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Show THE OLD-TIME TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. Hon. B. H. Roberts reviews Mi Wilson's boor-, "The Lions of the Lord," and is particularly severe se-vere that "this purpose fiction," which should speak truly, lays the responsibility for the Mountain Moun-tain Meadows massacre upon the Mormon Church. Mr. Roberts declares that the United States Courts of Utah tried to fix the crime there and failed and insists that "the Mormon Church was in no wise responsible, in no wise connected with the awful butchery at Mountain Meadows." It would be useless or at least unprofitable to reawaken those old memories were it not directly apparent that Mr. Roberts himself, In making his accusation against Mr. Wilson, conceals some pertinent per-tinent facts. Among the facts concealed are these: (1st.) At that time the Mormon Church, so far as the rank and fil6 in Utah were concerned, was Brigham Young. He verily held the keys of life and death over the Mormons in Utah in 1857. (2nd.) The white men engaged in that massacre were all Mormons who would no more have on-gaged on-gaged In the work had they thought It would be displeasing to Brigham oung than they would have committed suicide. (3rd.) From the time that fated company entered northern Utah they were made to feel that they were in an enemy's country. They were not permitted to purchase the necessaries of life and one Mormon who gave to one of the families a little milk for Its children was excommunicated for the humane act. The .immigrants came from the state in which Parley Pratt was killed. (4th.) When spent with fatigue fa-tigue the savages who were In the care of a Mormon Mor-mon and who before had been peaceable, were given the word, they surrounded the doomed company com-pany and for days sought to destroy them. The white Mormons in that region knew the murders were going on, but never raised a hand In defense de-fense of tho beleaguerd few. At last those same Mormons in military order went to the spot, sent in a flag of truce to the immigrants, promised It they would surrender their arms to stand between them and the Indians .and. save, them, if they could, marched them out and when in single fllev they were each beside a Mormon the signal was given and the immigrants wore murdered. 5th. Brigham Young, who was then the Mormon Mor-mon Ohurch, made no effort to arraign and punish pun-ish a single one of the murderers; rather the rich plunder of the camp and the live stock were divided di-vided up among the murderers, much of the spoil leaching this city. Brigham Young was ex-of-flcio Indian agent, but no investigation was ordered; or-dered; not one paper in Utah mentioned the massacre. mas-sacre. The above is not "purpose Action ;" it is pitiless history. Let the world judge it and fix the responsibility where it belongs. It has always seemed to us that it would have been better for the Mormons themselves, after the execution of John D. Lee, to have admitted that the murders were committed by fanatics, who, embittered by their sufferings, believed they were but executing righteous retribution upon their enemies for in these days they were taught that the Government and people of the United States were their enemies than to try to pervert history by concealing essential and well-known well-known facts. The history of the world makes clear that religious re-ligious fanaticism when fired to a white heat by real or supposed wrongs, or for a religious cause, is potent enough to make the mad men under is influence perform any atrocity, no matter how cruel It is the same in all countries and among all races. The old Covenanters of Scotland were quite as fierce and cruel as ever were Turks in Armenia or Macedonia. It has soaked the soil of both Asia and Europe with blood and, despite the teachings of the Master, the blood atonement of the Old Testament is still the guide of ignorant fanaticism among mankind. There was plenty of ignorant and malignant fanaticism in Utah in 1857. |