



Produced by Several Anonymous Volunteers, Dianne Bean, and David Widger






THE STORY OF THE MORMONS

FROM THE DATE OF THEIR ORIGIN TO THE YEAR 1901

By William Alexander Linn




PREFACE

No chapter of American history has remained so long unwritten as that
which tells the story of the Mormons. There are many books on the
subject, histories written under the auspices of the Mormon church,
which are hopelessly biased as well as incomplete; more trustworthy
works which cover only certain periods; and books in the nature of
"exposures" by former members of the church, which the Mormons attack as
untruthful, and which rest, in the minds of the general reader, under
a suspicion of personal bias. Mormonism, therefore, to-day suggests to
most persons only one doctrine--polygamy--and only one leader--Brigham
Young, who made his name familiar to the present generations. Joseph
Smith, Jr., is known, where known at all, only in the most general
way as the founder of the sect, while the rea