[Apostle John Henry Smith Diary] Salt Lake City
I attended the meetings of the Directors of the Coop. W. & M. Co. and of the Grant Soap. Co.
Bro. Moses Thatcher been very poorly. He had up to ten p.m. last night not taken any Morphine for over one hundred and twenty hours. (1)
-- Sunday, Jul 26, 1896
[Apostle John Henry Smith Diary] Salt Lake City
The funeral of Abraham H. Cannon came of[t] at 2 p.m. at the Tabernacle. [progam listed]
This evening Bp. Wm. B. Preston called on me and invited me to go to his office with [him]. I did so and found A. F. Farr, Seth Langton, Geo. A. Snow, Dr. Geo. Hyde, Severine Jepson, Moses Thatcher Jr., Geo. J. Thatcher, W. B. Preston and myself made up the company.
It was stated by Moses Thatcher [Jr.] that he was adicted to the Morphine habbit and part of the time insane and that they must do something for him. S. Jepson, who had been more with Moses St. than any one else, endorsed the statement. It was finally agreed to get him if possible to go of his own free will to a sanatarium in California, if he refused to do so then to insist on sending him any way. We adjourned to meet tomorrow at Bp. Preston's home. (1)
-- Jul 26, 1896
At the funeral of Apostle Abraham H. Cannon, President Wilford Woodruff speaks upon the topic of "the plurality of wives and to the plurality of families that men possess in this Church. It is a subject I have left alone as a general thing in all my observations and instructions before the public. . . . We have had a plurality of wives and families. The principle was introduced to this people by the revelation of God through the Prophet Joseph Smith." Cannon had taken a secret post-manifesto plural wife, with Woodruff's permission, a few months before his death. After the funeral Apostle John Henry Smith attends a meeting concerning Apostle Moses Thatcher, "It was stated by Moses Thatcher [Jr.] that he was adicted to the Morphine habbit and part of the time insane and that they must do something for him. . . . It was finally agreed to get him if possible to go of his own free will to a sanatarium in California, if he refused to do so then to insist on sending him any way." (2
)
-- Aug 26,1896
[Utah] Apostle Moses Thatcher begins treatment with Keeley Institute for his addiction to opium and morphine. First Presidency and apostles tolerated Thatcher as a "morphine fiend" and "opium eater", but on 26 Jul his family and friends considered involuntary commitment to treatment. His is most prominent drug addict in Mormon history. Twelve drop Thatcher from quorum membership on 19 Nov because of four year conflict over his insubordination in political matters, but Thatcher's drug addiction aggravates that conflict. (3)
-- Sep 21, 1896
[Apostle Franklin D. Richards Diary] (Pres[ident] Peery had stopped paying tithing out of resentments over political statements, failure of Whitney book with his biography to be published) B[isho]p WB Preston called with M. Thatcher Jr. & informed us that Apostle Thatcher has now spent 27 out of 60 days in treatment by an expert in the Keely cure necessary to overcome the morphine habit & asked that brother MT may be permitted to continue undisturbed in his treatment until the 60 days expire; which was most cordially granted. (4)
Footnotes:
1 - Jean Bickmore White (editor), Church, State, and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1990, http://bit.ly/johnhenrysmith
2 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
3 - Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Appendix 5, Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1848-1996, http://amzn.to/extensions-power
4 - Diary Excerpts of Franklin D. Richards, 1887-1897, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
LDS History Chronology: the Word of Wisdom
Mormon Timeline: the Word of Wisdom
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
