MORMONS ATTACKED,

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 90, 18 April 1911, Page 7

MORMONS ATTACKED,

A THREATENING DEPUTATION. TAR AND FEATHERS. FIVE RIOTERS ARRESTED. By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. LONDON, 17th April. The Rector of Hey wood, Lancashire, headed a deputation from the Men's Bible Class to the Mormon missionaries, and requested them k> leave the town, threatening that they would be tarred and feathered if they did not go. The Mormons agreed to leave. . The Mormons at Birkenhead refused to accept an angry crowd's ultimatum, and were attacked. The police arrested five rioters. The crowd pelted the police with -stones and mud. Several were injured. AN ACTIVE CRUSADE. OVER TEN THOUSAND CONVERTS. GIRLS LEAVING ENGLAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 10th March. The Mormons have been carrying on an active proselytising crusade in this country for several years, but recently it has increased in activity. The Home Secretary takes a serious view of the matter. Replying to a question in the House of Commons this week Mr. Winston Churchill said that his attention •had been caJied to the activity in this country of Mormon missionaries from the United States, and that he was making "enquiries a* present;. "I have no official information," he added, "showing that girls are being induced to emigrate to Utah. I regard t>he matter very seriously, and am looking into it very thoroughly." PLAUSIBLE PAMPHLETS. It is estimated that they have made more than 10,000 converts in England alone. Their headquarters in London are a large buflding in High-road, South Tottenham, which was built originally for an hotel, but failing to obtain a license, remained empty for several years, until the Mormons acquired it in 1908. Another active centre of their work is Liverpool, where a strenuous campaign which is being carried on i against them has the active support of the 1 Bishop, two archdeacons, and many of the clergy. The methods of the Mormon missionaries are peculiar. They do not attempt to hold public -meetings, but work from door to door to influence the women of the house. They generally work in, couples, ands appear to be possessed of ample means. Literature prepared for the British market is disseminated by the missionaries. It , avoids the question of polygamy, and expounds the Mormon religion in a plausible and insidious manner. There are many authenticated cases of girls being enticed to Utah from this country by specious promises. Only three years ago two Liverpool girls who arrived at Boston were intercepted by the immigration inspectors who ordered them to be sent back to England At the same time no fewer than fiftytwo women converts from various European countries were detained. -Eleven of them, mostly Scandinavians, were seat home at once, and the authorities took the cases, of the others into consideration. In vu V ?7 the w <>men said that they had been induced to go to America by promises of good houses and kind husbands, and they were, assured that polygamy did not exist. LEADER'S DEFENCE. The news that the Home Secretary has decided to have enquiry made into the allegation that the Mormon misBionariee entice young women to emigrate to Utah has not aroused any great interest m Mormon headquarters. g Qne "m t l€aders at Tottenham said :- Me have nothing to conceal We invite anyone who has anything to say against us to come forward and say it Women have not been enticed to Utah' We do not aek people to emigrate. "We ask them not to emigrate. Polygamoue marriage* are, and have been for twSS one yeans prohibited by the ConBfatution of the State of Utah and by the Constitution of the , Church of the Latter Day Saints. "We. do not seek to hide the fact that we believe polygamy to have been eancWh Vv. a - dm 5 e revelation to Joseph Smith the founder of the Latter Day Sainte 1 Church, and that we do not regard it as immoral. David, Abraham, and Solomon were polygamists. But we iregard at as a dead issue. It was for ever prohibited by the State Constitution, and that is enough for us " POSITION IN LIVERPOOL. The City of Liverpool, which quickly works up excitement over religious questions, is considerably stirred by the doings of the Mormon mission now being conducted there. One young man ha! been arrested for doing wilful damage at the Mormon budding. He was found liurhng lumps of rock at the windows and it fc tho ht that his mind may have become unhinged by the excitement of the Mormon and anti-Mormon campaigns From Liverpool, the Mormon mission has made its way throughout Lancashire ±ew centres of any az& are free from ite influences The "missionaries" go from door to door. They endeavour to interview the mistress or the maid at each house. Tracts are left, and the women are invited to attend meetings. .Later come© the (suggestion that they should go to Utah. No attempt is made to form large congregations, such as are possessed by religious bodies. The whole endeavour ks directed to induce the converts to emigrate to Utah. There are notable cases in which daughters have left their homes m Liverpool against the wishes of parents. One father in vain cabled to Boston to have his two daughters intercepted by the legal authorities. A ship's captain returned from sea and found his wife and daughter gone. These are two of many cases that have aroused such bitter feeling as has rarely been occasioned by any propaganda carried on, in. this country. ENGLISH GIRLS IN UTAH. The Rev. D. H. C. Bartlett, the Liverpool anti-Mormon leader, states : "I ■have supplied the Home Office "with statistics of the number of girls who have gone out under Mormon auspices, and also with affidavits from pazenia o f girls who have been- induced to embrace the Mormon faith anct leave this country. One of these affidavits relates to 1 a Liverpool girl who was brought under the influence of a Mormon leader. She left her situation, went out to Salt Lake City, and a letter recently received by her parente showed that she was living at Salt Lake City at the residence of this particular elder. I cannot state definitely the number of girls who have been induced to leave England, but during the last few years the number that has on an average yearly passed through this port for Utah has been 3500, and these are mostly recruited from England ! and Scandinaviat." ■"","" I