Show JOURNEY FROM FLORENCE TO 0 S L CITY PRESIDENT BRIGU AINt Y drar drab BROTHER we nye left florence winter quarters Qa arters arterb K T on the evening of the 3rd ard sept accompanied by elders riders C 11 II wheelock jvan evad J van cott GD G D grant W if kimball joseph A young C G webb W C dunbar Di inbar james me ale gaw dan J ones ouis oue oui s J D T mcallister N 11 helt felt I 1 elt eit and jams adms ferguson IV erguson G D grant being se kield bleid as captin capt in of our company the rear ol 01 our seasons emigration had bad started on the road nh ith the exception of elder wm walker 10 w cigons laden with a portion of P E fund buggi gp previous to baving li abing florence we sent cent elder jos A young bick back to ascertain if possible the ot 01 eder eider walker 1 fie ile e rode lack mck so 50 miles nulls and I 1 lear learning imig that walkers train was yet some 25 or 30 mins mus s in iu the rear returned to join us for the plains elder eider E snow slow accompanied us to our camp 3 miles wel wea wet ot elk horn flora and oil on the mornin morning of tile the ath h v j ng completed his business with us returned to ilie tile lle ile lie states we overtook our oar rear company of wagons in charge oi 0 captain I 1 A hunt during the forenoon of the bih bin and noonen with them about 10 miles east of the loup fork ile he has in his company persons 50 wagons oxen and cows 7 horses and mules and some 4 church w digons the majority of this company have i light loads toads and good teams and are generally well provisioned they tiley would probably ferry the tha dup eup li up fork on the ath oa on the evening of the ath we overtook elder edward martin about 41 miles from the loup I 1 fork ork with the rear of our P E F emigration for this season ile he had with I 1 him 1 irn lin some per 1 sons solis hand iland carts curts 7 wagons 6 mules and horses and 50 5 cows and beef cattle also one w gon mostly loaded with church goods his hi in ILI most roost excellent spirits and clough lie he had le ce greater proportion of the feeble tn em grant grants tile tiie stealth of his calp was very aud lie wua waa able to average about lob iob miles a week without fatiguing f his company ile he e from a of returning califor t the previous day ze ve learned cf the tilo in cr ceased ased hosti ho hostelly stilLy liy ol 01 tiie tile and that they h I 1 id A already na nide a successful tui tul attack upon A 11 ox t in ot of the four teamsters in that tain fain two were kida and one wounded and a woman named U ison lson as was presumed from tile tiie v vas as s verely ved ven ly wounded a act ad alt lt taken p a an ac lit ile tar r r hild about two months old was murder d the wagons were plundered but as we su s learned most of the pro itty perty IT ty was reak it a by of fort hearnes keanny 1 R shed by our short interview with captain 1 il arnus aruns company we drove about 10 miles fur isler trier aid wid ald found br hodgetts camp this company is composed of persons 33 wt egons 84 ohp oke of oxen 19 cows and bome some head of i eaf rs and other loose cattle this includes br thomas tennant ind family with 4 wagons and 1 1 cirri igi br hodgetts Hod getts gelts company though generally pretty heavily laden were in good traveling condition and making excellent progress I 1 on the ath insl lust we met with two brethren from br J G willies company of hand carts caru in search of 30 head of cattle that iad lad had strayed from their camp about 50 miles in ili advance accompanied by br jarnes ferguson we this day vi abed carl oarl wharton at lit fort kearney and received a confirmation of the news of the attack of lie upon mr babbitts train the troops had made an attack upon a cheyenne village and killed 10 warriors this increased the rage of the and from that time we were informed that they had divided into war parties fur the purpose of attacking small parties of emigrants here we met a returning rM Calif orril in who had bad t escaped from one of their assaults with tile the loss of liis his wife killed and his boy some 3 or 4 years old abken prisoner capt wharton declared himself incompetent t to 0 affra any protection to emigrants and had some dusults of oi his ability to maint maintain din aln the post for want of troops mr air babbitt llad had left fort kear ny n y for utah a week previous accompanied by thomas sutherland and a driver As we were leaving the fort for our camp on i tile the north ei of f tile the platte a discharged soldier came to C apt wharton w ith illi the news of another massacre by tile le this soldier had accompanied thomas Margett sand Jimes cowdy I 1 and their fo milies from laramie and on returning from a buff illo iilo hunt when abou about miles from foit foil kearney hearney Kf arney found tile the wagon plundered and the murdered remains of liis his traveling companions pan ions the soldiers ol diers account of the aff affair lily as given to ars willie and atwood will give you the tile particulars tic ulars and aud is as follows folios s STATEMENT made to james tames G and alwen At attwood of the fourth handcart land hand curt cart b by a man who gare gave his name bame as iii ili hary hnry emt basiler baurichter bae Bau ller iler ichter and who came come into their cen arina y on the tie morning of monday september 8 1856 1 I am a discharged soldier dfora fort laramie which I 1 left on the of angust august 1856 after traveling about 30 miles I 1 overtook a wagon with two mules and two horses on one 1 e an on indian horse with a white face the mules alone drawing the wagon which was accompanied by two wro hien bien men one of whom gave his name as thomas margetts diar Alar getts and the other oilier as lis james cowdy the former if tf i f these men had a wife and the latter a wife wire and child they came as they stated from gibat gr eat eal Salt lake I 1 city and were on their way to the states stales about 70 miles above this point or miles above fort kearney I 1 and thomas Afar margetts getts went out oil on horseback in search 0 of f buffalo on tl e oth of sept and between I 1 and 2 pm I 1 soon killed a bu buffalo fralo upon