On April 15, 1839, the brethren obtained from Judge Birch a change of venue from Daviess to Boone County, and a mittimus was made out by him without date, name or place. The prisoners were fitted out with a two-horse wagon, necessary horses, and four men besides the sheriff, to guard them to Boone County. The prisoners numbered five, as follows: Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, and Alexander McRae. They started from Gallatin in the afternoon and went as far as Diahman, where they camped for the night at Judge Morin’s. The next day they went about twenty miles where a jug of whiskey was procured, and all of the guards, save one, got drank and went to bed. The sheriff showed the prisoners the mittimus and said to them that Judge Birch told him never to carry them to Boone County, and never to show the mittimus, and, the sheriff said: “I shall take a good drink of whiskey and go to bed, and you may do as you are a mind to.”
The Escape
The prisoners bought from the guards two of the horses, paying for one with clothing, and giving their note for the other. After four of the guards had retired and were asleep in drunken slumber, the fifth helped them to saddle the horses and started them on their way. Two of the brethren mounted and three went on foot, changing places from time to time. Said Hyrum Smith, “we took our change of venue for the state of Illinois, and in the course of nine or ten days arrived at Quincy, Adams County.” They found their families in good health, but in a state of poverty due to their persecutions and expulsion from Missouri’s soil.
A “Concocted Plan”
Samuel Tillery, the jailer at Liberty, told the prisoners that the persecutions against the Saints was a “concocted plan,” framed by the various officers who took part in it, from the governor down. It was first planned in the fore part of the year 1838, but was not fully carried out until the militia was sent down against the Saints in Caldwell and Daviess Counties. “But,” said Tillery, shortly before the removal of the brethren to Daviess County from Liberty Prison, “you need not be concerned, for the governor has laid a plan for your release.” He also said that the governor was now ashamed enough of the whole transaction, and would be glad to set the prisoners at liberty, if he dared to do it. Without question the conspirators became alarmed. They did not plan the escape of the Prophet and associates because of any repentance, or remorse of conscience, but because of the fear of public sentiment, without as well as within the state. Knowledge of the dastardly actions of the officers of Missouri, who were pledged by oath to uphold and honor their constitution, which grants liberty to all citizens[2 ] in their religious worship, spread abroad into other commonwealths. The citizens of western Illinois received the exiled Saints with open arms, and invited them to make their homes among them. The governor of Iowa, Robert Lucas, wrote and spoke in a vehement manner in opposition to the treatment the “Mormon” people received in Missouri. He invited the Saints to make their homes within the borders of the territory of Iowa. All these things had their effect on the assassins in Missouri, and caused them to fear and tremble. Governor Boggs, himself, became sick of the reproach brought upon the state, and reached the point where he would have gladly released Joseph Smith and his fellow prisoners, but feared that such an action would properly be interpreted as an acknowledgment of his unlawful course. He preferred to have it so arranged that they could escape and appear before the world as fugitives from justice.
Escape of Parley P. Pratt
At the time Joseph Smith and his companions were sent to Liberty, Elders Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, Norman Shearer and Darwin Chase, were sent to Richmond, to await trial on the same charges. Here they suffered many untold hardships and deprivations in their dungeon, until April 24, 1839, a period of six months, when they were taken before the grand jury in Ray County, for a hearing of their case. The same notorious Judge Austin A. King presided at the deliberations of this body. Norman Shearer and Darwin Chase, who were only boys, were released, and King Follett, an aged man, was added to the list of prisoners. A change of venue having been granted them, the brethren were taken to Columbia, Boone County, and again cast into prison. In the meantime Luman Gibbs apostatized, hoping to gain his liberty, but the crafty officers, although they treated him with improved consideration, still kept him in prison to act as a spy on his former brethren. July 4, 1839, Elders Pratt, Phelps and Follett, assisted on the outside by Orson Pratt and a young man named John W. Clark, a brother-in-law of Elder Phelps, escaped in a very thrilling and novel manner. Elder Follett was re-captured, but the other two made their way, after many hardships and difficulties, to Illinois and the presence of their families. Elder Follett was again cast into prison and bound in chains, but in course of a month or two was dismissed, no charge having been proved against him.
Departure of the Exiles
With all three members of the First Presidency in prison, the burden of removing the Saints from Missouri was placed on the shoulders of President Brigham Young, of the council of the apostles. A public meeting was held at Far West, January 26, 1839, and a committee composed of the following brethren was selected to draft resolutions and consider means for the removal of the Saints from Missouri: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, John Smith and Don Carlos Smith. This committee went to work gathering such means as could be obtained, and devising plans for the removal of the poor. Later a committee on removal was appointed with the following members: William Huntington, chairman; Charles Bird, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, Daniel Shearer, Shadrack Roundy and Jonathan H. Hale. During the winter months the exodus began, and many of the Saints gathered at Quincy, Illinois, where they received a kindly welcome. Due to their extreme poverty—for they had been robbed and plundered—many of the members of the Church were unable to get away before the spring of 1839. April arrived, and the vicious mobocrats met in council on the 6th, and determined that all the “Mormons” should be out of Caldwell County by the 12th of that month. All available teams were secured, and help was solicited from the members of the Church who were already in Illinois, and the remaining Saints at Far West began their journey from Missouri. Thirty families were removed into Tenney’s Grove, twenty-five miles from Far West, by the 14th of April, on their way to Quincy. Most of the committee remained at Far West until the last. President Brigham Young was forced to leave about the middle of February, to save his life from the angry Missourians who sought it. From the Illinois side he directed the location of the Saints.
Thursday, April 18, 1839, Elder Heber C. Kimball notified the members of the committee on removal to wind up their affairs at once, and be off, for their lives were in grave danger. An armed force went to the home of Theodore Turley to shoot him; similar action was taken against other members of the committee, and a number of mobbers tried to kill Heber C. Kimball in the streets of Far West. The members of the Church had now departed; many went by way of Richmond and the Missouri River to Quincy. The members of the committee who still remained, were given one hour to get out of the place. Hurriedly gathering up such articles as they could take with them, they departed. The mobbers then commenced to loot the homes, which had not already been looted of all they contained.