Show leaves ROM AN OLD NOTEBOOK indian war veteran thomas W cropper tells telli of the past in millard county and of a eaid raid throwing deseret into panic how ilow bloodshed was ATer averted ted indians twitted settlers 1 I lou on come conle on fight we FI fight lit you bowl aboa ana nobody stirred aged man talks interestingly of the past JUST PLAIN conversation NOT WRITING thomas W cropper may 8 9 1927 continued from last week cropper tells ot of gunnison massacre uncle thomas cropper says the in deans told him personally that the whites wounded one indian but one only not more and he not danger bously the indian so wounded was the one at whom gunnison Gunni aon ahot shot when the ambush waa was pulled he ile says captain john W gunnison Gunn lson was sent down to survey he thinks to find the meridian line he camp pd at five mile creek a little north of fillmore the walker war was just barely ever over and lots of 0 apprehend sion still floated in the air and the people were extremely uneasy but the indians much more so and ag grava ted there waa was much turmoil the massacre took place cropper came to fillmore in 1856 the massacre occurred in 1863 but so recent was it that every ohe one waa was talking about it and the story waa was fresh upon the lips of all he ile says he went to the place where gunnison Gunni aon had his last camp in life to the spot dwiere the massacre took place ica chopper opper says positively he has seen gunelson Gunn lson s grave in Fill marked with a red stone but graved this however does not agree with the words of venerable mr stott of meadow who says equal ly as positively Gunni gunnison sons a remains were not taken to fillmore but were lut interred erred with all the rest irest except pot ter s who was the mormon guide from man at the time ot of the me dedication dedication of the gunnison Gunn lson bonu ment a few days after these notes were aiken down mr stott talked to me personally and repeated bla his tor for mer statement about gunnison Gunn lson at that date mr stott was the sole bur biving member of the party under bishop call who burled buried the bodies of the dead the place of interment of gunnison Gunn lson a remains will always re main a matter of dispute I 1 think they were not taken to fillmore emigrant disarms indian starts statts trouble leading to massacre cropper says the indian who ats killed by the missouri immigrants which lead to the killing of aunut son was a kin though distant to kanosh but be he says chief kanosh had nothing at all to do with the massacre he recites that tragic event about as follows emigrants came to dry creek a stream close to corn creek spring slough they called it the indiana indians came down that evening to barter and trade and swap tor for backy as la Is their custom A young man wanted to look at the indi in a bow and ar rows rous uncle thomas says it la is a dis insult to an indian to be dis armed and it if a person does disarm an indian the dire insult MUST BE avenged well this young man persisted grabbed the bow and tried to wrench it away from the indian the in dian than resented it the two tussled the indian got an arrow loose in his hand and jabbed mister white with it the white began shooting shot and wounded this indian and either he or others of the whites kept on shooting and when the melee was ended one indian was fatally wound ed and died next day the word that uncle thomaa thomas used to me was that it was a disgrace to an indian among his tribe to have a white tran ir an disarm him so when juhls ahls white tried to take his bow by force of course the red resisted in the scuffle the indian kept backing off tried not to provoke trouble but wanted the white to desisso in bis his purpose finally de jabbed the ag gresslee gress gres sive lve white in the chest he ile sim aim ply did not want to be disarmed when the white man wrenched the bow out the indian indiana s hand it was then under that provo provocation that the indian jabbed hira him with the arrow i there was much trouble in the air the walker war was just over but everybody waa was uneasy kanosh kept the indiana indians at peace with the mor mon men settlers there were two class es ot of people the good and friendly and the hated Merrl Merri cats indian code demanded revenge the first thoughts of the indians were tor for revenge upon the hated Merri cata cats tor for this unwarranted murder and that revenge would be ron n the first Mer Merrl cat that pissed that way in a little while gunnison Gunn lson came while a group were still out on t the e war path the indians were formed under the leadership of four sub chiefs who were 1 Mosho which he saya says la is the indian word fur for tobacco eater 2 pant which Is the indian word tor for long tall 3 shot which mr air cropper thinks is a white man marts s word mean ing good shot 4 and dotso weep which is the indian word tor for long hair or hair that reaches to the ground indians hated Verri cats the indians bated hated the Merrl Merri cats but were on good terms with the mormons they would avenge them selves on the Merrl Merri cats these tow four bucks did not know that gun nison ulson was one ot of the party when they ambushed him all they did care for waa was to avenge the death of their uncle who was killed that la Is he says it is his 1 understanding that the audian adian who was killed was an uncle to 0 o these tour four brothers whom he barned named gibbs says it waa was mosho a father these variations don t matter cropper says the indians told him these four were brothers though he himself does not think so and today even doubts it gunnison a party went up to ce dar springs which was the name for holden before anybody was there and there they parted the military part ot of the party went up toward leamington leavington Lea while gunnison himself took some men with him stuff staffon on the front wheels ot of a wagon wage n and mules to haul it down at what la is now called the little reservoir Keser voir which we more commonly refer to as the gunnison bend reservoir at this place there was an old indian trail and a ford across the sevier the gunnison party crossed the river and went on south the indians spotted them from the lava flow and watch pd bcd them carefully fixing in mind just how many whites what guns they had where camped its defence and its get at a ability each sub chief joined his party one took each important avenue the signal was to be when the cook lit the afre gun pison got up with the cook and was washing himself at the run cropper says not in the river but in the con berting arm of the overflow which there runs back and empties into the river the cook had just lighted the fire when the indian as assinger to tio that part killed him gunnison then jumped up and a ball hit SWAT in the bank just where he was narrowly missing him he ile pulled down his aide bide arm on this indian and the in deans told cropper that gunnison wounded this indian the river flows over its bank there and tills fills up a slough which they call the parallel slough because it runs parallel with the river the river makes a big turn to the north this slough takes off and comes back and flows into the river a tow few feet below he said the indians took him to the spot just as the sun rose as the tire fire was built the shooting be gan the tour four chiefs divided into four parties one above one below and two out they herded the whites past their stacked arms to the two groups out who shot them down Gun gimelson tilson mortally hart hurt by arrows Is shot finback la back by renegade uncle thomas saya there were 13 arrow in A rene galie dubbed jimmie knights was the one who shot gunnison as gunnison lay upon the ground mortally wound ed and unable to rise uncle thomas says the indian who shot at gunnison Gunn lson anas not much over a couple of rods away secreted in the bushes pant tired fired and missed gun nison gunnison Gunn lson wounded him the whites had their guns stack ed were driven in panic past them as the indiana indians took them completely by surprise the whites ran north thinking they would escape that way ay one man got on a horse the horse threw him but he mounted again and managed to ride to sate safe ty one man swam to safety slip ping over the river bank unnoticed and getting into the fringe of wll wit lows was hidden until he could get around the bend and then made his escape he walked and ran to the other party near leamington leavington Lea and gave the alarm military scared seared stiff beat iti it uncle thomas said the military came back but they were so scared seared they left at once sent word back from nephi he thinks it was days afterward bishop anson V call and hia his party came over to bury the re mains but the military did not bury a bone cf of their comrades they were afraid and left the spot gibbs says a precipitate retreat an utter flight in panic onel of buining pirty anson V call who was bishop at fillmore lent a chief culbert king reuben mcbride byron war ner doris warner these are the men uncle thomas says who were of the party who buried the remains as as be he could remember then I 1 asked it thompson was not a mem ment ber and he said he thought so also upon further questioning he said that edwin stott was a member to be continued next week |