In due time indictments for various offenses, treason, murder, resisting legal process, etc., were found against Joe Smith and his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, G. W. Hinkle, Caleb Baldwin, P. P. Pratt, Luman Gibbs, Maurice Phelps, King Follet, Wm. Osburn, Arthur Morrison, Elias Higbee and others. Sidney Rigdon was released on a writ of habeas corpus, the others requested a change of venue, and Judge King sent their cases to Boone County for trial. On the way from Liberty to Columbia, Joe Smith escaped. It is generally believed the guard was bribed. P. P. Pratt escaped from Columbia jail; the others were either tried and acquitted, or the cases against them were dismissed. The entire proceedings in the cases were disgraceful in the extreme. There never was a handful of evidence that the accused were guilty of the crimes with which they were charged. Those who were tried were defended by General Doniphan and James S. Rollins.—pp. 132-5.
APPENDIX III.
THE "MORMONS."
(History of Daviess County, by D. L. Kort.)
This sect of professed Christians, whose history is but a burlesque upon the pure morality of the meek and lowly, but glorious Nazarene, came to this country in 1836. Their chief settlement was in Far West, in Caldwell County, where their apostle, Joseph Smith, and all their chief dignitaries resided. Here in 1838 the corner stone of the temple was laid, with great ceremony and not a little deception; for Smith had foretold that the rock, which was of great size, would move at his command. This it apparently did do, but actually by means of ropes and pulleys worked through a concealed trench, by men at a distance.
The temple was to occupy a large square in the centre of the town, and was approached by four main streets, each one hundred feet wide, and was to exceed in magnificence any edifice in the United States. The temple was never built, but Far West attained a population of three thousand inhabitants, and was for some years the county seat of Caldwell County. Now, however, not one stone is left upon another, and the farmer's plow turns up their once busy streets and desecrates their holy ground.
In our own county their chief point was a place still known as "Diamond," but by the "Mormons" called Adam-ondi-Ahman, which we believe means "the grave of Adam." This place is the old Dr. Craven's farm now, owned and occupied by Major McDonald, and lies about three and a half miles northwest of Gallatin. It is a romantic spot, on the east bluff, overlooking the valley of Grand River; and to this day, owing perhaps to fissures in the underlying rock, the observer may behold the greasy cactus-lined walks of their "garden of Eden; laid off with almost mathematical precision. Adam's Grave is at the edge of the garden, and is a small mound of broken limestone, gravel and soil intermixed. From Diamond to Far West the "Mormons" had a very fair road, and all along it and interspersed throughout the county were many settlers of their faith.
A trace of wandering, a track of blood and temple building are the principal features in the history of this deluded people, deluded by a film so thin that even sense might see beyond. Taking their rise in the south of New York they soon migrated to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Jackson county, Missouri, then to Clay County, then to Daviess and Caldwell, then to Nauvoo, Illinois, and thence across the plains to Salt Lake, and even now there are rumors of another removal. In all these places they began to build a temple, and in all except the first they left the marks of blood, either their own or shed by them. The "Mormons" have always claimed that they were peaceable and law-abiding; yes, peaceable when not resisted in their outrages, law-abiding when obeying the laws of their prophet.
They have always claimed that they never shed blood only when attacked: but this is stark falsehood, as, witness the work of their Danite Destroying Angels, Mountain Meadow Massacre; and even the attacks they complain of were always induced by their infamous conduct.
The first cardinal principle in the tenets of their religion, as exemplified among our people, was: "The Lord has given the earth and the fullness thereof to his saints," the next was, "We are his saints." Thus armed and equipped and incited by their leaders, they roamed through the county, took whatever pleased their fancy, carried it to Diamond and placed it in the "Lord's storehouse." Nothing was safe, nothing was exempt from their rapacity, and our sturdy pioneers were justly indignant and panting for revenge. With them the "Mormon" war meant business, and we find the county court on the sixth of March, 1839, allowing an account of twenty-one dollars for powder and lead furnished the county during the "Mormon" war. So great was the numerical superiority of the "Mormons" that the citizens dared offer no resistance, but were simply at their mercy. On the 13th of October, 1838, the "Mormon" Legion formed their line of battle in front of the few houses in Gallatin, and ordered the citizens to leave at once. From there the legion proceeded to Millport and issued the same order. That night the citizens fled by the light of their burning homes, the principal part going to Livingston County. When they burned Gallatin the "Mormons" robbed the treasury: true, they did not find much money, but they took what they could lay their hands on. Shortly after this the State militia, under General Parks, entered the county, and the people arose en masse to assist him. Diamond, containing perhaps five hundred souls, surrendered without resistance. About the same time Smith himself surrendered Far West, and the war was over.