| 241 stretched out on the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed he was dead.
"I began to plead with them, saying: 'You will have mercy and spare my life, I hope.' To which they replied: 'God damn ye, call on yer God for help, we'll show ye no mercy;' and the people began to show themselves in every direction: one coming from the orchard had a plank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry me off on the plank. They then turned to the right and went on about thirty rods further, about sixty rods from the house, and thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the meadow, where they stopped, and one said: 'Simonds, Simonds,'(meaning I supposed Simonds Rider,) 'pull up his drawers, pull up his drawers, he will take cold.' Another replied: 'A'nt ye going to kill 'im? A'nt ye going to kill 'im?' when a group of mobbers collected a little way off and said: 'Simonds, Simonds, come here;' and Simonds charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had done all the time) lest I should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council, and as I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after awhile, when I learned that they had concluded not to kill me but pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me naked. One cried, 'Simonds, Simonds, where's the tar bucket?' 'I don't know,' answered one, 'where 'tis, Eli's left it.' They ran back and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, 'God damn it, let us tar up his mouth;' and they tried to force the tar-paddle into my mouth; I twisted my head around, so that they could not; and they cried out: 'God damn ye, hold up yer head and let us give ye some tar.' They then tried to force a vial into my mouth, and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except my shirt collar; and one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out: 'God damn ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
"They then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again; I pulled the tar away from my lips, etc., so that I could breathe more freely. and after awhile I began to recover, and
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