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Show John Tanner and His 92 Family and one wonders how they could justify themselves. If the mob members were in uniforms and had Missouri arms, the Saints would have some explaining to do. They, no doubt, justified themselves on the basis of self-defense. proportions, The Mormon brethren suffered greater casualties in the battle of Crooked River, but the mob buried the cannon and withdrew from the scene. Nathan describes in some detail how they located and captured the cannon." fast moving drama which covered by the Mormon people. The mobs were bent on terrorizing the whole countryside and the firing of homes was one of their favorite methods of frightening the Mormon This was only one scene in a every town and hamlet inhabited people. Nathan tells of returning from guard duty and finding houses in ashes and the inhabitants trying to hide from the mob: The mob gathered and burned houses and drove the Saints out in the night from one place to another. I have picked up women and children who were skulking in the night in the brush to save their lives, or keep out of the way of the mobs. We were obliged to go and fetch in families that were scattered, or in the out settlements, and guard those we could not fetch until they could be brought out. This took a good deal of guarding. I have stood picket guard in the storm and held my horse by the bridle and my rifle in hand, when I feared I should never see another rising sun, but must perish at my post. 22 One of the most often told stories about the Tanners and the Missouri-Mormon war concerns the attempt of John Tanner to get some grain to the mill. It has been said that hunger makes men bold, and this story concerns a risk taken because of necessity. Taking Myron then barely twelve years of age, John Tanner proceeded to a grist-mill twelve miles distant. Having accomplished the mission at the mill, they began the homeward trip and were about nine miles from home when John noticed members of the state militia approach ing. Expecting the worst, he hurried Myron out of the wagon and told him to hide in the piles of bush where the land was being cleared. Myron tells the story as follows: ran for the brush, which here and there had been stacked up by the Saints who were clearing the land and burning the brush. These great piles furnished a means for escape for more than one, and I |
