MY HUSBAND DISFELLOWSHIPPED—WE APOSTATIZE—BRUTAL OUTRAGE UPON MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF.  
Notwithstanding all my own personal troubles and the difficulties which surrounded us, the loss of my dear friend affected me very deeply. And yet her story is the same as might be told of hundreds of other English girls who have been lured from their happy homes and have died broken-hearted and neglected in Utah.
Now came that change in our life which I had so long hoped for, but which had always seemed to me so very far distant. We had been tossed by many a storm, but the violence of this last gale was such that it forced us clean out of the sea of Mormonism, and landed us high and dry upon the firm ground of Apostasy.
About the time when my husband returned with his paper to Salt Lake City, the Utah Magazine, a liberal journal just struggling into existence, began to call in question some of Brigham’s measures; and the editors, who were all men of some mark in the Mormon Church, presumed to hint that the people had rights and privileges as well as the Priesthood. This was done in a very quiet, unobtrusive way; but it was, nevertheless, pronounced rebellion and apostasy. My husband’s paper was silent upon the subject; and, in consequence, he was suspected of being in league with the enemy. This was another good reason why the people should be “counselled” not to take the Telegraph. Although he was not yet sufficiently advanced in thought to give much direct aid to the questioners of Brigham’s authority, I saw with pleasure that he did not wish to oppose them; the tone of his paper was evidently changing, and the articles which appeared from time to time gave serious offence to Brigham Young. This, however, was not all his wrong-doing; he had of late been neglectful in his attendance at the “School of the Prophets”—a meeting which was then held every Saturday for the benefit of the Elders.
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Together with the editors of the Utah Magazine, Mr. Stenhouse and one or two others were summoned to appear at the School, to give their reasons for previous non-attendance. This they had all along anticipated, and were therefore not surprised at the summons, but they hardly expected that Brigham would act so precipitately; for, without waiting to hear their reasons, he disfellowshipped them all for irregular attendance.
Brigham’s assumption of the right to disfellowship men from the Church because of irregular attendance at the School was a stretch of authority which startled my husband: “What will he not do next?” he said. “To submit would be to acknowledge him absolute, and myself a slave. There is but one alternative now—slavery or freedom. Cost me what it may, I will be free!”
In August of the same year my husband sent a respectful and kindly letter to the Bishop of our ward, stating that he had no faith in Brigham’s claim to an “Infallible Priesthood,” and that he considered that he ought to be cut off from the Church. I added a postscript, stating that I wished to share my husband’s fate—little thinking that within three days my request would be answered in a too literal manner.
A little after ten o’clock on the Saturday night succeeding our withdrawal from the Church, we were returning home together. The night was very dark, and as our residence was in the suburbs of the City, north of the Temple block, and the road very quiet, the walk was a very lonely one and perhaps not altogether too safe. We had gone about a third of the way, when we suddenly saw four men come out from under some trees at a little distance from us. In the gloom of the night we could only see them very indistinctly, and could not distinguish who they were. They separated; and two of them came forward and stumbled up against us, and two passed on beside us. For a moment I thought that they were intoxicated, but it was soon clear that they were acting from design. As soon as they approached, they seized hold of my husband’s arms, one on each side, and held him firmly, thus rendering him almost powerless. They were all masked, for it was supposed that thus we should not be ab............