and by truly
Your friend and the friend of all good men,
Brigham Young
18. Broderick wrote a letter of introduction for H
orace Eldredge, who was handling the
church’s emigration debt in St. Louis. See Young to Eldredge, October 20, 1858, BYOF.
53
Young to Kane, October 29, 1858
WIth thIs letter, Young sent the October 27, 1858 issue of the Deseret News, which reprinted an article from the San Francisco Bulletin from September 30, obtained from its “Special Correspondent” in Salt Lake City. The letter, reportedly written on September 13, claimed that
the public records of this Territory are in a state of inglorious confusion,
notwithstanding the assertion made by Gov. Cumming in his report to
the Secretary of State that all the records, the Territorial Library and
public property of the Territory, were in perfect order, and had not been
injured or disturbed.1
In response, Cumming asked the Deseret News to publish several state-
ments refuting this assertion and describing in detail the status of judicial,
executive, and legislative records in the territory.2
Source
Young to Kane, October 29, 1858, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 4,
vol. 4, 509–510.
1.“P
ublic Records in Utah All in Confusion,” Deseret News, October 27, 1858, 3.
2. See statements by Henry Cabot, Kirk Anderson, John Hartnett, and John G. Lynch in Deseret News, October 27, 1858, 3.
Young to Kane, October 29, 1858
307
Letter
Great Salt Lake City
October 29. 1858.
Col. Thomas L. Kane
My very dear and kind friend
I take the liberty of enclosing you a copy of the “News” in which you
will find a very full contradiction of the statements of the “special cor-
respondent” of the Eastern papers. The statements had to be literally
extorted from the parties by Governor Cumming. He continues to take
a very manly straight-forward course. But I am very much inclined to
think he is alone. The low vagabond Craig is the perpetual pet compan-
ion of Judge Sinclair.3 The Secretary considers himself in honor bound
to keep entirely aloof from us and make it his business to find all the
fault he can with everybody but his own immediate circle.4 The num-
ber of army followers has increased and their rowdyism and insolence
have compelled us to establish a regular police.5 The army still
keep very quietly at quarters. A number of that class whose fortunes are
depending on the retention of the army here, are constantly seeking
to kick up a row. So far they have failed. A few of these choice spirits
made a trip to Provo bench, from whence they returned yesterday, for
the purpose of locating Centre City, intending it as a rival to this City.
3. R
eference to Columbus L. Craig, a federal Indian agent, and Charles E. Sinclair, an associate territorial justice. Earlier, Craig had been a deputy surveyor working under the direction of David H. Burr in Utah (see “The Utah Expedition” in Message From The President of The United States, 35th Cong., 1st Sess. 71; and Thomas G. Alexander “Conflict and Fraud: Utah Public Land Surveys in the 1850s, the Subsequent Investigation and Problems with the Land Disposal System,” Utah Historical Quarterly vol. 80 (Spring 2012): 108–131). Charles E. Sinclair (1828–1887), a lawyer and jurist, was born in Virginia and appointed an associate justice in 1858. See Thomas William Herringshaw, Herringshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century (Chicago: American Publisher’s Association, 1901), 851; Valley Tan 1, no. 52 (November 9, 1859), 2.
4. John Hartnett, who had been commissioned as territorial secretary in January 1858, arrived in Utah with the army in June 1858. Young called Hartnett a “mill and water kind of man, not of much account anywhere.” Hartnett had left the territory by September 1859 and died in March 1860. See Young to George Q. Cannon, November 21, 1858, BYOF; LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Mormon Resistance: A Documentary Account of the Utah Expedition, 1857–1858 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 298–299, 303, 319–320; Nevada Observer, September 27, 1859; Daily Alta California, April 6, 1860.
5. For the founding of the Salt Lake City police force, see Hosea Stout, diary, September 16, 1858, CHL.
308
the prophet and the reformer
Thus [p. 2] the origins of “Babylon dug up.”6 I understand Mr. Hartnett
(the Secretary) made a report some time since of which the Statements
in the “News” will be a positive Contradiction.7 If so I would be glad to
have the present and former reports confront each other. How far dis-
tant is the day when our wills be no longer compelled to submit to the
insolent officiousness of ignorant, unqualified rowdyism? It will come
sometime and God will reward your efforts to hurry it on. The entire
and most gross inability of the officials here (excepting the Governor
alone) to do their duty, and this scandalous ignorance of the commonest
business of officers are a very degrading satire on the administration.
It may be the duty of the government to feed pet worthlessness but it
ought not to have means of mischief put in its hands.
Your very numerous friends wish a warm remembrance to you.
Present to your good lady, your dear mother, your brother and all your
people my very kind regards. May you and they live long in the enjoy-
ment of all good things and enjoy a happy and interminable union
where sorrow is not known, with those who have already terminated
their career in this world. God bless you, Colonel, God bless you
Your Sincere and
undeviating friend,
Brigham Young
6.
