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DOCTRINE - BLOOD ATONEMENT - INSTANCES - POTTER, WILSON, WALKER
Issac Potter, Charles Wilson and John Walker, residing at Coalville, were apostate Mormons, Walker was a boy about nineteen years of age. These three persons had previously been arrested for alleged thefts, and in every instance had been discharged by Judge Snyder, who at the time was probate judge of Summit county. In August of this year, they were again arrested on the charge of having stolen a cow...the armed men marching behind Potter thrust the muzzle of a shotgun against Potter's mouth. Potter in terror, shouted 'murder!' Whereupon the armed man discharged the gun against the body of Potter at a range so close as to cause his instant death. At the discharge of the gun, both Wilson and Walker broke away and ran for their lives. Wilson was overtaken and killed at the ends of the Weber river. As Walker made his escape, a charge from a shotgun grazed his breast and lacerated his hand and wrist. He was wearing neither coat nor vest, and the charge set his shirt on fire and as he ran he extinguished the fire by the blood from his wounds. He was an athletic youth and soon distanced his pursuers...he succeeded in reaching Camp Douglas, where the commanding officer, upon hearing what had taken place, gave him support and protection.
No steps having been taken by the authorities of Summit county to arrest any of the participants in the homicides mentioned, Judge Titus, whose judicial district included Summit county, upon the affidavit of Walker, issued a warrant for the arrest of the persons accused of the crime. They were arrested, and at the hearing before Judge Titus, at which I was present, what I have here stated respecting the murder of Potter and Wilson and the assault upon Walker, appeared from the testimony of Walker, who was a witness. Several of the residents of Coalville testified that they were awakened by the shots fired, and rushed out to lean the cause of the disturbance, that they saw Potter dead upon the ground, with his throat cut from ear to ear...
The only excuse ever claimed by any of the accused was that Potter, Wilson and Walker attempted to escape, and were shot while running away. In the light of the fact that Potter's throat was cut...such a claim is absurd...
Walker remained for some time at Fort Douglas after the accused parties were committed, but before the time set for the grand jury of the district court to convene he left the fort to visit his mother at Coalville. He did not visit his mother, but mysteriously disappeared, and has neither been seen nor heard of since that time...His testimony was necessary to make a case against the accused, and his disappearance gave them perfect immunity."
"A number of the victims of the massacre had their throats cut, just in the same was as Issac Potter...who had his throat cut from ear to ear, after he had been instantly killed and was lying prostrate upon the ground from the discharge of a shotgun in the back at close range. Other similar cases have been stated to me, and were given in the testimony at the trials of John D. Lee.
There is no doubt in my mind that all such cases were inspired by the throat-cutting sermons and oath-bound covenants of the Mormon church. The blood-thirsty spirit revealed by these sermons conclusively shows that their authors had vengeful and malignant hearts. To call an organization in which such sermons were tolerated, and afterwards reproduced and perpetuated in it official publications, the 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,' is a disgraceful profanity of the sacred name of Jesus Christ. These disgusting sermons of Brigham Young not only emphasize the absurdity of his assumption of divine agency, but resemble the ravings of a vicious lunatic, and are such as no Christian would deliver."
- R. N. Baskin, Reminiscences of Early Utah, pp. 9-12, 110