Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"Smith, Joseph Fielding
History
Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"
Smith, Joseph Fielding
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History
Early on the morning of the 25th the prisoners voluntarily surrendered
themselves to Constable Bettisworth. Shortly afterwards Joseph and
Hyrum were again arrested by Bettisworth on the charge of "treason"
against the state of Illinois, on complaint of Augustine Spencer and
Henry O. Norton.
The Governor's Inflammatory Speech
Shortly after eight o'clock Governor Ford called all the troops
together and formed them in a hollow square. He then addressed them in
a most inflammatory manner against the Prophet Joseph and the Patriarch
Hyrum Smith. They needed little encouragement, as he well knew, for
they even then were inflamed to a murderous degree. At the close of his
speech he fulfilled his promise to the troops as they were drawn up
in file, by taking Joseph and Hyrum Smith before them, and introduced
them as Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The Carthage Greys refused to
receive them by such title, and made threats against their lives, to
which the governor paid little heed.
His Lack of Sincerity
When Joseph Smith reported to Governor Ford that he had been before
Daniel H. Wells, a justice of the peace, and had been tried, the
governor replied that no other justice would do to try the case but
the one who had issued the writ, therefore they must be tried before
Justice Morrison. His lack of sincerity is shown in the fact that they
were now taken before Justice Robert F. Smith, captain of the Carthage
Greys and a most bitter mobocrat. The governor's object was to drag
them to Carthage to their enemies, and there was no thought of justice
or right in making his demand. The accused brethren were bound over
to appear at the next term of the circuit court. It was evident that
the magistrate intended to place their bail at a figure which could
not be met, in order to cast them into jail, but the bond was given,
and Justice Smith left the court house without calling on the two
prisoners, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, to answer to the charge of treason.
False Imprisonment
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