On the 14th of April, 1877 Leslie’s monthly magazine announced the March 23 execution of John D. Lee, who took part in the Mountain Meadows massacre in 1857.
The massacre involved the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia, accompanied by some Paiute Native Americans, killing between 100 and 140 members of an emigrant party in Utah.
John D. Lee sits beside his coffin in Utah moments before his execution by firing squad on the 23rd of March, 1877.
He was the only person who was ever punished for playing a part in the 1857 Mountain Meadows massacre, when a Mormon militia killed over a hundred non-Mormon settlers over a number of days in September.
Some of the men who took part in the massacre.
Beginning on the 7th and ending on the 11th of September, 1857 the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia, accompanied by some Paiute Native Americans, massacred between 100 and 140 members of an emigrant party in Utah.
It is believed they were motivated to commit the crime by war hysteria, a dislike of having non-Mormon settlers in the area, and Mormon teachings that created a fear of outsiders.
Massacre survivor Nancy Sephrona Huff approximately eighteen years later. X
In an attempt to eliminate all evidence of the crime, and to ensure no witnesses could come forward, children were amongst those murdered.
Only seventeen people of the wagon train survived, all of them under the age of seven.
John D. Lee sits beside his coffin immediately before his execution. X
Only one person was ever punished for the massacre. John D. Lee was executed by firing squad on the 23rd of March, 1877, nearly two decades after the crime was committed. At the time of his death Lee had around nineteen wives and fifty-six children, and claimed he was a scapegoat. He was reinstated as a member of the Mormon church in the 1960s.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel against the launching chains of Great Eastern at Millwall in 1857.
Brunel died in 1859, not long after the ships’ ill-fated first voyage. Built to be capable of carrying 4000 passengers – without refuelling – between England and Australia, it was the largest ship of its time. An explosion caused damage during the maiden voyage, but after repairs, the ship was used for a few decades.
The University of Calcutta was established on the 24th of January, 1857. The proposal for a university in India was first tendered by a British man named Dr Fredrick John. The first proposal failed, but a second was accepted in 1854.
Calcutta University, photographed in 1870.
Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning, photographed in the 1840s.
In Times Gone By... 
