March 10th

Mar 10, 1843 - Fifteen-year-old Thomas Morgan says that Orrin Porter Rockwell told him "Joseph had taught that it was right to steal . . . which was the means of drawing Thomas into the practice of stealing." Smith's next remark about his boyhood friend: "conversed much about Porter, wishing the boy well." Another 14-year-old boy is charged brought up on suspicion of stealing but since there is "no positive testimony appearing against him Mayor [Joseph Smith] ordered his father to take him home and try him. If he found the boy guilty to whip him severely." Joseph Smith also "decided that he had no objection to having a brewery put up by Theodore Turley." Wilford Woodruff sees "a stream of light in the south west quarter of the heavens. The rays of light were in the form of a broadsword with the hilt downward." Joseph Smith comments on this sign: "As sure as there is a God who wits enthroned in the heavens & as sure as he ever spoke to me so sure there will be a speedy & bloody war & the broad sword seen last evening is the sure sign thereof."

Mar 10, 1844 - Joseph Smith holds a preliminary meeting for the Council of Fifty. Participants are sworn to "perfect secrecy."

Mar 10, 1861 - Brigham Young preaches: "Many of the brethren chew tobacco, and I have advised them to be modest about it. Do not take out a whole plug of tobacco in meeting before the eyes of the congregation, and cut off a long slice and put it in your mouth, to the annoyance of everybody around. Do not glory in this disgraceful practice. If you must use tobacco, put a small portion in your mouth when no person sees you, and be careful that no one sees you chew it. I do not charge you with sin."

Mar 10, 1862 - Heber C. Kimball writes in his journal: "The Lord told me the time was near when I Heber would be esteemed by His Servant Brigham more than any man that lives in the flesh."

Mar 10, 1877 - Seventy-year-old Wilford Woodruff takes the divorced, 23-year-old daughter of Brigham Young, Eudora Lovina, as a plural wife. They consummate the marriage the next day. Eudora later divorces Woodruff and elopes to Seattle with Judge Albert Hagan, breaking up his marriage.

Mar 10, 1881 - Eliza R. Snow says that her polygamous husband Joseph Smith told her "that they (10 tribes) were on an orb or planet by themselves."

Mar 10, 1902 - Apostle John Henry Smith leaves for Washington D.C. to lobby against a constitutional amendment banning polygamy. He had been set apart for this by President Joseph F. Smith.

Mar 10, 1941 - First Presidency orders Clayton Investment Company to get rid of its "whore-houses," no matter the financial loss, so that church affiliated company can merge with church owned Zion's Securities Corp. Ends fifty years of church's leases to brothels.

Mar 10, 1991 - DESERET NEWS publishes report by national Associated Press of first counselor Thomas S. Monson’s allowance for conscientious objection against Persian Gulf War. Although emphatic that LDS church leaders and membership support national decisions concerning war, Monson adds that a Mormon conscientious objector "can serve in some capacity that will suit his conscience and country together." This contrasts with LDS hierarchy's position during Vietnam War when only public statement was Boyd K. Packer's condemnation of conscientious objectors.

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