William C Mitchell

 

State of Arkansas
SS
County of Carroll

Be it witnessed that on this 22nd day of October, A.D. 1861, personally came and appeared before me, the undersigned, John Bunch, an acting Justice of the Peace, duly commissioned and qualified as such within and for said county, William A. Mitchell, of the county of Marion, and State of Arkansas, who after being duly sworn according to law, to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in regard to the matters in relation to the property of Charles R. Mitchell and Joel D. Mitchell, who it is supposed were murdered at a place known as "Mountain Meadows" and whose property was taken my the murderers. Upon his oath aforesaid deposed as follows;

 

I was personally well acquainted with the said Charles and Joel Mitchell. There were my sons, and I assisted them in making their outfit for the trip in the spring of 1857. They left in company with John T. Baker and many others, and were murdered, as I am informed and believe, at "Mountain Meadows", in September of the same year. They were on their way to California, and when they left here they had in their possession and under their control, the following personal property. They had in cash when they left this county, in April 1857, about the sum of Two hundred and seventy five dollars. They had thirteen yoke of good work oxen. They had sixty two head of other cattle and when they reached Washington county in this state, they wrote to me that they had bought ten head more and intended getting two more so as to make one hundred head in all. I have no doubt from all the information I have on this subject, and I fully believe that when they left the state they had with them one hundred head of good saleablecattle. They had one large ox wagon, log chains, etc. They had their wearing apparel, beds, and bedding, and cooking utensils. They had guns, pistols and Bowie knives. The property they had with them when they left for California in April 1857 was worth in this market, at the date of their departure, at a fair and reasonable cash valuation as follows, to wit:

 

13 yoke of work oxen @ $ 60.00 per yoke $ 780.00
74 head of other cattle, cows, steers @$12 $ 888.00
cash on hand when they left here $ 275.00
1 large wagon, chains, etc $ 120.00
1 horse saddle & bridle $ 100.00
Guns, fire arms, knives, etc $ 50.00
Clothing, beds, and bedding, provisions,cooking utencils, camp equipage, etc., $ 300.00
$2513.00

 

Amounting in all, the property that the said Charles and Joel D. Mitchell left this state with, for California in the year 1857, to the sum of Twenty five hundred and thirteen dollars. I have made the above estimate at what the said property was worth here, and know all as did know all the property above valued except the ten head of cattle that was bought in Washington County, of which I have no knowledge, only from heresay. But I believe that the amount above stated is a fair estimate of the value of said property at "Mountain Meadows," where the parties were murdered and robbed. I have no knowledge and from heresay but am informed and believe that said property was of double the value there to what it was here and from all the information I have been enabled to obtain I believe that said property at Mountain Meadows could have been worth the sum of about five or six thousand dollars. This last statement is only given as the information of others. So help me God.

Wm. C. Mitchell

Sworn to and subscribed to before me this 22nd day of October 1861.

John Bunch, J.P.