Show HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH juriy JULY 1843 under this state of alarm excitement and dis it ess the ires messengers returned from the governor and from the other authorities bringing the fatal news that the mormons cormons could have no asai asRi assistance stance they stated that the governor said the A lormon s had got into a difficulty with wh tile hie citizens citizen ami aul they might fight it out fo borall i bail nall he be cared ile ire could not render them adiv aRs assistance istance the the people of de witt were dobli obliged ea to leave their homes and go into far west I 1 but did not until after many of them thern bad starved to death for want of proper sustenance and several died on the road there and were buried ly I 1 y the wry wiy way side without a coffin or a funeral ceremony and the distress dt tress sufferings rugge rings and add private ions of the llie people cannot be expressed all the scattered families of the mormon people in all tle ile the lie counties coun conn ties except daviess dav less jess were hiven liven into far west with but few exceptions thi this s only increased their distress dis tres for many man thousands who were driven there had no habitations oi louses houses to shelter them and were huddled together some in tents and others under blankets blar keis whop others had no shelter aiom the inclemency of t ak re allier nearly two wo months the people badh een ten ep in in this awful state of consternation conter nation f them bad had been killed whilst others had hat been whipped until they had to swathe up tip their bowels to prevent bem them hem from falling out I 1 about this time general parks came out from richmond ray county he was one of the commissioned officers who was sent out at the he time the mob was wa first quelled and w wont nt out to diah diall man mail I 1 and my brother joseph smith senior went out at the same time on the evening that general parks arrived at aliman ailman Di ahman abman the wife of my brother lle ile the late don carlos carios smith came in to col about eleven at night bringing hertto children along with wilh her one ona about two years and a half old the other a babe in her arms I 1 she came on foot a distance of three miles and waded grand river the water was then I 1 waist deep and the snow show 3 inches deep she I 1 stated that a party of the mob a gang ct ef ruf ruffians rians had turned her mit olt of doors had taken her household goods and had burnt up lip her house and she had escaped by y lle tle ile the skin of her teeth her husband at that time was in tennessee and she was living alone algne this cruel transaction excited the feelings feelings of the people in Di ahman especially col wight wd and he be asked gen park in my hearing how iong long an ve ire iid hid got to suffer sua such base treatment gerl gen parks said he did not know how long col wi wight tt then asked him what should shoula be done gen parks told him he should take tale a company of men well armed and anti eo po and disperse the mob wherever he bould should find any collected I 1 together and take away their arms col so precisely according to the orders of gen parka and my brother joseph smith 1 sen maie male no words about jt and after col wight had bad dispersed the mob and aad put a stop to tb their burning houses belonging 1 b to the mormon people and curnin turning bomin aomen and children out of doors which they had hail done up to that time to the amount of eight or ten houses which were consumed to 0 o ashes after aften bein being cut short in their designs de sigis the mob started up a new plau plan they went to worl work and moved thair families out olit of the county and set gire fire rv to their houses and not being bing abie able to incense the be dior Alor mormons cormons mons to commit crime chimes crimes they had se to hib his this stratagem to set their homes honses on fire and send runners into all the counties adjacent to declare to tb the people that the mormons cormons had bui nt up tip their houses and destroyed their field and if the he people would not believe them they the they y would tell them to go and see if what they had bad said was v as not ti ue I 1 many amany people came camp to see they saw the he houses bouses burning and being filled with prejudice pm judice ibey they could not be neade candelo 0 believe but that the he mor moi mons manns set get them hero on tn fire which deed was most diabolic aland bland al and of the he blackest kind for far indeed the I 1 mormon fot for mons did not set tilen on fire firc firey nor meddle with their irom houses es or their fields and the houses that were burnt to together gether wether with the preemption pre emption rights and the corn coin in inthe tile ille finds fi ids ads had all been pie pi evious deviously ly pui put chased by the mor mons of the and paid for in money and with wagons and horses harses and with wilh other property abou two weeks before but they had not taken ikin posses possession slon gion of the premises but this wicked transaction was for the purpose of clandestinely exciting the mi minds 11 Is cf of a pr prejudicial lecial populace and the executive that they mi might 11 t get all an order that they could the more easily carry out their hellish purposes