| 255 went down to Jefferson City, with General Wilson, Lucas and Gillum, the self-styled 'DELAWARE CHIEF.' This was some time in the month of September, when the mob were collected at DeWitt, in Carroll county. He also told us that the governor was now ashamed enough of the whole transaction and would be glad to set us at liberty if he dared to do it; but said he, you need not be concerned, for the governor has laid a plan for your release. He also said that Squire Birch the State's Attorney, was appointed to be Circuit Judge, on the circuit passing through Davies county, and that he (Birch) was instructed to fix the papers, so that we would be sure to be clear from any incumbrance [encumbrance], in a very short time.
Sometime in April, we were taken to Davies county, as they said, to have a trial, but when we arrived at that place, instead of finding a court or a jury, we found another inquisition, and Birch, who was the district attorney, the same man who was one of the court martial when we were sentenced to death, was now the circuit judge of that pretended court; and the grand jury that was empanelled [impaneled], were all at the massacre at Hawn's [Haun's] Mill, and lively actors in that awful, solemn, disgraceful, cool blooded murder, and all the pretence [pretense] they made of excuse, was, they had done it because the governor ordered them to do it. The same jury sat as a jury in the day time, and were placed over us as a guard in the night time; they tauntalized [tantalized] and boasted over us, of their great achievements at Hawn's [Haun's] Mills, and at other places, telling us how many houses they had burned, and how many sheep, cattle and hogs they had driven off, belonging to the Mormons, and how many rapes they had committed, and what squealing and kicking there was among the damned bitches; saying that they lashed one woman upon one of the damned Mormon meeting benches, tying her hands and her feet fast, and sixteen of them abused her as much as they had a mind to, and then left her bound and exposed in that distressed condition. These fiends of the lower region boasted of these acts of barbarity, and tantalized our feelings with them for ten days. We had heard of these acts of cruelty previous to this time, but we were slow to believe that such acts of cruelty had been perpetrated. The lady who was the subject of their brutality, did not recover her health, to be able to help herself for more than three months afterwards. This grand jury constantly celebrated their achievements with grog and glass in hand, like the Indian warriors at their war dances, singing and telling each other of their exploits, in murdering the Mormons, in plundering their houses and carrying off their property; at the end of every song they would bring in the chorus: 'God damn God, God damn Jesus Christ, God damn the Presbyterians, God damn the Baptists, God damn the Methodists,' reiterating one sect after another in the same manner, until they came to the Mormons, to them it was, 'God damn the God damn Mormons; we have sent them to hell.' Then they would slap their hands and shout hosanna, hasanna [hosanna], glory to God, and fall down on their backs, and kick with their feet a few moments; then they would pretend to have swooned away into a glorious trance, in order to imitate some of the transactions at camp meetings. Then they would pretend to come out of their trance, and would shout and again slap their hands and jump up, while one would take a bottle of whiskey and tumbler, and turn it out full of whiskey, and pour it down each other's necks, crying 'damn it take it, you must take it;' and if anyone refused to drink the whiskey, others would clinch him whilst another poured it down his neck, and what did not go down the inside, went down the outside; this is a part of the farce acted out by the grand jury of Davies county, whilst they stood over us as guards, for ten nights successively. And all this in the presence of the great Judge Birch, who had previously said in our hearing, that there was no law for the Mormons in the state of Missouri. His brother was then acting as district attorney in that circuit, and if anything, was a greater cannibal than the judge. After these ten days of drunkenness, we were informed that we were indicted for treason, murder, arson, larceny, theft and stealing. We asked for a change of venue from that county to Marion county, but they would not grant it; but they gave us a change of venue from Davies to Boon County; and a mittimus was made out by the pretended Judge Birch, without date, name or place. They fitted us out with a two horse wagon, and horses, and four men, besides the sheriff, to be our guard; there were five of us. We started from Gallatin the sun about two hours high, P.M., and went as far as Diahman that evening and staid [stayed] till morning. There we bought two horses of the guard and paid for one of them in our clothing, which we had with us, and for the other we gave our note. We went down that day as far as Judge Morin's, a distance of some four or five miles. There we staid [stayed] until the morning, when we started our journey to Boon county, and travelled [traveled] on the road about twenty miles distance. There we bought a jug of whiskey, with which we treated the company, and while there the sheriff showed us the mittimus,
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