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“Preamble,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1]–[2]; “Introductory,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2]–[3]. Charles A. Foster and Emmons had never been members of the church.
Minutes, 8 June 1844; Minutes, 10 June 1844; Resolution, 10 June 1844; Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 2, bk. 3, pp. 4, 170; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840. During the early years of the United States, unpopular newspaper presses were regularly destroyed, although through extralegal rather than legal means. (See Oaks, “Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” 862–903; and Kielbowicz, “Law and Mob Law in Attacks on Anti-Slavery Newspapers,” 559–600.)
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.
Oaks, Dallin H. “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor.” Utah Law Review 9 (Winter 1965): 862–903.
Kielbowicz, Richard B. “The Law and Mob Law in Attacks on Anti-Slavery Newspapers, 1833–1860.” Law and History Review 24, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 559–600.
“Meeting of the Bar,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 5 May 1849, [1]. Although the complaint is apparently not extant, Morrison summarized it in the warrant he issued the same day for the arrest of JS and the other men named therein. (Warrant, 11 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
Warrant, 11 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]; An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 220, sec. 117.
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
Illinois law defined an accessory as someone “who stands by and aids, abets, or assists; or who not being present aiding, abetting, or assisting, hath advised and encouraged the perpetration of the crime. He or she, who thus aids, abets, or assists, advises, or encourages, shall be deemed and considered as principal, and punished accordingly.” The question of whether JS and the other city councilors could be tried as accessories for the destruction of the press was discussed at legal proceedings related to the riot charge held before Nauvoo alderman and justice of the peace Daniel H. Wells on 17 June 1844. (An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 201, sec. 13; Trial Report, 19–21 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B].)
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
See Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
Clayton, Journal, 12 June 1844; Warrant, 11 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]. According to Clayton, JS also asserted that appearing before Johnson was the defendants’ “privilege allowed by the Statute.” It is uncertain whether JS was aware that the Illinois statute governing arrests contained an additional clause not included in the warrant, stating that the arresting officer should bring the detained individual “before the officer issuing said warrant, or in case of his absence, before any other judge or justice of the peace” of the county. (An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 238, sec. 3, italics added; see also Oaks, “Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” 864n11.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
Oaks, Dallin H. “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor.” Utah Law Review 9 (Winter 1965): 862–903.
Habeas Corpus, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]. The November 1842 ordinance directed that petitions be submitted to the municipal court clerk when the court was not in session and that the clerk issue the writ. (Ordinance, 14 Nov. 1842.)
Bettisworth arrested JS on 12 June 1844 and waited until the following day to detain the other men named in the warrant, as evidenced by three return notations that Bettisworth inscribed, with assistance from Richards, on the copy of the warrant attached to the petition; Bettisworth signed each return. (Petition, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]; Warrant, 11 June 1844, William Clayton Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Clayton, Journal, 12 June 1844; Docket Entry, ca. 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 98–99. JS, as the petitioner, recused himself from his duties as chief justice, but Samuel Bennett did not, even though he was one of JS’s codefendants, having been named in Morrison’s warrant. (Warrant, 11 June 1844, William Clayton Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
The court reviewed the addendum to the Nauvoo charter that gave the city council power “to declare what shall be a nuisance, and to prevent and remove the same.” The justices then examined the city council’s 10 June 1844 resolution declaring the Expositor a nuisance and JS’s orders to the city marshal and the Nauvoo Legion to abate the nuisance. (Docket Entry, ca. 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; see also Resolution, 10 June 1844; Mayor’s Order to Nauvoo City Marshal, 10 June 1844; and Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844.)
Although eighteen witnesses were sworn, scribes recorded substantive testimonies for only eleven men: Cyrus Canfield, William Clayton, Joseph Dalton, John Hughes, James Jackson, John McEwan, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Henry G. Sherwood, Leonard Soby, Theodore Turley, and John R. Wakefield. The scribes also recorded the names of Robert Cleft, Augustus A. Farnhorn, John Gleason, James Goff, John Kay, Joseph A. Kelting, and Augustus Stafford without accompanying testimonies. (Docket Entry, ca. 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus].)
