The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1858-04-20

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Special Correspondence Of tie Cincinnati Enquirer
Camp Scott, U. T., March l.
One who has not been accustomed to th
. climate could hardly believe the rapid change,
L which il undersoes: When ! wrote you my
last letter had to thaw my ink, and with diff
: Guilty only could keep myself from freezing
inside my tent. Now l am writing without fire
. and am very comfortable. Were it not for the
lack OF verdure in our landscape, and the
mountains apparently within stones throw ol
us, whose tops aud sides are groaning under
their heavy mantle Of snow, and the ice yei
D bridging over our little stream, would think |
was writing this on . summers day, and under
tropical sun. To-day is really spring day
warm, pleasant and lovely without. The ther-
! mometer marks 58 degrees above Zero This
opens we'll for March. 1t is an old saying, that
, when March "c0mes in like lamb it goes out
like q lion." If this holds good here, we are
yet to be reminded that We are still in the
Rocky Mountains. The old mountain men,
however, say that the winter Is over. One Of
them told me that be saw, the other day, grass
growing on the sunny side Of the elevations
The snow is all gone from the valleys and
lover attitudes where the sun could shine
About two weeks ago the weather changed sud-
denly from cold to warm, and has continued
warm ever since but the mountain streams
have not yet begun to flow.
The beef stored away for our supplies until
spring has commenced to thaw. Fears are en-
tertained that much OF it will spoil If this warm
spell continues. But efforts are being made to
preserve it by surrounding it with ice. II this
projct fails, we have about six hundred head Of
cattle on the hoof that can be slaughtered At
pleasure to supply the demand. Six hundred
moro can be had from Platte Bridge early in
the spring.
Diverse rumors are a6oat in camp concerning
the attitude Of the Mormons in Salt Lake. But
we have no reliable information from that
| quarter. One of these rumors says that the
Mormons are all leaving the city and seeking
refuge in the mountains. Another states that
they are sending only their women aud child
| rem to the mountains and outside villages for
security while the fighting population are to
remain and prepare to give us hot and hos
pitable reception in the spring. These rumors
are brought in by Indians, who may be in
terested in behalf Of the Mormons to circulate
| them.
No tidings have reached us from Capt. Marcy,
whose return from Tause, New Mexico, is ex.
pected in April, or sooner. Neither have We
heard from the " Rangers" under Ficklin, who
left more tLan two months ago to 60 to the
Flat Head F" nation for Indian ponies. His
return is also expected soon.
The expedition alluded to n my last article,
as having gone TO reinforce Capt Marcy has
hpQn n tn roc1ain, fnrf .four hat.
terry horses which were supposed to have been
stolen from the army last fall Those horses
were brought into camp days ago by some
Utah Indians On being questioned where the
horses were found, these indians would only
reply. Away off yonder, away otf-many
heap of sleeps from here" 1t is supposed they
were reclaimed somewhere in the Utah Valley.
They are in fine condition.
Two days ago intelligence came to us that
the body Of y man was found hanging to a
tree near Smiths Fork. Some dragons found
the body thus suspended, cut it down and
buried it.
Those who found him report that he had red
whiskers and a mark, as if from cut, on his
right cheek. His skull was knocked in behind.
This shows that he id not hang himself. The
body had the appearance Of having been hang
ing there some months. His eyes were eaten
out by the crows, and his face was SO picked
| uuu u6uStcU tu&t uOtuiuS tuUrC was UOScENCu
that would aid in identifying the individual.
There are, however, strong reasons for beev-
ing the body to be that Of DR.. George w. Hick-
man, who was released from Col. Alexandcr's
camp last fall. DR.. Hickman had q red goatee
on his chin, and whiteish mustache. He had
scar on his right cheek.
| A few days after Dr.. Hickman left our camp
| it was whispered around among the mountain
! men here, 'sthat he had not been able to make
the connection" meaning that he had been cut
off before he could JOIN the Mormons then at
! Fort Brdger. Dr. Hickman as we'll as his bro.
ther, the notorious "Bill" Hickman, had had
much to do in the outrages committed against
| the resident mountain men. His Clique, headed
by "Bill" Hickman, had driven them from their
homes, had stolen their horses and cattle, and
had remorselessly appropriated to their own use
much of their property. 1t was stated as a fact,
that the mule DR.. Hickman rode out Of our
camp when he was released was stolen by "Bl"
H. from one Of our guides, now present in our
camp.
1t is thus rendered highly probable that the
dead body is that of DR.. H., who was murdered
TO crafty the malice, which all the mountain
GERS bear, not only to the Mormons generally,
but particularly to "Bill" Hickman, the doctor
and their clan. Some think, ON the contrary,
that it is the body of some person returning to
the States from our camp or California, who
was murdered for his money But no matter
whose body it 10, every means viii be used to
ferret out the perpetrator Of the deed, and
bring him to condign punishment. By the next
mail shall be able to give you more particu-
lars concerning this inhuman affair. The body
will be dissected by . surgeon with view of
identifying It.
1t was not known until last week that any
thing more could be done by the agents OF
H. Wod1 cro;
for the army here, or that another disclosure of
the doings of this firm could be made which
could surprise anybody here. We all know,
and you in the States have heard, of the ineffi-
cheney and mismanagement of the agents OF
this firm; but NO one could ever have dreamed
that, while freig hting for the general govern
ment, and receiving pay from it, they were also
freighting for our enemies. 1t is even SO. /
doubt il anything else which the future may
reveal concerning this firm can now astonish
any one. Last week, on examining the wagons
that Mr.. Rupp, their agent, packed at Fort
Bridger, there were found in an interior wagon
one thousand pounds Of powde and other mer-
chandise, directed to Eldridge, the agent for
the Mormon church, with "For X. Y" under
meath. tx. Y" means the church of Mormon!
This powder and this merchandise Russell 4
Waddle, through their agent, Mr.. Rupp, carted
all the way across the plains for the enemies of
the government, which employed Russell
Waddle to freight provisions for the army it has
. sent here to put down the Mormon rebellion!-
Whether Russell 4 Waddle knew that this pow.
der was coming, and authorized it, am not
able to say. If they did sanction it. they can
never outlive the disgrace which must legiti-
mately fall upon them for furnishing powder to
people who are every hour preparing and
awaiting the time to send their leaden balls
, through the hearts of our loyal American citi-
E zens! Let US hope the gentlemen of the firm
knew nothing ofthis-that it was the act of their
agent, Mr.. Rupp. We would gladly believe that
Russell l. Waddle would never become party
: to any such transaction. But they must, to
' some extent be responsible for the acts of their
4 principal agent. However,, ae think their
. agent, Nj. Rupp. would not scruplu to 20 such a
thing, even on his own sole responsibility. lie
disappeared from here between two days, and
|, forfeited his bond Of $500 to appear as a wit
noss NJ the NEXT term of the courf IN hc hold ~