The circumstances here narrated occurred in the town of Fredricksburg, in Ray County, a settlement just being established in the edge of the woods.
Just before nightfall as he was trudging on towards Far West, he espied the house of a Missourian whose wife was a member of the Church, and where he had preached a number of times the previous summer. He hastened to the house and asked for entertainment, explaining briefly the scenes he had just passed through. The owner of the house feared to have him stay lest the mob might discover his presence and wreak vengeance upon the family. Anson offered to relieve the danger by traveling on, but the good wife insisted upon his eating supper with the family anyway, and afterwards made a bed for him on the kitchen floor with the understanding that if the dogs barked, as they would be sure to do if the mob approached the house, he would run through the open door out into a corn field, and escape if possible to Far West. The night passed without any alarm being heard, the kind wife getting up and preparing breakfast for Anson before daylight. After eating heartily he made his way to Far West, twenty miles distant, where he arrived on Christmas day, 1838.
He found his family feeling well and a hearty welcome and breakfast of parched corn awaiting him, that being the best food available, as the family had missed their turn at getting corn ground at the horse mill.
Anson made an early call upon Father Joseph Smith and Brigham Young for counsel as to whether he should go on horseback to the Three-Forks of Grand river to obtain some property he had left there to help make his family more comfortable therewith. They advised him not to go, as they feared the violence of the mob, into whose hands he would be very likely to fall. After thinking the matter over, he still felt impelled by the necessities of his family to make the attempt, notwithstanding the adverse counsel he had received. He mounted his horse and started, and after a perilous and tiresome journey arrived at his farm on New Years day, and found it in possession of a Missourian named George Washington O'Neil, one of the men from whom he had purchased the place, and who had afterwards decided to take advantage of his misfortunes by robbing him of it. He rode about two miles past his home to the house of a neighbor named Day, whose friendship he presumed upon as he had taken no part with the mob, and as Mrs. Day was a member of the church. Mrs. Day told him of what O'Neil and Culp, the former owners of his farm, had been doing, and warned him that they were likely to kill him if they got a chance to do so. While he was talking to Mrs. Day the two enemies referred to entered the house and immediately began to threaten him, and declared that they would just as soon kill him as if he were a dog, and if they were to do so no one would blame them for it. Anson told them he intended to stand up for his rights as a white man and a citizen, which phrase had a special significance then because of the prevalence of negro slavery in Missouri, but they answered him with jeers, being evidently of the opinion that he had neither friends nor influence in the country. Many of the people in the neighborhood were in debt to Anson for goods he had sold them on time, but he became convinced from the talk of O'Neil and Culp that he would be powerless to collect the accounts, and would only risk his life by trying to do so. With the intention of quitting the region, which fairly reeked with blood-thirsty anti-"Mormonism," he started towards his horse, which was tied only about five rods distant. As he did so he was followed by O'Neil and struck over the head with a heavy hoop pole, and almost felled to the ground. His first impulse was to pick up something with which to defend himself, but he could find nothing, and the blows were repeated with such force that he would probably have been killed but for the fact that he wore a thick cap, which doubtless eased the blows. Mrs. Day's interference appeared to save him from further violence at the time, as his assailants immediately left. She suggested that they had probably gone to get their guns and advised that he mount his horse and hurry along before they returned, which he proceeded to do. His head and face soon began to swell, and he stopped at the first stream he came to and bathed the affected parts, hoping if possible to hide from others the knowledge of his injuries, as he felt compunction at having gone to his old home contrary to counsel. He arrived in Far West about 11 p. m. and immediately went to bed. He awoke early in the morning and immediately arose, but fell to the floor as soon as he tried to walk. His wife, alarmed at his appearance and weakness, insisted upon knowing what was the matter with him, and he had to tell her, but plead with her to keep it from others and promised to remain in bed until he had recovered. She gave him the most devoted attention and in a few days he was again about, looking and feeling not much the worse for his severe treatment.
On the 15th of January, 1839, Lyman Cowdery, the father of Olive, went to the home of Anson Call during his absence and told Mrs. Call that he wished to see her husband at the home of W. W. Phelps the following evening on some special business. When evening came Anson called there according to appointment and met Mr. Cowdery, David Whitmer, Wm. McClellin, Burr Riggs and other apostates. The Prophet Joseph Smith at this time was incarcerated in Liberty jail, and, taking advantage of his absence, these apostates and other enemies were exerting themselves to find some pretext for accusing him of crime. Previous to this a quantity of merchandise belonging to the Church while in transit from Kirtland to Missouri had mysteriously disappeared, and with them some parcels of similar goods that were being transported by the same party for Anson Call. The missing goods were subsequently found by the sheriff of Caldwell County in the home of Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, when, armed with a search warrant, he went there to look for them. To cast an aspersion against the character of the prophet in connection with these goods, Anson was asked by Lyman Cowdery to sign a confession that he had sworn falsely as to the identity of his goods. As an inducement for him to do so, they claimed to be able to prove that Anson had perjured himself and was liable to a heavy penalty therefor. These plotters, however, offered to secure his immunity if he would do as they wished. Lyman Cowdery's proposition was: "If you will go with me to Richmond to-morrow and state that you did this because Joe told you to, I will then settle the whole matter and let the blame rest where it belongs; for Joe is now where he will not lead anybody into difficulty again, for justice will soon overtake him."
Anson soon gave these traitorous conspirators to understand that they could not use him for any such foul purpose as to blacken the character of Joseph Smith or any other innocent man. He had made no statement but what was true, and he was ready to prove the truth of it by Vincent Knight who assisted him in selecting the goods at a store in Ohio.
The efforts of these men, who had formerly been trusted members of the Church, soon convinced Anson that the Prophet had many enemies who were determined to destroy him, and among them none more bitterly vindictive than some who had formerly been bound to him by the most sacred fraternal ties, but were now ready to betray him to his death.
[CHAPTER III.]
REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS—A PERILOUS JOURNEY—OVERTAKEN BY THE PROPHET WHILE ESCAPING FROM MISSOURI PRISON—ANSON AND WIFE VISIT IN OHIO—LOCATE IN MACEDONIA—REMOVE TO NAUVOO—MISSION TO OHIO—PROPHET'S VISION AND PREDICTION AS TO SAINTS LOCATING IN WEST—JUDGE THOMAS' ADVICE—SERVICE AS A DELEGATE.
Not long after this a team animal which had been stolen from Anson was found, and this enabled him to remove his family and such of their effects as were left from the State, and they were soon on their way to Illinois. The snow was about a foot deep and the weather extremely cold, it being about the middle of February, 1839, and not at all favorable for travel even if they had been well provided with clothing and bedding, and in their destitute condition their suffering was intense. The first night out their wagon tipped over in the creek and the next day they traversed a bleak prairie in a raging blizzard, during which they almost perished. The Missourians, though ordinarily generous and hospitable, were so embittered against the Saints that they furnished them no supplies or shelter unless paid well therefor, and then they did so grudgingly, and evinced no pity because of their suffering.