Verfasser:	Hexe
Datum:	Montag, den 19. April 2004, um 0:22 Uhr
Betrifft:	Kam Brigham Young mit einem Mord an die Macht?

Im Jahre 1857 gab Brigham Young eine Ansprache, indem er das folgende sagte:

"And William Smith has asserted that I was the cause of the death of his brother Samuel, when brother Woodruff, who is here to day, knows that we were waiting at the depôt in Boston to take passage east at the very time when Joseph and Hyrum were killed. Brother Taylor was nearly killed at the time, and Doctor Richards had his whiskers nearly singed off by the blaze from the guns. In a few weeks after, Samuel Smith died, and I am blamed as the cause of his death." - Prophet Brigham Young, July 1857, Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p.77

Etwas Nachforschung verschiedenster kircheneigener Quellen, sowie Quellen ehemaliger Mormonen brachten diese Tatsachen zu Tage:

"Samuel Harrison Smith, born in Tunbridge, Vt., March 13, 1808. Died July 30, 1844, broken hearted, and worn out with persecution. Aged 36. The righteous are removed from the evils to come."
- Times and Seasons, Vol.5, No.24, p.760

Eine weitere Quelle sagte:

"Hyrum & Joseph was Murdered Carthage Jail in Hancock Co[,] Illinois. Samuel Smith died in Nauvoo, supposed to have been the Subject of Conspiracy by Brigham Young."
- Joseph Smith Family Testimony, William Smith Notes Circa 1875, Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, p. 488

Als ich diese Stellen im Internet auf einer Seite eines ehemaligen Mormonen gefunden hatte, fragte ich mich, warum diese Aussage getroffen wurde, und die Brigham Young so schwer belastete.
Um den Zusammenhang besser verstehen zu können, müssen wir uns vergegenwärtigen, dass, nachdem Joseph Smith und sein Bruder Hyrum getötet wurden, gab es Konflikte darüber, wer sein Nachfolger im Amt des Mormonenpropheten werden sollte. Brigham Young, der nicht in Nauvoo war, als Joseph Smith getötet wurde, reiste sofort zurück, als er davon gehört hatte. Währendessen versuchten einige potentielle Nachfolger in Nauvoo, ihre Stellung als Nachfolger zu positionieren. Der aussichtsreichste Kandidat dafür war Samuel Smith, der Bruder Joseph Smiths. William Clayton, der Schreiber Joseph Smiths, hatte aufgeschrieben, das Samuel, im Falle des gewaltsamen Todes Joseph und Hyrum Smith, der Nachfolger im Präsidentenamt sein sollte.
Aber ein enger Verwandter von Brigham Young, und gleichzeitig ein mormonischer Apostel, Willard Richards, meinte, das niemand sich dazu entschließen würde, vor Brigham Youngs Rückkehr nach Nauvoo ihm nachzufolgen. Wie auch immer, viele der Mormonen wollten nicht mehr lange warten, und mehr und mehr von ihnen unterstützten Samuel Smith, den Bruder Joseph Smith, damit er der nächste Prophet und Kirchenführer würde.
Für einige wenige von ihnen war diese Wahl allerdings ein großes Problem, denn Samuel Smith war sehr gegen die Vielehe. Für sie sah es so aus, als ob Samuel Smith der nächste Prophet werden würde, und der die Praxis der Vielehe abschaffen würde.
Michael Quinn schrieb in seinem Buch „The Mormon Hierarchy- Origns of Power“, was als nächstes geschah:

