Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-12-10
A Mormon War.

The prospect for a conflict with the
Mormons is becoming more pronounced
every day. Large bodies of troops are
being fastened BY the War department
to the vicinity Of Salt Lake, and the sit
uation of affairs is pronounced by all as
being very strained.
Geo. Carr, a passenger from Salt
Lake City. who left there on Sunday
last, gives this version of the peril:
1.-The Mormons are apparently determ-
ined to avenge the shooting Of McMur-
rim by a United States marshal, and the
officers of the government are greatly
alarmed The peril of the Gentiles at
Salt Lake is greater than any one can
know who has never been there. There
are only about 1000 able-bodied Cen
tiles in Salt Lake and the contiguous
territory, who would oppose Mormon
uprising. and against whom it would
be directed. On the other hand the
Mormons have, in the Nauyoo legion,
10000 soldiers, drilled and well equip
ped for service, secreted in the inclos-
ure of the Endowment. They have, it
is thought. at least twenty field pieces,
equal to, if not superior, to those of the
government at Fort Douglass When
left Salt Lake, Thursday, the members
of the legion were quietly stealing into
the city, and several thousand had then
arrived from the Cache, San Pete and
Washington Bounty settlements. They
| are bloodthirsty set. and are dashed
into violence through the leaders of the
church, in the columns OF the press and
their councils. They are at the mercy
of the elders, and will do anything 10
which the church incites them. For two
or three days before left business was
virtually suspended and they were hold
ing secret meetings"
Mr.. Carr added that the surrender of
Calm, demanded by the church. was a
vital issue and involved, as he lean ned
in Salt Lake, the same principle that led
to the troubles at Nauvoo, Ill.,, and for
the maintenance of which the Nauyoo
legion of to-day exists, viz: That the
municipal court shall have jurisdiction
in all cases of arrest made in the city
by any process; that if any officer. by
virtue of any foreign writ. shall attempt
to make an arrest in the city without
the church's approval of this process,
he shall be subjected to imprisonment
fer life, and that the governor of the
state shall not have the power of par
doning the offender without the consent
of the mayor of the city.
1.-The Mormons, as l understand it."
Mr.. Carr continued, accept the issue
at the final one. They have been beaten
in cases of polygamy, in attempting to
punish the Gentiles for adultery, and
now they are to be attacked on the
point OF their municipal rights. The
city organization of Salt Lake is Nor
mon, and the city has demanded the
custody of Calm from the Federal Of
ticers. Calm will, of course, be re-
tanned by the officers at the fort, and, if
the Mormous get him, it will be only at
the point of the bayonet"
"Do you think they are able to res
cue him?" was asked.
Eyes, sir" Mr.. Carr replied, ..the
Naayoo legion is today stronger than
the United States army and fully as
well equipped. The Mormons can get
together their full legions on short time
and then they will command the situa-
ton. The geographical condition of
the Salt Lake region favors them. The
only entrance to Salt Lake City is by
the narrow delile of the Denver & Rio
Grande road, or by Echo canon, run
ming down from Ogden. A small Nor
mon force in either defile could hold
back great army, and | 10 not doubt
that the Mormons would be able TO hold
their own in battle with Federal
troops in the basin of Salt Lake. AS to
a seige that would be out of the ques-
ton. All the cutthroat miners and
cowboys arc fer anything as against the
soldiers and the government. They
would be allies of the Mormons, and in
picking off the rear of the Federal
troops would be worth an army of TO-
600 men,