to be, that one
year's crop threw aside all fears of further poverty, and prosperity
began to reign supreme. Had the Mormons confined themselves to work, and
had abandoned extreme religious and social ideas, impossible in an
enlightened age and country, they would have risen long before this into
an impregnable position in every respect.

But polygamy, hitherto restrained and checked by laws of Eastern States
and Territories, was now indulged in indiscriminately. The more wives a
member of the Mormon church possessed, the greater was his standing in
the community. The man who had but two or three wives was censured for
his want of enthusiasm, and he was frequently fined heavily by the
church, which was not above levying fines, and thus licensing alleged
irregularities. Some of the elders had more than a hundred wives each,
and these were maintained under relations of a most peculiar character.

At first the polygamous tenents of the church did not cause much comment
on the outside, because the Mormons were so shut off from civilization
that they seemed to occupy a little world of their own, and no one
claimed the right to censure or interfere with them. Gradually, however,
there became a shortage of marriageable women, and this resulted in
mysterious raids being made on neighboring settlements. Wanderers upon
the mountains spoke with horror of mysterious tribes of men who wandered
around engaged in acts of plunder, and from time to time strange women
appeared in the towns and settlements.

Like so many other bands of persecuted men who had fled from their
oppressors in search of liberty, the early Mormons soon adopted the
tactics of which they had complained so bitterly. The man who refused to
obey the orders of the church, or who was in any way rebellious, was apt
to disappear from his home without warning or explanation. He was not
arrested or tried; he was simply spirited away, and no mark or sign
proclaimed his last resting place. The Danite Band, or the Avenging
Angels, came into existence, and some of their terrible deeds have
contributed dark pages to the history of our native land.

It is not to be supposed that acts such as these were approved
indiscriminately by the newcomers. Occasionally a mild protest would be
uttered, but it seemed as though the very walls had ears, for even if a
man in the bosom of his family criticised the conduct of the church, his
doom appeared to be sealed, and he generally disapp