Show UTAH AND THE MORMONS letter TETTER VI SALT LAKE CITY april 10 1874 1871 1 editor editon deseret news A As s I 1 have exposed a good many man y orthe odthe doings of 1 brids I alejand 1 1 and courts it may not be im lin roper proper now to ex examine amitio so some me of the allegations made dis eis iatter latter day saints or I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons ll 11 for if our system will wili not stand tile the most searching and scathing investigation vesti gation tiou it is not worth having or bradhering 3 adhering to attrition has a tendency to brighten t metals and the most intense application 0 of f fire lire only duly tends to purify gold ima iks v 1 have been asked by parties do you ou believe in tile the doctrine of oxblood I 1 blood atonement as quoted from some discourses ills courses deliver dellver bd by presidents young and grant in the tabernacle and as represented by a clique of memoria lists here I 1 do most assuredly believe in the doc trine trin e as preached by our dency but nol not as applied by these said memoria lists the doctrine enunciated there is a part of our falth faith and is made no secret of these discourses were proclaimed in public to assembled thousands and were afterwards published to the world we believe with other peoples and nations that there tire are crimes nor tor which men ought to die dle we believe moreover that when saints commit certain crimes and are aro convicted thereof before a proper tribunal the right ta way to do it is by the shedding of their blood and that it is much better for them thus to ato expiate their guilt for their sins in this world than to rush lush into the eternal world without but we do not propose to be their executioners execution ax cut loner ioner ers and hence our legis lature passed a law predicated upon u pon this idea giving a convicted criminal adjusted adjudged adjudged worthy or of death the ch choice cholee ol 01 ce of eing being beheaded headed be shot or hu hung mr sec p 61 zat zal laws of if utah max mar men aren have different ideas about punishment in this country and lu in england men adjudged worthy of death are strangled by hanging banging in france they use the guillotine to in china they chop oft off their heads as s they fo merly did to political offenders in england the latter class elass of men in japan have the privilege of committing harl aari kari aarl As citizens of the united states we wd submit to the laws of ther the land in the book of doctrine and covenants page 29 we have the follow ing and it shall come to pass that if any person among you shall kill tb they ejr shall be delivered up and dealt with according to the laws of the land and if a man or woman shall rob lie he br r she shall be delivered up unto the laws of the land and if lie or she shall steal he or r she shall be delivered up to the laws of the land it would be better for somei some con victer criminals thus to die to bt others hers bers it would bo be of no benefit jesus speaks or of some that have no k forgiveness ne neither ither in this nor in the world which is to come they have conspired to shed inno cent gent blood or consented thereto these men know what it means they carry eairy it about with them and legi neel feel it in their bones they cannot repent paul says it Is ia impossible to renew them again to repentance 11 they would like to gloss it oven oker over oven v with ith the tho denial dental of the atonement infidelity spiritualism idt lit n or anything else but the spirit wont stay laid it haunts th them enil enli as lis the ghost d did id hamlet like ilke the buddhists the chinese worshippers wor shippers of the god fo their greatest hope would be annihilation on nonentity or eternal oblivion but they cant get it the worm has commenced to gnaw it is making in its ravages rava as it never dies they cannot shake oft the eternity it is written in livin living 1 words as of fire neither in this world neither in illo the world to come it would have been better that a millstone had been hanged about their necks and that they were drowned in the depths of the sea sed 11 the execution of the law lair by killing would do them abam no good that cant atone they are not meant jude of such as being clouds without 0 water carried about of winds trees whose fruit wit hereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of tile tiie sea Joh f earning ming out their own shame wandering dering stars to whom is reserved th e blackness or of darkness for over ever jude I 1 11 13 peter calls them wells without watery water clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom themistok themi the mist of darkness asre is reserved tor for ever evet 2 pet 11 II IT let me liere here say to my brethren as did peter and jude judo to those characters in thein their dayt day beware of them for while they speak great swellings words of vanity and promise liberty they them se delvs 1 Vs a are te the tile servants of corruption kioa 11 I 1 am asked have you not secrets among you that you do not tell ye there are many manx principles that I 1 believe belleve in in that I 1 cannot tell not because they are wrong unjust wicked or oppressive but simply because it is forbidden there is nothing new in this states have their secrets our own senate and cabinet have