The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-03-25

by their murderers, and the fate of
| the missing ones for sometime remains
ed a mystery, tn air death being laid
at the door of the savages. After the
| massacre the bodies of the murdered
emigrants were left on the open prai-
rie to be devoured by the wolves. So
closely was the secret of this terrible
deed guarded that not even in the
northern Mormon settlements was it
known for long time that any white
men had participated in the slaugh-
ter.
The first authentic tidings of the fate
of the emigrants reached the outside
world through William II. Rogers, a
government agent, who heard some
thing of it while crossing the plaius in
charge of treasury train in 1857. The
next year he WAS appointed Indian
agent in Utah, and was ordered to res
cue the children whom it was believed
the Mormons had saved from the saw
ages. With the impudence of brigands
the Latter Day Saints" demanded Il
ransom for their release. Mr.. Rogers
refused the demanl and gathered the
children together. To his amazement
one of the children, then about eight
years old, told him one day that it was
not Indians, but white men. that killed
their parents. With company of cav
airy he went to the Mountain Mead
ows, where horrible sight met his
gaze. The skeletons of 120 men, wo-
men and children were spread upon the
field, the flesh torn from the bones by
hungry wolves, and bullet holes through
the heads of most of the victims. A
large quantity of hair from the heads
r,f ha xtyoc harad nm fran fha
sage bushes, and all the remains were
given a Christian burial.
A few days afterward two Mormons
called on Mr.. Rogers, and telling him
their hearts were pressed with grief"
said they would give him true history
of the Mountain Meadows massacre il
he would spare their own lives. He told
them to proceed, and then they related
to him the story told above, naming
Lee as the leader. Some blooded stock,
wagons, carriages and other property
owned by the emigrants, they said, had
been taken to the Mormon tithing es-
tablishment and sold at public auction
for the benefit of the "Church." Brig
ham Young, it is said, kept one of the
carriages and a piano for his own use.
In the Mormon versions of the story of
the massacre, it was made TO appear
that the emigrants provoked both the
Mormon settlers and the Indians in
their progress through Utah. The
Mormons said their destruction was
chargeable to the Indians altogether,
and that they were attacked because
they had poisoned spring at which
cattle drank and died, and that Indians
ate the flesh of these animals and died
also. But this has been pronounced
absolutely untrue by those who have n
vestigated the matter, and it was well
established both before and at the time
of Lees trial that the murder of the
unsuspecting emigrants was but the
execution of a well-laid plan ordered by
the Mormon council, and that Lee not
only executed but exceeded his SAN
culinary orders. With his own hand he
killed wounded women and children
lying helpless after the first volley. He
shot man down who held child in
his arms, and who knew and recog-
nized him through hisdisguise.
In November, 1874, Lee was arrest
ed, and was soon after indicted for par
ticipation in this fearful crime. He
had evaded pursuit for a long time, liv-
ing with one OF his eighteen wives, an
Engli'h woman, among the Navajoe
Indians, where his hut was like an ar
senal. His first trial continued through
part Of July and August, 1875, and on
the testimony then adduced the jury
failed to agree. Last September he was
again tried, and the jury found him
guilty of murder in the first degree.
Having in that territory the right to
choose whether he should be hanged,
beheaded or shot, he chose the latter
form of execution, and was according
ly sentenced to be shot on the 26th of
January. A stay of proceedings was
however obtained, and the execution
was postponed until Friday, March
%. About the only thing to be regret
ted about the execution is that Lee is
the only one who has been made to pay
the penalty of crime participated in
by his whole vile race. EX.