Source: Fort Smith Elevator, August 20,
1897
The Butchery of a Train of Arkansans by Mormons
and Indians While on their Way to California.
Monticello. Almost
forty years have rolled away since this country was horrified from Maine
to California by the report of what is known in history as the Mountain
Meadow Massacre. The details of this bloody crime, that for hellish
atrocity has no parallel in our history, are familiar to very few of the
present generation, although they were impressed indelibly upon the
minds of our elders. To the majority of people the story of this
massacre has almost become a myth buried in the obscurity of a forgotten
past.
What, then, was the
surprise of some of our townspeople a week or two ago when an elderly
gentleman who was in the city trading, incidentally remarked that his
wife was a survivor of the Mountain Meadow massacre, and that he had
rescued her from the Mormons while she was but an infant.
This old gentleman
excited the curiosity of his auditors at once, being a very intelligent,
interesting talker, but as his wife was waiting for him he did not have
time to talk very much about the tragic drama in which his wife played
such a thrilling part. In the course of his conversation, however, he
said that his wife was the youngest of three sisters who survived the
massacre, that he lived in Calhoun county and that he had brought his
wife to this county on a visit to her eldest sister, Mrs. Rebecca Evans
(sic),
who lived on a place belonging to Mrs. Lyle, about nine and one-half
miles northeast of Monticello.
Learning that Mrs.
Evans (sic) was about 7 years old at the time of the massacre, and thinking
that she would be able to recall some particulars of that horrible
butchery, in company with Dr. Tarrant of this city, we went out to call
on her not long since. We found her living in an humble log house, with
her husband and five children. They are merely tenants on Mrs. Lyle's
place. Time has dwelt somewhat roughly with Mrs. Evans, and she does not
look younger than her forty-six years imply. She is, however, a very
pleasant lady and talked freely of the massacre through which she passed
years ago, although she cannot speak even now without a great deal of
emotion of this butchery of her loved ones; and an expression of horror
appears at times upon her face, such as she must have felt when she saw
on that fateful September day 120 of her people tomahawked and pierced
with arrows, crushed with stones and mutilated with bullets and knives,
victims of Mormon fanaticism and hatred.
Mrs. Evans (sic) says this
train of emigrants left what was then Carroll county, Arkansas, in the
summer of 1857. In the train she had a father and mother, five sisters,
one brother, an uncle and an aunt and ten or twelve cousins. She says
her father and uncle were well off and had $30,000 in money with them,
besides a large number of fine stock. There were about forty heads of
families in this train when it entered Utah, most of them hailing from
Arkansas . It is said to have been one of the finest trains that ever
crossed the plains. They were making their way to California . Mrs.
Evans says they received hostile treatment from the time they entered
Utah.
Early in September
they came to the home of a prominent Mormon, Jacob Hamlin, on the
northern slope of the Mountain Meadows. Here they were told that there
was a large spring about four miles distant in the southern part of the
Mountain Meadows. So the train, went on to the spring and encamped there
for the night. After camping at this place for three days and nights, on
the fourth day, in the morning just before light about sixty Mormons,
disguised as Indians, and a number of Indians attacked the train. The
Indians were ordered to stampede the cattle and drive them away from the
train. They then commenced firing on the emigrants. The fire was
returned by the emigrants, who had corraled [sic] their wagons. The
Mormons and Indians had the train completely surrounded and they were
cut off from the spring. For about eight days the siege lasted, the
emigrants fighting like lions. The Mormons finding they could not whip
them by fair fighting, decided to destroy them by treachery.
Accordingly, John D. Lee, Haight and Higbee had their paint washed off,
and dressing in their usual attire, took three wagons and drove down
towards the emigrants' corral as if they were traveling on their
ordinary business. Mrs. Evans (sic) says her 8-year-old sister, Mary Dunlap,
who was dressed in white, went out towards them and waved a white
handkerchief in token of peace. The Mormons in the wagons waved one in
reply and advanced to the corral. The emigrants, no Indians being in
sight at this time, came out, and walked [talked] with these leading
Mormons for an hour or an hour and a half. The Mormons told the
emigrants that the Indians were hostile, and that if they gave up their
arms it would show the Indians that they did not want to fight. If the
emigrants would do this the Mormons promised to pilot them back to the
settlements.
Mrs. Evans (sic), when asked
if they did not suspect treachery, says that they did not, and if they
did they were about famished from thirst, and were ready to accept
almost any terms in order to get out of their distressing situation. The
emigrants having agreed to these terms, delivered up their arms to the
three Mormons with whom they had counseled. The women and children
started back towards Hamlin's house, followed by the men. The Mormons,
with the arms, came along by the side of the men. Mrs. Evans says after
they had proceeded about a mile on their way back to Hamlin's house they
came to a cluster of scrub oaks and sage bushes on both sides of the
road. About this time Higbee, who was with them, gave the signal to fire
by shooting off his pistol, when a volley poured in from each side and
the butchering commenced. Who can picture the horrors of the awful
scene? From every bush, demons of destruction leaped forth to revel in
crime and in blood. The Mormons and Indians shot down in cold blood the
defenseless men, women and children, then pierced them with bows and
arrows, then cut their throats with knives. With savage whoops and
yells, these devils pursued their victims in every direction. Innocent
girls fell upon their knees and prayed for mercy, but their cries were
unheeded. The massacre commenced about 5 o'clock in the evening. In
one-half hour's time, 120 men, women and children lay cold in death,
horribly mutilated and disfigured.
