The ?Southwestern States Mission? series (homepage) examines mission life in (mostly) Texas around 1900.

[2] In a subsequent post I will describe the other two deaths. All three deaths happened after the other diaries in this study were completed, so, at present, I have only Duffin?s record. Duffin wrote about 1,300 words on Stanger, 480 on Richard E Johnson, and 90 on Thomas J Adair. I did not find any other mention of Stanger in Duffin?s diary. The silence is not unexpected: Stanger spent only two months as a healthy missionary (mid-February to mid-April).

[3] I do not know where Elder Stanger was serving prior to his illness nor do I know if the Elders chose Kansas City because it was the closest major city or if it was mission headquarters. Duffin did not learn immediately of Stanger?s condition because he was visiting other parts of the mission and, apparently, none of the Elders thought the situation warranted a telegram. The original diagnosis was ?typhoid fever,? which was complicated with ?spinal meningitis? and ?pus?collecting in Elder Stanger’s left side.?

[4] He also noted ?impressions? that he ?ought to return to the mission headquarters? (May 18).

[5] ?I have felt to ask the Lord if Heavens going to take Elder Stanger that he be not allowed to continue in his sufferings but that he should be relieved in death, but if He was going to allow him to remain here, that he be raised from his bed of affliction, and I have requested the missionaries in their prayers to ask the Lord to raise him up and not say: ?If he be not appointed unto death?, or ?If it be the will of the Lord,? and we would leave our dear brother in the hands of the Lord for Him to do according to His will.?

[6] ?This is a day of sorrow to us. Elder Stanger died at 12:15 p. m. While it is sorrowful to us, yet we now feel resigned to the will of our Heavenly Father. This morning Dr Snider sent a messenger to us to call at his office. Elder Bennett and I immediately went to him. He told us that after calling in other doctors for consultation they had decided that an operation was necessary, to remove pus that had been collecting in Elder Stanger’s left side. I told the doctor that I could not consent to this until I had personally examined him; accordingly Elder Bennett and I went down to the hospital to see Elder Stanger. We could see that he was in a very critical condition. While there he tried to talk and we understood these words among others muttered but unintelligible: ?Home? ? ?tell them?. The nurse then asked him if that were all and he indicated by a nod of the head that it was and turned his face to the wall. Elder Bennett and I then went to the doctor?s office again which took us probably ten minutes. Soon after we arrived there the doctor was called to the telephone and informed that Elder Stanger was dead. We then immediately returned to the hospital and assured ourselves of this, after which we went to O’Donnel’s undertaking establishment and made arrangements for embalming of the body, asked in which to ship it, and transportation to the depot, also for making out the papers necessary for the removal of the body. All of this cost me but $93.00 which was very reasonable. The hospital bill was as follows: Medicine and oxygen $42.25 three week and six days room in hospital $25.00; the attendance of the three nurses did not cost anything? (Duffin, 1903 May 23 Sat). Duffin expanded the list of expenses once he reached Salt Lake and reported to President Smith (May 26): ?Following is a full statement of the expenses: Hospital: $25.00; Medicine and Oxygen: 42.25; Ticket from Kansas City to American Falls, Idaho, for corpse:  37.96; Casket, Embalming &c: 93.00; Doctor Fees – Dr Snider: 50.00;  Sundry Expenses-trip with body: 20.45; [total:] $268.66.? (Note: I replaced line-breaks with semi-colons.)

[7] President Smith, ?expressed himself as being well satisfied with what we had done?.?

[8] Duffin notes that ?The Presidency appointed Apostle Rudger Clawson to accompany me on with the body?.? One of Apostle Clawson?s missionary companions had been killed in the field and Clawson often spoke of the experience. I don?t have any information about his selection to accompany the body, but I imagine his ?famous? association with a dead missionary played a role.

[9] Duffin?s attention to last words and delirious mutterings, which eventually led to his happy report at the funeral that they revealed nothing untoward were, as I understand it, typical of late nineteenth-century American treatments of death. His use of the ?beloved? in this formalistic obituary setting also tracked mainstream American usage, though, by 1900, the word had acquired a Mormon valence. Note that, in extolling the religious value of Stanger?s death, Duffin did not call Stanger a ?martyr,? even though he died on a mission from an illness he very likely contracted due to his service. The following year Duffin called Apostle Owen A Woodruff and his wife Helen ?martyrs to holy principles revealed from heaven? (Duffin, 1904 Jun 25 Sat).

[10] Duffin then spent a few days visiting in Salt Lake City and with his first family in Provo and was back in Missouri at mission headquarters by Jun 05.