IN" PRISON. 139
consisting of the prophet Joseph Smith, with Sid- ney Kigdon, Hyruui Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, Amasa Lyman, and George W. Pobinson, were removed to Independence; why they did not know, but because it was the hot-bed of mobocracy, they said, and peradventure they might hickily be shot or hanged. A few days later they were taken to Pichmond and put in irons, and later to Liberty jail in Clay county, where they were kept confined for four months. Habeas corpus was tried, and many petitions were forwarded to the authorities on their be- half, but all to no purpose. At length they obtained a hearing in the courts, with a change of venue to Boone county where they were still to be incarcerated. Pigdon had been previously released on habeas corpus, and one night, when the guard was asleep. Smith and the others escaped and made their way to Quincy.
"I was in their hands as a prisoner," says Smith, "about six months; but notwithstanding their deter- nnnation to destroy me, with the rest of my brethren who were with me, and although at three different times we were sentenced to be shot without the least shadow of law, and had the time and place appointed for that purpose, yet through the mercy of God, in answer to the prayers of the saints, I have been preserved, and delivered out of their hands."^^
- In 1S39 Carlin was governor of Illinois, and on him the governor of
Missouri made a formal demand for the surrender to the authorities of Smith and Rigdon, but little attention was paid to it. One of the most complete documents extant covering this period is, Facts Relative to the Expulsion oj the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, from the State of Missouri under the Ex- terminating Order. By John P. Greene, an authorized representative of the Mormons (Cincinnati, 1S39). The work consists of 43 Svo pages, and was written for the purpose of showing to what wrongs the Mormons had been subjected at the hands of the people and politicians of Missouri, and also to obtain contributions for the destitute. The contents are laigely documen- tary, and if we allow for some intensity of feeling, bear the impi'ess of truth.
Pointing in the same direction but less pretentious and less important is Correspondence between Joseph Smith, the prophet, and Col. John Wentworth, editor of the ' Chicago Democrat, ' and member of congress from Illinois; General James Arlington Bennett, of Arlington House, Long Island; and the Honor- able John C. Calhoun, Senator from South Carolina, in which is given a sketch of the life of Joseph Smith, Rise and Progress of the Church of Latter-day and their perseciition by the state of Missouri; with the pecidiar views
leph Smith in relation to Political and Religious matters generally; to
.a is added a concise account of the present state and prospects of the city of
