Footnotes
James Sloan copied the featured version of the petition sometime between late April 1839 (when the petition likely arrived in Illinois from Missouri) and early June 1839. Sloan’s copy was apparently included in a package of documents that John P. Greene took with him when he left Quincy, Illinois, on 5 June 1839 with an assignment to collect donations for Latter-day Saint refugees. Greene published the documents—including Sloan’s copy of the petition—later that month in Cincinnati, Ohio.a Additionally, James Mulholland copied the featured version into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between 29 May and 30 October 1839.b
(aJS et al., Petition, Liberty, MO, between 9 and 15 Mar. 1839, copy, JS Collection, CHL; Historical Introduction to Letter from John P. Greene, 30 June 1839; Greene, Facts relative to the Expulsion, 31–33. bJS et al., Petition, Liberty, MO, ca. 15 Mar. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 21–24.)Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.
A typescript note in the document’s file in the Joseph Smith Collection states the document came from Wood. In 1937 he purchased from Charles Bidamon (Emma Smith’s stepson) several historically significant documents, including two petitions that had belonged to JS. The church later purchased some of the Bidamon documents from Wood, possibly including the petition featured here. (Wilford C. Wood, Statement, Wilmette, IL, 10 July 1937, reel 16, fd. 7-J-b-2; David O. McKay to Arthur Winter, 21 July 1937, reel 16, fd. 7-J-b-2, Wilford C. Wood Collection of Church Historical Materials, CHL; see also “Documents Obtained by Wilford Wood,” Deseret News, 21 July 1937, 13.)
Wilford C. Wood Collection of Church Historical Materials. Microfilm. CHL. MS 8617.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
Footnotes
“Habeas Corpus,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:454–456; Walker, “Habeas Corpus in Early Nineteenth-Century Mormonism,” 5–8.
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; with References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.
Walker, Jeffrey N. “Habeas Corpus in Early Nineteenth-Century Mormonism: Joseph Smith’s Legal Bulwark for Personal Freedom.” BYU Studies 52, no. 1 (2013): 4–97.
Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL.
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839, CHL; Lyman Wight, Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839, CHL; Caleb Baldwin, Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839, CHL; Alexander McRae, Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839, CHL.
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Wight, Lyman. Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839. CHL. MS 24547.
Baldwin, Caleb. Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839. CHL.
McRae, Alexander. Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL.
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
As Ripley later recalled, he and Kimball were “appointed by the church to visit the Brethren as often as possible who were in jail at liberty and also to importune at the feet of the judges” for the release of the prisoners. (Alanson Ripley, Statements, ca. Jan. 1845, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, 1839–1860, CHL; see also Heber C. Kimball, Far West, MO, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Quincy, IL, 2 Apr. 1839, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.
In his diary, Hyrum Smith named Ripley, Kimball, Huntington, Noble, and Presendia Huntington Buell as the only visitors to the jail on 15 March 1839. (Hyrum Smith, Diary, 15 Mar. 1839.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.
Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 Mar. 1839. Hyrum Smith made notes on the habeas corpus statute in the back of his diary. (Hyrum Smith, Diary, CHL.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.
An Act to Regulate Proceedings on Writs of Habeas Corpus [6 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 297, art. 1, secs. 1–3; see also Madsen, “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry,” 102–115.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry: Austin A. King’s Quest for Hostages.” BYU Studies 43, no. 4 (2004): 93–136.
Missouri law required petitions to “be verified by the oath of the applicant, or some other competent person,” such as a justice of the peace. (An Act to Regulate Proceedings on Writs of Habeas Corpus [6 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 297, art. 1, sec. 4.)
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
William T. Wood, an attorney living in Clay County, recalled that the prisoners were occasionally permitted to leave the jail under supervision of a guard. However, as JS noted in his 15 March 1839 letter to Presendia Huntington Buell, the Clay County jailer was especially vigilant following the prisoners’ escape attempt in early March. (William T. Wood, “Mormon Memoirs,” Liberty [MO] Tribune, 9 Apr. 1886, [1]; Letter to Presendia Huntington Buell, 15 Mar. 1839.)
Liberty Tribune. Liberty, MO. 1860–.
Far West Committee, Minutes, 17–18 Mar. 1839.
Far West Committee. Minutes, Jan.–Apr. 1839. CHL. MS 2564.
Theodore Turley, Memoranda, ca. Feb. 1845, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, 1839–1860, CHL; An Act to Regulate Proceedings on Writs of Habeas Corpus [6 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 297, art. 1, sec. 5.
