Who Wrote It?
Enoch's Advocate was published anonymously and we cannot be certain who created it. However, we do have clues. The Advocate was a professional job; those responsible for it knew the newspaper business. It's first three issues were well written and clever. Its authors were highly literate and likely made their living with words. In addition, at least one of the authors was intimately familiar with the intricacies of Mormon discourse, as evidenced by how expertly it is parodied. Working in Salt Lake City in 1874 were a number of candidates.
The Apostates
At various times, these UK emigrants, singly or in partnership, had published Peep O'Day, The Salt Lake Telegraph, The Utah Magazine, The Utah Mining Gazette, The Mormon Tribune, and the Salt Lake Weekly Tribune (1870-73), all of which lauded "free thinking," featured original interpretations of Scripture, and countered official Mormon doctrine. Once devout Mormons, they had grown disillusioned with the Church and particularly with Brigham's leadership. The Mormon Tribune's first issue states:
"The points of issue between us and the ecclesiastical rulers of Utah may be clearly understood. One of the first objects of the Movement is to oppose the undue exercise of priestly authority."
At first glance, it seems reasonable that some in this well-educated and literate clique may have entertained themselves by writing for a humorous, short-term tabloid like the Advocate. But on closer analysis, there is no evidence that they ever adopted the sardonic tones evidenced in the Salt Lake Daily Tribune (September 1873 forward) and the Advocate. Indeed, in October 1874, Harrison published a disclaimer in the Tribune, disassociating himself from its chronic acrimony. That said, their devotion to and financial support for a free-thinking press in Utah likely made Enoch's Advocate possible.
The Tribune Men
Historians Davis Bitton and Gary L. Bunker suggest that Fred Lockley helped produce the Advocate. A non-Mormon emigrant from England who fought for the Union Army, Lockley may have been predisposed to despise any man who refused to submit to the authority of the United States Government. Late in his life, Lockley penned a memoir of his time in Utah in which he lauds Prescott's courageous and steadfast support amid widespread anger over the Tribune's content. After Lockley's death, a eulogy memorialized him as "one of the most fearless and able journalists" in the West whose objection to Mormonism was that it was "opposed to American principles and institutions." Ironically, the Salt Lake Tribune's own obituary hints at a trait that may explain the paper's relentless anti-Mormon attacks under Lockley: "He was tenacious, unyielding, and could never understand that there are different ways of working toward a given end." When the Advocate appeared, Lockley was overseeing the Daily Tribune, and whether he could have had the time and energy to work on the Advocate is debatable. In addition, it is not clear why Lockley, who was well known for his vitriolic editorials, would need to conceal his involvement. But if tone and word choice are reliable indicators, it’s reasonable to assume that someone at the Tribune wrote for Enoch's Advocate.
The Jokester
Born in England in 1831, Camomile converted to Mormonism and immigrated to St. Louis, then traveled by ox cart to Utah with his wife and son, arriving about 1859. His obituary states that he once reported for The Mormon Tribune, and from this we can deduce that by 1870 he had fallen away from the Church. In January 1871, he launched a four-page tabloid, publishing under his own name. Diogenes ran for about six months, and its content is similar to the Advocate's: song parodies, doggerel, puns, made-up classified ads, and comically fake letters. [View the first issue of Diogenes here.] Camomile was unafraid to take on Brigham Young, publishing a send-up in which "Brigham I" invites Pope Pius to Utah so that the two can team up to preserve Christ's church on Earth. ("I could show you how to build up a theocracy in spite of all the governments in the world.") But Camomile was an equal-opportunity jester. The first issue also features a cartoon mocking the recent arrest, by Federal agents, of a small group of unarmed Saints marching to band music (the so-called Wooden-Gun Rebellion). Diogenes was celebrated in the anti-Mormon Utah Reporter (Corinne, Utah), which called it "the Punch of the West," and states that Camomile "keeps up a steady fire of good religious wit against the humbugs of the age." Bitton and Bunker speculate that Enoch's Advocate was Camomile's brainchild, suggesting "a probable common or overlapping editorship" with the Tribune. Indeed, Camomile's impish voice and droll humor permeate many pages in the Advocate.
The Artist
Enoch!
The illustrations in Enoch's Advocate are unsigned. In the 1870s, no Utah newspaper was publishing original artwork of this quality and level of detail. It required drawing talent but also knowledge of printing practices, and the better cartoons were probably prepared well in advance of printing. We have no information about the artist(s).
In the fourth issue of the Advocate, on May 30, the prose feels ponderous and the humor forced. More amateurish illustrations suddenly appear. A spark is gone, indicating that key contributors have moved on. The fifth and final issue appeared on June 6.