No Man Knows My History (Arkosh History)

by Fawn M. Brodie

The prophet could ill afford a new scandal following so close upon the heels of Martha Brotherton’s. Blaming Bennett for the whole imbroglio, he decided to put an end to his insolence, and on May n, 1842 he drew up a bull of excommunication.^ But he knew that Bennett could be the most deadly enemy the church had ever faced. Seeking a way to stop his mouth, he called in several women whose names had been linked with that of the celebrated doctor and questioned them sharply. Now, apparently for the first time, he learned the full measure of Bennett’s debauchery. Bennett had seduced innumerable women in Joseph’s name quite without benefit of ceremony. Even worse, he had promised abortion to those who became pregnant. Zeruiah N. Goddard, repeating the gossip of Sarah Pratt, reported that “Dr. Bennett told her he could cause abortion with perfect safety to the mother at any stage of pregnancy, and that he had frequently destroyed and removed infants before their time to- **in turn published it in hisHistory of the Saints,pp. 243-5. It was unsigned, and in the handwriting of Willard Richards. The Utah Church published it as an essay on “Happiness” ostensibly written by Joseph Smith, in theHistory of the Church,Vol. V, pp. 134-6, with the cryptic editorial comment: “It is not positively known what occasioned the writing of this essay.” * See Robinson’s letter to James Arlington Bennett (also spelled Bennet), of Long Island, dated Nauvoo, July 27, 1842. This Bennett admitted in th...