Transcript

PASSAGE OF MORMONS—The Philadelphia train yesterday morning brought upwards of five hundred Mormons, en route for Salt Lake. They arrived in Philadelphia a few days since and are principally Norwegians. They are under the control of a high priest by the name of Mat[t]hias Crowley [Cowley], who is a strong healthy looking man. He is thirty five or forty years of age. In the government of this vast number of misguided people he is assisted by Henry Hunt, an Englishman, and Olaf N. Ziengrist, a Dane, who are his special counselors. There are some Swedes, Danes and Icelanders, besides four of the saints from Salt Lake, who have for a year or two past acted as missionaries among the people of these nations.

According to the statement of the high priest, the company consists of 193 adults and children over eight years of age, 105 children under eight and more than one year old, and 36 infants. A [-] saint named Christianson acts as steward and keeps a record of the ages of the company. A goodly number of the adults are females who look fresh and ruddy as if they could endure the long prilgrimage which was before them until they reach their new Canaan. The females were all dressed in broad-brimmed white straw hats and presented quite a curious appearance. Among the men are musicians,, gold and silver smiths, printers, house carpenters, ship carpenters, piano forte makers, cabinet makers, farmers, &c. They had no more baggage than was necessary for the travel. As soon as they arrived, they took the two o’clock train to the West. They will take up their line of march from Iowa city and go across the plains, expecting to reach their destination in three or four months. Among the men was a fellow who gloried in the possession of six wives and twenty-one children.

[Baltimore Sun]