~~ Mormon Blood
Atonement ~~
Fact or Fantasy?
By Jerald & Sandra Tanner
(This article originally appeared in The Salt
Lake City Messenger, Issue No. 92, April, 1997)
It is a well-known fact
that the early Mormons suffered a good deal of persecution at the hands of the
Gentiles--i.e., non-Mormons. The prophet Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered by a
cowardly mob that took the law into their own hands. A number of Mormons lost their lives
during these early years. Unfortunately, however, many Mormon historians have overlooked
the other side of the story.
During the early years of Mormonism it was frequently alleged that the leaders
of the church sanctioned the practice of putting both Gentiles and Mormon apostates to
death. In 1969-70, we made a detailed study of the charges and published our conclusions
in a book entitled, The Mormon Kingdom, Vol. 2. The evidence that we marshaled
convinced us that many of the claims were genuine. Since doing this research we found even
more evidence to verify that there was a conspiracy to destroy dissenters and other people
that the Mormon leaders hated.
While many Mormon scholars would like to scoff at those who have seriously
studied this matter, there is incontrovertible proof that Brigham Young, the second
prophet of the Mormon Church, publicly preached a doctrine called "blood
atonement." Although one might think that the name of this doctrine
came from the atonement of Jesus on the cross, the truth of the matter is that it relates
to people being put to death. Brigham Young explained this in a sermon given on September
21, 1856:
"There are sins
that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in
this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had their eyes open to see their true
condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the
ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for
their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins, whereas, if such is not
the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world.
"I know, when you hear my brethren telling about cutting people
off from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine; but it
is to save them, not to destroy them....
"And further more, I know that there are transgressors, who, if they knew
themselves, and the only condition upon which they can obtain forgiveness, would
beg of their brethren to shed their blood, that the smoke thereof might
ascend to God as an offering to appease the wrath that is kindled against them, and that
the law might have its course. I will say further; I have had men come to me and offer
their lives to atone for their sins.
"It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins through the
fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit sins which it can never remit....
There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days;
and there are sins that the blood of a lamb, or a calf, or of turtle dove, cannot remit,
but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man." (Sermon
by Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pages 53-54); also published in
the Mormon Church's Deseret News, 1856, page 235)
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On another occasion Brigham Young made this chilling statement regarding a person's obligation to spill the blood of those who committed serious sins:
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These are only two of
many "blood atonement" sermons preached by Mormon leaders. Sandra Tanner, one of
the authors of this newsletter who is also the great-great-granddaughter of Brigham Young,
was greatly shocked when she read Young's sermons. This, in fact, was an important factor
in her decision to leave the Mormon Church.
In 1958, Gustive O. Larson, Professor of Church History at the church's Brigham
Young University, acknowledged that blood atonement was actually practiced. He related the
following:
"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,
judgment was executed with consent of the offender who went to his unconsecrated
grave in full confidence of salvation through the shedding of
his blood. Such a case, however primitive, is understandable within the
meaning of the doctrine and the emotional extremes of the [Mormon] Reformation." (Utah
Historical Quarterly, January, 1958, page 62, note 39)
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This may be the same
case spoken of by John D. Lee, who was sealed to Brigham Young and was a member of Young's
secret Council of Fifty:
Rasmos Anderson was a Danish man who came to Utah... He had married a
widow lady somewhat older than himself... At one of the meetings during the reformation
Anderson and his step-daughter confessed that they had committed adultery... they were
rebaptized and received into full membership. They were then placed under covenant that if
they again committed adultery, Anderson should suffer death.
Soon after this a charge was laid against Anderson before the Council, accusing him of
adultery with his step-daughter. This Council was composed of Klingensmith and his two
counselors; it was the Bishop's Council. Without giving Anderson
any chance to defend himself or make a statement, the Council voted that Anderson must die
for violating his covenants. Klingensmith went to Anderson and notified him
that the orders were that he must die by having his throat cut, so that the
running of his blood would atone for his sins. Anderson, being a firm
believer in the doctrines and teachings of the Mormon Church, made no objections... His
wife was ordered to prepare a suit of clean clothing, in which to have her husband
buried... she being directed to tell those who should inquire after her husband that he
had gone to California. |
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In the same book John
D. Lee made this startling statement:
"I knew of many men
being killed in Nauvoo... and I know of many a man who was quietly put out of the way by
the orders of Joseph and his Apostles while the Church was
there." (Ibid., page 284) Lee also revealed another very cruel practice
which took place both in Nauvoo, Illinois, and in early Utah:
"In Utah it has
been the custom with the Priesthood to make eunuchs of such men as were obnoxious to the
leaders. This was done for a double purpose: first, it gave a perfect revenge, and next,
it left the poor victim a living example to others of the dangers of disobeying counsel
and not living as ordered by the Priesthood.
