If you’ve read this blog you will know of my affinity for Orrin Porter Rockwell. I like his style. He had a reputation for being a killer but I feel that so many other things he did make that myth not as strong as some historians or writers would like. He was a rough guy. I feel like I’m a rough guy. I don’t identify with his killing but his attitude. He was quite “in your face” and that’s what I like about him. He was loyal to the Church and to two prophets who depended on him. I can identify with that too. His rep was steeped in myth. On the Main Street of Lehi, Utah, someone tried his hand at killing and defeating Orrin Porter Rockwell and his myth. Lehi City court documents recorded the events of June 25, 1873 as an "affray," or the “the fighting of two or more persons in a public place, and to the terror of others.” This affray began as a young outlaw named Loren Dibble approached Porter Rockwell in broad daylight, drew two guns, and emptied them at him. According to onlookers, Rockwell simply stood still, staring directly back at Dibble, without even having his composure ruffled. When Dibble had fired all of twelve shots, Rockwell drew his own two revolvers and shot at Dibble’s feet, making the young outlaw "dance" to avoid being hit by each bullet. When Rockwell had emptied both of his own guns, he walked directly up to Dibble, grabbed him by his collar, and shook him like a rag doll. Rockwell yelled into Loren Dibble’s face “If it wasn’t for the fact that I know who your father really was, I’d have killed you!” Rockwell threw him to the ground, and walked away. This comment about Dibble’s father was not understood at the time, by those present, but has more recently come to be understood through genealogy and DNA tracing that Dibble was the son of Joseph Smith, through one of Smith’s polygamous wives. Few other outlaws were given the benefit of having their lives spared by Porter Rockwell. Rockwell was known to kill too soon, sometimes without sufficient justification for taking a life. I’ve always had the impression that Porter was selective about his killing and knew when not to shoot. He carried a sawed barreled, 8 inch, first generation Colt single action Navy revolver chambered in .36 caliber. Porter was ahead of his time. Many cautious men hid a Derringer but he understood the importance of concealed carry. He even filed off the trigger guard for better concealability.
Porter was extremely skilled in handling firearms. After his home was literally torn apart by mobs (the roof, the walls, and the floorboards torn apart by marauders on horseback while his terrified wife stood looking on), Porter resolved that he would never be unarmed again, and he went into the woods to practice his shooting skills until no one was his equal with a weapon.
The Salt Lake Tribune said of Porter: “Porter Rockwell the Chief of the Danite Band Shuffles Off in a Stable – and Cheats the Hangman of a Worthy Candidate.” The editorial then spoke of the despicable acts he had committed in his life, including participation in “at least a hundred murders for the Church, none of which he ever divulged.”
The Salt Lake Tribune was a rag in 1878 and I think it still is a rag.
Then at Porter’s funeral Apostle Joseph F. Smith said: “They say he was a murderer; if he was he was the friend of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven and apostates can go to Hell… Porter Rockwell was yesterday afternoon ushered into Heaven clothed with immortality and eternal life, and crowned with all glory which belongs to a departed saint. He has his little faults but Porter’s life on earth, taken altogether, was one worthy of example, and reflected honor upon the church. Through all his trials he had never once forgotten his obligations to his brethren and his God.” Do we believe the The Salt Lake rag? Or an Apostle of God. Porter Rockwell was at the least a great story to tell.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
No comments:
Post a Comment