--Nauvoo the Ugly: Covering Joseph Smith's Backside Through Its Busy Backroom Abortion Business, Conducted in a Clandestine Climate of Prostitution
While it is claimed the Joseph Smith may have secretly sired children with his ample stockpile of polygamous wives, tracing any alleged trail back to any such children is made potentially more difficult because of the practice of abortion among Nauvoo's Mormons that could have helped cover Smith's path of paternal DNA, as demonstrated by the following historical examination:
"Evidence of Abortions?
"Some critics believe that Joseph may have gotten some of his wives pregnant but had them get abortions. This is what Sarah Pratt, whom Joseph excommunicated for refusing to have sex with him, said to Smith's son.
"'I saw that he was not inclined to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: 'You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?' He answered: 'If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened.'
"'Dr.' Bennett was an abortionist.
"Reference:
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1886WWyl.htm#pg060a("Polygamy," under "Evidence of Abortions?," at:
http://www.mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm)
Then, there was the fact that Smith visited houses of prostitution in Nauvoo--the same city where Mormons were receiving abortion services, as well.
Former RfM posters Bob McCue and "Deconstructor" write:
"[The] Wife of Apostle Orson Pratt isn't the only one who knew about abortions in Nauvoo..
"LDS Elder Ebenezer Robinson testified that Hyrum Smith:
'instructed me in November or December 1843 to make a selection of some young woman and he would seal her to me, and I should take her home,' he recalled, 'and if she should have an offspring give out word that she had a husband, an Elder, who had gone on a foreign mission.'
"Possibly referring to a secluded birthplace, or conceivably to abortion, Robinson spoke of 'a place appointed in Iowa, 12 or 18 miles from Nauvoo to send female victims to his polygamous births."
(Ebenezer Robinson to Jason W. Briggs, 28 January 1880, LDS archives)
"On December 29, 1873, Ebenezer and Angeline Robinson signed an affidavit saying that Hyrum Smith had come to their house in the fall of 1843 to teach them the doctrine of polygamy.
"Apostle Orson Pratt's wife testified:
"'One day they came both, Joseph and [Doctor] Bennett, on horseback to my house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc.-- this explains my borrowing that book."
"'While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: "Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in trouble." Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end.'
"'I heard afterwards that the operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered."
(testimony of Apostle Orson Pratt's wife, Sarah Pratt from 'Joseph Smith the Prophet: His Family and Friends:
A Study Based on Facts and Documents," illustrated [Salt Lake City, Utah: Tribuen Printing and Publishing Company, 1886], p. 61062, at:
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1886WWyl.htm#pg060a)
"Joseph Smith's once-close associate Doctor Bennett was also accused by Hyrum Smith of practicing abortions.
"Hyrum testified that Dr. Bennett was propositioning women in a similar fashion to Joseph Smith:
"'[Dr. Bennett] endeavored to seduce them, and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was one of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the people was strong enough in faith to bear such mysteries?that it was perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day, to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify that there were such revelations and such commandments, and that they were of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their sins, if there were any, and that he would give them medicine to produce abortions, provided they should become pregnant."
(affidavit of Hyrum Smith. "Official History of the Church," Vol. 5, p. 71)"
--Details of the Unholy Alliance Between Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett
"Here is a book review I posted at Amazon of 'The Saintly Scoundrel - The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett,' by Andrew F. Smith:
http://www.salamandersociety.com/museum/bennett/"The juicy parts are more towards the end of the review. Smith and Bennett were birds (or is that blokes) of a feather: 'The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett,' by Andrew F. Smith. Reviewed by the Salamander Society at Amazon.com. (click on the book cover) Following are some quotes from the book but for a much deeper feel and context for Dr. John C. Bennett's influence in early Mormonism, please read the entire book."
Some excerpts from the book, as provided by "Deconstructor":
"'Summer 0f 1840--Bennett wrote a series of three letters to Joseph Smith. He professed that wealth was not his aim but desired only happiness. He was convinced that he could enjoy himself better with the Mormons than with any other religious body. He hoped that the time would "soon come when your people will become my people, your God my God."
