grade a portion of the road; the proposition called for grave reflection, we
weighed the matter thoroughly, & reflected that if we declined this work
a large force of Irish laborers & other foreign element would be intro-
duced here, to many of whom a six months residence would have given
the right to vote, to say nothing of the disagreeable consequences that
23.
John Kinney had served as a member of Utah’s federal judiciary from 1854 to 1857 and from 1860 to 1863. From 1863–1865, he served as the Utah territorial delegate to Congress.
See Michael Homer, “The Federal Bench and Priesthood Authority: The Rise and Fall of John Fitch Kinney’s Early Relationship with the Mormons,” Journal of Mormon History 13
(1987): 89–108.
24. For Young’s view on the Morris conflict, see Young to John M. Bernhisel, June 26, 1862, BYOF.
25. This refers to “an inferior attorney or lawyer who is employed in small or mean business.” See Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S.
Converse, 1830), 606.
26. Kane knew Burton from the Utah War. See Kane, diary, April 20, 1858, Stanford.
426
the prophet and the reformer
would naturally follow contact with such; and, again, whether we aided
the work or not, it would nevertheless be accomplished, so we concluded
to help build the road, and that it would be better to do so, even without
one cent of remuneration.27 Now this is a precise illustration of how we
find ourselves situated to-day. Sources of wealth are opening up all around
us, which are clamoring for development. Railroads have to be built; Iron
works erected; Smelting works & crushing mills; and Machinery for all
classes of manufactures introduced. The attention of capitalists is being
called to these facts and we as a people must either give way, or, as in the
case of the U. P. R. R. unite our labor with outside capital, and judiciously
assist in developing the great resources of our Territory. My son will con-
fer with you more minutely on these points. [p. 5]
General, now that the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad is completed & the
facilities for travelling have made the trip across the plains comparatively
a pleasure, may we not hope to see you here soon? 28 Let me assure you
there is not one among the thousands who will cross the plains this season
to whom the Latter-day-Saints would more cordially extend the hand of
warm welcome. Those who know you cherish for you the fondest recollec-
tion, while with all, your name is held in honorable remembrance.29
The Latter-day-Saints are still awake to their high calling & are
to-day,—besides possessing increased Knowledge—as loyal to the
cause as at any period of our history.
I feel that you will take pleasure in hearing this, though we would all
much prefer you should come & judge for yourself.
For my part, you have my undeviating friendship which has never
abated one particle, nor lessend in the measure
first became accquainted; and I can assure you I have no more doubt of
your faithfulness and integrity of heart than I have of my own.
May Heaven bless you & yours, through life, and your earthly career
terminate in eternal happiness.
Brigham Young
27
. For more context on the Saints’ involvement with the Union Pacific, see Young to Kane, February 14, 1870.
28. For a discussion of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad’s development, see Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011), 49.
29. In the patriarchal blessing Kane received in September 1846, he was told that his name would be held “in honorable remembrance among the Saints to all generations.” Kane, patriarchal blessing, September 7, 1846, CHL.
79
Young to Kane, September 27, 1871
the indictment of Robert Burton was one of the beginning salvos in a legal
war between the federal judiciary, under the direction of Judge McKean, and
the Mormons. The judiciary next targeted the activities of Young and others
in fall 1857 during the Utah War. According to testimony given by William
Hickman (a notorious excommunicated Mormon), Young, Daniel H. Wells,
and several others gave orders or participated in the execution of apostates and
non-Mormons. Federal prosecutors pursued one murder in particular: the
killing of Richard E. Yates, a mountaineer taken captive by Mormon forces
in 1857. The case addressed whether Young had sanctioned or ordered Yates’s
murder by Hickman.
By 1857, Hickman had a well-deserved reputation as a ruffian, though he
had also served in government positions in Utah.1 From the time he settled
in Utah, he had sporadic troubles with the law, and Young reprimanded him
for drunkenness and the keeping of bad company. Nevertheless, Hickman
served as a sheriff, prosecutor, scout, ferry director, mail carrier, and Indian
diplomat.2 Young and other community leaders had proposed Hickman be
appointed as U.S. attorney for Utah in January 1857.3
At the beginning of the Utah War, Richard Yates was a mountaineer and
trader in the area between South Pass and the Salt Lake Valley. A California-bound 1.
William A. Hickman, Brigham’s Destroying Angel: Being the Life, Confession and Startling Disclosures of the Notorious Bill Hickman, the Danite Chief of Utah (New York: George A. Crofutt, 1872), 50.
2. See “Elder William A. Hickman,” Deseret News, July 1, 1857, 4; “News from the East,”
Deseret News, May 20, 1857, 5 and Deseret News, October 5, 1854, 4. For more context, see Hope A. Hilton, “Wild Bill” Hickman and the Mormon Frontier (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), 43–66.
