“I will say nothing of my trials from that time till the close of the war, except that I preached but little. A part of this time I was nominally the Presiding Elder of St. Joseph District.
“About Christmas, 1865, I was employed by the Presiding Elder, H. H. Hedgepeth, to take charge of the Savannah Circuit. I commenced my work immediately, and continued preaching regularly until my last appointment at Savannah, in August, 1866. I had been threatened at different times during the summer by mobs, and sometimes I thought it quite likely I should be put to death by the lawless rabble, but I was left unmolested until I was about to finish my work on the circuit. On Sunday the people expected an interruption while I was preaching, but all continued quiet till night. While in the pulpit I noticed some men come in and whisper to each other and go out, and presently return. When the services closed I heard a lady say: ‘They are at the door.’ I quietly walked out and went to my room, nobody disturbing me. Next morning I was told they were preparing to arrest me.
“After I had adjusted my affairs, about 10 o’clock, I went home. Having proceeded about two hundred yards I saw the Deputy Sheriff coming at full speed after me. Knowing what it meant, I stopped till he came up. He said he was authorized to arrest me. I was taken before a justice of the peace, who had issued the warrant for my arrest upon the affidavit of one of the party that came into the church on Sunday night. The said justice inquired if I pleaded guilty or not guilty to the crime of preaching the gospel to the people, in violation of the Fundamental Law of the State of Missouri. I pleaded guilty. Whereupon the said officer required me to give bond for my appearance at the next session of the court, which I declined; consequently I was taken by the Sheriff of Andrew county and lodged in the jail of Buchanan county, in the city of St. Joseph, there being no jail in Andrew county. This was done the 27th of August, 1866. I remained in prison about three hours, when the Sheriff of Buchanan county, accompanied by Judge Woodson and others of St. Joseph, came and opened the door of the jail and let me out. On Monday following the Circuit Court of Buchanan county came on, and the judge declining to try the case I gave bond for my appearance at the next term of the Circuit Court for Andrew county, at which time and place I was indicted for preaching the gospel. I took a change of venue to Buchanan county, and before the sitting of the court the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States had set aside the Test Oath, and that ended the matter with me.
“You can make what use of these statements you please in the forthcoming history of the persecution in Missouri. I should have given names, but I have forgotten most of them.
“Yours, very truly, Jesse Bird.
“Plattsburg, Mo., Feb. 8, 1869.”
The account of Mr. Bird’s arrest and imprisonment, and subsequent indictment for preaching the gospel without taking the oath prescribed in the New Constitution, could not well be separated from the narrative of his other persecutions.
The author was in St. Joseph when he was brought down from Andrew county and lodged in the jail with common felons. He had many friends in the community, and to see him through the heavy iron grates, classed with horse thieves, burglars, murderers and other criminals, caused no little popular indignation. Men hurried to and fro after attorneys, judges, officers and friends, and stood on the corners in animated conversation until the public excitement boded no peace. The Sheriff of Buchanan county acted prudently and wisely in releasing him on his verbal parole. No other course would have appeased the public indignation or allayed the ever-widening and deepening excitement. No threats of violence were heard, and yet the indications in the public mind could not be mistaken.
Mr. Bird and the Church will ever be under obligations to Hon. Silas Woodson, of St. Joseph, for his prompt and efficient attention to the case. He made an earnest but ineffectual effort to get the case before Judge Heron, then on the Circuit Court bench, on a writ of habeas corpus. But the Judge was a little weak-kneed and did not wish to damage his prospects for a seat in the U. S. Congress, and refused informally to grant a writ or have anything to do with the case.
More will be said on this subject at another time and in another connection.