New Zion FLDS Leader Wants Fresh Start in Texas

The Eldorado Success

The ongoing relocation of a major portion of Prophet Warren Jeffs' flock of fundamentalist Mormons from the Utah/Arizona border to Eldorado, Texas, represents the latest in a series of moves the church faithful have made in hopes of finding a refuge from man's law and a place where they can practice the teachings of church founder Joseph Smith. That, according to Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven a Story of Violent Faith. "Since the day that Joseph Smith first communicated his revelation condoning plural marriage, his followers have been on the move, searching for a place where they can practice their brand of religion," Krakauer told the Success Monday. The journey took the newly formed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints westward in 1830 from Palmyra and Rochester, in New York State, to Kirtland, Ohio and on to Jackson County, Missouri. There the group, known by then as Mormons, was met with much violence from area settlers. So much violence in fact, that they retraced their steps to settle in Nauvoo, Illinois, where the state assembly had established a charter city, giving Smith near-dictatorial control of the town, even allowing him to raise his own militia. And, in short order, the Nauvoo Legion, as the militia was called, numbered half as many men as the U.S. Army. But, as Krakauer tells in his book, the Mormons would not find peace in Nauvoo. Instead, after Smith quickly excommunicated one of his wealthy followers, William Law, when he vehemently objected to the Prophet's newfound penchant for "Celestial" or "Plural Marriage," Law opened a newspaper in 1844 called the Nauvoo Expositor and in its first and only edition he excoriated Smith for his failings. Three days later, Smith, in his capacity as mayor, ordered the newspaper and its equipment destroyed and burned, which the Nauvoo Legion, under the command Apostle John Taylor, promptly did. Smith's brazen disregard for constitutional protection of the press, brought a swift reaction from Nauvoo's neighbors. Soon an all out war swept across the county, ending in Smith's arrest and imprisonment in nearby Carthage. There, on the night of June 27, 1844, a mob of state militiamen swarmed the Carthage Jail and shot and killed Smith. A short-lived power struggle followed the assassination, but soon Brigham Young emerged as heir to Smith's legacy and assumed the reins of the church. With those reins he turned the faithful like the wagon trains they would employ and pointed them west toward the Great Salt Lake and led them into the desert basin of the region now known as Utah. Under Young's leadership, his tiny group of Mormon followers prospered and grew. But, the westward expansion of the United States soon brought the church's polygamous ways into direct conflict with America's more theologically conservative mainstream. "Mormons in general, but fundamentalist Mormons in particular, feel they have been persecuted," Krakauer says. "They still bear the scars of Jefferson County and Nauvoo...and they probably always will." When Brigham Young died in 1877, at the very time when the Mormon Church was under attack for its endorsement of polygamy, there was little doubt about the issue of succession. John Taylor had been one of Young's most trusted lieutenants. Before that he had commanded the Nauvoo Legion under Prophet Joseph Smith. In fact, Taylor had been present the night Smith was killed, visiting him in his jail cell. The same gunmen who struck down Smith, also critically wounded Taylor. His very survival was deemed miraculous by many. But Taylor, the man whose blood mingled with Smith's on the jail floor in Nauvoo, and the man who seemed destined to lead the church and defend its principle of polygamy, spent the last three years of his life hiding from U.S. authorities as they put greater and greater pressure on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With Taylor's death in 1887, and with an 82-year-old apostle named Wilford Woodruff assuming leadership of the church from his own hiding place somewhere in Utah, the demise of the Mormon Church seemed imminent as the federal government moved to enact a law that would strip the church of all its property except chapels. Then, on Sept. 24, 1890, Woodruff called together a group of his trusted leaders to tell them that God had revealed to him in the night that the practice of the principle of plural marriage must end. A few days later, Woodruff formalized the decree with a document that became known as the Woodruff manifesto. But, even as church sanctioned polygamy ended, and Utah was rewarded with statehood, the practice of the "Principle" continued, albeit in secret. Families, fearing that they would be torn apart, retreated to remote parts of the state. One of those far flung settlements was Short Creek, where a handful of "Fundamentalist" Mormons, who still held to the teachings of Joseph Smith, established an outpost in the 1920s. The fundamentalists of Short Creek, as well as others across the area, believed their practice of the "Principle" was still sanctioned by God — not through the leaders of