History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

662 THE LAST DAYS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
for the morality of the nation. On the 10th of March,
1871, Woods took the oath of office, and about six
weeks later arrived at Salt Lake City, James B. Mc-
Kean of New York being appointed about this date
chief justice, with C. M. Hawley of Illinois and O. F.
Strickland of Michigan as associate judges. 16
The administration of Governor Woods lasted for
about four years, but during that period he sought
no opportunity of making the acquaintance of Brigham
Young. When invited by the first councillor to
call, as had been the custom with his predecessors, 17
he replied that the lowest subordinate in the United
States ranked higher than any ecclesiastic on earth,
and that he should not call until the president first
called on him. The reader may judge the chief
magistrate by his own words. "My first conflict with
the church occurred," he says, "July 4, 1871. The
organic act of the territory made the governor comniander-in-chief
of the militia. The Mormon legislature,
prior to that time, usurped that authority, and
invested it in Daniel H. Wells, the third in the
church. (They had a pantomime, in which B. Young
played God the Father, Daniel H. Wells God the
Son, and John H. Smith the Holy Ghost.) That
law was in force on my arrival. On July 1, 1871,
Wells issued an order as commander-in-chief to the
militia of the territory to assemble at Salt Lake City
July 4th to participate in the celebration. I resented
this usurpation, and forbade them to assemble, but
my prohibition was disregarded. Thereupon I ordered
to the rendezvous three companies of infantry,
one of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, and dispersed
them at the point of the bayonet. This practically
ended the Nauvoo legion. Immediately thereafter,
16 Chas C. Wilson succeeded Titus as chief justice. Harrison's Grit. Notes
on Utah, MS. Geo. C. Bates, who in 1S70 succeeded C. H. Hempstead, appointed
in 1868, was now district attorney. For his argument in the Baker
habeas corpus case on the jurisdiction of probate courts, see Utah Pamphlets,
Political, no. 12. A list of federal officials between 1S51 and 18S4 is given in
Utah Gazetteer, 254-8.
17 With the exception of Shaffer. Woods' Recoil., MS., 45.