““So the official story of the massacre was written. While the visiting [Mormon] authorities might reprove the leaders, while they might administer severe chastisement in private, they would not turn the offenders over to the enemies of the church for judgment. Neither would they disgrace the local authorities before their followers. The group loyalty... demand[ed] that, while they might make a report of the massacre for the church... they should not bring into the public eye any of the participants if it could be avoided.””
![“So the official story of the massacre was written. While the visiting [Mormon] authorities might reprove the leaders, while they might administer severe chastisement in private, they would not turn the offenders over to the enemies of the church for judgment. Neither would they disgrace the local…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/be4/juanita-brooks-33595_leadership_so-the-official-story-of-the-massacre-wa_1122314.jpg)
![“In the meantime, before the civil authorities had been able to start an investigation [into the Mountain Meadows Massacre], the church conducted a private one, if we are to trust their own records. The leaders had to know the truth of this affair, even though the group loyalty which they had…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/724/juanita-brooks-33595_mormonism_in-the-meantime-before-the-civil-authori_1402721.jpg)
![“For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other religious history – perhaps like no other book in any religious history- and still it stands.” Jeffrey R. Holland” quote by Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/18a/jeffrey-r-holland-1190_book_for-179-years-the-book-of-mormon-has-bee_425989.jpg)
![“It was not until the spring of 1859 [two years later] that the children [the survivors of the murdered emigrant train] were officially turned over to the government officials, and bills for their care were made… The policy of letting the government pay seems to have been general…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f15/juanita-brooks-33595_children_it-was-not-until-the-spring-of-1859-two_372854.jpg)
![“Speaking in the tabernacle to a large assembly, he [John Taylor, Mormon] said: Who would not rather die than bow to the yoke of the enemy? It would sweeten death to a man to know that he should lay down his life in defence of freedom and the kingdom of God, rather than to longer bow to the cruelty…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/232/juanita-brooks-33595_kingdom-of-god_speaking-in-the-tabernacle-to-a-large-as_555686.jpg)
![“In Pioche, Nevade [while in hiding], in April 1871, he [Philip Klingonsmith] made his affidavit regarding the massacre, the first of all who had participated to break openly the pact of silence. After acting as a witness in the first trial of Lee, he returned to Nevada... he was found dead in a…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1e4/juanita-brooks-33595_mormonism_in-pioche-nevade-while-in-hiding-in-apri_1606285.jpg)
![“[Jacob] Hamblin arranged to make a trip across the Colorado River in search of a child who might be missing. The motive behind this is clear… [I]n letters and in recorded speeches he had expressed an eagerness to labor among “the nobler branches of the race.” He had heard that the Hopis across the…” quote by Juanita Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e8d/juanita-brooks-33595_children_jacob-hamblin-arranged-to-make-a-trip-ac_2363707.jpg)
