The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 41

With the arrival of the new Federal officers a thorough work of investigation into the charges made against the Mormon leaders was expected. The few Gentiles and the dissatisfied Mormons immediately realized that there was another influence than that of the priesthood dominating; but every sensible looker-on could readily see that though Brigham had been brought to terms, he was very far from feeling that his reign was over. "The Lord" was still with him, and the Prophet could afford to bide his time. With that accommodating faith which sees in every opposition and change but the stepping-stone to something better and greater, Brigham could comprehend that "the Lord" had made him stoop only to conquer. Could the troops have been kept out of "the Valleys of the Mountains" it would have been the work of "the Lord" for the protection of his people; but as the troops were now in the midst of the Saints, that was "the Lord" trying the faith of his people. It was necessary that the Saints should exhibit their inclinations, and that those who might incline to "the kingdom of darkness" should have the opportunity of abandoning their faith.

When Governor Cumming first entered Salt Lake City, and appeared in the Tabernacle, he announced that he was prepared to extend protection to all who desired to leave the Territory, and invited all such persons to communicate to him ​their names and addresses. One of the accusations against the Mormon leaders was that they prevented persons who had. become dissatisfied from leaving the Territory. On the other hand, the Mormons indignantly denied that any one was ever intimidated or his liberty circumscribed,^[1] and that on this occasion when the Governor afforded them such an excellent opportunity of leaving, only a very few persons—probably less than a score—availed themselves of it. Other sources of information, however, tell a very different story.^[2]

The machinery of the courts was soon set in motion. The Chief Justice preferred the military camp for his residence. Associate-Justice Sinclair was assigned to the district embracing Salt Lake City; and Associate-Justice Cradlebaugh had within his district all the southern country.

Up to this time the Governor of the Territory had also been Superintendent of Indian Affairs, but on the appointment of Governor Cumming, the office of Superintendent was conferred upon Jacob Forney, of Pennsylvania. Alexander Wilson, of Iowa, was appointed District Attorney of the Territory, and thus was completed the full list of Federal officials.

​The Governor's policy from the beginning was "peace, if that were possible;" and though he and Brigham concluded that it was better that they themselves should refrain from personal intercourse, the leading men around the latter were closely intimate with the official party, and for all practical purpose were as friendly as need be desired. Superintendent Forney was personally intimate with the Governor, and was for a time of some little service to the Mormons in that relationship; the District Attorney also supported the Governor's policy, and sought by every means in his power the peace of the Territory. The Secretary was unreliable.

The three judges and the marshal were united for a vigorous prosecution of past offences, and powerful aid was rendered them by the Valley Tan^[3]—the first Gentile paper published among the Mormons.

Judge Sinclair convened the Third Judicial District Court in Great Salt Lake City in November, 1858, and in his charge to the grand jury he exhibited an anxiety upon three particular points—treason, the intimidation of the courts, and polygamy. President Buchanan's pardon, the Judge admitted, was "a public fact in the history of the country," but, "like any other deed, it ought to be brought judicially before the court by plea, motion, or otherwise." In brief, he wanted to bring before his court Brigham Young and the leading Mormons to make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and make them humbly accept from him the President's clemency. The District Attorney would not present to the jury bills of indictment for treason, pleading that the commissioners had presented the pardon, and the people had accepted it, and the Governor had proclaimed that peace was restored to the Terri​tory. The jury required no further instruction, and the charge of treason was for ever ended.

But "the young judge" was more successful in his efforts in bringing forward the charge of intimidating the courts, as already noticed, and with the grand jury's presentment of Mr. Ferguson that subject was also dropped. It could not be expected that the charge to the jury on polygamy would secure much attention. It was regarded little better than a grand farce to ask a Mormon jury to find indictments against their brethren for polygamy. The term of Judge Sinclair's judicial service was a failure, only memorable for one thing—he sentenced the first white man who was ever hanged in Utah, and he was a Gentile, to be executed on a Sunday!—Of course the day had to be changed.

