by Roger Robin Ekins
As if having their two young sons, ages 8 and 6, drown was not enough heartache for Stephen and Mary Luce, their son Jason got involved with some very rough characters, including the notorious Bill Hickman, and was involved in the deaths of several people, the last of which resulted in his own execution. Wilford Woodruff, who had baptized Stephen and ordained him a teacher while on one of his missions to the Fox Islands, off the coast of Maine, naturally took a keen interest in Jason. The following are excerpts from Wilford Woodruff’s extensive journal:
May 27, 1859: ” I went to the office early this morning whare I was informed that James Johnson son of Luke Johnson was shot last night by one Gibson. There were 4 of them together, Jason Luce, James Johnson, Gibson & another one. Some words passed between Gibson & Johnson when Gibson drew a pistol cocked it & drew it upon Johnson when Luce took the pistol from Gibson & uncooked it & gave it back to Gibson. He then again Cocked it & few words passed & he drew his pistol & shot James Johnson. The ball entered below the Choller bone on the left side. Just escaped the Left Lung broke the upper rib went downward through the body. Dr’s France & Anderson was sent For. They [p.339] Cut out the ball on the right side of the spine of the back.
As soon as I herd of it I went down to see him on the upper Story of James Townsend House. I found him lying on his back suffering in much pain. When the ball hole was open or uncovered the wind would Come out of it evry time he breathed like a whistle. The Physicians staid with him till morning & Came while I was there. Dr France thought he Could not live over 24 hours. Mrs Woodruff Sisters Hiyde & Whitney Called to see him.
I went to the Council House saw Thomas Williams & Gibson the Murderer in Conversation together. Williams will plead his Case. S. M. Blair will prosecute.
I soon returned to James Johnson who was suffering much. Mr Miner & myself took Care of him. Many Called to see him. He Continued to Fail. His limbs & all his lower extremities seemed paralized & he Could not move them & had no sensation in them which was a strong proof that spine of the back was injured. He Continued to fail till 15 minuts past [ ] oclok when he said to me I Cannot stand it. I cannot lie here. I must get up. And he flung his arms wildly over his head & in about a minute more he breathed his last.
I asked him if he had any word to say to his Father. He said No ownly he wished him to hasten to him as soon as he was dead.
We sent for the Coronor Dr Clinton who Came & swore a Jury of 6 men who herd the Testimony of the men & surgeons. The Jury all not being satisfyed a post mortom examination of the body was Entered into. It was found that the ball had passed through the left lung & gone through the spine of the back and it was a wonder that He lived as long as he did. As soon as the examination was through the Jury retired to another room & brought in a virdiot of Came to his death by a Ball shot from the pistol held in the Hands of One [ ] Gibson.
I immediately went to work. Had the body washed shaved & laid out. Mrs Woodruff made his Shroud. [p.340] I staid with the Corps with Brother Miner & another Man till 3 oclok waiting for the Coffin to put him in but it did not Come. Brother Luke Johnson arived at about dark having rode some 75 miles and was thoroughly used up. He did not Come in to see the Corps. I went to bed about 4 oclok to get a little rest.
28th I arose at 7 oclok went to Townsends Assisted in laying the corps into the Coffin & got a team & carried it to Elder Orson Hyde. Here his Father for the first time saw the body of his murdered son for a moment it almost over come him.
The Funeral of James Johnson was attended at 2 oclok. W. Woodruff opened by Prayer. G. A. Smith spoke upon the evil Consequences of the introduction of so much whiskey into this Territory which was adulterated by Strictnine & this was introduced by the followers of the Army sutlers Merchants and a great Many persons were making use of it and much Crime was the consequen[ce]. When a man was found in the Gutter or had killed somebody he would make for an excuse that He was strictnined but if we all let the Liquor alone we would not get the Strictnine. He made many remarks upon the evils of the use of Alchahal most of which was drugged.
W Woodruff followed & spoke upon the great responsibility resting upon Parents towards there Children in giving them good Council & the responsibility of Children to obey their Parents & whare Children would not take good Council but would have there own way they would soon go to ruin & destruction.
O Hyde followed. Bore testimony to the truth of what had been said, & remarked that Parents should not allow themselves to sware or their children but should reprove their Children when they hear them sware. And many useful remarks were made.
The meeting was dismissed by G. A. Smith. We then went to the grave yard & buried him in Brother Hydes Lot.”
January 20, 1860: ” Vary Cold and Frosty. I went to the office in the morning. I there learned that Joseph Rhodes was killed by Jason Luce last evening in Butchers House whare William Hickman lay. Rhodes Came to the House and said he wanted to see Hickman. Luce said [p.417] he could not. Rhodes swore he would or die on the spot and drew two pistols one Cocked in Each hand and presented them at Luce. Luce drew his knife and sprung at Rhodes and struck him in the Right Breast & the knife went through his body. Ormas Bates sprung at the same time and Caught hold of Each pistol and turned the muzzles up. Luce Continued to thrust the knife into Rhodes and he soon fell and as he began to Fall He snaped the both pistols but the hammer struck Bates Hand and did not go off. Luce Continued to stab him untill he had Eleven gashes through his body.
