1857-04-25—New York Herald—The Recent Charges Against the Mormons

The Recent Charges Against the Mormons

New York Herald, April 25, 1857, p. 10

The Recent Charges Against the Mormons

Mr. Feramorz Little, just arrived from Salt Lake City, writes to inform us that the charges against the Mormons contained in Judge Drummond's letter have not the slightest foundation. Mr. Little says he never heard a word of the burning of nine hundred volumes of law records, nor of the tomb boy story. With regard to the statement that there were five or six young men from Missouri and Iowa contained in the penitentiary, he affirms that up to the day he left there were only in that prison three Indians, who had been convicted at the time of Col. Steptoe's sojourn in the Territory of being parties to the massacre of Capt. Gunnison and his companions. He asserts, also, the charge against the Mormons in connection with the murder of Col. Babbitt is, like the rest, one of Judge Drummond's creation. We leave the Judge to dispose of these disclaimers by such evidence as he may have in his possession. We have done our part by giving both sides of the story.

Another correspondent, Mr. James Arlington Bennet, writes us word that he has changed his mind about replacing Brigham Young as Governor of Utah. He thinks it would be as much as any man's life is worth to go to Salt Lake to supersede Young. Mr. Bennet would prefer a place at home of $1,000 with whole bones to that of Governor of Utah with a salary of $10,000 and the chance of a cracked skull. It is perfectly useless and a waste of the public money to send United States troops to the Territory at all. Some other means, he says, must be found of bringing this deluded people to reason. The task of finding and administering them will, in his opinion, be a much more difficult one than that of pacifying Kansas.