I recently met Walter J. Zabek at a luncheon at Cox South Hospital honoring Meals on Wheels volunteers.

As our paths briefly crossed — I was hustling out to get back to work — he asked me if I knew that it was once legal to kill a Mormon in Missouri.

Although it was a question, it was not an Answer Man question. He stated the information as fact.

It did not sound like fact to me. I was skeptical.

History begins with 1838 Mormon War

But I've discovered it is surprisingly close to the truth. In other words, it's nuanced and, in my view, the nuance is fascinating.

The truth of whether it was once legal to kill a Mormon in Missouri involves a history of which I previously knew nothing.

It includes the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. I imagine if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you already knew this. I did not.

I also knew nothing about the "Extermination Order" issued by the sixth governor of Missouri and directed at members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the subsequent exodus of 15,000 church members in the winter of 1838-39; and the fact that Prophet Joseph Smith, who founded the faith, believed the Garden of Eden was in northwest Missouri and that when Christ returns at the Second Coming, it will be in northwest Missouri.

Most of those forced from Missouri ended up founding a church settlement called Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, 58 miles north of Quincy.

They were subsequently forced out of Illinois and migrated to Utah. Smith was murdered in Carthage, Illinois.

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'Must be exterminated or driven from the state'

MIssouri Executive Order 44, also known as the "Extermination Order," was issued on Oct. 27, 1838, by Gov. Lilburn Boggs. Believe it or not, it states in part:

"The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace — their outrages are beyond all description."

The order was part of the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri.

As a result,15,000 church members — about 90 percent of them living in northwest Missouri — left the state, leaving behind homes, livestock and crops.

Among them were Smith and a young man named Brigham Young, later known by some as the "Mormon Moses." Young would later help found Salt Lake City.

It amazes me that the Extermination Order stood for 138 years. It was not until June 25, 1976, that Missouri Gov. Christopher "Kit" Bond rescinded it.

Thirty-four years later, Bond was recognized by the church. I found a 2010 news story in the Deseret News, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, in which Bond said:

"The treatment of the Mormon people in Missouri in the 1830s and beyond was barbaric. Women were raped and tortured. Men were killed by mobs or driven out of state. Their property was stolen. The lucky ones were those who were left alive with nothing and were forced to make their way into a more hospitable state."

"We cannot change history, but we certainly ought to be able to learn from it and where possible acknowledge past mistakes," he said. "That was what motivated me to rescind the extermination order."

When I first read the order this week, it seemed clear that Boggs knowingly issued a license to kill members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was astounded: it seemed similar to the Department of Conservation establishing a hunting season, but only for people.

I called Jonathan Rimington, spokesman for the church. He seemed to read it the same way I did.

"You could have shot me on the streets with no repercussions," he says.

But it's not so clear that was Boggs's intent.

On Rimington's recommendation, I talked to John Lawson, who works for the church as director of the Springfield Institute of Religion.

Lawson says that while many members of the faith believe it was legal for 138 years to kill a Mormon in MIssouri, it's not true.

"There was no law that you could go out and kill people," he says. "But you could force them to leave."

In 1838 parlance, Lawson says, the word "exterminate" primarily meant to "force to leave an area."

Mormons were, in fact, killed in Missouri, he says, but those deaths were not necessarily linked to the "Extermination Order."

"There were mini-skirmishes that took place up there between Mormons and old settlers," he says.

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One point of friction: Founder Smith opposed slavery

The friction had several causes — in addition to differences in religious views.

While members of the church consider themselves Christians, in that they follow Jesus Christ, most other denominations do not consider members of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints to be Christians, Lawson says.

"They say we follow Jesus Christ, but a different Jesus Christ."

Perhaps more importantly than religious differences, there was friction because Joseph Smith opposed slavery, and Missouri was a slave state.

In addition, in the 1830s northwest Missouri was at the nation's frontier, Lawson says, and most residents were recent settlers who disliked government and people from the East Coast.

Most church members settling into Missouri were from New England, Lawson says.

While Lawson favors the interpretation of the word "extermination" as forced removal, not a license to kill, some disagree.

I found a scholarly paper published in 2001 by William G. Hartley, a former associate professor of history and a research historian at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, at Brigham Young. He wrote:

"Extermination, a powerful word, means to eradicate but also implies killing. Governor Boggs's extermination order called for a nineteenth-century version of what in recent discussions of Serbian treatment to Kosovars is termed 'ethnic cleansing.'"

Hartley likened the Extermination Order of 1838 to the 1830 Indian Removal Law, signed by President Andrew Jackson. It forcibly relocated Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi, including 16,000 Cherokees in what is called the "Trail of Tears."

Harley also contends the Extermination Order lost all force of law once members of the church left Missouri.

I asked Lawson the question that I believe gets to the heart of the matter: Was there any church member killed with impunity in Missouri after the Extermination Order was issued?

Again, the answer is nuanced.

The Extermination Order was issued on Oct. 27, and three days later, 17 church members — 15 men and two boys — were killed by 240 militiamen/vigilantes at Haun's Mill in Caldwell County. The church members were holed up in a blacksmith's shop. Some church members, including the boys, reportedly were slain after surrendering.

According to Lawson, there is no record anyone was ever tried for murder in the incident.

But here's the nuance. Historians disagree whether the leaders of the militia even knew of the Extermination Order.

Alexander L. Baugh is an associate professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young. He wrote:

"An examination of the sources indicates that there was no connection whatsoever with the governor's directive. There is evidence that the attack by the county regulators upon the LDS community was actually a response or a retaliatory strike directed against the Mormons because of the raid they conducted against local vigilante leaders and settlers living in Daviess County during the latter half of October.

"In short, their objective was to make the Mormons 'pay' for their most recent activities in Daviess — which payment would be in the price of human blood."

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These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper 6½ years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 417-836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.