USA > Missouri > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, Missouri : carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri ; the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri ; a military record of its volunteers in either army of the Great Civil War ; general and local statistics ; miscellany ; reminiscences, grave, tragic and humorous ; biographical sketches of prominent men and citizens identified with the interests of the country > Part 28
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In the battle of Okeechobee Capt. Sconce's company lost more men
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than any other company in the regiment. Among the killed were Perry Jacobs and James Remley, and among the wounded were Wm. B. Hud- gins and Elihu Standley, before mentioned.
DROWNING OF FOUR MEN AT DE WITT.
About the 16th of December, 1837, a notable tragic incident occurred at De Witt, to which the old settlers always reverted with sorrow, min- gled with horror. On the evening of the day named two men named John McMahan and Perry Harris, who were engaged in running the ferry owned by Rev. Eli Guthrie, at De Witt, started to cross over to their homes on the Saline county side. McMahan was married, and Harris, a young man aged 19, boarded with him. The river was full of running ice, which was gorging at some point below. The boat in which the men were to cross was a flatboat, capable of carrying a team, and was pro- pelled by oars and poles.
As the undertaking seemed to be an extra-hazardous one, Rev. Guth- rie urged McMahan not to attempt to cross the river that night, for in addition to the difficulties mentioned the weather was extremely cold and was growing colder. But the two boatmen had had much experience with the old Missouri (and unfortunately had been drinking that day), and scouted the idea of any danger. Rev. Guthrie was so impressed with the perilous nature of the undertaking that he followed McMahan and Harris to the water, and entreated them to remain. They would not heed his remonstrances, however, and launched away. A few yards from the shore they became entangled or fastened in the almost solid mass of moving cakes of ice, some of which were very thick. The boat became unman- ageable and floated down the river at the mercy of the current. Seeing their predicament, Mr. Guthrie and some other parties followed along the bank down stream to see what the finale would be. It came all too soon. The boat drifted upon a huge " sawer " and upset. McMahan and Harris climbed out upon the tree which had a large fork some feet above the water, forming a sort of platform. Upon this platform they climbed and shouted for assistance. Their perilous situation was soon made known. In an hour or two dozens of people had congregated upon both shores of the river, all eager and anxious to do something for their unfortunate brethren, but seemingly powerless to do anything.
Rev. Guthrie hastened back to DeWitt as soon as he saw McMahan and Harris in their perilous position, and arriving at the town procured a skiff and started to try and effect their deliverance. Accompanying him were Wm. Smith and Lilburn Barns, two other Carroll county men. The attempt was a most disasterous, a most distressing failure. The boat
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reached the sawyer, but McMahan, in his eagerness to save his life, caught the chain of Guthrie's skiff, and pulled the bow of the boat high upon the sawyer, causing the stern of the little craft to sink and the boat to capsize and throw its occupants into the icy current. Lilburn Barns, who was in the bow, sprang upon a cake of ice, from that to another, then to another, and so on, until he actually reached within a few feet of the bank on the Carroll county side, seventy-five yards from the sawyer, when he jumped into the water and waded out, falling exhausted when he reached the dry ground, to be taken up by kind and tender hands. It is said that Barns was unable to swim a single stroke. Rev. Guthrie and Smith went down and never rose or were seen again. :
" The fittest place for man to die is where he dies for man."
The death of Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Smith added to the horror of the situation; for it was now almost certain that the rescue of the men on the "sawyer" was not to be effected by any poor human means. The news spread rapidly, and by ten o'clock there were nearly three hundred people gathered on the icy banks of the river, trying to devise some way to save their comrades, but trying in vain. It was bitter cold and large fires were built to keep from freezing, and in some degree, to cheer McMahan and his companion. Messages were shouted back and forth. From the shore exhortations not to lose all hope, for everything possible would be done. From the "sawyer " entreaties for help, but at the same time assur- ances of trust in the friendship and love of humanity of those on the shore. And still the mighty Missouri rolled remorselessly on, the cruel, craunch- ing ice pounding and grinding against the perilous refuge, if refuge it could be called, of the distressed men, as if begrudging them even that frail and unsubstantial tenure of life, and anxious to send them to keep company with the brave, but unfortunate Guthrie and Smith. So the night passed away.
