OCR Text |
Show I TODAY IN HISTORY I SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER IB, 1010. The Mountain Meadows Massacre. On September IS. 1857. occurred tho famouB Mountain MeadowH mHcre n Utah, a crime which, at ibe Urne- btlirtd tho country from ono end to the ot"": It was committed against a party or emigrants from Arkansas and Wmuj who were passing througu i tne state on their way to California. They n""10" In all about 140 men. women i and . children. chil-dren. Thoy wero refusod food evory-whero evory-whero until they reached the nolghbor hood of Mountain Moalows; a va'lej In Iron county, about 350 mllos sout h of Salt Lake City. Hero they "toPPcd rest their horses, and wero fired Pn by Indians, and it is alleged, by Morraona disguised. They withstood tho oiese until un-til September IS, when, on Promise of protection from John D. Lec, Mormon bishop and Indian agent, they left the shelter of their wagons. All adults and children under seven years old were killed, ana seventeen younger children wore distributed among .Mormon families, but were "e,"E restored to relatives by the United States government. Lee was execu ed for this crime In 1S77, and. though the effort to Inculpate other high officers ot the church fallod, there can bo little doubt that the project was known and approved oy them, especially since Brlgham oung had a short lime before announced that "no person shall be allowed to pass or repass Into or through or from this territory ter-ritory without a permit from the proper officor." H. LL Bancroft. In his "History of Utah," places blamo on L,eo entirely. At the request of tho federal Judge, Johnston furnished a military detachment detach-ment to guard tho prisoners, and when Cummins, tho governor, interposed because be-cause of-the angry, remonstrance of the pooplo. Johnston would not remove them. Utah wa3 sottlcd by tho Mormons in 1847, when, it was Mexican territory. For two years there wns no secular government. govern-ment. In 1849 a constitution was formulated formu-lated and the provisional government of the state of Deseret went Into operation with a full quota of stnte offlclUs. In 1S50 Utah was organized Into a territory of the United States, but tho new government gov-ernment did not go into effect until tho following year. It was a number of years after the massacro that the government was able to fix any complicity In tho crime upon the Mormons, and tho incident was closed with tho execution of I-oe at the place where tho maseacro wns committed in 1S77. September 18 Is the date of the laying of the cornerstone of tho capitol at Washington in 1793. Before the building was completed, in 181 1. It was burned by the British. The present central structure struc-ture dates from ISIS nnd was completed In 1827. Tho cornerstone of the capitol extension exten-sion was laid on July !. 1851, and the hall of representatives, in tho south wing, was first occupied in 18H7, and the senalo chamber, in the north wing. In 1850. The work was continuously prosocuted during the civil war, until the statue of liberty crowned the summit, on December 12, 1SG3. The entire length of the present building build-ing from north to south is 751. feet i Inches, and its greatest dimension from rinst tn west 350 fnet. Tho area covered bv the building Is 153,112 square feet. The rotunda Is 07 feet 6 Inches In diameter di-ameter and Its height, from tho floor to the top of the canopy, 13 183 feet 3 Inches. The senate chamber Is 113 feet 3 Inches In length, by 80 feet 3 Inches in width, and 30 feet In height. The galleries will accommodate 1000 persons. The representatives' hall Is 130 feet In length, by 93 feot in width, and 36 feet In height. September IS Is the date of the Bloody Brook massncro at Decrfield, Mass., In 1C75; and Quebec, Canada, was surrendered surren-dered to the English in 1759. Today Is tho birthday of Trajan, the Roman emperor em-peror (56 A. D.); of Dr. Samuel Johnson, tho eminent English author (1709); George Read, the revolutionary statesman states-man (1733); Justice Joseph Story (1779); John S. C. Abbott, clergyman and author au-thor (1S05); John T. Trowbridge, author (1S27), and the date of tho death of the Roman emperor Domltlan (96 A. D.); Louis VII. of Franco (11S0). Matthew Prior, poet (1721); William Hnzlltt. the miscellaneous writer (1S30), and Joseph Locke, the eminent engineer (I860). |