"I have many a time dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can; we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves and any other shade of character that you can mention. We can pick out elders in Israel right here who can beat the world at gambling; who can handle the cards; who can cut and shuffle them with the smartest rogue on the face of God’s footstool."

" I can produce elders here who can shave their smartest shavers and take their money from them. We can beat the world at any game. We can beat them because we have men here that live in the light of the Lord; that have the holy priesthood and hold the keys of the Kingdom of God."

Its going to be difficult for one born and raised in the LDS Church to believe that the above quotes actually came from the mouths of Joseph and Brigham. In an attempt to counteract these quotes, there will be hundreds of thousands of loyal Mormons who will swear by the spirit that the quotes are forgeries. From my perspective, if Mormonism is false, then they are probably true. If Mormonism is true, meaning Joseph Smith was a genuine prophet, then the quotes are probably false. All one can do is compare the quotes with the histories of these two men, and then decide, and I don’t mean a one-sided, sanitized history found in the Deseret Book Stores.

Dr. W. Wyl was a writer who traveled extensively and became hopelessly intrigued with the dark side of Mormonism. He somehow became closely associated with the editor of The Daily Tribune, at the time an unabashed opponent of Mormonism. The Daily Tribune is now The Salt Lake Tribune.

Wyl was apparently very good at ferreting out juicy information about his subjects like the inflammatory quotes above. And like many writers of that time, using J. A. Beatle as a comparison, he was very adept in the use of colorful, contumelious metaphors. This abrasive, sporting form of insulting the object of their ridicule became an art form that made, at least for me, the reading of their historicity more pleasurable. And both sides did it with equal dexterity, the anti-Mormons against the Mormons, and the Mormons against the loquacious, anti-Mormon gentiles.

One of Wyl’s most notable accomplishments was the exclusive interview of William Law, once a councilor to Joseph Smith - a member of the LDS Church First Presidency along with Sydney Rigdon. You may recall that when William Law rebelled against Joseph’s blatant lasciviousness, that is, pre-revelation polygamy, he, his brother Wilson, and Dr. Foster, bought a press and published the Nauvoo Expositor exposing Joseph. In retaliation, Joseph, as the Mayor of Nauvoo, passed a law declaring the Expositor a nuisance and ordered it destroyed. This single act, more than any other, directly led to Joseph’s martyrdom.

For thirty-four years William Law, after disavowing Mormonism as a fraud, had destroyed everything that could remind him of the shameful Nauvoo years. The humiliation that he had been duped plagued him throughout his life which caused him to spurn every attempt by historical journalists seeking an interview.

William Law was a medical doctor from Canada that had been converted by John Taylor. He was intelligent, affluent, charitable and extremely honest. These attributes along with his dedication to Mormonism made him greatly loved among the people and the ideal public example of the virtuous Mormon. Although Joseph made him one of his councilors, Law was never part of Joseph’s inner circle where the real decisions were made. In Nauvoo the inner circle was composed of Joseph, Hyrum, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor, the men who most enthusiastically embraced Joseph’s polygamy.

Dr. Wyl wrote William Law two letters and received gracious replies but Law continued to refuse to grant interviews, clarifying that Mormonism was behind him and he wanted to forget. Somehow, after a third letter, Wyl obtained the highly coveted interview that other anti-Mormon journalists would have given their left arm for.

What caused William Law to change his mind is not clear. Wyl had sent Law a copy of Mormon Portraits. In it were a couple of minor errors that Law corrected in his letters. Maybe Law wanted to correct more errors. But more than likely it was to make sure the good name of his beautiful wife was exculpated.

Some historians had been erroneously informed that Joseph had covertly attempted to seduce Jane Law, just as he attempted to seduce Sarah Pratt, and that is what induced William to turn against Joseph. However, Jane was known by all as an extraordinarily virtuous woman and according to William, she had discerned the depraved side of Joseph long before him. His wife had been deceased five years prior to the interview and it was important to William that her honor and reputation not be tainted by Joseph Smith, even by a false rumor of a unsolicited attempt by Joseph to seduce her.

William Law was a principled man with a reputation of incorruptible integrity. The overcoming of his reluctance to discuss Joseph Smith and Mormonism was a journalistic scoop. The substance of the interview was printed in the Tribune on July 31, 1887. This is what William had to say about Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism:

... On page 108 you speak of "swapping wives," and state that you have it from one who knows. Now let me say to you that I never heard of it till I read it in your book. Your informant must have been deceived or willfully lied to you. Joseph Smith never proposed anything of the kind to me or to my wife; both he and Emma knew our sentiments in relation to spiritual wives and polygamy; knew that we were immoveably [sic] opposed to polygamy in any and every form; that we were so subsequent events proved. The story may have grown out of the fact that Joseph offered to furnish his wife, Emma, with a substitute for him, by way of compensation for his neglect of her, on condition that she would forever stop her opposition to polygamy and permit him to enjoy his young wives in peace and keep some of them in her house and to be well treated, etc.

