Hi Ya'll--

Most of all of you will probably find it interesting that Mitt Romney
has not only polygamist ancestry but a distinct link to Mormon
Fundamentalism. The recent Salt Lake Tribune article
(http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4212788) about Mitt Romney's polygamist
ancestry showed that one of his great-great grandfathers was Carl
Heinrich Wilcken (note that Wilcken was the middle name of his father,
former Governor George Romney). Carl Heinrich Wilcken was one and the
same man as Charles H. Wilcken, one of the men charged in 1886 by Pres.
John Taylor to keep plural mariage alive. His youngest wife, Haidee
Carlisle, was the daughter he met while in hiding at the "Carlisle
residence" spoken of in the accounts of Pres. Taylor's on the
underground.

It is interesting that Charles was identified in the Tribune Article by

his German birth name Carl Heinrich and not by Charles Henry (or
Charles H.) Wilcken, his Americanized name by which he was known in
early Utah. The Church's family history website lists two entries for
him on the Ancestral File: one as Charles Henry Wilcken and the other
as Charles Henry Or Carl Heinrich WILCKEN.

It is interesting also that on April 13, 1911, Charles H. Wilcken was

named a patriarch by Joseph F. Smith. He died in a Salt Lake hospital
on April 9, 1915, at age eighty-four. It is my sense that if he had
much longer, he would have been among those many patriarchs
excommunicated (like Patriarch Israel Barlow) by Heber J. Grant after
1921 in an effort to stop them from performing plural marriages.

For your information I have listed links to (as well as cut and pasted
below) several articles about Charles H. Wilcken available online.
They are:

(1) a 1912 deseret news article, an autobiography by Charles Henry

Wilcken himself, titled A SOLDIER'S ADVENTURES
http://www.hickmansfamily.homestead.com/Wilcken.html
(2) 1995 Salt Lake Tribune Article (also cut an pasted below)
http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/100895.ht
ml
(3) part of a website dedicated to Charles Wilcken and his wife Eliza
found at
http://helaman.pratt-family.org/wilcken.htm. This website has a number
of photos and individual histories that can be copied or "saved as" on
your own computer. Histories on the the Helaman Pratt family website
include:

* Marched West with Johnston's Army." Transcript courtesy of

Maurine Colgrove.
* William C. Seifrit, "Charles Henry Wilcken: An Undervalued
Saint," Utah Historical Quarterly 55:4 (Fall 1987), 308-321, used by
permission.
* Charles Henry Wilcken, A Soldier's Adventure, Juvenile
Instructor, vol. 20, nos. 16, 17, 22, 23, pages 242-358. Transcript
courtesy of Maurine Colgrove.
* "Charles Henry Wilcken: How He Won the Iron Cross." Transcript
courtesy of Maurine Colgrove.
 * Obituary of Charles Henry Wilcken. Transcript courtesy of Maurine
Colgrove.

Enjoy,

Marianne

---------------------------------------------

Marched West with Johnston's Army

Deseret Evening News, Saturday, 21 December 1912

Incidents in the Life of a Sturdy German Jaeger Who Cast His Lot With
"The Flower of the American Army," Marched West against the "Mormons";
and Remained to Dwell with Them.

This is neither a biography nor a romance; it is only a glimpse at a

portion of the interesting career of a man wellknow to nearly everybody
in Salt Lake City, and to thousands inhabiting other part of the
intermountain region.

He was born, a blue-eyed rolly-polly German baby, Oct. 5, 1830 in the

village of Eckhorst, not far from Lubeck, in Holstein, Germany. The
city of Lubeck by the way, is one of the three remaining free cities of
the empire -- these three the last of that all mighty chain of
continental cities comprising

the famous and powerful Hanseatic league – a commercial union which

during the Middle Ages established and maintained open trade routes and
prosperous traffic relation in spit of raiding robber knights, escaping
petty sovereigns and thundering spiritual potentates.

His father’s responsibilities as an "extensive" farmer were increased

by care of a popular tavern of which he was the generous host, and a
brewery of which he was the jolly proprietor. His manifold duties
imposed by these interests impressed him with the need of getting the
services of his son as soon as possible, so at a very early age little
Carl Heinrich was bundled off to private school in historic old Lubeck.
Here as he waxed in years and as he also acquired at least the
rudiments of learning as dispensed in the through German fashion. It
was also in established German custom, then as now, that each boy
should learn a trade and at the age of 15 the lad went into service to
learn to be a miller, his master operating one of the picturesque mills
of that region with both wind and water, or either, as motive power.

The Lure of Busy Places

By the time the important year 1848 had come along, the top of young
Carl Heinrich’s head projected itself six feet three inches above the
surface of the ground on which his feet rested, and he was slim and
straight as an arrow. He was in his eighteenth year – that period in a
young man’s life when the droning of a grist mill could scarce be
expected to prove as alluring as a call from the busy, active, outside
world; especially when, as was the case at this time, that world was
screaming in the birth of larger liberty, and when an impending wave of
war excited the patriotic impulses of every trued son of the Fatherland.
The two provinces of Schleswig and Holstein had been under the
protection of the Danish crown for about 400 years, the consideration
on their part being the furnishing of a certain number of solders for
the Danish army. Except in the northern part of Schleswig, contiguous
to Denmark, the language spoken was German, and the natural leaning of
the people was toward Prussia. The time could not have been more
unpropitious for any attempt at the extension of royal prerogative, yet
the Danish king, with singular lack of sagacity, chose this very moment
to try to incorporate into his domain the northern province of
Schleswig. Both provinces sprang to arms to resist the aggression, and
Prussia, lent aid to the extent at least of furnishing officers to
drill the provincials and get them started in the stern business ahead
of them; with the further understanding that she would not stand idly
by and see them overwhelmed.

Filled with the ardor and enthusiasm of youth and the love of
fatherland, our youthful miller shook the flour dust out of his clothes
and hair, and went off to be a soldier. He enlisted in what was called
the First Jaeger Corps – mounted riflemen, in other words–a picked body
of men of approved courage and marksmanship, designed for service
either mounted or afoot. The heavier cavalry were the dragoon, the
lighter were lancers, "ablans," and hussars. The jaegers were armed
with muzzle loading rifles, slung over the shoulder, and bayonets which
could be attached to their pieces when it came to be business at close
quarter. They rode strong, active horses; and though in a charge their
onslaught lacked the intimidating accessory of lashing sabers or
fluttering lance, they nevertheless, when plunging forward with
thundering mass, erect in stirrup and with the lust of battle gleaming
from their eyes, delivered an attack which few troops were able to
withstand.

Wins Sergeant Chevrons

The first jaeger corps was soon in the thick of the fighting, and
before very long the men had all of it they wanted–and more. At the
second battle of Kolding, young Carl Heinrich, now a corporal, was one
of a small party which had become detached from the main body and was
threatened with annihilation by the advancing Danes. They sought the
best protection their precarious position afforded, and prepared for
the worst, partially shielded on a side hill skirting the highway. A
dashing body of Danish horses, composed of scions of noble and
aristocratic families, gallantly hastened forward to make a spectacular
capture of the isolated remnants. These calmly awaited the onset, their
nerves steeled and their courage steadied by many previous baptisms of
fire. At length the command "fire" rang out and every Danish horse
turned and galloped riderless off the field. Participation in this
exploit brought to our hero the chevrons of a sergeant.

