Mountain Meadows Massacre Artifact Now Believed To
Be A Fake
by Keith Jeffreys
The following article is from
Frontlines,
Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 22, Number 4.
A lead scroll inscribed with an alleged confession to the Mountain
Meadows Massacre by convicted murderer John D. Lee is now believed to be
a fake. The artifact, discovered in January 2002 by a National Park
Service volunteer working on a stabilization effort of historical
buildings at Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River, was declared a fake in
separate statements by forensic document examiners George Throckmorton
of Salt Lake City and William Flynn of Phoenix, Arizona..
The scroll measuring approximately 12 by 16 inches is inscribed with
a confession that stated the murder of over 120 California-bound
Arkansas emigrants by members of a Mormon Militia was committed "On
orders from pres [sic] Young thro [sic] Geo Smith." George A. Smith was
an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who
traveled extensively through Southern Utah preaching the reformation and
preparing "Zion" for the second coming of Jesus Christ during the period
preceding the tragic event. The inscription also reads, "by my own hand,
J.D. Lee - Jan 11 - 1872."
After a thorough authentication effort coordinated by Chris Goetze,
lead archeologist of the Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area, both
document examiners arrived at the same conclusion upon reviewing known
Lee handwriting samples.
In a recent letter, William Flynn writes: "Considering the consistent
significant differences found in the questioned writings on the scroll
with the known writings of John D. Lee and the minimal affect of the
lead on one's writing, it is the opinion of the undersigned that the
handprinted data and signature appearing on the "Lee Scroll" were not
executed by the maker of the known John D. Lee writings."
Samples of Lee's writings are extensive. As the adopted son of
Brigham Young, Lee, along with many of his 19 wives colonized much of
southern Utah and northern Arizona, keeping diaries and in 1871
chiseling a petroglyph in a rock. After warrants were issued for his
arrest for participation in the crime, Lee was excommunicated by LDS
Church officials. While in exile, Lee moved to the Colorado River to
establish a profitable river crossing. Captured by federal authorities
in 1874, Lee was tried twice for leading the massacre. He was found
guilty of murder in the second trial and executed by a firing squad at
Mountain Meadows in 1877.
Home
|
Saints and Soldiers
|
Ritchie Boys
|
Jessie Nelson
Adrian Lyne |
Mountain Meadows |
Waco
e-mail
Keith
