Mormon History
Mormon Confessions - 1874
The Salt Lake Daily Tribune – August 21, 1874
SOME STARTLING FACTS.
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A Saint of Thirty Years' Standing
Unburdens His Bosom.
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And Tells What He Knows of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
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Brigham Young and John D. Lee the Twin Assassins.
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Massacre of the Innocent Emigrants by the Profit.
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Hamilton's
Fort, Aug. 12, 1874.
Eds. Tribune: I ask the indulgence of a little space in your columns for the
purpose of relating a few facts which pertain to myself, and may not be
uninteresting to the majority of your readers. In the Semi-Weekly Deseret News,
for Saturday, May 23d, 1874, appeared the following:
"Excommunications: -- At a public meeting held in Cedar City, Sunday evening,
April 26, 1874, Geo. A. Hicks, of Fort Hamilton, was cut off the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy."
The above is a very brief and unpretentious paragraph, which a business man
might never notice -- a paragraph which my friends who are still of the Mormon
faith, would feel sad as they read it, and my enemies would perhaps rejoice at
my downfall, and then it would be utterly forgotten. Not so with myself. In the
notice of my excommunication, the readers only hear one side of the case,
"apostasy." I shall endeavor to give
THE OTHER SIDE.
Of the forty years of my
life, thirty have been spent in the Mormon Church. I, with my father's family,
was expelled from Nauvoo. I thought it very cruel at the time, and still think
so in fact. I have shared the joys and sorrows, the victories and defeats of the
Church for thirty years.
I came to Utah in 1852, strong in the faith of Mormonism. I have seen the church
when it was full of Christian charity and brotherly love. In 1856, came what is
called.
THE REFORMATION,
which swept over the country like a tornado. It was then for the first time I heard the doctrine of Blood Atonement. Leading men in the church would say if you should find your father or your mother, your sister or your brother dead by the wayside, say nothing about it, but pass on about your own business. The wildest fanaticism prevailed everywhere. Secret deaths began to be
QUITE COMMON.
If we heard of a secret murder in San pete or Cache Valley, we knew the work of the Lord was progressing. I was then a citizen of Spanish Fork City, and be it said to the honor of that place, no one has ever been killed by any priestly assassin inside of its borders.
WHOLESALE MURDER.
In the year 1857, while Johnson's army was on the plains, a company of emigrants came to Utah. I saw them pass through Spanish Fork; they were quiet and orderly. They traveled on to the south and stopped on the bottom between Spanish Fork and Payson to rest their teams, and in a week or two continued their journey. The next news I heard of them was they had all been killed by the Indians. It was afterwards whispered that white men and Indians together, led by one John D. Lee, had done the deed, but nothing definite was known to the public. In the Autumn of 1858, I, with my family, was "called" on a mission to Washington County to raise cotton. In Washington I was told that many of the men there had been to Sebastapol. "Sebastapol," said I, "what do you mean?" "Oh, the Mountain Meadows -- but don't say that I told you," said my cautious informer. I noticed that all these men were in full fellowship in the church and some of them were the loudest preachers and could bear strong testimony of
THE WORK.
I thought I would be able to break down their influence in society, as soon as I got a little acquainted. I staid at Washington one year and a half and then removed to Harmony. That settlement was the residence at that time, of John D. Lee, and he was the presiding elder of that branch of the church. Surely, thought I, Brigham Young does not know that Lee is the man who led the Indians and whitemen who
MURDERED A TRAIN OF CHRISTIAN WHITE PEOPLE?
Lee is a Kentuckian. He is
an eloquent preacher of Mormonism, and has been very successful in making
converts.
When I had been at Harmony one year, Brigham Young came to Harmony, passed
through it, and drove up to the residence of John D. Lee! From that time my
confidence in Brigham began to wane. Could it be possible that the Prophet of
God could find no better men
TO ASSOCIATE WITH THAN JOHN D. LEE.
Then I tried to argue the
circumstance from my mind, by saying it was not my business to say where the
servants of God should stop, or whom they should stop with.
Time passed on until the murder of Dr. J. K. Robinson. Soon after that event,
Brigham Young preached a sermon in Salt Lake City, in which he used the
following language: "There are some things which I cannot bear to contemplate,
the hounds will [sic - Brownsville?] massacre; the Mountain Meadows massacre,
and the murder of Dr. Robinson are atrocities of this sort. These," said he, "I
cannot bear to think about; but
LET THE UNITED BRETHREN KEEP THEIR OATHS AND COVENANTS."
That last remark is
significant. The sermon containing that extract, was published in the Deseret
News. I read it, and re-read it; my mind, which had wavered between two opinions
-- one in favor of Brigham Young's innocence, and the other against it. Brother
Brigham is all right, I said, and is not in favor of Lee and crime.
The people of Harmony had got tired of Lee, and had put another man in his place
to preside over them, but Lee was still allowed to preach two or three times a
month. In one meeting I raised an objection, and noted Brigham Young's sermon
against Lee, and thought to silence him in public. Lee, who understood his
"relations" with the Prophet better than I did, promptly informed me that I did
not know Brother Brigham as well as he did; he (Bro. Brigham)
DID NOT MEAN WHAT HE HAD SAID
in his sermon. He had talked that way to blind the eyes of the Gentiles, and to satisfy disaffected individuals, such as I was. I felt indignant in the highest degree that the character of the servant of God should be traduced by a man whose hand I believed to be
STAINED WITH INNOCENT BLOOD.
I immediately informed Brigham Young by letter, of Lee's slanderous statements. recommending that Lee be cut off from the Church. I waited for an answer; it came promptly to hand. The Prophet, did not thank me for the information I had given him, but on the contrary, he pretended to think that I had taken a part in the Mountain Meadows affair, and on that conclusions, advised me to take a
DOSE OF ROPE AROUND MY NECK.
"with a jerk." That a little
bit of prophetic advice I did not obey. From that time forth. I have believed
that Lee is better acquainted with the Prophet than I am.
To the honest believing Mormon, these statements of mine will seem incredible,
but they are nevertheless true. I do not wish to do Brigham Young any physical
harm, but I will say to all men who read this article, that if I had only been
A PIOUS MURDERER
I might have rode "cheek by
jowl" with the Prophet as Lee has done, and been in good standing in the Church.
On the seventh day of April 1874, I saw John D. Lee by the side of Brigham
Young's carriage, and reported the same to The Tribune. I was suspected of so
doing of so doing. Bishop Henry Lunt of Cedar City, questioned me on the
subject. I did not deny the fact, and was immediately cut off without even a
hearing of any kind.
A few more words, and I will close. I was a member of the Mormon Church for
nearly thirty years, and never had a charge of any kind brought against me. I
have no faith in any of the religions of the day, but like Madam De Stael, I
have loved God, my country, and liberty. The reader must judge whether I have or
have not had just grounds for apostacy.
Respectfully,
Geo. A. Hicks.
Note: For more on Elder George A. Hicks, see Will Bagley's "His Integrity Paid
Off For Pioneer," in the
Jan. 21, 2001 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune.