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Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson

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Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson Warrant, 2 August 1842–A [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Warrant, 2 August 1842–B [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Subpoena, 2 August 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Minutes, 2 August 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Recognizance, 2 August 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Bond, 2 August 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson] Docket Entry, circa 2 August 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]

Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson

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City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson
Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, Mayor’s Court, 2 August 1842
 
Historical Introduction
On 2 August 1842, swore a complaint before JS, who was both mayor of , Illinois, and a justice of the peace for the city, accusing William Thompson of attempting to rape Thompson’s eighteen-year-old stepdaughter, . The legal principle of meant that because she was a married woman, Woolsey’s legal identity was subsumed under her ’s. She was therefore unable to initiate litigation and was dependent on her husband or male relatives to act in a legal capacity on her behalf. Since Woolsey’s husband was absent from Nauvoo, Warren Smith, who had heard her screams and intervened along with other neighbors to stop Thompson’s assault, brought the complaint on her behalf. The fact that several neighbors had heard Woolsey screaming was crucial in charging Thompson. In an era when female victims struggled to obtain legal redress, the effort to cry out was a vital indication that she did not consent to his sexual advances.
JS created and signed a warrant for Thompson’s arrest the same day. later canceled JS’s warrant and made a new warrant under a new charge, disorderly conduct, adding standardized legal language and other pertinent information JS had omitted in his warrant. Rape and attempted rape were felonies, meaning JS, as a justice of the peace, only had authority to hear evidence for the alleged crime in a preliminary examination. If JS believed there was probable cause that the crime had occurred, the case would be sent to the Circuit Court in , Illinois, for trial. Because the charter gave JS authority as mayor to hear allegations of violations of city ordinances, changing the charge to disorderly conduct meant that he would have the authority to make a final determination in the case, as a breach of the Nauvoo ordinance on disorderly conduct, and that the matter would stay local.
In addition to having William Thompson arrested, JS issued a subpoena for and six other witnesses. The trial was held the same day as the assault, 2 August. After the witnesses testified to hearing screams and seeing Thompson place his hands on Woolsey, she personally testified. JS found Thompson guilty of “disorderly Conduct” and sentenced him to pay the court costs of the case, indemnify the , keep the peace, and exhibit “good behaviou[r]” for a year, “especially towards Lovina Woolsey.” The sentencing included a , which stipulated that Thompson would owe the city thirty dollars if he failed to meet the requirements of the judgment. Even though JS had delivered the judgment on 2 August, Thompson apparently remained in Nauvoo city marshal ’s custody overnight and probably signed the recognizance on 3 August. Thompson may have left Nauvoo within a few months of the trial.
 
Calendar of Documents
This calendar lists all known documents created by or for the court, whether extant or not. It does not include versions of documents created for other purposes, though those versions may be listed in footnotes. In certain cases, especially in cases concerning unpaid debts, the originating document (promissory note, invoice, etc.) is listed here. Note that documents in the calendar are grouped with their originating court. Where a version of a document was subsequently filed with another court, that version is listed under both courts.
 

1842 (8)

August (8)

2 August 1842

Warren Smith, Complaint, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

2 August 1842

JS as Mayor, Warrant, to Nauvoo City Marshal or Constable, for William Thompson, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, 2 August 1842–A

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of JS; notations in handwriting of Charles Allen; notations in handwriting of Henry G. Sherwood; notations in handwriting of James Sloan.
2 August 1842

JS as Mayor and Justice of the Peace, Warrant, to Nauvoo City Marshal, for William Thompson, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, 2 August 1842–B

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; signature of JS; notation in handwriting of Charles Allen.
2 August 1842

JS as Mayor and Justice of the Peace, Subpoena, to Nauvoo City Marshal, for Lovina Patterson Woolsey and Others, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; signature of JS; notation in handwriting of Charles Allen.
2 August 1842

Minutes, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; docket in handwriting of James Sloan.
2 August 1842

