Mormonism, secularism cited as sin within USA by late 19th century Protestant America

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At the 2013 Mormon History Association gathering, in Layton, Utah, there was a discourse delivered by Leigh Eric Schmidt, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Schmidt, who is not a member of the Mormon Church, delivered a fascinating address titled, “Mormons, freethinkers and the limits of toleration.” It primarily dealt with how Mormonism, as well as atheism and proponents of secularism, were received by a late-19th century America that was dominated by Protestantism.

In that era, Schmidt explained, freethinkers and Mormons were, of course, miles apart in ideas. The coalition of freethinkers included atheists, agnostics, critics of organized religion, and critics of the era’s rigid sexual mores. Mormons, on the other hand, followed a rigid ecclesiastical authority and professed to follow strong morals. But there was that polygamy thing, which in an era of Protestantism and Republicanism, was considered as libertine and immoral. An example — in 1887, Schmidt said, Mormonism, secularism and atheism were proclaimed as “sin within (the) land” by Presbyterian leaders.

To sum up, 120-plus years ago, atheists and Mormons were both outcasts, oddities to be gawked at by most, and pursued and prosecuted by the more zealous advocates of a approved religious-state.  As Schmidt noted, two separate pieces of legislation, the Edmunds-Tucker Act and the Comstock Act, were in essence “religious tests” for both public comportment as well as “fitness” tests to run for public office. The former was directed at Mormons, the latter politically active freethinkers. Both fell outside of boundaries of American Christianity drawn by Protestants.

In his discourse, Schmidt included an overview of two prominent secularists of that era — Robert Ingersoll and D.M. Bennett — and recapped their visits to Utah as well as their viewpoints on Mormonism. For Ingersoll, who regarded secularism as the best religion — Ingersoll idealized the moral, secular family spending time together in the home on Sundays — Mormonism was an abomination. As Schmidt noted, the conservative freethinker regarded the Utah religion as “horrible” and founded on ignorant superstition.  Ingersoll, Schmidt added, was a monogamist and was not sympathetic to the LDS Church’s persecution by the government.

Schmidt related an interesting 1877 account in which Ingersoll, a frequent traveling lecturer, spoke at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City. During the lecture, Ingersoll praised the virtues of families and the proper raising of children. In an interesting contrast, notes Schmidt, the anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune proclaimed the lecture as an attack on polygamy. However, the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News “loved the speech,” said Schmidt, and wondered in its coverage why Schmidt often referred to domestic life in Utah as prostitution. The remarks were probably ironic, since the editors were certainly aware of Ingersoll’s harsh views on polygamy.

As for D.M. Bennett, the founder of the periodical “The Truth Seeker,” he was a far more radical secularist than Ingersoll. Bennett was also an advocate of free love. His efforts led to his arrest and conviction under the Comstock law. He served 13 months in prison.  As the masthead of “The Truth Seeker” noted, it was “Devoted to: science, morals, free thought, free discussions, liberalism, sexual equality, labor reform, progression, free education and whatever tends to elevate and emancipate the human race.” Conversely, the masthead also noted that religion tended to produce the opposite.

Schmidt noted that Bennett, also a traveling lecturer, visited Salt Lake City often. He also spoke in Ogden. Utah charmed him, and he wrote about his visits in a travel guide he published. He spoke warmly of its Mormon inhabitants, even publicly expressing his opinion that Protestants had no right to criticize Mormons, adding that the residents of Utah were more moral than their critics. However, Bennett was careful to remind his readers that his comments should not be interpreted as approval for Mormon theology. In my opinion, Bennett may have felt empathy for Mormon men jailed for polygamy, as he had experienced the same for his advocacy of morals that were criminally prosecuted.

Schmidt also talked more about the secular publication, “The Truth Seeker,” and its off and on empathy with the Utah Mormons. The famous secular cartoonist, Watson Heston, drew cartoons that included Mormons as being persecuted by mainstream Christianity of that era. In fact, one of his “Truth Seeker” cartoons, “An Example of Christian Consistency,” was reprinted in an 1896 Mormon missionary magazine in Tennessee, Schmidt told the audience. (Although I can’t find a copy of the cartoon “An Example of Christian Consistency,” below is another cartoon from Heston, “The Amusement of the Saints in Heaven,” that offers readers a look at his style.)

