Sept. 27. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., left Kirtland to establish gathering-places and visit the Saints in Missouri, and arrived in Far West about the last of October or the first of November.
Dec. 10. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., arrived in Kirtland from Missouri.
Dec. 25. The first Conference of Mormons in England was held in the Cock-pit, Preston. An extensive apostasy befell during this month in Kirtland, Ohio; and the “Safety Society Bank” failed, to the great scandal of Mormondom.
1838. Jan. 12. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and Sidney Rigdon fled from Kirtland to escape mob violence, and arrived at Far West on March 14.
April 12 and 13. Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, the three witnesses to the “Book of Mormon” (others say O. Cowdery, D. Whitmer, and L. E. Johnson), charged with lying, theft, counterfeiting, and defaming the Prophet’s character, were cut off from the Church (J. H.). Orson Hyde, Thos. B. Marsh, W. W. Phelps, and others apostatized, accused the Prophet of being accessory to several thefts and murders, and of meditating a tyranny over that part of Missouri, and eventually over the whole republic (J. H.).
April 20. Elders H. C. Kimball and O. Hyde sailed from Liverpool on their return home.
July 4. Sidney Rigdon, in an anniversary discourse called “Sidney’s Last Sermon,” threatened Gentiles and apostates with violence; the “Danite Band,” according to anti-Mormons, was at once organized.
July 6. The Saints were again persecuted; 565 Saints left Kirtland for Missouri, and Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was carried before Judge King.
Aug. 6. Troubles in Gallatin Co. occasioned by elections. The Mormons say that persecutions of the Saints commenced in Davies Co., Mo.
Aug. and Sept. Emeutes between the mob and the Mormons: the latter seized sixty to eighty stand of arms at Richmond, and fired on the militia, mistaking them for the mob. The militia, after losing several of their number, returned the fire, killing Mr. D. W. Patten (J. H.).