He Really Stated That?

Porter Rockwell and Joseph Smith were blamed for the attempted murder of ex-Missouri Governor Boggs. Which one of the four men listed below could very well have been the culprit?

A)                 Colonel George M. Hinkle (Mormon Militia leader and traitor)

B)                 General David R. Atchison (Missouri Militia and lawyer)

C)                 General Alexander Doniphan (Missouri Militia and lawyer)

D)                 Stephen Markham (Like Porter Rockwell, a little rough around the edges, but a good heart

Yesterday’s answer:

(C) Herod or Pilate

Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of Illinois, at the time of the martyrdom had this to say:

   “The murder of the Smiths, instead of putting an end to . . . the Mormons and dispersing them, as many believed it would, only bound them together closer than ever, gave them new confidence in their faith.” He then stated, “Some gifted man like Paul, some splendid orator who will be able by his eloquence to attract crowds of the thousands . . .  may succeed in breathing a new life into [the Mormon Church] and make the name of the martyred Joseph ring . . . loud and stir the souls of men.” It was Governor Ford’s greatest fear that his name would become a Pilate or Herod, forever mentioned in history as a villain of the innocent, “dragged down to posterity.” Needless to say this was all fulfilled due to his own merits.

Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois, ed. Milo Milton Quaife, 2 vols. (1946), 2:217, 221-223.