A PROPHET'S REBUKE.
It is time now that we turn our attention to what befell Joseph Smith
and his fellow-prisoners. The first day from Far West they made twelve
miles, camping at night on Crooked River. A strong guard was placed
around the prisoners, who watched them closely.
The next morning the Prophet Joseph had a word of comfort for his
brethren. He spoke to each one quietly saying: "Be of good cheer,
brethren, the word of the Lord came to me last night that our lives
should be given us; and that whatever we might suffer during this
captivity, not one of our lives should be taken." [A]
[Footnote A: Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, page 210.]
The reader will pardon me if I anticipate sufficiently to say that this
remarkable prophecy was verily fulfilled: not one of their lives was
sacrificed.
The same day this prophecy was made, the prisoners reached the Missouri
River, and were hurried across into Jackson County, for General Clark
had sent word to Lucas to bring the prisoners to him at Richmond; but
Wilson was determined to exhibit the prisoners at Independence. On the
journey Wilson became more friendly towards his prisoners and conversed
freely with them in relation to the disturbances which had taken place
in Jackson County, in 1833. General Wilson, it must be remembered, was
the man who kept a store about one mile west of Big Blue, and seven or
eight miles west of Independence; and who was active in driving the
saints from Jackson County and burning their homes. Of the part he took
in these proceedings he boasted as if it was some laudable work he had
accomplished, though he admitted that he and his associates then, and
now, were the aggressors, and that the manner of life followed by the
saints was blameless.
On the fourth the prisoners and their guards arrived at Independence,
and though it was raining, the prisoners were driven about the streets
for the purpose of exhibiting them to the crowds which had come
together to see them. They were placed in an old, vacant house where
many came to see them during that and the following day. Among those
who came on the first day was a lady, who innocently inquired which
one of the men it was the "Mormons" worshiped. Joseph was pointed out
to her as the one, and she inquired of him if he professed to be the
Lord and Savior. To which he replied that he "professed to be nothing
but a man, and a minister of salvation, sent by Jesus Christ to preach
the Gospel." This astonished the lady and her eager questions brought
from the prophet, ever willing to preach the gospel either in freedom
or in bondage, a discourse on the principles he was sent to teach. The
lady broke down in tears, and left their dingy prison with a prayer
for their safety and deliverance. Joseph's native eloquence and the
truth he advocated had gained another triumph, for not only was the
lady overcome with what she heard, but it had its effect upon all who
listened.
In a day or two the prisoners were removed from their miserable
quarters where the floor had been their bed and blocks of wood their
pillows, to the best hotel in the city, where they were treated kindly
and allowed to move about pretty freely, with a small guard to watch
their movements. Subsequently, however, they had to pay their own
expense at this hotel, and exorbitant charges were made for every
comfort afforded them.
During the few days that Joseph and his fellow-prisoners remained
at Independence, several messages were sent from General Clark's
headquarters at Richmond to have the "Mormon" leaders sent there
immediately. General Wilson, however, found it difficult to secure a
guard to accompany them, as no one would volunteer, and when men were
drafted they refused to obey orders. At last three men were obtained
as a guard, and on the morning of the eighth of November they set out
for Richmond. They traveled down the south bank of the Missouri River
to a ferry kept by a Frenchman by the name of Roy. Here they crossed
the river, and after going about a half a mile lodged for the night at
a private house. The guard who accompanied the prisoners came more as
a protection to them than to hinder them from escaping, and the people
in and about Independence appeared willing for the prisoners to escape.
The guards had been drinking during the day, and not infrequently the
prisoners were sixty or eighty rods in the rear or ahead of them.
When night found them at the private house before mentioned, sleep
so overpowered the guards that they gave their arms into the hands
of the prisoners that they might protect themselves if occasion to
do so should occur; and that was quite likely since they were in a
neighborhood filled with their most bitter enemies.
The night passed, however, without any disturbance, and the next
morning the journey to Richmond was continued. Before starting a number
of armed and rough-looking men, gathered about the prisoners with
curses and threats, and the guards alarmed for their safety, sent a
messenger to Richmond to obtain a stronger guard. Without waiting for
its arrival, the little company proceeded on its journey, but had not
gone far when they met Colonel Sterling Price and a guard of seventy
soldiers.
