his journal of August 27th he mentioned regretfully the death of Andrew Burt who had been killed on the 25th by a mulatto. At Bishop Burt's funeral there were about nine thousand people, and it is said that before the exercises something like fifteen thousand viewed the remains. Captain Burt's splendid integrity, his simple life and unassuming demeanor had won for him a respect quite universal. He was bishop of the 21st ward.

Wilford Woodruff's love for men whose friendship was tried and true and whose devotion to the things of God was above question, was again verified. It made no difference to him what their standing in life was, he saw above the honors of men that which he esteemed true greatness, such greatness as he sincerely believed God recognized.

In reading his journal one learns to esteem more highly the practice of manual labor. He exalted work by the interest he took in the workmanship of his own hands. If he ever felt the temptation to leave his ministry for any length of time it was the temptation which came to him in his love of manual labor. All through his journal he was telling about the things that he did on his farm. He wrote about his horses, his cows, his orchards, his crops, he spoke of them in detail, they all meant much to him. One is constantly reminded in reading his journal of the life and doctrines of Tolstoi, the great Russian author, whose simple life and labors upon his farm with the Russian peasants have won the admiration of millions of admirers.

As the year 1883 was drawing to a close the times became more trying. The hatred of the enemy was greatly intensified. The brethren felt the impending storm coming upon them, there was often a spirit of gloom which it was not easy to cast aside. Elder Woodruff's journal of October 12th that year contained an account of a meeting of the Presidency and Twelve, a meeting of fasting and prayer that the troubles which were coming upon them might be diverted if it were the will of God, and if they were not to be diverted that they might have the strength to bear them and the wisdom and patience and spirit to do the will of the Father. To all these unhappy forebodings was added the sorrow that comes from separation of old friends. On the 19th of that month Bishop Edward Hunter died, and on the 17th of the month following he was joined by Charles C. Rich.

During the year 1883 he traveled, according to the summary which he made in his journal, over six thousand miles, held 213 meetings and preached 144 discourses.

The year 1884 was the beginning in the Church of a great crusade. It was a land-mark in history. What began that year is likely to be told from generation to generation. The hardships that it brought to the Church and the trials which the people underwent were themes for household conversation throughout the entire Church. The Edmunds law of 1882 had been put into effect so far as it related to the imprisonment of the Saints. The enemy were at first occupied in its political phases. As time went on it was seen that the disappointment of the enemy in the political advantages to be derived from the law became more apparent. The law was really a disappointment to them. The Utah commission which it established was filled by appointees from the East and those who were grasping for political power in the Territory found their hopes unrealized. This disappointment led to a spirit of intensified anger and the criminal part of the law began to receive its enforcement in the most drastic, spiteful, and revengeful manner. Everything possible was done to prepare the people for dark days to come. The revelations of God were to the effect that men should set their families in order.

Elder Woodruff on his birthday, March 1st, had a family gathering. Of the 46 members of his family, 39 were present. This included his daughters-in-law and grandchildren. As a token of respect on the part of his family, an address to him was read by his little grandson, Elias Smith Woodruff: "To our beloved Grandfather,—we greet you on this your seventy-seventh birthday. We wish you many happy returns of the day, for this and more we ever pray. We all shall strive to walk in your footsteps and listen to your counsel as you are a man of God. We likewise hope to be like you by the help of our Heavenly Father. You have done a vast amount of good, both for the living and the dead. Your days have been many and many call you blessed. You have been in the hands of God, the savior of thousands. Through the blessings of the Lord your life has been preserved in many dangers through which you have been called to pass. You have accomplished a great work and we all with one voice say: 'Peace and blessings be with you to the end of your days.' Please accept this tribute of love and respect. From your little grandson. Written for him by Julia Woodruff." The family little imagined at that time that President Woodruff would continue with them in life yet fourteen years.

The 6th of March he became very much interested in the visit to Salt Lake City of the great singer, Adelina Patti. Her world-renown fame made her a person of great interest. She in turn recognized the important stand occupied by the leaders of the Church, and invited President Taylor and Elder Woodruff to visit her private car which had cost something like sixty thousand dollars. Its conveniences and beautiful apartments greatly interested Elder Woodruff whose powers to observe were always strong.

