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Docket Entry, circa 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]

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Introduction to State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A, State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus, and State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B Warrant, 11 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Warrant, 11 June 1844, William Clayton Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Warrant, 11 June 1844, John Taylor and Willard Richards Copy [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Recognizance, 25 June 1844–A [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Recognizance, 25 June 1844–B [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Recognizance, 25 June 1844–C [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Recognizance, 25 June 1844–D [State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A] Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Habeas Corpus, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Summons, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Minutes, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Testimonies, 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Docket Entry, circa 12 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Execution, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Trial Report, between circa 12 and 20 June 1844, Draft [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Trial Report, between circa 12 and 20 June 1844, Partial Draft [State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus] Petition, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus] Habeas Corpus, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus] Habeas Corpus, 13 June 1844, Copy [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus] Execution, 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus] Docket Entry, circa 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]

Docket Entry, circa 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]

Source Note

Docket Entry, , Hancock Co., IL, [ca. 13 June 1844], State of IL v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court 1844); Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 111–112; handwriting of and ; Historian’s Office, Historical Record Book, 1841–1874, CHL. Includes use marks and notations. For more complete source information, see the source note for Docket Entry, 18–31 May 1844 [United States v. Jeremiah Smith on Habeas Corpus–A].

Historical Introduction

On 13 June 1844, JS, as chief justice of the municipal court in , Hancock County, Illinois, presided over proceedings for and fifteen other defendants. Two days earlier , a justice of the peace, issued a warrant charging the men, along with JS, with for their roles in the destruction of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor. On 12 June, Hancock County constable arrested JS, who was then discharged by the municipal court on a writ of habeas corpus. The next day, Bettisworth arrested eight of the other men named in the warrant—, , , , , , , and . The defendants submitted a petition for habeas corpus to the municipal court arguing that they were not guilty of the offense. The petition further asserted that ’s complaint was motivated by malice, revenge, and a desire to bring a mob against Nauvoo. After receiving the petition, , as clerk of the municipal court, issued the writ of habeas corpus, filling in blanks on a printed form. One of the defendants, , acting in his capacity as a high constable of Nauvoo, served the writ of habeas corpus on Bettisworth and brought the constable and the prisoners before the court. Subsequently, one of Bettisworth’s deputies, possibly Thomas Barnes of , Illinois, arrested an additional eight men named in the warrant—, , , , , , , and . After the petition for habeas corpus was amended to include their names, Richards accordingly revised the writ of habeas corpus, and these additional defendants were also brought into the court.
JS, as chief justice of the municipal court, presided over the proceedings, which commenced at 9:00 a.m. in the . He was joined by associate justices , , , , and . city attorney represented the petitioners, whose defense centered on whether the order to suppress the press and its implementation met the legal definition of riot. Illinois law defined the crime as “an unlawful act” performed by two or more people “with force or violence against the person or property of another, with or without a common cause of quarrel.” The law also indicated that a riot could be “a lawful act” performed “in a violent and tumultuous manner.” The justices heard a few documents read into evidence, including the city council’s resolution declaring the Expositor a nuisance and JS’s two orders for the of the press. gave a statement about the defendants’ right to habeas corpus, after which two witnesses, and James Jackson, testified regarding the orderly and quiet manner in which the defendants carried out the order to destroy the press. JS and the court then “honorably discharged [the prisoners] from the accusations and arrest.” The justices also held that had instituted the suit out of malice and ordered him to pay the court costs.
During the proceedings, , possibly with the assistance of other scribes, likely kept contemporaneous notes, minutes, or other records, which are apparently not extant. Richards would have combined those minutes with the list of case costs to produce the official entry for the case that he recorded in the municipal court’s docket book. He inscribed the docket entry on or around 13 June 1844. The municipal court’s discharge of the prisoners further fueled the volatile situation in , as the ’s opponents contended that JS and the Municipal Court had obstructed ’s efforts to arrest JS and his codefendants.

Footnotes

  1. See Historical Introduction to Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844.

  2. Bettisworth wrote these names in a return notation on the copy of the 11 June 1844 warrant, which is featured herein with JS’s petition for habeas corpus. (Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844.)

  3. Hyrum Smith et al., Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, 18–31 May 1844.

  4. Willard Richards, Writ of Habeas Corpus, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. A November 1842 ordinance directed that petitions be submitted to the municipal court clerk when the court was not in session and that the clerk issue the writ. (Ordinance, 14 Nov. 1842.)

  5. Willard Richards, Writ of Habeas Corpus, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  6. Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1]; Thomas Barnes, Ukiah, CA, to Miranda Haskett, 1 Nov. 1897, 8, photocopy, CHL. These names were written in the third return notation inscribed on the copy of the 11 June 1844 warrant, which is featured in this volume with JS’s petition for habeas corpus. (Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844.)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Barnes, Thomas L. Letter, Ukiah, CA, to Miranda Haskett, 1 Nov. 1897. Photocopy. CHL.

  7. Hyrum Smith et al., Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844; Willard Richards, Writ of Habeas Corpus, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Jesse Harmon was the only defendant on the warrant not arrested by Bettisworth or a deputy.

  8. JS, Journal, 13 June 1844.

  9. An Act Relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois (1839), p. 220, sec. 117.

    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.

  10. See Historical Introduction to State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–A, State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus, and State of Illinois v. JS et al. for Riot–B.

  11. See Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, 18–31 May 1844.

  12. Historical Introduction to Statement, 17 June 1844.

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Page 112

After hearing the testimony in the above case the court ordered that the petitioners , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and be, Jointly and Severally, honorably discharged from the accusations and arrest and that they , that said suit was institutd on complaint of through Malice. p[r]ivate Pique & corruption and that said pay the costs.—
June 13th /44 issued <​vs. ​> on complaint demand of $11.60 <​12.60​>— To , Marshal.
“November 4. 1844. returned “no property found” and also this execution came to my hands since the death of former Marshall of said City of & after the proper return day of the same
C. M. [city marshal]”
February 10. 1845 The drew on the for the above fees amounting to 13.22½ [23 lines blank] [p. 112]
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Page 112

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Docket Entry, circa 13 June 1844 [State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus]
ID #
10665
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards
  • Thomas Bullock

Footnotes

  1. That is, the defendants were discharged sine die, or without day, a phrase indicating that the “defendant is finally discharged, there being no day to which the cause is continued.” (“Sine Die,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:511; see also Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, 18–31 May 1844.)

    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: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

  2. The court similarly held that Higbee had brought the riot charge through malice and assessed him the court costs at JS’s habeas corpus hearing the day before. (Docket Entry, Nauvoo, IL, ca. 12 June 1844, State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844], Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 110.)

  3. TEXT: Written in left margin.

  4. Willard Richards, Execution, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Richards issued the writ of execution—which authorized the marshal to collect the court costs—for $11.60 before a $1.00 charge was added for city marshal John P. Greene attending court.

  5. The following later notations are in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock.

  6. The writ of execution indicated that Greene had seventy days from the date the execution was issued to collect the costs and return the writ. This would have fallen on 22 August. Greene did not collect the costs or return the writ before he died on 10 September 1844. Jonathan C. Wright was elected city marshal on 14 September 1844. (Willard Richards, Execution, Nauvoo, IL, 13 June 1844, State of Illinois v. H. Smith et al. on Habeas Corpus [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Greene, Biographical Sketch of John P. Greene, 6, first draft; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 Sept. 1844, 217.)

    Greene, Evan Melbourne. “Biographical Sketch of John P. Greene, 1857.” CHL. MS 15390

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