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.
The soldiers ran after the man to shoot him, he fled for his life & with great difficulty made his escape. The pretended court immediately arose and we were ordered to be carried to , Clay County and there to be thrust into Gaol. We endeavoured to find out for what cause, but all we could learn was because we were Mormons. The next morning a large wagon drove up to the door and a blacksmith came into the house with some chain<s> & handcuffs, “he said his orders were from the to handcuff us and chain us together, we” he informed us that the had made out a & sentenced us to gaol for treason, he also said the had done this that we might not get bail; he also said the stated his intention to keep us in gaol until all the mormons were driven out of the : he also said that the had also <further stated> said that if <he> let us out before <all> the Mormons had left the , that we would not let them leave & there would be another damned fuss kicked up”— I also heard the say myself whilst he was sitting in his pretended court that “there was no law for us nor for the mormons in the State of : that he had sworn to see them exterminated and to see the ’s order executed to the very letter”— However the Blacksmith proceeded & put the irons upon us & we were ordered into the wagon & they drove off for , and as we journeyed along on the road we were exhibited to the inhabitants, and this course was adopted all the way, thus making a public exhibition of us, until we arrived at , Clay County— There we we were thrust into prison again & locked up— and were held there in close confinement for the space of six months; and our place of lodging was the square side of a hewed log white oak log— and our food was anything but good & decent: poison was administered to us three or four times, the effect it had upon our system was, <that> it vomitted us almost to death, and then we would lay some two or three days in a torpid stupid state not even caring [p. 21]