Stubborn fighting characterized the taking, losing and recovering of

the key to an important position in the next engagement in Jutland to
which country the scene of operation was now transferred. This coveted
position was a brickyard, from which the Danish defenders were driven,
after heavy losses on both sides. Returning to the attack in reinforced
number they retook the place in a desperate assault. Again the
Schleswig-Holsteiners charged, and in hand to hand conflict made a good
their attack and held the ground. A third time the Danes rushed the
position, and gained and held it. By this time there was not a single
jaeger officer left with the corps, all being either killed or wounded
and the ranks of the men being nearly depleted. The ranking non-
commissioned officer felt that further efforts would be suicidal–the
slaughter already had been frightful. Of more determined mettle was
this junior sergeant Carl Heinrich. He suggested, in fact commanded,
one more charge,
for the sake
of home and fatherland. It was brilliantly made, and was entirely
successful–the decimated corps remained masters of the field.

The Iron Cross

Two months later there was a simple yet an impressive ceremony the
entire force at the camp is paraded, with bands playing and colors
flying. At the commanding general advances and takes position in front,
there falls a silence that is profound and almost painful. An adjutant,
in a loud voice calls out a few names. Those responding to these names
step forward forming a new thin scattered line several paces in front
of the main rank. Then accompanied by his staff, the general moves
along this scattered line halting a few seconds in front of each man,
and passing on to the next, till the left of the line is reached.
Finally the bands strike up again, the colors flutter more proudly than
ever, the few men in front fall back into their places, the line of
troops wheels into column, the corps and regiments march away to their
quarter and the ceremony is over.

In the incident just described the First Jaeger corps held a place of
honor. At the call of the adjutant, a tall straight 18 year-old
sergeant steps to the front. The grizzled general as he approaches the
stripling says a few kindly words, and seems to be clumsily fumbling
with the button of his coat. The boy is too well-drilled to let his
eyes wander or deviate from the "straight ahead;" he stand like a
statue. But when the order is given to take his place in the ranks his
eyes drop for a moment and proudly rest on the plain, black, grim
insignia, most prized of all German decoration, the iron cross, cast
from the metal of captured cannon and given by the king "For Gallantry
in Action."

After the battle at Itzoe in Schleswig, where the Danes were

victorious, Austria and Prussia stepped in as mediators, and peace was
declared, these two kingdoms taking the provinces under their wing.
Austria exercising special protection over Schleswig while Prussia
performed the same kindly office toward Holstein. Carl Heinrich went
back to his meal bags, this time as proprietor of a wind-driven grist
mill purchased for him by his father: and soon thereafter took unto
himself a wife. He might have lived and died in the calm obscurity of
the village of Dahma, where his mill was located, but for the
aggressive determination of Denmark, in spite of the terms of the
recent treaty, to draft recruits from the provinces for the standing
army. The ex-jaeger when inside information came to him as to his
probable conscription as a Danish life-guardsman in Copenhagen. Making
the best disposition his business that was possible at short notice, he
hastened to Hamburg, took shipping for
Hull, c
rossed over to Liverpool, and railed from sailed from that port for the
new and free world to which so many thousands of his young country-men
were at this time bending their steps.

Hears of Johnston Expedition

This was in the spring of 1857. He reached New York in due time,
disembarking at the famous old-time immigrant landing-place, Castle
Garden. He was not less green than many another German whose entry was
through these portals, and like many another he was much disappointed
in his expectations. He wandered around short time seeking employment,
his small stock of money growing rapidly less. At his boarding house
and in German circles, which he frequented, he learned of the proposed
expedition against the "Mormons." He didn’t know anything about the
"Mormons," but he did know something about war and the soldier
business: so, rather than continue in idleness, he decided to enlist in
the U.S. army. A strapping fellow of his size and type was too good to
be allowed to get away, and the recruiting officer signed him on the
spot. He was sent over to Governor'’ island in New York harbor, where
already were assembled hundreds of "rookies:" receiving their first
instruction
in the manual of a
rms and target-shooting, preparatory to transfer to the ranks of the
army which was to bring the recalcitrant residents of Utah to terms.
Many of his comrades thought the "Mormons" were a tribe of Indians, but
from the better informed he gathered that there would be many
attractive features to the campaign, especially after the adult male
part of the rebellious element was disposed of.

In the course of a few weeks, a recruit detachment was made up and

dispatched to Fort Leavenworth. Carl Heinrich being one of them. Here
the routine of drill was resumed with increased earnestness, the former
jaeger sergeant being enrolled as a high private in Phelps’ battery of
field artillery. One day Captain Phelps was on the parade ground,
watching the exercises of the awkward squad, when his eye fell upon the
tall Holsteiner.

"You have been a soldier before?" said the captain.

"Ya," was the reply.

"Well, go to your quarters and turn out for drill only with the
battery; you needn’t bother any more with these beginners."

This was the commencement of a friendship more intimate than is usually

allowed to subsist between an enlisted man and a commissioned officer.
But Captain Phelps had traveled in Europe, had made a study of the
German army, had some knowledge of the German language, and took a
great fancy to his particular German specimen. The battery clerk was
also a German. As a result of these association, Carl Heinrich at a
later day obtained many hunting and other unusual privileges and had
free access to the maps and other documentation among the battery’s
papers.

At length the grand column moved out from Leavenworth on its long march
across the plains. It numbered about 1,500 men, infantry, cavalry and
artillery, under command of Col. Alexander. Gen. Johnston, who was the
titular commander, did not join the force until the troops had
established winter quarters at Bridger. The three arms of the service
were separated by about a day’s march; the artillery, being in the van,
the infantry 15 or 20 miles behind, and the cavalry bringing up the
rear. There were two batteries of artillery, each of eight pieces or
ordinance with six houses to the piece, and about 70 men. The latter
had as extra equipment short flintlock carbines. The force was
altogether seen on this side of the Mississippi river, and was spoken
of them and has been since as the "flower of the American army." But to
the eyes of the young soldier fresh from the battlefield of Schleswig
and the severe discipline of the Prussian drillmasters there was
nothing of the flor
al or nosegay
order about it. To him it seemed an untrained horde, ragged in drill,
regardless of discipline, and ridiculous in its pretense at guard duty.
There never was a time from the first day out of Leavenworth until the
mountaineers began to test their mettle near Green River, when an
active raiding party, either red men or white, could not have made off
with all the stock and left the command afoot and at the mercy of any
foe. The personnel of the troops was also inferior, the newly enlisted
men especially being of the roving, shiftless class for whom the small
stipend them paid was less a temptation than was the opportunity for
adventure.

