The Prophet and the Reformer
Page 46
313
shall lose no time, in getting him to redeem his promise if he has not
already done so.15
The court organized on the first monday in october, but can scarcely be
said to have commenced businesses. The jurors selected by Mr Marshall
Dotson16 are rather over half transient persons, followers of the army, sut-
tlers, traders, &c., two or three have already been discharged by the court
desiring to return to their homes in Missouri. The suits [p. 4] commenced
are McNeil the spy you well remember who visited Governor Cumming
in the night while you were here, versus Brigham Young Senr, Daniel
H. Wells, James Ferguson, Robert T. Burton, Jesse C. Little, Leonard
Wines, and Daniel Cairns charge false imprisonment, damages claimed
$25000.17 David H. Burr versus Brigham Young Senr Joseph Young Junr,
Brigham Young Junr, Feramorz Little, Jesse C. Little, William Kimball,
H. B. Clawson,
Also Thomas S. Williams, versus the City Corporation for the destruction
15. F
or Forney’s reports, which implicated Mormons in the Mountain Meadows Massacre,
see Forney to A. B. Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, August 1859, in Utah and the Mormons: Speech of Hon. John Cradlebaugh, of Nevada, on the Admission of Utah as a State.
Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 7, 1863 (Washington, D.C.: L. Towers & Co., 1863), 34–38; Forney to A. B. Greenwood, September 22, 1859, in U.S. Congress, Senate, Message of the President of the United States, Communicating, in Compliance with a Resolution of the Senate, Information in Relation to the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, and Other Massacres in Utah Territory, 36th Congress, 1st session, 1860, Senate Document 42, pp. 86–87; Forney to A. B. Greenwood, September 29, 1859, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, for the Year 1859 (Washington, D.C.: George W. Bowman, 1860), 362–373.
16. A reference to Marshal Peter Dotson. See Eleanor Fry, Peter K. Dotson: Federal Marshal, Rancher, 1828–1893 (Pueblo, Colorado: Pueblo Colorado Historical Society, 2004).
17. Franklin McNeil, who had come to Utah as part of the Russell and Waddell carrying company, claimed that on December 1, 1857, he was arrested by the main road connecting Salt Lake City and Fort Bridger. He stated that while imprisoned, he had been “thinly clad
. . . denied bed clothes, and suffered very much from cold, cruelty and exposure.” After being kept for several weeks in the “Lock Up,” he was transferred to the penitentiary, from which he escaped. He sued Young and others for $25,000 in punitive damages. By November 30, 1858, the court had served two subpoenas on Young to testify. McNeil was murdered by Joseph Rhodes, a “prominent Gentile outlaw from California,” in August 1859. See Action for Damages, Franklin McNeil v. Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, Jesse C. Little, Daniel Kanes, James Ferguson, Robert Burton, Robert Attwood, Leonard Wines, December 1, 1858, BYOF; Young to Horace Eldredge, November 20, 1858, BYOF; Young to Charles Sinclair, November 30, 1858, BYOF; “Late News from Utah,” San Francisco Bulletin, August 24, 1859, 3; Moorman and Sessions, Camp Floyd and the Mormons, 238–239.
18. Burr, former surveyor general for Utah, filed suit against Young and others for allowing surveying tools to go missing while under the care of employees. When Young took measures to retrieve the missing materials, Burr sued Young for $3,000 for trespassing.
314
the prophet and the reformer
of his law library.19 We will send you the charge of Judge Sinclair to the
grand jury delivered yesterday, so soon as we can get it. He [Sinclair] has
placed himself under very bad tutorage—The villain, Craig, suspended
Indian Agent, is his most intimate associate though he herds with Burr,
Hurt, Hartnett, Dotson and others of
formed his acquaintance neither that of Mr Cradlebaugh.
