The Toquerville Myth

For most of the years since Wes Larsen published his theory about the fate of Powell’s three missing men, this story has remained in the realm of river runner’s campfire ghost stories. But now that Larsen’s theory has been thrust onto the national stage in John Krakauer’s new book, it’s time to examine Larsen’s theory with a light more penetrating than a campfire.
In his 1993 Canyon Legacy article, Larsen presented an 1883 letter from William Leany to fellow Mormon pioneer John Steele, concerning a triple killing that had occurred “in our ward”. One of Larsen’s central claims is that the only time Leany and Steele were living in the same ward was at the time of the Powell expedition. But this is simply not true. According to public LDS biographical sources, there were four periods when Leany and Steele lived in the same place at the same time, first in Nauvoo, Illinois, then in Salt Lake City, then for years in Parowan, where Leany served in the militia for a year under the command of John Steele, and finally in southern Utah, where Leany lived in Harrisburg and Steele lived in Toquerville. Furthermore, at the time of the Powell expedition, Leany and Steele were not in the same ward. According to the official LDS record, Annals of the Southern Utah Mission, compiled by James G. Bleak, which is readily available in many libraries, it was only in November of 1869, months after Powell’s men disappeared, that the semi-annual conference of the LDS Southern Mission combined Harrisburg and Toquerville into the same ward, where they would remain until they were split up again in March of 1874.
If you allow that Leany was writing his letter years later, and might have been using a blurred definition of when they shared “our ward”, then you open the door to an event, a triple murder, that fits the Toquerville letter perfectly. According to the Annals of the Southern Utah Mission, in March of 1875: “At Toquerville a terrible calamity occurred on this date. Richard Fryer who for some time had, at intervals been subject to attacks of insanity, this date shot his wife and babe, and also Thomas Batty, who had been trying to subdue the frenzied man. Fryer was killed by the Sheriff’s posse, who were attempting to capture him. Mrs. Fryer died soon after being shot. Thomas Batty, died on the 17th, and the babe on the 18th.”
In his discussion of the Toquerville letter, Larsen insisted on referring to the “three men” mentioned in it, but in fact the original letter never said anything about “three men”, only “the three” and “those three”. Thus a wife and baby fit the letter. The posse killing the killer fits the Toquerville letter’s: “the murderer killed to stop the shedding of more blood.”
The Toquerville murders received major publicity in Utah newspapers. The Deseret Evening News began its coverage on March 16, 1875, and on March 23 carried a long report from a witness, William W. Hammond:
“Richard Fryer has been at times, for a year or two, laboring under fits of temporary insanity....He some time ago ordered his wife, Teresa Fryer, to leave his house and take her infant son, which she did, and has since lived most of the time with Thomas Batty and family....Fryer went this morning, about 7 o’clock, and knocked at the door of Thomas Batty’s house...he asked her if she had not brought disgrace and shame enough upon him? Fryer then drew a loaded revolver and fired a shot at Thomas Batty, the ball entering below the left eye and coming out at the back of the head....Fryer then turned and fired at his wife, who was yet in bed, the ball entering below the left ear and lodging in the head....Fryer then shot his infant son, who was in bed with his deceased mother....After completing the tragedy, Fryer went to his house....The sheriff of Kane County, as soon as he was notified of the facts, went as near the house of Fryer as was deemed safe and called from the bystanders a posse, instructing them to arm themselves, which they did....the sheriff called and asked Fryer if he would surrender. The first time he answered, “I will not, if you want me, come and take me.” The second time his answer was, “I will not; I have had enough of you and Bishop Bringhurst”. The position occupied by Fryer precluded the possibility of taking him without a further sacrifice of life. After viewing the position and believing that unless immediate action was taken more innocent blood should be shed, the sheriff ordered his posse to open fire, which they did, killing Fryer instantly.”
The phrase in Leany’s letter, “the murderer killed to stop the shedding of more blood”, is practically a quotation of the newspaper’s “unless immediate action was taken more innocent blood would be shed.”

