| 270 through the night. Hearing my name mentioned he introduced himself to me as Henry Root, said he lived in that county at a little town called De Witt, on the Missouri river, and had been at Far West, to get some of those who were coming into that place, to form a settlement at De Witt; speaking highly of the advantages of the situation, and soliciting my interference on his behalf, to obtain a number of families to commence at the at place, as he was a large proprietor in the town plat. He offered a liberal share in all the profits which might arise from the sale of property there, to those who would aid him in getting the place settled. In the morning we proceeded on our journey.
Some few weeks after my arrival, the said Henry Root, in company with a man by the name of David Thomas, came to Far West on the same bnsiness [business]; and after much solicitation on their part, it was agreed that a settlement should be made in that place, and in the July following, the first families removed there, and the settlement soon increased, until in the October following, it consisted of some seventy families. By this time a regular mob had collected, strongly armed; and had obtained possession of a cannon, and stationed a mile or two from the town. The citizens being nearly all new comers, had to live in their tents and wagons, and were exerting themselves to the uttermost to get houses for the approaching winter. The mob commenced committing their depredations on the citizens, by not suffering them to procure the materials for building, keeping them shut up in the town, not allowing them to go out to get provisions, driving off their cattle, and preventing the owners from going in search of them. In this way the citizens were driven to the greatest extremities, actually suffering for food and every comfort of life, in consequence of which there was much sickness and many died; females gave birth to children without a house to shelter them, and in consequence of the exposure, many suffered great afflictions and many died.
Hearing of their great sufferings, a number of the men of Far West determined on going to see what was doing there. Accordingly we started, eluded the vigilance of the mob, and notwithstanding they had sentinels placed on all the principal roads, to prevent relief from being sent to the citizens, safely arrived in De Witt, and found the people as above stated.
During the time we were there, every effort that could be, was made to get the authorities of the country to interfere and scatter the mob. The judge of the circuit court was petitioned, but without success, and after that the governor of the state, who returned for answer that the citizens of De Witt had got into a difficulty with the surrounding country, and they might get out of it; for he would have nothing to do with it, or this was the answer that the messenger brought when he returned.
The messenger was a Mr. Caldwell, who owned a ferry on Grand river, about three miles from De Witt, and was an old settler in the place.
The citizens were completely besieged by the mob, no man was at liberty to go out, nor any to come in. The extremities to which the people were driven, were very great, suffering with much sickness, without shelter, and deprived of all aid either medical or any other kind, and being without food or the privilege of getting it, and betrayed by every man who made the least pretension of frindship [friendship]; a notable instance of which I will here give as a sample of many others of a similar kind. There was neither bread nor flour to be had in the place; a steamboat landed there and application was made to get flour but the captain said there was none on board. A man then offered his services to get flour for the place; knowing, he said, where there was a quantity. Money was given to him for that purpose; he got on the boat and went off; and that was the last we heard of the man or the money. This was a man who had been frequently in De Witt during the siege, and professed great friendship. In this time of extremity a man who had a short time before moved into De Witt, bringing with him a fine yoke of cattle, started out to hunt his cattle, in order to butcher them to keep the citizens from actual starvation, but before he got but a little way from the town, he was fired upon by the mob and narrowly escaped with his life and had to return, or at least, such was his report when he returned. Being now completely inlosed [enclosed] on every side, we could plainly see many men on the opposite side of the river, and it was supposed that they were there to prevent the citizens from crossing, and indeed a small craft crossed from them with three men in it, who said that was the object for which they had assembled.
At this critical moment, with death staring us in the face, in its worst form; cut off from all communication with the surrounding country, and all our provisions exhausted, we were sustained as the children of Israel in the desert, only by different animals. They by quails, and us by cattle and hogs which came walking into the camp, for such it truly was, as the people were living in tents and wagons, not being privileged with building houses What was to be done in this extremity? why, recourse was
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