The following was written by John Hanson Beadle, a one time
editor of the old "Corinne Reporter" and the author of several
19th century books on the Mormons and the Intermountain West.

These are the final two-paragraphs of a long reminiscence, an
historical essay written shortly before his own death, and
published posthumously in a number of different newspapers
during the last part of February, 1897.

Beadle was viciously attacked (and seemingly left for dead)
by Brigham City Mormons in 1869, after appearing there in a
court case. A "consumptive," he was too frail to fight off
the assault and lost an eye and internal organ damage to
the Latter Day Saints fists and boots.

He had seen worse though -- having gone through two Union
Army enlistments during the Civil War. He saw men at close
range, killed on the battlefield, and witnessed (probably)
several hundreds of men in their final hours, dying of
war wounds and disease. The horrors of those experiences
had so strengthened his "nerve" that Beadle was able to
get past his own near fatal wounds in Utah and later
return to that place as a reporter. Among other things he
covered the John D. Lee trial and explorations into the
wilds of Arizona and New Mexico.

Here then, is the ending to his serialized account of the
battle of Fort Donelson and its aftermath -- as transcribed
from the Logan City, "Journal" of February 23, 1897:


>I may, in conclusion, give one experience which may
>seem trivial, but as it was a matter I was very curious
>about before the war, others may be curious about it now.
>When I enlisted I had seen but one person die, and had
>never once looked on a really ghastly wound. During the
>battle I only saw two men killed. One of these was
>apparently shot through the heart, and the other was
>struck in the head by a shell which exploded just as
>it struck him....
>
>In the next two months I saw many, very many, deaths.
>Most died as gently as a lamp goes out when the oil is
>exhausted. A few babbled incessantly to the last minute,
>and three sang and shouted in a kind of religious
>exultation till in the very article of death. My general
>conclusion from that and much subsequent experience is
>that all men, soldiers and others, alike who die of disease
>go in about the same way, without resisting death or caring
>much about it. It is the indescribable misery which
>precedes death, and the almost infinite misery inflicted
>upon the innocent, which make me say that the man who
>really wants another war is at heart a demon. J. H. BEADLE.

UD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2014 12:58AM by dalebroadhurst.

I have a copy of "Life in Utah - The Crimes & Mysteries of Mormonism" by J.H. Beadle. It was a real eye opener.

flyfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a copy of "Life in Utah - The Crimes &
> Mysteries of Mormonism" by J.H. Beadle. It was a
> real eye opener.


I recall talking to LDS historians and being told that
Beadle was a poor, "thoroughly unreliable" source --
that nothing he wrote should ever be cited in an article
written for "Dialogue," the "Journal of Mormon History,"
etc. LDS Church Historian Leonard Arrington once wrote
a "hit piece" on Beadle, which was mostly character
defamation, without any solid examples of Beadle having
been a bad reporter.

He was highly educated, very literate, and was trained as
a lawyer before becoming a journalist. The unsophisticated
Mormons of Utah Territory were simply outmatched, in any
of their attempts to refute that reporter's facts -- so
they resorted to character assassination.

Both the Salt Lake City Deseret News and Orson Whitney's
LDS-approved "History of Utah" knowingly accused Beadle
of being a lying "fiction-writer," in pathetic attempts
to confuse his name with that of a sensational dime novel
publisher (who was totally unrelated to the journalist).

That was the best the Mormon leaders, polemicists and
apologists could do in response to his hard-hitting
reporting --- to muddy the waters by feeding their readers
lies about who the man himself was.

Away from Mormondom, Beadle sustained a very good reputation
nationally as a reporter. He was especially lauded by his
fellow journalists, and had the added advantage of being
the brother of General William H. Beadle, a respected
public servant in the Dakotas.

That does not mean that every single "fact" reported by
Beadle can today be fully relied upon, of course -- but
his writings are the logical starting point for any
modern reader who truly wishes to understand what was
going on in Utah and among the western Mormons during
the mid-19th century.

The LDS writers' demonization of the man is an utter disgrace.

UD

dalebroadhurst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The LDS writers' demonization of the man is an
> utter disgrace.
>
> UD

Disgrace is the only kind of grace Mormons know.

dalebroadhurst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> My general conclusion from that and much subsequent
> experience is that all men.......who die
> .......go in about the same way, without resisting death
> or caring
> much about it.

Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating to see here printed what was thought to be one's own quiet observations and secret silent thoughts.
Consensus of two makes it less a thing to be concerned on.
All of us will be there, some of us much sooner than most....

Thanks Dale.

zenjamin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>...

>
> Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating to see here
> printed what was thought to be one's own quiet
> observations and secret silent thoughts.
> Consensus of two makes it less a thing to be
> concerned on.
> All of us will be there, some of us much sooner
> than most....
>

Generally speaking, we in the post-industrialized world
see so little of human death, that we cannot realistically
get our minds around the subject.

What we see in the modern media is mostly there as either
entertainment or as a sensational sales gimmick. It is not
only misleading, in most instances, but it numbs the mind
to the actual experience of death itself.

Soldiers and first responders see some of this "reality,"
but by the time mortally endangered victims are brought
to a care facility, their circumstances are so altered
that even the constant exposure that medical professionals
have to death and dying is an artificial construction.

To really understand what death is -- how it is a part
of human experience and society, we need to travel to
the less developed, less artificial parts of the planet.

There -- in remote, poverty-stricken villages we might
see how families, friends, and the local notables deal
with death -- what it looks like -- how the dying react
to that terminal situation.

In short, we might there see death "up close" without
the whitewashing and fictionalization so common in much
of the world today.

It is a unique experience, despite its many facets and
many variations.

We are missing something of our humanity by hiding it away
or by relegating it to Hollywood fiction.

UD

I found the book online, this quote is from page 38. describing the first mormons in Missouri "At the same time it does not appear that there were any
more violations of law among them, than would be
among the same number of very poor and ignorant people
anywhere ; but their general conduct was insufferable.
In the first flush of their religious enthusiasm, they seem
to have been governed by no ideas of moderation; they
proclaimed through the country that it was useless folly
for Gentiles to open farms, the Lord would never allow
them to enjoy the fruits of their labor; they notified
the workmen upon new buildings that they could never
hope to be paid therefor, and generally proclaimed that
in a very few months the Gentiles would have neither
name nor place in Missouri." wow sounds just like LDS of today

What beautiful thoughts about death! And how UGLY to think that this eloquent man was bashed so badly by so called "saints'.

Thank you for sharing that. Beadle is a good observer and an eloquent writer.

I'm not familiar with Beadle, but he sounds fascinating. I'll have to do some follow-up reading.

archytas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not familiar with Beadle, but he sounds
> fascinating. I'll have to do some follow-up
> reading.

I'm thinking about uploading a bunch of his old articles
on Utah, the Mormons, etc., here:

http://www.olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1870s/Beadle/Beadle-Library.htm

If anybody has any special requests, I'll dig through my
filing cabinets and try to come up with some interesting
stuff.

His five major books are already available on the web, so
I probably won't duplicate those old texts.

UD

On a recent trip across country we encountered slick roads and
snow. My wife was driving and I was texting someone. I looked
up just in time to see two big headlights right in front of our
car--not down the road but right in front.

My wife swerved and somehow missed the car but we went into a
slide. She struggled to control the car on an interstate full
of traffic. We fishtailed and then spun around a complete 360
and ended up in the median. Afterwards we both remarked on how
calm and accepting we were of the situation as it was
happening. There have been two times in my life that I was sure
I was about to die. Both times I had that same calm, almost
detached acceptance.