From the Blawgernacle – October 12, 2009

Bruce Crow of Amateur Mormon Historian cites an amusing historical anecdote about the arrest of two Mormon missionaries in Tennessee in 1885.  A warrant was sworn out for the arrest of four missionaries for preaching polygamy, but only two were arrested. Apparently the two missionaries preached while they were in jail and ended up converting one of their jailers.  Elders Chirstensen and Garner were then brought to trial, but they insisted on representation and the trial was postponed.  In the meantime, the mission president, John Morgan, rode up from Chattanooga and got the two missionaries out on $500 bond.  They eventually went home without ever standing trial, so President Morgan lost the cost of the bond.  However, when he returned to examine the paperwork, he discovered that the court clerk had inadvertently listed the bond as $5 instead of $500.

The LDS Church History blog, which is covering all of Church history through the year 2009, had a segment on the attempt to create the State of Deseret in 1849.  Almon Babbitt was sent to Washington as the representative of the provisional state, and he hired Stephen Douglas to represent him.  However, the House of Representatives refused to seat him. The Committee on Elections stated at the time: “The admission of Mr. Babbitt would be a quasi recognition of the legal existence of the State of Deseret; and no act should be done by the House, which, even by implication, may give force and vitality to a political organization extra-constitutional and independent of the laws of the United States.”

Jeff Breinholt has a post on Mormon Matters about a couple of Free Exercise claims brought by Mormons.  Jeff concludes that most such cases are ill-advised, and I agree.  These cases are probably evidence that Mormons have become just as over-litigious as the rest of America.  There may be some genuine Free Exercise conflicts that Mormons will encounter, but they probably won’t involve country club golf tournaments.

Last week various news outlets reported that Christopher Gribble, a young Mormon man, was one of several arrested for the arbitrary and premeditated murder of a family in New Hampshire.  Mormonism Unveiled links to several articles that provide some background on Gribble, including his troubled past, family problems, and depression.  Gribble apparently had submitted application papers to serve a Mormon mission but his stake president told him to resolve some problems at home first.

Mormonism Unveiled also took a look at the LDS members of the House of Representatives that voted on the hate crime bill that was buried in a defense spending bill last week.  The blog’s pseudonymous author, Jack Mormon, opposes the hate crime legislation, and while I take issue with some of his characterizations, I generally agree.   For more background on hate crimes and hate speech , see this LDS Law post from earlier this year.