However, Heston was no fan of the Utah Mormons, Schmidt said. He was a particularly harsh opponent of polygamy, seeing it as a threat to American womanhood. In fact, Heston’s conservative secularism eventually moved him away from “The Truth Seeker.”

It was an interesting lecture from Schmidt. In fact, I just bought one of his books via Amazon (1). As the secularist movement radicalized and began advocating moral issues at odds with most of America in the late 19th century, its influence waned and adherents moved away, to liberal churches or to the secular Sunday afternoons in the family hearth so treasured by Ingersoll.

Still, as Schmidt noted in his lecture, there were secular activists of that era who saw the potential for a “probable but meaningful alliance” between freethinkers and Mormons. The time frame for this was the latter half of the 19th century, when both were despised by chief opinion-makers.

Ironically, as the 20th century began, Mormonism began a slow but consistent march toward conformity, conservatism and traditionalism while organized freethinker movements became more radical and its organized number declined.

One wonders if events will ever transpire to bring the twain — Mormons and freethinkers — together as allies.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally posted at StandardBlogs.

1) The Schmidt book I purchased is “Heaven’s Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar, Sexologist, Martyr and Madwoman,” Basic Books, 2010. Buy it here.

Notes on our trip to Hungary

 

Note: In 2020, our family planned a month-long trip to Hungary that was canceled due to Covid-19. It would have been nine years after our first three-week visit in 2011. We own a home now in a Hungarian city and hope to visit soon, perhaps next year even. I was thinking a lot about our trip recently almost 10 years ago, and searched Wayback for a blog I did for StandardBlogs about the trip. I found it and am very pleased to share it again. It includes a family visit to the local branch in Kaposvar, Hungary, where my wife, Kati, grew up. -- Doug Gibson

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For most of the last three weeks, our family visited Hungary, a first experience for myself and the kids. We spent two and a half days in Budapest (at the bottom floor of photo above) and then the bulk of our time in the city of Kaposvar, where my wife, Kati, grew up. Besides cleaning and starting the renovation of a condominium, we got to know the city and made side visits to Lake Balaton and Pacta, to enjoy a medieval fair.

The following are diary entries from the trip, which lasted about 17 days and included forays into four airports and three flights, between SLC and Chicago, Chicago to Zurich, and Zurich to Budapest, and back. (Forgive the typos and other mistakes, some due to my inexperience with a Hungarian keyboard) We took more than 1,000 photos, a few of which may yet get on this blog.

JUNE 9: Switzerland and Hungary so far. Amazed at the large swaths of very high, dense forest areas that abut residential areas and farms. You can literally go across the street and get lost in the forest. … Hungary, Budapest: With family in a ground floor apt rental of the old school. Has an iron gate that leads into a court with four floors of apartments that are accessed by a winding stone stairwell and each floor squares the building a tiny fence and narrow passage way! … in Budapest, just bought horse sausage at market, yum. The market below.

JUNE 11: Saturday we visited the House of Terror museum, which is the site of the secret police headquarters of both the fascist WW2 and the communist security operations. It is a somber place. It is several stories, connected by a winding stone staircase. The courtyard has a huge 1950s tank, the type that the Russians used to invade Hungary in 1956. Wallpapering the several floors are pictures of the victims of the 1956 uprising. Each floor is devoted to a portion of the 19th century history, whether it is World War II, the later communist invasion, the propaganda techniques, media and art included, the judicial system and how the show trials were conducted. Besides the many videographed testimonies, there is a communist propaganda film, complete with English subtitles, that is used to justify the Soviet invasion. The basement is heart-wrenching as you see the torture areas, two floors of cell after after cell, the completely dark punishment area and the execution room. I admire the Hungarian people for having this museum not only as a way to show that evil did not last, it was indeed condemned after a few generations, but also those Hungarians who participated in this evil are acknowledged. There are infamy rooms with hundreds of pictures of major Nazi and communist leaders as well as minor participants in the oppression and cruelty. Scores of these people are still alive and it must be a huge, albeit deserved disgrace to be so noted. My own nation should emulate such self introspection. I’m not sure that we do. Below is the Iron Wall memorial, outside the House of Terror.

