and Solomon who was a polygamist and idolator [idolater], and Peter, who lied and cursed, etc., were all prophets, and should be honored and respected. What the individual life of Joseph Smith was after he translated the Book of Mormon, has nothing to do with the question as to whether he was, or was not inspired to bring that book forth."

"Do you know anything against his character?"

"I know nothing against him. I have heard some things; these I know nothing about. I have nothing to say about the character of any one, only as I know. It is not my mission to talk about the character of any. My mission is to testify concerning the truth of the coming forth of the work of God."

"What kind of a man was he when you knew him personally?"

"He was a religious and straightforward man. He had to be; for he was illiterate and he could do nothing of himself. He had to trust in God. He could not translate unless he was humble and possessed the right feelings towards every one. To illustrate, so you can see. One morning when he was getting ready to continue the translation, something went wrong about the house and he was put out about it. Something that Emma, his wife, had done. Oliver and I went up-stairs, and Joseph came up soon after to continue the translation, but he could not do anything. He could not translate a single syllable. He went down-stairs, out into the orchard and made supplication to the Lord; was gone about an hour-came back to the house, asked Emma's forgiveness, and then came up-stairs where we were and the translation went on all right. He could do nothing save he was humble and faithful."

His statement concerning the vision they had of the plates and the angel was as follows:

"I was plowing in the field one morning, and Joseph and Oliver came along with a revelation stating that I was to be one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. I got over the fence and we went out into the woods, near by, and sat down on a log and talked a while. We then kneeled down and prayed. Joseph prayed. We then got up and sat on the log and were talking, when all at once a light came down from above us and encircled us for quite a little distance around; and the angel stood before us. He was dressed in white, and spoke and called me by name and said, 'Blessed is he that keepeth His commandments.' This is all that I heard the angel say. A table was set before us and on it the records were placed. The records of the Nephites, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, the brass plates, the ball of directors, the sword of Laban and other plates. While we were viewing them the voice of God spoke out of heaven saying that the book was true and the translation correct."

We then asked him, "Do you remember the peculiar sensation experienced upon that occasion?" He answered very slowly and definitely:

"Yes; I remember it very distinctly; and I never think of it, from that day to this, but what that same Spirit is present with me."

2 To-day in their own church, in this city, the Josephites will, for the first time, hold a service. They believe in the Book of Mormon and the divinity of Joseph Smith, in everything which was claimed to be a part of the Church of Latter Day Saints at first. There is nothing in their faith which conflicts with the laws of the land or outrages the sense of decency in modern civilization. This Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints has gathered one hundred and seventy members in this city, the most of them coming out from the church over which John Taylor and his apostles rule. It seems to us that this church presents a way in which young Utah can extricate itself from the toils surrounding it. It offers the same means of salvation that the Mormon church offers, except that it does not impose the abject slavery upon its followers that the other church does and does not permit polygamy. For these two features alone, every respectable young man and woman in the Mormon church intelligent Mormons here who do not know that some ten years ago Brigham Young was all ready to have another revelation, that in the opinion of the Almighty further polygamy was unnecessary. Brigham, at any time in his old age, would have had this revelation could he have secured statehood for Utah through having it. That fact shows exactly how sacred polygamy was in his eyes. Then again it is clear that this year or next or sometime in this generation there will be an open clash between the Government and this Mormon church, unless the church itself removes the barriers which it at present persists in keeping upreared between the Mormon people and the Government of the United States. Should such a conflict come, it would be a most sorrowful one for this people. . . . And if this were not to come, the inevitable could not be long postponed. If there were no Gentiles to talk, if the church was shielded from all criticism and all danger from without, there would come a power from within which would overthrow the brutal features which at present place it in antagonism with civilization. So surely as cause leads to effect, so surely this system called the Mormon church holds within itself the elements of its own destruction; for it rests on a foundation which makes the debasement of women, the slavery of men, and the annihilation of all that is sacred in home necessary.