History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

568 THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE.
"They are too pretty to be killed," answered the chief.
"Such are my orders," rejoined Lee; whereupon the
Indian shot one of them, and Lee dragged the other
to the ground and cut her throat. 53
On the testimony which we have now before us I
will make but one comment. If Haslem's statement
was true, Brigham was clearly no accomplice; if it
was false, and his errand to Salt Lake City was a mere
trick of the first presidency, it is extremely improbable
that Brigham would have betrayed his intention to
Van Yliet by using the remarks that he made only
two days before the event. Moreover, apart from
other considerations, it is impossible to reconcile the
latter theory with the shrewd and far-sighted policy
of this able leader, who well knew that his militia
were no match for the army of Utah, and who would
have been the last one to rouse the vengeance of a
great nation against his handful of followers. 04
Lee was convicted of murder in the first degree,
and being allowed to select the mode of his execution,
was sentenced to be shot. The case was appealed to
the supreme court of Utah, but the judgment was
sustained, and it was ordered that the sentence should
be carried into effect on the 23d of March, 1877. 65
William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, and others who
had also been arraigned for trial, were soon afterward
discharged from custody.
A few days before his execution, Lee made a con-
b3 Deseret News, Sept. 20, 1876; confirmed in the trial of John D. Lee, in
Mormonism Unvaried, 361, 365-7.
54 In a sworn statement made at S. L. City, Oct. 24, 1SS4, Wilford Woodruff
states that he was present when Lee had an interview with Brigham
Young in the autumn of 1857; that the latter was deeply affected, shed tears,
and said he was sorry that innocent blood had been shed. A copy of it will
be found in The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 51-3, a republished lecture by
Elder C. W. Penrose (S. L. City, 1884).
55 Reports of the proceedings at the second trial will be found in Lee's Mormmism
UnvaUed, 302-78; The Deseret News, Sept. 20, 27, 1S76; Beadle's
Western Wilds, 515-19. In passing sentence, Judge Boreman remarked: 'The
men who actually participated in the deed are not the only guilty parties. Although
the evidence shows plainly that you were a willing participant in the
massacre, yet both trials taken together show that others, and some high in
authority, inaugurated and decided upon the wholesale slaughter of the emigrants.'