USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 49
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I. W. Hardy
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HISTORY OF UTAH.
The death . of Judge Shaver, like that of Judge Reed, was sin- cerely mourned in Utah. During their residence in the Territory, by their uprightness as judges and their deportment as men, they had endeared themselves to the whole community, who all united now in doing honor to the memory and remains of the Associate Justice. A public funeral was held at the Council House on the 30th of June, Mayor Grant having charge of arrangements and Chief Justice Kinney acting as chairman. A committee consisting of Hon. Almon W. Babbitt, Judge Zerubbabel Snow and Hon. George A. Smith, rep- resenting the bench and bar, reported resolutions of respect and esteem for the departed, which were read to the large assembly. Judge Kinney then pronounced a eulogy over the deceased, and after more resolutions of respect offered by Mayor Grant in behalf of the citizens, Professor Orson Pratt, by request, made some appropriate remarks. The benediction was pronounced by President Brigham Young. The remains were accompanied to the cemetery by a pro- cession which formed in the following order under the direction of City Marshal Jesse C. Little :
1. Battalion of mounted Life Guards, commanded by Major R. T. Burton.
2. Nauvoo Brass Band, in carriage drawn by four black horses, instruments draped with black crape, and playing solemn music.
3. Hearse bearing the corpse, in a carriage draped and plumed, and drawn by four black horses, accompanied by pall bearers : Daniel Carn, Leonard W. Hardy, Frederick Kesler, Bryant Stringam, Dimick B. Huntington, James W. Cummings, Andrew Cun- ningham, William G. Perkins.
4. Intimate friends.
5. Governor and suite, including the Hon. Jolın M. Bernhisel, Delegate.
6. The Judges of Supreme and Probate Courts, Secretary of the Territory, and Indian agent.
7. Members of the bar and officers of the courts.
8. Citizens.
At the grave Dr. Garland Hurt delivered an address, tendering his warmest thanks, "as a fellow Virginian," for the ceremonies extended on the occasion ; after which Apostle George A. Smith ded- icated the tomb.
The death of Judges Reed and Shaver, as said, was deeply
!
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deplored in Utah. The funeral ceremonies in honor of the latter were a spontaneous offering, not only of respect to the high office which had been vacated, but of sincere and genuine affection for the man, and esteem for his memory. Had Judge Reed died in Utah, instead of in New York, there would have been another public funeral equally imposing, at which the citizens of the Territory would have united in a similar sincere expression of sorrow and esteem for the Chief Justice. The Deseret News of July 4th, 1855, the first issue of that journal after the death of Judge Shaver, thus voiced the sentiments of the people toward the deceased and his dis- tinguished colleague. Said the editor :
"Having been personally acquainted with those gentlemanly, upright and distinguished Judges, both in their public and private walk in this Territory, we cannot easily refrain from making a few remarks. * * Among the many kind public acts of Millard Fill- more, late President of the United States, towards the inhabitants of Utah, few are cherished by the Saints with warmer gratitude than is felt for his appointment of the now lamented and illustrious deceased, to hold distinguished and influential governmental offices in our midst. Coming among us as entire strangers, and to a people still aggrieved by the base usage of those who had recently fled from the same offices, but had never been in the least degree worthy of them, Judges Reed and Shaver innately pursued that kind, affable, dignified, consistent and upright course, upon the bench and in their private conversation, which quietly won them the warm friendship and ardent esteem of our correct and justice-loving popu- lation, and caused their counsels and decisions to be acquiesced in with alacrity, even when, as the Hon. J. F. Kinney has stated in his eulogy upon Judge Shaver, they appeared "adverse perhaps to the wishes of the Church and community." Their conduct and their testimony of us to the world were in favor of that truth and justice and of those principles and equal rights which we love and are bound to maintain, and in return their memory will ever be held sacred by all the Saints."
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We have been thus particular in setting forth the details surrounding the death of Judge Shaver because of a rumor which afterwards obtained wide circulation, that he had been poisoned by the Mormons on account of an alleged difficulty between him and Governor Young. How much consistency there was in such a story the reader, with the facts before him, can determine. The same may be said of the Gunnison massacre, previously narrated, which was also attributed to the Mormons; it being asserted that the murder of Captain Gunnison and his party was not only committed under the orders, advice and direction of the Saints, but that some of them, disguised as Indians, participated in the butchery. Relatives of Captain Gunnison, though doubtless aware of the warm friendship existing between him and the Mormon people, at first gave credence to this tale. But the Captain's brother, on visiting Utah and thoroughly sifting the matter, quickly changed his mind and expressed himself as perfectly satisfied that the Mormons had nothing to do with the massacre.