"'Jospeh Smith wrote back from Nauvoo on August 8, 1840: "It would afford me much pleasure to see you at this place, and from the desire you express in your letter to move to this place, I hope I shall soon have the satisfaction."'
"'While there were many spontaneous conversions to Mormonism, religious fervor was not likely to have been central to Bennett's move to Nauvoo. His correspondence was a calculated attempt to gain Smith's and Rigdon's confidence. Unlike other confidence men, Bennett was quite ambitious and desired glory and renown; he was quite willing to sacrifice money both for fame and power. Bennett might have believed from the onset that Smith was a charlatan and that Mormonism was a fraud, but this would not have particularly mattered to him. He pursued secular, not religious goals. He was interested in using the Mormons, as he had the Methodists and the Christian Disciples, to promote his eminence and enhance his power.'
(p. 55)
"'Joseph Smith was impressed with Bennett and had him board with the Smith family for 39 weeks. He became Joseph Smith's closest friend and confident, claiming to have known "Joseph better than any other man living for a least 14 months!" William Law, who later became assistant president of the Mormon church, agreed with Bennett's assessment of his relationship with Joseph Smith. According to Law, Bennett "was more in the secret confidence of Joseph than perhaps any other man in the city."' (p. 56)
"'Bennett also befriended Joseph Smith's brothers, Hyrum Smith and Don Carlos Smith. Hyrum Smith replaced Joseph Smith, Sr., as the patrirarch of the Mormon Church. When Bennett was baptized, he received the first patriarchal blessing bestowed by Hyrum Smith. Impressed with Bennett's speaking abilities, Hyrum Smith likened Bennett to the Biblical "Paul reasoning with Felix, and they shall tremble when they hear thy words." Hyrum Smith predicted that Bennett would not turn "aside from the truth for the popularity of the world.' (p. 57)
"' . . . Smith later charged Bennett with almost continuous adultery from the time he arrived in Nauvoo [iN 1840] . . . .'.(pp. 61-62)
"'While in Nauvoo, Bennett had succeeded beyond his own wildest expectations. He later nostalgically observed that he had "possessed power, wealth and the means to gratify every passion or desire."'(p. 78)
"'According to Joseph Smith, as soon as Bennett became a Mormon (Bennett's date of baptism is disputed but was either in September or October of 1840), Smith received a letter from an unidentified person cautioning the Mormons against him. Knowing that it was not uncommon "for good men to be evil spoken against," however, Smith kept quiet about the letter.
"'In February of 1841, Smith sent George Miller to McConnelsville to delve into Bennett's past. On March 2,1841, Miller reported back that "during many years his poor, but confiding wife, followed him from place to place, with no suspicion of his unfaithfulness to her; at length however, he became so bold enough in his departures, that it was evident to all around that he was a sore offender and his wife left him under satisfactory evidence of his adulterous connections; nor was this his only fault; he used her bad otherwise." Miller concluded that Bennett was "an impostor, and unworthy of the confidence of all good men."
"'Despite this information, neither Smith nor Miller took any known action against Bennett. In fact, Smith appointed him assistant president of the Mormon Church in April 1841. Miller himself permitted Bennett to become the secretary of the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge in December 1841.
"'On June 15, 1841, Hyrum Smith and William Law, then in Pittsburgh, wrote to Joseph Smith corroborating the content of George Miller's letter. According to Smith, he read the letter to Bennett, "which he did not attempt to deny, but candidly acknowledged the fact." Whatever happened, Bennett and Joseph Smith clearly had a temporary parting of the ways. Bennett, who had been living with Joseph Smith's family, moved into other quarters.' (pp. 79-80)
"'Oliver Olney reported in his journal that in early April 1842 it was common gossip that members of the Twelve Apostles were "very intimate with females."