Arriving at Richmond, Joseph and his brethren were thrust into an old,
vacant house under guard. Soon afterwards they were visited by General
Clark who was introduced to them. The prisoners made an effort to
find out the charges against them, but Clark evaded their questions
and shortly withdrew. Clark had left the room but a few minutes when
Colonel Price came in accompanied by a blacksmith of the name of
John Fulkerson, carrying a log chain and a number of pad-locks. The
windows to the house were nailed down, and the seven prisoners from
Independence were chained together by the ankles; Price's guard of ten
men standing with guns poised, and their thumbs on the hammers for
instant use.
In the meantime General Clark was searching for authority to try
the prisoners before a court-martial, and it would appear from the
testimony of a brother, by the name of Grant, that he had concluded
to so proceed, and had even given the sentence of the court before
an investigation had occurred; for this young man by the name of
Grant, (given name not known), but a brother-in-law to William Smith,
brother to the Prophet Joseph, lodged at the hotel where Clark made
his headquarters. He saw that general select the men who were to shoot
the "Mormon" leaders on the morning of the twelfth of November. He saw
these men choose their rifles and load them with two balls in each;
after which Clark said to them: "Gentlemen, you shall have the honor of
shooting the "Mormon" leaders on Monday morning at eight o'clock." [B]
[Footnote B: Testimony of Hyrum Smith, Times and Seasons, volume 4,
page 252.]
Some of the friends of the captive brethren intimated to the general
that he had no authority to try the prisoners by court-martial;
whereupon he sent to Fort Leavenworth to obtain the military code of
laws, which he searched for several days for authority to try the
prisoners as he had proposed, by court-martial. At last he had to give
it up, but he did it with great reluctance. He visited the prison where
Joseph and his brethren were confined, and told them he had decided
to deliver them to the civil authorities; and informed them they were
accused of "treason, murder, arson, larceny, theft, and stealing." The
prisoners then were delivered into the hands of the civil authorities,
and an investigation was begun before Austin A. King, the circuit
judge, and Thomas C. Birch, the prosecuting attorney for the State.
The examination of the witnesses for the State continued from the
eleventh of November to the twenty-sixth. Each night after the day's
examination the prisoners who had been brought down from Independence
were taken to their gloomy prison and chained together, while about
fifty of their brethren and fellow-prisoners, who had been brought from
Far West, were kept under guard in an open unfinished, court-house,
exposed to the excessive coldness of that inclement season.
The constitution of Elder Rigdon was so delicate, that in consequence
of the exposure and hardships he was forced to endure under this cruel
persecution, his health broke down and at last he lost his reason;
yet he was chained to his companions and compelled to remain in the
presence of a noisy and unruly and unfeeling guard. His daughter, who
was the wife of George W. Robinson, one of the prisoners fastened to
the same chain with her father, was at last permitted to come to the
prison and care for her afflicted father. Lovingly, tenderly this
delicate young woman with her first born babe at her breast, nursed her
afflicted father through those gloomy days, and through her tenderness
and anxious care nursed him back to health and reason.
The guard, under Colonel Price, was perhaps the most foulmouthed and
villainous that could possibly be brought together. They related to
each other their deeds of murder and rapine, and boasted of raping
virtuous wives and maidens, until the prisoners were heart-sick with
the disgusting details of their crimes. Parley P. Pratt relates an
incident that occurred in the prison one night when the guards were
unusually obscene, which we give entire in that writer's own language:
I had listened [to the guard's boasts of defiling wives and maidens by
force] till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified and so filled
with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain
from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; but had said nothing
to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he
was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of
thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering as near as I can recollect,
the following:
"_Silence!_ ye fiends of the 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, dignified as an angel, he looked
upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the
ground; whose knees smote together, and who shrinking into a corner,
or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a
change of guards.
I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes,
and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on 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, or 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 in Missouri.