A more detailed account may be found in his autobiography. Joseph Smith and his companions reached Liberty jail on December 1, 1838, where the closing month of the year was Visitors spent in a loathsome jail. On the 8th the wives of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon visited them, remaining with them in the jail all night and departing on the 9th. On the 10th Lyman Wight's wife and four boys were visitors at the jail. They remained over the 11th, on which day the youngest child was blessed, taking their departure on the 12th. On the 14th Isaac Morley, Reynolds Cahoon, and W. M. Allred, of their brethren, visited them; also a Mr. Harris and several other gentlemen of Clay County. Alexander McRae's wife and two little boys came on the 13th and remained until the 15th. On the 17th they were visited by General Doniphan and N. West. On December 20 the wives of Joseph Smith and Caleb Baldwin, accompanied by Mrs. Reynolds Cahoon, came in and remained until the 22d. On the 21st they were visited by William Clark, also by Attorneys Doniphan and Burnett. On the 22d Deacon Covey, accompanied by a Mr. Rase, came in and brought them each a pair of boots which he had manufactured, assisted by his son-in-law, Ethan Barrows. On Christmas Day they were visited by a Disciple preacher by the name of Howard Evert. On the 30th a Mr. Thompson, from Ray County, called. Thus in their gloomy prison house, cheered only by occasional visits from friends and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they beheld the eventful year 1838 pass away. Its closing hours found them deprived of liberty, their families robbed and destitute, their brethren scattered and driven from their once pleasant, happy homes by a ruthless mob, and all this for the testimony they bore, that Jesus was the Christ, his gospel true, and his promised blessings Closing of the year. sure. CHAPTER 16. 1839. THE OPENING YEAR-LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS -EVENTS AT FAR WEST-LEGISLATIVE - A TRIAL HYRUM SMITH ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE-WOODS BILL DENIED-FRIENDS IMPORTUNE FOR PRISONERS-ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE-PETITIONS TO SUPREME COURTJOSEPH WRITES TO THE CHURCH-JUDGE TURNHAM'S OPINIONMISSION OF KIMBALL AND TURLEY-INSTRUCTION TO THE CHURCH -PRISONERS TAKEN TO DAVIESS COUNTY-A CHANGE OF VENUE -ESCAPE-INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL-ARRIVAL AT QUINCY, ILLINOIS. WE commence the history of 1839 with the appropriate words of Joseph Smith: "Tuesday, January 1, 1839, dawned upon us as prisoners of hope, but not as sons of liberty. O Columbia, Columbia! How art thou fallen! The land of the free, the "The asylum of the op The opening year. home of the brave!' pressed' oppressing thy noblest sons, in a loathsome dungeon, without any provocation, only that they have claimed to worship the God of their fathers according to his own word and the dictates of their own consciences. Elder P. P. Pratt and his companions in tribulation were still held in bondage in their doleful prison in Richmond. "Monday, 7th. Anson Call returned to his farm on the three forks of Grand River to see if he could secure any of the property he had left in his flight to Adam-ondi-ahman, and was there met by the mob, and beat with a hoop pole about his limbs, body, and head; the man that used the pole about his person was George W. O'Neal. With much difficulty he returned to Far West, with his person much bruised, and from that time gave up all hopes of securing any of his property. . . . "Wednesday, 16th. Mr. Turner, from the joint select committee, introduced to the Senate A bill to provide for the investigation of the late disturbances in proceedings. this State.' This bill consists of twenty-three sections: Legislative "1. A joint committee shall be appointed to investigate the causes of the late disturbances between the people called Mormons and other inhabitants of this State, and the conduct of the military operations in repressing them: which committee shall consist of two senators to be elected by the Senate, and three representatives to be elected by the House of Representatives.' The bill further provided that the committee should meet at Richmond, Ray County, on the first Monday in May, and thereafter at such times and places as they should appoint; that they should choose a chairman, clerk, sergeant-at-arms, and assistants; issue subpoenas and other processes; administer oaths; keep a record; furnish rooms; pay witnesses one dollar and fifty cents per day out of the treasury; receive their pay as members of the legislature; clerk four dollars per day, and one dollar and fifty cents for each arrest. In short, all parties concerned were to be paid the highest price-and this committee were to be clothed with all the powers of the highest courts of record. This bill did not concern the 'Mormons,' as the exterminating order of Governor Boggs and the action of General Clark thereon would compel all the saints to be out of the State before the court would sit, so that they would have no testimony but from mobbers and worse apostates; and this was