USA > Illinois > McDonough County > History of McDonough county, Illinois, its cities, towns and villages with early reminiscences, personal incidents and anecdotes and a complete business directory of the county > Part 8
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"When the prophet first saw these things, being filled with the Holy Ghost, and standing and admiring, the same angel of the Lord appeared in his presence, and said, 'look ;' and he beheld the devil surrounded by a great train of his associates. He then, after receiving further directions from the angel, started home to his father's house, where he was waylaid by two ruffians. One of them struck him with a club, but was repulsed, but they followed him nearly home, when they fled for fear of detection. The news of his discovery got abroad ; the new prophet was the sport of lies, slanders and mobs, and vain attempts to rob him of his plates. He removed to the northern part of Pennsylvania, where he com- menced, with the aid of inspiration and the Urim and Thummim, to translate the plates. He finished a part of which is called the Book of Mormon. It is pretended that Mormon hid all the old records up in the hill of Cumorah, but had first made an abridge- ment of them, which was called the Book of Mormon, and which he gave to his son Moroni to finish. Moroni continued to serve his nation for a few years, and continued the writings of his father until after the great battle of Cumorah, when he kept himself hid, for the Lamanites sought to kill every Nephite who refused to deny Christ. The story is remarkably well gotten up, and many yet, unhappily, make the foundation of a religion which may roll back upon the world barbarism of eighteen centuries passed away. Whilst there are fools and knaves, there is no telling what may be accomplished by such a religion.
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"And the prophet was not without his witnesses. Oliver Cow- dery, Martin Harris and Daniel Whitemore solemnly certify that 'we have seen the plates which contain the records; that they were translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice has declared it unto us, wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true ; and we declare with words of soberness that an angel of God came down from heaven and brought and laid it before our eyes ; that we beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon.'
"Eight other witnesses certify that 'Joseph Smith, the transla- tor, had shown them the plates spoken of, which had the appear- ance of gold ; and as many of the plates as the said Smith had translated they did handle with their hands, and they also saw the engravings thereon, all of which had the appearance of an- cient work and curious workmanship.'
"The most probable account of these certificates is that the wit- nesses were in the conspiracy, aiding the imposture; but I have been informed by men who were once in the confidence of the prophet, that he privately gave a different account of the matter.
"It is related that the prophet's early followers were anxious to see the plates ; the prophet had always given out that they could not be seen by the carnal eye, but must be spiritually discerned ; that the power to see them depended upon faith, and was the gift of God, to be obtained by fasting, prayer, mortification of the flesh, and exercise of the spirit; that so soon as he could see the evidence of a strong and lively faith in any of his followers, they should be gratified in their holy curiosity.
"He set them to continual prayer and other spiritual exercises to acquire this lively faith, by means of which the hidden things of God could be spiritually discerned, and at last, when he could delay them no longer, he assembled them in a room and produced a box, which, he said, contained the pecious treasure. The lid was opened ; the witnesses peeped into it, but making no discov- ery, for the box was empty, they said, 'Brother Joseph, we do not see the plates.' The prophet answered them : ' O, ye of lit- tle faith, how long will God bear with this wicked and perverse generation ? Down on your knees, brethren, every one of you, and pray to God for the forgiveness of your sins, and for a holy and a living faith which cometh down from heaven.' The dis- ciples dropped to their knees, and began to pray in the fervency HI-6
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of their spirit, supplicating God for more than two hours with fanatical earnestness ; at the end of which time, looking again into the box, they were now persuaded that they saw the plates. I leave it to the philosophers to determine whether the fumes of an enthusiastic and fanatical imagination are thus capable of blinding the mind and deceiving the senses by so absurd a delu- sion.
"The book of Mormon pretended to reveal the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as he delivered it to his people in America. It was to be brought forth by the power of God, and carried to the Gentiles, of whom many were to receive it, and after this the seed of Israel were to be brought into the fold also. It was pretended that pristine Christianity was to be restored, with the gift of prophecy, with the gift of tongues, with the laying on of hands to cure all manner of diseases. Many were the pretended prophets which this seet brought forth.
