Judge Bateman's Charge to the Grand Jury

[Several weeks after the Massacre at Cane Creek, a grand jury was convened in Lewis County to bring any indictments should a witness come forward. The judge, P. T. Bateman, addressed the grand jury, instructing them to consider carefully how they proceed. His speech is both a call for justice and an admission that justice is unlikely. It is a sense prophetic in that no indictments were ever delivered.

The reaction from Mormon sources, however, is surprisingly positive. The Deseret News reprinted the below text from the Hickman Pioneer, a local Tennessee newspaper. When compared to other statements made by public officials, Judge Bateman’s position is considered almost favorable. While not condoning any of the LDS religious practices, he does stress the need for what is essentially the Rule of Law. The perpetrators must be punished.]


Gentlemen of the Jury:- There has been a great deal said about the mob of masqued men, in this county, killing four Mormons, including two of their elders, and of the Mormons killing one of the masqued men. How the facts are I do not know, whether you will be called on or not to investigate the case. Let this be as it may, it is my duty to give you proper instructions for your action in case the matter is brought before you.


In the first place the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State guarantee to every person the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. This right is the same whether the worshipper be a Christian, a Jew, a Mohammedan, a Mormon, a Buddhist, or any other sect. And it is not left for you or me to question the conscience or the motives of anyone; we can only look at the professions and leave the matter of conscience to them and their Maker. I am perfectly satisfied with the situation, for all religious sects and creeds stand on an equal footing with me, and I have no desire to change anyone from his religious belief to any other. If his religion suits him it suits me. But it appears from the history of mankind from the earliest dates that the differences in religious belief have caused more bloodshed torture, suffering and misery than any other one thing that has agitated the human family, and so far back as we have history it appears that one sect would become dissatisfied with the consciences of some other sect and would try to reform it to suit their own liking, which would generally bring about trouble; and in latter days the Christians, feeling it their duty, send out missionaries to spread their doctrines among other nations, get them killed where the nations are satisfied with their own religion and do not desire a change; so it appears that the Mormons, feeling some uneasiness about the future of the Christians, send out their missionaries among them to teach them their new doctrines, and occasionally get them killed. And this thing of murdering one another for differing in religious belief has been going on as far back as we have history , and it looks as if it would continue as long as there remain two different religions and they can get hold of each other’s missionaries, and no civil tribunal to this day has ever been able to suppress it. This remedy to prevent the spread of new doctrines among people who have a religion that suits them, has been very effective, and has kept the great religious divisions of the world confined principally where they could be protected by soldiers of their own faith; so it is, we see repeated here what has been going on as far back as history reaches. This practice of killing men for attempting to introduce a new religion in a country that does not want it can never be suppressed by the civil tribunals, and he who expects it will certainly be disappointed; because at this time we find a part of the clergy, a portion of the press and a large number of the people justifying it, and thereby encouraging its continuation. On the other hand, a part of the clergy, a portion of the press and a large number of the people have acted nobly in condemning such acts and endeavoring to prevent a repetition of them.

I have said this much that the public may see how futile it is for a court to attempt to do anything in a case like this one before us, and it is obliged to remain this way so long as there is such a diseased sentiment among a part of the clergy, a portion of the press and many of the people.

But, gentlemen of the jury, it makes no difference how powerless the courts are in such cases, they must act, and in cases like this they must generally fail to do anything, and must bear the consequences of one party for tying to do, and the censures of the other party for not doing what they cannot do.

The law is: That any person going about the country masqued of disguised is guilty of a misdemeanor. If they make an assault upon any one with a deadly weapon it is a felony, and if they kill anyone it is murder, and in such cases it is the duty of the grand jury to send for witnesses if they think they know who can make out the case, and examine the witnesses touching the offense of going masqued or disguised and any offense growing out of it, and find bills or not, as the proof may justify; and if they find any they will require the attorney general to draw up the proper bills; or, in case anyone wants to prosecute, he will go to the attorney general who will draw up bills for him in proper form and put the names of the witnesses and prosecutor on the back and sign them and the prosecutor will take them before the grand jury, whose duty it is to examine the witnesses and find bills or not as the proof may justify. So any one who may wish to prosecute will find both the court and grand jury room open to him. It is the duty of the grand jury to give what aid they can to anyone who may wish to prosecute those engaged in the mob or anyone who aided, abetted or encouraged it. It is the policy of the law to put a stop, as far as possible, to mob violence. It sets all law at defiance; it ignores all individual rights; it endangers the lives of all citizens, and for any one to excuse it is to encourage it, and it is a step towards extinguishing every right guaranteed by our Constitution.

Horace Talley's Baptism

[Last year at about this time I found an article about the first baptism from Cane Creek in 65 years. Below is the text of that article.]

First Convert Baptized in Cane Creek Since Massacre of Two Elders in 1884



By Elder Bruce E. Belnap
Nashville, Tenn.

On Sunday, August 10 1884, 65 years ago, at the home of Elder and Mrs. Conder of Cane Creek, Lewis County, Tenn. Sunday School services were just beginning under the direction of Elder Gibbs and Berry.

As the opening song was announced, a mob attacked from the front of the house and in a few minutes five persons lay dead including Elders Gibbs and Berry, Martin Conder, John Riley Hudson and the leader of the mob, Dave Hinson. Among those present were the Conders and their children, Rachel Ann, Visey Jane, Martin, and a half-brother John Riley Hudson.

UNTIL 1947 the missionary efforts of the church excluded Lewis County as a proselyting area though the church sent various men at times to visit the spot and to talk with the people. The house has since burned down but the little cemetery remains where a monument has been erected in honor of Martin Conder and John Riley Hudson.

During all these years there has been one friend living near the scene who has been willing to show visitors around and to relate the story. He is Horace Campbell Cooper Talley, son of Mrs. Talley who was present at the massacre. Horace Talley was not present but heard the shots from the Talley home. He remembers the day vividly although he is now 73 years old. He hasn’t heard a Latter-day Saint missionary preach since that time.

