Show I 1 copyright secured HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH NOVEMBER 1839 your Memoria lists would big beg he here to give what ahey believe belaev a just e explanation I 1 of the causes of the prejudice and persecution against the mor mons related above and which will follow that there theror p might zem ht have havar been some members among them cannot be denied but auf many aver that ahat as a a oom community they were tie aft moral as up right and as abo observant ervant of the laws of the laud land as any anybody body of people in the world why then this is prejudice and persecution an answer ans werthey they trust will be found in the fact that they were a body of af people I 1 distinct tin from thir their fellow citizens in religious opinions in u their I 1 r habits and in their asso associations cAutions they e we were I 1 numerous mer ous enough to make mahe the power of t their air nu numerical and moral force a matter of alixi anxiety ety and dread ad to the political slid and religious parties by which they were surrounded which arose not from what the 0 cormons mormons Mor mons had done but fro M the e fear of what they might mi do itt iff a addition on I 1 the he cormons mormons Mor mons have purchased of the sit settlers lers or of the gohei or obtained by preemption pre emption the best landslip lands in all those re regions of the abe state and at the times of specula speculation on the cupidity of many was aroused to possess those lands by driving off the and taking borci ble ahle possession or constraining them to sell fear ot or coercion at a price aria merely nominal after the fhe cormons mormons Mor mons removed from clay they settled in the county of caldwell as aforesaid your y our Memoria lists do not deem it necessary fw for their purpose to detail the history of the progress the adies cares and anxieties of the I mor imor inous imas from thellma the ahne they settled in caldwell in aa year 1836 until the fall of 1838 they would however state that during fill all that time they de ported themselves ies as good citizens elti zeni obeying the of the laud and t the i s moral abi anar rel religious ia us duties enjoined by their faith that there m might ht have been some faithless i among non g the fal U if 16 possible si ble they would not deny th 4 there might 90 have 11 been some who were a aca scandal dal to their brethren and what society they would ask has not some unworthy member where is the sect where the th community cem in which there cannot be i fund found some who trample under foot the laws jaws of god and nan they believe the mormon community to have as few such as any other association socia tiou religious reli ous or political within tile above period the cormons mormons Mor mons continued to increase in wealth bakh and numbers until in therall the fall of the year 1838 thoy they numbered about fifteen thousand souls theyo they purchased of the government or of the citizen or held field by preemption pre emption almost all the lands in the county of caldwel Caldw ep anda and a portion of the lands in daviess and Oar carroll roll tile the county of caldwell was settled almost entirely by mor imor icons mons and I cormons mormons Mor mons were rapidly filling up the counties of daviess and caldwell when they first commenced settling in those counties there were but few settlements made there the lands weri were wild and uncultivated in a the fall of 1838 large farms hod had been made well improved arid and stocked lands had risen in value and sold for from ten dollars to twenty five dollars the improvement and settlement had been such that it was a common remark that the county of caldwell would soon bi be the wealthiest in the state thus stood their affairs in the fall of 1838 when the storm of persecution again raged over the cheat heas of the cormons mormons Mor mons and the fierce demon of the ft mob drove them forth house houseless I 1 I 1 ess ima ana homeless W and nd penniless 0 es pon charities the of the world which to them thank god Go godsave dhave t have bow been like angels welts but not few or tar far between we this last persecution began b at a an election which was held DAviess in Ja viesa county on the first monday of f august I 1 1838 A mornion mormon went to he dia polls to vote one of ane abe mol enok aton standing dink by y opposed his botin voting 3 contending that a mormon had bad ao n more liht to voter vote than aigro a one I 1 angry word brought on another and blows followed they are however happy tov to tate state that the 1 mormon was not the aggressor but was on the defensive others interfered I 1 not noi one alone but many assailed the mormon his brethren seeing him t thus hus assailed by numbers rushed to the rescue then came I 1 others of the mob until finally a general tow now commenced the mormons cormons Mor mons were victor victorious tous day a rumor reached the cormor Mor mor bof of caldwell that two of their brethren had been killed in this fight and that a refusal had been made to surrender their bodies for burial not k knowing ow at the time that this rumor was false fake lh they ay iy became much excited and several efthem of them started for daviess county with a view of the brethren whom they supposed to have been jill j ed a decent interment where they