Soon after the above stipulation was made, some of your petitioners proceeded to make a new location in Van Buren county on the south, but the settlers in that county drew up an agreement among themselves to drive us from that county, after we had commenced laboring there; they threatened to shoot our cattle, and destroy our labor, and in fact, "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but we have no where to lay our heads." We were obliged to return.
Since the stipulation was entered into, some of our houses have been broken open, and the inmates threatened to be shot if they stirred; and also some of our houses have been stoned or brick-batted.
Also, that since some publications have appeared in the Western Monitor and other papers, censuring the conduct of the mob, the leaders have begun to threaten life, declaring that if any of the Mormons attempted tempted to seek redress by law or otherwise, for character, person, or property, they shall die!
Now therefore, for ourselves, as members of the Church, we declare, with the exception of poverty, which has not yet become a crime by the laws of the land, that the crimes charged against us, so far as we are acquainted, contained in the documents above written, and those in the proceedings of the mob, as published in the Western Monitor of August 2nd, are not true. In relation to inviting free people of color to emigrate to this section of country, and other matters relative to our society, see the 109th, 110th, and 111th pages of The Evening and Morning Star, and the Extra accompanying the same, dated July 16th, which are annexed to this petition. Our situation is a critical one; we are located on the western limits of the state, and of the United States; where desperadoes can commit outrages, and even murder, and escape in a few minutes beyond the reach of process; where the most abandoned of all classes from almost every state may too often pass to the Mexican states, or to the more remote regions of the Rocky Mountains to escape the grasp of justice; where numerous tribes of Indians, located by the General Government amid the corrupting influence of mid-day mobs, might massacre our defenseless women and children, with impunity.
Influenced by the precepts of our beloved Savior when we have been smitten on the one cheek, we have turned the other also; when we have been sued at the law, and our coat been taken, we have given them our cloak also; when they have compelled us to go with them a mile, we have gone with them twain; we have borne the above outrages without murmuring; but we cannot patiently bear them any longer; according to the laws of God and man, we have borne enough. Believing with all honorable men, that whenever that fatal hour shall arrive that the poorest citizen's person, property, or rights and privileges, shall be trampled upon by a lawless mob with impunity, that moment a dagger is plunged into the heart of the constitution, and the union must tremble! Assuring ourselves that no republican will suffer the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, and the liberty of conscience, to be silenced by a mob, without raising a helping hand to save his country from disgrace, we solicit assistence to obtain our rights, holding ourselves amenable to the laws of our county whenever we transgress them.
Knowing as, we do, that the threats of this mob, in most cases, have been put into execution, and knowing also that every officer, civil and military, with a very few exceptions, has pledged his life and honor to force us from the county, dead or alive; and believing that civil process cannot be served without the aid of the executive; and not wishing to have the blood of our defenseless women and children to stain the land which has once been stained by the blood of our fathers to purchase our liberty, we appeal to the Governor for aid, asking him to raise by express proclamation, or otherwise, a sufficient number of troops, who, with us, may be empowered to defend our rights, that we may sue for damages for the loss of property, for abuse, for defamation, as to ourselves, and if advisable try for treason against the government; that the law of the land may not be defiled, or nullified, but peace be restored to our country. And we will ever pray.
This petition was signed by Edward Partridge and nearly all the members of the Church in Jackson county.
Footnotes
1. There were twenty High Priests present at the council meeting. The minutes of the meeting are found in the Far West Record pages 35, 36.
2. The exact date of Elder Cowdery's arrival in Kirtland as a special messenger from the brethren in Zion cannot be ascertained.
3. This was the same John Gould who was subsequently ordained a member of the First Council of Seventy.
4. The minutes of the council are contained in the Far West Record, page 36. The names of the presidents of the branches and the number of the branch each presided over respectively are given as follows: Newel Knight, Branch No. 1; Daniel Stanton, Branch No. 2; David Whitmer, Branch No 3; John Corrill, Branch No 4; Thomas B. Marsh, Branch No. 5; Peter Dustin, Branch No. 6; Lyman Wight, Branch No. 7; Parley P. Pratt, Branch No 8; Simeon Carter, Branch No. 9; Calvin Beebe, Branch No. 10.
5. The Higbee family subsequently became very prominent in the Church. Elias Higbee was the son of Isaac and Sophia Higbee. He was born 23rd of October, 1795, in Galloway, Gloucester county, New Jersey. At the age of twenty-two he married Sarah Ward and removed to Cincinnati. He received the Gospel in the spring of 1832, and during the summer following went to Jackson county, Missouri, but returned to Cincinnati the following winter, where he was ordained an Elder by his Brother Isaac, on the 20th of February, 1833. He returned to Missouri with his family, arriving in Zion in the month of March, 1833, and on the 26th of September following he was ordained a High Priest.—(Millennial Star, vol. xxi, page 203; also Far West Record, page 37.)
6. Isaac Higbee was also the son of Isaac and Sophia Higbee. He was born in Galloway, Gloucester county, New Jersey, on the 23rd of December, 1797. When between five and six years old he removed with his parents to Ohio. February 11th, 1819, he married Heziah String. About the first of May, 1832, his parents received the Gospel, and a few months afterwards himself and wife did the same. In the spring of 1833 he removed with his family to Zion, and in September following, as stated by the Prophet, was ordained a High Priest.
7. John Tanner was the son of Joshua and Thankful Tefft Tanner. He was born at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, August 15, 1778. According to the tradition of the family, Francis Tanner, the grandfather of John Tanner, the subject of this sketch, came from England with his two brothers—Nathan and William—and settled in the state of Rhode Island, about the year 1718.
8. Document will be found on pages 374-376. It was the mob's "secret constitution."
CHAPTER XXX.
The Prophet's Mission to Canada.
The Prophet Starts for Canada.
October 5.—I started on a journey to the east, and to Canada, in company with Elders Rigdon and Freeman Nickerson,1 and arrived the same day at Lamb's tavern, in Ashtabula;2 and the day following, the Sabbath, we arrived in Springfield, whilst the brethren were in meeting, and Elder Rigdon spoke to the congregation. A large and attentive congregation assembled at Brother Rudd's in the evening, to whom we bore our testimony.3 We continued at Springfield4 until the 8th of October, when we removed to Brother Roundy's at Elk Creek; and continuing our journey on the evening of the 9th, we arrived at a tavern, and on the