MORRISITE MURDERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 101, 25 May 1907, Page 7

MORRISITE MURDERS.

THE CASE FOR THE MORMONS

Presented by a Brisbane Latter-Day Saint.

In reply to the article, "Murdered Morristes," published m the "Truth" of February 27, and also published m our Queensland edition, the editor of the latter has received the following letter, written *by Mr. J. F. Nash, of Brisbane :—

In the issue of April 11, 1907, ■"Truth 11 has a lons article entitled "Murdered Morrisites," telling a long story of atrocity committed m the now State of Utah, and quoting as its authority one Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse. Also stating that it would be interesting to know how preachers of "Mormo n " doctrine (for the crime is laid to the Mormons) manage to explain away the many bloodthirsty crimes laid at itbeir doors.

I take the opportunity of explain? ing the one now m question, and all the others can I>e explained just as authentically, and will cits you the court records m the United States Court for the territory of Utah, which are ' on file at the judicial offices of the State of Utah, and not from any hook written by one wt<jse. hiatßed'; iori'thev'religdous sect upon whom she wishes to place all

MANNER OF EVIL CRIMES is notorious.

In the first place the story of the "Morrisi-tes" up to the time whe n dissenters wished to withdraw from their ranks, is true, with the exception of receiving revelations continually, Morris received them once a week, sometimes ofOener, but not such a flood as stated by Mrs. Stenhouse.

We find vnat on the 16th of May, 1862,. tfc- first division of the^ Soldiers of Israel was formed with Joseph Morris (their prophet) as cap-tain-at-arms. Some one hundred and forty-two names were enrolled, all of whom subscribed to the following oath :—

■ "We, the under signed, , hereby set to our hands and swear by the following oath :—

"I, having been chosen and elected by him who holds the keys of authority upon the earth, and whose legitimate ri-gJit it is to call me to be a soldier, to hereby Set ray hand and swear a solemn oath m the presence of the Father and of the Son, and of his Servant the Prophet, that I will faithfully abide the Law of God and

DEPEND IT UNTO DEATH at the perril of my life, feeline it to be my duty and calling: to do so ; and that, as a soldier, I will obey my .commander. Agreeable to the Order of Heaven I swear this oath before the Father, the Son, and these, earthly witnesses, that I have . bou n d myself unto the Lord and has Prophet, to faithfully defendi the Law of Go<L, until the day of my death."

They believed the second advent of the Saviour was so near at hand | that there was no need to sow or 1 torea-pv* ««A»-<ot*HM» « won*, >o^.'..aitt£'v*!M9» Lord made no sigjn of nis coming, many became dissatisfied, and as they had "consecrated" or placed all their possessions m. a common fund on entering this religious belief, they desired to >take with them on leaving, their property, or an aq-uivalent m value, to what they had put m. This the leaders refused, and told the dissenters that they should only take away their clothes. This led to some of the apostates from the Mornisites to lie m wait for some of the members

who Were hauling wheat to the flour mill, and take away their outfits. This aroused the Morrisites, but instead of appeal-

ing to the law of the land they undertook to administer it themselves. One man was caught a n d whipped with willow rods ; Lot Smith, sheriff of Davis Country, while attempting to levy an execution was met by armedi men and ordered away from thte place ; Deputy Sheriff J. C. Thompson, of Wefcer County, tried to serve an attachment, was informed that he could not go into the town, and on his attempting to do so, his horse was. Leaten over the head until he had to desist.

Other overt acts of a similar- nature were committed, culminating m the taking of John Jensen, Louis C. Jensen, and William Jones., by the Morrisites, and confining them m irons m one of the rooms m the town w~ere the Morrisites resided.

Friends of i'he , imprisoned men made complaint before Judge Kinney, the Chief Justice of the Territory, .md Judge of the '

THlttt) JUDICIAL DISTRICT at Salt Lake City. . . . Judge Kihney was a ncijt-Mormpn. whereupon he issued the following' writ of habaes corpus" :— Territory of Utah, Great Salt Lake a.s. Country;

To Joseph Morris, Richard Cook, John Banks, and Peter Klemgaacd.

You are hereby commanded to have the' bodies of John Jensen, Louis Christian Jensen (Lacs Christian, Guitseri), and William Jones, by you d&tained, as\ alleged, v before me J. F. Xin n ey, Judge of the Third Judicial District, m and ioresaid Territory, at the Courthouse Great Salt Lake City, forthwith, aftejr being; served With this writ, to be dealt with according: to law, and to abide, such order as the Judge shall make, 'm the premises, and have you then and there this writ with a return of your doin.es m tie premises. 4 JOHN F. KENNSY, Judge Third Judicial R . District, BeaL Utah Territory. . Attest : P. Lynch, Clerk, Great Salt Lake City,- May 22,. 1862.. Henry' W. Lawrence (non-Mormon) at that time territorial Marshall, appointed Judtton L. Stoddard, •de- ! , puty to serve the writ. Stoddard took with him • ' Thomas Abbot and Wells Smith.

