The Prophet was not engaged entirely in spiritual matters during the first half of 1843. He had been elected mayor of Nauvoo, and gave much attention to his various duties. He was full of life and vigor and kept up his athletic practices. It was during this time that he met William Wall, a champion wrestler of Ramus, Illinois, and had a friendly bout with him. It must have been a fine thing to see those two powerful men struggling with all the skill they had for the mastery, but Wall had met a match and Joseph came off victor. In the month of June a plot was laid for Bennett, the apostate, and Samuel Owens, the old leader of the Jackson county mobs, to bring Joseph back to Missouri. They worked upon Governors Reynolds and Ford; and two men, Sheriff Reynolds of Jackson county and Sheriff Wilson of Hancock county, were sent to capture him. The Prophet was visiting near Dixon, about one hundred and fifty miles from Nauvoo, when the two officers, disguised as Mormon missionaries, came to the house where he was staying and said, "We want to see Brother Joseph." As soon as he came to the door they drew their pistols and threatened, with many curses, to kill him. He told them to shoot, he was not afraid to die, but he demanded that they show some writ on which they made the arrest. They had no writ to show, but they struck him with their pistols, dragged him to the wagon and tried to drive away. Stephen Markham, however, held the horses although the officers swore they would shoot him, until Emma brought Joseph's coat and hat. It was eight miles to Dixon, and on the way these bad men kept striking him and punching him in the sides with their pistols. When they reached the tavern, where they changed horses, the Prophet was almost fainting. A great spot on each side was black and blue from their blows. Brother Markham had followed the kidnappers on horseback to Dixon, and before they could get away, he told the story of the outrage and secured a lawyer. The brutal officers were arrested and placed in charge of Sheriff Campbell and Joseph was given a writ of habeas corpus, which permitted him to have a hearing before the circuit court at Ottowa. Next day Joseph, in the hands of Reynolds and Wilson, and they in the hands of Sheriff Campbell, started out. They stopped at night at Papaw grove, where the Prophet was asked to preach. Reynolds jumped up and yelled that the people must disperse, but an old man with a thick cane walked up and said to the Missourian: "You damned infernal puke, we'll learn you to come here and interrupt our gentlemen. Sit down there, and sit still. Don't you open your head until General Smith gets through talking. If you never learned manners in Missouri, we'll teach you that gentlemen are not to be imposed upon by a nigger-driver. You cannot kidnap men here."