In October 1858, several federal officials investigated establishing a new city, “Centre City,”
at the mouth of Provo Canyon. Young wrote that a group of Salt Lake City men had “formed a Company for the purpose of speculating in Town lots; the site they have chosen is the Provo Bench. The object probably is to make a survey and plot and sell lots in the east. The company is composed of some of the Merchants and gamblers, and is doubtless designed to gull and swindle the unsuspecting.” “Babylon Dug Up,” Deseret News, October 27, 1858, 2; Young to Horace S. Eldredge, November 20, 1858, BYOF.
7. This likely referenced the dispute over Utah public records. In the letter published in the San Francisco Bulletin, the writer stated, “The papers of the Territorial Secretary’s offices are equally imperfect.” However, Hartnett refuted this in the Deseret News. See Deseret News, October 27, 1858, 3.
54
Young to Kane, November 22, 1858
YounG Covered a variety of subjects in this letter, particularly contrasting the
conduct of Governor Cumming and newly arrived territorial district attorney
Alexander Wilson with the other federal officials and prominent non-Mormons
who wanted to “revive if possible the excitement of 1856 & 7.” Besides Wilson, two new federal judges—Charles Sinclair and John Cradlebaugh—had also
arrived in the territory. Young charged that the officials, in combination with
other non-Mormons who had entered the territory with the federal army or
in its wake, had increased corruption, violence, and tensions with American
Indians.
Young pointed to two new developments: the establishment of an oppo-
sition newspaper, the Valley Tan, and a flurry of lawsuits aimed at Young
and other Mormon leaders. Kirk Anderson, a newspaperman formerly with
the Missouri Republican, published the first issue of the Valley Tan in early November.1 The Valley Tan regularly criticized Mormon society and Young. For instance, Anderson charged that the volunteer police force Young had recently
organized in Salt Lake City—with its “unnecessary zeal and large unauthorized
bodies of men assuming to be the guardians of the people’s interest”—was
“contrary to the spirit of independence of this Republic.”2 Young feared that
the newspaper would prove “the overthrow of every person and principle . . . of
integrity, truth, and even common decency.”3 It was, in Young’s eyes, a “vulgar
little scurrilous sheet.”4
1.“Utah,”
New York Herald-Tribune, December 16, 1858, 6.
2.“The Police of Great Salt Lake City,” Valley Tan, November 26, 1858, 2
3. Young to John M. Bernhisel, November 20, 1858, BYOF.
4. Young to George Q. Cannon, November 21, 1858, BYOF.
310
the prophet and the reformer
Young also described to Kane three lawsuits that charged himself and
other church leaders with various offenses and sought monetary damages. He
feared that the suits would be heard by a jury composed of “over half transient
persons, followers of the army, suttlers, traders, &c.”
Source
Young to Kane, November 22, 1858, Thomas L. Kane Papers, Yale University.
Retained copy is in Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 4, vol. 4, 563–568.
Letter
Great Salt Lake City
Nov 22d 1858.
Col. Thomas L Kane,
My Dear Friend, again we improve the opportunity of sending by
private conveyance, so far at least as to dodge the inquisition of our
important Post Master;5 to keep you advised of current events transpir-
ing in this city and vicinity.
Governor Cumming continues to manfully and as yet, successfully,
stem the current of opposition to the interests of good order, peace and
quietude of society, and exerting his powerful influence in favor of the
rights of the people.
Mr Wilson and Lady,6 are now here and have taken rooms with
Mr Stains.7 He appears to be disposed to sustain Governor Cumming,
5. A
reference to Hiram Morrell. The Deseret News concluded that “if postal affairs throughout the Union can not be managed any better than they are, it is time to abolish the present system and leave the transmission of letters of letters, papers, drafts, &c., to untrammeled individual competition and enterprise.” See “Truth and Liberty,” Deseret News, September 15, 1858, 3. The San Francisco Bulletin editorialized that these charges were unfounded: “We feel morally certain that Brigham Young’s letters are as free from intrusion as President Buchanan’s.” See “Brigham Young and the United States Mails,” San Francisco Bulletin, October 7, 1858, 2.
6. Alexander Wilson, the territory’s district attorney, arrived in Utah on November 5, 1858.
Young believed that Wilson did not indulge in the same kind of “debauchery” as most of the other federal appointees. See Deseret News, November 17, 1858; Young to George Q. Cannon, November 21, 1858, BYOF.
7. For a description of the mansion of William C. Staines, see Tullidge’s Quarterly Magazine vol. 1 (1881), 660. It was considered by many to be the finest in the territory; Cumming had lodged there upon first arriving in Utah.
