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Salt Lake City, June 17, 1897.

To the First Presidency,
of the Church of Jesus Christ,
Salt Lake City,

Gentlemen:- In May, 1892, when I was in the East
obtaining use of the columns of papers in New York, Boston
and Chicago for the publication of matter that should cause
a halt in the determination of public opinion to have the
"Mormon" voters of Utah disfranchised, as had been done in
Idaho, a despicable and malicious story was started in this
city to the effect that I was exhausting the expletives of the
language of the country in abusing, and lying about,
the Mormon people. When I returned I was met with
frowns from people who had looked upon me as a friend.
When I discovered the cause I [read] it to the daughter of
an apostle now living and her husband. I went to the
woman, her husband not being in the city, and she ad-
mitted that I could not have been the man she had seen
and heard abusing her people. She said she had told the
story widely here + in her father's home. I asked her to do
what she could, in justice to me, to undo the wrong she had
done + she absolutely refused. I wrote to her father asking
him for my sake to deny the infamous story, and he never
replied. That story is still alive + thousand believe it
while many are in doubt. It has caused me [much]
harm + infinite distress.

On the last Saturday of December, 1892, the President of
this stake in a priesthood meeting instructed those present
that I was [disemminating] "infidelity" in my lectures + people
should be warned against me. Subsequently he admitted to
me that he had done so, but did not, as I requested him to do,