THE STORM BREAKS
In answer to the call made for the citizens of Jackson County to
assemble at the court house on the twentieth of July, 1833, to devise
means to rid the county of the "Mormons," between four and five hundred
gathered in from all parts of the county. Colonel Richard Simpson was
elected chairman of the meeting, and James H. Flournoy and Colonel S.
D. Lucas were chosen secretaries. A committee of seven was appointed by
the chair to draft an address to the public, in relation to the object
of the meeting; the following was the committee: Russel Hicks, Esq.,
Robert Johnson, Henry Childs, Esq., Colonel Jas. Hambright, Thomas
Hudspeth, Joel F. Childs and Jas. M. Hunter.
The address this committee reported repeated the falsehoods concerning
the saints interfering with slaves, inviting free people of color to
settle in Jackson County; and of the saints being the very dregs of
the society from which they had emigrated; again charged them with
most abject poverty, idleness, and of coming to obtain inheritances in
Jackson County, "without money and without price." It declared that
the evils which threatened their community, by the "Mormons" settling
among them, were such as no one could have foreseen, and therefore they
were unprovided for by the laws; and the delays incident to legislation
would put the mischief beyond all remedy. It expressed the fear that if
the saints were not interfered with, the day would not be far distant
when the civil government of the county would be in their hands; when
the sheriff, the justices, and the county judges would be "Mormons"
or persons wishing to court their favor from motives of interest or
ambition; and then the following:
What would be the fate of our lives and property in the hands of
jurors and witnesses who do not blush to declare, and would not, upon
occasion, hesitate to swear, that they have wrought miracles, and
have been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural cures, have
conversed with God and his angels, and possess and exercise the gifts
of divination, and of unknown tongues, and fired with the prospects of
obtaining inheritances without money and without price--may be better
imagined than described.[A]
[Footnote A: Western Monitor, August 2, 1833.]
However, in speaking of the gifts of the Spirit which the saints
enjoyed--revelation, prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing the sick,
etc., the committee proposed to have nothing to say, but piously close
the clause which refers to these things with the words: _"Vengeance
belongs to God alone!"_ For the other things with which they charged
the saints--each and all of them were utterly false except it might be
in the matter of poverty. But even in this the truth was not stated.
A few cases aside, the "poverty" in question was that poverty of the
pioneer newly arrived in the wilderness which is to be the subsequent
field of his enterprises and triumphs. Quite generally the saints went
into Jackson County prepared to purchase lands and build homes; but
pending the accomplishment of that, there was much inconvenience and
some suffering for want of shelter and clothing; but "abject poverty,"
apart from this, there was none.
The conclusion of the mob in the whole matter was thus stated:
That no Mormon shall in future move to or settle in this (Jackson)
county; that those now here, who shall give a definite pledge of their
intention, within a reasonable time, to remove out of the county,
shall be allowed to remain unmolested, until they have sufficient time
to sell their property, and close their business without material
sacrifice; that the editor of the _Star_ be required forthwith to
close his office, and discontinue the business of printing in this
county; and as to all other stores and shops belonging to the sect,
their owners must, in every case, strictly comply with the terms of
the second article of this declaration, and upon failure, prompt and
efficient measures will be taken to close the same; that the Mormon
leaders here are required to use their influence in preventing any
further immigration of their distant brethren to this county, and
to counsel and advise their brethren here to comply with the above
requisitions; that those who fail to comply with these requisitions be
referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination,
and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them.[B]
[Footnote B: Western Monitor, August 2, 1833.]
This address was unanimously adopted by the meeting, and a committee
of twelve appointed to wait upon the "Mormon" leaders, and see that
the foregoing requisitions were assented to by them. In case of a
refusal on the part of the "Mormons" to comply with these demands, the
committee, acting as the organ of Jackson County, were to inform them
that it was the fixed determination of the mob to adopt such means as
would enforce their removal.
The committee called upon Edward Partridge, A. S. Gilbert, John
Corrill, Isaac Morley, John Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps, and demanded
that they cease publishing the _Star_ and close the printing office,
and that, as elders of the "Mormon Church," they agree to move out of
the county forthwith. Three months was asked for by these elders in
which to consider the proposition, and to give them time to counsel
with The Church authorities in Ohio; as closing a printing office and
removing twelve hundred people from their homes was a work of no small
moment. But this time was denied them. They asked for ten days; but
that was not granted; fifteen minutes only was allowed them in which
to decide. At this the conference broke up, and the mob returned to
the courthouse and reported to the meeting that they had called upon
the "Mormon" leaders and that they refused to give a direct answer,
but asked for time to consider the propositions and counsel with their
brethren in Ohio. The meeting then resolved that the printing office be
razed to the ground, and the type and press destroyed.
