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Show Just History By Albert P. Philips It waa on tha nlfht of Sen! ember 11. 1847, that there occurred In Utah a maeeacre that had no rival and that haa been compared to tha one at 8t. Bartholomew three centurlea before. It waa not only a cruel maaaacre, but one that waa a crime aeajnet tha territory of Utah and Ita people. Mountain Meadowa, which la aald to have been a beau-'tlful beau-'tlful apot of ground, waa tha ecene. and a party of emlaranta were practically annihilated. The company com-pany of emlaranta waa from Ar-kanaaa Ar-kanaaa and were under tha command com-mand of Captain Fancher. They were on their way to California, and while encamped at Mountain Meadowa they were alaughtered. Tha maaaacre waa tha deed of Indiana In-diana and white man, led by John D. 1,00, a fanatic who farmed among tha Indiana, had great Influence In-fluence over them, and directed tha attack which reeulted In tha alaugh-tar alaugh-tar of tha party. Later ha paid tha penalty with hla Ufa Apoetla Whitney, In hla hlatory of Utah, In detailing tha maaaacre. aaya: "The attack at Mountain Meadowa began at dawn on September Sep-tember T. when an overwhelming force of Indiana poured deadly vol-eya vol-eya upon, the emigranta from tha hilla and ravlnea aurroundlng tha place of the encampment. In the opening onslaught aeven men were killed and sixteen wounded. Tne survivors made a brave dsfenas and held the enemy at bay. "At thla time tha only white man known to hava been with the Indians In-dians waa John D. Lao. Subsequently Subse-quently others rama - upon tha scene, lured to the meadows, as they claimed, by (he representations representa-tions that their eervlcee ware needed to bury tha dead. Some of them participated In tba butchery that followed. "The siege was maintained until the morning of Friday, the 11th. when Lee Induced the emigranta to surrender, promlelng to convey them to a place of safety. Trusting Trust-ing In hla word, they gave up their win enia were maasscreo attar marching out of their entrench, menta. Seventeen children, ranging rang-ing from S or t montha to T yeara, ware a pa red and eventually returned re-turned to their frlenda In Arkan-aaa, Arkan-aaa, congress bsvlng mads an ap-I ap-I piiatlon for that purpose. The property of tha dead emigrants waa dlapoeed of by those who slsw them." As to tha probable cauae for tha maeeaera, continued Hiatorian Whitney, "tha most consistent hypothesis hy-pothesis that can ba advanced to accpunt for the atrocity at Mountain Moun-tain Meadowa la tha axcttament and agitation of tha coming of Johnston's army and the fear of what that army Intended doing In Utah. The unwlaa threata made by 'aoma of the - emigrants, for that auch threata were made has always bsen affirmed, would be exceedingly exceeding-ly potent In producing the fatal result. re-sult. But all this doss not Justify tha maaaacre. Nothing can Justify that Inhuman ' and Indefensible deed." Twenty yesrs after, In 1I7T, John D. Leo waa executed for the dreadful crime. Hla first trial reeulted re-eulted In a disagreement . of the Jury, which stood nine for acquittal acquit-tal and three for conviction. This wsa in ls7S. His second trlsl. In It's, resulted In a verdict of murder mur-der In ths first degree, which was returned September 10, )7. He waa sentenced to ba ehot, ha choosing choos-ing that method of execution. Pending Pend-ing the carrying out of tha eon-tence, eon-tence, Lee waa kept at Fort Cameron, Cam-eron, a military post nsar Besvsr. His sxecution took place on March II. 1IT7. when he waa ehot t-V. death. Of thoee who witnessed the execution but ona or two are living. J. R. Rogerson, an oldtlmo telegrapher teleg-rapher and stsnographsr. reported ths csss In tha court and wltnssssd the execution, and when tha execution exe-cution occurred sent out the story by telegraph. Ha Is now a reel-dent reel-dent of Salt Lake. 1 A monument has been erected by ! tha government marking aba rest -Ing place of the vlctlma of the mas- r eacre at Mountain Meadosre, |