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[_Lilburn Boggs]

Top of the day to you all!

It's been a long, long time now since we rid our fine state, Missouri, of the Mormon problem in 1838. That damnable crowd at last crossed the river, and perplexed the authorities of that other great state of Illinois through the 1840's. Oh, yes, there were the attempts on my life.

Porter Rockwell and Joe Smith were a couple of loose cannons. But all three of us are dead now. I've let bygones be bygones, but Porter and Joe seem to still hold a bit of a grudge. The afterlife didn't pan out well for their expectations. They seem to be holding grudges too. This is a big place, heaven, so we don't cross paths much anymore. Good thing. Occasionally, Michael Chandler tells me that Joe has been hounding him for that $2,400 back he paid for those mummies that Joe claims turned out not to be what he thought they were. Emma won't talk to Joe now, as won't most of his other wives and their other husbands. Turns out, polygamy was just an excuse for promiscuity.

New Mormons have come back to Missouri, and not caused the problems of 1838. Peaceable ones, mind you, that do not steal other men's lands. The temple in Independence even bears their Peace seal on a set of doors. Newer temples in St. Louis and Kansas City by the Utah Mormons are both on land bought and paid for. Imagine that.

I have much to catch up on. Mormons are a peculiar people, especially Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce McConkie. I guess it will take a couple of more decades for them to mellow out.

I look forward to you all helping to educate me on the details.

Yours truly,

[_MCB]

Gov. Boggs, it is so nice to see you here. Have you seen Thomas Sharp, Mark Aldrich, or William Law lately?

[_Lilburn Boggs]

Gov. Boggs, it is so nice to see you here. Have you seen Thomas Sharp, Mark Aldrich, or William Law lately?

MCB? Are you a Bennett, perchance?

Dr. Law tells me that Joe told him that he'd sent Porter to kill me. Porter did shoot me, but I lived. Dr. Law is still sheepish talking about Joe. Dr. Law didn't like being fooled by Joe.

Thomas Sharp? He and Joe buried the hatchet around 1920 your time. Occasionally they have beers and laugh about the old Nauvoo days, the Warsaw Signal and the 1845 acquittal. Thomas does have to watch that he doesn't get too tipsy. When he does, he says something or other that sets Joe off again.

Mark Aldrich keeps his distance from me. I don't even hear any reports about him. I wonder what Aldrich is up to?

[_MCB]

No Bennett here, just a humble, insignificant Cole.

Old Tom was certainly a hothead, though not as much as Ol'Joe.

Mark is probably still trying to collect rent on his land.

[_sock puppet]

Welcome, L W--you don't mind me being so presumptuous do you?

You still have bullets falling out of your head?

Do you think JSJr got what he deserved at Carthage?

[_Lilburn Boggs]

Is that you, Kurt? What's your interest in Mormonism?

By the way, now that Ludwig Van can hear again, he's asked me to ask you to 'chill'. He'll give you a music lesson or two if you ask him, I'm sure.

If by JSJr you mean Joseph Smith, Jr., then I do not think Joe deserved to be killed at Carthage. I wanted him to be brought back to Missouri to stand charges. I wanted to look him in the eyes. Joe was a crafty devil. He is still slippery when it comes to legal matters.

[_sock puppet]

No, just a fan of grunge using his likeness.

Slippery like a wet floor, indeed.

[_MCB]

If by JSJr you mean Joseph Smith, Jr., then I do not think Joe deserved to be killed at Carthage. I wanted him to be brought back to Missouri to stand charges. I wanted to look him in the eyes.

It is regrettable that it did not go down that way. I am sure that was the intent of many of the participants. Is that what they also told you?

[_Lilburn Boggs]

Oh, actually, some have confessed that they intended just what happened. Some incited the others that showed up to attack the jail. Tensions were high. History has been unkind to Gov. Ford in all this. You would have to have been there to understand.

[_MCB]

You would have to have been there to understand.

That is an inarguable absolute that many today do not understand.