As the year went on reports of the activity of the enemy and the intense anti-Mormon hatred came to the Presidency of the Church. Miles Romney brought word from St. Johns, Arizona, of the opposition there from both the Mexicans and the whites. The April conference witnessed the call of John W. Taylor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Charles C. Rich. William B. Preston was made the presiding bishop of the Church. That same month word also came from Arizona of the attempt to rob the people there of their lands by means of a purchase of railroad land which the Saints had occupied and cultivated long before the railroad was built and before any grant had been received by the railroad. Presidents Taylor and Cannon were absent at the time, but a telegram signed by President Woodruff and others was sent to General Williamson, Washington, D. C., the general agent of the railroad lands, asking him not to sell the land in question before receiving a letter from them. The method here referred to of robbing the Saints was due to the fact that the enemy was taking advantage of special information of which the Saints were ignorant. The lands granted to the railroad in that part of Arizona were of little value except as they had been made valuable by the labor of the Latter-day Saints. It was a specie of robbery, but those who engaged in it thought, no doubt, that their unscrupulous methods would be condoned by exciting prejudice against the Saints.

The next circumstance of importance was the dedication of the Logan Temple, May 17th, 18th, and 19th. The services were attended by thousands of people and were repeated in order to accommodate all who desired the privilege and were entitled to be present. People were admitted to the services by tickets of recommendation given them by their bishops. On that occasion a circumstance happened analogous to that of Annanias and Sapphira who lied to the Lord and to Peter in the days of the ancient apostles. As the hosts of people were climbing the stairs to the assembly room of the Temple, President Taylor discerned in the multitude one woman unworthy of admission. He did not know her but said to President C. O. Card, "Turn that woman back." "Why?" asked President Card, "She has come with a ticket of recommendation as well as all the others." "I don't know why," replied President Taylor, "only that the spirit of the Lord says, 'Turn that woman back.'" President Card observed the instructions to him and upon special investigation learned that the lady was altogether an improper person, and by connivance with another she had procured the ticket for the price of one dollar. In commenting upon this circumstance later, President Taylor said: "You may deceive the bishop, the president of the stake, the apostles, the president of the Church, but you can't deceive the Lord, Jesus Christ, nor the Holy Spirit, and sooner or later the unworthy, the hypocrites and unrepenting transgressors will be found out and separated from the assembly of the righteous." At that time M. W. Merrill was chosen by revelation to preside over the Logan Temple, a place he held up to the time of his death in February, 1906. The first baptisms were performed there by Elder David H. Cannon of St. George, and the first recipients of them were Franklin D. Richards, and Rachael Grant.

In his journal relating to that occasion, Elder Woodruff wrote: "While attending the dedication of this Temple my mind was carried back to the many hours of prayer I had passed in my early manhood days. I prayed that I might see the Church of Christ established on the earth and that I might see a people raised up who would receive the ancient gospel and contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. The Lord then promised me that I should live to see that day, to find the people of God and have a name and place within His House, a name that should not be cut off. To-day I rejoice in the fulfillment of that promise, I rejoice in the opportunity of assisting in the dedication of another Temple to His most Holy Name, to God and the Lamb. Praises be to His name for ever more."

On the 29th, in company with Heber J. Grant, he left on an extended tour of the settlements in the Snake River and Teton Valleys. In those days that part of Idaho was in process of settlement by the Saints, under the leadership of Thomas E. Ricks, who met Elders Woodruff and Grant and conveyed them by team from Market Lake to Rexburg. When the brethren on that occasion visited those parts not much had yet been done in bringing that district of country under cultivation. In 1884 there was but one stake of the Church extending from Paradise in Cache Valley on the south, to the Montana line on the north. To-day there are ten stakes, six of which are along the Snake River Valley; namely, Pocatello, Blackfoot, Bingham, Rigby, Fremont, and Yellow Stone. To-day there are also in that region of country three large factories in operation.

