JACKSON, Wyo. – On Thursday, March 12, at 6 p.m. the Jackson Hole History Museum welcomes journalist and author Dan Neal for the free talk “No Forgiveness: Murder in the Mormon Frontier.”
Author Dan Neal is the grandson of David S. Neal. He is also the former editor-in-chief of the Casper Star-Tribune, and has worked as a journalist in Washington state and Wyoming for more than 25 years.
Neal’s new book “No Forgiveness – Family, Polygamy, Murder and Justice Among Idaho’s Pioneering Mormons” involves two major figures in the history of Jackson Hole: Elijah Nicholas “Uncle Nick” Wilson and his son Charles.
The book covers a murder that happened on July 5, 1911, were Ellington Smith shot and killed his Darby, Idaho neighbor David S. Neal. Smith’s action culminated a feud over a spring creek that the two farmers used.
Both men were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) and Mormon pioneers in the Teton Basin. Neal served the community as the principal of the Darby school. Smith was the son-in-law of Uncle Nick Wilson, whose family established the first Mormon homesteads and farms in Jackson Hole.
In his 1985 memoir, Uncle Nick’s son Charles Wilson remembered the Teton Valley murder and recalled that he and his father, who had traveled over Teton Pass to peddle Nick’s new book, went to see Smith in an Idaho jail shortly after his arrest. Charles spun a true Wild West tale about their visit and the murder.
Following meticulous research, author Dan Neal found Charley’s earlier account to be wildly inaccurate. Neal will address this and many more historical points as he unfolds the story of his grandfather’s, David S. Neal’s, murder.
Copies of “No Forgiveness” will be available for purchase in the Museum Store, and the talk will be followed by a book signing. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Limited seating; early arrival suggested.
For more information, visit jacksonholehistory.org or call (307) 733 – 2414.
