When hostilities broke out the brethren in Missouri sent Oliver Cowdery to Kirtland to make report and consult the First Presidency in respect to future action. In sorrow for the afflicted members in Missouri the presidency sent Orson Hyde and John Gould with instructions for their brethren in that land. Shortly after their arrival, necessary preparations having been made, Elders William W. Phelps and Orson Hyde, were sent to Jefferson City with a petition, under date of September 28, 1833, to Governor Daniel Dunklin. In their petition the wrongs of the Latter-day Saints were clearly set forth, and it was signed by nearly all the members of the Church in Missouri.
The Governor’s Reply
On the 19th of October, Governor Dunklin made reply to the memorial of the members of the Church and advised them to take their grievances before the courts, for, said he: “No citizen, nor number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society, and subverts the foundation on which it is based. . . . The judge of your circuit is a conservator of the peace: if an affidavit is made before him by any of you, that your lives are threatened, and you believe them in danger, it would be his duty to have the offenders apprehended, and bind them to keep the peace.” He could not “permit himself to doubt that the courts were open to” the Saints.
Futility of the Advice
Under ordinary circumstances the governor’s advice might have been of some worth. The conditions, however, were of no ordinary nature. The leaders of the mob were Samuel D. Lucas, judge of the county court; Samuel C. Owens, county clerk; John Smith, justice of the peace; Samuel Weston, justice of the peace; William Brown, constable; Thomas Pitcher, deputy constable; James H. Flournoy, postmaster, and Lilburn W. Boggs, lieutenant governor of the state, the latter, however, keeping in the background and aiding and abetting the others in their evil work. For the “Mormon” people to accept the governor’s advice, would mean their trial would be conducted before their avowed and open enemies, if they were permitted a trial at all.
Counsel Employed by the Saints
Nevertheless, accepting the governor’s advice, attorneys were engaged to fight the case. They were William T. Wood, Amos Reese, Alexander W. Doniphan and David R. Atchison, who agreed to plant suits and carry them through for one thousand dollars. Notes for that amount were given by William W. Phelps and Bishop Partridge and endorsed by Gilbert, Whitney and Co. However, very little benefit was ever derived by the members of the Church, from this action.
Continued Activities of the Mob
As soon as it was known that the “Mormons” would appeal to the courts, the mobbers began to prepare for war. On the night of October 31, a band of about fifty marauders proceeded against a branch of the Church west of the Big Blue River, not far from Independence. There they unroofed and partly demolished a number of houses, whipped in a savage manner several men and frightened the women and children, who were forced to flee for safety. On the first of November, another attack was made on a branch on the prairie, fourteen miles from Independence. The same night another party raided the homes of the Saints in Independence, where a number of houses were demolished and the goods in the store of Gilbert, Whitney and Co., were scattered in the street. One Richard McCarty was caught in the act of breaking into the store and demolishing property and was taken before Samuel Weston, justice of the peace, where a complaint was made against him; Judge Weston, however, refused to consider the complaint, and turned McCarty loose. The next day McCarty caused the arrest of the witnesses who had captured him in this unlawful act, and had them tried for false imprisonment. The same justice, on the testimony of this fellow alone, found the witnesses, Gilbert, Morley and Corrill, guilty and committed them to jail. “Although we could not obtain a warrant against him for breaking open the store,” said John Corrill, “yet he had gotten one for us for catching him at it.”