"'On April 10, 1842 Joseph Smith "pronounced a curse upon all adulterers and fornicators and unvirtuous persons" and those who had made use of his "name to carry on their iniquitious designs." The individuals to whom these remarks referred were unnamed.' (p. 85)
"'On May 14, 1842 the City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting brothels in the city. An eyewitness later claimed that Bennett had built one. The City Council ordered it ripped down as a public nuisance. Lorenzo D. Wasson, Smith's nephew, reported that he had knowledge of "Bennett and his prostitutes." Whatever Bennett's connnection to the brothel, if any, it is unimaginable that it could have survived without the knowledge of the leaders of the Church, yet due to a tacit acceptance, perhaps because the brothel was protected by Bennett, or it might have been an integral part of an emerging system of sexual experimentation then underway in Nauvoo, as Bennett later implied.
"'On May 17, 1842 Bennett resigned as mayor and voluntarily left the Mormon Church. Two days later Joseph Smith was elected mayor and Hyrum Smith was elected as vice-mayor.' (p. 86)
"'On the morning of May 26, 1842, Bennett met with 60 to 100 of the Masonic brethren. According to Smith, Bennett "acknowledged his wicked and licentious conduct toward certain females in Nauvoo, and that he was worthy of the severest chastisement, and cried like a child, and begged that he might be spared, in any possible way; so deep was his apparent sense of his quilt and unfitness for respectable society; so deeply did he feign, or really feel contrition for the moment, that he was forgiven still."
"'Joseph Smith pled for mercy for Bennett. This seems curious, though perhaps this is consistent with Joseph Smith's pattern of forgiving sinners after public confession. Alternately, as others have speculated, Smith and Bennett might have come to agreement: If Bennett publicly confessed his sins, Smith would forgive him. Still others have suggested that Smith's reluctance to break with Bennett might have been based on his fear that Bennett would publicly reveal his knowledge about plural marriage and Joseph Smith.' (p. 90)
"Perhaps Smith expected or at least hoped that Bennett would leave Nauvoo quietly. When he failed to do so, Smith publicly censured him. On June 18,1842, Smith spoke out publicly against Bennett. According to Wilford Woodruff, Smith "spoke his mind in great plainness concerning the iniquity and wickedness of Gen. John Cook Bennett, and exposed him before the the public."
"'Smith's public attack produced a heated exchange with Bennett. As described in a private letter published in Burlington's "Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot," "Some hard swearing passed between these saints during the quarrel." According to the unidentified author, Bennett threatened "to write a book for the purpose of exposing the rascality of this pretender to the spirit of prophecy. Bennett was excommunicated from the Mormon Church on this day. On June 21, 1842, Bennett abruptly left Nauvoo and headed for Springfield.' (p. 91)
"'Bennett returned to Nauvoo before June 26, 1842, and boarded with George Robinson. On June 27 he wrote to James G. Edwards, editor of the "Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot," reporting that the schism between Smith and him was irreconcilable. He also recounted that Smith had threatened to kill him and had "ordered some of his Danite band to effect the murder clandestinely." According to Bennett, on the evening of June 29, "12 of the Danites, dressed in female apparel, approached my boarding house, (Gen. Robinson's) in Nauvoo, with their carriage wheels wrapped with blankets and their horses feet covered with cloths, to prevent noise, about 10 o'clock, for the purpose of conveying me off and assassinating me, thus prevent disclosures--but I was so admirably prepared with arms, as were also my friends, that after prowling around the house for some time, they retired.' (p. 94)
"'July 1842--Bennett's Accusations Against Joseph Smith
"'1. That Bennett's disfellowshipment notice of May 11, 1842, signed by John E Page, William Smith and Lyman Wright was a forgery because these three men were not in Nauvoo at that time. All three were away on official Church errands.
"'2. That Joseph Smith attempted to seduce Miss Nancy Rigdon, the eldest and single daughter of Sidney Rigdon.
"'3. That Joseph Smith sold valuable property to Willard Richards, N.K. Whitney and others prior to declaring bankruptcy.
"'4. That Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and four others were initiated, passed and raised before the installation of the Masonic Lodge, which was against Masonic regulations.
"'5. That Joseph Smith introduced a new degree of Masonry, called "Order Lodge," in which a part of the obligation says, "I furthermore promise and swear, that I will never touch a daughter of Adam unless she is given me of the Lord," so as to accord with Smith's licentious practices.
