By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

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The Mormon leaders teach that because of apostasy the true Church of Christ has been lost from the earth. They claim, however, that in 1830 the Lord restored His Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

When we compare the methods used by Christ and His Apostles with those used by Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders, we find great discrepancies. It was Joseph Smith himself who once said: “I am not so much a ‘Christian’ as many suppose I am. When a man undertakes to ride me for a horse, I feel disposed to kick up and throw him off, and ride him” (History of the Church, vol. 5, page 335). Joseph Smith related the following incident in his History of the Church: “Josiah Butterfield came to my house and insulted me so outrageously that I kicked him out of the house, across the yard, and into the street” (History of the Church, by Joseph Smith, vol. 5, page 316).

Brigham Young, the second President of the Mormon Church, was very prone to the use of violent methods. In fact, he even based a doctrine on the use of violence. This doctrine is known as “Blood Atonement.” Brigham Young made these statements in one of his sermons:

This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it. Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind. (Deseret News, February 18, 1857; also reprinted in the Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, pages 219-220)

In our work, The Mormon Kingdom, we have a great deal to say about the doctrine of “Blood Atonement.” The Mormon leaders not only preached this doctrine, but it was actually put into practice. Gustive O. Larson, Professor of Church History at the Brigham Young University, admits that this is the case:

To whatever extent the preaching on Blood Atonement may have influenced action, it would have been in relation to Mormon disciplinary action among its own members. In point would be a verbally reported case of a Mr. Johnson in Cedar City who was found guilty of adultery with his stepdaughter by a bishop’s court and sentenced to death for atonement of his sin. According to the report of reputable eyewitnesses, judgement was executed with consent of the offender who went to his unconsecrated grave in full confidence of salvation through the shedding of blood. Such a case, however primitive, is understandable within the meaning of the doctrine and the emotional extremes of the reformation. (Utah Historical Quarterly, January, 1958, page 62, footnote 39)

John D. Lee claimed that some enemies of the church were killed in Nauvoo by orders from the Church leaders:

I knew of many men being killed in Nauvoo by the Danites. It was then the rule that all the enemies of Joseph Smith should be killed, and I know of many who was quietly put out of the way by the orders of Joseph and his Apostles while the Church was there. (Confessions of John D. Lee, photographic reprint of 1880 edition, page 284)

The people of Illinois were well aware of the fact that the Mormon leaders used violent methods in dealing with their enemies. In the Warsaw Signal for January 7, 1846, we find the following reprinted from the Springfield Journal:

Some other disclosures are talked of as having been made: the manner in which persons are disposed of, who are supposed to be enemies of the leading Mormons. They are seized by some members of the Danite or other band, a leather strap placed around the neck, so that if the least resistance is made, they are choked; and in this condition they are taken to a skiff, carried to the middle of the river, their bowels ripped open, and their bodies sunk. This is what is termed making “catfish bait” of their enemies. It is said that quite a number of persons were disposed of in this manner.

According to John D. Lee, the police in Nauvoo were very similar to the Danite organization:

Whatever the police were ordered to do, they were to do and ask no questions . . . Under Brigham Young, Hosea Stout was Chief of Police. They showed me where they buried a man in a lot near the Masonic Hall. They said they got him tight and were joking with him while some men were digging his grave. They asked him to go with them into a pit of corn, saying it was fully grown. They told him they had a jug of whiskey cached out there. They led him to his grave, and told him to get down there, and hand up the jug, and he should have the first drink. As he bent over to get down, Rosswell Stevens struck him with his police cane on the back of the head and dropped him. They then tightened a cord around his neck to shut off his wind, and then they covered him up, and set the hill of corn back on his grave to cover him up, any tracks that might lead to his discovery.

Another man they took in a boat, about two o’clock at night for a ride. When out in the channel of the river, the man who sat behind him struck him upon the head and stunned him. They then tied a rope around his neck and a stone to the other end of the rope, and sent him to the bottom of Mississippi River. (Confessions of John D. Lee, page 159)

Notice that Lee claimed that the Mormon police committed murders for the Church and that “Under Brigham Young, Hosea Stout was Chief of Police.” Fortunately, Hosea Stout’s diary has survived, and it is certainly one of the most revealing documents that we have ever encountered. The fact that it was written by a faithful Mormon makes it even more significant. In his diary Hosea Stout frankly tells of some of the violent methods used by the Mormon leaders. For instance, under the date of April 3, 1845, Hosea Stout recorded the following in his diary:

