USA > Illinois > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws > Part 25
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2d. The Fulfillment of Prophecy .- In 1841. Joe Smith predicted or prophe- sied, in a public congregation in Nauvoo, that Lilburn W. Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands within one year. From one to two months prior to the attempted assassination of Gov. Boggs, Mr. O. P. Rockwell left Nauvoo for parts unknown to the citizens at large. I was then on terms of close intimacy with Joe Smith, and asked him where Rockwell had gone. "Gone ?" said he-"GONE TO FULFILL PROPHECY !" Rockwell returned to Nauvoo the day before the report of the assassination reached there, and the Nauvoo Wasp remarked : "It yet remains to be known who did the noble deed." Rockwell remarked to a person now in Nau- voo, and whose name I forbear to mention for the present, from motives of prudence and safety of the person, but which shall be forthcoming in due time, that he had " been all over upper Missouri, and all about where Boggs lives ;" and this was com- municated to me by that person before I withdrew from the Church, and we had con- siderable conversation upon that daring act. Rockwellis a Danite. Joe's public mem- ory is very treacherous on this subject, I presume; but his private memory is so good he keeps a guard around his house every night, with the State cannon and a full supply of small arms, for the protection of his person against any attempted arrest. He like- wise requested me to write to Gov. Carlin for his protection, which I agreed to do; and accordingly did, asking the Governor whether he would be protected from any illegal act of violence : to which the Governor replied that all citizens should receive equal protection, but that he knew of no privileged man, or order of men, and that the dignity of the State should be preserved according to the strict letter of the Con- stitution and the laws. This letter I refused to show to Joe, as open hostilities had commenced between us : and he accordingly detailed a court-martial to try me for treason against the citizens of the State of Illinois! ! ! This Court I regarded as ille- gal, and treated it with that utter contempt which such an assemblage of inferior officers will always receive at my hands. Now, I call upon Col. Francis M. Higbec to come out and tell what he told Gen. Robinson and myself, in relation to the mur- der of a certain prisoner in Missouri. Col. Higbee, do not fear to tell the dreadful story; tell exactly how Joe had the murder done up, and what part he ordered you to take in the affair, but which you did not take. Tell it as Robinson knows it, and as you told me, and do not fear. Gov. Reynolds will make another demand, and Joe shall be delivered over. I will visit Missouri and tell the dreadful story. Let the call be made, and the laws shall be executed.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
3d. My Late Visit to Springfield .- On my arrival in Carthage, I found, as all the citizens well know, that I was followed by Mr. O. P. Rockwell, a Danite, who, on his arrival late in the night, made strict inquiries as to where I was : his ostensible business was to put a letter in the post office ! ! but judge ye the real design. I was prepared for the gentleman, and he approached me not; but another swift rider, Capt. John D. Parker, another Danite, followed me to Springfield, to carry a letter to Dr. Helm; but he had another object, and you may well suppose what it was. I told Capt. Parker that I was aware of his object, but I feared him not. At Virginia, in Cass county, on my return, Parker met me again, and I called the attention of the stage driver to him, who thereupon put two additional balls into his pistol, and then informed me he was ready for him or any other person having the same object in view. Many of the Danites have been around me in Nauvoo, for the purpose of secret murder, in order to save the arch-impostor Joe from public infamy.
