| 851 of Missouri, residing at Jefferson City, with the following petition:
"To His Excellency Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri.
We, the undersigned, citizens of the republic of the United States of America, inhabitants of the State of Missouri, and residents of Jackson county, members of the Church of Christ, (vulgarly called Mormons.) believing in God, and worshipping him according to his revealed will contained in the Holy Bible, and the fulness [fullness] of the gospel contained in the Book of Mormon, and the revelations and commandments of God through Jesus Christ, respectfully show:-
That, we your petitioners, having purchased lands of the United States, and of the State of Missouri, and of the inhabitants of said State, for the purpose of improving the same and peaceably enjoying our rights, privileges, immunities and religion, according to the constitution and laws of the state and national governments, have suffered unjustly and unlawfully in property, in person, and in reputation, as follows:
First, in the spring of 1832, some persons, in the deadly hours of the night, commenced stoning or brick-batting some of our houses and breaking in our windows, disturbing ourselves, our wives and our children, and also, some few days after, they called a county meeting to consult measures to remove us, but after some confusion among themselves, they dispersed with doing no more than threatening, on that day. In the fall of the same year, they or some one, burned a large quantity of hay in the stack; and soon after commenced shooting into some of our houses, and at many times insulting with abusive language.
Secondly, about the middle of July last, yea, in fact, previous, they commenced brick-batting our houses again, and breaking in our windows. At this time, July 18th, the following document was in circulation:
'We, the undersigned, citizens of Jackson county, believing that an important crisis is at hand, as regards our civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious sect of people, that have settled and are still settling in our county, styling themselves Mormons, and intending, as we do to rid our society, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must,' and believing as we do, that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee, or at least a sufficient one against the evils which are now inflicted upon us and seem to be increasing by the said religious sect, deem it expedient, and of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose, a purpose which we deem it almost superfluous to say, is justified as well by the law of nature, as by the law of self-preservation,
It is more than two years since the first of these fanatics, or knaves, (for one or the other they undoubtedly are) made their first appearance amongst us, and pretending as they did, and now do, to hold personal communication and converse face to face with the Most High God, to receive communications and revelations direct from heaven; to heal the sick by laying on hands, and in short, to perform all the wonder working miracles wrought by the inspired apostles and prophets of old.
We believed them deluded fanatics or weak designing knaves, and that they and their pretentions would soon pass away; but in this we were deceived. The arts of a few designing leaders amongst them have thus far succeeded in holding them together as a society, and since the arrival of the first of them they have been daily increasing in numbers, and if they had been respectable citizens in society, and thus deluded, they would have been entitled to our pity rather than to our contempt and hatred; but from their appearance, from their manners, and from their conduct, since their coming among us, we have every reason to fear, that with but very few exceptions, they were of the very dregs of that society from which they came, lazy, idle and vicious.-This we conceive is not idle assertion, but a fact susceptible of proof, for with these few exceptions above named, they brought into our county little or no property with them, and left less behind them, and we infer, that those only yoked themselves to the Mormon car, who had nothing earthly or heavenly, to lose by the change; and we fear that if some of the leaders amongst them, had paid the forfeit due to crime, instead of being chosen ambassadors of the Most High, they would have been inmates of solitary cells. But their conduct here stamps their characters in their true colors. More than a year since, it was ascertained that they had been tampering with our slaves, and endeavoring to sow dissentions and raise seditions amongst them. Of this their Mormon leaders were informed, and they said they would deal with any of their members who should again, in like case offend, but how specious are appearances, in a late number of the Star, published in Independence by the leaders of the sect, there is an article inviting free negroes and mulattoes from other States to become Mormons and remove and settle among us, this exhibits them in still more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their society,
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