"In Nauvoo it was the orders from Joseph Smith and his apostles
to beat, wound and castrate all Gentiles that the police could take in the
act of entering or leaving a Mormon household under circumstances that led to the belief
that they had been there for immoral purposes.... In Utah it was the favorite revenge of
old, worn-out members of the Priesthood, who wanted young women sealed to them, and found
that the girl preferred some handsome young man. The old priests generally got the girls,
and many a young man was unsexed for refusing to give up his sweetheart at the request of
an old and failing, but still sensual apostle or member of the Priesthood. As an
illustration... Warren Snow was Bishop of the Church at Manti, San Pete County, Utah. He
had several wives, but there was a fair, buxom young woman in the town that Snow wanted
for a wife.... She thanked him for the honor offered, but told him she was then engaged to
a young man, a member of the Church, and consequently could not marry the old priest....
He told her it was the will of God that she should marry him, and she must do so; that the
young man could be got rid of, sent on a mission or dealt with in some way... that, in
fact, a promise made to the young man was not binding, when she was informed that it was
contrary to the wishes of the authorities.
"The girl continued obstinate.... the authorities called on the young man
and directed him to give up the young woman. This he steadfastly refused to do.... He
remained true to his intended, and said he would die before he would surrender his
intended wife to the embraces of another.... The young man was ordered to go on a mission
to some distant locality... But the mission was refused...
"It was then determined that the rebellious young man must be forced by
harsh treatment to respect the advice and orders of the Priesthood. His fate was left to
Bishop Snow for his decision. He decided that the young man should be castrated; Snow
saying, 'When that is done, he will not be liable to want the girl badly, and she will
listen to reason when she knows that her lover is no longer a man.'
"It was then decided to call a meeting of the people who lived true to
counsel, which was held in the school-house in Manti... The young man was there, and was
again requested, ordered and threatened, to get him to surrender the young woman to Snow,
but true to his plighted troth, he refused to consent to give up the girl. The lights were
then put out. An attack was made on the young man. He was severely beaten, and then tied
with his back down on a bench, when Bishop Snow took a bowie-knife, and performed the
operation in a most brutal manner, and then took the portion severed from his victim and
hung it up in the school-house on a nail, so that it could be seen by all who visited the
house afterwards.
"The party then left the young man weltering in his blood, and in a
lifeless condition. During the night he succeeded in releasing himself from his
confinement, and dragged himself to some hay-stacks, where he lay until the next day, when
he was discovered by his friends. The young man regained his health, but has been an idiot
or quite lunatic ever since....
"After this outrage old Bishop Snow took occasion to getup a meeting...
When all had assembled, the old man talked to the people about their duty to the Church,
and their duty to obey counsel, and the dangers of refusal, and then publicly called
attention to the mangled parts of the young man, that had been severed from his person,
and stated that the deed had been done to teach the people that the counsel of the
Priesthood must be obeyed. To make a long story short, I will say, the young woman was
soon after forced into being sealed to Bishop Snow.
"Brigham Young... did nothing against Snow. He
left him in charge as Bishop at Manti, and ordered the matter to be hushed up." (Ibid.,
pages 284-286)
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On November 30, 1871,
T. B. H. Stenhouse received a letter by an individual who was present at a meeting in
Provo, Utah. The letter indicated that Bishop Blackburn was also strongly pushing for the
emasculation of men who were disobedient to their leaders:
"'Dear Stenhouse: I
Have read carefully the accompanying statement about the "Reformation."... If
you want to travel wider and show the effect in the country of the inflammatory speeches
delivered in Salt Lake City at that time, you can mention the Potter and Parrish murders
at Springville, the barbarous castration of a young man in San Pete, and, to cap the
climax, the Mountain-Meadows massacre... Threats of personal violence or death were common
in the settlements against all who dared to speak against the priesthood, or in any way
protest against this "reign of terror."
