Died by Gunshot - Homicide
A longer version of Eli's death:
Son in law of John D Lee. Eli appears to have killed the three men from the Powell Expedition who it was believed to be federal agents hunting for John D Lee.
William Leany (also Laney) 1883 letter said Pace killed to prevent reprisal killings by feds. A Letter found in 1993 reads that the deaths occurred in the Chapel in Toquerville.
The 1883 letter by Leany was first published in an article called "The 'Letter' or Were the Powell Men Really Killed by Indians?" by Wesley Larsen, in Canyon Legacy, Spring 1993, published by the Southeastern Utah Society of Arts and Sciences, Inc.
Referring to the Canyon Legacy article, D. Michael Quinn comments:
"Larsen...theorized that Eli N. Pace committed the murders because he thought the three men [from the Powell expedition] were actually federal deputies trying to arrest his father-in-law John D. Lee for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Shot in the heart under mysterious circumstances in January 1870, Pace's death was declared a suicide by an inquest jury of three Mormons from Toquerville, including Isaac C. Haight. See previously cited references for Haight's role in the massacre, also John D. Lee diary, 19 Jan. 1870, in Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 2:133-134, for Pace's death and inquest. Leany's letter...clearly indicated that the perpetrator [Mr. Pace] was killed to avoid retribution on the LDS community." (Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 534)
Died by Gunshot - Homicide
A longer version of Eli's death:
Son in law of John D Lee. Eli appears to have killed the three men from the Powell Expedition who it was believed to be federal agents hunting for John D Lee.
William Leany (also Laney) 1883 letter said Pace killed to prevent reprisal killings by feds. A Letter found in 1993 reads that the deaths occurred in the Chapel in Toquerville.
The 1883 letter by Leany was first published in an article called "The 'Letter' or Were the Powell Men Really Killed by Indians?" by Wesley Larsen, in Canyon Legacy, Spring 1993, published by the Southeastern Utah Society of Arts and Sciences, Inc.
Referring to the Canyon Legacy article, D. Michael Quinn comments:
"Larsen...theorized that Eli N. Pace committed the murders because he thought the three men [from the Powell expedition] were actually federal deputies trying to arrest his father-in-law John D. Lee for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Shot in the heart under mysterious circumstances in January 1870, Pace's death was declared a suicide by an inquest jury of three Mormons from Toquerville, including Isaac C. Haight. See previously cited references for Haight's role in the massacre, also John D. Lee diary, 19 Jan. 1870, in Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 2:133-134, for Pace's death and inquest. Leany's letter...clearly indicated that the perpetrator [Mr. Pace] was killed to avoid retribution on the LDS community." (Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 534)
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