The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-03-16

Plant d rown IL the henrt oi tue CONT
pent, and 10y the wy" Tin the pa n OF
tho weary pilgrims journeying 10 tho 10
mote west you can we'll see how the Nor
mon elders put tnclr % lgsrs on his tex f,
and 10 ID tneii ignorant iUllDwingthat they
were the chosen peopl" feierirt TO mere;
that they wee tbs cuilifen OF Dan: th-t
thew should Judge the people who came
that way: That they, tue Mormone, as the
children OF Dan. we're "tbe serpent by the
way" IAN adder In the path"
In the large reading OF the text, and q
liberal view ard look OF 1t all, Il seems
pleusible almost, even t. ia. How certain
then did ~ seem to these Ignorant aud
mercless fol overs Of the dread order OF
the panites. established there by the
way" sin the path," that tley were, as
they sat Ia the heart OF the desert, 10 be
the" Judges ot hose who passed BY
Back OF this Bbl text lay much bitter.
ness induced 10y a sad history, much fui.
feYing and p resolution The Mormon
firmly believed tha, the order OF the Dan
ties was nee, -sary, not only for the pu' pose
OF "judgiDg" tho earth, bat for their own
preservation.
More than thirty years ago | first euoonp-
tered these people. Ny IA her and his lit
tie Su day trsin--'hat IL, a train that
would not travel on Sunday in crossing the
plains, because OF religious scruples-
pitched tent ou 'he banks OF the Missouri
at Council Bluffs, right in their trails. We
saw there thousands OF caves, little muu
nuts. novels, all torts of miserable little
hsbitations, where the whole mass of Nor
mons had wintered a few seasons before in
their exodus from the United Stites TO
what was then supposed to be Mexico.
When our train crossed the Missouri
and pushed wes, 20 try to reach
the Pacific, We sill were In their trsis, tot
lowing the ms ks their groit moving cara
van made AZ IL drew ITS NOTED length
y like q shining serpeDt acros, the great
>deserts to Salt Lake
i was but a usil lad 81 that time, not big
enough TO bear arms, or Indeed to under.
stasd much OF anything. But this much |
under TODD, and understood so we'll that IL
peril, IL was not Indian, wo feared. Ny
father " IS n Quaker, and he feared no man
Waom he cou Il took in the face. But he did
fear The Danitss, whom no man might zee
till they did theI bloody work.
Not that he or his had ever had any part
or hand jn their persecution: but this ter
ror OF them Was In The cir, 1t was over all
things We knew that our road lay through
or by Salt'Lsk There was no escaping
that. We must follow ON their track till
we came In our journey to whore Dan, who
Judged his people, lay like "serpent by
the way" ian adder In the path"
I forgot 10 mention that my father had
done little something in his quiet Quaker.
like way to help, or try to help. q beautiful
Young woman who had como in great dis
tress TO our camp one evening while tented
In the old Mormon winter quarters on the
banks OF the Missouri. Bat surely he had
no cause to fear evil for good.
The facts were uimp y these. This bean.
tfui, black eyed little lady was one Of the
10000 emigrants starting out In \ long
weary line toWsrd the remotest west. She
was with nor psopls--her parents, brothers
sndSisters. aud some otner relatives, II
remember correctly. This young lady, q
girl OF eighteen, gifted. graceful, good to
her parents, full o. affection, was suffering
from an uncomfortable fear OF the Nor.
mons. Her people, she told my father in
terrified whispers, we're from the same set-
Element the Mormohs originally started
from and she kne. that her people would
be Judged" BY the Danites when they
came to Salt Lake, on their journey to Cal
iiornie.
1t subsequently appeared, however. that
she had nos told quite all the truth There
really had been serious trouble between
her father aud the Mormons nearly year
before And this was the nature OF IL. The
Norinons had grown up in the settlement
where the girls people lived, aud were all
mixed up among the neighbors. Is was
not easy 10 say who was Mormon and
who wrs rot Converts were new aud
numerous. A man might be q "Gentiie"
to-day and Mormon tomorrow.
\ Quo OF the busy women-one OF the
meddlesome and mi-chieyous kind found
In all csmps-who knew this
poor girls history better perhaps than she
suspected, told the secret OF her marriage
70 one Of the new Mormon elders IL was a
forbidden marriage too-a m Ar ,ge on dis
covery OF which her fsturr had become
very furious, and loud with threats TO oil
Mormons. 1t was true. this busy aud med.
dlesome woman said, as she gadded about,
q such ousy women will when idle in
camp, that the Mormon elder 10 whom she
WAS ''sesled" had never quite got possession
H her; thst her father even did not know
his daughters pretended husband, had
never seen him In fact. But for all
that, the girl bad been married or sealed"
to Mormon elder; and trouble was going
10 come of Il. That was why her father
was taking her out OF the country and away
to California, hissed this garrulous and
meddlesome woman; that was why she
looked 30 sad and seemed go frightened all
the time continued the gaddiDg aud gar
rulous woman, mysteriously.
Now oil IN the world that my father did
on hearing the story OF this beautiful and
terrified girl, was to 20 to her people, who
were camped close by our tent, and advise,
even protest, that they should take some
other route 20 the remote vest than this
one that lay by Salt Lake. Surely this
was not much. Yet IL was
enough 10 put our ht'ie sunday
msnt" from tue Dsniies a. We pushed on
across the plains. We did not see this Miss
Lane. the Mormon elders "wifs," again
for months. Her father either did not see
at 70 be advised, or, which is more likely ,
found IL Impossible then to turn aside and
seek another rou,e. and 30 crossed the Mis-.
souri,, as IL 1t we're sort OF Rubicon, and
pushed on ahead. As he had horses and
Ne only oxen. and then, too, as ne travelled
on sundays, his party had soon ieft our
little SUNDAY train long way behind.
And oh! what q motley mass OF wesry
people went stretching away, helpless
dassd, dying across the sands toward me
setting supl There were some men with
.but . single horse 10 carry their food and
bDlankots Some men we're on foot and
alone. There was man and his wife with
. otnRle OF between the shafts OF cart
Many men had little hsnd-carts which they
push. d or drew s'ong, cad and silent, ~
yay. Some men had wheel barrows. Every
oav Ne passed dead cattle, deserted wagons
| carriages. BY the roadside. Every aishl
- seine liule stream We csinped amid new
made graves.
hut there wss one conveyance, and one
91veller, too, N all this mass Of moving
eSegsiing, dying. humanity. that vas IN
oeoodbabl-. fhis vehicle was not car
ne9e. not . hsod-rsft, tot . barrow. II
vs. tQng. nsrrUs, thin black CONN set OF
swo WHEELS and pushed always w . tall
. geunt, and silent giant. And II there VA
onythife more terrible to ne children thar
the Dabisss, st vas the sight Of thnt coma
% vbehls, end the great bony iaoe and
n?llev 6yee Of The man g:ao, .llens end
eullen. 5usbsd 4 dong. By I'd b. end
~ "a mssns q gradual Eteps kaou