Show I 1 copyright secured HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH APRIL 1839 the brethren and sisters who had arrived jr rived in illinois were begian beginning i n g to pen their sufferings and losses in missouri i ouri the statement of sister smith written by her own hand I 1 will here insert to whom this may come I 1 do hereby certify that my husband warren smith in company with several other families were 1110 moving ving from ohio to missouri we came to caldwell aldwell 0 county whilst we were traveling minding our own business we were stopped by a mob they told us that if we went another step they would kill us as all they took our guns from us as we were going into a new country we took guns along with ua ad they took us back five miles 1 placed a guard around us there kept us three days and let us go I 1 thought is this our boasted land of liberty for some said we must deny our faith or they would kill us others said we should die at any rate the names of this mob or the heads beads were thomas obrien county clerk jefferson brion william ewell esq and james austin anstin all of livingston county after they let us go we trav traveled led ten miles canie came to a small town of one grist mill one saw mill and eight or ten houses belonging to our brethren there we stopped for the night A little before sunset a mob of three hundred came upon us the men halloed hallood for the women and children to run ran for the woods and they ran into an old blacksmith 1 shop for they feared if we all ran together I 1 they would rush upon us and kill the women and children the mob fired before we had time to start from our camp our men took off their hats and swung them and cried quarter until they were shot the mob paid no attention to their cries nor entreaties but fired alternately I 1 took my little girls my boy I 1 could not find and started for the woods the mob encircled us on all sides but the brook I 1 I 1 ran down the bank across the millpond millpond on I 1 a plank up the hill into the bushes I 1 the bullets whistled all the way like hail and out cut down the bushes on all sides of us one girl was wounded by my side and fell 1 over a log and her clothes hung across the 1 log jog and they shot at them expecting they 1 were hitting bitting her and our people afterwards i out cut out of that log twenty bullets I 1 sat down to witness the dreadful scene when they had done firing they began to howl and one would have thought that all the infer internals nalis had come from the lower regions they plundered the principal part art of our goods took our horses and w wagons J as and ran off howling like demons I 1 came down to witness the awful scene oh horrible what a sight my husband and one son ten years old lifeless upon the ground and one son seven years old wounded very bad the ground covered with the dead these little boys crept under the bellows 10 ws in the th shop eshop one I 1 little ittle boy bo 7 ten years old had bad three wounds in him he lived five weeks and died he was not mine realize for a moment the scene it was sunset nothing but horror and distress the dogs filled with rage howling over their dead masters the cattle caught the scent of innocent blood and bellowed a dozen helpless widows thirty or forty fatherless children screaming an and a I 1 groaning for the loss of their I 1 fathers and husbands bus bands I 1 the groans of the wounded and dying were enough to have melted the heart of anything but a missouri mob there were fifteen depland dee dep dand ten wounded two died the next day there were no men or not enough to bury the dead so they were thrown into a dry well and covered with dirt the next day the mob came back they told UP we must leave the state forthwith or be killed it was cold weather and they had our teams and clothes bur our men all dead or wounded I 1 told them they might kill me and my children and welcome they sent to us from time to time if we did not leave the state they would come and kill us we had little prayer meetings they said if we did not stop them they would woul kill every nian man woman and child we had spelling for our little children they said if we did not stop them they would kill every man woman and child we did our own milking 9 got our own wood no nin man to help us I 1 started the first of february for illinois without money money mob all the way own team slept sleet out of doors I 1 had tur four small children we suffered hunger hanger fatigue and cold for what for our religion where in a boasted land of liberty deny your faith or die was the cry I 1 will mention some of the names of the heads of the mob two brothers by the name naine of comstock william man benjamin ashley robert white one by the name of rogers I 1 who look an old baythe and cut an old white headed man all to pieces I 1 wish further farther also to state that when the mob came there as I 1 was told by one of them afterward their intention was to kill everything belonging to us as that had life and that after our men were shot down by them they went around and shot all the dead men over again to make sure of their lives I 1 now leave it with this honorable government to say what my damages may be or what they would be willing to see their wives and eg ih ildren slaughtered for as I 1 have