The originator of these base slanders-for slanders they were- appears to have been Judge William W. Drummond, who, on the 9th of July, following Judge Shaver's death, succeeded him as Associate Justice of Utah. Possibly the first suggestion may not have come from him, but he was the first to father the falsehoods, and put himself upon record as their author, thereby securing the copy-right, which no one that we are aware of has ever disputed. But of this and other acts of Judge Drummond, more anon.
On the 10th of December, 1855, the Utah Legislature in its fifth annual session convened at Fillmore, the new capital of the Territory, and organized by electing Heber C. Kimball President of the Council, and Jedediah M. Grant Speaker of the House. This was the first and last session of the Legislature held at Fillmore. Though it afterwards convened there, more than once, it immediately adjourned to Salt Lake City to hold its sessions.
Among the acts passed by the Assembly that winter was one authorizing an election of delegates to a Territorial Convention, the
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purpose of which was to prepare a State constitution and memorialize Congress for the admission of Utah into the Union. This convention assembled at Salt Lake City on March 17th, 1856. Ten days later the constitution and memorial were adopted, and Hon. George A. Smith and Hon. John Taylor-the latter then editing a paper in New York called The Mormon-were elected delegates to present the same to Congress.
During the same session of the Legislature, acts were passed creating the counties of Cache and Box Elder. Cache Valley, which now contains one of the four Temple cities of the Territory, was then unsettled, and mainly used for haying and pasturing cattle. Among those who had visited the valley for that purpose were Samuel Roskelley, Andrew Moffatt, Brigham Young, junior, Bryant Stringam, Stephen Taylor, Seymour B. Young, and Simon and Joseph Baker. Peter Maughan, the pioneer of Cache County-then living at Tooele-was just about to lead a colony northward and found Maughan's Fort on the site of the present town of Wellsville. Box Elder County, which had belonged to Weber, was, as seen, partly settled, and had recently been strengthened by fifty additional families led by Lorenzo Snow. Other counties, most of them now defunct, or beyond the present boundaries of Utah, created by the Legislature during the winter of 1855-6, were those of Greasewood, Humboldt, St. Mary's, Shambip, Cedar and Malad.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
1856.
A YEAR OF CALAMITIES- ANOTHER FAMINE IN UTAH-MORE INDIAN OUTBREAKS-DEATH OF COLONEL BABBITT- MASSACRE OF THE MARGETTS PARTY-THE HAND-CART DISASTER- NARRATIVES OF MESSRS. CHISLETT AND JAQUES- THE REFORMATION-DEATH OF JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
HE year 1856 was a calamitous year in Utah. The crops of the past two seasons had failed, and the gaunt specter of famine, unseen by the settlers since the period of scarcity following the cricket plague of 1848, was again abroad in the land.
The crop failure in 1854 had been due to a visitation of grass- hoppers, pests almost if not quite as destructive as the crickets, and having this advantage over those voracious marauders, that when pursued they could "take to themselves wings," and fly beyond the reach of their pursuers. Besides, no gulls came this time to the rescue, and the ravages of the "iron-clads" were wide-spread and far-reaching.
The following year the grass-hoppers returned, and during the summer in many parts of Utah devoured every green thing visible. Added to this was a terrible drouth, which completed the work of devastation. Then came the winter-one of the severest ever known in Utah-burying under heavy snows the cattle ranges and causing the death from cold and starvation of thousands of animals. Many of these were beef cattle which would have supplied the next year's market. The loss in sheep was also heavy. In short, all things conspired to create and usher in the famine that followed.
During the early months of 1856 the sufferings of the settlers were severe. Many, as formerly, were driven to the necessity of digging roots in order to eke out an existence until harvest time.
