Forty Years Among the Indians: A true yet thrilling narrative of the author's experiences among the nativesJones, Daniel W. (Daniel Webster)
History
Forty Years Among the Indians: A true yet thrilling narrative of the author's experiences among the natives
Jones, Daniel W. (Daniel Webster)
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America; Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Biography
Some time after peace had been considered fully established an Indian
was murdered in cold blood by a party of whites going out after wood
from Fairview. The body was covered up but was finally discovered
by the Indians. The killing was cowardly in the extreme, and more
treacherous than anything I ever remember done by the Indians. The
exact number I have forgotten, but some six or eight young men were
going out to the cedars for wood. They met a lone Indian coming in
from Thistle Valley on his way to Fairview. At that time this was
nothing unusual. The wood haulers spoke friendly to the Indian, and
asked him to go with them into the cedars, and as soon as they loaded
up he could ride into town with them. The Indian had no suspicion of
anything wrong, and I do not believe the wood haulers at first thought
of killing him. He went out into the cedars, staying around while the
loading was going on. After a while someone suggested that it would
be a good chance to kill the "d---d Indian" and hide him away, others
assented. So much was said that the Indian, who understood some of
their talk, became uneasy and started to leave. At this one of the
party shot him. All being armed with pistols now took part and, as the
Indian ran, the whole party fired at and succeeded in killing him. They
buried him among the cedars, covering him mainly with brush.
When the Indians discovered his body they came to me feeling very
badly. The Indians really desired peace. The murdered Indian in fact
belonged to a band that never had been of the worst. I was now living
in Fairview. I was greatly mortified and scarcely knew how to answer,
for I was aware it would be natural for the Indians to seek blood
for blood, and it was a little surprise to me that they stopped to
consider, but as they had come to me I took courage and commenced
talking, reciting a great deal of the Indian history from the earliest
settling of Utah, acknowledging that the first blood shed was that of
an Indian on the Provo bottom, also admitting that they had often been
wronged; referred to the hard labor that I had done in crossing the
snow mountains, and how I had got them beef and flour and made good
peace between them and the Mormons, and how true the Indians had been
to me, and how sick my heart now was that this had occurred.
I was not acting, for it was a cruel thing, besides being so senseless.
Finally, when I had got the Indians to feel that I fully sympathized
with them, I said to them, "Some one has to be the last or this killing
will never cease. Now as some persons, without cause, have killed one
of your people. If you kill a Mormon to pay for it, won't some bad
Mormon kill another Indian? Then when am I ever to see good peace? If
you will pass this by and let this be the last, I don't believe there
will be any more killing; for when the Mormons know that an Indian was
last killed they will be ashamed, and the men who killed your friend
will be despised by all good people."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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