About day-light Harris shouted to the shore that McMahan was dying and wanted his friends to know that he died resigned to the will of Him who doeth all things well. At seven o'clock Harris again called out that McMahan was dead. He laid the body on the fork of the tree, securing it as best he could. Relatives of the dead man told Harris to take the clothing from the body of McMahan and cover himself to avoid perishing, which he did. This was a dreadful thing to do, but the circumstances excused it.
It was Tuesday evening when the men were wrecked. Wednesday afternoon parties went to the Miami ferry, let the boat loose and three or four experienced river men started with it to rescue Perry Harris. They struck a sawyer before they reached their destination. . Their boat came near being upset; it "shipped " a large quantity of ice and water, and the accident so frightened the crew that they made their way to shore as soon
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as possible. A lump of lead was tied to a string and repeated efforts were made to throw it to Harris and thus furnish him with the means to draw a rope to him. Many a boat was launched, but it could get but a few feet from shore.
Perry Harris remained on the "sawyer" for three days and five nights -more than 84 hours-exposed to the icy blasts and freezing tempera- ture, with the dead body of his comrade, McMahan, at his feet. Death encompassing him about every moment, and life, safety, home and friends only a few hundred feet away-so near and yet so far. The people on the shore, especially the relatives and friends of McMahan and Harris, were rendered almost frantic by the spectacle before them. Strong, fear- less men were there, ready to do everything and anything to rescue the brave young Harris, who certainly showed heroism and, fortitude if ever man did. But the strong men had as well been prattling babes, for all that they could do. The mighty, and, in this instance, the murderous Missouri mocked them, and scorned them as it held its heroic young prisoner in its horrible embrace, and, aided by the Ice King, began to kill him.
Poor Harris' feet and hands became frozen, and he could not assist him- self. At last, in the morning of the fourth day, the ice began to gorge below the sawyer, and faint hopes were entertained that a bridge would be formed which would enable the prisoner to be extricated. But, alas! The ice "chugged" up, as the settlers, in their rough, but descriptive phraseology, expressed it, and the benumbed and helpless young man was caught between the huge masses and crushed to death. McMahan's body was thrown into the water by the gorging of the frigid boulders, and, like the bodies of Guthrie and Smith, was never seen again. The next day the ice had formed a bridge across the river, and Harris' body was taken out and buried in the grave-yard, near Miami.
McMahan was the son of Wm. McMahan, the first settler in the Miami bottom. He left a wife and one or two children.
Perry Harris was nineteen years old at the time of his death. He was a son of Moses Harris, and was born in either Saline or Howard county.
The memory of the noble, humane and brave Rev. Guthrie, and his companion, Smith, should ever be preserved and revered. Not often are such instances of heroism to be recorded. Not often can such an instance of self-sacrifice be noted. Their bodies never were recoved, and never will be seen until that great day when the deep shall yield up its dead. No marble pile was ever reared to commemorate their noble, heroic con- duct, but their names ought to live long in the annals of Missouri history. "Greater love hath no man than this-that a man lay down his life for his friend."
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THE MORMON WAR.
In 1838 occurred what is commonly known as the Mormon war,. although there was but very little of real war about it. It was a very: respectable war for those days, however, and had some of the elements of genuine martial strife about it. As Carroll county was the chief scene of the operations, its citizens, the leading actors in the drama, it is proper that a full mention of the play, the theatre and the actors should be made in this history.
To begin with, it may be fairly stated that nothing in the history of modern fanaticism equals the progress of Mormonism in the United States and in the world. That veteran observer of affairs, especially of affairs in the United States, Col. W. F. Switzler, in his history of Missouri (p. 238 et seq.) thinks it marvelously. strange that an uneducated youth, with- out wealth or social standing, indeed, without a prestige of common moral- ity (for the founder of Mormonism was a dissolute, unprincipled young rake, and notorious only for his general wickedness), should excite a rev- olutionary movement in the religious world, and be able to operate on the public credulity, by means of the wildest and most ridiculous pretensions to divinity and prophecy, and that too, in an age of refinement and scien- tific intelligence.
