Hyrum Smith, Testimony, 1 July 1843 [Extradition of JS for Treason]
Source Note
, Testimony, , Hancock Co., IL, 1 July 1843, Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court 1843). Copied [3–6 July 1843]; handwriting of and ; docket by , [6 July 1843, , Hancock Co., IL]; docket by , ca. [6] July 1843; notation by , ca. [6] July 1843; twenty-eight pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Testimony of before the Municipal Court of the City of , Illinois, upon Saturday the first day of July 1843.—
being first duly sworn saith <says> that the Defendant now in Court is his Brother, and that his name is not Joseph Smith Junior, but his name is Joseph Smith Senior, and has been for more than two years past. I have been acquainted with him ever since he was born, which <was> is thirtyseven years last <in> December <last,> and I have not been absent from him at any one time, not even the space of Six months since his Birth, to my recollection, & have been intimately acquainted with all his sayings, doings, business transactions, and movements as much as any one Man could be acquainted with another Mans business up to the present time, and do know <that> he has not committed Treason against any State in the , by any Overt Acts, or by levying War, or by aiding, abetting, or assisting an Enemy in any State in the , and that the said Joseph Smith Senior has not Committed Treason in the State of nor violated any Law nor Rule of said , I being personally acquainted with the transactions and doings of said Smith whilst he resided in said , which was for about six months in the year 1838, I being also a resident in said during the same period of <time> six months, and I do know that said Joseph Smith Senior never was subject to military duty in any State, neither was he in the State of , he being exempt by the amputation or extraction of a bone from his Leg, and by having a license to preach the Gospel, or being in other words a minister of the Gospel, and I do know that said Smith never bore Arms <as a> in any military <Man in any> force, or in any Squadron capacity, <whatever> whilst in the State of , or previous to that time, neither has he given any Orders or <assumed any> command in any capacity whatever, but I do know that whilst he was in the State of , that the People <commonly> called Mormons were threatened with violence & extermination. & [p. 1]