--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Andrew Jenson collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 2 published: 1900-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Andrew Jenson, "Walter Murray Gibson—A Life Sketch," *Improvement Era* 4, no. 2 (December 1900): 86–95.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0402unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0402unse start_page: 86 end_page: 95 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1900-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0402unse publication_year: 1900 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1900, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Walter Murray Gibson—A Life Sketch WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES, IN TWO CHAPTERS. BY ANDREW JENSON, ASSISTANT HISTORIAN OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. CHAPTER II. Under date November 16, 1861, Mr. Gibson writes from Palawai to a Brother C. Wing, in Honolulu, as follows: This will be handed to you by Brother Kailihune, the bishop of this place, who is one of our best saints. I have commissioned him to go to Honolulu, and, along with you, to buy a good whale-boat for the use of the Church. All our boats are mere wrecks, and I do not consider it safe for any white man unless he can swim like a Kanaka to go in one again. About the same time, Mr. Gibson wrote a most singular document addressed "To all the Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints on the Island of Oahu," of which the following is an abstract and translation: Fellow believers, greeting and great love to you: I, Walter Murray Gibson, your elder brother and leader, the one appointed to be chief priest, and preacher also, to you on the islands of the great ocean by the hands of the prophet of God in Zion, in accordance with the direction of the Spirit of God, and the office of high priest WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. 87 of Melchizedek, do now send unto you a few words regarding our works and services. I am rejoiced at being informed by the brethren, Enoch and Kou, that your love to the Church of God has waxed strong. * * Your joy and your faith will help you, 0 ye fellow believers of Hawaii, in building the glorious temple of God in these islands of the sea, pre^ pare now your offerings for this work, and at the end, you shall obtain high places and the office of very high priest. * * * Our beloved brother J. W. H. Kou who is the president of the twelve (presidena umikumamahia) in the Church, and in our love and confidence, he it is who shall with his own lips tell you many new things from me. * * * My heart is with the red-skinned children of Abraham, I am a child of the ocean and of God. It was his servant, the prophet, who chose me to abide with you constantly. I am not a stranger. I am preparing to erect a new pillar for the Church, then we, the saints in Hawaii, shall be united in one, one beautiful branch. * * * Like Moses shall I lead you; like Joshua shall I fight for you; and like Jesus, if God wills it, I will die for you. Listen to the words of our brother J. W. H. Kou; he has obtained a good report, and is an apostle of the Church and of God. I am soon to go unto you to tell you again of my love to you and to the Spirit of God which is one. This document was signed "Walter Murray Gibson, Chief President of the Islands of the Sea, and of the Hawaiian Islands, for the Church of Latter-day Saints. Mr. Gibson proceeded to re-organize The Church on the Hawaiian Islands according to his own schemes; he ordained twelve apostles and charged them $150 each for the office conferred; for the offices of high priest, seventies, elders, etc., he charged in proportion. He also installed an arch-bishop and many minor bishops. With money thus obtained, and other means received by contributions from the natives, he purchased one-half of the island of Lanai, where he gathered a large number of the Saints from the different branches on the other islands. And it seems that he did all this for his own aggrandizement; true it is that he endeavored to write a new page of Church history and attach to "Mormonism" an addenda not in the program of salvation. The following may serve as a sample of the certificates that Mr. Gibson issued to those whom he selected to fill prominent positions under him: 88 IMPROVEMENT ERA. To all men to whom this letter may come: This certifies that Kailihune is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is beloved and a true convert, and by this it is certified that he has been chosen to the high office of Archbishop of the Church in the Hawaiian Islands, and has authority to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to perform all the duties of the office to which he has been chosen. Therefore, I give our brother in love and truth this certificate of election to each one in his several callings; and that you may offer your prayers with righteousness and gladness in the kingdom of Christ. Written and sealed at Wailuku, island of Maui, of the Hawaiian Islands, October 10, 1862, in behalf of the Church. Walter M. Gibson, Chief President, J. W. H. Kou, Secretary. According to the statement of the late Alma L. Smith, the Saints on the island of Maui were in a very low and sunken condition during the Gibson regime; no meetings were held on the islands, and no family prayers attended to, because Gibson had not only not instructed but actually forbidden them to hold meetings, preach the Gospel, read the scriptures, or attend to family prayers. He told them that there had been enough of these spiritual works; it