WHAT JOSEPH SMITH SAID.
Aged Citizens Testify at Heber to His Words.
(Special Correspondence.)
Heber, Jan. 23.—Last evening the Y. M. I. A. of Wasatch stake closed the
two-days’ annual conference. The meetings, with the exception of the first,
have been very largely attended.
A very impressing circumstance
occurred on Sunday afternoon which will have an everlasting impression upon the
minds of all present. While Elder A. T. Duke was addressing the service on
Saturday afternoon he spoke of the prediction made by the prophet Joseph Smith
concerning the church of the Latter-day Saints coming to the mountains. The
speaker said there were those in the meeting who heard the prophet predict the
Saints would go to the mountains, where they would become a mighty people.
At the service yesterday
afternoon, while the tabernacle was crowded to its full capacity, general
secretary of the Y. M. M. I. A., Thomas Hull, asked all who heard the prophet
Joseph predict the Saints would come to the mountains to come to the stand so
the congregation could see and hear them testify. For said Mr. Hull, the
reorganized church of the Latter-day Saints say that Joseph never made such a
prediction, and those who came to the mountains under the leadership of Brigham
Young were following a false prophet. Accordingly about twelve honorable
gray-haired ladies and gentlemen, Nauvoo veterans, appeared on the stand,
creating a very imposing and impressive effect upon the vast audience.
The first veteran speaker was
Henry S. Alexander, who used to be a steward on board the Maid of Iowa, plying
on the Mississippi river. The speaker was well acquainted with Joseph Smith. He
was present when Joseph declared the church would be driven from the confines
of the United States, and would be established in the valleys of the Rocky
mountains, where the members of the Church would become a great and a mighty
people. “I heard the prophetic declaration,” said Mr. Alexander, “and have
lived to see it fulfilled as well as many other predictions made.”
Joseph S. Murdock, another aged
veteran, next addressed the congregation. When a boy in company with a score or
more young men in a little meeting in the city of Nauvoo, Patriarch Hyrum Smith
addressed them and said there were young men in that meeting who would live and
go with the body of the church to the Rocky mountains.
Mr. Murdock had heard Joseph and
Hyrum both give this wonderful prophetic prediction more than once. When the
prophet was on his way to Carthage jail to deliver himself up to the officers
of the law, Mr. Murdock approached him and asked him his views on the
situation, and the prophet answered that he had no very great light in the
direction in which he was going. The light he had was toward the mountains.
The next to address the people
was a very aged lady from Midway, a Mrs. Clift. She knew the prophet Joseph
Smith. Had talked with him and dined with him at his table many many times; had
often heard him say the Saints would go to the Rocky mountains and Zion would
become a mighty people.
Mrs. Annie R. Duke was acquainted
with Joseph Smith, but was not present at the public meeting where he made the
prediction concerning the Saints going to the mountains. Her mother, however,
was at the meeting. Mrs. Duke’s mother is still living in southern Utah.
There were many other aged worthy
persons present who were ready to testify, but time would not suffice.
The remainder of the time was
occupied by an interesting address by Elder Thomas Hull of Salt Lake. After
which Mrs. Hull rendered a beautiful solo.
The conference just closed has
been a very interesting one throughout. (“What Joseph Smith
Said,” Salt Lake Herald, no. 319 [January 24, 1899]: 6)
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