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Show WHITMER ON THE DANITES. Tho Tribune feels that it has a right now to again admonish the Deserct News with respect to tho promise it made in the latter part of last year to thoroughly investigate, tho "Dau-ite" "Dau-ite" mattor and report its findings to its readers. Although that gang of thugs is well known to have been organized, operated oper-ated and controlled by the chiefs of the Mormon church, tho News declared that the.y had nothing whatever to do with it. Having seen a communication communica-tion printed in a Pittsburg newspaper on that subject, the church organ stated that it had sent out inquiries which would result in getting at tho facts. It announced that as soon as replies to these inquiries had been received, they should be given proper publicity Soon it will be a year since that promise prom-ise was made, but there has been nothing noth-ing from tho News on tho subject. It is more than likely that if any investigation inves-tigation at all was made, tho iesults were so unsatisfactory that the church paper did not dare to print them. We havo a pamphlet written by the late David Whitmer, who was one of "the thrco witnesses to tho divinity of the Book of Mormon." It is entitled en-titled "An Address to All Believers in Christ." On pages 27 and 2S of that pamphlet Mr. Whitmer gives considerable con-siderable information upon tho subject of the "Danitcs." "In Juue, 1S3S," he says, "at Far West, Missouri, a secret se-cret organization was formed, Doctor Avard being put iu as the leader of the .band; a certain oath was to be administered ad-ministered to all tho brothren to bind them to support the heads of the church in everything they should teach. All who refused to take the oath wore considered con-sidered dissenters from the church, and certain things wero to be dono concerning con-cerning i;heso dissenters, by Doctor Avard 's secret band." Mr. Whitmer declares that tho evil acts of this robbing rob-bing and murdering outfit, organized under tho direction of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon, became be-came so numerous and startling that ho personally protested against them and besceched tho organization to disband. dis-band. In that samo Juue, 1S3S, and on account of his opposition to the "Danitcs," "Dan-itcs," Whitmer was obliged to flee from Far West to save his life. Ho says that he was compelled to hurriedly leave the town on horseback in order to escape tho punishment which tho gang intended to inflict upon him as a "dissenter." From forcing obedience obedi-ence to tho heads of the church, oven in matters admittedly wrong, the gang went to making incendiary raids and thieving expeditions among their Gentile Gen-tile neighbors. From that they went to "putting men away" who wore objectionable ob-jectionable to tho Mormon leaders. Mr. Whitmer declares that the outfit caused so much trouble with the officers of the law that even those who had caused its organization repented of their damnable damn-able work. But the incendiary and anarchistic an-archistic spirit had by that time gained such a hold on" the "Danito" gang that they continued their work as a matter of choice, leaving a gory trail that oxtendod far into tho earlier days of Utah. If tho News went into that investigation investi-gation in sincerity, and with a desire to havo tho truth known, why docs it not come forward with those promised results! |