On the evening of the second of April, 1865, Squire Newton Brassfield, a resident of Austin, Nevada, temporarily residing in Salt Lake, was shot down in the streets while in the company of the United States Marshal, and under his protection. The particulars, as well as the pretext for this bloody murder, are fully given in the following editorials taken from the "Salt Lake Vedette," of April 4th, 1865:—
"We are called upon this morning to chronicle one of the most cold-blooded and inhuman murders that has ever fallen under our notice—unparalleled even in the bloody record of Utah's foulest crimes. The victim of this last exhibition of the hellish doctrine
of 'blood atonement,' promulgated by these fiends of hell from the rostrum of their Tabernacle, is Squire Newton Brassfield, late a resident of Austin, Nevada, by business a freighter, and aged about thirty years. The circumstances which led to his murder are briefly as follows:—
"On the evening of the 27th ult. Mr. Brassfield was married by Judge McCurdy, of the Supreme Court, to Mary, second wife of A. N. Hill, a Mormon missionary now in Europe. A short time after the marriage, Brassfield went with his wife to her late residence to get her clothes and household goods which had been packed up ready for removal. While there he was arrested by the city police, charged with resisting an officer, and lodged all night in the county jail. The next morning he was taken before the Probate Court to answer the charge, and bound over in the sum of five hundred dollars to await the action of the Grand Jury. The next day two indictments were brought against him, one on the charge above named, and the other for larceny,—for being present and assisting in taking away his wife's goods and clothing. He gave bail in the sum of one thousand dollars. On Monday last his counsel, Major C. H. Hempstead, quashed the indictment for resisting an officer, and proceeded to trial on the charge of larceny. The trial was not concluded when the court adjourned on Monday, and was to have been continued on the following day.
"The wife had two children, one nine and the other five years of age. About these children a contest was evident—Mrs. Brassfield claiming them, and the friends of Hill being determined to keep them from her. The mother obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Judge McCurdy, and the Hill party from the Probate Court, each claiming the right to the custody of the children. The writ of Judge McCurdy was first executed, and a hearing held by him last Saturday night. Major Hempstead argued the case for the petitioner, and claimed that as Hill had a wife living at the time of his alleged marriage with Mrs. Brassfield, it was illegal and void, and that, as there was no legal father, the mother was entitled to the custody of the minor children. Thus the legality of polygamous marriages was made a direct issue in the case. Judge Snow appeared against the petitioner and in the capacity of Deputy Attorney-General of the Territory, and desired further time to prepare the case of the defendant, and the hearing was continued until Monday evening at seven o'clock.
"At that hour the house was crowded, the friends of both parties being present in large numbers. After a few preliminary remarks and the filing of some papers by Judge Snow, the hearing was again adjourned until Wednesday morning at ten o'clock. The children in the mean time had been committed to the custody of the United States Marshal, Hosmer, until further orders of the court, and on Monday the writ from the Probate Court was served on him, when he appeared before Judge Smith and stated that he held the children by order of Judge McCurdy, and declined to produce them in that court, when he was threatened with an attachment for contempt, and warned that unless he produced the children he would be imprisoned in the county jail! The Probate Court of Salt Lake, imprisoning a United States Marshal, for obeying an order of the Supreme Court! Our readers can make their own comments.
"Thus stood the several phases of the case at the adjournment of Judge McCurdy's court on Monday evening. The court adjourned at about half-past eight o'clock, and on his way home, and while in company with the United States Marshal, Hosmer, Mr. Brassfield was shot and killed; adding another to the long list of victims of Mormon 'law' and Mormon 'justice.'"
"STATEMENT OF MARSHAL HOSMER.
"About half-past eight o'clock on Monday evening, the second instant, I was accompanying Mr. Brassfield home to the National Hotel from Independence Hall. As we turned the corner by the small building west of the hotel, a man who stood between the bay-window and door of that building advanced one step from the corner and fired at Mr. Brassfield, the shot taking effect in his arm and side; four buck-shot entered the arm, one striking the elbow joint and breaking the arm. The fifth shot, which was much larger than the others, entered his right side. When the gun was fired Mr. Brassfield fell, and said, 'O my God! I am shot!' He was carried into the International Hotel, where he lingered in agony about forty-five minutes and then expired. The assassin, after firing, ran across the street, and turning the corner by the theatre, continued in a northerly direction. As he passed the St. Charles Restaurant, he was fired at twice by a policeman. I lost sight of him as he turned the corner of the theatre."