| 284 the State, by throwing a covering of lies over her atrocious deeds. But can they hide the Governor's cruel order for banishment or extermination? Can they conceal the facts of the disgraceful treaty of the Generals with their own officers and men at the city of Far West? Can they conceal the fact that twelve or fifteen thousand men, women, and children have been banished from the State without trial or condemnation? And this at an expense of two hundred thousand dollars-and this sum appropriated by the State Legislature, in order to pay the troops for this act of lawless outrage? Can they conceal the fact that we have been imprisoned for many months, while our families, friends, and witnesses have been driven away? Can they conceal the blood of the murdered husbands and fathers, or stifle the cries of the widow and the fatherless? Nay! The rocks and mountains may cover them in unknown depths, the awful abyss of the fathomless deep may swallow them up, and still their horrid deeds will stand forth in the broad light of day for the wondering gaze of angels and of men! They cannot be hid!
"Sometime in December Heber C. Kimball and Alanson Ripley were appointed by the brethren in Far West to visit us at Liberty jail as often as circumstances would permit, or occasion required, which they faithfully performed. We were sometimes visited by our friends, whose kindness and attention I shall ever remember with feelings of lively gratitude; but frequently we were not suffered to have that privilege. Our victuals were of the coarsest kind and served up in a manner which was disgusting.
"Thus, in a land of liberty, in the town of Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, I and my fellow prisoners, in chains, dungeons, and jail, saw the close of 1838." -Millennial Star, vol. 16, pp. 661-665.
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