Richards may have gone so far as to have Samuel murdered to prevent any succession. Samuel’s wife believed this to be the case, naming as her husband’s murderer the Chief of Police – Hosea Stout, a Danite widely known for having a violent streak and a cold-hearted disposition.
Everyone knew he was more than capable of homicide. He had already been, and would continue to be, connected with several murders and assaults involving apostates and Church critics ...
In the case of Samuel Smith, Stout had acted as Samuel’s care-giver when he fell ill, and in that capacity had given Samuel ‘white powder’ medicine daily until his death. Samuel’s wife, daughter, and brother ... all believed the powder to be poison. ibid.
Danites struck at Gallatin and two other towns, Millport and Grinding Fork. The three onslaughts occurred simultaneously and had a crushing impact on the Missourians who were unaccustomed to Mormon resistance. When Captains Lyman Wight, David W Patten, and Seymour Brunson rode into Far West at the head of their companies, the sight of wagonloads of plunder was offensive to a number of less aggressively inclined Saints. That night they gathered their families together and abandoned the settlement. Among the defectors were two of Joseph’s most trusted followers, Thomas B Marsh and Orson Hyde, both members of the Council of Twelve Apostles. The two men fled to nearby Richmond and blurted out everything they knew. Harold Schindler, Orrin Porter Rockwell p54
The Mormons were two hundred and fifty men by the time they reached Daviess County ... The bulk of the forces went out in search of the gentile opposition. They marched through three settlements, including Gallatin, repaying the Missourians in kind, looting and firing stores, homes, and barns, before their anger spent itself ... When they returned with their loot, many of their own people were appalled and frightened. Thomas B Marsh, Brigham Young’s superior as President of the Twelve, let it be known that he did not approve such retaliation, and he left the church. Ray B West, Kingdom of the Saints p86
At the request of citizens of Ray County, I make the following statement ... Joseph Smith, the prophet, had preached a sermon in which he said that all the Mormons who refused to take up arms, if necessary, in the difficulties with the citizens, should be shot or otherwise put to death; and as I was there with my family, I thought it most prudent to go and did go with my wagon as the driver. We marched to Adam-ondi-Ahman and found no troops or mob in Davies County ... a company of about eighty Mormons, commanded by a man fictitiously named Captain Fearnaught [apostle and Danite David Patten], marched to Gallatin ... I afterwards learned from the Mormons that they had burnt Gallatin and that it was done by the aforesaid company that marched there. The Mormons informed me that they had hauled away all the goods from the store in Gallatin and deposited them at the Bishop’s storehouse at Diahmon. On the same day, [apostle and Danite] Lyman Wight marched about eighty horsemen for Millport ... The same evening a number of footmen came up from the direction of Millport laden with property which I was informed consisted of beds, clocks, and other household furniture ... During the same time, a company called the Fur Company were sent out to bring in fat hogs and cattle, calling the hogs ‘bears’, and the cattle ‘buffaloes’. They have among them a company consisting of all that are considered true Mormons, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong .... The plan of said Smith, the prophet, is to take this State, and he professed to his people to intend taking the United States, and ultimately the whole world. This is the belief of the church, and my own opinion of the prophet’s plans and intentions ... The prophet inculcates the notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith’s prophecies are superior to the law of the land. I have heard the prophet say that he should yet tread down his enemies and walk over their dead bodies; that if he was not let alone he would be a second Mahomet to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Thomas B March, sworn statement
The Mormons were partly responsible for causing, or at least reinforcing, the suspicions and prejudice against them. Their claims about establishing the Kingdom of God in Jackson County, that they would ‘literally tread upon the ashes of the wicked after they are destroyed from off the face of the earth’ excited fears that the Mormons intended to obtain their ‘inheritance’ by force. According to Thomas Thorp, a Clay County resident, the Mormons told local settlers that this country was theirs [the Mormons] by the gift of the Lord, and it was folly for them [the Missourians] to improve their lands, they would not enjoy the fruits of their labor; that it would finally fall into the hands of the saints. In July 1832, a Mormon journal in Independence published a Joseph Smith revelation in which the Lord declared that ‘I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people which are of the house of Israel’. Stephen LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri p18
The Danites were taught to take from the Gentiles and consecrate to the Church. Nearly every person who testified at the trial against the Mormon leaders made mention of this fact. John Clemenson stated that ‘it was frequently observed among the troops at Diahman that the time had come when the riches of the Gentiles should be consecrated to the Saints.’ Jeremiah Myers testified that ‘the consecrated property ... was dealt out to those in need’ by Bishop Vinson Knight. Leland Gentry, A History of the Latter-Day Saints in Northern Missouri pp385-387
There was much mysterious conversation in camps, as to plundering, and house-burning; so much so, that I had my own notions about it; and, on one occasion, I spoke to Mr Smith Junior in the house, and told him that this course of burning houses and plundering, by the Mormon troops, would ruin us; that it could not be kept hid, and would bring the force of the state upon us; that houses would be searched, and stolen property found. Smith replied to me, in a pretty rough manner, to keep still; that I should say nothing about it; that it would discourage the men ... I saw a great deal of plunder and bedsteads brought into camp; and I saw many persons, for many days, taking the honey out of them; I understood this property and plunder were placed into the hands of the bishop at Diahmon ... The general teachings of the presidency were, that the kingdom they were setting up was a temporal kingdom ... that the time had come when this kingdom was to be set up by forcible means, if necessary. It was taught, that the time had come when the riches of the Gentiles were to be consecrated to the true Israel. George M Hinkle, Senate Document 189
So said one of the presenters at the Twelfth Annual Religious Education Student Symposium at BYU Feb 19.
