Tuesday, June 23. It was a pleasant warm day in G.S.L. City. The mail arrived at 2:15 p.m. containing 8 sacks of mail and came through in 23 ways. News of the death of Parley P. Pratt was received in the mail.
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 23, 1857, 1]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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The following is an extract from Elder Woodruff’s Journal, under date of June 25:
“When in the President’s office on the 23rd, Pres. Young asked Geo. J. Smith if it was not hard to acknowledge the hand of God in the death of Parley P. Pratt by as wicked a man as McLain, yet we will have to do it.
“Pres. Brigham Young said if we live our religion we shall have all the world upon us; I will tell you the day has come when the Elders have got to take care of themselves, for the people will publish a lie and shoot them if they are not careful. The people must know there is a God in Heaven and circumstances will bring this thing to bear.”
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 25, 1857, 1]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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“…The papers publish many hard stories about the death of Prest. Parley P. Pratt and the cause of his death and about the ‘Mormons’ in Utah and consider us a band of outlaws and traitors to the constitution and laws of the United States….”
David O. Rideout
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 15, 1857, 2]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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Account of His Mission
By Elder William Martindale, Bowery, Sunday, Afternoon, Aug. 16, 1857
…The papers boasted when Parley was killed that there was one ‘Mormon’ less, and that is the way they feel; they want to do something, they itch all over and they hardly know where to scratch, and if they knew where it hurt most they would bite….
[Deseret News, 7:196]
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Aug. 16, 1857, 5]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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Geneva, July 7, 1857
Dear Brother Urbenbach—Not having returned to Piedmont since your departure for Zion, and being now located in Geneva, I have had the pleasure of reading the different letters you have written to Prest. Smith and to the Saints in Geneva, all of which have caused us to rejoice, with the exception of one announcing the assassination of Elder Parley P. Pratt; this grieved us to the heart, we could hardly believe that such an atrocity had been perpetrated; the Saints were much affected by such sad news. Please tell me in your next if his assassin, McLean, has been punished, and the law has taken its course….
Samuel Francis
[The Mormon, Sept. 12, 1857]
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Aug. 22, 1857, 4]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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Statement of Wm. M. Wall, Historian’s Office, Dec. 12, 1857
…In a few minutes I discovered Dr. Andrews walking down the street, he motioned with his cane as though he was motioning for some others to come. Mr. Chatman and some ten or a dozen others gathered around me and threatened me most furiously and three men offered to wear that I had been guilty of murdering a couple of men at Springville last winter. Dr. Andrews then came up and I spoke to him, it was the first time I pretended to know who he was, I offered him my hand, but he said no, he did not shake hands with any of my kind. They said, “We have killed old Parley Pratt, one of the damned scoundrels, and we intend to finish every one we get hold of.”
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dec. 12, 1857, 4]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]
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Elder Henry W. Bigler returned to G.S.L. City from his mission to Hawaii. Following is a report of his mission (dated Farmington, Dec. 3, 1858), addressed to Geo. A. Smith.
…I labored in Elder Wandell’s field about three weeks, when I returned to San Francisco with the necessary means in my pocket to pay my way to Honolulu, and as there was no vessel ready to sail for the islands, Elder Cannon advised Elder D.P. Rainy and I to visit all the sectarian priests in San Francisco and try and get them to believe our testimony and ask them to teach it to their members and also to ask them to let us have their churches to preach in, and if they refused our testimony, and would not hearken to us, to tell them that we should visit their flocks ourselves and endeavor to teach them the truth. Accordingly, we set out to visit them. The first was a Mr. Briely; he treated us very well and invited us to give him another call, though he said when we were leaving him, that he did not wish us any success whatever. The next was a Mr. Thomas. He manifested a bitter, hostile spirit against the truth and did justify McLean in the strongest terms for killing Parley P. Pratt and said that the example of Abraham was no example for him (Thomas) to go by and utterly refused to hear us or let us have his church to preach in…
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oct. 27, 1858, 5]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, July 2006]