"We also petitioned one of the county judges for a writ of _habeas corpus_. This was granted in about three weeks afterwards; but we were not permitted to have any trial. We were only taken out of jail, and kept out for a few hours, and then reprimanded back again. In the course of three or four days after that time Judge Turnham came into the jail in the evening, and said he had permitted Mr. Rigdon to get bail; but said he had to do it in the night, and had also to get away in the night, and unknown to any of the citizens, or they would kill him; for they had sworn to kill him if they could find him. And, as to the rest of us, he dare not let us go for fear of his own life, as well as ours. "He said it was hard to be confined under such circumstances, for he knew we were innocent men, and the people also knew it; and that it was only persecution and treachery, and the scenes of Jackson County acted over again, for fear we would become too numerous in that upper country. He said, 'the plan was concocted from the Governor down to the lowest judge, and that wicked Baptist priest, Riley, was riding into town every day to watch the people--stirring up the minds of the people against us all he could--exciting them, and stirring up their religious prejudices against us, for fear they would let us go.' "Mr. Rigdon, however, got bail and made his escape to Illinois. The jailor, Samuel Tillory, told us also 'that the whole plan was concocted from the Governor down to the lowest judge in that upper country early the previous spring; and that the plan was more fully matured at the time General Atchison went down to Jefferson County with Generals Wilson, Lucas and Gillum.' This was sometime in September, when the mob was collected at De Witt. He also said that the Governor was now ashamed enough of the whole transaction, and would be glad to set us at liberty if he dared to do it; 'but,' said he, 'you need not be concerned, for the Governor has laid a plan for your release.' He also said that Mr. Birch, the State's Attorney, was appointed to be Circuit Judge in the district including Daviess County, and that he (Birch) was instructed to fix the papers so that we would be clear from any encumbrance in a very short time. "Sometime in April we were taken to Daviess County, as they said, to have a trial; but when we arrived at that place, instead of finding a court or a jury, we found another Inquisition; and Birch, who was the District Attorney, the same man who was one of the '_court martial_' when we were sentenced to death, was now the Circuit Judge of that pretended court, and the Grand Jury that were impanelled were at the massacre at Haun's Mill, and lively actors in that awful, solemn, disgraceful, cold-blooded murder. All the pretense they made of excuse was 'they had done it because the Governor ordered it done.'