Judge Cradlebaugh had a larger field of operation, and a still more interesting experience, but it was an experience that ended in much the same way as that of Judge Sinclair. Judge Cradlebaugh was a brave man, and he undertook the unpleasant and herculean task of investigating the charges of murder that had been committed in the Territory. It was, undoubtedly, his purpose to saddle upon the parties really guilty the responsibility of the murders committed during the said "rebellion in Utah," especially those commonly known as the Potter and Parrish murders at Springville, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre in southern Utah. He failed in his effort, but he gained a mass of valuable evidence that is held in reserve for the day of reckoning that has yet to come.

So much of a contradictory character has been stated concerning the proceedings of Judge Cradlebaugh at this time, and so little is clearly known of the murders which he essayed to bring to light, and which are almost daily alluded to in the public press, that it is due to the people of Utah as well as to the people of the United States that the facts should be freely stated in this work, and the sources of information given.

On the 18th of March, 1859, at Provo, Judge Cradlebaugh addressed to the grand jury the following language:

"I will say to you, gentlemen of the grand jury, that, from what I learn, it has been some time since a court, having judicial cognizance in ​your district, was held. No person has been brought to punishment for some two years; and from what I have learned I am satisfied that crime after crime has been committed.

"There is no such effectual way of stopping crime, no means has been found so effectual and sure as the speedy punishment of the offender; and therefore, so far as you are concerned, and your community, it is a very important matter, if you desire innocent and unoffending persons to be protected, that you vigilantly and diligently prosecute all persons who are violators of the law. . . . .

"I said to you in the outset that a great number of cases had come to my knowledge of crimes having been committed through the country, and I shall take the liberty of naming a few of them. The persons committing those offences have not been prosecuted, the reasons why I cannot tell, but it strikes me that those outside influences have prevented it. If you do your duty you will not neglect to inquire into those matters, or allow the offenders to go unpunished. I may mention the Mountain Meadows murders, where a whole train was cut off, except a few children who were too young to give evidence in court. It has been claimed that this offence was committed by Indians, but there is evidence that there were others who were engaged in it besides.

"When the Indians commit crimes they are not so discriminate as to save children; they would not be so particular as to save the children and kill the rest. I say that you may look at all the crimes that have been committed in the western country by the Indians, and there is no case where they have been so careful as to save the innocent children. But, if this be not enough, we have evidence to prove that there were others there engaged in it.

"A large body of persons leaving Cedar City, armed, and after getting away were organized, and went and returned with the spoil. Now there are persons who know that there were others engaged in the crime; I brought a young man with me who saw persons go out in wagons with arms, others on horseback, were away a day or two and came back with the spoil. The Indians complain that in the distribution of the property they did not get their share, they seem to think that the parties engaged with them kept the best and gave them the worst. The chief there [Kanosh] is equally amenable to law, and liable to be punished, and I suppose it is well known that he was engaged in assisting to exterminate the hundred persons that were in that train. I might name to you persons who were there; a great number of them I have had named to me. And yet, notwithstanding this crime has been committed, there has been no effort made to punish those individuals. I say then, gentlemen, it is your duty to look after that, and if it is a fact that they have been guilty of that offence, indict them, send for them, and have them brought before this court.

"I might bring your attention to another case near here, at Springville; that is the case of the Parrishes and Potter. Springville is a vil​lage of several hundred inhabitants. There was one young man whom it was intended to kill. He ran to his uncle's, and was followed to his uncle's house. Here are three persons killed, and the criminal goes unpunished.

"There can be no doubt but by the testimony of young Parrish that you will be able to identify those persons who were connected with it. He can tell you who was engaged in it, and who followed him to the house of his uncle. Here are three persons who were butchered in a most inhuman manner, and the offenders have not been brought to justice. This is sufficient to shew that there has been an effort to cover up instead of to bring to light and punish.

