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The
Mormons and the Late Massacre,
San Francisco Evening Bulletin,
November 5, 1857
Three emigrant families
arrived yesterday in Sacramento, by the Carson Valley route. They report,
says the Union, many sad evidences of outrage and murder at
different points along the route, particularly in the vicinity of Goose
Creek. Near this creek, their attention was attracted by the appearance of
a human foot protruding from the ground, and on examining the spot, the
remains of three murdered men were found buried only three or four inches
below the surface. Upon another grave there lay two dogs, alive but much
emaciated, and so pertinacious in retaining their lonely resting place
that no effort could entice or drive them from the spot. Their master was,
most probably, the occupant of that grave, and their presence there, under
such circumstances, was a touching exhibition of canine instinct and
devotion. A few miles further on, they came upon another scene of murder,
where, upon the ground, were strewn a few bones, and also knots of long,
glossy hair, torn from the head of some ill-fated woman. near by were the
remains of three head of cattle, with arrows still sticking in them.
Reports brought by these families tend strongly to corroborate the
suspicion already existing against the Mormons as the instigators, if not
the perpetrators, of the recent wholesale massacre of emigrants at Santa
Clara canyon. Mr. Pierce, who came by way of Salt Lake, and joined the
other two families at the Sink of the Humboldt, reports some five hundred
Indians encamped near Salt Lake, who, as he learned from the Mormons, were
retained as allies to operate against the troops sent out by the
Government. He was also assured that these
Indians had been instructed not
to molest the emigration this year, as preparations were not sufficiently
complete to enable the Mormons to make a stand against the United States.
In the city itself, large crowds of Mormons were nightly practicing
military drill, and there was every evidence of energetic preparations for
some great event. Before his family left Salt Lake, vague declarations of
a threatening character were made, to the effect that, next year, "the
overland emigrants must look out;" and it was even insinuated that the
last trains this year might be destroyed. From the Mormon train which
recently left Carson Valley, and which these families met on the way,
similar statements were vaguely communicated, one Mormon woman even going
so far as to congratulate an old lady in one of these families upon her
safe arrival so near her destination, and assuring her that "the last
trains of this year would not get through so well, for they were to be cut
off." We give these statements as we received them from members of these
families, and, admitting their correctness, which we have no reason to
doubt, they certainly go far to confirm a terrible suspicion.
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Killing of Immigrants --
Mormons Falsely Accused,
Western Standard, San Francisco, November 6, 1857
Further Endurance No Longer a Virtue
After this, we presume,
there will not be a white man killed, or an emigrant train attacked
between the Sierra Nevada and the Western or Southern States, on any
route, at what will be credited to the Mormon. They may be as innocent as
angels, but that will make no difference; the determination is apparent to
heap upon them the odium of every such deed. The published estimate of the
man, Abbot, which has obtained considerable circulation lately, is, that
the Mormons and
Indians have killed five hundred immigrants on the road
between Salt Lake and
California during this year alone. Trains have been
attacked by
Indians led on by white men, and the white men were, of
course, concluded to be Mormons. One statement says, that they were known
to be Mormons, because they swore. The statement made by Mr. Hones, who
came by way of the Southern
Utah route, via
San
Bernardino, and whose
testimony is adduced as evidence that the Mormons were the instigators, if
not the perpetrators of the massacre at Mountain Meadows -- goes to prove
that the Mormons were distinguished from the Gentiles, by the
Indians on
that route, by their swearing. This person says that the Mormon
interpreters urged them to refrain from swearing, as the
Indians would
know that they were not Mormons, if they did not take this precaution. The
swearing therefore of those whose men who were among the
Indians on the
Northern route, is not an evidence that they were Mormons, but rather that
they were Gentiles; moreover, it is preposterous to suppose that, if they
were Mormons, they would let expressions drop, such as we see reported
that immigrants have heard, which would lead those whom they attacked to
recognize them as Mormons. If they were Mormons disguised as
Indians, and
they considered such disguise necessary for the concealment of their
identity, they would be very sure to let nothing escape them that would
cause suspicion to fall upon them; but if they were rascals who wished
suspicion to be diverted from themselves and to fall upon the Mormons, it
is quite reasonable to suppose that the would disguise themselves as
Indians, and also be sure to let some expression fall from them that would
lead those whom they assailed and whose minds were already filled with
suspicion and fear about the
Utah, to suppose that the Mormons were
leading on and instigating the
Indians to plunder and murder them.
The course that editors and others in
California have taken in their
treatment of the Mormons, has given all the encouragement needed to
scoundrels of every grade to rob, murder and attack trains with impunity
between here and Salt Lake. They have seen the disposition which is every
where manifest to charge the Mormons with the commission of every
conceivable crime, and have had every opportunity of knowing that all that
is necessary to escape detection is to arrange their plundering schemes in
such a manner that suspicion will fall on that people. Let the story be
started that the Mormons have had a hand in any wickedness, and there is
an end to investigation. A question is never asked about the rebutting
testimony; it is enough to know that the Mormons are the accused party,
and it is at once concluded that, of course, the allegations must be true.