ABOUT A MONTH ago while visiting with the elders in Lawrenceburg, one of them suggested that we go and see Mr. Talley. I wasn’t much in favor at first, but all of a sudden I stood on my feet and was impressed to say “Let’s go!”

We arrived and found Mr. Talley and talked to him for about an hour. As we prepared to leave, he took me to one side and asked me when a conference would be held in the Hampshire Branch. He also wanted to know if a certain elder was still in Columbia. When I answered hi questions, he asked me if Elder Clifford, a spry 62 year-old missionary from Clearfield, Utah, could baptized him, I was pleasantly surprised, because our conversation had not been on the first principles of the Gospel.

So I told him “Yes” and we left knowing that this would be the first person from Cane Creek to ask for baptism since that fateful Sunday in 1884. It was also interesting that he should ask me for permission to be baptized because my grandfather, Hyrum Belnap, was a missionary in Cane Creek in 1880 and knew all these folk and baptized some of them.

All plans were and an Oct 2, Brother Talley was baptized by Elder Arch F Clifford and confirmed a member by me. Brother Talley wept for joy and we are sure that he has had a testimony of the Gospel for many years.

The Mormons Left Town

In the New York Times in February 23, 1888 was printed the following article.

The Mormons Left Town

Memphis, Tenn., Feb 22. - Two Mormon Elders named Douglas and Fuller have been operating in the section of country between here and the Tennessee River for the past month. A few days ago, they went into Madison County, Tenn., and called on the Pastor of the Cumberland Church at Denmark on Saturday and asked to be allowed to hold services. The Pastor found out who they were and reported the fact to the Citizens, and they ordered the teachers of polygamy to leave the town under penalty of receiving a coat of tar and feathers. They went.

In September of that same year, the two Elders would become key figures in a brutal mobbling.

News from the Tenneessee Conference [1878]

I do like to read through newspaper articles to get a feel for how events were viewed when they were "current". Plus you never know what kind of details you might find.

Local and Other Matters

From Friday’s Daily, Mar. 15. [1878]

Missionary work. – Elder Edward Stevenson writes from Shady Grove, Hickman County, Tennessee. He and Elder Hyrum Clark are laboring in that part. The branch of the Church there numbers 17. It was organized by Elder H. G. Boyle. There is another small branch, at a place called Totty’s Bend. It was organized by Elder Sharp and Argyle. A man and woman were recently baptized there. The people come to meeting at night over the “clay hills” carrying torches to light them on their way. Many of the houses in that part of the country have no windows, rendering them particularly cold and airy in winter.

Elder Stevenson and Clark are laboring assiduously, holding meetings and preaching at every available opportunity

[In that very same article [dated March 20, 1878] in the Deseret News was the following paragraph]

The Keepapitchinin was pitched out of existence in 1870. As its editor’s announced intention was to publish “semi occasionally,” it is liable to resuscitation. After all it may not be dead, but merely sleeping.

I think Keepapitchinin is no longer sleeping

A Mormon Banter Accepted

Jonesborough , Tennessee is a city in the north east end of the State. It sits near the shared border with Virginia. In the Jonesborough Whig I found the following….

September 14, 1842

A Mormon Banter Accepted

A certain villainous Mormon Priest, one Jeddidiah (sic) Grant, the leader of this vile sect, in Western Virginia, has been denouncing us, for some time past, and recently has given us notice, through a friend, that he expects shortly to visit Jonesborough, and to take us off in a public discourse. Come on Jeddidiah (sic)! We are ready for you. We will have cirtificates (sic), by then, of the propositions you have made to divers females in Virginia! We will meet you, too, with the characters of your leader, from the Holy Joe, down to your infamous self. – Come on! We accept the challenge, and the people are anxious to hear, and above all to see a Mormon! No backing out – if your cause is good, as you alledge (sic), come up to the the (sic) scratch like a man.

And then a follow up article on…

October 5, 1842

Jedidiah Grant, the Mormon preacher, who [William G.] Brownlow invites to Jonesborough, has left the country – Wyeth Journal
We are sorry he did not give us a call, as we are now prepared to exhibit his character. We would like to get him before a crowd, [unreadable] we would relate some of his holy deeds!

This was actually the first time I had ever heard of Jedediah Grant. Jedediah Morgan Grant was born on 21 February 1816 in New York to Joshua and Athalia Grant. He was baptized in New York on 21 March 1833 and immediately went to Kirtland to join the Saints there. He proved his faith early by participating in Zion’s Camp. He served a mission in Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey, though not crossing over the border into Tennessee. He was well known for his powerful, unrehearsed sermons.

From 1842 to 1844 he presided over the Church in Philadelphia. Shortly afterwards, he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. He was the first Mayor of Salt Lake City, serving until his death (his successor was Abraham O. Smoot from Tennessee). In 1854 he was ordained an apostle and served in the First Presidency. He was a key figure in the “reformation” in 1856, gaining the nickname “Brighams Sledgehammer” for his emphatic style.

He died of pneumonia in 1856 just a few days after the birth of his son Heber J Grant.
________________________________________________

William Gannaway Brownlow began his career as a Methodist minister, riding a circuit in Virginia, and then later in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. In 1839 he started a newspaper in Elizabethtown which he moved to Jonesborough in 1840 calling it the Jonesborough Whig. Brownlow's style was to attack all opposing views; the Mormons were not the sole recipients of his rhetoric.

He was an outspoke opponent of Tennessee seceding from the Union, though not of slavery. When that failed he was critical of the Confederate government. So critical that he was eventually arrested. Though he spent a while in jail he was released to the Union in March 1862.

Following the Civil War he was elected Governor of Tennessee, a position he held through Tennessee's readmitance to the Union. He mobilized State guards to supress the KKK. After his term was over he was selected as one of the State's Senators from 1869 to 1875. At the end of his time in DC he returned to Knoxville and took up newsapaper work again until his death in 1877.

