Prophet of Death_The Mormon Blood Atonement Killings Page 3

  Smith wanted to translate the plates immediately, but he was broke, and by this time he had a family to support. He contacted a wealthy farmer, Martin Harris, and asked him for help. Harris was intrigued by Smith’s story about Moroni, but when the farmer mentioned it to his wife, she suspected a scam and demanded proof that the plates were genuine. Harris asked Smith to show him the plates. Smith politely refused. Moroni had instructed him not to show them to anyone, he explained, but he gave Harris a sheet of paper that contained strange markings, which Smith said he had copied directly from the golden plates. Harris gave Smith fifty dollars and rushed the paper to Charles Anthon, a Columbia College classics scholar familiar with ancient writing. Anthon studied the markings and pronounced them fake. A dejected Harris returned home, where Smith was waiting with a ready explanation. Engraving the golden plates had been such a tedious process that the ancient Hebrew prophet and historian who had compiled the records had developed his own form of shorthand to save time and space. Smith identified the author as Mormon, who happened to be Moroni’s father. He said that Mormon had transcribed the golden plates in “Reformed Egyptian,” a dialect that only Smith could read.

  Harris agreed to help bankroll Smith’s venture and also offered to aid in translating the plates. Exactly how this was done is unclear. One historical account says that Smith placed the Urim and Thummim into his hat, buried his face in the hat, and then, covered with a blanket, dictated to a scribe what he saw. Other stories say that Smith wore the Urim and Thummim like eyeglasses, held the plates in his lap and read them aloud to Harris from behind a screen. Regardless, by 1830 the translation was finished. Smith called it the Book of Mormon, and on March 26 a local Palmyra printer, Egbert Grandin, published five thousand copies of it. The $3,000 printing bill was paid by Harris, who had become such an ardent supporter of Smith that he mortgaged his farm to raise the necessary cash. While Smith’s “Gold Bible” caused an immediate stir, it didn’t sell well and Harris lost his farm.

  From the moment it was published, the Book of Mormon came under attack. Scholars pointed out that it described animals and plants in the New World that didn’t exist in North and Central America until after Spanish and English explorers arrived. Prophets, who lived decades before Jesus Christ was born, were quoted talking about Christ’s death on the cross as if it had already happened. The fact that Smith couldn’t produce the golden plates didn’t help his credibility. The angel Moroni had reappeared, Smith said, and had taken them back.

  Smith’s local reputation also raised suspicions. Four years earlier, he had been convicted in Chenango County, New York, of accepting money from a farmer in return for finding buried treasure with a “peepstone,” a native crystal much like those used by fortune- tellers. The court had declared Smith “disorderly and an imposter.”

  Not everyone, however, was skeptical. Written much like the Bible, the Book of Mormon was filled with inspirational stories about religious heroes. It contained detailed descriptions of military battles and a slew of commandments that seemed to clarify statements by Jesus and others in the Bible. Most of all, it promised those who believed in it a chance to reign over the earth with Jesus Christ.

  Smith taught that Christ was on the verge of returning to earth where he would judge every man, woman, and child. Christ would then rule the earth with a selected few for a period of one thousand years known as the Millennium. Those who joined Smith’s church during these “last days” on earth were “the saints of the latter days,” he said, and they would be the ones whom Christ would choose to rule with Him over everyone else.

  On April 6, 1830, Smith and six other men officially incorporated a new religion, which they called the Church of Christ. At the time, Smith was only twenty-four years old. He boldly declared that his new church was the “only true church” in the world. A short time later, Smith renamed his church to emphasize his teachings about the “latter days.” He called it the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Anyone who didn’t accept the Book of Mormon was a Gentile and was automatically doomed.

  Besides offering his followers a new testament, Smith also taught that God played an active role in the lives of his “saints.” Smith’s God hadn’t changed much from the one described in the Old Testament. He still sent prophets to direct his people through revelations and His spirit. Smith claimed that God had chosen him to be His church’s first “prophet, seer, and revelator.”

