Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre

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

Index to claims made in American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows

This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses within the FAIR Wiki. An effort has been made to provide the author's original sources where possible.

Claims made in "The Cairn, August 3, 1999"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
xxi	In 1999, Church leaders are claimed to have "gone to great lengths to keep the planned renovation secret from the public and the press."		No source provided.
xxii	The inquiry into the remains was halted before it was completed.		No source provided.
xxiii	Author's quote: But the dead would not be allowed to speak.	Absurd claim: The dead had already spoken repeatedly—at the federal trials of those charged with the crime. The first serious historical treatment of the massacre was undertaken by an active Mormon, Juanita Brooks.  Prejudicial or loaded language	No source provided.

Claims made in "Chapter 1: Palmyra, 1823"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
3	Joseph Smith is claimed to have been visited by a "spirit" named Moroni.	History unclear or in error: Moroni was an angel in the earliest sources, not a "spirit." Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki	No source provided.
4	Author's quote: [I]n that moment the charismatic teenager claimed to have become God's chosen instrument to reveal to the world that all religions were false and corrupt.	Internal contradiction: The First Vision preceded Moroni's visit, which the author reports in the next item.	No source provided.
4	Joseph is claimed to have made "excited proclamations to the public" regarding his First Vision.		No source provided.
4	The author claims that Joseph experienced "hundreds of mythical persecutions" throughout his life.	Prejudicial or loaded language The author does not make clear which of Joseph's persecutions she considers "mythical." Perhaps the time that he was tarred and feathered? Perhaps the time that he was shot and killed by a mob?  Internal contradiction: Author later describes some actual persecutions.	No source provided.
4	Joseph is claimed to have spent his leisure time leading a band of treasure diggers.	Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact The author simply repeats Fawn Brodie's assertion. Joseph Smith and money digging	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 16. ( Index of claims )
4	Joseph is claimed to have been "apprenticed" with a man who was described as "a peripatetic magician, conjurer and fortuneteller."	The magician Walters as a mentor to Joseph Smith?	Carl Carmer, The Farm Boy and the Angel (1970), p. 53.
5	The "autumnal equinox and a new moon" were considered to be "an excellent time to commence new projects."	Book of Mormon recovered on autumnal equinox	D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 167 ( Index of claims )
5	Joseph's family is claimed to have had a "nonconforming contempt for organized religion."	Prejudicial or loaded language  History unclear or in error: Joseph's mother and three siblings joined local churches; this can hardly been seen as "contempt" (see JS-H 1꞉7).	No source provided.
6	Lucy Smith is claimed to have "abandoned traditional Protestantism" in favor of "mysticism and miracles."	Lucy joined the Presbyterian Church (JS-H 1꞉7). Many Christians of the day believed in miracles, and saw a decline of miracles as evidence that Christinaity needed to be revitalized, reformed, or restored. Lucy Mack Smith and the Presbyterians	No source provided.
7	Joseph is claimed to have "detested the plow as only a farmer's son can."	Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact The author repeats a very recognizable quote from Fawn Brodie. This is Brodie's opinion—there is no primary source to back up this claim.  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 18. ( Index of claims )
7	Joseph is claimed to have told stories about the Mound Builders, who, according to the author, were a "thousand-year-old lost race fabled to have been slaughtered and buried on the outskirts of Palmyra."	We are unsure how the author determined that the Mound Builders were slaughtered and buried on the outskirts of Palmyra. The author shows that she knows very little about the Mound Builders. In reality, the mounds were quite numerous and were located in many different parts of the country. Joseph Smith's "amusing recitals" of ancient American inhabitants	No source provided.
7	Joseph entertained his family with tales of the ancient inhabitants of the area.	Joseph Smith's "amusing recitals" of ancient American inhabitants	Lucy Smith, Biographical Sketches, p. 85.
8	The author claims that Emma was warned not to touch the plates because she would suffer "instant death if her eyes fell upon them."	Viewing gold plates would result in death	No source provided. The usual source for this claim is The Hurlbut affidavits.
8	Author's quote: Nephi's two older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, were evil sinners, causing God to curse them and all of their descendants with a red skin.	Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact There is no mention of "red skin" in the Book of Mormon. The claim that the Lamanites were cursed with a "red skin" originated in Fawn Brodie's book No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith. This indicates that author's shallow research by repeating Brodie's idea without attribution, and without determining that it is unsupported by any source even in Brodie's book. Red skin curse	No source provided. Brodie makes the claim of a curse of "red skin" in Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 43. ( Index of claims )
9	The author claims that the Book of Mormon was rooted in "the conviction that all believers were on the road to Godhood, that a heaven existed where all men could be saved and then go on to create their own worlds."	History unclear or in error: Theosis is not a preoccupation of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon likewise says nothing about the saved "creat[ing] their own worlds."	No source provided.
9	The author claims that Joseph Smith's "evangelical socialism" was a precursor to "Marxian communism."	Prejudicial or loaded language: The differences between the United Order and Marxism are numerous, and include: voluntary versus involuntary focused on God and Christ versus atheistic private ownership versus no private ownership	No source provided.
10	The author describes the LDS conception of God as "a corporeal being residing on a planet orbiting a star called Kolob and sexually active with a Heavenly Mother and other wives."	"Celestial sex"	No source provided.

