| 65 TIMES AND SEASONS
"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL"
Vol. IV. No. 5.] CITY OF NAUVOO, ILL. Jan. 16, 1843 [Whole No. 65.
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE U. STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS.
December Term A. D. 1842
Before the Honorable NATHANIEL POPE. Presiding Judge.
} J. Butterfield and B. S Edwards,
Ex-parte Joseph Smith, } Counsel for Smith.
on Habeas Corpus. } J. Lamborn, Attorney Gen'l for the
} State of Illinois.
This case came before the Court upon a return to a writ of Habeas Corpus, which was issued by this court on the 31st of December, 1842, upon a petition for a habeas corpus on the relation of Joseph Smith, setting forth that he was arrested and in custody of William F. Elkin, sheriff of Songamon [Sangamon] county, upon a warrant issued by the Governor of the State of Illinois, upon the requisition of the Governor of the State of Missouri, demanding him to be delivered up to the Governor of Missouri, as a fugitive from justice; that his arrest as aforesaid was under color of a law of the United States, and was without the authority of law in this, that he was not a fugitive from justice, nor had he fled from the State of Missouri.
Afterwards on the same day, the Sheriff of Sangamon county returned upon the said Habeas corpus, that he detained the said Joseph Smith in custody by virtue of a warrant issued by the Governor of the State of Illinois upon the requisition of the Governor of the State of Missouri, made on the affidavit of L. W. Boggs,-copies of the said affidavit, requisition and warrant were annexed to the said return in the words and figures following:-
"State of Missouri, County of Jackson} SS. This day personally appeared before me, Samuel Weston, a Justice of the Peace within and for the County of Jackson, the subscriber, Lilburn W. Boggs, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that on the night of the 6th day of May 1842, while sitting in his dwelling in the town of Independendence [Independence], in the County of Jackson, he was shot with intent to kill, and that his life was despaired of for several days; and that he believes, and has good reason to believe from evidence and information now in his possession, that Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet, was accessary [accessory] before the fact of the intended murder; and that the said Joseph Smith is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois; and the said deponent hereby applies to the Governor of the State of Missouri to make a demand on the Governor of the State of Illinois, to deliver the said Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet, to some person authorized to receive and convey him to the State and county aforesaid, there to be dealt with according to law.
LILBURN W. BOGGS.
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 20th day of July, 1842.
SAMUEL WESTON, J. P."
"The Governor of the State of Missouri,
To the Governor of the State of Illinois,
GREETING.
Whereas it appears by the annexed document which is hereby certified to be authentic, that one Joseph Smith is a fugitive from justice, charged with being accessary [accessory] before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, in this State, and it is represented to the Executive department of this State, has fled to the State of Illinois:
Now, therefore, I, Thomas Reynolds, Governor of the said State of Missouri, by virtue of the authority in me vested by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do by these presents demand the surrender and delivery of the said Joseph Smith to Edward R. Ford, who is hereby appointed as the agent to receive the said Joseph Smith on the part of the State.
In Testimony," &c.
"The people of the State of Illinois, to the
Sheriff of Sangamon County, GREETING:
"Whereas, it has been made known to me by the Executive authority of the State of Missouri, that one Joseph Smith, stands charged by the affidavit of one Lilburn W. BOGGS, made on the 20th day of July, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, before Samuel Weston, a Justice of the Peace, within and for the county of Jackson aforesaid, with being accessary [accessory] before the fact to an assault with an intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, on the night of the 6th day of May, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in said State of Missouri, and that the said Joseph Smith had fled from the justice of said State, and taken refuge in the State of Illinois:
Now, therefore, I, Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of Illinois, pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of this State, do hereby command you to arrest and apprehend the said Joseph Smith, if he be found within the limits of the State aforesaid,
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