Inconvenient Truths Left Out of Sermons for the Sheep: Pratt was Killed by the Husband of a Woman that Pratt Had Run Off With (which may have triggered the Mt. Meadow Massacre)--

General History

steve benson Sep 2012

Anyone here know the REAL reason Apostle Pratt was killed? . "The 'assailant' was none other than the HUSBAND of a woman that Parley P. Pratt seduced into being his NINTH polygamous wife. . . .

In the First Presidency Message of August 2005, Mormon Church president Gordon B. Hinckley leaves out some pertinent facts about the death of Parley P. Pratt.

Hinckley deceptively declares:

"Parley Pratt was . . . 23 years of age [when he joined the Mormon Church]. The reading of the Book of Mormon affected him so profoundly that he was soon baptized into the Church and became one of its most effective and powerful advocates.

"In the course of his ministry he traveled from coast to coast across what is now the United States, into Canada, and to England; he worked in the isles of the Pacific and was the first Latter-day Saint missionary to set foot on the soil of South America.

"In 1857, while serving a mission in Arkansas, he was shot in the back and killed by an assailant. He was buried in a rural area near the community of Alma, and today in that quiet place a large block of polished granite marks the site of his grave."
_____

Here is what Hinckley hides, as to what got Pratt splatted:

"Hinckley leaves out the details in Parley P. Pratt's death, which may have fueled the hatred involved in the Mountain Meeadows Massacre deaths."

(see "First Presidency Message: A Testimony Vibrant and True," by President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Ensign" magazine, August 2005, p. 2, at:http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/2005.htm/ensign%20august%202005.htm/first%20presidency%20message%20a%20testim)

"Hinckley blathers on about how great old Parley Pratt was and all of the missionary work that he did.

"Then he quickly mentions his death in Arkansas: . . .

"In typical Mormon fashion, he leads the unwitting reader to feel anger about the death by mentioning that he was shot in the back.

"Anyone here know the REAL reason this son-of-a-bitch was killed? . . .

"The 'assailant' was none other than the HUSBAND of a woman that Parley Prick seduced into being his NINTH polygamous wife. . . .

"Parley P. Pratt was sent to explore a southern route from Utah to California in 1849. He reached San Francisco from Los Angeles in the summer of 1851, remaining there until June, 1855. He was a fanatical defender of polygamy after its open proclamation, challenging debate on the subject in San Francisco, and issuing circulars calling on the people to repent as "the Kingdom of God has come nigh unto you."

"While in San Francisco, Pratt induced the wife of Hector H. McLean, a custom-house official, the mother of three children, to accept the Mormon faith and to elope with him to Utah as his ninth wife. The children were sent to her parents in Louisiana by their father, and there she sometime later obtained them, after pretending that she had abandoned the Mormon belief.

"When McLean learned of this he went East and traced his wife and Pratt to Houston, Texas, and thence to Fort Gibson, near Van Buren, Arkansas. There he had Pratt arrested but there seemed to be no law under which he could be held.

"Pratt's death was several months before the Mormons launched the bloody massacre on the wagon train on September 11th, 1857 at Mountain Meadows, Utah. This wagon party originated in Arkansas. Mormons wanted vengence for the death of their prized Parley [P. Pratt[."

("1st Presidency Message for August 2005: Hinckley Leaves Out the Details in Parley P. Pratt's Death," by poster "Polygamy Porter," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 16 July, year not noted, original emphasis, at: http://www.exmormon.org/mormon)/mormon408.htm)
_____

More on Pratt's death at the hands of an enraged husband:

"The following appears in this ['Deseret News'] article:

"'An early apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Pratt was killed near Van Buren, Ark., in May 1857, by a small Arkansas band antagonistic toward his teachings.'

("LDS-tied Events to Bisect in Arkansas Conference on Pratt, Camp for Massacre Kin Set for April 21," by Carrie A. Moore, "Deseret News," 14 April 2007, at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660211702/LDS-tied-events-to-bisect-i...)

"UNBELIEVABLE.

"For those that still profess that all the deception, lying, and falsities were in the LDS past, I submit this as Exhibit A:

"Parley Pratt was NOT killed for his 'teachings.' He was murdered by an angry husband of a woman that [Pratt] married (yes, while she was still married to husband #1--the murderer).

"It was NOT a dispute over LDS points of doctrine.

"It was NOT an angry 'mob' trying to persecute a poor Mormon apostle/preacher.

"It WAS an angry husband who tracked down [Pratt] in a cross-country chase (while [he] was making every attempt to dodge the husband and get back to Utah with the husband's wife].

"In dispute were the children of this husband and wife. The wife wanted to take the children to Utah, the husband did not concur.

"The husband resolved the matter by tracking down and murdering [Pratt]

"Here is a brief summary of the facts of the story:

"While in San Francisco, Pratt induced the wife of Hector H. McLean, the former Elenor J. McComb, to accept the Mormon faith and to elope with him to Utah as his ninth [some reports say twelth] wife. Elenor was the mother of three children, a girl and two boys. In the S. F. Bulletin of March 24, 1877, it is stated that the apostle made the acquaintance of Mrs. McLean while engaged in missionary work in San Francisco; that her husband, who was a custom-house official and a respectable citizen, ordered him to discontinue his visits, and kicked him out of the house for continuing them surreptitiously; and that the woman was so infatuated with the Mormon Elder that she devoutly washed his feet whenever he visited her. It is reported that she was married to Pratt November 14, 1855, in Salt Lake City.

"Concerned that his (Hector’s) wife [I have not found a record of divorce] would take his children and follow Pratt to Utah, McLean sent his children to his wife’s parents in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"Hearing that her children were in her own father’s home, she made plans to go to New Orleans and gain possession of them. After pretending that she had abandoned the Mormon belief, her parents allowed Elenor to take the children. Elenor made off with her children and attempted for the next months to join up with Pratt and return with him and her children to Utah.

"In 1856 President Brigham Young directed Parley P. Pratt to carry out an extended proselyting tour in the eastern states. Leaving Salt Lake City on September 11, 1856, Elder Pratt traveled extensively among the branches in Philadelphia, New York City, Cincinnati, and elsewhere.

"While Pratt was engaged in that calling, he learned that Hector McLean (having learned of Elenor's disappearance from her parents with the chldren) was actively tracing his whereabouts. McLean nearly caught him in St. Louis. Pratt eluded the man and managed to escape to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where Elder George B. Higginson was working among the Indians of the Creek and Cherokee nations.

"Pratt and Elenor corrsponded several times in their attempt to link up and return to Utah.

"McLean, now using his position as a federal official [custom house official] to trace Pratt and Elenor's corrspondence. He traced his wife and Pratt to Houston, Texas, and thence to Fort Gibson, near Van Buren, Arkansas. On arriving at Fort Smith (near Van Buren), McLean found letters from Parley Pratt addressed to his wife.

"In May of 1857, Pratt was arrested near Van Buren, Arkansas by a Captain Little of the U.S. Cavalry on a warrant stemming from charges filed by Hector McLean. Pratt was transferred under guard to Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas, where the nearest federal court convened. Judge John B. Ogden, U.S. Commissioner, presided over the examining session on Tuesday, 12 May 1857. Evidence presented against Pratt was considered insufficient to warrant holding him, and he was to be released. However, the judge purposely did not announce the decision to release Pratt at that time, hoping to dissuade McLean from his avowed determination to kill him.

"Pratt was kept at the jailhouse overnight in protective custody. Early the next morning Judge Ogden brought his horse to him at the jail, saw that he was discharged, and at the same time offered him a knife and a pistol as a means of self-defense. But Pratt declined, saying, “Gentlemen, I do not rely on weapons of that kind, my trust is in my God. Goodbye, gentlemen.”

"As soon as Pratt was released, he left the place on horseback. McLean, who had found letters from Pratt to his wife at Fort Gibson which increased his feeling against the man, followed him on horseback. Although Pratt rode a circuitous route to escape his pursuers, a light rain allowed Hector McLean and two accomplices, James Cornell and Amasa Howell, to track him. They caught up with the fleeing man some twelve miles northeast of Van Buren (near Alma, Arkansas) in front of the Winn farm. McLean fired shots, but they failed to take effect. Riding up to Pratt, McLean stabbed him in the left breast with his bowie knife. The wounded man fell from his horse. About ten minutes later McLean returned and, placing a gun next to Pratt’s neck, deliberately fired into the prostrate figure.

"Following the assassination of her 2nd husband, Parley Pratt, by her 1st husband, Hector McLean, Elenor returned quickly to Salt Lake City, where she relayed the details (as she knew them) of Pratt’s death [some say reporting directly to Brigham Young]. Some say that it is was her report that set off the sequence of events that culminated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

"Hector returned to New Orleans and resumed life. Although The McLean children were baptized, they were not endowed until just a few years ago--leading one to assume that the children were never active in the lds church.

