Meanwhile, the Mormons in Clay County, with the assent of the natives there, had opened a factory for the manufacture of arms "to pay the Jackson mob in their own way,"* and it was rumored that both sides were supplying themselves with cannon, to make the coming contest the more determined. Governor Dunklin, fearing a further injury to the good name of the state, wrote to Colonel J. Thornton urging a compromise, and on June 10 Judge Ryland sent a communication to A. S. Gilbert, asking him to call a meeting of Mormons in Liberty for a discussion of the situation. * Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 68. This meeting was held on June 16, and a committee from Jackson County presented the following proposition: "That the value of the lands, and the improvements thereon, of the Mormons in Jackson County, be ascertained by three disinterested appraisers, representatives of the Mormons to be allowed freely to point out the lands claimed and the improvements; that the people of Jackson County would agree to pay the Mormons the valuation fixed by the appraisers, WITH ONE HUNDRED PER CENT ADDED, within thirty days of the award; or, the Jackson County citizens would agree to sell out their lands in that county to the Mormons on the same terms." The Mormon leaders agreed to call a meeting of their people to consider this proposition. The fifteen Jackson County committeemen, it may be mentioned, in crossing the river on their way home, were upset, and seven of them were drowned, including their chairman, J. Campbell, who was reported to have made threats against Smith. The latter thus reports the accident in his autobiography, "The angel of God saw fit to sink the boat about the middle of the river, and seven, out of the twelve that attempted to cross were drowned, thus suddenly and justly went they to their own place by water." On June 21 the Mormons gave written notice to the Jackson County people that the terms proposed were rejected, and that they were framing "honorable propositions" on their own part, which they would soon submit, adding a denial of a rumor that they intended a hostile invasion. Their objection to the terms proposed was thus stated in an editorial in the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1834, "When it is understood that the mob hold possession of a large quantity of land more than our friends, and that they only offer thirty days for the payment of the same, it will be seen that they are only making a sham to cover their past unlawful conduct." This explanation ignores entirely the offer of the Missourians to buy out the Mormons at a valuation double that fixed by the appraisers, and simply shows that they intended to hold to the idea that their promised Zion was in Jackson County, and that they would not give it up.*