... I said that in your book you spoke rather favorably of my brother and myself; of my wife, however, your remarks were far from flattering. She, were she living, would consider them insulting. You said she was much "admired and desired" by Smith; that Smith admired and lusted after many men’s wives and daughters, is a fact, no doubt; but they could not help that. They or most of them considered his admiration an insult, and treated him with scorn. In return for this scorn, he generally managed to blacken their reputations – see the case of your friend, Mrs. Pratt, a good, virtuous woman.

... As to the history of Joseph Smith, I have but little to add to your knowledge of him. One trait was his jealousy of his friends, lest any of them should be esteemed before him in the eyes of the Church or of the public. He would destroy his best friend for the sake of a few hundred dollars. It was his policy to get away with a man’s money, first, because he wanted it, and second, because he believed that in getting a man’s money he deprived him of power and position, and left him in a measure helpless and dependent. He was a tyrant; self-exaltation and gratification of his grosser passions with an entire disregard of others rights.,[sic] And of all morality, led to his destruction at last. Hyrum Smith was as evil as Joseph, but with less ability; he had, I think a little more caution. Joseph had a wonderful memory. Hyrum was short in that; was a very poor public talker, but a pretty good secret worker. Sidney Rigdon was very close. I could never fairly understand him. While I knew him he appeared like a disappointed man, very retired in his ways. He professed to be a great Biblical historian; he was an eloquent preacher. I can hardly think he intended to be a bad man; would be leader if he could. ...Brigham Young was a deep, quiet, wicked man; kept his thoughts mostly to himself; I never understood him. John D. Lee was a leader in the Danite band; I knew but little of him.

"You speak, in your book, of Joseph Smith having sent Rockwell to kill Governor Boggs. Let me tell you, that Joe Smith, told me the fact himself. The words were substantially like this, "I sent Rockwell to kill Boggs, but he missed him, it was a failure; he wounded him instead of sending him to Hell."

"Rockwell was the lackey of the house. He used to comb and shave Joseph, blackened his boots and drove his carriage. He would have done anything Joe wanted him to do. I never saw a horse or carriage belonging to Rockwell which you say he got from Joseph for the attempt to kill Boggs."

I wanted to do my duty and nothing else, and didn’t care for the consequences, not a bit. Many friends advised me to be smart and remain quite, but I would not hear of it and spoke my mind whenever an opportunity offered. When the Smiths saw that we were against them, then they applied to us their usual system, that is, to freeze us out. Secret orders went out that nobody could buy property without the permission of Joseph Smith, Hyrum or the authorities, as they called them, so our property was practically worthless. Yes, my brother Wilson stood to me like a man, fully, fearlessly. He died, here in Shullsburgh, of a stroke of apoplexy, after an illness of three days, ten years ago. He was a very fine and tremendously strong man. He wrestled with Joe in Nauvoo and threw him on his back?

"They tried to get rid of me in different ways. One was by poisoning. I was already out of the church when Hyrum called one day and invited me for the next day to a reconciliation dinner as he called it, to his house. He said Joseph would come, too. He invited me and my wife. He was very urgent about the matter, but I declined the invitation. Now I must tell you that I, in those dangerous days, did not neglect to look out somewhat for the safety of my person and that I kept a detective or two among those who were in the confidence of the Smiths. That very same evening of the day on which Hyrum had been to my house inviting me, the detective told me that they had conceived the plan to poison me at the reconciliation dinner. Their object was a double one. My going to the dinner would have shown to the people that I was reconciled and my death would have freed them of an enemy. You may imagine that I didn’t regret having declined that amiable invitation?

"I know that several men, six or seven, died under very suspicious circumstances. Among them were two secretaries of the prophet, Mulholland and Blaskel Thompson. I saw Mulholland die and the symptoms looked very suspicious to me. Dr. Foster, who was a very good physician, believed firmly that those six or seven men had been poisoned, and told me so repeatedly."

"Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Let me tell you a case, that will be full proof to you. Soon after my arrive in Nauvoo the two L[awrence] girls came to the holy city, two very young girls, 15 to 17 years of age. They had been converted in Canada, were orphans and worth about $8000 in English gold. Joseph got to be appointed their Guardian, probably with the help of Dr. Bennett. He naturally put the gold in his pocket and had the Girls sealed to him. He asked me to go on his bond as a guardian, as Sidney Rigdon had done. "It is only a formality," he said. Foolishly enough, and not yet suspecting anything, I put my name on the paper. Emma complained about Joseph’s living with the L[awrence] girls but not very violently. It is my conviction that she was his full accomplice, that she was not a bit better than he.

(After Joseph’s death guardianship of the Lawrence girls was turned over to a Mr. Babbitt, an honest man. Joseph’s books showed room & board for the girls at $3000, Babbitt wanted the other $5000. He looked as Joseph’s estate for compensation but it was all in Emma’s name.)