evidently their object in postponing the time so long. Thursday, 24th. I wrote as follows from Liberty jail:"To the Honorable the Legislature of Missouri: - Your memorialists having a few days since solicited your attention to the same subject, would now respectfully submit to your honorable body a few additional facts in support of their prayer. "They are now imprisoned under a charge of treason against the State of Missouri, and their lives, and fortunes, and characters being suspended upon the result of the criminal charges preferred against them. "'Your honorable body will excuse them for manifesting the deep concern they feel in relation to their trials for a crime so enormous as that of treason. It is not our object to complain to asperse anyone. All we ask is a fair and impartial trial. We ask the sympa. thies of no one. We ask sheer justice; 'tis all we expect, and all we merit, but we merit that. We know the people of no county in this State to which we would ask our final trials to be sent, are prejudiced in our favor. But we believe that the state of excitement existing in most of the upper counties is such that a jury would be improperly influenced by it. But that excitement and the prejudice against us in the counties comprising the fifth judicial circuit are not the only obstacles we are compelled to meet. We know that much of that prejudice against us is not so much to be attributed to a want of honest motives amongst the citizens as it is to wrong information. "But it is a difficult task to change opinions once formed. The other obstacle which we candidly consider one of the most weighty, is the feeling which we believe is entertained by the Hon. A. A. King against us, and the consequent incapacity to do us impartial justice. It is from no disposition to speak disrespectfully of that high officer that we lay before your honorable body the facts we do; but simply that the legislature may be apprised of our real condition. We look upon Judge King as like all other mere men, liable to be influenced by his feelings, his prejudices, and his previously formed opinions. We consider his reputation as being partially if not entirely committed against us. He has written much upon the subject of our late difficulties, in which he has placed us in the wrong. These letters have been published to the world. He has also presided at an excited public meeting as chairman, and no doubt sanctioned all the proceedings. We do not complain of the citizens who held that meeting, they were entitled to that privilege. But for the judge before whom the very men were to be tried for a capital offense to participate in an expression of condemnation of these same individuals, is to us at least apparently wrong; and we cannot think that we should, after such a course on the part of the Judge, have the same chance of a fair and impartial trial as all admit we ought to have. We believe that the foundation of the feeling against us which we have reason to think Judge King entertains, may be traced to the unfortunate troubles which occurred in Jackson County some few years ago; in a battle between the "Mormons" and a portion of the citizens of that county, Mr. Brazeale, the brother-in-law of Judge King, was killed. It is natural that the Judge should have some feeling against us, whether we were right or wrong in that controversy. "We mention these facts, not to disparage Judge King; we believe that from the relation he bears to us he would himself prefer that our trials should be had in a different circuit and before a different court. Many other reasons and facts we might mention, but we forbear.' This letter was directed to James M. Hughes, Esq., member of the House of Representatives, Jefferson City."Millennial Star, vol. 16, pp. 709-711. Events at On Saturday, January 26, 1839, the citizens of Caldwell County met at Far West and appointed a committee of seven; viz., John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore Turley, H. C. Kimball, John Smith, and D. C. Smith to draft resolutions respecting their removal from the State according to the Governor's order, and to devise means for removing the destitute. On the 29th another meeting was called, when the committee reported through their chairman, John Taylor. The result was the adoption of a covenant to assist. one another, which reads as follows: "We whose names are hereunder written do each for ourselves individually hereby covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities, in removing from this State in compliance with the authority of the State; and we do hereby acknowledge ourselves firmly bound to the extent of all our available property, to be disposed of by a committee who shall be appointed for that purpose, for providing means for the removing of the poor and destitute who shall be considered worthy, from this country, till there shall not be one left who desires to remove from the State: with this proviso, that no individual shall be deprived of the right of the disposal of his own property for the above purpose, or of having the control of it, or so much of it as shall be necessary for the removing of his own family, |