The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-06-06

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 a hasty act was fol-
lowed by annihilation, 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-
lation on which to draw, was q barren
doctrine indeed. Strange rumors be-
gan to be banded about-rumors OF
murdered immigrants and rifled camps
in regions where Indians had never
been seen. Fresh women appeared in
the harems of the elders-women who
pined and wept, and bore upon their
faces the traces of unextinguishablo
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
rc-corroborated until they resolved
themselves into a 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
ill-omened one.
Fuller knowledge of the organiza-
tion 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 to this ruthless society. The
names of the participators in the deeds
of blood and violence, done under the
name of religion, were kept profound
" secret. The very friend to whom
you communicated your misgivings as
to the prophet and his mission might
be one Of those who would come forth
at night with fire and sword to exact 4
terrible reparation. Hence, every mar
feared his neighbor, and none spokt
of the things which were nearest hi
heart.
One fine morning, John Ferrier wa
about 10 set out to his wheatfelds
when he heard the click of the latch
and, looking through the window, saw
stout, sandy-haired, middle-ageC
. man coming mp the pathway. lii
, heart leaped to his mouth, for this wa
, none other than the great Brigham
: Young himself Full Of trepidation-
for he knew that such visit bode,
, him little good-Ferrier ran to tn
r door to greet the Mormon chief TIL
latter, however, received his salutatib
3 coldly, and followed him with stdr
l face into the sitting-room.
. brother Ferrier," he said, taking
seat, and cycling the farmer keen
| from under his light-colored eyelashe'
"the true believers have been goo
r friends to you. We picked you q
y when you were starving In the deseft
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