"At the same place there was another person killed, Henry Fobbs, who came in from California and was going to the States, but got in here when the difficulties arose between this community and the general Government, and was detained. When Henry Fobbs was here he made his home at Partial Terry's, stayed there a few weeks; during that time his horse and revolver were stolen; he made his escape, tried to get to Bridger, was caught, brought back, and murdered; and that is the last of Henry Fobbs. No investigation has been made; his body has been removed several times, so that now, perhaps, it could not be found. Shortly afterwards his horse was traded off by Terry. Here is a man said to be killed by the Indians, and then his horse is taken by Mr. Terry and traded for sheep. It seems to me that these are matters that you ought to investigate. Fobbs, I believe, lived in the State of Illinois; he had a wife and children, and was anxious to get back; and I suppose his wife is still anxious about him; but as to what has become of him she cannot tell. I say this case ought to come under your notice and be investigated, and the offenders punished; don't let them go unpunished.

"Then there was Henry Jones that was murdered up here; I believe he was first castrated up in the city, then went to Payson, was chased to Pond Town and was shot there. It is said that he committed some offence. But if persons do commit offences, the public have no right to take the law into their own hands; they have no right to take persons and punish them. I understand that he was castrated; that he came down here, and the house in which he and his mother lived was pulled down.

"There is another matter to which I wish to call your attention. A few days before the matter of the murder of the Parrishes and Potter, the stable of Parrish was broken into, and his carriage and horses were taken out; this was done in the night. These horses have never been returned. That woman, the wife of Mr. Parrish, told me that since then at times she had lived on bread and water, and still there are persons in this community riding about on those horses. Mr. Lysander Gee has those horses; he says that a few days after they were stolen they were given to him, and that he was directed to give them to no person whatever.

"Now, it is a strange kind of matter that persons should go to Parrish's, break open his stable and rob him, and then take the horses to Mr. ​Lysander Gee and tell him to keep them. It does not look reasonable. It would look more reasonable to suppose that Mr. Lysander Gee was engaged in it himself, and it is an outrageous thing that this woman, one of whose children was killed with her husband, has been obliged to live in the very dregs of poverty. I say, bring that man up and compel him to restore those horses, and give the property back to her, and do not allow her to live in poverty, while others are riding about the country here with her husband's property.

"Young Mr. Parrish is here; if the grand jury desire to have him, they can use him as a witness.

"It is not pleasant to talk about these things, but the crimes have been committed, and, if you desire, you can investigate them. My desire is that the responsibility shall be with the grand jury, and not with the court; all the responsibility shall be with you, and the question is with you, whether you will bring those persons to trial.

"I have hereby named some few things; there has been a great deal of crime committed, and there is a way to punish those who have committed them.

"I hear every day of cases of larceny, and an officer is now after a number who are engaged in committing depredations. A great many cases have been committed near Camp Floyd, such as I shall call the attention of the Territorial Attorney to, such as buying soldiers' clothes. Unless you faithfully discharge your duty, I cannot see how you are to escape from the influence of these cases of larceny that have been committed. I therefore present these for the purpose of having you promptly discharge your duty.

"When you retire, you will elect your clerk; and as it is the desire of the court to expedite business, you will therefore be permitted to meet upon your own adjournment. If time is required, the court will adjourn from time to time to give it to you.

"To allow these things to pass over, gives a colour as if they were done by authority. The very fact of such a case as the Mountain Meadows shows that there was some person high in the estimation of the people, and it was done by that authority; and this case of the Parrishes shows the same; and, unless you do your duty, such will be the view that will be taken of it.

"You can know no law but the laws of the United States and the laws you have here. No person can commit crimes and say they are authorized by higher authorities, and if they have any such notions they will have to dispel them.

"I saw something said in that paper [the Deseret News] of some higher law. It is perhaps not proper to mention that, but such teachings will have their influence upon the public mind."