JUNE 12: Budapest is an active city; comprised of 22 districts and split by the Danube River. It’s fast-paced with pedestrians moving quickly, sharing space with bicyclists, cars move through streets, most narrow. There’s a perpetual smell of tobacco in the air; far more people smoke here. The streets are well stocked with side-by-side businesses, vertical in style, mostly independent, although there are Burger Kings and McDonalds spotting the area. The Danube features several bridges that connect Buda to Pest.  Below is a photo in a park across from Heroes Square where our family greets the statue of the long-ago court scribe Anonymous.

The currency is forints, and 183 F equal a dollar. Due to a VAT, you pay the price as marked. They have TRAX, buses and a fantastic subway system called Kontroll, or metro. It’s a small city in itself and there are several lines. Small billboards dot the metro and there are long escalators that the kids love. The subways run every minute or so. (If you want to see the Budapest metro, see the film Kontroll. It’s easy to rent. The architecture is classic for establishment building. Homes are courtyard style, several floors and Soviet style multiple floors. Lots of balconies. Also lots of museums and statues. We visited Heroes Square, the Parliament Building (during tour we the 1,000 year old crown that is on Hungarian coinage. We also enjoyed a late night meal at a restaurant that mocks the communism era. It included Soviet style appliances and an iconic photo of Breshnev and Honecher (East German leader) smooching each other like lovers on the lips.

JUNE 13: (after taking the train to Kaposvar, about a three to four hour journey) Im falling in love with this small city Kaposvar, Hungary. The mid-sized city is literally filled with scores of parks, which is apt because there are thousands of tall trees with lots of leaves, the type of trees that lean together over narrow streets. (At left is a photo of the town square) And the streets are filled with symphonies of birds singing. There is music on the street where our condo all the time. When it comes to dining, we follow Andrew Zimmern’s advice and go where the locals go. We favor a small cafe with more than 50 types of pizza and great Hungarian soup. The people in Budapest and Kaposvar dress far more casually than in the U.S.. shorts, T-shirts and sandals are very common. Today we went to a water park, not much different than what we have in Utah except the diving area was a stone 4 meter deep small pond with three stone ledges jutting out from stairs … short, medium and high dive. … One more observation — there are more public displays of affection, particularly between 20 somethings. I remarked to Kati that it seemed persons marry early here and she said that very few under-30s get married. They live together. Apparently the marrieds are too busy chasing kids to be publicly affectionate. I suggested to Kati that we pretend we were living together by leaving the kids in the apt. and go out to the street to make out. A photo of the front of Kaposvar's city hall is below.

JUNE 13: Forgot to mention — the first people we met after checking into Hotel Kaspo and going for a walk was a couple from Spanish Fork with their daughter and missionary son, Elder Clark, whom they were picking up as his mission was concluding. Small world, they approached us due to my U of U hat. … Today, walking the streets, I noticed steel grates under many windows. They provide ventilation for the gas heating — old fashioned — in the buildings.

JUNE 15: In Kaposvar, Hungary, noticed that most of the trees are chestnut trees. Nuts are a few months from being ready. Had lunch at Kati's cousin's home — several courses, including a delicious Hungarian soup with yarn pasta, chicken broth and boiled chicken with carrots — also culled more antiques from the condominium, including an 1854 hymnal, an 1874 Biblical geography — It hasn't reached much more than 80 and the humidity stays around there, not unpleasant. We visited Tescos, a hypermarket like Walmart. I found a DVD of the cult film "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" very cheap, less than 3 dollars in ftz, so I bought it. We bought a copy of Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix in Hungarian at a small bookstore; very expensive, roughly $35 in forinz. I have noticed that Kaposvar has as many residents as Ogden, Utah. Land size is smaller due to style of housing, inherited from Soviets, of very tall housing that extend 10 or 11 stories with small condos jutting upward.

