126 THE STORY OF MORMONISM.
It is the opinion of some that the Danito band, or Destroying Angels as again they are called, was or- ganized at the recommendation of the governor of Mis- souri as a means of self-defence against persecutions in that state.^^ Thomas B. Marsh, late president of the twelve apostles, and president of the church at Far West, but now a dissenter, having "abandoned the faith of the Mormons from a conviction of their immorality and impiety," testifies that in October, 1838, they "had a meeting at Far West, at which they appointed a company of twelve, by the name of the Destruction Company, for the purpose of burning and destroying." '^^
The apostate Bennett gives a number of names by which the same society, or divisions of it, were known, such as Daughter of Zion, Big Fan,-^ "inasmuch as it fanned out the chaff from the wheat," Brother of Gideon, Destructive, Flying Angel. The explana- tion of Joseph, the prophet, was that one Doctor Sampson Arvard, who after being a short time in the church, in order to add to his importance and influence secretly initiated the order of Danites, and held meet-
a pretext; it accurately described their intentions, and they called themselves the Daughters of Zion. Some ridicule was made at these bearded and bloody daughters, and the name did not sit easily. Destroying Angels came next; the Big Fan of the thresher that should thoroughly purge the floor was tried and dropped. Genesis, xlix. 17, furnished the name that they finally assumed. The verse is quite significant: " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." The sous of Dan was the style they adopted; and many have been the times that they have been adders in the path, and many a man has fallen backward, and has been seen no more.'
2^ See Smucker's Hist. Mor., 108.
^* ' The members of this order were placed under the most sacred obliga- tions that language could invent. . .to stand by each other unto death, . . .to sustain, protect, defend, and obey the leaders of the church under any and all circumstances unto death.' To divulge a Danite secret was deatli. There were signs and tokens, the refusal to respect which was death. 'This sign or token of distress is made by placmg the right hand on the right side of the face, with the points of the fingers upwards, shoving the hand upwards until the ear is snug up between the thumb and forefinger.' ice's Mormonism, 57-8.
^' 'The society was instituted for the purpose of driving out from the holy land, their earthly paradise, in Missouri, all apostates or dissenters . . . They make no scruple whatever to commit perjury, when deemed requisite for the welfare of their church. . .The number of Danites is now, 1S42, about 2,000 or 2,500. From the elite of the Danites, or Daughters of Zion, twelve men are selected, who are called Destructives, or Destroying Angels, or Fly- ing Angels.' Mormonism Exposed, 265-9.
