Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1885-11-24
MORMON EXODUS PROBABLE.

A MORMON EXODUS PASO bA BILE.
We have been informed on good au.
thority that Apostle Erastus Snow has
gone to Mexico, says the Salt Lake Dem.
ocrat, and gone to remain there per-
manently. Recently he was in this city
and his departure was quite sudden. Mr..
Snow has been in Mexico quite frequently
within the past year or two, and the gen.
eral impression is that he has been there
in the interests of his church. That the
Mormon Church has secured a very con.
siderable tract of land in Northern
Mexico is also known. Does all this
mean that there is to be an exodus by
the Mormon people from Utah to Mex.
leo? It is an important question both
to the people of Utah and the people OF
the United States. Such a move would
certainly solve the Utah problem. The
people of Utah are beginning to realize
as they never realized before that the
Government is in earnest in its effort to
suppress polygamy. This fact they have
never fully sensed heretofore, but now
they are made to sense it. The leaders
of the people have been in hiding for
nearly q year now, and the conditions
which caused them to 90 into hiding are
unchanged, or if changed, the change
has been such as to cause them to be
more secret in their movements than
heretofore. Quite a number OF proml.
nent Mormons have preferred to suffer
the penalty OF the law for violations oil
it than to promise obedience to it in the
future, but their action has no other
effect upon the public mind than to cause
the public to say that these men have
chosen the unwise course. 1t is a most
difficult matter to judge of mems motives,
but the general belief is that the men
who are now in the Penitentiary for
violating the Edmunds law went there
because they were so advised, and not
from choice. The explanation offered for
the giving of such advice is that it was
thought that if all who were found guilty
of violating the Edmunds law would
prefer to suffer the punishment the law
imposes for such violation, that a public
sympathy would be created in their be-
half, and that eventually this public
sentiment would cause o cessation OF the
enforcement Of the law. The result an.
ticipated, if it were anticipated by the
Mormon leaders, has not come about,
while the determination of the Govern.
ment and of the people of the Govern
ment to vindicate it's laws has become
stronger. To-day the people themselves
are discussing the question, and this is a
thing they never did before. But this is
not all. We are satisfied that the lead
ing men here are casting about for some
haven of refuge, and they are seriously
contemplating an entire change of policy
in regard to the general management Of
political affairs in the Territory. That
they are still undecided as to what course
to pursue in regard to an abandonment
Of polygamy is true. They have been
shown what will be the consequences
of a persistence in the practice OF
polygamy, and while they dread those
consequences. yet they dare not avoid
them. They are as blind men at sea
who hear the storm coming, but know
not which way to steer. With such a
condition of things in Utah, and the
purpose and intent of the Government
clear and determined, can any one doubt
what the final result will be? In view
of all this, and in anticipation Of all that
is to come, does the decision of Apostle
Snow to make Mexico his permanent
home mean that there is to be an exodus
to Mexico?