A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the MormonsWilliams, Elizabeth Whitney
History
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons
Williams, Elizabeth Whitney
Beaver Island (Mich.); Latter Day Saints -- Michigan; Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856
to make the rumors prove more true that vessels had been plundered and
the crews killed. One of our lake captains told me he had a brother who
was last seen at Beaver harbor. The vessel and crew were never heard
from and no one knew their fate. Of course when Strang's people were
getting so bold, doing what they did, taking everything from the
fishermen, it could easily be believed they would plunder vessels if a
good opportunity came.
THE SECRET SOCIETY.
Many have been the hours spent, and days even, by people hunting to find
the hull of a schooner which was said to have been sunk off Little Sand
Bay, myself among the rest, and several times we were sure we could see
the hull of the vessel lying at the bottom of the lake several rods from
shore. We often went rowing and sailing in that direction and we were
sure to say, "Let's look for the wreck." I asked the young man that
boarded with us about it, as he had once been a member of the "Secret
Society." I said, "Is it true? Has there been such things done?" He
said, "If only these stones could talk they would tell you of some
things that would horrify you, and though I am free from Mormon rule, I
would not dare to tell you some things which our band was sworn to do.
We were trained for our work and were known among ourselves as the
'Secret Society.' It meant sure death to any of us to betray anything
pertaining to our business." He was only eighteen at the time he joined
the "Secret Society." He often had spells of great sadness and many
nights walked the floor because he could not sleep. Once I said to him.
"Did the King ever give you orders what to do?" He said. "At first the
orders were given our captains by the King, but it was not long before
we never waited for orders from headquarters. We did what we found to
do. It was the intention that Strang should own and rule the whole
territory about these islands and mainland as fast as he could get his
people scattered about to possess the whole. Strang got too busy making
laws that did not suit many of the women, which was one cause of the
ill-feeling among his people."
PAGE TOWN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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