an

of

Congress from that district; and the Prophet attempted to secure his services in his defense, as he was the greatest criminal lawyer in that part of Illinois. Walker, however, refused to engage in his defense unless Joseph would agree to vote for him at the coming election, the Prophet promised him his vote. Vrits were sued out before the justice the peace against Reynolds and Wilson for making threats against the lives of Markham and Joseph; and another writ for a violation of the law in relation to writs of habeas corpus; and still another, this time from the Circuit Court of Lee County, for private injuries, false imprisonment, claiming $10,000 damages. Whether the sheriffs were released from the first writ, or just what action was taken respecting them, we cannot learn; but on the last writ they were held in $10,000 bonds, and as they could get no bondsmen this side of Missouri, they were taken in charge by the sheriff of Lee County, and were under the necessity of obtaining a writ of habeas corpus themselves. So that while Joseph was the prisoner of Reynolds and Wilson pending the hearing on the writ of habeas corpus he had sued out, they were prisoners under the same circumstances, in charge of the sheriff of Lee County. And in this manner all started for Ottawa for a hearing on the several writs before Judge Caton.

The whole company left Dixon on the twenty-fourth of June, and the same day arrived at Pawpaw Grove, a distance of thirty-two miles. The arrival of the Prophet and party at Pawpaw Grove created no little excitement, and the next morning the people gathered into the largest room in the hotel, and insisted upon hearing the Prophet preach. To this Sheriff Reynolds objected and said to the people, "I wish you to understand this man (pointing to Joseph) is my prisoner, and I want you should disperse." At this an old gentleman by the name of David Town spoke up and said: "You damned infernal puke, we'll learn you

* A common nick-name for Missourians in those days.

to come here and interrupt gentlemen! Sit down there, pointing to a very low chair, and sit still. Don't open your head till General Smith gets through talking. If you never learned manners in Missouri, we'll teach you that gentlemen are not to be imposed upon by a nigger-driver. You cannot kidnap men here. There's a committee in this Grove that will sit on your case; and sir, it is the highest tribunal in the United States, as from its decision there is no appeal."

Old Mr. Town was lame and carried with him a heavy, hickory walking stick with which he emphasized the significant parts of his speech by striking the end of it on the floor. It had the desired effect on Reynolds, who humbly took his seat, while the Prophet without an interruption addressed the company for about an hour and a half on the subject of marriage.

At this point it was learned that Judge Caton was absent in the State of New York, hence the party returned to Dixon, and the officers made returns on the respective writs of habeas corpus by endorsing thereon-"Judge absent." New writs, however, were sued out, and at Markham's request that for Joseph was made to read: "Returnable before the nearest tribunal in the Fifth Judicial District authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus"—and thereby hangs a tale, as the sequel will show.

Arrangements were made with a Mr. Lucien P. Sanger, who was in the stage coach business, to take the respective prisoners to Quincy, a distance of two hundred and sixty miles, to obtain a hearing on the several writs before Judge Stephen A. Douglas.

Enroute for Quincy, Joseph convinced his lawyers and Sheriff Campbell, of Lee County, and others, that the Municipal Court of Nauvoo had the right to try cases under writs of habeas corpus, and since the writ that he had sued out and served on Reynolds of Missouri was made "returnable before the nearest tribunal in the fifth Judicial District authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus," he insisted on being taken to Nauvoo for a hearing. He pre

vailed, too, and for that point the company directed their course,

It now becomes necessary to note a few minor events that occurred. As soon as the sheriffs started for Dixon with Joseph in their power, Emma Smith had her carriage made ready and at once started for Nauvoo with her children, in order to set some scheme or other on foot looking to her husband's deliverance.

Joseph, when arriving at Dixon a prisoner, dispatched William Clayton with a message to his brother Hyrum telling what had befallen him, and requested that assistance be at once sent to him. Clayton boarded the steamer Amaranth, at Rock Island, and arrived in Nauvoo about two o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday; the twenty-fifth of June. Meeting was in progress when Hyrum stepped into the stand and interrupted the proceedings, by announcing that he wanted to meet with the brethren at the Masonic Hall.

