The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1876-10-10
The Scene Of the Mountain lead.
Oyvs Massacre.
Beaver (Utah) Cor. Chicago Inter-Ocsan Sept.
-srHr

Beaver (Utah) Cor. Chicago Inter-Ocsan Sept.
uHi'"'ns9 ember 10.1 sfssi y
Nineteen years ago an emisfant traif
of one hundred and thirty seven per-
sons, while on their way to Californis,
were massacred in this territory at q
place Called Mountain Meadows, and,
beyond doubt, it was done by the
Mormons, at the instigaiion of their
prophet, Brigham Young John D. Lee,
an adopted son Of Brigham. figured
most conspicuously in the awful tragedy.
Feeling that to intelligently conduct
the prosecution it was necessary to visit
the scene of the butchery, Sumner How
ard Esq, United States District Attor.
ney for Zion, determined to do so. Ac.
lcompanied by Marshal Nelson, Official
Court Reporter A S Patterson, your
correspondents. and Mormon guide, he
set out for that place on the morning Of
the 7th instant. eA es-
Atithe scene of the massacre we came
across numbers of human bones. A
rib as white as snow, a shoulder blade
half buried in the. sand, and other fras.
lnents Of human frames, scattered for d
mile, lay bleaching in the sum-. The old
camp grounds where the emigrants cor.
rallied their wagons was a level strip OF
meadow Terminating in bluff. like mani
ner, and commanding view of half q
mile down the canon, and in turn comi
Imanded from the hills on every other
side. There it was determined the train
had to stop for week or len days to
allow their teams to recruit on the rich
grass which grew in abundance on the
hills and in the meadows. The Indians
and Mormons attacked them furiously;
and, notwithstanding they barricaded by
throwing up sod breastworks under
their wagons, quite number of their
men were picked off by arrows and bul.
let's. For several days they held their
murderers at bay, hut finally, by the
treachery of John D. Lee, they we're
decoyed out, and the whole company,
men, n,aiworneno and children, excepting
seventeen babes, were slaughtered
Their effects, even the clothing In which
| they were shot down, were carried of
and appropriated by the Mormon priest.
| hood and the Indians. stl4Y
In 1859 detachment OF Colonel
Johnston's command of United States
soldiers from Camp Floyd did the Chtis.
tian service of gathering together all
thev,could find of the bones of these
victims and burying them in two graves.
One of these graves was made within
the limits of the little corral where the
Arkansans had SO, CALAMITY defended
their wives and children against the.foe,
and where several of their number had
been shot before the treachery of Lee
brought death and ruin on them all -
Above their sacred dust the soldiers
erected a rude monument of grants
boulders and a wooden cross to their
memory Brigham spat upon the cross,
and the Mormons demolished the mon
ument. 1T is now simply heap of
stones, three feet wide and rod long,
running east and west, and is all, save
the blight which has come upon the
spot, that marks their hallowed resting
place. In 1862 cloud burst cut the
meadows into gullies, one of which,
twenty feet deep, turned from its course
and missed this grave Thus, it seems,
Providence spared the rude monument
and mouldering bones, but the Mor'
mons did not sd 5ig3w s 3adt ri
The other grave was half mile north
OF. the monument at the fork of the road
which led back to the main route; but at
the present time is lost. The spring is
almost CRY what there is of it is oozing
out in the bottom of the gully which
just misses the monument; the meadow
where the train stood is now a shifting
sand hill; the barricade thrown up fs
blown away it is barren of Vegetation,
recognizable only by the heap Of boul-
ders once serving to designate aiscom,
mon grave. A few feet west Of it there
are three rocks lying in line, and at
one end an oaken stick stands in the
ground, evidently marking the grave Of
one who fell before the train surrender
ed. Our party picked up few bits of
chinaware, d nail from the woodencross,
an ounce'shg, navy bullet, a few flint
and moss agate arrow heads, and frag-
ments of human remsins, These mark
the scene of the siege, and the bleach
ing bones strewn among the sage-brush
for mile above show that the butchery
was not confined to single spot. tir
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