* Brigham's "Destroying Angel," p. 128.
A story of the escape of one man from the valley, notwithstanding elaborate plans to prevent his doing so, has been preserved, not in the testimony of repentant participants in his persecution, but in his own words.*
* Leavenworth, Kansas, letter to New York Times, published May 1,
1858.
Frederick Loba was a prosperous resident of Lausanne, Switzerland, where for some years he had been introducing a new principle in gas manufacture, when, in 1853, some friends called his attention to the Mormons' professions and promises. Loba was induced to believe that all mankind who did not gather in Great Salt Lake Valley would be given over to destruction, and that, not only would his soul be saved by moving there, but that his business opportunities would be greatly advanced. Accordingly he gave up the direction of the gas works at Lausanne, and reached St. Louis in December, 1853, with about $8000 worth of property. There he was made temporary president of a Mormon church, and there he got his first bad impression of the Mormon brotherhood. On the way to Utah his wife died of cholera, leaving six children, from six to twelve years old. Welcomed as all men with property were, he was made Professor of Chemistry in the University, and soon learned many of the church secrets. "These," to quote his own words, "opened my eyes at once, and I saw at a glance the terrible position in which I was placed. I now found myself in the midst of a wicked and degraded people, shut up in the midst of the mountains, with a large family, and deprived of all resources with which to extricate myself. The conviction had been forced upon my mind that Brigham himself was at the bottom of all the clandestine assassinations, plundering of trains, and robbing of mails." The manner, too, in which polygamy was practised aroused his intense disgust.
He married as his second wife an English woman, and his family relations were pleasant; but the church officers were distrustful of him. He was again and again urged to marry more wives, being assured that with less than three he could not rise to a high place in the church. "This neglect on my part," he explained, "and certain remarks that I made with respect to Brigham's friends, determined the prophet to order my private execution, as I am able to prove by honest and competent witnesses." Loba adopted every precaution for his own safety, night and day. Then came the news of the Parrish murders, and there was so much alarm among the people that there was talk of the departure of a great many of the dissatisfied. To check this, when the plain threats made in the Tabernacle did not avail, Young had a band of four hundred organized under the name of "Wolf Hunters" (borrowed from their old Hancock County neighbors), whose duty it was to see that "the wolves" did not stray abroad.
Loba now communicated his fears to his wife, and found that she also realized the danger of their position, and was ready to advise the risk of flight. The plan, as finally decided on, was that they two should start alone on April 1, leaving the children in care of the wife's mother and brother, the latter a recent comer not yet initiated in the church mysteries.
At ten o'clock on the appointed night Loba and his wife—the latter dressed in men's clothes—stole out of their house. Their outfit consisted of one blanket, twelve pounds of crackers, a little tea and sugar, a double-barrelled gun, a sword, and a compass. They were without horses, and their route compelled them to travel the main road for twenty-five miles before they reached the mountains, amid which they hoped to baffle pursuit. They were fortunate enough to gain the mountains without detention. There they laid their course, not with a view to taking the easiest or most direct route, but one so far up the mountain sides that pursuit by horsemen would be impossible. This entailed great suffering. The nights were so cold that sometimes they feared to sleep. Add to this the necessity of wading through creeks in ice-cold water, and it is easy to understand that Loba had difficulty to prevent his companion from yielding to despair.
Their objective point was Greene River (170 miles from Salt Lake City by road, but probably almost 300 by the route taken), where they expected to find Indians on whose mercy they would throw themselves. Two days before that river was reached they ate the last of their food, and they kept from freezing at night by getting some sage wood from underneath the snow, and using Loba's pocket journal for kindling. Mrs. Loba had to be carried the whole of the last six miles, but this effort brought them to a camp of Snake Indians, among whom were some Canadian traders, and there they received a kindly welcome. News of their escape reached Salt Lake City, and Surveyor General Burr sent them the necessary supplies and a guide to conduct them to Fort Laramie, where, a month later, all the rest of the family joined them, in good health, but entirely destitute.
They then learned that, as soon as their flight was discovered, the church authorities sent out horsemen in every direction to intercept them, but their route over the mountains proved their preservation.*
* Referring to the frequent Mormon declarations that there were
fewer deeds of violence in Utah than in other pioneer settlements of
equal population, the Salt Lake Tribune of January 25, 1876, said: "It
is estimated that no less than 600 murders have been committed by the
Mormons, in nearly every case at the instigation of their priestly
leaders, during the occupation of the territory. Giving a mean average
of 50,000 persons professing that faith in Utah, we have a murder
committed every year to every 2500 of population. The same ratio of
crime extended to the population of the United States would give 16,000
murders every year."