Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-10-07
CHAPTER III.


CHAPTER III.
Three weeks had passed since JEFF
ferson Hope and his comrades had
departed from Salt Lake City.
John Ferrier's heart was sore
within him when he thought of the
young mans return and of the i'm.
pending loss of his adopted child.
Yet her bright and happy face re-
conciled 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 shame and
disgrace. Whatever he might think
of the Mormon doctrines, upon that
one point he was inflexible.
| He had to seal his mouth on the
subject, however, for to express an
un-orthodox opinion was dangerous
matter in those days in the Land OF
the Saints. -
| Yes, a dangerous matter-so dan
gerous that even the most sanity
dared only whisper their religious
opinions with bated breath, lest some
thing which fell from their lips might
me misconstrued and bring down a
swift retribution upon them.
The victims of persecution had now
turned prosecutors on their own ac-
count. and prosecutors of the most
terrible description.
Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor
the German Vehmgericht, nor the Sc
cret societies Of Italy, were ever able
to put a more formidable machinery
in motion than that which cast a
cloud over the Territory OF Utah.
It's invisibility and the mystery
which was attached to it made this
organization doubly terrible. 1t ap'
peared to be omniscent and omnipo
tent, and yet was neither seen mol
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 chill
dren awaited him at home, but nc
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 annihilation, and yet none
knew what the nature might be Of
this terrible power which was sus
pended over them.
At first this vague and terrible pow
er was exercised only upon the recall
eitfants, who, having embraced tbs
Mormon faith, wished afterward tt
pervert or to abandon it. Soon, how
ever. it took a wider range. q
The supply of adult women wa!
. running short and polygamy withou
female population on which tt
: draw was a barren doctrine indeed.
Strange rumors began to be banded
about-rumors of murdered 1mmi
grants and rif1ed camps in region
where Indians had never been seen
Fresh women appeared in the harem
of the e1ders-women who p1ned AM
wept. and bore in their faces tn
traces of an unextinguishable horror
Belted wanderers upon the noun
tains spoke of gangs Of armed men
: masked. stealthy, and noiseless. VIII
fitted by them in the darkness
3 These tales and rumors took sui
l stance and shape and were corrot
: Grated and re-corroborated, until the
: resolved themselves into detinlt
name.
To this day. in the lonely rancho
of the West, the name Of the Danit
$ Band, or the Avengfug Angels, Is
e sinister and an ill-omened one.
. Fuller knowledge Of the organize
i ton which produced such terrible re
suits served to increase rather tina
d to lesson the horror which 1t inspire
in the minds of men.
t None knew who belonged to thi
n ruthless society. The names OF tn
: participators in the deeds of bloc
and violence, done under the name
t religion. were kept profoundly secre
e The very friend to whom you con
:. municated your misgivings as to tn
d prophet and his mission might be on
e of those who would come forth
e night with fire and sword to exact
terrible reparation. Hence every ma
o feared his nefghbor, and none spoh
{ of the things which were nearest hi
heart.