Met in council with the Twelve and a number of others at nine o'clock in [the] morning; there were messengers there from all parts of the County wishing to obtain counsel, and also to give information relative to the proceedings of the mob. We received the following letter from Bro.
Solomon Hancock. 'Yelrome, Ills. Sept. 13th, 1845 'Dear Brother, I will agreeably to your request send you some of the particulars of what has been done, on the oth
er side of the branch, it is a scene of desolation.
Wednesday, September 10th On Wednesday the 10th all of a sudden, the mob rushed upon Edmund Durfee and destroyed some property, and set fire to both of his buildings, they then dispersed; Bro. Durfee with his family then put the fire out. The same day in the evening they shot at our guard and missed them, the mob then fled a small distance and soon set fire to the house of John Edmondson, and in a few minutes the house was in flames. On the morning of the 11th they again set fire to the buildings of Edmund Durfee, and fired upon some of his children without hitting them; they then proceeded to the old shop of Father Morley's and set fire to both his shops, firing at the same time upon J. C. Snow, as they supposed, and thought they had killed him, it proved however to be Clark Hallett who escaped unhurt; they then set fire to J.C. Snow's house, and fled home to Lima. In the afternoon the mob came on again and set fire
to Father Whiting's chair shop, Walter Cox, Cheney Whiting and Azariah Tuttle's houses, at evening they retreated back again. On the morning of the 12th we held a council and selected two men to go and make proposals to sell, but got no particular answer. Last evening they set on fire three buildings, near Esq. Walker's; and this morning we expect them to renew their work of destruction. Williams and Rosevelt were in Lima yesterday. The mob is determined to destroy us; some of the teams have arrived. Do for us, what you think us best; we will do as you tell us.' Yours in Haste, To Pres. Brigham Young. 'Solomon Hancock' The Sheriff, (J.B. Backenstos), came into our Council and wanted to raise a company of the brethren to suppress the mob; but we would not consent to it; we advised him to call upon the law abiding citizens of the county, and see if there were any who were willing to sustain their own laws, whereupon he issued the following proclamation: Proclamation.
To the
Citizens of Hancock County, III.
Whereas a mob of from one to two hundred men under arms have gathered themselves together in the S.W. part of Hancock County and are at this time destroying the dwellings and other build-[p. 125]ings, stacks of grain and other property, of a portion of our citizens, in the most inhuman manner compelling defenceless children and women from their sick beds, and exposing them to the rays of the parching sun there to lay and suffer without the aid and assisstance of a friendly hand to minister to their suffering condition.
The rioters spare not the window nor the orphan, and while I am writing this proclamation the smoke is rising to the clouds and the flames are devouring four buildings, which have just been set on fire by the rioters.
Thousands of dollars worth of property has already been consumed; an entire settlement of about sixty and seventy families laid waste, the inhabitants thereof are fired upon, narrowly escaping with their li
ves, and forced to flee before the ravages of the Mob.
By the revised laws of our State under the criminal code, sixth division 58 Section, Page [one-eighty-one], the crime of Arson is defined as follows: 'Every person who shall wilfully and maliciously burn, or cause to be burned any dwelling house, kitchen, office, shop, barn, stable, storehouse, &., &, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not less than one year nor more than ten years and should the life or lives of any person be lost in consequence of any such burning as aforesaid, such offender shall be guilty of Murder, and shall be indicted and punished accordingly.' And whereas the laws of this State make it my duty as a peace officer of this county to suppress all riots, routs, &., &., and all other crimes.
Therefore I Jacob B. Backenstos, Sheriff of the County of Hancock and State of Illinois in the name of the people of said state and by the authority vested in me by virtue of my of
fice, hereby solemnly command the said rioters and other peace breakers to desist forthwith, disperse and go to their homes, under the penalty of the laws. And I hereby call upon all the law abiding citizens as a posse comatatus, of Hancock County to give their united aid in suppressing the riotors, and maintain the supremacy of the law.
J. B. Backenstos.
Sheriff of Hancock County, Ills.
P.S. It is part of my policy that the citizens of Nauvoo remain quiet and not a man from that city leave as a posse until it be made manifest that the law and order citizens without the city, will not have force sufficient to suppress the riotors of this disgraceful outrage; but that 2,000 effective men hold themselves in readiness to march at a moments warning to any point in Hancock County.
J. B. Backenstos, Sheriff &.
Green Plains, Hancock County, Ills.
Sept, 13th, 1845. There was counsel given to the brethren in general, those living at a distance from this place, to bring in
their grain.
In the morning went to meeting Bro's. H. C. Kimball, Amasa Lyman, and Father Morley spoke on these subjects.
In the afternoon the brethren met at the stand, when Elder Young addressed the congregation for some time on the subject of the disturbances, and the policy for us to pursue; which was to be as quiet as possible under existing circumstances until the proper time came which time would be made known to us, [to] open our houses for the brethren who were turned out of doors and to send out our teams to haul in the grain into the City, to drive in their cattle that all our property might be taken care of, that we might have peace in this City.