"Then Samuel Smith suddenly became violently ill and died on 30 July 1844. This added suspicion of murder to the escalating drama. Council of Fifty member and physician John M. Bernhisel told William Smith that anti-Mormons had somehow poisoned his brother. William learned from Samuel’s widow that Hosea Stout, a Missouri Danite and senior officer of Nauvoo’s police, had acted as his brother’s nurse. Stout had given him "white powder" medicine daily until his death. Samuel became ill within days of the discussion of his succession right, and by 24 July was "very sick." There had been enough talk about Samuel’s succession claims that the newspaper in Springfield, Illinois, reported: "A son of Joe Smith [Sr.] it is said, had received the revelation that he was to be the successor of the prophet."
"William Smith eventually concluded that Apostle Willard Richards asked Stout to murder (his brother) Samuel H. Smith. The motive was to prevent Samuel from becoming church president before Brigham Young and the full Quorum of Twelve arrived (in Navuoo). William’s suspicions about Stout are believable since Brigham Young allowed William Clayton to go with the pioneer company to Utah three years later only because Stout threatened to murder Clayton as soon as the apostles left. Clayton regarded Hosea Stout as capable of homicide and recorded no attempt by Young to dispute that assessment concerning the former Danite."
"One could dismiss William Smith’s charge as a self-serving argument for his own succession claim, yet Samuel’s daughter also believed her father was murdered. "My father was undoubtedly poisoned," she wrote. "Uncle Arthur Millikin was poisoned at the same time-the same doctors were treating my father and Uncle Arthur at the same time. Uncle Arthur discontinued the medicine-without letting them know that he was doing so. (Aunt Lucy [Smith Millikin] threw it in the fire). Father continued taking it until the last dose-he spit out and said he was poisoned. But it was too late-he died." Nauvoo’s sexton recorded that Samuel Smith died of "bilious fever," the cause of death listed for two children but no other adults that summer."
"This troubling allegation should not be ignored but cannot be verified. Nevertheless Clayton’s diary confirms the efforts of Richards to avoid the appointment of a successor before his first cousin Brigham Young arrived. Stout’s diary also describes several occasions when Brigham Young and the apostles seriously discussed having Hosea "rid ourselves" of various church members considered dangerous to the church and the apostles. Stout referred to this as "cut him off-behind the ears-according to the law of God in such cases." Stout’s daily diary also makes no reference whatever to his threat to murder Clayton in 1847. When the Salt Lake "municipal high council" tried Hosea Stout for attempted murder, he protested that "it has been my duty to hunt out the rotten spots in the Kingdom." He added that he had "tried not to handle a man’s case until it was right." Evidence does not exist to prove if the prophet’s brother was such a "case" Stout handled."
- D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy- Origns of Power  p.152-153

Wir werden wohl alle nie erfahren, ob Samuel Smith eines natürlichen, oder eines gewaltsamen Todes gestorben war! Aber in jedem Fall sehe ich hier Anhaltspunkte, die zumindest den Verdacht nahe legen, das Letzteres der Fall war!
Und so handelt also ein „Prophet Gottes“ und seine Anhänger?
Warum fühle ich mich nur so an die Machtkämpfe der einzelnen Päpste erinnert, die durch Lug und Trug, Bestechung und Mord an die Macht kamen (näheres dazu in den Büchern von Karl-Heinz Deschner über die „Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums“)?

Kam Brigham Young mit einem Mord an die Macht? – Hexe, 19.4.04 um 0:22 Uhr
keinesfalls eine Bagatelle – Nyu, 20.4.04 um 19:44 Uhr
Brigham Young und seine Zeit interessiert mich halt – Hexe, 22.4.04 um 22:19 Uhr

Mormonismus, Glaubensdoktrin, und die moderne Wissenschaft – Mykonos, 17.2.15 um 14:26 Uhr
Religiöse Kosmologien als Sinnverstärker und Apologetik – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 20:04 Uhr
"Psychologie der Religionen" – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 18:03 Uhr
U.a. von Religionspsychologie bis zur Archäogenetik... – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 11:46 Uhr
Du meinst: There’s life in the old dog yet - oder: Totgesagte leben länger – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 1:58 Uhr
Unsicherheit? – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 15:35 Uhr
Agonie...? – Mykonos, 15.2.15 um 14:47 Uhr
Bald ist es soweit: "nächste Tage = 2 Monate" – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 12:14 Uhr
Auch von mir: herzlichen Dank – shana, 3.1.15 um 22:12 Uhr
Facebook und Co – Sappho, 3.1.15 um 20:12 Uhr

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