The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-06-07
The Mountain MEADOW Nassaere-
I rs EEsAss sTnln AZ H0rrnr sssS


Il will b feuembored thas some time ago
. company of one hundeYd emigraDts.
their way from Avkaneae 10 California. were
maesacred at MOuntain Meadows, BY che
Indians, % was reported; but various subse-
ouent developments have established the con-
viction that these were merely tools in the
hands Of the MormOns themselves.
An eyewitness Of the transaction has
been found at last and the San Francisco
Bulletin has received, from m on ial source
at salt Lake, statement OF his account OF
the affair lie says the massacre was de-
signed ana carried into execution 10 get pos
session Of tue thirty Wagons and seven or
eight hundred head If cattle belonging 10
the emiyrants His statement which is as
follows, reveals most shocking exhibition
Of cruelty and crime That civilized beings
could be guilty oil such conduct, seems hardly
creditnble:
"MhiIe was residing at Cedar City,
was called upon BY Mes<rs Isaac Hight,
John d Lee and John !lisbee-all three
Mormon military officers G. goa lew miles
out South Of the city, which did. There !
found thirty or forty others, selected from
different settlements. We were addressed
by the above officers, who told Us that they
lnd sent Canosh, the Paravant Chief. with
his warriors to destroy the Arkansas COM
pany, and that il he had not done it We must;
and that ifany Of Us refused, or betrayed
them t. the Americans. they would take good
care Of him hereafter. Here we were all
ordered on the quick march to the Mountain
Meadows, where we found the emisrants,
with their wagons formed into two circles,
with their families in the midst, trying to de-
fend themselves against the merciless and
bloodthirsty sayages, who lay around in am
bush, killing them as opportunity present.
ed.
Hight and Lee formed their men into two
companies, and made precipitate rush at
the poor defenseless victims. The men in
side OF the circle rose up, but instantly fell
dead or mortally wounded, under the fire Of
the wretches who SO cruelty sought their lives
Nothing remained to be done, except to kill
the frightened females and their innocent
children clasped in their arms. Others chung
with desperation to their bleeding, dying
| husbands, pleading in vain for mercy at the
| hands OF the christians who controlled the
| no more savage Indian assailments.
John d. Lee now sent to the Indian chief
and his men in ambush to come out and finish
the survivors, directing him to spare only the
| little children who could not talk. The saw
ages came instantly with knives drawn, and
speedily finished the bloody work. The seems
beggars description. The demoniac ellis Of
the savage monsters, mingled with the shrieks
and prayers Of helpless mothers and daugh.
tiers, while the death blows were dealing
with unflincbing hands, and scalps were torn
from heads which bloomed with innocence
but a few hours before Now the work Of
butchery ended The murderers threw
the dead into a heap, and covered them
slightly with the earth, and left them to feed
the wolves and Lir!s Of prey and returned
home with their booty Of cattle, and wagons,
and q great quantity Of gouds. &c"