“They wanted you to be one of
their
wives?” Joshua asked slowly. “So it wasn’t for Joseph now?”
“That’s right. When I realized they meant it and this wasn’t just some kind of sick joke or some kind of test of my faith, I was angry. Like Sister—” She caught herself. “Like this other sister here, I couldn’t believe what they were saying, so I told them to get out, to leave me alone.” There was a derisive laugh. “They left, all right, but they locked me in the room. They just left me there. The next day they came back with some other Apostles and Hyrum Smith. They labored with me for hours trying to convince me that this principle was from God and that if I did not accept it I would be damned. I steadfastly refused. So again they left me. On the next day they finally brought Joseph himself in to try and convince me. He also told me it was from God and that I must accept.”
“But you steadfastly refused?” Joshua asked with a faint touch of irony. Somehow this was a little too incredible.
She missed it entirely. “That’s right,” she exclaimed. “When they finally failed to sway me from my determination to do right, they made me swear that I wouldn’t tell anyone, and finally let me go.”
Robert Foster swore. “Isn’t that enough for you, Steed? How many witnesses does it take?”
Joshua didn’t even turn to look at him. He sat back in his chair, lost in thought. Brotherton and Schindle watched him for a moment; then when they saw he was done with them, they walked over to join the other sister. Bennett waved them away and the three of them quietly filed out of the room.
“Well?” he asked Joshua when the door closed again. “I told you I had others who would verify what I told you.”
Joshua stood. His face was creased with deep lines as he considered what he had heard. “What I have listened to today is troubling, John. I can’t deny that. And I have listened carefully. But I am not ready to make a decision about what to do. I want to talk with Carl and hear what he has to say.”
They all stood now too. “He’ll verify every word,” Chauncey Higbee said. “He’s interviewed these same good sisters and some of us as well.”
“Then I shall speak with him.” Joshua looked around at the circle of them. “As I said before, if this proves to be true, you shall have an ally in putting this terrible thing down. But I leave for St. Louis on Monday. Other than my hearing Carl’s report, this will have to wait until I return.” He looked at Bennett. “But I’ll say it again, John. If this isn’t true, it won’t just be Joseph Smith you need to worry about.”
“You must not tell Joseph,” Bennett exclaimed. “Not yet. If he learns of what we are doing at this stage, he will make every effort to cover his tracks, make sure that no one can prove anything against him.”
“If what you say is true,” Joshua said sharply, “then it’s far too late for that.”
He turned and left them, wanting to get out of this dim and gloomy house with its terrible stories and depressing testimony. He did not go back down the hall and out through the offices. He went straight to the front door, unlocked it, and went outside.
When the door slammed shut again, Bennett turned to the others. “Well, I think we’ve got him.”
Foster shook his head. “It’s hard to tell. He’s a crafty one, that’s for sure.”
“Don’t worry,” Bennett soothed them, “Steed’s got an ax he wants sharpened here, and we’re the grindstone.”
“What ax?” Francis asked.
“His wife wants to join the Church and Steed violently opposes it. Now I hear that his son wants to do the same thing. This is exactly what he’s looking for. Once they hear this, they’ll never want to join the Church.”
Gustavus Hills had been silent throughout the proceedings, brooding and sullen. Now his face showed a deep, silent fury. “We cannot depend on Joshua Steed or Carl Rogers in this matter.
We
must take action. When Joseph finds out what we are doing, and he surely will—we know that the high council is already sniffing around at his behest—then all hell is going to break loose in this town.”
“Joseph has got to be stopped!” Foster exclaimed angrily. “This attempt to blame us for the problem has gone too far. He’s got to be stopped before this whole thing breaks wide open.”
Bennett looked around at them and smiled. But it was a smile filled with dry menace. His eyes were narrowed into slits and glittering like a serpent’s. “Perhaps it is time that we take things into our own hands and make certain that Brother Joseph”—this came out with faint contempt—“is no longer able to make trouble for us.”
“How!” Hills cried eagerly.
“One never knows,” Bennett said archly, “but next week the Nauvoo Legion is going to stage a mock battle out on the green.”
Foster’s eyes widened and there was an instant gleam of pure joy. “A
mock
battle?”
“Yes, and with so many men running about with muskets and swords, one never knows when an accident might occur.” The face smoothed and became calm. “Being a general in the Legion, I would have to make every effort to see that such accidents were avoided at all costs, of course.”
