Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-03-29

eral OF Toe ul8uitafiec uoWou az
prayer and invoked the aid OF the
Holy spirit to prepare their minds
and guide them TO do right, and car
ry out the councils of their leaders.
Higbee said that President J. y.
Haight had been to Parowan TO con-
fer with Col Dame and his council.
and the orders were that the emil
grant camp must be used mp. re.
piled, mep, women, children and all!
He said, all except such as are too
young to tell lies; and if the Indians
cannot do it without help we must
help them. | commenced pleading
for the comp any, and said though
some of them have behaved badly
they have been pretty well chas'ised;
my policy would be to draw off the
Indians, let them have portion OF
the loose cattle and withdraw with
them under the promise that they
wouldn't modest the country any
more. This course couldn't bring
them into trouble. After farther
similar talk, Ira Allen, High Coun-
selor,aud Rober: Wyley and Others,
spoke, reproving me sharply for
trying TO dictate To the prizes hood
that it would set at naught all aus
thority; that he wouldn't give the
life of one of our brethren for
thousand suoh persons; if we let them
go they will raise hell in California,
and the result will be that our wo-
men and children will have to be
butchered aud ourselves, too. 1t is
no worse for them to die than Tor us
and l am surprised to hear Brother
Lee talk as he does. He has always
been considered one OF the staCnch.
est 10 the church; and now he is one
of the first to shirk bis duty. | said,
brethren, the Lord must harden my
heart before / can do such thing.
Allen said it is not wicked to obey
counsel. At this juncture | with
drew-waIked off some fifty PAGES
and FRUSTRATED myself on the ground
and wept in the bitter anguish OF
my soul, and asked the Lord to avert
that evil. G. Fl. Hopkins, a near
friend of mine, came to me and said,
Brother Lee, come, get up, and don't
draw off from the priesthood, you
are only geripg your own life
by standing out; you cant help 1T
if this is wrong the blame won't rest
upon you. | said, Charley, this is
the worst move this people ever
made, [ feel it. He said, come, go
back and let them have their way. L
went back, weeping like child, and
took my place among them and tried
to be silent, and was until Higbee
said the emigrauts must be decoye ed
out through friendship. | could no
bnger hold my peace, and said |,
Joseph Smith said that God hated a
traitor, and so do L Before | would
be traitor | would rather take ten
men and go TO that camp and tell
them they must die, and now to de-
fend themselves, and give them a
show for their lives. This would be
more honorable than to betray them
like Judas.
Here | got reproof and was ordered
to hold my peace. The plan agreed up,
on there was to meet them with a
flag of truce; tell them that the In
dams were determined on their de-
struction; that we dare not oppose the
Indians for we were at their mercy ;
that the best we could do for them
was to get what few traps we could
into the wagons, to lay their arms in
the bottom of the wagons and cover
them up with bed clothes and start to
the settlements as soon as possible.
and trust themselves in our hands.
The small children and wounded were
to go with the two wagons, the wom-
en- to follow the wagons, and the men
next. and the troops to stand in read
mess on the east side of the road
ready to receive them. ShurtZ and
johnson were to conceal the Indians
In the brush and rocks till the COM
pany was strung out on the road to a
certain point. and at the watchword,
"Halt, do your duty" each man was
W COfci UtS flGttil anu utcs oOHuoOu
and Shurtz were to rally the Indians,
and rush upon and despatch the wom-
en- and larger children 1t was further
told the men that President Haieht
said that if we were united in carrying
out these instructions, we would all
receive celestial reward" i said
/ was willing to put up with less re-
ward, if I could be excused. How can
you do this without shedding innocent
blood Here, got another lampoon-
ing for my stubbornness and disobed-
fence to the priesthood. | was given
to understand, that unless / kept a
close mouth about this matter, il
would be death with me. All but
myself spoke and declared they were
wiling to carry out the plans of their
leaders, who were divinely inspired
Then all looked at me, and l said you
can do as you please, will try not to
oppose you longer. Will you close
your mouth ?was the question / said
| will try. On Saturday morning all
was ready, and every man assigned to
his post of duty during the night, or
rather just before daylight. johnson
and Shurtz ambushed their Indians
the better to deceive the emigrants.
About IL o'clock a m the troops un-
der Maj Higbee took their position
on the road, while the flag was still
kept up in the corral. Higbee called
VIM Bateman out of the ranks to
take flag Of truce to the corral he
was met about half way with another
white flag from the emigrant camp.
They had talk with the emigrants
and was told we had come TO rescue
them if they would trust us. Both
men with flags returned to their re-
spective places and reported and were
called to meet again and bring word
Higbee called me to go and inform
them the conditions, and if accepted,
Dan Mcfarland, brother to John
Mcfarland the lawyer who acts as
aid de-camp would bring back word,
and then two wagons would be sent
for fire arms children clOthinO etc