The Belle of Nauvoo - Book One

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-five

That was not the last kick of the frog. Failing to gain his vengeance at the circuit court, on the first of June, Mr. Jackson struck again – this time through the press. He published an article in the Warsaw Signal entitled “Startling Disclosures,” which he asserted was a “statement of facts.”

How dared he to make that claim before heaven or hell? It was the grossest outrage perpetrated by the pen or press! Facts, indeed! He actually maintained that he had been in Uncle Joseph’s confidence and had been hired by him as an assassin. Assassin? How dared he to make such a statement? His audacity went beyond all bounds. The man was mad. He called the police a “ruffian band” and said that the leaders of the Church were counterfeiting money. Well, someone was, but not the Church.

An ordinance was passed by the city council not to allow any paper money at all to be used. Upon investigation, it was found that the “bogus” being passed around the countryside was actually being issued by Joseph Jackson himself, along with William Law and the “anties.” So that was his business! I had wondered why a wanderer had so much money to spare for fancy gentleman’s clothes! He probably could not remain long in one place lest he be found out. My, the tongues wagged over that news!

Now when we shopped at a store, if we had not silver or gold, we carried a chicken or eggs or a pound of cheese in our bag. It grew quite humorous at times to watch the trading. One shopkeeper could not take another chicken, for he had too many in his coop; so the buyer took off her bonnet and traded that for a pound of sugar. Another brother traded his shirt for a garden tool and walked home with a blanket around him.

One thing came of “Startling Disclosures” – my own justification. For in the article Joseph Jackson revealed himself to have been sent to Nauvoo by none less than Sheriff Harmon T. Wilson himself, Sheriff of Carthage and avowed enemy to the Mormons. Joseph Jackson proclaimed himself a spy!

Now all and sundry knew he was not, nor had ever been, in love with me! Now all knew that I had not sought his affections! I was vindicated. Hah! Truth had triumphed – gloriously! Little did Joseph Jackson know the favor he was doing me by writing his wicked article. Little did he know what joy he brought to my heart. Now I might walk the streets of Nauvoo with impunity, not feeling that every eye followed me.

However justified was my own moral character, the women of Nauvoo were once again to be maligned in total. For on the seventh day of June in the year 1844, the first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor was published. A more blasphemous and libelous piece was never issued in any town in America. It even topped Jackson’s “Startling Disclosures.”

Piqued at their expulsion from the Church, the “anties” actually compared our church courts to the medieval Catholic Inquisition. Imagine! After all those brethren had been sent to reconcile them to the Church, they could say that?

They claimed we were being led into paths of vice and debauchery through the theatre. I myself thought that opinion extremely unenlightened. They also argued that we were combining church and state since Uncle Joseph was in politics. It seemed that they thought it well to have a president who was not religious, rather than have one who feared God.

But their chief argument was against the doctrines taught in Uncle Joseph’s funeral sermon for Elder King Follett. We knew they were not blasphemous, for had the heavens not parted? Had not every doctrine been proved from the Bible itself?

All these criticisms and opinions we could tolerate, but when we read, “Our hearts have mourned and bled at the wretched and miserable condition of females in this place,” and, “It is difficult – perhaps impossible to describe the wretchedness of females in this place, without wounding the feelings of the benevolent, or shocking the delicacy of the refined…” we were sorely and grievously affronted. We sisters considered ourselves enlightened and emancipated from the bonds of error and darkness. The gospel taught that women were the equals of men – partners. Truth had come at last. Uncle Joseph taught that he who would lead, must do so by serving. Did not he himself, as head of the house, lead in such a way that he was willing to perform the most menial task for Aunt Emma? Had I not seen him countless times doing so – sweeping, cooking, nursing, borrowing flour, and changing a child’s clothing? Just try to find a gentile who would do such things! Uncle Joseph taught that in heaven women would have a choice: if their husbands were not kind to them on earth, they could be given to another more worthy of them. That was justice! Search the whole earth for such a teaching, and would you find it? Nay. Only in Nauvoo.