254 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



To revenge this insult, the Mormons marshalled 

 an army of Saints, and marched upon Independence, 

 threatening vengeance against the town and people. 

 Here they met, however, a band of sturdy backwoods- 

 men, armed with rifles, determined to defend the town 

 against the fanatic mob, who, not relishing their ap- 

 pearance, refused the encounter, and surrendered their 

 leaders at the first demand. The prisoners were after- 

 wards released, on condition that the Mormons left that 

 part of the country without delay. 



Accordingly, they once more " took up their beds and 

 walked," crossing the Missouri to Clay County, where 

 they established themselves, and would finally have 

 formed a thriving settlement but for their own acts of 

 wilful dishonesty. At this time their blasphemous 

 mummery knew no bounds. Joe Smith, and other 

 prophets who had lately arisen, were declared to be 

 chosen of God ; and it was the general creed that, on 

 the day of judgment, the former would take his stand 

 on the right hand of the judgment-seat, and that none 

 would pass into the kingdom of heaven without his seal 

 and touch. One of their tenets was the faith in " spir- 

 itual matrimony." No woman, it appeared, would be 

 admitted into heaven unless " passed" by a saint. To 

 qualify them for this, it was necessary that the woman 

 should first be received by the guaranteeing Mormon 

 as an "earthly wife," in order that he did not pass in 

 any of whom he had no knowledge. The consequence 

 of this state of things may be imagined. The most 

 debasing immorality was a precept of the order, and an 



