We give below an extract from the Lee trial, showing briefly and
conclusively that the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, and the "Mormon" people, were innocent of any
complicity whatever, in the terrible tragedy enacted at Mountain
Meadows, that on the contrary President Brigham Young sought by every
means in his power to save the unfortunate emigrants.
Remarks made by Mr. Sumner Howard, Ex-Chief Justice of Arizona, and
United States Prosecuting Attorney at the second trial of John D. Lee:
"He proposed to prove that John D. Lee, without any authority from
any council or officer, but in direct opposition to the feelings and
wishes of the officers of the Mormon Church, had gone to the Mountain
Meadows, where the Indians were then encamped, accompanied only by a
little Indian boy, and had assumed command of the Indians, whom he
had induced, by promises of great booty, to attack these emigrants.
All these charges against John D. Lee, he (District Attorney Howard)
proposed to prove to the jury by competent testimony, beyond reasonable
doubt, or beyond any doubt, and thought no appeal to the jury would
be required to induce them to give a verdict in accordance with the
evidence."
"James Haslam, of Wellsville, Cache Valley, was sworn. He lived
in Cedar City in 1857; was ordered by Haight to take a message to
President Young with all speed; knew the contents of the message;
left Cedar City on Monday, September 7, 1857, between 5 and 6 p.m.,
and arrived at Salt Lake on Thursday at 11 a. m.; started back at 3
p.m., and reached Cedar about 11 a. m. Sunday morning, September 13th;
delivered the answer from President Young to Haight, who said it was
too late. Witness testified that when leaving Salt Lake to return,
President Young said to him: "Go with all speed, spare no horseflesh.
The emigrants must not be meddled with, if it takes all Iron County
to prevent it. They must go free and unmolested.' Witness knew the
contents of the answer. He got back with the message the Sunday after
the massacre and reported to Haight, who said, 'It is too late.'"
At the second trial the evidence was plain and direct as to Lee's
complicity in the massacre; he was convicted by "Mormon" {349}
testimony, and a verdict of "guilty" was brought in against him by a
"Mormon" jury.
At the close of the second trial U. S. District Attorney Sumner Howard,
in his opening address, repeated again that he had come for the purpose
of trying John D. Lee, because the evidence led and pointed to him as
the main instigator and leader, and he had given the jury unanswerable
documentary evidence, proving that the authorities of the Mormon Church
knew nothing of the butchery until after it was committed, and that
Lee, in his letter to President Young a few weeks later, had knowingly
misrepresented the actual facts relative to the massacre, seeking to
keep him still in the dark and in ignorance. He had received all the
assistance any United States official could ask on earth in any case.
Nothing had been kept back, and he was determined to clear the calendar
of every indictment against any and every actual guilty participator in
the massacre.
_"When the Gentiles reject the Gospel it will be taken from them
and given to the house of Israel."_
--_Wilford Woodruff_.
_"We have never violated the laws of this country; we have every
right to live under their protection, and are entitled to all the
privileges guaranteed by our State and National Constitution."_
--_Joseph Smith_.
{350}