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.
CHAPTER XLIV.
"A STRONG POINT FOR TREASON."
Fifteen days were consumed in taking testimony for the State. At the expiration of that time the judge ordered the defendants to bring forth their rebutting testimony or he would thrust them into prison. "I could hardly understand what the judge meant," says Hyrum Smith, "as I considered we were in prison already." The names of forty persons, residents of Far West, were given to the court to be called as witnesses for the defense, and the subpoenas for them were placed in the hands of "Captain" or "Parson," which ever title the reader may be best pleased to know him by, for he was both captain of a gang of mobbers and a supposed minister of Christ, and now an arm of the civil power—any way it was Bogard of Crooked River battle fame. He took with him a force of fifty men and started for Far West; and in the course of a few days returned with the forty men. They were at once put under arrest and by this cunning were prevented from appearing as witnesses.
After executing this coup de main the judge petulantly exclaimed: "Gentlemen, you must get your witnesses or you shall be committed to jail immediately." Most of the brethren felt very much discouraged at the turn affairs had taken, but Hyrum Smith, under the advice of General Doniphan and Lawyer Reese, gave the names of some twenty other persons at Far West, who were desirable as witnesses. The same man was ordered to bring the witnesses to Richmond, but in the meantime the people at Far West had learned of the intrigue being practiced upon them, and the persons whose names Bogard took with him, who had not left the State, kept out of the way and he returned to Richmond with but one man who was wanted, and he was thrust into jail and not allowed to testify. The judge again urged the prisoners to bring on their witnesses, telling them it was the last day he would hold the court open for them.
While the brethren were in consultation with their lawyers a Mr. Allen passed the window and Hyrum Smith beckoned to him to come inside, and the prisoners then informed the court that they had one witness who was ready to be sworn. But at this juncture the prosecuting attorney, Birch, objected to having the witness testify, as this court was merely investigating the case, and not trying it, notwithstanding the frequent calls from the court asking the accused to procure witnesses. General Doniphan here lost his patience, and rising to his feet he said: "I'll be G—-d——d if the witness is not sworn. It is a d—-d shame to treat these defendants in this manner. They are not allowed to put one witness on the stand; while the witnesses they have sent for have been captured by force of arms and thrust into the 'bull pen,' to prevent their testifying."
No sooner, however, had Allen begun his testimony than he was taken by the nape of the neck by a brother-in-law of the priest Bogard, kicked out of the room and made to run for his life.
During this preliminary examination Judge King appeared extremely anxious to fasten the crime of treason upon Joseph Smith and his associates; and to that end he bent every energy, knowing that if a charge of that character were sustained against them he could refuse them bail. The judge asked one of the witnesses if the "Mormons" sent missionaries to foreign countries. He was answered in the affirmative. "Do the 'Mormons' profess a belief in the seventh chapter of Daniel, and the twenty-seventh verse?" [A] asked the judge.