# The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 41

* THE JUDGES AT WORK.
* The Federal Officers divided
* Judge Sinclair opposed by the District Attorney at Salt Lake City
* Judge Cradlebaugh holds Court at Provo
* The Charges of Murder at Springville
* Attention drawn to the Mountain Meadows Massacre and other Murders
* The Jury find no Bills of Indictment
* The Judge discharges them
* Depositions of Witnesses taken
* Terrible Revelations
* Counterfeiting on United States Treasury
* Trying to arrest Brigham
* Saving the Governor's Official Head.
With the arrival of the new Federal officers a thorough work of investigation into the charges made against the Mormon leaders was expected. The few Gentiles and the dissatisfied Mormons immediately realized that there was another influence than that of the priesthood dominating; but every sensible looker-on could readily see that though Brigham had been brought to terms, he was very far from feeling that his reign was over. "The Lord" was still with him, and the Prophet could afford to bide his time. With that accommodating faith which sees in every opposition and change but the stepping-stone to something better and greater, Brigham could comprehend that "the Lord" had made him stoop only to conquer. Could the troops have been kept out of "the Valleys of the Mountains" it would have been the work of "the Lord" for the protection of his people; but as the troops were now in the midst of the Saints, that was "the Lord" trying the faith of his people. It was necessary that the Saints should exhibit their inclinations, and that those who might incline to "the kingdom of darkness" should have the opportunity of abandoning their faith.
When Governor Cumming first entered Salt Lake City, and appeared in the Tabernacle, he announced that he was prepared to extend protection to all who desired to leave the Territory, and invited all such persons to communicate to him ​their names and addresses. One of the accusations against the Mormon leaders was that they prevented persons who had. become dissatisfied from leaving the Territory. On the other hand, the Mormons indignantly denied that any one was ever intimidated or his liberty circumscribed, and that on this occasion when the Governor afforded them such an excellent opportunity of leaving, only a very few persons—probably less than a score—availed themselves of it. Other sources of information, however, tell a very different story.
The machinery of the courts was soon set in motion. The Chief Justice preferred the military camp for his residence. Associate-Justice Sinclair was assigned to the district embracing Salt Lake City; and Associate-Justice Cradlebaugh had within his district all the southern country.
Up to this time the Governor of the Territory had also been Superintendent of Indian Affairs, but on the appointment of Governor Cumming, the office of Superintendent was conferred upon Jacob Forney, of Pennsylvania. Alexander Wilson, of Iowa, was appointed District Attorney of the Territory, and thus was completed the full list of Federal officials.
​The Governor's policy from the beginning was "peace, if that were possible;" and though he and Brigham concluded that it was better that they themselves should refrain from personal intercourse, the leading men around the latter were closely intimate with the official party, and for all practical purpose were as friendly as need be desired. Superintendent Forney was personally intimate with the Governor, and was for a time of some little service to the Mormons in that relationship; the District Attorney also supported the Governor's policy, and sought by every means in his power the peace of the Territory. The Secretary was unreliable.
The three judges and the marshal were united for a vigorous prosecution of past offences, and powerful aid was rendered them by the Valley Tan—the first Gentile paper published among the Mormons.
Judge Sinclair convened the Third Judicial District Court in Great Salt Lake City in November, 1858, and in his charge to the grand jury he exhibited an anxiety upon three particular points—treason, the intimidation of the courts, and polygamy. President Buchanan's pardon, the Judge admitted, was "a public fact in the history of the country," but, "like any other deed, it ought to be brought judicially before the court by plea, motion, or otherwise." In brief, he wanted to bring before his court Brigham Young and the leading Mormons to make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and make them humbly accept from him the President's clemency. The District Attorney would not present to the jury bills of indictment for treason, pleading that the commissioners had presented the pardon, and the people had accepted it, and the Governor had proclaimed that peace was restored to the Terri​tory. The jury required no further instruction, and the charge of treason was for ever ended.