Joe Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and its prophet, priest and leader, assumed to act by divine authority, and claimed that his mission was of both a temporal and spiritual character. His mission was not only. to radically and essentially change all the features of divine worship, and herald the millennial reign of Christ on earth, but was to establish a emporal kingdom, in which his followers, denominated " the Saints," were to reign and crush the unbelieving world beneath their righteous rule. When Smith first came to Missouri, in 1831, it was claimed that the foundations of this kingdom were laid at Independence, Jackson county, which Smith in obedience to a revelation, called " the New Jerusalem." From this nucleus the kingdom was to be extended by a series of supernatural inci- dents and agencies, and by conquests more miraculous, important and . complete, than those which attended Mohammed in his campaign, which led to the establishment of Islamism.
To accomplish his designs, Smith at first proposed to concentrate all the Indian tribes of the west and incite them to avenge the wrongs they claimed to have suffered at the hands of their white conquerers and oppressors. The blood-thirsty Comanches, the cruel crafty Sacs and Foxes, together with the Winnebagoes, the Pawnees, the Omahas, the Otoes and other tribes west of the Missouri, were to hear the voice of "'the holy prophet of the great spirit," heed his counsel and consent to and
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aid in this establishment of Mormon supremacy on the American conti- nent and eventually throughout the globe.
The Mormon bible or " Book of Mormon," as it is called, contains a pretended history of the original inhabitants of America, from whom it is claimed the modern tribes have descended. This book was to be largely used to convert the poor Indians. From the pages of this blundering, meaningless fiction, this mass of but little more than senseless jargon, they were to be taught their high origin, they were to learn of a high- toned ancestry, that had discovered, settled and peopled a vast continent, and established a civilization far superior to that of their European ene- mies, who had dispossessed them of their hunting grounds, the once happy homes of their fathers.
A brief sketch of Joseph Smith, the founder and chief apostle of Mor- monism, or the "Church of the Latter Day Saints," as he christened it, will not be out of place here. He was born December 23, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont. In 1815 he removed with his father's family to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York. When but fifteen years old he claimed to have received his first remarkable vision. He after- ward asserted that, while praying in the woods, God appeared to him and announced that his sins were all forgiven, that all of the then existing denominations of Christians were in error, and that he was chosen to re-instate the kingdom of God and re-introduce His gospel on earth. Smith acquainted none or but few with the knowledge of his divine visit- ation at this time, and three years thereafter had fearfully fallen from grace as it would seem, for he had formed and practiced the vicious habits of swearing, swindling and drunkenness.
September 21, 1823, Smith claimed that he was again favored with a divine visitation and revelation. An angel of the Lord came to him while asleep in bed, he asserted, and revealed to him the existence and preservation of the history of the ancient inhabitants of the American continent, which history was to be found recorded on certain plates or tablets of gold, buried near Palmyra. One of the early Mormon hymns declared:
An angel came down near Geneva, And to our prophet told That there were plates of gold . Hid away in the hills of Cumorab.
Smith was further directed by the celestial messenger to take up the aforesaid plates. The next day he obeyed the divine command, and dis- covered the plates in a stone box buried in the hillside designated as "Cum- orah," between the towns of Manchester and Palmyra, New York. He attempted to take them when lo! Satan and certain of his angels appeared and prevented him for a time, waging a fierce warfare for a time with carnal weapons; but the victory was on the Lord's side, and Beelzebub
1
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and his cohorts were vanquished and beat a speedy retreat. (Casualties not reported!)
The angel of the Lord then safely delivered to Smith the plates, which were of gold, bell-shaped, seven by eight inches in size, and six inches thick, and fastened through holes in the smaller ends with rings.
These plates contained all kinds of characters. fantastic, arabesque, and irregular, presenting a singular medly of imitations of Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, and other characters, together with all sorts of hieroglyphics, representations of the sun, moon, and stars, various cabalistic symbols, etc. Smith at once set about translating these plates, and his labors were wit- nessed by Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdry, and David Whitmer, according to their affidavits, which appear in every edition of the Mormon bible. These men swore that they saw with their own eyes the angel deliver the plates to Smith, and assisted in their transcribing. David Whitmer still lives, and resides at Richmond, Ray county, an old man and honest one. It is but the truth and fair to say that he has always seemed to be honest and sincere in his opinions, and positive in his declarations of the particu- lars of the miraculous circumstances here recorded. Although declared an apostate by the modern leaders of the Mormon church, Mr. Whitmer still claims to be a mormon, whether he is the victim of a delusion or not.