Every penny-a-liner in the country then immediately begins to threaten and
pile abuse on to the Mormons, and has any number of suggestions to make
for their extermination.
This is literally the truth, and it must be familiar to every reader of
public journals in
California. We have had an illustration of it before us
this past week or two in the reports that have obtained circulation
relative to the massacre of the company of emigrants at the rim of the
Great Basin, or Mountain Meadows. No sooner was it known that a massacre
had taken place, than it was charged to the Mormons. Innocent or guilty,
it made not a particle of difference, they had to bear the onus of the
butchery. With such a state of feeling–such a pre-disposition to saddle
them with the bloody deed whether or no, testimony of a damning character
was not long wanting to fully confirm all that they had been charged with.
Could it not have been found on earth, the lower regions would have been
raked to obtain it.
But it was found, and the thousand-tongued press heralded it forth. Every
circumstance, however trivial; every word, however idly spoken; every
look, however innocently given, was misconstrued, and a list of charges
based upon them against the people of Deseret which find a place in the
columns of every newspaper, and are industriously blazoned throughout the
civilized world. What if they should prove to be baseless and utterly
false, who cares? they are only Mormons that will suffer. It is not worth
while to make and inquiry relative to any rebuttal that may be offered of
charges against them; if they were successfully rebutted, the refutation
would not attract notice. Is not this the idea indulged in, we ask?
Examine the case in point. Sift the evidence that these charges are based
upon. It is said that the Mormons killed or caused this train to be
killed, because they were from
Arkansas and Parley P. Pratt was murdered
in
Arkansas. It is said that the train was blotted out because they had
property, and the Mormons coveted it. It is said that they were Gentiles,
and that the Mormons had said they would be the means of killing every
Gentile -- of cutting off every train.
Who are the witnesses that testify that the Mormons committed this bloody
deed, or were the instigators of it? Are they not Gentiles? Did not the
majority of them come from
Arkansas? Had they no property? If any one or
all of these motives prompted the Mormons to kill off or to instigate the
extirpation of the train alluded to, how happened it, in the name of all
that is just, that those parties escaped, who are now cited as witnesses
and who followed on the trail of the murdered train? -- How happened it
that they were assisted by the Mormons, escorted into their fort when
attacked by
Indians, protected and guided by them through the exasperated
red men; when to all their other motives for murder was added the
additional one of concealment? Had they killed or caused to be killed the
first train for the motives assigned, who would think, if they would
reflect upon it for a moment, that they would let others equally as
objectionable pass by unmolested, especially when they knew that they
would not fail to charge them with the slaughter? But the enlightened
press do not condescend to notice these things. It would be treating
the Mormons like white men -- like freemen, equally entitled with
themselves to all the rights of American citizens.
In one corner of the paper in which these accusatory statements were
published (Los Angeles Star,) we perceived a little notice which
stated that the editor had received from Mr. J. Ward Christian of
San
Bernardino, a long statement of the late attack, by the
Indians, on the
emigrant train on the Salt Lake road, differing materially from that which
he had already published; and, perhaps, he would insert it in his next
issue. Scarcely a paper that has published all the statements from which
this materially differed, has noticed the existence of such a statement.
Coming from
San
Bernardino, it must be justificatory of the Mormons, and,
therefore, must be ignored. Every other accused party may have the
benefit of a doubt; but a Mormon -- Never. They are fearful that the
unfavorable impressions which they wish made on the public mind in respect
to the Mormons, should be weakened; therefore, every statement that would
increase the hatred of the masses against "Mormonism" and the carefully
published, and duly compiled in the summary of news sent on the steamer to
the East; but the exculpatory evidence is not once alluded to. This was
the course the pursued with the Drummond slanders, until their author's
character was so completely exposed that he was a stench in the nose of
every virtuous man. And when the time arrives, as it most assuredly will,
that the utter falsity of those charges will also be made apparent, the
exposure will be quietly hushed up and no more be said about it than can
possibly be helped.
Our contemporaries think that a crisis is approaching. In this we agree
with them. It is time that there should be a change of some kind; we care
but little what it may be. With the Lord to uphold the cause of the just,
it can not be any worse than it has been. For ourselves, we are sick and
weary of enduring such treatment as we, in common with our
co-religionists, have endured for years past. We have borne the yoke so
long that our patience is nearly exhausted. This continual abuse and
piling on of false charges -- this eternal whine about Mormon treason, Mormon
aggressions, Mormon licentiousness, with these oft-repeated threats of
whipping us into an abjuration of our principles and of exterminating us,
we are tired of hearing. We know that the Mormons in Deseret are an
industrious, peaceable, God-fearing people, and that they have been most
foully abused and vilified. All they have asked or now ask, is justice;
all they desire is their guaranteed rights. These they never have had; but
we, as one individual whose interests are wholly identified with theirs,
feel that the time has arrived when it is but right that they be demanded,
and if needs be, contended for.
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