Memorandum of Testimony, circa 27 October 1844 [State of Illinois v. Williams et al.]
Source Note
John J. Hicok and James Reynolds, Memorandum of Testimony, [], IL, ca. [27] Oct. 1844, State of IL v. Williams et al. (Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court 1845); handwriting presumably of John J. Hicok; signatures of John J. Hicok and James Reynolds; four pages; CCLA.
Wm M. Daniels, sworn before the Grand Jury, deposed That— He heard the officers in , , Capt Wm N. Grover & plotting to select 20 men to go and kill theSmiths Joseph & in the Jail at . This was the night before the Smiths were killed. The next morning he joined the rifle company of ; he <the> morning he joined, 10 men were selected out of company by , and Capt Grover selected 10 men out of his company— and <to> go to , then the troops marched for . they stopped with men & baggage wagons, at the Shanties at the rail road. there disbanded the troops. then part of them turned back— but most of them went on towards . When they got within about 4 miles of . they stopped. A man came riding up to them wearing a carthage gray’s coat. he brought a letter and handed it to . read it to the men. it said “now is a delightful time to kill the Smiths the is gone to , and there is nobody in but what can be depended upon.” the letter was signed “Carthage Grays.” The Carthage gray man told them what way to go. then turned off from the road to the left and went along a hollow. I went on straight to — on foot.— I stopped a few rods from the jail to wait & see what the men would do, I knew what they intended to do.— After a while they <I> saw them coming from the timber north of the road & north west of the Jail—near the fence north west of the Jail, as they came along the fence, they fired some guns, as soon as the guns were fired I saw the Carthage grays begin to form— they marked up near the corner of the fence South east of the Jail, and halted facing the Jail— the other men who came from the prairie stopped before the Jail. Capt [Robert] Smith walked up in front of them and passed through to the rear & said something, I didn’t hear what. Immediately came up from another direction, andtold <to> the men, and told them to go into the Jail, for the guard wouldn’t hurt them, they then seized the guard & held them, and others rushed into the Jail. After a while told the men to come around to the east side of the Jail, for Jos Smith was jumping out. I then saw Smith [p. [1]]