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About The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1899-1930 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1907)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1907. The Miracle That Failed; An Incident of Mormonism. LEFT VICTIM TO DIE THE MORNING ASTORIAN, ASIOKIA, OHKGON. The long discussion in tho Senate of the various pliast" of the Kced Smool case has had tho effect of stim ulating investigations of a number of the obscure features of Mormonism. A mass of historical mat tor has boon brought to light by students of the growth of the cult and a great volume of material, wholly sratteredv has boon rediscovered and added to the data of origins. ' Among this material Is the story of the miracle that failed, involving the tragedy of a budding prophet who could not deliver the goods, a misfortune which came very near costing Joseph Smith a tight-lilting coat of tar and feathers as the penalty of his failure. The tale Is told in an old history of Chenango County. Now York, and has been overlooked by many of the his torians and critics of Smith and the church he founded. It happened at the little town 'f -f-ton, where Smith was married in lS'.'T and where ho had lived for some time. Here he organized his society and prac tically btR.in the strange propaganda that as tile yojirs passed trailed Itself nearly across the continent until it re-fr-hed the promised' land f the shores of the great Salt Lake. A. Af ton Smith drew about him a body of earnest converts, and hjs vigorous preaching, his strange personal mag netism, and hU startling avowals of prophecy and inspiration attracted v large crowds to his services. Finally, to put the capstone of achievement !o his movement of pretensions, any to prove to the sneerers and revilers. of whom there were many, that he had divine attributes, he walked from shore to shore upon the waters of a creek that flowed near the town. The feat came as the dramatic cli- j mas to a powerful sermon by which j his hearers had been aroused to the j point of frenzy and the ocular demon- j stration of his professed divinity,! greeted with a Greek chorus of "A -mens," removed the last vestige of doubt from the minds of convert Ac cording to the relation in the old coun try history, the news of the marvelous feat spread like wildfire throughout the adjacent country side. It was discussed at every crossroads store and was the one topic of conversation at every farm house and village home, cv-.:i ;i rovi:.-rs w-tv .uV'-.:ed f r the idy water, tin the piles boards had been placed, by means of which walk ing to tho water was reduced to a tine and practical art, It happened that while Smith was practicing this miracle In order to per form It without any chance of mishap, some boys, who had sought tho o eludod spot for a swim, surprised him at work. They watched him from hiding-, and when he left thv Investigated. Keeping the secret of their discovery to themselves they waited until the day when he announced that he would one of the boards from tho submerged point where the water was about ten foot deep. The prophet's Involuntary bath was the dramatic result. The same old history gives another story of Smith's undoing. Me had de clared from his pulpit that his per sua wits divine, and that no one with safety could lay hands upon him to in jure or hurt him. Soon after this rash assertion Smith was passing the house where lived Nathan Aldington, a young man of a strict inductive me thod. Ho sprang at the prophet, i . . . I KnocKe t turn dow n, and gave him a bird of a whallophig, while Smith yel led for mercy, and was finally releas ed much tho worse for wear. Nathan said that he simply wanted to show that Smith was a liar. Smith had quite a vogue in tho vi cinity of Afton as a caster-cut of devils, t'pon his trial upon the charge nf being u Impostor, several witnesses testified that they had seen Smith turn the trick. One said he saw a devil about the size of a woodchuek run away. Another witness said that a devil he had seen Smith exorcise from one man looked like a yellow dog when it left its victim. Rut. of course, this testimony of the prophet's failures and shortcomings Is from his home section, where in man can be either hero or sage. Dri ven from his own state, he succeeded in laying the foundation for n great WealthyAutomobilists Strike Aged Man and Flee from Spot. KEPT SECRET FOR MONTHS Searching Investigation by District Attorney Brings Two Young Men to Justice Declare They Re mained Silent. SOLOMON ISLES TROUBLED. Civil War, Canabalism and Hurricane Combine Against Islands. VICTORIA, Feb. 18. The steamer or Mlowera which arrived here yes terday from Australia, brought ri-ws that constant troubles were occurring moment and the Hock of converts in-1 In the Solomon Islands as a result of creased rapidly. ) 'he repatriation, of Kanakas, expelled fo j fnrm Queensland following the enact- Still there were many skeptic". the Smith family had a very unsavory i reputation in the neighborhood, and Joseph Smith in particular, according to the affidavits of some sixty of the pr'om!:ent men of the vicinity, was held to lie a person of absolutely no moral character, and of vicious drun- '. ken habits. They dcubted and waitel. j Smith's success was his undoing, according to the old history. The converts hungered for miracles. They ment of ' White Australia," laws. H. I .u. iromouieus. a tfiiusn warsnip, ! placed in the vicinity "f the group t to protect the r-turnU g blacks, shel j led the village of Suiwa on Malaita, ! which so badly frightened the natives that they took to the brush and have not returned. The- Missionaries fear a massacre by the villagers, who resent the return I of the blacks, j From Papua news was brought a wanted some more of the wator-walk- . , ,u I punitive expedition following a raid ing business as ocular proof for the ' 1 " i hv ln n ntnVialQ r,n Pa rta Pnrioln vill-tcn. fleck of new adherents, and Smith ; ' - ' rather reluctantly consented, for none knew better than he how repetition pens. When the day came great crowds lined the shore of the creek, everyone upon the tiptoe of expec tancy. At the appointed hour. Smith appeared, and, with a tread of dig nity and assurance, approached