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Show The Coming of the Mormons 63 Mexicans at the trial. Oddly, Head's statement suggests that Pedro Leon traded for slaves quite willingly, giving the parents horses, which were killed for food. It is also interesting that Head called this practice "adoption" and justified it in much the same way as the Mormons were to do when they became the "guardians" of Nuwuvi children. Mr. Head justified the practice by saying that the children were adopted by "godfathers," and that the Indians were better off under the "godfathers" than they were in their native land. The "Payutahs," according to Head, were baptized, were treated like members of the family, and could be freed by a Prefect if maltreated. The men and women were automatically freed when married or when "the godfather" died.31 On January 31, 1852, the Utah legislature passed a law designed to end Mexican involvement in the slave trade. Pedro Leon's venture was apparently the reason for this legislation. The enactment was called "Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners." In a lengthy preamble, the abuses of slavery were explained. Several practices of cruelty and torture were vividly described.32 It gave an entirely different picture of the New Mexicans' treatment of slaves than did Mr. Head's description of the same. The law stated that whenever any person had "any Indian prisoner, child, or woman in his possession, whether by purchase or otherwise," he must immediately go before a "Selectman or Probate Judge." The judge would then determine if the person was properly qualified and if he was, indenture the Indian to him for up to twenty years. Selectmen (town or county officials) were authorized to "obtain such Indian prisoners, children, or women, and bind them to some useful avocation." The master to whom the indenture was made was required to send the "apprentice" to school, if there was one nearby, for three months of the year while the Indian was between the ages of seven and sixteen. The master was further required to "clothe his apprentice in a comfortable and becoming manner, according to his, said master's condition in life." 33 Thus the effect of the law was to legalize a practice in many ways similar to what the New Mexicans called "adoption." The law only indirectly prohibited the Mexican slave trade, it being unlikely that any Selectman or Probate Judge would authorize the indenture of an Indian by a Mexican. The Nuwuvi who had been in the posses- |
