The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-19
Evidence In Mountain
Meadow Massacre.
DRANNAN'S STORY.
How He Helped a Detective
ia Gathering Facts.

City. writes Capt. w. f. Drannan i
the Chicago Record. took charge O
the scout force and worked for hin
rs chief OF scouts until late in the fall
located the Ute Indians in bod,
In what is known now as Cache valley
Loo miles north of Salt Lake City. Gen
Corners completely annihilated the In
dams in the Cache valley fight, an,
consequently wound up my work TO,
him as a scout. After the battle anC
on our way baok-I think it was tht
day before we went into Salt LAX.
CITY, was riding along with the gen.
eral, and he said to me:
Captain, will have no further use
for you this fall or winter, but ]
have a better job for you than this
and your pay shall be fair" He asked
me If he'd noticed around his quar-
tiers g. well-dressed gentleman clad in
catizens' clothes.
We'll" said the general, his name is
howard and he is a detective from the
CITY of Chicago He is out here for
the purpose Of working up The Noun
tRin Meadow massacre and it seems
that he can do nothing alone. Wouldn't
you like to help him."
NY reply was that detective work
was something out of my line, but
that If + could, assist Mr.. Howard in
any way l was perfectly willing to
take hold and do it.
The, next day Mr.. Howard came over
to Fort Douglas, where he was sta
doned. and l happened to be at the
generals headquarters at the time Mr..
Howard came in. The general intro
duced me to Mr.. Howard and recon-
Inended me to him. Mr.. Howard asked
me If | knew certain persons living in
Provo, about 40 miles south of Salt
Lake City, and certain other parties
IN Lenlhi, about 20 miles further south
told him that I did. We soon made
arrangements 10 work together.
This was Nov. l, 1864. In few days
we pulled out for Provo, each of us
dressed in Mormon costume. At that
time I could pass as good Mormon. 1
knew their customs, the trend of their
conversations, and, consequently, was
able to talk with Mormon Intelligent
~. l was not personally acquainted
with all the Mormon elders and bishops
at this particular time, but knew them
all by name and never was at a loss
for proper subject for conversation.
Consequently our conversation would
naturally drift upon some particular
bishop or elder when we went into a
Mormon settlement to gain the conf
dence Of some particular party. We
had to gain their confidence in order
to get any information whatever and
then we had to work solely with the
women. All the information we got
was from women. In the first place,
we had to find some woman who was
dissatisfied with her lot-that is, some
woman living in polygamy and dissa-
tisfied with it.
Brigham Young's right-hand man,
who took charge of organizing the
Mormons for the Mountain Meadow
massacre, was Bishop Woolay of Pro-
vo. In those days every town or viii
lage was ruled by a bishop and his
word was law in that particular neigh
borhood, town or precinct. He was
responsible to Brigham Young not only
for his own acts, but for the acts of
those under him. When the order was
given out for the massacre, Bishop
Wooley was to furnish twenty men,
Bishop Hill Hickman of the town of
Ceutipede was to furnish the same
number Porter Rockwell, bishop Of
the. 18th ward of Salt Lake City. was
to furnish forty men. Mrs. Clara
Johnson of Provo told US that these
orders came direct from Brigham
Young. Porter Rockwell and Bill Hick-
man were Brigham Young's destroy
ing angels Any person belonging to
the Mormon church or otherwise. VINO
was obnoxious to Brigham, was made
known to Porter Rockwell and Bill
Hickman, and it was their duty to put
him out of the way. John d. Lee,
another bishop of Salt Lake City, was
also, commanded to furnish forty men.
All fhRSa hichnTa 40
second day before the massacre. Ac-
cordins to the evidence we gathered,
the question came up: IF this mas
s2cre' occurs, will it not be exposed by
some of our lukewarm brothers or sis
ters? Porter Rockwell spoke up and
laid NJ If the massacre is success
fElr Brigham Young is going to make
D tour Of the southern settlements
right away afterwards, and you all
know he will close everybody's mouth"
A Mrs. Prtchard, in the 14th ward of
Salt Lake City, verified the statements
we got from the parties l have men
toned, and she also told us Of bishop
of. the name Of White living in Farm
ington about twenty miles north of
Salt Lake City, who was TO furnish so
many Indians, but as matter of fact
there Were no Indians connected with
the massacre, simply Mormons dis
guised as Indians.
According to the statements of two
other women in Salt Lake Cty-two
sisters, wives of a Mormon of the name
of Schultz-John D. Lee, the man who
suffered the penalty of death for the
crime and in fact the only man who
was punished, was the only man who
to going into the massacre.
One night in May, 1865, Mr.. Howard
and attended a theatre in Salt Lake
City. As it happened the Schultz wom-
en- whom | have mentioned sat direct
IL In front of us During the perform
ance L managed to ask them If my
friend and ! could see them home. l
had noticed they were without an es-
Cort. They answered yes and told us
also to meet them after the theatre at
the corner Of Fourth and Emigrant
streets. We met them there and, as
they were giving us considerable in
formation we walked with them until
daybreak.
They made a clean confession of ev-
erythins they knew in regard to the
nassacre. The woman / was with told
me positively that John D. Lee was
forced into, the crime for the reason
that he knew the Meadows better than
any other man among them and that
he had taken the lead. When the Nor
mons got near the grounds and the bat
tie was arranged it was decided that
Lee should kill the women and chill
dren while the emigrants were defend
ing themselves upon the opposite side
of the train. There is no doubt that
John p. Lee was compelled to take the
part he did. According to the state
Dlents of the women made on the night
of the thaatre there were just two chill
dren, little girls, left out Of the entire
train Of en1igrants.
They told us one of these girls was IN
Centipede and the other In Pennington
but they we're too young to remember
anything in regard to the massacre
They told us also that after the mas
sacre Bill Hickman got up in church