The quiet of the Sabbath was immediately changed into excitement, and the brethren rushed to the hall in such numbers that not one fourth could gain admittance, so the meeting was adjourned to the green, where a hollow square was formed about Hyrum, who related the story Clayton had told him respecting the captivity of their Prophet and called for volunteers to go to his assistance, and see that he had his rights. Immediately three hundred offered their services and from them a company was selected such as was needed; and before sunset, one hundred and seventy-five men were in the saddle under command of General Wilson Law and C. C. Rich, enroute for Peoria.

Before the company left Nauvoo Elder Wilford Woodruff opened a barrel of gunpowder and invited every man that was going to the assistance of the Prophet to fill his flask or powder-horn; and indeed, the company was well armed and well mounted, and presented a rather formidable appearance.

Besides sending out their company to find and protect his brother, Hyrum sent about seventy-five men on the steamer

Maid of Iowa, a small steamboat purchased by the people of Nauvoo some months before, and placed under the command of Captain Dan Jones.

The company was to go down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois River, thence up that stream as far as Peoria; for it was expected that Joseph was being conveyed to Ottawa, and it was feared by Hyrum that an attempt would be made when the party approached the Illinois River to convey Joseph to one of the crafts plying between Peoria and St. Louis and so take the Prophet to Missouri. Hence this company on the Maid of Iowa were instructed to take the course mentioned, and to examine the steamboats they met, and if they learned that the Prophet was a prisoner on any one of them, they were to render whatever assistance might be within their power.

The command under Generals Law and Rich divided and sub-divided in going through the country, and on the twenty-seventh a small company under the command of Captain Thomas Grover met Stephen Markham whom Joseph had dispatched to find the brethren that he expected had been sent from Nauvoo to his assistance; with directions for them to meet him at Monmouth.

Near Monmouth, and before the arrival of the main body of Joseph's friends, Reynolds and Wilson planned a scheme of going into that town, raising a mob and taking the Prophet by force into Missouri. The plot failed, however, as it was overheard by P. W. Conover, and Sheriff Campbell took both Wilson and Reynolds into his immediate custody. These men had a strong dislike of going to Nauvoo as they feared they would never leave the place alive. But the Prophet pledged his word that no harm should befall them. As the friends of the Prophet kept dropping in singly, or in squads, the fear of his enemies increased. Reynolds made especial enquiries as to whether "Jem Flack" was in the company, and on being answered in the affirmative, he exclaimed, as he turned deathly pale, "I

am a dead man!" for he had given Flack a deadly provocation. When Flack rode up, however, the Prophet called him up to him and strictly charged him that whatever insult he had received from Reynolds not to injure a hair of his head, since he had given his word of honor that he should not be injured; and Flack agreed to let him alone.

Before noon of the thirtieth, Joseph's company which now numbered about one hundred and forty, approached Nauvoo. Word had previously been sent in as to the probable time of his arrival, and the people prepared to give him a royal reception.

Hyrum Smith and Emma, accompanied by the brass band and a long train of carriages met the Prophet's company a mile and a half north of the city, and received him. The enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. The Prophet met his brother and wife with a fond embrace; from the latter, only a few days before, he had been torn away in the most arbitrary and cruel manner, and their reunion was a joy indeed.

Joseph now mounted his favorite horse, "Old Charley," and with Emma riding proudly at his side, and surrounded by his body guard, he led the procession into the city, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the people, the firing of musketry and cannon, and the lively strains of the band. At the gate of the Mansion stood the Prophet's mother, with tears of joy rolling down her aged cheeks, to welcome her son, whom she had seen so many times in the hands of his enemies. Here, too, his children flocked about him and welcomed him with unreserved, childish delight.

The vast crowd that had gathered in front of the Mansion appeared unwilling to leave without some word from their revered leader. When he observed tnis the Prophet mounted the fence, thanked them and blessed them for their kindness to him, and told them he would address them in the grove, near the Temple, at four o'clock.

