June 7, 1998
By Jennifer Gallagher
PORTAGE -- The Washakie Salers ranch, with the giant steer painted on the
side of its large brown barn, is an innocuous- looking landmark that signals the
approach of the Idaho border to Interstate 15 travelers.
But driving down the partially paved frontage road to the ranch evokes
different emotions for out-of-favor wives and children from the polygamous
Kingston clan, a secretive 1,500-member Utah sect that is waiting for doomsday
while they build an estimated $150 million business empire.
The isolated property is where John Daniel Kingston, one of the group's
leaders, allegedly took his 16-year-old daughter and severely beat her for
leaving her seven-month marriage to her uncle.
The ranch is where the clan allegedly sends its out-of-favor wives and
children.
The girl was her uncle's 15th wife, which isn't considered unusual among the
leaders of the covert clan.
Former group members say 43-year-old John Daniel Kingston fathered the girl
with his half sister and has as many as 25 wives. Group leader Paul Eldon
Kingston, 38, has "more wives than there are days in a month to get to
them," and 250 to 300 children, a former member said.
Punishment by isolation
Despite the number of wives and children the elite members have, no one
escapes the ever- watchful eye of the patriarchs, ex- members say. Step out of
line by having children who are too unruly or not doing what you're told and
punishment is swift and severe.
"They'll threaten you with starvation or beatings and say they're going
to send you to Washakie," said Rowenna Erickson, who was raised in the
group and was one of two wives. Her husband, whom she asked not be named, is
still in the group.
Erickson, 53, was excommunicated in 1993 after writing a letter to the
leaders of the group that was critical of the way women and children were
treated.
Though the Kingston group has existed since 1935, little is known about the
underground sect.
The Utah Department of Investigations monitors groups such as the Kingston
clan and an officer said he knew about the incident in Box Elder County, but he
wouldn't comment on it or anything else about the group.
Box Elder Sheriffs Detective Scott Cosgrove said his office was aware of the
Kingstons before the incident, but said there is rarely any trouble.
He doesn't consider them dangerous, though deputies from his department have
been to the Washakie ranch periodically to investigate calls from neighbors and
schools about child neglect.
"We're aware they're up there and what they do, but they primarily keep
to themselves," said Cosgrove, who added that the men in the clan rarely
visit the ranch.
Most information about the group must come from former members, many of whom
are afraid of retribution even after they've left the clan.
"We're told, "If you tell anyone, you'll hurt your parents,
yourself and you'll make God angry,' " said a 35-year-old former member who
left seven years ago.
The early days
Former clan members say the group uses fear, guilt and coercion to keeps its
members in the fold and keep their mouths shut.
The Kingston group was started by Charles Eldon Kingston, a wayward Mormon
who believed that the LDS Church's early belief in polygamy was still correct.
The LDS Church abandoned polygamy in 1890.
Charles Eldon Kingston recruited followers, most of them Mormons who were
dissatisfied with the direction of the church, and started the Latter-Day Church
of Christ.
The new church borrowed liberally from LDS beliefs, including the Word of
Wisdom, which forbids the use of alcohol and tobacco, though in the Kingston
group eating sugar is also frowned upon.
Current leader Paul Eldon Kingston, grandson of Charles Eldon, is considered
a prophet and is the only one who speaks directly to God, ex-members say.
"We didn't have a one-on-one relationship with God," said a
33-year-old woman whose husband is still employed by the Kingstons. "It's
Paul and then God."
Business holdings
The Washakie ranch in Box Elder County is just one of multiple business and
land holdings in the group's business empire. In Box Elder County alone, the
Kingston clan owns at least 12,471 acres near the ranch that is worth an
estimated $2.53 million, according to county records.
State records show the Kingstons own businesses in the Salt Lake City area
that include a Montessori school, a health club, an apartment building and a
pawn shop.
The businesses run by group members include: Best Distributing Amusement
Games, A-1 Disposal, Standard Restaurant Equipment Co., Family Stores True
Value, Sportsman's Pawn Shop, East Side Market, Best Distributing, Little Red
School House and AAA Security.
Licenses for those businesses are registered to Kingstons who have been
identified as members by law enforcement officers and former members of the
clan.
Erickson and other ex-members say most of these businesses are run out of the
clan's corporate office at 3212 S. State St., in Salt Lake City, an older,
two-story red brick building with green trim. That address is also linked
through licenses and land title documents to many of the businesses and
properties owned by Kingston family members.
Telephone records show attorneys Carl Kingston and P.E. Kingston as having
offices at 3212 S. State St.
Attempts to reach the Kingstons whose names appear on these records were
unsuccessful.
But business holdings and profits are only one side of the Kingston group,
ex-members say. The other side is a secret religion that preaches a gospel of
destruction, believes no member will reach heaven unless a daughter is married
to a clan leader and wants to control members' lives to the extent that it tells
them how to rinse milk cartons and conserve shampoo.
How to live, how to bathe
Leaders of the Latter-Day Church of Christ hold two-hour services every
Sunday in one of the family businesses, but sermons run the gamut from "the
early days" of the church under Charles Eldon to the best way to bathe and
how much toilet paper to use.
The Bible is never used and God is referred to only as "Heavenly
Father," ex-members say.
Church members are reminded of their superiority over all others.
"We look at this as a bad groups, but they think they are the chosen
ones. It hurts the women when the husband takes another wife, but they know it's
the way to the celestial kingdom," said a young woman who left the church
after being told at the age of 16 that she had three days to decide on a
husband.
Often the message is a double-edged sword. Members are told they should never
ever lie, unless they are asked about their families.
"It's a little teeny narrow path and if you step off it once you're
going to hell," the 35-year-old said. "They told me I was going to
hell for throwing snowballs and not confessing to my teacher but I'd also go to
hell if I told the teacher about our family. You can't win either way."
Work is often the way to redemption, the leaders preach.
The church needs money and members are told that hard work now will be
rewarded after "The Destruction," and end-of-the-world scenario that
will provide the Kingston clan with its pick of beautiful homes, expensive cars
and riches beyond their wildest dreams.
"They tell us some day we'll be able to buy homes for pennies on the
dollar," said the 33-year-old woman. "Of course we'll probably have to
drag dead bodies from them, but we'll get the house."