"Elenor stayed in Utah for the rest of her life. . . .

"Two more interesting discoveries about Parley P. Pratt and the Mountain Meadows Massacre:

"First, [Pratt] departed SLC on his fateful last trip on Sep 11, 1856.

"'Leaving Salt Lake City on 11 September 1856, Elder Pratt traveled extensively among the branches in Philadelphia, New York City, Cincinnati, and elsewhere.'

("History of Parley Parker Pratt," by Marie Dean Speakman," at: http://www.gordonbanks.com/gordon/family/pppratt.html)

"Secondly, . . . this interesting quote (in a non-anti-mormon publication (provided by the 'Sons of Utah Pioneers']):

"'While Pratt preached in the eastern States, his wife, Eleanor McComb Pratt, traveled from Utah to New Orleans to recover her three children from her parent’s home. In early 1855, her estranged husband, Hector McLean, whom she described as an abusive alcoholic who violently opposed her conversion to Mormonism, had sent them by ship from San Francisco to her parents without Eleanor’s knowledge. After retrieving her children, Eleanor headed towards Utah.

"'McLean, who blamed Pratt, tracked him in order to exact revenge. Apostle Erastus Snow reported to Brigham Young (in code language) that Pratt had narrowly escaped from McLean in St. Louis: “The Hare [Parley] however escaped narrowly but silently by a way they knew not and the blood hounds have lost every scent of his trail. The Bird [Eleanor] with her Young [her children] had flown over the Gulf and her beak headed towards the high places of the Mountains.” On her way to the 'Mountains,' Eleanor met Parley in Oklahoma Indian Territory, where McLean obtained a warrant for their arrest by alleging they had stolen the clothes the children were wearing. On this flimsy charge, a U.S. marshal with a military escort arrested them, along with another missionary, George Higginson.'

"So, September 11 was just a remarkable coincidence for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. (365 days to the day from the time [Pratt] departed SLC [and probably the day that Brigham Young said good-bye to him]."

("Parley P. Pratt Conferences In Arkansas April 21st--and One Whopper Of A Lie--Aand You Thought The Lds Church Was Done With Deception," by poster: "JW the Inquizzinator" 10 April 2007: and idem, "Two More Interesting Discoveries about Parley P. Pratt and The Mountain Meadows Massacre," 25 April 2007, original emphasis)
_____

Some more nails in the coffin of the Pratt Death Myth:

"The April 2007 'Ensign' had a lengthy article on the amazing life of Parley P. Pratt, one of the prominent apostles of the Restoration. In the article they actually made a brief mention of a second wife. I was very surprised at that as they almost never mention anything at all to do with polygamy. I was thinking that maybe the church was finally starting to be more honest with its members.

"WRONG!

"At they end of the article it says that Brother Pratt was murdered. That’s all they said. What most LDS people don’t know is why he was murdered. Parley had 12 polygamous wives. The last one was already married to another man and he wasn’t very happy that Parley added his wife to his harem.

"A brief summary of the actual event not mentioned in the Ensign article is as follows:

"While in San Francisco, Pratt induced the wife of Hector H. McLean, the former Elenor J. McComb, to accept the Mormon faith and to elope with him to Utah as his 12th wife. Elenor was the mother of three children, a girl and two boys. In the 'S. F. Bulletin' of March 24, 1877, it is stated that the apostle made the acquaintance of Mrs. McLean while engaged in missionary work in San Francisco; that her husband, who was a custom-house official and a respectable citizen, ordered him to discontinue his visits, and kicked him out of the house for continuing them surreptitiously; and that the woman was so infatuated with the Mormon Elder that she devoutly washed his feet whenever he visited her.

"It is reported that she was married to Apostle Pratt November 14, 1855, in Salt Lake City. Concerned that his (Hector’s) wife [we have not found any record of divorce] would take his children and follow Pratt to Utah, McLean sent his children to his wife’s parents in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hearing that her children were in her own father’s home, she made plans to go to New Orleans and gain possession of them.

"After pretending that she had abandoned the Mormon belief, her parents allowed Elenor to take the children. When McLean learned of this he went to New Orleans, and traced his wife and Pratt to Houston, Texas, and thence to Fort Gibson, near Van Buren, Arkansas. On arriving at Fort Smith (near Van Buren), McLean found letters from Parley Pratt addressed to his wife, one of them signed 'Your own,

"In May of 1857, Pratt was arrested near Van Buren, Arkansas, by a Captain Little of the U.S. Cavalry on a warrant stemming from charges filed by Hector McLean. Pratt was transferred under guard to Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas, where the nearest federal court convened. Judge John B. Ogden, U.S. Commissioner, presided over the examining session on Tuesday, 12 May 1857.