A Mormon Preacher in Kingsport TN

In the March 15, 1843 issue of The Jonesborough Whig I found this early reference to missionary work in Eastern Tennessee.

A Mormon Preacher

One of these renegades, a certain William A. Litz, has recently been holding forth in Kingsport, and advocating that singular Imposition and Delusion taught at Nauvoo. With that imputence which characterizes the teachers of this subversion of revealed truth, this masked imposter, rose up in a Methodist congregation in that village, a few Sabbaths ago, and cried out at the top of his voice, “I will preach at Z. W. Simpson’s
this evening at such an hour!”

Some person present, who understood him to be endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost, called upon him to work a miracle but the fellow declined the honor – on the ground, we presume, that he could do nothing because of the unbelief of the people!

Of course I had to see if I could find anything else on they people named in the article.

Z. W. Simpson is in the 1840 Census, but that has few details. He was born between 1800 and 1810, and he was married. His wife was also between 30 and 40 , and they had two girls aged 5 or less. Additional notes indicate he owned two slaves (a detail that makes me uncomfortable to even write down) and that he made his living through "commerce." I have no evidence that Mr. Simpson was ever baptized.

Elder William A Litz was born on 6 October 1818 in Washington County, Vermont. He joined the Church on 26 May 1841. He served a mission in eastern Tennessee. Perhaps he was in the area because his parents were from Virginia, and he still had relatives nearby. He appears to have written an autobiography which is on file at the LDS Archives (closed until June 22nd 2009). He was ordained a Seventy, received his endowment in the Nauvoo Temple, but did not follow Brigham Young to Utah. At some point joined the Reorganized LDS Church.

The Memorial Photograph

In my search for items related to the Massacre I have again and again come across a photo of Elder Gibbs and Elder Berry's memorial stand. It has been sent to be by three different people including an archivist at the Church Archives. The stand was placed in the tabernacle in Salt Lake City for the funeral there.



But this photo has been altered. The stand never included their photographs. At the time, of course everyone knew this. But in the years since, what everyone knew about this photo has been forgotten.

On October 6, 1884 I find this advertisement:

The floral decorations on the Sacramental stand in the Tabernacle, designed and constructed by George Hamlin, for the funeral services of the murdered Elders W. S. Berry and John H. Gibbs appeared so pretty and unique, that I photographed the same, and to perpetuate the memory of the above Elders, I thought that the portraits of these martyrs would be considered in their place enwreathed in this floral emblem. Consequently I applied to Mrs W. S. Berry, of Kanara, Iron County, and Mrs. J. H. Gibbs of Paradise, Cache County, for the portraits of their husbands, which they kindly responded to by sending. The portrait of W. S. Berry that I copied from was found in his pocket at the time of death. That of J. H. Gibbs was photographed with Elder W. H. Jones, the missionary that escaped. These photographs are now on sale at my gallery, corner of Third South Street and Main, or they can be mailed to any address at the following prices, viz.: 8x10, 60 cents; cabinet or stereoscopic, 25 cents; album size, 15 cents; good in postage stamps.

Agents wanted in every settlement. By forming clubs you can get them at a reduced rate.

C. W, Carter, Photographer. Third South, corner of main.

d s&w

I love the details about the photgraphs' origin. It makes it possible to tell so much Elder Berry's photo was obviously a recent one. Though I have not been able to determine when he took it, he had not been on his mission long. Elder Gibbs photo was with Elder Jones, who was apparently cropped out of the version used above. Elder Jones started working with Elder Gibbs in late April 1884, just a few months before the Massacre. So it much be recent too.

The Retraction of the "Red Hot Address"

A Bogus “Address”
[The Salt Lake Tribune]
[20 March 1884]

On Sunday last we printed what purported to be a stenographic report of a “red hot address” that had been delivered by a Bishop West at Juab. It came with all the usual attestations of repute and good faith, yet we find on fuller investigation, the authenticity of it having been questioned, that it was forgery, no such address was delivered, as far as this investigation is concerned, and no Bishop West in known at Juab. We regret to have been made the vehicle of this Imposture, but it was so like what is going on all the time, and the ordinary talk and feelings of the majority here, only in more concentrated form, that it might have deceived even a Saint. The explanation given by the contributor is that it is a collection in one connected whole of what he has heard at different times in Mormon sermons and otherwise, during a brief sojourn in Utah. It was a totally reprehensible proceeding to write these disjointed fragments up in this way, and attribute them to one man on any special occasion, and we believe he now fully realizes the indefensible character of his work. It deceived us, and we regret to be obliged to add, others through us. The most careful publishers are liable to be imposed upon, and this liability has materialized upon us in this matter. We embrace the first opportunity after being convinced of the spurious nature of the so called address, to repudiate it and warn the public that it is not genuine.

The above was written in consequence of our investigations, which came to a head yesterday morning, and we take not from it one word in consequence of the railings of the News last evening, which depends upon the word of Mr. Teasdale in denial of the matter. The Church organ with its usual viciousness misrepresents throughout, and as usual calls for vengeance upon persons connected with The Tribune, which is of no consequence. If it had waited till morning, it might have saved its reputation; as will be observed, our own investigations were of as quick result as the search dictated by malice and hate. The News claims that we devote much time and space to it, and that it replies not, true, for it needs correction, and when this is administered it cannot reply. But it takes even more space than we devote to it, in the “refutation” at long range of articles in the Eastern press, whereas all it dared discuss the situation at home, it would not be able to [ ] and fall back without damage, as it is able to do in its present safe tactics. The News is filled with the vilest and most outrageous slanders daily, its columns are a drag-net of falsehoods: yet it has the hardihood to allude to a single occasion wherein we have been imposed upon as a sample of our usual course. But even in this case there is a difference; we give prompt denial and contradiction, which no Mormon paper ever does. The News slanders on Elder [Ball?] are recent, and their refutation complete, yet so far from confessing them, it reaffirms the original malicious falsehoods. This is only one case of hundreds, and it never takes back a lie. The Tribune is the only paper in Utah which, being convinced of error and injustice, will freely and manfully face music and acknowledge the [corn?]. We are sorry the News used so much of its valuable space in “refuting” what we should have done so much better in a much shorter space; and since it has devoted so much room to the subject, we suggest that it let its readers know of our action in the premises, and also give them the benefit of some similar acts of justice on its own part.

