On the sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, came Delmore Chapman before me, Joseph Smith, mayor of said city; and after being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that on the nineteenth day of November, 1843, a man named Richardson came to one of his neighbors living in Bear Creek precinct, in the county of Hancock, named Philander Avery, and enticed him to the Mississippi at Warsaw, by false pretenses; and from thence by a company he was forced over the river and taken to Monticello jail; and that on the second day of December, some of the same party and others came to the aforesaid Bear Creek and kidnapped Daniel Avery, the father of the aforesaid Philander Avery, and by force of arms hurried him across the said Mississippi river into the State of Missouri, to aforesaid jail at Monticello, Lewis county, where your said affiant verily believes they are both now incarcerated illegally and inhumanly in prison; and further report says that some of them are to come to Nauvoo next, to kidnap Nelson Turner; and further your affiant saith not. DELMORE CHAPMAN. Subscribed and sworn to before me, this sixth day of December, 1843. JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor. Upon which I wrote to his Excellency Thomas Ford:-- LETTER--PRESIDENT JOSEPH SMITH TO GOVERNOR FORD. NAUVOO, December 6, 1843. SIR:--The enclosed affidavit is forwarded to your Excellency for instructions to know what shall be done in the premises. I shall act according to the best of my judgment, constitutionally, till I receive your instructions, and in the meantime shall forward, as soon as they can be had, all the facts relative to the case as a suitable person will go {101} immediately to the place and get the necessary affidavits. Send your instructions by the bearer. Respectfully, I have the honor to be, Your obedient servant, JOSEPH SMITH, Lieutenant-General of N. L. P. S. Shall any portion of the Legion be called out? N. B. An express has just reached me that Governor Reynolds will make another demand for me. I rely on the honor of Illinois, for no writ can legally issue against me. I have suffered from their insatiable thirst for my blood long enough, and want the peace of my family to remain undisturbed. _Wednesday, 6_.--Esquire Goodwin and others, not members of the Church, petitioned the Governor not to help Missouri to persecute the Saints. _Thursday, 7.--_At eleven a.m. a meeting of the citizens of Nauvoo was held. The minutes of which I extract from the _Neighbor_ as follows:-- PUBLIC MEETING AT NAUVOO.