HEATH, Henry: Linked in History to Jean Baptiste, “the Ghoul of the Great Salt Lake”

Read Time:22 Minute, 59 Second

Submitted by Michael Jordan

Henry Heath, born 11/22/1828 in England. Died 3/30/1908 in Salt Lake City Utah

Jean Baptiste, born 1813 in Ireland; Died unknown.

Henry Heath and Jean Baptiste are forever linked in Utah history. Their astounding story has withstood the test of time over the last 160 years. The story has all the elements of a made-for-TV movie, dastardly deeds, deep and abiding sorrow, human compassion and pity, the quest for justice, redemption, blood-thirsty mobs, murder, exile, forgiveness, and if you are a believer, ghostly apparitions. Over the years, their story was embellished based on local lore, but fortunately, the truth, or at least most of it, was preserved.

Appropriately, the story of these two men came to my attention two days before Halloween as I walked through the Salt Lake City Cemetery on a two-hour ghost tour. As the shadows lengthened and the cold north wind swirled the forming fog through the group, the tour guide saved Henry and Jean’s story for the last stop amongst the ghostly white tombstones in a seemingly deserted cemetery.

Henry Heath

Henry was born on 22 November 1828 in Hanley, Staffordshire, England, to John Heath and Barbara Hulme, the second of five children. Henry’s father was a decorator of fine china. Shortly after Henry’s birth, his father became gravely ill with typhoid fever. The disease was not fatal in John’s case, but it left him debilitated so that he no longer had the dexterity to apply intricate designs to pottery and china.

Barbara was trained as a doctor, but her income was insufficient to support their family, so she embarked on a daring business venture for a woman in the mid-nineteenth century—she bought a bakery. Due largely to Barbara’s industry and business acumen, the bakery was a commercial success. Barbara had been running the bakery since Henry was a baby. Henry was cared for during the day by his father and his older sister, Jane.

In 1834, the Heaths took in a boarder, Nicholas Thomas Silcock, an experienced carpenter, more commonly known as Thomas. Thomas would have a considerable influence on Henry. Thomas joined the Church on August 24, 1840, after hearing Parley P. Pratt and Wilford Woodruff preach, He also married Henry’s sister, Jane, on April 14, 1841. When Jane left England in 1842 to join Thomas in Illinois, Henry’s mother confessed to Jane that she believed the teachings of the Church. Barbara made plans to join the Mormons and leave England. Henry’s father, John, weakened by typhoid, contracted tuberculosis and died on September 8, 1841.

At age 17, Henry departed England with his mother and two brothers on September 1, 1845. Two months earlier, his mother had sold her bakery. She packed a bake oven and considerable hardware, purchased passage, and with her three boys, Henry, Thomas, and Frederick, set sail on the Oregon, landing in New Orleans on October 28, 1845. They arrived some weeks later at their intended destination, Nauvoo, Illinois.

Nauvoo was in turmoil when Henry arrived. Edward Hunter and Nicholas Silcock secured a wagon (likely built by Silcock) and trained Henry and the boys to drive teams. Barbara and her three sons left Nauvoo in April 1846, along with Edward Hunter and his family. The Heaths lived in Nauvoo for only six months. They traveled to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, arriving in September 1846. Nicholas and Jane remained behind for one more month while Nicholas assisted in the final work on the Nauvoo temple.

At Winter Quarters, the sudden influx of approximately 2,500 people strained local resources. Still weak from a battle with malaria (“ague”) contracted en route from Nauvoo, Barbara contracted scurvy and, “lay ill for fourteen weeks” [probably an embellishment as Barbara arrived in Winter Quarters in September and died in October]. She died on October 20, 1846, from either scurvy or malaria and was buried in an unmarked grave at Winter Quarters. Barbara’s death left Henry (18) and his two brothers, Thomas (15) and Frederick (13), orphans.

Edward Hunter became the Heath boy’s surrogate father. He led a wagon company of 155 people and 59 wagons from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley. Henry and Thomas Heath were teamsters in the company, departing Winter Quarters on June 19, 1847, and arriving in Salt Lake City on October 1.

At age 21 in 1849, Henry was one of 47 members of Parley P. Pratt’s company, exploring as far south as the confluence of the Virgin and Muddy rivers (south of present-day St. George, Utah). They identified more than 26 sites for future settlement, described soil, vegetation, and watersheds, and charted the transportation routes used in the settlement.

