170 years ago today - Oct 8, 1852 (Afternoon, Conference)

President Young spoke on the sin of shedding the blood of Joseph the Prophet, etc, rests upon the nation; the state of Missouri might have redeemed themselves from the shedding of blood, if the governor and generals had come and had us to cut off their heads and let their blood be shed on the ground to atone for their sin. The nation might have redeemed themselves, if they had taken those murderers and spilt their blood, but they held their peace, and by their silence have sanctioned the deed, the spilling of innocent blood, tis the only way a nation can wipe the sin from their escutcheon, but now it must remain. -- SLC Tabernacle

[Thomas Bullock Minutes, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]