The Red-Hot Address

Early in 1884, a Utah newspaper known for its anti-Mormon editorial bias published a letter. The newspaper claimed it was sermon given by a Mormon Bishop by the name of West and delivered in Juab, Utah. The sermon, called the Red Hot Address, was inflammatory and called for violence against those not of the Mormon faith

When the Red Hot Address came out in the papers, it kick started the already simmering anti‑Mormon sentiment. At Cane Creek, Tennessee, Parson Vandiver figured prominently in the spreading of this inflammatory “Mormon” sermon. He reprinted copies at his own expense. The sermon was easily proven a fabrication. When shown the evidence the Utah paper that originally published the letter agreed. They printed a retraction but added a caveat that although this particular sermon was a fraud, the sentiments expressed in it were an accurate representation of older Mormon teachings.

In Lewis County, Tennessee, Parson Vandiver, continued passing around copies even after being sent a letter by Elder Gibbs with the proof that the sermon was a fraud.

Below is the address and a letter written by George Teasdale refuting it. I'm still looking for the retraction.

A Red-Hot Address
(From the Salt Lake Tribune.)
Stenographical report of Bishop West's harangue in the Juab school-house,
Sunday, March 9th, 1884.
Reported by Tobias Tobey for the Salt Lake Tribune.

Juab, Utah, March 9th.
It is time, my brothers and sisters, that we ceased this cowardly silence and humble submission to the rulings and machinations of the devil and his fiery imps at the capitol of this God-forsaken Gentile government; and it is time for us to fling their defiance and scurrilous domination back in their faces. We are the elect of Christ, and the day of judgment is at hand, and it's our turn then if it isn't now, which I say it is. When Gabriel sounds his trumpet on that awful day, the Gentile hellhounds will find the Saints of God have got all the front seats reserved, and that they can't find standing room for themselves in the gallery. The cause is flourishing in the Juab Stake of Zion, and many souls are being daily rescued from the flames of heathenism. If I had my way not a house would be left standing which sheltered a knavish Gentile. They are eyesores in the sight of the Lord and His vengeance is sure to come. They persecute His Saints and He has commanded them to destroy their persecutors. He has commanded the Saints to rid the earth of the sin-besmudged heretic. He has revealed unto us the foundation of the Gentile Church that it is the devil. (II Nephi ch. 4, verse xx.) Hell is filled with the scurrilous Gentiles and the floors of hell are paved with the skulls of apostates. He who kills a Gentile rids the earth of a serpent and adds a star to his own crown. The Saints are gathering together from sea to sea and they will rise in their awful might and fall upon the enemies of Zion. Let the tabernacles resound with joyful voices for the fulfillment of the prophecies of Moroni are at hand. The minions of the devil are set loose in our midst by the crime soaked politicians who rule our land. The shades of the sainted martyr Smith call aloud for vengeance at the hands of his followers. The blood of the Gentile persecutors shall be spilled on their own thresholds to appease the anger of our prophet. Tune the lyre and beat the cymbals; for our revenge is now at hand. We will wipe out the scum of the Washington blood suckers and the high priest of the devil who assumes to rule in our very midst shall be cut off with a sharp instrument. The thieving Murray issues orders to the Saints of God, and defies everyone but the devil, who is his sponsor. His head will be placed upon the walls of our city and his entrails scattered throughout the street of Zion that every Gentile adventurer may behold and take a care that we are left to pursue our road to Paradise unmolested. Our strength is greater than the world believes and our will is powerful and undaunted by heretic menaces. The Lord is our shepherd and we cannot fail. The red man is our firm ally and he thirsts for the blood of the enemy of Zion. We are powerful and unassailable in our mountain home and we will roll the massive boulders of destruction down from the mountain tops upon the heads of the unregenerate. Our secret places are stored with crafty explosives with which we will surely destroy the strongholds of the government of Satan. Our young men are drilling for the conflict, and pure wives and daughters are making themselves ready to minister to our wants, and the day is close at hand. Let the Gentile leeches and poltroons beware and win our forbearance, if yet they may. The Lord is sorely angered at our persecutors, and He has said to our counselors in a vision that He will deliver our enemy into our hands as He delivered Laban into the hands of Nephi. He will visit the earth, through us, with a worse destruction than He did in the days of the flood, and the ungodly will bite the dust with rage, and their blood will flow in the streets of Zion even as much as the waters in the day of Noah. Behold, I declare unto you, all ye Saints who revere the memory of the Prophets that you must begin to gird up your loins and whet your knives. Let the religious fervor of the Saints who are dead and gone recur to your weaker spirits and fire you with the zeal of the destroying angels. Eli Murray is the Cain of our generation. He hates our people and he "works for our destruction that he may win for himself a reputation of valor among the ungodly. He is a damned scoundrel, and a pestiferous leper. He is the polluted scum of corruption. He reeks with ungodliness, and he is rotten with heresy. I command every true disciple of Christ to watch out for this damned Yankee interloper, and ye know that there is protection enough for you in Zion if ye kill the whole Gentile race. Last night, as I lay in my bed thinking over the affairs of the Church, and possessed of a strange restlessness, and praying the while for inspiration from the Most High, that I might see the way more clearly to a sure release of my brethren from bondage, behold a great and glorious light suddenly filled my apartment with a glow brighter than the sun. I was at first afraid, and inclined strongly to leap from my bed and flee. But of a sudden I heard a voice which caused my heart to beat with tumultuous joy, for it was that of Joseph Smith. I gazed at him earnestly, expecting and hanging on the words which should perchance fall from his lips, and I beheld that his garments were of a dazzling whiteness, and that his skin was of a dazzling and heavenly whiteness, save the blood-red spots and livid wounds where the bullets of the cursed Gentiles had entered his sainted body, and which were now visible to their eternal damnation, as were the marks of the nails which pierced the hands and feet of Christ. Joseph spoke to me in a voice of wondrous sweetness blended with strains of the direst severity when he spoke of the fate in store for those Saints who neglected what he should now command them. Joseph bade me to cast my eyes about and behold the presence in the midst of the Saints of an emissary of the devil. It was the will of the Most High that this man should be removed, and if other emissaries were chosen to fill his place, even as many as were so chosen should be similarly dealt with. If allowed to remain in our midst, the sin would be on our heads, for it was the command of the Most High God of Abraham and Isaac. It lay in our power to be our own rulers, and our cowardice was the cause of sore distress to the departed Saints who had left us a kingdom. Eli H. Murray was possessed of a devil, and had only the outward semblance of a man. He should and must be trod upon until his bowels gushed out in the streets. The incarnate fiend lurked invisibly behind his hellish disciple, and was intent upon the destruction of Zion. The time was short, and vigorous and immediate action premptory. The curses of eternal damnation awaited those who failed in this holy mission. The work must not stop at the destruction of one of these hell-hounds, these Erebus-like pestilences in the folds of the anointed, but must extend even to the farthermost corners of the earth, until every heretic out of hell was sent home, and the Latter-day Saints were rulers of the land. Much more the beloved Joseph said to me which I am commanded not to reveal unto you until you prove the sincerity of your faith and love for the prosperity of Zion from what has already been revealed. The direst plagues shall be immediately visited upon you and your children if these divine commands go unheeded. I call upon you who sit there trembling in your seats to beware, and to rise in your strength and win your crown. Let every Saint in Zion be present at the meeting in this building on Sunday next at this hour, and I will discourse further upon these matters which I have, for wise reasons, kept from you during the day up to this minute. The Lord bless you. Amen.


