Governor Boggs.

CHAPTER XL.

Haun's Mill.

CHAPTER XLI.

The Betrayal of Far West.

CHAPTER XLII.

Sad Scenes at Far West.

CHAPTER XLIII.

A Prophet's Rebuke.

CHAPTER XLIV.

"A Strong Point for Treason"

CHAPTER XLV.

Exodus from Missouri.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Again the Passively Good—Petitions.

CHAPTER XLVII.

The Escape of the Prophet from Missouri.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

A Prophecy that did not Fail.

CHAPTER XLIX.

A State's Shame.

APPENDICES.

"Mormons" in Jackson County, etc.

THE MISSOURI PERSECUTIONS

CHAPTER I.

THE FACTS IN WHICH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS HAD ITS ORIGIN.

The story of the persecutions endured by the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, one of the sovereign States of the United States of America, properly begins with the advent of a mission to the Lamanites,^[A] at Independence, Missouri, in the winter of 1830. But in order that those not acquainted with the history of The Church may understand how there came to be a mission to the Lamanites in 1830, and how there came to be a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be persecuted, I think it proper to state briefly those facts in which The Church had its origin.

[Footnote A: American Indians]

I know the story has often been told—so often indeed that all novelty in relation to it has long since passed away. But in history there are certain foundation facts that are as essential to the right understanding of some particular phase of history as the employment of the first principles of the science of mathematics is to the solution of some particular problem in algebra; and the historical writer is as much bound to state those foundation facts as the mathematician is to use the first principles of his science in the solution of his problem.

In the present instance, however, though I deem it necessary to tell again such a well known story as the rise of The Church, I shall attempt no embellishment of it; nor shall I deal with the religious condition of the world at the time of the origin of The Church with any view to establish the probability of the story; nor stop to call attention to the reasonableness and strength of it; nor the evidences of its truth, or necessity, although the temptation to do this is always strong whenever the facts of that story are passed before me in review. I shall content myself on this occasion with a mere statement of the facts, such as an annalist might make, without any further consideration of them whatsoever; and this because such a statement will serve my present purpose.

Joseph Smith, the man who, under the direction of God, was the founder of The Church, was born at the little village of Sharon, Windsor County, in the State of Vermont, on the 23rd of December, in the year of our Lord 1805.

When he was ten years of age the Smith family moved from Vermont to the State of New York, settling in Palmyra, Wayne County. Four years later the family moved a few miles south to the town of Manchester, Ontario County.

Here, in the spring of 1820, a great religious revival agitated the community, and Joseph Smith was much affected by it.

In the course of this religious excitement he was much perplexed over the discussion and strifes of the different Christian sects, and often wondered how it was that the Church of Christ could be so divided into contending factions. "I found," he said some years later when writing his recollections of those early days of his religious experience—"I found that there was a great clash in religious sentiment; if I went to one society they referred me to one plan, and another to another—each one pointing to his own particular creed as the summum bonum of perfection. Considering that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of so much confusion, I determined to investigate the subject more fully, believing that if God had a Church it would not be split up into factions, and that if he taught one society to worship one way and administer in one set of ordinances, he would not teach another principles which were diametrically opposed." ^[B]

[Footnote B: From a letter to Mr. John Wentworth, written in 1842. Mr. Wentworth at the time was the editor of the Chicago Democrat.]

In the midst of these perplexities Joseph's attention was called to the first chapter of the epistle of James, where it is written: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and unbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

This instruction the youth determined to follow, and accordingly repaired to a secret place in the woods near his father's house, where he called upon God for wisdom.

While so engaged he was seized upon by some power of darkness which threw him violently to the ground, and it seemed for a time that he was doomed to sudden destruction. It was no imaginary power, but some actual being from the unseen world who thus seized him. His tongue for a time was bound that he could not speak; darkness gathered about him; but, exerting all his powers, he called upon God to deliver him out of the hands of his enemy, and at the very moment he was ready to give up in despair and abandon himself to destruction, he beheld a pillar of light immediately over his head descending towards him. Its brightness was above that of the sun at noonday, and no sooner did it envelop him than he was freed from the enemy who had held him in his power.

When the light rested upon him he beheld within it two personages standing above him in the air, whose brightness and glory defied all description. They exactly resembled each other in form and features. One of them, pointing to the other, said:

"JOSEPH, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM."

As soon as the youth gained his