The anti-LDS Salt Lake City Tribune, introduced a further element into the story, blaming Fryer’s actions on Mormon fanaticism. It concluded its March 17th article with: “Fryer has been subject for some time to fits of insanity, but had appeared of late to have recovered, and was at work yesterday plastering. He had since driven his wife from home. When the Sheriff went to take him he told him to keep away, as he was the Lord.” And the Tribune concluded a March 26 article with: “INSANITY PRODUCED BY RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT: This man Fryer, was sometime ago a steady, industrious man, and a very zealous Mormon. He had, no doubt, built his faith and hopes on Brigham, the false Prophet, and when he learned that Brig. had been sent to prison, and that he had denied polygamy, and all his teachings were false, it affected his mind to that extent that he became insane, and caused him to commit this terrible deed.” An element of religious fanaticism in Fryer’s actions fits well with the strong tone of religious apocalypse in Leany’s letter.
The Toquerville murders were not forgotten by history. In the 1980s, a Toquerville historian published two books on Toquerville history, and he included the Fryer/Batty murders in both books. The name of this Toquerville historian was Wes Larsen. Before the Toquerville letter was ever discovered, Larsen had already published the perfect explanation for it. Yet when Larsen presented the Toquerville letter to the public, he omitted mentioning an explanation that covered almost every detail. If Larsen had related the Fryer/Batty story, his Powell theory probably would have been ignored.
Larsen has made several other claims for the Toquerville letter that don’t stand up.
The Toquerville letter speaks of “the killing of the three in one room of our ward”. A ward is an ecclesiastical district. Larsen tries to conjure the mere word “ward” into a “ward house”, and suggests that because only Toquerville had a ward house with more than one room, the killing must have occurred in the Toquerville ward house. This is a leap of illogic. (Regarding “one room”, the Toquerville letter may diverge from the Deseret News, which initially reported the murders took place in two rooms, but then Hammond’s eyewitness report said that after killing Batty, “Fryer then turned and fired at his wife”, which makes no mention of a second room).
Larsen suggests that Powell’s men were intercepted and then taken to Toquerville because it was the county seat. At that time Toquerville was indeed the seat of Kane County, but the much larger St. George was the seat of Washington County, as well as the government and church capital of the Southern Mission. It’s unlikely Powell’s men would have reached Toquerville on their own, because they would have had to pass St. George or the trails leading to it. When you are coming north from the Arizona Strip, old St. George is highly visible on its heights, and the only way to (just barely) miss spotting it is to follow the base of the Hurricane Cliffs, but then Powell’s men would have seen Fort Pierce and the major trail coming down the Hurricane Cliffs and heading for St. George, which soon became the Honeymoon Trail.
If the murder of Powell’s men was a carefully guarded LDS secret, William Leany would have been the very last person to be told about it. In September of 1869, Leany was on trial by the church authorities for being a heretical troublemaker.
In trying to explain “the murderer killed to stop the shedding of more blood”, Larsen suggests a high level LDS conspiracy to silence the killer of Powell’s men and thus save the church from serious retaliation. Larsen points the finger at Eli Pace, the son-in-law of John D. Lee, who was shot in late January of 1870 under strange circumstances, which were then covered up. Larsen may be quite correct about there being a cover up of Pace’s death, but at the time it seems to have been an open secret as to why Pace was killed and why the real reason was covered up. Lee’s daughter Nancy had already been abandoned by her first husband, and now Eli, her second husband, was fixing to leave her too. According to a letter, from John D. Lee’s former neighbor, who signs himself “Bosco”, published in The Salt Lake Daily Tribune on Jan. 1, 1875, soon after Lee’s arrest: : “Her next husband was a young Mormon boy by the name of Eli Pace; it is believed by many that he got tired of her and was going to leave her. ONE NIGHT HE WAS KILLED, when no one but his wife was present. He was shot through the heart, not with a shot-gun but with a Colt’s revolver. His wife got a light, and then gave the alarm, stating that Eli had shot himself. A post mortem examination was held, but no evidence was brought to prove that Lee’s daughter killed him. Lee is a great visionist; he was not long in settling the matter, for the spirit of Eli Pace came back and told Lee that he had killed himself. He, the spirit, was happy in Heaven, and wanted his father to take care of his loving wife Nancy. Of course, no one believed in Lee’s vision, as he never fails to try his visions or dreams when occasion requires.”
Historians too have been known to see ghosts.

Don Lago