The Foul Libel Refuted
NEPHI, JUAB Co., TJ. T.
March 18, 1884.
Editor Deseret News:
Please pardon me for referring to a sheet published in your city, called the "Salt Lake Tribune,," although I do not presume that it is sustained by any respectable person in this Territory where it has so unenviable a reputation; still it may be sent abroad and fall into the hands of some simple-minded persons who might perhaps be deluded into the impression that it was a truthful sheet, or reliable authority. Not that I think for a moment that any sane person would be so woefully deceived. I wish to refer to a manufactured sensational piece in the issue of Sunday the 16th inst. that has been called to my attention, headed a "Red-Hot Address;" also a short editorial on the subject in which the truthful (?) editor states it had been "forwarded by a friend. " O, tempore! O, mores! It purports to be a "stenographical report of Bishop West's harangue in the Juab schoolhouse, Sunday March 9, 1884, reported by 'Tobias Tobey' for the Salt Lake Tribune." Then follows an address which charity would suggest had been written by an insane person or worse, the offspring of a dreadfully corrupt heart, a miserable disgrace to the genus homo, worthy only to rise to "shame' and everlasting contempt."
Now, the facts are these: It is all a gross fabrication, Juab is a small town occupied by hotel and boarding house keepers, a store or two and the railroad hands; there is a small branch of the Church, presided over by Elder James Wilson, who is very much respected, but no bishop. On the Sunday referred to there had been a wash-out and all the hands were busy, so that there was no meeting held on that day; and as far as the "Bishop West" is concerned, there is no such bishop there or in the "Mormon" Church, and who "Tobias Tobey" is no one knows.
I have been requested to inform you of these facts, and kindly request that you will waive any feeling of dislike you may have to, in any way, refer to the existence of such a sheet, for the sake of our young Elders on missions, who might perchance meet with this shockingly vile fabrication.
Very Respectfully,
GEORGE TEASDALE.

[The paper printed a retraction. I have reproduced it here.]

First Convert Baptism in 63 years

Recently I was given a copy of this article. From the Deseret New 9 November 1949, it recounts the baptism of Horace Campbell Cooper Talley, who at the age of 73 decided he wanted to get baptised. By then the Hampshire Branch of the LDS Church had been organized in neighboring Maury County. Bud, as he was called by his friends and family, was the son of Bash and Eliza Talley who were members of the Cane Creek Branch in 1884. He was at home when the Massacre happened but he heard the shots. His mother, Eliza, was at the Conder house during the Massacre.

The article was written by Bruce E Belnap, a missionary serving in Lewis County at the time, and also a grandson of Hyrum Belnap, one of the early missionaries to Cane Creek. He says that Lewis county was closed to missionary work until 1947.

I have been trying to prove or disprove a claim made in more than one written history of the Massacre, that after 1884 no more baptisms had taken place in Lewis County until 1949; a claim made without documentation. Apparently the documentation is here. But I have been able to find a few baptisms in Lewis county prior to this; All of them with a post office address of Hohenwald. A few of them were children of the Carroll family (nieces and nephews of Malinda Conder), which I suppose you could put in their own classification. One was a 40 year old Michael Spears [my best guess at the name from the hand writing] on Apr 28, 1915. The Book of Baptisms for Middle Tennessee, from which I am working only covers up to 1920.

Of course, having a Hohenwald post office does not mean you lived on Cane Creek. The Carrolls did not live on Cane Creek. But it does mean the claim for there to be no baptisms in Lewis County for 65 years is a little to general. But perhaps that may be true if you qualified it for just Cane Creek. At least this article got the title right.

James Roskelley

I had given up. Elder Ross Kelley was nowhere to be found. Then just the other day I was referring back to an article in the Millennial Star. At the bottom of the article was the beginning of the next one. It read "Almost Another Martyrdom: Elder James Roskelley, of Smithfield, Shot and Wounded." Like a ton of bricks it hit me that I knew that name! I had recently posted about Elder Ross Kelly. But I was unable to locate him in all the other usual sources. Now I know why.