Claims made in "Chapter 2: Kirtland/Far west, 1831"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
12	The author claims that in Kirtland that Joseph Smith was "infected with the virus of speculation."	Prejudicial or loaded language  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact How does the author know that Joseph was "speculating"?	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 188-189. ( Index of claims )
13	It is claimed that Joseph stated that Independence Missouri was the site of the Garden of Eden and that the location of Far West was where Cain killed Abel.	Garden of Eden in Missouri?	No source provided.
14	The author, in describing the Kirtland period, states that Joseph became a "swaggering general in his Army of Israel" and that "[d]rilling and pageantry were quite suddenly pervasive aspects of a once-pacific Kirtland existence."	The author's claim is false The author seems to be confusing Kirtland and Nauvoo.	No source provided
14	Author's quote: "He then initiated the secret rituals that would further repel their conventional Christian neighbors-anointings, endowments, proxy baptisms, visions, healings, writhing ecstasies, and, especially, the concepts of 'eternal progression' and 'celestial marriage.'"	History unclear or in error: Proxy baptisms were not introduced until Nauvoo, they were not known at Kirtland. Healings and visions were present from the Church's very beginnings. "Writhing ecstasies" were condemned by LDS scripture by 1831 (see DC 50).  Prejudicial or loaded language: The U.S. Constitution protects private religious practices that do not harm others, including those which might "repel" one's conventional Christian neighbors.	No source provided
14	The name of the Church was changed to the "Church of Latter-day Saints" in 1834.	Name of the Church	No source provided.
14	Emma is claimed to have driven "the girl" [Fanny Alger] out of her house because she was "unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the Prophet."	Hostile accounts of Fanny Alger from the Webbs Fanny Alger and William McLellin Fanny Alger and the introduction of plural marriage	Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 57. Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 459. ( Index of claims )
15	Joseph issued his prophecy regarding the Civil War after visiting New York and hearing about how President Jackson should deal with "a rebellious South Carolina."	Civil War prophecy Attitude of Saints to Civil War prophecy	Joseph Smith's December 25, 1832 prophecy, quoted in D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 619.
15	Failure of the bank in Kirtland caused Joseph to leave Kirtland in the middle of the night.	Kirtland Safety Society	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 199. ( Index of claims )
16	Joseph "organized a secret group of loyalists" called the Danites.	Danites Danites in anti-Mormon polemic	D. Michael Quinn, quoting Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 8.
16	The Danites introduced "blood atonement" who would "save" people by slitting their throats.	Blood atonement	John D. Lee
20	Joseph's "Mohammed speech" in Far West.

