Mr. Maughan's Miraculous Preservation from an Indian's Poisoned Arrow
Published October 23, 2026 at 1:09 AM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
Peter Maughan, a settler in Logan, Utah, was being hunted by an Indian chief intending to murder him. Maughan, while cleaning his gun inside his home, unintentionally pointed the weapon toward the doorway. The chief, upon seeing the gun aimed directly at him, retreated in terror, believing Maughan had detected him. Maughan remained completely unaware of the assassination attempt. The chief later attempted suicide due to his failure to accomplish the killing.
Historical records identify the unnamed Indian chief as Chief Bear Hunter, the leader of a Northwestern Shoshoni band that claimed the Cache Valley area. This event followed a confrontation in which Maughan ordered Bear Hunter's band to move their encampment from the settlers' hay fields. Bear Hunter had vowed to remove the white settlers from the valley and sought to assassinate Maughan as an act of retaliation for the forced relocation of his camp.
In Their Own Words
“The chief had planned to shoot one of his poisoned arrows and thus rid his tribe of this white peace-maker. He crept along in the brush being careful that none of the settlers should discover him. He crawled closer to the house. Soon he was in the yard and could distinguish the form of a man in the open doorway. He was then sure that his long looked for chance had come: His bow and arrow were carefully raised. But he reconsidered. He was taking a chance. If he should miss his mark, it would be nothing less than a warning to his foe. His long, lithe body took a few flying leaps. He was within a rod of the doorway. He raised his eyes to take careful aim, but as swiftly as he had come, he retreated. He was terrified and ran, heedless of being noticed. He had seen the gun in the hands of Mr. Maughan and it appeared to be aimed directly at the person outside. — The Young Woman's Journal 35:7”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 35 no. 7 (July 1924). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/25630 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Mendon Utah History, 'Chief Bear Hunter History'. https://mendonutah.org/history/indians/bear-hunter.htm
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