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BY T. L. GANTT.
OGLETHORPE ECHO
PUBLISHED
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GEORGIA RAILROAD SCHEDULE
The following is the schedule on the Geor
gia Railroad, with time of arrival at and de
parture from every station on the Athens
Branch:
UP DAY PASSENGER TRAIN.
Leuve Augusta at 8:45 a. m.
Arrive at Union Point 12:27 p. m.
Leave Union Point 12:52 p. m.
Arrive at Atlanta 5:45 p. m.
DOWN DAY PASSENGER TRAIN.
I** ve Atlanta at 7:00 a. m.
Arrive at Union Point 11:52 a. m.
Leave Union Point 11:85 a. m.
Arrive at Augusta 5:80 p. m.
UP NIGHT PASSENGER TRAIN.
Leave Augusta at, S;IS p. in.
Arrive at Atlanta 0:25 a. m.
Remains one minute at Union Point.
ATHENS BRANCH TRAIN.
DAY TRAIN.
Time
Stations. Arrive. Depart, bet.
sta’s.
A. M.
Athens 8 45 25
Wintersvillc ..* 9 10 9 15 80
Crawford 9 45 9 50 25
Antioch 10 15 10 18 15
Mnxey’s 10 88 10 85 15
Woodville 10 50 10 55 20
Union Point 11 15
UP TRAIN.
Union Point.. .P. M. 1 00 20
Woodville 1 20 1 25 15
Maxey’s 1 40 1 45 15
Antioch 2 00 2 05 25
Crawford 2 80 2 35 30
Wintersvillc 3 05 3 10 25
Athens 3 35
NIGHT TRAIN — Down.
Athens a. in. 10 00 25
Wintersvillc 10 25 10 30 30
Crawford 11 00 11 05 25
Antioch 11 30 11 32 15
Maxev’s 11 47 *ll 49 15
Woodville 12 04 12 10 25
Union Point 12 35 a. m.
Up Night Train.
Union Point 3 55 25
Woodville 4 20 4 24 15
Maxey’s 4 39 4 41 15
Antioch 4 st> 4 58 25
Crawford 5 23 5 27 30
Wintersville 5 57 6 02 28
Athens (> 30
1 S *7 51
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Crawford.
BY “FRANK.”
Good neighbors, we are wide awake—
“ Our village ” does not sleep;
hile Time beats loud his onward march,
I’m sure tre do not ereep.
A few years back folks only called
Our town a little station,
M here Galloway gave his Iron horse
His food and recreation.
But presto! see what we are now—
Behold the wond’rous sight!
An embryo city springing up
As flowers spring into light.
We move along at rapid rate,
Our Pace is not a snail’s,
’Though sometimes Cheney has bad luck
Iu going out for quails.
“Of many men of many minds”
Our boyhood’s copy spoke,
And when I say we have ’em here,
Pray, do not think I joke.
Of many sizes, too, we boast,
From Stephen’s portly form
To little lied and Pony boys,
Who brave stern Winter's storm.
In merchants, too, we are supplied
M ith quite a noble band,
And yet to have a city air
We need a pea-nut stand.
But who the vacant place will fill
I’m sure I cannot say,
Since \Y inter, with His howling blast,
Might wait their wares away.
M e have no lawyer here to cheat
We’re prosperous I’m sure,
With Vulcan’s forge, St. Crespin’s stone,
And Guillen’s son to euro.
We have no band with fife and drum,
No troops with spear and lance,
But we’ll not give our McMahan ’
For the one they have in France.
\\ e Lave an auction sale as times,
But thing* don’t seem to sell,
For money is so hard to get
•And bidders sometimes tell;
Bui in the year of seventy-five
Mav 1 1 . its favor errant
Aim all around our village fair
Pa; up their dues to Gantt.
My Faith.
A week oi siek-.es, a shortning breath,
A gasp, a slum i. T> stillness, death.
And then, Oh! then, ye winds that blow,
1 ell me where does the spirit go?
And ye stars above like angels’ eyes,
M here goes the soul when the body dies ?
I he winds pass by and answer not,
The stars refuse to point the spot, ’
And men still preach of Hell and Heaven
W ho, if they’re saved, I’ll be forgiven!
But it]) in the church-yard lieth those,
M ho, could they speak would soon disclose
M bother the spirit goes to Heaven or worse,
Breathing a prayer or muttering a curse.
As for me, I’ll never attempt to tell,
Put take my chance. You might as well.
An M. D.
A Black Beast.
