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She is, however, a very pleasant lady and
talked freely of the massacre through which she passed years ago, although
she cannot speak even now without a great deal of emotion of this butchery
of her loved ones; and an expression of horror appears at times upon her
face, such as she must have felt when she saw on that fateful September
day 120 of her people tomahawked and pierced with arrows, crushed with
stones and mutilated with bullets and knives, victims of Mormon fanaticism
and hatred.
Mrs.
Evans says this train of emigrants left what was then Carroll County,
Arkansas, in the summer of 1857. In the train she had a father and mother,
five sisters, one brother, an uncle and an aunt and ten or twelve cousins.
She says her father and uncle were well off and had $30,000 in money with
them, besides a large number of fine stock. There were about forty heads
of families in this train when it entered
Utah, most of them hailing from
Arkansas. It is said to have been one of the finest trains that ever
crossed the plains. They were making their way to
California.
Mrs.
Evans
says they received hostile treatment from the time they entered
Utah.
Early in September they came to the home of a prominent Mormon,
Jacob Hamblin, on the northern slope of the Mountain Meadows. Here they were told
that there was a large spring about four miles distant in the southern
part of the Mountain Meadows. So the train, went on to the spring and
encamped there for the night. After camping at this place for three days
and nights, on the fourth day, in the morning just before light about
sixty Mormons, disguised as
Indians, and a number of
Indians attacked the
train. The
Indians were ordered to stampede the cattle and drive them away
from the train. They then commenced firing on the emigrants. The fire was
returned by the emigrants, who had corralled their wagons. The Mormons and
Indians
had the train completely surrounded and they were cut off from the spring.
For about eight days the siege lasted, the emigrants fighting like lions.
The Mormons finding they could not whip them by fair fighting, decided to
destroy them by treachery. Accordingly,
John D. Lee,
Haight and
Higbee had their paint washed off, and dressing in their usual attire,
took three wagons and drove down towards the emigrants' corral as if they
were traveling on their ordinary business.
Mrs.
Evans says her 8-year-old
sister, Mary Dunlap, who was dressed in white, went out towards them and
waved a white handkerchief in token of peace. The Mormons in the wagons
waved one in reply and advanced to the corral. The emigrants, no
Indians
being in sight at this time, came out, and walked [talked] with these
leading Mormons for an hour or an hour and a half. The Mormons told the
emigrants that the
Indians were hostile, and that if they gave up their
arms it would show the
Indians that they did not want to fight. If the
emigrants would do this the Mormons promised to pilot them back to the
settlements.
Mrs.
Evans, when asked if they did not suspect treachery, says that they
did not, and if they did they were about famished from thirst, and were
ready to accept almost any terms in order to get out of their distressing
situation. The emigrants having agreed to these terms, delivered up their
arms to the three Mormons with whom they had counseled. The women and
children started back towards
Hamblin's house, followed by the men. The
Mormons, with the arms, came along by the side of the men.
Mrs.
Evans says
after they had proceeded about a mile on their way back to
Hamblin's house
they came to a cluster of scrub oaks and sage bushes on both sides of the
road. About this time
Higbee, who was with them, gave the signal to fire
by shooting off his pistol, when a volley poured in from each side and the
butchering commenced. Who can picture the horrors of the awful scene? From
every bush, demons of destruction leaped forth to revel in crime and in
blood. The Mormons and
Indians shot down in cold blood the defenseless
men, women and children, then pierced them with bows and arrows, then cut
their throats with knives. With savage whoops and yells, these devils
pursued their victims in every direction. Innocent girls fell upon their
knees and prayed for mercy, but their cries were unheeded. The massacre
commenced about 5 o'clock in the evening. In one-half hour's time, 120
men, women and children lay cold in death, horribly mutilated and
disfigured.
Mrs.
Evans says that she ran and hid behind a sage bush when the massacre
began. Two of her older sisters were killed right near her, and were lying
dead by her side. She heard her baby sister crying and ran to find her.
She found her entwined in her mother's arms, but that mother was cold in
death. This sister, whose name was
Sarah, and who was about a year old at
this time, had been shot through her right arm, below the elbow, by a
large ball, breaking both bones and cutting her arm half off. Seizing her
sister in her arms,
Mrs.
