The Missing Newspaper Article that Started it all

While some historians have claimed the Red Hot Address was largely responsible for the anti Mormon feeling in Lewis County in 1884, I believe more credit should be given to a Newspaper article that has since been lost. There are significant differences between the lost article and the Red Hot Address. I have previously reprinted the text of the Red Hot Address. Since I do not have the missing newspaper article I will quote what I do know.

Jack Wells, who confessed to having been in the mob, said “the whole thing was a big mistake.” He went on…

I believe that damn newspaper started the whole thing. Some fellers from the village rode up the creek here letting all read it as could read. And them that couldn’t read, they read for them, and got us all excited.

Another man known only as Bill, who was working for his cousin on the field near where Elder Jones was captured, said this about the newspaper article.

But the worst was a nasty newspaper article that was circulated among the people. I reckon you could find copies of that paper around yit (sic). It stirred up the people something terrible, and most of ‘em believed it, but some of us believed it was mostly lies. I never here’d of no women bothered by the Mormons.

W. W. Bean wrote about a conversion in 1895 with Mr. Simpson who lived in Lewis County. He told Bean that…

The fact is much of the prejudice against the Mormons is the result of a vicious newspaper article that was extensively circulated throughout the country. I don’t recall where the article was originally printed, but our little country paper at Lawrenceburg copied it and it spread like a forest fire all over the country.

After being asked to tell some of the details included in the article Mr. Simpson went on.

Among other things the article said: ‘The Mormons are after your women, and when they are converted to Mormonism, and an Elder has a woman in the water ready for baptism he stoops over and whispers to her, saying, after you are baptized and become sanctified, you become as much my wife as you are now your husband’s, and what-so-ever thou doest ye sinneth not.’ I didn’t believe the article. And I think it was published with evil design. I had many conversations with the Mormon Missionaries while they were in our county and we even entertained them at our home, and we learned to know the as perfect Christian gentlemen. That contemptible newspaper article was circulated from one family to another, until the whole county seemed agitated over the Mormons. That article was largely responsible for the mobbing of the Mormons. It was sensational and a majority believed it, and the few of us who did not believe it were helpless. We played safe by not expressing our views.

Others used words similar enough to Mr. Simpson to imply they probably had the same source. A storekeep in Mannie Station said…

The Mormons are the best bible preachers we’ve had around here, and if they’d leave that damn secret sanctification stuff out, and quit telling the women that it don’t matter what they do after they are sanctified they can’t sin.

Mr. Simpson's description of the newspaper article's content are different from the contents of the Red Hot Address, and so could not be the same document; though the two could have been printed together. I suppose the article may even have been intended as commentary on the Red Hot Address. But even if they were printed together, it was not the contents of the Red Hot Address that appears to have inflamed the local resident, but the text that had been added before it made it to Lewis County, Tennessee.

Regardless, while the newspaper article appears to have made no specific accusations about the Elders working at Cane Creek, the possibility enraged a large number of the local non-Mormons; enough for it to erupt into the violence now known as the Cane Creek Massacre.

[The above quotes come from an account written by W.W. Bean in 1895 about his visit to Lewis County and quotes from those he interviewed there. You can find a copy at the Salt Lake City Church History Library and Archives. Manuscript MS624.]

Utah Digital Papers

For someone who specializes in Mormon History but doesn’t live anywhere near Utah, the Utah Digital Newspapers is a useful source. Collections once only available along the Wasatch Front now can be perused at your leisure. Of course even if you do live near a Utah Public Library. This is still a very useful tool.

It was started in 2001 by the University of Utah with a demonstration grant. The idea was to prove it could be done. The program was so successful they received more grants. Other organizations, including BYU, have joined the effort.

Like most newspapers, you need to be careful about what was printed. The accuracy of the information is not guaranteed, only that it was printed. And just being in print is not proof that what was printed was true. Many things were printed for obvious polemical reasons. Makes you wonder about what my great grandchildren will read in papers published today that will seem outlandishly partisan to them.

The database is large, and contains a huge number of papers. Although it is far from comprehensive, new collections are being added all the time. Check the homepage for the newest ones. Check out how your ancestors we portrayed in the papers. You might be surprised how closely watched the comings and goings of ordinary people were.

Mormon Missionary Diaries

One of my favorite online tools is Mormon Missionary Diaries. Released in around 2004, it was a truly ambitious project. Not only did the project team transcribe hundreds of missionary journals, but they also scanned every page, including the covers, in color. They also made the scans search able. So if I think a person or place name was mistyped, it is a simple matter to locate the original writing and making my own judgement. Plus the transcriptions maintain the original pagination of the diary. It was a lot of effort.

The diaries are organized by mission region, and by missionary. The interface isn’t the fastest. So I usually skip to the printing version of the diary I want (found at the bottom of each diaries’ index) and save it to my hard drive. Then I can read, search and explore without the delay that comes mostly from working over the Internet.

Included in a section apart from the diaries themselves, is a biography on each diarist. Don’t hesitate to read through the biographies. Even after almost a year of researching the Cane Creek Massacre, I found new sources of information just by reading the biography of John H. Gibbs.
One note on searching; the diaries retain the original spelling of the diarists. So if you are looking for references to something specific, like “Tennessee”, recognize that not every young man from Utah knew how to spell it correctly.