Year: 1877




4gO, as Related in the COnTes-


sion Of John ID. Lee.


When all were ready, Samuel McMur-
dy, counsellor to Bishop p. X. Smith
(Klingensmith) drove out ON the lead.


His wagon had seventeen children, cloth


ing and arms. Samuel Knight drove
the other team, with five wounded men
and one boy about fifteen years old. 1
walked behind the front wagon to direct
the course and to shun being in the heat
of the slaughter; but this I kept to my
self. When we got turned fairly to the
east I motioned to McMurdy to steer
nsrth, across the valley. | at the same
time told the women, who were next to
the wagon, to follow the road up to the
troops, which they did. Instead of say
ing to McMurdy not to drive so fast-as
he swore on my trial. said to the con-
trary, to drive on, as my aim was to get
out of sight before the firing commenced,
which we did. We were about half a
mile ahead of the company when we
heard the first firing.


We had driven over a ridge of rolling
ground, and down on a low fat. The
firing was simultaneous along the whole
line. The moment the firing commenced
McMurdy halted and tied his lines across
the rod of his wagon box, stepped down
cool!y with a double-barreled shotgun
walked back TO Knights wagon-who
had the wounded men and was about
twenty feet in the rear. As he raised
his piece he said, Lord, my God, re-
ceive their spirits, for it is for the king
dom of heavens sake that we do this"
fired and killed two men. Samuel
Knight had a muzzle-loading rife, and
| he shot and killed the three men, and
then struck the wounded boy on the
head. who fell dead. In the meantime 1
drew a five shooter from my belt, which
accidentally went off, cutting across Nc
| Murdy's buckskin pants in front, below
/ the crotch. McMurdy said: Brother
Lee, you are excited; take things cool.
You was near killing me. Look where
the ball cut, - pointing to the place in
his pants. At this moment | heard the
scream OF a child I looked up ond saw
an Indian have little boy by the hair
of his head dragging him out of the hind
end OF the wagon, with knife in his
hand, getting ready to cut his throat
l sprang for the Indian with my revolver
in hand, and shouted to the top of my
voice, =" Arick, coma, cot too seoet "
('' Stop, you fool") The child was ter
ror-stricken. His chin was bleeding.
suppose it was the cut of a knife, but
afterwards learned that it was done on
the wagon-bOx as the Indian yanked the
boy down by the hair of the head.
had no sooner rescued this child than
another Indian seized a little girl by the
hair; / rescued her as soon as I could
speak told the Indians that they must
not hurt the children-that | would die
before they should be hurt, that we
would buy the children from them. Be
fore this time the Indians had rushed
around the wagon in quest of blood, and
dispatched the two runaway wounded
men. In justice to my statement
would say that if my shooter had not
prematurely exploded I would have had
hand in dispatching the five wounded
I had lost control OF myself and scarce
knew what | was about. / saw an In
dian pursue little girl who. was fleeing
He caught her about one hundred feet
from the wagon and plunged his knife
through her. l said to McMurdy that |
he had better drive the children to Ham |
blin's rancho and give them some nOur- |
ishment, while would go down and get |
the road ] saw the dead strung along the |
distance of about half mile. The |
women and children were killed by the |
Indians. / saw Shurtz with the Indians |
and no other white man with them.
When 1 came to the men they lay about |
a rod apart Here | came up with Hig |
bee Bishop Smith, and the rest of the |
company. AS l came up Higbee said to
me, Let us search these persons for val |
ables, and asked me to assist him gave |
me hat to hold. Several men were al /
ready engaged in searching the bodies.
l replied that l was unwell, and wanted
to get upon my horse and go to the
rancho and nurse myself. Ny request
was granted. Reaching Hamlin's ranche,
being heart-sick and worn out, l lay
down on my saddle-blanket and slept,
and knew but little of what passed. dur
ing the night. About daybreak in the
morning heard the voices of Col. Dame
and Isaac G. Haight. l heard some very
angry words pass between them, which
drew my attention. Dame said he
would have to report the destruction of
theemigrant camp and company. Haight
said Chow? AS an Indian mas
sacre ?" Dame said he did not know so
well about that. This reply seemed to
irritate Haight, who spoke quite loosely,
saying, g How the hi can you report it
any other way without duplicating your
self?" At this Dame lowered his voice
almost to whisper. l could not under
stand what he said, and the converse
tion stopped. l got up, saw the chill
dren, and among the others the boy who
was pulled by the hair of his head out of
the wagon by the Indian and saved by
me. Then all hands returned to the
scene of the slaughter TO bury the dead.
The bodies were all in nude state. The
Indians, through the night, had stripped |
them of every vestige of clothing. Many
parties were laughing and talking as
they carried the bodies to the ravine for
burial. They were just covered over
little, but did not long remain so, for
the wolves dug them up, and, after eat
ing the flesh from them, the bones laid
upon the ground until buried some time
after by government military officer. |
At the time of burying the bodies Dame
and Haight got into another quarrel.
Dame seemed to be terror-stricken, and /
again said he would have to publish it.
They were about two PAGES from me. |
Dame spoke low. as if careful to avoid |
being heard. Haight spoke loud and /
said g You know that you counseled /


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