The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-07-20
JOHN MILLS, THE MORMON PREACH
Err.
HIS FIGHT WITH col. TURK.

" When The Mormons settled in Missouri i
1888, an enthusiastic young man named Mill
= was their most popular and admired preacher
Indeed, so great was his fame, that whenever b
: held meeting crowd Of the saints were sur
: to be present.
: A strong and violent mob Of lynchers wa
: about that time organized to pat down tn,
. . Mormons, under the command Of COL Turk
: one of the most desperately dangerous mer
that Missouri, or, in truth, any other countr,
ever produced. Some Of the Mormons were
tarred and feathered, some were scourped with
long knotly hickories till they tainted from ex-
cess of torture and loss Of blood-others were
forcby deprived of their property, and reduced
in day to the condition Of beggars, while 9TH
, srs shared doom Of more mercy, and we're shot
down on the prairie like so many wolves. At
last Turk resolved to take some Of the conceit
out of the young preacher, Mills, and he gave
notice to his men accordingly.
1t was dreadful cold night in midwinter.
1888, and although the sky was cloudless, and
the tull moon shone out In all her splendor, the
earth laJ in that pearly radiance, and dreary as
frozen tomb, for thick sheet Of snow crusted
its surface and the north wind howled over it a
dismal drge. 1t was night TO drive thieves
and outlaws into barns and stables for shelter,
and to keep honest people by the blaze of their
; own roaring hearths.
l And yet strange to say, in long cabin within
three hundred yards of the Missouri river, then
frozen from shore 10 shore, at least one hundred
people had assembled to hold religious meeting
/ They We're Mormons, you may be sure. No
fanatic Of old faith would have turned out on
such night; they must be fresh zealots, with
some new idea, but at its birth, in their hearts,
and flaming like meteor in their magination
or they never could have venured to face suoh
an icy blast as that. The congregation included
| lon md vynn .vo oha,t
many OF the former carried rifles, which they
grasped with one hand, even when they kneeled
down to pray; such was the imminence of
peril, either real or imagined, as they deemed,
| pending over them.
| The preacher-the enthusiast, Mills-had
advanced to thrilling head of his eloquent dis
course, and was painting in terrible, fiery Ian.
guage, the bitter persecution which has ever
| followed the footsteps Of all great reformers,
since the beginning Of time. Never before had
he been half 90 animated or half so affected -
His blue eyes CLEANED like star, his voice
peeled like trumpet, shrill as the wind that
whistled over the house top, and his lips seemed
! literally loaded with music. Groans, tears and
wild shrieks from the audience, proved the des-
potic power of his utterance
Suddenly three rifles exploded in quick sue.
cession, before the door, and three sentinels,
shreekng with terror, rushed into the room, cry.
| ing out:
The mob the mobn Save yourselves from
| Col. Turks mob
| No pen can depict the scene of dismay and
confusion that ensued. The females screamed
aloud, as if all hope had departed. Several Of
the men sprang out of the windows and fed as
| If pursued by legion of devils, while most OF
| those who remained, appeared stupifed and
totally powerless, either to escape or make ready
for resistance. Indeed, there was very little
| space allowed for preparation. In few minutes
a mob amounting to hundreds had surrounded
the building, and the muzzles OF fifty cooked
guns and pistols were thrust through the doors
| and windows. Still none within lifted finger
for defence-fear seemed to have turned them
into stone. Persecution had not yet hardened
the 'Latter Day Saints into veterans, and the
| afterwards famous Mormon Legion, existed
then only in the inauguration of the Prophet
Presently the lynchers, headed by the all
dreaded and gigantic Col. Turk, came rushing
in, and began to beat the people furiously with
the iron ramrods of their rifles, with very little
distinction of mercy to age or sex. The cries
and entreates Of the poor sufferers swelled to a
wall wilder than the bowling wind without. At
length Col. Turk roared out;
turn out the women and seize the men, and
let US have the victory switches and the tar and
feathers!
And the drunken mob shouted, and hastened
to execute the brutal mandate.
Up to this time young Mills had continued
standing with the bible Of their prophet in his
hand, but unearthly pale, and strangely excited,
his lip writhing his teeth clenched and his
bright eyes swimming in halo of FIRE. Sud-
denly he made a bound for an adjacent window,
and notwithstanding more than twenty endeav-
ored to seize him, he effected his escape from
the house.
sChase him-shoot him Take him. alive or
dead = cried Turk, in a transport, Of rage, set
ting the example by commencing the pursuit
himself
The fight of Mills was directed in a straight
line for the river, and his marvellous agility,
added to the start he had first got, soon placed
him at some distance ahead. They fred both
rifles and shot guns at him as he ran, but happily
without effect. When he came to the river
| side, he stopped down and hastily fastened on
| pair Of skates, which he had carried in his
pocket for the last few days, to be ready for any
extraordinary emergency; and then taking the
ice, SKINNED over the frozen stream with the
swfiness of the wind
| Has nobody pair of skates " shouted Turk,
striking his forehead with gesture of impati-
ence and wrath.
| Il have, answered one of the mob, sbut
shall not try them on such night as this
/ BE quick give them to me ! exclaimed
Turk, in tone Of fiery impatience.
| The skates were produced the eager Colo.
mel tried them and swearing dreadful oath
that he would bring back the preacher. scalp,
or leave his own he began the perilous chase.
Oh, there is no daring like the courage inspired
| by the passion for revenge
| In the meanwhile, Mills had approached the
opposite shore, when he discovered the startling
apparition of armed MEN on the Bank. He
knew at glance what it meant. The mob to
| prevent any of the Mormons from escaping, had
stationed guard beyond the river. He instant.
ly turned his course down the stream, when
platoon let off their rifles but the distance was
too considerable, hs il of bullets ratified on the
ice around him. without doing him injury
/ Il will foil friends yet he said to himself; ;
j and put forth all his strength. He fled away
but soon became conscious that some one was
pursuing him. He sIackened his velocity, and
wheeled about often to obtain view of
his enemy. But the latter was still too remote
for any accurate survey, and the mormon uttered
a loud prayer!
God grant me that it be Col. Turk, and am
willing to die =
On rushed the pursuer! on, still on, like an
avalanche. The noise of his iron kates could
be heard above the roar of the northern blast,
and his dark form loomed in the gltiering sun
beams large in stature like giant As he drew
nearer the young preacher, he smiled venom
ousy. Mills recognized his arch persecuter,
and he lauged outright laugh that rang over
the frozen river like the wild scott Of some de.
non when he saw him unsheath his cleaning
knife. The Mormon Immediately pulled his
own from its scabbard, and started off, as to
avoid the coming shock, which might other
wise, through the mere force Of collision, prove
fatal to both
! And then began series of rapid and cunning
cvolutions to secure the advantage in this ter
rible method Of combat, the most terrible ever
, conceived. They marked the smooth surface of
the ice with circles, elipses, angles, squares,
) parallelograms, and almost every possible figure
+ Of plain geometry /; but each seemed a perfect
skater and could not find the other at fault, or
, take him unprepared. They passed repeatedly
. within three feet Of each other, and made quick
thrus,s which pierced to the bone. And still
I the cold grew more intense, and the wrahiul
wind howled on, while their manGuvres and
fights some how carried them further down the
/ river, where the crusty ice was thinner, and
( cracked fearfully beneath them
Finally, the Mormon took the desperate re-