Congress adjourned that year without passing special bills that were inimicable to the Latter-day Saints. The anti-Mormons of Utah were like hungry wolves clamoring for prey. They wanted all the offices and were constantly importuning Congress to disfranchise in a body the Latter-day Saints. When congress therefore adjourned without further legislation Wilford Woodruff exclaims in his journal, "Thank the Lord for another breathing spell."

Later he attended the Sevier Stake Quarterly Conference held at Fish Lake. Hundreds of teams had conveyed the people to that place. While administering Sacrament there he said it was the first time it had taken place since the ancient Nephites had had a similar feast in those parts. He manifested on this and other occasions a special interest in the material welfare of the people. He examined their farms and orchards, visited their canals, made a critical examination of their water dams and head gates, and it may perhaps be said of him as truthfully as of any man that ever lived, that he subordinated his own personal interests to the general interest of the Church.

Evil days were soon to fall upon the Church. The failure of Congress that year to pass anti-Mormon legislation intensified the rage of the anti-Mormons. A campaign of slander and falsehood was taken up by the anti-Mormon press of Salt Lake City, and press dispatches to embitter the minds of the people in the East were sent; and in making this campaign it was well understood by those who engineered it that Congressmen might be made to fear their constituency and pass laws their own judgment condemned.

The Tribune published and sent out an alleged "Red Hot Address." It purported to be an inflammatory address by Bishop West of Juab. The purport of the address was the recommended assassination of the Governor of Utah. There was no meeting held in Juab on the occasion referred to, there was no Bishop West, and of course no such address. The lie, however, inflamed the public mind abroad; and to those who love a lie and darkness rather than light, it had the desired effect.

On the 10th of August following in Lewis County, Tennessee, Elders Berry and Gibbs, and two members of the local Church their names being James Riley Hudson, and Martin Condor, were shot and killed by a mob as they were about to begin their Sabbath services. Mrs. Condor, the mother of the murdered boys, was also shot but not killed.

The Church was making history during those days and special care was taken to give an exact record of current events. Hubert H. Bancroft was publishing his history of the Pacific Coast and included Utah among his volumes. Elder Woodruff opened to him the records of Church history that he might give both sides of the question and draw fair and impartial conclusions.

September 3rd he visited Provo where he attended the funeral of Margarette T. Smoot. On that occasion he gave it as his opinion that children would grow and develop after the resurrection and obtain all the blessings of adult persons. The visit to Provo was followed by the October conference, which that year was chiefly noted by the call of John Morgan to be one of the presiding seventies. Elder Morgan had been a missionary in the South for twelve years, and for ten years the distinguished president of the Saints in the South. Elder Morgan was a man of strong character, a conspicuous preacher, and a fearless advocate. He was ordained to his new calling on October 7th, 1884.

The last part of the year 1884 found the storm of persecution growing in intensity. Men and women to escape prison went into exile. Men and women were pursued by a spirit of vindictiveness and hatred perhaps never known in a civilized age. Stories of the Mountain Meadow Massacre, the Bishop West address, and other malicious inventions had done their work. Public opinion in the East had been so aroused as to justify any sort of cruelty that the anti-Mormons in Utah might inflict upon the Saints. All efforts to run down falsehoods by the circulation of truth seemed a hopeless task. Elder Woodruff also found it necessary to go into exile and he said: "I am a wanderer from home because of my religion. It is not the first time I have been a wanderer in the wilderness for the gospel's sake." However, he appeared in public at special occasions for a short season.

On the first of January, 1885, he took part in the dedication of the Brigham Young College, at Logan, but on the 14th he found it necessary to go again into exile with all the Presidency and most of the Twelve Apostles. Stake presidents, bishops of wards, and other leading men were rapidly filling up prisons or concealing themselves among friends. It was not a movement to suppress immorality. Men were not harangued and imprisoned because of lascivious cohabitation as it obtains throughout the Christian world, but because men had accepted from the Lord a principle which would, if universally carried out, give to every woman in the world a husband and a home, the opportunity of honored wifehood and motherhood, conditions desired by every right-feeling and sound-minded woman. Under these persecutions President Woodruff was among the number sought for. After a few days of seclusion in his own home and neighborhood he boarded a south bound train for southern Utah. At Nephi he was joined by George Teasdale, and together they made their way by private conveyance and without publicity to Saint George where they labored for some time in the Temple. He also made a trip down the Virgin River to the Muddy country. During his absence he read Josephus and Cassell's History of England.

