| In early April 1835, Parley P. Pratt announced
to citizens of Mentor (three miles north of Kirtland), that he would speak
at or near one of the "public houses" on the square on April
7. Grandison Newell and Elias Randall requested, then warned him not to
speak, but Parley was determined. He commenced preaching and was pelted
with eggs from anti-Mormon residents. |
| This became the occasion for Parley's
first published work, a 12-page pamphlet printed in Kirtland titled, A
Short Account of a Shameful Outrage Committed by a Part of the Inhabitants
of the Town of Mentor, Upon the Person of Elder Parley P. Pratt, While Delivering
a Public Discourse Upon the Subject of the Gospel; April 7th, 1835.
Off-site link
to a transcript of the Parley's text. |
| In 1868, George A. Smith gave the
basic elements of the story with additional details and what appears to
be some polemical embellishment: |
Parley
had been a Campbellite minister
Meeting house in Mentor
Campbellites "liberal" |
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…Elder Parley P. Pratt (h), before receiving the Gospel,
was a minister of the reformed Baptist, or Campbellite, Church in Ohio.
This sect had a brick meeting house in Mentor,
Geauga, now Lake Co. The people who owned this house had prided themselves
on their great liberality, they would give everybody a chance to preach.
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George
A. Smith discourse in the old Salt Lake Tabernacle, Nov. 15, 1868, JD 12:336. |
| Preaches
on doorstep |
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Bro. Pratt, wishing to preach to them went there but found
the door shut against him, and the congregation assembled outside. He preached
on the door step. |
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| Parrishoners
purchase eggs, pelt Parley |
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Quite a number of his former Christian brethren had gone to
a neighboring grocery and qualified the inner man with something stimulating,
and having supplied themselves with eggs, and procured a drum and fife they
marched backwards and forwards in front of the speaker, throwing their eggs
at him until their supply,—five dozen—was exhausted. |
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| Parley
continues |
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Elder Pratt kept on preaching and bearing testimony of the
truth of the Gospel. |
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| Exchange between a stranger and local Campbellite |
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Among those present who seemed to enjoy the scene was a Campbellite,
a grave looking deacon; to whom a young man, a stranger, who happened to
be present said, "Is this the way you worship God in this country?"
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"Oh, no Sir!" answered the deacon,
"that man is a 'Mormon.'" |
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The stranger then remarked, "his talk is
very reasonable." |
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"Yes," said the old gentleman, "but he is a
'Mormon,' and we do not intend that he shall preach here." |
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"He appears very cool," remarked the stranger. |
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| Parley
used to it |
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"Yes," said the deacon, "he is used to it,
he has been in such scrapes before." |
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Kirtland 1835
Ohio
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