| Show I 1 copyright Se dared HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH 1 Oc OCTOBER roBER 1839 monday the high council voted to build a stone house at upper commerce to be used for boarding that elder granger be requested nest to assist with funds to print the hymn book that samuel bent davison hibbard ard and david dort be trustees for building the stone school house in contemplation and that alpheus cutler and jabez durphy be the architects and building committee for said house voted to finish the office of president joseph smith jr voted that the recommends drawn by elder sherwood recommending constituting and appointing joseph smith jr sidney rigdon and elias higbee delegates for the church to imp importune lie the president and congress of the united states for redress ac be signed by this council tuesday I 1 left nauvoo in a two horse carriage for the city of washington to lay before the congress of the united states the grievances of the saints in missouri accompanied by sidney rigdon elias higbee and oriu orin P rockwell passing cartilage carthage we staid at judge Hig bees over night and the next day dav we arrived at quiney quincy Thurs thursday dav we tarried at quincy to 0 complete the necessary n ec essary papers for us on our miss sion elder rigdon was also sick friday november I 1 ast 1st st we pursued our journey towards springfield illinois find and put up with brother wilber where we found doctor robert D foster who administered homr to mr rigdon i saturday ad continued our journey and during the day put up with a friend on the bank of the illinois river so that doctor foster who had accompanied us so far for that purpose might administer medicine to mr rigdon again sunday ad continued our journey and staid with a friend over night doctor foster continued to accompany us elders young and kirn kim ball arrived at cleveland ohio about one in the morning and while wai waiting biting for the stage until about noon elders smith turley and who left them at terre haute drove up having picked up elder taylor by the way he having been left sick by his company in the east part of indiana they were in good health compared with what they had been and in fine spirits it george A smith tarried in cleveland till the next day to visit his bis relatives brothers young kimball taylor and turley rode in the stage and brother bedlock and mr murray in their wagon to willoughby and from thence they all rode in to kirtland together monday ath we arrived at springfield and put up with brother john snider when within one mile of the city we met william law and company with seven wagons fram canada who returned with us to springfield aud and tarried while we did until the ath I 1 preached several times while here general james adams judge of probate heard of me sought me out took me home with him and treated me like a father president young and his brother john visited their sister kent there was some division of sentiment among the kirtland bi ethren thursday ath the high council of iowa completed their organization at elijah Ford hams in montrose friday ath we started from springfield doctor foster having concluded to continue coutin ue on the journey on account of elder Rig dona dons health I 1 which continued quite poor wi we pursued our journey indiana towards columbus ohio the traveling was bad and our progress slow sunday elder taylor preached in the forenoon and elder kimball in the afternoon in the house of the lord at kirtland thursday elder orson hyde left commerce illinois intending to go east as far as philadelphia he had just begun to recover from a four months course of flie fever and ague sunday alth president young preached prea clied in the house of the lord in the forenoon and john taylor in ia the afternoon in the evening dent 13 young anointed elder john taylor in the ahouse house of the lord and elder D S miles anointed theodore turley all of which was sealed by hosannah Hosa unah monday lath president young visited brother R potter at newbury New hury and returned on tuesday I 1 to kirtland about this time we had arrived i near columbus when the roads were so bad elder Rig dons health so poor and the time so BO fast spending when it was necessary for the am committee to be in washington that I 1 started in the stage with judge higbee on the most expeditious route to washington city leaving rockwell rigdon and foster to come on at their leisure in the carriage elders young and company went to fair fairport p ort where they waited for a steamboat until tuesday elder parley P pratt and company sold their horses and carriage at detroit and went 0 oh to new york city by the canal railway and steamboats from new york elder pratt wro teme me on the directed to commerce from which I 1 quote the following the churches in these parts are prospering greatly and are firm in the faith and increasing in numbers continually the church in new york and brooklyn now numbers from one hundred and fifty to two hundred members and additions are being made mada every week A general conference Confer enca was hald in t ma I 1 city ol 01 tuesday and wednesday day of this week elders present 0 0 pratt W woodruff samuel james benjamin winchester elders foster I 1 layne jenks brown benedict and myself priests present A everett birge