Part 28 (1/2)

* ”Correspondence, Orders, etc.,” p. 78.

The Mormons began to depart at once, and in ten days nearly all had left. Lee, who acted as guide to General Wilson, and whose wife and babe were at Adamondi-Ahman, says:

”Every house in Adamondi-Ahman was searched by the troops for stolen property. They succeeded in finding very much of the Gentile property that had been captured by the Saints in the various raids they made through the country. Bedding of every kind and in large quant.i.ties was found and reclaimed by the owners. Even spinning wheels, soap barrels, and other articles were recovered. Each house where stolen property was found was certain to receive a Missouri blessing from the troops. The men who had been most active in gathering plunder had fled to Illinois to escape the vengeance of the people, leaving their families to suffer for the sins of the believing Saints.”*

* ”Mormonism Unveiled,” p. 89.

We may now follow the fortunes of the Mormon prisoners. On arriving at Richmond, they were confined in the unfinished brick court-house. The only inside work on this building that was completed was a partly laid floor, and to this the prisoners were restricted by a railing, with a guard inside and out. ”Two three-pail iron kettles for boiling our meat, and two or more iron bake kettles, or Dutch ovens, were furnished us,”

says Robinson, ”together with sacks of corn meal and meat in bulk.

We did our own cooking. This arrangement suited us very well, and we enjoyed ourselves as well as men could under such circ.u.mstances.”*

* The Return, Vol. I, p. 234.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, and A. McRea were soon transferred to the jail at Liberty. The others were then put into the debtor's room of Richmond jail, a two-story log structure which was not well warmed, but they were released on light bail in a few days.

A report of the testimony given at the hearing of the Mormon prisoners before judge King will be found in the ”Correspondence, Orders, etc.,”

published by order of the Missouri legislature, pp. 97-149. Among the Mormons who gave evidence against the prisoners were Avard, the Danite, John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, John Corrill, and Colonel Hinckle. There were thirty-seven witnesses for the state and seven for the defence. As showing the character of the testimony, the following selections will suffice.

Avard told the story of the origin of the Danites, and said that he considered Joseph Smith their organizer; that the const.i.tution was approved by Smith and his counsellors at Rigdon's house, and that the members felt themselves as much bound to obey the heads of the church as to obey G.o.d. Just previous to the arrival of General Lucas at Far West, Smith had a.s.sembled his force, and told them that, for every one they lacked in numbers as compared with their opponents, the Lord would send angels to fight for them. He presented the text of the indictment against Cowdery, Whitmer, and others, drawn up by Rigdon.

John Corrill testified about the effect of Rigdon's ”salt sermon,” and also that he had attended meetings of the Danites, and had expressed disapproval of the doctrine that, if one brother got into difficulty, it was the duty of the others to help him out, right or wrong; that Smith and Rigdon attended one of these meetings, and that he had heard Smith declare at a meeting, ”if the people would let us alone, we would preach the Gospel to them in peace, but if they came on us to molest us, we would establish our religion by the sword, and that he would become to this generation a second Mohammed”; just after the expulsion of the Mormons from Dewitt, Smith declared hostilities against their opponents in Caldwell and Daviess counties, and had a resolution pa.s.sed, looking to the confiscation of the property of the brethren who would not join him in the march; and on a Sunday he advised the people that they might at times take property which at other times it would be wrong to take, citing David's eating of the shew bread, and the Saviour's plucking ears of corn.* Reed Peck testified to the same effect.

* Corrill, Avard, Hinckle, Marsh, and others were formally excommunicated at a council held at Quincy, Illinois, on March 17, 1839, over which Brigham Young presided.

John Clemison testified to the presence of Smith at the early meetings of the Danites; that Rigdon and Smith had advised that those who were backward in joining his fighting force should be placed in the front ranks at the point of pitchforks; that a great deal of Gentile property was brought into Mormon camps, and that ”it was frequently observed among the troops that the time had come when the riches of the Gentiles should be consecrated to the state.”

W. W. Phelps testified that in the previous April he had heard Rigdon say, at a meeting in Far West, that they had borne persecution and lawsuits long enough, and that, if a sheriff came with writs against them, they would kill him, and that Smith approved his words. Phelps said that the character of Rigdon's ”salt sermon” was known and discussed in advance of its delivery.

John Whitmer testified that, soon after the preaching of the ”salt sermon,” a leading Mormon told him that they did not intend to regard any longer ”the niceties of the law of the land,” as ”the kingdom spoken of by the Prophet Daniel had been set up.”

The testimony concerning the Danite organization and Smith's threats against the Missourians received confirmation in an affidavit by no less a person than Thomas B. Marsh, the First President of the twelve Apostles, before a justice of the peace in Ray County, in October, 1838.

In this Marsh said:--

”The plan of said Smith, the Prophet, is to take this state; and he professes to his people to intend taking the United States and ultimately the whole world. The Prophet inculcates the notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are superior to the law of the land. I have heard the Prophet say that he would yet tread down his enemies, and walk over their dead bodies; that, if he was not let alone, he would be a second Mohammed to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.”

This affidavit was accompanied by an affidavit by Orson Hyde, who was afterward so prominent in the councils of the church, stating that he knew most of Marsh's statements to be true, and believed the others to be true also.

Of the witnesses for the defence, two women and one man gave testimony to establish an alibi for Lyman Wight at the time of the last Mormon expedition to Daviess County; Rigdon's daughter Nancy testified that she had heard Avard say that he would swear to a lie to accomplish an object; and J. W. Barlow gave testimony to show that Smith and Rigdon were not with the men who took part in the battle on Crooked Creek.

Rigdon, in an ”Appeal to the American People,” which he wrote soon after, declared that this trial was a compound between an inquisition and a criminal court, and that the testimony of Avard was given to save his own life. ”A part of an armed body of men,” he says, ”stood in the presence of the court to see that the witnesses swore right, and another part was scouring the country to drive out of it every witness they could hear of whose testimony would be favorable to the defendants. If a witness did not swear to please the court, he or she would be threatened to be cast into prison.... A man by the name of Allen began to tell the story of Bogart's burning houses in the south part of Caldwell; he was kicked out of the house, and three men put after him with loaded guns, and he hardly escaped with his life. Finally, our lawyers, General Doniphan and Amos Rees, told us not to bring our witnesses there at all, for if we did, there would not be one of them left for the final trial.... As to making any impression on King, if a cohort of angels were to come down and declare we were clear, Doniphan said it would be all the same, for he had determined from the beginning to cast us into prison.” Smith alleged that judge King was biased against them because his brother-in-law had been killed during the early conflicts in Jackson County.

Several of the defendants were discharged during or after the close of the hearing. Smith, Rigdon, Lyman Wight, and three others were ordered committed to the Clay County jail at Liberty on a charge of treason; Parley P. Pratt and four others to the Ray County jail on a charge of murder; and twenty-three others were ordered to give bail on a charge of arson, burglary, robbery, and larceny, and all but eight of these were locked up in default of bail. The prisoners confined at Liberty secured a writ of habeas corpus soon after, but only Rigdon was ordered released, and he thought it best for his safety to go back to the jail.