Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-07-28
4 Remarkable Trial.

Last Thursday, there was begun in Bea-
District Court. that is of national interest.
There are ten Mormons indicted for the
murder Of :; party of emigrants, the lead
ing one of those indicted being John ID
Lee.
The crime WAS the celebrated Mountain
Meadow Massacre, which took place $40
miles west of Salt Lake City. Late in the
summer of 1897. Il body of emi@rants from
Arkansas passed by Salt Lake City, bound
for California; There were in the train
one hundred and fifty men, women and
children, forty wagons, eight hundred cat
tie, and sixty horses and mules They
had money and goods. also. amounting to
S5O,0oO. These cmiyrants afforded pro
lection to some discontinued Mormons who
We're fleeing from the domains of Brigham
Young
On the 10th of September, 1871, thi,
train was attacked by what purportcd to
be Indians. The emigrants fortified them
selves. ana drove off their ASSISTANTS, after
being be>iegcd five days. They were
soon drcoyed from their intrenchment by
llai@ht and Lee. leading MormonS, who
promised them protection from the
Indians. The Mormons then fell
upon the party and killed all except few
small children One hundred and twent V
skeletons were collected and buried on the
ground months afterwarl, Il pile of rocks
and Il large cross murking the spot.
The cross bore the inscription. Ven
@cancr is Mine. saith the Lord" and for
many years it has seemed that all punish
inrnt would, indeed. be melted ont in the
world TO come. Th" grand jury, in 1870.
refused to tind bills of Indictment and
Judge Cradlebaugh issued bench warrants.
bat nothing came Of them. The jury in
the present case i composed of GcntileS
and Mormon>. and it not thought the lat
ter will bring in 4 verdict of guilty. even
should the evidence warrant it.
The principal witness for the Govern
ment i Philip klingen Smith of san Bcr-
nadino, Cal, who has turned states cvi-
ecncr. Lee once made Il confession and
Smiths story is said to agree with it. Lee
was considered the most guilty. and. there
fore. Government took no advantage Of
his confession.
The first witness was Il ,brrt kcvcS. He
t,,-' 81 f,'l -
,. l>j1, through the Mountain Meadows:
| saw tWo heaps of bodies of women and
children piled up promi>cuou~lv. about
sixty to seventy in number; the chillr,n
We're from two months of AGE to twelve
years tn" smaller ones more torn by
wolves and crows; some Of them were
shot; some had their throats cut: some
We're stabbed.
woman Il little way OF, who appeared rs If
>he We're asleep; there WAS u bullet hul,
in her left side; from appcara>cc-. All had
been dead fifteen days; several of u, saw
them; the pile of mems bodies was further
on; did not 90 to see them: none had
been >cAlpcd
A~hel Bennett testified: was ut the
Meadows in Drcembcr 1877: saw bones
there, Il horrible sight of skeletons of wom-
en- aud children, W it'll curl- and lony trtsSc,
of hair dried in blood: the children We're
from ten to twelve years of age: some of
the skulls ll;tI the flesh dried on them the
boole, had been covered up, but the
wolves had dug them ou,
Smith was then called Il u9Ye lrossl.li
having been entered in his case, and we
give full abstract of his testimony IL il
i the story of one of the mo t remarkable
crimes of the country.