JUNE 17: (A trip to Lake Balaton) We visited Lake Balaton in the Hungarian countryside today. It began with a two hour bus drive to Kesathely, a small city. There we first toured the Festetics Castle, which dates from the late 18th century. Its an amazing building. (See it below paragraph) I think I enjoyed the library the most. It had more than 90,000 books, many first editions from the 18th and 19th century. We also toured the castle grounds which included a carriage museum, with carriages dating to the early 18th century. Back in Keszthely we ate lunch on the square. One new food was langos, Hungarian fried bread, and we walked a mile or so to Lake Balaton It was great. I waded into the lake as far recreational swimming was allowed, a few hundred yards. The water went up as far as my chin. There was a healthy crowd there, most German and Austrian tourists. There were a couple of water slides that emptied into the lake. After that we discovered our bus back to Kaposvar was not running, so we grabbed a slow train back to Kaposvar. It must have stopped 20 times, including very, small remote interesting villages. Long day, but worth it and memorable. The kids and Kati and I learned so much.

JUNE 19: (a trip to a medieval fair in Pacta, Hungary) We went to a medieval fair in the village of Patca on Saturday, about 15 miles outside Kaposvar. The bus winded its way through a few small towns and the road was at times sided by forest. The fair is at a ranch called Katica-Tanya, which is in the middle of the countryside. There was a castle/fort where battle-clad reenactors laid siege and fought sword fights and infantry arrow assaults. There was a large catapult that thrust its weapon a few hundred yards. Reenactors had also set up living arrangements in period tents and we could go visit them and they would teach us how to duel with padded weapons and shoot arrows. The fort had three stories that included a very, dark, dank dungeon. We all enjoyed it (we were with relatives) but Joe and Boti, the five year old son of Kati's cousin's daughter, just had a great time. We ate lunch there. Some of the cooking was done over slow fires in bell-sized cauldrons of that era. A couple of things to notice is that children's playgrounds here are mostly constructed of wood and quite sturdy. I can play on them. We too the bus back where Joe and Boti fell asleep during the 25 minute ride. I sure am glad that we have taken public transportation everywhere while in Hungary, rather than taxis or renting a car. Its very cheap, convenient and provides a more realistic vacation for all of us.

JUNE 20: Sunday in Kaposvar we walked about a mile to the largest cemetery and visited the graves of Kati's father, Tibor, Kati's grandma and her grandpa. The cemeteries are quite interesting. They are dense with large tablets of stone and large gravestones abutting the tablets with the names of the families interred. It's very peaceful ad a history lesson to walk among the graves. Later we went to the small Kaposvar LDS church branch. There were four missionaries (one Elder Jared Johnson, is from North Ogden) and about 23 or so members in attendance. The missionaries spoke and Kati gave the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting. Afterwards, went to the Csima family, friends of our family, for a long lunch that included Hungarian vegetable soup, chicken paprika, homemade jam pastries, homemade syrup juice drinks, and cherries from their backyard. Their son, Zoltan, speaks English and we chatted a long time and now are FB friends. Later we went to Kati’s cousin Eva's home in Kaposvar with her kids Dora and Esther, her spouse and their son Boti, and enjoyed lecho, a Hungarian pepper dish and Hungarian pancakes. Today, Monday, we started the job of clearing out the condominium. (see its balcony at above left) Lots of work sifting the rare jewels from a lot of junk. Kati's dad was a hoarder and he seemed to never throw away anything. I was sifting through what seemed like 41 years of mail and newspapers and magazines. There were even several Standard-Examiners in the condo. We filled up our rented Dumpster in a couple of hours. Lots more still to do. (Above left is the balcony of the condo. It is renovated now and we own it.)

JUNE 24: (Thoughts on our last night in Hungary) The prices in Hungary are about equal with the US; but salaries are lower. There is an overall bit of pessimism among any Hungarians that the system is stacked against them and things won’t get better. … The homes are beautiful and old; most people endure minor discomforts that we are not accustomed to as much, such as no factory air conditioning and far smaller apartments or homes … Virtually no windows have screens, most are open and doors nudge open a bit vertically to provide air … The lack of screens, even in hotels, leads to very minor problems with flies, mosquitos … the streets are beautiful, most homes and businesses have prominent balconies … few apts and business complexes have  elevators. Instead, be prepared to walk several stories. Businesses tend to have circular, winding stairwells and apartment complexes have standard right-left upward identical staircases. … The Kaposvar government building was beautiful, with marble, ornate, grand staircases, detailed art work on the ceiling, and classic art several hundred years old, including art of Jesus Christ …. There is a sense in business and government areas in Hungary that the customer is not always right. Hungarians stoically wait in line for long periods. Line cutting is an art in Hungary, as my wife pointed out. No offense is taken if you use your body to block out a line-cutter … at stores, by the way, bags cost extra, don’t expect one if you don’t pay for it … at some areas, particularly Lake Balaton, using the restroom costs about US 30 cents … don’t expect free water in restaurants, a half litter costs about US 1.75. … The most ugly buildings are the communist-era Soviet style 10 to 15 story balconyless apartments that must be boiling hot in the summer in the upper floors. … Hungarians smoke at about the ratio that Americans did 40-plus years ago. It’s probably good to be getting back, since I’m starting to actually enjoy the tobacco scent a little. … There must be hundreds of playgrounds in Kaposvar and thousands in Budapest. It’s great that so much is provided for kids. Most playgrounds are made of wood, although older, metal ones are still around. Kati pointed out a metal twirling teacup (moved by steering wheels) that used to make her ill 30-plus years ago.

Can't wait to return later this decade.

Baptisms for health were once more common than baptisms for the dead

 

Most of us know about the ubiquity of the LDS Church performing baptisms for the dead in church temples. In many locations there have been baptisms outside temples, either converts or children when they reach eight years. However, in the first half of the LDS Church’s existence, baptisms for health were a common procedure, both in LDS temples and outside. It’s a bit of Mormon history that seems to have been tossed aside.

In Volume 34 (2008) of The Journal of Mormon History, academics Jonathan A. Stapley and Kristine Wright, authors of “They Shall Be Made Whole:” A History of Baptism For Health,” dove into the practice in great detail. They noted its origins, scriptural support, the eager support of church leaders and members, certain rules associated with it, including anointing and prayers afterward, and its eventual drop in popularity and ultimate banning in 1922. The fascinating history occurred over 80-plus years.

As the authors note, baptisms for health were not unique to Mormons. Early Christian advocates noted scriptural evidence, including “The story of Elisha instructing Naaman to ‘wash in the Jordan seven times’ and the miraculous New Testament waters of Bethesda …” However, the rise of Protestantism in the early 19th century U.S. had generally discouraged baptism for healings. However, the Mormons, with their belief in a restoration of the Gospel and the miracles and practices of its earliest era restored, baptisms for health fit in quite well for the early saints. As Stapley and Wright note, “Early Mormons viewed healing, along with glossolalia and prophecy, as important evidence of the Restoration’s validity.”

What likely propelled baptisms for health as a major LDS practice was a statement, published in the periodical “Times and Seasons 2,” by Brigham Young, “An Epistle of the 12,” Nauvoo, October 12, 1841. In that epistle, Young clearly tagged baptismal fonts in the the temple as places “that when the sick are put therein they shall be made whole.” As the JMH authors note, “This vision of healing rituals being performed by the ancients highlights the early Mormon particularity of connecting themselves with great figures, places and activities of the Bible.”

With baptism for health being preached from the LDS pulpits, its popularity exploded. And  baptisms for health eventually were sanctioned outside temples as well. (A reason for this was the wooden font in Nauvoo bred diseases.) Stapley and Wright note that it was a common practice to carry ill persons to the river in Nauvoo to be baptized. Emma Smith, when she was very ill, reportedly was baptized for her health. Certain rules for baptisms for health were established. Following a biblical precedent, the authors write that an ill person being baptized for health needed to be baptized seven times. Many small children were baptized for health. One baptism for health apparently involved a three-month-old infant. Other seven-time baptisms occurred over the course of several days, rather than at one time.