A company of fifty sat down at the Prophet's table to partake of the feast provided; and Wilson and Reynolds

who had treated him so inhumanly when he was in their power, were placed at the head of the table, and waited upon by Emma with the utmost regard for their comfort, though they had denied her, speech with her husband, and were not even willing that she should take to him his hat and coat. Gall to them indeed must have been the kindness of the Prophet and his wife, whom but a few days before they had treated with such harshness.

In the afternoon, several thousand people assembled at the grove, and at four o'clock, the Prophet addressed them in an animated speech of considerable length, in which he related to them his adventures while in the power of his enemies, and contended that the municipal court had the right to hear cases arising under writs of habeas corpus. In the course of his speech he allowed himself to be carried away by the fervor of his eloquence beyond the bounds of prudence. A circumstance, however, that will create no astonishment when the excitement, and the indignation under which he was laboring, and that arose out of a sense of outraged justice and humanity--is taken into consideration. Under such circumstances and from such temperaments as that of the Prophet's, we shall look in vain at such times for dispassionate discourse, and more than human must that man be, who, under the accumulated wrongs of years of oppression, can always confine his speech, when recounting those wrongs, within the lines that cold, calculating wisdom would draw.

In the meantime, a requisition was made on Sheriff Reynolds to bring his prisoner before the municipal court of Nauvoo, that the validity of the writ, by virtue of which he held him, might be tested. Reynolds refused to recognize the summons of the court; therefore, his prisoner petitioned the court for a writ of habeas corpus to be directed to Sheriff Reynolds, commanding him to bring his prisoner before said court, and there state the cause of his capture and detention, in order that the lawfulness of his arrest might be inquired into.

Reynolds complied with the attachment, and the Prophet was delivered into the charge of the city marshal.

The next day, the municipal court held a session, William Marks, acting chief justice, D. H. Wells, N. K. Whitney, G. W. Harris, Gustavus Hills and Hiram Kimball, associate justices.

When Joseph was on trial for this same offense before Judge Douglas, on a writ of habeas corpus in 1841, as already related in a previous number, the court refused to enter into the consideration of the merits of the case, as the judge doubted whether on a writ of habeas corpus he had a right to go behind the writ and inquire into the merits of the case. The same point was avoided by Judge Pope in the hearing Joseph had before him on a similar writ, when charged with being accessory before the fact in an assault upon the life of exGovernor Boggs. But the municipal court had no such scruples, and at once proceeded to try the case ex parte, on its merits; and Hyrum Smith, P. P. Pratt, Brigham Young, G. W. Pitkin, Lyman Wight and Sidney Rigdon were examined as witnesses. Their affidavits before that court concerning events that happened to the Saints in Missouri, afford the most circumstantial, reliable, and exhaustive history of the Church, while in that State, that has ever been published.

After hearing the testimony of these witnesses, and the pleading of counsel, the court ordered that Joseph Smith be released from the arrest and imprisonment of which he complained, for want of substance in the warrant by which he was held, as well as upon the merits of the case.

A copy of the proceedings of the muncipal court of Nauvoo, and of all the papers connected with the case were immediately sent to the Governor, as also were affidavits from leading counsel and gentlemen from Dixon, as to the treatment of Wilson and Reynolds, that the Governor and the world might know that they had not been unkindly dealt with.

We may conclude the account of this

adventure of Joseph's by saying that about a year afterwards, a jury in Lee County awarded forty dollars damages, and costs, against Wilson and Reynolds, for false imprisonment and abuse of the Prophet a verdict which, while it confirms the unlawful course of those officers, and the fact that their prisoner was abused, insults justice by awarding such an amount for damages.

At the time of this action before the municipal court of Nauvoo, it was a question in Illinois whether said court had the authority to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus arising from arrests made by virtue of warrants issued by the courts of the State or of the Governor, as in the foregoing case; or whether the clause in the City Charter granting the right of issuing such writs was not confined to cases arising from arrests made on account of the violation of some city ordinance. The clause in the charter giving to the municipal court the power to issue writs of habeas corpus was as follows:

"The Municipal Court shall have power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases arising under the ordinances of the city council."

