"Well, boys, what do you want of me?"
"I have a warrant for your arrest, and must take you to Beaver with me," I said,
Lee then asked me to show him the pistol that I put through the pen and pointed at his head. He said:
"It was the queerest-looking pistol that I ever saw. It looked like a man's hand with the fingers cut off short."
It was a dragoon pistol, with the barrel cut off short. He laughed when he saw it, and was not at all excited. We then went to the house. The women seemed wild, some of them crying and all unreasonable in their language. Lee told his family to be quiet, and did all that he could to pacify them. I sent and bought some wine, and took a pitcher of the liquid into the house to the women. They all took a drink. When I got to one of his daughters, who was crying bitterly, she took the glass and said:
"Here is hoping that father will get away from you."
"Drink hearty, miss," I said.
By the time all the family had taken a drink a large number of people had gathered around the house. I think fully one hundred and fifty Mormons were there. I turned to one of my men and told him to find some place where we could get something to eat. Lee heard me, and apologized for not thinking to ask us to have something to eat before that time.
"But," said he, "the women folks have been making so much fuss that I have thought of nothing."
Lee then ordered breakfast for us all. His sons gathered around him and told him that if he did not want to go to Beaver, to say so, and they would see that he didn't go. Lee then took me one side and told me what his friends proposed, and wanted to know what answer he should give them. I thought he did this to see if there was any chance to frighten me. I told him to tell the boys to turn themselves loose; that I knew I had no friends in that place, except those who came with me, but we were well armed, and when trouble commenced we would shoot those nearest to us, and make sure of them, and then keep it lively while we lasted. Lee said he did not want anything of that kind to happen, and would see that the boys behaved themselves.