But "the young judge" was more successful in his efforts in bringing forward the charge of intimidating the courts, as already noticed, and with the grand jury's presentment of Mr. Ferguson that subject was also dropped. It could not be expected that the charge to the jury on polygamy would secure much attention. It was regarded little better than a grand farce to ask a Mormon jury to find indictments against their brethren for polygamy. The term of Judge Sinclair's judicial service was a failure, only memorable for one thing—he sentenced the first white man who was ever hanged in Utah, and he was a Gentile, to be executed on a Sunday!—Of course the day had to be changed.
Judge Cradlebaugh had a larger field of operation, and a still more interesting experience, but it was an experience that ended in much the same way as that of Judge Sinclair. Judge Cradlebaugh was a brave man, and he undertook the unpleasant and herculean task of investigating the charges of murder that had been committed in the Territory. It was, undoubtedly, his purpose to saddle upon the parties really guilty the responsibility of the murders committed during the said "rebellion in Utah," especially those commonly known as the Potter and Parrish murders at Springville, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre in southern Utah. He failed in his effort, but he gained a mass of valuable evidence that is held in reserve for the day of reckoning that has yet to come.
So much of a contradictory character has been stated concerning the proceedings of Judge Cradlebaugh at this time, and so little is clearly known of the murders which he essayed to bring to light, and which are almost daily alluded to in the public press, that it is due to the people of Utah as well as to the people of the United States that the facts should be freely stated in this work, and the sources of information given.
On the 18th of March, 1859, at Provo, Judge Cradlebaugh addressed to the grand jury the following language:
   "I will say to you, gentlemen of the grand jury, that, from what I learn, it has been some time since a court, having judicial cognizance in ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/438 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/439 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/440 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/441 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/442 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/443 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/444 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/445 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/446 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/447 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/448
* ↑ Much of this feeling of fear about leaving the Territory was due more to apprehension of what might take place, than to any direct action of the Church leaders. Some persons had left the Territory without opposition or annoyance, but the opinion always prevailed that there was a great risk to life in leaving the Church. Some "apostates" had fallen by the way, and "the Indians" were charged with their "taking off." There is a strong impression among even "good Mormons," as well as among the Gentiles and those in opposition to the priesthood, that some of the murders of "apostates" were committed by "white Indians," and in justification of much of that impression the Tabernacle sermons may be cited. There is, besides, much circumstantial evidence to justify the accusation.
* ↑ A responsible correspondent of the New York Tribune—Albert G. Browne,. Esq.—in a communication to the Atlantic Monthly, April, 1859, writing of the Governor's offer of assistance, says: "During the ensuing week nearly two hundred persons registered themselves in the manner he proposed, and a greater number would undoubtedly have been glad to follow their example, but were deterred by the surveillance to which they were subjected by certain functionaries of the Church before being admitted to his presence. Those who were registered were organized into trains, with the little movable property they possessed, and dispatched toward Fort Bridger. They arrived there in the course of May—as motley, ragged, and destitute a crowd as ever descended from the deck of an Irish emigrant ship at New York or Boston. The only garments which some possessed were made of the canvas of their wagon covers. Many were on foot. For provisions they had nothing but flour and some fresh meat. It is a fact creditable to humanity, that private soldiers, by the score, shared their own abridged rations and scanty stock of clothing with those poor wretches, and in less than a day after their arrival they were provided with much to make them comfortable."
* ↑ Among the first efforts at home manufacture in the mountains was shoe leather, and this article was so successfully produced that kindly critics on examining it gave preference to the leather tanned in the Valley. Ever afterwards the homemade leather, to distinguish it from the imported article, was designated "Valley Tan." As other home-made articles were produced, with very pardonable pride this general term was affixed, and the name of everything manufactured was prefixed with the words "Valley Tan." Even the very poteen was designated in commerce "Valley Tan Whiskey." The publisher of the first paper appropriated the popular term, and called his weekly four-paged sheet Kirk Anderson's Valley Tan. The first issue of the paper is dated Nov. 5th, 1858.