The aforesaid clan of Burr, Hurt, Craig, Dotson & Co. with Kirk
Anderson and his paper and the court to help, evinced a determina-
tion to open up old issues, and revive if possible the excitement of
1856 & 7.20 Mr Burr in a particular manner having returned here under
the patronage of the government being one [p. 5] of the mail contrac-
tors from St Josephs to this city, is furnished by the government with
the needful to carry on his war which he, with others, so successfully
began; but we shall override them all, and come off ahead, [p. 6] they
will surely fail, still it is best to look these matters in the face, in order to
prepare for the worst. Perhaps you are not aware that Messrs. Hockaday
and Burr get $195,000 per year for carrying this mail, and that Mr D
Burr,—whose son David A. had preceded him, coming in with the
Army—had returned to this city.21 It is supposed that the son David
M
ormons claimed to have taken custody of the surveying instruments upon learning that W. H. Wilson, a clerk in the surveying office, was stealing some of them, a story that was repeated to Kane during his 1858 visit to Utah. Affidavit, Burr v. Young, box 48, fd 14, BYOF; Brigham Young, Diary, September 21, 1857, CHL; Kane, diary, April 15[?] , 1858.
19. Thomas S. Williams, an excommunicated Mormon, was a law partner of territorial associate justice George P. Stiles. According to Almerin Grow, a sometime Mormon, the burning of the library took place on December 20, 1856. He stated that Stiles’s office “was forcibly entered by a body of Mormon outlaws, and the private library of the Judge taken out and carried a short distance to a large privy into which the books were put, and with the building consumed by fire, or so damaged as to be ruined.” Mormon attorney Hosea Stout put the date of the incident as ten days later. Stout said that the privy “was filled with books”
and other materials and set on fire. Young was reported to have declared “that he was sorry when he heard that the boys had done that.” Almerin Grow, affidavit, BYOF; Brooks, On the Mormon Frontier, December 30, 1856, 2:613; “Continuation of Letter from Great Salt Lake,”
San Francisco Bulletin, July 23, 1858.
20. Young wrote George Q. Cannon that Anderson and others were “intent on keep[ing]
alive the old excitement of Drummond and company.” See Young to Cannon, November 21, 1858, box 4, vol. 4, 553.
21. David H. Burr was assigned to survey Utah in 1855 and arrived in July of that year along with two of his sons, David A. Burr and Frederick H. Burr, who worked as deputy surveyors.
After several complaints written to the General Land Office regarding Burr’s surveys, Burr arrived in Washington, D.C., in June 1857 and was put on leave (Alexander, “Conflict and Fraud,” 112–120). For the mail contract of John M. Hockaday and David Burr, see James Buchanan, veto message, January 25, 1861, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the
Young to Kane, November 22, 1858
315
A. is the A. B. C. correspondent of the N. Y. Times.22 I expect that my
friends Geo. Q. Cannon, Horace S. Eldredge and others will often seek
your counsel, in regard to our affairs, which I know you will be pleased
to give.23 We trust that long ere this you are enjoying the blessing of
good health, and spirits, and that with renewed energy, you feel to wage
the battle of life, for the right, against all opposing powers, rising above
the afflictions and reverses which beset your pathway, and stand forth
to the world, the champion of truth, liberty and honour as you have
ever been, its warm supporter and most devoted votary. The Legislative
Assembly meets the second monday in December, and will doubtless
/> memorialize Congress on many subjects; if there is any one in particular
which you would wish to reccommend, we would be glad to to have
you do so, in fact any suggestions you would make would be thankfully
received.24 [p. 7]
My health is quite good. All your numerous friends join with me
in kind remembrances to you and family, and we pray that the choice
blessings of the Almighty may rest down upon you and yours; that your
heart may be filled with joy and your days with peace and happiness,
and glory and exaltation await you hereafter in our Father’s Kingdom.
I remain as ever truly and sincerely,
Your friend,
Brigham Young
Presidents, 1789-1897
, ed. James D. Richardson, vol. 5 (Washington: Government Printing
Office, 1897), 670–672.
