, 1877-04-28
THE MORMON PROBLEM

The time has at last come for roofing out
that pestilent, disgraceful alliance of lust and
assassination which, driven in succession out
Of three States by the outraged inhabitants,
took refuge nearly thirty years ago in 3 remote
valley of the Rocky Mountains. 1t did not
change its character by emigration to the dis
tant wilderness. 1t continued to perpetrate the
same crimes and abomiGa!iOns which rendered
its presence intolerabie in civilized communi.
ties. As it had p%lundered and murdered its
neighbours in Ohi', in Missouri, in Illinois, I'm.
til driven away by The wrath Of the Inhabitants,
it continued to practise the same enormitieS
against unofending emigrants who passed
near The Mormon settlement on their way to
California. The Mormons We're able to com
NIT these new murders and Fobberips under a
plausible disguise. They had the Indians of
that region in their pay, and pretended that
their diabolioal atrocities were mere Indian
massacres. The trial of Lee lifted one corner
os that mask, and his confession has complete
" stripped it off. The horrible Mountain
Meadows massacre was planned and executed
by the MOrmOns themselves at the insiigation
and with the sanction Of the heads Of their So
called Church. It. was the Mormons that as
sembled and melted the Indians; it was the
1lormons that, under a deceitful p~retence of
protecting the emigrant3 and leading them
away in safety, lured hem out of their intrench-
ment, making t~reacherv q stepping stone to
wholesale murder. The confession of Lee
proves that Brigham Young and other noted
MOrmoLs were contedera,es in that stupendous
crime and that the execution on Friday was
but a slight beginning Of the retributiou which
long.slumbering justice exacts. The oiher
instruments Of that deferred debt ought now 20
be paid.
Nh Dovk attn eborl1 H.. III t-J:.to,nk
arrest, and trial Of Brigham Young, the arch
c%ontriver Of that bloody massacre. There can
be no longer any moral doubt of his guilt, and
if The officers Of the law are energetic there
need be no difficulty it finding legal proofs.
Other leading conftderales who held promi-
nent positions in The hierarchy at that time
should also be arrested and confined as a pre-
caution against their flight from Justice. With
these sons of craft and violence in safe custody
the lips of hundreds of witnesses would be
unsealed. No Mormon has dared to tell what
he knows lest Brigham Young and his coad-
tutors should execute their threats of ven
geance. They have understood too we'll what
Brigham meant in the infuriate sermon he
preached at Cedar City shortly after the mas.
saoEe, In which lie said 81 have been told
there are many brethren who are willing to
inform on those who did this thing. | hope
theFo 10 no ruin IN tle rum0r / nope no SIcn
person lives. 1fthere is, | tell you what your
fate will be. Unless you repent at once. keep
secret all that you know, and protect each other,
you will die q dogs death You will soon go
TO hell as damned, lost souls. Let me hear
no more of treachery among my people. Any
one who had proved traitor there would have
met the destroying angel at once"
This was a plain threat that anybody who
blabbed should be str&igbtway murdered without
remorse. Besides the menace Of "a dogs
drsIh r" and a speedy passage "to hell as
damned, lost souls,' the admonition about the
g" destroying angel " was peculiarly significant.
It was g reference to the Order or tribe of
"Danites'. called also destroying angels"
organized among the Mormnns while they
sill lived at Nauvoo, in Illinois. The Danites
we're a band of sacret assassins, sworn to
execute without question any order given them
by the Church authorities. The passage Of
Scripture from which they took their name
sufficiently indicates their character -" Dan
thall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the
path. that biteth the horses heels, 80 that his
rider shall fall backward" A community that
kept such q band Of stealthy a~ssaasns would
stick at no act of t~reaohery or violence. Con.
sidsring the despotic nature of the Mormon
SYganisatiou IL 10 Incredible that the Mountain