| Show IS IT A MYTH A settlement of mormons said to hare have been in new jersey the following article appears in in the new york brer herald aid of july how touch much truth there may be in it we are unable to ascertain alcert sin or con jecture but most probably it is far from acau accurate rate away up in northwestern portion of new jersey where the blue ridge mountains cross sussex Coun county tyis is montague township one 0 of f the most isolated spots in the eastern states the few inhabitants frill a ibi tants which this thi rocky country supports are only connected connect with the outside world by a lumbering stage which jolts over the moun tain roads and careens down the steep declivities willi with a precipitation that seriously impairs the bravi gravity it y of the terrified passengers the tile highest mountain in the township towers ai 1 feet above the level of the sea from the cloud thirty five small villages can ho he seen nestled in the undulating valley below one of the most peculiar natural features of or the country is the great number of islands and subterranean lakes inkes up on the mountain hundreds of feet above the level of tho the sea these sheets of crystal water aphea and disappear no man whit whither ber it was in this beautiful wild roun try that a settlement of mormons grew and nourished for years unchecked by civil power its fallacies grely ere w ripened and died and save the existence of a few old people nothing remains of tho the sect but several ancient residences occupied by the ciders elders and principal I 1 disciples of the creed ELDER AKK I AND HIS 1119 survivors it was in the latter part of 1850 that elder james lane lano first be began gan his work of the bardy but simple minded mountaineers lane was from a utah and was union among tho the first missionaries missionaries sent out from smiths colony after its settlement at salt lake city in 1848 the first eer vices were conducted in the old log jail which is a little cabin of logs half way up tip the mountain side it never was a jail and nobody can tell liow how I 1 it got the name it is now occupied d by byA A brain brara coe his wife und 13 ch children it contains only two rooms and the only ornamentation on the bare walls is a cheap picture of a dog fight about the only work of art on the mountain every sunday lane preached to the mountaineers tai who came to hear him for about the same purpose that they would drive to acorn a corn busking fun lanes principal method of making converts was by ly corn comparing paring the book of mormon with the bible and fully twisting ambiguous passages of the scriptures crip tures into cardinal principles of mormonism in a few weeks an a n interest was aroused and in one years time every man woman and child on the north side of the mountain with but few exceptions was a mormon after several years elder elde r lane was reca recalled lied by the bishops a and nd elder ed cd ed hini many an old man wan in the vicinity remember ed lie was a clever fellow with kith a jolly side and a EL pious side it is is said that eds departure from now new york was hastened by strained relations which had sprung up between him birn and the authorities ties of the several marriages in which ed was always lie flie bridegroom lie ile soon ingratiated himself into the good graces of the people and was a great fa favorite of tom perry the leading man nian on oil the t mountain tain dougherty married perrys sister he ile sta stayed in montague for about live years an and 1 I then went to tn texas and was kiich MOON elder sparks succeeded him film and waa was most successful of or the tile trio the reli religious ious spirit it ran high baptisms were we conducted at midnight in i t the lie clear tain n lal lahe lale e during the beautiful harvest moons the baptisms were attended by people for miles over the country shemoon the moon shed a beautiful golden wake over tho the crystal lake arid and bathed the country for milca miles around in its mellow light on oil the banks of the 1110 lake irue were the saints in their noeo of white crazes craded with religious eca tucy while widle one b by one they th eyere lero led into the water it was wits during one of these religious festivals th that atTon rei perry ry was converted the conco sion was real for before tho the koars were dry ii i r i toms eyes he lie imil several morts partners in life lire tho the people say hough though lie does not appear to have bean been actually married to any tiny of them he ile was married when he lie was converted and an after that eoven seven more women were members of his household lie soko at every meeting was a peripatetic commentary on writings of or tho the mor inong ana nd had d a very ell etive peroration tie ile would bring his big bi bra brawny any fist fiat down on a table with I 1 a hang bang and thunder gobbel truth every word of it and what I 1 want believed in 1662 tho tile methodists of doudis ton seven miles distant challenged the tile mannona to a joint public debate on lie the respective meria of their creeds creeda for eight days the abo retired eack pl a complete Nic victory tory NO 1 it was very evident tha perry nu no I 1 o 0 never reconcile herself to iho lie truels of the latter day dav saint Sinto and it ia is said sold that slip eh and tom did not speak for twenty years until some months before her death which occurred several months ago she was as 84 beals old juet just before her death ileath dr ferguson of Beeme raville was summoned to eee see lier her As he lie approached pro ached the house he met Per perry and inquired how is your wife the they i to t pay o pretty bad was the 0 c reply you had better ask her bev yourself o raef rg ef perry only wily surd survived ived h cifu ifo a short I 1 lime line ond died ab about put a 14 month ago at th thu 0 a vancel avance 1 age of 00 09 i lied courtet n Vh children Ildren and eighty two i none of hia his progeny peny are Monn cna he lef acres on the tle old stage turn pik c it is I 1 n now W t being I 1 corked worked by a ilag lamoil wrea C 1 roberts the house in which perry raised his family is a low structure containing four rooms in the rear is a email small garden and on oil all sides aides are clover fields about the only money that perry left was a policy in an insurance company for 2000 lie ile was scrupulously I 1 0 sly honest and every mountaineer 1 in montague speaks well of thomas perry 0 th er religious denominations over run the mountains with missionaries The Th flame ellame of mormonism had devoured all the material within its reach and then shouldered dered ed away its decline dates from the death of sparks which occurred one dark night on the mountains his man mangled 9 led body was found in a ravine but no one seems to know how bow he died mrs raynor a missionary from new york next preached to the community but soon retired from the field alien allen connors the people say had bad three wives he lived in alog a log house in the wood henry balderson had two and henry three scattered all through the section are ara houses once occupied by the mormon families years ago SILK A noted celebrity Is 1 bile silo aydam who occupies a cottage on the old stage staze road he ile is tall aud gaunt with a grizzly beard and a nose like the cork of a champagne bottle mormons cormons Mor mons reckon I 1 do he be said the other day ive lived in this house for sixty four cars ever since I 1 was born barr barrin i in two years I 1 was fittin I 1 rebels and ive always been alone never had no aone with me am I 1 a mol mormon mon well not exactly but blit tho the truth la Is I 1 come mighty near bein being I 1 one it was when them ere elder elders was A U preaching pr eachin mighty barong gospel and dang me met bring bringing ing the palm of his hand ban down on his knee if the bible back em up all clean through there are only two real stiff back mormons in it these parts now one is adaline meyers of Hain sTilIe and the other is martin arecton who lives over on oti the mountains of the whole thing is miss meyers is gettin well in this life and martin maint near eo so young as he was thirty year years ago and there faint no signs sign 8 of him getlin gettin maryfred marr mary ried fled yit I 1 lie heard ard folks sayin the other day that era 11 and bmartin artin ou ought I 1 g h 1 to git r spliced sliced at least some of miss al is 11 eyers polka folks were about it mormonism Mormon lEm is dying out on the mountain and I 1 guess we wont hear bear any more of it sile draws a pension of 10 a month from the government and with four skips of bees as be rails calls them he lie manages to eke out vin existence from all the accounts tile mormons had no endowment house and while plural marria marriages were privately conducted the close veil of secrecy which prevails in utah today to day was not used the tile ceremony was more like that of the quakers and waa was in the form of an agreement the mormons led quiet lives ares and although connected with a church whose customs cu have long been oil odious lotis they leavo honor able records corda re |
