The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-07-07

and Indians for the past week. A raven
flies over thom croaking. What called
him there? Docs he foresee that he
shall peck at the eyes of brave men and
gentle women who arc looking at him?
The wagons with the wounded and chill
dren are passing the hiding place of the
Indians. How quietly they lie among
the gnarly oak bushes! But their eyes
glisten and their necks stretch out to sec
how soon their prey will reach them.
The women are nearly quarter of u
mile behind the wagons, and the men
are much further behind the women. A
half-dozcn Mormon horsemen bring up
tho rear. Tramp, tramp, tramp! Tho
wagons have just passed out of sight over
the divide. The men arc entering lit
tic ravinc. The women arc
OPPOSITE THE INDIANS.
They have regaincd confidence, and
several arc expressing Joy ut escaping
from their savage foes. See that man on
the divide. 1t is Higbce. He makes q
motion with his arm and shouts some
thing which those nearest him under
stand to be do your duty In an in
staut tho militia men wheel and each
shoots the man nearest him. Tho In
dians spring from their ambush and rush
upon tho women; from between the
wagons tho rifle of John ID. Lee cracks,
and wounded woman in the foremost
wagon falls off the scat. Swiftly the
work of death goes on. Leo is assisted
in shooting and Draining tho wounded
by the teamsters, Knight and McCurdy,
and as tho latter raises his rifle to his
shoulder he cries: 20 Lord, my God, re-
ceive 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
i'll few minutes after Higbcc's signal
not q man or woman was left alive. Two
girls wcro missing, and wcrc soon found
concealed in some noighboring bushes.
Two of the Mormons-and Leo was one
of thcm-draggcd the trembling and
HALF DEAD GIRLS
from their place of conccalmcnt and
r,lvishcd them, then Leo ordered them
killed by the Indians. An Indian chief
objected, saying 'tthey 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 bowie-knifc, he cut her
white neck through to the spine
This finished the slaughter as awful as
were the Sicilian vcspcrs. Tho bodies,
horribly mutilatcd, were left upon the
meadows IL prey for wolves and buzzards
for weeks, and it was not until some
months had elapsed that the whitencd
bones were gathered together and
buried. Sixteen or seventeen children,
ranging in age from few months to
eight years, were divided up among the
Mormons, and so was $40, 900 in proper
ty which the cmigrants possessed The
little children were subsequently secured
by Gcntilcs and restored to Arkansas
but tho ''strong parental government"
has never compelled the cut-throats to
disgorgc tho $4,000 and restore it to the
SURVIVORS OF THE MASSACRE,
most OF whom have always been in des-
pcratc need of it,
sacrc is the fact that Mountain Meadows,
vitmg the fatal halt and rest of the cmi-
Ei"itSD mo OSCoHic bttIjic uutt DulTCL,
literally tho abode Of desolation.
The only atoncment ever ole ed for
the crime was tho shooting OF John ID.
Lee at tho scenc of the massacre on
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 the crime was at every
Mormon officials door, and Brigham
Young was their chief. They ought to
have all swung for it. President John
Taylor, George Q. Cannon and other
Mormon leaders ought now to bc arrest
ed and tried, not for polygamy, but for
tho Mountain Meadow massacre, and
ought TO bo hung. They could all bc
convicted of being accessory, not only
after, but before the fact.