| Show LIBERTY JAIL A description iod of its present appearance pe arance anecdotes of the prophet an interesting corres pon dence LIBERTY clay co missouri sept 18 IM editor deseret news leaving adam yesterday afternoon we passed through the rich fields in toe the valley of the grand southward until we came to the river after making an unsuccessful attempt and cross with a leaky skiff fording more safe and expedient pe dibut ent and although the water was somewhat deep we reached the opposite shore in galety and made our way through forests foresti and fields back to gallatin where we w arrived too late for the evening west westbound bourd train consequently we spent another night bight in the chief town of daviess county this morning early we took train for camerona Ca meroBa fine city in clinton county where we changed chanced cars and continued our journey to liberty clay county arriving here at 11 a in wl without difficulty we found the old jail where jos eph and his bis brethren were inear incarcerated from nov 1838 1833 to april 1839 by the tae assistance of a colored neighbor we succeeded in gaining an ent entrance raDee to the interior interi of olLof the halt bait tumble down building arach we found very filthy indeed filled with cobwebs and insects ol 01 of numerous kinds which had their abode in the rotten timbers mr theodore who has charge re of the property for the e present owner mortimore dearing a wealthy banker ol of kansas city told us that the jail had bad not been opened and entered until today tor for many many years the smell from the decaying timber and aad dead insects was something sickening and a couple of minutes stay there made us wish for the fresh air outside how the prophet and his fellow pr prisoners boners could endure life to in such a h hole ole f for or upwards oi 01 five months is more mope than t h an we can comprehend 0 coura eit w was abnot not so filthy then but the openings for ventilation and light seem to have been so small that it cannot possibly have been a healthy abode for human beings at soy any time we found the space inside to measure about feet from east to 10 west and 14 feet from north to south from the basement floor to the ceiling ws we should judge it to be about 14 feet three feet ot of which is under ground the middle floor which while joseph and his fellow p prisoners iro boners were there divided the space iino an upper and lower story has been torn atey but we could see where it had bad been and should say that the cell or lower room at that time measured 6 gai 1 feet and the upper about 7 feet from floor to ceiling cel ling the only openings giving light and ventilation to the cell part are two very small grated windows through the wall one on the south and another on the north t ide these opening of which has a heavy square ron iron bar running horizontally zon tally tarou through gih the middle are two feet wide and six bix inches high above them there are near the root roof two larger openings two feet in width and one foot in height giving light end air to the upper story in each of these two upper windows there are five square iron bars standing perpendicularly and fastened very securely in the timbers of the binding in tact fact the whole structure is a double building the inner baing built of hewn oak logs about a foot square and the outside of rock the floor and ceiling are constructed ted of the same material thus mailing a huge wooden box the rock walls are two feet thick and in building them a space of about one toot foot was lef left t between the rock and timber which space was filled up with loose rock thus it will be seen that the prison walls are virtually 4 feet thick several loads of rock were also placed on top of the log ceiling in order to make escape through li the roof impossible the outside dimensions of tile the build i are 2213 1 feet lou long g 22 feet wide 12 feet high to the i fr quare the door is on the east end facing the street and is 5 14 feet high and 2 14 feet wide and opens to what was the upper apartment toe west gable and most of the west wall has tumbled down and also part of the north wall thus leaving tue stober or inside structure partly the east wall and jable grable are iu in a good state of preservation and only one corner of the south wall is boin down tha building stands on the west side of what is known as main street one and a hall half blocks north ol of the northwest corner of liberty court house square it stands back from the street about 20 feet on an uncultivated acre lot which the owner bas offered to sell for 2000 2500 but no one seems to care for purchasing the prope property isy to reach the abe building from the street we had to make a path through the thick growth of grass and weeds some of the abe latter being more than six feet high partly hid the building from view from the street we also learned from official sources that theold jail bad not been ned as a prison since about the year 1856 1836 when it was deemed unsafe and for a couple of ef ye years arsand and more clay county criminals 0 were sent to platte city for safekeeping in 1858 the present courthouse which by the way is a very fine building without but exceedingly dirty within was erected ou OB taft public 0 cuare with apartments also cpr wr prisoners for years afterwards atter wards the oid jail was utilized as an icehouse ice house but has not been used for any purpose whatever during th last decennium or more tue root roof felt in years ao ago and the rock wall is crumbling down more and more every season so there is every reason to believe that in a few years ears even it if permitted to stand andas as it it does now there will be nothing but a heap of rocks and rotten timber left to designate the place where this historic building stood we secured the aid of a photographer to who took a very goad d negative showing the ruins as fryy they stand at t the present t time e tm J having v ng in made da al all the he observations we wanted a around the jail we ve visited a number of the old settlers of the town among whom were col luke W burris barris a county official ben H stean