While this falsehood was being spread through that region, John C. Bennett and David and Edward Kilbourn conspired to kidnap Joseph and get him into Missouri. All the evil forces and powers of persecution united themselves at this hour.
Under the Prophet's direction, Governor Reynolds of Missouri and Governor Carlin of Illinois were informed of the efforts which were being made in both states to precipitate mobocratic attacks upon the Saints; Joseph being determined that the officials should not permit this movement to gain head except by their wilful acquiescence or neglect.
About the 1st of July, 1842, the first "Anti-Mormon" political convention was held in Hancock County, Illinois. Its resolutions read like a page out of recent Utah history. The complete set of candidates were pledged to a man to receive no support from and to yield no quarter to the "Mormons;" and then the ticket was commended to the suffrage of all the citizens of Hancock County. The Prophet punctured the bubble by a vigorous exposure of the hypocrisy, intolerance and stupidity of such a campaign.
On Sunday, the 3rd day of July, eight thousand people assembled in the grove to hear the Prophet and his brother Hyrum preach. Joseph addressed the vast assemblage in the morning and Hyrum in the afternoon.
In the Prophet's journal, under date of July 11th, 1842, he records the fact that he bought a horse of Harmon T. Wilson, which he afterwards named Joe Duncan. This was the famous and beautiful steed which Lieutenant-General Smith afterwards rode at the head of the Nauvoo Legion. The Prophet had a great fondness for animals. His horse Charley was widely known among the people, and with the boys of Nauvoo he was a great favorite. Speaking of the horse Charley brings to mind an occurrence which created considerable amusement at the time. A boy named Wesley Cowle was flying a kite in one of the streets of Nauvoo. One or two strangers came up to him and asked him where the Prophet could be found. At that time officers were said to be coming from Carthage for the purpose of serving papers upon Joseph and arresting him. "Wes." Cowle did not know but the strangers were officers. He said the Prophet was not in the city. He and Hyrum had gone to heaven on "old Charley" and he was flying his kite to send them their dinner.
On Saturday, the 6th day of August, 1842, while Joseph was conversing with several of his brethren at Montrose, Iowa, he uttered a remarkable prophecy which, like every other prediction from his lips, has been literally fulfilled. He declared that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would finally be driven to the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize; others would be put to death by their persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of their exile; and many of those who listened to him would live to assist in building cities and to see the Saints become a mighty people in the tops of the Rocky Mountains.
That prophecy was uttered publicly and was placed on record at the time.
CHAPTER LIII.
THE PROPHET CHARGED WITH BEING AN ACCESSORY TO THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF BOGGS—ORRIN PORTER ROCKWELL ACCUSED OF THE CRIME—THE GOVERNOR'S REQUISITION—THE ARREST—THE PROPHET'S DESIRE FOR PEACE—WILSON LAW'S BRAVE WORDS—EMMA SMITH'S NOBLE APPEAL TO THE GOVERNOR—CARLIN'S FALSE REPLY—AMASA M. LYMAN ORDAINED AN APOSTLE—THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FAITHFUL VOLUNTEERS.
Independence was hundreds of miles from Nauvoo. The vast stretch of country lying between the two cities was inhabited by a people who had sworn death to any "Mormon" daring to set foot on Missouri soil. The county of Jackson was the place from which the Saints had first been driven in the state, with the loss of all their possessions; and from which the Prophet and his companions, in 1839, had barely escaped with their lives. On the day when Lilburn W. Boggs was shot at Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, Joseph Smith attended the officers' drill at Nauvoo. The day before the attempt on Boggs' life General Adams of Springfield had been with the Prophet; the day following the attempt, Judge Stephen A. Douglas and many lawyers of his court, with twelve thousand other people, saw Joseph Smith reviewing the Legion at Nauvoo.