St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-10-01
Driven Mad by Mormonisnn-

An honest-lOoking Englishman nam
ed Mower arrived in Utah a few wears
ago with his wife and three small chill
dren and settled at Brigham. The
man was industrious, but he appeared
to be something of a fanatic in religion.
1t was plain that the saints had got a
pretty firm grip on him. His wife was
a fair-haired, rosy -cheeked little wo-
man, and the children were delicate
and attractive. The wife and mother
went through the ceremony of Joining
the church after her arrival. The hus-
band had been received into the fold
! before he left England. They got
themselves little home and appeared
happy enough until the husband, over
persuaded by an elder of the church
determined on taking another wife
| The woman selected was a new arrival
! from Denmark, who could speak nc
English, and for whom it was the es-
pecial desire of the church to get 8
husband that she might be anchored
! here. Mower was the man who was
expected to marry her and marry hel
he did. His wife held out strenuOusly
against the woman for some time and
refused to live under the same roo
with her, but at last, under the plead
ings and threats of dignitaries of the
church and the representations of hel
husband as to his own poverty and in
ability to provide two homes, she con
scented. After that she began to APP
pear like another woman. Her hail
became silvery, her form wasted, and
her eyes We're bright and glittering
She wandered over the country great
4 al. ga L. lao
seen day after day on the roadside ca
ressing and weeping over them. Some
times in pleasant weather she did not
return to her home for days, and when
she did she would have the children
decked out in wreaths and flowers
gathered by her own hands in the val
leys. Her husband followed her, and
tried to persuade her to return and be
herself, but to no purpose. Then he
locked her up or took the children
away from her. She would find them
again, and together they would return
to the open country. All were sub
dued and sorrOwful, and yet the child
ishness of the mother was as prOnOunc-
ed as that of her children. She would
run with them, kiss them, build little
dams for them i'm the brooks, construct
play houses for them of stones, weave
garlands and deck herself and them.
If they cried she gathered them to her,
and wept with them, and if they laugh
ed she chided them.
Finally her mood changed, and in
stead of delighting in ramhles with the
little ones, she became absorbed in Il
desire for vengeance. Size would steal
up stealthily to the house which was
hers no longer, and make assaults on
the woman who had usurped herself
Once she set fire to the premises and
then fled. On another occasion she
took her children and was absent so
long that search was made for her.
After three or four days she was found
several miles from home, almost dead
from hunger, and the children weak
and emaciated from the same cause,
and all crying bitterly. She had dug
small holes in the ground, which she
called their graves, and the little ones
were waiting with her for the last
dread summons. Three men found
difficulty in OverpOwering her, despite
her weakened condition, and the en-
tire party were then conveyed to town
and cared for. The children went to
their father, and the woman WAS plac-
ed in the asylum at Provo, where she
now is Salt Lake Letter.