I went down to see the Corps. It had been washed and laid on a Board Naked. I never saw a Body so Cut up. The poliece took the body From Hickman to the City Hall whare I saw the Body. Luce gave himself up to the Poliece.
I spent the day in the office. Luce had his trial in the evening and was acquited upon the plea of self Defense.”
August 5, 1860: “I met with my Quorum in the morning. A. O. Smoot Prayed & L W Hardy was mouth. The subjet was spoken off about Jason Luce & Lot Huntington & their party overpowering the Poliece & Jeter Clintons Court one day during the past week. The Mayor will take the matter up to morrow.”
December 7, 1863: “I spent the fore part of the day in the office writing. Jason Luce killed a man in the street by the name of Samuel Burton from Origon. He cut his throat with a Bowe knife. He was immediately arested & imprisioned.
Jason Luce was Examined before Orrelius Miner Esqr & was Committed to be tried before the probate Court next Monday.
8. Jason Luce was Examined before Orrelius Miner Esqr & was Committed to be tried before the probate Court next Monday.
19 I preached the funeral sermon of Father Atwood at 10 oclok in the assembly rooms, then went to the Endowment House & sealed 21 Couple. We gave Endowments to 31 persons. I Attended the trial of Jason Luce.
22d I spent the fore part of the day in writing my report to the Legislature.
In the afternoon I attended the Court & heard the Judge Elias Smith Sentence Jason Luce, who had been tried for murder & rendered Guilty of Murder, in the first degree by a Jury of 12 men. The Judge Sentenced him to be shot on Tuesday the 12 of January. He made a few remarks & tryed to Justify himself [p.142] by saying that what he done He done in self defence &c. When he was taken down into his sell he wept like a child. He told his brother that if He was Executed he must remember that Wm Hickman was the Cause & that he was now deserting him. Hickman & party are holding out the hope to him that He will be reprieved.
[p.149] 7 I spent the day in the Legislative Council. We had a Cold snowy day. I visited Col R. Burton in the Evening. I found him sick Confined to his bed. He gave me a Cirtificate to the guard to visit Luce in prision who was awaiting his sentence to be shot. I found him vary Cheerful full of hope that his Sentence would be Commuted to confinement in the pententiary. He had no Idea of Dying. He said it would take a man of more nerve than he had to give himself up to be Executed & he should not do it. He did not say how he would avoid it. I wrote a letter to My Brother Thompson Woodruff.
Jan 8 A Cold morning. I visited President Young and asked him if He had any Council to give R. Burton Concerning the Execution of Jason Luce Tuesday. He said no not one word. He knows what to do. It will want to be done in Private
Jan 11 1864 I Called upon Brother Burton & then I Called at the Court House and had another interview with Jason Luce who is sentenced to die tomorrow. He still feels sure that He will not die. He thinks that he has the testimony of the spirit of the Lord that He will live & not die. He said that he was innocent of many things that the people thought he was guilty off. He said that he had never killed any person or had any hand in the death of any person except Rhodes & Bunting & said that he Could not fell that he was guilty of murder in the death of Either of them. He had killed them in self defence. He said Wm. Hickman had advised him to do many things that made his flesh Crawl but he had not followed Hickmans advise in these things. He told the Jailors (which I did not Hear) that Hickman once asked him to go & knock an old man in the Head for no other purpose ownly to obtain an old mare that was not worth more than $30. And He feels that Wm. Hickman has betrayed him and done him much injury & he looks upon Hickman as a vary bad man. He said he would like to see me tomorrow. He thought to day [p.151] was the time appointed for his Execution untill I told him it was tomorrow.
I went to the Council & spent the afternoon & attended to the business of the day And in the Evening I again Called upon Jason Luce in Company with John Sharp, T. B. Stenhouse R. Burton & many others. G D. Watt being present acted as reporter in taking an account of what Jason Luce would reveal unto us in his last moments.
I Called upon Governor Reed & asked him if he would Commute Jason Luce sentence to the Penetentiary for life as Hickman had held out this promise to Lute. Soon Hickman & Wilford Luce Came in for their answer & Mr Reed told them He Could do nothing in the premises that He Considered that He would be Commiting Crime to Change the sentence of Luce unless he had better ground than any thing He had seen.
So when I arived at the prision in the Evening I told Jason Luce there was no chance for him to live & I wished him to prepare to die. He then spent more than an hour giving us an account of what He had done & what he knew. He said in the Case of Drown & Arnold that Hickman was responsible for their death. He killed them with the help of one or two others. He said Wm. A Hickman robed Carpenter’s store took the goods in his waggon & carried them to Huntingtons & from Huntingtons to his house over Jordon & then told Furguson if he would kill Carpenter He would Clear him that He Should not lie in Jail one day. Furguson killed Carpenter & was Hung for it & Hickman made him believe that he would be liberated up to the last minute. Luce said that Hickman Murdered [ ] for no other purpose ownly to obtain his gold watch & money & thinks he has the watch yet.