Sara D Smith outlined her findings in a paper entitled More Sinned Against Than Sinning.
Smith researched newspaper stories about the Mormons in the special collections library in the Harold B Lee Library on campus.
In the National Intelligencer, published in Washington DC from 1800 to 1867, Smith found reports claiming the Mormon people were setting the laws of the land ‘at naught’ and organizing ‘banditti’ to defend themselves.
They were referred to as ‘deluded fanatics who give loose to their evil passions’. Sharon Haddock, article Mormon Times 20th February 2010
In 1924-25, the Utah Klan suddenly experienced a rapid increase in membership and activity when Klan organizers (Kleagles) arrived in the state as part of a nationwide membership campaign. Klansmen appeared in Cache, Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Carbon, Juab, Sevier and Tooele counties. The Klan was most active in Logan, Ogden, Provo, Helper and Price in Carbon County with their large immigrant populations, and in the city and county of Salt Lake, where anti-Mormon politics and nativism attracted members. Estimates of peak Klan membership in Utah range from 2,000 to 5,000, with perhaps half of the Knights residing in Salt Lake County. Some Mormons joined the Klan, but the vast majority of Knights were non-Mormons, Masons and others from the ranks of the middle-aged and middle class. Cross burnings, outdoor initiation ceremonies, parades, and numerous acts of covert intimidation were commonplace. The Salt Lake Klavern even established a women’s auxiliary, and hosted a regional Klonklave (meeting). However, the violence that marked Klan activities in other states was not a great part of the Utah Klan, although in Carbon County an elderly Italian man died from a heart attack after being chased by Klansmen, and a black man was hanged by a mob comprised largely of Klan members …
The heyday of the Utah Klan was short-lived. The city commissions of Logan, Ogden, and Salt Lake City passed municipal ordinances banning the wearing of masks in public, the LDS Church again issued strong anti-Klan statements and warned its members to not to join the secret order … Moreover, because of geographical considerations, diverse local agendas, and inadequate local leadership, the Utah Klaverns were never officially organized into a statewide administrative unit (Realm), nor did they publish a newspaper. Political efforts, whether through municipal electioneering or involvement in the anti-Mormon American party of 1923, were dismal failures. Larry R Gerlach, Blazing Crosses in Zion: The Ku Klux Klan in Utah, 1982
50 years later, the KKK reappeared in the state as part of the ‘third Klan movement’ that rose in the 1970s as a reaction to various aspects of the Civil Rights movement (busing and affirmative action), increased immigration from Southeast Asia (notably Vietnam), and an economic recession. The modern Klan in Utah was founded in Riverton and went public by hanging effigies, burning crosses and distributing recruiting leaflets in Salt Lake County.
In contrast with the 1920s Klan, the charter members of the new Klan were mostly Mormon, poorly educated and unskilled or semi-skilled blue-collar laborers. Despite modest success in obtaining recruits in Utah and Weber counties, the Klan was reduced to a handful of members by 1981. Driven underground by negative publicity from the press and close surveillance from law enforcement agencies and also split by rivalries within and among Klaverns, Klansmen either left the organization or moved to Idaho to join the various White supremacist organizations such as the Aryan Nations then flourishing in the Hayden Lake area. Larry R Gerlach, Ku Klux Klan, viz. Utah History Encyclopedia
Many people are aware of the role of former Justice Department Legal Counsel Jay Bybee in writing the infamous torture memos that opened the door to the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons. Groups are pushing for the impeachment of Bybee who is now a federal appeals judge in Las Vegas.
Bybee is a member of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints and other LDS lawyers have argued that he violated his professional and religious ethics in signing the memo.