4th. Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, wife of Professor Orson Pratt, of the University of Nauvoo .- Joe Smith stated to me at an early day in the history of that city, that he intended to make that amiable and accomplished lady one of his spiritual wives, for the Lord had given her to him; and he requested me to assist him in consummating his hellish purposes; but I told him that I would not do it; that she had been much abused and neglected by the Church during the absence of her husband in Europe, and that if the Lord had given her to him he must attend to it himself. "I will do it," said he, "for there is no harm in it if her husband should never find it ont." I called upon Mrs. Pratt and told her that Joe contemplated an attack upon her virtue, "in the name of the Lord," and that she must prepare to repulse him in so infamous an assault. She replied : "Joseph can not be such a man; I can not believe it until I know it for myself, or have it from his own lips; he can not be so corrupt." " Well," I replied, "you will see, unless he changes his mind." Accordingly in a few days Joe proposed to me to go to Ramus with him. I consented to go, and we started from the house about four o'clock, P. M., rode into the prairie a few miles, and returned to the house of Capt. John T. Barnett, in Nauvoo, about dark, where we put up the horse with Barnett's permsssion. He, Joe, pretended we were looking for thieves. We then proceeded to the house where Mrs. Pratt resided, and Joe commenced discourse as follows: "Sister Pratt, the Lord has given you to me as one of my spiritual wives. I have the blessings of Jacob granted me, as he granted holy men of old, and I have long looked upon you with favor, and hope you will not deny me." She replied: "I care not for the blessings of Jacob, and I believe no such revelations; neither will I consent under any circumstances. I have one good husband, and that is enough for me." Joe could not come it! He then went off to see Miss -, at the house of Mrs. Sherman. He remained with her an hour or two, and then returned to Barnett's, harnessed our horse, started for Ramus, and arrived at Carthage at early breakfast. We then went to Ramus, and returned to Carthage that night, and put up at the house of Esq. Comer. Next day we returned to Nauvoo. I called on Mrs. Pratt and asked her what she thought of Joseph. She replied: "He is a bad man, beyond a doubt." Mrs. Pratt, in a conversation with Mrs. Goddard, wife of Stephen H. Goddard, said: "Sister Goddard, Joseph is a corrupt man; I know it, for he made an attempt upon me." Three times afterward he tried to convince Mrs. Pratt of the propriety of his doctrine, and she at last told him: "Joseph, if you ever attempt anything of this kind with me again, I will tell Mr. Pratt on his return home: I will certainly do it." Joe replied, "Sister Pratt, I hope you will not expose me ; if I am to suffer, all suffer; so do not expose me. Will you agree not to do so?" "If," said she, "you will never insult me again, I will not expose you, unless strong circumstances require it."
"Well, Sister Pratt," says Joe, "as you have refused me, it becomes sin, unless sacrifice is offered ;" and turning to me, he said, "General, if you are my friend, I wish you to procure a lamb, and have it slain, and sprinkle the door-posts and the gate with its blood, and take the kidneys and the entrails and offer them upon an altar of twelve stones that have not been touched with a hammer, as a burnt offering, and it will save me and my priesthood. Will you do it?" "I will," I replied. So I procured the lamb from Capt. John T. Barnett, * and it was slain by Lieut. Stephen H. Goddard, and I offered the kidneys and entrails a sacrifice for Joe, as he desired; and Joe said, "All is now safe: the destroying angel will pass over without harming
* We have the authority of Capt. Barnett for the statement that Benrett's story is true, so far as to the procuring of a lamb from him. The lamb was obtained by Bennett. the Captain wondering what he designed doing with it. Car t. B. now reside- at Gab shurg, Ill.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
any of us." Time passed on in apparent friendship, until Joe grossly insulted Mrs. Pratt again, after her husband had returned home, by approaching and kissing her. This highly offended her, and she told Mr. Pratt, who was much enraged, and went and told Joe never to offer an insult of the like again. Joe replied: "I did not desire to kiss her; Bennett made me do it." Joe, you can't come it! Mrs. Pratt is far above your foul and polluted breath, your calumny and detraction. I now appeal to Mrs. Pratt, if this is not true to the very letter. Just speak out boldly.
5th. Miss Nancy Rigdon, daughter of Sidney Rigdon, Esq .- [A story of a simi- lar attempt on Miss Rigdon, in which General Bennett and Col. F. M. Higbee inter- fere, and she is saved.]
Tth. I will now append my own affidavit : *
STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) $8.
HANCOCK COUNTY.
Personally appeared before me, Samuel Marshall, a Justice of the Peace in and for said county, John C. Bennett, who, being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith, that the affidavit taken before Esquire Wells, on the 17th of May, and the statement before the City Council of Nauvoo, on the 19th, as published in the Wasp of 'the 25th of June, 1842, are false, and were taken under duresxe, as stated in this letter * * *
JOHN C. BENNETT.
Sworn to and subscribed, this 3d day of July, 1842.
