Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier

Since the early 1960s, scholars have acknowledged the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ regional dominance in what is sometimes called the Mormon Corridor or the Mormon Culture Region.1 Yet few texts deeply engage the history of LDS Church settlement beyond the state of Utah. Stephen C. LeSueur's book Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier: The Murders of Frank LeSueur and Gus Gibbons by the Wild Bunch puts Apache County, Arizona, center stage. Advertised and titled as an exposé on the murders of the author's great-uncle Frank LeSueur and Gus Gibbons, the value of the book extends beyond a narrative of the victims to a detailed history of Mormon pioneer efforts in turn-of-the-century Arizona. For scholars and students, this book may serve as a resource for archivally based descriptions of the daily lives of Arizona pioneers. Ultimately, Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier will most interest a popular press audience interested in the Old Wild West and Arizona history. Replete with vignettes of frontiersmen, shootouts, vigilante justice, and lawlessness, LeSueur reminds readers that Mormons were present in “one of the West's most lawless and unforgiving regions” (282).LeSueur notes his motivation for writing the book began when he learned the infamous Wild Bunch Gang murdered his ancestor, Frank LeSueur, in 1900. Countless histories, films, and novels capture the romanticized lives of Butch Cassidy and his gang of outlaws, but as LeSueur writes, “their victims serve primarily as extras” (ix). Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier is presented as a corrective history, detailing not only the violence and depravity of the Wild Bunch but also the “family stories of faith and courage” of their Mormon victims (xii). LeSueur uses alternating chapters to highlight Latter-day Saint perspectives with those of the Wild Bunch, interweaving more than thirty years of history.Chapter 1, “The Unfolding of God's Plan Across Arizona,” introduces readers to the small town of St. Johns as well as the LeSueur and Gibbons families, who were called to colonize Arizona as one piece of a broader and highly systematized settlement plan for the American West. Situated in a rugged desert landscape, where fresh water was scarce and agriculture was unprofitable, the settlement of St. Johns replicates other pioneer stories, wherein the Latter-day Saints struggled to gain a foothold but ultimately succeeded due to “industry and thrift” (18). This includes a history of the anti-Mormon fervor of the already present Mexican American community and gubernatorial warnings of an encroaching “polygamist priesthood” (24).Chapter 2, “Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch,” reminds readers that Robert LeRoy Parker, later known as Butch Cassidy, was likewise the child of Latter-day Saint pioneers. LeSueur is adamant that, in contrast to the “Robin Hood” character presented in western mythology, Cassidy was the mastermind of countless robberies and rustlings and associated with bandits who had no problem killing people. Chapter 3, “A Plague of Cowboys and Outlaws,” brings the story back to Apache County and St. Johns, where a growing lawlessness was taking hold. When townsfolk learned that five men illegally butchered a cow, the new Apache County sheriff, Ed Beeler, endeavored to hunt the culprits down.LeSueur cleverly uses dramatic irony to build suspense. Readers know that the five bandits are members of the Wild Bunch, drawing the deaths of the titular characters closer. The fourth chapter, “Pursuing Five Men for Killing a Beef,” carefully unfolds the pursuit of the Wild Bunch by Sheriff Beeler and his posse, which included Frank LeSueur and Gus Gibbons. Over the course of fourteen pages, the author recreates the details of the manhunt, including the misguided decision to split the posse in two, leaving LeSueur and Gibbons as the only ones “trailing one of the West's most notorious criminal gangs” (93). As the title suggests, both men were killed during the pursuit.The second half of the book is dedicated to unraveling the aftermath of the murders. Chapter 5, “Burying Frank and Gus,” provides details about who Frank and Gus were as men and committed Latter-day Saints and describes their shared funeral, “the largest ever held in St. Johns” (120). Chapters 6, 8, and 11 track the manhunt across Arizona and New Mexico, additional robberies by Wild Bunch members, and finally their jail time and rumored deaths.Chapter 7, “Called to Another Mission,” has the most religious studies content. LeSueur explains Latter-day Saint afterlife beliefs, temple rites, and genealogical record keeping to contextualize visions of the late Gus Gibbons’ visit to his father and Frank LeSueur's posthumous mission to other deceased family members, “which comforted the grieving families while also strengthening their religious convictions” (176). Chapter 10 wraps up the histories of the St. Johns families, noting new mission work and temple construction in Mesa, Arizona.Using diaries, letters, and county records, LeSueur closely tracks the habits of his main characters and their families, creating a robust picture of their daily lives. Throughout the book, he includes brief sketches of Latter-day Saint beliefs, such as a three-page summary of the place of Native Americans in Mormon theology. Although LeSueur rightly notes that the racist beliefs of nineteenth-century Saints were on par with other American Protestants, some of his treatment is uneven as he highlights the innocence of “well-intentioned” Latter-day Saints (16). The afterword includes personal reflections on the power of reading the diaries and records of the author's family and the broader commitment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to genealogical research. Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier fits nicely into this genre, chronicling the tragedies and triumphs of early Arizona settlers in an accessible and engaging story

Criminology · Frontier · Political science · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Law · Mormonism, Religion, and History