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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 13: Difference between revisions

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*The "Godbeites" were "demanding disclosure" about the massacre.
*The "Godbeites" were "demanding disclosure" about the massacre.
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* The anonymous author who used the pseudonym of Argus and published a series of letters in the ''Corinne (Utah) Reporter'' lacks indicia of reliability for most of his observations. Bagley believes that Argus was later determined to be one Charles Wandell. Wandell, who lived in California at the time of the massacre, had nothing to do with it (p. 434 n. 50). When ''Blood of the Prophets'' [and, thus, Denton's derivative ''American Massacre''] relies upon Argus, it relies upon a purveyor of thirdhand uncorroborated speculation.{{ref|argus.1}}
* [[Blood_of_the_Prophets:_Brigham_Young_and_the_Massacre_at_Mountain_Meadows/Use_of_sources/Anonymous source: "Argus"|Anonymous source: "Argus"]]
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*The author references a series of anonymous letters written under the pseudonym "Argus" that were published in the ''Utah Reporter'' between 1870 and 1871.
*The author references a series of anonymous letters written under the pseudonym "Argus" that were published in the ''Utah Reporter'' between 1870 and 1871.

Revision as of 02:22, 20 June 2009


Chapter 12
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Sally Denton
 Chapter 14

Claims made in Chapter 13: "Mountain Meadows, May 25, 1861"

Page Claim Response Author's sources

209
  • Brigham's trip south in May 1861 was "to insure the southern Utahns understood the need for silence on the subject of Mountain Meadows."

210
  • Brigham is said to have ordered the cross and cairn at Mountain Meadows torn down.
  • Wilford Woodruff journal, May 25, 1861.

213
  • The "Godbeites" were "demanding disclosure" about the massacre.
  • The author references a series of anonymous letters written under the pseudonym "Argus" that were published in the Utah Reporter between 1870 and 1871.

215
  • The "entire blame of the massacre was shifted to [John D. Lee's] shoulders."
  •  The author's claim is false: This is clearly false. Contemporary government documents show that federal officials continued to "show...efforts by the federal machinery to prosecute others for at least eight years after Lee's trial."[1] If blame rested on Lee alone, this would make no sense.
  • Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 296.

215
  • The author claims that Lee was "regaling" his family with "the divinity of [Joseph] Smith and their one true religion."
  • Brooks, Emma Lee, 57.

216
  • Former bishop Klingensmith is said to have claimed that the militia was "called out for the purpose of committing acts of hostility" against the emigrants, and that they were ordered to "kill all of said company of emigrants except the little children."
  • "How good is Klingensmith's testimony?...upon cross-examination during the first Lee trial, Klingensmith admitted that whatever passed between Lee and Young about the massacre was outside his hearing. His testimony was so worthless that U.S. District Attorney Sumner Howard declined to recall Klingensmith for the second trial. Klingensmith also admitted to participating in the massacre. He turned state's evidence before Lee's first trial in exchange for a grant of immunity. He gave his testimony as a disillusioned apostate. Thus his 6 October 1857 account is very suspect, even without Young's denial."[2]
  • Denton fails to tell us that the "former bishop" had admitted to participation in the murder, that his testimony was uncorroborated, and that he was deemed to unreliable that he was not called during the successful second trial of John D. Lee.
  • "A MORMON MONSTROSITY": New York Herald, September 14, 1872. Philip Klingensmith affidavit, April 10, 1871, printed in T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints: a full and complete history of the Mormons, from the first vision of Joseph Smith to the last courtship of Brigham Young (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 439-442.
  • Brooks, Mountain Meadows Massacre, 238-242.
  • Backus, Mountain Meadows Witness, 274-277.
  • New York Herald, September 14, 1872.
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