The effect of their situation and their teachings was most amazing. Here in this region where they had once met cruelty in its direst shape and whither they had been brought in hourly peril of their lives, they awakened feelings of pity, respect and personal regard.
They were permitted occasionally to walk out in charge of a guard; and then they visited the spot dedicated for a temple, which had been denuded of its noble forests and now lay desolate, and also the place where had once stood the dwellings of the Saints, but not a vestige of these habitations remained, for they had been consumed by fire or carried away by plunderers.
After four days' imprisonment at Independence, and after repeated demands from Clark for their persons, it was decided to send them to Richmond, Ray County; but the officers, now become somewhat friendly, could not give them any light concerning the charges to be made against them. It was agreed that they were not to be tried by civil process, because none had been served upon them; it was also agreed that they could not be tried by court martial since they were civilians—amenable to civil law; martial law had not been declared, and they had not committed any military offense.
It was extremely difficult to secure guards to accompany the brethren to Richmond. None would volunteer, and when drafted from the ranks they refused to obey orders. The soldiers, impressed by the personality of the captives, and wrought upon by the spirit of mercy, wished the brethren to go at liberty. Hundreds of the men who had fought against them with bitterness now entertained for them the kindest feelings; and, besides, both officers and troops disliked to see General Clark secure the triumph so ardently desired by him. The view entertained by Lucas was shared by his officers and men and was stated to the brethren by General Wilson in the following words:
It was repeatedly insinuated by the other officers and troops, that we should hang you prisoners on the first tree we came to on the way to Independence. But I'll be damned if anybody shall hurt you. We just intend to exhibit you in Independence, let the people look at you, and see what a damned set of fine fellows you are. And more particularly to keep you from that G—d damned old bigot of a General Clark and his troops, from down country, who are so stuffed with lies and prejudice that they would shoot you down in a moment.
Finally, three men consented to escort the prisoners to Richmond, and on the morning of Thursday, the 8th day of November, 1838, they started on their journey. What a reflection it is upon the doings of that time that the officers in charge of these captives should entrust seven of them to three guards! Joseph and his brethren had been designated and treated as the most desperate men in the state of Missouri. The mob proved their own assertion to be false when they arranged the journey to Richmond. That afternoon, between Independence and Roy's Ferry, the three guards became drunk. As Joseph and his brethren had no physical restraint upon them, they could easily have killed their guard and escaped; but instead of doing this, they merely secured the arms and the horses, that the intoxicated soldiers might not injure themselves or their prisoners and that the steeds might not stray away.
After crossing the Missouri they were met by Colonel Sterling Price with a guard of seventy-four men, by whom they were conducted to Richmond and thrown into a vacant house closely watched. A few hours after their arrival General Clark visited them. When they demanded the reason why they had thus been carried from their homes, and demanded a statement of the charge made against them, the great General Clark, called an eminent lawyer, answered that he could not then determine what particular offense could be alleged against them, but would think the matter over. Immediately after he had withdrawn, Colonel Price came in with ten armed men and some chains and padlocks. The guards were ordered to stand with muskets ready to fire. Then the windows were nailed down, and a man named John Fulkerson, chained the seven brethren together and fastened the manacles with padlocks.
General Clark spent many hours trying to find some definite charge against the prisoners and trying to find some authority to arraign them before a court martial. The result of his researches is shown in a letter addressed to the Governor at that time, in which he says:
I have detained General White and his field officers here a day or two, for the purpose of holding a court martial, if necessary. I this day made out charges against the prisoners, and called on Judge King to try them as a committing court; and I am now busily engaged in procuring witnesses and submitting facts. There being no civil officers in Caldwell, I have to use the military to get witnesses from there, which I do without reserve. The most of the prisoners here, I consider guilty of treason; and I believe will be convicted; and the only difficulty in law is, can they be tried in any county but Caldwell? If not, they cannot be there indicted until a change of population. In the event the latter view is taken by the civil courts, I suggest the propriety of trying Joseph Smith and those leaders taken by General Lucas for mutiny. This I am in favor of only as a dernier resort. I would have taken this course with Smith at any rate; but it being doubtful whether a court martial has jurisdiction or not in the present case—that is, whether these people are to be treated as in time of war, and the mutineers as having mutinied in time of war—and I would here ask you to forward to me the Attorney-General's opinion on this point. It will not do to allow these leaders to return to their treasonable work again on account of their not being indicted in Caldwell. They have committed treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny and perjury.
A more helpless state of mind than that of General Clark can scarcely be imagined. The document which has been quoted and which he closes with charges against the brethren of nearly all the offenses under the law—and yet does not know how to substantiate or legally punish a single one of them—proves that he was in a desperate state of mind.