The building of the Kirtland temple was accomplished by the utmost

self-sacrifice. Nearly three years had been occupied in its

construction; and during this time the Saints had given of their

substance and had toiled without ceasing to make a habitation fit for

the ministration of angelic visitants and of the Holy One, Himself. The

consummation of this work had been very near to the Prophet's heart,

especially since the tribulations in Missouri had shown that no house

of the Lord could be erected speedily in the center stake of Zion.

Wondrous were the visions bestowed in that sacred edifice. Previous

to its completion the glories of the heavens had been unfolded to

the Prophet and his brethren while administering in the ordinances

there. On the 21st of January, 1836, Joseph met with Sidney Rigdon and

Frederick G. Williams, and his father, Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sen., at

one of the finished school-rooms in the building to anoint their heads

with holy oil. They united in anointing and blessing the Prophet's

father as the Patriarch and to anoint their heads; and each of the

First Presidency was then anointed and blessed under the hands of

Father Smith. While they were engaged in this labor marvelous visions

and revelations were bestowed.

The Prophet says:

The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial

kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out

I cannot tell. I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through

which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto

circling flames of fire; also the blazing throne of God, whereon

was seated the Father and the Son. I saw the beautiful streets of

that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold. I

saw fathers Adam and Abraham, and my father and mother, my brother

Alvin, who has long since slept, and wondered how it was that he

had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had

departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather

Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission

of sins.

Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying:

All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would

have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be

heirs of the celestial kingdom of our God; also all that shall die

henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it

with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I, the

Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the

desires of their hearts.

Many other things did the Prophet see and hear. He beheld that all

children who died before reaching years of accountability are saved

in the celestial kingdom of our God. A holy comfort this, which takes

the place of all the black threats concerning infantile damnation.

He saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb in foreign lands, standing in

a circle, with their clothes tattered and their feet swollen, with

their eyes cast downward, and Jesus was standing in their midst, but

they did not behold Him, and the Savior looked upon them and wept.

Those of the brethren who received the ordinances at this time saw

most glorious visions. Some of them beheld the face of their Redeemer;

others were ministered unto by holy angels; the spirit of prophecy and

revelation was poured out in mighty power; and loud hosannas saluted

the heavens from those who were communing with the sanctified hosts of

the celestial kingdom.

On other occasions, before the entire structure was completed and

dedicated, similar visitations came to manifest the power of God and

His gracious acceptance of this devoted labor.

On the morning of Sunday, March 27th, 1836, the first temple ever

built in this dispensation by the command of God, was dedicated to

His service. A large assemblage of the Saints had congregated in the

building. Joseph presided, and he was supported by the Priesthood. The

Prophet himself made the dedicatory prayer, which he closed in the

following words:

Hear us, O Lord, And answer these petitions, and accept the

dedication of this house unto Thee, the work of our hands, which we

have built unto Thy name!

And also this Church, to put upon it Thy name; and help us, by

the power of Thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those

bright shining seraphs around Thy throne, with acclamations of

praise, singing, Hosanna to God and the Lamb.

And let these Thine anointed ones be clothed with salvation, and

Thy Saints shout aloud for joy. Amen, and Amen.

Joseph was acknowledged by the several quorums, standing upon their

feet, as the Prophet and Seer of the Church, and they gave a solemn

pledge to uphold him as such by their faith and prayers. This action

was also ratified by the entire congregation of the Saints in the same

manner. The Prophet then called upon the quorums and the congregation

to acknowledge the other members of the First Presidency and the

several quorums in their offices and callings, and the vote was

unanimous in every instance.

After the administration of the Lord's Supper and the expression of

many solemn testimonies, the dedication was sealed by shouting Hosanna,

Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb, three times sealing it, each time

with Amen, Amen, and Amen.

Brigham Young had the gift of tongues powerfully upon him and made

an address, which David W. Patten interpreted. Then the Prophet

made a short exhortation also in tongues, and afterward blessed the

congregation in the name of the Lord, and the assembly dispersed.

The same evening the Prophet met the quorums in the temple. Brother

George A. Smith stood up and began to prophesy, when a noise was heard

like the sound of a mighty rushing wind which filled the building. All

the congregation rose in an instant, being moved upon by an invisible

power. Many began to speak in tongues and prophesy, others saw

glorious visions. The temple was filled with angels. People from the

neighborhood came running toward the temple, having heard an unusual

sound and seen a brilliant light like a pillar of fire rising above the

structure. These spectators were amazed at what they saw and heard.

On the 29th of March the Prophet met with many of the brethren in the

most holy place in the Lord's house and fasted and prayed and performed

sacred ordinances. In obedience to the commandment, they remained

together throughout that whole day and the succeeding night. While they

were there the Holy Spirit rested upon them; and they continued, until

the morning light broke, to prophesy and give glory to God. The same

services were repeated the day following.

Joseph said to the quorums that he had now completed the organization

of the Church, having passed through all the necessary ceremonies, and

that they were at liberty to go forth and build up the kingdom of God.

At nine o'clock in the evening he retired from the temple and left the

meeting in charge of the Twelve Apostles, who remained to prophesy and

speak in tongues until again the morning dawned. During the night the

Savior appeared with a host of ministering angels. The Prophet said

that it was a Pentecost long to be remembered, for the sound should go

forth from that place unto all the world.

The next day, Thursday, March 31st, the ceremonies in the temple were

repeated for the benefit of those Saints who could not find room in the

house on the preceding Sabbath.

On Sunday, the 3rd day of April, 1836, after the regular service of the

day, the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery retired to the pulpit and dropped

the veils by which it was separated from the body of the house, and

bowed in solemn and silent prayer. After rising, a vision of supernal

sublimity and beauty was opened to the eyes of their understanding.

They saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, and under

his feet they saw a paved work of pure gold in color like amber. His

eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of His head was white like the

pure snow, His countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and

His voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the

voice of Jehovah, saying:

I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was

slain, I am your advocate with the Father;

Behold, your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me,

therefore lift up your heads and rejoice.

Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all

my people rejoice, who have with their might built this house to my

name.

For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here,

and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house;

Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine

own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not

pollute this holy house.

Yea, the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly

rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out,

and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this

house;

And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this

is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the

heads of my people. Even so. Amen.

This vision closed, and then the heavens were again opened. Moses

appeared and committed unto them the keys of the gathering of Israel.

After this came Elias, who gave to them the dispensation of the gospel

of Abraham. When this vision had closed, Elijah, the prophet who was

taken to heaven without tasting death, appeared unto them, testifying

that the time had fully come which was spoken of by the mouth of

Malachi concerning the coming of Elijah--before the great and dreadful

day of the Lord--to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and

the children to the fathers, lest the earth should be smitten with a

curse.

During several weeks following the dedication of the temple the

Prophet and his associates were constantly engaged in measures for

the spiritual advancement of the people and with the building up of

Kirtland. A comforting thing came to Joseph at that time. It was in

the month of May, 1836, when his uncles Asael and Silas Smith arrived

in Kirtland with their families, bringing with them the Prophet's

grandmother, Mary Smith. This noble woman was ninety-three years of

age; she was the widow of Asael Smith, who had prophesied concerning

the coming forth of Joseph and who had lived to accept the Book of

Mormon. The aged Mary had traveled five hundred miles to see her

grandson, the Prophet. For ten days all her relatives in Kirtland

enjoyed the pleasure of her presence, and then she gently fell asleep

in death.

On the 25th day of July, 1836, the Prophet departed with his brother

Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery, on a mission to the

Eastern states. He labored diligently in the vicinity of Salem in

Massachusetts, and while there received a revelation in which the Lord

declared that many people from that part would in His due time be

gathered out to journey to Zion.

Joseph returned to Kirtland in the month of September.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

CLAY COUNTY SORROWFULLY BIDS THE SAINTS TO MIGRATE INTO THE

WILDERNESS--JOSEPH SENDS A DIGNIFIED LETTER TO THE CITIZENS--

CONTINUANCE OF MOB AUTOCRACY IN JACKSON--DUNKLIN'S HELPLESSNESS--THE

SAINTS FORM THE NEW COUNTY OF CALDWELL AND LAY OUT FAR WEST.

They were eastern men, whose manners, habits, customs, and

even dialect, are essentially different from our own. They are

non-slaveholders, and opposed to slavery, which in this peculiar

period, when Abolitionism has reared its deformed and haggard

visage in our land, is well calculated to excite deep and abiding

prejudices in any community where slavery is tolerated and

protected.

This was the complaint raised against the Saints in Clay County on

the 29th day of June, 1836, by a mass meeting of leading citizens who

assembled at Liberty.

It will be remembered that when the mob had accomplished its awful

work in Jackson County, the persecuted Saints had sought and found a

temporary refuge in Clay. During all the intervening time of nearly

three years, constant efforts had been made to secure a restoration of

the Saints to their lawful possessions at Independence and vicinity;

but all in vain, for the mob power triumphed over law, and murderous

rapine still trampled upon law and justice.

Clay County had been the only one to show any available hospitality

toward the plundered ones. But now the time had come when a feeling of

self-preservation, as they called it, prompted the citizens of even

this charitable region to send the Saints forth to renewed wandering.

The measures adopted were not intentionally cruel; it is pitiable even

at this hour to read the resolutions of the mass meeting which decreed

this exile; they show that the men who forced them were sinning against

their own sense of justice, but for the sake of their own families and

property.

At the meeting at Liberty, John Bird was chosen chairman, and John F.

Doherty secretary. The recorded minutes of that assemblage state that

the reasons given in the opening of this chapter, with other similar

causes, "have raised a feeling of hostility" against the Saints "that

the first spark might ignite into all the horrors and desolations of a

civil war, the worst evil that could befall any country."

Continuing, the document says:

We therefore feel it our duty to come forward, as mediators, and

use every means in our power to prevent the occurrence of so great

an evil. As the most efficacious means to arrest the evil, we urge

on the Mormons to use every means to put an immediate stop to the

emigration of their people to this country. We earnestly urge them

to seek some other abiding place, where the manners, the habits and

customs of the people will be more consonant with their own.

For this purpose we would advise them to explore the territory of

Wisconsin. This country is peculiarly suited to their condition and

to their wants. It is almost entirely unsettled; they can procure

large bodies of land together, where there are no settlements, and

none to interfere with them. It is a territory in which slavery

is prohibited, and it is settled entirely with emigrants from the

north and east.

The religious tenets of this people are so different from the

present churches of the age, that they always have, and always will

excite deep prejudices against them in any populous country where

they may locate. We, therefore, in a spirit of frank and friendly

kindness, do advise them to seek a home where they may obtain large

and separate bodies of land, and have a community of their own. We

further say to them, if they regard their own safety and welfare,

if they regard the welfare of their families, their wives and

children, they will ponder with deep and solemn reflection on this

friendly admonition.

If they have one spark of gratitude, they will not willingly plunge

a people into civil war, who held out to them the friendly hand of

assistance in that hour of dark distress, when there were few to

say, God save them. We can only say to them, if they still persist

in the blind course they have heretofore followed in flooding the

country with their people, that we fear and firmly believe that an

immediate civil war is the inevitable consequence. We know that

there is not one among us who thirsts for the blood of that people.

_We do not contend that we have the least right, under the

Constitution and laws of the country, to expel them by force_. But

we would indeed be blind, if we did not foresee that the first blow

that is struck, at this moment of deep excitement, must and will

speedily involve every individual in a war, bearing ruin, woe and

desolation in its course. It matters but little how, where, or by

whom, the war may begin, when the work of destruction commences, we

must all be borne onward by the storm, or crushed beneath its fury.

In a civil war, when our home is the theatre on which it is fought,

there can be no neutrals; let our opinions be what they may, we

must fight in self-defense.

We want nothing, we ask nothing, we would have nothing from this

people, we only ask them, for their own safety, and for ours, to

take the least of two evils. Most of them are destitute of land,

have but little property, are late emigrants to this country,

without relations, friends, or endearing ties, to bind them to

this land. At the risk of such imminent peril to them and to us,

we request them to leave us, when their crops are gathered, their

business settled, and they have made every suitable preparation to

remove. Those who have forty acres of land, we are willing should

remain until they can dispose of it without loss, if it should

require years. But we urge, most strongly urge, that emigration

cease, and cease immediately, as nothing else can or will allay for

a moment, the deep excitement that is now unhappily agitating this

community.

* * * * * * *

That if the Mormons agree to these propositions, we will use every

means in our power to allay the excitement among our own citizens,

and to get them to await the result of these things.

That it is the opinion of this meeting that the recent emigration

among the Mormons should take measures to leave this county

immediately, as they have no crops on hand, and nothing to lose by

continuing their journey to some more friendly land.

This paper had the unanimous support of the meeting, and when this

decree, mingling the sorrow of humane men with the cruel necessity of

what seemed self-preservation, was entered, the meeting adjourned for

three days. In the meantime a committee named in the resolution was to

confer with the leaders of the Saints and obtain their reply.

When the Prophet heard of this new mandate of banishment he was on

the eve of starting from Kirtland upon his journey to the east; but

before going he forwarded a letter signed by himself, his counselors,

his brother Hyrum, and Oliver Cowdery, to the committee of citizens at

Liberty entrusted with the promulgation of the order of exile, in which

letter the following passages occur:

Under existing circumstances, while rumor is afloat with her

accustomed cunning, and while public opinion is fast setting,

like a flood-tide against the members of said Church, we cannot

but admire the candor with which your preamble and resolutions

were clothed, as presented to the meeting of the citizens of Clay

County, on the 29th of June last. Though, as you expressed in your

report to said meeting--"We do not contend that we have the least

right, under the constitution and laws of the country, to expel

them by force,"--yet communities may be, at times, unexpectedly

thrown into a situation, when wisdom, prudence, and that first item

in nature's law, self-defense, would dictate that the responsible

and influential part should step forward and guide the public

mind in a course to save difficulty, preserve rights, and spare

the innocent blood from staining that soil so dearly purchased

with the fortunes and lives of our fathers. And as you have come

forward as "mediators," to prevent the effusion of blood, and save

disasters consequent upon civil war, we take this opportunity to

present to you, though strangers, and through you, if you wish,

to the people of Clay County, our heartfelt gratitude for every

kindness rendered our friends in affliction, when driven from their

peaceful homes, and to yourselves, also, for the prudent course in

the present excited state of your community. But, in doing this,

justice to ourselves, as communicants of that Church to which our

friends belong, and duty towards them as acquaintances and former

fellow citizens, require us to say something to exonerate them from

the foul charges brought against them, to deprive them of their

constitutional privileges, and drive them from the face of society:

They have been charged in consequence of the whims and vain notions

of some few uninformed, with claiming that upper country, and that

ere long they were to possess it, at all hazards, and in defiance

of all consequences. This is unjust and far from a foundation in

truth. A thing not expected, not looked for, not desired by this

society, as a people, and where the idea could have originated is

unknown to us. We do not, neither did we ever insinuate a thing of

this kind, or hear it from the leading men of the society, now in

your country. There is nothing in our religious faith to warrant

it, but on the contrary, the most strict injunctions to live in

obedience to the laws, and follow peace with all men. And we doubt

not, but a recurrence to the Jackson County difficulties, with our

friends, will fully satisfy you, that at least, heretofore, such

has been the course followed by them. That instead of fighting for

their own rights, they have sacrificed them for a season, to wait

the redress guaranteed in the law, and so anxiously looked for at a

time distant from this. We have been, and are still, clearly under

the conviction, that had our friends been disposed, they might have

maintained their possessions in Jackson County. They might have

resorted to the same barbarous means with their neighbors, throwing

down dwellings, threatening lives, driving innocent women and

children from their homes, and thereby have annoyed their enemies

equally, at least--but this to their credit, and which must ever

remain upon the pages of time, to their honor--they did not. They

had possessions, they had homes, they had sacred rights, and more

still, they had helpless, harmless innocence, with an approving

conscience that they had violated no law of their country or their

God, to urge them forward--but, to show to all that they were

willing to forego these for the peace of their country, they tamely

submitted, and have since been wanderers among strangers (though

hospitable) without homes. We think these sufficient reasons to

show to your patriotic minds, that our friends, instead of having

a wish to expel a community by force of arms, would suffer their

rights to be taken from them before shedding blood.

* * * * * * *

Another charge of great magnitude is brought against our friends in

the west--of "keeping up a constant communication with the Indian

tribes on our frontier, with declaring, even from the pulpit, that

the Indians are a part of God's chosen people, and are destined,

by heaven, to inherit this land, in common with themselves." We

know of nothing, under the present aspect of our Indian relations,

calculated to rouse the fears of the people of the upper Missouri,

more than a combination or influence of this nature; and we cannot

look upon it other than one of the most subtle purposes of those

whose feelings are embittered against our friends, to turn the eye

of suspicion upon them from every man who is acquainted with the

barbarous cruelty of rude savages. Since a rumor was afloat that

the western Indians were showing signs of war, we have received

frequent private letters from our friends, who have not only

expressed fears for their own safety, in case the Indians should

break out, but a decided determination to be among the first to

repel any invasion, and defend the frontier from all hostilities.

We mention the last fact, because it was wholly uncalled for on our

part, and came previous to any excitement on the part of the people

of Clay County, against our friends, and must definitely show, that

this charge is also untrue.

Another charge against our friends, and one that is urged as a

reason why they must immediately leave the county of Clay, is, that

they are making or are likely to make, the same "their permanent

home, the center and general rendezvous of their people." We have

never understood such to be the purpose, wish or design of this

society; but on the contrary, have ever supposed, that those who

ever resided in Clay County, only designed it as a temporary

residence, until the law and authority of our country should put

them in the quiet possession of their homes in Jackson County; and

such as had not possessions there, could purchase to the entire

satisfaction and interest of the people of Jackson County.

Having partially mentioned the leading objections urged against

our friends, we would here add, that it has not been done with

a view on our part, to dissuade you from acting in strict

conformity with your preamble and resolutions, offered to the

people of Clay County, on the 29th ult., but from a sense of

duty to a people embarrassed, persecuted and afflicted. For you

are aware, gentlemen, that in times of excitement, virtues are

transformed into vices, acts, which in other cases and under

other circumstances, would be considered upright and honorable,

interpreted contrary from their real intent, are made objectionable

and criminal; and from whom could we look for forbearance and

compassion with confidence and assurance, more than from those

whose bosoms are warmed with those pure principles of patriotism

with which you have been guided in the present instance, to secure

the peace of your county, and save a persecuted people from further

violence and destruction?

It is said that our friends are poor; that they have but little

or nothing to bind their feelings or wishes to Clay County, and

that in consequence, have a less claim upon that county. We do not

deny the fact, that our friends are poor; but their persecutions

have helped to render them so. While other men were peacefully

following their avocations, and extending their interest, they

have been deprived of the right of citizenship, prevented from

enjoying their own, charged with violating the sacred principles

of our constitution and laws; made to feel the keenest aspersions

of the tongue of slander, waded through all but death, and are now

suffering under calumnies calculated to excite the indignation and

hatred of every people among whom they may dwell, thereby exposing

them to destruction and inevitable ruin!

If a people, a community, or a society can accumulate wealth,

increase in worldly fortune, improve in science and arts, rise to

eminence in the eyes of the public, surmount these difficulties,

so much as to bid defiance to poverty and wretchedness, it must

be a new creation, a race of beings superhuman. But in all their

poverty and want, we have yet to learn, for the first time, that

our friends are not industrious and temperate, and wherein they

have not always been the last to retaliate or resent an injury,

and the first to overlook and forgive. We do not urge that there

are not exceptions to be found: all communities, all societies

and associations, are cumbered with disorderly and less virtuous

members--members who violate in a greater or less degree the

principles of the same. But this can be no just criterion by which

to judge a whole society. And further still, where a people are

laboring under constant fear of being dispossessed very little

inducement is held out to excite them to be industrious.

We think, gentlemen, that we have pursued this subject far enough,

and we here express to you, as we have in a letter accompanying

this, to our friends, our decided disapprobation to the idea of

shedding blood, if any other course can be followed to avoid it;

in which case, and which alone, we have urged upon our friends to

resist only in extreme cases of self-defense; and in this case

not to give the offense or provoke their fellow-men to acts of

violence,--which we have no doubt they will observe, as they ever

have. For you may rest assured, gentlemen, that we would be the

last to advise our friends to shed the blood of men, or commit one

act to endanger the public peace.

We have no doubt but our friends will leave your county, sooner or

later,--they have not only signified the same to us, but we have

advised them so to do, as fast as they can without incurring too

much loss. It may be said that they have but little to lose if they

lose the whole. But if they have but little, that little is their

all, and the imperious demands of the helpless, urge them to make

a prudent disposal of the same. And we are highly pleased with a

proposition in your preamble, suffering them to remain peaceably

till a disposition can be made of their land, etc., which if

suffered, our fears are at once hushed, and we have every reason

to believe, that during the remaining part of the residence of

our friends in your county, the same feelings of friendship and

kindness will continue to exist, that have heretofore, and that

when they leave you, you will have no reflection of sorrow to cast,

that they have been sojourners among you.

To what distance or place they will remove, we are unable to say:

in this they must be dictated with judgment and prudence. They

may explore the territory of Wisconsin--they may remove there, or

they may stop on the other side--of this we are unable to say; but

be they where they will, we have this gratifying reflection, that

they have never been the first, in an unjust manner, to violate the

laws, injure their fellow-men, or disturb the tranquility and peace

under which any part of our country has heretofore reposed. And we

cannot but believe, that ere long the public mind must undergo a

change, when it will appear to the satisfaction of all that this

people have been illy treated and abused without cause, and when,

as justice would demand, those who have been the instigators of

their sufferings will be regarded as their true characters demand.

Though our religious principles are before the world, ready

for the investigation of all men, yet we are aware that the

sole foundation of all the persecution against our friends, has

arisen in consequence of the calumnies and misconstructions,

without foundation in truth, or righteousness, in common with

all other religious societies, at their first commencement; and

should Providence order that we rise not as others before us, to

respectability and esteem, but be trodden down by the ruthless

hand of extermination, posterity will do us the justice, when our

persecutors are equally low in the dust, with ourselves, to hand

down to succeeding generations, the virtuous acts and forbearance

of a people, who sacrificed their reputation for their religion,

and their earthly fortunes and happiness to preserve peace, and

save this land from being further drenched in blood.

We have no doubt but your very seasonable mediation, in the time

of so great an excitement, will accomplish your most sanguine

desire, in preventing further disorder; and we hope, gentlemen,

that while you reflect upon the fact, that the citizens of Clay

County are urgent for our friends to leave you, that you will also

bear in mind, that by their complying with your request to leave,

they surrender some of their dearest rights and among the first of

those inherent principles guaranteed in the constitution of our

country; and that human nature can be driven to a certain extent,

when it will yield no farther. Therefore while our friends suffer

so much, and forego so many sacred rights, we sincerely hope, and

we have every reason to expect, that a suitable forbearance may

be shown by the people of Clay, which if done, the cloud that has

been obscuring your horizon, will disperse, and you will be left to

enjoy peace, harmony and prosperity.

