The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

by George Q. Cannon

On the instant after the word dropped from Joseph's lips, Merrill, with the strength of a giant, threw the lawyer over his left shoulder, and he fell striking his head upon the earth.

Awe fell upon the opponents of the Prophet when they saw this, and there were no more challenges to wrestle during the journey.

While they were lodged at a farm house near Monmouth one night Reynolds and Wilson again plotted to raise a mob and seize Joseph; but Peter Cownover detected them, and Sheriff Campbell put them under restraint, feeling that they were no longer to be trusted. On Thursday, the 29th of June, another party of the Prophet's friends joined him. He called James Flack to his side and told him he must not injure Reynolds whatever the provocation might have been; for the Prophet had pledged himself to protect the Missouri sheriff.

The lawyers and Sheriff Campbell, with other civil officers, decided that the hearing upon the writ of habeas corpus might lawfully be held in Nauvoo, and they desired to go there rather than to Quincy; so the party turned in that direction. This occasioned great joy to Joseph. His bruises were forgotten, and that night when they reached the house of Michael Crane, on Honey Creek, he sprang from the buggy, walked up to the fence, and leaped over without touching it.

A messenger had carried the news of the homecoming to Nauvoo, and on Friday, June the 30th, a joyous cavalcade went out to meet the Prophet. The meeting between Joseph and Hyrum was most touching. Joseph had just passed through one of the many perils of his life, but one of the few which Hyrum did not share; and his return caused Hyrum to weep for joy as he took the Prophet in his arms. The spectacle of the entry into Nauvoo was most imposing, for the delighted people sang for joy and made such demonstration of love and gladness in Joseph's behalf, that the lawyers and officers from Dixon were charmed and deeply impressed.

After they were within the city the multitude seemed unwilling to disperse, but Joseph said to them:

I am out of the power of the Missourians again, thank God; and thank you all for your kindness and love. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. I shall address you in the grove, near the temple, at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

A feast had been prepared at Joseph's house, and there he went—still in the hands of his captors, Reynolds and Wilson, who were the prisoners of Sheriff Campbell of Lee County; and all of these with about fifty of the Prophet's friends sat at his table. The place of honor was given to Reynolds and Wilson who were waited upon by Emma with as much courtesy as could have been bestowed upon a beloved guest. This kindness heaped coals of fire on their heads, for they remembered the time when they had dragged the Prophet from the side of his wife and little ones and had refused to permit him to say farewell.

Under advice of the lawyers, Joseph with his captors was brought before the municipal court at Nauvoo, and all the writs and other papers were filed there. The case was heard upon its merits, and the Prophet was discharged. The lawyers concurred that in all the transactions since the day of his arrest Joseph had held himself amendable to the law and its officers; and that the decision of the municipal court of Nauvoo was not only legal and just but was within the power of this tribunal under the city charter.

But before the actual hearing began in the municipal court, Reynolds and Wilson in company with Lawyer Davis, of Carthage, started for that place threatening to raise a mob with which to drag Joseph from Nauvoo. Desiring a larger force than they could readily command at Carthage, they applied to Governor Ford for the state militia. But the governor sent a trusted messenger to Nauvoo to obtain evidence concerning the seizure of the Prophet and his discharge on the writ of habeas corpus; and this gentleman secured a copy of all the papers and evidence in the case. Prominent citizens of Lee County added their affidavits; and several gentlemen went up to Springfield to represent the matter fairly to his Excellency. Whatever Ford's motive may have been—whether a desire to make political capital for his party with influential men who took the side of the Saints in this question, or whether he had fear that he would lose his personal prestige by precipitating the unlawful strife—he took the only proper course; and after long consideration, and upon the presentation of his trusted messenger, he refused to order out the militia, and so reported to Sheriff Reynolds and Governor Reynolds of Missouri. The position which Ford assumed was that no resistance had been made to any writ issued by the state of Illinois, and therefore that Illinois had neither right nor interest in the matter.