1
then Comes Wm Strong residing in Salt Lake City in the 10 Ward Saying that when
the Company in question who was murdered in the Mountains – when they came
first upon the Bench East of [three or four illegible words] the People [two or
three words; possibly ‘send there’] Children out with vegatables and Supliedt ther[e]
wants [one words, perhaps ‘and’ as it ends with a ‘d’ written with Steele’s
distinctive loop] Lyman Lenard sold [one or two words] Corn Meal [perhaps two
words, which might be ‘He wanted’] for [particular unintelligible word]ls per lb
the Company then moved down to the Jordan Whare they let down the fence and
turned ther]e] Cattle into the Hay fields of one of the Mormons and ^when^
told to Get on to where there was more room and not damage the Setlars.
2
The Coman[y became very] angary and with terrible Oaths [said] they had the
Rifle and showed it th[at?] Killed Joseph and Hyrum and said with a terrible
Oath that it’s the Rifle kill [one or two words missing] SH[all?] Kill Brigham
[a word illegible] and [one word, perhaps possible letters: ‘Gn..g’] the Woman
[one word illegible seems to end with ‘rc’] She had fed Mormon beef to the
^Mormon^ prisoners in Missouri and by her Maker She Could do it again then
th[e]y Moved on and the Same Reckles Manner went with them and whare ever they
went the[y] Abused the inhabitents in the Vallies until they arrived at Corn
Creek.
3
Whare the[y] Poisoned a animal that died, and when the Indians took Some of the
Meat & Eat it Several of them died—this made the rest of the tribe [Mad]
and they pursued after [illegible word the transcriber/s read as “them”] the[y]
also poisoned A Spring and a Young Man by the name of Robinson Died by the [two
illegible words] Said poison they then Cane [Came] on to Beaver Co [herpes a
very short illegible word or “Co” is part of a word, the rest of which is unintelligible]
Where Seve[ral] Outrages [two or three words illegible] -mited And When they
Came to Parowan the first [two illegible words, possibly ‘gued’ and ‘turn’]
Asked was whare does Your God Damned Bishop Leve the[y] passed on to Cedar City
Whare they G[?odG . . . ] done by Miller [blank for a name, presumably] and the
Same insulting Spurrit was Made Manifest as on all former Ocations. (“Testimony
of John Steele about the Mountain Meadows Massacre,” box 2, folder 8, Vault MSS
528, John Steele Collection, 1847-1936, L. Tom Perry Special Collections,
Brigham Young University, repr. Kerry William Bate, The Life & Times of
John Steele: Mormon Kingdom Builder [Salt Lake City: The University of Utah
Press, 2025], 236-37, spelling in original, comments in square brackets in
original)
Further Reading:
B. H. Roberts Foundation/Mormonr, “The Mountain
Meadows Massacre” (cf. Primary
Sources)
