The Latter-Day Prophet: History of Joseph Smith Written for Young People

by George Q. Cannon

On the night of November 1st, the mob was very busy. The men were divided into groups of fifteen or twenty who went about breaking into houses and thrusting poles through the windows. Another body of men, who loved to fill their pockets with stolen goods better than hear the screams of frightened children, gathered about Gilbert & Whitney's store. They burst in through three doors and took what they wished, and scattered other goods about the streets.

When a little band of brethren came up to stop the robbery nearly all the mob scampered off like sneak-thieves, though one of them named Richard McCarty was captured. The brethren took him before Justice of the Peace Samuel Weston, but this officer would issue no warrant for his arrest, and so he was set free, although he was caught in the very act of the crime.

On the next day the Saints in Independence left their homes and camped out together on the prairie, taking as many of the things that were left as they could carry. The mob, therefore, went to the settlement on the Big Blue river to continue their work. In one house David Bennet lay sick. If the mob had been made up of the wildest men of the darkest jungle of Africa they could hardly have been more savage. They dragged him from his bed, almost beat him to death and shot him in the head with a pistol, but the injury was not fatal. One of the mob was wounded that night, perhaps by one of his companions, but it was blamed upon the Saints, of course.

Upon hearing of this the enemy grew very angry. The Saints had been so long-suffering that they were no longer expected to use the right of every human being to defend himself. The mob said openly that Monday would be a bloody day. Many of the leaders were religious men, and were required to be at Sunday service. Perhaps because they did not wish to miss anything, the murder was put off until Monday instead of being carried out at once.

This general slaughter was probably prevented by the determination of the brethren that they would fight, if fight they must. A company of thirty carrying seventeen guns met sixty of the mob who had turned their horses in Whitmer's cornfield and were hunting a little body of brethren who had fled. The mob cursed and opened fire, wounding a number of the Saints. The fire was quickly returned and two of the mob fell dead, and the rest, leaving their horses and dead companions, broke into flight.

Two of the brethren, Andrew Barber and Philo Dibble, were wounded very seriously. Philo Dibble was healed by the blessing of God and lived to come to Utah with the Saints. He passed away only recently. Brother Barber died next day and he became the first martyr in this dispensation—unless we call the little foster-babe of Joseph's a martyr. It died, you remember, from the effects of mob violence.

How different was Brother Barber's death from that of the two mobocrats! He gave his life in defense of his brethren, and greater love than that no man hath. The others died while trying to murder innocent men. And when the brethren went to them as they lay dead and deserted in their own blood, they were filled with strange feelings, for they remembered what one of these, Hugh Brazeale, had said during his life: "With ten fellows I will wade to my knees in blood, but that I will drive the Mormons from Jackson county."

This battle took place about sunset. Rumors were at once hurried off to all parts of the country with all manner of false reports, such as that the Mormons had taken Independence and were joined by the Indians from across the border. The people rose in arms. Some prepared to come in the morning, others gathered in Independence that night.

They ordered the arrest of Sidney Gilbert and others who had caught the thief McCarty the preceding Friday night, charging them with assault. Of course they knew that this was not justice—it was the easiest method of persecution. While the brethren were being tried, the mob gathered and cursed and made the worst threats, and the prisoners were taken to jail to save their lives. They were fired on but were not hit, and the next morning were all set free.

On this day, Tuesday, the 5th of November, one of the greatest wrongs ever done to a body of citizens in the United States took place. Lieutenant-Governor Boggs organized the mob into state militia and placed them under Colonel Pitcher, one of the bitterest enemies of the Saints. This man called for all the fire arms the Saints owned, and took them away, directly contrary to the second amendment of the constitution of the United States. He ordered the Church to go from the county at once and to give up the men who took part in the battle the day before to be tried for murder.