THE SCOURGE OF ZION'S CAMP—JOSEPH AND HYRUM ATTACKED BY CHOLERA—THEIR DELIVERANCE—THE CAMP DISBANDED—THREATS AGAINST THE PROPHET—HIS FEARLESSNESS—JOSEPH RETURNS TO KIRTLAND—SYLVESTER SMITH'S CHARGE OF IMPURITY—THE PROPHET VINDICATED—VISIT TO MICHIGAN—THE LAW OF TITHING.
The scourge came as had been foretold, and the Camp of Zion felt its terrible effects. Moanings and lamentations filled the air. In the divine economy it is not unfrequently the case that the innocent suffer with the wrong-doers. "The Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that His justice and judgment may come upon the wicked." In this attack some faithful men fell victims under the awful power of this scourge, and the entire camp suffered more or less. In organized bodies of Saints experience has proved that it is not always the element which is guilty of transgression which alone has to endure the consequences, but the entire body which harbors or permits the impurity has to suffer. If it were not so, there would not be such imperative reason for a community to look well to the work of self-cleansing. It is when the judgment of Heaven falls upon the obedient as well as the careless and disobedient of any organization that the people are taught to strive unceasingly, not alone each for his own but all for the general purification. Some of the men who went down from Kirtland with Joseph and who had joined him on the road were among the noblest of human kind. They were of such exalted faith and courage that their righteous fame stands with that of the greatest disciples of old. They adhered to the Lord's commandments and to His prophet with all the fidelity of their souls. But other men—unjust, selfish, rebellious by nature—were also among the number of Zion's Camp; and as soon as they became wearied by hardships they betrayed their own lack of innate nobility. It was this latter class of men which brought affliction upon the Camp.
It was about the 22nd day of June, 1834, when the cholera appeared in Zion's Camp at Fishing River. During the next week it raged in the midst of the party. Sixty-eight of the Saints were attacked and thirteen of them died. Among the fatal cases was that of Algernon Sidney Gilbert, a man of talent and many good works, though not always able to subdue self. Just before the destroyer seized him, the Prophet called him to journey to Kirtland to receive there his endowments and from there to proclaim the everlasting gospel of redemption. Elder Gilbert's answer was: "I would rather die than go forth to preach the gospel to the Gentiles." When he thus answered the Prophet of God he was full of strength and health; but in a few hours after the scourge had breathed upon him he was dead. Joseph and Hyrum administered assiduously to the sick, and soon they were in the grasp of the cholera. They were together when it seized them; and together they knelt down and prayed for deliverance. Three times they bowed in supplication, the third time with a vow that they would not rise until deliverance from the destroyer was vouchsafed. While they were thus upon their knees a vision of comfort came to Hyrum. He saw their mother afar off in Kirtland praying for her absent sons, and he felt that the Lord was answering her cry. Hyrum told Joseph of the comforting vision and together they arose, made whole every whit. In ministering to their other brethren they discovered that to dip an afflicted person in cold water afforded great relief and this was practiced generally until the scourge had run its threatened course and had left the Camp.
During the days of the scourge the Prophet had moved his party from Fishing River. On the 23rd of June, they had reached within five or six miles of Liberty in Clay County, when General Atchison and several other persons went out from the town to meet the Prophet. They begged him not to go to Liberty as the people had become much enraged. Accepting the advice, Joseph turned from the road to Liberty and encamped on the banks of Rush Creek.
On the 25th of June the Prophet announced by letter to General Atchison and party, that he had concluded to disperse his company, in order to allay the prejudice and fear on the part of citizens of Clay County. He requested the gentlemen to whom his note was addressed to inform the Governor of the action thus taken; because the Prophet knew that Dunklin's ears were being filled with the most malicious rumors concerning the purpose entertained by Zion's Camp. In execution of his promise Joseph disbanded his party, and the brethren scattered themselves among the Saints of that region.
The next day a report was received from one S. C. Owens, a leader of the Jackson County mob, in which he declared that his people would not accept the proposition of the Saints—to buy the lands of the men who objected to the Saints returning to their homes in Jackson County—nor anything akin to it. He coolly recommended that the Saints "cast their eye" on a distant and uninhabited spot which he named, "to see if that was not a county calculated for them."
One appeal after another was being made to the Governor of the state; but so far as practical help was concerned, all were unanswered. Active hostilities in a general sense against the Saints had ceased for the time being, and there was some reason for hoping that they would be allowed to remain in Clay and surrounding regions. All the honest and fair-minded settlers in that land were forced to recognize the good qualities of the exiles from Jackson. The Saints were industrious, charitable and thrifty. Among them were no drunkenness, brawls nor crimes which too often gave a bad character to other border communities.
To this prospect of peace the Prophet's personality had greatly contributed. In all the march through Missouri his magnificent qualities had impressed themselves upon the people whom he met. His course had been that of a worthy leader among men. He had shown in all his intercourse with the inhabitants of Missouri the utmost courage and generosity. It was his nature to extend consideration and kindness towards others, and he was as regardful of the rights of his fellow-men at this time as always before and always after during his lifetime. The leading men of Clay County who were brought into contact with him felt that he possessed remarkable power. There was that in his dignified deportment and in the fearless glance of his blue eyes which warmed the souls of other men to his own, and they submitted to his charm of manner, even when they had come to oppose him. And when at last, to allay the fears of his avowed enemies, he dispersed his party, while surrounded by vindictive mobs who sought his life and the lives of his associates, he evinced a courage and a wisdom as grand as they were rare.
Jackson County was alive with men who had sworn to assassinate him if he ventured within their reach. What could have been more admirable than his noble disregard of all their threats! On the 1st of July, 1834, unattended, except by two or three personal friends, he crossed the Missouri River from Clay into Jackson County, visited Independence and saw all that goodly land which the Lord had promised as a Zion, but which now was under the desecration of murder, rapine and a veritable reign of terror.
He stood among the ruins of once peaceful homes and gazed upon once fruitful fields which wicked men had laid waste, and his great heart swelled nigh to bursting. Did any premonition come to him of that awful hour when he should next look upon these scenes; when in chains he should be carried through the streets of Independence, as captive kings of old were dragged at their victor's chariot wheels to make the populace shout with cruel joy! Well might Joseph, Prophet of God, have indescribable emotions as he gazed upon this spot, hallowed in his mind by so many tender recollections and so many promised glories. Mobs had done their work, Zion was desolate. Joseph himself was free. But the day was not far distant, when he should, as a captive, be brought to Independence and his enemie............