SAMUEL MARSHALL, J. P. [L. s. ]
Bennett's third letter to the Sangamo Journal is devoted largely to an exposé of Smith's action as trustee for the Church, and in taking the benefit of the bankrupt law. He concludes as follows:
Come out, gentlemen, and renounce and denounce Joseph Smith, that soul-dann- ing impostor. Come out Now, or bow down and lick the dust, worship at his shrine, and chain your fate to the wheels of damnation and the car of iniquity. The issue is made up; it can not be averted ; and I pray God that the "bitter cup may not pass." You all, with Francis M. Higbee, Geo. W. Robinson, Chauncey L. Higbee, Henry Marks, and hundreds of others, KNow that I have told the unvarnished truth, and the people at large will believe me, though I have not yet told HALF the DREADFUL STORY ! Come out from among the ungodly, and be ye separate. Gen. Robinson writes under date of July 3d : Joe says to the people : "Look out ! look out ! These men, I will venture to say, will come out on me with all their power, and say and do all they can to put me down; but do not believe one word of their cursed lies; for I KNOW I am a prophet." Yes, and Pratt, and Rigdon, and Robinson, and the Higbees, and the Marks, and hundreds of others, KNOW you to be a LIAR, Joe; and Pratt and others have told you so in the face of open day. YOU LIED in the name of the LORD! Re- member that, you base blasphemer ! remember that and weep ! Look at your black catalogue of crimes, your seductions in the name of your Maker, your robberies, and your murders! Why, Satan blushes to behold so corrupt and loathsome a mortal, - one whose daring deeds of crime so far surpass hell's darkest councils, as to hide the sable Prince in impenetrable darkness forever. * * *
I am going over to Missouri to have Joe taken to justice; and then I am going to New York to publish a book to be called "The History of the Saints," in which I shall tell most of the actings and doings at Nauvoo for the last two years-of most of their great men, and some of their great women, too. So, look out for breakers. We shall have full disclosures, if the Danites don't catch me; they are after me like prowling wolves, by Joe's special orders. In haste, Yours respectfully,
JOHN C. BENNETT.
An apology may seem necessary for occupying so much of our space with this man's braggadocio letters; but it should be remem- bered that he was for more than a year the second man in position in the city and in the Church; that he had during that time the full confidence of the prophet and his people; and more, that he was an officer by appointment of the Governor of the State and a Judge of
2SS
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
the Circuit Court. That he was a weak man and a knave, his own conduct and exposé abundantly prove ; and it is left for the public to decide how far his statements are to be relied on. Notwith- standing his urgent appeals, he failed to carry with him the men to whom they were made; though it is to be noted that, within the next two years, they all. or nearly all, seceded from the Church, and by their course brought about the events which ended in the prophet's death.
We have been utterly unable to obtain possession of the Wasp, the Nauvoo paper of that period. The Mormon side in the con- troversy, it is remembered, was not left behind in the use of "names" and invective. So that about the proper conclusion for the outside publie to adopt, was to believe both sides-a conclusion which time has only strengthened.
FURTHER REQUISITIONS.
In August of this year a new demand was made for both Smith and Roekwell, and sent to Gov. Carlin, at Quincy, who issued a warrant for their arrest, which was placed in the hands of an officer during the week after the election. He repaired to Nauvoo, and on Monday, the Sth, made the arrests without difficulty. The prisoners were immediately taken on a writ of habeas corpus issued bythe Municipal Court, brought before that body and at once dis- charged. The officer insisting that the Court had no jurisdiction, and that the discharge was illegal, it was agreed by Smith, that if the writ should be returned to the Governor, with the indorsement that the prisoners had been discharged by the Municipal Council, he would hold himself in readiness to obey, if the Governor should again send for him. The officer hereupon returned to Quincy, but was dispatched baek by the Executive with orders to re-arrest at all hazards. In the meantime Smith had taken legal counsel, and when the officer returned had disappeared. It is believed that he was hid in the city. The name of Rockwell seems somehow to have been dropped. Why no effort was ever made to procure Rockwell, who was clearly amenable to the laws of Missouri, is not well understood.
We find an ordinance of the City Council, dated the Sth of August, the day of the arrest, but whether passed in anticipation of that event, or subsequent to it, and to guard against the future, does not appear. It is evident, however, that whether discharged by virtue of it, or before its passage, the discharge was in any case flagrantly illegal .- [For this ordinance sce sub-head, " Charter and Ordinances, further on."]
