In the Circuit Court of Illinois, of the May Term thereof A. D. 1844

Joseph Smith was summoned to answer of the County of and State of Illinois of a plea of , and thereupon the said by [Henry] Stephens, Dixon and Cooley his Attorneys complains, For that whereas, the said now is good, true, honest, just, and faithful citizen of this , and as such hath always behaved and conducted himself, and hath not ever been guilty, or until the time of the committing of the several grievances by the said defendant as hereinafter mentioned, been suspected to have been guilty of Felony or of any other such crime, by means whereof the said , before the committing of the said several grievances by the said defendant as hereinafter mentioned, had deservedly obtained and acquired the good opinion and credit of all his neighbors, and other good and worthy citizens of this to wit, at the County of aforesaid; yet the said defendant well knowing the premises, but contriving and maliciously intending to injure the said in his aforesaid good name, fame, and credit, and to bring him into public scandal, infamy, and disgrace and to cause the said to be imprisoned for a long space of time, and thereby to impoverish, oppress, and wholly ruin him heretofore, to wit on or about the seventeenth day of January in the Year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty four at the County of aforesaid, went and [p. [1]]