"Evidence presented against Elder Pratt was considered insufficient to warrant holding him, and he was to be released. However, the judge purposely did not announce the decision to release Elder Pratt at that time, hoping to dissuade McLean from his avowed determination to kill him. Elder Pratt was kept at the jailhouse overnight in protective custody.

"Early the next morning Judge Ogden brought his horse to him at the jail, saw that he was discharged, and at the same time offered him a knife and a pistol as a means of self-defense. But Elder Pratt declined, saying, 'Gentlemen, I do not rely on weapons of that kind, my trust is in my God. Goodbye, gentlemen.'

"Although Pratt rode a circuitous route to escape his pursuers, a light rain allowed Hector McLean and two accomplices, James Cornell and Amasa Howell, to track him. They caught up with the fleeing man some twelve miles northeast of Van Buren (near Alma, Arkansas) in front of the Winn farm.

"McLean fired shots, but they failed to take effect. Riding up to Elder Pratt, McLean stabbed him in the left breast with his bowie knife. The wounded man fell from his horse. About ten minutes later McLean returned and, placing a gun next to Pratt’s neck, deliberately fired into the prostrate figure.

("Just Read the Latest Ensign on Parley P. Pratt." by poster "SpongeBob SquareGarments," 27 March 2007, original emphasis)

Rebeckah
My gut says it was the wealth of the wagon train that triggered the massacre.
Pratt's murder was just the excuse they grabbed after it was all done and they realized they weren't going to get away with claiming "the injuns done it".

SL Cabbie
The Story of Mountain Meadows Never Fails to Draw Us In...
Thanks, Steve, for the link to the "LDS family site," although I had more than a little bit of trouble with this one...

>Parley was kept in prison without trial about eight months, when, by the providence of God, he made his escape on 4 July 1839. Immediately after his escape, he published a history of the Missouri persecutions, written while in prison.

Pratt was charged with murder following an attack on a Missouri militia, and there are surviving accounts that he fired on the Missouri soldier who was killed. This event led directly to the Boggs' "Extermination Order," and the massacre at Haun's Mill (which the "persecution crowd" claims fueled the fires of MMM).

The wealth of the Fancher/Baker wagon train was doubtless a factor, as Rebeckah notes, but I think we owe a debt to history to realize that some fifty or sixty faithful Mormons would not all be "driven by greed" to murder innocent women and children. Religious fanaticism and unquestioning obedience to authority were also doubtless involved. As were the larger political "ramifications" with Young facing removal as territorial governor in the face of the approaching army.

Lesssee, any little "historical quibbles"? Well, we see the "twelve versus nine wives" number, and I've sworn a blood oath of allegiance to Bagley and Bigler, who use the higher figure. That's not much of debate subject. I'm still tracking down whether one of the surviving McLean children migrated to Utah; that doesn't seem unreasonable either way, and the church records may have been suppressed (for good reason, to avoid drawing attention to the matter). Another poster here has some excellent information on Hector McLean's life after Pratt's murder (he was never prosecuted), and one more little note: to access the short topic Steve linked, you might have to go to the main page; I got an "internal service error." There's also a little note from "Sagebrush Willie," whose identity I'm fairly certain about.

What I trust the reader "sees" is the sheer consistency of the contemporary "anti-Mormon" accounts of the matter, and the utter inconsistency of "church homespun" stories. Recognizing those elements is a huge tool in the historians toolbox.

steve benson
I tend not to buy the argument that the Mormon murderers at Mountain Meadow were merely using Pratt as a fallback cover story . . .
Danite-minded, violence-obsesssed, paranoid-crazed, law-breaking, blood-atoning Mormon thugs under Butchering Brigham were lunatics seeking both revenge against and refuge from the evil Gentile world.

Given their frenzied and fanatical cranial soup, Pratt may well have been used as a justification (among others) for slaughtering those always-suspect non-Mormon immigrants on September 11, 1857.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2012 02:59AM by steve benson.

steve benson
I tend not to necessarily buy the argument that the Mormon murderers at Mountain Meadow were merely using Pratt as a fallback cover story . . .
Danite-minded, violence-obsesssed, parnoid, blood-atoning Mormon thugs under Bloody Brigham were lunatics seeking both revenge against and refuge from the Gentile world.

