Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. Ellipses match the original. A complete list of corrections follows the text. THE MORMON PROPHET AND HIS HAREM; OR, AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG, HIS NUMEROUS WIVES AND CHILDREN. BY MRS. C. V. WAITE. ----"And with a piece of scripture, Tell them,--that God bids us do good for evil. And thus I clothe my naked villainy With old odd ends, stol'n forth of Holy Writ, And _seem_ a saint, when most I play the devil." FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. CAMBRIDGE: Printed for the Author; and Sold by Subscription. J. S. GOODMAN AND COMPANY, 5 CUSTOM HOUSE PLACE, CHICAGO. 1867. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by CATHARINE V. WAITE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Second Judicial District of the Territory of Idaho. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. PREFACE. No apology is offered for presenting to the public the only authentic account of Brigham Young, of his polygamous family, and of that complicated and incongruous system of social and political machinery, called Mormonism. The only form of religion in this country which refuses to conform either to the spirit of progress and improvement and enlightened humanity which characterizes the age in which we live, or to our laws and the genius of our free institutions,--drawing constantly from foreign countries hosts of votaries, impelled hither _not_ by a love of republicanism, but rather by a desire to exchange a political for a religious monarchy,--is Mormonism, which presents an antagonism to our Government, and can scarcely fail to result in national trouble. The elements of a second rebellion are in active progress in Utah, and, as in the case of the slavery rebellion, the great danger lies in failing to place a proper estimate upon the power of those elements for mischief, and to take the proper precautions in time. Religious fanaticism is more active, and, when hostile, more dangerous, than political ambition; hence the arrogant and intolerant spirit, and the bitter hostility of the Mormons, are more worthy the serious attention of our statesmen than would be the opposition of so many mere political traitors. Again; their power for mischief is much increased by the position they occupy upon the great thoroughfare between the eastern and western portions of our country.