Saturday, April 20.—The last of the Saints left Far West.
Sunday, April 21.—I had still continued my journey.
Footnotes:
[1]. See Doctrine and Covenants, sec. cxviii.
[2]. It must be remembered that this letter was written under very great stress of feeling, and that accounts for its general harshness. It should also be remembered that as Edmund Burke said a long while ago—and it is now accepted as a trucism—"It is not fair to judge of the temper or disposition of any man, or any set of men when they are composed and at rest, from their conduct or their expressions in a state of disturbance and irritation."
[3]. This refers to Francis M. Higbee, son of Elias Higbee.
[4]. Undoubtedly the guards, and for matter of that Judge Birch himself, and also the ex-sheriff of Daviess county, William Bowman, connived at the escape of the prisoners. The story of the escape was afterwards told in detail by Hyrum Smith, as follows: "They got us a change of venue form Daviess to Boone county, and a mittimus was made out by the pretended Judge Birch, without date, name, or place. They [the court officials at Gallatin] fitted us out with a two horse wagon, a horse and four men, besides the sheriff, to be our guard. There were five of us that started from Gallatin, the sun about two hours high, and went as far as Diahman that evening, and stayed till morning. There we bought two horses of the guard, and paid for one of them in our clothing which we had with us, and for the other we gave our note. We went down that day as far as Judge Morin's, a distance of some four or five miles. There we stayed until the next morning, when we started on our journey to Boone county, and traveled on the road about twenty miles distance. There we bought a jug of whisky, with which we treated the company, and while there the sheriff showed us the mittimus before referred to, without date or signature, and said that Judge Birch told him never to carry us to Boone county, and never to show the mittimus; and, said he, I shall take good drink of grog, and go to bed, and you may do as you have a mind to. Three others of the guards drank pretty freely of the whisky, sweetened with honey. They also went to bed, and were soon asleep and the other guard went along with us, and helped to saddle the horses. Two of us mounted the horses, and the other three started on foot, and we took our change of venue for the State of Illinois; and in the course of nine or ten days arrived safely at Quincy, Adams county, where we found our families in a state of poverty, although in good health." (From the affidavit of Hyrum Smith before the municipal court of Nauvoo, given July 1, 1843.)
The name of the sheriff in charge of the prisoners was William Morgan, and upon his return to Gallatin both he and the ex-sheriff, William Bowman, who was suspected of complicity in the escape of the prisoners, received harsh treatment at the hands of the citizens of that place. The story is told in the "History of Daviess County," published by Birdsall & Dean, 1882, as follows: "The prisoners took change of venue to Boone county, and the Daviess county officers started with the prisoners to their destination in Boone county. Some of the prisoners having no horses, William Bowman, the first sheriff of Daviess county, [and now ex-sheriff], furnished the prisoners three horses, and they left in charge of William Morgan, the sheriff of the county. The sheriff alone returned on horseback, the guard who accompanied him returning on foot, or riding and tying by turns. The sheriff reported that the prisoners had all escaped in the night, taking the horses with them, and that a search made for them proved unavailing. The people of Gallatin were greatly exercised, and they disgraced themselves by very ruffianly conduct. They rode the sheriff on a rail, and Bowman was dragged over the square by the hair of the head. The men guilty of these dastardly acts, accused sheriff Morgan and ex-Sheriff Bowman of complicity in the escape of the Mormon leaders; that Bowman furnished the horses, and that Morgan allowed them to escape, and both got well paid for their treachery. The truth of history compels us to state that the charges were never sustained by any evidence adduced by the persons who committee this flagrant act of mob law."—See above named history, page 206.
[5]. The number of killed and wounded in the tragedy at Haun's Mills, [according to information supplied by the late Church Historian, Franklin D. Richards, to the "National Historical Company," St. Louis, Missouri, which issued a history of Caldwell and Livingston counties, in 1886], are seventeen of the former and thirteen of the latter; and their names are given as follows:
Killed.