the bank at the spot roped off for him to make the trial. He removed his shoes and stockings and waded in. The great crowd held its breath. Necks were craned and staring eyes watched every movement of the prophet. A murmur of surprise, a gasp tf wonder swept over the crowd as Smith slowly and dramatically walked to- cheapens. When the day came ward midstream, the water, two children being killed and eaten at a cannibal feast. Shortly before the Miowera left Brisbane advices were received that a hurricane had completely wiped out Cooktown, in North Australia. No lives were lost. The monetary loss will amount to $2,000,000. OUTLOOK CHEERFUL. Prices of Stocks Are Beginning to Re cover Although Slowly. NEW YORK, Feb. 10. pries of stocks have moved towards recovery this week in a somewhat halting and great irregular way. The market has been wel!fi'f-e from pressure of liquidation and opinion has grown more cheerful over the outlook. ("';od results are expected from the proposed currency reform measures in the Senate, flic assump tion is common in the financial dis trict that the financiers of influence regard as less formidable than they did the probable consequences of the government's attitude toward combi nations of capital. The money mar ket has been affected by the course of the withdrawal of Government depos its, from the banks, but less appre hension is felt of the longer money outlook and growing strength of our position In the International exchan gpa. ClllC.UlO, Feb. Iti. Tile m.tery sunvuiullng the killing of William Ireycr, who was run down by a speed ing automobile, three miles west of Kenosha, Wis., July :'4 last was sud denly chared yesfeiAiy when two men who were In tho car which struck and mangled the man told the story of the affair in the courtroom at K'i o-di a. As a result of their testimony, l.M ward Collier, a former bleu le racer and later noted as an automobile ex port was arrested, charged with man slaughter. He gave bond and was re leased. J Tho result of live moulds pvi,-.is-tellt work by district attorney Maker was accomplished when Frank 1.. Jackson, sun of the laic Johnson A. Jackson, a member of die of the ro minent families of Kenosha, and Sic I ley Montgomery, son of K. W. Mont gomery, a wealthy lial.iia, 111., lun.l r man broke down and on, tossed. Jackson and Moiitg ncry s.iel ia.it they left Kenosha ,,u th,: i:igal tiieger was killed and that Collier wag driving the machine, the.sp.-ed.it the time of the tragedy being about twenty live mil'-s an hour. Jackson said the old m.ur, appeared to b in a crunching position Py the roadside, as if about t.t rise, when suddenly Collier shouted; 'We've hit a man." The automo bile was not stopped, but, on the oth er hand the speed of the ear was in creased and the party hurried away without stopping to b-arii the extent of their vlctim'm Injuries. Jackson Maid the aecid-nt occurred at a lime when his father, who died a month ago, was about to undergo a surgical operation, and he feared the schock, if the matter became known would kill the sick mm. Mon'goiin-ry corroborated the statum-nts of Jack sun, and added that uiiil" the trio we''e hurrying away, they agreed not to dls cl.se the facts with ('"gird to strik ing of the In.u ., They traveled about all that night and did lot. kno.v of !. r's d'-.rh until the body w is found the re x' da. Y TIM in your office as well as in other departments Is What Couintts 14 We make all kinds of o but our specialty is systems for the BUSIEN at , EMBALMED ALIVE. known to be ten or twelve feet deep at that point, coming only half way between his feet and knees. With un belfeving eyes the skeptics watched th progrss of his majestic glide. Then suddenly, with a splash that threw the water of the muddy creek high in the air, the prophet disappeared, to come to the surface a moment later puffing amd splurging around like any ordinary mortal under similar cold bath circumstances. A roar of laughter swept over the crowd, and a battery of sharp, crude brutal epithets and witticisms were turned loose upon him as he swam to the shore, and was pulled out by his devoted adherents. Some of the baser sort wanted to give Smith a dose of tar and feathers, but the discredited miracle worker was whisked away out of danger by some of his supporters, and the advice of the cooler headed among the crowd prevailed. Investigation showed that Smith, ac cording to the allegations, had built a submerged pier out into the river on piles, the tops of which came within I Morning Astorian, 60 cents a month, about a foot of the surface of the mud- Delivered by carrier. CMICA'lu. Ills., Feb. K,.T!iit thousands of Infants In Illinois as well as many larger children, are being sent to premature graven through tak ing into their stomachs, in milk, the same poisonous preparations that Is used to embalm the dead, is Indicated by the special report ready for submis sion to Governor bensori by State Pure Food Commissioner H. A. Jaynes. Commissioner Sehuekriuoht points out that of the thirty-five cities visit ed, not one escaped having sold with in its limits milk from unclean and unsanitary cans and vessels or milk not properly strained, showing a de posit of filth In tlie bottom of the bot tom of the bottles or other vessels, and in thirty-two of the cities skimmed milk was sold as standard, and was adulterated with formaldehyde, which authorities pronoun'-,; a poison "much used as an embalming fluid." N ' , ' i -o t '. " . ,, fl.i - .... ..,.oe "I" .".", ! 'V ' . . . , . iff '; l!,, I ' -t! 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It has cured my face of a skin dis ease of almost twenty years' standing. I have been treated by several as smart physicians as we have In this country and they did me no good, but two boxes of this salve has cured me. Mrs. Fannie Grlffen, Troy, Ala, Chamberlain's Salve Is for sale by Frank Hart and leading druggists. LATEST STYLE RULING MACHINE FOR RULING PAPER. t The majority of saw mills in the Northwest I use our productions. j We make all kinds of . TTrmnh Car Shipment Sales Books, i! Cargo Shipment Sales Books Pay Eoll Ledgers, Lpg Registers, and a full line of Lumber Blanks. SEND FOR SAMPLES - . Oelling'er Co. Astoria, Oregon. I The Morning Astorian, 60 cents a month, v