In the morning I went to the Temple and was roughly accosted by Brs Cahoon & Cutler about a circumstance which took place last night at the Temple. They said that the Old Police had beat a man almost to death in the Temple. To which I replied I was glad of it and that I had given orders to that effect in case anyone should be found in the Temple after night and they had only done as they were told, or ordered, . . . we concluded to lay the matter before President Brigham Young and get his advice, as we went we met Brother H. C. Kimball and while relating the matter to him Brother Brigham came to us and we related the matter to him and he approved of the proceedings of the Police and said he wanted us to still guard the Temple after which he & Br. Kimball went to the Temple to regulate the matters there which was done to our satisfaction and justification. (On The Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, edited by Juanita Brooks, vol. 1, page 32)

Under the date of January 9, 1846, Hosea Stout recorded:

When we came to the Temple somewhat a considerable number of the guard were assembled and among them was William Hibbard son of the old man Hibbard. He was evidently come as a spy. When I saw him I told Scott that we must “bounce a stone off of his head” to which he agreed we prepared accordingly & I got an opportunity & hit him on the back of his head which came very near taking his life. But few knew anything about what was the matter he left the ground out of his senses when he came to himself he could not tell what had happened to him &c (On The Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, vol. 1, page 103)

Bill Hickman

Brigham Young, the second President of the Mormon Church, once stated:

And if the Gentiles wish to see a few tricks, we have “Mormons” that can perform them. We have the meanest devils on the earth in our midst, and we intend to keep them, for we have use for them; and if the Devil does not look sharp, we will cheat him out of them at the last, for they will reform and go to heaven with us. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, page 176)

Brigham Young may have had Bill Hickman on his mind when he made this statement, for he was considered as a man that would do anything mean. There is good reason to believe that Hickman was involved in crime when the Church was in Nauvoo. The Warsaw Signal, March 26, 1845, printed a letter which contained this statement:

Wm. A. Hickman stole some bacon, was put in jail, in a few days was bailed out by two brother Mormons . . .

The Bloomington Herald, November 22, 1845, published this statement by Edward Bonney concerning Hickman:

. . . Wm. A. Hickman, a fugitive from justice, . . . has twice been chased from Missouri into Nauvoo, with stolen horses, within the last two months. (Bloomington Herald, November 22, 1845, typed copy)

Bill Hickman was finally arrested and put in prison. In his autobiography Bill Hickman states:

I stayed a few days, and when the jailer came in one afternoon, I knocked him down, . . . and left, and have not been back since, which was about twenty-five years ago. (Brigham Destroying Angel, pages 46)

In Utah the Mormon leaders not only protected him from justice, but they actually encouraged him in his crimes. This fact is made very plain in the journal of John Bennion. In 1860 Bennion felt that Hickman should be punished for his evil deeds, but he soon learned that Bishop Gardiner “had been bound & could not act” against Hickman and that the Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde, President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, taught that a man should not be punished for stealing from the “gentiles.” We copy the following from Bennion’s journal:

Sat 13 went to the city met Bp Gardiner had a talk with him about W. A. Hickmans wicked course for some time past he said that up till now he had been bound & could not act I told him I was not bound neither was I afraid to expose the wickedness of any man that it was my duty to expose we got home about sun down in the evening I met with Bp & councillors & parties concerned [to] try George Hickman for stealing mules when about to commence trial Elder Hyde come in and by Gardners solicitation he preached and the trial was postponed after meeting Bp council & Elder Hyde had a long talk in my house by Hyde said speaking of stealing that a man may steal & be influenced by the Spirit of the Lord to do it that Hickman had done it years past said that he never would institute a trial against a brother for stealing from the gentiles but stealing from his brethren he was down on it he laid down much teaching on the subject

S 14th went to meeting at the mill to hear br Hyde . . . he give much good instruction spoke on last nights intention to try Hickman give it as the Word of the Lord to set him free for the past, bid him go & sin no more. (“John Bennion Journal,” October 13 and 14, 1860, original journal located at Utah State Historical Society)

In The Mormon Kingdom, vol. 1, page 62, we quoted Mary Ettie V. Smith as stating that the Apostle Orson Hyde received stolen goods at Kanesville and that Bill Hickman was involved in this stealing. In the light of the reference given above, it would appear that Mrs. Smith was telling the truth.

Toward the end of his life Bill Hickman wrote a book in which he stated that he had committed his crimes with the approval of the Mormon Church leaders. He even claimed that he had committed murderers by the orders of Brigham Young and the Apostle Orson Hyde. For instance, he stated that he murdered Jessie Hartly after receiving orders from these men.

