Description

In 1911, D. S. Neal, a schoolteacher and farmer, was murdered in Darby, Idaho, by a neighbor—a fellow member of the Darby ward named Ellington Smith. Smith’s conviction and imprisonment divided Idaho’s Mormon community. Determined to understand the murder of his grandfather, author Dan Neal ran down the details of the crime and explored its effects on the Neal and Smith families. Neal’s research took him through a fascinating stretch of 50 years of LDS and Idaho history.

Neal will discuss the polygamous legacy of his family and the politics surrounding Idaho’s evolving system of punishment, pardon, and parole in the first two decades of the 20th century.