Anson made an early call upon Father Joseph Smith and Brigham Young for counsel as to whether he should go on horseback to the Three-Forks of Grand river to obtain some property he had left there to help make his family more comfortable therewith. They advised him not to go, as they feared the violence of the mob, into whose hands he would be very likely to fall. After thinking the matter over, he still felt impelled by the necessities of his family to make the attempt, notwithstanding the adverse counsel he had received. He mounted his horse and started, and after a perilous and tiresome journey arrived at his farm on New Years day, and found it in possession of a Missourian named George Washington O'Neil, one of the men from whom he had purchased the place, and who had afterwards decided to take advantage of his misfortunes by robbing him of it. He rode about two miles past his home to the house of a neighbor named Day, whose friendship he presumed upon as he had taken no part with the mob, and as Mrs. Day was a member of the church. Mrs. Day told him of what O'Neil and Culp, the former owners of his farm, had been doing, and warned him that they were likely to kill him if they got a chance to do so. While he was talking to Mrs. Day the two enemies referred to entered the house and immediately began to threaten him, and declared that they would just as soon kill him as if he were a dog, and if they were to do so no one would blame them for it. Anson told them he intended to stand up for his rights as a white man and a citizen, which phrase had a special significance then because of the prevalence of negro slavery in Missouri, but they answered him with jeers, being evidently of the opinion that he had neither friends nor influence in the country. Many of the people in the neighborhood were in debt to Anson for goods he had sold them on time, but he became convinced from the talk of O'Neil and Culp that he would be powerless to collect the accounts, and would only risk his life by trying to do so. With the intention of quitting the region, which fairly reeked with blood-thirsty anti-"Mormonism," he started towards his horse, which was tied only about five rods distant. As he did so he was followed by O'Neil and struck over the head with a heavy hoop pole, and almost felled to the ground. His first impulse was to pick up something with which to defend himself, but he could find nothing, and the blows were repeated with such force that he would probably have been killed but for the fact that he wore a thick cap, which doubtless eased the blows. Mrs. Day's interference appeared to save him from further violence at the time, as his assailants immediately left. She suggested that they had probably gone to get their guns and advised that he mount his horse and hurry along before they returned, which he proceeded to do. His head and face soon began to swell, and he stopped at the first stream