| 913 had acquainted him with your intention of ordering a court of enquiry [inquiry] to be held in Jackson county, in relation to the late riotous proceedings in that county. Mr. Doniphan is of opinion from the conversation he had with Mr. Wells, that said order will be suspended till a communication is received from our people, or their counsel. This is therefore to acquaint your excellency, that most of the heads of our church had an interview yesterday on the subject of an immediate court of enquiry [inquiry] to be held in Jackson county, and by their request to me. I hasten to lay before your excellency serious difficulties attending our people on an immediate court of enquiry [inquiry] being called.
Our church is at this time scattered in every direction: some in the new county of Van Buren; a part in this county; and a part in Lafayette, Ray, &c. Some of our principal witnesses would be women and children, and while the rage of the mob continues, it would be impossible to gather them in safety at Independence; and that your excellency may know of the unabating fury with which the last remnant of our people, remaining in that county are pursued at this time, I here state that a few families, perhaps fifteen to twenty, who settled themselves more than two years ago on the prairie, about fifteen miles from the county seat of Jackson county, had hoped from the obscurity of their location, that they might escape the vengeance of the enemy through the winter; consequently they remained on their plantations, receiving occasionally, a few individual threats, till last Sunday, when a mob made their appearance among them; some with pistols cocked and presented to their breasts, commanding them to leave the county in three days, or they would tear their houses down over their heads, &c., &c.
Two expresses arrived here from said neighborhood last Monday morning, for advice, and the council advised their speedy removal for the preservation of life, and their personal effects. I suppose these families will be out of the county of Jackson this week. In this distressed situation, in behalf of my brethren, I pray your excellency to await a further communication, which will soon follow this, setting forth among other things the importance of our people being restored to their possessions, that they may have an equal chance with their enemies in producing important testimony before the court, which the enemy are now determined to deprive them of. Trusting that your excellency will perceive the agitation and consternation that must necessarily prevail among most of our people at this day, from the unparalleled usage they have received, and many of them wandering at this time destitute of shelter.
An immediate court of enquiry [inquiry] called while our people are thus situated, would give our enemies a decided advantage in point of testimony, while they are in possession of their own homes, and ours also; with no enemy in the county to molest or make them afraid.
Very respectfully, your ob't serv't,
A. S. GILBERT.
To His Excellency Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, Mo."
"I have seen and read the above letter, and on reflection, I concur entirely in the opinion therein expressed. I also think that at the next regular term of the court, an examination of the criminal matter cannot be gone into, without a guard for the court and witnesses.
(Signed.) AMOS REESE."
Those who were threatened by the mob on Sunday the 24th, fled into Clay county and encamped on the banks of the Missouri river.-A number of the families went into Van Buren county: their whole number of men, women, and children, being upwards of one hundred and fifty.
About the 1st of December, Elder Cowdery and Bishop Whitney arrived at Kirtland with a new press and type, and on the 4th commenced distributing the type.
The next day I wrote to Bishop Partridge, Liberty, Clay county, Missouri, the following:
Kirtland, Dec. 5th, 1833.
Dear Brethren:
We have just received a letter from Brother Phelps, dated 6th and 7th of November, at Liberty, which gives us the painful intelligence of the rage of the enemy, and your present unsettled situation. But I must inform you that there is a great dubiety resting upon our minds, with regard to the true state of affairs in Zion; for there seems to be some difference in the statements of Elder Phelps' letter, and that of Elder Hyde's communication to the editors of the Missouri Republican. Elder Hyde states that "on Monday the 4th, the mob collected in Independence, to the number of two or three hundred, well armed, and a part of their number went above Blue, to drive away our people and destroy our property; but they were met by a party of our people, and being prepared they poured a deadly fire upon them, two of their number fell dead on the ground, and a number mortally wounded, among the former was Brazeal.
Tuesday morning there were a number of the mob missing, and could not be accounted for, and while we were at Liberty landing, on Wednesday, a messenger rode up saying that he had just come from the seat of war, and that the night before another battle was fought, in
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