"Well, I told you that she used to complain to me about Joseph’s escapades whenever she met me on the street. She spoke repeated about that pretended revelation. She said once: "The revelation says I must submit or be destroyed. Well, I guess I have to submit." On another day she said: "Joe and I have settled our troubles on the basis of equal rights." *** Emma was a full accomplice of Joseph’s crimes. She was a large, coarse woman, as deep a woman as there was, always full of schemes and smooth as oil. They were worthy of each other, she was not a particle better than he."

"Yes. There was some talk about Joseph getting no issue from all the women he had intercourse with. ... Joseph was very free in his talk about his women. He told me one day of a certain girl and remarked, that she had given him more pleasure than any girl he had ever enjoyed. I told him it was horrible to talk like this."

"Joseph lived in great plenty. He entertained his friends and had a right good time. He was a jolly fellow. I don’t think that in his family tea and coffee were used, but they were served to the strangers when he entertained as tavern-keeper. At least, I suppose so. The Smiths had plenty of money. Why, when I came to Nauvoo I paid Hyrum $700 in gold for a barren lot and at that rate they sold any amount of lots after having got the land very cheap, to be sure. Their principle was to weaken a man in his purse, and in this way take power and influence from him. Weaken everybody, that was their motto. Joseph’s maxim was, when you have taken all the money a fellow has got, you can do with him whatever you please."

"Yes, I did. I was astonished to see in your book that the revelation was such a long document. I remember DISTINCTLY that the original given me by Hyrum was MUCH SHORTER. It covered not more than two or three pages of foolscap. The contents are substantially the same, but there was not that theological introduction. The thing consisted simply in the command of doing it, and that command was restricted to the High Priesthood and to virgins and widows. But as to Joseph, himself, the Lord’s chosen servant, it was restricted to virgins only, to clean vessels, from which to procure a pure seed to the Lord."

( In speaking about Joseph and his intimate friends, Brigham Young, Kimball and others, the inner circle, William Law said:) "They first tried a man to see whether they could make a criminal tool out of him. When they felt that he would not be the stuff to make a criminal of, they kept him outside the inner circle and used him to show him up as an example of their religion, as a good, virtuous, universally respected brother."

"No. I had no idea, no idea. I had been ruined by that man; all my property was gone; all my dearest illusions destroyed, and through my connection with him I got a black spot on my life, which will pain me to the very last minute of my existence. But I tell you [The old gentlemen buried his head in his hands and when he removed them, his eyes were wet.] I tell you, no, if I had had any idea of any such scheme, I would have taken steps to stop it. I have always considered the killing of Joseph Smith a wrong action. It is my opinion that he deserved his fate fully, much more than thousands of men who paid the penalty of their crime to Judge Lynch - but I would have preferred that he should have been tried by court and sent to the Penitentiary."

A serious student of Mormonism must read the rare, old books like Mormon Portraits in order to draw an objective perspective, but they are hard to come by. A few nineteenth-century books have been reproduced like Mormonism Unveiled or Life & Confession of John D. Lee, but not all of them. Some real spicy books like Mormonism: Its Leaders And Designs, by John Hyde, Jun., published in 1857, and Fifteen Years Among The Mormons: Being The Narrative Of Mrs. Mary Ettie V. Smith, published in 1860, are rare jewels, not so much because of their intrinsic value but because of their contents. When I say "spicy" I mean the authors reveal things about Mormonism that will curl your hair.

Mary Ettie V. Smith was the wife of a Danite and according to her narrative, was put to work by Brigham Young, helping him rob and murder apostates and gentiles. When you ponder these two books within the context of other books by apostates - Thomas and Fanny Stenhouse, John D. Lee, William Hickman, and Ann Eliza Young - there is an unmistakable ring of truth. The LDS Church we see today has come a long way since Brigham Young stood up in his wagon and said, "This is the place."

The old faith promoting books, in other words, the books that promote the agenda of the LDS Church are easily obtainable - books like Life Of Joseph The Prophet, 1878, and The Women of Mormondom, 1877, both by Edward W. Tullidge, have been reproduced and are fairly easily obtained. But the anti-Mormon books are another thing. For example, a used, somewhat tattered copy of The Rocky Mountain Saints cost in excess of $600.00.

The Rocky Mountain Saints (1878) is one of the most professional and best historical treatise of early Mormonism - an exposition of Mormonism and its leaders as it was - no attempt to sanitize - by a man who was well acquainted with Brigham Young. Although the author, Thomas Stenhouse, historian and newspaperman, apostatized over the tyrannical reign of Brigham Young, there is no detectable prejudice in his works. One must read, Tell It All, by Thomas’ estranged wife, Fanny Stenhouse, to learn the sordid details of the chicanery in Mormonism that induced Thomas and Fanny to apostatize. I’ll give you a hint - deception and polygamy played major roles- and in this case, when the two decided to split - it was not the gentleman, but the lady that led the way.