The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

To these sentiments there was a willing response of acquiescence on the part of the major-general, and he pledged himself to faithfully carry out Joseph's orders, provided the emergency for doing so should arise. After a little, however, the excitement began to subside; and as Joseph's hiding place at Derby's was discovered by a young man who suddenly came upon him and his kind host while they were walking out in the woods for exercise, the Prophet moved quietly into the city, staying first at the house of one friend a day or two, and then removing to that of another.

In the meantime the case was plainly placed before Governor Carlin; and the course that Joseph had taken fully vindicated by letters written to him by Emma his wife, who displayed no mean ability in the correspondence she opened up with the governor, which so nearly concerned the peace of her family. She directed the attention of the governor to the fact that Joseph had not been in the State of Missouri for some three or four years—that if her husband had been accessory before the fact, to the assault upon ex-Governor Boggs, the crime, if committed at all—which she stoutly averred was not the case—was done in Illinois, and there was no law to drag a man from a State where the crime was committed, into a State where it had not been committed, for trial; and as her husband had not been in the State of Missouri for several years previous to the assault on Boggs, he could not have fled from the justice of that State, and therefore ought not to be given up under the fugitive-from-justice law.

Letters from many prominent citizens of Nauvoo were also sent to the governor; and the Female Relief Society called his attention to the threat of mob violence and invasion from Missouri, and asked that sufficient military protection might be given to insure the peace and safety of Nauvoo. All these things the governor treated lightly, and claimed that the only excitement that existed was with the Mormon people at Nauvoo, and nowhere else; and there was no need, he insisted, of taking the precautions hinted at by the people; though when talking on another subject he unwittingly remarked that persons were offering their services every day either in person or by letter, and held themselves in readiness to go against the Saints whenever he should call upon them; but he never had the least idea of calling on the militia, neither had he thought it necessary. He maintained that the proper thing for Joseph to do was to give himself up to the authorities of Missouri for trial, and he had no doubt that he would be acquitted. Judge Ralston asked him how he thought Mr. Smith would go through the midst of his enemies without being subject to violence; and how after his acquittal, he would be able to return to Illinois. To that proposition the governor could give no satisfactory answer, but made light of the whole matter. And in spite of all the protests sent in by the people of Nauvoo, he made a proclamation that as Joseph Smith and O. P. Rockwell had resisted the laws, by refusing to go with the officers who had them in custody, and had made their escape, he offered a reward of two hundred dollars for each or either of those "fugitives from justice." Governor Reynolds also offered a reward for their arrest, three hundred dollars for each one or either of them.

Joseph continued to remain in the city and moved about cautiously, attending to his business. A tide of popular prejudice had set in of such proportions that it seemed that it would overwhelm the Saints. It had been created largely through the misrepresentations of John C. Bennett, and Joseph at once determined to counteract it if possible. He ordered that a special conference be called to meet on the 29th of August, to appoint Elders of The Church to go through the State of Illinois and the east to flood the country with the truth in relation to Bennett's character. The conference was called, and in the interim documents and affidavits were prepared that the brethren might be armed with proofs in relation to the facts respecting Bennett and his misrepresentations.

The conference convened on the day appointed and Hyrum Smith addressed them on the mission that many of them were expected to take. At the conclusion of his remarks, Joseph suddenly stepped into the stand to the great joy of his people, many of whom thought he had gone to Washington, and others to Europe. His appearance created great cheerfulness and animation among the people. Joseph, naturally impulsive, was overjoyed to again stand before the Saints. He addressed them in more than his usual spirited manner and called upon the brethren to go through the States taking documents with them, "to show to the world the corrupt and oppressive conduct of Boggs, Carlin and others, that the public might have the truth laid before them." In response to this call to sustain the Prophet's character, three hundred and eighty Elders volunteered their services, and announced their willingness to go immediately.

For several days after the conference the Prophet continued about home, but it being revealed to him that his enemies were again on the move to take him; he found it necessary to drop out of sight. It was during this time of hiding that he wrote those instructions respecting baptism for the dead, contained in the 127th and 128th sections of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

But notwithstanding his enemies were on the watch for him, he now and then visited his home; and on the occasion of paying one of these visits to his family he nearly fell into the hands of the officers. He was at dinner with his family at the "Mansion," when Deputy Sheriff Pitman, of Adams County, and an assistant suddenly presented themselves at the door. Fortunately John Boynton, who was present, saw them first and went to the door to meet them. They asked him if Joseph Smith was present, to which he gave an evasive answer, saying that he had seen Joseph that morning, but did not say he had seen him since. During this conversation the Prophet stepped out of the back door, ran through the corn in his garden and so to the house of Bishop N. K. Whitney. Emma now engaged the sheriff in conversation. He said he wanted to search the house. She asked if he had a search warrant, to which he answered in the negative; but insisted on searching the house nevertheless, and as she knew that Joseph had escaped, she did not refuse. Of course the search was fruitless.

It was reported that a party of fifteen left Quincy with the sheriff the day before, and that they rode all night expecting to reach Nauvoo before daylight, surround the "Mansion," and capture Joseph. But in the night they got scattered and did not meet again, nor did Sheriff Pitman reach Nauvoo until about noon, when he made the effort above detailed.

About the first of October, Elder Rigdon and Elias Higbee were in Carthage, and from a conversation with Judge Douglass, they learned that Governor Carlin had purposely issued an illegal writ for the arrest of Joseph, thinking he would go to Carthage to be acquitted on habeas corpus proceedings before Judge Douglass; when an officer of the State would be present with a legal writ and serve it upon him immediately, and thus drag him to Missouri. The plot, however, was discovered in time to thwart it, and Joseph, in company with Elder John Taylor, Wilson Law and John D. Parker, left Nauvoo for the home of Elder Taylor's father, about a day and a half's ride from Nauvoo, and there the Prophet remained for about a week.

Meantime, through Major Warren, master in chancery, Joseph's case was presented to Justice Butterfield, of Chicago, and United States attorney for the district of Illinois. He wrote out an elaborate review of the case in which he claimed that Joseph could be released on a writ of habeas corpus; that he would have the right to prove that he was not in Missouri at the time the alleged crime was committed—that of necessity, if he was guilty of the crime with which he was charged, he must have committed it in Illinois, and therefore was not a fugitive from justice—and the governor of Illinois had no right to surrender him to the authorities of Missouri as such. Mr. Butterfield contended that a warrant for the action of the governor of a State, in delivering up a person to the authorities of another State, was found in that clause of the Constitution which says: