Governor Ford came into Carthage three days after the Nauvoo Legion had been called out, and at once sent to Joseph asking that a committee of discreet men be sent to him from Nauvoo. Apostle John Taylor and Dr. John M. Bernhisel, after hastily gathering a number of papers, set out to lay the true condition of things before the governor. He talked with them and read aloud their written statements while in the company of the worst enemies of the Church, who continually interrupted him with oaths and threats. He plainly showed that he was too weak, or at least unwilling, to enforce the law. When Joseph and Hyrum learned this they knew their only course to save Nauvoo, without giving themselves up to slaughter, was to flee. On the night of the twenty-second of June, while the tears were flowing fast from their eyes, Joseph and Hyrum, in company with Willard Richards, bade farewell to their families and Nauvoo and crossed the Mississippi river. Orrin P. Rockwell rowed them over in a leaky skiff, and on the way they used their boots and shoes to bale out the water to keep from sinking. On the next morning they began to prepare actively for their journey westward, having decided that they would go to the Rocky Mountains, knowing that if they were absent from Nauvoo the mob would hot attack the city. As they were thus working, word came from Emma and many of those who had pretended great friendship, asking Joseph to return to Nauvoo, insinuating that he was a coward and was running from danger. Joseph and Hyrum were men that could not bear this reproach. They at once set out for home, and as they went Joseph said, "We are going back to be butchered." Hyrum replied, "If we live or die, we will be reconciled to our fate." As they walked to the river bank, Joseph, deep in thought, fell behind, and some one called to him to hasten. He looked up and said, "There is time enough for the slaughter." Next morning, Joseph, with the seventeen others for whom the order of arrest had first been made, started for Carthage. As they passed the temple the Prophet gazed upon it and looked over the city, then in a tender, sad tone he said to his companions: "This is the loveliest place and these are the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them." On their way they met Captain Dunn with sixty troopers from Carthage. He had an order for the state arms held by the Nauvoo Legion, from Governor Ford, and Joseph, as lieutenant-general, signed this at his request. After this act the Prophet said to those about him: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men. If they take my life I shall die an innocent man, and my blood shall cry from the ground for vengeance, and it shall yet be said of me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.'"