"Who has it?" I asked.
"I do not know; I supposed you had it."
"I never saw it since I gave it to you."
"Well," said he, "my house was burned, and all my property either burned or taken from me, and your note was in the house when it was burned."
"Well," said I, "it matters not with me. If you will take the property and give me a' receipt against the note, so that it cannot be collected the second time, I will settle the debt." He then said:
"I thought you were in the party that burned the house, and had taken your note, but I am now satisfied to the contrary, and that you are an innocent man. All I ask is for you to renew the note. The property of the Mormons will be held to pay their debts and the expenses of the war, and I will get my pay in that way. You just renew the note, and that will settle all between us."
McBrier introduced me to a number of the soldiers as an honest Mormon. This worked well in my favor, and pleased me much, for it satisfied me more than ever that honesty was the best policy. I had done nothing that I considered wrong. I did not have to run and hide, or screen any act of mine from the public gaze.
My wife had been treated well personally during my absence; no insults had been offered to her, and I was well pleased with that. I was treated with respect by Gen. Wilson and his men. True, I was associated with the people that had incurred the displeasure of the authorities, and my neighbors were then receiving fearful punishment for all they had done. The punishment, however, was in a great part owing to the fault of the people. When the Gentiles found any of their property they became very abusive.
Every house in Adam-on-Diamond was searched by the troops for Gentile property. They succeeded in finding very much of the Gentile property that had been captured by the Saints in the various raids they made through the country. Bedding of every kind and in large quantities was found and reclaimed by the owners. Even spinning wheels, soap barrels and other articles were recovered. Each house where property was found was certain to receive a Missouri blessing, that is to say, the torch, from the troops.
The men who had been most active in gathering plunder had fled to Illinois, to escape the vengeance of the mob, leaving their families to suffer for their deeds. By the terms of the treaty all the Mormons were to leave Daviess County within fifteen days, but they were allowed to stay through the winter in Caldwell County; but all had to depart from Missouri before the first day of the next April. There were but a few families that met with the kind treatment that mine did. The majority of the people were censured and persecuted as much as they were able to stand and live.