[Fayetteville, Ark.] The Arkansian, May 25, 1860
The Salt Lake Valley Tan, of February 29th, contains a statement in regard to the massacre at Mountain meadows, in September, 1857; when 120 men, women, and children, emigrants from Arkansas, were murdered by Mormons. When Judge Cradlebaugh commenced the session of his court in Utah, supported by the military, among other witnesses who privately, under fear of assassination, informed him of outrages in the territory was one who participated in the Mountain Meadow massacre. He gave the following account of the murder.
Previous to the massacre there was a council held at Cedar City, which president Haight and Bishop Higby and Leed attended. At this council they designated or appointed a large number of men residing in Cedar City, and in other settlements around, to perform the work of dispatching these emigrants. The men appointed for this purpose were instructed to resort, well armed, at a given time, to a spring or small stream, lying a short distance to the left of the road leading into the meadows, and not far from Hamblin’s ranche, but concealed from it by intervening hills. This was the place of rendezvous, and here the men when they arrived, painted and otherwise disguised themselves, so as to resemble Indians. From thence they proceeded, early on Monday morning, by a path or trail which leads from this spring directly into the Meadows, and enters the road some distance beyond Hamblin’s ranche. By taking this route they could not be seen by any one at the ranche.
On arriving at the corral of the emigrants a number of the men were standing on the outside by the camp fires, which from appearances, they had just been building.—These were fired upon, and at the first discharge several of them fell dead or wounded. The remainder immediately ran to the inside of the corral, and began fortifying themselves, and preparing for defence as well as they could, by shoving their wagons closer together, and digging holes into which to lower them, so as to keep the shots from getting under and string them. The attack continued, in a desultory and irregular manner, for four or five days. The corral was closely watched, and if any of the immigrants showed themselves they were instantly fired on from without. If they attempted to go to the spring, which was only a few yards distant, they were sure to fall by the rifles of their assailants. In consequence of the almost certain death that resulted from any attempt to procure water, the emigrants before the siege discontinued, suffered intensely from thirst. The assailants, at length, believing that the emigrants could not be subdued by the means adopted, resorted to treachery and stratagem to accomplish what they had been unable to do by force. They returned to the spring, where they had painted and disguised themselves previous to commencing the attack, and there removed their disguises, and again assumed their ordinary dress.
After this Bishop, with a party of men, returned to the camp of the emigrants, bearing a white flag as a signal of truce. From the position of the corral, the emigrants were able to see them some time before they reached it. As soon as they discerned it, they dressed a little girl in white, and placed her at the entrance of the corral, to indicate their friendly feelings to the persons bearing the flag. Lee and his party, on arriving, were invited into the corral, where they stayed about an hour, talking with them about the attack that had been made upon them. Lee told the emigrants that the Indians had gone off over the hills, and that if they would lay down their arms and give up their property, he and his party would conduct them back to Cedar City; but if they went out with their arms, the Indians would look upon it as an unfriendly act, and would again attack them. The emigrants, trusting to Lee’s honor and sincerity of his statement, consented to the terms; which he proposed, and left their property and all their arms at the corral, and, under the escort of Lee and his party, started towards the North in the direction of Cedar City. After they had proceeded about a mile on their way, on a signal given by Bishop Higby, who was one of the party who went to the corral with Lee, the slaughter began. The men were mostly killed or shot down at the first fire, and the women and children, who immediately fled in different directions were quickly pursued and dispatched.
Such was the substance, if not the exact words of a statement made by a man to Judge Cradlebaugh, in my presence, who at the same time, confessed that he participated in the horrible events which he related. He also gave Judge C. the names of 24 or 30 other men living in the region, who assisted in the massacre. He offered also to make the same statement in court and under oath, if protection was guaranteed to him. He gave as a reason for divulging these facts, that they had tormented his mind and conscience since they occurred, and he expressed a willingness to stand a trial for his crime.