Nothing could be more admirable than the candor and gentleness of this

letter. While Joseph's heart was bleeding for his injured brethren in

the west, his sense of justice was so exalted that he could recognize

every honest purpose among the men who felt forced to make the edict of

expatriation. The Prophet also sent a letter of comfort to the Elders

in Clay, counseling peace and yet advising the protection at any cost

of wives and little children.

No delay had been granted in which to receive such communication

from Kirtland, and the leading brethren in Clay assembled on July 1,

1835, the second day following the mass meeting, and considered the

proposition. William W. Phelps was chairman, and John Corrill was

secretary. A committee consisting of twelve--E. Partridge, I. Morley,

L. Wight, T. B. Marsh, E. Higbee, C. Beebee, I. Hitchcock, I. Higbee,

S. Bent, T. Billings, J. Emmett and R. Evans--was appointed to report a

preamble with resolutions. These were presented and unanimously adopted

as follows:

That we (the "Mormons" so called) are grateful for the kindness

which has been shown to us by the citizens of Clay, since we have

resided with them, and being desirous for peace and wishing the

good rather than the ill will of mankind, will use all honorable

means to allay the excitement, and, so far as we can, remove any

foundations for jealousies against us as a people. We are aware

that many rumors prejudicial to us as a society are afloat, and

time only can prove their falsity to the world at large. We deny

having claim to this or any other county or country further than we

purchase with money, or more than the constitution and laws allow

us as free American citizens. We have taken no part for or against

slavery, but are opposed to the abolitionists, and consider that

men have a right to hold slaves or not according to law. We believe

it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn

the righteous to save themselves from the corruptions of the world;

but we do not believe it right to interfere with bondservants, nor

preach the gospel to, nor meddle with, or influence them in the

least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situation in

life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men. Such interference we

believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of

every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude. We

deny holding any communications with the Indians, and mean to hold

ourselves as ready to defend our country against their barbarous

ravages as any other people. We believe that all men are bound

to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they

reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights

by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion

are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished

accordingly. It is needless to enter into a further detail of our

faith or mention our sufferings:--

_Therefore Resolved_, For the sake of friendship, and to be in

a covenant of peace with the citizens of Clay County, and the

citizens of Clay County to be in a covenant of peace with us,

notwithstanding the necessary loss of property and expense we incur

in moving, we comply with the requisitions of their resolutions

in leaving the county of Clay, as explained by the preamble

accompanying the same; and that we will use our exertions to have

the Church do the same; and that we will also exert ourselves to

stop the tide of emigration of our people to this county.

_Resolved_, That we accept of the friendly offer verbally tendered

to us by the committee yesterday, to assist us in selecting a

location and removing to it.

The dread decree was met and accepted. The Saints were fully alive to

the kindness of the people of Clay and were willing to sacrifice what

little comforts they had been able to accumulate since their banishment

from Jackson and to take up their sick and their helpless ones and

journey--but whither? Nobly did they repay the charity which had been

extended to them. If their presence was a menace to the well-being of

men who had in the hour of affliction offered the hand of help, they

would brave death in the wilderness rather than have it so any longer.

It was an awful hour, but the alternative was exile or dishonor to

their pledge. Let their choice speak for them throughout all the ages.

A home in civilization was denied to these afflicted Saints. The

old mob organization in Jackson was still maintained. Only a few

weeks previous to this time a committee of officials in Jackson had

formulated recommendations to their fellow-ruffians in case the Saints

should attempt to come back to form a new settlement or to repossess

their own property. The chief executive of the state, Daniel Dunklin,

under date of July 18th, made a miserable confession of his utter

inability to help or protect them. And the settled counties adjoining

Clay had already refused to permit them to live and labor within their

borders.

But when the citizens of Clay witnessed the nobility of the

long-suffering Saints, they adopted a resolution urging the keeping of

"the peace towards the Mormons as good faith, justice, morality and

religion require." Committees were appointed by these citizens to aid

the people in their removal. And before adjourning, the meeting adopted

the following resolution:

That this meeting recommend the Mormons to the good treatment of

the citizens of the adjoining counties. We also recommend the

inhabitants of the neighboring counties to assist the Mormons in

selecting some abiding place for their people, where they will be

in a measure the only occupants and where none will be anxious to

molest them.

In less than three months the Saints began their work of removal from

Clay County into the wilderness. They had few of the facilities for

extensive travel or for the establishment of comfortable settlements.

To the north and east of Clay was Ray County, the upper part of which

was almost entirely unoccupied. But seven men lived there, and these

were bee-hunters who, having exhausted the honey of that region,

were about to desert the place. The timber was poor and the land

unattractive to ordinary settlers. Into this place, known as the Shoal

Creek region, the Saints journeyed. They bought out the few possessions

of the bee-hunters and began to make homes. The natural poverty of the

county rendered it for a time a place of safe refuge. But it was then,

as it has been since, the case, that the Latter-day Saints are left

in undisputed possession of a desert or a wilderness, until they have

redeemed it from physical chaos and made it a delightful habitation

for man--then their expulsion or oppression begins. Their industry and

thrift are a temptation to the idle and dissolute.

With the simple hope of enjoying the life, liberty, and religious

freedom guaranteed by the constitution, the Saints immigrated into

northern Ray in considerable numbers. In December, 1836, they

petitioned the legislature of the state of Missouri to incorporate the

Shoal Creek region and surrounding lands, which were almost entirely

unoccupied except by them, as a new county. The prayer was granted in

that month, and the county was organized under the name of Caldwell.

The city of Far West was laid out during the winter, and in the spring

of 1837 preparations were made for the erection of a house of the Lord

in that place.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE FIRST SERIOUS APOSTASY AND THE FIRST GREAT MISSIONARY MOVEMENT--

DISSENSIONS AT KIRTLAND, AND SUCCESSFUL LABORS IN ENGLAND--JOSEPH MEETS

JOHN TAYLOR IN CANADA--TRIALS AND MURDEROUS MOBS AT PAINESVILLE--THE

PROPHET WADES THROUGH SWAMPS IN THE NIGHT, CARRYING SIDNEY UPON HIS

BACK.

I say unto all the Twelve, Arise and gird up your loins, take up

your cross, follow me, and feed my sheep.

Exalt not yourselves; rebel not against my servant Joseph, for

verily I say unto you, I am with him, and my hand shall be over

him; and the keys which I have given unto him, and also to youward,

shall not be taken from him till I come.

* * * * *

Wherefore, whithersoever they (the First Presidency) shall send

you, go ye, and I will be with you.

This was a commandment given through Joseph Smith unto Thomas B. Marsh,

at Kirtland, on the 23rd day of July, 1837, concerning the Twelve

Apostles of the Lamb. It was necessary; for pride and disunion and

the ambitions of the world were doing their work among some of their

number, and they would heed neither the counsels of Joseph nor the

direct behest of the Almighty.

Not for many generations had men been favored of the Lord as they

had been. They had received heavenly manifestations sufficient, one

would think, to keep them from ever turning away from the truth. But

after receiving these glorious evidences of divine favor, like their

master, Jesus, they were "tempted of the devil;" yet not like their

Lord, some of these men yielded to temptation and fell from their high

estate. They did not resist the allurements of Satan. The desire for

the glory of the world, the wealth of the world, the vain things of

the world, overcame them. A mania to speculate, to make money, became

almost universally prevalent. It was a general tendency in the United

States, and especially in the west, at the time of which we write.

Forgetting the visions of eternity they had beheld; forgetting the

holy anointing they had received; forgetting their high callings and

their dedication to the ministry of the Son of God, leading men became

real estate dealers, merchants, organizers of "wildcat" schemes, and

eventually deadly enemies of the work of God and of him whom He had

chosen as His Prophet. Simultaneously with this spirit of speculation,

came the spirit of apostasy and rebellion against the authority of

heaven. So rife did this spirit become that those who rebelled were

applauded, and even men were glad to find excuse in the example of the

Twelve and other leading men for their own wrong-doing. The few of the

Apostles who were willing to fulfill the requirements of the gospel in

all things were ridiculed and every effort was made to dissuade them

from the course they were pursuing. Jealousy and hatred of the Prophet

cropped out on every hand. Those who disobeyed were called wise by all

the disaffected spirits; and those who made every required sacrifice

in humility were called foolish. But the generation had not passed

away before the Lord repaid according to His promise. The men who had

exalted themselves were abased into nothingness; while those who had

bowed their heads in humility were exalted. Today the names of the

proud and the vain of that time are almost forgotten; while the names

of the Apostles who endured all things faithfully are held in most

solemn and sacred remembrance by the congregation of Israel.

It was a time of great trial. In the winter of 1836-7 preparations

had been made to establish a bank to be known as the Kirtland Safety

Society--an institution wisely designed to ameliorate the financial

condition of the community. The society was established; but the

Prophet's plan for its usefulness and the general prosperity failed

through the envy and covetousness of some of the leading men. The

sorrow which this brought to Joseph cannot be described. He had labored

and advised with no other object than the general benefit, carrying

upon his own shoulders a greater burden than was imposed upon anyone

else. He had not sought self-aggrandizement, nor would he willingly

permit the avarice of other men to gain advantage over the community's

welfare.

He took part in every labor; and had assumed personally a large share

of the work and care of the printing office, which was at that time a

great responsibility and expense.

So many evil surmisings, so much disunion and apostasy followed in

quick succession the spirit of speculation to which reference has been

made, that the Prophet was led to exclaim:

It seemed as though all the powers of earth and hell were combining

their influence to overthrow the Church.

The integrity of all was tested. Instances of fidelity to the Prophet

were not wanting, especially among the meek and humble, and when the

Prophet met with these their presence and words brought solace and

encouragement to his wounded spirit. Among the prominent men defection

was too general. Several of them yielded to a spirit of murmuring and

fault-finding who afterwards bitterly repented of their unstable and

weak conduct and lack of integrity and courage. The feeling which

Joseph had during these sorrowful days is illustrated by remarks which

he made to Elder Wilford Woodruff, when the latter called upon him in

the spring of 1837, on the eve of his departure on a mission to Fox

Islands. At that time Elder Woodruff was one of the first seventy.

The Prophet scrutinized him very closely, as though he would read his

inmost thoughts, and remarked: "Brother Woodruff, I am glad to see you;

I hardly know, when I meet those who have been my brethren in the Lord,

who of them are my friends, they have become so scarce."

When Elder Woodruff reported to Sidney Rigdon, who was then the

Prophet's first counselor, how strongly he was impressed to carry the

gospel to Fox Islands, to a people who, he felt, were ready to receive

it, Sidney said: "That is right; I wish you would go; for if you do,

some of the devils who are now here in Kirtland will follow you, as

they will every faithful man who goes out into the vineyard."

The enemies of the cause abroad were united with the spirits of

dissension at Kirtland, to produce disaffection against the Prophet

himself and to attribute to him those evils which were solely caused by

disobedience to his counsel and the command of God expressed through

him. As we have seen, some of the Twelve were so far blinded that they

joined secretly with the enemy; but there was not a quorum in the

Church that was entirely exempt from the evil influence.

Joseph was stricken with illness in June, 1837. And while he was

wrestling with the adversary to overcome the physical affliction, the

doubting members of the Church were taught by apostates that his woes

had been sent upon him because of his transgressions. When the Prophet

was once more restored through prayer and the blessing of the Almighty

to his condition of health and power, he humbly said of his enemies:

The Lord judge betwixt me and them, while I pray my Father to

forgive them the wrong.