Gov. Ford says:
As I before said, Gov. Carlin, in 1842, had issued his warrant for the arrest of Joe Smith, the prophet, as a fugitive from justice in Missouri. This warrant had never been executed, and was still outstanding when I came into office. The Mormons were desirous of having the cause of arrest legally tested in the Federal Court.
289
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Upon their application a duplicate warrant was issued in the winter of 1842-3, and placed in the hands of the Sheriff of Sangamon county. Upon this Joe Smith came to Springfield and surren- dered himself a prisoner. A writ of habeus corpus was obtained from Judge Pope of the Federal Court, and Smith was discharged." -[Ford's IIist. Ill., p. 314.
As much controversy has been had in regard to the discharge from this arrest by Judge Pope, it is proper that we should give the basis of the arrest, and the Judge's reasons for the discharge of the prisoner. The following are the official papers in the case:
STATE OF MISSOURI, ?
COUNTY OF JACKSON. &S.
This day personally appeared before me, Samuel Weston, a Justice of the Peace within and forthe county of Jackson, the subscriber, Lilburn W. Boggs, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that on the night of the 6th day of May, 1842, while sitting in his dwelling in the town of Independence, in the county of Jackson, he was shot with intent to kill, and that his life was despaired of for several days : and that he believes, and has good reason to believe, from evidence and information now in his possession, that Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon prophet, was accessory before the fact of the intended murder; and that the said Joseph Smith is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois; and that the said deponent hereby applies to the Governor of the State of Missouri to make a demand on the Governor of the State of Illinois, to deliver the said Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon prophet, to some person authorized to receive and convey him to the State and county aforesaid, there to be dealt with according to law.
LILBURN W. BOGGS.
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 20th day of July, 1842. SAMUEL WESTON, J. P.
The Governor of the State of Missouri to the Governor of the State of Illinois- GREETING :
Whereas, It appears by the annexed document, which is hereby certified to be authentic, that one Joseph Smith is a fugitive from justice, charged with being accessory before the fact, to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rock- . well, on Lilburn W. Boggs, in this State; and it is represented to the Executive Department of this State, has fled to the State of Illinois ;
Now, therefore, I, Thomas Reynolds, Governor of the said State of Missouri, by virtue of the authority in me vested by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do by these presents, demand the surrender and delivery of the said Joseph Smith to Edward R. Ford, who is hereby appointed as the agent to receive the said Joseph Smith on the part of the State. In testimony, etc.
The People of the State of Illinois to the Sheriff of Sangamon county-GREETING:
Whereas, It has been made known to me by the Executive authority of the State of Missouri, that one Joseph Smith stands charged by the affidavit of one Lilburn W. Boggs, made on the 20th day of July, 1842, at the county of Jackson in the State of Missouri, before Samnel Weston, a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Jackson aforesaid, with being accessory before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell on Lilburn W. Boggs. on the night of the 6th day of May, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in said State of Missouri, and that the said Joseph Smith had fled from the justice of said State and taken refuge in the State of Illinois :
Now, therefore, I, Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of Illinois, pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of this State, do hereby command you to arrest and apprehend the said Joseph Smith, if he be found within the limits of the State aforesaid, and cause him to be safely kept and delivered to the custody of Edward R. Ford, who has been duly constituted the agent of the said State of Missouri to receive said fugitive from the justice of said State, he paying all fees and charges for the arrest and apprehension of said Joseph Smith, and make due return to the Executive Department of this State, the manner in which this writ may be executed. In testimony whereof, etc.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
And now, at the distance of over a third of a century from these events, and regarding these writs and the facts in the light of reason and common sense, it seems like mere boys' play that these chief magistrates and officials were engaged in, or, worse still, that they were purposely and wickedly issuing writs they knew to be defective, in order to avoid the responsibility resting upon them as conservators of the peace and supporters of the law's majesty. The writs were illegal and wrong : first, because if Joseph Smith did send Orrin P. Rockwell to Missouri to kill Gov. Boggs (and that he did, we believe, is almost the universal verdict),-if he did, his crime was not against the State of Missouri, but the State of Illinois, where he resided and was a citizen, and by Illinois laws and courts must he be tried and punished. Secondly, ex-Gov. Boggs' affidavit plainly charges that Smith is a " resident or citizen of the State of Illinois; " and hence, for Gov. Reynolds in his requisition, and Gov. Ford in his writ of arrest, to say that he had "fled from the justice of the State of Missouri," were palpable and unwarranted perversions of fact, not only as stated by Boggs, but as they all knew it to exist. So, it is fair to presume that these officials knew, and that the prophet knew before he submitted himself as a prisoner at Springfield-as well as we know now- that Judge Pope was bound to discharge him. And he did dis- charge him, chiefly on the grounds above stated, in these words:
The Court can alone regard the facts as set forth in the affidavit of Boggs, as having any legal existence. The mis-recitals and over-statements in the requisition and warrant are not supported by oath, and can not be received as evidence to deprive a citizen of his liberty, and transport him to a foreign State for trial. For these reasons, Smith must be discharged.
