The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1862-02-20

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northerly winds we pressed, fording streams
threading the way through marshes, stumbling
among the burrows of prairie dogs, or dashlng
across boundless plains. almost learned &c
hate the long terraces of turf, the illlmitable
sweeps of dark green surfaces, the blue horizons
the swells of gently sloping earth, smooth enough
| for the passage of wheeled carriages. On we
went, till the long grass, mixed with flowers
and wild tufts of the hax.cotton, gave place to
shorter and criSper heritage, tie true buffalo
grass that the bsons love; or till water be
came scarce, and the sage plant replaced the
blossomed shrubs of the west, and the springs
were brackish, and here and there horses
hoof went branching over white stretch Of
desert, srewn with crystals of salt that glittered
in the sun. We saw little of Indians, and OF
game still less The latter, my guides told me,
had been chiefly scared away, by the constant
passage of emigrants. As for savages, we some
times saw the plumed heads, the taperlug Ian.
ces and the futteriug robes, OF troop OF wild
horsemen, against the crimson sky of evening;
but they offered US no molestation, and the
riders said they were U:ahs on the look out tor
BUTLER droves' returning from the south. vi
the fatigue of that interminable ride, the aching
joints, the stifened sinews, the pains that rack
ed my overstrained muscles, can give no just
idea Still less can | convey any sense OF the
continual strain upon the intellect and the per-
ceptive faculties.
| shall never forget the evening ofmy arrival
in Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah territory,
and New Jerusalem of the Mormons. L had
been encouraged by the guides to look upon
this town in the deserts as turuing-point in
the journey, beyond which should be in less
peril from Indians, and after which compare
lively short ride would carry me to more civil
lied regions. But, to my surprise, l found the
q IL. C,It Talya ify fa
as lonely as, and more suspicious and moody,
than in the far off posts among the prairies.-
They were Genties in the midst of a fanatic
population, wholly swayed by the hierarchy OF
that strange creed whose standard had been Set
up in the lawlesS wastes of the west. Nor was
it long before heard the cause of their dark
looks ard low spirits.
Where's Josh Hudson 2 asked the rider who
had come with me, when the first greetings lad
been exchanged.
Who knows q answered the man addressed;
Il don't Seth said he went to the town, while
l were in the corral with the horses. If so, all
can say is, he never come back.
When was that, Seth y asked the newly ar
rived rider.
Tive days gone, answered Seth, as he scrap
ed the surface of half exhausted quid OF tobac-
co with his long, sharp bowie knife, jest after
sundowu.'
He's not deserted. Josh was too honorable
to make tracks that way said the rider, comb
IDENTIFY.
Deserted Not he. But that's what'll have
to be put in the report-leastways, missln, SAID
Seth.
The rider looked Seth in the face, and drew
his forefnger, with meaning look slowly across
his own throat, Seth nodded.
Least said, SAFEST said Seth, looking dubious
ly at me- >.
.Colonel's safe. You may speak atore him.
same as myself, boysn cried the mailbag rider,
who had come with me do you mean them
bloodthirsty Mormons-?'
Whist, Jem! Whew You'll get all our
threats cut, cried the oldest man, starting up
in rrGat alarm, there may be one OF the brutes
within earshot' He looked through the win
dow, sid opened the door, to satisfy himself
that no eavesdroppers were near.
i forget, apologised Jem; but ABOUT JOSH
Hudson .
I'm afraid, answered Seth, in a voce drop
ped almost to whisper, that he's gone tor
good. Josh was troubled about his sister, Nell
Hudson that jined the Mormons last winter,up
in Illinoy, and was coaxed off, and is here. some
where
All said the listener Il heerd as much
Its my belief continued Seth, that josh
got on this station purpose TO seek the gal,
out, and get her to go home to the old t0lks anu
the Church she were bred in Mormons won't
stand that
'Ah 2 said the guide Jem again
so. in short, Seth and me some think, we
do said the oldest of the group, that josh has
been at his scoutln 0nst too often, and met
shanpip'
'Shanpip = | repeated what is that I?
The man eyed ME curiously. Never heerd
of 'Shanpip brethern,' then, harn't ye, mister
So much the best for you. Praps you've heerd
tell OF Danites 2
had heard, vaguely aud obscnrely, OF that
spiritual police of Mormondom, OF those herce
zeaiots who obey their Prophet blindly.
Then you have reason to fear that your com
rade is
is lynn under the salt mud of one o them
briny pools nigh to hand interrupted the man,
and not alone, nouther. 'Theer been many
missin', that never went back to settlements nor
on to Californey. Aud theer they Il lie hid,
reckon, till the Day of Judgment, when Great
Salt Lake shall give up its dead, like the rest
of the airth and waters.
asked if an appeal could not be made TO the
Mormon elders themselves 2
''Twouldn't answer, colonel. Suppose
goes tomorrow to BrigEam's own house, or
Kimball's, or any of their big men-elders, or
angels, or high priests, or what not-and asks
afraid the mans run away what
could be expected from a beHighted Gentlle-an
then gives his own account of 1t III preac hhent
next Sabbath P'raps Of EN- gives me
glass Of vine or iulep, and mebbe 1t dlsagf eeS
with me, and | die OF it. You may stare, out
didn't the State treasurer die that way. after
takin' refIeshment at Angel Badgers house =
And pretty angel he be. P'raps don orlnk
under d Mormon roof. and then, meboe, walk
home late, and lose my way, or some other ac-
cideut happens me-true as death, mister, only
last week, and passed Big Lick, saw dead
womsn's face looking up at me, all white ana
still, a, the bottom Of the salt pool
Thus far the elder man had spoken. bnt now
Seth, who had evinced great uneaSlness' Jump
ed up with an oath, and cautiously opened the
door. No one was listening.
sTel'ee whit, said Seth, we d best Keep
this discourse close till weer outside the tern
tory They're that sharp, Mormons, blessed IL
l don't think they're all ear. And II they get
a notion what's we're sayin', the colonel won
never see New York and l shan't never happen
home to Montgomery agin. Indian Walker ana
his pesky Utahs mostly got a knack Of iona
hawking them as MorInons don't much ike
AND mebbe we'd meet other Indians, with DIAN
kets and red paint on their faces just Ike tue
real Utahs, and pretty sharp knives IN their
belts
'Seths right said my former guide; we
don't want TO set up any chaps to paint lnJun
on our account, as Angel Brown and Young
Harms and the Danltes did, when Martha Styles
and Rachel Willis chose to go home to Seth,you
needn't hurry about saddlin'-we've rode awful
quick
was not sogy when day dawn found me,
after hard galop b, midnight, approaching
the confines of the Mormon territory The rest
of the journey was unmarked by adventure.-
Hardships there were. but no great perils; We
trayersed route on which the bleached bones
of many horses and mules lay white and CHASTITY,
and on which many low turten mound marked
the last resting place of an emigrant, his wife
or child, never to reach the Promised Land OF
Hope
But provisions were more plentiful now, and
water more regularly stored and easy OF access,
than when the expelled Mormons made thelr
famous march across the desert, marking the
route with graves We narrowly
escaped being smothered in the snow IN passing