It becomes our duty to chronicle the
commission of a crime in our section so
inhuman and revolting that civilization
trembles at the mere mention of such an
atrocity. Miss Margaret C. Kivenbark,
Union Township, in this county, made
an affidavit before Acting Justices of the
Peace, S. 0. fillyaw and Rufus Gar
riss, to the affect that on the night of the
24th day ot December last Liberty
Boney, colored, at aud in the township
of Holly, did, with force and arms,,
break into the dwelling house of Mr.
William J. Gurganus, where she was
then stopping, and did there commit
rape upon her. The particulars of this
fiendish act, as we understand them, are
peculiarly horrifying.
It appears that Miss Rivenbark, who
is a highly respectable young lady, aged
about 20 years, visiting at the house" of
Mr. Gurganus, and was there on the
nig at in question. Liberty Boney, who
is described as a coarse, vulgar negro,
knocked at the door of Mr. Gurganus’
dwelling and demanded admittance.
Not being admitted as quickly as possi
ble, lie forced his way into the house and
proceeded at once to accomplish his
hellish purpose in the piesence of Mr.
Gurganus, his wife and family, caution
ing them that if they made any outcry
he would kill them. Any resistance that
Mr. Gurganus, who is a feeble man,
could have made was rendered vain, and
Limself paralyzed with fear by the pre
sence of three armed negroes on the out
side of the house, who it seemed accom
panied Boney to the house and remained
there for the purpose of aiding and abet
ting him in the consummation of the
crime. After accomplishing the deed
Boney fled with his associates. —JYorth
Caro!iua paper.
Alas!—The Mississippi papers repre
sent the negro race to be in a worse con
dition than ever before ; thousands are
without supplies of any kind, without
necessary clothing, without money, and
without credit, and those coming from
Georgia and Alabama are also in a con
dition oi great destitution.
CRAWFORD, GEORGIA, FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 22, 1875.
MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE
%'ivid and Affecting Account of
the Siege and Slaughter.
From Cedar City the emigrants pro
ceeded southwest to the Meadows, a dis
tance of about forty miles. Camped at
the Meadows they were quietly resting
their cattle and gaining strength to cross
the *descrt. Suddenly, unexpectly, at
daybreak on Monday morning, Septem
ber 7, 1857, they were attacked by Indi
ans.
At the very first fire seven were killed
and fifteen wounded. Thoughtless of
danger, totally unprepared, and, in fact,
while most of them were yet asleep, thev
fell helplessly before the bullets of their
unseen foes. Had they possessed less
bravery, less determination, they would
all have been massacred on the spot.
With a promptitude unparalleled in all
the history of Indian warfare, these emi
grants wheeled their wagons into an ob
long corral, and with shovels and picks
threw the earth from the center of the
corral against the wagon-wheels. In an
incredibly short time they had an excel
lent barricade. An eye-witness says that
it was done with such remarkable celerity
that the plans of the painted assassins
were completely frustated.
The oiignal plan had been, as before
stated, to attack them at Santa Clara
canyon, but the Indians became too im
patient. These “ Battle Axes of the
Lord” had responded to the call of the
Indian Agent, John D. Lee, and the libe
ral promises they had received caused the
prematuie attack. The large beards and
the rich spoils, the blankets, clothing and
uinkets, the guns, pistols and amunition,
a portion of which was to be theirs, in
duced them to make the attack at Cane
topiing. I hey intended to kill as many
as possible at the first fire, and then
charge upon the remainder. The charge
never was made. There were crack
marksmen iu the train, and in a few mo
ments there were
THREE WOUNDED INDIANS.
The redskins crept up close to the
tiain, and lay concealed along the banks
of the creek, in the hills, hollows and be
hind the low sage brush. They never
dreamed ot a repulse. Disconcerted by
the prompt, decisive action of the emi
grants, tney incautiously exposed their
bodies. One account says they actually
charged upon the guard, but at all events
one was slightly wounded in the shoul
der, and two were shot in the left thigh.
I here was not an inch of difference in
the location of the wounds of the last
two. The bones were crushed to splin
ters, and both Indians died. Prior to
to their death they were conveyed to the
Camp near Cedar, and Bishop Higbee
annointed their wounds with consecrated
oil.
An Indian runner came into Cedar
the first nigh, and reported the unsuccess
ful assault. The Mormons immediate
ly started to the Meadows to assist.
Haight told a certain man that orders
had come from headquarters to massacre
the last damned one of them!
Ihe man’s boy, now grow to middle
age, overhead the remark, and is my au
thority. The same person says he saw
eight or ten men start out about 9 o’clock
that night. They were armed with shot
guns, Kentucky rifles, flint-locks, and
eveiy imaginable fire-arm, and went un
der military orders. Major John D. Lee
had command of the forces which star
ted from Cedar City, and, finding these
inadequate, sent back to Cedar and
M ashington for reinforcements.