While Satan was spreading this spirit of dissension through Kirtland,

the Lord was directing to Joseph the magnificent missionary movement

to the old world. About the first day of June, 1837, that devoted and

ever-constant Apostle Heber C. Kimball was set apart by the spirit of

prophecy and revelation to preside over a mission to England--the first

in that dispensation. With him were associated Apostle Orson Hyde and

Elders Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding; and when they reached New

York they were joined by three brethren from Canada, John Goodson,

Isaac Russell and John Snyder. They sailed from the United States

on the 1st day of July, 1837, on the ship _Garrick_, and landed in

Liverpool on the 20th day of that same month.

This was the commencement of a glorious work, which has brought the

honest-in-heart by tens of thousands from foreign lands, and which yet

continues and must continue until the elect shall be gathered and the

judgments of God are poured out upon the nations. Though this was the

first missionary work of the Church performed in another hemisphere,

self-denying brethren had up to this time been diligent in laboring in

Canada, in the states and among the Indians on the border, that the

people of this continent might have an opportunity to hear and obey.

It was a glorious overcoming of the evil which menaced the Church at

that hour. Drawing strength and means from abroad to the cause, the

missionary movement also opened a glorious opportunity for Elders in

Zion to forsake speculations, vanities, dissensions, and to prove their

faith by their devoted efforts for the salvation of their fellow-men.

Apostles Kimball and Hyde, and Elder Richards and companions landed on

this foreign shore absolutely moneyless. They did not have so much as a

cent or a farthing, but they were not dismayed. The Prophet of God had

pronounced upon their heads blessings which they knew could not fail.

Immediately after landing at Liverpool they advanced to Preston, thirty

miles distant. When they alighted from the coach they found unfurled

above their heads a large flag bearing this inscription in letters of

gold:

"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL."

The banner was floating in compliment to Queen Victoria who had but

recently ascended the throne after the death of King William IV; but it

was accepted as a promise and a good omen by the Elders, and they were

not disappointed.

Elder Joseph Fielding had a brother who resided at Preston, and with

whom he and his sisters, one of whom afterwards became the wife of

President Hyrum Smith, and the mother of his son, Joseph F. Smith,

had corresponded. He was a minister of religion, and was styled Rev.

James Fielding. Three days after the Elders landed in England they

preached in Mr. Fielding's church, at Preston, and seven days later

they baptized nine persons in the River Ribble near that place. The

continuation of their work was marked by a noble zeal on their own part

and a prosperity under the divine assistance almost without parallel.

The hatred against the Prophet took violent form at this time. Every

possible effort was made by apostates and mobocrats to harass and

injure him. On the 27th day of July, 1837, he departed from Kirtland

with Elders Brigham Young, Albert P. Rockwood, Sidney Rigdon and Thomas

B. Marsh for the purpose of performing a mission among the Saints in

Canada. A considerable work was being done there, and the Prophet

desired to give personal counsel and assistance to the Saints. But when

they reached Painesville, a few miles from Kirtland, writs in civil

action and warrants of arrest were served upon Joseph for the purpose

of detaining him. These suits were vexatious and without any foundation

in law or justice. Their purpose was stated by Sheriff Kimball, the man

who served the papers upon the Prophet, to Elder Anson Call as follows:

We don't want your Prophet to leave Kirtland, and he shan't leave.

Two or three times during that day the civil suits against him were

dismissed, and he was discharged from the criminal warrants, their

trumped-up character being evident. But this was only to make a show

of justice; for the sheriff went after the Prophet as he was leaving

Painesville, sprang into his carriage and served another writ upon

him. Though this case was manifestly unjust as the others, he was

held to bail in the sum of $700--quite a large amount in those days,

considering the poverty of the people and the petty nature of the

suit. It was decided by the court that no one who lived in Kirtland

should be accepted as sureties upon the bonds. This order was made for

no other purpose than to prevent the giving of bail, as it was hoped

that Joseph could not secure it elsewhere and that his person would

remain in the hands of his enemies. It was Anson Call, then living at

Madison, who gave the necessary security for the Prophet's liberation,

thereby permitting him to return to Kirtland. Some weeks subsequently,

at the time appointed for the trial, the Prophet appeared in the court

at Painesville; but as no one was there to maintain the charge against

him, the falsifiers having in the meantime become frightened at their

own perjury, he was acquitted.

On the night of July 28th, 1837, which was the day after the arrest at

Painesville, Joseph started again for Canada with the brethren formerly

named. On the afternoon of the 29th of July, having reached Ashtabula,

they took a deck passage on board a steamer for Buffalo. They had very

little money, and their accommodations and fare were of the humblest.

They lay all night on the upper deck of the boat with their clothes on

and with their valises for pillows. Despite the tribulations through

which he had just passed and despite the rudeness of his couch, the

Prophet slept serenely and restfully. When they reached Buffalo the

party separated, Elders Brigham Young and Albert P. Rockwood going to

the Eastern States, and Joseph--with Elders Rigdon and Marsh--departing

for Upper Canada.

During the month of August, 1837, Joseph traveled among the branches of

the Church in Canada, ministering counsel and comfort to the Saints. At

Toronto he met John Taylor, who had been baptized by Parley P. Pratt,

and who was then the president over the Church in Canada. The Prophet

and the future President had a time of rejoicing together. Joseph

was deeply impressed by the character of John Taylor. The latter had

been a preacher in the Methodist church at Toronto, and had in that

organization taken rank as a religious reformer. He declared apostolic

doctrines before he ever saw one of the Latter-day Saints, and had been

brought to trial before a ministerial body for his heretical sermons.

With the inspiration that was upon him he had refused to recant,

although his courageous act brought ostracism upon himself and family.

It was this brave and scholarly man who welcomed Joseph and labored

with him in Canada. It was this same hero who, after seven years of

trial--during which he never flinched--was with his beloved Prophet

at the martyrdom in Carthage jail. Joseph's association with John

Taylor, as with other leading men in the Church, shows how the Lord

was directing the footsteps of His future Apostles and Seers of that

generation, that they should come into communication and into living

and loving companionship with the founder of the Church.

When the Prophet returned from Canada he secured a horse and wagon at

the city of Buffalo, with which to make the journey to Kirtland. Sidney

was with him, and they traveled to Painesville without molestation;

but while there, eating supper at the house of a Mr. Bissel who had

been the Prophet's advocate in the former law suits, a mob surrounded

the house and yelled for Joseph's blood. Bissel knew that he himself

might be a sufferer, but he was determined that murder should not be

committed upon an unoffending man if he could prevent it. While the

rabble was congregating in groups around the house, he led Joseph and

Sidney quietly through the back door, and under cover of night they

slipped between the assassin crowds and escaped. Scarcely were they

gone when the mob discovered the fact and, mounting horses, pushed out

upon the Mentor road. They posted sentinels and lighted bonfires all

along this track, which they expected the Prophet and his companion

would travel to get into Kirtland. But Joseph took to the fields.

Sidney was weakened and almost helpless with illness and fear. Many

swamps lay in their way; and Joseph waded through these and carried

Sidney upon his back. He kept away from the road far enough to be

secure in the darkness, while the fires which had been intended for his

detection really aided him to avoid his blood-thirsty pursuers. After a

toilsome and rapid journey, during which Joseph carried Sidney most of

the way, they reached the end of the Mentor road which intersected with

a highway leading two miles into Kirtland. The mob had not posted their

sentinels or built their fires further than this point; and, being well

past their enemies, Joseph and Sidney were able to take the traveled

road and to continue their journey with less pain and toil. It was

very late on Saturday night when they reached their homes in Kirtland

greatly exhausted. None but their families heard of their arrival

until the next morning, when Joseph appeared at meeting and preached a

powerful sermon to the assembled Saints.

Immediately after this time, on September 3rd, at a conference held

in Kirtland, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith, Sen., Hyrum Smith and John

Smith were sustained as assistant counselors to the First Presidency,

the congregation having declined to sustain Frederick G. Williams

in the position which he held as second counselor to the Prophet.

Objection being also made to three of the Apostles, Luke Johnson,

Lyman E. Johnson and John F. Boynton, they were by the voice of

the Saints shorn of their apostolic rank and were disfellowshiped;

however, as they subsequently made protestation of their repentance,

they were received back into the Church and into their station. But

their humility was either a mere pretense or was very volatile in its

character; because not many weeks elapsed until they were once more

engaged in an effort to ruin the Church and the Prophet.

Thus the first serious apostasy and the first great missionary movement

of the Church started together. How unavailing the falsehoods and lack

of fidelity have been and how glorious the efforts of the servants of

God to spread the light of the gospel through every land, every chapter

of the Church's history from that time to this speaks in eloquent tones.

In the August number of the _Messenger and Advocate_ was published a

prospectus for the _Elders' Journal_ to be edited by the Prophet. In

pursuance of this announcement the publication of the _Messenger and

Advocate_ was suspended with the September number, and in October,

1837, the _Elders' Journal_ was begun; but only two numbers were issued

when, through the destruction of the printing office by fire, in

December, 1837, work of this character was stopped.

CHAPTER XXXV.

JOHN TAYLOR'S BRAVE DEFENSE OF JOSEPH--THE PROPHET ENCOUNTERS THE

SPIRIT OF APOSTASY IN MISSOURI--HYRUM IN THE FIRST PRESIDENCY--BRIGHAM

YOUNG'S COURAGE AND DEVOTION--JOSEPH DRIVEN FROM KIRTLAND--DAVID W.

PATTEN'S PROPHETIC OBJECTION--SAD EXCOMMUNICATIONS--FATE OF PROMINENT

MEN--ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN--THE GATHERING.

After the apostasy became general at Kirtland, those who banded

themselves against the Prophet and the faithful Saints set up a claim

to the ownership of the Temple. Scenes of a turbulent and even violent

character were witnessed in the sacred building. Deadly weapons were

drawn and flourished and lives were threatened by the members of the

apostate party who sought by these means to overawe the peaceful

members of the Church and to accomplish the ends they had in view.

After the visit which the Prophet, Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh

made to Canada, Elder John Taylor, with the view of making preparations

to gather with the Saints and to provide a home for himself and

family, repaired to Kirtland. While there he attended services in the

Temple. Fault-finding and accusation were indulged in by leading men

in their remarks, and the Prophet was the target at which their shafts

of censure were aimed. They looked upon him and spoke of him as a

fallen prophet. These attacks aroused all the lion of John Taylor's

nature--and all who ever saw him when strength and courage were

demanded, can remember how grandly he could rise to the occasion and

satisfy every expectation--and he arose and obtained the privilege of

speaking from one of the stands. He was a stranger to the congregation;

they knew not who he was nor whence he came, but the Saints saw in him

a man of God. His fine presence, his courageous demeanor, the plainness

and strength of his reasoning and the power of God which accompanied

his words, made a great impression upon the entire audience. His

address was a masterly exposition of the great truths which God

had inspired Joseph to reveal--truths of which all the learned and

religious world were in entire ignorance until they were brought forth

by Joseph--and a defense of him as a prophet of God. The dissenters

were rebuked and the Saints were strengthened and encouraged and all

felt that a man had appeared upon the scene who would yet be a power

among the Saints. This was President Taylor's first public introduction

to the Saints at the gathering place.

Undaunted by the apostasy, and relying upon the promise of the Lord,

Joseph knew that the work would surely grow and that places must be

appointed for the gathering of the Saints in the last days. To every

human appearance, in the spring and summer of 1837, the Church was in a

state of dissolution; but all who were animated by the spirit of truth

knew that the disunion at Kirtland was but the effort of the adversary,

which, with patience and faithfulness, might be overcome.

