Show JOE E WORK IN INDIANA GREENWOOD indiana june lath 1897 A few items of missionary experience also an interview with one of the guards in charge of the prophet joseph smith in the year 1842 at far west caldwell county mu mo also at liberty clay county mo may be of interest to many readers of your valuable paper after conference held at columbus Inai indiana ang I 1 was appointed to open up a new field in johnson county ind with greenwood as my po postoffice post s office address to labor with elder thomas S cook it being but ten miles from indianapolis he capitol ot of the state we went up and paid a visit with the elders in that citer after taking in the sights for a day 0 two including parks museum and state capitol building a very beautiful structure erected at a cost of two millions of dollars and was eleven years in course of erection we also visited the famous soldiers monument which towers upwards of feet erected e in honor of those patriots whose lives were offered in the purchase of liberty and freedom after visiting a few days we repaired to our field of labor and at once began to find friends and many who would listen to our message we found greenwood to be the home of dr S E wishard and wife of utah presbyterian fame we met many who were very kind to us and were well informed of affairs in utah after sever il days elder cook took the chills and went up u to indianapolis and elder nels C neson nelson of bloomington idaho who was laboring with elder J E cardon accompanied compa nied me for a few days we had a most successful trip during which time we met mr henry tressler of brownstown Browns town johnson county indiana one of the guards who had charge of the prophet joseph smith at far west caldwell county mo from which place he was taken to liberty clay county mo in the company were hyrum smi h sidney rigdon john taylor and others other the first night out from far west camp was made in the woods wo ids at wb which aich time mr Tr tressler eisler says sayi he and the prophet joseph sat upon a log and broiled meat together on a log fire he was also the steward during the imprisonment at liberty at which time he had many conversations with the prophet joseph who presented him with a book of mormon which is highly prized by him he also saw the rol rolls is of papyrus from which the pearl of great price was translated and procured a piece of the bandage that was wrapped around one of the mummies exhibited by mr chandler he accompanied the prisoners from liberty mo to nauvoo illinois on a change of venue and then returned to his home in missouri when asked as to the real caute cause of the persecutions of the saints and the character of them he stated that the saints were an honest industrious law abiding class of citizens and were persecuted and driven by a ruthless mob with no other purpose in view than plunder and to secure their homes and other property while he says he could not see as they did religiously he states they were an honest God Godi fearing virtuous beope and did not violate any of the laws of the state after an interview of about three hours we lett left hina him with a hearty handshake and a request to call on him again mr tressler is a bright intelligent gentleman of eighty six years is well spoken of by all who know him and bears his testimony to a I 1 men that joseph smith was an honest law abiding citizen will con conclude clude with many thanks for your valuable paper which is ever a welcome visitor to the elders FOSTER W |