poses in expulsion or extermination or utter extinction of the mormon people after witnessing the distressed situation of the people in Di abman my brother joseph smith senior senior and myself returned to the city of far west and immediately a messenger with written documents to general atchison sti staling tin the facts as they dd then exist praying for assistance if pcs pos possible ible ibie and ard ie requesting questing the editor of the I 1 far west vest to insert the he same in his news newspaper paper but he utterly refused to do so we still believed that we should get asief assistance nce from the governor and again petitioned him praying for assistance setting forth our distressed situation and in it the meantime the presiding judge 11 of the county court issued orders u pon upon affidavits made to him by the citizens citizen to the sheriff of the he count county 1 to order out the militia of the county to stanli stand in n constant readiness night and da day to prevent the citizens from being massacred which fearful situation they were in every rigo moment ment every thing was end alarming notwithstanding all hi there thore was a ray of hope yet existing in the minds cf the people that hat the governor would render us III assistance and whilst the he people were waiting walting anxious anxiously ly for deller deiler deliverance men women and children frightened praying ng and weeping we beheld at a distance cros cross ing jug the prairies and approaching the town a large army irmy in in rull military it I 1 a rray array brandishing their glittering arle arie swords sint in the sunshine and we could not rot but feel jo governor joyful for a moment thinking that pro probably bibly the governor vernor had sent an armed force to our relief notwithstanding the awful forebodings foreboder 3 that pe evaded our br breas breasts easis ls but to our great surprise surp surn ilse tise when the be army arrived they came up tip and formed a line lne in double file within one half mile on the south of the city tf ff far west and three messengers with a white flag to tile the city they were met by captain noiea fiorey 1 with ynh a few other individuals lQ I 1 whose names I 1 to do not mt now no vr decolle C t I 1 was myself standing close by ard coull couil very distinctly I 1 hear every word they said being filled with wilh anxiety I 1 rushed forward to the spot expecting to hea hear r good news but ala and heart beart thrilling to every very soul that heard beard them they demanded three persons to be beo brought tight light out of the city before they should massacre the rest the names of the persons ons they demare demaro demanded ed were adam Lightn lightner pr john cleminson and his wife immediately the three persons were brong brought ht forth to hold an interview with the officers who bud had made the demand and the officers told them hey they had bad now a chance to save heir their lives foi the they thes calculated to destroy the be people and alid lay tile tiie til city in ashes they replied to the officers and said sald if ilie life people roust must be destroyed ant and ll 11 the h city burned to ashes they wo would a d remain in in the ctr and die with them thern I 1 the officers immediately returned and the he army retreated treated ee and encamped about a mile and a halt from the city A messenger mes was immediately with a white flag from the colonel of the militia of r fan far ar west requesting arr an interview with general atchison and general doniphan but as the ilia messenger approached the camp he was shot at by bozard bouard the Melbo dist preacher the name of the messenger was charies charles C rich who is now brigadier general in the nauvoo legion however lle lie gained permission parmis ion lon to see general doniphan he lie also requested an interview with general atchison general doniphan said that general atchison had bad been dismounted by a special order of the governor a few miles mites back and had hail been beeri sent back to liberty clay co county tinty ile he also stated that the reason wa that he be atchison hison hlson was waa too merciful unto lle ile lie mormons cormons Mor Alo inions mons and baggs would not let him have the command but had bad given it to general lucas who was from jackson cou county vity and anti whose heart had bad become hardened by his former acts of rapine and bloods bloodshed bed bel he be being beina one of the leaders in driving plundering and burning some two or three hundred houses hodies belonging to the he mormon people in that county in the tho jears 1833 aid 1831 1834 1 mr rich requested general doniphan don phan to spar the people and not suiter suffer them to tor be massacred until the next morning it then being evenin evening he choll coolly agreed that be would not and also sa sai ld d that he he had not as yet received the governors order but expected it every hour hoar and ani should not make any further farther move until he had received it but bu he would not make ke any arty promises miss so far as regarded rega neil gillums gillum army 1 gromish iro gro h e ir having baving arrived a few minutes areri previously i us I 1 and joined the main body of the army i lie fie knowing cn wing wll wal at what hour to form a junc bunc junction tion with the main maln body mr air