In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan dive into one of the most violent and outrageous chapters of early Mormon history: the “Runaway Officials” scandal. When federal appointees tried to enforce U.S. law in Utah Territory, they faced threats, beatings, and sabotage from a theocratic regime that ran more like a mafia than a government. From Governor Dawson’s three-week disaster to Brigham Young’s infamous finger of doom, this story has everything, corruption, intimidation, and fire shovels. It’s a crime drama disguised as religious history, powered by Benchmark Books.
SHOWNOTES:
- The Saints and Union: UTAH TERRITORY DURING THE CIVIL WAR
- Finally Statehood! Utah’s Struggles, 1849-1896 by Leo Lyman
- The runaway officials revisited: remaking the Mormon image in antebellum America by Bruce Worthen
- The Affair of the “Runaways”: Utah’s First Encounter with the Federal Officers: Part 1 by Ron Walker