Another Mormon Heard From

I seemed to remember that one of the Mormon factions that dispersed after the death of Joseph Smith established a community on Beaver Island, which is not far from Beaglesonia, so I looked it up on Wiki yesterday. Here's a brief summary of what I found:

Before Smith died, he sent one James Jesse Strang to establish a Mormon community in Wisconsin. After Smith's death, there was a dispute about who should be his successor and the group split into several factions. Strang's faction had some 12,000 members, which made it the second largest Mormon sect after Brigham Young's. All of these members did not follow Strang to Beaver Island. I don't know how many, but it was enough to make the locals worry about them taking over the neighborhood. All the other Mormon sects called their leader "president", but that wasn't good enough for Strang, and he had himself crowned king in 1844.

Although he soon became known as the King of Beaver Island, most historians believe that he only considered himself to be king of his church, and had no intention of establishing Beaver Island as a sovereign state. Somebody must have misunderstood, because Strang was charged with treason and sent off to Detroit for his trial. Strang, who had been a lawyer before he became a king, conducted such a brilliant defense that, not only was he acquitted, but the trial generated so much favorable publicity that it led to him being elected to the Michigan State Legislature. While there, he was instrumental in organizing the Northern Lower Peninsula into counties and townships.

Strang was re-elected to a second term, but didn't get to finish it because he was gunned down by a couple of disgruntled former church members in 1856. They shot him three times, and then clubbed him with their pistols, but it still took him something like nine days or to die. The assailants immediately turned themselves in to the captain of a U.S. naval ship that happened to be tied up to the same dock upon which the crime had been committed. The captain, apparently believing that they couldn't get a fair trial on Beaver Island, transported them to Mackinac Island where they were tried, convicted, and each fined $1.25. (I am not making this up!) Some said that the captain was in cahoots with the murderers, but that was never proven in a court of law. Meanwhile a "drunken mob" attacked the Mormon community and expelled them from Beaver Island. Most of these exiles eventually joined the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, which was formed around one of Joseph Smith's sons, but the Strangite sect is still in existence today, although not nearly as numerous as it once was.