Sister Richards bore all these trials and persecutions with patience. Elder Richards knew the cause of these unpleasantries, his call [to the apostolate] having been made known to him by revelation; but he told no one of it. The work continued to spread in Manchester and vicinity, among the Staffordshire potteries, and other places in England. _Friday, 15_.--I made the following petition: _The Petition of the Prophet et al. to Judge Tompkins et al_. _To the honorable Judge Tompkins, or either of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri_: Your petitioners, Alanson Ripley, Heber C. Kimball, Joseph B. Noble, {278} William Huntington, and Joseph Smith, Jun., beg leave respectfully to represent to your honor, that Joseph Smith, Jun., is now unlawfully confined and restrained of his liberty in Liberty jail, Clay county, Missouri; that he has been restrained of his liberty nearly five months. Your petitioners claim that the whole transaction which has been the cause of his confinement, is unlawful from the first to the last. He was taken from his house by a fraud being practiced upon him by a man of the name of George M. Hinkle, and one or two others; thereby your petitioners respectfully show, that he was forced, contrary to his wishes, and without knowing the cause, into the camp, which was commanded by General Lucas of Jackson county, and thence sent to Ray county, sleeping on the ground, and suffering many insults and injuries and deprivations, which were calculated in their nature to break down the spirit and constitution of the most robust and hardy of mankind. He was put in chains immediately on his being landed at Richmond, and there underwent a long and tedious _ex parte_ examination. Your petitioners show that the said Joseph Smith, Jun., was deprived of the privileges of being examined before the court as the law directs; that the witnesses on the part of the state were taken by force of arms, threatened with extermination or immediate death, and were brought without subpoena or warrant, under the awful and glaring anticipation of being exterminated if they did not swear something against him to please the mob or his persecutors; and those witnesses were compelled to swear at the muzzle of the gun, and some of them have acknowledged since, which your petitioners do testify, and are able to prove, that they did swear falsely, and that they did it in order to save their lives.