citizens of Daviess had a "Mormon" in custody, as a prisoner, and that the "Mormons" had Messrs. John Comer, Wm. McHamy and Allen Miller prisoners, as hostages. Certain of the "Mormons," and other citizens of Carroll County, petitioned the governor from De Witt, stating the committal of lawless acts against them, among which was the ordering them to leave the county, giving them till October 1st, and asking interference and relief. This was dated September 22, 1838. From reports filed with the governor, by Generals H. G. Parks, David R. Atchison and A. W. Doniphan, copies of which accompanied the messages of the governor to the assembly, it appears that when the proper authorities appeared on the scene of difficulty, the "Mormons" gave up, not only the prisoners they had taken in reprisal, but their arms, and also the men of their number against whom civil proceedings were pending. General Parks, in a report dated Mill Post, September 25, 1838, states: "Whatever may have been the disposition of the people called 'Mormons,' before our arrival here, since we have made our appearance, they have shown no disposition to resist the laws, or of hostile intention. * * * There has been so much prejudice and exaggeration concerning this matter, that I find things on my arrival here, totally different from what I was prepared to expect. When we arrived here, we found a large body of men from the counties adjoining, armed, and in the field, for the purpose, as I learned, of assisting the people of this county against the 'Mormons,' without being called out by the proper authorities." General Atchison wrote the governor from Liberty, Missouri, September 17, 1838: "I have no doubt your excellency has been deceived by the exaggerated statements of designing or half crazy men. I have found there is no cause of alarm on account of the 'Mormons;' they are not to be feared; they are much alarmed." Hostile feeling culminated rapidly. The citizens, in absence of the militia, gathered their forces together, and, on the night of October 1st, attacked De Witt. A committee of citizens of Chariton County went into Carroll County, and found De Witt invested by a large force, the "Mormons" in defense and suing for peace, and wishing for the interposition of the civil authorities. They reported October 5, 1838. General Atchison reported October 16th, that the "Mormons" had sold out in Carroll County and left, and that a portion of their assailants were on the march to Daviess County with one piece of artillery, "where, it is thought the same lawless game is to be played over, and the 'Mormons' driven from that county, and probably from Caldwell." "Nothing, in my opinion," wrote this general in his report, "but the strongest measures within the power of the executive will put down this spirit of mobocracy."