Richard Hilliard, a leading merchant of
Cleveland, received their bills for a few days, and then took possession
of all their available assets. They were also in debt for their farms
and for goods bought in New York. The bubble burst, and many in the
vicinity of Kirtland were among the sufferers. Smith and Rigdon fled to
Far West, after having been tarred and feathered for their peculiar
theories of finance.

The Mormons were driven from Missouri by Governor Boggs's "Extraordinary
Order," which caused them to gain sympathy as having been persecuted in
a slave State. They moved to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1840, and
built up Nauvoo by a charter with most unusual privileges. Smith here
announced a new revelation, sustaining polygamy, which was supplemented
by Young in 1852. His rebellious followers started a paper, which he
promptly demolished. He was under arrest by the State authorities when a
mob shot him on the 27th of June, 1844. On his death Brigham Young
tricked the expectant Rigdon out of the successorship. Rigdon then
refused to recognize Young's authority, and for this contumacy he was
excommunicated and delivered to the Devil "to be buffeted in the flesh
for a thousand years." Returning to Pittsburg, Rigdon led a life of
utter obscurity, and finally died in Friendship, Allegany county, New
York, July 14, 1876. Cowdery, Whitner and Harris either deserted or were
cut off. The Legislature of Illinois repealed the charter of Nauvoo in
1845. Most of the Mormons gathered at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in June,
1846. Those who were left in Nauvoo were driven out at the point of the
bayonet. Early in 1847 pioneers crossed the Plains to Salt Lake Valley,
whither Young followed them in July. A crop was raised that year. In
1848 the main body of the Mormons were safely lodged within the confines
of Utah.

By far the most important and enduring monument left by the Mormons in
Kirtland is their Temple. The advent of several hundred strangers into
the midst of the insignificant hamlet was an event of considerable
importance, but when they selected a most commanding site, of easy
access to the public highway, and commenced the building of a church,
all Northern Ohio looked on in wonder. A structure of such pretensions
would be a tax upon a goodly-sized town of this generation, but the
several hundred Mormons who built it gave cheerfully each one his tenth
in labor, materials or money for the four years from 1832 to 1836, the
e