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All were not alike destitute. In every community the provident and the improvident are found. Some of the former, sensing intuitively the approach of the famine, and dreading a repetition of their previous experience, had taken time by the forelock and provided for the emergency. The result was that their bins and barns were full, while others were empty. Not long, however, did they remain replete. True to the spirit and genius of the Mormon system, with its patriarchal theories and practices, those who had gave unto those who had not; the share-and-share-alike principle again prevailed, and the full bins and larders were drawn upon to supply the needy and prevent as far as possible any soul from suffering. Unity and equality-those watch-words of the United Order-were once more emphasized in the dealings of the Mormon people with one another and with the needy of all classes and creeds among them.
Foremost among the philanthropists were the Mormon leaders, a number of whom had for several years predicted a famine, and urged the people to save their grain and lay up stores of provisions for a time of scarcity. Some had followed this advice, while others had ignored it; but of the former class were the leaders themselves, who had provided abundantly for the issue. Now that the famine had come, and their words were verified, these men stood like so many Josephs in Egypt to the hungry multitude who looked to them for succor. To their lasting credit be it recorded that that succor was not withheld. Nor did they take any advantage of their needy neighbors, but where they did not give outright, as was generally the case, they sold at moderate prices their beef and bread-stuffs to those who were able to re-imburse them .*
The following letter, borrowed from the author's "Life of Heber C. Kimball," is here inserted in proof of the last statement:
* A conspicuous example of fairness and philanthropy during that period was John Neff, the pioneer mill-builder on Mill Creek. When flour commanded as high as a dollar a pound, he would not accept more than six cents, the standard Tithing Office price. Nor would he sell it at all except to the needy, utterly refusing to speculate, himself, or encourage others to do so, out of the necessities of the poor.
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MANTI, SANPETE Co., January 16th, 1877.
S. F. Kimball, Salt Lake City.
DEAR BROTHER :- In answer to your enquiries in relation to the flour I distributed for your father, I will say :
That during the early part of the year 1856, in what is known as the " time of the famine," when a great many persons who in other respeets were esteemed well-to-do, were under the necessity of eating thistle roots, sego roots and other wild plants for the sustenance of themselves and families, owing to the extreme seareity of breadstuff, there being none in the market at any price; at this critical juneture President Heber C. Kimball, who had by wise economy and preseient forethought garnered up a quantity of surplus grain, requested my assistance to distribute flour to the families of the Saints in small quantities adapted to their number and necessity, charging them only $6.00 per 100 lbs., then the standard Tithing Office priee. Although there was no flour in the market, still some individuals were selling at $25 to $30 per 100 lbs. To the best of my recollection some 20,000 to 30,000 lbs. of flour were thus distributed in various amounts, varying from five to fifty lbs., according to the size of the family.
This act of generosity and fatherly eare on the part of the late Heber C. Kimball was only in keeping with his general character as a man of sterling integrity anel a faithful steward before the Lord to his fellow-men, and thus his memory is justly enshrined in the hearts of the Saints, who fondly cherish the hope to enjoy his society after a glorious resurrection.
Yours very truly, J. B. MAIBEN.
A few paragraphs from President Kimball's own letters descrip- tive of the famine, written to his son William, then in England, will also be of interest. These letters were dated at Salt Lake City in February and April, 1856:
My family, with yours, are all in good health and spirits. I have been under the necessity of rationing my family, and also yours, to two-thirds of a pound of breadstuff per day each ; as the last week is up today, we shall eommenee on half a pound each-at the same time they all begin to look better and fatter, and more ruddy, like the English. This I am under the necessity of doing. Brother Brigham told me today that he had put his family on half a pound each, for there is seareely any grain in the country, and there are thousands that have none at all scarcely. We do this for the purpose of feeding hundreds that have none.
My family at this time consists of about one hundred souls, and I suppose that I feed about as many as one hundred besides. .
My mill has not brought me in, for the last seven months, over one bushel of toll per day, in consequence of the dry weather, and the water being frozen up-which would not pay my miller. When this drought eame on, I had about seven thousand bushels of wheat, and it is now reduced to about one hundred and twenty-five bushels, and I have only about twenty-five bushels of corn, which will not provide for my own family until
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harvest. Heber has been to the mill today, and has brought down some unbolted flour, and we shall be under the necessity of eating the bran along with the flour, and shall think ourselves doing well with a half a pound a day at that. * *
* We have some meat and perhaps about seventy bushels of potatoes, also a very few beets and carrots; so you can judge whether or not we can get through until harvest without digging roots ; still we are altogether better off than the most of the people in these valleys of the mountains. There are several wards in this city who have not over two weeks' provisions on hand.
