The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-07-08

has served rs screen for. the Mormons
and Indians for the past week. A raven
flies over them croaking. What calico
him there? Does he foresec that ht
shall peck at the eyes of brave men and
rentlc women who arc looking at him.
Tic wagons with the wounded and chill
dren are passing the hiding place of tho
Indians. How quietly they lie among
the gnarly oak bushes! But their eyes
glisten and their necks stretch out to see
how soon their prey will reach them.
The women are nearly quarter of a
mile behind the wagons, and the mon
arc much further behind tho women. A
half-dozcn Mormon horsemen bring up
the rear. Tramp, tramp, trampl The
wagons have just passed out of sight over
the divide. The mon arc entering lit
tic ravinc. The women arc
OPPOSITE THE INDIANS.
They have regained confidence, and
several are expressing JOY at escaping
from thoir savage foes. Sec that man on
the divide. 1t is Higbcc. He makes q
motion with his arm and shouts some
thing which those nearest him under
stand to bc do your duty In an in
slant tho militia men wheel and each
oloOIo uilC liltil llctICSU lllUl. LILO Ill
dianS spring from their ambush and rush
wagons the rifle of John ID. Lee cracks,
wagon falls of the seat. Swiftly the
work of death goes on. Leo is assisted
in shooting and Draining the wounded
by tho teamstcrs, Knight and McCurdy,
and as the latter raises his rifle to his
shoulder he cries: 20 Lord, my God, rc-
ceivc their spirits; it is for Thy kingdom
that do this" The tomahawk, and
bludgeon, and knife soon completed the
bloody work begun by the bullet, and
in few minutes after Higbee's signal
not q man or woman was left alive. Two
girls were missing, and were soon found
concealed in somc ncighboring bushes.
Two of tho Mormons-and Lee was one
of thcm-draggcd the trembling and
HALF DEAD GIRLS
from their place of conccalment and
ravishcd them, then Lee ordered them
killed by the Indians. An Indian chief
objected, saying "thoy were too pretty
to kill; let us save them" While this
objection was being made Lee held one
of the girls on his lap. She throw her
arms around his neck and implorcd for
her life, promising she would love him
always if he would but let her live.
His answer was to push her head back
with one hand, when, with the other
hand clasping n bowie-knifc, he cut her
white neck through to the spine
This finished the slaughter as awful as
were the Sicilian vcspcrs. The bodies,
horribly mutilatod, wcr. loft upon the
meadows a prey for wolves and buzzards
for weeks, and it was no5 until some
months had elapsed that the whitcncd
bones werc gathered together and
buried. Sixteen or seventeen children
ranging III age from few months tc
eight years, were divided up among tho
Mormons, and so was $40, 600 in proper
ty which the cmigrants possessed. The
by Gcntilcs and restored to Arkansas
but the "strong parental government
has never compelled the cut-throats tc
tlisgorgc tho $40, 600 and restore it to the
SURVIVORS OF THE MASSACRE,
most of whom have always been in dcs,
pcratC need of it.
A strange sequence to the awful mas
sacrc is the fact that Mountain Meadows,
from being a vcrdant spot in 1857, in
viting tho fatal halt and rest Of the cmi-
grants, has become sterile and barren,
literally the abode of dcsolation.
The only atoncnlcnt over offered for
the crime was the shooting of John ID.
Lee ut the scene of the massacre Oh
March 23, 1877, nearly twenty years
after the crime was committed, and after
he had confessed that on that bloody
occasion he himself took five lives. The
responsibility for tho crime was ut every
Mormon officials door, and Brigham
Young was their chief. They ought to
have all swung for it. President John
Taylor, George g. Cannon and other
Mormon leaders ought now to be arrest
cd and tried, not for polygamy, Iut for
the Mountain Meadow massacre, and
ought to be hung. They could all be
convicted of being accessory, not only
after, but before the fact.