On the 6th day of May, 1842, ex-Governor Lilburn W. Boggs was shot while sitting alone in a room of his residence in Independence. He was badly wounded and for several days his life was in the balance, but he soon recovered.
President Smith Accused as an Accessory
July 20, 1842, Boggs went before Samuel Weston, justice of the peace in Independence, and made affidavit that Orrin Porter Rockwell, a resident of Illinois, had done the shooting. He applied to Governor Carlin in his affidavit, for the surrender of Rockwell “according to law.” Subsequently he made another affidavit in which he said he had “good reason to believe, from evidence and information now in his possession, that Joseph Smith, commonly called ‘the “Mormon” Prophet,’ was accessory before the fact of the intended murder, and that the said Joseph Smith is a citizen or resident of the state of Illinois.” He applied to Governor Thomas Reynolds of Missouri, for a demand on Governor Carlin of Illinois, to deliver up Joseph Smith, to be dealt with according to law. Governor Reynolds very willingly granted the request, and appointed Edward R. Ford agent to receive the Prophet. In the requisition, Governor Reynolds stated “Joseph Smith is a fugitive from justice, charged with being accessory before the fact, to an assault with the intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, in this state (Missouri) and is represented to the executive department of this state as having fled to the state of Illinois.” He therefore demanded the surrender of the Prophet on these grounds. Boggs had not accused Joseph Smith of being a fugitive, or with fleeing from Missouri; this charge was added by Reynolds. No doubt his reason was that he knew Missouri could have no claim upon Joseph Smith without making it appear that he had committed the alleged crime within Missouri and fled from her borders.
The foundation for this accusation was perhaps based on the rumor circulated at the time, and printed in the Quincy Whig, that Joseph Smith had prophesied that Boggs would die a violent death. As soon as the Prophet heard of this rumor he took occasion to deny it publicly saying that he had made no such statement. Nevertheless, it gave occasion for an accusation, and it appears evident that Boggs and his fellow conspirators thought it an opportunity, and an excuse, to get the Prophet within their clutches, where they might kill him “according to law.”
Governor Carlin’s Action
Governor Carlin of Illinois, appeared to be a party to this conspiracy. He had, at least, become embittered against President Joseph Smith, and was very willing to accede to the demand from Missouri. He was thoroughly acquainted with the law and knew perfectly well that the Prophet was in Nauvoo on the 6th day of May, 1842, consequently was not subject to the requisition of Governor Reynolds of Missouri. He knew that President Smith was not a fugitive from justice; and, even if the false and malicious charge had been true, he knew the Prophet was entitled to a fair and legal trial in Illinois, not Missouri. Yet he would yield to this unlawful and unrighteous demand against his knowledge of these facts.
The Rocky Mountain Prophecy
On Saturday, August 6, 1842, President Joseph Smith passed over the river to Montrose, in company with General James Adams, Colonel Brewer, Hyrum Smith and a number of others, and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge of Masons, by General Adams, deputy grand master of Illinois. While General Adams was giving instructions to the master-elect, Joseph Smith had a conversation with a number of the brethren who were resting in the shade of the building. His topic was the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri, and the constant annoyance which had followed them since coming to Illinois and Iowa. In the course of his conversation the Prophet uttered a prophecy which he recorded in his journal as follows:
“I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors, or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and some of them would live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.”