Docket Entry, ca. 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]. The Nauvoo City Council passed an ordinance in 1842 that permitted the municipal court to determine whether the initial charges were motivated “through private pique, malicious intent, religious or other persecution, falsehood, or misrepresentation.” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 98.)
JS, Journal, 13 June 1844. Bettisworth wrote these names in a return notation on the copy of the 11 June 1844 warrant that was used during the municipal court proceedings held on 12 and 13 June. (Warrant, 11 June 1844, William Clayton Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1]; Thomas L. Barnes, Ukiah, CA, to Miranda Haskett, 1 Nov. 1897, photocopy, CHL. These names were written in the third return notation inscribed on the copy of the 11 June 1844 warrant used in the 12 and 13 June 1844 proceedings. (Warrant, 11 June 1844, William Clayton Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
Barnes, Thomas L. Letter, Ukiah, CA, to Miranda Haskett, 1 Nov. 1897. Photocopy. CHL.
Petition, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]; Habeas Corpus, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]. Jesse Harmon was the only defendant on the warrant not arrested by Bettisworth or a deputy.
Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
JS, Journal, 16 June 1844. Later, on 20 June 1844, Thomas reportedly told Anson Call that JS had misunderstood his advice and wrote a note to JS counseling him “to suffer yourself to be taken by the officer holding the writ and go before the justice of the peace who issued the same and have an investigation of the matter.” (Call, Autobiography and Journal, 23–26.)
Call, Anson. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1857–1883. CHL. MS 313.
JS, Journal, 17 June 1844; “Affidavit of Hyrum Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:870–872; Wells, “Wells Family Genealogy,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Jan. 1915, 5. Wells was elected to his second two-year term as an alderman on 6 February 1843. According to the city charter, aldermen “shall be conservators of the peace within the limits of said city, and shall have all the powers of Justices of the Peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases arising under the laws of the State.” (“City Election,” Wasp, 8 Feb. 1843, [2]; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; “Municipal Election,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:309; Record of Attendance of City Council, 10 June 1844.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Wells, Junius F. “The Wells Family Genealogy.” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 6 (Jan. 1915): 1–16.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
JS, Journal, 17 June 1844. Apparently, neither Ware’s complaint nor Wells’s warrant is extant, but both documents are referenced in Wells’s published trial report, which lists Samuel Bennett, Joseph W. Coolidge, Jonathan Dunham, John P. Greene, Jesse Harmon, Jonathan Holmes, Dimick B. Huntington, John Lytle, Stephen Markham, Stephen Perry, William W. Phelps, Harvey Redfield, Levi Richards, Orrin Porter Rockwell, JS, Hyrum Smith, and John Taylor as defendants. The list in Wells’s warrant was identical to that included in Morrison’s 11 June 1844 warrant, except that it omitted William H. Edwards for unknown reasons. (Trial Report, 19–21 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B]; Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus].)
JS, Journal, 17 June 1844; Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–21 June 1844. According to an 1842 survey, Wells’s farm was located between Warrington’s Addition and Herringshaw and Thompson’s First Addition to Nauvoo. (See Hills, Map of the City of Nauvoo, 1842; and Nauvoo Plats, Blocks, and Lots, 27 June 1844.)
Hills, Gustavus. Map of the City of Nauvoo. New York: J. Child, 1842. CHL.
An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 238, sec. 3. If the justice decided to send the case to the circuit court, the defendants would be either admitted to bail or committed to jail until the court’s next session.
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
Trial Report, 19–21 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B]. Bonney was a merchant who had recently moved to Nauvoo and was one of three non-Latter-day Saints who were admitted to the Council of Fifty. It is unknown why he was selected to act as the prosecutor in this case, as he is not known to have had legal training. Stiles was appointed Nauvoo city attorney in mid-April 1844 and had represented the defendants in the riot case in the habeas corpus proceedings before the Nauvoo Municipal Court. (Council of Fifty, Minutes, 4 Apr. 1844; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 Apr. 1844, 207; Docket Entry, ca. 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus]; Docket Entry, ca. 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus].)
