The guard, under Colonel Price, was perhaps the most foulmouthed and villainous that could possibly be brought together. They related to each other their deeds of murder and rapine, and boasted of raping virtuous wives and maidens, until the prisoners were heart-sick with the disgusting details of their crimes. Parley P. Pratt relates an incident that occurred in the prison one night when the guards were unusually obscene, which we give entire in that writer's own language: I had listened [to the guard's boasts of defiling wives and maidens by force] till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering as near as I can recollect, the following: "_Silence!_ ye fiends of the the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die _this instant._" He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained and without a weapon; calm, unruffled, dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards. I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath, in the courts of England. I have witnessed a congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, or royal courts, of thrones and crowns, and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight in a dungeon, in an obscure village in Missouri. CHAPTER XLIV. "A STRONG POINT FOR TREASON."