| 143 "I have good reason to believe that scoundrels stay in Nauvoo, and when stolen property comes into the city they are ready to pass it on to the Territory, and screen themselves under the cloak of Mormonism, in order that the Mormons may bear the blame. If people will satisfy themselves as I have done they may find a 'depot' in the regions of Iowa containing the greater part of the property charged to the Mormons.
"I would state further, that the Mormons had no agency in the searches I made, but that I made them at the instance of men from the country, and that I spent three days in the Territory of Iowa, searching into the facts and matters, and my statements are made up from personal observation.
"JOSEPH A. KELTING,
"Deputy Sheriff of Hancock County."
-Times and Seasons, vol. 6, pp. 775, 776.
Throughout the winter and summer of 1845 the feeling was very intense, and many efforts and demonstrations were made with a view to stirring up sentiment against the Mormons, sufficiently strong to banish them from the State.
The following petition was sent to President Polk:-
"Nauvoo, April 24, 1845.
"His Excellency James K. Polk, President of the United States.
"Honored Sir:-Suffer us, in behalf of a disfranchised people, to prefer a few suggestions for your serious consideration, in hope of a friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience and the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand.
"It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggravated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Most of us have long been loyal citizens of some one of these United States, over which you have the honor to preside; while a few only claim the privilege of peaceful and lawful emigrants, designing to make the Union our permanent residence.
"We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told by the highest authorities of the State that it is neither
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