which margetts diar Alar getts returned to the wagon to fetch some things for carrying away part of the animal while white I 1 staid behind to dress it oil on Alar biar getts return from the wagon lie he filled one utensil ut enFil principally with veith tallo tailo tallow and slid started again for the agon and I 1 remained to fill another utensil which diara Alara Mar margetts getts gelts etts had brought this occupied me about half an hour when I 1 also started in the direction of tile the wagon noticing before reaching it that the cover had been stripped oin off and that neither neit nelt lier ller mules nor horses were to be seen on my arrival I 1 discovered oil on the ground th tile bodis of yla Ala Mag getts etts cowdy and cordys wife and child all dead except that the child was crying and bloody I 1 could not see tee any wounds on any of the bodies but hut an arrow was sticking in ili cordys thigh the wagon the hinder binder part of on fire had been completely ransacked and all that was of any immediate use taken away I 1 looked round for mrs diar Alar margetts getts whom I 1 I 1 could not find the feti feathers from a bed had been strewn on the ground by the side of the wagon but I 1 could not see tile the hed bed tick lick I 1 saw at some considerable dis distance talice 12 men or more apparently riding very fast who were as far as I 1 could discover indians none of the bodies were scalped scalded ped the buffolo which I 1 killed was over the bluff about a milo mile and a half halt from the wagon but I 1 oid old not hear any report of firearms fire arms during my absence from it not feeling myself rafe safe in the neighborhood of the tile murders I 1 escaped with my horse and with will the loss of my discharge and other papers and about a gold watch and other things which I 1 had llad deposited in the wagon intending to make th chii 3 best of my way to fort kearney and there report the facts as quickly as possible the two horses abovementioned above mentioned were ridden at intervals during the journey by mr and airs Mar Alar margetts getts gelts on the we overtook and camped with br willies company at north bluff creek consisting distill of persons 6 wagons 87 hand carts 6 yos yoke of oxen 32 3 cows and 5 mules T they ley were considerably weakened by the loss of their their oxen which they had failed to recover but were ili in good spirits and eve averaging raging from 14 to I 1 G miles a day here we forded corded the platte to the south side and were followed by the hand land carts never was there a more soul stirring sight than the 1 happy passage of this company over that river I 1 several of tho the carts were drawn entirely by women and every heart was glad and full of ho hope e we spent the afternoon of the dinst with br A 0 smoot about 20 miles west of ash hollow there were ili in his company 88 souls 42 wagons oxen grows 15 mules and horses and I 1 carri carrl carriaga agg they had provisions for 23 days I 1 br smoot lacked drivers driver having only 33 men fit for duty his oxen were ili in good condition but iris Ms loads were very heavy gilbert and ger 1 richs train of 17 wagons was travelling tra velling in company i v i ith him I 1 on the dinst 37 miles in advance of br i smoot we camped with br 0 P rockwell who had 5 wagons and 11 yoke of OX oxen 1 I 1 in l n charge in addition to three families viz grimshaw allm shiaw cook end and barnes whom ha lie had turned back towards laramie deeming them too weak to pass pars pa in ili I 1 safety br rockwell accompanied us to fort laramie where we v arrived on the morning of the lath col hoffman offman II rec received elved elvea us wilh with enuch kindness as also did J W tutt the tiie here we rece iveda small recruit of mules and provisions and purchased ur chased some good buffalo robes for the P E fund passengers ia in the rear on the tile 2 d dinst we parted at the platte bridge I 1 with capt dan jones who wiio met his brother and aud remained to recover a cached thrashing machine here also we pu purchased a few robes for capt J G willies company torel forel loon of the after leaving our camp at willow springs we met die ale ss ra hawley awley II lambson amy and party parly on their syll way y to the tiie states and advised them to wait e at it lira I 1 a mie for the company of missionaries report reported d I 1 in n their rear same day and ne ir independence rork rock we mooned near patriarch john smith and two mothr otlia r brethren who had come out ont with willi flour for tile the companies br smith returned with us the same evening and about 8 miles further on an we camped cam pod with willi elder P P pratt and company compan y all in good health and most exe 11 ot spirits and promising odin for an honorable hono and successful mission on the 15 miles east of or the pacific springs we mooned with br wm smith and two otiler other brethren from farmington with 2 wagons and flour for the companies we counseled them to cache their flour and go on to meet br willie and his company which they agreed to do oil on the ilia am 3 miles east of big sandy we camped with lr br tai Tal talcott dolt doit who also had flour for or tile tiie companies we gave him the same counsel to go oil on with his teanis teams to help br willie on the we ke darrl darri camped ped with br croft s company consisting persons 14 wagons 80 yoke of oxen 30 horses and loose cattle they are principally from texas and the cherokee lands they were healthy lie lle althy and in good spirits ani gave ua us a most reception this was tile tiye last compan company passed by us on the road at bridger Bri deer on oil tie the of or oct we were welcomed by major burton and a small party of the mountain boys and on the evening of tile the ath were wera happy to receive your wel wei welcome conie couie and blessing at home assuring you of our continued exertions to promote the welfare of gods kingdom ing that your life ufa may be spared iong long to gode godo god people as also tile the lives of your council we rel remain sincerely and obediently yours in ili christ F D RICHARDS J agents aop p E p fund tn T n DANIEL SPENCER J |