As the officers drew near the fort they were met by a 'party of armed men, who did not, however, attempt to disturb them. It was decided that Abbot should go on' m to see a man. named Smith, with whom he was, acquainted, and solicit - his aid m having tiie judicial order properly received. Smith advised the officers not to go m ; if they .should, it would probably be at Jibs', sacrifice of thJM.r_ lives, J§ikw!b-. .OaiSi "...itibisja ,svE?si^;lSi>suJh .^Ssl. ,&O U> and ask the protection of Banks m the performance of til eir. duty. Smith went m, and returning, said that Barnes said it they should come m it would be at their own risk. A large number of armed men, says Stoddard, were around j&he house where th<e men m question werek.conflned. Stoddart went where M6rris and the others named were, and

READ THE SAME TO THEM, and asked wh-at reply they had to make. • •

Baaks, as spokesman for the r.aVty, said they would not obey the writ or the law, and they neither frared nor regarded the writ, nor Ju«l> f e Ktoney, nor the law* "You leave

and tell Ju«ge Kinney to do his best to enforce it. We will not re-, lease the prisoners or giye them up^ We neither fear nor regard any governor, judge, or law, except out own law, and that we will maintain." Stoddart tried to leave the writ, but no one would take it, so it fell to the ground and was burnt by one of the men of the town. Deputy StoddaJrd made due return of * his service of tfoe wrat r yet on the 10th day of June the persons served had not obeyed the summons or evinced any disposition to do so.

On that date H. O. Hansen, a farmer, living near the "Morrisite" fort t made affidavit of the unlawful detention of Wm. Jones and John Jensen. Philo Allen made a similar affidavit, so Judge Kiimey issued a second writ, and on the 11th issued a writ of attachment for the

ARREST OF THE MORRISITE LEADERS for contempt o£ court, insisting at the same time tiiat the Governor should call out a part of the militia to act as a "posse comitatus" m the enforcement of the law. Secretary' Frank Fuller, who was act-ing-Governor, issued the necessary j order. . - ! Be it understood that those men jwho have acted S© far were officers m the Government of the United States,, and non-Mormons. Maio-r Lawrence, who. was U.S. Marshall, opposed the step the Judge and Governor l'sud taken. Before the time came for the service of the final writ, he was called East on busif . ness, so the pfcrkkof carrying, out Me orders of the " Governor fell upon, the chief deputy, Robert T. Burton, who was : a; ; Mormon. Burton was opposed to the action also, hut consented if supplied with the re-' cfuisite posse. He was supplied with about 250 men, a six-pounder gun, and a brass howitzer, Burton tfoinkdn^ that the appearance of an ever-

whelmint force would cause surrender without blood-shed.

On arrival at the fort, a proclamation ' was sent m demanding; surrender, if not, . to remove the woman and. children, and those peaceably inclined, out of danßev, also riving half an hour as the time m which • ' .

TO ANSWER THE SUMMONS. Mrs Stenhouse goes on to say that before there was-- time to make any reply, the cannon was- fired. Yet, says, tjhere was time enough to -gather together, for Morris to go m and receive a revelation, to have written it down, to, go m to bis council a nd have it read and discussed, -then to call the people together and. go through the preliminary programme of regular meeting. Mrs Stenhouse says singing was omitted, but an eye witness testifies that all the re-, gular' programme was carried out. The first messengers were despatched at 7 a.m., which would show that plenty of time was allowed. The first cannon was fired over the fort into the -bluff beyond. The cannon must have been re-aimed at the second shot as the ball struck m the ploughed ground m front of the settlement, and ricochetted, striking an old house, and then into the Bowery 1 do in* the damage stated just as the re' elation was "being read, stating that not a hair on their heads was to be harmed.

It has been stated t&at the Morrisites -srere ' not armed-, nor — -

had'though't of arming, •but the fact remains that there were houses •full- of arms and ammunition near the Bowery, to which the men retired from the meeting, and commenced an organised defence, not of right of protection, but against a lawful force acting: m a lawful capacity.

A line of armed men was soon thrown around the fort, and many who attempted to escape were captured, and others who were more peaceably inclined sought shelter m the lines of the attacking force. On the first day of the siege, Burton sent an account to acting-Governor Fuller, who l sent the following reply :—

Deputy Territorial Marshall, U.T. FRANK FULLER, Acting-Governor. §irs,— The shedding of blood m resistance to civil authority renders execution of law imperative. The service of the 'writs submitted to you is expected at your bands, and you are empowered to call tn your aid a sufficient force for the purpose. Let your acts be tempered with mercy ; but see that the laws are vindicated.

R. T. Burton, June 14, 1862. In the evening of the THIRD DAY OF THE SIEGE a white flag was raised' over the settlement. As it was rapidly growing dark, Mars-hall Burton without waiting for more me n , took Robert G-olding, Ju-dson Stoddart, and a boy, Mark Croxal, a bugler, an-d started into the fort. As he passed a party of his men he ordered them to follow iiim. After going a short distance he sent Golding back ' for more men. En-terms the enclosure he found Hie Morrisites grouped m a semir-circte near a pile of arms, upon which other Morrisites were piling more. As Burton reined m his horse, a Morrisite named Parsons asked, what was wawted. Burton said he came with a writ for the arrest of Joseph Morris, Richard Cook, John Banks, Peter Klungaard, and John Parsons, but he now felt it his duty to take all men bearing arms m resistance to the law. He was asked what would be done with them if they did surrender. He replied he did not know, the law would determine. Someone asked the privilege for Morris to address the people. The reply was, "Yes, ;if he^will be brief, and say nothing to

CAUSE FURTHER RESISTANCE." Morris stepped) to the front and raised Ms hands, and exclaimed, "All who are willing to follow me through life and death come on." Between twenty and thirty of Burton's men ha<l followed him into ihe fort, but few were m position to act. More than 100 men confronted them, some few were armed, and the others could be by reaching • the stack of arms, or n;oinß to the school-house, where more were m readiness. Morris, Banks, «and others started for the school-house. Wm. Brown, afterwards sheriff, of Weber County, suspecting w.hat was up, ran 1o Ihe door of Ihe schooihoiise. to ! revent Ihem getlipg the atms itiierei One man bad reached the