3. MacKinnon, At Swords’ Point, 146.
428
the prophet and the reformer
emigrant, J. Robert Brown, spent time with Yates in 1856 and, in the words of one
historian, portrayed him in his journal “as frequently tipsy, boorish, [and] highly unappealing.” Yates attracted the attention of officers of the Utah territorial militia, the Nauvoo Legion, because he had a stock of gunpowder. Since territorial residents had no ability to manufacture gunpowder, they either sought to purchase
or confiscate privately owned supplies as the Utah Expedition marched to the ter-
ritory.4 In August 1857, Isaac Bullock informed Young that Yates had “arrived on
Green River with 4 wagons loaded with Indian Goods Powder Lead” and other
supplies. Bullock expressed a common Mormon view of the mountaineers: “most
of the mountain men are after money and are not for us but against us and will be
on hand to render the soldiers all the aid they can.”5
In early September 1857, Young wrote to Lewis Robison, an officer in the
Nauvoo Legion, at Fort Bridger and authorized him to confiscate Yates’s ammu-
nition and other property if he had evidence that Yates had been “selling or giving liquor to the Indians.” Young hoped the threat of confiscation would encourage
Yates to sell the goods at favorable terms.6 Federal officers in the Utah Expedition knew of Yates’s supplies as well, and ultimately outmaneuvered Young, either
purchasing or confiscating (depending on the account) Yates’s ammunition at
Green River in early October.7
Soon after, Yates was arrested as a spy by Nauvoo Legion officers. On October
<
br /> 15, 1857, Daniel Wells, John Taylor, and George A. Smith (who all held positions
in both the church’s ecclesiastical hierarchy and the Nauvoo Legion) wrote to
Young from Fort Bridger. They had not yet “fired a single gun” and planned to
“continue for the present to carry out your instructions to avoid the shedding of
blood.” They informed Young that Yates was being held at Fort Bridger as a spy,
“having been passing to and from the enemy’s camp” and had “sold out to the
Government.”8 The Nauvoo Legion also confiscated Yates’s property, including
cattle, supplies, and money, but kept records of these items apparently for a
possible reimbursement in the future.9 Young responded to Wells, Taylor, and
Smith, “I advise that no mountaineer be let to go at large whose operations are
4. M
acKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 298–299.
5. Isaac Bullock to Young, August 18, 1857, BYOF.
6. Young to Lewis Robison, September 7, 1857, BYOF.
7. MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 300. See also Thomas Callister to Daniel H. Wells, October 11, 1857; John McCallister to Wells, October 16, 1857, NAG; Lot Smith to Wells, October 16, 1857, all in Nauvoo Legion Adjutant General Collection, CHL.
8. Daniel H. Wells, John Taylor, and George A. Smith to Young, October 15, 1857, BYOF.
9. Lot Smith to Wells, October 16, 1857, Nauvoo Legion Adjutant General Collection, CHL.
Mormon records show a concern for keeping a tally of the seized items. See Wells to Lewis
Young to Kane, September 27, 1871
429
against us, or who are in favor of our enemies.”10 If the mountaineers, however,
kept “out of the way of the troops,” the Mormons would “not molest them.”11
On October 18, Wells, Taylor, and Smith again wrote Young, now from Echo
Canyon, that they had “sent Yates on the road to the city” as “a prisoner in
charge of Wm. Hickman.”12 Hickman had operated as a scout and soldier since
the beginning of the Utah War, participating in the burning of Fort Bridger and
Fort Supply.13
Hickman later alleged that while he was transporting Yates to Salt Lake
City, Brigham’s son Joseph A. met them “and said his father wanted that man
Yates killed.”14 According to Hickman, Daniel Jones, Hosea Stout, and another
man “came to my camp-fire and asked if Yates was asleep. I told them he was,
upon which his brains were knocked out with an ax.” Hickman then contin-
ued on to Salt Lake City and, in response to questions from Brigham Young,
told him “of the word I had got from his son Jo. He said that was right, and a
good thing.”15
Other witnesses disputed Hickman’s account. According to Henry
Woodmanson, Hickman believed that Yates had caused the imprisonment of
his brother George in Missouri. After Hickman brought Yates into camp, Wells
ordered Yates to be freed from the “irons” confining him. Hickman told the
camp that he was going to accompany Yates to Salt Lake City; two hours later,
Hickman returned wearing Yates’s pants, a clear sign of the trader’s fate.16 News
of Yates’s murder quickly spread. On January 3, 1858, Albert G. Browne, Jr., a
R
obison, September 1, 1857; Young to George D. Grant, Robert S. Burton, and Robison, October 2, 1857, October 26, 1857, BYOF.
10. See Young to Wells, Taylor, and Smith, October 16, 1857, Nauvoo Legion Adjutant General Collection, CHL. In general, Young advocated a moderate policy in the handling of prisoners, writing about captured teamsters and soldiers, “If they wish to leave the army and come here they will be well-treated, protected and furnished useful recuperation.” Young to Wells, Taylor, and Smith, October 14, 1857, Nauvoo Legion Adjutant General Collection, CHL.
11. Young to Grant, Burton, and Robison, October 26, 1857, Nauvoo Legion Adjutant General Collection, CHL.
12. Wells to Young, October 18, 1857, BYOF.
13. See Robert Burton to Thomas Callister, November 25, 1857, CHL; Wells, Taylor, and Smith to Young, October 5, 1857, BYOF.
