in under the Danite order as I understand as he was neither an Officer or private of Militia and was known and called under the fictitious name of and his Company was called the regulators, I saw William Whitman in the Expedition to and Seemed to be one of the troops engaged with others, some time previous to the difficulties in , the first time when the militia went out there for the purpose of keeping the peace, I heard Jo. smith Jr in a public address say that he had a reverance for the Constitution of the and of this but as for the laws of this he does not intend to regard them nor care any thing about them, as they were made by lawyers and blacklegs the above things were said some time in last July or August. On the eve of the last expedition to I heard Joseph Smith Jr. say that they meaning the heads of the church had appealed to the for protection and he had sent us back word that we must fight our own battles, he futher stated that the law was unequally administered, all against us and none for us and spoke of the prosecutions set on foot in as an instance and He then said we must take our own cause in our own hands and defend ourselves — that he did not calculate to regard the laws any longer, I think it was in the last of June or first of July last that I heard say that he had just returned from a council with the presidency in which council was broken of his Office of Capt Genl. of the Danite band for having spoken against one of the presidency, it being a regulation of that society that no one should speak against them— or hear any one else do it with impunity In that council said an arrangement was made to dispose of the dissenters vizt. that all the head offices of the Danite band should have a list of the dissenters both here and in and said he I will tell you how I will do with them when I meet one damning the presidency I can damn them as well as he, and if he wanted to drink he would get a bowl of brandy & get them half drunk and taking him by the arm he would take him to the woods or brush and said "he (would) be into their guts in a minute and put them under the sod" he gave this 'as" an example of the way they should be deposed of, the only motives for getting rid of the dissenters in this way as far as I ever learned was that if they remained among the Mormons they would introduce a class there that would utlimately endanger their lives & destroy the church and if they were suffered to go out from among them they would be telling lies on them in the surrounding country, these reasons I gathered from s "Salt Sermon" and said in the same Sermon that he would assist to erect a gallows on the Square and hang them all, Jos Smith Jr [p. [44]]