| 71 The affidavit is insufficient, 1st, Because it is not positive. 2. Because it charges no crime. 3, It charges no crime committed in the State of Missouri. Therefore he did not flee from the justice of the State of Missouri, nor has he taken refuge in the State of Illinois.
The proceedings in this affair from the affidavit to the arrest affords a lesson to Governors and judges whose action may hereafter be invoked in cases of this character.
The affidavit simply says that the affiant was shot with intent to kill, and he believes that Smith was accessary [accessory] before the fact to the intended murder, and is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois. It is not said who shot him, or that the person was unknown.
The Governor of Missouri in his demand calls Smith 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 [Missouri.]-This Governor expressly refers to the affidavit as his authority for that statement. Boggs in his affidavit does not call Smith a fugitive from justice, nor does he state a fact from which the Governor had a right to infer it. Neither does the name of O. P. Rockwell appear in the affidavit, nor does Boggs say Smith fled. Yet the Governor says he has fled to the State of Illinois. But Boggs only says he is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois.
The Governor of Illinois responding to the demand of the Executive of Missouri, for the arrest of Smith, issues his warrant for the arrest of Smith, reciting that 'whereas Joseph 'Smith stands charged by the affidavit of 'Lilburn W Boggs with being accessary [accessory] before 'the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made 'by one O. P. Rockwell on Lilburn W Boggs, 'on the night of the 6th of May, 1842, at 'the county of Jackson, in said State of 'Missouri, and that the said Joseph Smith has fled 'from justice of said State, and taken 'refuge in the State of Illinois.
Those facts do not appear by the affidavit of Boggs. On the contrary, it does not assert that Smith was accessary [accessory] to O. P. Rockwell; nor that he had fled from the justice of the State of Missouri, and taken refuge in the State of Illinois.
The Court can alone regard the facts set forth in the affidavit of Boggs as having any legal existence. The misrecitals and over statements in the requisition and warrant, are not supported by oath, and cannot be received as evidence to deprive a citizen of his liberty, and transport him to a foreign State for trial. For these reasons Smith must be discharged.
At the request of J. Butterfield, counsel for Smith, it is proper to state in justice to the present Executive of the State of Illinois, Governor Ford, that it was admitted on the argument, that the warrant which originally issued upon the said requisition, was issued by his predecessor; that when Smith came to Springfield to surrender himself up upon that warrant, it was in the hands of the person to whom it had been issued at Quincy in this State; and that the present warrant, which is a copy of the former one, was issued at the request of Smith, to enable him to test its legality by writ of Habeas Corpus.
Let an order be entered that Smith be discharged from his arrest.
HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH.
Continued.
I will say, however, that amid all trials and tribulations we had to wade through, the Lord who well knew our infantile and delicate situation, vouchsafed for us a supply, and granted us "line upon line, here a little and there a little;" of which the following was a precious morsel.
A Revelation to Joseph Smith, jun. given June, 1830.
The words of God which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceeding high mountain; and he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses: therefore Moses could endure his presence. And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold I am the Lord God Almighty, and endless is my name, for I am without beginning of days or end of years: and is not this endless? And behold thou art my son, wherefore, look and I will show the workmanship of mine hands, but not all: for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease: wherefore no man can behold all my works except he behold all my glory: and no man can behold all my glory, and afterwards remain inthe [in the] flesh. And I have a work for thee, Moses my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine only begotten; and mine only begotten is and shall be the Saviour [Savior], for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God besides me; and all things are present with me, for I know them all. And now behold this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee. And it came to pass that Moses looked and beheld the world upon which he was created, and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which was and which are created: of the same he greatly marvelled [marveled], and wondered!
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