Claims made in "Chapter 3: Nauvoo, 1840"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
23	Author's quote: Having suffered beatings and tarrings at the hands of Mormon baiters years earlier, and having faced impending death at various junctures, Smith sensed rightly that events in Nauvoo would be the grand finale of his life.	Internal contradiction: The author earlier characterized Joseph's persecutions as "imaginary"	No source provided.
23	Author's quote: Building a spired marble temple took precedence over everything else…	History unclear or in error: the Nauvoo temple was made of limestone that was quarried locally, not marble which would have required importation.	No source provided.
23-24	Joseph's "falling out" with John C. Bennett is claimed to have been over a woman that "each desired as a plural wife."	In fact, Bennett was given multiple opportunities to reform his ways before being excommunicated. John C. Bennett	No source provided.
24	Nauvoo was claimed to be "the first genuine theocracy in American history."
24	The Council of Fifty was "a group of princes" who would rule the "Mormon empire."	The Council of Fifty included non-Mormons as members. The Council of Fifty	David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), 24. (bias and errors) Review
25	Joseph had himself ordained "king" during the time that he was running for President.	Joseph as "king"? Joseph Smith's supposed narcissism?	No source provided.
25	Joseph had a "narcissistic" "theme of deceiving self and others."	Joseph Smith's supposed narcissism?	Robert D. Anderson, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, p. 225.
26	Author's quote: Nauvoo, unlike Kirtland, had become the sanctuary for strange ceremonials and shrouded rites many members found increasingly alien and offensive…	Internal contradiction: The author earlier stated that these things were introduced in Kirtland On page 14, speaking of Kirtland, the author states: "He then initiated the secret rituals that would further repel their conventional Christian neighbors-anointings, endowments, proxy baptisms, visions, healings, writhing ecstasies, and, especially, the concepts of 'eternal progression' and 'celestial marriage.'"  History unclear or in error: Proxy baptisms were not introduced until Nauvoo, they were not known at Kirtland. Healings and visions were present from the Church's very beginnings. "Writhing ecstasies" were condemned by LDS scripture by 1831 (see DC 50).	No source provided.
26	A "Mormon historian," (Will Bagley) claims that celestial marriage "allowed the most ordinary backwoodsman to become a god and rule over worlds of his own creation with as many wives as his righteousness could sustain."	Bagley is not a "Mormon historian"—his account is invariably hostile to LDS leaders and truth claims. "Celestial sex" "Rule over worlds of his own creation"? Theosis or human deification	Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 7.
26	"One historian" (Will Bagley) claimed that Joseph "plunged into new sealings to married women, sisters, and very young girls."	"Sealings to married women" "Marriages to very young girls"? Divine manifestations to plural wives and their families	Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 27.
27	The founders of the Nauvoo Expositor were "men who knew too much."	Nauvoo Expositor	Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 16.
27	Author's quote: Smith ordered the Nauvoo Legion to storm the newspaper, destroy the press, and burn all extant issues.	History unclear or in error The Nauvoo City Council (which included some non-Mormon members) ordered the destruction of the Expositor. The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.	No source provided
27	The author claims that "the constitutional defenders of the First Amendment" called for Joseph Smith's arrest after the destruction of the Expositor.	The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.  History unclear or in error: The First Amendment did not apply to local or state governments until after the Civil War.	No source provided.
28	The book claims that Joseph sent orders to the Nauvoo Legion from Carthage Jail to come and free him.	The author's claim is false Nauvoo Legion was to rescue Joseph?	No source cited, but it is probably Brodie. See Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 392. ( Index of claims ).
28	The author claims that "lore had it" that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal "before calling out: 'Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son?"	History unclear or in error This is very sloppy research. Despite citing so many sources, the author gets the history wrong. There is no record of Joseph saying more than "Oh Lord, my God." In addition, the author states that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal before calling out this phrase. In reality, the full phrase "Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son" is the Masonic distress signal!	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945). ( Index of claims ) D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), . Smith, Hallwas, Lanius.
29	The author claims that Joseph's death was "second in importance only to that of Jesus Christ."	Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief	Eliza Snow, Times and Seasons 5 (July 1, 1844), quoted in Hallwas and Launius, 237.
29	Allen J. Stout's journal says that he will avenge Joseph's blood to the fourth generation.	From the cited source: "Their dead bodies were brought to Nauvoo where I saw their beloved forms reposing in the arms of death, which gave me such feelings as I am not able to describe. But I there and then resolved in my mind that I would never let an opportunity slip unimproved of avenging their blood upon the head of the enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ. I felt as though I could not live. I knew not how to contain myself, and when I see one of the men who persuaded them to give up to be tried, I feel like cutting their throats. And I hope to live to avenge their blood, but if I do not, I will teach my children to never cease to try to avenge their blood and then their children and children's children to the fourth generation as long as there is one descendant of the murderers upon the earth." off-site	Stout journal, June 28, 1844.
29	D. Michael Quinn said that Joseph "failed to clarify for the highest leadership of the church the precise method of succession God intended.	Succession in the Presidency of the Church	D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 143.
30	Sidney Rigdon is claimed to have "recently apostatized over Smith's attempted seduction of his daughter in to a polygamous marriage."	The author's claim is false: Sidney had not apostatized. He remained first counselor in the First Presidency. Joseph attempted to seduce Nancy Rigdon?	No source provided.
31	Author's quote: Knowing he could not compete with Smith as a seer...	Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this. Stenhouse (the author's source) did not become a member of the Church until after Joseph's death, and he joined the Church in England. He was in no position at all to know Sidney's thoughts or capabilities in the matter.  The author's claim is false: Sidney's later post-Mormon religious activities show him to be quite convinced that he can deliver oracles from God as Joseph did.	T.B.H. Stenhouse, 209.
32	The temple is claimed to have "placed under themost sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same."	Oath of vengeance	John D. Lee in Henrie, 147.
32	It is claimed that the "entire Mormon people [became] sworn and avowed enemies of the American nation."	Despite this claim, we soon learn that the Mormons volunteered for U.S. military service (see p. 47 below). Sworn enemies of the United States?	Lee in Henrie, 147.
36	Brodie's claim that when Brigham spoke in the Adamic language, it "thus acquired status in the Church."	Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 126. ( Index of claims )
36	The author claims that Brigham "disposed of his rivals." Stanley P. Hirshson is quoted as claiming that Nauvoo became a "police state."	From the cited source: Engulfed by dissension from within and without, Young established in Nauvoo a police state. When he returned to the town after Smith's death and was served with several writs, he strapped on a pair of six-shooters and vowed he would kill any man who handed him another summons or grabbed hold of him. Until he left Nauvoo, he wore those guns. (pp 61-62) Note the following from the Journal of Discourses: "When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never arrested." (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses 13:110.) See: Nauvoo a police state?	Stanley P. Hirshson, "The Lion of the Lord," 61.
36	The author claims that John D. Lee was "an integral component in the new power structure" after Joseph's death.		No source provided.
37	The author claims that Emma and other Smith relatives returned to Far West and founded the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.		No source provided.
37	The author claims that Joseph wanted people to receive their endowments for the "Mormon road to heaven."		Nelson Winch Green, "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons," 41.
37	It is claimed that LDS missionaries to England "capitalized on the intolerable social and economic conditions" in order to gain converts.		Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 264. ( Index of claims )
38	Quoting D. Michael Quinn, the author notes that Brigham said that women "have no right to meddle in the affairs of the Kingdom of God."		D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 650.
38	The author claims that Brigham "commended his police for nearly beating to death an apostate within the walls of the temple.	Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers to the flogging of three men by Nauvoo Police. See: Flogging those out of fellowship?	No source provided.
38-39	The author mentions "the pending indictment of two leaders of the Church on counterfeiting charges..."	Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers a critical claim that Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Parley Pratt, and Orson Hyde were involved in making counterfeit coins. See: Counterfeiting by the apostles at Nauvoo?	No source provided.
39	The author claims that "thousands of armed Mormons and Gentiles faced off" in Nauvoo.	Presentism or anachronism: Everyone on the frontier in 19th century America was armed—this was necessary for hunting and protection. The Saints were driven out of Nauvoo by the threat of military force.	No source provided.
42	The author blames Col. Thomas Kane for helping to cover up the Massacre.	"The claim that Kane was responsible for covering up the massacre (p. 47) finds no support in history, nor does Denton cite primary sources for her view other than Kane's participation in advising Young to respond to federal inquiries in 1858 (p. 208). As I point out in my review of Bagley's Blood of the Prophets, the massacre investigation spanned decades and involved sitting presidents, cabinet members, attorneys general, federal district attorneys, federal marshals, territorial marshals, and more. Kane was out of the picture shortly after the massacre."[1]	[ATTENTION!]

