Show copyright secured j HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH OCTOBER 1838 the messenger mr caldwell who had boen been dispatched to the governor for assistance returned but instead of receiving any aid or even sympathy from his excellency we were told that the quarrel was between the mor mons and the mob 31 and that we might fight it ic out about this time a mob commanded by hiram standly andly bt took smith humphreys goods out oat of his house and said standly set tire fire to humphreys house and burned it bea before ore his eyes and ordered him to leave the place forthwith which he did by aleein fleeing 9 from de witt to caldwell caidwell county the mob had sent to jackson county and got a cannon powder and balls and bodies of armed men had gathered I 1 in to aid them from ray hay saline howard livingston clinton clay cla platte and other parts arts of the state and a man by the name of jackson from howard county was appointed their leader the saints were forbid to go out of the town under pain of death and were shot at when they attempted to go out to get food of which they were destitute As fast as their cattle horses or other property got where the mob could get hold of it it was taken as spoil by these outrages the brethren were obliged most of them to live in wagons or tents application had been made to the judge of the circuit court for protection who ordered out two companies of militia one commander com manden by captain bogart a methodist priest and of the depest die the whole under the command of general parks another obber nr if his letters speak his feelings and his actions did not belie him for he never made the first attempt to disperse the mob and when asked the reason of his conduct he always replied that bogart and his company were muti mutinous and that he dare not attempt a dispersion of the mob two other principal men of the mob were major ashly member odthe of the legislature and cercil cecil cashiel Sa shiel woods a presbyterian clergyman general genera parks informed us that a greater creater part of his men under captain bogart had ad mutinies mutinied muti nied bied and that he should be obliged to draw di aw them off from the place for fear they would join jo inthe the mob consequently he could of fer us no assistance we had now no do hopes whatever of ally resisting the mob who kept constantly in increasing creasi 11 g our provisions were entirely exha exhausted and W we e being wearied out by continually standing 0 on guard and watching the movements of our enemies enemies who during the time I 1 was there fired at us a great many times some of the brethren died for the common necessaries of I 1 life ife and perished from I 1 itar starvation and for 0 once nce ce inte li lile I 1 had a the e pain 0 beholding some bome me of my e fall victims to the spit spirit it of persecution which ich did then and has since prevailed to such a an extent in upper missouri men too who were virtu virtuous oas and against whom no legal process could for gnp on moment be jau jea stained but who in consequence of their love to godl god attach dentato his causer caused and their determination to keep the faith were thus brought to an untimely grave grave in the meantime mean time henry root and david thomas who had been the sole cause of the settlement being made solicited the saints to tb leave the pla alie thomas said hd had as 1 su rances f from rom the mob that if they would leave the place la c e they would not be hurt and that they wo would d b be e paid for all losses which they had bad sustained and that they had come as mediators to accomplish this object and that persons should be appointed to set value on the property which they had to leave and that they should be paid aid for it they finally through necessity has had to i comply and leave the place accordingly the committee was appointed jud judge ve erichson was one of the committee aud major florey of Ruts ville another the names of the others not recollected they ap appraised rai sed the real estate that was all IV when hen the people came to start their horses oxen and cows were gone many of them and could coald not be found it was known at the time and the mob boasted of it that they had bad killed the oxen and lived on them A great number of cows oxen and horses haye have never been seen since which doubtless the mob took and kept and that was wad all the brethren ever received of the promised pay for all their losses at de dd witt many houses belonging to my brethren were burned their cattle driven away and a great quantity of their property destroyed by the mob seeing no prospect of relief the governor having turned a deaf ear to our entreaties the militia having mutinied mutinies muti nied and the greater part of them ready to join the mob the brethren came to the conclusion to leave that place and seek a shelter elsewhere und and gathering up as many wagons as co could ald be got ready which was about seventy with the remnant of the property they had been able to save from their matchless foes left de witt and started for caldwell on the afternoon of thursday october alth 1838 they traveled that day about twelve miles 5 and ana encamped in a grove of timber near the road that evening a woman who had some short time before given birth to a child in consequence of the exposure occasioned by the operations of the mob and having to move her before her strength would admit died and was war buried in the grove without a coffin during our journey we were continually har bar and threatened by the mob who shot at us several times whilst several of our brethren died from the fatigue and privations which they had to endure and we had to inter them by the wayside way side without a coffin and under cir air icum stances the most distressing we arrived in caldwell on the twelfth twell th no sooner had the brethren left dewitt than cashiel woods called the mob together 0 and made a speech to them that they must hasten to assist their friends in davies county the land sales he said i were comino coming CL on and if they could get the M cormons mormons driven ri ven out they could get all the lands entitled to pre emotions and that they must hasten to davies in in order to accomplish their I 1 object 16 that if they would join and ana drive them out they could get all the lands back again as well us as all the pay they had received for them lie he assured the mob ahn t they had nothing to 0 fear from the authorities in so doing for they 1 had now full proof that the author authorities i d es would not assist the mormons cormons Mor mons and that they amigh might t as well take their property from them as as not his request was complied with and accordingly the whole started taking with them thenia their cannon for davies county in the mean time cornelius nelius gilliam was busily en j in raisin raising a mob in platte and clinton i Oo counties unties to aid i woods in his effort to drive 1 peaceable citizens from their homes and take