Before examining Hickman’s account of the murder of Hartly, it is interesting to read Mrs. Mary Ettie V. Smith’s comments concerning this matter:

About the time referred to in the last chapter, Jessie T. Hartly came to Great Salt Lake City. He was a man of education and intelligence, and a lawyer by profession. . . . and soon after married a Mormon girl by the name of Bullock, which involved a profession, at least, of Mormonism. It was afterwards supposed by some that his aim was to learn the mysteries of the Church, in order to make an expose of them afterwards. . . . the Prophet regarded him with suspicion, as a fit person to be appointed missionary preacher among the Gentiles. As is customary in such cases, he was proposed in open convention, when all the Heads of the Church were on the stand; and the Prophet rose at once with that air of judicial authority, from which those who know best understand there is no appeal, and said: “This man, Hartly, is guilty of heresy. He has been writing to his friends in Oregon against the Church, and has attempted to expose us to the world, and he should be sent to hell cross lots.” This was the end of the matter as to Hartly.

His friends after this avoided him, and it was understood that his fate was sealed. He knew that to remain was death; he therefore left his wife and child, and attempted to effect an escape.

Not many days after he had gone, Wiley Norton told us, with a feeling of exultation, that they had made sure of another enemy of the church. That the bones of Jesse Hartly were in the canons, and that he was afraid they would be overlooked at the Resurrection, unless he had better success in “pleading” in the next world than in this, referring to his practice as a lawyer.

Nearly a year and half after this, when on my way to the States, I saw the widow of Jesse Hartly at Green River. She had been a very pretty woman, and was at that time but twenty-two years old. I think she was the most heart-broken human being I have ever seen. . . . she commenced by saying:

“You may have suffered; and if you have been a Mormon wife, you must have known sorrow. But the cruelty of my own fate, I am sure, is without a parallel—even in this land of cruelty.”

“I married Jesse Hartly, knowing he was a ‘Gentile’ in fact, but he passed for a Mormon, but that made no difference with me, although I was a Mormon, because he was a noble man, and sought only the right. By being my husband, he was brought into closer contact with the members of the Church, and was thus soon enabled to learn many things about us, and about the Heads of the Church, that he did not approve, and of which I was ignorant, although, I had been brought up among the Saints; and which, if known among the Gentiles, would have greatly damaged us. I do not understand all he discovered, or all he did; but they found he had written against the Church, and he was cut off, and the Prophet required as an atonement for his sins, that he should lay down his life. . . . They kill those there who have committed sins too great to be atoned for in any other way. The Prophet says, if they submit to this he can save them, otherwise they are lost. Oh! that is horrible. But my husband refused to be sacrificed, and so set out alone for the United States: thinking there might at least a hope of success. I told him when he left me, and left his child, that he would be killed, and so he was. William Hickman and another Danite, shot him in the canons; and I have often since been obliged to cook for this man, when he passed this way, knowing all the while, he had killed my husband. My child soon followed after its father, and I hope to die also; for why should I live? They have brought me here, where I wish to remain, rather than to return to Salt Lake, where the murderers of my husband curse the earth, and roll in affluence unpunished.” (Mormonism: Its Rise, Progress, And Present Condition, Hartford, 1870, pages 308-311)

In his confessions Bill Hickman frankly admitted that he had killed Hartly, and he states that Brigham Young and Orson Hyde had ordered the killing:

When we had got across what was known as the Big Mountain, and into East Canon, some three or four miles, one Mr. Hartly came to us from Provo City. This Hartly was a young lawyer who had come to Salt Lake from Oregon the fall before, and had married a Miss Bullock, of Provo, a respectable lady of a good family. But word had come to Salt Lake (so said, I never knew whether it did or not), that he had been engaged in some counterfeiting affair. He was a fine-looking, intelligent young man. He told me he had never worked any is his life, and was going to Fort Bridger or Green River to see if he could not get a job of clerking, or something that he could do. But previous to this, at the April Conference, Brigham Young, before the congregation, gave him a tremendous blowing up, calling him all sorts of bad names, and saying he ought to have his throat cut, which made him feel very bad. He declared he was not guilty of the charges.

