JOHN D LEE
(Utah Phillips)

Here's news come to the city about a wagon train;
Here's news come to the city about a wagon train;
How men and all their families by John D. Lee was slain.

Brigham Young sent out a runner, bid Squire Wells to come;
Brigham Young sent out a runner, bid Squire Wells to come;
Go down into that country and see my justice done.

He gathered up a posse, a dozen men or more,
He gathered up a posse, a dozen men or more,
They tracked across the desert to the Colorado shore.

No sooner they crossed over than John D. Lee was found,
No sooner they crossed over than John D. Lee was found,
Down in the Indian village the squaws was camped around.

The horses from Missouri was found in his corral;
The horses from Missouri was found in his corral;
The Squire read him guilty the facts we find here tell.

A wagon and a coffin, they make a heavy load,
A wagon and a coffin, they make a heavy load,
To haul up to the meadow along the black ridge road.

Way up in Mountain Meadows they made him dig his grave,
Way up in Mountain Meadows they made him dig his grave,
Though loudly he protested, his life he thought to save.

The wagons they still smoldered, their ashes blew around,
The wagons they still smoldered, their ashes blew around,
In sight of this mute evidence, they shot their victim down.

Some say he was not guilty, so I have heard it said,
Some say he was not guilty, so I have heard it said,
The deed fell to his captors who should have died instead.

His grave is undiscovered, the grass it grows so tall,
His grave is undiscovered, the grass it grows so tall,
Such was the Saints' own vengeance on John D. Lee did fall.