Sworn affidavits tell us that, when the
auxiliaries had arrived, the eutire com
mand were assembled about half a mile
from the iutrenchments of the fated emi
grants, and were there coolly informed
that the whole company was to be killed
and only the little children who were too
ycung to remember anything were to be
spared.
But the order could not be immediate
ly carried out because of the
DETERMINED RESISTANCE
of the emigrants. The meadows are a
mile and a halt long, and a mile wide,
but the mountains which form the high
rim of the little basin, converge at the
lower end, and form a wild, rugged can
yon. Just at the mouth of this canvon
is Cane Spring. Some confusion has
arisen among authorities by confounding
this Spring, two miles and a half south.
There was but one attack, and that was
made at this meadow spring, there called
‘ Cane,” because of the peculiar rush, re
sembling cane-brake, which grew near
its waters. My authority is the man who
was owner of the ground, then and now.
A mound some two hundred feet long,
by one hundred wide, rose from the
Meadows about thirty rods above the
spring, and completely shut out the view.
Low hills, with deep* a' i e , came down
either side, and completely hemned in
the party. Bullets from every side of
this death-pen swept the inclosure and
whistled through the wagon-covers. Such
cattle as where iuside the corral were
shot down, and the herds outside stam
peded. Yet for seven or eigh days they
bravely held out, and seemed to be masters
of the situation. Water was their great
need. A little, babbling brook murmur
ed along not forty feet away, and the
fine, clear spring was not more than two
rods off, but yet they suffered indescriba
bly from thirst.
The Mormons were painted and dis
guised, to appear like their savage allies.
Not content with the superior advanta
ges which nature had given to th-eir posi
tion they threw up breastworks of stone
on the adjacent hill sides. From behind
these their rifles could sweep the little
grassy plain below without a single por
tion of their bodies exposed. Every at
tempt to obtain water, either day or night,
awakened a score of de idly reports from
the cruel, concealed guns. It was sup
posed at first that none but the men
were in danger. A woman who had
stepped outside the corral to milk a cow
fell pierced with bullets. Two innocent
little girls, clothed in pure white, were
sent down to the spring. Hand in hand*
tremblingly, these dear little rosebuds
walked towards the spring. Their ten
der little bodies were fairly riddled with
bullets.
THE OLD BREASTWORKS
Still remain, in places, and no one can
visit the spot without being surprised
that the emigrants held out so long. Be
hind the mound, and just beyond the
low foot hills, are level flats concealed
from the emigrants’ view. Here the
Mormons and Indians were pitching
horse-shoes and amusing themselves in
various ways. The cowards well under
stood that cruel, pitiless hunger and
burning thirst were their powerful allies
inside that corral. Wagon loads of pro
vision were arriving from Cedar for the
besiegers, and each day lessened the
scanty stock of the emigrants.
\\ ho can picture the torment of
mind and body which these poor people
suffered? In a bleak, desolate country,
hundreds of miles fromliei p, surrounded
by painted fiends and dying of thirst and
starvation, how deep must have been
the gloom.
The besiegers found it impossible to
take the train by storm, or by fair means.
Evidently the poor victims had resolved
to perish fighting, rather than deliver
their wives and daughters into the hands
of brutal villains. But lo ! an emigrant
train is seen coming down the meadows,
bearing a white .flag ! Ah ! what tu
multuous hopes crowded the breasts of
that famishing, perishing people. It is
said they cried for joy, and danced and
embraced each other, and gladly rushed
out to meet their supposed friends. They
were armed friends, too, as it soon turned
out, for it was no less than John D. Lee
and the officers of the Utah militia. How
sweet it must have been, after those teri
ble days and nights, to have seen the
Stars and Stripes, * and feel that the
militia of a Territory of the United
States was come to the rescue. Brigham
Young, the great Governor of Utah, was
commander-in-chief of the military
forces ; and how perfectly safe it was to
accept shelter under his protecting arm!
The Indians were-awed by the very pre
sence of the Mormans, and had ceased
firing. Surely the painted savages
were perfectly controlled by their white
superiors. How kindly and tenderly
these officers talked! Lee is said to have
wept like a child as he sympathized with
their sufferings. How providential it
was that such tender-hearted, Chris
tian gentlemen should have learned of
their dreadful situation and come to their
aid ! A man so -eloquent, so smooth
tongued as was good Mr. Lee! A man
who was himself Indian Agent, and for
whom the Indians had the most marked
respect! A Major, too, in the militia !
LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS ?
Certainly they would! If protection
could so easily be guaranteed by these
philantrophic gentlemen and their regi
ment, what reason for letting the wives
and little ones die of starvation ? Lee
was two politic to make many promises
at first. He must consult with the In
dians. Having just arrived, he hud not
had an opportunity of learning their
terms or intentions. Accordingly he
went back and pretended to hold a coun
cil. Was there ever such base perfidy ?
Were white men—prayerful, God-fear
ing white men—ever guilty of such an
unprinciqled treachery? Well might
sucb a dastardly coward hide in achieken
coop when the officers came to arrest
him. Again he came, bearing once
more that white flag—that pure symbol
of peace and truth. An angel from
fie*von would not have been a more
blessed sight to to those tired, anxious,
tearful eye.
They had laid down their trusty rifles
that had been their strong defence. Tak
ing oft their belts, they delivered up
their good revolvers aud faithful bowie
knives. John D. Lee is as smooth a
talker as I ever heard. While I listened
to him last week in Beaver Jail, I kept
thinking of how he talked those emigrants
out of the intrenchments, from which
powder and ball could not dislodge them.
Only fifteen had been killed in eight days.
The corral was a bulwark of safety, but
the honeyed words of a white man won
their hearts.
A guard of soldiers, well armed, were
drawn up to escort them in safety. The
men marched out first, then the women,
and lastly the children. Did nothing
whisper to those brave hearts the horrible
fate in store for them and their dear ones?
Was there no pang of regret at stepping
out of that strong fortification ? Certain
ly not. There was the American flag,
the dear old flag, and rallying ’neath its
folds they felt that the strong arms of
the Union enfolded them.
And now,
GOD HELP THEM!
As I write the events of the massacre
I shudder with horror. It is too terrible
to believe or talk about, but seventeen
years of silence and peace are quite as long
as those scoundrels deserve, and 1 shall
write every incident. I shall write each
one without divesting it of a sngle hor -
ror that it received as it came directly from
the eye-witnesses. Suddenly, at
a given signal, troops halted, and down
the line passed the fatal order “ Fire !”
It was given by John D. Lee, and was
repeated by the under officers. The
poor pitiful emigrants gave one agoniz
ing shriek, and fell bleeding to the earth.
The Indians lay ambushed near the spot,
and joined in the slaughter when they
saw the white men begin. Sworn state
ments of participators say the militia
fired volley after volley at the defense
less, unmarried men, who had instrusted
their lives to the militia’s keeping. It
is the most heartless, cold-blooded deed
that ever disgraced the page® of history.
The cowardly assassins could not have
performed one single act that would
have added to the blackness of their
perfidy. They feigned friendship and
sympathy, they induced these brave men
to lay aside every weapon, and then shot
them down like dogs! The venerable
gray-headed clegymen, the sturdy far
mers, the stalwart young men and beard
less youth, all were cut down, one by
one, and above their dead bodies waved
the stars and stripes !
But this was not all! The women
were not all killed just yet I Many fell
by their husbands and fathers and broth
ers ; but others were not permitted to die
yet! It was by a deliberate, predeter
mined forethought that the women were
separated from their husbands’ sides as
they left tlio corral. Men that had pro
ven themselves fiends had yet to prove
themselves brutes. And they did so.
On, God, had not the weary, terror
stricken women and maidens suffered
enough to have merited at least a speedy
death ? It seems not. Their pure bo
soms could not quiver ’neath the plunge
of the cold steel-blade, nor their white
throats crimson before the keen knife’s
e Ige until they had suffered the torment
of a thousand deaths at the hands of their
brutal captors. Vt this was done in
the.lattcr half of the nineteen century,
and the cruel, heartless beast are living
peacefully in the midst of the American
nation. There were two or three sick
women who were unable to walk out
from the corral. Tney were driven up
to the scene of the massacre, shot, strip
ped of their clothing, and their bodies
thrown from the wagon with the others.
Some of the younger men refused to join
;n the dreadful work. Jim Pearce was
shot by bis own father for protecting a
girl who was crouching at his feet! The
bullet cut a deep gash in his face, and the
furrowed scar is there to-day. Lee is
said to have shot a girl who was cling
ing to his son. A score of heart-rend
ing rumors are afloat about the deeds of
that hour, but there Ls no proof adduced
as yet, and enough can be; proven. One
rumor, however, comes from a girl who
lived in Lee’s own family for years. She
told Mr. Beadle, the author of several
valuable works, that one young woman
drew a dagger to defend herself against
John D. Lee, and he killed her on the
pot.
