History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

IN PRISON. 139
consisting of the prophet Joseph Smith, with Sidney
Rigdon, Hyrain Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman
Wight, Amasa Lyman, and George W. Robinson,
were removed to Independence; why they did not
know, but because it was the hot-bed of mobocracy,
they said, and peradventure they might luckily be
shot or hanged. A few days later they were taken
to Richmond and put in irons, and later to Liberty
jail in Clay county, where they were kept confined
for four months. Habeas corpus was tried, and many
petitions were forwarded to the authorities on their behalf,
but all to no purpose. At length they obtained a
hearing in the courts, with a change of venue to
Boone county where they were still to be incarcerated.
Rigdon had been previously released on habeas corpus,
and one night, when the guard was asleep, Smith and
the others escaped and made their way to Quincy.
"I was in their hands as a prisoner," says Smith,
"about six months; but notwithstanding their determination
to destroy me, with the rest of my brethren
who were with me, and although at three different
times we were sentenced to be shot without the least
shadow of law, and had the time and place appointed
for that purpose, yet through the mercy of God,
in answer to the prayers of the saints, I have been
preserved, and delivered out of their hands." 47
47 In 1S39 Carlin was governor of Illinois, and on him the governor of
Missouri made a formal demand for the surrender to the authorities of Smith
and Rigdon, but little attention was paid to it. One of the most complete
documents extant covering this period is, Facts Relative to the Expulsion oj
the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, from the State of Missouri under the Exterminating
Order. By John P. Greene, an authorized representative of the
Mormons (Cincinnati, 1839). The work consists of 43 8vo pages, and was
written for the purpose of showing to what wrongs the Mormons had been
subjected at the hands of the people and politicians of Missouri, and also
to obtain contributions for the destitute. The contents are largely documentary,
and if we allow for some intensity of feeling, bear the impress of truth.
Pointing in the same direction but less pretentious and less important is
Correspondence between Joseph Smith, the prophet, and Col. John Wenfworth,
editor of the ''Chicago Democrat,' and member of congress from Illinois; General
Jcunes Arlington Bennett, of Arlington House, Long Island; and the Honorable
John C. Calhoun, Senator from South Carolina, in ivhich is given a sketch
of the. life of Joseph Smith, Rise and Progress of the Church of Latter-day
, and their persecution by the slate of Missouri; with the peculiar views
ieph Smith in relation to Political and Religious matters generally; to
.k is added a concise account of the present state and prospects of the city oj