"'I was at a Sunday meeting in the spring of 1857, in Provo, when the news
of the San Pete castration was referred to by the presiding bishop--Blackburn.
Some men in Provo had rebelled against authority in some trivial matter, and Blackburn
shouted in his Sunday meeting--a mixed congregation of all ages and both sexes--"I
want the people of Provo to understand that the boys in Provo can use the
knife as well as the boys in San Pete. Boys, get your knives ready, there is work for you!
We must not be behind San Pete in good works." The result of
this was that two citizens, named Hooper and Beauvere, both having families at Provo, left
the following night... Their only offence was rebellion against the priesthood.
"'This man, Blackburn, was continued in office at least a year after
this...
"'The qualifications for a bishop were a blind submission and obedience to
Brigham and the authorities, and a firm unrelented government of his subjects." (The
Rocky Mountain Saints, by T. B. H. Stenhouse, 1873, pages 301-302)
This is a very
important letter because it throws additional light upon President Brigham Young's
knowledge regarding emasculation in early Utah. According to Wilford Woodruff's journal,
not long after Warren S. Snow's cowardly attack on Thomas Lewis, President Young discussed
the matter of castration being used to save people:
"I then went into
the president office & spent the evening. Bishop Blackburn was
present. The subject Came up of some persons leaving Provo who had Apostatized. Some
thought that Bishop Blackburn & President Snow was to blame. Brother Joseph Young
presented the thing to presidet Young. But When the Circumstances were told Presidet
Brigham Young sustained the Brethren who presided at Provo....
"The subjects of Eunuchs came up... Brigham Said the day would
Come when thousands would be made Eunochs in order for them to
be saved in the kingdom of God." (Wilford Woodruff's Diary,
June 2, 1857, Vol. 5, pages 54-55)
In 1861, Apostle Orson
Hyde met with Wilford Woodruff and indicated that he believed Warren Snow was guilty of
stealing. Wilford Woodruff wrote the following in his journal:
"He spoke of his
mission in sanpete and the unwise Course of Bishop Warren Snow, & George Pecock his
first councillor. They have squandered a large amount of tithing funds, County taxes
&c & Brother Hyde thinks from Testimony guilty of stealing many Cattle."
(Ibid., Vol. 5, page 554)
It is astounding to
think that the prophet of the Mormon Church would allow such a man as Warren Snow to
function as a bishop in the church. Unfortunately, however, President Young went so far as
to give him a special blessing. Wilford Woodruff recorded the following in his journal
under the date of April 1, 1861: "Warren Stone Snow was Blessed By
President Young who gave him a very good Blessing." (Ibid.,
page 571) Moreover, in 1867, he was given the opportunity to preach in the Mormon
Tabernacle (see Vol. 6, page 319).
In a public discourse President Young acknowledged that the church had use for
some very mean devils who resided in early Utah:
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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)
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"Nathaniel Case
being sworn, says: that he has resided in the Territory of Utah since the year 1850; lived
with Bishop Hancock (Charles Hancock) in the town of Payson, at the time Henry Jones and
his mother were murdered... The night prior to the murder a secret council meeting was
held in the upper room of Bishop Hancock's house; saw Charles Hancock, George W. Hancock,
Daniel Rawson, James Bracken, George Patten and Price Nelson go into that meeting that
night.... About 8 o'clock in the evening of the murder the company gathered at Bishop
Hancock's... They said they were going to guard a corral where Henry Jones was
going to come that night and steal horses; they had guns.
"I had a good mini rifle and Bishop Hancock wanted to borrow it; I refused
to lend it to him. The above persons all went away together... Next morning I heard that
Henry Jones and his mother had been killed. I wnet [sic] down to
the dug-out where they lived... The old woman was laying on the ground in the dugout on a
little straw, in the clothes in which she was killed. She had a bullet hole through her
head... In about 15 or 20 minutes Henry Jones was brought there and laid by her side; they
then threw some old bed clothes over them and an old feather bed and then pulled the
dug-out on top of them....
