New York Daily Tribune
INTERESTING FROM UTAH.
Correspondence of The N. Y. Tribune.
LEAVENWORTH CITY, April 19, 1858.
Frederick Loba is at present in this city. He is a refugee from Mormonism. In 1853 he left Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was enjoying an honorable position and a generous competency. Becoming in-fatuated with the Mormon religion, as presented to him by the emissaries of the church, he sacri-ficed property and position and started for the Salt Lake Valley. He had the command of a large company from Liverpool, spent the Winter of 1853 in St. Louis, and started for Utah in the Spring of 1854. En route his wife died, and illusion after illusion van-ished, till he came in sight of Salt Lake City, when the horrible truth of the deception practiced upon him burst in all its dreadful reality upon him. Mr. Loba was courteously received by Brigham Young, and elevated to high positions in the Church of Latter-Day Saints. He submitted. Though fully realizing his condition, he saw that escape was impossible, unless he feigned allegiance to the Prophet. Having married again, and being possessed of a large family, he deter-mined to wait patiently for some means of escape. Years rolled by. The tyranny of Brigham became more marked. He ruled with an iron rod. Murders and outrages that beggar description were of daily oc-currence. Mr. Loba's orthodoxy being suspected, and his assassination determined upon, he concluded, on the 1st of April, 1857, to leave the Valley at every risk. He did not communicate this determi-nation to his wife till half an hour before he started. Mrs. Loba dressed herself in men's clothes, and at 10 o'clock in the night, April 1, the two started for the States. They had but fourteen pounds of crackers, one blanket (weighing about three pounds), a short gun and some little valuables. They avoided all roads and took to the tops of the mountains. After a fort-night's wandering death seemed at hand. They were among the snows, wolves were even about them. Mrs. Loba's limbs were fearfully swollen. The hus-band had no strength to carry the wife, and both lay down to die. They lived through the night, however, and in the morning heard the loo of an ox; soon after an Indian was espied, and the unfortunate sufferers made one other effort to save their lives. After some hours of weary plodding they came to a camp of Snake Indians, by whom they were kindly received. While here a messenger came from ex-Surveyor-Gen-eral Burr (now at Washington), who had heard of Mr. Loba's escape, offering assistance. This was gladly accepted, and under Gen. Burr's care Mr. and Mrs. Loba arrived safely at Fort Laramie.
Before leaving the Valley, Mr. Loba had made a arrangement (with a relative) to take his family from the Valley to Fort Laramie. They started in a wagon comfortably stored, and had progressed some 120 miles when they were overtaken by a band of Dan-ites, who plundered the wagon, took off one yoke of oxen, and left the family in a perfectly destitute condi-tion. Assisted by other trains, they managed finally to reach the fort, where all the family were reunited. The past was forgotten in the joyful present, and Mr. Loba looked forward to a happier future. He pur-chased a moderate fit-out, and secured a claim on the Black Vermilion. Sickness came on the unfortunate family, three children died, and Mr. Loba left for Mis-souri. Arriving at Weston, his family were again prostrated, and finally made their way to this city, where they have been in a measure cared for.
Mr. Loba gives some facts about Utah that are par-ticularly interesting at this time, and from his state-ments I make up a short article.
THE VALLEY
Is perfectly barren and arid. Nothing grows well but potatoes. Gardens are cultivated with difficulty, everything is impregnated with saleratus. There are no trees except at a distance of twenty miles; no mineral within hundreds of miles, and the iron there found is of such a magnetic nature as to be compara-tively useless for mechanical purposes. All cultiva-tion is done by irrigation, and the Mormons just raise enough to support life.
THE POPULATION
Number altogether some 32,000, no more; out of this number not 3,500 could be relied upon to fight. The main part of the population are a miserable and degraded set of beings, who know nothing, care for nothing, and live from hand to mouth. The women rather preponderate, and are chiefly foreigners.
THE DANITES.
The Danites or Destroying Angels number about 2,500. They are Brigham's trusty friends and choice devils. The murdering and plundering is done by this band. They are all well mounted, though but poorly provided with arms. The Danites have unlimited sway over life and property. They are frequently sent on missions to different parts of the world. Upon this band Brigham relies entirely for support and pro-tection. They surround his person and do his bidding without question. If a man is suspected of not being a good Mormon, the Danites kill him instantly.
