Noting the success of this publicity, the editor of theChicago Democrat wrote sagely: “We will not go so far as to call the Mormons martyr-mongers, but we believe they are men of sufficient sagacity to profit by anything in the shape of persecution. . . . The Mormons have greatly profited by their persecution in Missouri. ... let Illinois repeat the bloody tragedies of Missouri and one or two other states follow, and the Mormon religion will not only be known throughout our land, but will be very extensively embraced.”