Armed with this new information I find him elsewhere. In the Deseret News, 27 Aug 1884, (quoted from the Logan Leader) is an article about the shooting of Elder James Roskelley. There is some understandable confusion with the Cane Creek Massacre. Other than that it matches the Millennial Star Article which it says is quoted the Utah Journal. (See below)

James Roskelley was born on 10 January 1865, in Smithfield Utah; the son of Samuel Roskelley and Rebecca Hendricks. Samuel was a Bishop, Recorder for the Logan Temple and later Patriarch for Smithfield. In an answer to a prayer Samuel once saw Nephite warriors guarding the temple against Federal agents intent of using temple records to prosecute polygamists. But that is another story.

James left on his mission in May 1884 and served in the East Tennessee Conference. Their headquarters was Lee Valley, Tennessee; a small rural community east and north of Knoxville.

On one occasion Elder Roskelley participated in the healing of the son of a prominent man. Colonel Green was well known, as was the condition of his son, who was very sick with typhoid fever. He had been delirious for a days. Knowing that the Elders preached healing of the sick, the family asked the Elders to administer to their son.

"They did so, the delirium was rebuked, and in five minutes the patient was asleep, the first rest he had had for three days and nights"

As you can guess this caused quite stir in the community. Many people would come to the Green home to talk with the Elders.

On the 8th of August 1884, while conversing with someone who had come to inquire about the church,

"they saw a negro walk along the road past the house. A moment after the negro had disappeared from their sight, they heard the sharp report of a pistol, and at the same instant Elder Roskelley felt a sharp pain in his left arm."

A doctor was called and Elder Roskelley was treated. The bullet had actually grazed him across the chest before it entered his left arm. Mr Green roused his neighbors to look for the shooter. He was soon found a brought before a magistrate.

"He plead in court that he was shooting at a tree, and that the wounding of Elder Roskelley was purely accidental. The magistrate placed no confidence in this story, which was too evidently a miserable subterfuge and bound the negro over to await the action of the grand jury at its next session"

Elder Roskelley expressed the desire to finish out his mission, and I expect he did. His wound was not life threatening, though it easily could have been. His story would have made bigger news of it had not been for what happened two days later at Cane Creek.

I have found nothing about the fate of the man accused of the shooting. Did he make it to a trial? Was he lynched? or released by someone who put him up to it? I have no idea.

After Elder Roskelley returned home he married Frances Annie Emery on 18 Sep 1890 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served in the YMMIA Stake Presidency until November 1893. In 1905 was named as a deputy county assessor with a pay of $2.50 per day. Later that same year he appears to be involved in the Cache Commercial Club, an organization like a modern Chamber of Commerce (Interestingly enough, also on the club is John H. Gibbs, son of the Elder Gibbs shot at Cane Creek. The younger Gibbs would begin his mission to the Southern States in April 1905). In September 1910 Roskelley was considered for the position of Sheriff of Cache County. Then he disappears from public record so I'm guessing he didn't win.

He and his wife would have 14 children before he died on 8 May 1919 in Smithfield, Utah at the age of 54.

Witness - John F. Henschen

The following appeared in the Nashvile Republican Banner on 23 August 1884. It is reportedly a reprint from the Indianapolis News from "yesterday"

John F. Henschen, who is running a saw-mill at Ivy Mills, Hickman county, Tenn., is in town, visiting his family. He was an eye-witness to the shooting of the Mormon elders last Sunday week, and his description of the affair is graphic. The elders had been proselyting in that section for a long time, and the prejudice against them was intense, under the belief that they were influencing young girls to immigrate to Utah. A church which they bult was burned down three times, and then they continued their meetings in Martin Condor's house. Condor and his half brother, Riley Hutson, were in Henschen's employ. Both were proselytes. A warning had been given them that no more meetings would be tolerated, and notice was sent to Gibbs, one of the elders, that tar and feathers awaited him. Gibbs made answer that his field was Tennessee, and the more he was threatened the harder he would work. Right here he intended to stay, if he died on the spot. Sunday morning, as Henschen was riding near Condor's house, he met the band, headed by David Hinson, and they halted him at the muzzle of a revolver, and he remained a quiet spectator of what followed.

The band numbered fifteen or twenty, wearing masks, and were heavily armed, and with them was a wagon in which were a number of whips, a kettle of tar and a supply of feathers. As they neared the house Gibbs was seen at the window reading from a book, and he was shot dead without warning. The fire was returned from the house, and for a few moments the fusilade reminded Henschen of his army experiences. The Mormons finally fled, but not until Condor, Hutson, Gibbs and his associate had been shot dead, and Mrs Condor badly wounded. The attacking force lost but one man, Hinson, who was killed in the first fire from the house. Henschen was one of the judges at the inquest, and in his certificate he made return of death at the hands of unknown parties. He reports that since the shooting several of the proselytes have had to flee the country, among them Tom Basteune and P. W. Dupriest, two of his employees. Elisha Tully, and old resident, was another Mormon who fled the scene, and so great was his fright that he sold his farm of 264 acres, together with the crops, farming utensils, live stock, etc., to Henschen for $500 cash, in order to leave at once.

Of course there are some problems with his account. I won't describe them all, just the two most problematic. First, no other witness reported the presence of a wagon. The vigilantes had just left Elder Jones on the far side of the creek. In order to cross they would have to use the "bridge" made from a fallen tree. Doing so would have prevented bringing along a wagon. Second is that Henschen claimed "the Mormons finally fled". In fact, a better description is that the mob simply left after having killed the missionaries who were still there. While one missionary fled the house (Thompson), the rest of the Mormons ran toward the house to help out Riley and Malinda who were still alive.
This is not to say that Henschen made it all up. The wagon could have been a little down the road, out of site of the house, but exactly where Henschen was riding. And he could have known about Thompson's escape and assumed others had run too. Part of the fun of reading historical documents, is sorting out what is most likely the truth.

Newspaper Sampling

In the Nashville Republican Banner, on the 25th of August 1884, is a selection of excerpts from papers from across Tennessee. They are good sample of the sentiments held by many people in Tennessee at the time, which could be summarised as "Lewis County shouldn't have resorted to violence, but we are glad they did."

