ORRIN PORTER ROCKWELL

A Portrait of Faith and Courage

Martha: Porter? Porter Rockwell?
Porter: Yes?
Martha: Well, Porter! I haven't seen you for years and years!
Porter: I'm sorry, I don't recognize you, M'am.
Martha: Oh, I suppose I have changed a great deal through the years, it has been, oh, about 50 years. I'm Martha, Martha from down the road when we were little kids in Massachusetts.
Porter: Martha? Why Martha, you have changed. How do you recognize me?

Martha: Your face has been all over the place for years, Porter, on Wanted Posters, and in newspapers. You've become quite famous in your own right. Look at this poster of you, you've got long hair and a big old beard. What happened to all of it?
Porter: Well, funny thing about that. The Prophet Joseph told me that as long as I didn't cut my hair or beard I'd be protected so I wouldn't die. There were times we could find lots of bullet holes in my vest or coat, but none ever hit me. Well, about 10 years after that promise, Agnes Smith grew very ill and she lost all her hair. She was out in San Francisco trying to recover, so I cut off all my hair and had a wig made for her. I think it made her feel better, anyway.

Martha: Sounds like you have a big heart. I heard you've been called the Avenging Angel, and also one of the Dantes.
Porter: Oh, I was never a Dante. In fact, there never were any Dantes. That was just one of the many Missourian myths about me. Well, what on earth are you doing out here, in Salt Lake City, Utah?
Martha: I heard the story of the restoration of the Gospel, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I understand you have too, and have even helped the prophets. Did you know Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young?

Porter: Yes. Both of them. In fact all of them. Let me tell you about Joseph. We were dear friends from childhood. My family moved from Mass to NY right next to the Smith family, when I was about eight or nine, and I met Joseph then. We became best friends. He even had a limp, like me.

Martha: Limp? What happened?
Porter: Well, before we moved, I fell and broke my leg. The doc set it incorrectly, so it's two inches shorter than the other one - see here? And Joseph, he had an infection on his bone, it was a terrible mess. So that leg was stunted in growth. We were the limping buddies! I loved Joseph, he was a great man. He even baptized me into the Church. You know, it was before he baptized his wife, Emma, which I'm not sure she was too happy about. Well, I've been strong in the Church all along. Even with the persecution, I never gave up my faith.

Why, I even used to pick berries long into the night, and chop to sell firewood, so I could give money to the Church to help 'em out.
I was Joseph Smith's body guard, too - out of love for him. But you know something, on the day he was murdered by the mobs in Carthage Jail, he had asked me to not go out there to guard him - indicated to me he and the Lord had something else in mind.

And I know Brigham Young quite well, too. He asked me to help lead the Saints across the plains into the Salt Lake Valley. I was scouting out trails and watching out for Injuns, and some I times brought back some food - like a buffalo, to the wagon companies.

Martha: Porter - that's amazing! The stories I've heard of you from the newspaper reports were that you are a murderer and horribly vile. I couldn't believe that, though, from what I knew of you years ago. I just felt you have a good, straight heart.
Porter: Well, you know what I told the Vice President of the Unites States when he was in Salt Lake once? He was'a chastis'n the crowd from atop his second story balcony of the hotel about Mormonism, and he bad-mouthed me as a foul murderer. So I stepped through the crowd to where he could see me and hear me, and I yelled up to that no-good feller that "I never killed anyone that didn't need killin'". He packed his bags and headed East on the very next train, and never came back to Salt Lake City (chuckle chuckle).

Martha: I've seen newspaper stories saying they thought you tried to kill Governor Boggs back in Missouri. Is that true?
Porter: "If I'd of shot at him, he'd been dead." Nonetheless, I spent nine months in prison in Independence, on suspicion of that attempted murder. I worked on escaping from that cold prison, and did it twice through the hole running up the ceiling for the stove pipe. I only got caught because I was helping that other feller in the prison to escape, too, and he was too old and weak to make it over that fence, so I hoped back over and was a-helpin' him, which slowed me down. And then here came the sheriff, and back in I went.
The next time I was working on escaping late one night, and it took me awhile to dig out enough space to crawl through. Well, I was so tired when I finally got through, and it was a little warmer up there, so I stopped for a little touch of a nap, and I fell asleep in that upper room. They found me there in the morning, snoring away. So after that they filled in that hole with a lot of gunk, guess they didn't want time to escape through there again. It wasn't until a jury acquitted me later that I was freed.