arrived ne ett ati movi morning ting among die citizens this fight produced i a great excitement they held a public me beefing efing and resolved to drive the Mor IMor mons frair the c county k anty individuals began also to threaten athe the cormons mormons Mor orno mons ns I 1 as a body and swear that they should leave the county in fil three days when the I 1 wr sor mons monsa who had gone from caldwell to davieau as aforesaid arrived there they found this state stale of excitement to exist they also heard that a lar large e mob was collecting against them headed by A ad J am blacks black one of the judges of the county court of daviess county under these circumstances and view to I 1 allay the excitement they called on mr back 1 I 1 and enquired of hini him whether the rel do arts ifie ad heard ill fit relation tp to win nm were true IJ pis i denying denyi fig them to be true they then requested hi him m to give that thal denial in writing he free freely lm did this writing they published with a view of calming 1 he public mind and allaying the excitement having habing done this they rested in quiet for some hoping that their efforts would produce the their surprise can an under these circumstances be easily imagined when a short time after they learned that said black had bad gone before judge king and made oath that he was forced to sign the instrument by armed mormons cormons Mor mons and procured procured a warrant for the ibe arrest arbeit of joseph smith jr ari and lyman wl wight ight which was placed tn in the hands of the sheriff it was also reported that the said individuals had refused to surrender themselves and that an armed force was collecting to come and take them I 1 I 1 your you r M ie a fits aver er that ahat the sheriff had never made any T efforts ff 0 ts av to serve the writ and that the said smith and wight so far from making any resistance did not know that such a writ had been issued until tiey learned it first by report as above related in the meantime the minor had run over the whole country that the mormons cormons Mor mons were compelling individuals to sign certain I 1 insera ments in writing and that they were I 1 resisting the process procesa of the law the public mind beenke become much inflamed and the mob began to collect from all quarters and in large numbers with preten creten of assis assisting the sheriff tp serve the process I 1 and here let it if be observed in passing that adam i black had sold the improvement arid and preemption pre emption claim on which he be then resided to the cormons mormons Mor mons received his pay for the same and that his instrumentality the he mormons cormons Mor mons were driven off and now retains both thell their money and the im provement pro As soon as the above re porta the ears of the said eaid smith and wight they determined immediately up upon an the course they ot ought g bt t to 0 pur pursue isue which was to submit to the laws they both surrendered themselves up to iff judge king underwent a trial and iu in the absence of all sufficient testimony they were discharged they hoped that this voluntary submission of theirs to thy the law and their triumphant vindication of the Ti charge harge would allay the excitement of the com jn unity but pot not so the long desired opportunity had anivy arrived when the oppression and extermination mi nation of the cormons mormons Mor ormon mons sll might be made toas to assume the form of legal proceeding proceeds edi the mob that had for the pretender purpose of assisting the tha officers in the execution OF pra s did not disperse upon the acquittal of SZ smith su sad wight but continued embodied with the encamp ments and forms of a military force and committing depredations upon property 5 the cormons mormons Mor mons iks vr inthis this extremity called upon the laws of the land and nd the officers of the law for protect protection ioa after much delay the i litia unc under ler generals atchison doniphan and ana parks were sent to their relief they arrived on the september and encamped between the Mor and tho the mob I 1 the above officers made no attempt to disperse the mob excusing themselves by saying 1 that their own men had sympathies with the mob after remaining there for several days those officers adopted adopt edthe the fo following dowing expedient of settling the difficulties th they y mustered the mob and enrolled them with rewn own troops and then disbanded the whole with orders to seek their several homes the officers went home excepting parks who remained for their protection with I 1 his men the mormons cormons Mor mons made an agreement with ie e citizens of daviess to buy out freir lands and preem preemption pre em emption tion rights and appointed a committee to make ge the pure purchase ase and to go on buying till they had purchased to ifie amount of twenty feib thousand dollars while these purchases were going on the citizens were heard to say that as soon as they had sold out to the I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons and received their pay they would I 1 drive the mot mor mons mono 9 off and kee keep p both their lands and the money I 1 I 1 the mob when disbanded in daviess by the generals as aforesaid instead of re repairing pairin to their homes as commanded proceeded ina in a boll body