The Papers
Reference
About
Warrant, 17 June 1843, Unidentified Scribe Copy–A [Extradition of JS for Treason]
Source Note
Source Note
, Warrant, to “all Sheriffs, Coroners, and Constables, of any County of this ” and , for JS, , Sangamon Co., IL, 17 June 1843; Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court, 1843); sealed by . Featured version copied [between 23 and 30 June 1843]; unidentified handwriting; notation by , [, between 23 and 30 June 1843]; notation by , [, Hancock Co., IL], 30 June 1843; two pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes notations and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 8¼ inches (25 × 21 cm), with twenty-seven horizontal blue lines. The top of the recto of the first leaf has the remnants of three red adhesive wafers that were attached to an unknown document that is not extant. The verso of the second leaf was attached with two red adhesive wafers to the recto of the first leaf of the copy of the 13 June 1843 power of attorney issued by governor . The warrant and power of attorney were included in a packet with JS’s 30 June 1843 petition to the Nauvoo Municipal Court, and the combined packet was folded for filing. At some point in time, both the unidentified preceding document and the succeeding copy of the power of attorney were detached from the copy of the warrant. The warrant copy was subsequently reattached to the other documents in the packet using one or more pins, which were later removed.
Nauvoo Municipal Court clerk added a notation to the verso of the copy of the warrant’s first leaf and filed the featured copy of the warrant on 30 June 1843. The warrant was presumably kept among Nauvoo city records. In 1845, the city of was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Family and Church History Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. The Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection was arranged and cataloged by the Family and Church History Department (now CHL) in 2006. The warrant’s presumed inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories and its inclusion in the Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection in 2006 indicate that the warrant has remained in continuous institutional custody since 1845.
Footnotes
- [1]
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
- [2]
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [3]
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [4]
See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
See Historical Introduction to Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 30 June 1843 [Extradition of JS for Treason]; and Introduction to Extradition of JS for Treason.
<Copy—>
Govenor of the State of To all Sheriffs, Coroners, and Constables, of any County of this and to of the County of Greeting whereas it has been made known to me by the authority of the State of that one Joseph Smith Jr stands charged with the crime of Treason against the State of and alledged that Joseph Smith Jr has fled from the justice of said State of and taken refuge in the State of .
Now therefore I Govenor of the State of , pursuant to the constitution and laws of the and of this do hereby command you to arrest and apprehend the said Joseph Smith Jr, if he be found within the limits of the aforesaid and cause him to be safely kept and delivered to the custody of Esquire who has been duly constituded the agent of the State of to receive said fugitive from the justice of said , he paying all fees and charges for the arrest and apprehension of said Joseph Smith Jr and make due return to the Executive department of this the manner in which this writ may be executed.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto [p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Notation in the handwriting of Shepherd Patrick.
- [1]
Former Latter-day Saint John C. Bennett worked with allies in Missouri to have JS reindicted for treason in 1843 and to initiate new extradition proceedings; he had evidently arranged to have Illinois governor Thomas Ford place the warrant in the hands of Constable Harmon T. Wilson. (See “Part 4: June–July 1843”; and Samuel C. Owens, Independence, MO, to Thomas Ford, 10 June 1843, copy, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
- [2]
The United States Constitution stated that “a Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.” Congress and then the Illinois state legislature subsequently passed statutes that enacted this provision in their respective jurisdictions and specified required procedures to be followed. (U.S. Constitution, art. 4, sec. 2; An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons Escaping from the Service of Their Masters [12 Feb. 1793], Public Statutes at Large, 2nd Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 7, pp. 302–305; An Act concerning Fugitives from Justice [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, pp. 318–320.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
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.