History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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PROGRESS OF EVENTS.
of their party and two of the posse having been killed
during the fight. 36 The camp was then plundered,
and the dead conveyed to Salt Lake City, where the
bodies of Morris and his lieutenant were exposed at
the city hall, the robe, crown, and rod of the former
being laid in mockery by his side, and his fate regarded
by the saints as the just punishment of one who "had
set himself up to teach heresy in Zion, and oppose the
Lord's anointed." The prisoners were brought before
Judge Kinney, placed under bonds, and at the
next session of court, in March 1863, seven were convicted
of murder in the second degree and sentenced
to various terms of imprisonment, while sixty-six
others were fined $100, being committed to jail until
the fines were paid, and two were acquitted. 37 Against
pointing to Morris. Burton rode his horse upon Morris, and commanded
him to give himself up in the name of the Lord. Morris replied: " No, never,
never!" Morris said he wanted to speak to the people. Burton said: "Be
damned quick about it." Morris said: " Brethren, I've taught you true
principles "—he had scarcely got the words out of his mouth before Burton
fired his revolver. The ball passed in his neck or shoulder. Burton exclaimed:
" There's your prophet! " He fired again, saying: "What do you
think of your prophet now ? " Burton then turned suddenly and shot Banks
(the prophet's lieutenant), who was standing five or six paces distant. Banks
fell. Mrs Bowman, wife of James Bowman, came running up, crying: "Oh!
you blood-thristy wretch. " Burton said: "No one shall tell me that and
live," and shot her dead. A Danish woman then came running up to Morris
crying, and Burton shot her dead also.' Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints,
59S-9; Wake's Mormon Prophet, 127; Beadle's Life in Utah, 418-19. Beadle
throws doubt on portions of Dow's testimony, and says that according to the
statements of members of the posse, Morris was killed because, after the
surrender, he ordered his followers to take up their arms and renew the fight.
Stenhouse relates that Banks was wounded at the time of Morris' death,
but not fatally. In the evening he was well enough to sit up and enjoy his
pipe, but died suddenly, though whether by poison, pistol, or knife is
doubtful.
36 Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 126. Stenhouse says, six of the Morrisites
killed and three wounded. Rocky Mountain Saints, 599; Tullidge, six casualties
only. Life of Brigham Young, 339; Beadle, ten killed and a very large
number wounded. Life in Utah, 420.
37 A nolle prosequi was entei ed against one of the accused. Those condemned
to the penitentiary were loaded with ball and chain, and made to
work on the roads. Harding, in Hickman's Destroying Angel, 215. A detailed,
but condensed account of the Morrisite massacre, and perhaps one of
the best, will be found in Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 122-7. For other versions,
see A Voice from the West, 5-12; Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints,
593-600; Beadle's Life in Utah, 413-21; Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young,
336-9; Hickman's Destroying Angel, 211-14; Virginia City ( Mont. ) Madwoman,
Nov. 24, 1877; Deseret News, June 18, 1862, March 12, 1879; S. L. City
Tribune, Aug. 11, 18, 1877. There are few material discrepancies in the above
accounts, except in the one given by the Deseret News, though Beadle's work