The late Judge Holbrook of Davis County, Utah, was struck at by a fierce Missourian with a sword, but by throwing up his left arm he saved his head, and before the mobber could recover himself the judge had cut him down. Two of the hindmost men of the mob were pursued by Captains Patten and Rich. The one followed by Patten suddenly wheeled round and shot him in the bowels, and he fell mortally wounded. Gideon Carter's face was so literally shot to pieces that he was almost beyond recognition. Several others were wounded in this engagement, about nine, I think, but they recovered. The mob had the advantage of position in the engagement, as they formed under the bank of the river, which answered all the purposes of a breastwork. It will be remembered too that it was not yet daylight—the dawn was only just breaking in the east when the fight began. The mob in their flight left their horses and all their camp utensils. These the victors took charge of, and making litters on which to carry their wounded and dying, they started on the return to Far West. Several miles from Far West the mournful train was met by a number of the brethren, among whom was the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum and the wife of Captain Patten. Tender hands had carried him on a litter from the battle field, but he suffered excruciating pains and asked to be laid down by the wayside that he might die. He was taken to the house of a Brother Winchester about three miles from Far West, where he died that night.
I need not dwell upon the heartrending sorrow of the wife at the loss of a noble husband, or the grief of the whole people who mourned the departure of a great and good man, and one of the leading spirits in these last days. He died full of faith, having done as he often said he would do, if need were—lay down his life for his friends. Just before he breathed his last he said to his grief-stricken wife, "Whatever you do else, O, do not deny the faith!"
Young O'Banion died shortly afterwards, and they were buried together with military honors. The body of Gideon Carter was afterwards brought up from the battle ground, and interred at Far West. The loss of the mob has never been correctly ascertained, but at the time they scattered before the impetuous charge of Patten's men, each one supposed he was the only survivor left to tell the tale of the mob's destruction.
This battle on Crooked River, though perfectly justifiable on the part of the saints, was made the excuse for raising armies against them for their destruction. The following inflammatory and untruthful message was sent to the governor as a report of what we have already related:
SIR:—We were informed last night by an express from Ray County, that Captain Bogart and all his company, amounting to between fifty and sixty men, were massacred at Buncombe, twelve miles north of Richmond, except three. This statement you may rely on as being true, and last night they expected Richmond to be laid in ashes this morning. We could distinctly hear cannon, and we knew the "Mormons" had one in their possession. Richmond is about twenty-five miles west of this place, on a straight line. We know not the hour or minute we shall be laid in ashes—our county is ruined—for God's sake give us assistance as soon as possible.
Yours, etc.,
SASHIEL WOODS,
JOSEPH DICKSON.
Woods will be remembered as the Presbyterian preacher who, after the saints were compelled to leave De Witt, called the mob which had infested that place and urged them to hasten to the assistance of their friends in Daviess County, to drive the "Mormons" away from their settlement at Diahman, that they might gain possession of their lands. These men say they distinctly heard cannon and they knew the "Mormons" had one. Yet these men were thirty-seven miles from where the engagement on Crooked River occurred, and no cannon was used—and the one in possession of the saints was only a six-pounder. "These mobbers," said Joseph, "must have had very acute ears; * * * so much for the lies of a priest of this world."
One of Bogart's men fled to Richmond and reported that ten of his comrades had been killed and the rest taken prisoners after many of them had been wounded; and he said it was the intention of the "Mormon banditti" that night to sack and burn Richmond. Upon the reception of this lying report C. R. Morehead was dispatched from Richmond to Lexington, a town located on the south bank of the Missouri on the high bluffs overlooking the river, and only about eight miles south of Richmond. He begged the people of that town to come to the assistance of Richmond, and they responded by sending one hundred well armed, and according to E. M. Ryland, "daring men, the most effective our county can boast of." An express was sent from Lexington to Messrs. Amos Rees and Wiley C. Williams of Jackson County, then en route for the city of Jefferson, ordering them to hurry on to the city of Jefferson, imparting correct (?) information to the public as they went along; and to send one of their party into Cooper, Howard and Boone counties in order that volunteers might be getting ready to flock to the scene of trouble as soon as possible. The letter said: "They [the volunteers before alluded to] must make haste and put a stop to the devastation which is menaced by these infuriated fanatics, and they must go prepared, and with a full determination to exterminate or expel them from the State en masse."
The italics are mine, and I use them because it was upon the strength of this message that Governor Boggs afterwards issued his celebrated exterminating order. And I pause here to call attention to the fact that these men, Wiley C. Williams and Amos Rees had started for Jefferson City as special messengers to the governor to secure the banishment of the saints from the State of Missouri. These untruthful reports of the trouble on Crooked River were favorable to their cause, and an express was sent after them to add this falsehood to those with which they were already laden, and to wish them "God speed" in their murderous affairs! We need not say the "Mormons" had not so much as thought of going to Richmond, or acting otherwise than on the defensive.