You damned infernal Puke,[[1]] we'll learn you to come here and interrupt gentlemen! Sit down there, pointing to a very low chair, and sit still. Don't open your head till General Smith gets through talking. If you never learned manners in Missouri, we'll teach you that gentlemen are not to be imposed upon by a nigger-driver. You cannot kidnap men here. There's a committee in this grove that will sit on your case; and, sir, it is the highest tribunal in the United States, as from its decision there is no appeal.
Old Mr. Town was lame and carried with him a heavy, hickory walking stick with which he emphasized the significant parts of his speech by striking the end of it on the floor. It had the desired effect on Reynolds, who humbly took his seat, while the Prophet without an interruption addressed the company for about an hour and a half on the subject of marriage.
At this point it was learned that Judge Caton was absent in the State of New York, hence the party returned to Dixon, and the officers made returns on the respective writs of habeas corpus by endorsing thereon—"Judge absent." New writs, however, were sued out, and at Markham's request, the one in behalf of Joseph was made to read: "Returnable before the nearest tribunal in the Fifth judicial district authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus"—and thereby hangs a tale, as the sequel will show.
Arrangements were made with a Mr. Lucien P. Sanger, who was in the stagecoach business, to take the respective prisoners to Quincy, a distance of two hundred and sixty miles, to obtain a hearing on the several writs before Judge Stephen A. Douglass.
En route for Quincy, Joseph convinced his lawyers and Sheriff Campbell, of Lee County, and others, that the municipal court of Nauvoo had the right to try cases under writs of habeas corpus, and since the writ that he had sued out and served on Reynolds of Missouri was made "returnable before the nearest tribunal in the Fifth judicial district authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus," he insisted on being taken to Nauvoo for a hearing. He prevailed, too, and for that place the now large party directed its course.
Footnotes
[1]. A common nick-name for Missourians in those days.
CHAPTER XXXII.
MINOR MATTERS IN THE NEW MOVE AGAINST THE PROPHET.
IT now becomes necessary to note a few minor events that occurred. As soon as the sheriffs started for Dixon with Joseph in their power, Emma Smith had her carriage made ready and at once started for Nauvoo with her children, in order to set some scheme or other on foot looking to her husband's deliverance.