Ig LIFE SKETCHES OF A JAYHAWKER 



massacre was committed, or for what reason, other than those already men- 

 tioned, has never yet been clearly ascertained, but to the incidents and the 

 plan of the conspirators, we have evidence that it is in the main reliable. 

 During the week of the massacre, Lee, with several other Mormons, was 

 encamped within a half mile of the emigrants camp, and as was alleged, 

 though not distinctly proven at his trial, induced the Indians by promised 

 booty to make the attack, but finding the resistance stronger than he an- 

 ticipated had sent for aid to the settlements of Southern Utah. 



"Thus far the evidence is contradictory. There is sufficient proof how- 

 ever, that in accordance with a program previously arranged at Cedar, a 

 company of militia, among whom were the Legion of Honor, and Major 

 Higley, and which was afterwards joined by Col. William H. Dame, Bishop 

 of Cedar City, arrived at Lees camp on the evening before the massacre. 

 It was then arranged that Lee should conclude terms with the emigrants, 

 and as soon as they had delivered themselves into their power the Mormons 

 should start for Hannibal's Hanch on the eastern side of the Meadows with 

 the wagons, arms, the young children, and the sick and wounded. The men 

 and women, the latter in front, were to follow the wagons all in single file. 

 On each side of them the militia were to be marched two deep with twenty 

 paces between their lines. 



Within two hundred yards of the camp the men were to be brought to 

 a halt until the women approached a copse of scrub oak about a mile dis- 

 tant and near to where the Indians lay in ambush. The men were now to 

 resume their march. The militia forming into single file, each one walking 

 beside of an emigrant and carrying his musket on his left arm. As soon 

 as the women were close to the ambuscade, Higley, who was in charge of 

 the detachment, was to give the signal by saying to his command, "Do your 

 duty"; whereupon the militia were to shoot down the men, the Indians were 

 to slaughter the women and children, sparing only those of tender age. 

 Lee, with some of the wagons, were to butcher the sick and wounded. 

 Mounted troopers were to be in readiness to pursue and slay any of those 

 who attempted to escape, so that with the exception of infants no living 

 Boul should be left to tell the tale of the massacre. 



The last victim was a little girl who came running up to the wagons 

 covered with blood a few minutes after the disabled men had been mur- 

 dered. She was shot down within sixty yards of where Lee was standing. 

 The massacre was now completed and after stripping the bodies of all arti- 

 cles of value Brother Lee and his associates went to breakfast, returning, 

 after a hearty meal, to bury the dead. 



There Is one more item I must not overlook. After they were all slain 

 an Indian came across two girls hidden in the brush and brought them 

 before Lee and asked Lee what was to be done with them. Lee replied they 

 were too old to keep, and the Indians said they were too pretty to kill. 

 Then Lee said "obey orders", and the Indian shot one of the girls, and Lee 

 cut the throat of the other. 



It takes too much space to give in detail all the horrors of this massa- 

 cre, but to sum it up, according to the best information obtainable, a hun- 

 dred and twenty lives were taken, and seventeen children between the 

 ages of two months and seven years, were spared from the butchery. 



According to the evidence, the Mormons and the Indians divided the 



