E
Mica Martina Margrete Katrine (Pedersen) Gibb(s) Elder Smith
April 15, 1835 – February 8, 1911
"Grandma Martina Elder was living in Grafton when the Berry men were killed. Her husband
Clayborne helped to bring them in to town. While her husband was gone, she stacked what
furniture she had against the door and had an axe close by in case the Indians came to the
house."
– Zella Barnson Matheson
Newspaper and date – unknown
Indian Pioneer relations further strained
Ed. Note: The following story
is taken from William R. Palmer’s
series of 1950 radio talks dealing
with early Southern Utah Mormon
settlements and their relations with
the Paiute Indians. (See Talk No.
70, “Forgotten Chapters of
History”.)
For several weeks we have been
discussing Indian troubles in
Southern Utah. Most of these are
accounted, usually, as part of the
Blackhawk War although that war
could not have been more than a
secondary influence in causing the
atrocities.
I have given the story of the
killing of Dr. J.M. Whitmore and
Robert McIntire on Jan. 2nd, 1866,
and of the rather summary execution
on Jan. 20th of seven Paiutes for their
supposed responsibility for the crime.
Indian revenge for the loss of
these tribesmen fell swiftly and
brutally. None of these tragedies
seem to have been inspired by the
Black Hawk War which was raging
in San Pete and Sevier Counties, were
touched off by the murder of
Whitmore and McIntire by Navajos
who came from across the Colorado
River.
In 1865 four Berry brothers,
William John, Robert and Joseph,
together with their widowed mother,
settled a ranch in Long Valley, Kane
County, where the town of Glendale
now stands. Their cluster of log
houses soon came to be called
Berryville.
That fall Grandma Berry
decided to visit her two daughters
who were married in Spanish Fork,
and Robert and his young wife and
Joseph, a single man, took their
mother on that trip.
-------------------------------------------
They spent the winter visiting in
the north. When spring broke, the
boys were impatient to be on the
road home for it was time to plant
crops in Berryville.
They loaded their wagon with
seed wheat, but Grandma was not
ready yet to leave. She wanted to
wait and see one of her daughters
through her maternity. Finally, the
boys could wait no longer so they
with Robert’s wife started for home,
leaving Grandma Berry behind.
The trip was made without
incident as far as Grafton on the
Virgin River, which place they
reached on Saturday April 1, 1866.
They were in fine spirits for one more
day would put them home.
Sunday April 2nd they made an
early start and they were making
good time until they reached Short
Creek. Here the Indians fell upon
them.
Robert and Joseph whipped up
their horses but they were hitched to a
loaded wagon and could gain little
speed. The men cut the tugs on their
harness and the three persons
jumped on the backs of the horses.
But the Indians were now upon
them. In a running fight over half a
mile the two men and the horses were
killed and Mrs. Berry was captured
alive. She was dragged back to the
wagon, trussed to a wheel, assaulted
and then shot to death with arrows.
The Indians went through the
wagon cutting grain bags open and
pouring precious seed wheat on
the ground. They ripped open the
feather beds and shook the feathers to
the wind. Trees and brush for a mile
or more were covered with the
feathers.
On the tragic Sunday morning
William Berry at the ranch in Long
Valley, was seized with troubled
forebodings about the safety of this
people which he could not shake off.
He had no way of knowing they were
on the road for no letter or message
had come from them. But he felt so
troubled that he could sit still no
longer. He saddled his horse, tied up
a lunch and went out on the road
hoping to meet them and help them
in.
At noon he stopped on a little
grassy flat to eat his lunch and let the
horse pick a little grass. But he felt
such concern that he knelt down and
offered a fervent prayer for the safety
of his kinspeople. While on his knees
a vision was opened to him and he
saw in great detail the terrible tragedy
that had already befallen them.
Mounting his horse he rode back
to the ranch for help and the little
party then went direct to the scene of
the crime. It was all just as William
had seen it.
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E
Mica Martina Margrete Katrine (Pedersen) Gibb(s) Elder Smith
April 15, 1835 – February 8, 1911
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On the way they met a friendly
Indian coming to tell them what had
happened. They hurried him off to
Grafton to report the tragedy and
send wagons and men back for the
bodies of the dead.
Faithful to his trust this Indian
rode fast to town and sent relief teams
and men at once to the scene. The
bodies were gathered up and taken to
Grafton where they were laid to rest.
This terrible deed was
perpetrated by tribesmen of the seven
Pahutes who had been summarily
executed only two months before.
The Berrys abandoned
Berryville and moved to Kanarra
where they prospered and from then
to now the family have been among
the strong and respected people of
Iron County.
--------------------------------------------------
There was an aftermath to this
tragic story. The two brothers,
William and John Berry, ready to
exact stern vengeance, kept silent
watch for the perpetrators of the
terrible deed.
One day William found in a
vacant log house an Indian he felt
sure had been one of the leaders in
the crime. He went ferociously after
him and backed him into a corner
against the wall.
With the point of a butcher knife
pricking the Indian’s bare abdomen
William tried to make him tell what
he knew. As the conviction grew that
this was one of the guilty party, the
enraged white man could scarcely
restrain himself from thrusting the
knife into the fellow. One thrust, he
--------------------------------------------------
thought, would settle the score with
one bad Indian.
Then the Indian did a brave
thing that brought William Berry
suddenly to his senses. He calmly
folded his arms, looked William
straight in the eye and stood solid and
unflinching as a totem pole. He
spoke no word nor blinked an eye.
In that brief moment the
realization came to William that he
must not take human life. He
withdrew the knife and told the
Indian to get out.
The order was obeyed slowly
and with great dignity. William was
thankful as long as he lived that he
had not killed the Pahute and he
never thirsted again for the blood of
those who had murdered his brothers
and sister.