and canvel ver many branches of the chulz church in the region round about were represented several hundred i members in all and mostly increasing great doors are arc open for preaching and crowded houses are the order of the day I 1 have also received letters from maine and front from I 1 miellie michigan 11 with beyl joyful fu a accounts cco of the aspre ad of the w work k of the lord 0 r d Y you bui u would now fi find nd churches of the saints in ill philadelphia in albany I 1 in brooklyn in new york in sing sing in jersey in pennsylvania on long island and in various other places all around us our new york meetings are now held three times every sabbath I 1 in columbia hall grand street a few doors east of the bowery it is very central and one of tile the best places in the city it will hold nearly a thousand people and is well filled with attentive hearers brother winchester has a good hall well fitted up in philadelphia where stated meetings are held s veral every week and crowded audiences in short the truth is spreading more rapidly than ever before in every direction far and near I 1 there is a great call for our books I 1 am now reprinting the voice of warning the history of the persecution and my poems there is a great call for hymn books but none to be had I 1 wish sister smith would add ada to the old collection such new ones as is best and republish them immediately if means and facilities are lacking in the west send it here and it shall be nicely done for her and at least one thousand I 1 would immediately sell in these parts wholesale and retail the book of mormon is not to be had in this part of the vineyard for love or money hundreds are wanting in various parts hereabouts but there is truly a famine in this respect the conference took into consideration the pressing calls for this book and have appointed a committee to raise means for the publication of the same and also to publish it if we can obtain leave from you who hold the copy right any hymn book which sister smith or the church will favor us with shall also be published on similar conditions P V P PRATT sometime some time this month the first number of the times and seasons a monthly religious paper in in pamphlet form was published at commerce hancock county illinois by my brother don carlos smith and ebenezer robinson under the firm of robinson smith publishers tuesday at one in the afternoon elder young and company went on oil board the steamer columbus at fairport and went on towards buffalo wednesday ath about one this morning the wind arose when elder young went on deck prayed to the father in the name of jesus when le be felt to command the wind and the waves to cease and permit them to proceed on their journey in safety the winds abated and ho he gave glory honor and praise to the god who rules all things arriving in buffalo in it the morning they took the stage for batavia while on oil the mountains some distance from I 1 washington out oui coachman stepped into a public house to take his grog when the horses took fright and ran rail down the hill at full speed J pe persuaded F my fellow travelers to be quiet and retain their seats but had to hold one woman to prevent her throwing her infant out of the coach the passengers were exceedingly agitated but I 1 used every persuasion to calm their feelings and opening the door I 1 secured my hold on the side of the coach the best way I 1 could and succeeded in placing myself in the coachmans coach mans seat and reining up the horses after they had run some two or three miles and neither coach horses or passengers received any injury my course was spoken of in the highest terms of commendation as being one of the most daring and heroic deeds and no language could express the gratitude of the passengers when they found themselves safe and the horses quiet there were some members of congress with us who proposed naming the incident to that body believing they would reward such conduct by some public act but on enquiring my name to mention as the author of their safety and finding it to be joseph smith the mormon prophet as they called it I 1 heard no more of their praise gratitude or reward thursday I 1 arrived at washington city this morning and put up at the corner of missouri and third streets this evening elder young and company except elder eider kimball who stopped at byron to visit his sister rode to rochester in the steam cars and from thence rode all night in a horse coach and arrived at ten in the morning on friday at auburn new york elders taylor and turley proceeded on their way to new york the following is a copy of our petition to congress for redress of our missouri difficulties to the honorable the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled your petitioners petition ers joseph smith sidney rigdon and elias higbee would most respectfully represent that eliat they have been delegated by their brethren and fellow citizens known as as latter day saints commonly call 1 ed mormons cormons Mor mons to prepare and present to you a statement of their wrongs and a prayer for their relief which they now have the honor to submit to the consideration of your honorable body in the summer of 1831 a portion of the society above named commenced a settlement in the county of jackson in the state