A HORRIBLE STORY
is believed by several people in southern
Utah with whom I give it for what it Ls
worth: A young mother saw her hus
band fall dead. He lay with his face up
v.a and, snd the ].u pie life blood crimson
ed his pallid cheeks. She sprang to his
side just as a great, brutal ruffian at
tempted to seize her. Layi.% her tiny
VOL. I—NO. 16.
babe on her husband’s breast, she drew
a small dirk knife, and, like a tigress at
bay, confronted the vile wretch. He re
coiled in terror, but at the next instant
a man stepped up behind the brave wo
men and drove a knife through her body.
W ituout a struggle she fell dead across
uer husband’s feet. Picking up the dirk
she had dropped, the fiend deliberately
pined the little babe’s body to its father’s
and laughed to watch its convulsive
death-struggles.
There, it is all over. The brawny
muscled men lie stark and cold, and the
sweet, saintly wives have finally passed
beyond the reach of their tormentors;
The orders were to kill all except
those who were too young to remember.
Bill Stewart and Joel White were “set
apart ”to kill all the rest. My informant
was first told the following by an Indian
who witnessed the transaction, and after
wards heard it from white men. The old
Indians cried while telling it. My infor-'
mant has testified to the fact that the
statement is just as be received it.
Ihe little boys and girls were too
frightened, too horror-stricken, to do
aught but fall at the feet of their butch
ers and beg for mercy. Many a sweet
little girl knelt before Bill Stewart/clasp
ed bis knees with her tiny white arms,
and with tears and tender pleadings be
sought him not to take her life. Catch
ing them by the hair of the head, he
would hurl them to the ground, place
his foot upon their little bodies and cut
their throats!
THE FIELD OF DEATH.
A man who saw the field eight days
after the massacre related to me the fol
lowing : Men, women and children were
strewn here and there, over the ground,
or thrown into piles. Some were stab
bed, others shot, and still others had their
throats cut. The ghastly wounds show
ed very plainly, for there was not a sin’l
gle lag of clothing left on man, woman
or child, except that a torn stocking
leg clung to the ankle of one poor fellow.
The wolves and ravens had lacerated
every one of the corpses exeept one.
There were 127 in all, and each bore
the marks of wolves’ teeth, except just
one. It was the body of a handsome
well-formed lady, with a beautiful face
and long flowing hair. A single bullet
had pierced her side and stilled the beat
ings of Irer heart. It seemed as if the
gaunt, merciless wolves had deemed her
too noble and queen-like for their fangs
to mar.
Most of the bodies had been thrown
into three piles, distant from each other
about two rods and a half. Old and
young, matron and maid, white-haired
men and tiny, suckling babes, boys aud
girlSj all were thrown indiscriminately
together. One young woman lay in the
sage brush, or sag, 175 yards
southwest from the main body. She was
badly mutilated by the wild beasts, but
it was plainly to be seen that her head
had been cut off.
There were no scalp marks. Indians
would certainly have taken scalps or
burned • bodies, if savage revenge had
been the only thought. The closest ex
amination was made, and not the slight
est traces of the scalping-knife could bo
discovered.
Two months afterward a single Mor
mon, all honor to the man, gathered up
the bonc*3 and placed them in the very
hollow the emigrants had dug inside the
c >rral. He acted upon bis own respon
sibility, and went alone and unaided.
He did the very best he could ; but the
task was horribly disagreeable, and the
covering of earth which he placed upon ’
the bodies was necessarily light. The
ravenous wild beasts soon dug up the
boues and they became scattered all over
the ground. The kind-hearted old Mor
mon deserves none the less credit, and all
good men will pray God to bless him for
doing what he could for the bones of the
murdered party.
There has been much doubt as to the
number of the slain. This man tells me
that just one hundred and twenty-sev
en skulls were foijnd. This does not
include Aden’s nor the three killed on
the desert. The total number of the--
emigrants massacred, so far as is known,
:s one hundred and thirty-one. Two
children are said to have been murder
ed afterwards ; making one hundred and
thirty-three.
A Sleeping Dog. —A curious case of
prolonged somnolence in an animal is at
present interesting the medical frater
nity of Paris. The object is a spaniel
dog, wnich has lain in an unbroken slurn
yer since the 11th of last November. He
fell asleep after a day of unusual excite
ment and fadgue, having been out hunt
in' with his master, and all attempts
since to waken him have failed. He is
nourished by means of enemas.
There is but one black man in tb#
II ouse —and he is Blue.