| 687 County. He also told us that the Governor was now ashamed enough of the whole transaction and would be glad to set us at liberty if he dared to do it; but said he, you need not be concerned, for the Governor has laid a plan for your release. He also said that Squire Birch, the State's attorney, was appointed to be circuit judge on the circuit passing through Daviess County, and that he (Birch) was instructed to fix the papers, so that we would be sure to be clear from any incumbrance [encumbrance], in a very short time.
"Sometime in April we were taken to Daviess County, as they said, to have a trial; but when we arrived at that place, instead of finding a court or a jury, we found another inquisition, and Birch, who was the district attorney, the same man who was one of the court-martial when we were sentenced to death, was now the circuit judge of that pretended court; 3 and the grand jury that was empanelled [impaneled] were all at the massacre at Haun's Mill, and lively actors in that awful, solemn, disgraceful, cool-blooded murder, and all the pretense they made of excuse was, they had done it because the Governor ordered them to do it. The same jury sat as a jury in the daytime, and were placed over us as a guard in the nighttime; they tantalized and boasted over us, of their great achievements at Haun's Mills, and at other places, telling us how many houses they had burned, and how many sheep, cattle, and hogs they had driven off, belonging to the Mormons, and how many rapes they had committed. . . . This grand jury constantly celebrated their achievements with grog and glass in hand, like the Indian warriors and their war dances, singing and telling each other of their exploits in murdering the Mormons, in plundering their houses and carrying off their property; at the end of every song they would bring in the chorus. [We omit this chorus, as it is too profane for insertion.-Historian.] Then they would pretend to have swooned away into a glorious trance, in order to imitate some of the transactions at camp meetings. Then they would pretend to come out of their trance, and would shout
3 Austin A. King was presiding judge, but Judge Birch was circuit judge and was probably associated with King on this trial.
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