The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-10-05
AFTER TWENTY YEARS.
! The Scene of the Mountain Meadow Mar-
sacre as Described by n Visitor.

The Scene Of the Mountain Meadow Mar-
sacre as Described by n Visitor.
Nineteen years ago an immigrant
train of one hundred and thirty-seven
persons, while on their way to Califor-
mia, were massacred 10 Utah, OF place
called Mountain Meadow, and, beyond q
doubt, it was done by the Mormons, at
the instigation of Brigham Young. John
ID. Lee, an adopted son of Brigham, fig
ured most conspicuously in the awful
tragedy.
Feeling that to intelligently conduc,
the prosecution it vas necessary to visit
the scene of the butchery, Sumner
Howard, ESQ.,, United States district at
torney for Zion, determined to do So.
Accompanied by Marshal Nelson, A. s.
Patterson, your correspondent, and q
Mormon guide, he set out for that place.
AT the scene of the massacre we came
across numbers of human bones. "A rib
as white rs snow, shoulder blade half
buried in the sand, and other fragments
of human frames, scattered for q mile,
lay bleaching in the sun. The old camp
ground ". here the immigrants corraled
their wagons was IA level strip of meadow
terminating in II bluff like manner, and
commanding view of half a mile down
tho canyon, and i'll turn commanded
from the hills on every other side. 1t
was there that the train had determined
to stop for n week or ten days to allow
their teams to recruit on the rich grass
which grew in abundance on the hills
aud in the meadows. The Indians and
Mormons attacked thom furiously; and,
Notwithstanding they barricaded by
throwing up sod breastworks under
their wagons, quite number of their
men were picked off by arrows and bull
lets. For several days they held their
murderers at bay, but finally, by the
treachery of John d. Lee, they were de-
coyed out, and the whole company, men,
women and children, excepting seven.
teen babes, were slaughtered. Their
effects, even the clothing in which they
were shot down. were carried off and ap.
propriated by the Mormon priesthood
, and the Indians.
In 1859 q detachment of Colonel
Johuston's command of United States
soldiers, from Camp Floyd, did the
Christian service of gathering together
all they 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 Ar.
kansans had SO gallantly defended theii
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 q rude
monument of granite powders aud q
wooden cross to their memory. Brig.
ham spat upon the cross, and the Nor.
mons demolished the monument. 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. IL 1852 cloud
burst cut the meadows into gullies, one
of which, twenty feet deep, turne d from
its course and missed this grave. Thus.
it seems, Providence spared tho rude
monument and moldoring bones, but the
Mormons did not.
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 it is lost. The
spring is almost dry; what there is of il
IS oozing out in the bottom of the pul.
ley which just misses the monument;
the meadow where the train stood is now
shifting sand hill; the barricade thrown
up is blown away; it is barren of vege-
tation, recognizable only by the heap of
powders once serving to designate a
common grave. A few feet west of Il
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, II nail from the wooden cross,
an ounce slug, navy bullet, few fiiut
and moss agate arrow heads, and frag-
ments of human remains. These mark
the scene Of the siege, and the bleach.
ing bones strewn among the sage brush
for mile above show that the butchery
luaa NOT cn.nGral 70 O cs,.e-lo ...-L