A SHREWD GUESS
Chester Citizen: Can a people afford to allow these lustful teachers to go on leading the young and unstable minds of boys and girls into a faith that is worse than heathen? We guess not.

'S'BLOOD, IAGO, S'BLOOD"
Waverly Times-Journal: Mormonism is a foul blot upon this country, and it will have to be removed someday even if it requires the shedding of blood to do it. It is a national disgrace and should be immediately removed.

JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE
Dresden Era: Nearly all the papers condemn the action of the Lewis County mob in killing three [two, actually] Mormon Elders, an account of which we published in our last issue. In our opinion, while we, as a rule, are opposed to mob law, the Lewis County men acted right.

A MENACE TO THE COUNTRY
Tullahoma Guardian: As long as polygamy and the other indecencies of Mormonism existed only in Utah, the country seemed careless about the spread of this so called religion, and it was thus allowed to grow up and thrive until now it has become bold and defiant and is a menace to the peace of the whole country.

A Mormon Dignitary

This article was found in the Lawrenceburg Press of Lawrenceburg Tennessee, on September 11, 1884. I found the use of a popular figure to describe the appearance of a "Mormon Dignitary" very interesting. I'll add Peter Cooper's photo below. Any thoughts on who he could be speaking about? Or perhaps it is no one in particular.

A Mormon Dignitary

I have in mind, says a Salt Lake City
correspondent, a wealthy dignitary of
the church whom you might easily have
mistaken for the late Peter Cooper and
who is possessed of seven wives. Each
of these women has some farming and
garden ground of her own, and all are
greatly devoted to rearing bees. With
the help of their grown children they
each raise a large amount of produce and
honey annually. The husband acts as
their agent. He hives their swarms of
bees and charges them for it; he renders
special aid when called upon and is paid
for it; he sells their crops and honey
when it is ready and credits each wife
with her due share. Most of them live
in suites of apartments under the roof of
his great house in town, but the first
wife has a beautiful farm of her own a
little way out of the city, to which she
and her children have retired to end
their days in peaceful independence.
The way in which this old gentleman
has always arranged his domestic life is
reported to be thus: He had certain
rooms in his house where he kept his
bed, his wardrobe, his books and saw
any visitors who called upon him. Here
he was a bachelor and here he staid every
other day and night. On alternate days
and nights he was the guest of one or
another of his wives in regular rotation,
devoting the one day (in this case fort-
nightly) which was hers diligently to her
society. Of course this routine was not
invariable, but for the most part it was
regularly followed.

Peter Cooper was a wealthy "Inventor, Philanthopist and Industrialist" who ran for president of the USA in 1876 (Greenback Party). I don't think he looks like any of the general authorities I know of from 1884. But then, I don't know that many.

Wants to be a Mormon

The following article appeared in the Lawrenceburg Press of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee on June 5 1885. I think is conveys the negative attitute toward Mormon prevalent at the time.

Wants to be a Mormon

Mr. Blank – “Do you know, my dear,
that at this season of the year I almost
wish I was a Mormon, because – ”
Mrs. Blank – “You horrid old brute.
I always knew – ”
Mr. Blank – “Patience, my love; I
could not care for anyone but you, only
you see – ”
Mrs. Blank – “Oh! Yes, Mr. Blank, I
see. I have seen for some time, and I’m
going right home to my – ”
Mr. Blank – “Please give me a chance
to finish. I was only going to remark
that a Mormon usually has a separate
house for each wife, and – ”
Mrs. Blank – “Well, I should just – ”
Mr. Blank – “And he ought to be
happy – ”
Mrs. Blank – “Oh! You horrid old – ”
Mr. Blank – “Ought to be happy be-
cause it is not at all likely that all his
wives clean house at the same time.” –
Phila. Eve. Call

I guess this falls into the category of non-Mormon humor about Mormons.

Short-term Missions

I ran accross a reference to "Short Term Missions" in an Deseret News article last week. The article was from 1943. On the same page (a photocopoy) were portions of other articles: "Bishop on Short Mission" and "Bishop Drowned on Short-term Mision." when considered with the reference to a short-term missions in the article I wanted in the first place, that makes three on a single page. So being the curious sort I am I had to ask "what was a short term mission?"

When I was a youth, a short term mission was a two week long stay with the full time missionaries. It was for 17-18 year olds to give them a taste of missionary life. We also called them Two Week Missions. To be honest, I at the time I thought "Why would anyone volunteer for that?" Ah, the self centeredness of youth.

The three examples above are clearly different. In two cases the person was a Bishop, and in the third the Elder was definately in his 60's. They appear to be for six months. and at least these were all in the United States. I did find references to LeGrand Richards serving a short-term mission to the Eastern States in 1926 (at age 40) for six months.

Anyone know anything else about this?

Among the Mormons in Colorado

While looking at a local paper, The Hickman Pioneer on March 07, 1884, for clues about Cane Creek I found this article. Most of the converts from the South that moved to Zion were sent to Colorado. Apparently not all of them were happy.