14. Hickman, Brigham’s Destroying Angel, 125–126. See also “Brigham Young’s Janissary.
Interview with Bill Hickman,” New York World, November 25, 1871, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 306.
15. Hickman, Brigham’s Destroying Angel, 125–126.
16. Henry Woodmanson, affidavit, Daniel H. Wells papers, CHL.
430
the prophet and the reformer
correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune stationed with the federal troops at Camp Scott, wrote about Hickman’s “most atrocious murder” of Yates.17
As the featured letter indicates, Brigham Young was indicted in the fall of
1871—along with Hickman, Wells, Hosea Stout, William Kimball, and Joseph
A. Young—for Yates’s murder. The Salt Lake Tribune described the charge that the defendants “with an ax in the hands of said Wm. Hickman, did feloniously
and with intent to kill, beat, abuse and wound one Richard Yates, from which
wounds he instantly died.”18
In public statements, Joseph Young and Wells vehemently disputed
Hickman’s account. In an interview with the New York Tribune, “Joseph
expressed it as his opinion that it would be difficult to find any jury of 12 men, however carefully picked, or however unfriendly in character, who would convict any person of the smallest offense on the unsupported testimony of the
notorious outlaw Hickman.” The Tribune reporter wondered whether Yates’s
killing “might be construed as a necessary war measure, rather than as an
unprovoked and brutal murder.”19 Two decades later, Daniel Jones, also impli-
cated by Hickman as present when the murder occurred, wrote that he was not
present and that “Hickman killed Yates for his money and horse the same as
any thief and murderer would have done, and then excused himself by telling
that he was counseled to do these things.”20 Edward Tullidge, an associate of
Young’s during the Utah War and a dissident from the church by 1872, remem-
bered that Young had insisted during the Utah War that he wanted to “prevent
the shedding of blood” and that he instructed church and militia leaders that
they should “be careful that none of the brethren fired upon or took the life of
any of the enemy.” Tullidge wrote Young that he would “force myself into the
witness bar for you should you ever be tried for murder.”21 Hickman himself
reportedly later stated, “My book is a lie from the beginning to the end.”22
17
. Albert G. Browne, Jr., “Later From Utah,” New York Daily Tribune, March 1, 1858, MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 302.
18.“Case of Daniel H. Wells, Charged with Murder,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 31, 1871, 3, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 303.
19.“The War on Polygamy,” NewYork Daily Tribune, October 7, 1871, 1, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 307–308. For Wells’s statement, see George A. Townsend, “Interview with the Mayor of Salt Lake,” Cincinnati Commercial, October 25, 1871, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 309–310.
20. Jones, Forty Years Among the Indians, 129–130.
21. See Edward Tullidge to Young, December 1872, BYOF.
22. Hickman reportedly made this statement to William H. Kimball. See Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: 1892), 637; Leonard J. Arrington and Hope A. Hilton,
Young to Kane, September 27, 1871
431
Besides the Yates case, McKean attacked polygamy using territorial
law prohibiting “
lewd and lascivious” behavior.23 Young was indicted on
charges of both murder and “lewd and lascivious behavior” in September
1871, within a few days after McKean opened his court and established a
grand jury.24 On September 23, Thomas Fitch, a non-Mormon lawyer,
advised Young that his conviction “is a legal and moral impossibility . . .
and those who prosecute know it.”25 On October 2, 1871, Young was served
with a writ for his arrest for lascivious cohabitation. Arrests of other church
leaders, including Wells and George Q. Cannon, followed.26 At first, Young
believed that the whole affair would “end in a fizzle.”27 He appeared in court
on October 16 to answer the lewdness charges and post bail; however, he
apparently did not discuss the murder charge publicly.28 Wells was released
on October 25, but arrested again three days later, along with Stout, on the
murder charge. Yet Wells felt calm that “all is right” and that “Israel will
prevail.”29 The effort to prosecute Young, Wells, and others for Yates’s mur-
der stopped the following spring, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case
of Clinton v. Englebrecht, dismissed the Yates case, along with many others, as procedurally flawed.30
Source
Young to Kane, September 27, 1871, box 15, fd 5, Kane Collection, BYU.
A retained copy is in Young, Letterbooks, box 8, vol. 12, 859–860, BYOF.
“W
illiam A. (‘Bill’) Hickman: Setting The Record Straight,” Task Papers in LDS History, No.
28 (August, 1979): ii.
23. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, October 2–3, 1871, 7:31–32.
24. See The People of the United States in the Territory of Utah Against Daniel H. Wells and Hosea Stout, Daniel H. Wells Papers, box 5, unnumbered folder; “Plea in Abatement in the Case of the People vs. Brigham Young,” Deseret News, October 18, 1871, 12.
25. Thomas Fitch to Young, September 23, 1871, BYOF.
26. Turner, Pioneer Prophet, 365. When McKean refused to dismiss the charges, he stated that the case’s name should be: “Federal Authority versus Polygamic Theocracy.” See “Editorials,”
Deseret News, October 11, 1871 and “Truth and Liberty,” Deseret News, October 25, 1871, 8.
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 61