The Tiffin tribune. [volume] (Tiffin, Ohio) 1848-1859, 1858-05-07
interesting statement Of an rs.
capped Mormon.

the statements ana opinions OF man OF
education and abillty, Mr.. + Boba, who /
has Just made bis escape from Salt Lake
City, and who gives very different &C
counts Of the condition Of the "Saints"
ffom those which have hitherto been cur
rent. His account OF tho condition Of
Utah is very different from that hitherto /
given and received. and the Times as
sdres ts readers that its Informant is en-
titled to credit lie .upsets an previous
storios about the belligerent intents and
preparations Of the Mormons. ana says
that they will not fight the United States
troop, IL lhey 60 to Utah Ia force sufi
cient to be at al formidable lie says
they now have no powder no cannon, no
military stores Of any kind, and that all
the stories Of their having large force
perfectly drilled aud ready for service are
all nonsense. The whole number Of their
men capable of baing good soldiers does
not exceed $500 lie lbinks that Young
will have q especial revelation" aud run
away as soon as he 6uds that the United
States are in earnest. The letter throws
n good deal Of light upon the condition Of
the Mormon people. We append some
extracts:
"Mr Loba bases his positive opinions
that the Mormons will make no attempt
at organized resistance. upon his personal
knowledge Of the fact that they have no
means Of resistance. They have very
little ammunition, no gunpopder Jactory,
no material from 10bic6 10 make powder,
none Of the appliances essential to that pur-
pose, nor aHy single man who kno0s how
10 make an ounce Of ezplosive mafericl,
even j his life depended upon t. Nor
have they any artillery, with the excep-
ton Of a single piece Of cannon, two
FOUNDER, one Of a pair given them long
since by the United Sales-the other
one having burst while Mr.. Loba was in
the Valley. lie asserts that they have
no military knowledge, even il they had
arms that their talk about their battali-
ions and regiments and legions is the
yeriest humbug imaginabe-and that
sheir preiences Of the possession of abun.
dant armaments are falsehoods unmitigat.
ed. They have no iron from which tc
cast caunon--and If they had the mate.
rial, they have no foundry, nor any ma.
ohuery for boring them, nor any mechan.
ic competent to do the work. True, there
is an abundance Of iron ore 800 miles OF
more south Of Salt Lake City, but IL i,
highly magnetic, and up TO the time Mr.
Loba left, although large sums had beer
expeuded in experimenting, all efforts t
melt IL down and render il ft for use hac
failed. Neither are the Mormons any
better off in the matter Of manufacturing
small arms. They have some few gun
tinkers among them; but, as an evidence
Of their utter iucompelenoy, he mention.
the fact that not Que Of them was able Ic
make screw for him, to replace one
which he had lost from a revolver Of Pc
culiar oopsgu6lion.
Mr. Loba estimates the total population
Of the Valley at 50 900 souls. OF these,
counting every male fRom / 8 to 60 years
Of age, he estimates that there are not to
exceed 1900 capable OF bearing arms
while not more than 3, 600 Of the whole
number, in his opinion, would make even
passable soldiers, under drilling by skill
ful men. Not one in ten of the entire
male population have fire arms Of any de
scription; and large proportion of those
they have are out Of repair and worth
less. He has no confidence in the state
ment that the Mormons have fortified
! Echo Canon, except is may be by dig
ging bitches, aud posing rocks to b,
rolled down from the overhanging cliffs
Their boasts Of mines under the road
and all that sort Of things, he scouts al
idle nonsense, In short, he considers tn,
Mormons destitute Of any effective powe
of resistance to even the small force al
ready under the command of Gen, John
ston, and maintains that Brigham Young
entire reliance has been based upon hi
hope Of being able to deter the UniteC
States from attempting to deal with him
by his lying boasts Of his ability to wag,
successful resistance.
lie believes that wien Brigham 6nd
his braggodocio has failed, and that tn,
United States authorities are determined
to pursue him, he will have "specia
revelation from God" inslruoting him t,
retire from before the Philistines. II
obedience to these directions he will g
of with his $500 Danites or "Destroy
ing Angels" and. when the troops arri3,
at Salt Lake, will bo found missing
They will probably go uorthward to Van
couver's Island, or possibly to the Rus
sian Possessions. which they can do cas-
Ter than 20 southwark to Sonora. as they
are without means Of sustenNnce whilC
crossing the desert lying in that direc
ton"
The hand-cart tIaius Of new converts
from Europe. that set out for Utah, las
fall, perished miserably--a remnant only
reaching the "blessed valley" alive. The
money { G54 each) paid to Brigham,
agents in Europe, for the purchase o
wagons and other outfit for the journey
across the plains, was retained; anC
"haud.oarts" substituted for the wagons
in obedience to a special revelation,
for the purpose, il was said, OF 'testing
their faith" Poor deluded souls Blu
We win let the correspondent tell the sto
Iry!-
Here, then, they stood, with twelve
hundred miles of weary travel on foo
before them, aad the meroiless rigors o