The trial report identified these witnesses as “H. O. Norton,” presumably Henry Norton; “O. F. Moesseur,” presumably Frederick Moeser; and “P. T. Rolfe,” presumably Tallman Rolfe. Norton and Rolfe testified that they were in the newspaper’s office when the posse arrived. Moeser, who owned a grocery store across the street from the Expositor office, testified that he observed the destruction from outside the office. (Trial Report, 19–21 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B]; Willard Richards, Minutes concerning Threats, 11 June 1844, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; Nauvoo, Illinois, 27 June 1844.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
Aside from Ware, the defense witnesses included John R. Wakefield and Edward Wingott, two visitors to Nauvoo who witnessed the destruction of the press. In addition, three Latter-day Saints from Nauvoo or nearby testified: Addison Everett, who witnessed the destruction of the press; Joel Miles, a Hancock County constable who also witnessed the press’s destruction; and Joseph W. Coolidge, one of the defendants whom Wells discharged and then allowed to testify. (Trial Report, 19–21 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B]; JS, Journal, 17 June 1844.)
Ford did not mention the defendants’ attempt to address the charge before Wells, perhaps because he was not yet aware of it or had not fully considered its implications. (Letter from Thomas Ford, 21 June 1844; Letter from Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844; Ford, History of Illinois, 324.)
Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.
Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; Events of June 1844; JS History, vol. F-1, 147; Clayton, Journal, 23 June 1844; Letter to Thomas Ford, 23 June 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Richards, Journal, 24 June 1844.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Aside from JS, Bettisworth noted that he arrested Joseph W. Coolidge, Jonathan Dunham, John P. Greene, Jesse Harmon, Jonathan Holmes, Dimick B. Huntington, John Lytle, Stephen Markham, Stephen Perry, William W. Phelps, Harvey Redfield, Levi Richards, Hyrum Smith, and John Taylor. Samuel Bennett, William H. Edwards, and Orrin Porter Rockwell, the other men named in Morrison’s 11 June warrant, were evidently not in Carthage. (Warrant, 11 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A].)
Willard Richards mistakenly listed Orrin Porter Rockwell as being among those who entered into recognizances on 25 June 1844, but according to William Clayton, Rockwell was in Nauvoo that day, “whipping F. M. Higbee,” presumably referring to a physical altercation. An 1845 Illinois justice of the peace manual indicated that “excessive bail ought not to be required, though what bail shall be called excessive must be left, in a great measure, to the justice to determine on considering the circumstances of the case.” In the event of a conviction, the upper limit of the fine for committing a riot was $200, less than half of the amount Smith set for the prisoners’ recognizances. (Richards, Journal, 25 June 1844; Clayton, Journal, 25 June 1844; Recognizance, 25 June 1844–A [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]; Recognizance, 25 June 1844–B [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]; Recognizance, 25 June 1844–C [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]; Recognizance, 25 June 1844–D [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A]; Cotton, Treatise on the Powers, 57; An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [1 July 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 22, sec. 117.)
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Cotton, Henry G. A Treatise on the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace in the State of Illinois, with Practical Forms. Ottawa, IL: By the author, 1845.
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
The prosecution evidently decided not to indict members of the Nauvoo City Council and instead focused on men who allegedly executed the order to destroy the press. The indicted defendants were Andrew Cahoon, Daniel Cahoon, Alpheus Cutler, Jonathan Dunham, William H. Edwards, Jesse Harmon, Jonathan Holmes, John Lytle, Stephen Markham, Stephen Perry, and Orrin Porter Rockwell. The Expositor proprietors also brought civil proceedings against members of the city council for damages after JS’s death. (Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court Records, 1829–1897, vol. D, p. 347, microfilm 947,496, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Clayton, Journal, 23 Oct. 1844; see Bentley, “Road to Martyrdom,” 54–61.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Bentley, Joseph I. “Road to Martyrdom: Joseph Smith's Last Legal Cases.” BYU Studies Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2016): 8–73.
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