GIven their frenzied mindset, Pratt may well have been used as a justification (among others) for slaughtering the always-suspect immigrants on September 11, 1857.

SL Cabbie
Their Fanaticism Gave Meaning to Their Lives and Their Actions...
My "Darwinian upbringing" is always looking for "survival function," i.e "pay-offs" and all millennial Christian faiths offer a mitigation of the pain in this life via a promise of relief in the next...

But they had to "carry their pain with them," until then, and ultimately they acted out horribly--and shamefully--to exorcise it...

And I suppose their deluded faith allowed them to live with themselves afterwards... The "doctrine of obedience" was certainly not something they could question by then, and I think I see a lesson there... I'll have to meditate further.

Sane people do not react well to insanity, and thus we face a near insurmountable challenge in trying to understand why something like this happened.

smithscars
Re: Inconvenient Truths Left Out of Sermons for the Sheep: Pratt was Killed by the Husband of a Woman that Pratt Had Run Off With
Great info Steve, as always. I appreciate your information and the work behind it.

It's Eerily similar to Joseph Smith's last days except Parley wouldn't take the weapons offered for defense because he wasn't such a coward as Joseph and his smuggled pepperbox gun.

It's chilling that Parley could be linked to so many deaths at Haun's Mill and the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

xxMoo
And don't forget ...
Romney is distantly related to Pratt by marriage.

The Pratt family, descended from either of the Mormon pioneer brothers, Parley Parker Pratt or his brother Orson Pratt, whose father was Jared Pratt (1769–1839) has members in Utah and other parts of the U.S. One branch of the Pratt family is the Huntsman family. Another is the Romney family, descended from Parley Pratt's granddaughter Anna Pratt Romney and her husband Gaskell Romney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_family

xxMoo
Re: And don't forget ...
I think I misread that tree ... Mitt is a great-grandnephew of Parley Pratt. (Mormon royalty family trees get confusing.)

Helaman was the son of Parley P. Pratt and Glasgow-born wife Mary Wood, the father of missionary Rey Pratt, the grandfather of Michigan governor George W. Romney, and the great-grandfather of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Anna Amelia (Pratt) Romney (1876 – 1926) was the daughter of Helaman Pratt (a son of Parley Pratt) and one of his wives, Anna Johanna Dorothy Wilcken. Pratt married Gaskell Romney on February 20, 1895, in the Mormon colonies in Mexico and was the mother of George W. Romney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helaman_Pratt

footdoc
Re: Inconvenient Truths Left Out of Sermons for the Sheep: Pratt was Killed by the Husband of a Woman that Pratt Had Run Off With
I love the PPP story, but I do question the relevance of Romney's familial relationship to PPP. I'm sure I'm related to some not so nice people a few generations back, scoundrels, swindlers, adulterers, what-have-you, yet I do not think that's relevant to who I am. Even Romney's G-Grandfather's polygamy seems irrelevant to me, its interesting, but does not speak for Romney's character because just like me, he did not choose his ancestors (unless you believe some screwy mormon narration of the pre-earth life...).

John_Lyle
Re: Inconvenient Truths Left Out of Sermons for the Sheep: Pratt was Killed by the Husband of a Woman that Pratt Had Run Off With
It amazes me that things like what really happened to Pratt are so effectively covered up by the church.

If you pick up a non-mormon sourced book, stuff like this is usually well reported.

The government ought to consult with the church on keeping secrets...

SL Cabbie
Re-Read it Again. Parley P. Pratt was Mitt's Great-Great Grandfather...
I know it's tough going with that stuff because there are so many with the same names.

However, in his book he published offering an introduction to Utah for the Olympic Games, Romney identified PPP as his great-great grandfather, and erroneously claimed he was the "first individual" who explored the canyon (now named after him) the led the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.

In fact, they descended via Emigration Canyon, not Parley's Canyon, where I-80 now runs. And Parley Pratt did not arrive in the Salt Lake Valley until September, 1847, two months after the vanguard party that included his brother Orson. Pratt did eventually build a toll road up the canyon and derived an income as a result. Romney gives crop failure as the reason for Pratt's undertaking that enterprise.

"Recovery from Mormonism - www.exmormon.org"

Recovery from Mormonism

Inconvenient Truths Left Out of Sermons for the Sheep: Pratt was Killed by the Husband of a Woman that Pratt Had Run Off With (which may have triggered the Mt. Meadow Massacre)--

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