CHAPTER XIV.
EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY.
In this small history, an account of all that happened in Missouri during those cruel times can not be given; but enough can be told to show you what the Saints had to endure in the early days of the Church. If you will but think of the sufferings the boys and girls must have gone through when the mobs tore the roofs from their houses, drove them out on the prairies to go hungry and cold, and killed or whipped their fathers, you may then appreciate God's blessings to you who live in peace and comfort.
The persecutions, which began in earnest October 31st, 1833, continued day after day. On November 2nd a mob attacked a settlement on Big Blue River. They unroofed one house and were beating a brother by the name of Bennett, who was sick in bed, when a party of brethren came to the rescue. There was some firing of guns between them, and a mobber was wounded in the leg.
On November 4th as a band of mobbers started out to make a raid on the Saints, word was sent to the brethren, and thirty of them soon gathered to withstand the mob. A battle ensued in which two of the mobbers were killed. One of the brethren was so badly wounded that he died the next day. Brother Philo Dibble was shot and severely wounded, but he was administered to and soon got well.
The whole country was now aroused. Word was sent broadcast that the "Mormons" had got the Indians to help them, and that they had taken the town of Independence.
Next morning people flocked into the town and there was great excitement.
And now we must name one of the most cruel and wicked men of that time, Lilburn W. Boggs. He was lieutenant-governor, which is next to the governor, the highest officer in the state. Boggs permitted the mob to organize themselves into a militia and thereby become regular soldiers of the state. The mob leaders seeing that the Saints had decided to protect themselves and fight if necessary, raised this militia so that if the Saints opposed them that they could be classed as law breakers.
The branches of the Church west of Independence having heard that the mob was going to kill some of the brethren in that town, raised about one hundred men to go to their rescue. While on the way they heard that there was no immediate danger, and that the militia had been called out. At this they were going back to their homes; but just then the militia came up, led by Colonel Pitcher. He demanded that the "Mormons" give up their arms, but they would not unless the mob, or militia as it was called, would do the same. This Colonel Pitcher agreed to have done, and then the brethren gave up their arms, consisting of fifty-nine guns and one pistol.