In September, Joseph had not yet learned through any earthly

medium of the marvelous work which was to be done abroad among the

honest-in-heart; and yet, on the 27th day of that month, he and Sidney

Rigdon began a journey to the west to visit the Saints in Missouri

and to establish places into which might come converts from every

land. They were accompanied on this journey by Vinson Knight and

William Smith, while Hyrum was already at Far West, laboring with his

accustomed energy and fidelity for the advancement of the gospel and

the well-being of the Saints.

While the Prophet and his companions were on the way, Hyrum's wife

Jerusha died at Kirtland, leaving five little children. Her dying

message was full of faith in the gospel and was a comfort to her absent

husband when he learned it, and it proved that she was worthy to be the

consort of the destined patriarch and martyr.

A little over a month was consumed in the journey to Far West; and

soon after the Prophet's arrival he began to hold meetings for the

settlement of all difficulties which had arisen between the brethren

there, the same evil spirit which had gained such sway in Kirtland

having begun to assert its power in Missouri. On the 7th of November,

1837, a general assembly of the Church was held at Far West, at which

Frederick G. Williams was rejected by the congregation as a counselor

to the President of the Church; and, upon motion of Sidney Rigdon,

Hyrum Smith was elected to fill the vacancy. The local organization was

also perfected, and prayer was offered to God that this place might be

a gathering spot for the Saints.

As it appeared to the Prophet that the regions surrounding Far West,

occupied by other settlers, afforded yet much room, the plat of Far

West was enlarged into the dimensions of a city, and every preparation

was made to afford a refuge to such as might choose to gather to this

new Stake of Zion. It was also decided that the time had not yet come

for the building of a temple at Far West, but that the brethren should

await the commandment of the Lord upon this subject.

About the 10th of November, Joseph left Far West to return to Kirtland,

occupying a month in the journey and reaching his home on the 10th day

of December.

While he had been absent, the spirit of apostasy had gained an

ascendancy with men who had previously begged forgiveness from

the Prophet. Warren Parrish, John F. Boynton, Joseph Coe and

others,--deeming that the absence of the Prophet afforded them an

opportunity--banded themselves together to accomplish the overthrow

of the Church. They renounced the Church of Jesus Christ, renounced

the authority of the Prophet of God, and set up an organization for

themselves. Denouncing Joseph and his faithful supporters as heretics,

they became so violent at any opposition to their falsehoods that they

even sought the lives of their former brethren.

Brigham Young always was one of the truest and most intrepid of men;

and during all these Kirtland troubles he openly and fearlessly

declared to all that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and had neither

transgressed nor fallen from his divinely appointed place. His

unswerving and undaunted attitude, the plainness of his declarations

and the vigor of his defense of Joseph, and his exposure of the schemes

of his enemies, aroused their fury. The apostates could not brook this

boldness of the Apostle Brigham; it interfered with their murderous

designs against Joseph and their hateful purposes against the Church.

Threats and cajolery having alike failed to intimidate or divert him,

they determined to kill him. But he learned of their designs; and

nearly two weeks after the Prophet had returned to Kirtland and was

able to assert his own authority, Brigham Young departed for Missouri

to escape the assassins who ravened for his life at Kirtland.

In the meantime the work abroad progressed gloriously. On Christmas

day, 1837, a conference was held at Preston, at which the reports

showed that already the branch of the Church in England numbered about

one thousand souls.

The letters conveying these happy tidings had not yet reached the

Prophet; and except as hope was inspired in his heart by the Holy

Spirit, he had little comfort through the darkness of that night of

1837, for apostasy and transgression strove hard to rule the weak and

ruin the staunch at Kirtland.

The experience of 1836-7 in the Church demonstrated as never before,

that irrefragable testimonies concerning the divine origin of the

gospel and the prophetic calling of Joseph were not alone sufficient

to keep men faithful. Unflinching firmness and intrepidity were also

indispensable; but preeminent above all other qualities, purity of

life was absolutely essential. The half century which has since

elapsed has abundantly confirmed this. The virtuous, humble men who

possessed steadfastness and faith in the days of trial at Kirtland,

have since grown to prominence among the Saints. The qualities which

they then exhibited have had ample room for exercise in the subsequent

vicissitudes through which the Church has passed. The Lord has tried

and proved them; they have acquired confidence themselves; and the

people have ever looked to them as leaders who could be trusted and

upon whose courage, judgment and integrity they could safely rely.

In this connection it is worthy of remark that the three men who have

succeeded the Prophet Joseph as Presidents of the Church, were all

distinguished during Joseph's lifetime for their love for the truth and

their unswerving affection and loyalty to him as the Prophet of God.

President Brigham Young, probably above all men in Kirtland, displayed

these qualities during the stormy scenes of the last year of his

residence at that place.

President Wilford Woodruff, though not so prominent in those days as

he afterwards became, was expostulated with, coaxed and ridiculed by

some of his old friends, notably Warren Parrish, who had been his

fellow-missionary in the Southern States, for the purpose of inducing

him to join them and turn against the Prophet. But the integrity of the

man was immovable and all their efforts proved unavailing.

With the dawn of the new year confusion and mobocratic power increased,

and on the 12th of January, 1838, Joseph and Sidney were driven from

Kirtland to escape mob violence. Their destination was Far West, and

they were pursued more than two hundred miles by armed enemies seeking

their lives. The weather was intensely severe, and Joseph and his

companion, with their families who had joined them, suffered greatly

in their endeavor to elude the murderous pursuit. Several times the

pursuers crossed the Prophet's track. Twice they entered the houses

where his party had gained a refuge, and once they occupied a room in

the same building with only a partition between them, through which the

Prophet heard their oaths and imprecations concerning him. Thus were

they protected by divine power, else murder would have been done, for

the long and unavailing pursuit had filled these would-be assassins

with a fiendish desire for blood. Owing to the severity of the season

two months were occupied in the journey to Far West, which place

the Prophet and his family reached on the 14th day of March, 1838,

accompanied by Apostle Brigham Young, who had joined him on the way.

His arrival was very timely and necessary. Upon his previous visit

objection had been raised to some of the local authorities and they

were only accepted by the congregation after having made humble

confession of their sins and entered their solemn promise of repentance.

But so soon as the Prophet had turned his back upon Far West to go to

Kirtland, the local presidency had again entered into transgression,

acting selfishly and arbitrarily in the administration of financial

affairs and completely losing the confidence of the body of the people.

While the Prophet had been journeying toward Missouri after escaping

the Kirtland mob in January, 1838, a general assembly of the Saints

in Far West was held on the 5th day of February, at which David

Whitmer, John Whitmer and William W. Phelps were rejected as the local

presidency; and a few days later Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten,

of the Twelve, were selected to act as a presidency until the Prophet

should arrive. Oliver Cowdery too had been suspended from his position.

Persisting in unchristianlike conduct, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer

had been excommunicated by the high council in Far West, four days

previous to the arrival of Joseph.

This was the sad situation as the Prophet approached the dwelling place

of the Saints in Missouri. Many of the people went out to meet him, and

at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from Far West they found

him and tendered him teams and money to help him forward. The joy they

had in his presence arose from an absolute knowledge of his power and

authority as a Prophet of God. They were certain that many of their

difficulties would end with his presence, because he would give the

light of truth by which to guide their footsteps.

On the eighth anniversary of the organization of the Church a

conference was held at Far West under the presidency of Joseph. On this

occasion David W. Patten declared that he could not recommend William

E. McLellin, Luke Johnson and John F. Boynton as members of the Twelve,

and he was also doubtful of William Smith. His objection to these

men was prophetic; all of them lost their standing, disgraced their

calling, forfeited their knowledge of the truth and their promise of

reward hereafter, and sank back into the mire of this world.

At the same conference Brigham Young, David W. Patten and Thomas B.

Marsh were chosen to preside over the Church in Missouri.

On the 12th of April, 1838, Oliver Cowdery was found guilty of

serious wrong-doing for which he had not made repentance, and he

was excommunicated by the high council at Far West. Before the same

tribunal on the day following David Whitmer was charged with persistent

disobedience of the word of wisdom and with unchristianlike conduct,

and he was also cut off. Luke Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson and John F.

Boynton were excommunicated about the same tune, and less than a month

later a similar fate befell William E. McLellin.

It was a sorrowful day for Joseph when he lost the companionship

of these men who had been with him during many trials and who had

participated with him in the glorious understanding of heavenly things.

But they were no longer anything but dead branches, harmful to the

growing tree, and it was necessary for the pruner to lop them off.

Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were two of the witnesses to the

Book of Mormon, designated by the word of the Almighty to view the

plates and to be ministered unto by the Angel of the Record. Oliver

had stood with Joseph in the Kirtland temple and seen the marvelous

manifestations there. It was sad to see them thus shorn of power and

blessing, but they had demonstrated their unworthiness to hold the

positions which they had filled, and the penalty must fall upon them

that the Church might escape the evil of their sins.

Had Joseph's faith in God and confidence in the mission which the

Creator had entrusted to him been less than it was, he might have

temporized with these men and not dealt with them in so strict and

summary a manner. He was attached to them by many ties. They had been

his aids and companions in days when he most needed help, sustenance

and friendship. Through his ministrations of the gospel, God had

enabled him to abundantly repay them. Still he never could forget their

past associations. They were two of the heaven-selected witnesses who

had testified that God's voice had declared to them that Joseph's

translation of the Book of Mormon had been made by the gift and power

of God. If they should be excommunicated from the Church, suppose

that they, filled with anger thereat, should abandon themselves to

the spirit of evil which so many men, so dealt with, yielded to in

those days; what then? Like others, might they not renounce the truth,

circulate all manner of falsehoods, deny the divinity of the work and

even the solemn testimony which they had borne? These might be the

reflections of an ordinary man under such circumstances; but such

thoughts never troubled this Prophet of God. This Church was not the

Church of man. Jesus Christ, its divine head, had promised He would

take care of, sustain and defend it. However much, then, Joseph's

affection and friendship might be for these men, he owed a paramount

duty to his God to deal with transgressors in His Church according to

the laws which He had given. This duty the Prophet performed without

hesitation, leaving all consequences for the Lord to control.

Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, the three witnesses of

the divine origin of Joseph's translation of the Book of Mormon, were

all severed from the Church. They became opponents of Joseph Smith and

claimed he had fallen into transgression; but amid all their trials,

temptations and vicissitudes they never hesitated or wavered in regard

to the published testimony which they gave to the world concerning the

Book of Mormon. Each of them to the day of his death, asseverated in

the most solemn manner the truth of his testimony. All three are dead;

but they still live as immutable witnesses of the truth and divinity of

the record known as the Book of Mormon, and by their testimony will the

world yet be judged.

In the sacred records which have come to us there is no mention of any

other man, that was so highly favored as Oliver Cowdery was, falling

from his exalted position and forfeiting his blessings and Priesthood

as he did. What a lesson and warning does his history convey! It is

generally understood by those who knew him in the days of which we

write, that he was guilty of unvirtuous conduct. This came to the

Prophet's knowledge. He warned Oliver of the consequences which would

follow if he did not repent. The warnings were unheeded. The Spirit of

God withdrew itself from him and he fell into darkness; and from being

the second Elder in the Church, he lost his standing as a member and

became an alien to the people of God. For years he remained in this

condition. After the exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo and the city of

Salt Lake had been founded, he arrived at Kanesville, made suitable

acknowledgments in great humility to the Church there and was admitted

to it by baptism under the direction of Elder Orson Hyde. He was

re-ordained to the Melchisedec Priesthood and shortly afterwards died

at Richmond, in the state of Missouri.

Martin Harris also came back penitent to the Church, after being

for years separated from it. He was restored to fellowship and the

Priesthood, and was strong in his testimony for the truth up to his

death, which was at a very advanced age at Smithfield, Cache County,

Utah Territory.