PUNISHMENT.
No such thing as punishment for crimes is ever attempted in Utah. The most horrible deeds are perpetrated, and, though the perpetrators are well known, they are allowed to go unpunished. Mr. Loba has not known of a case of punishment since his residence in the Valley. Killing a “d—d Gentile" is thought to be praiseworthy in the extreme, and always elicits the warmest commendation from the Church authorities. In Utah, briefly it may be said, law is mockery, justice but a word, and crime the religion of a Mormon.
THE WOMEN
Are poor, abject and forlorn. By cruel and coarse treatment they are degraded to the level of beasts. Every ennobling quality, every virtue and every grace are sought to be eradicated, and the harems present a scene of female degradation that no pen can picture, no tongue portray. Innocent girls are seduced, women "sealed" against their will, and every horrid crime against female dignity and virtue perpetrated in the name of Israel's God. Thousands of these poor creatures are praying for a release from an imprisonment far worse than death.
MEANS OF RESISTANCE.
The Mormons have neither arms nor ammunition. There is no saltpeter in the Valley, and no one there who could make powder, if saltpeter was to be had. They have never had but two pieces of artillery, and but one of them is now in use; the other burst during a recent celebration. The talk, therefore, about the passes in the Rocky Mountains bristling with Mormon cannon is altogether fabulous. The Mormons may have adopted the Chinese method of painting cannon on canvas to frighten the outside barbarians; or they may have fortified the Rocky Mountains with stove-pipes and hollow tubes. But this is all they can do. Hence the folly of their talking about resisting regular troops; and hence, too, the folly of the United States Government in sending out thousands of soldiers to combat against a mythical foe. The expedition will surely turn out to be a perfect and unmitigated farce.
WHAT THE MORMONS WILL DO.
It is the intention of Brigham, in case he cannot keep the troops out of the Valley, to withdraw there-from with his Danites and seek a new settlement in the far North. He will leave the bulk of the Mor-mons to get along as best they may. Having plun-dered them of everything, of course he cares nothing more concerning their fate, and will let them perish or not as chance may dictate. One thousand men, with artillery, could wipe out all the Mormons in the Valley. Brigham knows this. He knows he has neither arms, powder, nor cannon, and his only hope is to deceive our Government into a treaty, or else to flee for his life.
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
This arch fiend and prince of devils lives off the sweat and blood of the poor. He has elegant houses, built of white quartz, and furnished with great mag-nificence. His wives number about NINETY, though constantly accumulating. He is a drunkard, a thief, and a murderer. He stops at nothing to secure his ends, and his hands are dyed with blood. To dispatch him and his Danites is the only way in which to root out Mormonism. They merit a thousand deaths. No peace measures will do. The Mormon Church will flourish and extend as long as a tongue is left to pro-claim its dogmas. It all could hear what I have heard, or see what I have seen, they would join me in the hope that the Mormons may be exterminated by fire and sword. Through the lies, the deceptions, and the crimes of Mormon emissaries, hundreds of thou-sands of families in this and the Old World have been made desolate, thousands of lives sacrificed, and hon-orable men reduced to slavery. And all this that Brigham Young and a few of his fellow fiends might fatten and grow rich—all this in the name of the great Jehovah.
But what is our Government doing? It is encum-bering the country with enormous debts. It is making preparations for a regular siege, and collecting forces that lock as though we were going into a regular war-fare with an equal foe. It is dignifying the Mormons and degrading our country. Better had it been for the United States to employ one or two volunteer regi-ments of mounted men, given them a carte blanche, and let them wipe the leading Mor-mons from the face of the earth. As it is, our army will march to Utah. They will there find nobody but a set of degraded serviles. Brig-ham and his Danites will be off for unknown regions. He will found a new settlement, raise the cry of perse-cution for religion's sake, and secure ten proselytes to where now he has but one. Our army will return to the States after doing nothing more than making a ridiculous move and saddling the country with an enormous debt.
Truly may we ask, When will the blunders of the present Administration cease?
