Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-05-09
CHICAGO, ILL.,, April 81, 1857.
Mrs. NJ. D. GUNNIsoN. Bethlehem, Penn,

My DEAR STRANGE FRIESD: n 4 y In
the month of November, A. D. 1858, Capt. Gun
nison and eight others lone of whom was q NOR
mon) we're murdered on the Sewer River in Utah
Territory, and the report was quite current that
thev were murdered BY the. Indians. subsequently,,
at a session of the Grand Jury in Juab County,
Utah Territory, Hon. John f. Kinnev presiding,
Twenty six Indians of the Parvantc Tribe were in.
dicted for the said murder, and by some arrange
ment between Col. L. j. Steptoe of the U. S. Ar
my and Kanash, the Chief of the Parvante Tribe.
eight Indians (sOme of whom were squaws and
enc old blind indian many were put on their
trial for murder at Nephi City, and strange to say
a Mormon Jury found the Indian warriors not
guilty, and MS against the old, crippled, and measu.
ably blind indians, three in number, found n YER
dict Of manslaughter, and .hey were sentenced to
three years imprisonment in the peuitentiary of
Utah, being the full length of time prescribed hy
the statute for such ofenses. These verdicts and
the finding of the jurics under the Law and the
evidence, so wounded and mortified Judge Kin
ney that he at once adjourned the court, unavUid-
ably coming to the conclusion, that there was
false dealing somewhere, and in fact not only be
but Colonel Step,oe, General Holmon, the Gov.
eminent Attorney, Hon. Garland Hurt, the Indian
Agent of the Territory, Captain James b.. Leach.
the mail contractor between San Diego in Cali.
fornia and Salt Lake City, and Columbus l..
Craig, all OF whom were cognizant of the infuen-
ces brought to bear on the trial, arrived irresitably
ut the conclusion that the Indians were found
not guilty by order of the church, and that
Dimick b. Huntington, an Indian Interpreter, and
spiritual brother-in.Iaw Of Governor brigham
Young, was the man who bore the decree and or
der of the church to the jury, who implicitly
, found the rerdicts according to the mandates OF
The church, as is now the universal rule and order
j of jury trials sin the peaceful valleys Of the noun
Itains."
I AT the November term of my Court, held q
g Fillmore City, in the year 1855, one Levi Abrams
a Jewish Mormon, was put upon this trial for tn,
4 wilful and unprovoked murder of lobe, a favor
: lite warrior Of the Parvante band, and during tina
trial much was said by both Indian and white wit
nesses relative to the murder of Capt. Gunnisol
and his party, which raised strong presumption
in my mind that certain white men were parti
ceps criminis to that cruel murder, but no
! wholly conclusive. In this case, the Jury, true t
: to the Law of the Church, as basely false to tn
: Law of the Land, found Abrams not guilty.
q AT the same term of court, a f~avorite India,
q warrior of Gov. Young, by the name of Eneis
g Was put upon his trial for the murder of Capt
h Gunnison and others. to which | particularly a
If Jude in this letter, and at this time and upon thi
|. trial, i became convinced, teyond the ~possibilit
A of q doubt, the whole affair was q deep and m.
turely laid plan to murder the whole party of er
q gineers, or surveyors, and charge the murder VI
e on the Indians, (who, By the way, have the cred
for killing a great many persons.) In the trial {
q the warrior Eneis, the evidence disclosed the fac
@ that ne was the property OF Gov. Young, thd
he could speak English quite fuently, and tina
/ when no left the City Of Salt Lake, he wer
under the order of Gov. Young and the Churcl
Again it was repeatedly proven that Eneis was i
company with several white men on the day bt
fore the murder, and that they were all on thei
f way to the engineers camp.
e Again, it was proven on the same trial by
number Of Indian Witnesses, that only -four shot
s were fred by the Indians, and that all the res
s we're fred by the Mormons, and that by order an
direction of the MormOns, the Indians sprang gu
of the ambush, where they lay disguised durin
e the night before the firing. which occurred ebou
J, sunrise in the morning, and went across the rive
d to scalp and otherwise maltreat the men in thei
o agonies of death. but more particularly to save tn
a Mormon who fell in the fight, provided he was nc
fatally wounded. and told ihe Indians how the
could recognize the Mormon from the Americans
which was by certain peculiar marks on the gal
ment nert his body but the poor fellow, with tn
other eight, had received u fatal shot, and died o.
the ground, with his priestly robe worn next hi
q body. 81,
The white men were so accurately describe
that any one acquainted with the principal men Q
VS. the Mormon Church, could quite readily select tn
g, linen as described by Old Pareshont and Heap c