of missouri the individuals making that settlement had emigrated from almost every state in the union to that lovely spot in the far west with the hope of improving their condition of building houses for themselves and posterity and of erecting temples where they and theirs might worship their creator according to the dictates of their conscience though they had wandered far from the homes of their childhood still they had been taught to believe that a citizen born in any one state in this great republic might remove to another wid and enjoy all the rights and immunities of citizens of the state of ba adoption that wherever waved the american flag beneath its stars and stripes peg an all american citizen might look for protection and justice for liberty in person and in conscience they bought farms built houses bouses and erected churches some tilled the earth others bought and sold merchandise and others again toiled its as mechanics they were industrious and moral and they prospered and tho often persecuted and vilified for their difference in religious religions opinion from their fellow citizens they were happy they hey saw their society increasing in numbers their farms teemed with plenty and they fondly looked forward to a future big with hope that there was prejudice against them they knew that slanders were propagated against them they deplored yet they felt that these were unjust and hoped that time and an uprightness of life would enable them to outlive them while the summer of peace happiness liap and hope shone over the infant settlement of the saints the cloud was gathering unseen by them that bore in its bosom the thunderbolt of destruction on the july 1833 around their peaceful village a mob gathered to the surprise and terror of the quiet cormons mormons Mor Morn mons ions why they knew not they had broken no law they had harmed no man mail in deed or thought why they were thus threatened they knew not soon a committee from the mob called upon the leading mormons cormons Mor mons of the place they announced that the store tile the printing office and the shops must be closed and that forthwith every mormon must leave the county the message was so terrible so unexpected that the cormons mormons Mor mons asked time for deliberation and consultation which being refused the brethren were severally asked are you willing wb W to abandon b dan your home hoffle the reply rely wes was we will not go which determination being reported to the committee of the mob one of them replied that he was sorry for said he the work of destruction must now begin no sooner said than it was done tile the printing office a two story brick building was assailed by the mob and tore down and with its valuable appurtenances destroyed they next proceeded to the store with wilh a like purpose its owner in part mr gilbert agreed to close it and they delayed their purpose the they then proceeded to the dwelling of mr partridge ge the beloved bishop of the church there dragged him and his family to tho the public square where surrounded by hundreds they partially stripped him of his clothing and tarred and feathered him from head to foot A man by the name of allen alien was at the same time treated in a similar manner the mob then dispersed with an agreement to meet again on the next tuesday the above outrages having been committed on oil saturday tuesday y came and with wilh it came the mob bearing it a red flag in token of blood they proceeded to the houses of isaac morley and others of the leading men and seized them telling them to bid their families farewell that they would never see them again they were then driven at the point of the bayonet to the jail and there amid the jeers and insults of the crowd they were thrust in prison to be kept as hostages in case any of the mob should bs be killed they were to die to pay for it here some two or three of the mormons cormons Mor mons offered to surrender up their lives if that would satisfy the fury of the mob and purchase peace and security for their unoffending brethren their helpless wives and children the reply of tile mob was that the mormons cormons Mor mons must leave the county en masse or that every man should be put to death the mormons cormons Mor mons terrified and de fenceless then entered into an agreement to leave the county one half by the first of january the other half by the first of april next ensuing this treaty being made and ratified the mob dispersed again for a time the persecuted mormons cormons Mor mons enjoyed a respite from their persecutions twit out not long was van the repose permitted them some time in the month of october a meeting was held at hi independence dependence at which it was determined to remove the cormons mormons Mor Morr mons or die inflammatory speeches were made and one of the speakers swore he would remove the mormons cormons Mor mons from the county if he had to wade up to his neck in blood be it remarked that up to this time the mor imor mons had faithfully observed the treaty and were guilty of no offence offense against the laws of the land or of society but were peaceably following the routine of their daily duties shortly after the meeting above referred to another persecution commenced some of the mor mons were shot at others were whipped their |
