"That those who fail to comply with the requisitions be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them"*
* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, pp. 487-489.
A recess of two hours was taken in which to permit a committee of twelve to call on Bishop Partridge, Phelps, and Gilbert, and present these terms. This committee reported that these men "declined giving any direct answer to the requisitions made of them, and wished an unreasonable time for consultation, not only with their brethren here, but in Ohio." The meeting thereupon voted unanimously that the Star printing-office should be razed to the ground, and the type and press be "secured."
A report of the action of this meeting and its result was prepared by the chairman and two secretaries, and printed over their signatures in the Western Monitor of Fayette, Missouri, on August 2, 1833, and it is transferred to Smith's autobiography. It agrees with the Mormon account set forth in their later petition to Governor Dunklin. It particularized, however, that the Mormon leaders asked the committee first for three months, and then for ten days, in which to consider the demands, and were told that they could have only fifteen minutes.
What happened next is thus set forth in the chairman's report:—
"Which resolution (for the razing of the Star office) was with the utmost order and the least noise and disturbance possible, forthwith carried into execution, AS ALSO SOME OTHER STEPS OF A SIMILAR TENDENCY; but no blood was spilled nor any blows inflicted."
Mobs do not generally act with the "utmost order," and this one was not an exception to the rule, as an explanation of the "other steps" will make clear. The first object of attack was the printing office, a two-story brick building. This was demolished, causing a loss of $6000, according to the Mormon claims. The mob next visited the store kept by Gilbert, but refrained from attacking it on receiving a pledge that the goods would be packed for removal by the following Tuesday. They then called at the houses of some of the leading Mormons, and conducted Bishop Partridge and a man named Allen to the public square. Partridge told his captors that the saints had been subjected to persecution in all ages; that he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake, but that he would not consent to leave the country. Allen refused either to agree to depart or to deny the inspiration of the Mormon Bible. Both men were then relieved of their hats, coats, and vests, daubed with tar, and decorated with feathers. This ended the proceedings of that day, and an adjournment as announced until the following Tuesday.
On Tuesday, July 23 (the date of the laying of the corner-stone of the Kirtland Temple), the Missourians gathered again in the town, carrying a red flag and bearing arms. The Mormon statement to Governor Dunklin says, "They proceeded to take some of the leading elders by force, declaring it to be their intention to whip them from fifty to five hundred lashes apiece, to demolish their dwelling houses, and let their negroes loose to go through our plantations and lay open our fields for the destruction of our crops."* The official report of the officers of the meeting** says that, when the chairman had taken his seat, a committee was appointed to wait on the Mormons at the request of the latter.
* Greene, in his "Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons
from the State of Missouri" (1839), says that the mob seized a number of
Mormons and, at the muzzle of their guns, compelled them to confess that
the Mormon Bible was a fraud.
** Millennial Star Vol. XIV, p. 500.