Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-07-03

'H|N az ~ ttfS
In carrying out these instructions
they found il necessary to make use of
the basest treachery. This they did By |
means of the white flag borne by Lee
and William Bateman. They repre-
sented to the beseiged that the Indians
were terribly excited and thirsted for
revenge because Of the loss Of some of
their cattle. and they promised protec-
ton to the emigrants if they would I'M
conditionally surrender. There was
no alternative. The supplies of the
emigrants were z wing out, and mas
much as hormons were the only white
people in Utah, there was no hope
for mercy from any ether source.
The terms were accepted, and on the
morning of Friday, September II, they
gave up all their guns and ammunition,
and then placed themselves wholly IN
the power of those whose appetite for
~bloodshed had but Just been whetted.
They marched out from behind
THEIR BARRICADEs.
The scene that followed is thus de-
scribed by Mr.. Dunn:
1t is Just after noon and the day is
bright and clear. Tramp, tramp, tramp,
they march down from the camping
place. The men reach the militia and
give three hearty cheers as they take
their places, murderer and victim, side
by side. Tramp, tramp, tramp. They
are rounding the point of the ridge
which has served as a screen for the
- Il.-u E. A. -,n.
week. A raven flies over them croak-
ing. What called him thereP Does
he forsee that be shall peck at the eyes
of brave men and gentle women who
are looking at him? The wagons with
the wounded and the children are pass
ing the hiding place of the Indians.
How quietly they lie along the gnarly
oak bushes. But their eyes
glisten and their necks stretched out to
see how soon their prey will reach
them. The women are nearly a quar-
ter of a mile behind the wagons, and
the men are much further behind the
women. A half-doZen Mormon horse
men bring up the rear. Tramp, tramp,
tramp! The wagons have just passed
out Of sight over the divide. The men
are entering n little ~ravine. The
women are
OPPOSITE THE INDIANS.
They have regained confidence, and
several are expressing joy at escaping
from their savage foes. See the nan
on the divide. 1t is Higbee. He makes
a motion with his arm and shouts some
thing which those nearest him under
stand to be DO your duty In an in
slant the militia men wheel and each
shoots the man nearest him. The In
dians spring from their ambush and
rush upon the women; from between
the wagons the rife of John ID. Lee
cracks, and a wounded in the
foremost wagon falls offthe seat. Swift
ly the work of death goes on, Lee is
assisted in shooting and Draining the
wounded by the Transfers, Knight
and McCurdy, and as the latter raises
his rifle to his shoulder he cries: 80
Lord. my God, receive their spirits; it
is for thy kingdom that / do this
The tomahawk, the bludgeon, and
knife O completed the treacherous
work begun by the bullet, and in II few
minutes after Higbec's signal not "A man
nor woman was left alive. Two girls
were missing, and were soon found
concealed in some ~neighboring bushes.
Two of the MOrmons-and Lee was one
of them-dragged the trembling and
HALF IL GIRLS
from their places Of concealment and
ravished them, and then Lee ordered
them killed by the Indians. An Indian
chief objected, saying they were too
pretty to kill; let Us ave them" While
this objection was being made Lee held
one of the girls on his lap. She threw
her arms about his neck and implorec
for her life, promising she would love
him always if he would but let her live
His answer was to push her head bacl
with one hand, when, with the otheI
hand clasping a bowie-knife. he cut be
white neck through to the spine.
|, This finished the slaughter rs awful
, as were the Sicilian vespers. TIL,
bodies, horribly mutilated, were lief
| upon the meadows a prey for wolye
/ and bu2zards for weeks, and il was no
/ until some months had elapsed that tn
whitcned bones were gathered togethc
| and buried. Sixteen Of seventeen chill
dren, ranging III age from a few
| months to eight years, were divided NJ
; among the MOrmons, and SO was abou
= $4,000 in property which the emf
grants possessed. The little children
were subsequently secured by GENTLE
and restored to Arkansas, but tn,
''strong parental government ha'
never compelled the cut-throats Il
to disgorge the $4,000 and restore i
to the
SURVIVORS OF II MASSACRE,
most of whom have always been in DIES
perate need of il.
A strange sequence TO the awful mas
sacrc is the fact that Mountain Mead
ows; from being a verdant spot il
1857, inviting the fatal halt and rest o.
the e%migrants, has become sterile anc
barren, literally the abode of desola'
ton.
The only atonemcnt ever offered fol
the awful crime was the shooting %
John ID. Lee at the scene Of
the massacre on March %, 1917
nearly twenty years after the
cr;me was committed and after he