  Despite such grandiose claims, Smith’s church got off to a sluggish start in New York. Few joined. But shortly after the Book of Mormon was published, one of Smith’s converts delivered a copy to Sidney Rigdon, one of the most influential preachers of the time. Rigdon would eventually fall from favor in Mormon circles and be relegated to a footnote in the church’s archives, but he was far more charismatic than Smith. The bushy-haired, bearded, barrel-chested Rigdon could keep a congregation entranced for hours with his oratory. Even hardened men had been known to burst into tears at his services. Rigdon had already been a minister in two other denominations when he began reading Smith’s new testament. Overnight, Rigdon was converted. Like Smith, Rigdon believed that the Millennium was imminent. He also believed that only a prophet who had been selected by God could have brought forth the Book of Mormon.

  Rigdon lived in Kirtland, Ohio, and during his first thirty days as a Mormon convert, he baptized one hundred twenty-seven people into the new religion. Back in New York, Smith had attracted a following of less than half that number. In December 1830, Rigdon rode his horse to New York to meet the self-proclaimed prophet and tell him of the budding Mormon movement in Kirtland. Smith was so thrilled by Rigdon’s success that he invited him to spend the night in his home. The next morning, Smith said that God had spoken to him during the night. Just as John the Baptist had prepared the way for Christ, God wanted Rigdon to prepare the way for Smith. He announced that he and his family were moving to Kirtland and he commanded all faithful Mormons to follow him there.

  At the time, Kirtland boasted a population of 1,020, mostly former New Englanders. It had a rooming house, two churches, and a mill. The richest citizen was Newel K. Whitney, owner of the general store and one of Rigdon’s recent Mormon converts. Smith immediately moved into the Whitneys’ home and lived there until his followers built his family their own house. Once Smith was settled, he said that God had commanded him to rewrite the Holy Bible. Over time, it had been filled with errors because of sloppy translators and wicked church leaders, he explained. God had told him to publish an “inspired” version for the saints to use.

  During the coming months, Rigdon and Smith recruited more and more converts, eventually developing a following of five hundred in the Kirtland area. Smith also began having almost daily revelations. Some dealt with minor events. When Smith and Rigdon tipped over in a canoe and almost drowned in a river, God revealed that He no longer wanted His prophet and Rigdon to travel on water, unless it was on a man-made canal. Other revelations contained sweeping theological announcements. One of the most important dealt with Zion. Smith said that God wanted the Mormons to “gather” together and establish Zion, a perfect community of love and trust where they would wait for Christ’s return. Even though Kirtland had become the church’s stronghold, the prophet said that God had designated Independence, Missouri, as the site of His “new Jerusalem.” That was where Christ would eventually return.

  On August 3, 1831, Smith, Rigdon, and other Mormon leaders held a dedication service in Independence at the “center spot” where Zion was to be built. Most of the land in Independence, however, was owned by Gentiles who didn’t want anything to do with Smith or his religion. When Mormons began moving to Missouri, the Gentiles there turned hostile. One night, a mob tarred and feathered the Mormon bishop and forced other saints to flee at gunpoint. Faced with growing hatred in Missouri, Smith decided that the saints could remain in Kirtland a short while longer. He announced that God wanted His saints to build a temple in Kirtland as a demonstration of their love a
nd faith.

  Construction of the “House of the Lord” began June 5, 1833, and it was Rigdon who became the driving force behind it. Church historians would later write that Rigdon had “wet the walls with his tears” by coming to the construction site daily and offering emotional prayers there. Although the fledgling church had little money, the Mormons managed to construct what then was the tallest temple in Ohio. As a show of devotion, women donated their finest china to the church. It was crushed and mixed with the exterior plaster so that the walls would sparkle when hit by sunlight. At the dedication in 1836, Rigdon gave a two-hour sermon. Smith spoke too, blessing the building. Some of the saints at the service later claimed that an angel had appeared standing next to Smith when he spoke. One week later, Smith announced that while he was praying in the temple, Christ appeared, followed by Moses and Elijah.