Among the Mormons in Colorado.
A correspondent from Colorado to the Fayetteville Observer, speaking of the Mormon settlement in Colorado, says that a formidable revolt has taken place among the proselytes to that faith there, and mentions the name of J. H. Totty, of Hickman County, Tenn. as one of the most prominent leaders of the revolt, and says that a great number of the Southerns have joined in the revolt and have withdrawn from the Church. We make the following extract from the published letter of the correspondent above referred to:
I came west to join the Mormons in 1877; am a native of Lincoln County, Tenn., but lived in Rome twenty-eight years; have eight children out here with me; am a wagon maker. I was converted to Mormonism in 1876. There were a good many Mormon missionaries in Georgia; six or seven in the neighborhood of Rome. Not many of the upper class in Georgia took hold of Mormonism, nor many of the lower. Nearly all that took hold of it were comfortable people of what you might call the middle class. They made a good many converts in that religion; forty or fifty about the time I was converted. I belonged to the Missionary Baptist in Rome before I became a Mormon. We were nearly (allured?) to this believe by the thought to a simple and pious people that their church was the chosen instrument of God to regenerate the world, and that it was in constant and direct intercourse with God, through revelations, and knew His will, and had the fullness of His grace beyond all other churches. They claimed the gift of healing, of prophesy, of tongues, the intercourse with the spirit world, and so forth. We are disappointed in Mormons. I do not consider them a moral people. They do not live up to their doctrine as they preach it to us. You would not think it the same religion. Blasphemy is shockingly common, and Sabbath breaking is the rule.
There is great suffering among our Southern people here. We try to help one another, but it is very hard, and there is much actual suffering. Nobody can make crops here. The Mexicans do not do it; It’s too cold. Our wheat does not ripen until September and the frost generally clutches it in the milk, so that it is spoiled for flour and only good for feed.
I ain’t ashamed of my name where I am known, and the folks in Floyd County will know what value to put on my word. Tell them to go slow on this Utah business.
It good rumored about that the priesthood was selling out the Mormon vote for money, as we Mormons held the balance of power in this county, and our priesthood were consequently courted by both parties. As long as we thought the thing was square we were willing to vote together, but when we came to believe that we were being sold out we revolted at the last election. I was immediately summoned to appear before the council for discipline for disobeying the dictates of the priesthood. I went, and they told if would acknowledge that I had done wrong it be alright, but I wouldn’t apologize. I thought it looked like slavery, and the apology was due me instead of to them. I considered it an insult to my manhood. As long as they worked us through our faith and throug (sic) our church sympathies they had us alright, but when we saw that there was a threat back of it, you see they found they’d got hold of a powerful unruly lot of stock to drive. There is some polygamy here, but that is all among the Utah people. None of the Southerners have taken up with that abomination. Tell the folks at home that we havn’t (sic) got that low.

Hickman Pioneer

I spend part of Tuesday in the Tennessee State Library and Archives. My focus was a newspaper published in Centerville called the Hickman Pioneer. It had some great stuff in it. For example. Parson Vandeveer has been an elusive figure inthe events leading up to the Massacre. He only appears in accounts written by Mormons. Even the Census does not list a minister by the last name of Vandeveer. But in the Pioneer I found a note on Lewis County date June 13 1884.

Elder J. H. Vandeveer preached on Indian Creek last Sunday.

No other text accompanies the note. Indian Creek is only five miles from Cane Creek.

Then in the Spetember 26th issue, I found a note indicating that the Mormons had been given until October 1st to leave the County or renounce their membership in the Church. By the October 17th issue only two Mormon families, the Winters and the Garretts, had yet left Lewis County. but that the rest appeared to be ready to do so shortly. By March 6th, 1885 a newsreport from Cane Creek included none of the names of known members of the Church.

Mormon Newspaper in NY Closed

In the September 29th 1857, Nashville Republican Banner is an article originally written in the New York Herald on September 24th.

The [M]ormon newspaper published in this city has suspended, after an existence of two years and seven months. A few days ago imperative orders were received from headquarters that all places of Mormon worship in this city be suspended, and the newspapers discontinued. The order was immediately complied with. The saints here are in a quandary, as no reason is given for this sudden movement, and were taken all aback. There were some fifteen Mormons connected with the paper, only one of whom is an American. During its existence they have been instrumental in forwarding some 3,800 persons to Deseret; many of them of the lowest class of European emigrants. The principle Mormon locality in this region is on Tom’s river, New Jersey. The Mormons connected with the printing here, and probably all, contemplate going to Utah next spring, it being now too late in the season to reach there. They were in hopes of arriving there in the spring, before the United States troops reached Deseret, as they supposed the troops would go into winter quarters. At first the Mormons here looked with little fear on the troops about to go to Utah, and only ridiculed them, thinking they would have no difficulty in throwing dust into their eyes. They don’t like the present commander, they are distrustful of him, and are down on Mr. Buchanan for appointing him. The newspaper here cost them $210 per week, and its stoppage was not for want of funds. They did their business with the Nassau Bank. Some three hundred missionaries have been sent to all parts of the world during the past two or three years, many of them on long missions and without a longer warning than a day or two. One of Brigham Young’s secretaries was ordered off in this way with but a night’s notice, and was compelled to leave his home and eight wives in the morning for a European mission, which may be prolonged until Brigham thinks fit to recall him. Individuals who are thought rather inquisitive are said to be frequently treated in this capital mode of getting rid of them for an indefinite period.

I have not yet found much about the details around this event. I think the paper was called "The Mormon" and was a weekly newspaper edited by John Taylor. I found the note about the attitude of the New York saints very interesting due to a story related about a great great grandfather of mine, which seems to say the same thing. As for the rest of the article, well, so much to say and so little time.

Descriptions of Early Salt Lake City

Quoted in the Republican Banner (Nashville, TN) on July 8th 1857 was an article by Frédéric Gaillardet who lived for a time in New York City writing articles on events in France for New York newspapers and on event s in the US for Paris newspapers. Originally written in French, the article was translated into English and reproduced in part. Below is an extract from the describing what we would know as Salt Lake City.

The colony chose a position extremely advantageous, upon the strait between the two lakes, and founded there the city of Deseret, a name which signifies “bee-hive” in the pretended “Reformed Egyptian” language. The aspect presented by this young city is very picturesque. It is divided into twenty quarters, each forming a separate inclosure (sic). The houses are built of adobe, or bricks dried in the sun, are only a single story, and are surrounded by gardens. The springs which descend from the mountains flow in little rivulets into the gardens and streets. The stores are numerous and elegant. The state house is 90 by 40 feet. The town is protected by a fortified inclosure (sic), and the number of inhabitants is about 30,000. The neighboring country is admirably cultivated, and returns with usury the products which are confided to it. The waterfall between the lakes is utilized for turning numerous mills.

Now I don’t know Salt Lake very well, but I see all kinds of errors in this article. Thoughts?