FURTIIER ATTEMPTS AT PROSECUTION.
In the year 1843 it was not deemed expedient, nor was it possible to keep up the Anti-Mormon organization. The Whig politicians had hopes of securing the Mormon vote, or at least of dividing it in favor of their candidates. Smith had been released from arrest by Judge Pope, a Whig judge, and his case had been ably argued by Whig lawyers. The Democrats equally desired a party organ- ization, and expected to retain the vote because they had heretofore secured it, and saw no reason for a change. The Warsaw Message had succeeded the Signal, under charge of Gregg and Patch-the Jatter its political editor, who strongly favored distinct Whig organization and a full Whig local ticket.
On the 10th of May, at a Whig convention at Rock Island, in which the Mormons were represented, Cyrus Walker, of Macomb, was unanimously nominated as the Whig candidate for Congress. Joseph P. Hoge, of Galena, was about the same time nominated by the Democrats for the same office. This, the Fifth Congres- sional District, embraced the fifteen counties of Jo Daviess, Carroll, Stephenson, Winnebago, Ogle, Whiteside, Rock Island, Mercer, Warren, Henderson, MeDonough, Stark, Lee. Knox and Hancock.
291
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
The two candidates were representative men of their respective parties, and personally popular. Mr. Walker was an old lawyer of distinction in the State, and regarded as the peer of the leading lawyers at the capital. Hoge was a younger and newer man, but was talented, energetic, and a good stump speaker. He had never been in any way identified with the Mormons, residing in a county remote from them in the district. Walker was supposed to be in good favor with them, and had once or twice acted as counsel for the Prophet.
Soon after the nominations, the campaign of the district began with great vigor. To make a thorough canvass in so large a district, it required a great deal of time and a great amount of physical energy, it being necessary to address the people in at least three or four, and often eight to ten, places in a county. Irrespective of the Mormon vote, there was a decided Whig majority in the district, and the probabilities were strongly in favor of the success of the Whig candidate.
But the "irrepressible conflict" between Missouri and the Mormon prophet, was not yet at an end. True to his threat, Gen. Bennett had gone to that State and succeeded in procuring another indictment against his enemy, and another requisition. Ford's History states that this indictment and requisition were against both Smith and Rockwell for the attempt upon the life of ex-Gov. Boggs. But Mr. Southwick, one of Smith's Dixon attorneys, in a statement made to the Message of July 15, says it was against Smith alone, for " treason against the government of Missouri." As no after attempt was made to arrest Rockwell, the latter statement is prob- ably the correct one. On the requisition Gov. Ford issued his warrant for Smith's arrest, and placed it in the hands of Harmon T. Wilson, of Carthage, a deputy Sheriff, with instructions to serve it and place the prisoner in the hands of Joseph H. Reynolds, the agent of Missouri.
Learning that Smith and his wife were on a visit to her relatives at Palestine Grove, in Lee county, Illinois, toward the northern part of the district, and about 150 miles from Nauvoo, they quietly repaired thither, found him at the house of his friend, arrested him, and placing him in a carriage, started by way of Dixon, the county- seat. Here the prisoner was allowed to consult with lawyers, who procured for him a writ of habeas corpus from the Master in Chancery in said county. This writ was made returnable before Judge Caton, at Ottawa, in whose circuit they were. This placed the officers as prisoners in the hands of the Sheriff of Lee county. The morning following they started for Ottawa, distant about forty miles, and after traveling three-fourths of the distance, were informed that Judge Caton was temporarily out of the State, when they returned to Dixon.
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