He said that Hickman was at the head of a Band of thieves. They have stolen as high as 100 Head of Cattle at a time from Camp Floyd & gone out onto the prairie & divided them & taken them to different parts of the Territory. Lute also said that Hickman had many men around him that Had to be fed & that men under him would go onto the range & drive up a Beef & kill & Eat it & sell the Hides or make them [p.152] into Larretts or throw them away as the Case might be without any regard to whom might be the owners. Luce said that Hickman had been his ruin and the ruin of others and in all these things He had Carried his point by declairing that President Brigham Young had given him Council to do all these things (which is a Cursed lie). Luce made many other remarks which was reported by G. D. Watt.
12 At Eleven oclok I Called at the prision & was with the prisioner untill a few moments before his Execution. His Mother Brothe[rs?] wife & 5 children visited him last night also this morning. He had gotton a woman with Child who was not his wife. He requested his Brothers to take care of this woman & if they were permitted to take more than one wife to take her to wife. He had a vary hard time to part with his wife Children & Friends. He felt to Confess all of his [crimes] and ask the forgiveness of God & all men for all his Crimes. He had worn his garments up to within an hour before his death. I advised him to take it off which He did. He Converse with me untill abut 12 oclok. He asked me to pray with him that he might have strength to go to his Execution & pay the penalty of his Crimes. I prayed with him according to his request & then bid him good by as did others who were with him.
He then walked to his place of Execution. There was a large number out side the wall & some one hundred in the Court House pl[aced?] at the windows to witness the Execution. Jason Luce sat in a Chair with his feet maniceled. He addressed the people a few moments Renounced Wm. A. Hickman as his betrayer bid the People good by. Sherif Burton drew the Black Cap over his face & at a given signal 5 Balls was shot through or near his heart & his spirit left his body without a groan or hardly a movemet of his body. His Corps was taken to the gate & Exhibited to the Croud. It was then taken to his Brothers House & laid out.
13 The body of Luce was buried to day in the [p.153] burying ground. A subscription was taken up to day for his Family & some $300 was obtained $175 in money. I spent the afternoon in the Council Chamber.”
Luce, who was part of the Bill Hickman gang, is also mentioned several times in Brigham’s Destroying Angel: Being the Life, Confession, and Startling Disclosures of the Notorious Bill Hickman, the Danite Chief of Utah, Written by Himself. In point of fact, this lurid account was largely written by the Mormon-eater J.H. Beadle, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, both the Rhodes and Burton killings are mentioned in this book, in Chapter VI and Appendix I. According to the Hickman/Beadle version, Rhodes was apparently killed by Luce not so much in self-defense, but in an act to defend Hickman, whom Rhodes had sworn to kill (likely with good reason!). Beadle claims that Burton was a “desperado” from Montana and that several citizens from Montana had petitioned for clemency for Luce, but that he was executed because “the priesthood needed a scapegoat.”
An additional allegation in the Hickman book is that Luce was among the “company of young roughs” who had beaten Governor Dawson at the behest of Church leaders, only to be later persecuted (three were shot and Luce and another briefly imprisoned) to protect LDS deniability.
In his Comprehensive History of the Church, V:13-14, B. H. Roberts mentions that shortly after arriving in Utah Territory, Governor John W. Dawson ” . . . made improper proposals to a respectable woman, was repulsed and exposed in this and some other ‘gallantries,’ which drove him into the seclusion of his lodgings, where he was reported as both sick and insane. On the 31st of the same month which witnessed his advent into Salt Lake City, he secretly took his departure, but unfortunately at the mail station at Mountain Dell, a number of lawless men gathered in during the evening; there was some drinking, and Dawson was cruelly beaten and robbed, but he continued his journey eastward.
The governor wrote his own version of the affair from Bear River station to the Deseret News, which was published in the impression of Jan. 22, 1862. The names of his assailants were Isaac Neibaur, Wood Reynolds, Jason, John M. and Wilford Luce, John Smith, Moroni Clawson, and Lot Huntington. Writs were obtained against these parties. Three of them, Smith, Clawson and Huntington, stole horses and attempted to leave for California; they were followed by the sheriff, but resisted the officer and Lot Huntington was killed. On the way to the prison after reaching Salt Lake City, the other two made an attempt to escape and were killed by the police. [Hickman/Beadle claims they were executed, as there were powder burns on their faces, suggesting they were not shot while attempting to run away!] The remainder of the party were remanded for trial.”
It would therefore appear that two of Jason’s brothers, John Martin and Wilford Woodruff, joined him in this drunken beating of the Governor, so perhaps there was more than just one “black sheep” in this family!
As is true with almost all history, some of the above is undoubtedly accurate and some certainly less than accurate. Still, Jason Reed Luce was without question a very colorful character, to say the least!