Sees His First Indian

Naturally, the farther he journeyed, the less the German cannoneer was
impressed with the fragrance or beauty of this "flower of the American
army." His own duty had this spice of novelty, that he was usually one
of the hunting party, which furnished fresh meat for the mess. He took
part also in infrequent and desultory target practice with which the
monotony of the march was varied, and saw for the first time the
American Indian on his native heath, though these sons of the forest
and plain had so wholesome a respect of Uncle Sam’s uniform that they
offered no molestation. On approaching Green River, however, a more
vigilant and aggressive attitude was made necessary, by the appearance
of little band of rough-riding mountain boys, who harassed the column,
especially at night, by swooping down and stampeding the horses and
mules, paying particular attention to the transport animals of the
infantry. Not only was the guard strengthened to meet this new menace,
but it was
also found n
ecessary to confine the animals to keep them on the picket line, in
consequence of which they soon became very thin. These mysterious and
daring forays implanted in the expedition a sort of impressive silent
fear. Captain Van Vliet had been previously met, and had reported the
failure of his efforts to secure Gov. Young’s acquiescence in the
proposal for the troops to come peacefully into the valley. He assured
Col. Alexander that if he persisted in the forward march he would not
only have to fight all the way–the canyon passes being fortified – but
even if he successfully made his way through he would find the city
deserted and desolate; there would be food for neither man nor beast–
everything, even the city itself would be destroyed.

The army by this time had become pretty well demoralized and
dispirited. The chief ration was mule meat, and thin mule meat at that.
There was also much less talk than formerly about the good times that
the officers and soldiers were going to have after their conquest of
the rebellious "Mormons." Day by day the troubles and the anxieties
increased. Clouds of smoke by day and pillar of fire by night marked
the efforts of the enemy to burn the grass so there should be no forage
for the stock. With painful frequency reports would come in of supply
trains being burned and the cattle driven off. In this perplexity the
officers held a council of war to decide as to whether to go into
winter quarter, as had been suggested by Capt. Van Vliet, or to try to
fight their way on beyond the mountain barriers into the valley of the
great Salt Lake. Gen. Johnston had not yet joined the command; so his
advice could not be had, but at length the sentiments of the older and
cooler heads prevai
led, an
d it was decided to act on the defensive, moving on slowly and with
caution until a place suitable for winter cantonments could be found.

California Tempted Him

With the purpose of making his way to California, artilleryman Carl

Heinrich, now thoroughly disgusted with the service, decided to take
"French leave." He asked for and obtained permission to go on a hunt,
his captain dismissing him with the kindly admonition to be careful not
to fall into the hands of the "Mormons." After hastily looking over the
maps of the country, he set out taking his course westward, gun on
shoulder; and after tramping all night and until nearly noon of the
following day he came in sight of Fort Bridger. Here he was kindly
received, and joined the party in charge of that station at their
midday meal. While dinner was in progress a large herd of cattle was
seen approaching. As the animals were headed up near the stockade he
observed that the cattle were from the supply trains at Green River,
and he learned that they had been captured by a raiding party which had
burned a large number of wagons. He effected a trade with a man named
"Billl" Hickman for a
saddle
horse, a disabled beast and--still intent on pushing westward–
consented to assist in driving these cattle into the valley. On
entering Echo Canyon he was forced to approve the wisdom of Col.
Alexander’s decision to remain outside until peace negotiations should
be successful or at least until more favorable weather. The narrow pass
had been so thoroughly fortified that a much smaller force than was in
evidence would have been sufficient to hold it against a much larger
force than was in prospect. Every height bristled with works and the
utmost activity was still being manifested in collecting huge boulders
on the brink of the precipices ready to be hurled down upon an
advancing foe. At places where the two sides of the gorge came close
together, formidable barricades had been erected, while at frequent
intervals materials had been collected with which at short notice dams
could be constructed to back up the waters and submerge the road. He
was also impressed wit
h the energy and de
termination of the defenders, and conceived a wholesome respect for
their valor, little as he knew or approved of the cause for which they
were contending. When he finally reached that point in Emigration
canyon from which the city and valley and the Great Salt Lake itself
could be seen and instantaneous change of heart seemed to come over him
as to the further journey to California. Without knowing why or how his
resolution was fixed. He would make his home right here.
His captain and comrades at first thought the stalwart young foreigner
had been captured or killed by the "Mormons." This suspicion was
strengthened by an incident that came near bringing fatal consequences
to a brother of Hickman’s, who was sent to the camp of the soldiers as
a courier with dispatches. He happened to be wearing an army belt,
which Carl Heinrich late associates recognized as his property. They
laid violent hands on the messenger and were in the very act of
stringing him up when Col. Alexander’s appearance on the scene put a
stop to the summary proceeding. He was detained as a prisoner, however
for several weeks being finally sent in to Salt Lake City with
dispatches from Col. Alexander to Gov. Young.

The promise at the beginning of this story was that it was to be

neither a romance nor a biography. As it is not intended to go into
history either, no further allusion need be here made to the famous
Johnston army or the "Mormon" war. To carry along further the detailed
story of Carl Heinrich’s life would also be a violation of the promise
referred to. In hasty conclusion, therefore it is only necessary to say
that in course of time a statute of limitations freed him from his
offense against Uncle Sam’s army regulation; that he made Utah his home
and is still living here an honored and respected citizen, that he
still proudly wears on his manly breast his iron cross and that his
real name (only two-thirds of which was appeared above) is Charles H.
Wilcken.

-End-

In Another Time
The Salt Lake Tribune Arch
http://www.sltrib.com
Frenzied Mob Kills 'Murderer'
Hal Schindler
Published: 10/08/1995 Category: Features Page: J1

Sam Joe Harvey was a swarthy ex-soldier, about thirty-five, tall and
well-built, whose fondness for a scrap earned him the nickname of "U.S.
Harvey." He was known to have spent some time in and around Pueblo,
Colorado, and in the early fall of 1883 meandered from the plains to
Salt Lake City.

Harvey was thought to be Negro, Creole, Mexican, "or a mixture,"

according to the Salt Lake Herald, and for a few weeks at least he
established himself as a bootblack in front of Hennefer & Heinau's
barber shop in the city. For reasons never quite clear, Sam Joe Harvey
was on the prod. He complained of having been robbed in Ogden, and he
was suspicious of everyone. Even those who knew him couldn't explain
his behavior on the morning of August 25, 1883. A few said he was
insane.

Whatever it was that set him off, Harvey wound up gunning down a
captain of police and severely wounding the city watermaster; all this
in broad daylight. It so infuriated the citizenry that a mob formed and
within a half-hour lynched the shooter. A somber Salt Lake Tribune
editorialized that the lynching "was done under the noon day sun and in
the shadow of the temple of the Saints. We do not believe there has
been a parallel to the case in American history. Mobs have hung men
repeatedly, but never before what we remember of have the policemen who
had the prisoner in charge, first beaten him into half insensibility
and then turned him over to the mob. This is not a question between
Mormon and Gentile; it is one I which the good name of the city
government is at stake."

Events began with a telephone call to police at city hall from F.H.
Grice, owner of a restaurant on the east side of Main Street between
First and Second South, next door to the old Salt Lake House hotel.
City Marshal Andrew Burt was the only officer on hand at the lunch hour
when Grice complained that this fellow Harvey had threatened him with a
pistol at the restaurant and disturbed his patrons. He wanted him
arrested. Burt was also captain of police and had been talking to
Charles H. Wilcken, the watermaster, when Grice's telephone call came;
Wilcken went with Burt to collar Harvey.

