Independence, Missouri
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I wish now to refer to one of these men and to certain predictions that he made. I heard President Wilford Woodruff, in April, 1893, when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, declare that from that time forth the Latter-day Saints would have more influence in the world and their representatives would be treated with greater respect and consideration by their fellow men than ever before. In the autumn of that year I accompanied President Woodruff and his counselors, Presidents George O. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, with the Tabernacle Choir, to the World's Fair at Chicago. Among the points visited en route was Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. Just sixty years before, our people had been ruthlessly driven from that part, and every form of indignity heaped upon them. Fiftv-eight years before, this same Wilford Woodruff, then a priest on his way to fill a mission in the Southern States, had passed through Jackson County, at a time when it was almost as much a,s a "Mormon's" life was worth to be seen there. Because of this hostile sentiment he had to conceal his identityand almost skulk through the county, to avoid the danger. But how was it in the autumn of 1893? Why, the whole town of Independence came out to preet the "Mormon" leader ; the Mayor delivered a speech of welcome, and the people vied with each other in doing honor and showing courtesy to the head of the unpopular and hated Church.
Elder Orson F. Whitney
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Historical Gospel Account
President Harry S. Truman
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Several thousand people gathered at Salt Lake's Union Pacific station to bid farewell to the 250 members of the Tabernacle Choir as they embarked on their first out-of-state tour 100 years ago. About 3:10 p.m., on Aug. 29, 1893, a 10-car train carrying the singers and about 100 relatives and friends pulled out of the station on a six-day journey to the World's Columbian Exhibition, also called the Chicago World's Fair. ... President Wilford Woodruff and his counselors, President George Q. Cannon and President Joseph F. Smith, traveled with the choir, occupying a private car called the "Pickwick." The trip to Chicago took the choir over ground some of them had traversed during harsher times. Among the singers and guests who traveled with the choir were several who had walked across the plains as original Mormon Pioneers. The choir performed concerts in three cities en route to Chicago, namely Denver, Colo., and Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo. (The choir performed in Omaha, Neb., on its return trip to Salt Lake City.) Stopping in Kansas City, choir members were guests of honor at a reception held by citizens of Independence, Mo. The choir entourage visited the lot in Independence where on Aug. 3, 1831, Joseph Smith dedicated land for the building of a temple. The Deseret Semi-Weekly News quoted the Kansas City Star's report of the choir's visit to Independence: "There were many odd scenes and incidents during the morning, but nothing was more conspicuous than the reverence shown President Woodruff. Eighty-six years old, he moves about with the vigor of a man a score of years his junior. He is short in stature, stockily built, and has a kind face. At the depot many persons, Mormons, Mormon Elders and members of the Church crowded into his car, Pickwick, to grasp his hand and speak a word. At the meeting on Temple lot, he was kept busy greeting those brought forward. . . . "President Woodruff was last in Independence fifty-nine years ago. He went with the Mormons to Liberty when they were driven from Independence, and was with Brigham Young July 24th, 1847, when he entered the valley where Salt Lake City and the Tabernacle are now located. Brigham Young rode in Mr. Woodruff's carriage during the last part of the journey, and Mr. Woodruff assisted in laying out Salt Lake City and in clearing the sage brush from the desert. He has seen and taken part in all the severe trials endured by the Mormons in founding their colony in Utah and witnessed the close of the struggles which drove the Mormons from the town he visited today."
Avant, Gerry
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