Robert Taylor Burton: Saint or Murderer?

[_moksha]

When you win, perfidy becomes justified and eventually fades to the stuff of a conference talk. Who are we to judge the rot of the past with our shining ideals? It was a hard life back then and the coyotes were ready to eat you.

Still, one has to wonder what virtues passed for righteousness back then when a serial killer could become a General Authority.

[_just me]

See, that is the thing. There really is no such thing as "murder" to a Saint. You can do all the killing you want and you are totally A-OK in the eyes of Jehovah and Elohim.
It is only murder if the person is perfect...so really, unless the person is God, you can kill them all ya want. Killing babies is fine, too, Jehovah did it all the time in the Old Testament.

Isn't it wonderful? It is the tender mercy of our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ that makes this beautiful sacred doctrine known to us in these, the latter days!

[_Joseph]

schryber wrote: "Too bad you weren't around then. They could have pasted that nickel on your forehead and Porter Rockwell could have shot a hole through it at 100 paces."
*****************************

Remind us once again what Priesthood you hold & how you are honoring it?

[_wenglund]

See, that is the thing. There really is no such thing as "murder" to a Saint. You can do all the killing you want and you are totally A-OK in the eyes of Jehovah and Elohim.
It is only murder if the person is perfect...so really, unless the person is God, you can kill them all ya want. Killing babies is fine, too, Jehovah did it all the time in the Old Testament.

Isn't it wonderful? It is the tender mercy of our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ that makes this beautiful sacred doctrine known to us in these, the latter days!

Nothing quite credibilizes snooty moralizing like using false caricatures to stereotype the objcect of derision, and this in a failed attempt at cleverness. So, congratulations on your masterpiece. No doubt it will play well to this audience.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[_just me]

And, I never suggested that Burton didn't shoot Morris, but that is a fundamentally different thing than being guilty of "murder," isn't it?

Can you explain how the killings were legal? I am not aware of the territory law that made it legal for a US Marshall to shoot unarmed civilians flying the flag of surrender rather than taking them in so they could have their day in court.

[_Sethbag]

This is a good book to read on it: For Christ Will Come Tomorrow: The Saga of the Morrisites by C. Leroy Anderson. I could furnish a more detailed bibliography in a few days if anyone is interested.

I just checked on Amazon, and the cheapest used copy of that book is like $35. I'll have to see if I can check it out somewhere, instead.

You can see a photo of Mary Christofferson Anderson in David Bigler's Forgotten Kingdom. She was the 14 year old girl whose face was shattered by the cannon ball fired by Burton into the Morrissite's meeting bower.

I remember reading briefly about the Morrisites in Forgotten Kingdom. Unfortunately I leant my copy out to a relative of mine and haven't got it on hand to look up the episode to remind myself what Bigler had to say about it.

An interesting feature of the massacre's aftermath was that the only Mormon signatory on the petition to the Governor pardon the Morrissite prisoners was Bill Hickman. I would imagine it would have to be a pretty egregious set of murders to draw his ire.

Yeah, no joke. Crazy.

[_just me]

D&C 42:18 And now, behold, I speak unto the church. Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come.
19 And again, I say, thou shalt not kill; but he that killeth shall die.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

D&C 42:18 And now, behold, I speak unto the church. Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come.
19 And again, I say, thou shalt not kill; but he that killeth shall die.

Pssshaaa!


What makes you think that Mormons would keep the laws of the land OR their own laws??
12th Article of Faith:

"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." -Prophet Joseph Smith

1833 law against bigamy in Illinois:

Bigamy consists in the having of two wives or two husbands at one and the same time, knowing that the former husband or wife is still alive. If any person or persons within this State, being married, or who shall hereafter marry, do at any time marry any person or persons, the former husband or wife being alive, the person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the penitentiary, not exceeding two years. It shall not be necessary to prove either of the said marriages by the register or certificate thereof, or other record evidence; but the same may be proved by such evidence as is admissible to prove a marriage in other cases, and when such second marriage shall have taken place without this state, cohabitation in this state after such second marriage shall be deemed the commission of the crime of bigamy, and the trial in such case may take place in the county where such cohabitation shall have occurred."
Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, p.198-99

1835 edition of the D&C section 101, verse 4:

"Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy; we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one husband; except that in the event of death when either is at liberty to marry again." (History of the Church, vol. 2, pg. 247)

The above scripture was in their canon, the D&C sitting on the nightstand in every polygamists bedroom as he banged yet another plural wife until 1876 when it was removed and replaced with section 132.

Mormons back then felt they were above the laws of the land. The FLDS still do as a whole and many LDS also.

[_Doctor Scratch]

The OP was one of the best posts I've read in a long, long time, and it's vintage Rollo. These were the sorts of posts that Rollo excelled at back when he was a dominant presence on the old (ironically named) FAIR board. It was these sorts of posts that got him banned.

In any case, what I admired most about this OP is the fact that it underscores so horribly and embarrassingly the fact that Church leaders never apologize or take responsibility for *anything*. You see this replicated up and down the whole LDS "chain of command."

[_Dr. Shades]

Too bad you weren't around then. They could have pasted that nickel on your forehead and Porter Rockwell could have shot a hole through it at 100 paces.

Will: If you found yourself in a position wherein you could kill an apostate from Mormonism and you had an ironclad guarantee that you would get away with it, would you do it?

And, I never suggested that Burton didn't shoot Morris, but that is a fundamentally different thing than being guilty of "murder," isn't it?

Please explain how Burton's cold-blooded killings don't qualify as murder.