A call was then made upon the people to furnish teams to assist in hauling the grain belonging to the brethren to the city where a great number offered to go. I suppose most of those persons who owned teams.
At five o'clock, met with the brethren in the quorum at Dr. Richards, where after we attended to various
matters of counsel I stated to the brethren that I had some thoughts of disposing of my house, stores, barn &., providing I could get a purchaser, which I expected I could; and after using part of the means that I should need to liquidate some debts that I was owing turn in the remainder towards assisting in this expedition under the direction of counsel. After some deliberation it was thought best to do so if practicable and as I supposed that probably five or six thousand dollars could be obtained for it might be of essential service in that way. I feel that I am the Lord's and that I and everything I have [is] at his disposal at all times. After which there were some general remark's made, pertaining to P. P. Pratt's property and others, whether it would be advisable to dispose of property that was eligibly situated in the City of Nauvoo, or not.
Whereupon it was generally agreed to and a resolution passed that we would send an agent or agents, to Quincy, St. Louis, C
incinnatti, and also to New York and other Eastern Cities, to propose to business men to sell out to them; for we considered that we had a perfect right so to do, that we had been driven from and despoiled of our property long enough, and that we should be justified in taking a
course of that kind, that the City and Temple would be more likely to be preserved in safety by wealthy and infuential men purchasing property and settling here, than by Apostates and half hearted Mormons having charge of affairs during our absence, and that if we should return we should again inherit our places, and if we do not inherit them in Time, we and our children will inherit them hereafter. There was one thing which I stated to the Council that I wished to be distinctly understood, I wanted it recorded in a Church Record, for a special reason that I had of my own, that I did not wish to dispose of anything that I had here for ever; but that I should like what property I owned here in town to be recorded so that I could claim it and possess it at another time, and my children after me or with me. It was then said, that they supposed that was what Joseph had his eye upon in getting out a City Record; and that it would of necessity be the case that we should own these
places in Eternity, as this was Joseph's City, when we were here we should have our habitations.
And moreover in regard to these things, in disposing of our property we were not doing it of our own free will and accord, but in consequence of mobocracy, and was of no more validity than signing away our property by deed of trust as we did in the State of Missouri at the point of the bayonet.
Monday, Sept. 15th, 1845. In morning going out with Bro. B. L. Clapp, I ascertained that there was an officer with writs for me and some others, in the City; and the Counsel was to keep out of the way. I went to Bro.
Ballentyne's and stayed awhile, and from there I went to Bro. Simmons' where I stayed till nine o'clock in the evening when I heard that the officer had left town and I returned home. I did not keep out of his way on account of any fear that I had but because it was considered policy to evade him that there might not be any pretext of us resisting when they brought thei
r illegal writs.
Tuesday, Sept. 16th, 1845. I here copy a few affidavits showing the proceedings of the mob: State of Illinois, S.S County of Hancock Be it remembered that on this 16th day of September, A. D. 1845, personally came before me, Daniel H. Wells, a Justice of the Peace in said County, William H. Fellows, who being duly sworn according to law deposes and says, that on the night following the fifteenth inst., a number of men came to the house where he resided and carried the furniture and things out of the house, and ordered the family to leave forthwith, whereupon so soon as the house could be cleared, they set it on fire they also set the barns on fire, all of which were burned to the ground. The fire also consumed about five hundred bushels of thrashed wheat, and two stacks, one of oats and one of straw, the barns were full of hay and grain.
And this deponent further states that one Michael Barnes, and Thomas L. Barnes were two of the persons concerned in t
his crime of arson, and this deponent says that the said Michael and Thomas L. Barnes are guilty of the facts charged, and further this deponent saith not.
William H. Fellows.
Subscribed to and sworn to before me this 16th day of September, A. D. 1845.
Daniel H. Wells, J. P.
State of Illinois, S S County of Hancock Be it remembered that on the seventeenth day of September, A. D. 1845, personally came before me, Daniel H. Wells, an acting Justice of the Peace within and for said county, Sarah Ann Everts, who, being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith that on the night of the fifteenth inst., a number of men came to the residence of this deponent about the hour of midnight, and ordered this deponent, who was laying sick at the time with the ague and fever, together with the balance of the family including five persons, two of whom, besides myself, being sick, to get up immediately and leave the house, and immediately commenced carrying the furniture and thi
ngs [out] of the house. She remonstrated with them; told them she was sick; that she could not safely get up and go out; but all to no purpose; they assisted her out and immediately set fire to the house, and also the barn which were burned to the ground; also about four hundred bushels of wheat thrashed out and stacks of grain were burned; and this deponent further states that one Micha[e]l Barnes, was one of the persons concerned in the said crime of arson, and this deponent further states that the said Michael Barnes is guilty of the fact charged, and further this deponent saith not.
Sarah Ann Evarts.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17th day of September, A.D. 1845.
Daniel H. Wells, J. P.
These are a few out of the many instances of outrages committed by the Mob upon our people; they are however not the only sufferers. E. A.