As Stapley and Wright note, “when the Saints were expelled from Nauvoo, they carried their healing rituals with them,” including baptisms for health. Besides being practiced on the Mormon Trail to Utah Territory, baptisms for health occurred in the Pacific Islands and Great Britain, the authors write.

An interesting facet of early LDS baptisms for health, according to Stapley and Wright, is the use of baptisms for health as a tool to drive out evil spirits. There are examples in Journal of Discourses and “Millennial Stars.” Stapley and Wright write, “Several records attest to the use of baptism for health and anointing as a means of exorcism.”

In the Utah territory, baptisms for health became a periodic event for many LDS members, particularly women. With better quality fonts, the practice switched more to temples, as well as the Salt Lake City Endowment House. As the authors write, “Church members sought special healings in the temple fonts.” The practice often was a community event, done in conjunction with Fast Sunday. There were days set aside for baptisms for health at temples, add the authors.

In fact, the authors present data that shows baptisms for health to be the most common temple practice, outpacing endowments, sealings, ritual rebaptisms to re-affirm faith, etc. The authors include accounts of persons claiming to be healed as a result of the baptisms. That was the peak for baptisms for heath. In the 1890s, church leaders began formalizing temple procedures. One rule formulated “situated baptism for health … to be administered only according to the faith of participants.” The number of temple baptisms for health dropped considerably, more so after church leaders ended the once-common practice of rebaptisms for members. For most of the 19th century, rebaptism was a ritual for Utah temple dedications, but it was not for the 1896 Salt Lake City Temple dedication, the authors note.

As the new 20th century arrived, the LDS Church leadership would slowly but consistently move toward a more conservative leadership, particularly among younger apostles, such as Joseph Fielding Smith. As the authors note, a generation gap existed. Repeat baptisms, which were now regarded as making the ritual seem common, were discouraged. While baptism for health were not specifically discouraged like rebaptism, the edict affected its popularity. (The one temple where the practice remained popular well into the 1900s was in Logan, note the authors.)

However, after 1910, many church leaders (President Joseph F. Smith was a notable exception) began to see rituals of healing and other practices, such as drinking consecrated oil, as being tainted with kitsch. As Stapley and Wright note, “With improvements in modern medical science and Mormonism’s more general integration into the larger society, Church leaders begin to avoid ritualistic practices that, in turn, appeared increasingly magical.” Also, the younger church leaders were openly skeptical of “the historical validity of the practice,” the authors add. Supporters of baptism for health began to rely on tradition as a chief defense.

When Joseph F. Smith died in 1918, the new church leadership administration of Heber J. Grant continued to sanction the practice for several years, but placed new suggestions, such as encouraging members to have local elders come to their homes to do ordinances for health instead, a practice that remains common today. By 1921, the end for baptisms of health was foreshadowed by the church leadership’s announcement that healers would no longer be in LDS temples. The authors note that the church leadership’s disapproval of the growing popularity of charismatic religious preachers, many of whom claimed to be faith healers, adversely affected the fate of baptisms for health,

Finally, via a First Presidency announcement, baptisms for health were ended. The statement read in part: “We … remind you that baptism for health is no part of our temple work, and therefore to permit to become a practice would be an innovation detrimental to temple work, and a departure as well from the provision instituted of the Lord for the care and healing of the sick of his Church.”

That statement would have come as a big surprise to Brigham Young, given his and the rest of the LDS apostles’ hearty 1841 endorsement of the practice. However, baptism for health enjoyed a long run in the LDS Church, one that lasted more than four score years.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published in StandardBlogs

‘Millstone City’ an example of the Mormon pulp fiction genre

 

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There’s been an emergence in what I call the Mormon pulp fiction genre. Far less refined than an Orson Scott Card novel, writers delve into thriller tales with Mormon plots or ideas. There's a short story anthology, “Monsters & Mormons” was published (read). Tales included missionaries fighting off flesh-seating zombies and another missionary being rescued in outer space by polygamous aliens. “Millstone City,” from Zarahemla, provides the Mormon pulp fiction novel.

