Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-01-13
The Mountain Meadow Norman Mas.
SaCr0.

made public Seventeen years have
elapsed since this Mormon atroclty was
perpetrated, and in this time the very
fact OF the massacre has almost faded
out of recollection. TO many the mar
rative will be as fresh as if the event
hao happened yesterday, while those
who still remember the terrible deed,
will be shocked to learn that it was
| planned and instigated by Mormon
whites, and executed by Mormon
whites and Mormon Indians acting in
concert. The recent arrest of j. D.
Ice, the leader in the massacre, who is
now in j;X awaiting trial for murder,
gives current interest to the fearful
story, which is substantially as follows:
In 1887, some miners, who went to
California in '49 and had prospered,
returned to sheir homes in Arkansas to
take their families to the new El Do
rado. They disposed Of their home
steads, and made up a train of 146
men, women and children, and stated
upon the return. Whea they arrived
at Salt Lake City, they were told by
the Mormons that it was too late in the
season for them to cross the Sierra Ne
vadas by the old emigrant route, and
| were advised to take the Southern Utah
route. They did so, and on the morn
ing OF September 10th, while encamped
on the desoate Mountain Meadows,
near Cave Spring, they were surprised
by an attack of Indians, who killed
seven and wounded fifteen of them at
the first fire. They rallied, however,
threw up barricades with their wagons
and repulsed their assailants. The
news of the repulse was brought to
Cedar City by courier, and John D.
Lee, the Indian Agent, at the head of
large force of Mormon militia, start
ed to the relief Of his Indian allies.
with structions that the whole party
must be n.assacred. By this time the
emigrats had SO securely entrenched
themselves that they successfully re-
sisted the Mormons for seven or eight
days, during which time, however, they
were cut off from subsistence, while
the Mormons were supplied from Salt
Lake City. During the siege fifteen
| were killed. Couriers, whom they
sent out with appeals to white men for
relief t.e believing that their besieg.
ers wMe Indians, were intercepted and
put to death with the most cruel tor
lures. AT last, upon the verge of
starvation, they were induced by Lee
to come out of their intrenchments and
| hold parley. The men came out in
body without arms, and at a 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 first
ravished and then slaughtered. All
of the children, except those who were
supposed to be too small to remember
the horrible scene, were butcbered, and
In this butchery the white and red
fends We'd with each other in diaboic-
al methods Of cruelty. Of the 146
members of the train, only 13 little
children survived, and these were scat
tered far and wide among Mormon fam
lies. After the massacre the bodies
Of the victims were lett unburied, and
when the butchers had retired, the
wolves feasted on the dead. The train
rich in money, live stock and all the
effects which in those early days com
prised the outfit of emigrants making
the long overland journey. The spoils
were collected, sent to Salt Lake CITY.
and sold at auction by Bishop Higbee,
and purchased by the Saints. For
whole year the Mormons kept their
secret, and only rumor that there had
been trouble of some sort found its way
to the States. The guilty Lee, how
ever, could not carry the secret long.
Rsmorse preyed upon him, and he
sought to ease his conscience by con-
Tossing the details of the massacre,
which he laid at the doors of the In
dians.
There were others, however, whowere
afflicted in similar manner and told
the truth, among them some of the
Indians, who were incensed because
the spoils had not been divided equal
ly The Mormon butchers also made
mistake in supposing children could
not rememb ber, and some of them cor
roborated the confessions in all their
details. The aggregate of the testi-
mony brought out every fact of the
massacre in the clearest light and es-
tablished the guilt of Lee and his fel
low 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
Mormon hatred even to the present
day, is the only monumental souve-