The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-01-16
THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE.

bly, few OF our readers who are acq unit
ed with the particulars of that terrible
crime, and the following account, con-
densed from an extended narration in
the Chicago Tribune, is truthful de
scrptlon of the affair: The recent ar
rest of j. d. Lee, the leader in the mas
sacre. who is now In jail at Salt Lake,
awaiting trial for murder, gives a cur
rent interest to the fearful story, which
is substantially as follows: In 1857,
some miners, who went to California in
40 and had prospered, returned to
their homes III Arkansas to take their
families TO the new Ell Dorado. They
disposed of their homesteads, and made
up train of 146 men, women. and chill
dren, and started upon the return.
When they arrived at Salt Lake City
they We're told by the Mormons that it
was too late in the season for them to
cross the Sierra Nevadas by the old en-
igrant route, and were advised to take
the Southern Utah route. They did
so, and on the morning of Sept. 10,
| while encamped on the desOlate Noun
tain Meadows, near Cave Spring, they
were surprised by an attack of In
| dams, who killed seven and wounded
| fifteen of them at the first fire. They
rallied however, threw up barbados
| with their wagons, and repulsed their
| %r 10 - H. L.
was brought to Cedar City by a courier,
and John ID. Lee, the Indian Agent, at
| the head Of large force of Mormon
militia, started to the relief of his
Indian allies, with instructions that the
whole party must be massacred. BY
| this time the emigrants had SO securely
intrenched themselves that they sue
cessfully resisted the Mormons for
seven or eight days, during which time,
| however, they were cut of from sub
sistence, while the Mormons were
supplied from Salt Lake and Cedar
City. During the siege, fifteen of them
were killed. Couriers, whom they sent
out with appeals to white men for re-
lief, they believing that their beseigers
were Indians, were intercepted and put
to death with the most cruel fortunes.
At last, upon the verge of
starvation, they were induced by Lee
to come ont OF their intrench-
meDts and hold a parley. The men
came out in body without arms, and
at given signal every one was shot by
Lees troops, those who were wounded
being given over to the Indians to be
killed by torture. The women were
were first ravished and then slaughter
ed All of the children, except those
who were supposed to be too young to
remember the horrible scene, were mur-
| dered, and in this butchery the white
and rec fiends We'd with each other in
diabolical methods Of cruelty. OF the
146 members OF the train, only thirteen
little children survived, and these were
scattered far and wide among Mormon
families. After tie massacre the bodies
of the victims were left unburied, and,
when the butchers had retired, the
wolves Toasted upon the dead. The train
was rich in money, livestock, and all
the effects which, i'll those early days.
comprised the outfit of emigrants max
ing the long overland Journey. The
spoils were collected, sent to Salt Lake,
ana sold at auction by Bishop Higbee,
and purchased by the Saints. For a
whole year the MormOns kept their Sc
cret, and only rumor that there had
been trouble of some sort, found its way
to the states. The guilty Lee, however,
could not carry the secret long Re
morse preyed upon him, and he sought
to ease his conscience by cOnfessing the
details of the massacre, which he laid
at the doors of the Indians. There
were others, however, who were afflicted
in similar manner and told the truth
among them some of the Indians,
who were incensed because the
sp0ils had not been divided
equally. The Mormon butchers also
made mistake in supposing children
could not remember, and some of them
corroborated the confessions in all Their
details. The aggregate of the testi-
monv brought out evlEy tact of the
massacre in the clearest light, and es-
tablished the guilt Of Lee and his
fellow butchers beyond the shadow OF
a doubt The miserable old man now
lies in jail awaiting trial, and justice
Will be avenged. A rude heap Of stones
erected upon the desolate Mountain
Meadow, continually mutilated by Nor
mon hatred even to the present day, Is
the only monumental souvenir left tc
tell the story of the massacre; but the
horrible story has now been made public,
and must hasten the downfall of the
system under whose auspices it was
planned and consummated, and in this
fact lies some slight compensation foI
the bloody deeds of that fatal Septem-
Der. The testimony points with uner
ring certainty to the fact that this mas
sacre was planned by leading men oi
the Mormon church in Salt Lake CITY,
III order to avenge the death of Joseph
Smith, the prophet, and Elder
Pearley p. Pratt that Brigham Young,
although not a particepS crin1i11iS,
must have been aware of the facts, and
has retained the leaders of the massacre
in places of friendship and trust ever
since, although he has gone through al
empty form of cutting them off from the
church; that a large part of the pro
ceeds arising from the sale oil
the emigrant's effects was cover
ed into the treasury of the
church: and that the orders of
the Church authorities forbade any
| Mormon, under severe penalties, either
TO give or sell them food before the
massacre was agreed upon, they know
ing full well that, under such circum-
stances, the victims would meet death
! by starvation. In cool deliberation,
| fiendish malice, and cruel execution,
there is but one massacre iii modern
| history to cOslOare with If and that is