Evans rushed back to the sage bush where she had
been hiding. She remained here until she saw a white man, who proved to be
Jacob Hamblin. She went up to him and begged him to save her and her little
sisters. She says that
Hamblin was the only white man that she saw who
belonged to the massacring party. She remembers distinctly that
Hamblin was
dressed in a suit of green jeans. After the massacre was over, she saw
quite a number of white men washing the paint from their faces.
Mrs.
Evans says that she and her sister Louisa begged not to be separated
from their baby sister,
Sarah.
Jacob Hamblin finally agreed to take the
three sisters to his home. Just seventeen children survived this horrible
massacre, the oldest of whom was not over 8 years of age. All of them were
placed in one wagon, several of them being wounded, while the clothing of
nearly all of them was bloody with the gore of their kindred. A son-in-law
of
John D. Lee drove the wagon to
Hamblin's house, where all the children
were kept that night. What a pitiful sight these orphans, some of them
moaning in pain, all of them bereft of parents and kindred, must have
presented, as they were driven away from the scene of this horrible
butchery!
On the day after the massacre, Lee and the other Mormons started off with
the rest of the children, leaving
Rebecca,
Louisa and
Sarah Dunlap with
Jacob Hamblin. After the lapse of several weeks,
Mrs.
Evans says she went
back to the scene of the massacre with some Mormon girls. None of the dead
bodies had been buried, but wild animals and buzzards were eating the
flesh from their bones. She was only able to recognize one corpse and that
one was Jack Baker, a very prominent character among the emigrants. She
recognized him by his long beard.
Mrs.
Evans says the report they were
kindly treated and well cared for while in hands of the Mormons, is false.
To the contrary she says they were only half fed and half clothed and
harshly treated.
Mrs.
Evans and her sisters did not long remain at Mountain Meadows, but
soon moved with
Hamblin to the fort of Santa Clara. They remained in the
hands of
Hamblin for nearly two years, before they were rescued. The rescue
of these children from the Mormons was an undertaking involving a great
deal of difficulty and danger. United States Indian Agent Dr. Forney,
Deputy Marshal Rogers and Capt. James Lynch, with a body of United States
troops, took party in the rescue. The children were kept for some time in
Salt Lake City. Captain Lynch then carried the children back to their homes
in
Arkansas and other states wherever they had relatives. He carried the
three Dunlap girls back to Carroll (now Boone) county. Their uncle, James
Dunlap, who was then living at Carrollton, took all three of them and
treated them as his own children. Here they lived uneventful lives,
attending school, and doing pretty much what other girls do, until Rebecca
was 23 years of age, when, as usually happens, she, too, had her dreams of
love fulfilled and was united in marriage to Mr. Evans, who carried her to
Calhoun county to reside. There they lived until December 15, 1895, when
they moved to Drew county, where they now reside. They have five children.
Louisa Dunlap was married to James Linton in Boone county in 1876. They
have five children.
Sarah Dunlap, the youngest, has never recovered the use of her arm, which
was shot during the massacre. She has also been afflicted with weak eyes
most of her life. She went to the blind school in Little Rock, and
remained until she graduated. During all these years the memory of Captain
Lynch, who brought these girls away from the Mormons, had been cherished
fondly by them. They were very much grieved to hear in January, 1893, that
Captain Lynch was seriously ill at his home in Washington City. In this
letter it was stated that Captain Lynch had signified his intention of
leaving all his property to the survivors of the
Mountain
Meadows Massacre.
Sarah, moved by a feeling of gratitude for all that
Captain Lynch had done for them, immediately wrote to him, offering to
come to Washington and wait upon him as his nurse. He, in the meantime,
had grown better, and responded to her letter. A lively correspondence was
then carried on between the two for about a year by which time Cupid had
done his work. The little infant, now 37 years old, gave her hand and
heart to the hero of her dreams who had rescued her from the Mormons
thirty-five years before, and who was now 75 years old. They are now
living happily together at Woodbury, Calhoun County,
Arkansas.
And here we let the curtain drop. But before bringing this article to a
close, it is proper to state that the seventeen survivors of this horrible
massacre have never recovered one cent damages from the Mormons for the
murder of their parents and relatives and the robbery of their property.
Efforts are now being made to get a bill through congress which will
afford them some slight recompense for the terrible disaster of forty
years ago. Captain Thornton, of Camden, has the matter in charge, and we
trust his efforts may prove successful.
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