A Father's Plea ~ Index
We hope the accompanying letter from Bro. Thurston, of Wellsville, on the mysterious disappearance of his little daughter, will induce a strict watch to be kept on the Indians north, to find if they have taken the child.
Wellsville, Cache County, April 12th, 1868
Editor Deseret News—
Dear Brother, I write to inform you that on the 7th last, my youngest daughter, aged two years and five months, marvelously disappeared from home. She had not been out more than half an hour before she was missed and a diligent search was commenced which has continued to the present time and not the least trace of her has as yet been discovered. We expect the Indians have taken her.
We live at what is called the Mendon Mill, half way between Wellsville and Mendon, which are between five and six miles apart and lie on the west side of the valley near the mountain. On our east and near our house, lies a large field, which extends from Mendon nearly to Wellsville, in which a great number of men were engaged plowing at the time of the above named disappearance. Below this field, on the east is a stream which runs from the extreme southern end of the valley to Bear River.
On the south side of our house, at a distance of seven or eight rods, is a large deep ravine, which extends from eighty rods west of the house to the stream above named. There are springs at the upper or western end of this, which are raised by a dam, which is about twenty-five or thirty rods above a large deep ditch from this point to the mill, which is south of the house, or in front of it. There were a number of us at hand who immediately searched this ditch, roughly, while others were searching the open country north of the slough towards Mendon. A little before night I concluded that Indians had stolen her, although none of us had seen any; on enquiry among the men who had been plowing in the field, I ascertained that Indians had been seen in the neighborhood by a number.
I went to Wellsville and sent to Mendon, to see the Indians at these places and employ them in the search. I also raised a company of men, came back and searched all night, or nearly so. We searched the whole country over again in the morning and also the water. In the afternoon I sent to Logan requesting them to telegraph all round the country. Bishop Maughan came in the evening and after viewing the country and hunting, told me I had better go to Logan myself. Accordingly the next day I went, but the telegraph would not work. I told them to send the word as soon as possible; and through the interpreter I offered the Indians a horse to bring the child alive and a smaller present for her body if dead. The Indians universally denied knowing anything of her and I was unable to find any one who would believe they had taker her. I accordingly returned home and sent word to Bishop Shumway of Mendon, requesting him to raise his ward and come and make a search so through as to either find the child or place the fact that the Indians must have her beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt.
On the next day the Bishop and the Ward came en masse and searched the country in systematic order for miles around. They also spent some time searching the water; and though the interpreter offered the Indians, who had come to help, an increased reward– a horse, a beef steer and ten sacks of flour for the child alive, or a beef and ten sacks of flour for the body if dead. I would here state that the Bishop of Wellsvillle has offered to assist in making up a reward sufficient to induce them to bring the child if they can find her.
On the 11th, or yesterday, a company from Wellsville came with a boat and rake, to drag the pond, also a cannon, which they fired at several points. They raked the pond but to no purpose.1
Respectfully,
Notes…
I can never read this sad letter to the Deseret News, but to think of Elizabeth Smart. I can hear in the tone of his voice, her fathers impassioned plea for her safe return. The Smart case put a stamp of reality to the loss of little Rosa Thurston. Ed Smart, in his tireless work to keep the story alive and before the public, is very much the same to me as George Thurstons's plea for his young daughter. It is so very sad to see the innocents, involved in the culture war between the native peoples and the settlers. But times were much different in those days, life was always more at risk, than we have any idea in the times which we now live.
I had found the little Thurston story in the newspaper prior to the Elizabeth Smart case in 2002. But it was certainly brought home with a sting, to see this played out in my own time.
- The Deseret News, in Correspondence, April 22, 1868, page 83.