While the translation of the plates was in progress, Martin Harrison, one of the "scribes," stole 118 pages of the manuscript, as is claimed, and these have never been recovered. The work of translation was then sus- pended for a time, but in April, 1829, was resumed, Oliver Cowdry, whom John the Baptist came back to the earth and ordained for the work, acting as clerk. The ensuing year the Book of Mormon was published and given to the world as a revelation from heaven.
Mr. Thurlow Weed, a venerable journalist of national reputation, now living in New York city, in a letter published in the New York Herald, July 29, 1858, made the following statement concerning the publication of the Book of Mormon:
" The original imposter, Joe Smith, came to the writer only thirty-two years ago with the manuscript of this Mormon bible to be printed. He had then but one follower, a respectable and wealthy farmer of the town of Macedon, who offered himself as security for the printing. But after reading a few chapters, it seemed such a jumble of unintelligible absurdi- ties that we refused the work, advising Harris not to mortgage his farm and begger his family. But Joe crossed over the way to our neighbor Elihu F. Marshall, and got his Mormon bible printed."
Mr. Weed was at that time one of the proprietors of a newspaper and printing establishment, in Albany, New York.
It has been alleged and there is good evidence that the real author of the Book of Mormon, was Rev. Solomon Spalding, a Presbyterian cler- gyman of Ashford, Connecticut, and a college graduate. Abandoning the
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ministry, Mr. Spalding engaged in merchandising, and resided at Cherry Valley, New York, Conneaut, Ohio, and finally at Amity, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1816. He was the author of several works of fiction. the manuscripts of which he was accustomed to read to his friends. Among these manuscripts was a romance of the migration of the ten lost tribes of Israel to America, advancing the hypothesis that the aborigines of America are the descendants of the Hebrew children.
Being encouraged by some friends, Mr. Spalding decided to publish this latter fiction, and placed it in the hands of a printer at Pittsburgh, Pa. One Sidney Rigdon, afterwards a prominent Mormon, was the printer. The book was never published, and the manuscript was returned to Spalding. After the appearance of the book of Mormon, Mr. Spald- ing's widow recognized it as having been almost wholly derived from her husband's manuscript, and May 18, 1839, in a card in the Boston Fournal, she published a full, authenticated statement regarding its history. (Amer- ican cyclopedia.) It has long been claimed that Sidney Rigdon was the real author of the book of Mormon, and that he derived it wholly or in great part from Spalding's romance, choosing Joe Smith as a proper per- son to give it to the world.
Having made a number of converts, Smith and his apostles and follow- ers removed to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831. Meeting with much opposition from the people of that section, the Mormons decided to remove to the far west. Joe Smith made a visit to Missouri to find a location for the new "Zion" of his church. He at first visited Saline county, and spent some days in looking over the country in the Grand Pass neighborhood. He then passed on through Lafayette county, and into Jackson. At Inde- pendence he received a "revelation" that this was to be the seat of his kingdom. He made arrangements to enter several thousand acres of land, and called the place "The New Jerusalem." He then returned to Kirt- .
land.
In 1832, Smith returned with many of his followers to Jackson county. The land upon which they settled, mostly lay west of Independence. The land and all the other property professedly belonged to the Mormons in common, but really the bishops and leaders owned everything, the land titles especially vesting in them. A storehouse called "the Lords", but controlled by the leaders, was established at Independence. A newspaper called The Evening Star, the official organ of the church, was established. In this paper appeared every week divers "revelations" promising great things to the faithful, and direful woes against the unbelievers, the "wicked Gentiles."
The Mormons met with but little welcome from their new neighbors in Missouri. Their presence was very distasteful to the citizens of Jackson county-the "Gentiles"-who could not tolerate the nonsense of "new
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revelations," the "second kingdom," etc., and the result was they threw the Mormon printing press into the river, tarred and feathered the Mor- mon bishop and two others, and otherwise made it unpleasant for the "saints." The latter did not suffer in patience. When smitten on one cheek they retaliated forthwith upon the smiter. In 1833, an affray between the Mormons and citizens, occurred near Westport, in which two citizens and one Mormon were killed. Soon after, Jo. Smith, the "prophet of the Lord," received a "revelation" ordering the destruction of the city of Independence. He marched with his force to the vicinity of the town on the night of November 2d, but here he was confronted by a large force of .Gentiles from Independence, and the surrounding country, and compelled to capitulate. The Mormons were made to lay down their arms and leave the country by the 1st of January following. The Gen- tiles agreed to pay the owner of the printing office for the destruction of his property.
