1841-08-11-New York Tribune-A Victim to Mormonism

A Victim to Mormonism

Source: New York Tribune, 11 August 1841, pg 1

A VICTIM TO MORMONISM -- On the shore of the lank, seven miles west of this, in Portland, the attention of the traveler would be arrested by the appearance of a well finished neat and commodious dwelling, the appurtenance of a well cultivated, good conditioned farm, indicating the abode of ??te, industry and happiness. Do you stop to quaff the cooling water or to enjoy a lounge under that pleasant piazza, protected from the scorching sun by a beautiful grove, in vain do you listen for the domestic song, or linger for the welcome of hospitality. Silence and solitude reign there. It is the hour of busy labor. You look around; at a distance you discover a man toiling in the field, alone; and he is the goodly pattern of a man. He invites you to a conference; you become interested in his history. He tells you he was the son of a sterner climate�cradled on the sea-lashed banks of Nova Scotia. In riper years, his home was the ocean. The brig, of which he was owner and commander, foundered at sea; he was saved by taking to the long-boat. He returned to the land of his birth, and married his betrothed; and in after years, when the father of six children, he removed with his family and settled upon this very farm eighteen years since, then in the wildest state. Here he continued in all the enjoyment consequent upon a virtuous life, possessed of the esteem and confidence of his neighbors, and a competence of this world's goods. His domestic relations were happy�uninterruptedly so, until within about two years since. The spoiler came: a Mormon preacher appeared in the neighborhood. The wife, sons and daughters of this new lone man were among his hearers. Wild fanaticism fastened upon them, and they became converts to Mormonism. The golden Bible and the 'revelations' of Joe Smith bid them prepare to journey to the 'promised land.' The husband and father interposed, but reason and kind persuasion were unavailing. The pictures scenes of 'home' were but the gloom of night, compared with the bright visions of the Mormon 'heaven upon earth.' And Mormonism required the sacrifice of domestic bliss, a severance of the connubial tie�or filial bonds. And these were not enough to satisfy the demands of the strange god; pecuniary tribute was exacted, to the amount of all the personal property of the man already bereft of wife and children. Heartless and hopeless, he yielded to the demand; and besides his horses and the cattle of the field, he literally emptied his house to satiate the cupidity of this ?her Juggernaut. They left him alone. The wife, two sons and three daughters, arrived in Missouri. In three months after their arrival on Mormon ground, the mother sickened and died.

And now, Joshua Crosby, widowed and childless, though ?? be by the power of Mormon delusion, having recovered from the shock, with the big heart of a sailor forgives, and stands by ready for another pull at the oar on the ocean of life.

[Dunkirk Beacon.