DANNY - There is a story in "The Miracle of Forgiveness" about Abraham O. Smoot seeing and visiting with, and rebuking, Cain. The story says Cain was a hairy man, with dark skin. A wanderer in the earth. He was seeking death, and to destroy souls. What is your take on the story? Could it be true? President Kimball quotes it; he must believe it’s true. I did a Google search on it and found some interesting info. But, nothing really solid. Do you have anything from other church leaders about it? Not anything very important, I know! But, interesting none the less.

JOEL - Here is the story as President Kimball used it in the "Miracle of Forgiveness":

"On the sad character Cain, an interesting story comes to us from Lycurgus A. Wilson's book on the life of David W. Patten. From the book I quote an extract from a letter by Abraham O. Smoot giving his recollection of David Patten's account of meeting "a very remarkable person who had represented himself as being Cain."
As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me—. His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight" (Lycurges A. Wilson, Life of David W. Patten (Salt Lake City. Deseret News, 1900, p. 50.)

Sounds more like Bigfoot to me; which some have suggested :-)
I don't know if it this a true story or not; we would have to ask David Patton about it. President Kimball called it an "interesting story". I am not so sure he is expressing his belief in the truthfulness of it by refering to it. I think he is just using it like a parable, as a means of describing the character of Cain; much like one would use a fairy tale like "Beauty and the Beast" to illustrate a particular principle.

Cain was cursed to be "a fugative and a vagabond in the earth" (Genisis 4: 12-14), but there is no indication from the scriptures that this condition would last forever on the earth; if so where was he during the flood when "all flesh died that moved upon the earth"(Gen 7:21-23)? Part of the curse that God put on Cain was not that he "could not die" in his outcast state; but that the mark placed on him would reveal his identity so that noone would kill him. The scriptures are silent on how or when he died, but I think we can assume that he may have lived a normal life span for that time and eventually died of natural causes or perhaps by some kind of accident. I suppose it is possible that in Patton's experience, for some reason, for a short moment Cain(or some other evil spirit) appeared to him from spirit prison. However, I somewhat doubt the accuracy of the story, given that it was a "recollection" of what someone heard David Patton say.