From Jackson county the Mormons fled to the north side of the river, settling in Clay, Carroll and Caldwell counties. Jo. Smith and his officers laid out a town about eight miles southeast of Cameron, which was named Far West. It was declared by Smith that here a magnificent temple should be built, and that the town itself should soon become one of the mighty cities of the world. It is now quite a respectable cornfield. In 1837, work was begun on the temple, but it was never finished. The prosperity of the Mormon settlements at and near Far West attracted many adventur- ers, the majority of whom were arrant scoundrels. They managed to get into and obtain high positions in the church and influence it altogether for harm. "Revelations were obtained to the effect that the Lord had given the earth and the fullness thereof to " His people," and that the Mormons were " His people," and consequently had the right to take whatever they pleased from the Gentiles. In pursuance of these revelations the more lawless of them strolled about the country taking what they pleased. They largely outnumbered the Gentiles in Caldwell county, and Mormons held all of the important county offices. All efforts, therefore, to punish them for their crimes and misdemeanors were wholly inoperative, and the citizens felt justified in resorting to mob violence and retaliation in kind.
It is now in order to detail the history of the Mormon occupancy of Carroll county. According to the historical sketch of A. C. Blackwell, the Mor- mons first appeared in the county in 1838. In the summer of that year Mr. Henry Root, then a citizen of De Witt, sold a large number of lots in that place to Messrs. G. M. Hinkle and John Murdock, prominent Mormons. Root had previously purchased the land from Rev. Eli Guthrie, the heroic humanitarian, who lost his life in his endeavors to save McMahan and Harris in December, 1837. Soon after the purchase by Hinkle and Mur- dock, it was learned that they were Mormons, and that it was the inten-
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tion to establish a large Mormon settlement at DeWitt, with branches in different parts of the county. DeWitt was an excellent landing on the river, and the most convenient point from which to forward goods and emigrants to Far West, then the head center of Mormonism. There was great alarm and much excitement consequent upon this discovery, but it was conceded that it was too late then to thwart the designs of the shrewd and crafty Mormon leaders, of whom Hinkle was one of the shrewdest and craftiest, as well as one of the boldest and most unscrupu- lous. The price paid by Hinkle and Murdock for the lots in DeWitt was $500, and not for many times that sum would the people of Carroll county have had the institution of Mormonism set up in their midst.
Inimediately upon the purchase of the property at De Witt the Mor- mons began to come into the county in great numbers, comparatively speaking. This increased the excitement. The people had been reared to believe in the Bible of Christianity and to consider all imitations thereof as arrant blasphemies not to be tolerated. They looked with detestation upon this new set which prated continually of its "revelations" and visions, and jabbered constantly in its "unknown tongues," and which it was said, was composed largely of northern abolitionists who sought not only the destruction of Christianity but the abolition of slavery. The bad charac- ter of the Mormons generally had been learned from their history while at Kirtland and in Jackson county. Doubtless there were many stories told of them which were untrue, but truth was bad enough. The Mor- mons soon exhibited a rapacious spirit and other traits of character of which the Gentiles could not approve. They were clannish in everything. Not only did they keep themselves aloof from the settlers but they were arrogant, presumptious, and overbearing in their intercourse with them. They seemed to have a supreme contempt and a hearty detestation for all who refused to believe in the tom-nonsense of the Mormon gospel, which they set far above Christianity, and to consider themselves the rightful lords and masters of all earthly possessions. They were wont to say that they had better proof of the divinity of the Book of Mormon than Chris- tians had of the authenticity of the New. Testament as a work of divine revelation; "for," said they, " we have living witnesses, men of credibil- ity, and well known to be such, who have sworn and will swear again that they saw the angel of the Lord deliver the plates of gold to the Prophet, who transcribed them and made of them a volume that contains the only true plan of salvation. You have no such evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament."
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