was now time to dispense with them, and go to work physically. This they had complied with, all except the physical portion. "Almost everything they had," writes Elder Smith, "in the shape of property, such as horses, oxen, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, houses, lands, farming utensils, etc., he had prevailed upon them to turn over to him in behalf of The Church, promising them to buy a tract of land for the Saints upon these islands to gather into. This land he bought with the means collected from the Saints, had it deeded over to him, in his own name, and unto his heirs and assigns, and not, as he had promised them, in behalf of The Church. They even by his order sold their meetinghouses, so that when Elder Smith commenced to visit them, they had no place to meet in. One good meetinghouse, 25x40 feet, was sold for the paltry sum of $2, so as to send the money to him. In ordaining the different officers of The Church, he would ordain a man to all the lesser offices before ordaining him to the office of an elder, seventy or one of the twelve, and make him pay for a separate certificate for each ordination." WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. 89 In corroboration of the foregoing statement of Elder Alma L. Smith, I found recorded in The Shepherd of Lanai that besides money, Mr. Gibson received from the Saints in Hawaii contributions in the shape of horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, turkeys, fowls, chairs, plates, knives, forks, etc., amounting to several thousand dollars. Here is a sample statement of a native who contributed toward buying the Palawai property. I, Kaniniu, the widow of Kailihune, deceased, we two give to W. M. Gibson, 800 goats, 2 horses, 3 turkeys, $50 in cash, $5 for the certificate as elected Bishop, $1 for my own certificate, all of these things have been given to buy the land of Palawai, Lanai. Kaniniu, X, (her mark.) Mr. Gibson also succeeded in surrounding his own person and residence with such a halo or sacredness, in the minds of the natives, that they always entered his house on their hands and knees. This was the old customary way in which the natives had been in the habit of paying their respects to their kings, and the custom was revived by Mr. Gibson, in order to increase his personal prestige. An amusing incident happened when the elders from Utah visited Lanai, in 1864. President Joseph F. Smith and Alma L. Smith took a ride around the valley of Palawai, accompanied by Mr. Gibson's daughter, as guide. About half a mile from Mr. Gibson's residence, they came to a large rock, the top of which was several feet above the ground. Mr. Gibson had a chamber cut in this rock in which he had deposited a Book of Mormon and other things, and called it the corner stone of a great temple which would be erected there. A frame work of poles had been constructed, in a circular form, around this rock, and this was covered with brush. Mr. Gibson, by appealing to the pagan superstitions of the natives, made them believe that this spot was sacred, and that if any person touched it he would be struck dead. A story was told of how a hen had fallen dead when it alighted upon the booth. The daughter of Mr. Gibson protested against the elders entering the place, remarking that by disabusing the natives, it would injure the influence of her father among them, but nevertheless, the brethren 90 IMPROVEMENT ERA. went inside of the brush structure, examined the rock, and, of course, came out unharmed. At length, it dawned upon some of the more intelligent native elders that there was something wrong in it, Gibson's course being so different to that pursued by the other elders from Utah with whom they had been acquainted, consequently some eight of them wrote to brethren in Utah who had labored among them asmissionaries, and presented some of the facts concerning Mr. Gibson's actions, and they asked advice. This communication was translated and submitted to President Brigham Young. The first presidency decided without delay that Apostles Ezra T. Benson and Lorenzo Snow should visit the islands to set things in order and that Elders Joseph F. Smith, Alma L. Smith and William W. Cluff should accompany them. Accordingly, these brethren took stage at Salt Lake City, March 2, 1864, for San Francisco, California, where they embarked on the bark Onward, and arrived in Honolulu, March 27, 1864. On the 29th, they sailed for Lahaina on a schooner, and on the morning of the 31st of March, they came to anchor about one mile off the landing place at Lahaina. In trying to land, Apostle Snow had a very narrow escape from drowning. April 2, 1864, the brethren, with some natives, went over by boat to the island of Lanai where they found Mr. Gibson the following day. They met with a cool and formal reception, and a couple of days were spent in laboring with Mr. Gibson and the native elders to get them to see the condition they were in. "On arriving at Palawai," writes Elder Joseph F. Smith, "we found Captain Gibson snugly settled in a small village of some fifty grass houses; very neatly arranged, and surrounded by some forty or more families of the most faithful members of The Church; we found he had ordained twelve apostles, high priests, seventies, elders, bishops and priestesses of temple, all of whom had to pay a certain sum corresponding to the various degrees of honor bestowed upon them. What the priestess of the temple signified, we were at a loss to know, but we soon found it was only to gull the poor natives and obtain their money. Gibson had bought the district of Palawai (six hundred acres) by the donations of the Saints, assuring them he was doing it all for them or The Church. He WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. 