“In Honorable Remembrance”

After the morning session of conference, Thomas Kane introduced himself to an Elder Jesse C. Little and invited him home. The conversation there lasted several hours. In response to young Kane’s earnest questions, Elder Little told not only of the Mormon religion but also of the exodus from Nauvoo, of the voyage of the ship Brooklyn to California, and of his own instructions to enlist the possible assistance of the federal government in the move to the West. Indeed, the conversation continued so long that Elder Little failed to get to that Wednesday evening’s session of the conference where he had been scheduled to speak.

Two days later the eager young lawyer appeared at Elder Little’s hotel room and asked for a letter of introduction to Brigham Young. He had decided to go to California with the Mormons, and he wished to use his good offices to help out the Saints in their plight.