We often see references to the Danites here, understandably, and they are generally recognized as having killed people for TSCC, but I wondered if we have any idea of how many - and whether there were any cases where they were brought to justice, thus providing evidence?

Tom in Paris

But I'm hoping some of the history buffs here might know.

From what I've been able to gather the Danites consisted of many of the early LDS followers of Smith and later Young.

Several of my ancestors were bodyguards of Smith. I haven't been able to find out whether they were among the Danites or not. Since as Cheryl says they were highly secretive about their being a military force - I imagine many were in on it.

Then there was the Utah militia that came later. Several of my ancestors were in that as well, according to a genealogist who was helping me with my DAR papers. (Daughters of the American Revolution.)

There is actually a lot of information about the Danites since some of them turned on Brigham Young.
Wild Bill Hickman for example -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickman

Bill Hickman wrote a book about being a Danite called

Brigham's Destroying Angel
BEING THE LIFE, CONFESSION, AND STARTLING DISCLOSURES
OF THE NOTORIOUS BILL HICKMAN,THE DANITE CHIEF OF UTAH.

You can read it here - http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/brighamsdestroyingangel_chapter1.htm

Porter Rockwell was supposedly ordered to assassinate the Missouri Governor Boggs on behalf of the LDS Church.

Porter Rockwell - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_Rockwell

The LDS will try to deny as much as they can of course but with quotes like this

"You may think that I am not teaching you Bible doctrine, but what says the apostle Paul? I would ask how many covenant breakers there are in this city and in this kingdom. I believe that there are a great many; and if they are covenant breakers we need a place designated, where we can shed their blood."
Journal of Discourses 4:50, Jedediah M. Grant, September 21, 1856

The LDS Church taught through blood atonement that people who broke the Temple Endowment Covenants should be executed as the penalties suggested.

Thanks :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2017 04:34AM by Soft Machine.

Hickman's entire "Confessions" is available as a reprint from the Tanners. So, too, are Ann Eliza Webb Young's "Wife #19" and Fanny Stenhouse's book.

Here's one I always have a copy of around (and I understand there's a new biography of Baskin I need to buy next time I get a trip to Idaho):

http://www.signaturebooks.com/product/reminiscences-of-early-utah/

Baskin, BTW, lay in an unmarked grave for nearly a century before he was finally honored with an appropriate marker a few years ago.

Hal Schindler's biography of Orrin Porter Rockwell is still the only factually honest piece about that "Destroying Angel." I would ignore the other suggestions on this link

https://www.amazon.com/Orrin-Porter-Rockwell-Man-Thunder/dp/087480440X

Other names for likely Utah Danites are Jeter Clinton, Hosea Stout (as mentioned), and Daniel Wells.

As Will Bagley noted, "In Brigham Young's day, blood atonement was a horrifying reality."

LDS apologists insist Young used it only as a rhetorical device or claim it was only "practiced on Mormons."

Anyway, Tom, you've got my e-mail, and I'm buried for the next few months, but business should be healthy enough by spring I could "pick-up" a selection of some of the above (and anything else Sandra thinks is noteworthy) and ship them your way for my costs.

Thanks Cabbie :-)

We have already spoken of the massacre of the Aiken party and the slaying of Jesse Hartley for opposing the church. These were certainly not the only cases of blood atonement in early Utah. In Major Problems of Mormonism, p. 181, we reported concerning the murders of Ramos Anderson and Dr. Vaun for adultery. John D. Lee tells of other people who were "blood atoned." In addition, Hosea Stout related that on Feb. 27, 1858, "several persons disguised as Indians entered Henry Jones' house and dragged him out of bed with a whore and castrated him by a square & close amputation." (On The Mormon Frontier; The Diary of Hosea Stout, vol. 2, p. 653) Two months later both Henry Jones and his mother were "blood atoned" in Payson — allegedly for incest. James Monroe was murdered for adultery. Three "apostates named Potter, Wilson and Walker," were arrested by the Mormons for stealing and were shot. Only Walker survived and later he seems to have disappeared. In Springville, Garder G. Potter, William R. Parrish and his son, William B. Parrish were assassinated for apostacy. All of these murders seem to have been committed by people who believed in the "doctrine" of blood atonement (see Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 545-559).

Source: http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no77.htm

My ex always claimed his ancestor, Joseph Holbrook was a body guard for Joseph Smith. I read his autobiography and it never said a word about it. I don't know whether he just wasn't admitting to anything, or if the family just wanted to feel important.

He did marry a teenager when he was in his 60s. Ex didn't like when I called him a sexual predator, and told him the last thing I had fantasized about as a teenager thinking about my wedding night was someone old enough to be my grandpa.

I think bishops and self appointed danite believers likely took matters into their own hands. If they thought someone needed blood atoning, they might just feel the Holy Ghost telling them to do it for the Lord. I don't think it was just official body guards or proclaimed secret enforcers who implemented this principle.