David Whitmer never rejoined the Church; but his testimony concerning

the divine origin of the Book of Mormon was widely circulated through

the newspapers of the country. He died at Richmond, Missouri.

Of the three Apostles who were then excommunicated--Boynton and the two

Johnsons--one only rejoined the Church. Luke Johnson came to Nauvoo at

the time of the exodus and was again admitted to fellowship. He was

one of the company of Pioneers who under the leadership of President

Brigham Young, left Winter Quarters on the Missouri River in 1847, to

find a home for the Latter-day Saints in the great West, and which

resulted in the settling of Great Salt Lake Valley. Luke Johnson was a

member of the Church when he died in Salt Lake City.

President Brigham Young related a conversation himself and some others

of the Twelve Apostles had with Lyman E. Johnson on one occasion in

Nauvoo. It was after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph. They were

speaking of old times when they were all engaged in the ministry

and when Lyman E. Johnson was a zealous advocate of the truth. The

bitterness he had exhibited in Kirtland had passed away, and he was

softened by the association with his old companions. Speaking of the

heavenly influence and spirit which had accompanied him in his labors

in the ministry, Lyman said, "I would give my right hand to-day if, by

so doing, I could feel once more as I did then."

In the month of April, 1838, the Lord commanded His Saints through

Joseph that the Church in these last days should be called the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also commanded His people to

arise and shine that their light might be a standard for the nations,

and that the gathering to Zion and her stakes might be a refuge from

the storm and from the wrath which shall be poured out upon the whole

earth.

During the spring and early summer of 1838, the Prophet was peacefully

engaged in his labors at Far West and in the regions surrounding. He

established a stake of Zion at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County,

Missouri, at the spot where Adam had dwelt and where, according to

Daniel the Prophet, the Ancient of Days shall sit. He assisted in the

laying of the corner stones of the house of the Lord at Far West on

the 4th day of July. And during all this time he was busily engaged in

collating data and recording facts relating to Church history, that the

momentous events of the eight years preceding might not be lost to the

coming generations.

On the 8th day of July, John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff

and Willard Richards were appointed by revelation to fill the places

of those who had fallen from the quorum of the Twelve. On the same day

the Lord declared the law of tithing to stand for the guidance of the

faithful forever.

Joseph also labored in the preparation of the _Elders' Journal_, the

publication of which was resumed in July, 1838, at Far West.

Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde had returned from England,

reaching Kirtland in May, 1838, having left the English mission under

the presidency of Joseph Fielding, with Willard Richards and William

Clayton as his counselors.

On the 10th of March, 1838, the Seventies at Kirtland had decided to

remove their quorum in a camp to the west; and on the 6th day of July

of this year, a large body of the Saints, numbering five hundred and

fifteen souls--including and in charge of the Seventies--departed from

Kirtland for Missouri. Many sufferings were endured by this devoted

band. Their ranks were decimated by disease and persecutions. Some of

them grew faint and faithless and fell by the wayside. But the majority

persevered; and about two hundred of the original number reached

Adam-ondi-Ahman in a body, while many of the others came as speedily as

their circumstances would permit.

From that time on, until the mob once more triumphed and drove them

forth, the gathering of the Saints continued.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

PENISTON AROUSES A MOB--HIS EXCITING SPEECH CAUSES A CRUEL ATTACK

UPON TWELVE UNARMED BRETHREN--ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MOBOCRATS DRIVE

THEM FROM THE POLLS--ADAM BLACK'S PROMISE--FALSE CHARGES AGAINST THE

SAINTS--THE SHERIFF OF DAVIESS COUNTY ARRESTS JOSEPH--BOGGS ORDERS THE

RAISING OF THE MILITIA--THE PROPHET PERCEIVES THE REAL OBJECT OF THIS

ORDER.

In August, 1838, the appalling mob crusade began which resulted finally

in the exile of the Saints from the state of Missouri.

Previous to this time lands had been purchased by some of the brethren

in Daviess County, adjoining Caldwell on the north. The Saints who

settled there were industrious and law-abiding citizens. But the

murderous element in that region would not permit them to toil in peace

and enjoy the rights of freemen. Some of the old mobbers were there,

and they joined with the people who had sold farms to the Saints and

who saw in this wicked conjunction of forces an opportunity to recover

their possessions, without any other cost than the banishment or murder

of the "Mormon" settlers. Colonel William P. Peniston, who had led the

mob in Clay County against the Saints, was desirous of being returned

to the state legislature as a representative from Daviess County. The

election was to be held on the 6th day of August, 1838. Previous to

that time Peniston and his friends had organized with a determination

to prevent the Saints from voting, as it was believed that they would

not aid their old enemy--persecutor and law-breaker that he was--to a

seat in the law-making body of the state. A friendly judge named Morin

told some of the Elders of the plot against them and advised them to go

to the polls armed and ready to resist the unlawful aggression. But,

though they were strong in their intention to exercise their rights

as set forth in the constitution and the laws, bitter experience had

taught them that such an act on their part as carrying arms, merely for

self-protection, would be called an unlawful demonstration and would

be followed by a general assault upon them under cover of authority.

So they went to the polling places with no other weapons than clean

consciences, clean ballots and clean, strong hands. At Gallatin, the

principal town of the county, twelve of them were preparing to cast

their votes. But Peniston mounted a barrel and made an exciting,

desperate speech. He was surrounded by an assemblage of ruffians

numbering one hundred and fifty. To this inflammable material he

applied the torch.

He said:

The Mormon leaders profess to heal the sick, and you know that is a

damned lie.

He declared his opposition to the settlement of the Saints in that

region and told his hearers that if they suffered the "Mormons" to

vote, they would deserve to lose their own suffrages.

Addressing the Saints he declared:

I headed a mob to drive you out of Clay County and would not

prevent your being mobbed now.

Incited to horrible rage by his incendiary tirade some of the drunken

men in the mob attacked the brethren, and when effective resistance was

made by the courageous twelve, the entire rabble of one hundred and

fifty set upon them. The brethren fought with desperate courage. They

were defending the most sacred right of American citizenship. Before

the well-directed blows from their stout arms and bare hands, scores of

the mobocrats fell in the dust; but at last, overpowered by numbers,

and warned by the authorities of the county that this attack had

been premeditated and they would do better to withdraw, the brethren

retreated.

Just outside of town they held a council to decide whether to return to

the polling places or seek their homes. While they were debating this

point, they saw crowds of mob recruits rush into the town armed with

guns, pistols, knives and clubs; and knowing that these men intended

to do murder upon them the brethren hastened to their farms, collected

their families and hid them in a thicket of hazel brush for the night.

A heavy rain came on. The women and little children, drenched to the

skin, were compelled to lie upon the chilling ground through all the

stormy hours of darkness, while their husbands and fathers stood sentry

at the edge of the copse, expecting every hour that the dread attack

would come.

The next morning word was brought to Far West by friendly settlers that

some of the brethren had been killed at Gallatin, while attempting to

cast their votes, and that the mob power was again supreme and was

determined to drive the Saints from the county of Daviess. It was

reported that the murderers would not even allow the Saints to obtain

the bodies of their dead nor direct their burial.

Without a thought for his personal safety and with that lion-like

courage which ever distinguished him, Joseph and his no less heroic

brother Hyrum, with fifteen or twenty others, started to aid the

Saints in Daviess. On the way Joseph was joined by a few brethren from

different places, some of whom were fleeing from the mob, and that

night, having reached Colonel Wight's house in Daviess County, he was

rejoiced to learn that although some of the brethren had been badly

bruised, none had been killed.

Among the men who had sold lands to the Saints was one Adam Black,

a justice of the peace and just then judge elect for the county.

This man, a sworn officer of the law and an aspirant for further

judicial honors, had joined himself with the mob, probably in the

hope to recover his farm without cost. Joseph determined to see this

treasonable man and remonstrate with him against the cruelty and

dishonesty of his course. Upon visiting him the Prophet received a

verbal confession of his alliance with the rabble. Being further

pressed to declare what his future course would be concerning the

Saints and solicited to sign an agreement of peace, he prepared and

gave to the Prophet a document, of which the following is an exact copy:

I Adam Black a Justice of the peace of Daviess county do hereby

Sertify to the people coled Mormin, that he is bound to suport the

constitution of this State, and of the United State, and he is

not attached to any mob, nor will not attach himself to any such

people, and so long as they will not molest me, I will not molest

them. This the 8th day of August, 1838.

Adam Black J. P.

No force nor unkindness was used with Black. No threat was uttered

against him. The Prophet merely visited him as he visited other men

of prominence or notoriety in that region, in a manly endeavor to

subdue the kindling flame. Whatever contempt Joseph felt for the wretch

who, with a judge's dignity upon him, could connive with a lawless,

murderous mob, he was able to suppress; his demeanor was that of

dignity and repose. But, as subsequent events proved, Black could not

forgive the Prophet for the humiliation which he had made him feel.

That night some of the leading citizens of the county called

upon the Prophet, and together they agreed to hold a conference

at Adam-ondi-Ahman the next day at 12 o'clock. Pursuant to this

appointment, both parties met in friendly council, and entered into

a covenant of peace, to preserve each other's rights and to stand in

their defense. For the Saints such men as Lyman Wight, John Smith,

Vinson Knight, Reynolds Cahoon, and others resident there, gave this

pledge. And for the other settlers, Joseph Morin, senator-elect; John

Williams, representative-elect; James P. Turner, clerk of the circuit

court; and other men of influence and character, made their solemn

promise. Having accomplished so much, the assembly dispersed on terms

of amity, and the Prophet and his companions returned to Far West.

The covenant of protection extended by the prominent men of Daviess

County, who knew and by their acts admitted that the Saints had been

unjustly dealt with and unlawfully threatened, was without avail. On

the 10th day of August, 1838, William P. Peniston and several of his

creatures made affidavit before Judge Austin A. King that a large body

of armed men, whose movements and conduct he declared to be of a highly

insurrectionary character, had been collecting in the county of Daviess

under the leadership of Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight, to intimidate and

take vengeance upon the other settlers, to drive from the county all

the old citizens and possess their lands. He further averred that they

had already committed great violence upon Adam Black by forcing him to

sign a paper of a disgraceful character. This affidavit was made in

Ray County; and on the 11th day of August a committee of citizens came

from that place to Far West to make inquiry of the Saints concerning

the charges therein made. It stands as a monument of disproof against

the assertions of Peniston, that the citizens of Ray County did not

hesitate to place themselves in the power of the "Mormons" and their

Prophet--knowing full well, as they did from past experience, that the

Saints were full of kind disposition toward all men who would treat

them as fellow-citizens possessed of equal rights.

In answer to the inquiry of the committee from Ray the Saints appointed

a delegation of seven men, to make a full explanation of the facts and

to demonstrate to all fair-minded men their own innocence as well as

the wrongs inflicted upon them.

On the 11th of August, 1838, the Prophet went to visit some brethren

from Canada who had settled on the banks of the Grand River, and

remained with them through the succeeding day, which was the Sabbath,

offering such counsel as their situation required. On the 13th, while

returning to Far West, he was pursued by some of the mobbers but

managed to elude them. When within eight miles of Far West he was met

by several of the brethren who had gone out to inform him that a writ

had been issued by Judge King for his arrest and that of Lyman Wight,

on a complaint made by Peniston. Calmly as one returning to his evening

rest from the harvest field the Prophet went to his home, despite the

fears and warnings of his friends. He remained there awaiting the

coming of the officers for three days, and all the time being engaged

in labor for the prosperity and protection of the community.

