The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-08-05
"Vpngeance Is Nine" Etc.

mons ABOUT oUU liliitS DSythu ''a'' '1"NN
City, bcscigcd for several days, finally
induced by stratagem TO surrender, ana
then brutaliy massacred. II is said that
the Mormon bishops of several settle
ments in the vicinity of the valley known
rs Mountain Meadows" gave out that
they had received command from the
Mormon capital 'to .foitoe and attack the
aecu, sed Gsntiles and let The arro'cS ~
tie Almighty drink their blood v" The
fendish order was carried out, none being
spared except some young children, sup
posed to be too young to retain IN alter
wears any recollection of the savagery by
which they were despoilcd of their nat
ural protectors Some time after the
hutchcry ''pious hands erected stone
over the place where the bodies were
buried, and Inscribed upon ii the follow
ing: Vengeance is mine; 4 t''H repay
saiM tie Lard" During all these years
the circumstances of the Massacre have
remained shroudcd in almost inpenetra
BILE mystery. 1t was generally supposed
that the band of emgrants had died from
starvation on the great desert or faiieh
victims to the murdcrous instincts OF the
| Indians. But murder will out" Atthe
heart of the assassin rcmorse for bloody
deeds forever prcys, and one day John ID
Lee, the leader of the butchercrs, made
confession of his part in the horrible
| crime. The confession was suppressed,
but not in time to prevent clue being
thereby placed in the hands of the officers
| of the law. And now it seems that the
| legend. Vengeance is mine; will repay,
saith the Lord" is about to be ful1lled.
| The Mormon church is powerless longer
to hide the frightful deed of blood some
of its members, forced against their VIII
| to participate in the massacre, have sun
Gcrcd their connection with the church
and told what they know. The children
! SHARED from the ruthless fate OF Their
| fathers and mothers have grown to mans
estate, and have not forgotten the horrors
of that awful day in the valley OF Noun
| tain Meadows, Arrests have been made OF
| the ring leaders, and Lee is now on triai
at Beaver, Utah, Philip klingen Smith
| tcstlhes that the massacring company was
called the "Nauvoo Legion that Lee
commanded, and that he deceived the
! emiprants into the belief that their MUIR
dercrs were in fact their rescuerS and
| friends, and so induced them to march
out of their rude cntrenclled camp under
escort. When this stratagcm, worthy
only of savages, had been accomplished,
the Mormon soldiers fell upon. their vic
tins and slaughtered Them. Says Smith;
The emigrants believed that VIC were
protecting them, and some expressed
| thankfulness at being delivered from the
| Indians; marched a quarter to a hall milei
the command was given to halt; the sol
| dicrs bad been instructed when they hait-
| ed to fire; the emigrants might nave Deeh
| shifted to single rank; think they were;
IIicbec gave the orders to fire; suppose
there were fifty men killed; might have
| been more; none escaped; saw some at
tempt to escape; there were mounted
men to dispatch the fugitives; Bill Stew
art chased one fleeing man; think saw
| him fall; he did not 20 far; Ira Allen was
mounted and placed on the left wing;
witness was with the men in the ranks,
| and fired one time; John VI. Higbec cut
| one mans throat; one large woman came
running from the wagons calling for her
| husband; the man standing near me shot
| her in the back and she fell dead; were
| ordered to gather up the children, and
went quarter of mile to the wagons;
| the wounded men had been killed before
we got there.
| This account exhibits a degree of atroc-
ity equal to that Of the worst Indian mas
sacre on record, wounded mcr dispatched
while they prayed for mercy; woman
shot in the back; men vainly seeking to
escape from death, pursued by mounted
bloodhounds, and inhumanly butchcred.
As Smith detailed to the court and jury
| this agonizng story Of unparalleled hend-
shncss, the prisoner Lee, represented as
lowbrowed, rufiianly looking man, be-
came purple and black in the face, PIC
ture of misery and rage, while his wives
sitting in the court-I DOM" scarcely breath
cd straining forward to catch each sylla-
bic" The savage instincts of the party
of assassins did not desert them with the
conclusion of the horrible deed. In the
| CHASTITY presence of more than hundred
dead bodies, dripping with the blood they
| had shed, they proceeded with the bust
ness OF the distribution of the property
Of the murdered men and women. The
church received as its share fifty head of
cattle, and these (horrible blasphemy)
were branded with the church brand-a
cross. These cattle, SO the witness tcsti-
fics, were driven to Salt Lake. and sold
TO Hooper, former delegate in congress,
for boots and shoes Did Hooper know
where they came from; that they were
the price of inn cent blood? Like saw
ages the men of the "Nauvoo Legion"
paid no mark of respect to the remains of
their victims They left them in bloody
heaps to fattcn the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the air. One witness tcsti-
fed to having passed over the ground two
weeks after the massacre, and described
the horrible spectacle presented BY the
unLuricd bodies, stripped naked. Il IS
claimed that Brigham Young was not re-
sponsiblc for the massacre. Lee is said
to have so testified in his suppressed
statement. But the witness Smith tcsti
fes that he met Lee il Salt Lake City
where he dec had been sent to report
to Young. He also testiies That he cali
ed upon Young; that Lee was present at
the interview; that Young directed him
to turn over the property to Leo, and turn
ing 10 him Smith said: What y0a khoa'
about tbs affair, Keep secret, and don't
talk about it among yourse!ess." 1t mat
tiers very little whether Brigham Young
ordered the massacre or not If he as
sentcd to it by receiving the emigrants'
cattle in the name Of the church, kept the
secret, and took no steps TO punish the
perpetrators, he richly deserves the gal
lows. His power was then supreme, and
a failure TO punish a crime SO horrible is
presumptive evidence that he directed
the crime to be committed Inter Ocean. |
"
A Great Struggle in Maryland.
The political contest in Maryland has at
length fully revealed the real character of