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Territory of Utah Beaver County S.S.
In the Second Judicial District Court of the Territory of Utah. Beaver County
Indictment for Murder September 16th 1875
The People &c. vs John D. Lee, Wm. H. Dame Isaac C. Haight, et. al
Questions to be propounded to Brigham Young on his Examination as a Witness in the case of John D. Lee, and others on trial at Beaver City, this 30th of July 1875, and the answers of Brigham Young to the Interrogatories hereto appended were reduced to writing and were given after the said Brigham Young had been duly sworn to testify the truth in the above entitled cause and are as follows:-
1st
State your age, the present condition of your health, and whether in its condition you could travel to attend in person at Beaver, the Court now sitting there? if not, state why not?
Answer
To the first interrogatory, He saith:I am in my seventy fifth year. It would be a great risk both to my health
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and life for me to travel to Beaver at this present time. I am, and have been for some time an invalid.
2nd
What offices either Ecclesiastical, Civil or Military did you hold in the year 1857?
Answer
He saith:-
I was the Governer of this Territory and ex-officio Superintendent of Indian affairs, and the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints during the year 1857.
3rd
State the condition of affairs between the Territory of Utah and the Federal Government in the summer and fall of 1857?
Answer
He saith:-
In May or June 1857 the United States mails for Utah were stopped by the Government,-all communication by mail was cut off. An Army of the United States was en route for Utah with the ostensible design of destroying the Latter day Saints, according to the reports that reached us from the East.
4th
Were there any United States Judges here during the summer and fall of 1857?
Answer
He saith:-
To the best of my recollection there was no United States Judge here in the latter part of 1857.
5th
State what you know about trains, of
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emigrants passing through the Territory to the West and particularly about a company from Arkansas, en route for California, passing through this City in the summer or fall of 1857?
Answer
He saith:-
As usual emigrant trains were passing through our Territory for the West. I heard it rumored that a company from Arkansas en route to California had passed through the City.
6th
Was this, Arkansas company of emigrants ordered away from Salt Lake City by yourself, or any one in authority under you?
Answer
He saith:-
No not that I know of - I never heard of any such thing, and certainly no such order was given my the then acting Governor.
7th
Was any counsel or instructions by any person to the citizens of Utah not to sell grain to or trade with the emigrant trains passing through Utah at that time, if so what were those instructions? and counsel?
Answer
He saith:-
Yes, - Counsel and advice was given to the citizens not to sell grain to the emigrants to feed their stock; but to let them have sufficient for themselves if they were out. The simple reason for this was that for several years our crops had been short
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and the prospect was at that time that we might have trouble with the United States army then en route for this place, and we wanted to preserve the grain for food. The citizens of the Territory were counseled not to feed grain to their own stock. No person was ever punished or called in question for furnishing supplies to the emigrants within my knowledge.
8th
When did you first hear of the attack and destruction of this Arkansas company at Mountain Meadows in September 1857?
Answer
He saith:-
I did not learn anything of the attack or destruction of the Arkansas company until sometime after it had occurred, then, only by floating rumors.
9th
Did John D. Lee report to you at any time after this massacre what had been done at that massacre, and if so, what did you reply to him in reference thereto?
Answer
He saith:-
Within some 2 or 3 months after the massacre he called at my office, and had much to say with regard to the Indians, their being stirred up to anger and threatening the settlements of the whites, and then commenced giving an account of the massacre. I told him to stop as from what I had already learned by rumor. I did not wish my feelings harrowed up with a recital of details.
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10th
Did Philip Klingen Smith call at your office with John D. Lee, at the time of Lee making his report, and did you at that time order Smith to turn over the stock to Lee and order them not to talk about the massacre?
Answer
He saith:-
No. He did not call with John D. Lee and I have no recollection of his ever speaking to me, nor, I to him, concerning the massacre or anything pertaining to the property.
11th
Did you ever give any direction concerning the property taken from the emigrants at the Mountain Meadow massacre, or know anything as to its disposition?
Answer
He saith:-
No. I never gave any directions concerning the property taken from the company of emigrants at the Mountain Meadow massacre; nor did I know anything of that property or its disposal, and I do not to this day except from public rumor.
12th
Why did you not as Governor institute proceedings forthwith to investigate that massacre and bring the guilty authors thereof to justice?
Answer
He saith:-
Because another Governor had been appointed by the President of the United
