Longmire rides again
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to
have a thankless child.” King Lear, Act I Scene 4.
A Serpent’s Tooth (Viking, 2013) is the ninth novel (the twelfth
episode if you count in the short stories) in the series of adventures of
Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire.
Episode 9
They
aren’t really Westerns, these stories, being more present-day police
procedurals, but any tale which features a Wyoming sheriff is going to have
Western tints to it, and our hero Walt often refers to the old days in the
state. Western firearms, Native Americans and old outlaws feature quite
strongly. Maybe Walt was related to Alec Longmire, the gunslinger in Red Sundown.
A Serpent’s Tooth is especially interesting from a Westernista’s
point of view because one of the main characters in it is Orrin Porter
Rockwell. He claims to be over two hundred years old and the Man of God, Son of
Thunder of Mormon history/legend. While we readers are slightly skeptical of
the truth of this claim, we are prepared to suspend our credibility for a while
and see how it turns out. Certainly this strange fellow knows an awful lot
about Rockwell, remembered or not, rather in the way that Brushy Bill Roberts did
when he claimed to be Billy the Kid, and well, who knows?
Orrin
Porter Rockwell (1813 – 1878, or still alive if you believe this chap) was a
lawman in the Utah Territory. Known as Old Port, or more forbiddingly as The
Destroying Angel of Mormondom, he was the bodyguard, more of a sidekick really,
to Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young. Rockwell was born in Massachusetts
and baptized into the Church of Christ, as it was known, at the age of 16. Rockwell
was only semi-literate and wrote no autobiography or journal, but he was a
great teller of yarns and it isn’t easy to separate fact from fiction, as is
the case with his impersonator/older self in A Serpent’s Tooth.
Orrin Porter Rockwell
Orrin
had long hair (as you can see from the portrait) because Smith
told him, “I prophesy, in the
name of the Lord, that you — Orrin Porter Rockwell — so long as ye shall remain
loyal and true to thy faith, need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair and no bullet
or blade can harm thee.” This Samson-not-terribly-Agonistes certainly made the
most of the prophecy because he is alleged to have gone about as a gunfighter
killing enemies (his own and of Mormonism) with abandon, and was never hurt. He
is said to be the original author of the saying much quoted in Western movies, "I
never killed anyone who didn't need killing.”
Missouri
Governor Lilburn Boggs wasn’t a terribly good friend of the Mormons. In fact he
declared, “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or
driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are
beyond all description” and he signed an executive order to this effect in 1838, evicting
Mormons from his state “by violent and deadly means”. On the rainy evening of
May 6, 1842, Boggs was shot by someone who fired at him through a window as he
read a newspaper in his study. Two balls were lodged in his skull, another in
his neck, and a fourth entered his throat, whereupon Boggs swallowed it.
Amazingly, he survived.
Governor Boggs
Sheriff JH
Reynolds suspected Rockwell of the crime and held him for trial. But Reynolds had
no hard evidence and celebrated lawyer Alexander Doniphan successfully
represented Rockwell, who was freed. Did Rockwell do it? Mormons say no, of course. But
it is said that Smith had offered a cash reward to anyone who would assassinate
Boggs, and also that Smith privately admitted that Rockwell had done the deed.
Certainly Rockwell’s contemporaries thought him guilty. We’ll never know for
sure but it was a notorious affair.
After the
death of Joseph Smith, Rockwell followed Brigham Young into Utah. In 1849, Rockwell
was appointed deputy marshal of Great Salt Lake City and remained a peace
officer until his death - if he died. In 1860 the famous explorer Richard Francis Burton
came to Salt Lake City and stayed with Bishop Dayton in a village near the city.
One evening Dayton invited Rockwell to dinner. Rockwell and Burton drank Valley
Tan Whiskey deep into the night with Rockwell giving Burton advice on his
onward journey to California. Burton should carry a loaded double-barreled shotgun,
sleep in a "dark camp" and avoid the main trail, where "White
Indians" preyed on travelers. Seems liike sound advice to me.
Craig Johnson
Apostle Joseph
F Smith said of Rockwell at his funeral (if he had one), “He has his little faults but Porter’s life on earth,
taken altogether, was one worthy of example, and reflected honor upon the
church.” Yes, well, I think "little faults" doesn't quite cover it.
Rockwell was
portrayed on screen by John Carradine in the 1940 film Brigham Young, and by James Coburn in the 1995 TV movie
The Avenging Angel. He was
played by Randy Gleave in the 1994 film Rockwell.
A Serpent’s
Tooth is about Mormons and Mormon-like sects who have a sinister agenda. The boss is the four-hundred-pound Roy Lynear, an excellent baddy who back in the day might have been well played by Burl Ives. There are powerful Big Oil conglomerates in play and the CIA. But Walt
and his deputy Vic Moretti, aided of course by the Cheyenne owner of the Red Pony,
Henry Standing Bear, foil their dastardly plot. This time Walt has a pretty
high casualty rate among deputies and they fall like flies.
I enjoyed it. I
enjoy all the Longmire books. They carry you along in a whodunit way and, as I
say, have these Western touches. Next in the series is Spirit of Steamboat.
I read a biography of Rockwell many years ago and although the author (whose name I can't recall) was sympathetic towards him, he made a strong case that he indeed shoot Boggs.
ReplyDeleteRichard
That's my view too but I tried to be impartial!
DeleteMaybe it was 'Porter Rockwell: A Biography' by Richard Lloyd Dewey.
Best,
Jeff