CHAPTER XVI.

1833.

TROUBLE BEGINS IN MISSOURI--THE ELDERS PRAY, THE MOB GETS DRUNK--JULY MOB DESTROYS PRINTING-OFFICE AND TAR AND FEATHER THE BRETHREN--THE SAINTS PROMISE TO LEAVE--APPEAL TO GOVERNOR.

Almost in the center of the United States is Missouri, one of the most fruitful states of the Mississippi valley. It is a beautiful land with its dales and hills and woodland. The great Missouri river flows through it and the mighty Mississippi, passing by its eastern side, carries its grains and other products to the sea.

It has had a wonderful past, but its future will be more wonderful. Father Adam lived in that land with Mother Eve in their innocence, and they lived there after their transgression. In this day God commanded His Saints to gather there soon after the organization of the Church. They obeyed, but were soon robbed and scourged, some killed and the rest driven away. Later, when the Civil War came, more blood was spilled, and the worst form of war was there, because the people were divided and slew one another.

But the future of the state of Missouri is the most interesting for us. If the Latter-day Saints obey the commandments of the Lord He will soon begin to prepare the land of Zion for them, just as He would have prepared the land of promise by sending hornets before Israel, if Israel had been faithful. There in Jackson county the holy city will be set up as the capital of God's kingdom.

On the sixth of April, 1833, the Missouri Saints, thinking of the happy future, came together on the bank of the Big Blue river to celebrate the birthday of the Church. It was just the opening of spring and all about them was beautiful. They were happy, for by hard work they were making themselves prosperous. They owned their homes, and though they were poor, yet the prospects for all were very bright.

God in His wisdom does not permit us always to see what is before us. If those Saints could have looked upon the dark, gloomy years ahead, they would have been sad indeed. Soon after the meeting of the sixth of April a mob of about three hundred men collected in Independence to make a plan to drive away the Saints. They thought it right on such an occasion to drink a good deal of liquor so that their very worst feelings might rule, but they were too generous with themselves. They became drunk and broke up in a general fight. A few of the leading Elders met together when the mob assembled and prayed that they should do nothing to harm the Saints. This prayer, you see, was answered.

No more was done by the mob until July, and then through the efforts of ministers and those who called themselves religious men, the people were again stirred up. Minister Pixley was one of the most zealous liars among the enemies of the Saints, and it was greatly due to him that they renewed their persecution. On the twentieth of July a mass-meeting was held, and among the five hundred men present were some of the prominent officials of the state.

Col. Richard Simpson was chairman and Col. Samuel D Lucas was one of the secretaries. The meeting resolved that no more Mormons should come into Jackson county, that the Mormons there should sell their property and move out, that the _Evening and Morning Star_ should be published no longer, and that those who would not obey this order should be referred to their brethren who had "the gift of divination and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them."

The main reasons given for these resolutions were that the Saints were poor, they were growing in numbers, and the mob feared they were what in those days were called abolitionists, that is, those who wished the government to stop men from holding slaves. The Saints were from the East and North. They of course held no slaves and hated the system of slavery. And yet they were moderate. The constitution permitted men to hold slaves and the Saints had no desire or intention to run over the constitution.

In those days the people of the South were very jealous of their right to hold the black men, and looked with great suspicion on the Northerners. This was shown during the persecution of the Saints in Missouri, and as the Prophet Joseph foretold, it grew and grew until it ended in a bloody war.

A committee of twelve was appointed by the meeting to see the leading Elders and report in two hours whether they would accept the terms or not. Truly the mob were expecting much when they demanded that four or five men should agree in about one hour's time that one thousand two hundred souls should be driven from their homes.

Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Sidney Gilbert and others were seen by the committee, but the brethren asked for more time. The committee refused and returned to the meeting. When the mob heard their report it was decided by a vote of all to destroy the printing office and steal the press and type. They went to Elder Phelps' house where the printing was carried on, drove his family into the street although Sister Phelps was nursing a sick baby, and then tore down the house. They stole press, type and paper and all else they wanted, and destroyed the rest.

These Missouri ruffians doubtless enjoyed this very much, but it did not satisfy them, they wanted a little rougher sport, and their pleasure was the pain and suffering of others. They found Bishop Partridge at his home, dragged him to the court-house, and tarred and feathered him, because he would not deny the faith or leave the country. Elder Charles Allen suffered the same treatment. With the tar was mixed some acid, unslaked lime or lye, and it burned into the flesh. But these brethren were so filled with the love of God that thev felt no hate or bitterness toward their enemies.

Lieutenant Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, who was next to the highest officer in the state, saw all this lawlessness and outrage, and when it was done he coolly said to the Saints, "You now know what our Jackson boys can do, and you must leave the country."

Three days later, on July 23rd, the mob met again, armed and carrying a red flag like a band of anarchists that they were. The Saints knew that bloodshed would follow if they did not consent to leave, so they promised that half would go by January 1, 1834, and the other half by the first of the next April, and the committee for the mob said that no more violence should be done them.

Oliver Cowdery was immediately sent to Kirtland as a messenger to Joseph and the Saints there, and sometime later W. W. Phelps and Orson Hyde were sent to Jefferson City to ask Governor Daniel Dunklin for help. They told him of the things you have just read about and the many other threats and injuries the Saints had suffered. He said that the attorney-general of the state, the man whose duty it is to advise on points of law, was absent, but when he returned the governor promised to write an answer.

About a month after the petition was written, the governor's answer reached the Saints at Independence. He said that no citizens have a right to take the law into their own hands. "Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society and subverts the foundation on which it is based." But he said that he could not persuade himself that any portion of the citizens of Missouri needed force to teach them this. Governor Dunklin should have looked more closely at the written statements of the mob, which Elders Phelps and Hyde enclosed in the petition. The mob's words were: "Intending as we do to rid our society (of the Mormons), peaceably if we can, _forcibly if we must_, we deem it of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose." This same statement was repeated in other words.

The governor advised the Saints to have their enemies arrested and tried by law in the ordinary way. He said that justices of the peace could issue warrants. But the trouble was that they would not. Throughout Governor Dunklin's term of office he filled his letters with patriotic words, but he did not restore the Saints to their homes and rights. He was perhaps sincere in his desire to do right, but he lacked vigor and strength and waited for extraordinary troubles to mend themselves in an ordinary way instead of doing his duty bravely and with determination. At least, Governor Dunklin was not the lawless brute that was Lilburn W. Boggs who became governor after him.