Young to Kane, November 22, 1858
311
and does not associate with the drinking, Gambling rowdies, as do
Hartnett, Sinclair, Hurt, Burr,8 Kirk Anderson and others, who seem
desirous of bringing about a collision with the troops if possible.9
I suppose that you have seen the paper which has been established
here, under the auspices of Kirk Anderson, from St. Louis, Mo.10 It
discloses its own character, but will doubtless [p. 2] be credited where
it is not known. Failing in provoking a collision, the next plan seems
to be, to try and make it appear, that in order to preserve the peace,
which they are constantly endeavoring to break, that it is necessary
to retain the troops in this Territory. In this plan, those characters will
doubtless be joined by the Merchants, traders, gamblers, freighters
and speculators, who desire still further to reap the golden harvest
from the out-pouring of the U.S. Treasury. There appears no reason-
able prospect of preserving good order, short of the removal of the
troops, not that they have as yet been permitted to disturb the peace
and harmony of the citizens, but so long as they remain, so long will
this riff-raff also continue in our midst; but remove them first and the
other will soon follow, for where the carcass is, there will the vulture,
and every unclean bird congregate.11
We have established a strong police force in this city12 and
so far with great exertion, they have been generally able to pre-
serve peace, altho one of them, a very worthy, middle aged man,
8. R
eferences to Secretary of State John Harnett, Judge Charles E. Sinclair, Indian agent Garland Hurt, and surveyor David Burr.
9. The Deseret News satirically thanked various government officials and other individuals—
“Messrs. Henry Cabot and Kirk Anderson, Associate Justice Charles E. Sinclair, Secretary John Hartnett, U.S. Marshal Peter K. Dotson, J. Forney Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and John G. Lynch, Esq. Clerk Supreme”—for participating in “so noble a cause” as spread-ing lies about Mormon rebelliousness. “Truth and Liberty,” Deseret News, November 10, 1858, 2.
10. Kirk Anderson arrived in Salt Lake City from Missouri in September 1858 and established the Valley Tan, a newspaper intended in part for the soldiers at Camp Floyd. Its stated purpose was to be a “medium of useful information at all times . . . and also to entertain our readers from time to time with such incidents in the lives and habits of these creatures, as may appear interesting and characteristic.” Young called Anderson and his journalists “a pitiful set of curs,” though Young quickly apologized for his “slander on the dogs.” Valley Tan, vol. 1, no. 1, 1; Young to Horace Eldredge, November 20, 1858, BYOF.
11. For a similar description, see George A. Smith to Kane, September 11, 1858, George A. Smith Letterbooks, CHL.
12. On the history of the Salt Lake City police, see Herbert Gleason, “The Salt Lake City Police Department: A Social History” (M.S. Thesis, University of Utah, 1955), 19–25.
312
the prophet and the reformer
Mr Cooke,13 has been killed while in the orderly and quiet dis-
charge of his duty.
The Indians are quiet tho somewhat threatening; two of our
people were killed by them a short time since, in consequence of
one of their number being killed by the soldiers while endeavoring
to make an arrest of a [p. 3] couple who had been committing some
outrage. Their ire seems to be more particularly directed against the
troops than the citizens although so far it is the citizens who have
suffered.14
In regard to the investigation of the charges alleged against us as
tampering with the Indians we think their falsity sufficiently mani-
fest, but Dr Forney has promised to make an official report to the
government in which he will state that in all of his intercourse with
the Indians of this Territory which now has really been quite exten-
sive, he has become perfectly satisfied that no influence has been
exercised by our people towards them calculated to excite hostilities
between them and the whites, other than Mormons. Indeed, quite
the contrary is very apparent, as owing to the influence with, and
control over them possessed by us as a people the lives of strangers,
south attending to the duties of his office and when he returns we
13. W
illiam Cooke, an Australian-born Saint, was shot on October 8, 1858 by a man named McDonald (alias Cunningham), a teamster with the Hobbs Carrying Company. Cooke was guarding the prison when McDonald and two other men attempted to help two prisoners escape. Cooke died on October 18 and McDonald was shot by a mail conductor three days later. See Minutes of the Coroners Inquest, October 8, 1858, BYOF; “Fearful and Just Retribution,” Deseret News, November 3, 1858, 2; Patricia Lynn Scott, “The Widow and the Lion of the Lord: Sarah Ann Cooke vs. Brigham Young,” The Journal of Mormon History, vol.
30, no. 1 (2004): 189–212.
14. According to a report, three Indians associated with the Spanish Fork Indian farm had
“brutally violated” a local woman and her child. When U.S. troops attempted to arrest the offenders, a subchief, Tin Tuts [Piututs], was killed. “This Indian was really among the very best belonging to the Utah Tribe, and was much esteemed by his people,” wrote Jacob Forney. The incident enraged the Utes. When addressing a Mormon congregation at Manti, Ute chief Arapeen furiously struck the pulpit twice with his tomahawk. To protect the local people, Cumming ordered 100 soldiers to Springville and another 100 to Pond Town.
Nevertheless, local travelers Josiah Call and Samuel Brown were likely killed in retaliation near Chicken Creek. See Alfred Cumming to Garland Hurt, September 25, 1858, October 4, 1858, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81, Utah Superintendency, 1849–1880, National Archives; Jacob Forney to C. E. Mix, November 5, 1858, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs; Manti Ward Historical Record, Book C, 1857–1859, CHL; “The Late Indian Massacre,” Deseret News, November 3, 1858, 2.
Young to Kane, November 22, 1858
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 45