Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-10-10
ANoTnEa noRmoN munDEnEa
Indlclias . Dante Chief He Prem
lses 20 Mako q Full Csaresslen-
Drunk When Arrested.

Indlcllag . DANTE Chief He PFom
lses 20 Mako a Full Csaresslsn-
Drunk wAes Arrested.
BY Telegraph to the New York Herald.
SALT LAKE CRY, September 29.-
Grin Porter Rockwell, the notorious
Mormon murderer and accredited
chief of the Danites, was indicted yes.
terday by the Grand Jury Of the First
Judicial District Of the Territory now
in session at Provo, for his participa-
ton in what is generally known az
the Aitken massacre, which occurred
in the central part Of the Territory, a
hundred miles south of this city. in
1858. Rockwell was arrested in this
city to-day by the United States Mar
shall, and conveyed to the Penitenti-
ary for safe keeping. He was in a
state of intoxication when arrested,
and talked loudly of writing his con-
fcssions, as Bill Hickman, his former
associate in crime, had done.
Biahop Robert +. Burton, the Major
General of the Nauyoo Legion, who
was arrested some months ago for the
murder of Joseph Morris, the rival
prophet of Brigham Young, in 1862,
and DIR. Jeter Clinton,.who was also
arrested about the same time ON the
charge of numbering Elder John
Banks, the counselor of Morris, have
both been released from custody on
1000 and $4,000 bail respectively.
The arrest of Rockwell is regarded
here as an important step on the part
Of the officers Of the law, exhibiting
as it does that there is disposition
on tho part of the Grand Jury to
bring this notorious criminal to an
swer for his bloody deeds. He has
been the ready tool of the Mormon
leaders from almost the foundation
of their church to carry out their ven-
gcance.sagainst their enemies. He
was accused as far back as 1910 of hav-
ing made an attempt to assassinate
Governor Lilburn w. Boggs, of Mis-
souri,, but the Governor escaped with
his life, though he was very seriously
wounded, and never wholly recover
cd. 1t is matter of common belief
here that it was Rockwell, with his
who murdered Secretary
Almon w. Babbitt and his compan-
ions at Ash Hollow, on the Plains, in
1857. A few days after the murder
of MIR. Babbitt a small party of apos-
tate Mormons, leaving this city for
the States, were also murdered
That he was the chief of the party
who killed the Aitkens and their as
sociates, while on their way to Cali
fornia, everybody believes; but what
evidence the Grand Jury was in pos
session Of on which to indict him is
yet unknown. He is generally be-
lieved to have committed several MUIR
ders, and there is a strong hope that
he will carry out his promise to-day
and publish his confession. lie is
man of small stature, but very wiry,
and is now about GO years of ago
He has never followed any settled
course of life, and has lived more on
than at home. OF late
years he has owned large droves Of
horses, and has accumulated quite an
of money. For the last seven
or eight years he has given himself
up to almost constant intoxication, to
drown the reproaches of his con-
science, it is believed. 1t was he who
Interrupted Vice President Colfax in
the midst of his speech at the Town
send House, and then made the as
founding statement to that public
meeting that che had never killed
anybody who didn't want to be
killed, or deserved to be killed, any,
howl"