As watermaster, Wilcken was also a special police officer. This large

gruff German had an interesting background. He came to America in 1857
and was persuaded by a persistent New York recruiting officer to join
the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the Fourth Artillery and marched west
that fall with Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston's Utah Expedition.
However, being snowed in for the winter at Fort Bridger didn't appeal
to the young emigrant and he deserted, only to be captured by Mormons
on October 7, turned over to Orrin Porter Rockwell, and escorted along
with a herd of liberated government cattle to Great Salt Lake Valley.

It happened that Wilcken would find the Mormon way of life suited him
just fine. He converted, was baptized that December, and became a
devout Latter-day Saint, eventually serving a foreign mission. He
became a confidant of church authorities George Q. Cannon and Wilford
Woodruff and for a while acted as a bodyguard to Brigham Young during
the bitter anti-polygamy crusades of the 1870s. Now in 1883,
Watermaster Wilcken was ready to help his friend Andrew Burt arrest and
jail what they thought was merely a drunken transient making a public
disturbance.

Burt, a fifty-three-year-old Scot, was a determined Mormon who earned

the rank of captain of police in 1859, was named chief in 1862, and in
February 1876 was elected city marshal. He was a lawman almost from the
day he arrived in Utah in the fall of 1851. Those who knew him swore he
was absolutely fearless; "a braver man never lived--he had the courage
of a lion," was the way the Deseret News put it.

>From city hall, the two officers strode up First South, crossed State
Street, and turned down Main. Grice, meanwhile, had walked up the east
side of the street until he encountered the lawmen. Sam Joe Harvey, he
told them, had frightened Mrs. Grice and some luncheon customers with
his revolver, then pushed his way through the kitchen and out into the
back alley.

As Burt and Wilcken scanned the noon crowds along the city's busiest
street, Grice recounted the events of the morning. Harvey was looking
for a job, he said, and Grice had offered him work as a laborer around
his farm on the outskirts of town. Grice would pay two dollars a day
and provide Harvey transportation to and from the place. When he was
told the farm was twelve miles from the city, Harvey "belched out in
profanity" and began insulting the restaurant owner and his patrons. "I
pushed him out the door and he pulled a pistol on me," Grice said, as
Burt and Wilcken reached the corner of main and Tribune Avenue (today's
Second South).

The three turned left to check the stores as far as the corner of
Commercial Street (today's Regent Street) before turning around. As
they again approached the Main Street corner, Grice spotted Harvey just
off the sidewalk-but now he was armed with a .45-caliber rifle and a .
44 pistol!

It was later learned that after Harvey had fled the Grices' caf?he went
to a general store and bought a rifle he had seen earlier in the day.
He paid the proprietor, Thomas Carter, twenty dollars for the repeater
along with two boxes of cartridges. "He was nervous and dropped one of
the cartridge boxes, spilling some of the ammunition," Carter
remembered. Harvey had scooped up the bullets, put them in his pocket,
and hurried away.

Minutes later, he would encounter Grice, Burt, and Wilcken coming up

the street, directly for him. According to the Deseret News, as they
neared the corner, "Grice pointed to a colored man who was standing on
the edge of the side walk and said: 'That is the man, arrest him!'"

Burt was carrying a heavy cane which doubled as a nightstick. As he

moved closer, Harvey raised his rifle and taking aim said, "Are you an
officer?" In the next heartbeat, the ex-soldier fired; the marshal
lurched to one side and stumbled into A.C. Smith & Company drugstore a
few feet distant. He slumped to the floor just behind the prescription
counter.

Outside, Wilcken, who was immediately behind and to the side of Burt
when the shot was fired, sprang forward and caught hold of Harvey,
wrenching the rifle free. He grabbed Harvey by the throat and the two
locked in a desperate struggle, but Wilcken couldn't stop Harvey from
using his revolver. Harvey fired again and the .44 slug tore through
the fleshy part of the watermaster's left arm between the shoulder and
elbow. The cowardice of the crowd was appalling, snarled the Deseret
News, "they scrambled away in terror in every direction. Finally Mr.
Wilcken threw Harvey in a ditch, and after he was overpowered the crowd
returned to the scene to his aid."

Actually, Harvey had pressed the pistol against a Wilcken's body and
was squeezing the trigger for another shot, when Elijah Able jumped
into the fray, twisted the pistol away, and helped throw the desperado
down. With blood pouring from the ugly wound in his arm, Wilcken held
his own until finally Homer J. Stone rushed in to subdue the shooter.
By this time other police reached the scene and took Harvey into
custody. Wilcken's arm was treated at the drugstore as the officers
hustled their prisoner to police headquarters.

Then things got nasty. A swarm of spectators followed the tight knot of
constables as they made their way up the street. Back at Smith's
drugstore, meanwhile, attention turned from Wilcken's gunshot wound to
the figure of the marshal slumped behind the counter. Burt had been
able to make his way from the sidewalk to the inside of the store under
his own power, but he was a dead man. Harvey's bullet had pierced his
left arm, penetrated his heart and lungs, exited his body and lodged in
his right arm. As he fell he was bleeding from five large wounds.

Dr. J. M. Benedict pronounced the police captain dead at the scene and
called a wagon to take the body to an undertaker. When the throng saw
Burt's sheet-covered form lifted in to the wagon bed, a long, low moan
erupted and the first cries of a lynching were muttered. "I say hang!
Who goes with me?" Shouted one man, and from the crown a chorus of "I!"
It was a belated threat.

Sam Joe Harvey was pushed into the marshal's office at city hall and
searched. Officers found $165.80 in gold, silver, and greenbacks in his
pockets as well as a large number of rifle and pistol cartridges. It
was then an unidentified man stuck his head in a shouted Captain Burt
had been shot dead. As one, the police turned on Harvey, "One of the
officers [struck] him violently between the eyes, felling him," the
Herald reported.

>From outside the building could now be heard excited shouts of "Get a
rope! Hang the son of a b--!" The officers dragged the semi-conscious
man to the back door, which opened to a yard in front of the city jail.
The crown on First South in front of city hall had become an ugly
enraged mob of two thousand or more. Sensing that the prisoner was
being moved, they ran to a State Street alley that opened on the jail
yard and demanded Harvey be turned over.

An officer named William Salmon came to the jail door and was greeted
by jeers when he ordered the mob to disband. There was a brief tussle
and Salmon was shoved aside; then, Harvey, his face a bloody mask,
pitched out the door into the frenzied gathering. He was swarmed over,
stomped, and beaten while men ran about yelling for rope. Harness
straps cut from teams in front of city hall were passed forward and,
when they were found too short, used to whip the wretched prisoner.
Still he struggled to break free. His efforts and the momentum of the
surging crowd carried them east-ward in the jail yard until Harvey
finally toppled, fifty or so feet from the jail door; at the same time
a long rope made its way to the spot.