Chauncey Higbee laughed right out loud. “Of course,” he chortled. “At all costs.”
When Joshua stepped inside the office at the brickyard he pulled up short. In addition to Carl, Nathan and Benjamin sat waiting for him. “What’s this?” he said, caught completely off guard.
Carl looked at him steadily. “They know, Joshua. I’ve told them about your letter and about Bennett coming to me.”
There was a flash of anger. “You had no right to do that, Carl, not until we talked at least.”
“Oh?” Nathan retorted. “And what right did you have to try and keep this a secret from us?”
“I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret, I just wanted to wait until—”
Benjamin raised a warning hand. “All right, that’s enough. This is not going to be an easy thing we’re doing here today. Let’s not make it any harder.”
The two brothers, still glaring at each other, finally nodded. Joshua shut the door and sat down in the one empty chair.
The office of Carl’s brickyard was small, and putting four chairs in it along with the small desk pretty well filled the space. The papers that normally cluttered the desk had been stacked on one corner and the rest was now clean. Carl sat behind the desk, his finger tracing circular patterns in the desktop. As Joshua settled into his chair, Carl looked across at him. “I haven’t told them anything yet about what I’ve learned, Joshua. I felt like you needed to be here to hear that at the same time. But they do have a right to know about what’s going on. This is bigger than any one of us.”
Gradually the stiffness in Joshua’s face smoothed, and then he nodded. “Yes, you’re right, of course. I’m sorry.”
“The important thing,” Benjamin said, “is that we work together now.”
“As long as we deal with it,” Joshua warned. “I want to work this out, but I’ll not be party to sweeping anything under the rug.”
“Agreed,” Nathan said. “But you don’t sweep trash under the rug. You take it out and burn it.”
“Let’s just hear Carl, shall we?” Benjamin said quickly, feeling the testiness starting to rise again.
Carl came in quickly. “I’d like to have Joshua report on what happened at Bennett’s house this morning first.”
Joshua’s head came up with a snap.
“We haven’t been sneaking around spying on you,” Carl assured him. “I heard you tell Caroline last night that you were going to see him today.”
Joshua shrugged, settling down again. “All right. Bennett had brought people to back up his story. Four men, three women.
“Let me guess,” Carl said. “Sarah Pratt? Martha Brotherton, Melissa Schindle?”
Joshua nodded. “One woman refused to identify herself—they were all veiled—but she was married.”
“Very likely it’s Orson Pratt’s wife. She refused to identify herself to me too, but I’m almost positive that’s who it was because of what she said. I’m surprised Nancy Rigdon wasn’t there. She and Francis Higbee are courting now and she’s very bitter. Well, anyway, tell them, Joshua.”
And so Joshua told them. He didn’t spare any detail, even though he saw his father’s increasing gloom and Nathan’s growing anger with every word. When he finished, he looked at Carl. “That’s about it.”
“Lies!” Nathan cried. “Lies of the blackest hue!”
Joshua sighed, the tiredness lining his face. “I hope so, Nathan. I truly hope so.”
“You know Joseph,” Nathan retorted hotly. “How can you even consider that he would do such a thing?”
“Nathan,” Carl broke in firmly, “we’re going to hear this out.”
Nathan slumped back. “Yes. I’m sorry. Go on.”
Carl turned to Joshua again. “You may have already heard that Joseph and Hyrum have publicly denied the locked-room story.”
“Yes. Caroline mentioned that.”
Carl leaned back now too, his face thoughtful. He brought his hands together, fingertip touching fingertip. “As I see it, this is the primary dilemma. Accusations have been made. Very serious accusations. On the one hand, we have eyewitness testimony saying the accusations are true. On the other, we have flat denials. So the question is, who’s telling the truth?”
“Do you even have to ask?” Nathan asked bitterly.
“Yes, I think we do,” Carl shot right back. “If they are lies, then wouldn’t you want to expose them as such?” He didn’t wait for Nathan’s answer. “So, I asked myself, how does one determine which person is telling the truth and which isn’t? That is the critical question. So let me tell you what I’ve learned first, then we’ll talk about conclusions. But I need you to just listen first. All of you. All right?”
Nathan and Joshua looked at each other, then nodded.
