Ebenezer Robinson, Clerk.
England.
There were seven cut off from the Church in Preston, England, this day.
De Witt.
General Parks wrote General Atchison from Brigade Headquarters, five miles from De Witt, Carroll county:
Communication of Clark to Atchison on Affairs at De Witt.
Sir:—Immediately after my express to you by Mr. Warder was sent, I proceeded to this place, which I reached yesterday with two companies of mounted men from Ray county. I ordered Colonel Jones to call out three companies from this county, to hold themselves in readiness to join me at Carrolton on the fifth instant, which order has not been carried into effect. None of Carroll county regiment is with me.
On arriving in the vicinity of De Witt, I found a body of armed men under the command of Dr. Austin, encamped near De Witt, besieging that place, to the number of two or three hundred, with a piece of artillery ready to attack the town of De Witt. On the other side, Hinkle has in that place three or four hundred Mormons to defend it, and says he will die before he will be driven from thence.
On the 4th instant they had a skirmish—fifteen or thirty guns fired on both sides, one man from Saline county wounded in the hip.
The Mormons are at this time too strong, and no attack is expected before Wednesday or Thursday next, at which time Dr. Austin hopes his forces will amount to five hundred men, when he will make a second attempt on the town of De Witt, with small arms and cannon. In this posture of affairs, I can do nothing but negotiate between the parties until further aid is sent me.
I received your friendly letter of the 5th instant, by Mr. Warder, authorizing me to call on General Doniphan, which call I have made on him for five companies from Platte, Clay and Clinton counties, with two companies I ordered from Livingston, of which I doubt whether these last will come; if they do, I think I will have a force sufficient to manage these belligerents. Should these troops arrive here in time, I hope to be able to prevent bloodshed. Nothing seems so much in demand here (to hear the Carroll county men talk) as Mormon scalps; as yet they are scarce. I believe Hinkle, with the present force and position, will beat Austin with five hundred of his troops. The Mormons say they will die before they will be driven out, etc. As yet they have acted on the defensive, as far as I can learn. It is my settled opinion, the Mormons will have no rest until they leave; whether they will or not, time only can tell.
H. G. Parks.
The Mob's Appeal to Howard County for Help.
Under the same date, [October 6th] from the mob camp near De Witt, eleven blood-thirsty fellows, viz., Congrave Jackson, Larkin H. Woods, Thomas Jackson, Rolla M. Daviess, James Jackson, Jun., Johnson Jackson, John L. Tomlin, Sidney S. Woods, Geo. Crigler, William L. Banks, and Whitfield Dicken, wrote a most inflammatory, lying and murderous communication to the citizens of Howard county, calling upon them as friends and fellow citizens, to come to their immediate rescue, as the "Mormons" were then firing upon them and they would have to act on the defensive until they could procure more assistance.
A. C. Woods, a citizen of Howard county, made a certificate to the same lies, which he gathered in the mob camp; he did not go into De Witt, or take any trouble to learn the truth of what he certified. While the people will lie and the authorities will uphold them, what justice can honest men expect?
General Clark's Endorsement of the Mob.