| 147 these corpses we immdiately [immediately] went to the black-smith's shop where we found nine of our friends, eight of whom were already dead, the other, Mr. Cox of Indiana, struggling in the agonies of death and soon expired. We immediately prepared and carried them to a place of interment: This last office of kindness due to the relics of departed friends, was not attended with the customary ceremonis [ceremonies] nor decency: for we were in jeopardy, every moment expecting to be fired on by the mob, whom, we supposed were lying in ambush, waiting for the first opportunity to despatch the remaining few, who were providentially preserved from the slaughter of the preceding day. However, we accomplished without molestation this painful task. The place of burying, was a vault in the ground, formerly intended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends promiscuously. Among those slain, I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren Smith, about nine years old, who, through, fear had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained until the massacre was over, when he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze of Corrill County, who presented his rifle near the boy's head and literally blowed off the upper part of it. Mr. Stanley of Corrill, told me afterwards that Glaze boasted of this deed all over the County.
The number killed and mortally wounded in this wanton slaughter, was eighteen or nineteen, whose names, as far as I can recollect, were as follows: Thomas McBride Levi Merrick, Elias Benner, Josiah Fullor, Benjamin Lewis, Alexander Campbell, Warren Smith, Sardius Smith, George Richards, Mr. Napier, Mr. Harmar, Mr. Cox, Mr. Abbot, Mr. York, Wm. Merrick a boy 8 or 9 years old and three or four more, whose names I do not recollect, as they were strangers to me. Among the wounded who recovered, were Isaac Laney, who had six balls shot through him, two through his body, one through each arm, and the other two through his hips. Nathan K. Knight shot through the body; Mr. Yokum who was severely wounded, besides being shot through the head, Jacob Myers, -Myers, Tarlton Lewis, Mr. Haunn, and several others. Miss Mary Stedwell, while fleeing, was shot through the hand and fainting, fell over a log, into which, they shot upwards of twenty balls.
To finish their work of destruction, this band of murderers, composed of men from Daviess, Livingston, Ray, Caldwell, and Corrill Counties; led by some of the principal men of that section of the upper country, proceeded to rob the houses, wagons and tents, of bedding and clothing; drove off horsed and wagons, leaving widows and orphans destitute of the necessaries of life; and even striped the clothing, from the bodies of the slain!
According to their own account, they fired seven rounds in this awful massacre, making upwards of fifteen hundred shots at a little company of men of about thirty in number!
I certify the above, to be a true statement of facts relative to the above mentioned massacre according to my best recolection [recollection].
(Signed) JOSEPH YOUNG, JANE A. YOUNG
A short time previous to the massacre at Shoal creek, we made peace with the mob characters living near us, as declaration had been made by the leaders of the band, that all persons who would not take up arms against the society, should, with the Mormons, be driven out of the State; and thus drawing the division line so close that we thought it necessary to ascertain the feelings of our neighbors around us. We met them and an agreement was entered into between us, that we would live in peace, let others do as they would. A large number of our company living at the mill at that time, were immigrants who had just came into the place. On the first day of November 1838, without apprehending any danger whatever from the mob, we were visited by about three hundred mounted men, coming with great speed, and fell upon us with the ferocity of tigers. They were not discovered nntil [until] within one hundred and fifty yards of us. They immediately commenced firing upon us, without asking us to surrender, or giving us a chance to surrender, or even giving us to understand what they wanted, only as we were taught by the sound of guns, the groans of
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