"The next Sunday after the murder, in a church meeting in Payson, Charles
Hancock, the bishop, said, as to the killing of Jones and his
mother he cared nothing about it, and it would have been done in daylight if
circumstances would have permitted it.-- This was said from the stand; there were 150 or
200 persons present. He gave no reason for killing them. And further saith not.
Nathaniel Case.
"Sworn to and signed before me this 9th day of April, 1859.
John Cradlebaugh,
Judge 2nd Judicial District."
Those who murdered
Henry Jones and his mother may have remembered President Brigham Young's sermon which was
delivered just two years prior to these murders: "Suppose you found your brother in
bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you
would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be
received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case;
under such circumstances. I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not
put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands." (Journal
of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 247)
In his book, The
Mormon hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Vol. 2, pages 241-261, Dr. Quinn presented
compelling evidence showing that "blood atonement" was endorsed by church
leaders and actually practiced by the Mormon people. Quinn gave the names of a number of
violent men who served as "enforcers" for Brigham Young. In addition Quinn
wrote:
"During this period
Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders also repeatedly preached about specific sins for
which it was necessary to shed the blood of men and women. Blood-atonement sins included
adultery, apostasy, 'covenant breaking,' counterfeiting, 'many men who left this Church,'
murder, not being 'heartily on the Lord's side,' profaning 'the name of the Lord,' sexual
intercourse between a 'white' person and an African-American, stealing, and telling
lies....
"Some LDS historians have claimed that blood-atonement sermons were simply
Brigham Young's use of 'rhetorical devices designed to frighten wayward individuals into
conformity with Latter-day Saint principles' and to bluff anti-Mormons. Writers often
describe these sermons as limited to the religious enthusiasm and frenzy of the Utah
Reformation up to 1857. The first problem with such explanations is that official LDS
sources show that as early as 1843 Joseph Smith and his counselor Sidney Rigdon advocated
decapitation or throat-cutting as punishment for various crimes and sins.
"Moreover, a decade before Utah's reformation, Brigham Young's private
instructions show that he fully expected his trusted associates to kill various persons
for violating religious obligations. The LDS church's official history still quotes
Young's words to 'the brethren' in February 1846: 'I should be perfectly willing to see
thieves have their throats cut.' The following December he instructed bishops, 'when a man
is found to be a thief, he will be a thief no longer, cut his throat, & thro' him in
the River,' and Young did not instruct them to ask his permission. A week later the church
president explained to a Winter Quarters meeting that cutting off the heads of repeated
sinners 'is the law of God & it shall be executed...' A rephrase of Young's words
later appeared in Hosea Stout's reference to a specific sinner, 'to cut him off--behind
the ears--according to the law of God in such cases.'...
"When informed that a black Mormon in Massachusetts had married a white
woman, Brigham Young told the apostles in December 1847 that he would have
both of them killed 'if they were far away from the Gentiles.'"(The
Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Vol. 2, pages 246-247)
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On pages 804-805, of the same book, Quinn reported concerning a murder committed in 1902:
"5 Apr., 'Clyde
Felt has confessed to cutting the throat of old man Collins, at his request. The old man
was a moral degenerate. The boy is a son of David P. Felt.' Grandson of former general
authority, Clyde Felt is fourteen. Despite this blood atonement murder, LDS leaders allow
[the] young man to be endowed and married in temple eight years later."
Although we cannot be
certain, this may be the last known case of "blood atonement" committed by
Mormons. It should be noted, however, that at least two groups (the Lebarons and the
Laffertys) broke off from the Mormon Church and still hold to Brigham Young's teaching of
"blood atonement." Consequently, they committed a significant number of
"blood atonement" murders between 1972 and 1988.
While Dr. Quinn's book, The Mormon Hierarchy: The Mormon Hierarchy:
Extension
of Power, Vol. 2, presents plenty of evidence to establish the fact that
"blood atonement" murders were committed by the early Mormons, Quinn
did not have the space to deal at great length with this important issue. To
compliment Quinn's excellent work we highly recommend our book, The Mormon
Kingdom, Vol. 2. In this book we have actual photographs from the
church's Deseret News confirming that church leaders strongly supported
the doctrine of "blood atonement."
MORE INFORMATION ON BLOOD ATONEMENT