These extracts are taken from the Deseret News report.

During the session of the court, the judge made a requi​sition upon General Johnston for troops to act as a protection to the witnesses, and also, in the absence of a jail, to serve as a guard over the prisoners. The mayor of Provo protested that the presence of the military was an infringement upon the liberties of his fellow-citizens; but the judge answered that he had well considered the request before he had made it. A petition was sent to Governor Cumming, and he asked General Johnston to withdraw the troops, asserting that the court had no authority to call for the aid of the military but through him. The judges interpreted General Johnston's instructions from the War Department adversely to the statement of the Governor, and the troops were continued at Provo. On the 27th of March, the Governor issued a proclamation protesting against the continuance of the troops at Provo, and exhibited to everybody the hostility which existed between himself and the military commander.

After Judge Cradlebaugh had waited for two weeks for some action on the part of the grand jury against the murderers, his patience was exhausted, and he discharged them, assigning as his reason the folly of trying to bring any of the murderers to justice with a Mormon jury. He narrated how the officers of the court had sought to apprehend criminals in Springville, and how, when they got to that settlement, a trumpet was sounded, and the persons sought were secreted until the departure of the officers, when the trumpet was again sounded, and the accused came out of their hiding-places and went about their ordinary business.

After the jury was discharged, the judge continued to take the affidavits of witnesses, which revealed the existence of a Reign of Terror in the country settlements wherever there were "apostates," beyond all credibility.

Governor Cumming was a headstrong, positive man, and to his personal repugnance to General Johnston was justly attributed his official protest against the presence of troops, while evidence in possession of the court was most positive that the witnesses testifying of the murders in Springville believed themselves to be in constant jeopardy, and that their lives were insecure but for the protection afforded by the troops.

​The Governor's interpretation of his instructions was afterwards sustained by Jeremiah S. Black, the Attorney-General, but it has always been a matter of regret with those who sought the punishment of crime and the overthrow of fanaticism, that his Excellency's private animosity prevented him from acting in concert with his Federal associates. That was certainly a time when the representatives of the Government ought to have been united. Still, there is little room for regret, as the members of the grand jury at that session of the court were themselves accused of participation in the very crimes they were instructed to investigate.^[4]

In summing up the evidence in the case of the murders at Springville, the judge concluded with the following address:

"Until I commenced the examination of the testimony in this case, I always supposed that I lived in a land of civil and religious liberty, in which we were secured by the Constitution of our country the right to remove at pleasure from one portion of our domain to another, and also that we enjoyed the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience.' But I regret to say, that the evidence in this case clearly proves that, so far as Utah is concerned, I have been mistaken in such supposition. Men are murdered here. Coolly, deliberately, premeditatedly murdered—their murder is deliberated and determined upon by church council-meetings, and that, too, for no other reason than that they had apostatized from your Church, and were striving to leave the Territory.

"You are the tools, the dupes, the instruments of a tyrannical Church despotism. The heads of your Church order and direct you. You are tanght to obey their orders and commit these horrid murders. Deprived of your liberty, you have lost your manhood, and become the willing instruments of bad men.

"I say to you it will be my earnest effort, while with you, to knock off your ecclesiastical shackles and set you free."

The grand jury would not have listened to such language had there been no foundation for the accusations. Murders ​of an atrocious character had been committed in that neighbourhood, and the evidence was clear and pointed as to who the murderers were. The grand jury could do nothing without doing too much. Had they ever moved in earnest, the whole net-work would have been exposed; but that jury owed allegiance to "a higher court," and could therefore do nothing but pocket silently the most offensive language that could be addressed to honest men.

