| 741 CHAPTER 33.
1844
UPON receiving the assurance of Governor Ford that they would receive the protection of the militia, Joseph and Hyrum Smith returned from their retirement, went to Carthage, and delivered themselves up to Constable Bettisworth.
They then appeared before Justice R. F. Smith, of Carthage, Illinois, and captain of the Carthage Greys, and "voluntarily entered into recognizance in the sum of five hundred dollars each, with unexceptionable security, for their appearance at the next term of the Circuit Court."
On the same day they were arrested on a charge of "treason against the State of Illinois." On this charge and against the protest of their counsel, they were committed to jail, without examination; where they met their tragic death.
The history of this affair, together with facts in the case, written by their counsel and others, were published in the Times and Seasons for July 1, 1844. These accounts will tell the story better than we can tell it, and we reproduce them for the reader's examination:-
"AWFUL ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH!
THE PLEDGED FAITH OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
STAINED WITH INNOCENT BLOOD BY A MOB!
"On Monday the 24th inst., after Governor Ford had sent word that those eighteen persons demanded on a warrant,
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