# Wife No. 19/Chapter 13
### CHAPTER XIII.
#### THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS' MASSACRE. — "VENGEANCE IS MINE: I WILL REPAY."

* The Results of the Reformation.
* The Story of a Fiendish Deed.
* The People's Mouths Closed.
* How the Dreadful Crime was Hushed Up.
* Judge Cradlebaugh's Efforts to Unravel the Mystery.
* Who were the Guilty Ones?
* The Emigrants on the Way to Utah.
* The People Forbidden to sell them Food.
* They Arrive at Salt Lake City.
* Ordered to Break Camp.
* In need of Supplies.
* Who was Accountable?
* Why the Mormons hated the Emigrants.
* The Story of Parley P. Pratt.
* How he Seduced McLean's Wife.
* Their Journey to Cedar City.
* Hungry and Weary, but still Pressing On.
* They Reach the Mountain Meadows.
* Attacked by "the Indians."
* The Emigrants Besieged.
* Dying of Thirst.
* Two little Girls shot by the Mormons.
* An Appeal for Help.
* The Last Hope of the Besieged.
* Waiting for Death.
F all the numberless atrocities that succeeded the Utah Reformation, and were the direct outgrowth of the teaching of the revolting doctrine of the "Blood-Atonement," nothing approaches in fiendish barbarity the Massacre at the Mountain Meadows, where, on the 17th of September, 1857, a company of emigrants from Arkansas and Missouri, on their way to California, were assassinated in the most cruel and treacherous manner, by a band of disguised Mormons and Indians, under the leadership of officers of the Mormon militia.
Nearly eighteen years have passed, and until within a ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/239 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/240 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/241 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/242 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/243 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/244 ​seductive apostle. The command to "leave all and follow me" was readily obeyed, especially as she was personally Parley P. Pratt. to add to the missionary's present pleasure and future glory, by becoming one of his numerous plural wives.
As there was no authority to marry them in a "legal" manner in this Gentile state, they were obliged to defer that ceremony until their arrival in "Zion." But in cases like this, which were often occurring to the missionary Saints, it was considered quite proper for the pair, who were in haste to wed, to "covenant together," and thereafter to be regarded as man and wife, without ministerial or judicial aid, until such time as they could celebrate their nuptials in the presence of saintly witnesses, and after the true saintly fashion. This covenant the Apostle Pratt and Mrs. McLean were not slow to make.
The news soon reached the husband that his wife was going to Utah with the Mormon Elder, and intended taking the children with her. This last design McLean frustrated by sending them to some relatives in one of the Southern States. He then informed his wife that she was at liberty to go where she chose, but that she must go alone, as he had placed the children beyond her reach.
She came to Utah, and immediately on her arrival was sealed to Parley, after having lived under a covenant with him for months. The mother-heart, however, yearned for her children; neither her new religion nor the fractional part of an apostle could fill the void left by the separation from them, and she determined to gain possession of them and bring them also to Utah. After much entreating, she ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/246 ​The bloody deed performed, McLean returned to Fort Smith, walked through the town with his friends, and in the evening took the passing steamer for the South. He took his child and left the mother to return to Utah, now Assassination of Parley P. Pratt. doubly widowed and childless. The people of Arkansas upheld McLean, and it was considered that he had only done his duty in ridding the world of such a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Hand in hand the little ones advanced towards the spring, dressed in white, — fit robes for such lambs of sacrifice. Suddenly came the crack of scores of rifles, and the tiny The Murder of Two Little Girls. bodies fell, fairly riddled with bullets, in the very sight of the frantic parents. It was deeds of this kind which, according to John D. Lee, "glorified the name of Israel's God."
Then the emigrants knew they could not expect mercy; but their courage did not fail them. If aid could only reach them! If there was any way in which they could make their situation known! They might hold out a few days, ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/254 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/255 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/256