I saw Orson Hyde looking very sour at him, and after he had been in camp an hour or two, Hyde told me that he had orders from Brigham Young, if he came to Fort Supply to have him used up. “Now,” said he, “I want you and George Boyd to do it.” I saw him and Boyd talking together; then Boyd came to me and said: “It’s all right, Bill; I will help you to kill that fellow.” One of our teams was two or three miles behind, and Orson Hyde wished me to go back and see if anything had happened to it. Boyd saddled his horse to go with me, but Hartly stepped up and said he would go if Boyd would let him have his horse. Orson Hyde said: “Let him have your horse,” which Boyd did. Orson Hyde then whispered to me: “Now is your time; don’t let him come back.” We started, and about half a mile on had to cross the canon stream, which was midsides to our horses. While crossing, Hartly got a shot and fell dead in the creek. His horse took fright and ran back to camp.

I went on and met Hosea Stout, who told me the team was coming close by. I turned back, Stout with me, for our camp. Stout asked me if I had seen that fellow, meaning Hartly. I told him he had come to our camp, and he said from what he had heard he ought to be killed. I then told him all that had happened, and he said that was good. When I returned to camp Boyd told me that his horse come into camp with blood on the saddle, and he and some of the boys took it to the creek and washed it off. Orson Hyde told me that was well done; that he and some others had gone on the side of the mountain, and see the whole performance. We hitched up and went to Weber River that day. (Brigham’s Destroying Angel, pages 97-98)

It is interesting to note that Hosea Stout’s diary confirms the fact that Hartley was in trouble with the Church. Under the date of April 9, 1854, he stated:

I was not present much of the time but the same subject was continued and lectures were delivered against girls marrying gentiles & winter Saints & one Mr. Hartley cut off from the Church who had been appointed a mission to Texas. He is said to be a runaway horse theif from oregon came here & married joined the church & had sent up his name to get his endowment. (On Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, vol. 2, page 512)

Hickman claimed that Hosea Stout was in the company going to Green River, and that he told him of the murder. Hickman stated that this trip took place “about the first of May 1” in 1854 (Brigham’s Destroying Angel, page 96). Hosea Stout’s diary confirms the fact that he was in the party with Hickman. Under the date of May 1, 1854, he stated:

About noon I started for Green River G. W. Boyd hauling my provision and luggage. I took Henry Allen along with me and left my children with Anna We crossed over the first mountain & encamped on the creek changing my loading in the mean time into W. A. Hickman’s waggon. (On The Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, vol. 2, page 514)

Notice that Hosea Stout mentions “G. W. Boyd” as being in the party. Bill Hickman stated that a man by the name of “George Boyd” was supposed to help with the murder.

Bill Hickman claimed that Apostle Hyde helped cover up the fact that Hartley had been murdered:

When supper was over, Orson Hyde called all the camp together, and said he wanted a strong guard on that night, for that fellow that had come to us in the forenoon had left the company; he was a bad man, and it was his opinion that he intended stealing horses that night. This was about as good a take-off as he could get up, it was all nonsense; it would do well enough to tell; as everyone that did not know what had happened believed it. (Brigham’s Destroying Angel, page 98)

Hosea Stout also mentioned Orson Hyde’s speech to the company:

This evening Elder Hyde informed the company that Mr J___ Hartley who did not make his appearance to day with us had most likely had some dishonest intentions by his leaving & wished the guard to renew their diligence least their horses might be stolen. (On The Mormon Frontier, vol. 2, page 514)

The fact that Mrs. Hartley told of the murder of her husband years before Hickman made his confession, and that Hosea Stout’s diary confirms many of the details around in Hickman’s confession, seems to prove that Hartley was murdered by orders of the Mormon leaders. We must agree with a statement made by J. H. Beadle:

But those accustomed to judging the weight of evidence can come to but one conclusion: Jesse Hartley was murdered for apostasy, and the charge of counterfeiting was cooked up to furnish some sort of excuse to those of the Mormons who could not “swallow the strong doctrine of blood-atonement.” (Brigham’s Destroying Angel, Appendix C, pages 204-205)

As we examine the history of the Mormon Church, it becomes very apparent that the Mormon leaders were attempting to establish a kingdom by some very worldly methods. These methods in many cases were just the opposite of what Jesus taught. When he was brought before Pilate he stated:

. . . My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, . . . but now is my kingdom not from hence
(John 18:36)

In The Mormon Kingdom, vol. 2, we have a great deal of information concerning the men who killed and committed violent acts for the early Mormon leaders. We cover such subjects as:

• The actual practice of Blood Atonement
• Whipping
• Emasculation
• Hosea Stout, Bill Hickman, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Tom Brown, the Hodges
• The murder of Miller and Lieza, the murder of Irvine Hodges, and the murder of Col. Davenport.

We hope to deal with many other important subjects in the volume. We feel that this is a very important work and that all of our readers should have this.

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