Just how the officers Wilson and Reynolds came to know of the whereabouts of Joseph is not known. But at any rate they went directly to Dixon, nearly killing their horses by hard driving. At the village of Dixon they represented themselves as Mormon Elders, wanting to see the Prophet. They succeeded in hiring a man with a two-horse team to drive them out to Wasson's. On the way they passed William Clayton, who had been sent by Joseph to see if he could learn anything of the movements of the officers at Dixon. But as the sheriffs were disguised, Clayton did not recognize them. The officers arrived at Wasson's and found Joseph walking down the path leading to the barn. They sprang upon him like wild beasts upon their prey, presenting their pistols, and Reynolds exclaimed--"G-- d-- you, sir, if you stir, I'll shoot!" and this with slight variations he kept repeating. Joseph asked them what was the meaning of all this, for they attempted to serve no process, and to their oft-repeated threats of violence, which they sought to make emphatic with blood-curdling oaths, the Prophet bared his breast and told them to shoot, if they desired to, for he had endured so much oppression that he was weary of life. By this time Stephen Markham arrived on the scene, and immediately started to the Prophet's assistance, despite the threats of the officers to shoot him if he advanced another step. Nor did the brave man check his advance until Joseph cautioned him not to resist the officers of the law. Reynolds and Wilson, with much rudeness and many unnecessary imprecations, hustled their prisoner into the wagon they had hired in Dixon, and were for starting off without giving the prisoner a chance to say one word to his friends, bid his wife or children good-by, or even get his hat and coat. But Markham, regardless of the threats of the officers to shoot him, seized the team by the bits and said there was no law requiring an officer to take a man to prison without his clothes, and held on until Emma could bring out Joseph's hat and coat. All this time they had served no process on their prisoner, and had repeatedly thrust the muzzles of their pistols against his sides until he was badly bruised by the uncalled-for violence. Joseph shouted to Markham as he was driven away, to go to Dixon and obtain a writ of _habeas corpus_, but as the horse Markham rode was jaded, and the officers ordered their driver to whip up, they kept up with him, and both parties went into the town together.