| 37 public the conduct of G. M. Hinkle a commander of the militia, in Caldwell county, and known as a preacher in the church for years: he commanded the militia in Caldwell co. until he betrayed the leaders of the church into the hands of the mob. Mr. Corrill calls them militia, but if the stealing of cattle, horses, hogs; burning waggons [wagons], and carrying off all kinds of property; warrants them that appellation I have no objection, I appeal to the public to name them.
And after G. M. Hinkle and others had agreed to deliver up the leaders, and give up arms &c. they declared that they (the leaders of the church) must be immediately shot, for they delivered them up on no other conditions; fearing that their traitorism and cowardice might be more fully exposed.
The mob then forced them immediately into their camp, and the treatment that they received there, would make the blood thirsty savage of the wilderness blush, or the wandering Arab hide his face for shame. They then held what they termed a court martial over them, and they were condemned to be shot; but fortune favors the innocent, the God of Israel was there and protected them; so that they did not carry their murderous purposes into execution, for they began to see that it was cold blooded murder, and that Uncle Sam would inquire into the affair.
There were seventeen officers who composed this court martial, and twelve out of seventeen consented to the death of these men, but thank God there was virtue enough in the minority, to overrule the infamy of the majority, therefore their lives were spared.
They then manufactured a plan to cast them into prison, they therefore appealed to civil authority as they termed it; but if the court over which Austin A. King presided was civil authority, may the Lord deliver me from uncivil authority, for if a man did not testify as he or Birch, the states Attorney taught him, he was thrust into prison and totally deprived of his testimony.
However, they were taken before Austin king, a Judge of the fifth Judicial circuit of the State of Missouri for trial, and the testimony of Hinkle and other apostates was called for, and if the testimony of these men could be exhibited to the public as it was recorded by the court, they would then be convinced that it would puzzle any thing else but a Missouri lawyer to arrange such nonsense as was sworn to by Hinkle and others, so as to make it a sufficient tool to commit free citizens of the United States to jail, for the testimony from beginning to end was known to be as black as the ace of spades, and as false as the tales of Valentine and Orson. A. RIPLEY.
Extract from a letter written by E. Partridge, to his brother Samuel, but for certain reasons was never sent.
Quincy, Adams co. Ill. May 26, 1839. Since I saw you I have passed through some trying scenes; but all the persecution that is heaped upon us, only goes to prove that we are not of the world. The Saviour [Savior] said to his disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own." When I look at the 11th. chap. of Hebrews, and there see what the ancient saints had to endure, that they might obtain a better resurrection; and when I read in the Revelations of John, 7th chap. of a great company arrayed in white robes whom he saw before the throne of God, serving him day and night, who had come up through great tribulation; I say in my heart, how many in this age of the world, will be among the number? Who, among all the professors of religion throughout Christendom except Latter Day Saints, can say that they have had to pass through great tribulation? Let them compare their sufferings with the ancients, who were tortured, were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins; being destitute, afflicted and tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) Who wandered in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth, and not more than one in a hundred can (in righteousness) say that they have. well if this is a fact, and, who will attempt to deny it? is not the religious world deceived or deceiving
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