A tremendous shower at Chester, Pennsylvania. Over twenty lives were lost, fifty bridges destroyed, besides many houses and stores. Damage $250,000.
Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Pratt started on their mission to the east, for the purpose of attending conferences at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, where they will wait until the rest of the Twelve arrive.
CHAPTER XXV.
AFTERMATH OF THE PROPHET'S RELEASE FROM ARREST—FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AT NAUVOO—APPEALS TO GOVERNOR FORD FOR EMPLOYMENT OF MILITARY FORCE—SUPPLEMENTARY AFFIDAVITS ON AFFAIRS IN MISSOURI.
Sunday July 2, 1843.—A large congregation met at the Grove, near the Temple, and heard an interesting address from Elder Orson Hyde. After he closed, Messrs. Walker, Southwick, Patrick, and Wasson spoke on the stand, stating that I had subjected myself to the law in every particular, and had treated my persecutors and kidnappers with courtesy and kindness. They also spoke on the unlawful conduct of my enemies.
Messrs. Patrick, Walker, Southwick, and Harmon Wasson made the following affidavit:—
Affidavit of Attorneys.
Shepherd G. Patrick, Harmon Wasson, Edward Southwick, and Cyrus Walker, being duly sworn, depose and say that they were in company with Joseph R. Reynolds and Harmon T. Wilson, the former acting as agent of the state of Missouri, and having in custody Joseph Smith, who was styled, in the warrant by which he had been arrested, Joseph Smith, Jr.; and who had been delivered into the custody of said Reynolds by said Wilson, who had first, as an officer of the state of Illinois, arrested him, the said Smith, upon a warrant issued by his Excellency Thomas Ford, to apprehend him as a fugitive from the justice of the state of Missouri, when it was alleged he was charged with treason against the said state of Missouri; that the arrest and transfer of the custody of said Smith took place in Lee county, Illinois; and that while said Joseph H. Reynolds was at Dixon, in said county, a writ of habeas corpus was served on him, in behalf of said Smith, commanding him to bring said Smith before the nearest judge or judicial tribunal in the fifth judicial district of the state of Illinois, authorized to hear and determine upon writs of habeas corpus; that said Harmon T. Wilson acted as a guard and assistant under said Joseph H. Reynolds on their journey from Dixon, till they arrived at the city of Nauvoo; that said Smith was allowed by said Reynolds to ride his horse and in a buggy on said journey, while the said Reynolds rode in the coach, upon the assurance and pledge of James Campbell, Esq., the sheriff of Lee county, Illinois, who had said Reynolds and Wilson in custody for want of bail in a civil action, and upon whom they had served habeas corpus, returnable before Judge Young at Quincy, Illinois.
Your affiants as well as others in the company, at the same time gave assurance and pledges to said Reynolds that his prisoner, the said Smith, should not escape from him; and the said Reynolds was satisfied, as he avowed, with the pledges aforesaid, and expressed himself to be so at the time, and fully consented that the said Smith might travel on said journey in the manner he did.
That the friends of said Smith met him in great numbers as he approached the city of Nauvoo, by which place the sheriff, as these affiants believe, voluntarily decided to go at the request of said Smith, and upon representations made to him that it was the best route to Quincy.
That no violence was offered to said Reynolds or Wilson; and that to the best of these affiants' knowledge and belief, no threats or intimidation were made use of to influence and control their conduct, either during the journey to or after their arrival at Nauvoo. Said Reynolds and Wilson dined with said Smith at his own house, and were hospitably entertained; and after dinner, say in two hours after the arrival of the party in said city, a writ of habeas corpus was issued by the municipal court of the said city of Nauvoo in favor of said Smith, which was served upon said Reynolds.
The said Reynolds made return of the writ, together with the body of said Smith, and alleged the causes of his capture and detention, at the same time denying the jurisdiction of the court, and alleging that he had been served with the prior writ of habeas corpus before mentioned. Said Reynolds remained in Nauvoo, and a part of the time in the municipal court-room, and sometime after the examination of the writ of habeas corpus issued by the municipal court had commenced, and, as your affiants believe, during the whole sitting of the court on Friday afternoon, the 30th of June, and then departed for Carthage, after a patient examination of the fact and matter of law set forth in complainant's petition, which said examination lasted from Friday afternoon till the next day, Saturday, at night. The said Smith was discharged as for defects in the warrant under which he had been arrested, and was imprisoned, as upon the merits of the case by the said municipal court; and these affiants further say that said Reynolds and Wilson were, before they arrived at the city of Nauvoo, and while they were there, assured by the said Smith and many of the company who had traveled together from Dixon, (these affiants among the number,) that they should be protected from violence; and that the said Smith did publicly declare in Nauvoo, to the people there assembled, that his honor was pledged that said Reynolds should be protected from violence, and requested every one to preserve his pledge inviolate.
These affiants state further that no violence or threats, to their knowledge or belief, were made use of towards the said Reynolds or the said Wilson, either before or after their arrival at Nauvoo; but the numbers who met and accompanied the said Smith and his escort on the journey, conducted themselves in an orderly and peaceable manner, and manifested only their attachment to said Smith, and joy to find him safe in the custody of the laws of the state of Illinois; all of which facts are true, to the best of the knowledge and recollection of the affiants.
SHEPHERD G PATRICK, CYRUS WALKER, E. SOUTHWICK HARMON WASSON.
Sworn to, etc.
Colonel Markham, Mr. Sanger, and myself also made affidavits on the same subject.
Judge Adams came from Carthage and stated that Wilson and Reynolds were inciting the people to mobocracy, and sending a petition to Governor Ford for a posse to retake me.