For those of you who have read about MMM

[MikeWaters]

I'm curious as to the psychological/spirtual fallout among the participants over the subsequent decades. Was there the feeling that they had done something righteous, unrighteous but well intended, or something terrible?

Did they suffer, in spirit, for their actions or not?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Excellent question. Perhaps we should make the Juanita Brooks book our next read.

[fusnik11]

Blood of our Prophets.

The Juanita book would be akin to Brodie's book.

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by fusnik11

The Juanita book would be akin to Brodie's book.

Not even close Fus.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Not even close Fus.

Agreed, but Bagley's book is much more recent.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Solon

Agreed, but Bagley's book is much more recent.

Brooks is a great book. I have not read Bagley's and probably won't.

Most here know my deep admiration for Juanita Brooks. Just an amazing woman IMO.

That said, her book was inspired in part by the whisperings she heard around St George as a little girl growing up. She does not use those rumors as an authoritative source, but they inspired her to study out as much as she could to put the pieces together into a whole as best possible.

My recollection is she really was on the John D. Lee was a political martyr, which I can agree to some extent. But I still think John D. Lee was a cold blooded murderer so in essence his execution was just. Certainly there were others who deserved a similar sentence, so perhaps his punishment was inequitable while still being just.

I don't remember her going into detail about stories demonstrating the pain and misery of remorse that many suffered from, especially as she was highly motivated to vindicate John D. Lee to some extent. I also think while there was such remorse, it was kept hidden from probably all save the wives of those who participated and given the circumstances of poor US federal government-LDS relations it is not surprising there is little public or even private record of that remorse in detail. Basically, the folks were very effective at pretending it never occurred.

[MikeWaters]

So Juanita argued that Lee was a scapegoat.

But at the end of the day he was still guilty of murder, as GN points out.

What is it about Juanita's account that led to Lee being vindicated by the church (i.e. priesthood blessings restored), instead of leading to others being "condemned"?

[Solon]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

So Juanita argued that Lee was a scapegoat.

But at the end of the day he was still guilty of murder, as GN points out.

What is it about Juanita's account that led to Lee being vindicated by the church (i.e. priesthood blessings restored), instead of leading to others being "condemned"?

An interesting question. I'm not sure this answers it, but according to Brooks, there were rumors that the church made an agreement with the D.A. that, if Lee could be convicted and executed, all the charges against other suspects would be dropped.

Lee never denied his involvement, but contended that he was acting under military orders from superiors, and his first trial ended with a hung jury.

I wonder if these questions of due process affected later LDS leaders. Also, I suspect he might have been exonerated for keeping temple covenants to "avenge the blood of Joseph Smith."

Just some ideas.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

Brooks is a great book. I have not read Bagley's and probably won't.

Most here know my deep admiration for Juanita Brooks. Just an amazing woman IMO.

I totally agree. I did not mean to disparage Brooks' book. It's a fine piece of history, although a bit dated now. Still well worth reading.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

So Juanita argued that Lee was a scapegoat.

But at the end of the day he was still guilty of murder, as GN points out.

What is it about Juanita's account that led to Lee being vindicated by the church (i.e. priesthood blessings restored), instead of leading to others being "condemned"?

I tend to think that the Church recognized the situation those folks were in and while Lee was a murderer the Church recognized the extenuating circumstances both pre and post MMM.

I also think that it is pretty pointless. Christ is the perfect judge and whether or not JDL 's temple covenants were restored on earth, I am convinced if Christ and Lee determine that he committed cold blood murder that he knew to be wrong, them ordinances will well you know, be about as usefull as dem 38 triple d's on Ellen Degeneress.