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Show THE DEAD PROPHET. 607 and that in such a matter the woman knows right from wrong as well as the man. The young woman who joins herself to a man who already has a wife, does so in the confident belief that she will always be his favorite ; and when she is in turn discarded, she has none but herself to blame. Well, Brigham was buried with great pomp though his grave is now sadly neglected and unadorned and two questions at once pressed for solution: who was to succeed, and who to get his property? There was no law and no well established precedent in either case. Utah had no marriage act, no dower law, and no statute strictly pro-viding for descent and distribution of property. When a polygamist died, the church took charge of and divided the estate according to their notions of equity. When the United States courts were estab-lished, a few first wives came in and claimed their legal rights, exclud-ing polygamous wives and children entirely. It would seem, then, that if Brigham's legitimate children had chosen to do so, they could have taken the whole estate, which was roughly appraised at $ 1,200,000. But the church had an enormous claim against Brigham, amounting, as some asserted, to $ 1,500,000. Some of the children protested and threatened legal proceedings; one actually commenced a suit; but cooler counsels prevailed; and as all the illegitimates were on the same terms, they finally settled in a way not known to the world, and very disgusting to the lawyers. It was simply impossible to make a legal decision as to what property was actually his and what that of the church, for the title of all was vested in him. So, as sup-posed, the family got a third or more, the church at least half, and it is safe to suppose that a large per cent, stuck to the fingers of those apostles who managed the settlement. And then came the surprise. It had long been supposed by Gen-tiles, and secretly dreaded by Mormons, that Brigham's death would be the beginning of the end of a dispute about the succession, end-ing in apostasy and schism. On the contrary matters were managed as easily as when Arthur succeeded Garfield. The Twelve Apostles took charge, just as the same body did after Joe Smith's death, and in due time John Taylor, President of the Twelve, just as Brigham had climbed to the seat of Joseph, succeeded to all the honors and titles of the deceased Brigham. Orson Hyde, former President of the Twelve, had been deposed and invited to a lower seat in the quorum ; and it was well for the Saints that it was so, for he was a constitu-tional blunderer, given to indulgence in red hot prophecies which were generally falsified before they were a year old. Orson Pratt was the |
