Truth Will Prevail by Gerald N. Lund

Author:Gerald N. Lund [Lund, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 1992-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

On January sixth, 1837, four days after the meeting in which the nature and the name of the Kirtland Safety Society were changed, the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company began circulating its notes. Brother Jacob Bump, a former pugilist and recent convert, was the first person to receive the newly printed notes. Joseph came and declared to all present that if they would give heed to the Lord’s commandments to be honest and faithful, all would be well. Others quickly followed in buying up the notes, and soon considerable amounts of the new currency were in circulation.

But almost immediately trouble began to rear its head. Other banks in the Western Reserve publicly announced that they would not accept the new notes as valid currency. Several newspapers, some vociferously anti-Mormon, called the new notes nothing more than “rags.” When merchants in Kirtland refused to accept them in legal trade, the price of the notes began to fall. Rumors started to fly that Grandison Newell, one of Kirtland’s wealthiest businessmen and a bitter opponent of the Prophet Joseph, was organizing the opposition. Non–Latter-day Saints began to buy up the notes at reduced prices, then brought them to the bank and demanded full payment in specie. Quickly a speculator’s market in the notes began to form, and the bills were traded back and forth with no one knowing exactly what they were worth.

***

On the morning of January twenty-first, the Painesville Telegraph, one of the most virulent newspapers in its opposition to the Church, was distributed in Kirtland. The lead article announced that because the Church was violating the law and operating a bank without a charter, it was illegal to trade the notes of the Kirtland Safety Society. Anyone caught doing so would be heavily fined by the state. It wasn’t true, but as is often the case, truth was the loser in the contest with emotion. The news raced through Kirtland like a mighty wind.

***

Nathan and Benjamin returned to the house just after noon of the twenty-third of January. Both looked exhausted. Lydia had come to wait with Mary Ann for the news. Rebecca sat with them, searching the men’s faces anxiously. Young Joshua was playing a game with Emily on the table beside them. Little Nathan was asleep.

Lydia took one look at her father-in-law’s face and turned to her son. “Joshua, will you take Emily out for a few minutes? You can play in the bedroom for a while, but not the one where Nathan is asleep.”

Sensing something beyond his comprehension, without a word Joshua took Emily’s hand and they left. Benjamin took off his coat and flung it in the direction of the coatrack. It missed, but he completely ignored it. “Two weeks!” he burst out. “Just barely over two weeks.”

“What?” Mary Ann asked in alarm.

“They’re in business two short weeks, and the system collapses.”

Lydia turned to Nathan, her eyes wide and questioning.

He shucked off his coat wearily. “Sidney announced it just about an hour ago now. I tried to stop them.

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