the main line LDS church who followed Woodruff, the man they believed sold them out with his bogus manifesto, but through their beloved former prophet, John Taylor. It was then, and still is the belief of most fundamentalist Mormons, that Taylor had received a revelation from God in 1886, while he was hiding from government authorities. Taylor shared the revelation with his host, John C. Wooley, and his son, Lorin Wooley, and ten other followers. Taylor reportedly told the men that God wanted the principle of plural marriage to continue and he granted each of them authority to perform "Celestial" or plural marriages, and to ordain others to do the same. Taylor also admonished the men to see to it "that no year passed without children being born in the principle of plural marriage." When the first accurate maps became available, Short Creek turned out not to be in Utah at all, but just across the border in Arizona. Its founders were followers of the father and son prophets, John C. Wooley and Lorin Wooley. Others followed, too, including other sects in other places, led by men like Charles Elden Kingston, John Singer and Alex Joseph. But by far the largest group of fundamentalist believers was in Short Creek, led by John Y. Barlow, a man who had been ordained by Lorin Wooley. The same Lorin Wooley who had been present when John Taylor reported his revelation regarding the "Principle." Beginning in 1935, Barlow presided over a quiet, but productive time for the people of Short Creek. He was assisted by a Priesthood Council made of ordained apostles. Isolated from the rest of Arizona by the Grand Canyon and protected from authorities in Utah by a state line that passed conveniently along the north edge of the community, the little fundamentalist town swelled in population thanks in large part to an abundance of births made possible by polygamous marriages. Prophet Joseph White Musser followed in 1949 and in 1954 Charles Zitting served for less than a year. It was during this time that a rival sect, known as the Apostolic United Brethren, led by Rulon Allred, broke away from the Short Creek group. Then in 1953, came the now infamous Short Creek Raid. The raid came about when Arizona Governor Howard Pyle called for "a momentous police action against insurrection" and Arizona authorities swept into town. Most of the men of Short Creek were jailed, charged with Bigamy and Polygamy, as well as other crimes. The women and children were transported to camps where they were detained for two years. But the entire thing was a public relations nightmare. Sympathy for the families soon overcame any sense of outrage about polygamous life-styles and the men and women were allowed to return home. The most direct result of the Short Creek Raid came when Governor Pyle was swept out of office in the next election. But, perhaps the longest lasting consequence was a reluctance on the part of Arizona and Utah authorities to take any action against polygamous groups — a reluctance that lasted nearly fifty years. Jon Krakauer says the memories of the Short Creek Raid have played in the favor of the fundamentalists. "No one wanted another Short Creek," Krakauer said. "Much like no one in Texas wants to see another Waco." Prophet Leroy S. Johnson, or Uncle Roy, as his followers affectionately called him, was ordained by John Y. Barlow in 1941. He assumed leadership of the fundamentalist group in 1954 and became one of the group's most beloved leaders. It was during his tenure that Short Creek officially changed its name to Colorado City and the neighboring town of Hildale sprang up virtually across the street in Utah. During Uncle Roy's rule as Prophet, the fundamentalists began to believe, mainly because he told them, that he would not die and would survive until the Second Coming of Jesus. Thanks in part to this belief (on Uncle Roy's part as well) no more members of the Priesthood Council were appointed. When Leroy Johnson did eventually die in 1986, he was succeeded as Prophet by Rulon Jeffs, a man who had been ordained by John Y. Barlow in 1945. Jeffs tenure as prophet would see the death of the last remaining members of the Priesthood Council and the beginning of what the fundamentalists call the doctrine of "One Man Rule." Like Leroy Johnson, Uncle Rulon, as he became known, made various predictions about the end of the world. He, too, believed and taught his followers that he would not die, but would live to experience the return of Jesus. One such prediction passed without incident in the year 2000. At that time Uncle Rulon called for his followers to gather in a field near Colorado City where they would be lifted up to meet God. Following an all day wait, Jeffs followers were sent home after being told that Uncle Rulon's prophesy had been correct, but their lack of faithfulness prevented it from being fulfilled. "They always blame these things on the followers," Krakauer told the Success. "Much the same as faith healers, no matter what they predict, when it fails to happen, it's blamed on a lack of faith." It was during Uncle Rulon's tenure that his group of fundamentalist Mormons, who operated under a semi-communal social order called the United