| 246 State of the manner in which this writ may be executed.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my
L. S. hand and caused the great seal of the State
to be affixed.
Done at the City of Springfield, this 17th day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty-seventh.
By the Governor, THOMAS FORD.
THOMPSON CAMPBELL,
Secretary of State.
The following witnesses were examined, viz: Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Brigham Young, George W. Pitkin, Lyman Wight, and Sidney Rigdon.
HYRUM SMITH sworn. Said that the defendant now in court is his brother, and that his name is not Joseph Smith Junior, but his name is Joseph Smith Senior, and has been for more than two years past. I have been acquainted with him ever since he was born, which was thirty-seven years December last, and I have not been absent from him at any one time, not even the space of six months since his birth, to my recollection, and have been intimately acquainted with all his sayings, doings, business transactions and movements, as much as any one man could be acquainted with another man' [man's] busines [business] up to the present time, and do know that he has not committed treason against any State in the Union, by any overt act, or by levying war, or by aiding and abetting, or assisting an enemy in any State in the Union, and that the said Joseph Smith Senior has not committed treason in the State of Missouri, nor violated any law or rule of said State, I being personally acquainted with the transactions and doings of said Smith whilst he resided in said State, which was for about six months in the year 1838; I being also a resident in said State during the same period of time, and I do know that said Joseph Smith Senior never was subject to military duty in any State, neither was he in the State of Missouri, he being exempt by the amputation or extraction of a bone from his leg, and by his having a license to preach the Gospel, or being in other words a minister of the Gospel, and I do know that said Smith never bore arms, as a military man, in any capacity whatever, whilst in the State of Missouri, or previous to that time; neither has he given any orders or assumed any command in any capacity whatever; but I do know that whilst he was in the State of Missouri, that the People commonly called Mormons, were threatened with violence and extermination, and on or about the first Monday in August 1838, at the election at Gallatin, the county seat in Davies county; the citizens who were commonly called Mormons were forbidden to exercise the rights of franchise, and from that unhallowed circumstance an affray commenced, and a fight ensued among the citizens of that place, and from that time a mob commenced gathering in that county threatening the extermination of the Mormons; the said Smith and myself upon hearing that mobs were collecting together, and that they had also murdered two of the citizens of the same place, and would not suffer them to be buried; the said Smith and myself went over to Davies county to learn the particulars of the affray, but upon our arrival at Diahman, we learned that none were killed but several were wounded-we tarried all night at Col. Lyman Wight's, the next morning the weather being very warm and having been very dry for some time previously, the springs and wells in that region were dried up; on mounting our horses to return, we rode up to Mr. Black's, who was then an acting Justice of the Peace, to obtain some water for ourselves and horses; some few of the citizens accompanied us there, and after obtaining the refreshment of water, Mr. Black was asked by said Joseph Smith Senior, if he would use his influence to see that the laws were faithfully executed and to put down mob violence, and he gave us a paper, written by his own hand, stating that he would do so. He also requested him to call together the most influential men of the county on the next day that we might have an interview with them; to this he acquiesced, and accordingly the next day they assembled at the house of Col. Wight and entered into a mutual covenant of peace, to put down mob violence and to protect each other in the enjoyment of their rights: after this we all parted with the best of feelings and each man returned to his own home. This mutual agreement of peace however did not last long; for but a few days afterwards the mob began to collect again until several hundreds rendezvoused at Millport, a few miles distant from Diahman. They immediately commenced making aggressions upon the citizens called Mormons, taking away their hogs and cattle, and threatening them with extermination or utter extinction; saying that they had a cannon and there should be no compromise only at its mouth: frequently taking men, women and children prisoners, whipping them and lacerating their bodies with hickory withes, and tying them to trees and depriving them of food until they were compelled to gnaw the bark from the trees to which they were bound in order to sustain life; treating them in the most cruel manner they could invent or think of, and doing every thing they could to excite the indignation of the Mormon
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