Claims made in "Chapter Four: Winter Quarters—Council Bluffs, 1846"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
47	The author claims that in 1846, the U.S. military planned to "seize New Mexico, California, and much of Utah."	That members of the Church volunteered for U.S. military service as part of the "Mormon Batallion" is a strange act for people who were "sworn enemies" of the U.S.A. (as she claims above).	No source provided.
53	The author claims that John D. Lee was sent by Brigham to intercept the payroll from the Mormon battalion in order to consecrate it to the Church.	This puts an ominous spin on something benign. Members joined the Mormon battalion in part to provide needed funds for the Church and their families (most of whom remained with the church) to help with the migration west. According to the cited source: On August 28, about dark, President Young visited John D. Lee in his tent. "I have a very dangerous but responsible mission for you to perform," he said. "I want you to to follow up the Mormon Batallion and be at Santa Fe when they receive their payment. Can you go?" "I am willing to do whatever I can to further the cause," Lee answered without hesitation. . . . "Go, and God will protect you," Brother Brigham said, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. "I shall see that your families do not want. It is most important that we have what money we can get if we are to have food to survive this winter. Even then I have a heavy heart when I think of what is ahead.." Then Lee accepted one of the most important assignments of his career. It should be noted that there is no use of the words "intercept" or "consecrate it" anywhere in the chapter.	Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 95.
53	The author claims that Brigham "used the battalion earnings to purchase food to stock a store he owned, which he then sold back to his starving Saints at inflated prices." The author claims that one of the battalion members said that "Some of the women, being entirely destitute, desired their husband's share, and some cried for the want of it."		No source provided. Possibly Lee in Henrie, 183.
54	The author claims that Brigham declared "his own death and resurrection."		DeVoto, 454 Kelly, 90.
55	The author claims that Brigham "overcame resistance" from the Council of the Twelve and "finalized his own ascendancy" in order to be "elevated to a deity."		No source provided.
54	Author's quote: Young broke the tedium by courting Indian women along the way. Having been "sealed" to two Sioux squaws before leaving winter Quarters, he attempted to persuade others he met to unite with him on the spiritual journey.		No source provided. Possibly Werner, 220?
59	The author claims that in Brigham's very first address to the Saints after arriving in the Salt Lake valley that he "gave an ominous warning to all who had come. From this point forward, anyone who refused to live the laws about to be set forth was free to leave."	Internal contradiction: This contradicts what the author states on page 106, where she says that anyone that wanted to leave was "hunted down and killed"	No source provided.
59	The author claims that Brigham used a divining rod that once belonged to Oliver Cowdery to select the site for the Salt Lake Temple.	This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods: p. 89, 518n49 Divining rods to Kimball and Young?	No source provided. Likely Quinn.