In January 1850, the expedition was mired in the snow near present-day Fillmore, Utah, with supplies running dangerously low. An express party was sent to Fort Utah (present-day Provo, Utah), approximately 100 miles north, where a rescue party was sent back to the main body of the expedition. Henry remained with the main body of the expedition, surviving mainly on rabbits and sleeping in holes in the snow. It was seven weeks before the snow melted enough to allow the wagons to return.

Henry married Sarah Ann Bird on February 19, 1851, in Salt Lake City. Henry and Sara would have had 13 children born from 1852 to 1878. Henry worked as a law enforcement officer from 1861 until at least 1868. In his own account, he describes himself as “a member of the Salt Lake police force in 1861.” One other account describes him as a deputy sheriff. During that time, he participated in several cases that typified the rough-hewn legal system in Utah.

Jean Baptiste

Much less is known about the life of Jean Baptiste. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1813 to French parents, according to the 1860 census. Jean did make his way to England and then to Australia sometime before 1855. It is possible he committed a crime in England and was sent to one of the penal colonies in Australia, likely the colony in what is now Sydney. However, people who knew him in Australia said he could not speak English very well and had come from Venice, Italy. Some of those who knew him in Salt Lake City thought he was a Frenchman. What is known is he was in Castlemaine, Australia (76 miles northwest of Melbourne) in 1855. It is unknown if he joined the Mormon Church there. He did emigrate to America on board the LDS emigration ship Tarquinia. The Tarquinia departed Melbourne on April 27, 1855. Elder Burr Frost, a missionary in Melbourne, Australia, wrote:

“Following instructions from Brigham Young to form a company to go to Salt Lake City, I gathered Saints at Melbourne, where I found that many had made a shipwreck of the faith. With a band of 72 Saints, sailed 27 April 1855 from Hobson’s Bay, Melbourne, Australia aboard the Tarquinia bound for San Francisco, California. The final destination was Utah. The Tarquinia proved to be less than seaworthy and had to put in at Bora Bora, Tahiti for a period of about a week for repairs and provisions. Set sail, this time for the Sandwich Islands, reaching Honolulu on 5 July 1855. The vessel again developed a leak and further repairs took place in Honolulu. The first night out on the way to California the craft once again proved unfit. When in rough weather, it began to leak even worse. We were in danger of sinking and returned to Honolulu. The Tarquinia was condemned in Honolulu, and she sank in the harbor there. Several weeks later, the group boarded the Williamantic on 20 August 1855 for San Francisco, California where they spent four days before sailing on to San Pedro.”

Jean Baptiste made his way to San Francisco in February 1856, staying in California for a few years. By 1859, Jean was living in Salt Lake City; he had built a small house near the cemetery on 3rd Avenue and married a woman by the name of Dorothy Jennison. It’s also said that he was the choir leader for the ward. In 1860, Jean was employed by Col. J. C. Little, the city sexton, as a gravedigger for the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Henry Heath’s Story

To try and separate fact from fiction and end the wild rumors that swirled around Henry Heath and Jean Baptiste, Henry allowed the Deseret News to interview him in 1893 concerning the extraordinary events of the winter and spring of 1862. The following are Henry’s words as published in the Deseret News:

“On the last day of December 1861, Governor Dawson fled from Utah having made improper proposals to a well-known Salt Lake society lady [widow of Thomas Williams] of that period who indignantly resented the Governor’s advances.” She informed her friends of the Governor’s disgraceful conduct the night before he fled Utah. The following day, the governor’s carriage was overtaken at the Mountain Dell stage station owned by Ephraim Hanks, between Big and Little Mountains. The Governor was set upon and badly beaten by a band of men, among whom were Jason Luce, Lot Huntington, Wood Reynolds, and Moroni Clawson. Wood Reynolds was a relative of the insulted lady and justified his lawless behavior on that ground.

The men fled the scene but were apprehended over the next few days. One was killed in Faust, Tooele County [a pony express station] on 16 January 1862 by Deputy Sheriff O. P. Rockwell [Orrin Porter Rockwell]. Two were shot dead by Salt Lake City Police near the Walker Opera House on Second Street on 17 January 1862. The desperadoes who were killed had long been a terror to the community, and general relief was felt after their dead bodies were laid away in the city cemetery.

Moroni Clawson

Rone [Moroni] Clawson [killed by Salt Lake City Police] was buried at the expense of the county [in the Salt Lake City Cemetery]. I purchased his clothes [burial clothing] myself and though he was a very bad man I wanted to see him laid away as nicely as possible. This I did, and I don’t believe any pauper ever had better or cleaner burial clothing than he. [Moroni was 25 years old when he was killed by Salt Lake City Police, leaving a pregnant wife, Eliza Manhard, and a two-year-old daughter, Harriet.]

Soon after I went south on official business and, on my way home, stopped over at Willow Creek [now Draper], where I learned from George Clawson, a brother of the deceased [Moroni Clawson], who had his brother’s remains exhumed and removed to Willow Creek, that on opening the grave the body was entirely naked. George Clawson was indignant over the ghastly discovery and believed that his brother had been buried in that condition. Of course, having purchased the interment clothes myself, I knew better, but it was not an easy matter to prove that fact as the circumstances were rather against that conclusion.

Well, as a matter of course, the affair caused a good deal of talk and I determined to sift the thing to the bottom as did Judge Elias Smith who was probate judge of this county. At that time the authorities generally were anxious to have the matter investigated and very little time was lost.

Myself and three or four other men went first to the sexton’s residence and inquired of him to his opinion of how Clawson’s body was divested of its clothing but he was as completely in the dark as ourselves and was quite as dumbfounded at our assertions. From there we proceeded to the gravedigger’s house which was situated on Third Street somewhere between P and R Streets. Baptiste was not at home though his wife was. We entered the house and engaged in conversation with Mrs. Baptiste who was a very simple-minded woman, not thinking that light would be thrown on the object of our investigation so soon. Glancing about the room we observed numerous boxes of clothing which we had the curiosity to examine. Judge if you can of our horror and surprise when we discovered that this clothing was the funeral robes of people who had been buried in the city cemetery for several years past. A horrible thought entered my mind and a terrible feeling took possession of me when I tell you that I had but a short time previously [nine months] buried an idolized daughter [Sarah Melissa Heath, age 9] and when I feared that her grave too had been desecrated and that funeral shroud was among the motley sickening heap of flesh-soiled linen we found in the gravediggers hut, perhaps you can partly comprehend it.

Discovery and Confession

There were with me three or four friends, and together we proceeded to the cemetery where Baptiste was at work. In my breast rankled the unconquerable determination to kill him there and then should my suspicions be confirmed. I at once charged him with robbing the dead and he fell upon his knees calling God to witness that he was innocent. The evidence was too strong, and I choked the wretch into a confession, and he begged for his life as a human being never pled before. I dragged him to a grave near my daughters and pointing to it inquired, ’Did you rob that grave?’ His reply was yes. Then directing his attention to the mound of earth which covered my child’s remains, I repeated the question with bated breath and with the firm resolve to kill him should he answer in the affirmative. “No. No, not that one!” That answer saved that coward’s life.

The news of our discovery and Baptiste’s confession spread like wildfire and it was with difficulty that we got him to the county jail to safety. The citizens were so enraged that it seemed probable they would have lynched him outright. When he was placed behind bars out of harm’s way he was very profuse in his thanks for the service we had rendered him in saving his life.

The Carpenter Killing

About the time of Baptiste’s capture, he was detected wearing a broadcloth Prince Albert suit in which a saloon keeper named Carpenter had been buried sometime before.

Carpenter at that time was keeping a saloon and shoe shop a little south of the clock corner on East Temple Street. One night his place of business was robbed and he accused an employee named Ferguson of knowing more about the affair than he would tell. The latter resented the accusation by instantly drawing his revolver and shooting Carpenter dead.

I helped to take care of Baptiste during the three weeks’ time he was confined in the county jail. Steel and iron shackles were never put on his limbs and there is absolutely no truth in the statement that he was turned loose on the island with a ball and chain on. I shall never forget the agonizing scenes of grief-stricken parents, especially mothers, well, sisters too, for the matter of that as they came into the big hallway in the county court house through which extended a broad table fifty feet in length covered with several hundred funeral suits which had encased the form of a tiny infant or that which had been wrapped about the body of some aged man or woman. Yes it was a sorrowful spectacle to see a mother identify and weep over an article of clothing which belonged to a darling child long since dead or a husband or wife recognize the funeral apparel of the life partner who had preceded them into the unseen world.”

Albert Dewey’s Story

[Albert was a Salt Lake City Police Officer working the Baptiste Case with Henry Heath].

“I also remember that awful day and incident,” said Albert Dewey an equally well know veteran Salt Laker who had quietly listened to and corroborated the remarks of Mr. Heath. “I will tell the story from this on to the end of the chapter. I had just returned from an Indian hunt and I remember that public feeling was at a feverish state of excitement. There was some doubt in the minds of the officers of the law as to what should be done with all the clothing and finally it was decided to bury it in one big grave in the city cemetery which was done. It was a painful task and was keenly remembered by those to whom the work was assigned.

Another revolting feature of Baptiste’s ghoulish work was his practice of using his victim’s coffins for kindling wood. He was the most singular human being I’ll ever know in my life. He appeared to be entirely conscienceless. He hoarded the clothes of the dead about his premises as a miser would his gold. it is not true that he sold his plunder to second-hand dealers as was published in a morning paper. He seldom disposed of anything and kept careful watch over his ill-gotten gains. He had no fear of the dead though he greatly feared death himself. He would prowl about among the graves of the dead at night and divest them of their apparel with no more concern than if he were eating his dinner. Altogether he was a freak of human nature I could not understand. Robbing the dead was a mania with him and he made it a business. He seemed to be in his element when worming about among bodies when the darkness of night was wrapped about him and when all was silent in the city and cemetery.”

Jean Baptiste’s Banishment

Henry Heath continues.

“As to what was done with him I will now tell you. It meant death to him to turn him loose in the community, death that he deserved and in any country would have received but he was such a hateful object that the sooner and farther he got away from sight without being put under the ground himself the better everybody would feel. So to give him a chance for his life, to save him in reality from an exasperated public, it was decided to banish him. A well-stocked island in the Great Salt Lake was chosen for his future home. He was conveyed there but there was no ball and chain or gyves [fetter or shackle] of any kind on his limbs. He was absolutely untrammeled.”

‘Who first suggested the idea of banishment?’ asked the reporter. “I do not remember but I assisted in taking him to the island. It was done in this wise, four or five of us were permitted to place him in a wagon and take him from the county jail on the promise that we would not kill him and that we would allow him to shift for himself when once he should be put beyond reach of the vengeance. To this we agreed and his solitary abiding place was reached. Unlike Robinson Crusoe he found no good man Friday to be his faithful companion, follower, and slave.

The banishment occurred early in the spring of 1862 when the lake was very low. We had no difficulty in driving out to Antelope island through its briny waters which at that time were scarcely more than knee deep. But with the melting of the immense quantity of snow which had fallen in the mountains during the winter previously and the unprecedented heavy spring rains, the lake soon rose eight or nine feet and since that time it has been impossible to go to the islands by team.

The Exile’s Escape

Arrangements had previously been made with boatmen to meet us at Antelope island and take charge of Baptiste and row him to an island about five miles north of Antelope which at the time was known as Miller’s Island [now Fremont Island]. At this time, a couple of Davis County stockmen brothers had cattle upon the island. The object in having Baptiste conveyed there was because it was situated in deeper water than Antelope and wading to the main land would be an impossibility. On the island were a shanty and provisions owned by the cattlemen referred to who were in the habit of the place frequently to look after their livestock. Calling there once about three weeks after the banishment occurred, the stockmen discovered that Baptiste had assisted himself very liberally to their stock of provisions and was getting along very well in his loneliness. Another trip to the island still three weeks later disclosed the fact that the exile had been getting in good work in his own behalf in their absence. The roof and parts of the sides of the cabin had been torn off. A part of the carcass of a three-year-old heifer was lying on the ground a short distance away and portions of the hide were nearby cut into thongs. It was evident that with the tools found in the cabin, Baptiste had killed the heifer, built a raft from the logs and timber of the shanty and with this had made his escape from the island.

Individually I know nothing about him after this. My impression is that he set off for the northern or western shore of the lake. I have not the slightest idea as to whether he reached the mainland though. I am certain the skeleton recently found was not his. The fact that a ball and chain were attached to it proves that beyond a shadow of doubt. My theory is that the skeleton referred to is that of one of the penitentiary prisoners who escaped in irons some years after Baptiste’s banishment.”

Branded for Robbing the Dead

Interviewer:

‘There has been a good deal of talk about the branding of Baptiste. ‘Can you give any definite information on that point?’

Henry Heath:

“Yes sir I can. Before he was turned over to the boatmen he was branded on the forehead, not seared with hot irons as many have believed but tattooed with indelible ink. Across his forehead were placed the words “Branded for Robbing the Dead.” But whatever the indignities, there had been provocation enough and before we left him, he fell at our feet and wished to kiss them, thanking us many times for allowing him to live.”

The newspaper article continues:

“In addition to the foregoing it may be of interest to know that there are only two tenable theories as to Baptiste’s fate. Either that he perished in the lake in attempting to reach the mainland or that he really succeeded in that attempt. That he died on the island is wholly disbelieved because during the years that have elapsed since every foot of it has been traversed at least a score, perhaps a hundred times by sheep men and cattle men and no trace of his remains have ever been found. The general belief is that he made his escape to the mainland on the north somewhere near the Promontory. It was reported some time afterward by what would seem to be an unquestioned authority that he was seen in a Montana mining camp and on being closely questioned by one who recognized him, confessed to being Jean Baptiste and related how be made his escape. Another rumor is that he joined himself to a westbound emigrant train and went to the coast where he lived for some time before he came to Utah then left San Francisco where he feared he would be recognized and made his way into Southern California where it is understood he died. No one however of whom the NEWS has been able to hear knows anything positively about him since he was left on the island in the lake. Everyone discounts and ridicules the gruesome tale which reports the discovery of his skeleton with a ball and chain on the leg and which in justice to the truth and to the citizens of Salt Lake City in the early sixties [1860s] makes necessary this recapitulation of a series of ghastly incidents.”

The Rest of the Story

To clarify the last sentence in the preceding paragraph, in 1890, a party of hunters near the mouth of the Jordan River, where it empties into the Great Salt Lake while walking across a sandy marsh, did find a human skull protruding from the mud. The find caused a flurry of unfounded theories that Jean Baptiste had been found. After the sensationalism died down, three years later, in March 1893, shortly before the Deseret News interview with Henry Heath was conducted, a duck hunter found a headless human skeleton in the same area where the head was found. The skeleton had a ball and chain attached to a leg and was unhesitatingly, and, without a shred of proof, declared to be the skeleton of old Jean Baptiste, the grave robber.

In reality, no one knows what happened to Jean Baptiste after he was moved to Fremont Island. It is probable he escaped from the island and vanished into the landscape of Utah or Montana, or California. Nothing is recorded about Jean’s wife, Dorothy Jennison after Jean was arrested. No documents exist showing the arrest, court actions, or fate of Jean Baptiste, leading one to believe Henry Heath’s banishment actions were taken in an attempt to protect Jean from the highly incensed citizenry and with the silent approval of Judge Smith. Even after Brigham Young himself assured worried families that their departed relatives—deprived of their clothing post-mortem—would indeed still arrive in the afterlife fully clothed, none of the attempts to calm the angry citizens would suffice. Baptiste was even threatened in his own cell by fellow inmates.

By showing compassion to Jean Baptiste instead of shooting him or allowing an incensed mob to provide vigilante justice, Henry Heath ensured justice was served. In doing so, he also found a way to deal with and understand the death of his beloved daughter. In 2012 a group of 179 Brigham Young University film students made a movie entitled Redemption: For Robbing the Dead. It is available on DVD from Amazon.

Henry Heath, the 2nd great-grandson of Henry Heath

Henry Heath’s great-great-grandson, also named Henry Heath, is a Salt Lake City attorney. He said the film takes some liberties, but the real Henry Heath did not have a dark past. His family then and now know how he felt about the criminal he took to Antelope Island. “He was a good man. He was a kind man. He would have been a man who was conscientious but also did his duty.”

Jean Baptiste, nicknamed “The Ghoul of the Great Salt Lake” is said to roam Fremont Island and there are reports of him slowly shuffling along the shore of Farmington Bay burdened with clothes of the dead. Some still believe that the ghost of Jean Baptiste haunts the shoreline and have claimed to see him on nights when the moon is full, wandering around as if looking for redemption.