Number one son told me of this this article on LDS.Org. September this year marks the 150th anniversary of the slaughter of the Fancher wagon train members at the site near Cedar City called the Mountain Meadows. A new book is to be available soon, written by insiders, Richard Turley and Ronald Walker. I have read the Juanita Brooks, Bagley and Denton books. Brooks was the best of the lot, but Bagley and Denton had information not available to Ms. Brooks. I liked this article and it deserves to be read and pondered. I hope it will get some attention in Church discussions. I am glad it will be published in the Ensign. We need to understand, if we can, how good people could do something so terrible. The capacity of unquestioning religious zealots and believers of that day perhaps helps us understand the death squads in Iraq and other places today.
As I have read the accounts in the aforementioned books I was struck by the similarities in how people are moved so efficiently in and out of the Conference Center and other Church venues and the efficiency with which the Mormons choreographed this very cold blooded massacre. It was chillingly altogether too familiar.
I met a great grandson of Jacob Hamblin recently at the Bountiful Temple. We discussed his grandfather and his role in bringing John D. Lee to justice. His was the sole testimony at the trial to convict Lee. Jacob had an Indian son who saw Lee cruelly murder two young ladies, shooting them at point blank range while they begged for mercy and their lives. The indians would not do the deed because of their beauty.
We owe it to the Fanchers and their descendents not to forget.
