There had not been the slightest excitement or unnecessary noise in the act of removing the nuisance, and this done the people of the city drew a breath of relief. The Expositor had been an invitation to the gathering mobs of Hancock County to descend upon Nauvoo and injure its people and property. It had been calculated to inflame the worst passions of lawless men and to produce murder. In its suppression the people felt that only ordinary prudence and official vigor had been shown. To allay any possible excitement the mayor issued a proclamation in which he detailed the destruction by municipal order of the Expositor press and type, and called upon every citizen to keep the peace by being cool, considerate, virtuous, unoffending, manly and patriotic. The villains who had published the paper threatened everything in the city with destruction. One of their sympathizers declared that he would wade to his knees in blood; others said that the city should be wiped out before "ten suns had set." They sent runners out in all directions to bring the mob upon Nauvoo.
A little after noon on the 12th day of June, Constable David Bettisworth came to Nauvoo from Carthage with a warrant for the arrest of Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B. Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, Jonathan Harmon, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W. Coolidge, Harvey D. Redfield, Porter Rockwell and Levi Richards, upon a complaint sworn to by Francis M. Higbee charging the parties named with committing a riot. The writ was issued by Thomas Morrison, justice of the peace at Carthage, and commanded the officer to bring the parties named before Morrison or some other justice of the peace within the county. Bettisworth immediately upon arriving at Nauvoo served this warrant upon Joseph and afterwards upon the others named therein. Joseph called his attention to the clause in the writ, "before me or some other justice of the peace of said county," and demanded to be taken before Esquire Johnson or some other justice of the peace in Nauvoo. Hyrum made the same demand. Many people were present, and Joseph and Hyrum called upon them to witness that they offered themselves in answer to the writ to go forth before the nearest justice of the peace. This was strictly in accordance with law; but it did not answer the purpose of the mobocrats either at Nauvoo or Carthage, and Bettisworth said: "I will be damned but I will carry you before Justice Morrison at Carthage."
As he still held them in custody and was determined to drag them away from Nauvoo, Joseph sued out a writ of habeas corpus in the municipal court, and upon the full showing there he was discharged. Later all the other brethren named in the writ took the same course, and secured their release.
On the 14th of June the mayor addressed a letter of explanation to Governor Ford, in which the entire proceedings against the Expositor were fairly detailed. Joseph stated to the governor that if Ford was not satisfied that the whole transaction had been in accordance with the strictest principles of law and the requirements of good order, he would only have to write his wishes and the mayor and all persons participating in the suppression of the Expositor would go before Judge Pope or any legal tribunal at the capital and submit to judicial investigation. They would not even trouble his Excellency to send a writ or an officer, but would respond promptly to any letter advising them of his wish. Other men in Nauvoo, some of them prominent visitors there, wrote to Ford at the same time, declaring that no excitement had prevailed, that the proceedings had been calmly and legally taken, and that the action of the municipality in ridding itself of such a menace to peace and life was entirely commendable.
On the 16th day of June, Judge Jesse B. Thomas came to Nauvoo and advised the mayor and the other men named in Morrison's warrant to go before some justice of the peace in the county and be examined upon the charge named therein. Judge Thomas said that if they would do this and should be acquitted or bound over, all excitement would be allayed, the mob would be left without a pretext, and he himself would be bound to compel the mobocrats to keep the peace. Joseph and his brethren expressed their readiness to submit to any fair investigation. The next day, upon the complaint of W. G. Ware, they were arrested by Constable Joel S. Miles, on a writ issued by Daniel H. Wells for a riot in destroying the Nauvoo Expositor press. They all submitted to this process, and went before Justice Wells, who, at this time, it must be remembered, was not a member of the Church. After a long and close examination, it appeared to the court that they had not proceeded illegally, and they were discharged.
As mobs in various parts of the county continued to menace Nauvoo, the Prophet sent several letters and messengers to keep the governor informed. Samuel James went to Springfield on the 15th of June, and Edward Hunter with Philip B. Lewis and John Bills went on the 17th. To Elder Edward Hunter, Joseph said as he was leaving: "I charge you solemnly to tell the governor everything you know concerning me, good or bad."
The most outrageous falsehoods were being circulated to inflame the people against Nauvoo. Upon this point Governor Ford, in his history of Illinois, says:
A system of excitement and agitation was artfully planned [by the mob leaders] and executed with tact. It consisted in spreading reports and rumors of the most fearful character. As examples:—On the morning before my arrival at Carthage, I was awakened at an early hour by the frightful report, which was asserted with confidence and apparent consternation, that the Mormons had already commenced the work of burning, destruction and murder; and that every man capable of bearing arms was instantly wanted at Carthage for the protection of the country. We lost no time in starting; but when we arrived at Carthage we could hear no more concerning this story. Again: During the few days that the militia were encamped at Carthage, frequent applications were made to me to send a force here and a force there, and a force all about the country, to prevent murders, robberies and larcenies, which, it was said, were threatened by the Mormons. No such forces were sent, nor were any such offenses committed at that time, except the stealing of some provisions, and there was never the least proof that this was done by a Mormon. Again: On my late visit to Hancock County, I was informed, by some of their violent enemies, that the larcenies of the Mormons had become unusually numerous and insufferable. They indeed admitted that but little had been done in this way in their immediate vicinity, but they insisted that sixteen horses had been stolen by the Mormons in one night, near Lima, in the county of Adams. At the close of the expedition, I called at this same town of Lima, and upon inquiry was told that no horses had been stolen in that neighborhood, but that sixteen horses had been stolen in one night in Hancock County. The last informant being told of the Hancock story, again changed the venue to another distant settlement in the northern edge of Adams.
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Occasional threats came to my ears of destroying the city and murdering or expelling the inhabitants.
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Frequent appeals had been made to me to make a clean and thorough work of the matter by exterminating the Mormons.
The Warsaw Signal, edited by an infamous man by the name of Thomas Sharp, took a prominent and diabolical part in arousing the spirit of murder. It published the minutes of mob meetings and resolutions adopted there, in which the most fiendish threats were made. Some of them are as follows:
We therefore declare that we will sustain our press and the editor at all hazards; that we will take full vengeance, terrible vengeance, should the lives of any of our citizens be lost in the effort; that we hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow-citizens in this state, Missouri and Iowa, to exterminate, utterly exterminate the wicked and abominable Mormon leaders, the authors of our troubles.
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed forthwith to notify all persons in our township suspected of being the tools of the Prophet to leave immediately on pain of instant vengeance. And we do recommend the inhabitants of the adjacent townships to do the same, hereby pledging ourselves to render all the assistance they may require.
Resolved, That the time, in our opinion has arrived, when the adherents of Smith, as a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into Nauvoo. That the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their hands; and, if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged, to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his adherents. And we do hereby recommend this resolution to the consideration of the several townships, to the mass convention to be held at Carthage, hereby pledging ourselves to aid to the utmost the complete consummation of the object in view, that we may thereby be utterly relieved of the alarm anxiety and trouble to which we are now subjected.
Resolved, That every citizen arm himself to be prepared to sustain the resolutions herein contained.