| 646 County," makes special mention of this feature, and his report is complimentary to Nauvoo and the church; 7
and this notwithstanding his report in general showed him to be strongly prejudiced against Joseph Smith and the church.
At the above-mentioned conference quite a large number of missionaries were appointed to different parts of the United States and elsewhere. 8
will grant and insure protection against all personal mob violence to each and every citizen of this city who will freely and voluntarily come before me and truly make known the names of all such abominable characters as are engaged in said secret combination for stealing or are accessory thereto in any manner; and I would respectfully solicit the coöperation of all ministers of justice, in this and the neighboring States, to ferret out a band of thievish outlaws from our midst.
Given under my hand at Nauvoo City, this 25th day of March, A. D.
JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor of said City.
If any man is afraid to disclose what he knows about this gang of thieves let him come to me, and tell the truth, and I will protect him from violence. Thieving must be stopped.-Times and Seasons, vol. 4, pp, 183, 184
7 Justice, however, requires me here to say, that I have investigated the charge of promiscuous stealing, and find it to be greatly exaggerated. I could not ascertain that there were a greater proportion of thieves in that community than any other of the same number of inhabitants, and perhaps if the city of Nauvoo were compared with St. Louis, or any other western city, the proportion would not be so great. I think it very probable, however, that the Mormons sometimes erred in protecting members of their community from prosecution and punishment, who were accused of offenses, under a belief that the accusation against them was a persecution of their enemies on account of their religion.
I have reason to believe, too, that the report of an alliance with the Indians was a groundless calumny. For, on a late occasion when fifteen or twenty Pottawattamie Indians passed Nauvoo in their canoes on their way to their hunting grounds in Iowa Territory, it was at once asserted that as many as two hundred Indians had come to the assistance of the Mormons, and were ready to scalp and murder their enemies; and this ridiculous story was greedily swallowed by an excited people.-Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County, p. 7.
8 James Munroe and Truman Gillet; Auburn, New York
Dominicus Carter; Lockport, Indiana.
Joshua Holman and John Pierce; Madison, Indiana.
Wandle Mace and Isaac Hate; Washingtonville, Orange County, New York.
William O. Clark; Richardson settlement, Iowa.
Benjamin Clapp, John Bear, Wilson Hewitt, and L. O. Littlefield; Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Alonzo Whitney and J. Goodale; Dublin, Ohio
William Eaton; Westfield, Sullivan County, New York.
Zebedee Coltrin, Graham Coltrin, and James Flanigan, Smith and Tazewell Counties, Virginia.
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