| 199 The forces dispersed by order of General Atchison in Daviess and Caldwell Counties, or many of them, instead of going quietly to their homes as instructed to do, proceeded to De Witt, Carroll County, and began hostilities against the saints there.
The following petition will show the condition of affairs:-
"DE WITT, Carroll County, State of Missouri,
"September 22, 1838.
"To His Excellency, Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of the State of Missouri:-Your petitioners, citizens of the county of Carroll, do hereby petition Your Excellency, praying for relief: That whereas, your petitioners have on the 20th instant been sorely aggrieved by being beset by a lawless mob, [of] certain inhabitants of this and other counties, to the injury of the good citizens of this and the adjacent places; that on the aforesaid day came from one hundred to one hundred and fifty armed men, and threatened with force and violence to drive certain peaceable citizens from their homes, in defiance of all law, and threatened then to drive said citizens out of the county, but on deliberation concluded to give them, said citizens, till the first of October next to leave said county; and threatened, if not gone by that time, to exterminate them, without regard to age or sex, and destroy their chattels by throwing them in the river.
"We therefore pray you to take such steps as shall put a stop to all lawless proceeding; and we your petitioners will ever pray, etc.
"Benj. Kendrick.
Smith Humphrey.
Franklin N. Thayer.
"H. G. Sherwood.
John Tilford.
Dudley Thomas.
"John Kendrick.
Wm. P. Lundow.
John Murdock.
"James Valance.
G. M. Hinkle.
Thos. Dehart.
"Albert Loree.
Francis Brown.
Jabez Lake.
"D. Thomas
H. M. Wallace.
Samuel Lake.
(no Mormon).
Asu Manchester.
Wm. Winston
"Nathan Harrison.
John Clark.
Elizabeth Smith.
"Thos. Hollingshead.
Henry Root.
Asa W. Barnes
"A. L. Caldwell.
Elijah T. Rogers.
Rufus Allen.
"John Dougherty.
Ezekiel Barnes.
Moses Harris.
"D. H. Barns.
Perry Thayer.
Wm. S. Smith.
"B. B. Bartley.
James Hampton.
Jonathan Harris.
"Robert Hampton.
Wm. J. Hatfield.
Jonathan Hampton.
(page 199) |
