Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-05-24
CHAPTER III.

414S NSCAo a PooOCu ollACC
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 a Mormon.
Such a marriage he regarded as no
marriage at all, but as a shame and a
| disgrace. Whatever he might think of
the Mormon doctrines, upon that one
point he was infexible. He had to
seal his mouth on the subject, however,
for to express an orthodox opinion vas
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 urned perse-
SoOO4o c1 OASH " Ao PSA
~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 a more formidable machinery in
motion thar that which cast a cloud
over the territory of Utah.
It's invisibility, and the mystery
which was attached to it, made this
----s-e+s~- I@,,I1r %or-I1 ON
peared to be omniscient and omnipo-
tent, and yet was neither seen nor
heard. The man VINO 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 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 a female popu
lation on which to draw, was a barren
doctrine indeed. Strange rumors be
gan to be banded about-rumors O.
murdered immigrants and rifed camps
in regions where Indians had never
been seen. Fresh women appeared ir
the harems of the elders-women whs
pined and wept, and bore upon thei1
faces the traces of unextinguishabls
horror. Belated wanderers upon ths
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 a definite name. TIC
this day, in the lonely ranches of the
west, the name of the DANTE Band, OF
the Avenging Angels, is a sinister an6
ill-omened one.
Fuller knowledge of the organiza
ton which produced such terrible re
suits served to increase rather than tt
lessen the horror which it inspired il
the minds of men. None knew wht
belonged to this ruthless society. Thu
names of the participators in the deed
Of blood and violence, done under tn,
name of religion, were kept profound
iy secret. The very friend to whom
you communicated your misgivings a
to the prophet and his mission nigh
be one of those who would come fortl
at night with fire and sword to exact
terrible reparation. Hence, every maj
cared his neighbor, and none spok
of the things which were nearest hi
! heart.
: One fine morning, John Terrier wa
) about to set out to his wheat-fields
, when he heard the click of the latch
and, looking through the window, saw
{ a stout, sandy-haired, middle-age,
man coming up the pathway. Hi
! heart leaped to his mouth. for this wa
: none other than the great Brigham
, Young himself. Full of trepidation-
for he knew that sach a visit bode
him little ~good-Ferrier ran to tn
T door to greet the Mormon chief. TIL
. latter, however, received his salutatio1
0 coldly, and followed him with a ster
r face into the sitting-room.
) ssBrother Ferrier," he said, taking
2 seat, and cycling the farmer keenl
from under his 1ig~ht-colored eyelashes
sthe true believers nave been goo
2 friends to you. We picked you u
when you were starving in the deser
Q we shared our food with you, led 20
. safe to the chosen valley, gave you
goodly share Of land. and allowed 20