Another Father's Plea ~ Index
Wellsville, Cache County, October 15th, 1868
Editor Deseret News—
By publishing this letter concerning our lost child, you will be conferring a great favor upon myself, my companion, and doubtless, also, upon many of our relations and friends; and will at the same time correct a number of false reports of her having been found. You will also make more generally known the principle grounds upon which we base our belief that the Indians have stolen her. This will probably have a tendency to put many, many people (who otherwise through lack of faith would do nothing) on the lookout to information concerning her and may thus render efficient aid in her recovery.
In the first place we consider the fact of the unaccountably mysterious disappearance, a circumstantial evidence of her having been stolen; and if stolen, who so likely to have stolen her as Indians and among bad Indians Pocatello and his band are ranked the worst.
She was less than two and a half years old; was unwell at the time and only the day previous to her being stolen kept her bed most of the day. She had not been out of the house more than twenty minutes, and nearly or about half that time was with an older sister, whom her mother had sent with her to take care of her. On missing her, instant and thorough search was instituted, which continued for about ten days around about home, until not one foot of ground or pond or stream of water where there was the least possible chance for her to go remained unexplored. She was missed about the middle of the day and the search was so soon commenced that it would have been utterly impossible for her to have gone beyond our reach. She could not have gone through the field to the east, as it was lined with men farming; neither could she have passed to the south for water; towards the north and west lay the only chance to stray away and never before (to my knowledge) had she strayed the distance of ten rods from the house alone.
The race we almost entirely emptied of water, so that every inch of its bottom could be seen. The slough into which it emptied, which was several rods wide and was grown up thickly with bullrushes, so that nothing could float in it and the water, also being very shallow, was thoroughly searched. The pond, the nearest point of which was about forty rods distant, was dragged; cannon, also, at various points were fired over it, but to no purpose. Some suppose that the reason she has not risen is because she must have caught hold of something that keep her down; but such persons have not seen the place. The ground where the pond is, is perfectly smooth, and it is not steep to the water; and a child would have to walk in the water several steps to reach a point that would be over its head. And further, the first thing done both by whites and Indians, who came to look, was to search along the water for tracks and as the soil was clay some trace would have been left.
The whole country from the river to the snow line in the mountains, as far as Mendon, three miles north and about one and a half miles to the south, was thoroughly and systematically searched. Indians were seen in the vicinity of the house by several different persons, yet none of them came to the house for bread as they had previously done when they came around and none of us had seen them. This we considered and still consider an additional circumstantial evidence against them.
I saw Sagwitch and his band at Wellsville and by request, a number of them came and assisted in the search. Pocatello and his band moved from Mendon to Logan on the day our child disappeared. I went and saw him likewise, to employ him and his band to assist in the search, as I was well convinced Indians must have stolen her. I offered a reward for the body dead or alive, but he would not agree to come unless I would promise to give him a 50 lb. sack of flour whether he found her or not. I agreed to do so and the next day he came alone. Sagwitch and a number of his Indians came, and the bishop of Mendon and all the ward were at my place hunting and had a talk with the Indians and promised to give them ten sacks of flour and a beeve to find and bring us the dead body and a horse in addition to the above for her living. They promised to hunt. Pocatello got his dinner, called for his flour and got it, and neither he nor any of his Indians ever made their appearance to hunt. His conduct in this affair we consider another and a stronger circumstantial evidence of his guilt.
A number of other circumstances conspired to confirm my belief that Pocatello had stolen her; and in the company with several brethren from Millville I visited his camp at a later date, in Malad Valley, made him some presents, calling him a good Indian and telling him I was sure some bad Indians in the west had got the child and requesting him to hunt and get her. Here, in addition to the before named rewards, I promised to give him thirteen horses to bring her safe to me. I sometimes think that we might have obtained her of these conditions, but for the numerous threats thrown out against the Indians by thoughtless people by which they were intimidated.
In addition to the forgoing evidences, Sagwitch has told, both at Mendon, Paradise and Willow Creek, that Pocatello stole the child. He told when and where he got her, where they took her to, how long they kept her in Cache Valley and the night they passed through Mendon with her when they left the valley.
A young man from Wellsville on his way to the mines wrote to his father, (Brother Kerr, who showed me the letter) that three Indians came to his camp, on Blackfoot, to buy flour and began talking about the little girl stolen from Cache Valley and said they knew Pocatello had her, for one of them had been at his camp and had seen her there.
Brother Petingall, a young man who lives a little south of North Willow Creek, in Salt Lake Valley, who I understand is a very good interpreter, told me a short time since that Sagwitch had been there and told him that Pocatello stole the child; and also that at another time he had overheard two other Indians talking privately about the child, who said that Pocatello stole her and sent her to Salmon River.
Assisted by a number of brethren who reside in this valley, I have spent a good deal of time in hunting and have ransacked the country far and near. I have faith that in some way or other our little one will finally be restored to us and I do most sincerely believe that the publication of the above in your paper would materially assist in bring about this restoration.1
I am very respectfully, your brother in the Gospel.
January, 16th, 1869
Since writing the above, I have seen young Brother Kerr. He says the Indian he saw on Blackfoot spoke very good English and told him that Pocatello had the little girl that was stolen in Cache Valley, for he had been at Pocatello’s camp in the Logan bottoms and had seen her there. He also told him that Pocatello hired other Indians who knew of it to keep the secret, and paid them several horses to do so. And further, he said Pocatello was going on a buffalo hunt, and was intending to take her with him and I understand he is now on his hunt.
Notes…
Sagwitch, a survivor of the Battle of Bear River, later confirmed to Peter Maughan, that Pocatello had taken the child and that she had since died. Maughan died on April 24th, 1871 so this information was available to the people within the three year span between the abduction to Peter Maughan's death.
- The Deseret News, in Correspondence, February 3, 1869.