Bedell, Esq., Post Master and Justice of the Peace at Warsaw, and Chancy Robinson, Esq., Post and County Recorder, at Carthage, have
been forcibly expelled from their offices and homes, and others are ordered to leave, or take up arms against the Mormons.
Proclamation No. 2.
To the Citizens of Hancock Co'y., III., and the surrounding country.
It is truly painful that my first proclamation did not have the desired effect of quelling the mob in Hancock Co'y.; I was strong in the hope that when men, engaged in such fiendish and wicked purposes, come to reflect, after the excitement of the moment, would create, and go to their homes.
The burning and destruction of houses and other property was commenced on the 10th of September inst., be a body of armed men, who gathered in the south west part of this county, headed, as it is said by the notorious Levi Williams: the mob is spreading itself in different directions: some of the mob have been in pursuit of me since Wednesday afternoon about 3 o'clock; they have pursued me on the public road and have threatened my life; they levelled their arms at me, an
d desisted only when fired upon and the fear of death put them in mind of their illegal mob proceedings.
On yesterday, an armed force undertook to take me, I become apprised of their intentions'--evaded them, and fled to Bear Creek, where I had a posse comitatus, and from thence I repaired, for the second time, to Warsaw, to ascertain if any reliable force could be procured in that place.
I became satisfied that I could get no aid from that place. I became further satisfied that my life was sought by some of the mobbers, lurking about that town. This information was communicated to me by some personal friends who had free intercourse with, and the confidence and secret intentions of those desperadoes. My friends of Warsaw considered my life in danger and advised me not to go out, but to remain secreted in some safe place; but business as an officer of the peace demanded my departure from that place. I procured the aid of a personal friend to guard me out of that place in
to the prairie some three or four miles. All my friends advised me that should I meet or see men with arms, that I had better evade them, and under no considerations get into their hands. After parting with the gentleman who so kindly escorted [me] thus far, I had travelled about a mile and a half when I discovered an armed body of some twenty or more men on the Warsaw and Carthage road two or three miles eastward of me and going towards Warsaw. I watched them and on discovering that four men of the force, mounted on horses, left the main body, apparently to strike a point in advanc of me, with all the speed of their horses, and finding they were in pursuit of me, I put the whip to my horse, as I was travelling in a buggy, they taking a near cut evidently gained on me.
The chase lasted for a distance of about two miles, when I fortunately overtook three men with teams. I immediately informed them that armed men were pursuing me, evidently to take my life. I summoned [p. 13
1] them as a posse to aid me in resisting them. I dismounted and took my position in the road, with pistol in hand. I commanded them (the mobbers) to stop, when one of them held his musket in a shooting attitude, whereupon one of my posse fired, and, it is believed, took effect
on one of the lawless banditti. We remained and stood our ground, prepared for the worst, for about ten minutes. The mobbers, retreating some little distance, made no further assault, but finally retreated. I then made my way to the City of Nauvoo, where I am at this time. Knowing the plans and designs of the mob faction in our country, I am induced to be thus full and minute in detailing the particulars of those seeking my life, because I dare take steps as a peace officer, to put an end to the proceedings of the most lawless, disgraceful, and inhuman banditti that ever infested our state. Inasmuch as I have in vain applied to the citizens of this county, without the limits of the City of Nauvoo, therefore, I, Jacob B. Backenstos, Sheriff of the County of Hancock and State of Illinois, in the name of the people of said State and by the virtue of the authority in me vested, hereby again solemnly command the mobbers and rioters throughout this County to disperse, desist, and
forthwith go to their homes under the penalty of the laws of our country, and such other consequences as may follow: And I hereby call upon, and likewise command every able bodied man throughout the Country, to arm themselves in the best possible manner, and to resist any and all further violence on the part of the mob, and to permit no further destruction of property, and to arrest all those engaged in this wicked proceeding and destruction of property, and threatening of lives, and I further command that the posse comitatus repair to the nearest points invaded by the rioters, and to defend at the point of the bayonet, and all hazards the lives and property of the peaceable citizens, and again reinstate the supremacy of the laws.
J. B. Backenstos, Sept. 16th, A. D. 1845, Sheriff Hancock Co'y Ill., '1/2 past 3 o'clock P. M.
P.S. It is but proper to state that the Mormon community have acted with more than ordinary forbearance-remaining perfectly quiet and offering no re
sistance when their dwellings, other buildings and stacks of grain &., were set on fire in their presence, and they have foreborne until forbearance is no longer a virtue.
The notorious Col. Levi Williams, who is at the head of the mob, has ordered out the Militia of this Brigade, comprising Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler Counties, but it is to be hoped that no good citizen will turn out and aid him or others in the overthrow of the laws of our country, and it is certain that no good citizen will cross the Mississippi river with the design to aid the rioters.
J. B. B. Sheriff.
Wednesday, Sept. 17th, 1845. The Sheriff issued another proclamation, the following is a copy:
[source: 'The John Taylor Nauvoo journal, January 1845-September 1845,' BYU Studies 23:3 (1983) edited by Dean C. Jessee]
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