Joseph Smith's Affidavit on the Troubles in Missouri, Sent to Governor Ford.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, HANCOCK COUNTY. ss.

Personally appeared before me, Ebenezer Robinson, a notary public within and for said county, Joseph Smith, senior; who being duly sworn, says that in the year 1838 he removed with his family to the state of Missouri; that he purchased land and became a resident of Caldwell county; that he was an elder and teacher of the Church of Latter-day Saints; that the religious society of which he was an elder numbered several thousand people, who were remarkably industrious in their habits, quiet in their manners and conscientious observers of the laws; that they had been for some years prior to his removal thither purchasing and improving lands, and were possessed of a vast amount of property, probably to the amount of $3,500,000 of real and personal estate; that prejudices had for a long time existed in the minds of the rough and uncultured people by whom his people were surrounded, on account of their peculiar religious views and their different habits of life; that in the summer of 1838 the prejudice of the people against the deponent and his associates became great; that while in the peaceful pursuit of their labors upon their own farms, without any violence or aggression on their part, they were frequently attacked by armed mobs, their houses burned, their cattle stolen, their goods burned and wasted, many inoffensive people murdered, whole families driven out and dispersed over the country at inclement seasons, and every barbarity which the ingenuity and malice of mobs could devise inflicted upon them.

These scenes of violence raged unchecked by the civil authorities, and many officers of the state of Missouri were open leaders of the mob and shared in its crimes. The armed militia of the state were arrayed, without authority of law, for the purpose of driving the deponent and his inoffensive people out of the state, or of exterminating them if they should remain within it. (For proof of this fact see the order of Governor Boggs, dated October 27, 1838, sent herewith). That this deponent and his people received notices, warnings and orders from the civil and military officers of Missouri, as well as from mobs who co-operated with them, to leave the state, and were threatened with death if they refused: that this deponent with others was taken prisoner by an armed mob, and oppressed, imprisoned, and carried from place to place, without authority of law. That his whole people, comprising at least 15,000 people, were driven out like wild beasts, that hundreds were murdered by shooting, stabbing and beating, and having their brains beaten out with clubs. Great numbers were starved to death; many died from fatigue and hardship in the fields; women were ravished, children murdered, and every cruelty inflicted. This deponent with his comrades was imprisoned about six months and until nearly all his people were driven out of the state; that they were then, by order of the officers of the state, set at liberty and ordered to flee from the state. That, after they were released, they were pursued by armed men, who endeavored to shoot them; and they thus were pursued out of the state, and were in peril of their lives as long as they remained within its limits.

And this deponent says that he never committed any crime against the laws of Missouri; that he never commanded or controlled any military or other force; that he never left the state voluntarily, and hoped to be permitted to enjoy his rights, property and liberty, like other peaceable citizens; but that he was driven out by force directed by the officers and approved by the legislature of Missouri; and that the lands and houses which his people had purchased and improved are now in many cases occupied and enjoyed by the very men who composed the mobs who dispossessed them; and he believes that the desire of plunder was one of the inducements which led to the great wrongs which his people have suffered.

And he further says that the recent requisition made upon the governor of Illinois, upon which a warrant for his arrest has been issued, has its origin in the proceedings before recited, in which this deponent, instead of being a "fugitive" from the justice of Missouri, was driven at the point of the bayonet beyond its borders; and that since such expulsion he has not been within the limits of Missouri.

Wherefore he prays that, upon examination of the premises, the governor of Illinois will cause the writ issued by him to be revoked, and this deponent released from further proceedings in the premises.

JOSEPH SMITH.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 7th day of July, A.D. 1843. Given under my hand and notarial seal, the day and year last written.

[L. S.] EBENEZER ROBINSON, Notary Public.

Hancock county, Illinois.

Also Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Ripley joined me in the following:

Supplementary Affidavits.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, HANCOCK COUNTY. SS.

Personally came before Ebenezer Robinson, a notary public in and for said county, Caleb Baldwin who being sworn, says that after the arrest of himself and others as mentioned in the foregoing affidavit, he went to Judge Austin A. King, and asked Judge King to grant him a fair trial at law, saying that with the result of such a trial, he would be satisfied. But Judge King answered that "there was no law for the Mormons;" that "they must be exterminated;" that the prisoners, this deponent Smith and others, must die; but that some people, as women and children, would have the privilege of leaving the state, but there was no hope for them.

