| 269 and scorn, by the prejudiced populace. Prisoners were here thrust into jail without regular mittimus; the jailor [jailer] having to send for one some days after. The mercies of the jailor [jailer] were intolerable, feeding us with a scanty allowance, on the dregs of coffee and tea, from his own table, and fetching the provisions in a basket, on which the chickens had roosted the night before, without being cleaned; five days he fed the prisoners on human flesh, and from extreme hunger I was compelled to eat it. In this situation, we were kept until about the month of April, when we were remanded to Davies county for trial before the grand jury.-We were kept under the most loathsome and despotic guards they could produce in that county of lawless mobs. After six or eight days the grand jury, (most of whom by the by, were so drunk that they had to be carried out and into their rooms as though they were lifeless,) formed a fictitious indictment, which was sanctioned by Judge Birch, who was the State's Attorney under Judge King at our ex-parte trial, and who at that time stated that the Mormons ought to be hung without judge or jury, he the said judge, made out a mittimus without day or date, ordering the sheriff to take us to Columbia. The sheriff selected four men to guard five of us. We then took a circuitous route, crossing prairies sixteen miles without houses, and after travelling [traveling] three days the sheriff and I were together, by ourselves five miles from any of the rest of the company, for sixteen miles at a stretch. The sheriff here observed to me, that he wished to God he was at home, and your friends and you also. The sheriff then showed me the mittimus, and he found it had neither day nor date to it; and said the inhabitants of Davies county would be surprised that the prisoners had not left them sooner; and said he, by God, I shall not go much further. We were then near Yellow creek, and there were no houses nearer one way than sixteen miles and eleven another way; except right on the creek. Here a part of the guard took a spree while the balance helped us to mount our horses, which we purchased of them and for which they were paid. Here we took a change of venue and went to Quincy without difficulty, where we found our families had been driven out of the state under the exterminating order of Governor Boggs. I never knew of Joseph Smith's holding any office, civil or military, or using any undue influence in religious matters during the whole routine of which I have been speaking.
LYMAN WIGHT.
SIDNEY RIGDON, sworn. Says, I arrived in Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, on the 4th of April, 1839, and enjoyed peace and quietness in common with the rest of the citizens, until the August following, when great excitement was created by the office seekers. Attempts were made to prevent the citizens of Caldwell from voting. Soon after the election, which took place in the early part of August, the citizens of Caldwell were threatened with violence form those of Davis [Davies?] county, and other counties adjacent to Caldwell.
This, the August of 1838, I may date as the time of the beginning of all the troubles of our people in Caldwell county, and in all the counties in the state, where our people were living. We had lived in peace form the April previous until this time, but from this time till we were all out of the state, it was but one scene of violence following another in quick succession.
There were at this time, settlements in Clay, Ray, Carroll, Caldwell, and Davis [Davies?] counties, as well as some families living in other counties. A simultaneous movement was made in all the counties where settlements were made in every part of the state, which soon became violent, and threatenings were heard from every quarter. Public meetings were held and the most inflammatory speeches made, and resolutions passed which denounced all the citizens of these counties in the most bitter and rancorous manner. These resolutions were published in the papers, and the most extensive circulation given to them, that the presses of the country were capable of giving.
The first regular mob that assembled was in Carroll county, and their efforts were directed against the settlements made in that county, declaring their determination to drive out of the county all the citizens who were of our religion, and that indiscriminately, without regard to any thing else but their religion. The only evidence necessary to dispossess any individual or family, or all the evidence required, would be that they were Mormons, as we were called, or rather that they were of the Mormon religion. This was considered of itself crime enough to cause any individual or family to be driven from their homes, and their property made common plunder. Resolutions to this effect were made at public meetings held for the purpose, and made public through the papers of the state in the face of all law, and all authority.
I will now give a history of the settlement in Carroll county. In the preceding April, as myself and family were on our way to Far West, we put up at a house in Carroll county, on a stream called Turkey creek, to tarry for the night. Soon after we stopped, a youngerly [young] man came riding up who also stopped and staid [stayed]
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