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Show THE HI story Sunday, April 20, 2008 HERALD DAILY B6 GOT HISTORY? The Daily Herald is looking for interesting stories about local history for this weekly page. Make suggestions or submit material by Page to Executive Editor Randy Wright rwrightheraldextra.com. Or mail to the . No phone calls please. Daily Herald. P.O. Box 717, Provo, UT 84603-0717- aven in Pole ged Canyon Carnage Indians' vengeance claimed the lives of two teenage boys D. Robert Carter he Walker War officially ended in late M ay 1854. Brigham Young and Chief Kanosh met with Chief Walkara and some of his warriors in a tent at Chicken Creek Levan and near present-danegotiated a treaty of peace. Unfortunately, some Indians harbored feelings of hostil- ity against the colonists that no words on a piece of paper could mollify. One such small band of ten or twelve Indians living west of Utah Lake in Cedar Valley refused to make peace. Both George Washington Bean, an Indian interpreter and deputy United States marshal, and Hosea Stout, an attorney who kept a very : informative diary, identified Gosiutes. these Indians as According to Stout, some of the friends and relatives of these Gosiutes had been among the eight or nine Indians wantonly shot down by colonists at Nephi in October 1853. This LDS Church Archives butchery occurred shortly after Indians massacred four Thomas Bullock worked in the LDS Church Historian's Office. settlers at Uintah Springs. The He heard of the murder of the Weeks brothers while he was Cedar Valley Gosiutes declined on a trip to American Fork with his family. To m'aM j&Sice' until they T YV y i 7 mm? t The renegade, revenge-seek- ing Gosiutes did not have long to wait. Bishop Allen Weeks, a. .jresidentof jnearby Cedar-Fort- i sent his teenage sons, William ants of Cedar Valley visited this canyon to cut firewood and Warren, to Pole Canyon in a wagon for a load of poles and poles. Sooner or later, unsuspecting victims would ride on August 8, 1854. A short into their trap. distance from where the boys deaths of their friends and relatives at Nephi, or until they violently avenged the deaths of their fellow JndjjmsjbxM'iDiLa number of colonists. After waiting almost a year for recompense and receiving none, the Gosiutes decided the time had come for revenge. A number of the Indians traveled to the mouth of Pole Canyon, south of Cedar Fort, and lay in Preparedness Packs Now on Sale at the Red Cross Store 72 Hour you can't stop a hurricane. you can't predict an earthquake. you can't control a thunderstorm. but you can be ready. 7 4 turned off the main road to drive up the canyon, they met the fury of the Gosiute ambush. The Deseret News declared the frenzied Indians shot both boys in the chest twice, tore off their scalps and otherwise mutilated their bodiesThomas Bullock, who took his family on a day trip from Salt Lake City to American Fork two days later, learned of the killings while in the latter settlement. He wrote in the LDS Historian's Office Journal "Heard of the Indians killing two boys of bro Weeks in Cedar Valley . . . cutting off arms & otherwise mutilating the bodies." When the boys did hot return with the poles that evening, the Weeks family worried about the safety of their sons. Very early in the morning on August 9, Allen Weeks accompanied by his brother-in-laEli Bennett, traveled to Pole Canyon. They followed the wagon tracks to the massacre site, where they found the bodies of William and Warren. The two heartbroken men returned to Cedar Fort and informed the residents of the tragedy. Later that day, a group of townspeople returned toTheWurdera the mangled bodies of the Weeks boys, The Deseret News reported of the Indians in nearly-aCedar Valley were very friendly, and searchers only located three moccasin tracks near the murder site, From this evidence, the newspaper conduded:."It s highly prob--able, and indeed quite certain, that this merciless deed was committed by a few reckless savages, without the previous countenance or knowledge of any tribe, or even of the majority thereof." Worried that the murder of the boys would result in more barbaric acts against innocent Indians, Brigham Young wrote a letter containing some instructions to William D. Huntington in Utah County. The Mormon leader told Huntington to inform the friendly Indians that no harm would come to them because of the bad conduct of a few Indians in Cedar Valley. Young also instructed Huntington to tell the colonists to treat the Indians as though nothing had happened. President Young also wrote a letter of sympathy to Bishop Weeks. Young counseled Weeks to seek out the guilty Indians but not to react negatively toward those Indians who were innocent. On a broader scale, the Deseret News announced to its many readers the official LDS Church policy concerning the event: "While we deeply sympathize with the bereaved relatives, we discern no cause for deviatingirom theconstantly- -i counseled policy of kind, tho' 0 j P 1 - w 7 V Y, - LDS firm treatment of the Indians generally; but it certainly is self evidennhat no pains " Indians belonging to the same band. forts, securing crops, and hav ing everything in the best possible condition for any sudden two wagons and delivered them to Indian interpreter Dimick B. Huntington. The "LDS Historian's Of frceJournal called them "ferocious looking mtbreakr-- " "Inasmuch as the Indians prove energetic and faithful in delivering up transgressors against us, to be tried by our laws, any white person for un- rtustif abusing aiu Indian, will be rigorously dealt with; for the whites know how to do right, having been often and plainly taught." In an effort to help improve relations with the Native Americans, the people of Provo provided a feast for the Indians on August 14. The city's inhabitants donated three beeves, four barrels of biscuits and a large quantity of vegetables. Indian interpreter George Washington Bean also helped distribute a substantial amount of clothing. By treating the innocent Indians fairly, Young hoped to encourage them to help find and bring to justice the parties guilty of killing the Weeks brothers. This policy seems to have paid off. The Deseret News reported on August 17: "Several friendly Indians have assured Governor Young that they will use their best skill and efforts to search out, and deliver up the murderers to be dealt with according to law." David K. Craft, who was constable at the time, and others talked to the friendly Indians, and a number of Utes, including Yan Tan, took up the trail of the murderers. On August 21, the posse returned -- withtheir prisonerSrAntelope and Longhair, and two other iabJy-kulinS- Authorities transported the " fouriritlianstaSalt us online to 1, (Set a kit ' ILlI 2, Make a plan Contact your local Red Doss chapter or visit for r4J 3- - . against the two suspects. A . grand jury also organized that day to hear testimony against the two Gosiutes and decide whether there was evidence enough to send them to triaL On August 25, the grand jury indicted Antelope and Longhair for murder. Thenrial of the two Indians, the first in Utah where Native Americans were arraigned, began August 28 in Salt Lake City. U.S. District Attorney Joseph Holman acted as prosecuting attorney, and Hosea Stout and Almon W. Babbitt defended the accused. Judge Leonidas Shaver presided, and George Washington Bean acted as interpreter. Stout and Babbitt made an effort to set aside the charges and claimed the court had no jurisdiction over the Indians. The court overruled both pleas, and as the result of an argument between Babbitt and Judge Shaver, Jesse C. Little replaced Babbitt on the defense team. The trial ended Concerning the outcome, Stout wrote in his diary: "The evidence was plain & positive both from an eye witness An Indian who watched the murders testified. & their own confessions, without the 4 four-da- y August 31. See and creating a family Communication plan; wwii.igeR&dCfos$fa':i r v7. ;; s. ifr&MiMM Mountain Valley Chapter "The government doesn't fund us we count on you." 865 N. Freedom Blvd., Provo (801) GEOGRAPHY Bo informed more WormaHon about disaster preparedness, emergency preparedness kits 373-858- 0 FIND A WIDE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE HERE. daily:" www.RedCrossUt.org American Red Cross ' MOVING www.heraldextra.com CUSTOMER SFRVfC I If jTIJKF. 375 - 5103 MAKE SURE YOUR PAPER CAN FIND YOU J) www.!. -- y men." The U.S. District Court was called into special session on August 23, to conduct the trial learn how you cartfg:: ART CULTURE Lake-Cit- in Preparing for a disaster before it strikes is vital. Visit Church Archives a prominent Salt Lake City lawyer, defended Antelope and Longhair during their trial for the murder of William and Warren Weeks. Hosea Stout, .... rr.co.. CARNAGE, B7 |