"Many of the disciples spoke in an outlandish gibberish, which they called the unknown tongue; others again acted as interpret- ers of this jargon, for it rarely happened that he who was gifted to speak in an unknown tongue was able to understand his own communications ; and many brilliant miracles were pretended to be wrought in the cure of diseases, by the laying on of hands and by the prayer of faith."
The main body of the Mormons settled in the neighborhood of Nauvoo, Hancock County, a few only in MeDonough, and these latter remained only until it was thought there was an opening for them in the "city of the Saints."
In the summer of 1843 George Miller, then a member of the Presbyterian Church in Macomb, living in that town, and in the house now owned by James Roberts, corner of East Carroll and North Randolph streets, made a trip to Nauvoo, returning ap- parently with not a very favorable opinion of the "Saints," unless we except Joe Smith, the prophet. Still, as occasion offered, he would refer to the Mormons, and express a desire to again hear them preach. He said to the citizens of Macomb that if they de- sired to hear, he would have Joe Smith come over and preach for them. A few days later he went to the woods, near the present town of Bardolph, in search of blackberries. After a little he threw up his arms, screamed and fell to the ground. He was taken up, a bed was provided, and he was taken home. Dr. J.
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B. Kyle was called in, and relieved him of about a quart of blood, and gave him a good, strong dose of calomel. The beginning of this fit occurred about the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, and for forty-eight hours he continued to rave. About the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, a couple of men, on horseback, rode up to the square, and meeting William Hamilton, now of Bushnell, inquired if he knew where George Miller lived. Being directed to the place, they rode over, and tying their horses, went into the house, knelt down by the bed-side of the sick man, commenced praying in a loud tone. On the conclusion of their prayer, they arose, and laid their hands upon Mr. Miller. This they repeated, calling upon Mr. M. to have faith-by faith all things were possi- ble. In a few moments he became calm, and soon was sitting up in bed, and the next day was as well as ever, though a little weak. He was indeed well enough to attend the preaching of these Saints, one of whom was the renowned Sydney Rigdon. Whether all this was a " put up job" between Mr. Miller and the Saints we know not. Suffice it to say that on Monday morning Mr. Miller was baptised in the creek north of town, and in few days he re- moved to Nauvoo and became a leader among the Mormon people.
In August, 1843, occurred the Congressional election. Hon. Cyrus Walker and Hon. James P. Hoge were the rival candidates for Congress, and each labored to secure the Mormon vote. This subject is treated elsewhere in this work. During all this time the Mormons had continued to increase in numbers until they had become a powerful body. As they grew in strength, they became arrogant, and, under the assumption that "the earth was the Lord's, and the fullness thereof," and that they being his peculiar people, were entitled to all the fruits of it, the Gentiles having no rights which they were bound to respect. This doctrine led to considerable trouble between the "Saints" and those who were not disposed to accept it. Much stock disappeared from all parts of the county, a great deal of it being found in the " holy city. " But when found, it was extremely difficult to regain possession. Under a provision of the city charter of Nauvoo, the Mormons enacted "that no writ issued from any other place, for the arrest ot any of her citizens, should be recognized in the city, without an approval endorsed thereon by the mayor; that if any public officer, by virtue of any foreign writ, should attempt to make an arrest in the city, without such approval of his process, he should be subject to imprisonment for life ; and that even the
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Governor of the State should not have the power of pardoning the offender without the consent of the mayor." If an attempt was made to obtain property by a writ of replevin, witnesses without number would promptly swear it belonged to some Mormon claimant. The following is a case in point: A gentleman living in the southern part of this county had a valuable horse stolen, which he afterwards found in Nauvoo, and seized. During the trial resulting therefrom he had sixty witnesses to identity the horse as his property, but the Mormons brought forward seventy to prove that it belonged to some " Saint," and having a prepon- derance of testimony, the Mormon justice decided in favor of his brother.
