From the S. F. Chronicle.]
UNEARTHED AT LAST.
The Arrest of John D. Lee, the Alleged Leader of the Mouutain Meadow Band of Mormon Mur-derers.
Beaver (Utah), November 13.—Your special reporter arrived here from Salt Lake City yesterday, after experiencing all the discomforts and privations peculiar to stage riding in an uneven country. And after being jolted and shaken, and making innu-merable apparent narrow escapes from accidents, it was a great relief to reach this quiet village, which is at present the focus on which all Utah eyes are now concentrating, for it is here that the notorious Col. John D. Lee, the leader in the Mountain Meadow massacre is confined. The feeling here, as may be imagined, is intense. It is difficult, in fact it is impossible, for a "Gentile" to ascer-tain precisely how the "Saints" re-ally feel over the arrest of one of their leaders, and the consequences to themselves and their Church of this arrest and the investigation and expose which must follow. It is a matter beyond dispute that there are in this immediate neighborhood many of the rank and file of that
BAND OF DISGUISED MURDERERS,
Who, under the command, of John D. Lee, twenty years ago, butchered in cold blood all the men and women, and all but two of the children of a passing emigrant train. Some of those men are here, and while the probable consequences of a legal in-vestigation serves to dismay them, the countenances of all the Mormons show one of two expressions—dis-may at the danger threatened their beloved Church, and the lives of some of their brethren, and hatred of the Government that has at last reached out its powerful arm to punish the most dastardly assassins this country has produced.
While such is the feeling of the Mormons, the Gentiles do not mani-fest their satisfaction in any demon-strative or unbecoming manner. They simply show the grim pleasure they take in the seizure of a violator of the law, and express a hope that the whole history of the Mountain Meadow murder may now be dis-closed.
THE ARREST OF LEE.
From a personal interview with U. S. Deputy Marshal William Stokes, and Mr. Dye, who witnessed the af-fair, am enabled to give you the particulars of Lee's arrest: Last Saturday the Marshal—having re-ceived information that Lee was at Pangwitch, a small Mormon settle-ment on the Sevier river, thirty-five miles southeast of here—sent one of his posse, Frank Fish, to reconnoiter, and Fish having ascertained that Lee Jr was then at Pangwitch, on Sunday night Stokes, with Fish, Thomas Winn, R. S. Rogers, David Evans and Thomas Lefevre drew near Pangwitch and secreted themselves under a hill for the night. The whole posse entered the town just after daybreak on Monday morning. But early as they were, and secretly as their movements had been con-ducted, information of their presence had reached Lee, and suspecting their business he had concealed him-self. After thoroughly searching the house where the criminal was sup-posed to be the officers directed their attention to the out-buildings, I and their labors were soon rewarded by finding
LEE IN A CHICKEN-COOP,
Loosely covered with straw. Stokes, who was the first to discover his man, advanced to the coop, pistol in hand, and covering Lee with his weapon from a hole in the roof of the coop, ordered him to come out. There being no reply to this demand, Winn was order to enter the assassin's hiding-place and disarm him, Stokes informing Lee that he would shoot his head off if he moved. As the muzzle of the officer's pistol was not more than two feet from Lee's head, the latter saw that it was not a vain threat, and that he was in the enemy's toils. So before Winn had time to obey the order of his chief, Lee said "I'll come out" and immediately emerged with a pis-tol in his hand.
LEE'S WIFE TO THE RESCUE.
While Stokes was parlying with Lee, one of the numerous wives of the latter, Rachel, covered Stokes with a shotgun, a double-barrelled one, and threatened to fire. She, in her turn, was covered by the revol-ver of Fish, and as Lee came out she was disarmed. No other resist-ance than this was offered by Lee's relatives or numerous friends.
When Lee found himself in the "hands of the Philistines" he evi-dently made up his mind to make the best of his misfortune, for he pleasantly and cordially invited the officers to breakfast with him, which invitation they gratefuly accepted.
Lee displayed an immense amount of sang froid when resistance was useless. He spent some time writ-ing out directions for the manage-ment of his property during his forced absence, and seemed to over-look none of those details which a man in his position might reasonably be expected to forget. Stokes overheard him say to one of his sympa-thetic neighbors, who evidently be-lieved that
THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH
Had been derelict in his duty toward his subaltern, "President Young is not interested in this matter." The Marshal, with his prisoner, reached here on Tuesday, when he was im-mediately lodged in jail and heavily ironed.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PRISONER.
Through the courtesy of Marshal Stokes and the prison officials, I had a brief interview with Lee this morn-ing. I found him in cheerful spirits. While he did not directly say so, I am inclined to think he is not one whit surprised to find himself in his present position. Public attention has been directed towards him for some time, and he has known that he has been charged, through the press, with being the leader of the Moun-tain Meadow murderers. John D. Lee is 62 years of age, and has had
SIXTY CHILDREN,
Fifty-four of whom are still living.—He has fifteen grown up sons. He admits having eighteen wives. One wife only, the faithful Rachael, ac-companied him to Beaver. She is here under the protection of one of her husband's numerous sons-in-law.
He was very reticent on the sub-ject of the charge made against him. That he feels indifferent to the result of the investigation would be assert-ing almost too much, but no one can talk with him without being impress-ed with the idea that he does not ex-pect to meet the punishment of a murder.
He was born in Randolph county, Illinois, and is the son of an Irish mother, whose maiden name was Doyle, and a father whom he claims is one of the Lees of Virginia. He is five feet nine and a half inches high, and weighs 165 pounds. He has a large head, blue eyes and grey hair, once black. In Pangwitch and Beaver, and, indeed, throughout the southern part of the Territory, Lee has been
KNOWN FOR HIS LIBERALITY
And kindness to travellers and the poor, notwithstanding the terrible and well-known story of the Moun-tain Meadow massacre, for his al-leged participation in which he is now in chains.
His preliminary examination be-fore a United States Commissioner is daily expected.