I went into the tithing office with Brother Hill and examined it from top to bottom and, taking all the wheat, corn, buckwheat and oats, there were not to exceed five hundred bushels, which is all the public works have, or expect to have, and the works are pretty much abandoned, the men having been all turned off, except about fifteen who are at work on Brother Brigham's house and making some seed drills for grain, as we will be obliged to put in our grain by drilling, on account of the scarcity, which probably will not take over one-third of the grain it would to sow broadcast.
We shall probably not do anything on the public works until another harvest. The mechanics of every class have all been counseled to abandon their pursuits and go to raising grain. This we are literally compelled to do, out of necessity. Moreover there is not a settlement in the Territory but is also in the same fix that we are. Some settlements can go two months, some three, some can, probably, at the rate of half a pound per day, till harvest. Hon. A. W. Babbitt even went to Brother Hyde's provision store the other day, and begged to get twenty or twenty-five pounds of flour, but could not. This I was told by William Price, who is the salesman of the store. Money will not buy flour or meal, only at a few places, and but very little at that. I can assure you that I am harassed constantly ; I sell none for money, but let it go where people are truly destitute. Dollars and cents do not count now, in these times, for they are the tightest that I have ever seen in the Territory of Utah. You and your brethren can judge a little by this. As one of the old Prophets said, anciently, "as with the people, so with the Priest," we all take it together.
Some of the people drop many big tears, but if they cannot learn wisdom by precept, nor by example, they must learn it by what they suffer.
Now is the time for us to be like unto Joseph of old-lay up stores for ourselves and our children.
** * *
Now, as to my stock-cattle, horses and sheep. My sheep are on Antelope Island. Peter Hanson is with them, and Joseph Toronto is with Brother Brigham's five miles beyond. Some portions of the Island are covered with snow nearly three feet deep. The sheep range on the tops of the mountains where the wind has blown off the snow, and they do first rate. My cattle, sixty head of them, were put in Cache Valley with the Church cattle, and those of other individuals, numbering about two thousand five hundred head, with some forty or fifty horses, some six or eight of which were mine. When the snow fell in that valley about ten inches deep, the fatter portion of the cattle broke and came over into Box Elder and Weber valleys, and scattered hither and thither. It is sup- posed that one-half of those two thousand five hundred head are dead. Whether mine are all dead I know not. My John horse fled out of that valley down on the Weber and
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died. Old Jim, Elk, Kit and Kurley remained in Cache Valley, and they were with about forty head of other horses when last seen, but they have not been heard of for a considerable time, and whether living or dead we know not. The snow is about waist deep in that valley. Week before last, Heber and some other boys started to go there, but when they got to the divide between that valley and Box Elder, the snow was about twelve feet deep, and they were obliged to return. Heber found the Lize mare and your two mules on the Weber, and brought them home. They were so poor that they almost staggered. The Carr boys have lost most of their cattle, as they were in Cache Valley. Daddy Stump went there also, and most of his died. Brother Shurtliff had some ninety cows of Brother Brigham's, and he says that they are all dead except ten or a dozen. Brothers Hooper and Williams told me that they had lost about seven hundred head. Mr. Kerr, a Gentile, told me that he had six or seven hundred head, and they were all dead. Messrs. Gilbert and Gerrish had about as many, and they are all dead. as are also Livingston and Bell's, and, from the accounts from all the brethren north of this place, we learn that they have lost half of their stock, and this destruction seems to be more or less throughout the Territory, and many cattle and horses are dying in the city. There may be more or less of these cattle living, but they are scattered from Malad to this place. There are some forty head of cattle on the Island, probably living.
*
Brother Smoot has made a selection of one hundred men, principally young men, to go back with ox teams to fetch on the Church goods that lie in Missouri and St. Louis, if there are cattle enough left alive to do so. Your brother David, Brigham Young, Jr., and George Grant's son George, will go with them.
