History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

152 THE STORY OF MORMOXISM.
nett, also called general, whom Mackay, Siuucker,
a reviewer in the Edinburgh, and others have inis-
which are charged to these agencies. Sidney Rigdon is praised by Bennett;
80 much the worse for Sidney. Doubtless this book played iis part in bringing
about the assassination of Joseph Smith. Says John Taylor of John C.
Bennett: 'Atone time he was a good man, but fell into adultery, and was
cut off from the church for his iniquity:. . .lie was also expelled from the municipal
court, of which he was a member. ' Public Discussion, 5-6.
William Hall was an old gentleman of simple mind and maimers when he
wrote his book; he appears to be earnest and truthful. As he say3 of the
saints, so I should say of him: he meant well, but he should beware of bad
leaders. Hall was not a great man in the church, like Bennett; nevertheless,
like Bennett he wrote a book, but unlike Bennett's, his book reads like that
of an honest man, although it is full of bitter accusations against the Mormons.
All such works should be taken with sonic degrees of allowance; for
when a person begins to rail against any people or individual, ho is apt to be
carried away and misrepresent, intentionally or unintentionally. The period
that Hall's experiences cover is quite an important one, including as it does the
Illinois expulsion and the exodus to Great Salt Lake.
Quite different from any of his brother apostates is John Hyde, Jr, who
cannot by right be placed in the category of vulgar ranter or hypocritical reformer.
I regard him as an able and honest man, sober and sincere. Ho
' docs not denounce the sect as hypocrites. I know your sincerity; I know
also your delusion,' he writes. He does not even denounce all the leaders;
even to Erigham Young, whom he mercilessly scourges, he gives credit for
ability and .sincerity. "'That you are sincere in your confidence in Joseph
Smith, and in your own pretensions,' he writes to him, 'I believe and acknowledge;
but at the same time, that you are leading confiding thousands
to misery and ruin is evident . . I admire your genius, but I deplore its exercise.
... I admire the industry of your people, their notable labors, and their general
sincerity; but I deplore their delusion, and I denounce their deceivers.' Hi9
book is dedicated 'To the honest believers in Mormonism,' and he says_ to
them: 'In writing the following work I was not actuated by the base design
of helping to malign an unpopular people, nor by the unworthy one of administering
to a mere idle curiosity.' John Hyde was born in England, in
18^3, and joined the Mormons there when fifteen years of age. He was almost
immediately ordained a priest and began to preach. In 1851_ he was
ordained one of the seventies, an office of equal power but inferior jurisdiction
to that ot one of the twelve, and joined John Taylor in Trance. With
about 400 Mormon converts he sailed from Liverpool in Feb. 1853, visited Nauvoo,
and thence crossed the plains in company with 2,500 brethren to Salt Lake
City, where he married and began teaching school. In Feb. 1S54 he was 'initiated
into the mysteries of the Mormon endowment,' became shaken in the
faith, and the following year, having accepted a mission to the Hawaiian Islands,
he threw off Mormonism and preached and wrote against it instead of
for it. In his book he gives a description of Salt Lake City in 1S53-4, a chapter
entitled 'Practical Polygamy,' and others on Mormon Mysteries, Education,
Brigham Young, Book of Mormon, Theoretical Polygamy, and Suppression
of Mormonism. Hyde's book would be quite useful were he not so
loose about his dates; it would appear from the way he throws statements
together that in the absence of a date he guessed at it.
Still another style of book is that of John D. Lee, purporting to have
been written by him, but as a matter of fact written for the most part by
W. W. Bishop while Lee was in prison condemned to death. The work, therefore,
though the story of a Mormon, and of one who under the circumstances
could not be expected to be very friendly, i; not by a Mormon. The book
is not essentially different from the matter published i:i the newspapers about
the time of Lee"a execution, under the tiile of 'Confessions.' Lee gives the