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Source: Church History Vol. 2 Chapter 15 Page: 306 (~1839)

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306 was given us through the day ever afterwards."-Persecution of the Saints, pp. 114-124.

P. P. Pratt and Morris Phelps escaped from the Boone County jail on July 4,1839, and finally made their way to their families in Illinois. Mr. Follet broke jail with them, but was recaptured. Mr. Luman Gibbs, the other one of the four, apostatized, and was acquitted on trial. Mr. Follet was retained several months and dismissed. The following is Mr. Pratt's account of their thrilling escape:-

"The author of the foregoing narrative is now at liberty, and some account of his narrow escape from prison and from the State of Missouri, is due to the public. On the 1st of July the special term of the court was held at Columbia for our trials but was adjourned for nearly three months because all our witnesses were banished from the State. Under these circumstances we were unwilling to be tried in a State where all law and justice were at an end. We accordingly thought it justifiable to make our escape. In the meantime we were visited by Mrs. Phelps, the wife of one of the prisoners, and also by my brother, Orson Pratt, and Mrs. Phelps' brother. These all came from Illinois or Iowa, on horseback, and visited with us for several days. On the 4th of July we felt desirous as usual to celebrate the anniversary of American liberty. We accordingly manufactured a white flag, consisting of the half of a shirt, on which was inscribed the word LIBERTY, in large letters, and also a large American eagle was put on in red. We then obtained a pole from our jailer, and on the morning of the 4th this flag was suspended from the front window of our prison, overhanging the public square, and floating triumphantly in the air to the full view of the citizens who assembled by hundreds to celebrate the national jubilee. With this the citizens seemed highly pleased, and sent a portion of the public dinner to us and our friends, who partook with us in prison with merry hearts, as we intended to gain our liberties or be in paradise before the close of that eventful day. While we were thus employed in prison, the town was alive with troops parading, guns firing, music sounding, and shouts of joy resounding

(page 306)

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