"In my opinion, responsible leadership at the outset could have completely averted the disaster." Several recorded comments by church agents that they supposed God would intervene to protect the emigrants "shows their knowledge of the dangers of starting late. They were throwing all sense to the wind that all would be well."

Don Smith, a Willie and Martin company researcher from Pullman, Wash., said records of the time indicate the church planned to sell real estate to help finance travel for the emigrants, but the funds weren't yet available when ill-fated companies arrived late in Iowa City, further delaying departure.

Robert Briggs, an attorney from Fullerton, Calif., said when examining the historical evidence for what occurred, he believes church leaders could, in theory, have been charged criminally with reckless homicide and civilly with negligence under laws then in force.

No litigation ever resulted from the tragedy, he said.

Noting the proof standard for negligence is less stringent, the issue is "that you have a duty (as the responsible party)" and that it be carried out "with reasonable care," he said. "It's almost a foregone conclusion . . . there is evidence of negligence. With leaders all the way up to Brigham Young, there was mismanagement."

Termed by some "the worst overland disaster in the history of the American West," early Latter-day Saints tended to talk about it "in hushed tones, if at all," according to William G. Hartley, associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, who moderated the panel discussion.

"Over time, the emphasis of the story became the faith and endurance" of the emigrants, rather than the decisions that led to the disaster, he said, adding that for modern LDS youths who re-enact the handcart trek, the experience "has almost become a rite of passage."

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