A crudely made noose was pulled roughly over Harvey's head as he

squirmed to wrench free. Hands reached out to drag him another hundred
feet to a stable shed west of the yard. The rope was tossed over a main
beam. Men grabbed the rope and hoisted Harvey by the neck several feet
from the ground. As his writhing body swung to view above their heads,
the crowd gave out an excited roar of approval. Still the doomed man
fought. From the moment he was pulled up he reached above his head for
the rope as if to ease the noose that was strangling him. One of the
crowd leaped to a carriage nearby and kicked first one hand, then the
other until Harvey let go. He gasped, his body jerking in a final spasm
before his arms dropped limply to his side.

Twenty-five minutes had elapsed since the fatal shot at Burt was fired.
In that time the outraged crowd at Smith's drugstore also was seized by
a mob fever and had marched to the city hall, swelling the throng even
larger. So hysterical was the atmosphere that it was dangerous for
others. W.H. Sells, son of Colonel E. Sells, a prominent Utahn was
riding past a hall in a buggy and happened on the scene. Unaware that
Harvey was already dead Sells tried to reason with the mob, arguing
that lynching was no answer: "let the courts handle it." In that moment
Sells came close to joining Harvey on the stable beam. Only the quick
thinking of Salmon, the police officer, saved him. Salmon pulled Sells
in to the jail and pushed him into a cell. Several other citizens who
urged calm and justice were handled roughly and "came near being
mobbed," according to the Tribune. The Herald said "Officer Salmon's
discretion and prompt action saved Mr. Sells' life."

The horror still was not over, for the mass of angry citizens continued
to clamor vengeance. Harvey's body was cut down and dragged out of the
alley a short distance down State Street. There the crowd was
confronted by a furious mayor William Jennings, who demanded they
disperse. Events moved quickly. The mob broke up, an inquest was
convened that afternoon, and a coroner's jury comprising W.W. Riter,
Joseph Jennings, and John Groesbeck heard the evidence and returned a
verdict that the deceased "came to his death by means of hanging with a
rope by an infuriated mob whose names were to the jury unknown."

Joe Sam Harvey was buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery that very night.
Funeral services for Marshal Burt were conducted a few days later; much
of the city turned out in his honor. Watermaster Wilcken recovered and
continued to serve in various capacities until his death in 1915.

That ordinarily would have ended the story of that black August 25,
1883, in Salt Lake City, but there is an epilogue. Two months after the
lynching, two workers loading sand from an area just went of the
cemetery made a grisly discovery; a pine box. In it was a human
skeleton. The cemetery sexton was notified and later explained that
when the murderer Harvey's remains were buried, the gravediggers
misunderstood their instructions and buried the body "near" the
cemetery instead of in it. The remains were those of the lynched
assassin, the Herald reported. No one, including the city's newspapers,
questioned how Harvey's body was reduced to a skeleton in just two
months.

Then, in the spring of 1885, Officer Thomas F. Thomas was brought to

trial on charges of assaulting the prisoner. After two days of
conflicting testimony concerning use of clubs and brass knuckles,
Thomas was acquitted.

---------------------

Charles Henry Wilcken,

an Undervalued Saint
By William C. Seifrit
Utah Historical Quarterly 55:4 (Fall 1987), 308-21
Used by permission

Charles Henry Wilcken was born in Echorst, a small village in Holstein,

Germany, on October 5, 1830. (1) Apprenticed to a miller whose trade he
apparently mastered, he later distinguished himself as a soldier in a
battle with Danish forces over control of the Schleswig-Holstein
provinces and was decorated with the Iron Cross by the [p.309] Prussian
King, Frederick William IV. Wilcken's military prowess was also noticed
by the Danish king, Frederick VII, who let it be known that he wished
to conscript the hero. But young Wilcken apparently had other ideas.
After consulting with family and friends and collecting whatever cash
was available, he left Echorst for South America to try to find an
older brother who had emigrated several years earlier. In Liverpool he
somehow managed to board the wrong ship and found himself, several
weeks later, in New York.

Running short of cash and possibly suffering from a physical ailment,

Wilcken listened to the pitch of a recruiting officer who was enlisting
men to go to the western desert to put down a tribe of rebellious
"Indians" called Mormons. (2) Upon his enlistment he was sent to Fort
Leavenworth for training and ultimately assigned to Capt. John Wolcott
Phelps of the Fourth Artillery Battalion that became part of Johnston's
Army.

Charles H. Wilcken in his Prussian uniform.

Photograph of a painting in the Deseret News,
December 21, 1912.

Marching westward with the army in the summer and fall of 1857,
Wilcken, in the early days of his twenty-seventh year, made a momentous
decision, faced a close brush with death, and changed his life [p.310]
forever. During the afternoon of October 7, 1857, he deserted and
headed west. Within a few days he was captured by one of the Mormon
defenders, Jonathan Ellis Layne, who had been out rabbit hunting. As
Layne described it:

Just then I heard a slight noise at my right hand. I did not turn my
head, but drew my gun around toward the noise and there stood a large
soldier. [I] dropped the muzzle of my gun and pointed it directly at
his heart, he threw up his hands and said "Don't shoot, I am unarmed."
I told him to come up to me still holding my gun pointing at him, and
he surrendered himself to me.

Layne confirmed the absence of weapons and then

. . . with the big soldier went to the camp. While going he offered to
exchange clothing with me as he was afraid if he was caught with the
soldiers clothing on he would certainly be shot. I did not wish to swap
with him, but when we came to the camp he soon got rid of his soldiers
clothing. I turned the prisoner over to Porter Rockwell. . . . (3)

Layne gave half of his cooked rabbit to Wilcken.

Several days later Wilcken arrived in Salt Lake City, accompanied by

several sick Mormons and some one hundred fifty cattle that the Mormons
had liberated from the army's stock herds. His presence was noted by a
number of persons, including Hosea Stout:

The deserter a long slab sided Dutchman reports that many of the
soldiers would desert if they believed they would be well treated here,
also that they were dissatisfied with their officers and that the
officers were divided in their councils what to do. (4)

Unaware that an enduring friendship with this man would develop some
years later, Wilford Woodruff also noted Wilcken's presence:
The Brethren Came in from the East & brought in 153 head of Cattle. 3
teamsters & one deserter from the Army helped drive them in. The
deserter reported that Neither Johnson nor Harney nor the Governor or
Judges or any of the Territorial Officers had arrived at the Army
neither any females. He said the soldiers were only allowed 3 buiscuit
2 Cups of Coffee & a small piece of Beef per day that they were not
half fed. They had 75 waggons burned & the Contents of 76. 2 waggons
saved. (5)

[p.311] Wilcken's arrival brought the Mormons more hard information

than they had had for some time. In addition to the severe conditions
of the soldiers recorded by Woodruff, Hosea Stout noted something of
the army's capability: "The deserter who passed yester laughed with the
joy that he had the priviledge of passing here in peace for he said we
could destory the enemies' whole army here in a short time." (6)