With the military supporting him, Judge Cradlebaugh was determined to reach the guilty, if that were possible, without the aid of the grand jury. Before any intimation of his purpose could possibly be known to the Mormons, he had furnished the marshal with writs for the apprehension of those accused of murder, and before daylight in the morning the marshal and his posse reached Springville. The troops accompanied the posse, and surrounded the settlement so that flight was impossible. The houses were searched, but no one could be found. The "ten wives" of the bishop received the posse kindly enough, and seemed to enjoy the disappointment of the gentlemen who were hunting their liege lord. Everywhere it was about the same experience. A company of the soldiers sought to penetrate the neighbouring cañon, whither it was reported the accused had fled; but the snow was too deep for the cavalry, and the search was abandoned.

Chagrined and annoyed at his inability to reach the guilty, the Judge entered upon the docket of his court: "The whole community presents a united and organized opposition to the proper administration of justice." Two or three Indians were held as prisoners, and, with a few Gentiles, would have come up before his Honour for trial during that session of his court, but the hostility which he met with on the part of the community when in pursuit of Mormon criminals decided him to close his court altogether. He therefore dismissed the prisoners, and adjourned his court "without day." This was the first and last effort to reach the Springville murderers.

The affidavits taken by Judge Cradlebaugh were given to the public through the Valley Tan immediately afterwards, and they vividly reveal the terrible condition of Utah in 1857. The "Reformation" of the preceding year had borne fearful ​fruit. Had the United States army not entered the Territory in 1858, and had the work of "Reformation" continued, it is difficult to conceive what the condition of the people might have been. It is charitable to conclude that the leading preachers who advocated the sacrifice of human beings as an atonement for their sins were absolutely crazy. To believe less is to charge them with something worse.

Judge Cradlebaugh was appointed to the Western Judicial District of the Territory and made Carson City his official residence. After the Territory of Nevada was created, his Honour was sent to Washington as delegate, and while at the seat of Government he was not unmindful of the Mormon leaders. On the 7th of February, 1863, he made a lengthy speech on the murders in Utah, and gave what is considered a fair representation of the Mountain Meadows massacre, an account of which will be given in a succeeding chapter.

While the contention between General Johnston and Governor Cumming concerning the action of the military continued, there was a constant expectation of a collision. Governor Cumming was beset by influential men among the Mormons who complained that the military was a menace to them, and that the action of the judges and the General was a personal insult to him. The fanatical longed for an opportunity of seeing the Territorial militia called out by the Governor to resist the Federal troops, and at one time their suggestions appeared to be favourably received.

A clever artist among the Mormons had been engaged by smarter men than himself to engrave a counterfeit plate similar to that used by the quarter-master at Camp Floyd for notes drawn upon the assistant treasurers of the United States at St. Louis and New York, and the artist had been so successful that it was difficult to tell the counterfeit from the original. When the fraud was discovered, the principal in the transaction was arrested at Camp Floyd, and a few hours after he agreed to become State's evidence. In his confession he pandered to the prejudices of the locality, and implicated some one in the office of Brigham Young as having furnished the paper, and it was hoped that possibly the Prophet himself might prove to be not quite guiltless. The latter suspicion was, how​ever, entirely without foundation, but it served the purpose of the moment, and in what consequently ensued the anticipated collision between the troops and the militia seemed at one time imminent.

It was proposed that a writ should be issued for the apprehension of Brigham as well as the artist, and calculating upon the Prophet's resistance to the marshal, the military was to be ordered into the city.

The officers from camp entrusted with this little business arrived and presented themselves at the Governor's office to request his coöperation. His Excellency entertained them as gentlemen and as friends, and was ready to grant them every proper assistance. The writ for the arrest of the artist was shown to him, and met with his approval. With a suspicion of something in reserve, and a consciousness of the fullest cooperation on the part of the Mormons, the Governor called a messenger, sent a note to a Mormon official, and "in fifteen minutes," as he afterwards related, "I placed their man before them."

"They had 'got the dead wood on Brigham Young this time,' so they said as they unfolded to me their plans. If Brigham resisted, General Johnston's artillery was to make a breach in the wall surrounding his premises, and they would take him by force and carry him to Camp Floyd.

