Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-04
NOTED WOMAN
PASSES AWAY
MRS. ALVlNA COLE DIES AT
SAN BERNARDINO
After Refusing to Accept Mormon
Faith She Has Endured Many
Hardships-Soueht Redress
Through Senator Smoot
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
SAN BERNARDINO. Jan. 3.-Mrs.
Alvina Cole died this morning. her age
| being more than 70 years. She had
been in a dying condition for several
| days and her death removes one Of the
| notable characters in the history Of the
crusade against Mormonism in Utah
| and the west.
! Soon after her marriage in Utah her
| husband became follower of the Nor
mon faith, but she refused to do so.
| She was asked to take the endowment
OATH and for refusing is said to have
| been marked for death. Two sons and
a brother were slain in Utah, one son
being killed before her eyes. Large
cattle interests were also destroyed.
Mrs. Cole was wealthy in her own
name. a portion of her estates being in
valuable mines. An eastern syndicate
| offered her 100000 for one mine, but
her attorneys advised her against SELL
| ing, and three days later the mines
were burned out, the fire being of in
cendiary origin. A Mormon syndicate
| then got hold of the properly, it is al
legged, by getting Mrs. Cole to sign a
paper she supposed to be a note for
$780, but which in reality was bill of
sale for the mines.
At the time of the armed invasion
of Utah some wears ago by the fed
eral government, Mrs. Cole was brought
to Salt Lake by the federal authori-
ties as a witness against polygamists.
1t was necessary to protect her with
an armed guard during the nine
months she was detained there.
Through her testimony twenty polyg-
amists We're sent to the penitentiary
for terms of varying length.
Compensation for her losses has been
sought at various times by Mrs. Cole
from the Mormon church. Last spring
when Senator Smoot visited this city
she, by little strategy, obtained an
interview with him and eXacted a
promise to take up her case and secure
justice for her. On his return to Salt
Lake he failed TO answer her letters
Failing to get any satisfaction Mrs
Cole last summer went to Salt Lake
to see Smoot and followed him to Den
yer and on to Washington. She re-
turned recently broken-hearted to die.
Driving Club Election
The annual meeting of the San Ber-
nardino County Driving club resulted
in the election of the following off |
GERS: President, John A. Cole; vice
president, r. T. Curtis: secretary. Fred |
c. Drew: treasurer, Farmers Exchange
bank. The first three with the follow
ing constitute the board of directors:
John A. Cole, G. w. Prescott L. f. |
Shaw. William Rourke, f. G. Drew, A.
NJ. Wilson. Ben Davies, r. T. Curtis.
l.. T.. Keifhaber. Several changes were
made in the rules for the coming year,
they being much more stringent. The
speed committee the coming year is |
William Rourke, c. w. Bonnell, Jo-
seph Kelly.
Fight Cemetery
The storm of protest which has been
raised over the proposition to estab-
lish a cemetery in the northern portion
of the city by the Masonic Building
association has resulted in an ordi-
nance being introduced in the city
council forbidding the establishment
of any more cemeteries inside the city
limits other than the one already es-
tablished. Three big protests signed
by several hundred of the people hav-
ing interests in the section affected
We're presented to the county, and a |
number of prominent citizens addressed
the council in opposition to the ceme-
W