The citizens of Hancock County submitted to this state of affairs until endurance ceased to be a virtue, and the Governor was appealed to for aid. This assistance was asked more especially on account of the failure to arrest Joseph Smith and other leading Mormons for engaging in a riot in destroying the office of an anti-Mormon paper. A warrant was issued at Carthage and served upon them, when they were taken at once to the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, on a writ of habeas corpus, and discharged from custody.
On the twenty-first day of June, 1844, Gov. Ford arrived at Carthage, where he found an armed force assembled, and hourly increasing in numbers, composed of men from Hancock, Mc- Donough, and Schuyler Counties. He immediately placed all under military command of their proper officers. A messenger was then despatched to Nauvoo, requesting the leaders of the Mormons to send a committee to lay their side of the question before him. Says the Governor in his History :
"It appeared clearly, both from the complaints of the citizens and the acknowledgments of the Mormon committee, that the whole proceedings of the Mayor, the Common Couneil, and the Municipal Court, were irregular and illegal, and not to be endured in a free country ; though perhaps some apology might be made for the court, as it had been repeatedly assured by some of the best lawyers in the State who had been candidates for office before that people, that it had full and competent power to issue writs. of habeas corpus in all cases whatever. The Common Council violated the law in assuming the exercise of judicial power; in proceeding ex-parte without notice to the owners of the property ; in proceeding against the property in rem, in not calling a jury ;
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in not swearing all the witnesses ; in not giving the owners of the property, accused of being a nuisance, in conséquence of being libelous, an opportunity of giving the truth in evidence : and in fact, by not proceeding by civil suit or indictment, as in other cases of libel. The mayor violated the law in ordering this er- roneous and absurd judgment of the common council to be exe- cuted, and the municipality erred in discharging them from arrest.
" As this proceeding touched the liberty of the press, which is justly dear to any republican people, it was well calculated to raise a great flame of excitement. And it may well be questioned whether years of misrepresentation by the most profligate news- paper could have engendered such a feeling as was produced by the destruction of this one press. It is apparent that the Mormon leaders but little understood, and regarded less, the true principles of civil liberty. A free press, well conducted, is a great blessing to a free people. A profligate one is likely soon to deprive itself of all credit and influence by the multitude of falsehoods put forth by it. But let this be as it may, there is more lost to rational liberty by a censorship of the press, by suppressing information proper to be known by the people, than can be lost by an indi- vidual now and then by a temporary injury to his character and influence by the utmost licentiousness.
* * *
" It was asserted that Joe Smith, the founder and head of the Mormon Church, had caused himself to be crowned and anointed king of the Mormons ; that he had embodied a band of his follow- ers called ' Danites,' who were sworn to obey him as God, and to do his commands, murder and treason not excepted ; that he had instituted an order in the church whereby those who composed it were pretended to be sealed up to eternal life against all crimes, save the shedding of innocent blood, or consenting thereto ; that this order was instructed that no blood was innocent blood except that of the members of the church ; and that these two orders were made the ministers of his vengeance, and the instruments of an intolerable tyranny which he had established over his people, and which he was about to extend over the neighboring country.
" The people affected to believe that with this power in the hands of an unscrupulous leader there was no safety for the lives or property of any one who opposed him. They affected likewise to believe that Smith inculcated the legality of perjury, or any other crime in defense or to advance the interests of true believers ;
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and that himself had set them the example by swearing to a false accusation against a certain person for the crime of murder. It was likewise asserted to be a fundamental article of the Mormon faith that God had given the world and all it contained to them as his Saints ; that they secretly believed in their rights to all the goodly lands, farms and property in the country ; that at present they were kept out of their rightful inheritance by force ; that con- sequently there was no moral offense in anticipating God's good time to put them in possession by stealing if opportunity offered ; that in fact the whole church was a community of murderers, thieves, robbers, and outlaws; that Joseph Smith had established a bogus factory in Nauvoo for the manufacture of counterfeit money, and that he maintained about his person a tribe of swin- dlers, blacklegs and counterfeiters to makeit and put it into circu- lation.