On the 16th of August, 1838, the sheriff of Daviess County, accompanied

by Judge Morin, appeared and said that he had a writ to take Joseph

into Daviess for trial, for the offense of visiting that county on

the 7th of August. The sheriff was no doubt surprised to find the

Prophet and to serve his writ without molestation, because a report had

been spread by the mob that Joseph would not be apprehended by legal

process. Joseph informed the sheriff that he always hoped to submit to

the law of his country. The sheriff was impressed as well as astonished

by the calm action and dignified deportment of the Prophet; and when

Joseph expressed a wish to be tried in Caldwell instead of Daviess

County, since he thought that the statute of the state gave him that

privilege and justice for him in Daviess was out of the question, the

sheriff declined to serve the writ and said he would go to Richmond to

consult Judge King. Joseph promised to remain at home until the sheriff

returned. The pledge was fulfilled; and when the officer got back he

told Joseph that Caldwell was out of his jurisdiction and he would not

act.

For the greater general prosperity, the Saints in the various parts

of Caldwell County now organized under the Prophet's direction into

agricultural companies, to enclose their lands into large fields.

Joseph showed them how this plan would be economical and add facility

to the tilling of the soil. So readily could this inspired man turn

from the tragic tribulations of life to render to his brethren calm

assistance in their daily labors!

On the 28th day of August, 1838, Adam Black made oath before a justice

of the peace of Daviess County that he had been threatened with instant

death by an armed force of more than one hundred and fifty men on the

8th day of August. He named several of the brethren whom he charged

with aiding and abetting in the perpetration of the offense, and this

was Black's revenge upon the Prophet who had detected him in an attempt

to steal back the land which he had sold to the Saints.

The agitation in Daviess County and the perjuries of the foiled mobbers

aroused Lilburn W. Boggs, of memory already infamous, who was now

governor of the state; and he sent letters to General David R. Atchison

and six other generals, ordering them to raise immediately within the

limits of their divisions four hundred mounted men armed and equipped

as infantry or riflemen. This act, which was ostensibly for the

protection of good order, accomplished its wicked purpose. It aroused

intense excitement and inflamed the desire of the mob to find an excuse

for an attack upon the Saints, since they knew that the militia would

be composed of men who hated the "Mormons" and would be willing to

plunder them on the first opportunity.

Joseph saw the tendency of events and wrote at this time in his journal

as follows:

There is great excitement at present among the Missourians, seeking

if possible an occasion against us. They are continually chaffing

us, and provoking us to anger if possible; one sign of threatening

following another. But we do not fear them; for the Lord God, the

Eternal Father is our God, and Jesus, the Mediator is our Savior,

and in the great I AM is our strength and confidence. We have been

driven from time to time, and that without cause, and been smitten

again and again, and that without provocation, until we have proved

the world with kindness, and the world proved us that we have no

design against any man or set of men; that we injure no man; that

we are peaceable with all men; minding our own business, and our

own business only. We have suffered our rights and our liberties to

be taken from us; we have not avenged ourselves for those wrongs.

We have appealed to magistrates, to sheriffs, judges, to governors

and to the President of the United States, all in vain. Yet we have

yielded peaceably to all these things. We have not complained at

the great God. We murmured not; but peaceably left all, and retired

into the back country, in the broad wild prairie, in the barren and

desolate plains, and there commenced anew. We made the desolate

places to bud and blossom as the rose; and now the fiend-like race

are disposed to give us no rest.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

JOSEPH VOLUNTEERS FOR TRIAL AND LYMAN WIGHT FOLLOWS--BEGINNING THE

STUDY OF LAW--THE TRIAL BEFORE A COWARD JUDGE, WITH A PERJURED

WITNESS--MILITIA CALLED OUT, BUT THE MOB PRACTICALLY DEFIES IT--BOGGS

CONTINUES THE WORK OF OPPRESSION.

Angered at the frustration of their plots of force and legal treachery

against the Prophet, the mob continued to spread reports in August and

September of 1838, that he was defying the law and refusing submission

to process of court. This perjured tale received additional credence

among the uninformed from the fact that the Daviess County sheriff had

failed to arrest him; though, as all should have known, this failure

was no fault of Joseph. But the falsehood was bringing renewed menace

upon the Saints. Upper Missouri erupted a lava stream of bad men into

Daviess, Carroll, Saline and Caldwell Counties. Something must be done

to turn aside the overflow or it would sweep over all the dwelling

places of the Saints.

To stay the fiery river of hate, the Prophet offered himself as a

sacrifice. On the fourth day of September, 1838, he volunteered,

through his lawyers, Generals Atchison and Doniphan, to be tried before

Judge King, in Daviess County. Lyman Wight, who had been charged with

him, followed his example.

It was characteristic of this industrious Prophet, that on the day when

he tendered his liberty and his life as a price for the physical and

political redemption of his brethren, he began the methodical study of

law. The anxiety natural to his position was unfelt. He had looked so

often upon danger that its face was no longer terrible. And he knew

that such learning as he should ever acquire must be gained in the

midst of turmoil. He wanted to know the science upon which statutes

were based, and to become learned in the knowledge of his country's

constitution and enactments that he might the better minister temporal

salvation to his fellowmen, and the hour when prison and even murder

menaced him was as propitious as any he might ever see.

The time appointed for the trial in Judge King's court was Thursday,

the 6th day of November, 1838. Joseph was there, but the case could

not proceed, because the prosecuting witness was absent, and no

testimony was forthcoming. The court adjourned for the day, and Joseph

returned to his home, but the next morning he was again in attendance

and the trial proceeded. Peniston prosecuted and Adam Black swore to

everything which Peniston asked. He had been bribed by money, promises

or threats, else he was incited by murderous hate, and he told things

which manifestly could not have had any existence except in his false

mind. He was the only witness against the defendants. In their behalf

four reputable men testified, proving incontestably that Black's oaths

were perjury and Peniston's complaint was a lie. Judge King admitted in

private conversation that nothing had been proved against the Prophet

and his companion, and yet he bound them over in bonds of $500. Without

a murmur the Prophet and Lyman submitted and gave the necessary bail.

From the trial they were followed to Far West by two gentlemen who

stated that they had come from Chariton County as a commission of

inquiry in behalf of their fellow citizens. A demand had been made

by the mobbers upon the residents of Chariton County for assistance

to capture Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight, and a committee had been

appointed by the fair-minded people of Chariton to investigate the

situation. When these gentlemen saw that the real purpose of the

request was to secure ruffian help to impoverish the defenseless Saints

and drive them once again into the wilderness, they declared that they

had been outrageously imposed upon by the demand of the mob, and they

returned to their own county filled with sympathy and friendly feeling

for Joseph and his brethren. Their findings they subsequently embodied

in an affidavit.

An attack was planned by the mob upon Adam-ondi-Ahman; on the 9th

a wagon laden with guns and ammunition in charge of a party of the

murderous rabble was going to that place from Richmond. But it was

intercepted by Captain William Allred, who arrested the men in charge,

John B. Comer and two others--Miller and McHoney--and took possession

of the weapons. A letter was addressed to Judge King immediately by

the Saints, asking him what should be done with the prisoners and

the captured munitions. This coward responded to turn the prisoners

loose and let them receive kind treatment. He was the judicial officer

who, to satisfy the mob instead of satisfying justice, had placed the

Prophet and Lyman Wight under bonds when, by his own confession, not

one illegal act could be proved against them. Concerning the guns he

was reluctant to give advice, although he promised that they should not

be taken from the Saints to be converted and used for illegal purposes.

Under the same date this unjust judge wrote to General Atchison to send

two hundred or more men to force the "Mormons" to surrender. He well

knew that the Saints were not in a rebellious or unlawful attitude,

nor in a position to fight. They had not even the power to resist

mobocratic aggression against themselves, to say nothing of being the

assailants in any illegal movement.

On the 12th of September, the men who had been arrested while

transporting guns to the mob in Daviess County, were held to bail for

their appearance at the circuit court.

About the same time a large body of the mob entered De Witt in Carroll

County, and warned the brethren to leave on pain of death.

William Dryden, justice of the peace in Daviess County, complained

falsely to the Governor that service of process from his court, issued

against Alanson Ripley, George A. Smith and others for threatening Adam

Black, had been withstood.

General Atchison called out the militia of Clay and Ray Counties which,

under the command of Brigadier-General Doniphan, marched to the timber

on Crooked River, while he went with a single aide to Far West, the

county seat of Caldwell, to confer with the leading men among the

Saints. Here he was the guest of the Prophet.

Doniphan's troops had ostensibly been called into the field to suppress

an insurrection and preserve peace. But instead of the military

powers being used as a menace to the mob, it was operated as if the

long-suffering Saints had been the aggressors. General Doniphan, a

friendly, fair and kindly-disposed man, was acting under the Governor's

orders, and the responsibility of his conduct falls chiefly upon the

executive of the state. The mob prisoners were demanded and were set

free with no regard for any other law than that which seemed to reign

supreme in Missouri--the law of mobocratic will. The arms which had

been seized on the way from Richmond into Daviess County were collected

and delivered up to the General. From Crooked River General Doniphan

brought his troops through Millport in Daviess County to the spot where

a mob had congregated to make an attack upon the Saints. When the

General read an order of dispersion to the rabble they declared that

their object was solely for defense; and yet they would not even permit

the General in command of the state militia to approach them without

going through such military formalities as might have greeted a flag of

truce from an opposing force, while all the time that he was conferring

with them guards were marching in and out, showing that the camp was

being kept in a state of activity. Although they promised to obey the

order requiring them to withdraw, they failed to do so.

From this place the General proceeded to the spot where the Saints had

assembled together for mutual protection under the direction of Lyman

Wight. A conference ensued in which the Saints agreed to disband, to

surrender up any one of their number accused of crime, on condition

that the hostile forces of the mob, only a few miles distant, should

be dispersed. The Saints had every wish to comply with the law and to

avoid every appearance of resistance, but they knew too well that if

they scattered, unless the mobbers were also disbanded, they would be

murdered and plundered. General Atchison, also in command of troops,

was joined on the 15th at the county seat of Daviess by General

Doniphan and his regiments. He found that the mobbers were still under

arms and still aggressive, while the Saints were still huddled together

for safety. To him the Saints also stated their willingness to yield

to any legal requirement, and they would cheerfully submit to any

investigation which might be demanded. General Atchison thought that

peace might be restored and so wrote to the Governor; but immediately

Boggs ordered the Booneville guards to be mounted with ten days'

provisions and in readiness to march on his arrival; and he also

ordered General Lucas to proceed immediately with four hundred mounted

men to co-operate with General Atchison. Similar orders were issued to

Major-Generals Lewis Bolton, John B. Clark and Thomas B. Grant.

While this military movement was taking place the mob continued to

seize prisoners and to send threatening messages, hoping to incite the

Saints to some overt act that the whole power of the mob and militia

combined might be brought against them to annihilate them. Several

times word was brought to the encampment of the Saints that prisoners

taken by the mob were being tortured. This was done in the hope to

provoke a spirit of retaliation. It seems strange that this situation

could have continued for more than a day with such a military force

at hand. A little prompt and vigorous action would have dispersed the

mob and taught them to respect the power of the law. It would not have

been necessary to shed blood, only to let constitutional majesty be

asserted; and the Saints might have remained in peace. But this was

not the purpose. The troops really had been called out, not to protect

the "Mormons," but to answer the lying call of a justice of the peace.

This mighty power of war was brought into operation to apprehend two or

three men, charged with a petty offense, and who had not resisted any

attempt to serve legal papers upon them.

On the 20th of September General Atchison wrote to the Governor that

the insurrection was practically ended; all the leading offenders

against the law had been arrested and bound over to appear at court.

