Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace.

Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible.

He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints.
Yes, a dangerous matter--so dangerous that even the most saintly dared only whisper their religious opinions with bated breath, lest something which fell from their lips might be misconstrued, and bring down a swift retribution upon them.

The victims of persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most terrible description.

Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German Vehm-gericht, nor the Secret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more formidable machinery in motion than that which cast a cloud over the State of Utah.
Its invisibility, and the mystery which was attached to it, made this organization doubly terrible.