their property on my arrival in caldwell I 1 was avas informed by general doniphan of clay county that a company of robbers mob mc bers ibbers eight hundred strong were marchino marching toward a settlement of our people in ift davies county lie ile ordered out one of the officers to raise a force and march immediately m e iati 1 to what he called town and de defend r end our r people from the attacks of the mob until he should raise the militia in his and the adjoining counties to put them down A small asdall company of militia who were on their route to davies county and who had passed through far west he ordered back again stating teat that i they were not to be depended upon as many of abe maere disposed to join the mob and to use nse his own expression were damned totten rotten hearted sunday I 1 preached to tho the brethren at far west from the sa saying in g of the Sa savior vitor greater love hath bath no man than this that he lay down his life for the brethren at the close 1 called upon all that would stand by me to aaget me on the public square the next day there were seven cut off from the church in preston england this day it was a general time of arun prun pruning cing in england the powers of darkness raged and it seemed as though satan was fully determined to make an end end of the work in that kingdom elders fielding and richards had as much as they could do for some time to see to the branches already planted without planting new ones monday the brethren assembled on the public square and formed a com company Tany of about one hundred who took up a line of f march for adam ondi ahman and here let it be distinctly understood that this company were militia of the county of caldwell Oal dwell acting acting under liette lieutenant colonel hinkle agreeably to the order of general doniphan and the brethren were very careful in all their movements to act in strict accordance with the constitutional laws of the land the special object of this march was to protect adam ondi ahman and repel the attacks of themos the mob in davies county having w some property in that county and having a house building there I 1 went up at the same time while I 1 was there a number of houses belonging to our people were burned barned by the mob who committed many other depredations such stich as driving off horses sheep cattle hogs ac A number of whose houses were burned down as well as those who lived in B scattered att ered and lonely situations fled into the town for safety and for shelter from the inclemency of the weather as a considerable snow storm took place on the and women and children some in the most delicate situations were thus thas obliged to leave their homes and travel several miles in order to effect the their ir escape my fee feelings I 1 ings were such as I 1 cannot describe when I 1 so saw w them flock into the villa village e almost entirely destitute of clothes and oni only y escaping with their lives during this state of affairs general I 1 parks arrived at davies county and was at the bouse of colonel lyman wight on the when the intelligence was brought that the mob ob were vere burning houses aad also when wo women n and c hildren children were fleeing for safety a in on om was agnes M W smith wife of my brother do alos smith who was wag absent on a mission in ten Tenessee her house having been plundered and burned b mob she laving having traveled nea nearly A y thre th eiles 11 les car carrying ng her two helpless babe abing had to w wade e grand river colonel wight who held a co assion in the regiment under his general geli r I 1 parks 8 com command asked what was to be do done e I 1 him that he must immediately call out hia is men I 1 and g go 0 and put them down accordingly a force was imme immediately raised for the purpose of quelling the mob and in a short time were on their t march with a determination to drive the mob or die in the attempt as they could bear such treatment no longer the mob having 11 learned the orders of general parks and I 1 likewise being aware of the determination of the oppressed broke up their encampment and fled the mob seeing that they could not succeed by force now resorted to stratagem and after removing their property out oat of their houses which were nothing but log cabins they fired them and then then reported to the authorities of the state that the mormons cormons were burning and destroying all before them elder william clayton quit his temporal business in england En Z oland and gave himself wholly to the ministry and soon commenced preaching and baptizing in in manchester As I 1 was driven away from kirtland without the privilege of settling my business I 1 had previous ta this employed colonel oliver olive r G granger r a n as my agent to close all my affairs in the eastern states and as I 1 have been accused of running away cheating my creditors ac I 1 will insert a few of the tha many cards and letters I 1 have received from gentlemen who have had the best beat opportunity of knowing my business transactions and whose testimony comes unsolicited Pains ville october 1838 A card we the undersigned undersigner under signed being personal personal ac quan of oliver granger emmly firmly believe that the course which he has pursued in settling the claims accounts ac against the former citizens of kirtland township has done much credit to himself and all others that committed to him the care ol 01 of ada adjusting asting usting their business with this community which also furnishes evidence that there was no intention on their part of de flauding fra 0 their creditors THOMAS GRIFFITH JOHN S SEYMOUR about this time william morgan sheriff of davies county samuel bogart colonel william P doctor samuel venable jonathan J dryden james stone and thomas J martin made communications irions or affidavits of the most kind charging upon the cormons mormons those depredations which had been committed by the tha mob endeavoring thereby to raise the anger anger c of those in ant authority hority rally a sufficient force round around a their standard and produce a total overthrow massacre or banishment of the mormons cormons from the state these and their associates were the ones who fired their own houses and then fled the county crying fire nd murder murden etwas it was reported in far west today to day that orson hyde had left that place the night previous leaving a letter for one of the brethren which would developed dev elope the secret monday on the retreat of the mob from D davies avies I 1 returned to coldwell with a company of the brethren and arrived at far west about seven in the evening where I 1 had hoped to have joyed enjoyed e n some respite from our enemies at least f for 0 a short time bat upon n my arrival there I 1 was informed that a mob had commenced hostilities on the borders of that county adjoining r to ray county and that they had taken some of our brethren prisoners burned some houses haases and had committed depredations on the peaceable inhabitants |