It is noticeable that the people were called offenders, the plundering

rabble going scot free. All of the troops, except two companies of the

Ray militia under command of Brigadier General Parks, were discharged.

In this same letter General Atchison said:

They [the Mormons] appear to be acting on the defensive, and I must

further add, gave up the offenders with a good deal of promptness.

The arms and prisoners taken by the Mormons were also given up upon

demand with seeming cheerfulness.

This candid opinion was re-enforced a few days later by a letter

from General Parks to the Governor, in which he uses the following

expressions:

Whatever may have been the disposition of the people called

"Mormons" before our arrival here, since we have made our

appearance they have shown no disposition to resist the laws,

or of hostile intentions. There has been so much prejudice and

exaggeration concerned in this matter that I found things entirely

different from what I was prepared to expect. When we arrived here

we found a large body of men from the counties adjoining, armed

and in the field, for the purpose, as I learned, of assisting the

people of this county against the "Mormons," without being called

out by the proper authorities.

P.S.--Since writing the above, I have received information that if

the committee do not agree, the determination of the Daviess County

men is to drive the "Mormons" with powder and lead.

Near the same time, General Atchison wrote to Governor Boggs as follows:

Things are not so bad in this county [Daviess] as represented

by rumor, and, in fact, from affidavits I have no doubt your

Excellency has been deceived by the exaggerated statements of

designing or half-crazy men. I have found there is no cause of

alarm on account of the "Mormons;" they are not to be feared; they

are very much alarmed.

About the 26th day of September, 1838, a committee from the mob met

some of the leading brethren at Adam-ondi-Ahman and entered into an

agreement whereby the Saints were to purchase lands and possessions of

all who desired to sell; but this resulted in nothing, for the mob had

other purposes in view.

About fifteen or twenty of the Saints with Lyman Wight were pledged to

appear before the court at Gallatin for trial on the 29th of September.

Hundreds of men drawn into the militia service of Generals Atchison,

Doniphan, Parks, and Lucas were in personal affiliation with the mob.

When the greater part of the forces were disbanded in Daviess County a

general movement took place toward De Witt, in Carroll County. On their

way the bandits breathed their murderous intent against the Saints;

and before the onslaught, the brethren addressed a humble petition to

Lilburn W. Boggs, imploring him to send succor, but he was deaf to the

appeal. His ears were always open to the voice of the murderer; never

to that of the victim. The mob could not ask him in vain for help; the

injured Saints supplicated again and again without a reply. With the

opening of October, the mob pressed hard upon the Saints in De Witt,

threatening death to men, captivity to children and outrage to women.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

BOMBARDMENT OF DE WITT--APPEAL OF THE SAINTS TO GOVERNOR BOGGS--HIS

HEARTLESS REPLY--JOSEPH'S PRESENCE ENCOURAGES THE BRETHREN--THE

SAINTS LEAVE THEIR POSSESSIONS IN DE WITT--THEY GO TO FAR WEST--ADAM

ONDI-AHMAN DEVASTATED--THE SAINTS ORGANIZE FOR DEFENSE--JOSEPH CONTROLS

A MOB WHO DESIGN TO MURDER HIM--APOSTASY OF THOMAS B. MARSH--DEATH OF

DAVID W. PATTEN--"WHATEVER YOU DO ELSE, OH, DO NOT DENY THE FAITH."

Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for

his friend.

On the 5th day of October, 1838, word came to the Prophet of the

bombardment of the town of De Witt, in Carroll County, by a mob army

with muskets and artillery. The ravenous wretches, many of whom had

been in the militia companies of Atchison, Doniphan and Parks, foiled

for the moment in Daviess and Caldwell Counties, had concentrated upon

the more remote and defenseless places for the purpose of plundering

the Saints and driving them forth. As soon as Joseph heard the news

he hastened to the scene of conflict. The rage of the mob naturally

fell against him more heavily than against anyone else; but it was his

nature always to be where danger threatened his brethren.

It was on the 2nd of October that the mob, under the leadership of Dr.

Austin, Major Ashley, a member of the legislature, and Sashiel Woods,

a Presbyterian clergyman, fired first upon the town of De Witt. They

continued during that day and the next, when they were reinforced by

two companies of militia under the command of Captains Bogart and

Houston, who were soon followed by Brigadier-General Parks. It is not

wrong to speak of these troops as a reinforcement of the mob. They were

nothing else. Bogart was a Methodist preacher by profession, and only

led the company of militia to De Witt for the purpose of wreaking the

sectarian vengeance of a bigot upon the Saints. Parks himself confessed

that Bogart's men would not be controlled and were with the mob in

feeling; and this was the General's excuse for allowing the outrages

of this time to go unchecked. On the 4th of October, after forty-eight

hours of siege, the people of the town, in command of Colonel Hinkle,

returned the fire. Parks made no effort to check the mob's plan of

organized murder. On the 6th he coolly wrote in his report to Atchison,

as follows:

_The Mormons are at this time too strong_ and no attack is expected

before Wednesday or Thursday next, at which time Dr. Austin [who

with Bogart was leader of the mob] hopes his forces will amount to

five hundred men, when he will make a second attempt on the town of

De Witt, with small arms and cannon. _In this posture of affairs I

can do nothing but negotiate between the parties until further aid

is sent me_.

Evidently in this posture of affairs Parks wanted to do nothing.

The "Mormons" were too strong. He would wait until Austin's rabble

increased to five hundred, and by that time he hoped to have more

companies of militia, which in turn would swell the ranks of the

plundering besiegers. Parks' conduct indicates his utter lack of

conscience; because in the same letter he says: "As yet they, the

Mormons, have acted only on the defensive as far as I can learn."

General Lucas had been an observer of the gathering at De Witt and had

been informed that a fight had taken place there, in which several

persons were killed. Upon this he wrote to the Governor that if his

information was true it would create excitement in the whole of Upper

Missouri, "and those base and degraded beings will be exterminated from

the face of the earth." He added that if one of the citizens of Carroll

should be killed, before five days there would be raised against

the "Mormons" five thousand volunteers whom nothing but blood would

satisfy. Without attempting to suggest a remedy to Boggs, this cruel

and sanguinary Lucas significantly informs his Excellency that his

troops of the fourth division were only dismissed subject to further

order and could be called into the field at an hour's warning. He

wanted to share in the work of extermination!

These events had happened before the Prophet reached De Witt. It was a

trying journey, in which he had been obliged to travel by unfrequented

roads and had put his life in constant jeopardy because mobs guarded

every ingress to the town. When Joseph entered the place he found

the brethren only a handful in comparison to their assailants. Their

provisions were exhausted, and there was no prospect of obtaining more.

The Prophet concluded to send a message to the Governor and secured

the services of several influential and honest gentlemen who lived in

that vicinity and who had been witnesses of the wanton attack upon the

Saints. These men were bold as well as honest for they made affidavit

of the outrages which had been perpetrated within their sight, and

they accompanied the supplication for redress to the executive office.

The answer of the men who had been chosen by the suffrages of his

fellow-citizens as the chief officer of the state, sworn to uphold its

honor, protect its dignity and maintain the supremacy of its laws, was

only this:

The quarrel is between the Mormons and the mob, and they may fight

it out.

Joseph's presence was a solace and a sustaining power to the Saints. He

animated them by the courage of his presence and taught them patience

by his own tenacity of endurance. He was not there as a warrior; he did

not bear arms; and yet he was a tower of strength to his brethren.

Mobs were gathering in from Ray, Saline, Howard, Livingston, Clinton,

Clay, Platte and other parts of the state to reinforce the besiegers.

For the combined assailants a man named Jackson was chosen as the

leader. The Saints were forbidden to leave the town under penalty of

death. It was the purpose to starve them, since even this large crowd

of mobbers, outnumbering the Saints ten to one, feared to risk a hand

to hand contest. Fires were set to some of the houses; the cattle were

stolen and roasted; the horses were driven off; while the mob made

merry in feasting within sight of the starving people whom they had

plundered.

Joseph directed applications for protection to the judges of the

circuit court and in other quarters but without avail; for where aid

was given, it consisted of men willing to join and abet the mobs and to

share in the spoils. In the town, men were perishing for want of food;

women and children cried for bread. There was no hope of earthly succor.

In this crisis, Henry Root and David Thomas, two men who had been the

sole cause of the settlement at De Witt, solicited the Saints to leave

the place, claiming that they had assurance from the besiegers that, in

such case, no further attack would be made and all the losses would be

paid. Yielding to a necessity the Saints agreed to this proposition. A

committee of appraisement was appointed from men not connected with the

Saints. They placed a meagre value on the bare land, and said nothing

about the houses and other improvements which were still standing

or had been destroyed by the mob, and nothing about the stock and

the vehicles which had been run off. It was, however, an unnecessary

economy of valuation; because the price, meagre as it was, has never

been paid.

On the 11th day of October, 1838, the Prophet and the Saints vacated

De Witt and started for Caldwell with the small remnants of their

possessions which they could gather and hope to convey. They were

harassed continually on the journey by the mob which, in violation of

its pledge, fired upon the retreating people. Among the exiles men

died from fatigue and starvation--for the journey was greatly hurried

because of the mobocratic threats; and one poor woman, who had given

birth to a child on the very eve of the banishment, died on the journey

and was buried in a grave without a coffin.

The experience at De Witt and on the journey from that place to Far

West taught the Prophet and the Saints anew that they had no hope of

protection, no hope of redress, while they remained in Missouri; and

no hope that if they attempted to leave they would not be set upon

and massacred by the blood-thirsty mob. Nothing was left them but to

organize in some fashion for self defense, as they came fleeing into

Far West from all the surrounding country, leaving their worldly all

and glad to escape with their lives.

The tiger spirit of the mob had grown upon its food. As the brethren

left De Witt, Sashiel Woods called many of the mobocrats together and

invited them to hasten into Daviess County to continue their work

there. He said that the land sales were coming on, and that if the

"Mormons" could be first driven out the mob could get all the land

entitled to preemption; besides, they could get back without pay the

property already bought from them by the Saints. It was a welcome

invitation, and, taking their artillery, this horde, with appetites

whetted for their base and cruel work, departed for Adam-ondi-Ahman.

Other mobs were raised in other parts to join in this general movement

for rapine, among the rabble being a man named Cornelius Gilliam who

called himself Delaware Chief, with a party of miscreants painted to

represent Indians.

When the Prophet arrived in Far West from De Witt, on the 12th day of

October, General Doniphan informed him that a mob of eight hundred men

was marching against the people in Daviess County. A small party of

militia had been on the way and might have intercepted the rabble; but

Doniphan ordered them back, knowing well that instead of hindering they

would join the mob. He said: "They are damned rotten-hearted."

Pursuant to an order made by General Doniphan a company of militia was

raised in the county of Caldwell to act under Colonel Hinkle and to

proceed to Adam-ondi-Ahman for the protection of that place. Joseph

went with the militia to give counsel to his friends, risking his own

life again, and taking with him many who were willing to stand with him

in martyrdom if need were.

At Adam-ondi-Ahman the scenes of De Witt were repeated. Houses were

burned, cattle were run off, women and children were driven out and

exposed to a terrible storm which prevailed on the 17th and 18th of

October. In many cases people in ill health were torn from their

beds and were refused time to secure comfortable clothing in which

to make their flight. Among the fugitives was Agnes Smith, the wife

of the Prophet's brother, Don Carlos, who was absent on a mission to

Tennessee. Her house had been burned by the mob, her property seized,

and she had fled three miles, wading Grand River and carrying all the

way two helpless babes in her arms--glad to escape death and outrage.