Placed in the care of Provo Bishop Elias Hicks Blackburn, Wilcken must
have found his new environment congenial, for he was baptized into the
Mormon faith in December 1857. Then, for more than two years he
effectively dropped from sight. From the winter of 1857-58 to 1860 or
1861 he may well have been living in Heber Valley, probably in or near
Center Creek. He had assisted R. T. Burton in organizing a militia unit
in Heber, operated a grist mill, assisted in planning a July 4
celebration in Heber, and served as adjutant in the county militia
commanded by Maj. John W. Witt. (7)

Thoroughly at home in his adopted land and religion, Wilcken was

formally called to fill a mission for the church in 1869 but was
delayed in fulfilling that assignment. One reason for the delay is
obvious: he had deserted from the U.S. Army, and traveling across the
country may have been a most unattractive prospect. Traveling to
Germany, especially northern Germany near Denmark, may have been
equally unattractive. Whatever the reason, his mission was delayed for
nearly two years until after a curious document-believable if not
precisely true-was written, signed, and attested to in Fillmore, Utah,
on March 2, 1871:

I hereby certify that in the year 1857 I held a Commission of Colonel

of the militia of the Territory of Utah, and in the fall of that year
in the month of October was with said detachment in the vicinity of
Ham's Fork in Said Territory, and that said detachment did there at
that time arrest and take prisoner one Charles Wilkin a German (who was
then a soldier in the U. S. Army in the command of Gen A. S. Johnson)
and convey him to the Mormon Camp at Echo Kanyon and there delivered
him up to the Officer in Command at that place to be by him forwarded
on to Salt Lake City.

The document was signed by Thomas Callister and attested to by Hiram B.

Clawson. Two months later to the day Wilcken left Salt Lake [p.312]
City for New York where, on May 10, 1871, he and a company of Saints
left for Europe on the ship Liverpool. (8)

After spending the summer in England, Wilcken "was assigned to labor as

a traveling Elder in the Swiss and German mission under the direction
of Bro. [Eduard] Schoenfeld" with whom he and Johannes Huber co-
authored a forty-six-page pamphlet titled Der Morrnonismus (Bern,
1872). By the spring of 1873 Wilcken was back in England serving as
president of the Birmingham mission. He was released from that office
on June 3, 1873, and left the following day for Utah in charge of a
company of 246 Saints on board the Nevada. Among the passengers were
his brother August, his widowed mother Annie, and three nieces-
Wilhelmine, Emily, and Christine Damke-orphaned daughters of his older
sister Anna Catharina Christine Damke. Wilcken and his relatives
arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26, 1873. (9)

He labored as a home missionary and earned a modest living working in

the ZCMI produce department until November 1873 when he was engaged to
operate "the lower B. Y. mill, on Kanyon Creek [later called Liberty
Park]." His family was nearly burned out within a week or so of moving
to the mill and farm, but Wilcken persevered and by the end of the year
his white flour was being praised in the local press. (10)

During the next several years Wilcken established many connections in

the community and took on additional responsibilities as a kind of
knight errant for the First Presidency of the LDS church and for
Wilford Woodruff of the Quorum of the Twelve. His duties for church
officials included driving them and/or their wives to various
functions. For example, he drove Elizabeth, a wife of Brigham Young,
Jr., to the St. George Temple for the dedicatory ceremonies there in
December 1876; he spoke for twenty minutes in the temple on Christmas
Eve and later went quail hunting with Brigham Young, Jr., and Wilford
Woodruff. In August 1879 he accompanied "Prest [John] Taylor . . . A.
M. Cannon, . . . R. T. Burton, & Jas Jack . . . to the Penitentiary to
see Elder Geo. Q. Cannon at his request. . . . (11)

Isaac Chase mill in Liberty Park

was later owned by Brigham Young.

[p.313] By early 1879 Wilcken had begun his first term as Salt Lake
City watermaster and was active in developing and maintaining the water
system for an ever-increasing population. He helped plan for a canal
from Parley's Creek in what is now Sugar House to the North or Dry
Bench, and he saved the Salt Lake and Jordan Canal from sustaining
serious damage by riding out to determine the cause of a sudden drop in
the water level. After locating a blockage on the dam he enlisted
several neighbors to assist with repairs and thereby insured an
uninterrupted flow of water. Following the municipal election of 1884,
Wilcken found himself without regular employment. The church newspaper
took editorial notice of his absence from city service:

We see no position awarded to the late Watermaster Mr. Chas H. Wilcken,

but suppose that our City Fathers will find a post for him, so that his
valuable services will not be lost. . . . He is a brave and reliable
public officer, and we shall look for his appointment to some position
of honor and trust within the gift of the municipality. (12)

[p.314] The Deseret News had reason to cite Wilcken's bravery. In

August 1883 he had been one of the principals in a most tragic
incident. Marshal Andrew Burt and "Special Police Officer" Wilcken had
been summoned to subdue and take into custody a violent man, drunk, who
was causing a disturbance and threatening citizens with a gun. During
the fray Burt was shot and killed and Wilcken suffered a serious
gunshot wound but nevertheless managed to subdue the gunman. He was
unable, however, to prevent a mob from taking the prisoner from jail
and lynching him. (13)

By May 1884 Wilcken was on regular duty with the Salt Lake City Police
Department. In that capacity he was called upon to arrest two drunken
Idaho politicians who had been causing a disturbance in the Salt Lake
Theatre. Wilcken and several others were sued by the political figures
for defamation of character, among other things, but Wilcken's attorney
successfully pled that he had simply been performing his lawfully
prescribed duties and was therefore immune from suit. (14)

Wilcken continued to protect the weal of the community, both public and
Saintly. In January 1885 he, L. John Nuttall, H. C. Barrell, and
President John Taylor took the Mormon church "underground" as the
federal campaign against the church entered its most intense phase.
This began one of the most exciting periods in his life. The duties he
performed, the risks he took, and the success of his efforts are proof
of his devotion and loyalty to his church and its leaders.

During the period John Taylor was in hiding it was Charles Wilcken who
ran the mail between the safe house, or "Do" as it was called, and Salt
Lake City, arranged transportation for other General Authorities who
had business with each other and with Taylor, and stood guard while
they met. In fact, Wilcken lived on the underground with Taylor during
the last two years of his life, commuting as necessary between the "Do"
and Salt Lake City or elsewhere when not actually on duty. Most days he
would make a trip to Salt Lake with the day's communications and return
between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. When Taylor died in July 1887 Wilcken took
his son Joseph E. Taylor, in the middle of the night, to his father's
body. (15)

[p.315] With President Taylor dead, Wilcken's services were even more
in demand. For example, he confirmed to Abraham H. Cannon that rumors
of a new "cohab" case against him were true and offered to keep him
apprized of the case's developments. He was much concerned with the
safety of church leaders and on one occasion drove George Q. Cannon and
Joseph F. Smith from the Cannon farm to the tithing office yard under a
load of hay and farm implements. The two men then slipped into the Lion
House without being seen. Another time, Wilford Woodruff was hidden by
Wilcken in his own home one night. Indeed, Wilcken was responsible for
securing Woodruff's safety on several occasions. This account is
typical:

President Woodruff, at half past 9 o'clock a.m., had an interview with

Marshal Dyer. Dyer stated to him in their conversation that he had no
papers whatever against President Woodruff, but after Dyer left he
[Woodruff] began to think that maybe it was a trap, and so did Bro
Cannon and J. F. Smith and B. Young [Jr.], so C. H. W. [Wilcken] went
and got our team and took them away, and in about a half hour after
they had gone, Deputy [Bowman] Cannon came to the office to subpoena
President Woodruff and to search for the other brethren. . . . [I]
found C. H. W. and he told me President Woodruff was at his farm. [I]
took him some medicine and 2 letters that C. H. W. had given me. (16)

Over the years Wilcken developed especially strong ties to the Cannon
families and to Wilford Woodruff. His closeness to the Cannons is no
better illustrated than by this entry from Abraham H. Cannon's journal:
"Father started today in company with Chas. Wilcken for Logan; he went
by team and will there meet Aunt Carlie and her children. The latter
will be adopted to him as will Chas. Wilcken." Wilcken's "adoption" by
George Q. Cannon was more than a formality; it acknowledged a caring
relationship. In early May 1888 when Abraham's daughter Emma died after
a lengthy illness, Wilcken took the bereaved father for several rides
to help him deal with his grief, offered the closing prayer at Emma's
funeral, and later visited Abraham in company with George Q. Cannon and
anointed Abraham. (17)

On Saturday, September 15, 1888, Wilcken performed yet another service

for the Cannons; he and H. B. Clawson testified against George Q.
Cannon before a grand jury as part of a previously arranged plea
bargain. Then, on the following Monday, Wilcken and Cannon's [p.316]
attorneys accompanied George Q. as he surrendered to Marshal Dyer.
Later that day Wilcken drove Cannon to the penitentiary and made a
second trip with additional bedding. While George Q. was in the
penitentiary Wilcken visited him almost daily. A typical entry in
Cannon's prison diary reads: "Brother C. H. Wilcken brought out a wagon
load of my children today . . . William also came out and brought with
him Emma Wilcken, a daughter of Bro. C. H. Wilcken." Typically, when
Cannon was released from prison, it was Wilcken who drove him away to
Wilford Woodruff's home. (18)

George Q. Cannon, seated on chair, with other imprisoned polygamists at

the territorial penitentiary in Sugar House. Charles H. Wilcken
transported Cannon to and from the prison to serve his term-one of many
duties he performed for LDS church leaders.

[p.317] Early in 1889 new charges of polygamy and/or cohabitation were

pushed by federal officials against church leaders, especially George
Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith. Wilcken took that message to L. John
Nuttall who communicated it to Smith. Smith agreed that Wilcken should
look out for the Smith families, and Charles made appropriate
preparations. (19)

Wilcken's life was not all hiding families, midnight messages and
meetings, or confidential warnings; he enjoyed pleasant, sociable
experiences as well. In April 1889 he accompanied Wilford and Emma
Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, H. B. Clawson, and daughter Mamie on a
pleasure trip to California. They stayed initially at the Grand Hotel
in San Francisco and then journeyed to Del Monte and visited geysers
near Cloverdale. At the latter tourist attraction Wilford Woodruff
needed some assistance: "I leaned upon the arm of Brother Wilcken who
aided me greatly by assisting me up the mountain. It gave Brother
Wilcken a good sweating to do so." Wilcken was fifty-seven years old at
the time and Woodruff was eighty-two. (20)

By 1890 Wilcken was spending more and more time with Wilford Woodruff,
a relationship that was probably based more on collegiality and
companionship than on the necessity for a bodyguard. He began
accompanying Woodruff on many of the church president's trips. For
example, he joined Woodruff on a journey through Wyoming, Colorado, and
New Mexico, occasionally speaking at meetings along the way. That same
year, Woodruff "attended the Dedication of Charles H. Wilcken House &
took supper. We had beautiful Music & Singing." (21)
Despite his growing closeness to Woodruff, Wilcken did not neglect his
other friends, especially the Cannons. At the request of Abraham H.
Cannon, he confirmed a rumor that Marshal Doyle had obtained a warrant
for Abraham's arrest, but Wilcken "bought Doyle off, and got his
promise that . . . [Cannon] should not be molested, nor should any
other person without sufficient notice being given for them to escape
and to get witnesses out of the way." Doyle apparently gave Wilcken the
names of fifty-one persons about to be arrested in Utah and Emery
counties, and a messenger was dispatched to warn them. "Thus," Cannon
wrote, "with a little money a channel of [p.318] communication is kept
open between the government offices and the suffering and persecuted
Church members." (22)

Two years later, in October 1891, Wilcken again had occasion to warn
Abraham Cannon of his impending arrest on new cohabitation charges. In
fact, the grand jury had quizzed Deputy Marshal Bowman Cannon closely
as to why Abraham had not been arrested. Bowman had been a member of
several search parties that were unsuccessful in capturing polygamists
and/or witnesses, and there is circumstantial evidence that Bowman and
perhaps another may have been on a Mormon payroll. That, together with
Wilcken's ties to the law enforcement community, may help explain why
so many polygamists escaped capture. As an aside, it should be noted
that Bowman Cannon was not related to the George Q., Angus M., or David
H. Cannon families, but he did have a Mormon connection. He was the son
of Marsena Cannon, the pioneer photographer, who with his entire family
was excommunicated in October 1874. (23)

Wilcken became adept at hand holding during the period of the raid. L.
John Nuttall, for example, had been toying with the idea of giving
himself up to the court on anticipated charges of unlawful
cohabitation. Wilcken traveled to Provo where Nuttall was in hiding to
have a long talk with him and to bring the message from George Q.
Cannon and Joseph F. Smith that he "must not do it at present." A few
months later, in February 1891, circumstances had changed, and Nuttall
was still anxious to break his exile. He talked with H. B. Clawson and
Wilcken about it, and the latter told him

. . . there would be no difficulty in my coming out; and if anything

was said about me, he would know of it and I would not be interferred
with, that he would guarantee my safety, everything having been
satisfactorily arranged.

Wilcken's relationship with Nuttall was not limited to the latter's

fear of imprisonment. A few days after the above conversation was
recorded, Nuttall became suspicious that his daughter Eleanor had been
out all night with "an outsider." Nuttall sent for Wilcken and "put him
on the hunt for her or the man we supposed she had gone with. . . ."
The errand was probably fruitless, for Eleanor apologized [p.319]
almost immediately for having stayed at the home of a married sister
without having informed her parents. (24)

Through his entire life in Utah Wilcken was willing to do what he could
for his church and its leaders. A German named Joseph Walter Dietrich
had been befriended, possibly by Wilcken but certainly by the First
Presidency. He had been given financial support and encouragement in
his efforts to publish a German-language newspaper. Then, he apparently
turned on his benefactors and became virulently anti-Mormon in his
newspaper. It became Wilcken's duty to close up the publication and
advise Dietrich that his attitude and actions no longer enjoyed church
support. Sometimes his counseling was less radical. In September and
October 1891 he and L. John Nuttall visited Beck's Hot Springs in an
effort to talk the manager, Lehi Pratt, out of his abuse of alcohol.
(25)