Claims made in "Chapter 5: Salt Lake City, August 24, 1849"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
67	The author notes that several new federal officials fled the Utah Territory because they felt threatened.	This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods: p. 227-228 . Both authors rely upon the same source for this claim. For a response, see: Threats to early federal officials?	House Exec. Doc. 25, 15 quoted in David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), 59. (bias and errors) Review
68-69	Blood atonement	Blood atonement	Gunnison, 83.
69	The author claims that apostasy and adultery were punishable by beheading.	19th century crimes alleged to be "worthy of death"	Gunnison, 72.
70	Brigham is claimed to have said that the revelation on polygamy said that "all worthy men" should cleave to as many women as possible.		According to the author, this was said by Brigham Young at "an emergency conference of Young's apostles organized in August 1852."
70	Brigham said that Adam was God and was a polygamist.	Adam-God	According to the author, this was said by Brigham Young at "an emergency conference of Young's apostles organized in August 1852."
73	Brigham is said to have threatened to "unsheathe" his bowie knife against the Gladdenites.	Although the author provides no source, this reference is found in Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:83. Brigham says, I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie knife, and conquer or die. [Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the declaration.] Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. [Voices, generally, "go it, go it."] If you say it is right, raise your hands. [All hands up.] Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this, and every good work. Brigham and "unsheathing the bowie knife"	No source provided.