become invested, and the largest City in the has grown up, numbering about 20.000 inhabitants.
But, Sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the state of forbids us to think that her designs are any less vindictive than those of . She has already used the military of the state, with the Executive at their head, to coerce and surrender up our best men to unparrallelled murder, and that too under the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a Salvo for such unearthly perfidy and guilt, she told us through her highest , that the laws should be magnified, and the murderers brought to justice; but the blood of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful arena, where the citizens of a sovreign state pounced upon two [p. [114]]
Many of the numbers in this paragraph were exaggerated, including the number of Latter-day Saints forced from Missouri or living in Nauvoo. (See Black, “How Large Was the Population of Nauvoo?,” 91–94.)
On 22 June 1844 Illinois governor Thomas Ford guaranteed the safety of JS and other Latter-day Saints who came to Carthage, Illinois, either as defendants or as witnesses in the trials of those who had been accused of participating in the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. (Thomas Ford, Carthage, IL, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 22 June 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
The morning following the murders of JS and Hyrum Smith, Thomas Ford met with Willard Richards in Carthage and stated that their deaths “should be investigated.” Over the next several months Ford’s correspondence with Richards and other church leaders offered advice on how to proceed with the prosecution of leaders of the mob. In his public report to the Illinois legislature in December 1844, Ford expressed support for prosecuting those who participated in the murders. However, he also stated that “although I was determined from the first, for the honor of the State, that this murder should be fully enquired into; and some of the guilty brought to trial; yet, I was never anxious to proceed with the full rigor of the law.” (Richards, Journal, 28 June 1844; Thomas Ford, Quincy, IL, to William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, 22 July 1844; Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, to Willard Richards and William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Sept. 1844, Willard Richards, Papers, CHL; Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, 19–20.)
Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490.
Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County, December, 21, 1844. Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, 1844.