a bright business man james H ford an ex official dr marsh and others mr ford was 72 years old served as deputy sheriff of clay county in and had joseph smith and fellow prisoners under his bis charge during daring kheir incarceration acting under the direction of samuel hadley the county sheriff on many occasions he had bad taken the prisoners out one at a time for walks around the town in order to give lye them an opportunity to enjoy the fresh fresh air and get better meals than the lail jail fare allowed on these walks he had often had bad lengthy conversations with the 11 prophet who to him appeared to be e far above the average of men in intelligence and seemed to be very deep and thoughtful III although good natured and even jocular cular in his bis manners he had never looked upon joseph smith and his friends iu in prison as real criminals 9 but ascribed incarceration ina mainly I 1 to tue tae excitement and bigotry 0 of the times mr ford remembered d the time when the prisoners tried to break jail and said be e discharged his pistol on that occasion but hoped he did not hurt anybody any body this is evidently the shot fired alter after cyrus daniels one of the visiting brethren who fell into a hole just as the report of a pistol was heard beard and a ball came whistling by mr ford said that in stopping tte prisoners ri from getting out he also struck k a heavy blow at ac the ht bad ad of a boyish looked looking man whose name he be believed was bilow mr ford also accompanied compa nied the prisoners to gallatin daviess county in april 1839 and said when they arrived there they were handed banded over to 10 some halt a dozen of the strongest and roughest men in daviess county who at first crowded the prisoners into a corner of a room rd refusing using to allow them any liberties at all but after a little when they began to converse with the prisoners they became quite sociable with them an and a reputed champion wrestler ler of daviess county wanted to try strength with the mormon prophet joseph excused himself saving ile he was a prisoner and could coifed not DOC engage in exercises of that kind under the ibe circumstances but finally through the solicitations soli citations of the guard and the man promising promis ioe not to get angry if he was thrown joseph consented to wrestle with him consequently a ring was made and the two stepped forth the missourian took recourse to all the trickery known to him in the art of wrestling but was unsuccessful in his attempts to throw joseph finally the latter gathered up his bis strength made a first real attempt and threw his bis opponent opponent flat fiat upon his bis back in a pool 0 Or of water this made the fellow mad although he had bad agreed not to get offended d e d if t thrown brown and he be wished to re farat but the guard interfered and the daviess aniess county champion was much humiliated afterwards atter warda iu in being made t the he object of considerable ridicule on tt the ie part of his companions he be having previously boasted that he could throw joseph smith 1 wo we asked mr ford if he knew anything thill about human flesh having been I 1 offered the prisoners he answer answered gd emphatically no SO 80 far as his bis knowledge went such a thing was not even thought of we suggested that it might have been done without his knowledge but he thought not samuel tillery he said was the man who boarded tte prisoners and he did not believe him aim guilty of such an act mr ford was batis tied fied that the prisoners were treated humanely throughout through our and given all the attention and privileges the law and circumstances would allow liberty is now new a town of 2500 inhabitants there was a boom here a few years ago but it is gone down and with it the price of property two weekly papers one democratic and the other republican are published here there are a number of substantial brick stores and some handsome private residences on a hiu bill immediately immediate lv east of the court house bouse stands the william jewell college claimed to be one of the best beat institutions of learning in western missouri we did not here find that animosity of beelin feeling toward the saints among the old settlers that we did ingray ray and daviess counties s and in alluding to this we told isome acme of ane leading men with whom we coa conversed coave versed reed that the saints in utah always remembered with gratitude the kind treatment atie cormons mormons Mor mons received by the citizens of clay county in the years I 1 1833 31 84 after their expulsion from jackson county this seemed to please them and them they told us in return that they had bad no ill feeling toward the mor mons II 11 could amount tono to no more than a difference in rell religious I 1 0 0 opinion p I 1 n I 1 0 n anyway and they agreed agreed VB v aa u us s th that a t men should not oate nate or ku kul I 1 each other because out reli religion gloD but rattier rather in meekness and a spirit of kindness try to enlighten each other and always be willing to allow the free exercise of conscience as long as the common rights of humanity were not infringed upon in the name of religion ion we have been asked many questions in regard to whittier the agui wont ever expect to come back tor ta missouri to live we have answered ryes they will most assuredly come back when the proper time comes but we can afford to wait until the lord opens the way 11 several have remarked that immediately after the civil war would have been a very good time for the saints to have returned as lands then could be bought very cheap nearly the whole country having been reduced to a wilderness A great many who possess imperfect titles on account of ori original gloal entries being made by cormons mormons Mor mons ob who never sold their property feel somewhat uneasy thinking perhaps that it these original owners should assert their rights there might be trouble and io in some instances that may be one reason why people are so anxious to sell we start for kansas city this evening and from there will continue our journey to chattanooga EDWARD stevenson 8 BLACK BLACIC |