The italics are mine, and the city council passed an ordinance in which is contained this clause:

"No citizen of this city shall be taken out of this city by any writ, without the privilege of a writ of habeas corpus."

And there was the general welfare provision, which provided that the

City council shall have power and authority to make, ordain, establish and execute such ordinances not repugnant to the constitution of the United States, or of this state, as they may deem necessary for the peace, benefit and safety of the inhabitants of said city.

In the estimation of Joseph this clause gave the city council the authority to enact the ordinance pertaining to habeas corpus from which we quoted the above

extract.

Indeed, Joseph maintained that all the power there was in Illinois she gave to Nauvoo, and that the municipal Court had all the power within the limits of the city that the state courts had, and that power was given by the same authority- the legislature. A number

of lawyers of more or less prominence in the state professed to hold the same views; but little reliance can be put in the support they bring to the case, since they were seeking political preferment and would, readily, in the interpretations of the powers granted by the charter, favor that side of the controversy most likely to please the citizens of Nauvoo.

Governor Ford, too, at the time, gave a tacit approval of the course taken by the Municipal Court in issuing the writ of habeas corpus, though he afterwards became very pronounced in his opposition to the exercise of such powers. It occurred in this way: As soon as Joseph was liberated by order of the Municipal Court, Sheriff Reynolds applied to Governor Ford for a posse to retake him, representing that he had been unlawfully taken out of his hands by the Municipal Court of Nauvoo. The Governor refused to grant the petition. Subsequently the Governor of Missouri asked Ford to call out the militia to retake Joseph, but this Governor Ford refused to do, and gave as a reason that "no process, officer, or authority of the State had been resisted or interfered with," and recited how the prisoner had been released on habeas corpus by the Municipal Court of Nauvoo. The Governor acted in this instance with perfect knowledge of what had taken place, for the petition and statement of Reynolds was in his possession as were also complete copies of all the documents, which contained the proceedings before the Municipal Court of Nauvoo; and in addition to these sources of information, the Governor had dispatched a trusted, secret agent, a Mr. Brayman, to Nauvoo who investigated the case and reported the result to him.

On the other hand it was contended that the grant in the charter was intended by the legislature only to give the power to the Municipal Court to issue writs of habeas corpus in cases of arrest for violation of city ordinances, and that giving power to the Municipal Court to test the warrants or processes issued from the state courts, was never contemplated by

the legislature, and that the passage of any ordinance by the city council that would bring about or authorize any such unusual proceeding was an unwarranted assumption of power, wrong in principle and consequently subversive of good

government.

At the conclusion of the trial the citizens of Nauvoo held a mass meeting and passed resolutions thanking the people of Dixon and vicinity of Lee County generally; for the bold stand they had taken in defense of the innocent, and in favor of law and justice.

The events that have just been related occurred on the eve of an election for United States representatives, state and county officers. The Whig and Democratic parties were so divided in Illinois that the citizens of Nauvoo held the balance of power in the Congressional district where they were located, and also in the county, and I don't know but what they held it as to the entire state. Whichever party they voted with, as they voted unitedly, gained the election. This circumstance brought to the people of Nauvoo many concessions, and caused the candidates of both political parties to fawn at their feet. It was a case where "Bel boweth down, and Nebo stoopeth." But we shall see that it also brought with it serious difficulties that contributed in no small degree to hasten the fall of Nauvoo.

In the election above referred to a circumstance occurred which greatly intensified the political bitterness. It will be remembered that Cyrus Walker refused to assist Joseph when under arrest at Dixon, unless he would pledge him his vote in the then coming election. This Joseph did and Walker was satisfied that he would go to Congress, as he expected that Joseph's vote would bring to him the entire vote of Nauvoo, which would insure his election, and so expressed himself to Stephen Markham. But the day before election, which was Sunday, Hyrum told Joseph that the Spirit manifested it unto him that it would be to the best interests of the people to vote the Democratic ticket, and for Mr. Hoge, the Democratic candidate for Congress.