22. For examples of the “A.B.C.” correspondent’s writing, see “From Utah,” New York Times, November 11, 1858, 2; November 18, 1858, 1; November 29, 1858, 1.
23. For context, see Young to Kane, September 1, 1858.
24. The territorial legislative assembly passed seven memorials to Congress that asked for an appropriation for the purchase of Indian lands and to locate “the Indians on Reserves”; a donation of public lands to settlers; the preemption of irrigated lands; an appropriation to
“defray the Expenses of suppressing Indian Hostilities” between 1853 and 1856; the admission of the State of Deseret; the right to elect territorial officials, including the governor, judges, and secretary; and the right to receive unpaid expenses of the legislative assembly between 1856 and 1858. See Acts and Resolutions of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah: Eighth Annual Session—for the Years 1858–9. Also Memorials to Congress (Salt Lake City: J. McKnight, 1859), 31–39.
55
Young to Kane, January 14, 1859
In thIs letter, Young referred to recent tensions between the federal
judges in Utah and Latter-day Saint leaders. One of the church’s leading attor-
neys, James Ferguson, had fended off accusations of contempt of court, arson,
and theft. Young believed that Ferguson’s acquittal on all charges except for
contempt of court meant that the various lawsuits brought against leading
Mormons would fail.1
Young also expressed hopes that the Saints could obtain local self-control
through two possible avenues: first, Utah statehood, or second, newly pro-
posed legislation that would grant territories the right to choose their own
officials. George Q. Cannon informed Young that the potential for mea-
sures leading to statehood should be “deemed hopeless.” The more feasible
option, Cannon believed, would be the passage of Illinois Representative Isaac
N. Morris’ measure that would allow territorial legislatures to select their own
officers. This legislation, Cannon told Young, had “strong support from influ-
ential journals.”2
1. On the same day that Y
oung wrote Kane, George A. Smith sent a letter to Kane. Smith
complained of the courts and particularly of Judge Sinclair: “Sinclair’s personal influence is very much impaired, not only by the dissipated characters of the clique with which he alone associates, but also by his habit of intoxication, being frequently seen lying in the street, in a helpless condition. His friends have often to carry him into houses and watch over him.” In addition, Smith had kind words for Kane and his 1858 trip of conciliation: “It was his Spirit that inspired your kind and generous heart to reach out your gentle but mighty hand, and turn away the storm, and cause the sword, already drawn, and waiting to be crimsoned in the blood of innocence, to be turned away and sheathed.” George A. Smith to Kane, January 14, 1859, George A. Smith Letterbooks, CHL.
2. See George Q. Cannon to Young, January 9, 1859, BYOF.
Young to Kane, January 14, 1859
317
In addition, Young noted in his letter to Kane that many Saints had
“labored for the Army” and that a “brisk” trade had arisen between
Latter-day Saints and outside merchants, leading to a “degree of general
prosperity.” Several months earlier, Young had noted that the soldiers
were “very shy about paying out money to the ‘Mormons,’ ” but he had
predicted that eventually “the result of present operations will probably
appear ere long, much to the discomfiture of those who hate righteous-
ness.”3 Soldiers sometimes complained about the economic benefits to the
Latter-day Saints from their presence; one remarked that “Mormonism is
a monstrous cross between Religion and Mamon, between New England
Puritanism and New England tact, cunning and shrewdness and money
getting.”4 Before the army came, the New York Times noted in early January 1859, the Mormons “were almost destitute of everything but women and
children, and the scanty produce of the soil.” Now, they were, “as a general
rule, well supplied.” The Utah Expedition, the newspaper concluded, “has
played into the Mormons’ hands.”5 In November 1859, another newspaper
reported that the “presence of the army . . . is no earthly use but to add to
the prosperity of the Mormons.”6
Source
Young to Kane, January 14, 1859, Thomas L. Kane Collection, Stanford
University. Retained copy is in Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 5, vol.
