Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 15

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Response to claims made in Chapter 15: "Mountain Meadows, March 23, 1877"

Chapter 14

A FAIR Analysis of: American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows A work by author: Sally Denton

Chapter 16

Response to claim: 222 - The author claims that a "Jack Mormon" is one "who is not devout but not apostate"

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that a "Jack Mormon" is one "who is not devout but not apostate."

Author's sources: No source given.

Claim
The "Mormon euphemism for blood-atoning murders" was to be "put away."

Author's source(s)

• Klingensmith testimony, Brooks, Mountain Meadows Witness, 191.
• Lee, 339
• Fielding, Tribune Reports, 109.

Response

• The author here relies only on the testimony of convicted murderer Lee, and self-confessed murderer Klingensmith (who turned state's evidence for immunity).

Claim
John D. Lee denied that Brigham Young ordered the massacre because he believed that Brigham "would protect him from harm."

Author's source(s)

• Author's opinion.

Response

•  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
• Lee had the chance for immunity if he would turn evidence against Brigham: "both Orson F. Whitney and the New York Herald reported that Howard offered Lee a full pardon in exchange for evidence against Brigham Young." That he never did so strongly suggests he had no such evidence.

Claim
 Author's quote: Young fully realized that the Mountain Meadows Massacre would continue to plague him until someone was held accountable for the crime. In a calculated and mutually beneficial deal, Young and Howard came to terms. Young would make available all witnesses and evidence necessary for a conviction of Lee. In exchange, Howard would limit the testimony implicating Young, George Smith, and other church leaders in the affair, and drop charges against Dame. It was an extraordinary quid pro quo that neither side apparently committed to writing.

Author's source(s)

• Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 300.
• Salt Lake Tribune Reports published in Fielding, 207.

Response

• If it was never committed to writing, how does the author know about it?
•  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact: The author here again follows Bagley uncritically.
• For a detailed response, see: Deal with Brigham Young for massacre prosecution?

Claim
John D. Lee chose to be shot rather than beheaded as "a clear signal to the faithful that he rejected a spiritual need to atone for any sins."

Author's source(s)

• No source provided.

Response

•  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.: How do we know this signal was clear? How do we know what he intended? How do we know how others understood it? Evidence is needed.
• It is not clear why a convicted murderer's insistence that he had done nothing wrong tells us anything except that which we already knew—the murderer is callous with no regard for moral laws.

Claim
Before he is executed, Lee makes a statement against Brigham Young, saying that "I do not agree with him. I believe he is leading the people astray..."

Author's source(s)

• No source is provided for any of the lengthy quoted comments on page 233.

Response

•  Internal contradiction: This quotation argues against the posthumous claims made in Lee's "confession," upon which Denton bases her case. If Lee was about to be executed, why would he only claim Brigham was leading the people astray—why would he write an expose of Brigham's complicity in the Massacre, and then not announce at his execution (or before) that Brigham was guilty of ordering the murders?

Notes