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Willard Richards spelled the name “Chism” in JS’s journal, but the Nauvoo Neighbor spelled it “Chisem.” (JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1844; “Robbery and Lynching,” 3 Apr. 1844 [City of Nauvoo v. Easton]; see also Pfeifer, Roots of Rough Justice, 12–31; and Rushdy, American Lynching, 22–50.)
Pfeifer, Michael J. The Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011.
Rushdy, Ashraf H. A. American Lynching. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
In February 1843, William W. Phelps replaced James Sloan as clerk of the mayor’s court. While it is evident that Phelps produced case documents and kept a docket for JS, those records—for reasons that remain unclear—were not subsequently preserved by church clerks along with the records kept by Sloan. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 11 Feb. 1843, 159; see also Summons, 14 Feb. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]; Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]; Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 12–50; Judicial Proceedings, Mayor’s Court, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; and Howcroft, “A Closer Look at Nauvoo Mayor’s Court and Municipal Court Records.”)
Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book / Nauvoo, IL, Mayor’s Court. Docket Book, 1843. In Historian’s Office, Historical Record Book, 1843–1874, pp. 12–50. CHL.
Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.
JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1844; “Robbery and Lynching,” 3 Apr. 1844 [City of Nauvoo v. Easton]. JS, as a justice of the peace, was authorized, “upon complaint made before him upon oath or affirmation[,] . . . to issue a warrant” for the search of the locations. However, the Illinois Constitution specifically prohibited the issuing of “general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence.” (An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], p. 240, sec. 11; Illinois Constitution of 1818, art. 8, sec. 7.)
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.
Illinois Office of Secretary of State. First Constitution of Illinois, 1818. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1844; Docket Entry, 30 Mar. 1844 [State of Illinois v. Townsend]. Illinois statute prohibited Chism, as an African American, from testifying “in favor, or against, any white person” in courts of law. Witnesses “could not positively swear to” Townsend’s involvement. The law permitted justices to fine those convicted of assault and battery between three and one hundred dollars. (An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833]; An Act to Extend the Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace [29 Dec. 1826], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], pp. 201, 415; “Robbery and Lynching,” 3 Apr. 1844 [City of Nauvoo v. Easton].)
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.
JS, Journal, 1 Apr. 1844; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 1 Mar. 1841, 13. The fact that the arrest was made by Greene, rather than a constable, indicates that JS was pursuing the prosecution under a city ordinance—perhaps the disorderly persons ordinance—rather than the state assault and battery statute, as Johnson had done. (Docket Entry, 2–ca. 3 Apr. 1844 [State of Illinois v. Greene et al. on Habeas Corpus]; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 Nov. 1841, 31.)
“Robbery and Lynching,” 3 Apr. 1844 [City of Nauvoo v. Easton]; JS, Journal, 1 Apr. 1844; “More Lynching,” Alton [IL] Telegraph and Democratic Review, 20 Apr. 1844, [3].
Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review. Alton, IL. 1841–1850.
JS, Journal, 1 Apr. 1844; Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court Records, 1829–1897, vol. D, p. 180, microfilm 947,496, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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