5, 28–30.7
3. Brigham Y
oung to Dwight Eveleth, August 13, 1858, BYOF.
4. John Phelps to “Dear Levine,” April 13, 1859, John W. Phelps Papers, New York Public Library.
5.“Affairs in Utah,” New York Time s, January 12, 1859, 2.
6.“Late Accounts,” Washington Reporter [Pennsylvania], November 23, 1859, 2. Another newspaper quipped that Young had “converted an invading army into a subservient consumer and promoter of his prosperity.” “Substantial Reasons: Why Brigham Young Should Be President of the United States,” Sandusky Register, January 31, 1860, 2.
7. The envelope indicates that the letter was delivered to Kane “By politeness of Hugh McDougal McElrath Esq.” On McElrath, see Young to Kane, August 6, 1858.
318
the prophet and the reformer
Letter
G. S. L. City, U. T.
Jany. 14th, 1859
Col. Thomas L. Kane,
My Dear Friend—
Though having nothing direct from you, yet I feel to improve the
opportunity of private conveyance.
We have thus far passed the ordeal without being forced into a colli-
sion, or even an outward quarrel with our enemies; although a few have
spared no pains to involve us therein. But the Lord has frustrated and
thwarted their purposes, and left them to sip of their own folly. The mur-
murings now are against Mormon Juries.8 Is it not really a pity that the
authority of Congress does not allow this sagacious court to import all the
Jurors as well as other Officers and Postmasters, so that things could go,
regardless of right, to their liking? The Juries selected by Mr. Dotson for
Mr. Sinclair’s Court, just closed, consisted of half transient persons not citi-
zens, and some of them known to be our bitterest foes; and yet the junto
failed in accomplishing a single thing which they so sedulously planned.9
They reached no business of consequence, or, to speak more correctly,
adjourned the juries so soon as they approached legitimate business for
the court, leaving some eight or ten prisoners in custody untried. [p. 2]
The
question, of which you have doubtlessly heard, that no
Court had been broken up, or even disturbed in Utah—is virtually
decided by James Ferguson’s acquittal before Judge Sinclair.10 As
8. F
or an example of a complaint against Mormon juries, see “The Way Mormon Juries Are Selected,” Plain Dealer, May 9, 1859, 2.
9. Young vented that Peter Dotson, the U.S. marshal, selected the jury members, with “some of them even declaring that they lived in Missouri and would have their mileage &c.” See also Young to Horace Eldredge, January 14, 1859, BYOF.
10. In February 1857, Ferguson had moved that David H. Burr be disbarred as an attorney for being “an avowed enemy to the people of the Territory of Utah and their best interests.”
Burr responded with a lawsuit moving that Ferguson be disbarred for slander and threat of coercion (claiming that Ferguson had threatened to “take [Judge George P. Stiles] out of his seat ‘damned quick’ and that he had boys to do it”). Ferguson was also accused of participating in the burning of the law library and the concealing of legal records in December 1856.
Ferguson offered to allow Judge Charles Sinclair to dismiss him from the bar, but Sinclair insisted on prosecution. Young was subpoenaed to serve as a witness. When Young arrived to testify, 300 men were present. Fearful for Young’s safety, several church leaders, heavily armed with pistols and knives, accompanied Young. The court found Ferguson guilty of contempt but acquitted him on the other charges. See Deseret News, December 8, 1858,
Young to Kane, January 14, 1859
319
in the case of destroying the Records, Library, &c.,11 so now inter-
rupting the courts, has upon the fullest investigation, before a court
known to be unfriendly, fallen to the ground. So will it be with every
charge made against us as a people touching our loyalty, patriotism,
or devotion to our country’s constitutional Government, and her free
and glorious institutions whenever and wherever fairly tested. But let
our present small annoyances pass, and let us look to the bright, the
hopeful future.
I observe that Mr. Morris of Illinois has notified the House that he will