On the 1st day of June, 1841, the Prophet accompanied his brother Hyrum and William Law as far as Quincy, Illinois, on their mission to the east. While at Quincy he called upon Governor Carlin at the latter's residence and was treated with marked respect and kindness. In the lengthy conversation which Joseph had with Carlin, nothing was said concerning the requisition formerly issued by the state of Missouri and endorsed by Carlin for the arrest of the Prophet. This requisition had been returned, not served; all excitement concerning it had died away; and the absurd character of the demand made for Joseph's person was supposed to be understood by Carlin and all the other officials of the state.
After enjoying the hospitality of the Governor, Joseph withdrew and had only proceeded a little distance on his homeward journey, when Carlin sent Thomas King, sheriff of Adams County, Thomas Jasper, constable of Quincy, and several others, as a posse, with an officer from Missouri to apprehend the Prophet and deliver him up to the emissaries of Boggs. This large party pursued Joseph and on the 5th day of June overtook and arrested him at Heberline's hotel, Bear Creek, about twenty-eight miles south of Nauvoo. With the formal act of arrest the offense charged against the Prophet was made known, that he was "a fugitive from justice;" but as the fact of his persecution in Missouri was well-known to the posse, and as the officer from Missouri did not conceal the vindictive hate with which he viewed his prisoner nor smother his threats, many of the party left in disgust and returned to their homes, declaring that they would have nothing to do with such outrageous proceedings. Their action had a salutary effect upon the officers who remained. Joseph was taken back to Quincy and there obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Charles A. Warren, master in chancery. Judge Stephen A. Douglas arrived at Quincy that night and appointed a hearing on the writ for Tuesday, the 8th day of June, in Monmouth, Warren County, where the court for the fifth judicial circuit for Illinois would then commence the regular term. On the morning after the arrest, Sheriff King and the Missouri officer with their aides, went to Nauvoo with their prisoner in charge. In the meantime considerable excitement had prevailed in the city, as news of the Prophet's arrest had been conveyed there, and his brethren well knew that for him to return to Missouri was to return to assassination. A party of his friends including Hosea Stout, Tarleton Lewis, John S. Higbee and others, had come by the river to find him at Quincy but had missed him on the way, as he came to Nauvoo by land.
Sheriff King was suffering greatly from ill health; and, after leaving Quincy, was seized with violent illness. At Nauvoo the Prophet took the sheriff to his own house and nursed him like a brother, and continued this assiduous care for his captor during the four days intervening until after the arrival at Monmouth.
On Monday, the 7th day of June, the Prophet departed very early in the morning for the appointed place, which was seventy-five miles distant. He was accompanied by Charles C. Rich, Amasa Lyman, Shadrach Roundy, Reynolds Cahoon, Charles Hopkins, Alfred Randall, Elias Higbee, Morris Phelps, John P. Greene, Henry G. Sherwood, Joseph Younger, Darwin Chase, Ira Miles, Joel S. Miles, Lucien Woodworth, Vinson Knight, Robert B. Thompson, George Miller and others. They traveled all day and until very late, making their camp about midnight in the road.
On Tuesday morning, June 8th, they reached Monmouth, where great excitement prevailed. A multitude of citizens had gathered, filled with curiosity to obtain a sight of the Prophet, whom they expected and hoped to see loaded down with chains. A mob incited by sectarian bigotry attempted to seize his person; but the sheriff, whose health had been partially restored through Joseph's careful nursing, declared that he would protect his prisoner at all hazards, and after much difficulty the mob was repulsed by the sheriff and the friends of order.
An effort was made to have the hearing on the writ immediately, but the state's attorney objected and secured a postponement until the next morning. On that day the citizens were kept in a state of ferment. The sectarian enemies of the Prophet hoped they saw an opportunity to injure him, and they employed a great array of counsel to assist in overthrowing the writ and remanding the Prophet back to his old and blood-thirsty enemies. Others there were not so vindictive, who besought him to preach to the populace that night. They crowded around the prison and flocked to the window to get a peep at him, but the confinement was too close to permit of his addressing them even through the bars, further than to promise them that Elder Amasa Lyman should give them a sermon on the succeeding evening.
At an early hour on Wednesday the court at Monmouth was filled with spectators anxious to witness the proceedings. The counsel in behalf of the Prophet were Charles A. Warren, Sidney H. Little, O. H. Browning, James H. Ralston, Cyrus Walker and Archibald Williams. On behalf of the prosecution there were not only the state's attorneys, but a large number of prominent lawyers employed by Joseph's opponents, and there were also some volunteer prosecutors who thought to get some fame or notoriety out of this case. Threats of the most awful character were uttered against the Prophet's advocates; and even the conservative element warned them that they might expect no further political favors from that county if they persisted in defending a man so repugnant to the sectarian religious element. They were not to be frightened by any such means, and they pursued their course vigorously. Two points were raised for the Prophet. One was that the writ was void, having once been returned to the executive by the sheriff of Hancock County; and the other was that the whole proceeding on the part of Missouri was illegal and that the indictment upon which the requisition was based had been obtained through fraud, bribery and corruption.
A young lawyer from Missouri was among the volunteers to plead against Joseph. While uttering his tirade in court, he was stricken by such pains that he ceased to talk and rushed from the court house. Many of the people who had been amused by his antics, shouted after him, as they saw his pale face and the contortions of his stomach: "Now we know why they call the people of Missouri Pukes."
O. H. Browning made the principal speech for the Prophet. This Mr. Browning afterward became a member of President Johnson's Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. He was a man of great courage and possessed vigor and eloquence in speech. After covering the points of law involved, he recited many of the indignities which had been perpetrated upon the Prophet in Missouri and ridiculed the idea of his going back to be tried by his sworn murderers. Mr. Browning had been a witness to much of the distress of the Saints. He stated the circumstances of the exile from Missouri, and feelingly and emphatically pointed out the impossibility of Joseph's obtaining justice there. He said that the very men who would be called as witnesses for the defense in the Prophet's case, if it were to be tried in Missouri, were actually forbidden by executive decree under the penalty of death, to enter upon the soil of that blood-stained state. He recounted the cruelties which had been practiced upon the Saints until the streams of Missouri had run with sanguinary hues; and declared that he himself had seen women and children destitute and defenseless, crossing the Mississippi to seek refuge from ruthless mobs. After saying that to send Joseph Smith back to Missouri for trial was but adding insult to injury, he concluded:
Great God! have I not seen it? Yes, mine eyes have beheld the blood-stained traces of innocent women and children, in the drear winter, who had traveled hundreds of miles barefoot through frost and snow, to seek a refuge from their savage pursuers. It was a scene of horror, sufficient to enlist sympathy from an adamantine heart. And shall this unfortunate man, whom their fury has seen proper to select for sacrifice, be driven into such a savage land, and none dare to enlist in the cause of justice? If there was no other voice under heaven ever to be heard in this cause, gladly would I stand alone, and proudly spend my latest breath, in defense of an oppressed American citizen.