"I listened to them, sir, as gravely as I could, and examined their papers. They rubbed their hands and were jubilant they 'had got the dead wood on Brigham Young.' I was indignant, sir, and told them, 'By ——, gentlemen, you can't do it! When you have a right to take Brigham Young, gentlemen, you shall have him without creeping through walls. You shall enter by his door with heads erect as becomes representatives of your government. But till that time, gentlemen, you can't touch Brigham Young while I live, by ——!'"

Such was the story told by the Governor to the Author a few years later, and as he related it all the fire of his nature was depicted on his countenance and told unmistakably that he would have made good every word with his life.

The officers returned to Camp Floyd discomfited, and im​mediately the news was circulated that General Johnston would send two regiments and a battery of artillery to enforce the writ for the apprehension of Brigham. A Mormon correspondent, writing to the New York Herald, April 23rd, 1859, stated that the Governor had ordered General Wells to be in readiness with the militia to repulse the Federal troops.^[5]

The engraver's tools and paraphernalia were all seized by the marshal, and in afterwards visiting his regular workshop where he had done work for Brigham Young on the "Deseret Currency," the plates of that institution were also taken possession of and carried to Camp Floyd. The marshal's zeal had carried him too far. The plates of the Mormon currency got scratched and damaged. Brigham brought suit against the marshal for the illegal seizure and injury of his plates, and after a long and tedious trial the marshal was fined heavy damages, for payment of which his house was seized. It is now a valuable piece of property adjoining the theatre, and is of much more value to Brigham than the unscratched plates of the "Currency" would have ever been.

On the 17th of May, an official letter from Washington decided that the military could only be issued as a posse on a call from the Governor, and thus ended the contention between the Governor, the Judges, and the General on this subject.^[6]

​This victory on the part of the Governor, and with it the end of prosecution for past crime, was very satisfactory to the Mormons; but there was a moment when all this joy was seriously threatened. The Gentile influence everywhere was invoked to support the Judges, and to have Governor Cumming removed. For a time this was under consideration in the Cabinet, and the probabilities were all against the Governor being retained, but an excellent piece of strategy saved him.

Soon after the return of Col. Kane to the eastern States, that gentleman was invited to deliver a lecture before the Historical Society of New York upon "the situation of Utah." Though in very feeble health, and unprepared for such a lecture, his devotion to what he no doubt sincerely believed to be. the welfare of the Mormons and the honour of the Government overcame all impediments, and the lecture was delivered. In that audience were two Mormon elders listening eagerly for a sentence that might help "the cause" in the West. By previous arrangement the agent of the Associated Press was to be furnished with a notice of the lecture, and thus a despatch next morning was read everywhere throughout the Union to the effect that there was a division among the Mormons, that some were eager for strife, others for peace, but that Brigham Young was on the side of peace and order, and was labouring to control his fiery brethren. This was a repetition of a part of the diplomacy of the Tabernacle. Governor Cumming was complimented by the gallant Colonel as a-clearheaded, resolute, but prudent executive, and the very man for the trying position.

Before such an endorsement, sent broadcast over the Republic, coming from the lips of the gentleman who had warded off the effusion of blood, and saved the nation from the expense and horror of a domestic war, the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan silently bowed, but they were terribly chagrined.

A mass convention of Gentiles was held at Camp Floyd on the 23rd of July, at which the Judges and the Indian agent—Dr. Garland Hurd—were present, and in which they took a prominent part. An address was penned, rehearsing all the crimes charged to the Mormons, asserting that they were as ​disloyal after the President's pardon as when they were in arms in Echo Cañon, that the President was deceived and badly advised, and had done a great wrong in withdrawing the protection of the military from the courts.

In perusing the lengthy report of this convention, and comparing statements then and accusations since, the reader is struck with the unanimity of the opponents of the Mormon leaders, and the clearness with which results were anticipated years before their accomplishment.