| OCR Text |
Show THE MORMON MURDERERS. 503 lieve his remorse. All at once several young Mormons ran away from that section, and the next spring an account of the massacre appeared in a California paper. But the young Mormon who brought it never showed himself again, and the editor was laughed at. Pretty soon, however, it was found that a company of emigrants certainly was lost ; and then Brigham Young spoke out. The Deseret News officially pronounced it a lie. Privately the leaders said : " It was a necessity we only regret that they had to kill the women." Still new facts kept coming out, and in 1859 Judge Cradlebaugh, with a military escort, visited the section, collected the available evidence, and published it. Since then the Mormons have fallen back point by point. First they insisted no such thing oc-curred; then, for " a few years, that it was the work of Indians alone. About 1865 they began hesitatingly to admit that " a few reprobate whites were engaged men of no standing in the community." In 1869 the writer hereof collected and published a mass of newly dis-covered evidence on the subject; in 1870 the Federal officials made a little inquiry. In 1871 the Mormons nominally cut off John D. Lee from fellowship, and sent him on a mission down to the Colorado. There I visited him in July, 1872 ; spent three days at his house, and heard his version of the massacre. Meanwhile public sentiment among the Mormons was growing better. Old Mormons died; young ones grew up infidels; Gentile notions took root, and it began to be whispered that murder was a crime even when done by a priest. In 1874 Congress passed a law which took the organization of juries out of the hands of Brigham Young, and all at once there was abundant evidence forthcoming. Then followed the indictment, the capture of Lee, and flight of the others accused, except Bishop Dame, who was arrested soon after Lee. The law's delay and the awkwardness attendant on getting a new jury system into operation prevented Lee's being tried till midsummer, 1875. Then the Mormon town of Beaver became the scene of a strange drama. Correspondents from the East and West flocked thither, and for the first time a little of the inner life of Mormondom was brought to light in open court, and reported to all the world. The most incredulous were compelled to acknowledge Mormon guilt, and there began the series of trials which will eventually make the world acquainted with Brigham Young as he is. It required the most persevering exertions to get the witnesses to-gether. When Lee was " cut off" from the Church, in 1871, al 7 the Mormons in one day, as it were, changed their tone and began to |