With demoniac yells the mob surrounded the printing office and house
of W. W. Phelps. Mrs. Phelps, with a sick infant in her arms, and the
rest of the children, were forced out of their home, the furniture was
thrown into the street and garden, the press was broken, the type pied;
the revelations, book-work and papers were nearly all destroyed or kept
by the mob; and the printing office and house of W. W. Phelps were
razed to the ground. Having reduced these buildings to a mass of ruins,
the mob proceeded to demolish the mercantile establishment of Gilbert,
Whitney & Co., and destroy the goods; but when Mr. Gilbert assured them
that the goods would be packed by the twenty-third, they desisted from
their work of destruction.
But their fiendish hate had not spent its force. With horrible yells
and cursings loud, they sought for the leading elders. Men, women and
children ran in all directions, not knowing what would befall them.
The mob caught Bishop Edward Partridge and Charles Allen, and dragged
them through the maddened crowd, which insulted and abused them along
the road to the public square. Here two alternatives were presented
them: either they must renounce their faith in the Book of Mormon, or
leave the county. The Book of Mormon they would not deny, nor consent
to leave the county. Bishop Partridge, being permitted to speak, said
that the saints had to suffer persecution in all ages of the world,
and that he was willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, as the
saints in former ages had done; that he had done nothing which ought
to offend anyone, and that if they abused him, they would injure an
innocent man. Here his voice was drowned by the tumult of the crowd,
many of whom were shouting: "Call upon your God to deliver you--pretty
Jesus you worship!" These expressions, intermingled as they were with
the vile oaths of the mob, were enough to put hell itself to shame.
The two brethren, Partridge and Allen, were stripped of their outer
clothing, and daubed with tar, mixed with lime, or pearlash, or some
other flesh-eating acid, and a quantity of feathers scattered over
them. They bore this cruel indignity and abuse with so much resignation
and meekness that the crowd grew still, and appeared astonished at what
they witnessed. The brethren were permitted to retire in silence--in
silence, except when it was broken by the voice of a sister, crying
aloud:
While you who have done this wicked deed must suffer the vengeance of
God, they, having endured persecution, _can rejoice,_ for henceforth
for them is laid up a crown eternal in the heavens!
By this time it was getting late and the mob suddenly dispersed. As
night drew her sable mantle over the scene of ruin, those who had
escaped to the woods and corn fields began to return, to learn what
had befallen their friends. Wives anxiously inquired of the fate of
their husbands, and children of the fate of their parents. There can be
nothing more sad than this seeking to remove uncertainty in such cases.
It is like seeking the dead and wounded on the battlefield, or the
missing, the maimed or the dead after an earthquake, or some devouring
tempest or flood--so much alike, at least in their results, are the
eruptions of the elements and the fierce, uncontrolled passions of man.
Before each the timid and the helpless fly to such shelter as they find
at hand. Some seek safety in flight, others in hiding from the storm or
from wrath. Then when temporary safety is seemingly assured, thoughts
for the safety of others assert themselves. The desire for the safety
of the loved ones--a wife, a husband, a child, a parent, a brother, a
friend--becomes an agony. Love by degrees conquers fear, and at last
prompts the facing of danger much greater than those from which at
first they fled, and the loved ones are sought despite of all risks to
personal safety. So it was with the saints who had been so unexpectedly
assailed. On this occasion, however, those returning from flight or
hiding had nothing to discover beyond the destruction of the printing
press, the wrecking of the Phelps home, the looting of Gilbert's store,
and the abuse of Partridge and Allen. Enough surely for one day of
persecution, but not to be compared with scenes they yet would witness!
The outrages of this day were the more reprehensible because of the
character of the leaders of the mob. In the main they were the county
officers--the county judge, the constables, clerks of the court and
justices of the peace; while Lilburn W. Boggs, the lieutenant-governor,
the second officer in the state, was there quietly looking on and
secretly aiding every measure of the mob--who, walking among the ruins
of the printing office and house of W. W. Phelps, remarked to some of
the saints, "You now know what our Jackson boys can do, and you must
leave the country!"