seen in my y husband son and others I 1 lost in property by the mob to goods stolen fifty dollars one pocketbook pocket book and fifty dollars cash notes damage of horses and time one hundred dollars one gun ten I 1 dollars in short my all whole damages damage are more than the state of missouri is ia worth written by bv my own hand this day of A april 1839 AMANDA SMITH Q quincy u incy adams county illinois thus are the cries of the widows and the fatherless aRcen ascending dinc to heaven how flow long 0 lord wilt thou chot not avenge the blood of the saints I 1 friday elders turley and dark clark had traveled out a few miles when an axletree broke and br dark clark had to go to richmond after some boxes which hindered them some days davs saturday the last of the saints left far west I 1 sunday I 1 had still continued my journey ney mon monday we continued on our bour ney both by night and by day and after suffering 11 much fatigue and hunger I 1 arrived in quincy illinois amidst the tife congratulations I 1 of my friends and the embraces of my family whom I 1 found as well as could be expected considering what they had been called t to endure before leaving missouri I 1 had paid the lawyers at richmond thirty four thousand dollars in cash lands fcc one lot which I 1 let them have in jackson county for seven thousand dollars they were soon offered dollars for it but would not accept it for other vexatious suits which I 1 had to contend against f the few months I 1 was in this state I 1 paid lawyers fees to the amount of about sixteen thousand dollars making in all about fifty thousand dollars for which I 1 received very little in in return for sometimes they were afraid to act on account of the mob and sometimes the they y were so drunk as to incapacitate paci tate them for business but bat there were a few honorable exceptions among those who have been the chief instruments st and leading characters in the unparalleled persecutions against I 1 the chure church of latter day dav saints the following stand conspicuous viz generals clark wilson and lucas colonel price and cornelius gilliam Oi lliam captain bogart also whose zeal in I 1 tile the cause of oppression find and injustice was unequalled unequal led and whose delight del baht has 88 been to rob murder and spread devastation among tho the saints ile he stole a valuable horse saddle and bridle from me which cost two hundred dollars and then sold the same to general wilson on understanding this I 1 I 1 applied to general for the horse I 1 who assured me upon the honor of a gentleman I 1 and an officer that I 1 should have the horse returned to me but this promise broin me has not been fulfilled all the th reits murders and robberies which these officers have been guilty of are entirely looked over bv the executive of tha ahn state who to hide his own iniquity must of course coarse shield and protect those whom he employed to carry into effect his hie murderous nuro oses I 1 was waa in their hands as a prisoner about six months but notwithstanding their determination mi n to destroy me with the x rest ett of my MV brethren who were with me and although at three different times as aa I 1 was int informed ormed we were sentenced to be shot without the least shadow of law as we wore were not military men aud had the time and place a ap pointed for that purpose yet through te the merey mercy of god in answer to the prayers of the saints I 1 have been preserved and delivered out of their hands and can again again enjoy the society of my friends and brethren brethren whom I 1 love and to whom I 1 feel united in bonds that are stronger than death and in a state where I 1 believe the laws are respected 1 and whose citizens are humane and charitable during daring the time I 1 was in the hands of my enemies I 1 must say that although I 1 felt great anxiety respecting m my family and friends frienda who were so inhumanly inhuman inhumanly Ty treated and abused and who had to mourn the loss of their husbands and children who had been slain and after having been robbed of nearly all that they posses possessed be driven from their homes and forced to wander as strangers in in a strange country in order that they might save themselves and their little ones from the destruction they were threatened with in missouri yet as far as I 1 was concerned I 1 felt perfectly calm and resigned to the will of my heavenly father I 1 knew my as aa well as aa that of the saints and that we had done nothing to deserve such treatment from the hands of our oppressors pres sors consequently I 1 could look to that I 1 the hearts of all men in hie hi shands hands 1 and who had bad saved me frequently from the gates of death for deliverance deli verane and notwithstanding th that every avenue of escape seemed to be entirely closed and death stared me in the face and that my destruction was determined ter mined upon as far as man was concerned yet from my first entrance into the camp I 1 felt an assurance that I 1 with my brethren and our families should be delivered yes that still small voice which has so often whispered consolation to my soul in the depth of sorrow and distress bade me be of good cheer and promised deliverance which gave me great comfort and aethol the heathen raged and the people imagined