The municipal court of Nauvoo sat on the first day of July, 1843, at eight o'clock a. m., William Marks acting as chief justice, Daniel H. Wells, Newel K. Whitney, George W. Harris, Gustavus Hills and Hiram Kimball associate justices and the witnesses were examined in the order in which their affidavits are here published.
I.
The Testimony of Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith sworn, said that the defendant now in court is his brother, and that his name is not Joseph Smith, Jun., but Joseph Smith, Sen., and has been for more than two years past.[[1]] I have been acquainted with him ever since he was born, which was thirty-seven years in December last; and I have not been absent from him at any one time not even for the space of six months, since his birth, to my recollection, and have been intimately acquainted with all his sayings, doings, business transactions and movements, as much as any one man could be acquainted with another man's business, up to the present time, and do know that he has not committed treason against any state in the Union, by any overt act, or by levying war, or by aiding, abetting or assisting an enemy in any state in the Union; and that the said Joseph Smith, Sen., has not committed treason in the state of Missouri, or violated any law or rule of said state; I being personally acquainted with the transactions and doings of said Smith whilst he resided in said state, which was for about six months in the year 1838; I being also a resident in said state during the same period of time; and I do know that said Joseph Smith, Sen., never was subject to military duty in any state, neither was he in the state of Missouri, he being exempt by the amputation or extraction of a bone from his leg, and by having a license to preach the Gospel, or being, in other words, a minister of the Gospel; and I do know that said Smith never bore arms, as a military man, in any capacity whatever, whilst in the state of Missouri, or previous to that time; neither has he given any orders or assumed any command in any capacity whatever. But I do know that whilst he was in the state of Missouri, the people commonly called "Mormons" were threatened with violence and extermination; and on or about the first Monday in August, 1838, at the election in Gallatin, the county seat in Daviess county, the citizens who were commonly called "Mormons" were forbidden to exercise the rights of franchise; and from that circumstance an affray commenced and a fight ensued among the citizens of that place; and from that time a mob commenced gathering in that county, threatening the extermination of the "Mormons." The said Smith and myself, upon hearing the mobs were collecting together, and that they also murdered two of the citizens of the same place, [Gallatin] and would not suffer them to be buried, the said Smith and myself went over to Daviess county to learn the particulars of the affray; but upon our arrival at Diahman we learned that none was killed, but several were wounded. We tarried all night at Colonel Lyman Wight's. The next morning, the weather being very warm, and having been very dry, for some time previously, the springs and wells in the region were dried up. On mounting our horses to return, we rode up to Mr. Black's who was then an acting justice of the peace, to obtain some water for ourselves and horses. Some few of the citizens accompanied us there; and, after obtaining water, Mr. Black was asked by said Joseph Smith, Sen., if he would use his influence to see that the laws were faithfully executed, and to put down mob violence; and he gave us a paper written by his own hand, stating that he would do so. He [Joseph Smith, Sen.] also requested him to call together the most influential men of the county on the next day, that we might have an interview with them. To this he acquiesced, and, accordingly, the next day they assembled at the house of Colonel Wight, and entered into a mutual covenant of peace to put down mob violence and protect each other in the enjoyment of their rights. After this, we all parted with the best of feelings, and each man returned to his own home.
This mutual agreement of peace, however, did not last long; for, but a few days afterwards, the mob began to collect again, until several hundreds rendezvoused at Millport, a few miles distant from Diahman. They immediately commenced making aggressions upon the citizens called "Mormons," taking away their hogs and cattle and threatening them with extermination or utter extinction, saying that they had a cannon, and there should be no compromise only at its mouth. They frequently took men, women and children prisoners, whipping them and lacerating their bodies with hickory withes, and tying them to trees and depriving them of food until they were compelled to gnaw the bark from the trees to which they were bound, in order to sustain life; treating them in the most cruel manner they could invent or think of, and doing everything they could to excite the indignation of the "Mormon" people to rescue them, in order that they might make that a pretext for an accusation for the breach of the law, and that they might the better excite the prejudice of the populace, and thereby get aid and assistance to carry out their hellish purposes of extermination.
Immediately on the authentication of these facts, messengers were despatched from Far West to Austin A. King, judge of the fifth judicial district of the state of Missouri, and also to Major-General Atchison, commander-in-chief of that division, and Brigadier-General Doniphan, giving them information of the existing facts, and demanding immediate assistance.
General Atchison returned with the messengers, and went immediately to Diahman, and from thence to Millport, and he found that the facts were true as reported to him—that the citizens of that county were assembled together in a hostile attitude, to the number of two or three hundred men, threatening the utter extermination of the "Mormons." He at once returned to Clay county, and ordered out a sufficient military force to quell the mob.
Immediately after, they were dispersed, and the army returned. The mob commenced collecting again soon after. We again applied for military aid, when General Doniphan came out with a force of sixty armed men to Far West; but they were in such a state of insubordination that he said he could not control them, and it was thought advisable by Col. Hinkle, Mr. Rigdon and others, that they should return home. General Doniphan ordered Colonel Hinkle to call out the militia of Caldwell and defend the town against the mob; for, said he, you have great reason to be alarmed. He said Neil Gillium, from the Platte country, had come down with two hundred armed men, and had taken up their station at Hunter's Mill, a place distant about seventeen or eighteen miles northwest of the town of Far West, and also that an armed force had collected again at Millport, in Daviess county, consisting of several hundred men; and that another armed force had collected at De Witt, in Carroll county, about fifty miles southeast of Far West, where about seventy families of the "Mormon" people had settled upon the banks of the Missouri river, at a little town called De Witt.
Immediately, whilst he was yet talking, a messenger came in from De Witt, stating that three or four hundred men had assembled together at that place, armed cap-a-pie, and that they had threatened the utter extinction of the citizens of De Witt, if they did not leave the place immediately; and that they had also surrounded the town and cut off all supplies of food, so that many of the inhabitants were suffering from hunger.
General Doniphan seemed to be very much alarmed, and appeared to be willing to do all he could to assist and to relieve the sufferings of the "Mormon" people. He advised that a petition be gotten up at once and sent to the Governor. A petition was accordingly prepared, and a messenger despatched to the governor, and another petition was sent to Judge King.