91 persuaded them to give all they had to The Church, and made it'a test of fellowship. Many could not bear it, and were excommunicated, while the faithful remained, and became wholly dependent on him for both food and clothing. "Brothers Benson and Snow required him to sign the land over to The Church, as it was deeded to him and his heirs. This he flatly refused to do, informing them that he should take his own course, that he had not been sent there by The Church, had received no counsel from President Young, had acted upon his own responsibility in what he had done, etc. He also told them he should ask no counsel of them, but would pursue his own course for the futuret. He should treat us as friends, so long as we treated him as such, whenever he had an opportunity. He declared he should use his influence to keep the natives in his power, and would persuade more to come there if he could, that they should receive no benefit from the land they had bought, only as they would become subject to him." The brethren had previously learned that the Saints would assemble in conference on the 6th of April, 1864, and at ten o'clock on that day, they had assembled in the meetinghouse. The American elders, with Gibson, were walking toward the meetinghouse when Mr. Gibson made some excuse for returning to his house. The brethren went in and took their seats on the stand; the house was filled with people. In a few minutes, Mr. Gibson appeared, and at the moment he entered the door, the entire congregation instantly arose to their feet, and remained standing until he was seated on the stand. The execution of this act of reverence evinced long and careful training. The visiting brethren believed that Mr. Gibson had delayed his entrance to make a fitting opportunity for this exhibition. Gibson entirely ignored the presence of the apostles, and after the people were seated, he arose and gave out the opening hymn. This act gave evidence, at once, that he had no proper idea of the organization and authority of the priesthood. Seeing this, President Benson called on Elder Snow to pray. As soon as the second hymn was sung, and without giving any time for consultation, Mr. Gibson arose to his feet and commenced to address the congregation, in substance, as follows: 92 IMPROVEMENT ERA "My dear red-skinned brethren, sisters and friends. I presume you are all wondering and anxious to know why these strangers have come so suddenly among us, without giving us any notice of their coming. I will assure you of one thing, my red-skinned friends, when I find out, I will be sure to let you know, for I am your father, and will protect you in your rights. These strangers may say they are your friends, but let me remind you how, when they lived here years ago, they lived upon your scanty substance. Did they make any such improvements as you see I have made? Did I not come here and find you without a father, poor and discouraged? Did I not gather you together here and make all these improvements that you today enjoy? Now you, my red-skinned friends, must decide who your friend and father is, whether it is these strangers or I who have done so much for you." When Mr. Gibson took his seat, President Benson requested Brother Joseph F. Smith to talk, rather intimating that it was desirable to speak on general principles, and that he need not feel bound to notice all Mr. Gibson had said. Elder Smith delivered a powerful discourse. "It seemed impossible," writes Apostle Snow, "for any man to speak with greater power and demonstration of the Spirit. He referred the Saints to the labors of Brother George Q. Cannon, and the first elders who brought them the Gospel. He reminded them of facts with which the older members were well acquainted — the great disadvantage the elders labored under, and the privations they suffered, in first preaching the Gospel on the islands; how they slept in their miserable huts, and lived as they lived; how they traveled on foot in storms and in bad weather, from village to village, and from house to house, exposing health and life; how they went destitute of clothing, and what they had been in the habit of considering the necessaries of life, to bring to them the blessings of the Gospel, without money and without price. He asked by what right Mr. Gibson called himself the father of the people, and the elders, who faithfully labored to established them in the Gospel, strangers. The spirit and power that accompanied Brother Smith's remarks astonished the Saints, and opened their eyes. They began to see how they had been imposed upon, every word he spoke found a WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. 93 response in their hearts, as was plainly manifest by their eager looks and animated countenances." Another meeting was held in the afternoon, in which Apostles Benson and Snow addressed the Saints, Elder Joseph F. Smith acting as their interpreter. The next day, April 7, 1864, a meeting was held in the forenoon. A priesthood meeting was appointed for the evening, and the conference adjourned sine die. The priesthood meeting, in the evening, was well attended, as it was understood that Mr. Gibson's course would be investigated. The complaints that were made by the native elders, in the communication that led to the special mission of the two apostles and the accompanying elders, were read, and Mr. Gibson was called on to make answer to the charges. In doing so, he repeated most of his harangue at the meeting on the day previous, and then exhibited in a sort of bombastic way some letters of appointment and recommendations from President Brigham Young, to which he had attached large seals, bedecked with a variety of colored ribbons to give them an air of importance and official significance in the eyes of the unsophisticated natives. These papers, he held up before the people, and, pointing to them, said with great emphasis: "Here is my authority, which I received direct from President Brigham Young. I don't hold myself accountable to these men." He referred to the apostles and the other elders who came with them. Had there been no other proof of the wrong course of Mr. Gibson, that remark was sufficient to satisfy the brethren what their plain duty was, and they acted promptly in the matter. Apostle Benson followed Mr. Gibson. He reviewed Mr. Gibson's past course, and showed that, in making merchandise of the offices of the priesthood, introducing the former pagan superstitions of the people, for the purpose of obtaining power, and his idea of establishing a temporal and independent kingdom in the Pacific isles, were all in antagonism to the plan laid down in the Gospel for the redemption of man. The spirit manifested b7 Mr. Gibson proved that he was ignorant of the powers of the priesthood, or that he ignored them for purely selfish motives. What they had seen and heard since their arrival proved that the com- 94 IMPROVEMENT ERA. plaints made by the native elders, in their letters to Utah, were correct, as far as they went, but the half had not been told. Brother Benson's remarks were interpreted, after which it was motioned that Mr. Gibson's course be disapproved. When this was put to vote, all but one of the native elders voted against the motion. This showed that Mr. Gibson still retained a strong hold on the minds of the Saints. Notwithstanding this show of strong opposition, Apostle Lorenzo Snow arose to speak, and in his remarks prophesied that Mr. Gibson would see the time that not one of the Saints would remain with him. Elder Joseph F. Smith remarked that among the scores of elders who had labored on the islands, none had been so utterly wanting in the spirit and power of the Gospel as to charge the Saints anything for conferring on them the blessings of the priesthood, until Walter M. Gibson came and had the presumption to claim that he had a right to ordain apostles and high priests for a price — for money. The apostles informed Mr. Gibson and the Saints, that when they left the islands to return home, Elder Joseph F. Smith would be left in charge of the mission; that all those who wished to be considered in good standing in The Church should leave Lanai and return to their homes on the other islands where the branches would be reorganized, and set in order by the brethren who would be left for that purpose. The following day, (April 8, 1864) Apostles Benson and Snow and Elders Joseph F. Smith, William W. Cluff and Alma L. Smith returned to Lahaina, where they held a council, and excommunicated Mr. Gibson from The Church. This action was sustained in a general assembly of Saints, held in Salt Lake City, May, 29, 1864, after the return of the apostles. In less than a month after his excommunication, Gibson had lost his influence over the Saints, who were leaving him as fast as they could get away, at the loss of all they had. Brother Snow's prophecy was thus literally fulfilled. All the Saints finally left Mr. Gibson, and returned to their former homes, as they had been counseled to do. All Mr. Gibson's plans were completely frustrated, WALTER MURRAY GIBSON. 95 and he became a striking example of the nothingness of man, when he attemps to battle against the Kingdom of God. Though it became generally known that Mr. Gibson had enriched himself at the expense of the natives of Hawaii, yet he succeeded in retaining the friendship of many of the natives. He had learned to talk their language fluently, and understood how to ingratiate himself with the king and prominent chiefs of the islands. His early dreams of becoming a potentate on the islands of the sea led him to seek for the exalted office of prime minister of Hawaii. That his enemies attacked him, and even went so far as to publish a phamphlet of forty-eight pages for the purpose of assailing his character, availed nothing. He succeeded under King Kalakaua in becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs, May 20, 1882, and retained the office for four years. He also acted as Attorney General in the king's cabinet, was a member of the legislature and filled other important government positions. It can also be said to his credit, that while he was in power, he befriended the elders from Utah and the Saints generally, on different occasions. Some ascribed this to purely selfish motives connected with his political aspirations, while others believed him to be a true friend to our people. According to the statements of some of the natives, he tried at an early day to deny his connection with the "Mormon" Church; be this as it may, I find the following statement in the Nuhou, a Honolulu paper of which he was the editor, in its issue April 18, 1873: "Our temporary connection with the 'Mormon' Community, for a political object, of which we shall give a history at our convenience, is well known, and has never been denied." After a long sojourn in Hawaii, Mr. Gibson removed to California, and took sick and died in San Francisco, July 21, 1888. In conclusion, it may be said that his children and heirs are still owners of the principal part of the island of Lanai, which he, as stated in the foregoing, purchased with money contributed by the native Saints.