Show A GRAVE CHARGE we insert the article from the missouri democrat in reference to the murder of I 1 Gunn Gunni isona sons party as matter of moment not to express any opinion of our own on the su subject we have ave no knowledge of the mormon character as it has shown itself in the renewed condition of that people to warrant the inference that they and not the indians massacred captain gunnison and his party nor are we sufficiently ae acquainted quain ted with the circumstances which led to their expulsion from illinois and missouri to decide upon the justice of the popular judgment tinder which they suffered it is due to them as well as to the indian tribes around them with which the they y are at war that the most severe investigation should be prosecuted to ascertain if p possible i the individuals who perpetrated the murder of the surveying party inasmuch as doubts are expressed in in a very intelligent quarter and on suggestions from mountain men who understand well the indian character and may know some thing of that of their antagonists the new comers in the salt lake country as to the quarter from whence the attack came it is not possible that the government will allow such a crime to go unpunished if the cri criminals mina a can be detected and justice requires even if the general supposition be true that indians were guilty of the massacre that it should be ascertained whether it was the act of the tribes or of a violating its wishes if the intimation is to be indulged that the ene enemies mies of the indians contrived a plot to bring the vengeance of the government of the united states upon them it may mav be that close inquiry would elicit circumstances leading to a knowledge of the party employed in its execution washington globe who were the murderers of captain gunnison and his party the attention of the country has been most painfully aroused by the recent account coun of the death of captain Gunni a portion of the men under his command while engaged upon the survey of one of the routes for the contemplated railroad to the pacific all the accounts concur in stating that the murder was committed by walkers band of cc our present object is to call public attention to certain facts connected with the murder of captain gunnison and his party which indicate that it was not the work of the indians as we wa were at first led to believe we have conversed upon the subject with several old mountaineers men who have spent a large portion of their lives in the rocky mountains and who are familiar with the indians of that region and they have informed us that the facts and circumstances as stated in the published accounts of the affair indicate most strongly that it was not the work of indians in the first place the murder could coald not have been committed by y the Par the tribe inhabiting the region of country in which it occurred because kern and others of the party were w ere killed with firearms and those indians have no guns and do not understand their use the live remote from the spot where the tragedy was vas performed and besides they are at peace with all white men except the mormons cormons Mor mons beale and heap passed through the country of the uta hs without molestation of any kind on the contrary they were kindly received game was killed for them and tho the indians indiana informed them that they made war only upon the mormons cormons Mor mons W who bo had bad taken away their lands gunnison also had passed through the country of th the 0 and they made no attack upon him there are others and still stronger circum circumstances which in the minds 0 of f those acquainted quain ted with indian usage are conclusive of the fact that the murder was not committed by them prominent among these is the fact that the slain were not scalped scalded ped the scalp is the indians trophy to the indian T warrior it is more valuable than booty it is the proof of his valor and confers confer a upon him rank and distinction in his hig tribe the accounts counts ab say sav that the bodies were muti mu ta I 1 that both 0 arms wore were cut off and one of kerns this proves that the authors of the deed were not too much hurried to have scalped scalded their victims if they had chosen to do so for an arm is is more difficult to remove than a scalp another 0 circumstance is ia that notes surveys and other papers of the party were carried awai awa papers are valueless to an indian he never ev takes them away and usually scatters them upon the ground as useless by whom then was this bloody and atrocious crime committed captain gun party were in the midst of the mormon settlements and we think there is more ground for suspecting the Morn cormons mormons ions of the murder than there is for supposing it to be the work of indians their lets acts in this state and illinois show thorn them to be utterly depraved their morals are infinitely worse than any indian tribe we know of no indians who tolerate adultery and promiscuous intercourse between the sexes the mor mons not only tolerate tol erata theve these things but make them a part of their religion when the morals of a people are thus polluted polly ted at the fountain head there is no depth dewath of depravity into which that people may not sink these people moreover have shown their determination to isolate themselves and to erect a government of their own in the basin and valley of the great salt lake it will be recollected that they expelled all I 1 the united states officers who were not 0 of f the mormon faith and set at naught the ju jn dacial system of the united states declara de declaring clari ng that the church was the paramount authority with thorn thom they have driven out of the country all those whose religion differed from their own and who had formed a purpose of settling there they drove bridger an old mountaineer who had bad lived in il k that country for thirty years from his fort and confiscated his property they plundered dered and murdered a man who had sundered Vun kept ept a ferry on the oregon road outside of the utah territory and in fine they have manifested a determination ta stop at nothing in order to keep possession of their lands to the exclusion of all other people there to indulge in their detestable practices abhorrent alike to all men civilized or savage with such views it is no part 0 of f the policy of these people to permit an exploration of their country for th the e purpose of finding a route for a railroad which is i to be the highway of nations and if made would bring them again under tho observation of the civilized world indeed it was the last thing they desired and the very 13 Q 1 I thing from which they were thinking to esi eai I 1 cape this may account for the fact that the murderers carried away or destroyed the notes and surveys which it was the object of Gunni sons expedition to make and which no indians could have taken or thought worthy of destruction it proves very little that the survivors of Gunni sons party should have thought that the attack was made by indians indiana it wis was easy forthe for the mormons cormons Mor mons supposing po althe it g them to have been the perpetrators of the deed to have ass assumed anted the garb of indians nothing in fact could be more natural and it is evident enough that the I 1 fugitives did not take time to scrutinize their assailants very closely there was a strong motive for throwing the odium of it upon the indians for the mormons cormons Mor mons being at war with them might T justly hope that the united states would in inflict flicht a severe chastisement ti upon the guilty party arty which would be in effect to fight the battles battles of the mor mons ccle we have shown we think that the motives which led to this foul and most atrocious murder were such as may well be supposed to influence a mormon while the they y could on id hardly operate upon the indians the mormons cormons have lear learned ned by sad experience that they cannot 1 live ve in the midst of civilized society ard in a subjection to the laws of a civilized community their known disregard of the rights of property the laxity of their notions respecting the sanctity of oaths the whole tenor indeed of their lives are such as to render them outlaws of the human race they cannot but clearly perceive that if once a great highway is opened through their country the laws of the united states will be extended over it the lands will be surveyed and sold to the highest bidder and the government will eventually fall into the hands of men of other faiths and other practices than those of the mormons cormons Mor mons they will again as on former occasions be driven forth to seek some asylum where they may fester in iniquity without disturbing ae repose of civilized society |