1844.
UNDER THE GOVERNOR'S PLEDGE OF PROTECTION JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN GO
TO CARTHAGE--ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED--OCCURRENCES AT CARTHAGE--PLOT TO
MURDER THE PROPHET--GOVERNOR FORD'S COWARDICE AND TREACHERY.
The departure from Nauvoo was the beginning of the end. The brethren
reached Carthage about midnight, and found the mob awaiting them. As
they came up a flood of threats and curses poured out from the drunken
rabble. Governor Ford, hearing this, put his head out of the window and
begged the mob to go quietly to their quarters, promising to exhibit
the prisoners in the morning. They spent the rest of the night at an
inn where they found a number of apostates, who said openly that the
intention was to kill them.
Early next morning they gave themselves up to Constable Bettisworth,
who had made the arrest at Nauvoo, and then went to see the governor.
He had sent word to them before they reached Carthage that they would
be protected from harm, and now he gave his word and promised as
governor of Illinois that they should have protection and a fair trial.
When the visit was over Ford took them before the mob militia and
introduced the Prophet and Hyrum as Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
The Carthage Greys threw up their hats, drew their swords and yelled,
"We will introduce ourselves to the damned Mormons in a different
style." Ford answered, "You shall have the full satisfaction." Soon
after the Greys were put under guard for mutiny, but were at once set
free.
When the brethren returned to the tavern from their visit to the
governor, the leaders of the mob called on Joseph. They confessed he
did not look like a desperate man, but said that they could not see
his heart. He answered that he could see their hearts, that they were
filled with murder. He prophesied to them that they should see scenes
of blood and horror to their hearts' content. Many should face the
cannon's mouth and endure all the evil they knew of.
The brethren had come to Carthage to be tried before Justice Morrison
on the charge of riot, because he had issued the order for their
arrest and the governor was not satisfied to accept the judgment of
Daniel H. Wells or any other justice. But now in the afternoon of the
twenty-fifth they were brought before Robert F. Smith who was also
captain of the Carthage Greys and a more bitter enemy than Morrison.
The brethren were released on seven thousand five hundred dollar bonds.
That morning Joseph and Hyrum had been arrested for treason and at
night the constable came with an order from Smith to take them to
prison. Their lawyers refused to permit them to go, since the action
was illegal, and Smith applied to the governor for advice. Ford said,
"You have the Carthage Greys at your command." The justice of the
peace, seeing the point, went with his men and dragged Joseph and Hyrum
to prison.
The night was spent in prayer by the prisoners and the brethren who had
gone with them. Next morning on Joseph's written request, Governor Ford
came and Joseph had a long talk with him. The Prophet explained the
whole situation, and Ford seemed perfectly satisfied. He pledged the
honor of himself and his officers to give the Prophet protection and he
promised that if he went to Nauvoo the following day, he would take him
back.
After Ford left, the brethren took turns in preaching to the guards.
Several times they were changed because the men refused to take any
part in doing such a terrible wrong to those whom they had grown
certain were innocent. At half past two in the afternoon the jailor
refused to give up the prisoners on the order from Justice Smith, as
Smith had no authority to demand them. Once more the governor advised
the use of the Carthage Greys in place of law, and the prisoners were
forcibly taken into court. The charge was treason, and for a long time
Smith refused to have witnesses from Nauvoo, but at length the trial
was put off until the twenty-ninth of June, three days later.
When they went back to prison that night, Hyrum, who seemed far more
hopeful than Joseph, read from the Book of Mormon comforting passages
that told how God in marvelous ways had delivered His servants. The
Prophet then bore his testimony in great power to the guards concerning
the truth of the Gospel, and late at night the prisoners lay down to
sleep. After a time Joseph whispered to Dan Jones who was lying beside
him, "Are you afraid to die?" and Brother Jones replied. "Has that time
come, think you? Engaged in such a cause, I do not think that death
would have many terrors." Then the Prophet whispered, "You will yet
see Wales and fulfill the mission appointed you, before you die." Next
morning Brother Jones left the prison to learn the cause of a disorder
outside during the night. Frank Worrel, one of the Carthage Greys, said:
"We have had too much trouble to bring old Joe here to let him escape
alive, and unless you want to die with him, you had better leave before
sundown; and you are not a damned bit better than him for taking his
part, and you'll see that I can prophesy better than old Joe, for
neither he nor his brother, nor anyone else who will remain with them,
will see the sun set today."
As Brother Jones went on he learned positively that the Carthage
Greys and others of the mob intended to kill the prisoners that day.
He hurried to the governor and found that Ford had decided to go to
Nauvoo, taking the best troops with him and leaving the prisoners in
the hands of the mob. He would not listen to what Brother Jones said,
and even refused to allow any of the Prophet's friends who were outside
the jail to go back, nor Apostles Taylor and Richards, who were inside,
to come out. Brother Jones went away and soon returned with Cyrus H.
Wheelock and John P. Greene. They urged the governor to remember his
promise and not to leave those whom he had pledged the honor of the
state to protect, to be murdered in cold blood; but Ford was too great
a coward to disappoint the mob. He set out for Nauvoo.
Perhaps the governor did not know for certain that the plot was to kill
the prisoners during his absence, and yet he knew the danger they were
in, for he said in his speech to the Saints:
"A great crime has been done by destroying the _Expositor_ press, and
placing the city under martial law, and a severe atonement must be
made, so prepare your minds for the emergency."
This was the afternoon, and as he spoke, a cannon in the distance was
heard. One of his aids whispered something in his ear and immediately
the governor with his officers and the troops rode away as though
in fear. It was probably the cannon fired near Carthage as a signal
that the mob had been successful in its foul work. While at Nauvoo
during the day, Ford and his friends had gone into the Temple and some
amused themselves by breaking the horns off the oxen that held up the
baptismal font, and the officers were heard to say time after time that
the Prophet would die that day.