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OUTRAGEOUS!
By Davis Bitton
Two larger-than-life figures of the
Victorian age were Brigham Young and George Francis Train.
We already know something of Brother
Brigham. Few would deny his greatness as a leader, judged in terms
of his impact on his religion, his people, and the different areas
in which they lived. He saw himself as an instrument used by God.
He was seen in less friendly terms by those who hated and despised
Mormonism.
The "haters" are still
out there, as everyone knows, and they are not reluctant to besmirch
the Lion of the Lord. Without question, Brigham Young was outrageous.
But who was George Francis Train? And did he know anything about
his contemporary Brigham Young?
Most people knew Train as a popular lecturer. In the days before
movies and the electronic media, lecturers went from place to
place in the country, spoke in theaters and auditoriums, educating
and entertaining. If you didn’t attract an audience, you
didn’t get paid, and scheduling your circuit for the next
season might be difficult. Train was almost a sure winner. People
turned out just to see him. They never knew what he might say.
He put on quite a show.
But there was more to him than eccentricity on the stage. Soon
after the discovery of gold in California he commissioned construction
of a 2,000-ton clipper ship, which he sold for a handsome profit.
Before this phase of his life was over, many other clipper ships
had been built, for which he was later not reluctant to take full
credit.
After spending two years in Australia when the gold rush there
was at a fever pitch, Train traveled in China, India, France,
and Russia before returning to the United States. In 1858, he
returned to England and, always a wheeler-dealer, established
the first municipal streetcar or tram systems in Birkenhead, Staffordshire,
and Darlington.
Back in the States, Train was one of the organizers of the transcontinental
railroad project. In this capacity he first came in contact with
the Mormon leader when he sent the following telegram: "Citizen
Brigham Young, chief of the Mormons. I hereby make you director
that end of Union Pacific. Don't say no. Answer paid. Signed George
Francis Train."
If Train could be terse, so could Brigham Young, who replied,
"All right. Yes to the directorship. Push on U.P. Signed
Brigham Young."
I don’t know how well this detail of the railroad’s
organization is supported by other documents, but there is no
doubt of Young’s responsibility for construction across
several hundred miles.
Train was impressed with the Mormons and their leader. In a lecture
delivered throughout New England the popular lecturer included
a rousing defense of the Mormons. The following excerpt gives
us the flavor:
Who established the first newspaper
west of the Missouri, in 1832, at Independence? The Mormons.
Who in 1846, penetrated from Iowa, the western land and moved
towards the Pacific the great column of progress? The Mormons.
Who first raised the American flag in the great western basin?
The Mormons. Who made the Utah wilderness blossom as the rose?
The Mormons. [Applause] What other sect, creed, or church in
America ever expended five millions in immigration? (That's
so.) How does it happen that the red Indian never interferes
with a Mormon train? That the American government never spent
but $75,000 for the Indians in the Mormon land when they threw
away millions outside of that? [Applause] Who was it discovered
the great gold mines out of California? The Mormons. The first
emigrants at Yerba Buena landed from the Brooklyn, a Mormon
ship; and the first "brick" made in California was
mined by a Mormon, and the first printing press was taken there
in '48 by a Mormon. Who sheltered and fed the poor starving
emigrant bound for the Eldorado in '48 and '49, when, foot-sore
and heart-sick, they found themselves in the wilderness? The
Mormon colonists. [Applause, and "That's so."] Who
made the Pacific Railroad a necessity? Brigham Young and his
Mormon host. Who fed the miners, gave Montana food, and clothed
the naked? These same much-abused Mormons.
It was not everyone who had anything
good to say about the Saints. Train admired them and was willing
to speak up and say so.
While in Utah in 1869, Train gave two lectures. He appeared on
stage dressed in top hat, overcoat, gloves, and carrying a cane.
Divesting himself of these one at a time, he finally stood forth
dressed in "a dress coat with gilt buttons, white vest and
black pantaloons." Conspicuously, on the left lapel of his
coat he wore the badge of the Fenian Legion of Honor. He was a
natural showman.
On the stage for his first lecture, he noted that too many gas
stage lights had been turned on and asked that some of them be
put out. "I furnish all the gas required for this stage,"
he said, no doubt provoking appreciative laughter. As the stage
manager did not hear the request, Brigham Young quietly got up
from his prominent box seat, came onto the stage, and with his
broad-brimmed hat put out the lights at the rear of the stage.
"Well," said Train, "for once I consider myself
beat. I might have done it myself; I am very glad, for once, to
be thrown entirely in the shade." He led the audience in
three cheers for Brigham Young, "the grand head of Mormondom."
Train continued to lecture in various American cities; traveled
to France, which was just then going through the throes of the
Communist revolt in Paris, declared himself for the rebels, was
thrown into prison and later expelled from the country; traveled
around the world in eighty days (providing the basis for the Jules
Verne novel); campaigned for the American presidency, giving hundreds
of speeches, but was not nominated at the Republican convention
in 1872. (If you want to know what Train looked like, turn to
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, vol. 2, page 949, where he is mistakenly
identified as Mark Twain.)
The death of Young in August 1877 prompted Train to write a poetic
tribute. The opus poses no threat to Wordsworth or Whitman, but
it rhymes. One can imagine some delight in both the reciter and
the listeners at these words:
When ten thousand columns of ink
Announce a great man's death! alas,
Tis apt to make all nations think
A great event has come to pass!
Not Emperor! King! Mikado! Shah!
Nor Sultan! Khedive! Pope or Czar!
Not Vanderbilt! Steward! Astor!
Nor fire! deluge! rail disaster!
No! Something greater. That great event
Is the death of Utah's President.
Against great odds, the brave old lion,
Died in his lair, as head of Zion!
Now Mormon land is wrapt in grief,
Mourning for its beloved old chief —
I cannot be the last to send
A cypress wreath to my old friend!
You know his friendship in the past,
I held as warmly to the last
And also know I stood by him
Through good and ill — through thick and thin.
Train continued his tribute for many
stanzas. Since the common reaction in the nation’s press
to Brigham Young’s death, in cartoons and words, was not
condolence or tribute but mockery, it is refreshing to find the
always newsworthy Train speaking out in unabashed praise and tribute.
George Francis Train’s
mind was full of schemes and inventions. His ideas on health,
he thought, would greatly extend human life. He proclaimed his
expectation to be elected president of the United States.
Needless to say, his achievements fell short of these goals. In
fact, he was pronounced insane and spent quite a few years in
a mental institution. With no adequate medical basis for such
a diagnosis, the judge’s verdict of "Not guilty, on
the ground of insanity" prevented a court trial. Train had
hoped to be party to a test case that would expand freedom of
speech and press.
He lived past the turn of the century
and finally died, but not before writing his own autobiography.
In 1903, one year before his death, he proclaimed, "I was
always the Mormon’s friend."
Outrageous! Such was the genteel
reaction to George Francis Train. And such was the common opinion
about his esteemed friend Brigham Young.
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