to the adjoining county of carroll arid and encamped around dewitt a village built and inhabited by mor mons mono while thus elemn enca TOped ped amund dewitt they sent to the ibe county of jackson aud and procured procured a cannon They invested the place so bely cr that no person could leave the town in safety when they did so they were fired upon by the mob the horses of the mormons cormons Mor mons were stolen and their cattle killed the citizens of dewitt amount aug to about seventy families were in great extremity tre mity and worn out by want and sickness in their extremity they I 1 made application to governor boggs for protection and relief but no protection tec tion no relief was granted them when reduced to the last extremity no alternative was reft left them but to seek protection by flight and the abandonment of their homes accordingly on the evening of the of october 1838 they retreated from dewitt and made their way to the counties of daviega and caldwell leavi leaving 71 many of their effects in the pos possession sesmon of the die m mob your Memoria lists will not detail the ho sufferings of such a flight when shred with women and children they might detail many one had given birth to a child just before the flight commenced died on the road and was buried without a coffin many others sick worn out starved deprived of medical aid died apon the road the remnant of mormons cormons Mor mons from dewitt arrived in daviess and caldwell and found a short relief and supply of their wants from their friends and brethren there after the abandonment of dewitt and the flight of the mormons cormons Mor mons from carroll one sashuel woods addressed the mob advising them to take their cannon and march to the county of daviess atta and drive the cormons mormons Mor IMor mons from that county and seize upon their lands and other property Y saying that the mormons cormons Mor mons could get no benefit of the i law as ah they had recently seen they then corn fenced their march from carroll to daviess carrying avith with them the cannon which they had received ie from jackcon Jac koon on their way they ca cap p aured two mormons cormons Mor mons made them am ride on the cannon and taunted them as they went along telling them that they were going to drive the mormons cormons Mor mons from daviess to caldwell and from 1 caldwell to hell and that they should find no quarters qu artere fers ut but at the cannons month the mob at thin time was re reported potted to number about four hundred strong I 1 the mormons cormons Mor mons in these then distresses in pursuance I 1 ance of tha laws or of missouri made applina tion tin to judge king the circuit judge of ehst tha circuit for protection and for the aid of the officers of the law to protect them judge kl king aras as they 1 have been informed and believe gave an order to major general D R atchison Ate hison to call out the militia I 1 to protect the cormons mormons Mor mons against the fury of the mob gen atchison thereupon gave orders to brigadiers parks and doniphan in fu pursuance of these orders issued as aa aforesaid on the of october I 1 1838 general arrived at F far ar west a mormon village in the county of caldwell caidwell with a small company of militia after he hd been at far west two days d ays general 1 doniphan disbanded his company alleging to the cormons mormons Mor mons as his reason for so doing that aisi bis company had and the same feelings as the mob wd and that he be could not rely upon them ina in a short tinie time I 1 general parks arrived at far west and also disbanded his bis company at this time the mob was marching from carroll to daviess general doniphan 1 while at far west directed the mormons cormons Mor mons to raise a company to protect themselves telling them that one cornelius gilliam Gill iain wis raising a I 1 mob to destroy their town and also advis advising hig them I 1 to place out guards to wirch watch the motions of the 1 mob ile he also directed them to raise a company I 1 und and send theme them to daviess to aid their brethren there against tho the mob which was marching down upon them from carroll this the mormons cormons Mor mons did they mus m altered tereda 4 company of about sixty men abo atlo proceeded edeA when cheit general i parks arrived at far west as aforesaid and learned th that r la t general Do doniphan ulphan had bad disbanded his men he expressed opre s sed great dissatisfaction the sami same evening on which general parks disbanded disband do his company as aforesaid he eel ded in order to learn what the mob W we gerej 9 there and if possible to protect the IT 1 when general parks had ari arrived lived in daviess he found that the commenced its ape operations ra I 1 there which was on the october 1838 I 1 they commenced by burning the house of a man I 1 who had bad gone to tennessee on business and left I 1 his wife at home with tw two a small children W hen the house bouse was burned down the wife and the two small children were ware left in the snow and she had to walk three miles before she could find a shelter I 1 carrying her two children all that distance and had to wade grand river which was three feet deep I 1 the mob anthe on alie same evening bu burned arned seven other I 1 houses burning ond and destroying all the property I 1 that they |