“Good.” He reached over to the stack of papers and took three or four sheets off the top. He looked a little sheepish. “I’ve made some notes. This got so complex I was having trouble keeping things straight. And I don’t want you to think I have all the answers. There were some people I couldn’t get access to. Others weren’t very comfortable having a non-Mormon coming around asking very personal questions. I haven’t tried to question any of the Church leaders directly.”
He took a deep breath. “All right. It seems to me that the married woman’s testimony is the most damning, so let me start there.” He scanned a page, set it down, and then glanced at the second. “Here’s why I think it’s Sarah Pratt. Bennett admitted to me that he and Sarah Pratt were intimately involved with each other, but only after Joseph taught Bennett the doctrine of spiritual wifery. Well, that is Bennett’s version. I think we all agree it would be to his benefit to show that he was duped, and if not innocent, then at least not totally to blame.”
When no one responded to that, he plunged on. “Here is what I’ve learned. Bennett did live with Orson and Sarah Pratt for a time, after helping them build a small cabin. From the beginning, Sarah seems to have been totally taken with Mayor Bennett’s considerable charms. In fact, his attractiveness to women seems to be a major factor through all of this. Be that as it may, evidently shortly after Orson’s departure, the relationship between the two passed all bounds of propriety.”
He consulted his notes. “Sarah moved in with a couple by the name of Stephen and Zeruiah Goddard. They were willing to talk with me, in fact quite eager to do so, because they know what Bennett is saying about this situation and they want the other side heard. Anyway, the Goddards said once she moved in with them, Bennett was there to see Sister Pratt ‘as sure as the night came’—those are their words. At first he would stay until about nine p.m. Then it got later and later, sometimes until midnight. The Goddards became increasingly concerned. They said Mrs. Pratt and Bennett would sit close, their heads together, whispering continually and talking in low tones. Then one night, Mrs. Goddard came suddenly into the room where Sarah and the good doctor were. Though they were dressed, she found them in a most compromising situation. There was no question about whether this was just two friends talking. Later, highly incensed, Mrs. Goddard asked Bennett what Orson Pratt would think if he knew that Bennett was so fond of his wife. According to her, he just laughed and said he could pull the wool over Pratt’s eyes any time.”
“Does Orson know about any of this?” Nathan asked, feeling sick.
“I was told he has just learned about it. In fact, I have a theory about how Orson Pratt plays into all of this. I can’t prove it, but I think it offers some possible answers.”
“What?” Benjamin broke in.
“Let me establish the other thing first,” Carl said. “Last summer when Bennett was nearly exposed and tried to take his life, I think Mrs. Pratt was the one who confessed to Joseph what was going on. I think she admitted that Bennett convinced her to submit to his advances by teaching the doctrine of spiritual wifery. Now, six months later, Bennett swears that he got the doctrine from Joseph himself and thus felt justified in teaching it to others. I think we have good evidence that this is a lie.”
He turned to Nathan. “I think Joshua needs to hear what you told me this morning, about what happened last summer when you were in Joseph’s home.”
“I think Joshua also needs to know about Rebecca,” Benjamin added.
Joshua’s head jerked around. “Rebecca! What about Rebecca? She’s not in on this in any way is she?”
Nathan told him quickly about Rebecca’s visit and how she gave Nathan permission to tell Joseph. He recounted how he had gone looking for Joseph and ended up in his house that night when Joseph and Bennett came in. He described how Joseph was raging at the man for telling others that this doctrine was from him.
Joshua listened clear through. “Is there any chance Joseph was saying this just for your benefit?” he finally asked.
“He didn’t know I was there!” Nathan shot back. “Emma’s nephew and I were upstairs out of sight through the whole thing.”
Joshua slowly nodded. “That’s good to know.” He looked at Carl. “I agree, I think that establishes that Bennett is lying about Joseph justifying all this.”
Carl was pleased at his openness. “I think so too. So now, here is my theory about Sarah Pratt. Like I say, I can’t prove it, but it’s the only thing that explains all the facts for me. Sarah Pratt was a lonely, vulnerable young wife swept off her feet by the smooth talk and great charm of the handsome John C. Bennett. When he claimed that all of this was sanctioned by Joseph Smith, that was all the rationalization she needed to give in to what her heart desired anyway. So she submits to Bennett and they become involved immorally. Then her husband returns home. Rumors are flying fast and furious. Her husband doesn’t want to believe any of this at first—would you?—but the evidence mounts. She knows that she can no longer hide the truth. But the truth is too damning for her. So how to make it not so terrible?”