He told Judge King that his family, composed of helpless females, had been plundered and driven out into the prairie; and asked Judge King what he should do. To which Judge King answered, that if he would renounce his religion and forsake Smith, he would be released and protected. That the same offer was made to the other prisoners; all of whom, however, refused to do so, and were in reply told that they would be put to death.

Alanson Ripley, being in like manner sworn, says that the same offer was made to him by Mr. Birch, the prosecuting attorney, that if he would forsake the Mormons, he should be released and restored to his home, and suffered to remain; to which he returned an answer similar to that of Mr. Baldwin.

Joseph Smith, being in like manner sworn, says that he and Mr. Baldwin were chained together at the time of the conversation above recited by Mr. Baldwin; which conversation he heard, and which is correctly stated above; but that no such offer was made to him, it being understood for certain that he was to be shot.

JOSEPH SMITH, CALEB BALDWIN, ALANSON RIPLEY.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 7th day of July, A.D. 1843. Given under my hand and notarial seal, the day and year last written.

[L. S.] EBENEZER ROBINSON. Notary Public, Hancock County, Illinois.

Afterwards Caleb Baldwin, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Hyrum Smith, James Sloan, Alexander McRae, and Dimick B. Huntington joined me in the following affidavit:

STATE OF ILLINOIS, HANCOCK COUNTY. ss.

Personally appeared before Ebenezer Robinson, a notary public within and for said county, the undersigned citizens of said county; who, being first duly severally sworn according to law upon said oath, depose and say that the said affiants were citizens and residents of Caldwell county and the adjoining counties in the state of Missouri during the years A.D. 1837, 1838, and a part of A.D. 1839. That said affiants were personally conversant with and sufferers in the scenes and troubles usually denominated the Mormon war in Missouri. That Governor Boggs, the acting executive officer of said state, together with Major-General Atchison and Brigadier-General Doniphan, and also the authorities of the counties within which the Mormons resided, repeatedly by direct and public orders and threats commanded every Mormon in the state, Joseph Smith, their leader included, to leave the state, on peril of being exterminated. That the arrest of said Smith in the month of November, A.D. 1838, was made without authority, color, or pretended sanction of law; said arrest having been made by a mob, by which said Smith, among others, was condemned to be shot; but which said sentence was finally revoked. Said mob, resolving itself into a pretended court of justice without the pretended sanction of law, then and there made out the charges and procured the pretended conviction for the same which are mentioned in the indictment against the said Smith; by virtue of which he, the said Smith, on the requisition of the executive of Missouri, has been recently arrested by the order of his excellency, Thomas Ford, governor of the state of Illinois.

Said affiants further state that they were imprisoned with the said Joseph Smith, when they and the said Smith were delivered into the hands of a guard to be conducted out of the state of Missouri, and by said guard, by the order and direction of the authorities of said counties where said Mormons were arrested and confined, and by order of the governor of the state of Missouri, were set at large, with directions to leave the state without delay. That said Joseph Smith and his affiants were compelled to leave the state for the reasons above mentioned, and would not and did not leave said state for any other cause or reason than that they were ordered and driven from the state of Missouri by the governor and citizens thereof. And further say not.

CALEB BALDWIN, LYMAN WIGHT, PARLEY P. PRATT, HYRUM SMITH, JAMES SLOAN, ALEXANDER MCRAE, DIMICK B. HUNTINGTON.

Sworn to before me, and subscribed in my presence, this 7th day of July, A.D. 1843. In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and affix my notarial seal at my office in Nauvoo, this 7th day of July, A.D. 1843.

EBENEZER ROBINSON, Notary Public, Hancock County, Illinois.[A]

[Footnote A: The affidavits on Missouri troubles supplement those on the same subject published in the Appendix to Volume III of this work. Taken together they comprise a somewhat exhaustive history of the Latter-day Saints in the state of Missouri.]

About four p.m. Elders Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and Eli P. Maginn, started on the steamer Rapids on their eastern mission.

Saturday, 8.—Municipal Court sat and approved of the copies of the evidence heard on the habeas corpus and revised it for the press. In the afternoon Shadrach Roundy started with the affidavits of Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Brigham Young, Lyman Wight, and G. W. Pitkin, to carry to the governor.

Bishop Miller arrived from the Pinery with one hundred and fifty-seven thousand feet of lumber, and seventy thousand shingles for the Temple.

Elders Young, Woodruff, and Smith arrived at St. Louis, and reshipped on board the Lancet for Cincinnati.