From: two@zaogao.plus.com   
      
   "Tell It All: The Tyranny of Mormonism or An Englishwoman in Utah"   
      
   by Fanny Stenhouse, 1875   
      
      
   CHAPTER XXVI: THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE: -- "I WILL REPAY, SAITH THE   
   LORD."   
      
      
   I FEEL myself utterly incompetent to tell the story of the Mountain   
   Meadows Massacre -- it is so shocking, so fiend-like.  And yet it must   
   be told.   
      
        While the work of "Reformation" was going on, and when the United   
   States troops were constantly expected in the Valley of the Great Salt   
   Lake, a large train of emigrants passed through Utah on its way to   
   California.  The train consisted of one hundred and twenty or one   
   hundred and thirty persons, and they came chiefly from Arkansas.  They   
   were people from the country districts, sober, hard-working, plain   
   folks, but well-to-do, and, taken all in all, about as respectable a   
   band of emigrants as ever passed through Salt Lake City.   
      
        Nothing worthy of any particular note occurred to them until they   
   reached the Valley -- that was the point from which they started towards   
   death.   
      
        My old friend Eli B. Kelsey travelled with them from Fort Bridger   
   to Salt Lake City, and he spoke of them in the highest terms.  If I   
   remember rightly he said that the train was divided into two parts --   
   the first a rough-and-ready set of men -- regular frontier pioneers; the   
   other a picked community, the members of which were all more or less   
   connected by family ties.  They travelled along in the most orderly   
   fashion, without hurry or confusion.  On Sunday they rested, and one of   
   their number who had been a Methodist preacher conducted divine service.   
     All went well until they reached Salt Lake City, where they expected   
   to be able to refit and replenish their stock of provisions: but it was   
   there that they first discovered that feeling of enmity which finally   
   resulted in their destruction.   
      
        Now it so happened that the minds of the Saints in Salt Lake City   
   were at that time strongly prejudiced against the people of Arkansas,   
   and for a most unsaintly reason.  The Apostle Parley P. Pratt was one of   
   the earliest converts to Mormonism, and who so ably defended his adopted   
   creed with his pen and from the platform, had not very long before been   
   sojourning in Arkansas, and had there run away with another man's wife.   
     This was only a trifle for an "Apostle" to do, and the husband -- Mr.   
   McLean -- might have known it.  But he was a most inconsiderate man, and   
   was actually offended with the amorous Apostle for what he had done.  He   
   pursued him and killed him, for in those rough parts it was considered   
   that the Apostle did wrong in marrying the man's wife.  Nobody, however,   
   took any notice of the matter, or brought the murderer to trial.  The   
   Mormon people, of course, took the side of the Apostle Parley P. Pratt.   
     Sensitive themselves to the highest degree concerning their wives and   
   daughters, they considered McLean a sinner for doing just exactly what   
   any Saint would have certainly done.  Their opinion, however, would have   
   been a matter of consequence only to themselves, had not such fatal   
   consequences resulted from it.  Reasoning without reason, they argued   
   that McLean was the enemy of every Mormon, and every Mormon was the   
   enemy of McLean; McLean was protected in Arkansas -- therefore every man   
   from Arkansas was an enemy of the Mormons; -- an enemy ought to be cut   
   off -- therefore it was the duty of every Mormon to "cut off" -- if he   
   could -- every Arkansas man.   
      
        This appears to have been the tone of thought which actuated the   
   minds of the leaders of the people at the time when this emigrant train   
   arrived in the City.   
      
        Weary and footsore they encamped by the Jordan River, trusting   
   there to recruit themselves and their teams, and to replenish their   
   stock of provisions.  The harvest in Utah that year had been abundant,   
   and there was nothing to hinder them from obtaining a speedy and full   
   supply.  Brigham Young was then Governor of Utah Territory,   
   Commander-in-Chief of the Militia, and Indian Agent as well: he was   
   therefore responsible for all that took place within his jurisdiction.   
   It was his duty to protect all law-abiding persons who either resided in   
   or travelled through the country.  The emigrants, so far from being   
   protected, were ordered to break up their camp and move on; and it is   
   said that written instructions were sent on before them, directing the   
   people in the settlements through which they would have to pass to have   
   no dealings with them.  This, considering their need of provisions, was   
   much the same as condemning them to certain death.   
      
        Compelled to travel on, they pursued their journey slowly towards   
   Los Angeles.  At American Fork they wished to trade off some of their   
   worn-out stock and to purchase fresh -- they also desired to obtain   
   provisions.  There was abundance of everything from the farm and from   
   the field, for God had very greatly blessed the land that year; but they   
   could obtain nothing: They passed on, and went through Battle Creek,   
   Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Salt Creek, and Fillmore, and   
   their reception was still the same, -- the word of the Mormon Pontiff   
   had gone forth, and no man dared to hold communion or to trade with   
   them.  Now and then, some Mormon, weak in the faith or braver or more   
   fond of money than his fellows, would steal into the camp, in the   
   darkness of the night, bearing with him just what be was able to carry;   
   but beyond this they could procure nothing.  Their only hope now lay in   
   the chance of holding out until they could push through to some Gentile   
   settlement where the word of the priestly Governor of Utah was not law.   
     Through fifteen different Mormon settlements did they pass, without   
   being able to purchase a morsel of bread.  With empty waggons and on   
   short allowance, they pushed on until they reached Corn Creek, where,   
   for the first time in saintly Utah, they met a friendly greeting /from   
   the Indians/, and purchased from them thirty bushels of corn, of which   
   they stood very greatly in need.   
      
        At Beaver they were again repulsed, and at Parowan they were not   
   permitted to enter the town -- they were forced to leave the public   
   highway and pass round the west side of the fort wall.  They encamped by   
   the stream, and tried as before to obtain food and fresh cattle, but   
   again to no purpose.  The reason why they were refused admission to the   
   town was probably because the militia was there assembled under Colonel   
   Wm. H. Dame -- which militia afterwards assisted in their destruction,   
   for which preparations were even now being made.   
      
        They made their way to Cedar City, the most populous of all the   
   towns of Southern Utah.  Here they were allowed to purchase fifty   
   bushels of tithing wheat, and to have it ground at the mill of that   
   infamous scoundrel John D. Lee, upon whose memory will rest the eternal   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)