  Although the Mormons were prospering in Kirtland, they still were having trouble in Independence. On February 24, 1834, a mob attacked Mormon settlers. When word reached Kirtland, Smith made an angry declaration. God, he said, had promised to one-day send a prophet to lead the saints against their enemies and redeem Zion.

  “I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel . . . . “ Smith quoted God as saying.

  There are conflicting stories about what happened next in Kirtland. The official church version says that the cost of constructing the temple put the Mormons heavily in debt. The completion of the temple also frightened Gentiles who feared the Mormons were becoming too strong. Anti-Mormons called for a boycott of the saints’ stores and Gentile bankers stopped making loans to Mormon families. Smith responded by opening his own bank for Mormons, called the Kirtland Safety Society Bank. The saints were told that God expected them to exchange gold and silver for paper notes printed by the bank. Unfortunately, the Mormon bank went belly up during a national bank panic in 1837 and Smith and Rigdon were forced to leave Kirtland when angry Gentiles threatened legal action.

  A less flattering account is told in the records at the Lake County deeds office and in old county-court documents. According to these records, Smith began buying large tracts of land, apparently in the hope that a railroad would run a line over his property and make him rich. When Smith ran out of places to borrow money, he opened the Mormon bank and used its deposits as if they were his own. To ease any qualms that Mormons might have about exchanging gold and silver for bank notes, Smith put several strongboxes filled with silver coins on display in the bank lobby. It wasn’t until later, court records reveal, that Mormon depositors learned the strongboxes had been filled with sand and only the top layer had been made up of shiny fifty-cent pieces. When the bank went bust, Smith and Rigdon fled town at night to avoid furious creditors.

  Whatever version is true, Smith moved his church first to a Missouri settlement that he called Far West, located just north of Independence, and then later to Hancock County, Illinois, where he established his own town, which he named Nauvoo. Once Smith and Rigdon left Ohio, Rigdon’s standing began to slip. When Rigdon’s daughter accused Smith of locking her in a room and demanding that she have sex with him because God had ordered it, Rigdon’s relationship with Smith was ruptured even more.

  Seven years after the two men fled Kirtland, Joseph Smith, Jr., and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Their deaths left the Mormon Church without a leader. Rigdon argued that he should be in charge, but he no longer had enough clout to declare himself the new prophet. He was excommunicated and returned to his native Pennsylvania, where he died penniless.

  The saint who stepped into Smith’s shoes was Brigham Young, a charismatic and determined man who led the biggest bloc of Mormons on a difficult trek westward to Salt Lake City, Utah. Not everyone followed Young, however. A small faction of saints stayed behind in Independence, where they chose Smith’s eldest son, Joseph Smith III, to head their church. Because he was only eleven at the time, his mother, Emma, took control.

  Over time, the Mormons in Utah grew into a worldwide church of seven million members with tremendous wealth, power, and prestige. The saints who stayed behind in Independence renamed themselves the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [RLDS]. Unlike their better-known Utah counterparts, the RLDS never attracted more than 250,000 members and its members were so poor that until recently they couldn’t afford to build a temple of their own in Independence.

  Besides wealth and membership, the two Mormon sects differed in their religious teachings. One point of contention was Smith’s 1834 declaration that God would someday raise up a leader like Moses who would redeem Zion. Many Utah saints felt that Brigham Young had fulfilled that prophecy. Young, they argued, had successfully led the saints “out of bondage” in Missouri into the “new promised land” of Utah where he had “redeemed Zion.” But such talk was heresy to the saints in Missouri. They considered Young a false prophet. Zion was supposed to be built in Independence—not Salt Lake City—they argued.