"'6. That Bennett's affidavit, sworn on May 17, and his statement, signed on May 19 before the city council, were made under duress.
"'7. That Joseph Smith ordered Orrin Porter Rockwell to shoot former Governor of Missouri, Lilburn W. Boggs.' (pp. 100-05)
"'September 1842--Bennett publishes his 350-page book "History of the Saints, " an anti-Mormon work. The Mormons, of course, were not overwhelmed by the book. Joseph Smith prophesied "that whoever has any hand in the matter, will find themselves in a poor fix in relation to the money matters." While the book's financial earnings have not been uncovered, it is not likely Smith's prediction was accurate. The book went through three printings in 1842. For two years Bennett had no known revenue other than the royalties from the book and his lecture fees.' (p.127)
"'In 1850, Brigham Young announced that John C. Bennett had died in one of the most wretched slums of California, where he had gone in the excitement of the Great Gold Rush. According to Young, Bennett's body had been "dragged out with his boots on, put into a cart, hauled off and dumped into a hole a rotten mass of corruption." Aroet Hale claimed that Bennett's death, as described by Young, was the fulfillment of one of Joseph Smith's prophecies. According to Hale, Bennett was cursed to "die a vagabond upon the face of the earth, without friends to berry him."' (p. 166)
"'The report of Bennett's demise was greatly exaggerated, however. He was alive and well, living in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Bennett continued to practice medicine, breed chickens and cattle, promote anti-slavery issues, served as a surgeon in the Union army and re-married. After a protracted illness, probably precipitated by a stroke, Bennett died at the age of 64 in August of 1867 in Polk City, Iowa.' (p. 185)
"'Despite the Mormon appraisals, Bennett was respected by his Polk City neighbors and was relatively well-off when he died. His tombstone is one of the largest in the Polk City Cemetary. His second wife died less than one year later and was buried beside him. Bennett's first wife, Mary, lived until 1897. Nothing is known of his two children.' (pp. 185-86)
"'As shocking as Bennett's disclosures might have been in his day, the Mormon experiment with polygamy should be viewed in the broader context of sexual exploration underway in the United States at the time. On one end of the spectrum of sexual experimentation were the Shakers, who believed in complete abstinance. On the other end were those members of the Oneida Community in New York, who openly practiced their belief in free love.
"'80 years before Bennett made his first disclosures, the United States had been rocked by the sensation surrounding the self-styled prophet, "Matthias." This scandal included reports of lascivious sexual relations, a strange new religious cult and eventually murder. Matthias was tried and convicted of lesser charges. Four months after he left jail in 1835, Matthias visited Kirtland, where he met and conversed with Joseph Smith and preached to the Mormons. Smith subsequently cast Matthias out of Kirtland.' (p. 191)
("Joseph Smith Visited Houses Of Prostitution," by Bob McCue and "Deconstructor," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, June 2006)
--More Evidence of Joseph Smith's Passion for Prostitutes
"Deconstructor" posts further information about Smith's habit of cavorting with prostitutes:
"On another thread, someone mentioned that in Jon Krakauer's 'Under The Banner Of Heaven' it mentions that Joseph Smith visited houses of prostitution.
"From the book:
"'According to Sarah Pratt, the wife of Mormon "apostle" Orson Pratt: "the prophet Joseph used to frequent houses of ill-fame. Mrs. White, a very pretty and attractive woman, once confessed to me that she made a business of it to be hospitable to the captains of the Mississippi steamboats. She told me that Joseph had made her acquaintance very soon after his arrival in Nauvoo, and that he had visited her dozens of times."
"A look at the full testimony of Sister Pratt reveals even more details on the character of Joseph Smith:
"'I have told you that the prophet Joseph used to frequent houses of ill-fame. Mrs. White, a very pretty and attractive woman, once confessed to me that she made a business of it to be hospitable to the captains of the Mississippi steamboats. She told me that Joseph had made her acquaintance very soon after his arrival in Nauvoo, and that he had visited her dozens of times."
"'My husband (Apostle Orson Pratt) could not be induced to believe such things of his prophet. Seeing his obstinate incredulity, Mrs. White proposed to Mr. Pratt and myself to put us in a position where we could observe what was going on between herself and Joseph the prophet. We, however, declined this proposition."
