Brigham Young: Appendicitis and Peritonitis or ARSENIC????

How could such an apparently affable man have a price on his head?

Here's Brig with at least part of his immediate family.

In my current situation, Saturday is typically reserved for studying. I study in groups, and if the group studying is not sufficient for my comfort level, I study independently for the bulk of my time. Nonetheless, i take a few minutes to catch up on correspondence, current events, and other such matters. I was pleased to read that the duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a daughter. While I don't devote a disproportionate amount of time worrying about for the day-to-day concerns of the British royals, or, for that matter, any other royals, I hope they name her Charlotte. it's a very trendy name right now. Alice has been suggested as a likely name as well, but I really don't like the name Alice. Diana seems like a heavy legacy with which to burden a child.

Last night was my free time. I chose to use it in research of the possibility that Brigham Young died of poisoning as opposed to a ruptured appendix, which was listed [allegedly quite some time after the fact, and by a physician who was a close relative] as the official cause of death.  Many of the symptoms attributed to Brigham Young -- particularly extreme muscle cramping -- are more commonly associated with arsenic poisoning than with appendicitis and/or a ruptured appendix.

The suggestion of arsenic poisoning was mentioned in the context of acute arsenic poisoning as opposed to the more benign incidental exposure. had young been incidentally exposed, it could be surmised that many people along with Young would have been similarly exposed, and no reports exist of widespread suffering of symptoms similar to those experienced by Young.

Who in the days of Brigham Young might have desired to see him dead? Sorting through the list of suspects is approximately as cumbersome as trying to pinpoint just who might have had motive to push Humpty Dumpty off the wall, if not even  more so.  Brigham Young had many wives. Some legally severed their ties from him. Others were  were estranged. Even among those not estranged or divorced from him, feuds took place on a regular basis, both between the wives and between the wives and Brigham himself. . 

From what I've observed, maintaining harmony in a monogamous marriage isn't always as simple as one might think it would be. If a man or woman meets an untimely and/or suspicious demise, the spouse is usually the first person investigated as having been involved in foul play, even when, from all accounts, the union was considered to be a mutually beneficial one. Multiply that by twenty-five or fifty-four or how ever many women Brigham Young actually married, and you have a  formula for motive of murder right before your eyes. The wives cannot be ruled out as suspects.

Forces from within the U. S. government had cause to wish ill will upon The Lion of the Lord (or "The Liar of the Lord," depending upon one's preference and point of view.) at one point when the U.S. government sent troops to Utah to force Brigham Young into submission, The Prophet seriously considered burning Salt Lake City to the ground and moving his band of merry wives and other various and sundry band of  saints south of the border. Perhaps word reached him that Mexico was not exactly the land of milk and honey that he had previously thought it to be. In any event, . Brother Brigham later though better of his plan and chose to spare SLC, Happy Valley, and the remainder of the State of the Deseret, and kept his people there.  Still, someone from among the U.S. government might have considered that the entire Mormon quandary would be most efficaciouly managed if The Mormon Moses had bought the farm, so to speak, and were competing on behalf of  the underground side of the playing field. The feds, or at least someone among them, cannot be eliminated as culprits.

Mormon prophets serve as long as they live and breather. Those next in line have been known to have ambitions to acend to the role. some may not be entirely thrilled with the prospect of allowing nature to take its course and might possibly desire to hasten things along in order to more quickly assmue leadership of the church.  This seems to be a slippery slope, as he who lives and rules by virtue of the sword, or, more appropriately in this case, arsenic, might just as easily die by the same means with Karma being the bitch that she is purported to be. Nonetheless, we cannot entirely rule out John Taylor or anyone immediately below him in the line of succession, as potential perps. The plot both thickens and sickens.

Rumor -- being not quite the proper Mormon scholar befitting my lineage, I can neither confirm nor deny such rumor -- has it that  Brother Brigham had planned to stage a bit of a coup where church leadership succession was concerned. Said rumor has it that Young planned to bypass the  leadership of the Quorum of the Twelve [the very leadership of which had allowed him ascendancy to the Presidency and Prophetship] in favor of his own lineage. brigham Young , Jr., was reportly his choce to succeed him, with other direct descendants aalso in line for key positions. If this conspiracy were for real -- and it's a huge stretch, I admit -- it opens multiple possibilities of conspirators to rob Brigham Young the Original of his remaining natural days. First and foremeost, those who would ascend to Church leadership by virtue of their leadership in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles might wish to end Brigham Young's life before such arrangements could be finalized. conversely, those who stood to benefit from this change in protocol, believing erroneously that the changes might already have been in effect, might have wished to speed up the timetable in able to more expeditiously assume power. 


                  The suspects have been named.
                  I've mentioned nearly all.
                  It now is up to you
                  To make the final call.


     Who poisoned Brigham Young?