1844.
THE PLOT OF AN APOSTATE--THE PUBLICATION OF THE NAUVOO
"EXPOSITOR"--DECLARED A NUISANCE AND ABATED AS SUCH--JOSEPH'S LAST
PUBLIC SPEECH--HE AND HIS BROTHER HYRUM LEAVE NAUVOO--RETURN TO THE
CITY--"I AM GOING LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER."
The mutterings of that storm of hatred, lies and murder changed to the
storm itself when the _Nauvoo Expositor_ came out on the seventh of
June, 1844. It was a weekly newspaper printed by the Laws, Higbees and
Fosters, and was filled with the apostate spirit. Joseph and Hyrum were
the main objects of its lying attacks. It also urged that the charter
of Nauvoo be withdrawn on account of the fraud and crimes which, it
said, were practiced under it. On this same day Robert Foster came
to the Prophet and asked to see him alone, saying he wished to come
back into the Church. Joseph refused to see him without witnesses, and
as they spoke he pointed to Foster's breast and said, "What have you
concealed there?" Foster confessed it was his pistol, and after a few
more words, left the house, promising to come back, but he never came.
It was soon learned that he had wished to draw Joseph off alone and
then murder him.
Three days after the _Expositor_ came out, the city council met and
decided that this paper was a public nuisance, and, as in ordinary
cases, Marshal John P. Greene was directed to remove it. Taking a
number of men with him as assistants, he quietly went to the office,
took the press out of the building, broke it and pied the type. Joseph,
as mayor of the city, made a proclamation telling why this action had
been taken. It was simply self-protection. If the _Nauvoo Expositor_
had gone on, sooner or later mobs would have come upon Nauvoo, and the
city would have suffered the terrible fate of Far West.
The publishers hurried to Carthage and told their story. Constable
David Bettis worth was sent to arrest Joseph and Hyrum Smith and the
others who had been concerned in destroying the _Expositor_. Thomas
Morrison, justice of the peace at Carthage, had issued a warrant and
had directed the officers to bring the prisoners before him or some
other justice of the peace within the county. Joseph and Hyrum asked
that they be taken before a justice of the peace in Nauvoo, but the
constable said, "I will be damned but I will carry you before Justice
Morrison at Carthage." The brethren therefore obtained a writ of habeas
corpus from the city court of Nauvoo and after being examined were set
free.
Though Marshal Greene's action had been perfectly lawful and regular,
it was a somewhat unusual thing to do, and Joseph sent a statement
to Governor Ford when the excitement began to rise, telling plainly
the whole affair and offering to go to Springfield, the capital of
Illinois, to be tried by any court that could properly try the case.
Judge Thomas came to Nauvoo on the sixteenth and counseled Marshal
Greene, Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and the others who had taken part in
destroying the press, to go before a justice of the peace and be tried
for the offense, saying that if they were acquitted, he would be bound
to make the mob keep the peace. They went before Daniel H. Wells, who
was not then a member of the Church, and after a full careful trial,
were set free, Esquire Wells deciding that they were not guilty.
On the very day that this trial was held mobs began to gather. Hundreds
poured over the Mississippi river to have a hand in what they thought
would be bloody work, and the worst characters in the surrounding
country gathered, with muskets and cannon, to attack Nauvoo. As
commanding officer of the Nauvoo Legion, Joseph ordered his men to arms
and declared the city under martial law. He stood upon the platform in
full uniform and spoke to his soldiers and the Saints. It was his last
public address. As he spoke he drew his sword and stretched his arm
toward heaven, and standing there in the splendor of his manhood, he
uttered these words:
"I call God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword
with a firm and unalterable determination that this people shall
have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or
my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body
consigned to the silent tomb."
About this time the Prophet told a dream that he had had. He was riding
in a carriage with his guardian angel, and at the roadside he saw two
snakes coiled up together. The angel explained that these were Robert
Foster and Chauncey Higbee. Farther on William and Wilson Law dragged
him from his carriage, and after binding his hands, threw him into a
deep pit. Terrible beasts then fell upon Wilson and a serpent coiled
itself about William and they cried, "O, Brother Joseph, Brother
Joseph, save us or we perish." He told them that they had bound him and
thrown him into a pit and he could not help them. Then his angel came
and said, "Joseph, why are you here?" He replied, "Mine enemies fell
upon me and bound me and threw me into this pit." The angel took him by
the hand, drew him up, and they went on together.
Governor Ford came into Carthage three days after the Nauvoo Legion had
been called out, and at once sent to Joseph asking that a committee of
discreet men be sent to him from Nauvoo. Apostle John Taylor and Dr.
John M. Bernhisel, after hastily gathering a number of papers, set out
to lay the true condition of things before the governor. He talked with
them and read aloud their written statements while in the company of
the worst enemies of the Church, who continually interrupted him with
oaths and threats. He plainly showed that he was too weak, or at least
unwilling, to enforce the law. When Joseph and Hyrum learned this they
knew their only course to save Nauvoo, without giving themselves up to
slaughter, was to flee.
On the night of the twenty-second of June, while the tears were flowing
fast from their eyes, Joseph and Hyrum, in company with Willard
Richards, bade farewell to their families and Nauvoo and crossed the
Mississippi river. Orrin P. Rockwell rowed them over in a leaky skiff,
and on the way they used their boots and shoes to bale out the water to
keep from sinking. On the next morning they began to prepare actively
for their journey westward, having decided that they would go to the
Rocky Mountains, knowing that if they were absent from Nauvoo the mob
would hot attack the city.
As they were thus working, word came from Emma and many of those who
had pretended great friendship, asking Joseph to return to Nauvoo,
insinuating that he was a coward and was running from danger. Joseph
and Hyrum were men that could not bear this reproach. They at once set
out for home, and as they went Joseph said, "We are going back to be
butchered." Hyrum replied, "If we live or die, we will be reconciled to
our fate." As they walked to the river bank, Joseph, deep in thought,
fell behind, and some one called to him to hasten. He looked up and
said, "There is time enough for the slaughter."
Next morning, Joseph, with the seventeen others for whom the order of
arrest had first been made, started for Carthage. As they passed the
temple the Prophet gazed upon it and looked over the city, then in a
tender, sad tone he said to his companions: "This is the loveliest
place and these are the best people under the heavens; little do they
know the trials that await them." On their way they met Captain Dunn
with sixty troopers from Carthage. He had an order for the state
arms held by the Nauvoo Legion, from Governor Ford, and Joseph, as
lieutenant-general, signed this at his request. After this act the
Prophet said to those about him:
"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's
morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all
men. If they take my life I shall die an innocent man, and my blood
shall cry from the ground for vengeance, and it shall yet be said of
me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.'"
Dunn feared to go to Nauvoo on the brutal errand of the governor,
and asked Joseph to go with him so that he might be safe. Though the
brethren were loth to give up their arms, fearing a repetition of
Independence and Far West, yet they had such faith in the Prophet's
command that they obeyed. These, you remember, were state arms and the
governor had a right according to law to demand them, though he was a
coward for doing so. Their obedience shows how willing the Saints were
to obey the law. Again bidding farewell, Joseph and Hyrum turned away
and left Nauvoo forever.