vain things yet the lord of hosts the god of jacob was my refuge and when I 1 cried unto him in the day of trouble he delivered me for which I 1 call upon my soul and all that is within me to bless and praise his holy name for altho I 1 was troubled on ivery every side yet et not distressed perplexed kerpl aed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed 52 the conduct of the saints under their accumulated wrongs and sufferings has been praiseworthy their courage in defending their brethren from the ravages of the mobs their attachment to the cause of thunder tru circumstances the most and distress ing which humanity can possibly endure their love to each other their readiness to afford assistance to me and my brethren who wera confined in a dungeon their sacrifices in leaving missouri and assisting the poor widows and orphans and securing them houses in a more hospitable land all conspire to raise them in the estimation of all good and virtuous men and has secured them the favor and approbation of jehovah and a name as imperishable as eternity and their virtuous deeds and heroic actions while in defence of truth and their brethren will bo be fresh and blooming when the names of their oppressors shall be either entirely 1 forgotten or gotten or only remembered for their barbarity and cruelty their attention and affection to me while in prison will ever be remembered by me and when I 1 have seen them thrust away and abused by the jailer and guard when they came to do ao any kind kin d offices and to io cheer our minds while we were in the gloomy prison house gave me feelings which chic I 1 cannot describe while those who wished to insult and abuse us by their threats and blasphemous langu language aze were applauded and had every encouragement given them however thank god we have been delivered and although some of our beloved brethren have had to seal their testimony with their blood and have died martyrs to the cause of truth yet short though bitter was their pain everlasting is their joy let us not sorrow as those without hope the time is ia fast approaching when we shall see them again and rejoice together without being afraid of wicked men yes those who have slept in christ shall he bring with him when he shall come to ba glorified in his saints and admired by all those who believe ebu buu to take vengeance upon his enemies and all those who obey not the 9 gospel at that time the hearts of the widows and fatherless shall be comforted and every tear shall be wiped from off their faces the trials they have had to pass through h shall work together for their good and jre prepare them tor for the society of those who have come up out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb marvel not then if you are persecuted but remember the words of the savior the servant is not above his lord if they have persecuted me they will persecute you also 1180 and that all the af afflictions fictions through which the saints have to pass are in fulfillment of the words of the prophets which have spoken since since the world began we shall therefore do well to discern the signs of the times as we pass along alone that the day of the lord may not overtake us ug as a thief in the night afflictions eions i imprisonments and deaths we must mast expect according to the scriptures which tell us that the blood of those whose souls were auder the altar could not be avenged on thera them that dwell on the earth until their brethren should be slain as they were if these transactions had bad taken place among barbarians under the authority of a despot or in a nation where a certain religion is established according to law and all others proscribed then there mig might h t have been some shadow of defence offered but carl can we realize that in a land which is the cradle of liberty and equal right sand where the voice of the conquerors who had vanquished our foes faie had scare scarcely elv died anav away upon our oar ears where we breque frequently nelv mingled with those who had stood amidst the battle and the breeze and whose arms have been nerved in the defence of their country and liberty whose institutions are the theme of philosophers and poets and held up to the admiration of the whole civilized world 1 scenes we were surrounded a persecution the most I 1 unwarrantable was commenced and a tragedy the most dreadful was enacted by a I 1 large portion of the inhabitants of one of I 1 those free and independent states which comprise this vast republic and a deadly blow was struck at the institutions for which I 1 our fathers had fought many a hard battle and for which many a patriot had shed his blood and suddenly was heard beard amidst the voice vorce of joy and gratitude for our national liberty the voice of mourning lamentation and woe yes in this land a mob regardless of those laws for which so sd much blood had been spilled dead to every feeling of virtue and patriotism which animated the bosom of freemen fell upon a people whose religious faith was different from their own and not only destroyed their homes drove them away and carried off their property but murdered many mant a freeborn free born son of america a tragedy 11 which has no parallel in in modern and hardly in ancient times even the face of the red man would be |