The Mormon and the Indian.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 143, 16 June 1894, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Mormon and the Indian.

When the Mormons first settled on the banks of' tho Greab Salt Lake their only neighbours were the Indians, and rather troublesome ones they sometimes proved ; but the wisdom of Brighaca Young soon dealt wibh them, and his famous dictum, 'Ib is cheaper' to feed than to fight the Indians,' struck the keynote of his method. Still Brigham knew how to be firm, and the Red Man bad occasionally to be shot down along with the mountain lion, but as, a rule there was peace between the fugitives and the savages, and a Mormon could go up down Utah in safety because hei..'waa recognised as the Indian's friend. . .< Still there were sometimes. bad Indiana i.e., individual prowlers, who were known to be.grasping and even violent. . , . .' One of these came round to .a log hub and found a Mormon's wife alone in the house. He instantly demanded food ; the lady, .with great composure, replied very civilly thab she ; would be glad to feed him, but she only had a .dozen dog-biscuitß in the house; she would, however, give him two. He ate them, and, like Oliver Twist, • asked for more.' . With some, reluctance she ■ gave him another, which the savage devoured, and then got violent and threatened to scalp her. ■ Trembling inwardly, but never losing her presence of mind, the Mormon heroine at-last bade her terrible guest wait a minute and she would look for more food. In the back room lay, an enormous mastiff. She opened the door, and at a sign from his mistress in a moment the faithful animal bad rushed oub and buried bis fangs in the Indian's thigh, who fell to the ground with a howl, much hurt and still more terrified. The mastiff held him like a vice. . i . ■ ■, . ... ... The Mormon lady stood for a moment proudly over her prostrate foe, and at his piteous entreaty ab last called off the dog. The blood was streaming from the Indian's thigh, and the ' Indian's friend' ... now fetched a basin of water, and soon staunched the wound. = Then, after strapping up the leg, she sent the ' bad'lndian' 1 away limping, with a parting injunction noS to molest Mormon women-again in their homes. - • • Thus the wild tribes soon learned to fear as well as respecb the whites at the Salt Lake. . ■"' ' ■ ■ < :• < ■ • ;