rich then hen return returned pd to tile the cit 1 biving giving this information inform allon alion the colonel immediately a second messenger with wilh a white flag to request another interview with general doniphan in in order to touch his sympathy and coa col compassion a assion and if it were pos possible for him to I 1 use anc pis dis is best endeavor to preserve the lives of the tle people i on the return of this messenger we learned that several se eral persons had been killed hilled by some of the soldiers who were under the com command mand cf general one hir mr carey had bad his brains knocked out by the breech 0 of a gun and he lay bleeding several hours but his family family were not permitted to ap him fior nor anyone any one ele else eie allowed to adminis tar relief to him whilst he lay upon the ground in in the he agonies of death mr carey carek had bad just arrived in in the tile country from the state of ohio only a few boti boil hatire Is previous to the ai at rival of the army ile he had a family consisting of a wife and several small children ile he was buried by lucius N who ho is is now the senior warden arden w of the nauvoo nauvo 0 L lodge 0 dae I 1 another man of the name of john tanner was knocked on the head at the same time and his skull laid bare the width of a mans hand and he lie lay to all appearance in in the ag agonies ideath onies onles c cf f for several hours hows but bat by the permission sion slon of general dolphan Dom don do n phan han ban his friends brought him out of the camp and a atwith with good duning curing he slowly recovered e and is is now living there was another ma man whose name is is powell who was beat on the head with ahe breech of a gun until his skull was fracture fractured dand and his brains run out in in two or three places ile he is la nov hov now noy alive and ard resides in in this county bat has hag lost the use of ins his senses sev sai eral ral persons of his family were also left for dead but have llave since gince gince since recovered these acts of barbarity were ere erp also committed by the ile soldiers under the command of general L lucas previous to having received the hie governors Goe lnora inora older of extermination efte it was on the evening of the soth of october according to the best of my recollection that the army arrived at far west the sun about abt half an hour high in a few moments afterward afterwards cornelius gillum arrived armed with his army and formed a junction this tho gillum had been stationed at huntzis Hun teis tetos mills for about two months previous to that hat time com committing mittin depredations upon the inhabit inhabitants ins capturing m men women and children and carrying them coffas off a prisoners lacerating their bodies with il ae i k 0 rv withes the toe army of gillum were painted like indians some more conspicuous than others oh es were designated I 1 by red spots and ard he alo also aio was painted in a similar manner with red spots marked on his face and styled himself the DELAWARE chrey curey 1 they would whoop and holla liolla and yell as nearly like indians as they could and continued to do so all that night in the he morning early the colonel of militia sent a messen messenger mer into the ramp with a white flag to 0 o have another interview with general doniphan on his return lie he us that the governors order had arrived general doniphan said that the order of the governor was as tu to exterminate the cormons mormons by god goj but hs he would be damned if he ob obe eyed edhah hat bat order but general lucas lacas might do wha what he e pleased we immediately i learned leorn d from general phan tran yran iian that the he Govern oils olys oriler order that had arrived was only orly a copy of the ori orl original ginal and that the original order was in in the hands bands of marr major general clark who was on hs way to far par west with an art additional army of six six rix thousand men immediately aften after this then ther came into the city a messenger frim from Ild lla hauns vins mill brinin brin brinzing bringing in tile the intelligence of an awful massacre of thep the people ople opte who were residing in in that place awl ami that a force of two or three hundred detached from tile the main maln nam ody body of the army under the superior su peno command of colonel ashley but under the immediate command of cap captain tain nehemiah comstock who rho the day da previous hd promised them peace and protection tec tion but on receiving a copy of the th governors order to exterminate or to expel from the hands of colonel ashley he lie returned upon them the following lowing ol day and surprised and massacred the whole pop nop population I 1 of the town and then came on to 0 the town of far west and entered into con unction with the main bod hod hody body of the aimy the mes meN messenger 11 in info formey med us that he himself with a few others oled fled into the thickets igich which preserved preserve il thern thein trvin the massacre and on the following morning ti tiey trey ey returned and collected the he dl dead bodies of the people end cast them into a well am and there were upwards of twenty who were dad doad do ad or mortally wo wom indea deJ and there are several of the won wounded aided who are now living in in |