hey went
any further. They called on Smith in his office, and there--according to
Smurthwaite's sworn testimony before the Senate committee--the Prophet
gave them notice that they must not compete with his Inland Crystal
Salt Company by manufacturing salt, and that if they tried to, he would
"ruin" them. This proceeding convinced Smurthwaite that Smith had
"so violent a disregard and non-understanding of the rights of his
fellow-man and his duty to God, as to render him morally unqualified for
the high office which he holds." For expressing such an opinion of Smith
to elders and teachers--and adding that Smith was not fit to act as
Prophet, Seer and Revelator, since, according to his own confession
to the Senate Committee he was "living in sin"--for expressing these
opinions, charges were preferred against Smurthwaite by an elder named
Goddard of Ogden City, and excommunication proceedings were begun
against him.

Smurthwaite replied by making a charge of polygamous cohabitation
against Goddard; and after the April Conference of 1905, Don Musser and
Smurthwaite joined in filing a complaint in the District Court of Salt
Lake City demanding an accounting from Joseph F. Smith of the tithes
which the Church was collecting. Meanwhile Smurthwaite had been
"disfellowshipped" at a secret session of the bishop's court, on March
22, without an opportunity of appearing in his own defense or having
counsel or witnesses heard in support of his case; and on April 4, after
a similarly secret and ex-parte proceeding, he was excommunicated by the
High Council of his Stake, for "apostasy and un-Christianlike conduct."
His charges against Goddard were ignored, and his suit for an accounting
of the tithes was dismissed for want of jurisdiction!

From the moment of his first public protest against Smith, all
Smurthwaite's former associates fell away from him, and by many of the
more devout he was shunned as if he were infected. Benevolent as he had
been, he could find no further fellowship even among those whom he had
benefited by his service and his means. I know of no more blameless life
than his had been in his home community--and, to this, every one of
his acquaintances can bear testimony--yet after the brutally unjust
proceedings of excommunication against him the Deseret News, the
Church's daily paper, referred to "recent cases of apostasy and
excommunication" as having been made necessary by the "gross immorality"
of the victims. W