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
Hyrum Smith, Diary, 30 Mar. 1839; see also Theodore Turley, Memoranda, ca. Feb. 1845, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, 1839–1860, CHL; and Heber C. Kimball, Far West, MO, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Quincy, IL, 2 Apr. 1839, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL. Tompkins (1780–1846) served on the Missouri Supreme Court from 1824 until 1845; McGirk (ca. 1783–1842), from 1821 to 1841; and Edwards (1804–1888), from 1837 to 1839. (Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 30–31, 536–537; Ellsberry, Cemetery Records of Montgomery County, Missouri, 1:41; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, 1005.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.
Bay, W. V. N. Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri. . . . St. Louis: F. H. Thomas, 1878.
Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, comp. Cemetery Records of Montgomery County, Missouri. 2 vols. Chillicothe, MO: By the author, no date.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.
Kimball, “History,” 99.
Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.
See Mittimus, Richmond, MO, 29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), JS Collection, CHL.
Snow, Journal, 1838–1841, 47–48. According to Missouri law, courts could not grant writs of habeas corpus for nonbailable offenses, such as treason. (An Act to Regulate Proceedings on Writs of Habeas Corpus [6 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 297, art. 1, sec. 6.)
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
Hyrum Smith, Diary, 6 Apr. 1839.
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.
Peter Burnett recalled that considerable opposition existed in Clay County regarding Turnham’s decision to issue the writ of habeas corpus, with some contending that Turnham, as a county judge, could not review the ruling of King, the circuit judge. Missouri law permitted any “court of record in term,” judges of the supreme or circuit courts, and “any justice of the county court” to receive petitions for writs of habeas corpus. Turnham “would do whatever he determined to do in defiance of all opposition.” In contrast, Doniphan apparently told Lyman Wight that the judge “remanded [the prisoners] for fear he should offend Judge King.” Furthermore, Turnham’s assistant Meacham Curtis remembered the judge stating that “he would have acquitted the prisoners” if not “for fear that they would be assassinated by a furious mob.” (Burnett, Recollections and Opinions, 54–55; An Act to Regulate Proceedings on Writs of Habeas Corpus [6 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], p. 297, art. 1, sec. 2; Lyman Wight, Journal, in History of the Reorganized Church, 2:323; Meacham Curtis, Affidavit, Bandera, TX, 23 July 1878, in Saints’ Herald, 15 Aug. 1878, 256.)
Burnett, Peter H. Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer. New York: D. Appleton, 1880.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
In a deposition Emma Smith made for an 1842 lawsuit against George M. Hinkle, she stated that following JS’s 31 October 1838 arrest, Hinkle entered the Smiths’ home in Far West and stole “a Horse, Saddle, Bridle Martingales & two Horse Blankets,” as well as dry goods, clothing, and furniture, valued at $400. She also reported that Hinkle, who testified against JS in November 1838, “used Coersive measures to drive Witness [Emma Smith] and her Family therefrom, the Premises & House.” (Emma Smith, Deposition, Nauvoo, IL, 22 Apr. 1842, JS v. George M. Hinkle [Lee Co. Dist. Ct. 1842], CHL.)
JS v. George M. Hinkle / Lee County, Iowa Territory, District Court. Joseph Smith v. George M. Hinkle, 1841–1842. CHL.
Emma Smith left Far West on 7 February 1839 for Quincy, Illinois. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 6–7 Feb. 1839; Far West Committee, Minutes, 7 Feb. 1839; see also Letter from Emma Smith, 7 Mar. 1839.)
Far West Committee. Minutes, Jan.–Apr. 1839. CHL. MS 2564.
JS’s petition may have drawn upon language from his brother’s petition. Hyrum Smith, in his 9 March 1839 petition for a writ of habeas corpus, stated that “the family of your petitioner has been robbed of many of theyr valuable effects and have been obliged to leave the state without a protector or without a knowledge of where to go or without means of subsistance.” (Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL.)
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Insertion in the handwriting of JS.
Hyrum Smith’s 9 March 1839 petition also indicated “that he never has done military service nor commanded anny company at any time but has lawfully ben Exempt from all sutch service in all his life time.” (Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL.)
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Insertion in the handwriting of JS.
In his 9 March 1839 petition, Hyrum Smith similarly stated “that he only went to Davis County to preserve his property from being destroyed by the mob.” JS later stated that he went to Daviess County in October 1838 in part to protect his own property. (Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL; Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839.)
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Hyrum Smith, in his 9 March 1839 petition, similarly stated “that he knew nothing of the Council spoken of by Docttor arverd [Sampson Avard] in Cald weld [Caldwell] County nor in Davis County at James Sloans.” JS evidently stayed at James Sloan’s boarding house when visiting Daviess County. (Hyrum Smith, Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839, CHL; Johnson, “A Life Review,” 31.)
Smith, Hyrum. Petition, Liberty, MO, 9 Mar. 1839. CHL.
Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.