In the meantime General Clark was searching for authority to try the prisoners before a court-martial, and it would appear from the testimony of a brother, by the name of Grant, that he had concluded to so proceed, and had even given the sentence of the court before an investigation had occurred; for this young man by the name of Grant, (given name not known), but a brother-in-law to William Smith, brother to the Prophet Joseph, lodged at the hotel where Clark made his headquarters. He saw that general select the men who were to shoot the "Mormon" leaders on the morning of the twelfth of November. He saw these men choose their rifles and load them with two balls in each; after which Clark said to them: "Gentlemen, you shall have the honor of shooting the "Mormon" leaders on Monday morning at eight o'clock." [B] [Footnote B: Testimony of Hyrum Smith, Times and Seasons, volume 4, page 252.] Some of the friends of the captive brethren intimated to the general that he had no authority to try the prisoners by court-martial; whereupon he sent to Fort Leavenworth to obtain the military code of laws, which he searched for several days for authority to try the prisoners as he had proposed, by court-martial. At last he had to give it up, but he did it with great reluctance. He visited the prison where Joseph and his brethren were confined, and told them he had decided to deliver them to the civil authorities; and informed them they were accused of "treason, murder, arson, larceny, theft, and stealing." The prisoners then were delivered into the hands of the civil authorities, and an investigation was begun before Austin A. King, the circuit judge, and Thomas C. Birch, the prosecuting attorney for the State. The examination of the witnesses for the State continued from the eleventh of November to the twenty-sixth. Each night after the day's examination the prisoners who had been brought down from Independence were taken to their gloomy prison and chained together, while about fifty of their brethren and fellow-prisoners, who had been brought from Far West, were kept under guard in an open unfinished, court-house, exposed to the excessive coldness of that inclement season. The constitution of Elder Rigdon was so delicate, that in consequence of the exposure and hardships he was forced to endure under this cruel persecution, his health broke down and at last he lost his reason; yet he was chained to his companions and compelled to remain in the presence of a noisy and unruly and unfeeling guard. His daughter, who was the wife of George W. Robinson, one of the prisoners fastened to the same chain with her father, was at last permitted to come to the prison and care for her afflicted father. Lovingly, tenderly this delicate young woman with her first born babe at her breast, nursed her afflicted father through those gloomy days, and through her tenderness and anxious care nursed him back to health and reason.