1877 newspaper JOHN D LEE EXECUTED FOR MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE Mormon Church

Description

1877 newspaper with an inside-page notice announcing that JOHN D LEE has been EXECUTED FOR the MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE in Mormon UTAH
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#1C-023
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SEE PHOTO-----COMPLETE, ORIGINAL NEWSPAPER, the
Harper's Weekly Illustrated Newspaper
(NY) dated April 7, 1877, with fantastic MORMON WAR  history!
In September 1857, the Baker-Fancher party, an emigrant group from Arkansas, camped at Mountain Meadows, a staging area in southern Utah used to prepare for the long crossing of the Mojave Desert by groups travelling westward to California. They were attacked by a combined group of Native Americans and Mormon militiamen dressed as Native Americans. There were multiple motives for the conflict, including a general atmosphere of rising tensions between the US Federal government and Mormon settlers (see Utah War of 1857-1858) and a rumor that the Baker-Fancher party included those who had murdered Mormons at the 1838 event known as Haun's Mill massacre.
On the third day of the siege, Lee (not dressed as a Native American) approached the Baker-Fancher encirclement under cover of a white flag and convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons and property to the Mormons in return for safe conduct to nearby Cedar City. The emigrants accepted the offer and surrendered, however approximately 120 of the Baker-Fancher party were then killed by Mormon militia and Paiute Indians, leaving only about 17 small children as survivors. William Ashworth notes in his autobiography that after the massacre, the "leaders among the white men had bound themselves under the most binding oaths to never reveal their part in it." Lee told Brigham Young that the Indians had been solely responsible, that "no white men were mixed up in it." Lee later maintained that he had acted under orders from his militia leaders, under protest, and remained active in Mormonism and local government for several years afterwards.
In 1874, Lee was arrested and tried for leading the massacre. The first trial ended inconclusively with a hung jury, seemingly because of the prosecution's attempt to portray Brigham Young as the true mastermind of the massacre. A second trial in 1877, in which the prosecution placed the blame squarely on Lee's shoulders, ended with his conviction and he was sentenced to death. Lee never denied his own complicity, but claimed he had not personally killed anyone. He said he had been a vocally reluctant participant and later a scapegoat meant to draw attention away from other Mormon leaders who were also involved. Lee further maintained that Brigham Young had no knowledge of the event until after it happened. However, in the Life and Confessions of John D. Lee he (or an editor) wrote, "I have always believed, since that day, that General George A. Smith was then visiting southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young."
Harper's Weekly was the most widely read illustrated newspaper in the United States throughout the period of the Civil War. So as not to upset its wide readership in the South, Harper’s took a moderate editorial position on the issue of slavery. Publications that supported abolition referred to it as Harper’s Weakly. The Weekly had supported the Stephen A. Douglas presidential campaign against Abraham Lincoln, but as the American Civil War broke out, it fully supported Lincoln and the Union. Some of the most important articles and illustrations of the time were the Weekly’s reporting on the war. Besides renderings by Homer and Nast, Harpers also published illustrations by Theodore R. Davis, Henry Mosler, and the brothers Alfred and William Waud.
This newspaper usually contained 8 pages of text and 8 pages of gorgeous woodcut engravings, highly prized today for their  detailed illustrations of the American Civil War. The engravings are generally in 3 sizes: double page (DP - 21" X 16"), Full page (FP- 16" x 11") , and half page (HP- 10" x 8").
Very Good condition.
This listing includes the complete entire original newspaper.
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