(September 16, 2015 at 11:41 am)Divinity Wrote: The truly terrible thing is more that he probably used his position of power to get these women to marry him.
There are allegations that he threatened the reputation of women who rejected him and went public with it. That's apparently the key: if the women kept their mouths shut he'd simply move on to the next, but if they said something and the story got out, he, or more accurately his cronies, would slandering the girl. For example, this is a statement given by Sarah Pratt:
Begins on page 62 of the link
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1886WWyl.htm#pg060a
Quote:You should bear in mind that Joseph did not think of a marriage or sealing ceremony for many years. He used to state to his intended victims, as he did to me: 'God does not care if we have a good time, if only other people do not know it.' He only introduced as marriage ceremony when he had found out that he could not get certain women without it. I think Louisa Beeman was the first case of this kind. If any woman, like me, opposed his wishes, he used to say: 'Be silent, or I shall ruin your character. My character must be sustained in the interests of the church.' When he had assailed me and saw that he could not seal my lips, he sent word to me that he would work my salvation, if I kept silent. I sent back that I would talk as much as I pleased and as much as I knew to be the truth, and as to my salvation, I would try and take care of that myself.
In his endeavors to ruin my character Joseph went so far as to publish an extra-sheet containing affidavits against my reputation. When this sheet was brought to me I discovered to my astonishment the names of two people on it, man and wife, with whom I had boarded for a certain time. I never thought much of the man, but the woman was an honest person, and I knew that she must have been forced to do such a thing against me. So I went to their house; the man left the house hurridly when he saw me coming. I found the wife and said to her rather excitedly: 'What does it all mean?' She began to sob. 'It is not my fault,' said she. 'Hyrum Smith came to our house, with the affidavits all written out, and forced us to sign them. 'Joseph and the church must be saved,' said he. We saw that resistance was useless, they would have ruined us; so we signed the papers.'
Nancy Rigdon is the other well known (probably the more well known) case of Smith being caught in the act, so to speak. The Mormons went to town on her, saying that she had become "notorious in the city" and "little, if any better, than a public prostitute"
Bottom of page 27
https://archive.org/stream/speechofelder...6/mode/2up
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
