The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-06-08
CHAPTER Ill

Three weeks had passed since Jeffer-
son Hope and his comrades had depart
ed from Salt Lake City. John Terriers
heart was sore within him when he
thought of the young mans return.
and of the impending loss of his adopt
ed child. Yet her bright and happy
face reconciled him to the arrangement
more than any argument could have
done. He had always determined,
deep down in his resolute heart, that
nothing would ever induce him to
allow his daughter to wed Mormon.
Such a marriage he regarded as no
marriage at all, but as shame and 4
disgrace. Whatever he might think of
the Mormon doctrines, upon that one
point he was iniexible. He had to
seal his mouth on the subject, however,
for to express an orthodox opinion was
a dangerous matter in those days in
Land of the Saints.
Yes, a dangerous matter-so danger
Gus that even the most sanity dared
only whisper their religious opinions
with bated breath, lest something
which fell from their lips might be
misconstrued. and bring down a swift
retribution upon them The victims
of persecution had now turned perse-
cutors on their own account, and per-
secutors of the most terrible descrip-
ton. Not the Inquisition of Seville,
nor the German Vehmgericht, nor the
secret societies of Italy, were ever able
to put more formidable machinery in
motion than that which cast cloud
over the territory of Utah.
Its invisibility. and the mystery
which was attached to it. made this
organization doubly terrible. 1t ap-
peared to be omniscient and omnipo-
tent, and yet was neither seen nor
heard. The man who held out against
the church vanished away, and none
knew whittier he had gone or what had
befallen him His wife and children
awaited him at home, but no father
ever returned to tell them how he had
Jared at the hands of his secret judges
A rash word or hasty act was fol-
lowed by humiliation, and yet none
knew what the nature might be of this
terrible power which was suspended
over them No wonder that men went
about in fear and trembling, and that
even in the heart of the wilderness
they dared not whisper the doubts
which oppressed them
At first this vague and terrible power
was exercised only upon the recalci-
trants. who. having embraced the
Mormon faith. wished afterward to
pervert or to abandon it. Soon, how
ever. it took a wider range The sup
ply of adult women was running short,
and polygamy, without female popu-
latioE on which to draw, was barren
doctrine indeed Strange rumors be-
ran to be banded about-rumors of
murdered immigrants and rified camps
in regions where Indians had never
been seen Fresh women appeared in
the harems of the elders-women who
pinned and wept. and bore upon their
faces the traces of unextinguishabie
horror. Belated wanderers upon the
mountains spoke of gangs of armed
men. masked. stealthy. and noiseless.
who fitted By them in the darkness
These tales and rumorS took substance
and shape. and were corroborated and
re-corroborated until they resolved
themselves into q definite name To
this day. in the lonely ranches OF the
west, the name OF the DANTE Band or
the Avenging Angels. is a sinister and
ui-omened one
Fuller knowledge of the organize
ton which produced such terrible re-
suits served to increase rather than to
lessen the horror which It inspired in
the minds of men None knew who
belonged 70 this ruthless society. The
names of the participators in the d=eds
VI blood and violense, done under the