Being foiled in his advances toward this young lady, and finding that Joseph stood like a lion in his path to prevent the accomplishment of his evil designs and protect the unsuspecting, he drew around him a covering of hypocrisy, carefully concealed his movements from the Prophet, and proceeded to teach some women, who only knew him as an honorable man, that promiscuous intercourse of the sexes was a doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and that there was no harm in it. In his first efforts he was unsuccessful; but in his subsequent advice, in the same line, he told them that Joseph and others of The Church authorities both sanctioned and practiced this wickedness, saying that the Prophet only denounced such things so vehemently in public, because of the prejudice of the people and the trouble it might create in his own house. In this manner he succeeded in overcoming the scruples of some of his dupes, and seduced several females. Nor did the evil end here. Bennett induced other men to adopt his evil practices; among them Francis M. and Chauncy L. Higbee. These men repeated the assertions made by the doctor, and thus the evil spread, and the reputation of the Prophet was being undermined. But evils of this character cannot long be practiced without coming to light, and Doctor Bennett, finding that his corruption was about to be uncovered, began to prepare for the shock. When confronted with positive evidence that it was known that he had a wife and family, and that his seductions were also known, he attempted suicide by taking poison, and resisted the administration of antidotes, but he was rescued from this fate in spite of himself. Before his evil course was known, arrangements were made to run the doctor for representative from the district in which Nauvoo was included, to the State legislature. But one day Joseph met the doctor in the presence of Squire Wells, and addressed him in substance as follows: "Doctor, I can sustain you no longer. Hyrum is against you, the Twelve are against you, and if I do not come out against sin and iniquity I shall myself be trodden under foot as a Prophet of God." That sentence sounded the death knell to the standing of Dr. Bennett in Nauvoo. Joseph had clung to him in the hope of reforming him, but that could no longer be expected; and when the Prophet let go his hold upon him, there was nothing could avert his downfall. On the nineteenth of May Bennett resigned his position as mayor and Joseph was elected to that office. On this occasion, and before the whole city council, Joseph asked Doctor Bennett if he had anything against him, to which the doctor replied: