the result of racism. The LDS apologist organization FAIR has claimed that Young's statement was not made out of racist leanings but rather "Brigham Young's comments were a condemnation of abuse and rape of helpless black women, and not an overtly racist statement condemning interracial marriage." Other killings One of the examples cited by critics of the church is a set of murders in Springville, Utah of individuals who, according to historical documents and court records, were "very questionable characters." Judge Elias Smith stated in regard to the case: "We have carefully examined all the evidence furnished by a remarkably accurate stenographic reporter, and can only conclude that evidence before the court goes to show that Durfee, Potter and two of the Parrishes got into a row about matters best, if not only, known to themselves, and for that Potter and two Parrishes were killed." – Records published in the Deseret News, April 6, 1859. In 1902, the police and press initially speculated that blood atonement might have been a motive for the New York City "Pulitzer Murder" committed by William Hooper Young, a grandson of Brigham Young. This speculation was largely fueled by the fact that a notebook belonging to Hooper Young had been found at the scene of the crime, and "blood atonement" and supporting scriptural references was scrawled on one of the pages. Because Young pleaded guilty to murder, his exact motive for the crime was never determined, but medical experts and the judge were of the opinion that Young was medically—though probably not legally—insane. Hooper Young's case and contemporary blood atonement are discussed in detail in Brian Evenson's 2006 novel The Open Curtain. Blood atonement after Brigham Young By 1877, when Brigham Young died, the blood atonement doctrine, whether or not it was properly understood by the public, had "done more than any other thing save polygamy to bring Mormonism into disrepute". In response, church leaders and journalists took an active interest in explaining and justifying the doctrine, and in countering the negative press. John Taylor, Young's successor, acknowledged in North American Review the "we believe some crimes can only be atoned for by the life of the guilty party"; he also said, "all culprits worthy of death...should be executed by the proper civil officer, not by any exercise of the lex talionis or the intervention of ecclesiastical authority". Chief among the Latter-day Saint writers defending