Mrs. Evans (sic) says that
she ran and hid behind a sage bush when the massacre began. Two of her
older sisters were killed right near her, and were lying dead by her
side. She heard her baby sister crying and ran to find her. She found
her entwined in her mother's arms, but that mother was cold in death.
This sister, whose name was Sarah, and who was about a year old at this
time, had been shot through her right arm, below the elbow, by a large
ball, breaking both bones and cutting her arm half off. Seizing her
sister in her arms, Mrs. Evans (sic) rushed back to the sage bush where she
had been hiding. She remained here until she saw a white man, who proved
to be Jacob Hamlin. She went up to him and begged him to save her and
her little sisters. She says that Hamlin was the only white man that she
saw who belonged to the massacring party. She remembers distinctly that
Hamlin was dressed in a suit of green jeans. After the massacre was
over, she saw quite a number of white men washing the paint from their
faces.
Mrs. Evans (sic) says that
she and her sister Louisa begged not to be separated from their baby
sister, Sarah. Jacob Hamlin finally agreed to take the three sisters to
his home. Just seventeen children survived this horrible massacre, the
oldest of whom was not over 8 years of age. All of them were placed in
one wagon, several of them being wounded, while the clothing of nearly
all of them was bloody with the gore of their kindred. A son-in-law of
John D. Lee drove the wagon to Hamlin's house, where all the children
were kept that night. What a pitiful sight these orphans, some of them
moaning in pain, all of them bereft of parents and kindred, must have
presented, as they were driven away from the scene of this horrible
butchery!
On the day after the
massacre, Lee and the other Mormons started off with the rest of the
children, leaving Rebecca, Louisa and Sarah Dunlap with Jacob Hamlin.
After the lapse of several weeks, Mrs. Evans (sic) says she went back to the
scene of the massacre with some Mormon girls. None of the dead bodies
had been buried, but wild animals and buzzards were eating the flesh
from their bones. She was only able to recognize one corpse and that one
was Jack Baker, a very prominent character among the emigrants. She
recognized him by his long beard. Mrs. Evans says the report they were
kindly treated and well cared for while in hands of the Mormons, is
false. To the contrary she says they were only half fed and half clothed
and harshly treated.
Mrs. Evans (sic) and her
sisters did not long remain at Mountain Meadows, but soon moved with
Hamlin to the fort of Santa Clara . They remained in the hands of Hamlin
for nearly two years, before they were rescued. The rescue of these
children from the Mormons was an undertaking involving a great deal of
difficulty and danger. United States Indian Agent Dr. Forney, Deputy
Marhsal Rogers and Capt. James Lynch, with a body of United States
troops, took party in the rescue. The children were kept for some time
in Salt Lake City . Capt. Lynch then carried the children back to their
homes in Arkansas and other states wherever they had relatives. He
carried the three Dunlap girls back to Carroll (now Boone) county. Their
uncle, James Dunlap, who was then living at Carrollton , took all three
of them and treated them as his own children. Here they lived uneventful
lives, attending school, and doing pretty much what other girls do,
until Rebecca was 23 years of age, when, as usually happens, she, too,
had her dreams of love fulfilled and was united in marriage to Mr.
Evans (sic), who carried her to Calhoun county to reside. There they lived
until December 15, 1895 , when they moved to Drew county, where they now
reside. They have five children.
Louisa Dunlap was
married to James Linton in Boone county in 1876. They have five
children.
Sarah Dunlap, the
youngest, has never recovered the use of her arm, which was shot during
the massacre. She has also been afflicted with weak eyes most of her
life. She went to the blind school in Little Rock, and remained until
she graduated. During all these years the memory of Capt. Lynch, who
brought these girls away from the Mormons, had been cherished fondly by
them. They were very much grieved to hear in January, 1893, that Capt.
Lynch was seriously ill at his home in Washington City . In this letter
it was stated that Capt. Lynch had signified his intention of leaving
all his property to the survivors of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Sarah, moved by a feeling of gratitude for all that Capt. Lynch had done
for them, immediately wrote to him, offering to come to Washington and
wait upon him as his nurse. He, in the meantime, had grown better, and
responded to her letter. A lively correspondence was then carried on
between the two for about a year by which time Cupid had done his work.
The little infant, now 37 years old, gave her hand and heart to the hero
of her dreams who had rescued her from the Mormons thirty-five years
before, and who was now 75 years old. They are now living happily
together at Woodbury, Calhoun County, Ark.
And here we let the
curtain drop. But before bringing this article to a close, it is proper
to state that the seventeen survivors of this horrible massacre have
never recovered one cent damages from the Mormons for the murder of
their parents and relatives and the robbery of their property. Efforts
are now being made to get a bill through congress which will afford them
some slight recompense for the terrible disaster of forty years ago.
Capt. Thornton, of Camden, has the matter in charge, and we trust his
efforts may prove successful.