 In a gang-infested lawless section of Brazil, breaking the rules leads Elder Zach Carson to witness a murder. Soon, he and his companion are on a race for their lives, trailed by psychopathic criminals. Two detectives, overwhelmed by a law enforcement system that is completely corrupt, try to help but are forced to flee for their own lives.

The term “pulp fiction” is not a criticism of the tale. Author S.P. Bailey has written an exciting, fast-paced, heavy-on-action story that takes constant twists and turns, with Carson and his companion, Elder Nordgren, racing from one threat only to encounter a more dangerous one in the next chapter. Here’s a plot: Elder Carson, pining for his girlfriend, Lilly, takes a late-night stroll (alone) to a local business in Olinda, Brazil, that offers long-distance phone service. That’s a big no-no in the mission field. While there, two men flit into the store and murder the employee. Elder Carson hiding, makes eye contact with one of the killers. His name is Heitor, one of their recent converts. Heitor stays silent and the now-traumatized Carson returns to his lodgings with Elder Nordgren.

That leads to a few days of fast-paced nightmares where Carson and Nordgren try desperately to get out of the remote Olinda and back to Recife, where they can seek refuge with either the mission home or the United States consul. They are at first stymied by Heitor, who threatens Carson and Nordgren and has them tailed by low-level gang members. However, things spiral out of control once the leaders of the gang, which deals with illegal organ transplants, decides to kill the elders.

There is a claustrophobic quality to the scenario author Bailey lays out. Carson and Nordgren can walk around Olinda, shop at stores, seek help from two detectives, Costa and Assis, who try to help them, visit Heitor’s family, who are unaware of his criminal deeds, call their mission president, who pleads with them to get out of there, visit a nosy “cougarish” neighbor, Luz, who later pays with her life for her interference. Despite their ubiquity, the elders literally seem like mice being pawed by cats in an alley with no escape hatch.

A good example of the prose is found in this scene, in a slum called Ilha do Bicho, the elders run for their lives from a local hoodlum ready to kill them:

“You’re dead, Mormons,” Mateus calls after us.

We turn a corner. Nordgren crashes into a rusty old stove. He knocks it down and tumbles over it. Hundreds of cockroaches and three flabby rats scatter. I’m running directly behind Nordgren; I trip over a rat and hit the dirt. It shrieks and sinks its teeth into my shoulder. I reach around and pull it off — it’s greasy and feverish — hot in my hand. I fling it away from me against a shack, pull myself up, and run after Nordgren.”

In that same scene, Bailey, in pulp fiction fashion, lends some gritty humor as the missionaries race through a shack right past two lovers. “We get a glimpse of middle-aged people copulating on the couch. They are big and sweaty and oblivious — they don’t notice the Americanos running wildly through their living room.”

Carson and Nordgren’s mortal peril, to many in the novel, is akin to bored wildlife watching a frantic lone human slowly sink into quicksand. The scene where corrupt federal law enforcement personnel contemptuously seize the missionaries from the two detectives trying to help them and throw them into a hellish, overcrowded roach- and rat-infested prison is chilling in its spareness and lack of emotion. The missionaries are taken to the gang leader, The Elbow, who carelessly tells them they are to become forced organ donors.

The story doesn’t end there. The elders will escape that threat, only to face another. Late in the novel, they receive help from an unexpected source, a repentant killer reluctantly hoping for redemption.

As mentioned, this is a good read. As with pulp fiction, there are plot holes. It’s hard to believe that the pair’s mission president would sit still and wait for the missionaries to come to him. When he first makes contact with Carson, he expects them to arrive in hours, yet days pass by with no appearance by LDS authorities or consulate representatives to rescue the pair. That’s not a huge objection, though. The isolation the missionaries experience, along with the constant threads of danger that arrive every few pages, are what makes this pulp fiction work so well.

“Millstone City” merits more readers. Despite this review, I still haven’t touched on more than a small fraction of its positive traits.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published in StandardBlogs in 2011.