" It was also believed that he had announced a revelation from heaven sanctioning polygamy, by a kind of spiritual wife system, whereby a man was allowed one wife in pursuance of the laws of the country, and an indefinite number of others to be enjoyed in some mystical and spiritual mode; and that he himself, and many of his followers, had practiced upon the principles of this revela- tion by seducing a large number of women.
" It was also asserted that he was in alliance with the Indians of the western territories, and had obtained over them such a control that in case of a war he could command their assistance to murder his enemies.
*
" But the great cause of popular fury was that the Mormons at several preceding elections had cast their vote as a unit, thereby making the fact apparent that no one could aspire to the honors of the offices of the country within the sphere of their influence, without their approbation and votes. It appears to be one of the principles upon which they insist upon being governed as a com- munity, to act as a unit in all matters of government and religion. They express themselves to be fearful that if division should be encouraged in politics, it would soon extend to their religion and rend their church with schism and into sects."
The result of the various conferences with the Governor was that Smith and some of the leaders of the Mormons agreed to surrender and stand trial at Carthage, under assurance of protec- tion. We again quote from Ford's history :
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HISTORY OF M'DONOUGHI COUNTY.
"On the twenty-third, or twenty-fourth day of June, Joseph Smith, the mayor of Nauvoo, together with his brother Hiram and all the members of the council, and all others demanded, came into Carthage and surrendered themselves prisoners to the constable on the charge of riot. They all voluntarily entered into a recognizance before the justice of the peace, for their ap- pearance at court to answer the charge, and all of them were dis- charged from custody except Joseph and Hiram Smith, against whom the magistrate had issued a new writ, on a complaint of treason. They were immediately arrested by the constable on this charge, and retained in his custody to answer it.
"The overt act of treason charged against them consisted in the alleged levying of war against the State by declaring martial law in Nauvoo, and in ordering out the legion to resist the posse comitatus. Their actual guiltiness of the charge would depend upon circumstances. If their opponents had been seeking to put the law in force in good faith, and nothing more, then an array of military force in open resistance to the posse comitatus and the militia of the State, most probably would have amounted to treason. But if those opponents merely intended to use the pro- cess of the law, the militia of the State and the posse comitatus, as cat's paws to compass the possession of their persons for the purpose of murdering them afterwards, as the sequel demon- strated the fact to be, it might well be doubted whether they were guilty of treason.
"After the Smith's had been arrested on the new charge of treason, the justice of the peace postponed the examination, be- cause neither of the parties were prepared with their witnesses for trial. In the meantime, he committed them to the jail of the county for greater security."
A great desire was manifested on the part of the militia, es- pecially from this county, to see Joe Smith, the great leader of the Mormons, so on the morning of the twenty-seventh of June, under guard of the Carthage Grays, commanded by Captain R. F. Smith, afterwards the gallant Colonel of the Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the war of the rebellion, he was marched around the public square, and thence taken back to the jail. The Governor then disbanded the principal part of the mi- litia, placed the Carthage Grays as a guard around the jail, and proceeded to Nauvoo for the purpose of exerting his influence
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with the Mormons in favor of peace. The volunteers from Mc- Donough immediately returned home, leaving Carthage about two o'clock, P. M. The Governor arrived in Nauvoo about four o'clock the same day, and as soon as notice could be given, a crowd, estimated at from one to five thousand, assembled to hear him speak. He counselled their obedience to the law, and asked their co-operation in sustaining all lawful measures, and then called for a vote as to whether his advice should be followed. Of course, they voted to be law-abiding citizens. A short time before sun- down he started on his return to Carthage, and had proceeded about two miles when he was met by two men-one of them a Mormon-who informed him that Smith was killed. Ordering the two men under arrest, he hastened on to Carthage. Says the Governor, pp. 348-319:
"As for myself it [the news of the murder] was perfectly astound- ing, and I anticipated the very worst consequences from it. The Mormons had been represented to me as a lawless, infatuated and fanatical people, not governed by the ordinary motives which in- fluence the rest of mankind. If so, most likely an exterminating war would ensue, and the whole land would be covered with deso- lation. Acting upon this supposition, it was my duty to provide as well as I could for the event. I therefore ordered the two mes- sengers into custody, and to be returned with us to Carthage. This was done to make such arrangements as could be made, and to prevent any sudden explosion of Mormon excitement before they could be written to by their friends at Carthage. I also dis- patched messengers to Warsaw to advise the citizens of the event. But the people there knew all about it before my messengers ar- rived. They, like myself, anticipated attack all over the country. The women and children were moved across the river, and a com- mittee was dispatched that night to Quincy for assistance. The next morning by daylight the ringing of bells in the city of Quincy announced a public meeting. The people assembled in great numbers at an early hour. The Warsaw committee stated to the meeting that a party of Mormons had attempted to rescue the Smiths out of jail ; that a party of Missourians and others had killed the prisoners to prevent their escape ; that the Governor and his party were at Nauvoo at the time when intelligence of the fact was brought there ; that they had been attacked by the Nauvoo Legion, and had retreated to a house where they were then closely besieged ; that the Governor had sent out word that he could maintain his
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position for two days, and would be certain to be massacred if as- sistance did not arrive by the end of that time. It is unnecessary to say that this entire story was fabricated. It was of a piece of the other reports put into circulation by the anti-Mormon party to influence the public mind and call the people to their assistance. The effect of it, however, was that by 10 o'clock on the twenty- eighth of June between two and three hundred men from Quincy, under command of Major Flood, embarked on board of a steam- boat for Nauvoo, to assist in raising the siege, as they honestly believed.
" As for myself, I was well convinced that those, whoever they were, who assassinated the Smiths, meditated in turn my assassi- nation by the Mormons. The very circumstances of the case fully corroborated the information which I afterwards received, that upon consultation of the assassins, it was agreed amongst them that the murder must be committed whilst the Governor was at Nauvoo : that the Mormons would naturally suppose he planned it, and in the first outpouring of their indignation, they would assassinate him, by way of retaliation. And that thus they would get clear of the Smiths and the Governor all at once. They also supposed, that if they could so contrive the matter as to have the Governor of the State assassinated by the Mormons, the public excitement would be greatly increased against that people, 'and would result in their expulsion from the State at least."
On pages 353-355, the Governor relates the following account of the murder :
"It was many days after the assassination of the Smith's before the circumstances of the murder fully became known. It then appeared that, agreeably to previous orders, the posse at Warsaw had marched, on the twenty-seventh of June, in the direction of Golden's Point, with a view to join the force from Carthage, the whole body then to be marched into Nauvoo. But by the time they had gone eight miles, they were met by the or- der to disband ; and learning at the same time that the Governor was absent at Nauvoo, about two hundred of these men, many of them being disguised by blacking their faces with powder and mud, hastened to Carthage. There they encamped at some dis- tance from the village, and soon learned that one of the companies lett as guard had disbanded and returned to their homes ; the other company, the Carthage Grays, was stationed by the captain
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in the public square, a hundred and fifty yards from the jail, whilst eight men were detailed by him, under the command of Sergeant Franklin A. Worrell, to guard the prisoners. A com- munication was soon established between the conspirators and the company, and it was arranged that the guards should have their guns charged with blank cartridges, and fire at the assailants when they attempted to enter the jail. Gen. Deming, who was left in command, being deserted by some of his troops and per- ceiving the arrangements with the others, and having no force upon which he could rely, for fear of his life retired from the vil- lage. The conspirators came up, jumped the slight fence around the jail, were fired upon by the guards, which, according to ar- rangements, were overpowered immediately, and the assailants en- tered the prison to the door of the room, where the two prison- ers were confined with two of their friends who voluntarily bore them company. An attempt was made to break open the door ; but Joseph Smith being armed with a six barrelled pistol, fur- nished by his friends, fired several times as the door was bursted open, and wounded three of the assailants. At the same time several shots were fired into the room by some of which John Taylor received four wounds, and Hiram Smith was instantly killed. Joe Smith attempted to escape by jumping out the sec- ond story window ; but the fall so stunned him that he was una- ble to rise; and being placed in a sitting posture by the conspi- rators below, they dispatched him with four balls shot through his body.
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