1838.
HINKLE BETRAYS JOSEPH AND BRETHREN TO MOB-MILITIA--COURT-MARTIAL
ORDERS THEM TO BE SHOT--SOLDIERS SACK FAR WEST--JOSEPH PREACHES IN
INDEPENDENCE--BRETHREN TAKEN TO RICHMOND FOR TRIAL--CLARK FINISHES
TERRIBLE WORK AT FAR WEST AND ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN--MOCK TRIAL AND
IMPRISONMENT.
During this time of trouble in Missouri Satan gained control over the
hearts of some of the leading men in the Church. Thomas B. Marsh,
President of the Twelve Apostles, became an apostate and joined William
E. McLellin and other men who had denied the faith, in spreading evil
reports concerning Joseph and the Church. How awful it was for these
men who had seen the most glorious sights that men on earth have ever
been permitted to see, now trying to stir up the spirit of murder
against the Prophet and to destroy the Church of Christ!
Satan found other men also that were useful aids to him in the great
war he was waging. The highest men in the state became his tools.
Governor Boggs, when the Saints appealed to him for help as the mob was
gathering about De Witt, said that the quarrel was between the Mormons
and the mob and they must fight it out. But as soon as our people
showed that they would fight for their lives, he brought out the whole
power of the state to crush them, and Haun's Mill massacre was the
first result.
On the day of that terrible slaughter the army came before Far West
and camped at a safe distance. In the morning a white flag was carried
toward the town, and Col. Hinkle went out to meet it. When he returned
he told Joseph that the commanders wished him and other leading men to
come to their camp that night and see if they could not come to some
terms of peace. The brethren agreed, but when they reached the camp
they found the whole army awaiting them, and Hinkle, the traitor, said:
"These are the prisoners I agreed to deliver up." The mob yelled with
delight and General Lucas brandished his sword, as though he had done a
very honorable thing.
Next morning, after having spent a cheerless night, the brethren were
tried by court-martial. There were seventeen preachers of the different
churches among the officers of this court. Joseph and some of the
others were not soldiers and could not be tried legally by a soldier's
court. Yet without being able to say a word for themselves they were
condemned to be shot at eight o'clock the following morning on the
public square of Far West. General Doniphan said boldly that it was
murder, and that he washed his hands of the whole affair.
It was not enough for General Lucas to take the leaders by deceit, but
this same day he commanded the people to give up their arms. They had
to obey. Then followed such a scene as that at Independence just five
years before, when the Saints surrendered their arms to Colonel Pitcher
at his command. The mob militia was turned loose upon the helpless
ones. They robbed the houses, and hunted down and shot the men. One
woman also was killed and many others suffered a fate worse than death.
The Prophet and his companions were not shot. The vain Lucas wished to
take them through the counties and show them as great prizes of war.
They were permitted only to see their families, and when Joseph asked
the guards to allow him to speak a few moments alone with his wife,
they refused. The heartless wretches dragged their prisoners away and
their wives and children cried as if their hearts would break, for they
never expected to see them again.
Lucas took them direct to Jackson county, where they arrived on the
fourth of November. A great crowd met them at Independence, and one
woman asked the guard which was the Lord whom the Mormons worshiped.
The Prophet was pointed out to her and she asked him whether he really
called himself the Lord and Savior. He answered that he was only a
man sent by Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel. She was surprised and
asked more questions, and the Prophet that Sunday morning stood up and
preached a powerful sermon on the first principles of the Gospel. This
fulfilled a prophecy, for he had said publicly several months before
that one of the Elders would preach in Jackson county before the close
of 1838. During the four days that the brethren were at Independence,
people flocked to their prison to hear them preach and became very
friendly.
General Clark had been put in command of all the troops by Governor
Boggs, because Clark was so heartless. He was jealous of Lucas because,
having reached Far West first, Lucas had captured the Prophet, so he
sent a command that the prisoners be brought to Richmond, Ray county,
at once. But now arose a strange difficulty. The soldiers had become so
friendly to the brethren that they would not take them back to Clark.
At last three men were induced to go and they started out with their
seven captives. On the way, however, they became so drunk that they
could not care for themselves, and the prisoners took away their guns
and horses and kept them until they sobered up. Escape would have been
easy, but the brethren hoped for a trial, and all they wished was a
chance to prove themselves innocent. When they reached Richmond they
were chained together and day and night were disgusted with the curses
and filthy stories of the guards.
Parley P. Pratt says that one night while these vile creatures were
telling how they had defiled wives and virgins and dashed out the
brains of men, women and children, Joseph arose and in a voice of
thunder spoke:
"Silence! Ye fiends of the infernal pit! In the name of Jesus
Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live
another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I
die this instant!"
He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained,
and without a weapon, calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he
looked down upon the quailing guards, whose knees smote together,
and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged
his pardon, and remained quiet until exchange of guards.
I have seen ministers of justice, clothed in ministerial robes, and
criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended upon a
breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a congress in
solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive
of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of emperors
assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms. But dignity and majesty
have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a
dungeon, in an obscure village of Missouri.
After Joseph and his companions had been taken by General Lucas to
Independence, General Clark with about two thousand men came to Far
West. This made six thousand soldiers that had preyed upon the little
town during one week. He had all the brethren marched out and placed in
line before him. They were perfectly harmless since their arms had been
taken away. After putting fifty-six of them under arrest he commanded
the remaining ones to prepare to flee from Missouri. He told them
they need not hope ever to see their leaders again for their fate was
fixed. After his speech he compelled the brethren, at the point of the
bayonet, to sign deeds giving up their property to pay the expenses of
the mob.
General Wilson had been sent to Adam-ondi-Ahman. He put a guard around
the town, arrested all the men and then tried them in a court of which
Adam Black was judge. The men of the town were so manifestly innocent
of wrong doing that even Adam Black would not convict them. Wilson
ordered that within ten days they should all be gone from Daviess
county.
Clark, with his fifty-six prisoners, came to Richmond to meet Joseph
and the rest of the prisoners. He seems to have settled on their fate,
for Elder Jedediah M. Grant heard him say to his soldiers: "Gentlemen,
you shall have the honor of shooting the Mormon leaders next Monday
morning at eight o'clock." But Clark was a great lawyer and knew that
such action would be absolutely lawless. He therefore hunted for days
to find some charge that he could make against his prisoners. In a
letter to the governor, he said they were guilty of treason, murder,
arson, burglary, robbery, larceny and perjury, but he decided to count
mainly on treason and murder.
A mock trial was held for sixteen days, and at the end of this time all
but eleven, including Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt,
were either let out on bail or discharged. Austin A. King was judge and
let the worst falsehoods be given in testimony. The brethren were asked
to call their witnesses. They named over fifty, and Bogart was sent
out with a force of soldiers to bring them in. Instead of being put on
the witness stand, however, they were thrown into prison. Whenever any
witness showed that he would tell the truth about the prisoners the mob
rushed upon him with their bayonets.
The condition of the Saints was now very, very dark. Joseph and his
two counselors, Sidney and Hyrum, were put in Liberty jail, as it
seemed, only to await death. Parley P. Pratt, one of the Apostles, was
in prison at Richmond. David W. Patten had been killed, and Thomas B.
Marsh, William E. McLellin and others of the Apostles, had denied the
faith and become the bitterest enemies to the Church. The governor
of the state had ordered the soldiers to slay the Saints. Winter was
coming on and once more they had to flee and find new homes.