their secret sessions As a believer in freemasonry I 1 could not divulge some thin thins things s as a mormon I 1 could not divulge some others diplomats police corporations merchants manufacturers companies families fa milie doctors all ail have their secrets secie seele ets ts are the abovementioned above mentioned all rascals why does not everybody tell everybody else all they know god and his church have their secrets and he be says tile the secret of the tire lord is with them that fear him psalms 14 daniel says and the vision of the tile morning and of the evening is true wherefore shut thou up the vision for it shall bo be for many days daniel va VIII 11 rG 10 and a again a 11 nut but thou 0 daniel shut up t the e wd words 13 and seat seal the booky book even to the time of tho tiie end ond daniel XII 1 4 again sea seaf up these things which the seven thunders have hwe uttered and write them not revelations X 4 paul tells us tit alt that ilo ile lie he saw things which were not lawful fc fr r menco mento man to utter 11 11 we well weil 1 why dont you tell them ask the same questions of the freema sons the Odd fellows the druids druies the grangers brangers Gr angers and others I 1 should say go to the lord and ask him for the reasons reason you have llave the same chance that I 1 have why did you not answer distinctly and categorically some questions put by some priests in boulogne e france and tell them all you knew simply because I 1 did not think proper 1 now come to the investigation invest atlon of a subject that has been li arced upon for the last seventeen years viz the tile mountain meadow mas acre that bloody tragedy has been the chief stock in tra trade do for the above named time for penny a liners the press and pulpit who have gloated in turns and by chorus over the sickening details do you deny IV it no do you excuse it no there is no excuse for such a relentless diabolical sanguinary deed that outrageous infamy is looked upon with as much abhorrence by our people as by any other parties in this nation or in the world and at its first announcements it loathing recital chilled the thib marrow and sent a thrill of horror through the breasts of the listeners it was most certainly a horrible deed nna and jike uka many other derence defence less tm tragedies redles gedles it is one of those things that cannot be undone the world is full of deeds of crime and darkness and a question often urises arises who wilo is responsible it I 1 is usual to blame the perpetrators it does not seem fair to accuse nations states and communities for deeds perpetrated by some of their citizens unless they tiley aphid uphold it tile the british nation today to day abhor and revolt at the idea of their commander in india tying to the mouths of their cannon and firing them oil off the french nation shudder at the refined cruelty and barbarity of their mil illary com commander comma manier manter niler in algiers in lil smoking to death in caves eaves large numbers of their enemies including men women and children all honorable americans repudiate with disdain the tile horrible butchery of A mormon lormon men med women and children at hauns mill in missouri as tle the tie present governor does the desperate outlawry the murder and anarchy that exist and which lie he confesses himself unable to control the bender case ja is a horri horrible ble bie allair who is responsible the cold blooded murder of joseph and hyrum smith in carthage Cart hage hago jail jall illinois Illi lili under the pledge of protection from governor ford for their aa ty A v va rn nn mitri erp eye upon civilization I 1 know to z 1 what it is to 1 riddled with balls in the last named case who among those these were brought to justice mr seward saward in speaking of japanese w warfare ar says do not the records of war on our own soil solf contain a melancholy lan choly catalogue of similar chimes crimes are not dot tile the pages which record napoleons great campaigns sullied by deeds alike unworthy 0 of our race page 90 W V 11 2 sc wards travels it is said that the victims of tile tiie mountain meadow massacre committed every kind of outrage in their travels through the settlements that they robbed hen roosts boosts stole cattle arid sheep poisoned pol poi sonea wells and nud that they threatened to take their women and children gome lome distance and then return and spoil and abd destroy the tile mormons cormons Mor mons this I 1 only have from statements made by men living on their line of travel it itis is said that ten tenor or twelve indians were killed by eating beef poisoned by them that this and other acts enraged the indians who followed them ier fer nearly miles increasing their forces force sas as the they y w went ent and evel eventually it culminated in their attack upon them and their massacre that any white man could be found to embark in it is a disgrace to humanity I 1 do not know it but am aemil adrai 1 that some did but being done what then who wilo is responsible why say some the mormon community not quite so fast by the same reason england france missouri illinois and the united states must be held amenable for the acts above stated let us calmly and deliberately examine the facts in the tho case this horrid butchery took place on the then ihen extreme limits of our territory in fact outside cfall of all ali our then settlements upwards of three hundred miles from salt lake city it was commenced and almost exclusively carried out by indians according 1 to the best information we call cali get ge t it must also be remembered that tb this Is horrid butchery took place at the time lime of what is known as the ilk ili mormon war governor young it is true was then in office but before benore that difficulty was adjusted president buchanan sent out two peace commissioners viz ex governor powell of kentucky and major ben mccullough of texas accompanied by governor cum ming who superseded governor young and was install installed cd in his office before the difficulties which then agitated the territory were settled situated as governor young was then with a threatening army on our frontier it was an impossibility for him to attend to an affair distant three hundred miles in another direction it was very evident therefore that gov cumming was the proter proper administrative officer to attend to this matter I 1 have frequently asked as others have why was it not done why wily was such an infamy permitted to go g unpunished in a conversation with hon george peacock of f san pete county he in presence ot several others informed me that the prosecuting D attorney had bad told him in answer to a similar question that he had had bad written to the attorney general of the united states for instructions on this point and had been told not to move in the matter proceedings were instituted at provo and were progressing favorably when thit madcap mad cap judge cradlebaugh broke them up by calling for a military posye and whose ili iii advised proceedings proceeding s and extra judicial acts entirely frustrated the ends of justice the following letter from to a prominent cabinet of fleen fleer under tinder date of may uny 21 1872 will throw tilrow light on this subject in 1858 1658 when alfred cumming was governor Gover governor kor gor of utah territory I 1 pledged myself to lend him and the court every assistance in my power in men and means to tho thoroughly investigate the mountain meadow massacre and bring if possible tile tire bilty parties to justice that olmer offer have made again and again and although it has not yet veen keen accepted I 1 have neither doubt nor fear rear that the perpetrators of that tragedy will meet theira their just re reward ivard but sending an armed force is not the best beat means of furthering the ends of justice although it may serve an excellent purpose in exciting it popular clamor against 10 the mormons cormons Mor 11 mons 1 lri in ili judge cradlebaugh employed a military force to attempt the arrest of those alleged criminals he engaged in all about four hundred men some one hundred of whom were civilian civilians reputed gamblers thieves and other camp fol lowers who were doubtless intended for jurors as ills his associate judge eccles had just done in another district but these accomplished absolutely nothing further than plundering lien hen roosts boosts and rendering themselves cb noxious obnoxious to the citizens on their line of march marell Had Judge cradlebaugh instead of peremptorily dismissing sing ills his grand jury and calling tig for that military posse allowed tile the investigation into the mountain meadow massacre to proceed I 1 have the authority of mr wilson U S prosecuting attorney for saying r the investigation was proceeds proceeding edl edi acing satisfactorily facto rily and I 1 firmly believe if the county sheriffs whose legal duty it was to make arrests had irad been lawfully directed to serve the processes that they would have performed their duty and tile the accused would have been brought to trial instead of honoring the law judge cradlebaugh took a course to screen of renders offenders who could easily hide from such a posse under the justification of avoiding a trial by a court mart martial lal lai it is now fourteen years since the tragedy was enacted and the coults have never tried to prosecute the accused although some of the judges jud 5 es liko like judge hawley rawley have use used every opportunity to charge chang e the crime upon prominent men in utah and influence public opinion against our community As stated above abote this thing has cassed passed on from year to year until in a view of this and other things it has become the tile settled opinion of nine tenths of this community that some of the officers onn off leers care not nat how much crime is perpetrated and that they will not prosecute it I 1 provided they cannot faste fasten it upon resident president FI young and other innocent men again I 1 ask who is responsible gov doty a very amiable gentleman followed gov cumming gumming then came gova hardin durkee duckee shaffer and woods these men have havo all had their attorneys tor marshals judges and all the paraphernalia of justice why my I 1 ask again have they done nothing in i n this matter president young g as shown was not in it position to do anything as governor he could do nothing only in the capacity of president deit delt of the church and by moral suasion this lie ho has offered to do as above stated without effect it is with poor grace that our present very moral reformers accuse president young of dereliction of duty |