In July 1889 Wilcken had entered upon what was probably the most
ambitious business project of his life. With the backing of Mormon
church leaders, a number of men organized the Deseret and Salt Lake
Agricultural and Manufacturing Company. Wilcken was elected one of the
trustees. Other principals included the First Presidency, John Q. and
Abraham H. Cannon, B. Y. Hampton, and others. Their plan was to build a
dam on the Sevier River to provide irrigation water for thousands of
acres of land in Sevier County. As the 1890s opened Wilcken became
increasingly involved in trying to make a success of the company, but
it was tough going. He made frequent trips to Deseret to inspect the
dam-building progress, survey town and home sites, and occasionally
speak to groups of Saints in the area. By January 1892 the company
directors were preparing to sell off some of the assets of the company
to relieve their debt load, and because of an administrative mix-up the
company was in danger o
f losin
g its water rights on the Sevier River. Following a reorganization
during the winter of 1891-92, Wilcken had been made vice-president and
given the responsibility of securing uncontested water rights and
settling all the company's debts. Despite his efforts the project would
ultimately be plagued with problems severe enough to thwart its
complete fruition. His involvement with the company continued until
March 25, 1903, when he resigned. (26)

[p.320] As if the trouble-ridden canal company were not enough for a

sixty-year-old church coachman, bodyguard, and policeman, Wilcken found
himself involved in May 1892 in the construction of the Saltair
Railroad. He and L. John Nuttall negotiated a right-of-way agreement
with Archibald Gardner that allowed the line to pass near Gardner's
candy factory "over Jordan." Wilcken purchased the right-of-way as
agent for the railroad and also became involved in negotiations for the
purchase of railroad ties for the line. In 1894 his railroad interests
included some exploring for the proposed Salt Lake and Los Angeles
Railroad. (27)

Wilford Woodruff.
Charles H. Wilcken served as his companion and nurse.

The final twenty-five years of Wilcken's life that have been

discoverable show only gradual diminution of activity. He spent a great
deal of time with Wilford Woodruff, generally as a companion and nurse.
His relations with the several Cannon families also matured. He was one
of those in charge of the remains of Wilford Woodruff and George Q.
Cannon when those gentlemen died. He also served as a [p.321]
pallbearer during the funeral of Lot Smith. He was reappointed Salt
Lake City watermaster in 1896 and also served as assistant
superintendent of the Deseret Telegraph Company. On April 13, 1911, he
was named a patriarch by Joseph F. Smith. He lived out his days as a
guide on Temple Square and died in a Salt Lake hospital on April 9,
1915, at age eighty-four. (28)

The focus of this paper has been on Wilcken's public life, especially
his many services to the LDS church and its leaders. Space does not
permit an examination of his home and family life, his two failed
marriages, his various employments, his career as an unsuccessful real
estate speculator, or the nature and value of his published writings,
of which there are several. Rather, the aim has been to fit Wilcken
into the rich tapestry of Utah history. No church doctrine carries his
name. He authored no legislative act. There are no schools, streets, or
communities named for him. The only public notice of his presence on
earth is his name on a plaque and a seat in Pioneer Memorial Theatre at
the University of Utah. Why then pay so much attention to an obscure,
barely known nineteenth-century Saint?

Wilcken and perhaps scores of men like him made it all work. While
others whose names are much more familiar dealt with questions of God
and man, law vs. religion, statehood vs. subservience, Wilcken went
about the business of caring for his own families, assisting and
protecting others as necessary, and simply doing what had to be done.
He was not necessarily a great man, but he was a worker bee in Zion's
hive. He may have saved some lives-especially in the incident that led
to Marshal Burt's death-and he certainly shielded fellow and sister
Saints from arrest and imprisonment. He improved the environment in
which he lived, and he lived a lawful, respected, and undervalued life.

*Dr. Seifrit is a historian living in Salt Lake City.

1. Much of the biographic information concerning Wilcken was extracted

from unpublished MSS prepared by descendants, including Amy Wilcken
Pratt Romney, "Stories from the Life of Charles Henry Wilcken";
"History of Caroline Christine Eliza Reiche Wilcken"; and "Sketch of
Dora W. Pratt" all in the Utah State Historical Society Library, Salt
Lake City. These accounts, based as they presumably are on family oral
tradition, contain factual errors discovered by recent research.
Wilcken himself provided some background information in his later
years. See "Eighteen Hundred Fifty-seven, " Young Woman's Journal 18
(1907): 393-97, 495-96. Additional information was obtained from his
obituary in the Deseret Evening News, April 10, 1915, and from Wilcken
Family Group Records, LDS Genealogical Library, Salt Lake City.

2. The enlistment record described Wilcken as six feet one inch in

height, with grey eyes, brown hair, and fair complexion. Registers of
Enlistments (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1956), vols. 51-52,
microfilm roll no. 25, Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City.

3. Jonathan Ellis Layne Journal (undated, after the fact account

inserted in the Journal History [LDS Church Library-Archives] after
December 7, 1857). The journal entries of other Mormon defenders for
October 7 and 9 confirm the presence of the "large soldier" in camp.
See for example the journals of Andrew Jackson Allen, Henry Ballard,
and Newton Tuttle in the Utah State Historical Society Library.

4. On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, ed. Juanita

Brooks, 2 vole., (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964):
2:641.
5. Wilford Woodruff, Journal, ed. Scott Kenney (Midvale, Ut.: Signature
Books, 1985), 5:107. This entry is repeated almost verbatim in the
Journal History of the same date.

6. On the Mormon Frontier, 2:642.

7. Wilcken, "Eighteen Hundred," pp. 393-94; Elias Hicks Blackburn,

Journals and "A Summary Sketch," Utah State Historical Society Library;
Wilcken Family Group Records; John Crook, Journal, 1:41, 42, and
William Lindsay, Autobiography, p. 16, both in Special Collections, Lee
Library, Brigham Young University, Provo; Journal History, July 4,
1865; How Beautiful upon the Mountains, ed. William James Mortimer
(Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1963), p. 109.

8. Deseret Evening News, April 7, 1869; Military Records, Utah Militia,

Utah State Archives; Journal History, May 22, 1871.

9. Journal History, September 21, 1871; Deseret Evening News, October

10, 1871, June 26, 1873.

10. Deseret Evening News, November 3, 12, December 31, 1873. Wilcken
was severely injured on the farm in 1878 when he was tossed by a bull
owned by John W. Young. He suffered lacerations and bruises on his head
and face that took several months to heal. See ibid., August 13 and
December 9, 1878.

11. Woodruff, Journal, 7:296, 297; L. John Nuttall, Journal, August 27,
1879, Special Collections, Lee Library.

12. Deseret Evening News, March 28, 1879; June 13, July 16, August 1,
1883; March 19, 1884.

13. Ibid, August 25, September 4, 15, 1883, Abraham H. Cannon, Journal
(hereafter AHC Journal), August 25, 1883, Utah State Historical Society
Library.

14. Herbert L. Gleason, "The Salt Lake City Police Department, 1851-
1949: A Social History" (Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1950), p.
61; Deseret Evening News, December 24, 1884, January 14.