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Show were marched off to jail to answer charges of violating Nauvoo's new anti-libel ordinance. The commotion created by the publishing of the Expositor was nothing compared to the uproar caused by the destruction of the Expositor. The people of Illinois were embarrassed in 1837 when an abolitionist press belonging to Reverend Elijah Lovejoy was destroyed de-stroyed in Alton, Illinois. Lovejoy was killed in the attack. -Afterwards, as people had time to think, there was a general feeling of regret statewide, and a new determination that something like that would never happen again in Illinois. Now the Mormons had destroyed the Expositor. The gathering mob in Carthage turned its attention from petitions and legal proceedings proceed-ings to lynch justice. The mad prophet had to be stopped without delay. A message was sent to the Governor Gov-ernor demanding executive powers be invoked to halt Joseph's legal powers in Nauvoo. At the same time Joseph sent a letter to Governor Gover-nor Ford explaining why the expositor ex-positor was a public nuisance needing need-ing stopping. The governor decided to visit Hancock County to see what measures might be taken to settle the conflict. (To be continued) new accusations, by former eaders of the church, who still Ueved the Mormon Church to be true, were accepted as truth. At last ' the world knew beyond any reasonable doubt that the Mormons led by Joseph Smith really were practicing polygamy, or something 'Anti-Mormons began to assemble in Carthage where most members of the Law, Higbee and Foster families had taken up residence in recent days. The subject of discussion discus-sion was how to get rid of "Holy Joe." The anti-Joseph rallies resulted re-sulted in petitions to the president and governor, and legal charges which never survived the habeas corpus of the Nauvoo municipal courts. The Nauvoo city council met Monday, June 10, and passed an anti-libel ordinance carrying a penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine. The council remained in session finding the Expositor publishers guilty of abusing the poor, printing bogus money, illicit intercourse with females and in two cases with males. The council declared the Expositor and its publishers a public nuisance, and finally ended the day's business by ordering Marshall Greene to destroy de-stroy the press and arrest anyone who resisted his efforts. It was 8 p.m., already dark, when Port and Joseph followed Greene and seven deputies down Main Street to the Expositor office. Chauncy Higbee and Foster met the delegation at the door, the two publishers quickly stepping outside out-side and locking the door behind them. "Give me the key," Greene demanded. "No," Foster said. He demanded to see a search warrant which Greene did not have. An argument ensued, Greene insisting he be given the key, Higbee and Foster refusing to turn it over. "Let them keep the key," Port said, when it appeared the argument argu-ment was not nearing any kind of immediate conclusion. Greene and the deputies looked at Port, obviously obvi-ously surprised at what they interpreted inter-preted to be lack of backbone or persistance on the part of Joseph's body guard. Port surprised them all by stepping step-ping up to door, raisinghis right leg high, bending the knee until the heavy leather boot was close to his body, then striking forward with all his might. The pine door was no match for Port's boot. It was ripped from its hinges and slammed heavily to the floor. "See gentlemen, there is no need for a key," Port said. The seven deputies entered the building and began wrestling the heavy press into the street. Once outside, a safe distance from the building, several began beating the press with hammers, while others went back into the building, bringing bring-ing out armfuls of Expositors not yet distributed, and trays of type which were dumped upon the ground around the damaged press. Finally, the type and equipment was soaked with three or four gallons of coal oil. Port struck a wooden match on the heel of his boot and tossed it into the nearest puddle of fuel oil. As the Expositor press blazed its way into history books, Higbee and Foster I" i |