On one occasion during those times we find him making calculations from history of what the civil war had cost his country in the loss of human lives, and the expenditure of money. That war he looked upon as a judgment of God upon the country because of the wrong doings of the people. "This shows," he wrote, "in a measure, what it costs a nation to shed the blood of the prophets, apostles, and the Lord's anointed." He sincerely believed that before very many years the judgments of God would follow the persecutions which he was then undergoing.

In July he visited the stakes of the southern part of the Territory, and was at a conference October 18th, and 19th, at Fish Lake. Conference, he wrote, was attended by 1,136 persons. There were 187 vehicles, and 517 animals. While there, he with others, sounded the depths of the lake which measured all the way from three feet near the shore to 168 1/2 feet in the deepest places. He thought the lake was the largest depository of trout in the mountain valleys. It is located about 9,000 feet above the sea level. After going as far north as Manti he returned again to St. George.

In his journal he makes special mention of an effort on the part of the federal officers to create a disturbance on the 4th of July, because certain persons manifested their sorrow for departed liberty by placing the flag at half-mast on certain buildings owned chiefly by Mormons. At the same time threats were made that if the flag were placed at half-mast on the 24th, war would be waged against the Mormons with the utmost bitterness. The flag, however, on that date was placed at half-mast by order of the President of the U. S. in honor of General Grant who died July 23rd. There was no likelihood that any of the leaders would encourage any one to place the flag at half-mast upon the 24th, but the threat of the anti-Mormons was, in the end, all a challenge that brought to the enemy chagrin because of the peculiar circumstance.

As a rule nearly all who were indicted under the law went to prison rather than promise the abandonment of their wives and children. Occasionally a man would enter court and make the required promise to escape punishment. As a rule the practices of such men were not in harmony with the requirements of the gospel and those times gave them an opportunity to demonstrate their unworthiness rather than a lack of courage. Later, such men undertook to draw comfort from the circumstance that the leaders counseled men under indictment to give the demanded promise. They failed, however, to make the distinction between an order for retreat coming from those at the head and the act of desertion while in the ranks.

Indictments in those days were followed as a matter of the course by convictions. Juries were made to order. Judges considered themselves missionaries and the greater their trespass on justice the more they were honored by the anti-Mormon element. Their vindictiveness became an object of honor, and the leaders in the crusade walked the streets of Salt Lake City with feelings of special pride. They were pointed out to the curious and were the objects of adulation of those whose religious hatreds were most intense. Leaders of the persecution were making a record over which they were not only proud but boastful, although in the beginning the feelings of antagonism between the persecutors and the persecuted were most intense. As time went on, feelings of resignation sprang up in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints who more and more became disposed to leave in the hands of God the future of those who despitefully used them. In passing, it may here be remarked that the persecutors of the Latter-day Saints will, in days to come, be left to the Latter-day Saints for the estimation in which they will be held by those to whom their lives will be of no consequence; in other words, those whom they persecuted will in turn become their judges whose verdicts will go down to history.

Elder Woodruff, after returning to the south, took an active part in the daily lives of the people. In Pine Valley he assisted Brother Thompson in repairing his grist mill. He dressed the Burr stones, since by trade he was a miller. However, it had been fifty-five years since he had done such work and in some respects such labor was restful to him and would have been healthful had it not been for the constant strain which those evil days placed him under.

In October he received word that his wife Phoebe was in poor health and he therefore hastened home to Salt Lake City where he arrived on the 5th of November. He remained, however, in seclusion in his home and neighborhood. On the 10th of November she died. He was greatly affected by her death and painfully humiliated by the circumstance under which her funeral was held. He stood concealed in the Historian's Office as he watched the funeral procession pass by on its way to the city of the dead. "I am," said he, "passing through a strange chapter in the history of my life. Persecution is raging against the Latter-day Saints. I hope I may prove true and faithful to the end and that I may join her in the celestial Kingdom of God and have part in the first resurrection."