History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE RIOT AT MORLEY.
by Mormons, and that they took aim at the house in
which the meeting was held. Soon the cry went
abroad that the Mormons were in arms, and there
were quickly volunteers at hand to help the men of
Morley. A meeting was held, and it was resolved to
expel the saints. At the time appointed, armed bands
appeared and burned some twenty Mormon dwellings,
driving the inmates into the bushes. 32 The people of
Illinois were evidently now determined to adopt the
previous policy of the men of Missouri. This was not
all. Word had come that forces from Nauvoo were
moving to the aid of the Mormons at Morley, whereupon
the gentiles throughout all that region banded,
threatening to burn and drive out the saints until not
one should remain. As a beginning, Bud's flouring
mill and carding machine, near Lima, the property of
a Mormon, was reduced to ashes. 33
And now the men of Quincy, their old friends and
benefactors, turned against them; and though not
manifesting the deadly hate displayed in some quarters,
were nevertheless resolved that the Mormons
should depart from the state. On the 22d the citizens
met and agreed that further efforts to live in
peace with the Mormons were useless. 34
Indeed, the saints themselves had reached the
32 Says the Quincy Whig: ' If the Mormons have been guilty of crime, why,
punish them; but do not visit their sins on defenceless women and children.
This is as bad as the savages.' Sheriff Backenstos thus testifies: ' It is proper
to state that the Mormon community have acted with more than ordinary forbearance,
remaining perfectly quiet, and offering no resistance when their
dwellings, other buildings, stacks of grain, etc., were set on fire in their
presence, and they have forborne until forbearance is no longer a virtue.
Fullmer'* Expulsion, 19.
33 ' Mobs commenced driving out the Mormons in the lower part of Hancock
co., and burning their houses and property. . .The burning was continued
from settlement to settlement for ten or eleven days without any resistance
whatever. The people at Nauvoo sent out wagons and teams to
bring those people in whom the mob had driven out of their homes. Wells'
'
' Narrative, MS. , 35-6. The mob said they would drive all into Nauvoo, and
all Nauvoo into the Mississippi.' Richards, Rem., MS., 16.
34 'It is a settled thing that the public seutiment of the state is against
the Mormons, and it will be in vain for them to contend against it; and to
prevent bloodshed and the sacrifice of so many lives on both sides it is their
duty to obey the public will, and leave the state as speedily as possible.
That they will do this, we have a confident hope, and that, too, before the
last extreme is resorted to, that of force.' Fullmer 's Expulsion, 20.
Hist. Utah. 14
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