  For many in the RLDS, the 1834 promise had never been fulfilled. They were still waiting for God to send them a prophet. Alice was among those RLDS members eagerly awaiting this new Moses, and in the fall of 1969, she was more confident than ever that Smith’s 1834 revelation was about to come true. After all, one of the church’s patriarchs had told her and the others during summer camp that their generation would establish Zion and that could mean only one thing. God was planning to raise up a prophet in her lifetime. The patriarch had also revealed that Alice’s husband was going to help prepare the way for Christ’s return. She had carefully memorized the patriarch’s words:

  “You shall marry a companion whom I have prepared to bring forth my kingdom and he shall be great in the eyes of these people and shall do much good unto the children of men, for I have prepared him to bring forth a marvelous work and wonder.”

  After her first date with Jeffrey, Alice began to wonder: Could he be the man whom God had chosen to be her husband? Was Jeffrey the one who would help bring forth God’s kingdom?

  The very thought made her tingle.

  Chapter 3

  A long-stemmed rose arrived every day during the first week. Jeffrey was waiting outside the women’s dormitory each morning to carry Alice’s books. He was there after every class. If Alice needed to go to the library, the school cafeteria, the gymnasium, Jeffrey would escort her. Everything that he did revolved around Alice. Even after Alice had gone into the dormitory at night, he telephoned.

  “What are you going to wear tomorrow?” he’d ask.

  “I don’t know yet,” Alice would reply. “Haven’t decided.”

  “I think you should wear that blue outfit,” he’d volunteer. “You look beautiful in it.”

  “Okay,” she’d say.

  They’d talk for a while and then he’d tell her, “Say, you’d better get to sleep. Go right to bed now.”

  Alice would hang up the telephone, get her blue outfit ready to wear, and go to bed. The next morning, he would be waiting outside and would compliment her.

  There was only one time that he upset her. He had suggested that she wear a white blouse and black skirt the next morning, but she forgot and chose something else. He didn’t speak to her when they walked together to her first class.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked later.

  “I’m just disappointed,” he said. “I asked you to wear the blouse and skirt. I thought you agreed.”

  Once Alice was sitting in her freshman chemistry class when she felt as if someone were staring at her. She glanced over at the door and spotted Jeffrey watching her through a tiny window. Ten minutes later, she looked over again and he was still there, just staring at her.

  Alice loved the attention.

  “He’s fascinating. He’s handsome. He’s athletic,” she confided to a schoolmate. “He is everything that I have ever thought the perfect man should be and he is crazy about me.”

  One week after their first date, Jeffrey
and Alice went on a hayride sponsored by the RLDS-run student union. During the ride, Alice looked at Jeffrey and he began to say something, but stopped.

  “What’ya gonna do,” she asked teasingly, “ask me to marry ya?”

  He continued to stare at her.

  “Yes,” he replied solemnly. “I want you to be my wife.”

  Alice smirked and then she realized that he was serious.

  “If you promise to fall in love with me, I will,” she replied solemnly.

  “I already am in love with you, Alice,” he said.

  In 1969, women could get married at age eighteen without parental consent in Missouri but men had to be twenty-one. Jeffrey was nineteen and he knew his parents would not approve. They wanted him to finish college. He was worried that Don and Lois were not going to like Alice. She was poor and had no status within the church.

  “We’ll have to figure out some way to get my parents’ permission,” he told her.

  Alice would later tell psychologists that as soon as she and Jeff agreed that they were going to get married, he began to pressure her for sex. Despite her religious training, she didn’t resist. Did it really matter? After all, they planned to get married. “It was as if I had opened the floodgates,” Alice later confided to a friend. “All Jeff ever wanted to do was have sex, sex, sex. It was so contrary to my upbringing that I felt very ashamed. I felt dirty. But to him it was a sign that I loved him. ‘If you love me, you’ll do this,’ he said. And I wanted him to love me.”

  When the Thanksgiving school break arrived, Jeffrey asked Alice to come to Independence to meet his family. Alice was terrified. Jeffrey’s descriptions of Don and Lois didn’t put her at ease.

  “Don’t be surprised if my father makes faces at you during the meal,” Jeffrey said as they pulled into the driveway at his parents’ home on Thanksgiving Day.

  “What?” Alice replied.