Mormon History, Mar 25, 1847

[Brigham Young Sermon] special conference, am
I counselled those living in dug outs to get houses on the top of the ground to live in during the summer, or they would be sick. I advised the brethren to cover their houses with puncheon. I felt that it was wrong to indulge in feelings of hostility and bloodshed toward the Indian, the descendants of Israel, who might kill a cow, an ox or even a horse; to them the deer, the buffalo, the cherry and plum tree or strawberry bed were free. It was their mode of living to kill and eat. If the Omahas would persist in robbing and stealing, after being warned not to do so, whip them. I realized there were men among us who would steal, who knew better, whose traditions and earliest teachings were all against it. Yet such would find fellowship with those who would shoot an Indian for stealing. I suggested that should any persons be caught stealing who belonged here let them be dealt with according to law, should the thief belong to Missouri, let him be delivered to the officers of the law in Mo. Winter Quarters MHBY 541 special conference, pm
I preached to the saints in the afternoon, and told them that it would be necessary for those who followed the Pioneers to take eighteen months provisions. A committee would be appointed and each wagon examined. The Pioneers would probably stay on the other side of the Mountains until the snow began to fill up the gaps in the mountains. If mob violence should render it necessary for all to remove, take your cows, put your loads on their backs and fasten your children on the top. Where the saints do all they can the Lord will do the rest. [Winter Quarters - MHBY 541]

[source: Elden J. Watson, ed. Brigham Young Addresses, 1801-1877: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1971)]

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