Ezra Perishes for Gold
From: Marlene Holley <jimarlen@cut.net>
To: Sterling D. Allan <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 11:10 PM
Here is a story Gayle told us.
She had an Uncle who called her in l980 and showed her a written story
about their families. Ezra Parrish and a man named Porter had joined the
Mormon Battalion back in l849. They then went on to the California gold
rush. They did find gold and brought it back to SLC to where their
families had came [sic]. He went to Brigham Young to pay l0% tithing of
his gold. Brigham told him he wanted all the gold for the Kingdom.
Parrish knew about the blood atonement and feared for his life. They
both told their families, along with other families, there were l2 men in all,
and left secretly. When they were North of Beaver, Brigham's Danites
caught up with them. They were dressed like Indians. Parrish had a
false bottom in his wagon, and he hid his l2 year old son and l0 year old
daughter. These kids watched all the wagon train get killed and
buried. They escaped and went to farm house. They had to hide them
because the killers knew how many were in the wagon train and they tried to
find them. Later the people sent these kids back East to their extended
families.
When the boy grew, he came back to find his parents killer. He found
and killed 6 of them. There were l2 in all. When he was old, he
found # 7 and killed him. The sheriff said he had killed an innocent man
and Parrish was hung.