"'Next door to my house was a house of bad reputation. One single woman lived there, not very attractive. She used to be visited by people from Carthage whenever they came to Nauvoo. Joseph used to come on horseback, ride up to the house and tie his horse to a tree, many of which stood before the house. Then he would enter the house of the woman from the back. I have seen him do this repeatedly."
"'Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: 'You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?' He answered: 'If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened."'
("Joseph Smith And Whorehouses," posted by "Deconstructor," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, June 2006; see also, "The False [LDS] Joseph Smith and the Real [Historical Reality] Joseph Smith," by "Nightingale," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, 13 August 2010, at:
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon628.htm)
--Additional Accounts from the Seedy Side of Smith's Nauvoo Polygamous/Prostitution Paradise, Where Abortions Were Reportedly Performed on Mormon Women:
"Joseph Smith Encouraging Abortions for His Plural Wives
"I am sure the TBM's who read this post are going to accuse me of spreading anti-Mormon rumors/lies about the beloved Prophet. This will be especially the case because most if not all of my sources are statements from those disaffected with Joseph or the Church. I acknowledge the possibility that the allegations are untrue. I don't believe either of us can declare definitively whether these allegations are false or true, but no doubt some TBM's will speak as though they KNOW that these allegations are false, which of course they can't know that.
"So, why post these quotes? Because people deserve the opportunity to investigate for themselves and make up their own minds about it. The more I research things, the more I trust the word of the disaffected Mormons more than the Church Leadership. . . .
"'May 21, 1886, I had a fresh interview with Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had the kindness to give me the following testimony additional to the information given by her in our interviews in the spring of 1885. "I want you to have all my statements correct in your book," said the noble lady, "and put my name to them; I want the truth, the full truth, to be known, and bear the responsibility of it. . . .
"'Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: "You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?" He answered: "If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?" I said to him: "Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened . . ."
"'Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc.,--this explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: 'Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in trouble.' Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.
('Mormon Portraits I,' von Wymetal, Wilhelm, SLC: Tribune Printing & Pub., 1886, p. 59-62).
"'Affidavit of Hyrum Smith
"'On the 17th day of May, 1842, having been made acquainted with some of the conduct of John C. Bennett, which was given in testimony under oath before Alderman G. W. Harris, by several females, who testified that John C. Bennett endeavored to seduce them and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was one of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the people was strong enough in the faith to bear such mysteries--that it was perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day, to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify that [there] was such revelations and such commandments, and that it was of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their sins, if their was any; and that he would give them medicine to produce abortions, providing they should become pregnant. One of these witnesses, a married woman that he attended upon in his professional capacity, whilst she was sick, stated that he made proposals to her of a similar nature; he told her that he wished her husband was dead, and that if he was dead he would marry her and clear out out with her; he also begged her permission to give him medicine to that effect; he did try to give him medicine, but he would not take it--on interrogating her what she thought of such teaching, she replied, she was sick at the time, and had to be lifted in and out of her bed like a child.'
('The Wasp--EXTRA,' Nauvoo, Illinois, 27 July 1842)
"'Did you ever hear of abortion being practiced in Nauvoo?"
"'Yes. There was some talk about Joseph getting no issue from all the women he had intercourse with. Dr. Foster spoke to me about the fact. But I don't remember what was told about abortion. If I heard things of the kind, I didn't believe in them at that time. 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."
(interview with William Law. 30 Marcn 1887, puiblished in 'The Daily Tribune,' Salt Lake City, Utah, 31 July 1887)
("Allegations About Joseph Smith Encouraging Abortions for His Plural Wives," 20 July 2008, at:
http://entreated.blogspot.com/2008/07/allegations-abt-joseph-smith.html)
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Like so much involving the darkened back alleys of LDS history, hiding the historical evidence is of paramount importance to maintaining the mirage. To help break through the carefully manufactured-and-maintained monstrous Mormon myth, welcome to Joseph Smith's Naughty-Not-Nice Nauvoo.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2014 11:57AM by steve benson.