The times are said to be more close this season than they have ever been in the valleys ; and this is universal through all the settlements. There are not more than one-half of the people that have bread, and they have not more than one-half or one-quarter of a pound a day to a person. A great portion of the people are digging roots, and hundreds and thousands, their teams being dead, are under the necessity of spading their ground to put in their grain. There is a pretty universal break with our merchants, as there is no one to buy their goods, and their stock are mostly dead. My family, with yours, have only one-half a pound of bread-stuff to a person, a day. We have vegetables and a little meat. We are doing first-rate, and have no cause but to be very thankful; still 1 feed hundreds of others, a little, or they must suffer. Brother Brigham, myself and others have been crying unto this people for more than three years, to lay up their grain for a time when they would have much need of it.
1 At our April conference there were about three hundred missionaries selected for different missions ; some thirty or forty to go to Europe and the United States, and about one hundred to Carson Valley, to try to sustain that place ; a large company to Green River, another to Los Vegas and another to Salmon River. All business is given up for the present on the public works. Not much of any building is going on in the city, as all mechanics are advised to go to tilling the earth.
To add to the troubles of the people two Indian outbreaks occurred about this time, during which ten or twelve citizens lost their lives.
- - -
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HISTORY OF UTAH.
The first emeute was in eastern Utah, at the Elk Mountain Mission, recently founded on Grand River. In the latter part of September, 1855, the Yampah Utes in that locality attacked the settlers, killing James W. Hunt, William Behunin, and Edward Edwards, and wounding A. N. Billings, the president of the mission ; besides burning property and stealing stock. Soon afterward the colonists vacated their fort and returned to their former homes in Sanpete Valley.
The other outbreak occurred in February, 1856. It was known as the "Tintic war." A sub-chief of the Utes named Tintic was the ring-leader of the hostiles, some of whom dwelt in a valley called Tintic, and others in Cedar Valley, both west of Utah Lake. The provocation came from the Indians, who, lacking food, began stealing cattle from the herds in that vicinity. They also shot and killed two herdsmen,-Henry Moran and Washington Carson.
On February 22nd a posse of ten men, armed with writs of arrest, issued by Judge Drummond, in Utah County, set out for Cedar Valley to apprehend the murderers. Arriving at the Indian encampment, and attempting to serve the writs, the posse met with determined resistance. An Indian named Battest aimed his rifle at George Parish and fired, but the gun-barrel being knocked aside the bullet missed its mark. One of Parish's friends then drew his revolver and shot Battest through the head, killing him instantly. A general fight followed, in which one of the posse, George Carson, was mortally wounded. On the other side the chief Tintic was wounded and one squaw killed.
A few days later the savages killed three more men near Kimball's Creek, south-west of Utah Lake. They were John Catlin, John Winn and a man named Cousins. Colonel Conover, with a force of militia, was now ordered out by Governor Young. Crossing the lake on the ice, they went in pursuit of the Indians, who fled at their approach, leaving behind them the stolen cattle. So ended the "Tintic war." During this trouble, in addition to the fatalities mentioned, a young man named Hunsaker was captured and put to
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death by the redskins. He was a son of Abram Hunsaker, who had charge of stock belonging to Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards and others. This was the most serious difficulty the settlers had had with the Indians since the close of the Walker war. It is but fair to state that while these hostiles were Utes, they were renegades from their tribe, for whose actions the main body was not responsible.
But while no more Indian outbreaks occurred in Utah that year, the savages on the plains became hostile, attacking and robbing trains and killing travelers. Among the slain were several citizens of Utah, namely : Colonel Almon W. Babbitt, Secretary of the Territory, Thomas Margetts, James Cowdy and others.
In April Secretary Babbitt had left Salt Lake City for Washing- ton, on business connected with his office. He was accompanied across the plains by United States Marshal Heywood, Chief Justice Kinney and wife, Apostles Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Erastus Snow and others. Orson Pratt and Ezra T. Benson were on their way to Europe, the former to succeed Apostle Franklin D. Richards in the presidency of the British mission. George A. Smith was en route to Washington to discharge, in conjunction with Hon. John Taylor, the duty lately assigned them as delegates from the Territorial Convention. Erastus Snow was destined to St. Louis to re-assume the presidency of the flourishing branch of the Mormon Church in that city, previously presided over by Elder Orson Spencer, who had recently died .* The others were upon various errands to different parts of the Union. The Margetts-Cowdy party left Utah some time later. They were on their way back to England.
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