Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-08-19
From the Cincinnati Com nmercial.
THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MAS
SACRE.

Utah is boiling as never saw it be-
fore. On the part of Saint and Gen.
tile there is "a mingling of rage, fear, hope
and rejoicing for the truths revealed.
When this trial the Mountain Meadows
Massacrel began, it was evident that
the Mormon witnesses had determined
to make clean Breast of it, and that
If they did the result would be an un-
paralleled sensation. confess, with
all my research into the matter, I nev.
er knew it was half so bad, bloody and
horrible. We who have written histo-
ries of Utah have been charged with
laying on the coloring pretty heavy, but
our blackest colors do not begin to equal
the reality. Even Mrs. c. Y. Waite's
narration, written in 1865, though plen-
tifully spiced with horrors, falls shor.
of the reality; no woman's imagination
of crime could come up to what those
men were capable of doing. And let it
be remembered, too, that this story
told in court is not Gentle story, or,
as Brigham Young would say, "A ID
Gentle lie.' The witnesses are Mormons.
and most Of them in good standing to.
day. Andk is perfectly safe to say
that with the strong Mormon influences
surrounding them, and the church
notoriously exerting all its power to
suppress as much of the story as possi-
BILE, less rather than more than the
truth has been elected. 80" For two
days there were thousands of ugly ru-
mors here. One was that if the jury
acquitted Lee in the face of such posi-
tive testimony, the miners would take
and hang him and part of the jury in
two hours after. - But underneath
all the froth there does lie a universal
determination of all the people on this
coast that in some way or other justice
must be done. -
Well, all this has had one good effect,
any how. 1t has, / think, determined
the Mormon leaders to let the verdict
60 according to the evidence. The law.
yers for the defense evidently think SO.
Geo. G. Bates, the senior counsel, openly
says the case is hopeless; that no evi-
dence they have will mitigate the case,
and that Lee is doomed man. Bishop,
the attorney from Phoebe, was utterly
unnamed on listening to the testimo-
nv in court. It made him sick at heart.
The strongest man for the defence is
the Hon. j. G. Sutherland, formerly of
Saginaw, Michigan. He is q small,
soft-voiced, and unpretending man.
seemingly more Judge than an advo-
cate; Che was Judge in Michigan).
Meanwhile, fresh bits of evidence
against Brigham Young come to light
every day. give now only what has
beeu sworn to in court, or can be proved
beyond controversy by documents or
good men: First, the records show that
as soon as Brigham received notice that
he was to be removed from the Govern
orship he commenced threatening all
emigrants who might pass through the
the Territory He again and again
threatened death to all apostates. A
dozen old sermons, published by the Nor.
mons themselves, contained extracts OF
this. character. 1t can be shown that
he sent George A. Smith south ahead
of them to forbid the people everywhere
to sell them supplies, and one man is
here now who was ''cut OFF, for selling
them small cheese Instead of their
having trouble with the Indians, it is
fully shown that the Indians sold them
corn after the Saints had refused it.
Then, when the emigrants had got well
on their way south, Brigham made his
famous proclamation of martial law,
concluding with this passage:
And no person shall be permitted to
pass or repass into or through or from
the Territory without q permit from
the proper officer.
1t is further shown, and not denied
by Brigham's friends, that be received
notice of the intended massacre before
it occurred. Further, the militia came
together under q regular call from Col.
Dame and inferior officers, Dame being
accountable to Brigham as Comman-
der-in- Chief. If Dame lied in claiming
that be had orders from Brigham, then
the latter had every reason to bring
him to account as an offender Mt once
against civil and military Law, and the
policy cf the Mormon Church. Bat he