The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 80, July 1976 - April, 1977 Page: 199
492 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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From Missouri they moved to Illinois. Here, too, they soon had the
finest farms. New members joined them continuously, but also the number
of their enemies increased. The Prophet forbade his followers the reading
of an American newspaper that was publishing articles adverse to his
interests, and he had the press smashed to pieces. The governor ordered
his arrest and guaranteed his safety. Smith surrendered voluntarily, but
disguised persons shot him to death in prison. It has not been proven that
he favored the assassination of the governor of Missouri, and I heard no-
where that the Mormons ever preached robbery and plunder. Quite on
the contrary, they remained calm even after the death of their founder.
Many of them went to Texas. One-half mile from the peak of Mount
Bonnell they installed a mill beside a spring close to the Colorado River.
They also founded, among others, the colony discussed above." The writer
of the letter printed on page 269 in Bracht has this to say about the Mor-
mons: "It is incredible how industrious, skilled, and sober-minded these
people are." The greater number of the Mormons, however, went farther
west and founded the so-called Mormon city by the Great Salt Lake.
Toward evening we arrived in Fredericksburg. How different things
looked here again! No village in Germany makes such a bad impression
as this town of fifteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants. It is built on
poor sandy soil, and it stretches out along a small creek for a distance of
one mile in four parallel streets." The houses, if we can call the majority
of them by this name, stand in fixed distances from each other, and many
of them are empty because the people have moved away.7 Seventeen
people fell victim to cholera, and as recently as last year there was con-
siderable famine here. Acorns were used as coffee, and grass and cactus
served as substitute foods. Many of the people still look pitiful, although
they claim that they are living happily. Even now they have to pay $1.oo
to $1.25 per bushel of corn, while in the lower part of the country it can
be bought for $.25. Sugar, coffee, etc., have to be hauled 224 miles from
the coast and are also very expensive for that reason. Among the crafts-
men, only wheelwrights and blacksmiths, and at best carpenters and saddle-
makers, can do well here. Other craftsmen have to farm on the side.
"C. Stanley Banks, "The Mormon Migration into Texas," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly, XLIX (October, 1945), 233-244.
76In his efforts to counteract the rosy pictures painted by Viktor Bracht and others,
Steinert seems to dwell on the bad features of New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, and other
places, but he is a close observer, and there is no reason to doubt his statements. It
must be kept in mind that these were frontier towns, only four and five years old.
77The houses were abandoned because the farmers had moved out of town onto their
individual farms. The same was true of New Braunfels. Jordan, German Seed, :6o-I6i.I99
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 80, July 1976 - April, 1977, periodical, 1976/1977; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101204/m1/231/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.