| 354 whipped and beat in a savage and brutal manner several of the men, and with their horrid threats frightened women and children into the wilderness. Such of the men as could escape fled for their lives, for very few of them had arms, neither were they embodied, and they were threatened with death if they made any resistance. Such therefore as could not escape by flight received a pelting by rocks and a beating with guns, sticks, etc.
"On Friday, the 1st of November, women and children sallied forth from their gloomy retreats to contemplate with heartrending anguish the ravages of a ruthless mob, in the mangled bodies of their husbands and in the destruction of their houses and some of their furniture. Houseless and unprotected by the arm of the civil law in Jackson County, the dreary month of November staring them in the face and loudly proclaiming an inclement season at hand, the continual threats of the mob that they would drive out every Mormon from the county, and the inability of many to remove, because of their poverty, caused an anguish of heart indescribable.
"On Friday night, the 1st of November, a party of the mob proceeded to attack a branch of the church at the prairie, about twelve or fourteen miles from the village. Two of their number were sent in advance as spies; viz., Robert Johnson and one Harris, armed with two guns and three pistols. They were discovered by some of the saints, and without the least injury being done to them, said (mob) Johnson struck Parley P. Pratt with the breech of his gun over the head, after which they were taken and detained till morning, which, it was believed, prevented a general attack of the mob that night. In the morning they were liberated without receiving the least injury.
"The same night (Friday) another party in Independence commenced stoning houses, breaking down doors and windows, destroying furniture, etc. This night the brick part attached to the dwelling house of A. S. Gilbert was partly pulled down and the windows of his dwelling broken in with brickbats and rocks, while a gentleman stranger lay sick with a fever in his house.
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