At five o'clock, I opened a mayor's court at my house, when John D. Parker, deputy sheriff, presented Oliver Olney before the court for stealing goods from the store of Moses Smith on the 23rd of January, when Olney declared before the court that he had been visited many times by the Ancient of Days; that he sat with him on the 9th, 10th and 11th of last June, and should sit in counsel again with him on Tuesday next; that he had had a mission from him to the four quarters of the world; that he had been and established the twelve stakes of Zion, and had visited them all, except one in the south; that he had suffered much for two or three years for want of clothing; that he despised a thief, except when he stole to clothe himself; that he opened the store of Moses Smith on the 23rd of January, and took out the goods then present (several hundred pieces) hid them in the cornfield, and carried them home from time to time, under the same roof with Mr. Smith, and that no one knew anything about the robbery but himself. Olney was once a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but had been cut off a considerable time previous. He declared that the Church never taught him to steal; and I have written his voluntary confession here, that others may take warning and behave themselves in such a manner that they shall not be cut off the Church; for if they are the Spirit of the living God will depart from them, and they may be left to a {270} worse spirit of delusion and wickedness than even Oliver Olney, who never saw the Ancient of Days nor anything like him. But on the testimony presented, I bound him over to the next circuit court for trial, in the sum of five thousand dollars; and for want of bail, he was committed to Carthage jail. _Saturday 11_.--This day had an interview with Elder Rigdon and his family. They expressed a willingness to be saved. Good feelings prevailed, and we again shook hands together. [Sidenote: The Prophet on Pay for Public Service.]