Effort Plan, formally organized as a church. In 1991 the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was formally organized and incorporation papers were filed. Prior to that time, fundamentalist faithful had clung to the hope that the mainline LDS church would return to Joseph Smith's original teachings and reinstitute the practice of the Principle of Polygamy. Failing that, they had hoped Jesus would return to restore his rule on Earth. Despite his failing health, Rulon Jeffs continued to believe in his immortality, a belief that would eventually end the line of fundamentalist prophets stretching back to Joseph Smith. Believing that he would not know death, Uncle Rulon refused to ordain a FLDS successor. But, one of his sons, Warren Jeffs, who was the headmaster of a FLDS school in the outskirts of Salt Lake City, stepped in to oversee his father's affairs as the aging Prophet's health deteriorated. When Rulon Jeffs died in 2002, the fundamentalist Mormons who were now members of the FLDS were without an ordained Prophet for the first time, and the line of succession, stretching back through John Taylor to Joseph Smith, was finally broken. At a hastily arranged ceremony, Warren Jeffs, the 48-year-old son of Uncle Rulon, was ordained by one of his brothers. His ascension to power caused immediate problems. Louis Barlow, the oldest of several Barlow brothers living in Colorado City, and the man many thought would be the next Prophet, was excommunicated by Warren Jeffs, as were two of his brothers, as the new prophet sought to consolidate his control. But Jeffs soon learned that leading the FLDS in the modern era wasn't going to be easy. First, anti-polygamy activists began demanding and receiving media attention. As newspaper reporters and TV cameras began to frequent Colorado City, the quiet little town began fraying at the edges. "The whole thing is falling apart here and Warren Jeffs knows it...he even predicted it," Colorado City resident Ross Chatwin told the Success in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Chatwin who was excommunicated by Jeffs last year, sued the FLDS to prevent it from evicting him from his home. Chatwin won that lawsuit last week, a decision that is still sending shockwaves through the community. "I wasn't supposed to win, but I did," Chatwin said. "Now Warren is worried that he's losing control here." That worry appears to be well founded. In recent months, Arizona and Utah authorities stepped up their efforts to enforce polygamy laws and investigators began looking hard at allegations that underage girls were being forced into polygamous marriages. Even more troubling for FLDS leaders was the fact that Colorado City police officer Rodney Holm was convicted of having sex with an underage girl, who so happened to be one of his polygamous wives. Other accused polygamists have reportedly fled to Mexico. Yet another worrisome development for Jeffs is the intense scrutiny that his followers are getting at the YFZ Ranch, located outside Eldorado, Texas. The FLDS bought the property under a shell company called YFZ L.L.C. and locals were told it would be a corporate hunting retreat "When I first came down there, I thought Jeffs might be building a small outpost, but now looking at the size of the buildings he's putting up it's clear to me that he intends this to be his New Zion," said Krakauer, who came to Eldorado in March when word of the YFZ development first leaked out. "The amount of money they are spending and the resources they are committing to this project tell me this isn't going to be a small thing," Krakauer added. "I think he's getting ready for a move." If Krakauer is right, then Prophet Warren Jeffs is readying at least a portion of his people for yet another migration, this time to Texas, and the long trek that began for the fundamentalists in New York and took them through Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Utah and Arizona, appears to be reaching into the Lone Star State. While opinions about the number of FLDS members coming to Eldorado varies greatly, there is little doubt that a substantial number are moving this way. What is substantial? No one knows. FLDS leaders here, and in Colorado City, AZ, told Sheriff David Doran last week that no more than 200 of Jeffs followers are coming this way and that some of them might rotate in and out. Still others claim the number will be much higher. Will the move to Eldorado be the last for Jeffs and his followers. Jon Krakauer says that Jeffs probably believes it is. "One thing is clear, though. Jeffs' followers believe he speaks for God," Krakauer said. "and they are prepared to follow him to Eldorado or to the ends of the Earth." Editor's note: Much of the material in this story was gleaned from the pages of "Under the Banner of Heaven a Story of Violent Faith" by Jon Krakauer and "The Polygamists, a History of Colorado City, Arizona" by Benjamin Bistline. Other information came from the "Priesthood Articles," compiled by Rulon Jeffs, as well as other assorted sources both in print and on the Internet.

MyEldorado.net Originally published May 27, 2004

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