History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

DRAKE IKDIGNANT. 611
master—that embodiment of sin and shame and disgust—and
tell him that I neither fear him, nor love
him, nor hate him—that I utterly despise him. Tell
him, whose tools and tricksters you are, that I did
not come here by his permission, and that I will not
go away at his desire or by his directions. I have
given no cause of offence to any one. I have not entered
a Mormon's house since I came here; your wives
and daughters have not been disturbed by me, and I
have not even looked upon your concubines and lewd
women." "We have our opinions," remarked one of
the committee as they rose to depart. "Yes," replied
Drake, "thieves and murderers can have opinions."
The governor made answer to the committee in language
hardly less injudicious, though somewhat uneasy
as to his own personal safety, but Waite responded in
more seemly and temperate phrase. 18 The Mormons
resented the conduct of the judges as an outrage.
Men gathered in groups at the street corners and
discussed the matter with angry gestures; one of the
judges was threatened with personal violence, and it
is probable that an emeute was only prevented by the
fact that a party of California volunteers was now
encamped near Salt Lake City.
Ostensibly for protection against Indians, though
in fact because the mail route and telegraph line were
not considered secure in the hands of the saints, and
perhaps also for the purpose of holding the territory
under military surveillance, Colonel Connor was ordered
to Utah in May 1862, his command consisting of
the third California infantry and a part of the second
California cavahy, afterward joined by a few companies
from Nevada, and mustering in all about seven hundred
strong. The men had volunteered in the expectation
of being ordered to the seat of war, and great was their
disgust when it became known that Zion was their
destination. 19
In October the troops reached Camp
18 The answers of the governor arid judges will be found in Id., 97-9.
19 A correspondent of the S. F. Bulletin writes under date Sept. 24, 1862: