Told by the Pioneer's - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneus
had fifteen valuable horses stolen and remained there hunting for
them, till as the Mormons believed, a traitor among them informed
the Californians where their horses were. They immediately took
their arms and came onto the herders of the horses so unexpectedly
that they only got away with four. The Californians took the remaining
eleven, crossed over and pursued their journey. The day
that we were at the ferry, a woman crossed at the lower ferry with
three horses, the next night her best horse was taken and though she
spent several days searching, she had to go on without it.
"\Yhen we went into the bottom the :YIormons came out to stop us and
told us that that was a ferrv that the Mormons had established for
•
their own use that they had put off crossing for a month on account
of the immigration-that there were then twenty-four fifties in the
bottom waiting and that no gentile would be allowed to cross until
every ~Iormon had passed over.
This was a stunner to Captain Dunn's plans as ,veIl as ours, for
though he was one of the apostles, he was running' away from his fifty
and to do it he was passing himself off as an Oregon emigrant. After
a short consultation we decided to go to the ferry. Before turning
down to the ferry we were stopped by two fifties of armed men and
ordered to turn back. They said they had been there then more than
a month and they would be fooled no longer, that they would shoot
any gentile that attempted to cross before they did. We pacified
them by stating that their claims were perfectly just and that we only
wanted to go to the fern- to make arrangements to cross over when
our proper time came. ",Vith the ferryman we used such arguments
as with the help of an extra dollar to each wagon and to each team,
procured for us the promise that as soon as the day's ferrying' was
done we should be set over. The hands kicked against night work so
we were put off till morning. In the morning we got out the wagons
and teams over except mine before the lazy Mormons came to tow the
boats up. As I was towing I 'was left till four a 'clock P. M. I stopped
towing and kept my team in readiness and before the boat touched
land rushed it aboard, gave the boat a back set into the stream and
jumped aboard. The :JIormons shouted to pitCh the gentile and his
team overboard. No threat of shooting was made till Bishop Kimble
came running to the landing and ordered them to get their guns and
shoot the gentile. Before they could do this we were safely out of
reach but before that manv a threat and sacred scented latter day
•
saint malediction had reached our ears.
Now to return, as we were now in the midst of the Mormon crowd,
it might have been deemed disrespectful to have pulled up and left
and we expected to hear what the Apostles Dunn and Bell had to say.
200