The Mountain Meadows Massacre: 9-11-1857150th Anniversary in 2007

September 11, 1857

On that day, every man, woman and child over the age of six on a wagon train from Arkansas were murdered by 400 Indians and 54 Mormon militia-men disguised as Indians in southwest Utah.

Survivors

Only 17 children were spared and returned to their families in Arkansas.

One hundred twenty (120) victims were stripped of their clothing, robbed of their valuables and left unburied to be devoured by wolves and wild animals for a year and a half before being buried.

My Call to Action…

As a relative of two of the Arkansas victims, I am calling for the state of Utah and the LDS (Mormon) Church to act to clear the conscience of the church…

They should start by relinquishing owner-ship of the massacre site and allowing Federal stewardship of it and the surrounding valley.

Utah’s Historic Preservation Officer (a Mormon): “Many sources report the belligerent conduct

of the party as it made its way through Utah…” Some of their oxen were named Brigham Young

and cursed at. They boasted of participation in the execution of

Joseph Smith and Apostle John Taylor. Threats were made to lead an army back from

California. They poisoned a spring causing the death of

many cattle.

McMurtry:

The truth was:

“There was no poisoned cow and the spring ran as clear as ever.”

McMurtry Concerning These Charges:

“It is clear that he (Brigham Young) used the power of his position as church leader to keep the truth from coming out, a practice that has been followed by many church leaders since.”

Suppression of Evidence:

Historical records from that time have disappeared from a religious institution (the LDS) that McMurtry says is among the “world’s most efficient record-keepers.”

McMurtry:

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has hoped from the first day to the present that if they just stuck together, hunkered down and kept quite, time would pass and people would forget.”

“Time did pass, but people have not even begun to forget.”

Brigham Young (Quoted by McMurtry): “I am told that there are Brethren who are willing to

swear against the Brethren who were engaged in this affair.

I hope there is no truth to that report. But if there is I will tell you my opinion of you, as your fate is concerned.

Unless you repent at once of that unholy intention, and will keep the secret of all you know, you will die a dog’s death and be damned, and go to hell.

I do not want to hear any more treachery among my people.”

Approach of its 150th Anniversary In an 1999 ceremony at

Mountain Meadows, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided over the dedication of a new rock cairn.

New Historical Marker

“In 1861, Brigham Young and his entourage visited the Utah gravesite. He saw the words on the cross and said, ‘Vengeance is mine and I have taken a little’.”

The Wagon Train’s Contents: 1,000 head of cattle.

$100,000 in gold coins.

several fine carriages and horses.

McMurtry:

Church members subscribed “to a doctrine of blood atonement, which instructed them to shed the blood of gentiles…”

The victims “were, in Mormon terms, gentiles, enemies of the faith, perfect candidates for the enactment of blood atonement.”

McMurtry on Brigham Young’s letter forbidding the planned bloodshed:

“Of course it’s possible that this famous letter might not have been the only message he dispatched to the south. The nice letter may have been intended as cover in case things went wrong.”

Juanita Brooks:

Authored the book Mountain Meadows Massacre (1950).

She, herself, is a descendant of the 1857 Mormon murderers.

“(Church officials) admitted to burning crucial historical documents because ‘they were just too incriminating’ of the church.”

The Question:

So who can best be the stewards today of this tragic piece of

American history?

The Question

The Descendants of the Killers or the Federal Government?

Lee’s Trial

McMurtry writes that Brigham Young himself was deposed at Lee’s trial and admitted that he was an accessory after the fact, after “the always-shaky edifice of the Mormon cover-up began to crumble.”

150th Anniversary

Real justice cannot continue to be denied at Mountain Meadows!

American history must be controlled by the Federal Government, not Descendants of the Killers, who have a massive conflict of interest in the matter.

The Testimony of Eye-Witnesses: “There were two piles of bodies, one

composed of women and children, the other of men.

The bodies were entirely nude and seemed to have been thrown promiscuously together.

They appeared to have been massacred.”

The Testimony of Eye-Witnesses:

“There were sixty or seventy bodies of women and children; saw one man on that pile; the children were from one and two months up to 12 years; the small children were cut, others stabbed with knives: had bullets through them. All the bodies were more or less torn to pieces.”

The Descendents of the Victims’ Families Respond: “The descendants of mass murderers should

not be allowed to impose a religious faith on those killed by their own ancestors (by ‘baptism for the dead’ into Mormon Church membership after their own ancestors had murdered them).”

“Closure will never occur on the Mountain Meadows murders until the final resting place of the victims has been transferred from the Mormon Church to the Federal Government.”

True Feelings:

Two relatives of massacre victims drove up to a field in the valley on the 148th anniversary of the bloodbath. They report that they asked the landowner if they could visit a portion of his property where their ancestors’ remains are said to be located.

True Feelings:

One visitor discreetly filmed the owner’s response on a small hand-held camera at his side.

The Mormon landowner launched into a tirade of cursing and swearing, all caught on film.

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch:

“The ground is particularly sacred. We had a lot of people die there.”

Mormons Leaders Have Great Respect for Their

Prophet:“You have to appreciate what this is like. We

behold him to be a prophet. Imagine yourself getting a call from Moses.” - Kim Clark

“If Gordon Hinckley called and said, ‘What I need you to do is go work on the grounds crew at BYU-Idaho,’ I would say, ‘Yes’.”

- Paul Pugmire

Dr. R. Henry Migliore:

“This is the culture that created Mountain Meadows.”

McMurtry: Brigham Young’s revelation on the massacre.“I have made that matter a subject of prayer. I went

right to God with it and asked him to take the horrid vision from my sight, if it was a righteous thing that my people have done in killing those people at Mountain Meadows.”

“God answered me and at once the vision was removed. I had evidence from God that he had over-ruled it all for good and the action was a righteous one and well intended.”

- Brigham Young

The Loot’s Value Today:

The $100,000 in gold coins today would be worth around $130,000,000. None of it was returned to the Arkansas relatives.

Conclusion:

And so, President Hinckley, the book of the past remains open as the stain of mass murder cannot be removed from the pages of time.

The LDS Church can only move out of the shadows of the ugliest event in Mormon church history by offering remorse, accepting responsibility, and granting restitution.

For more information on this matter, go to the web site at www.1857massacre.com.