William Thompson and Arthur Morrison, Recognizance, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; signatures of William Thompson by his mark and Arthur Morrison; witnessed by Henry G. Sherwood; docket in handwriting of James Sloan; docket in handwriting of Henry G. Sherwood.
2 August 1842

William Thompson and Others, Bond, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, to City of Nauvoo

  • 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; signatures of William Thompson by his mark, Charles Allen, Warren Smith, and Henry G. Sherwood.
Ca. 2 August 1842

Docket Entry, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • Ca. 2 Aug. 1842; Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 31, CHL; handwriting of James Sloan; notations in handwriting of James Sloan.
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Editorial Title
Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson
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    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]; Warrant, 2 Aug. 1842–A [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]; Minutes, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]. Thompson’s biographical details are unclear, as is how he became the stepfather of Lovina Patterson Woolsey. A stepfather at the time could be a father through marriage or a father-in-law.a Although there were several William Thompsons living in Nauvoo, a comparison of the witnesses’ land records indicates that the man mentioned in the featured warrants lived in a house on lot 2 of Nauvoo’s block 66, which he owned.b

      (a“Step-father,” in American Dictionary [1841]. b“Abstracts Containing a Description of All City Lots,” [1842], Nauvoo block 66, lot 2, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

      An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.

      Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

    2. [2]

      Lovina Patterson married James Woolsey in 1839 and, although they had children together, James appears to have been absent often. He later abandoned Lovina, and she and their children traveled to Utah with James’s brothers, Thomas and Richard Woolsey. Lovina is listed with her three surviving children, Joseph, Brigham, and Abigail, in the 1850 census of Pottawattamie County, Iowa Territory. (“Death of Nauvoo Veterans,” Deseret Evening News [Salt Lake City], 16 Oct. 1903, 9; 1850 U.S. Census, District 21, Pottawattamie Co., Iowa Territory, 141; Whitaker, Chronology of Joseph Woolsey, 6.)

      Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

      Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

      Whitaker, Wilford W. Chronology of Joseph Woolsey 1771–1839 and Abigail Schaeffer 1786–1848 Our Mormon Pioneer Ancestors. Murray, UT: W. W. Whitaker, 2013.

    3. [3]

      Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 4, 88–125, 240.

      Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

    4. [4]

      For more on the neighbors’ intervention and the complexity of rape and attempted rape cases, see Historical Introduction to Warrant to Nauvoo City Marshal or Nauvoo City Constable, 2 Aug. 1842.

    5. [5]

      Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 39, 131–132. In this period of United States history, gendered assumptions, such as the idea that women were overly passionate or had ulterior motives, led male judges and juries to generally view the claims of female victims with suspicion. (Block, “Rape History in the United States: Nineteenth Century,” 181–183; Alexander, The History of Women: From Earliest Antiquity, to the Present Time; Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 48–51.)

      Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

      Block, Mary. “Rape History in the United States: Nineteenth Century.” In Encyclopedia of Rape, edited by Merril D. Smith, 181–183. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.

      Alexander, William. The History of Women, from the Earliest Antiquity, to the Present Time; Giving an Account of Almost Every Interesting Particular Concerning That Sex, among All Nations, Ancient and Modern. 2 vols. Philadelphia: J. H. Dobelbower, 1796.

    6. [6]

      Warrant, 2 Aug. 1842–A [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]; Warrant, 2 Aug. 1842–B [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]. The ordinance against disorderly conduct prohibited a range of misdeeds and inappropriate actions, including “Profane or indecent language, or behaviour,” which could have included attempted rape. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 Nov. 1841, 31; “An Ordinance Concerning Vagrants, and Disorderly Persons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1841, 3:622.)

      Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    7. [7]

      Beginning in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, states began to create laws against attempted rape. The Illinois criminal code, which drew upon British common law, described rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly, and against her will,” and attempted rape as “assault, with an intent to commit . . . rape,” the latter punishable by “confinement in the penitentiary for a term not less than one year, nor more than fourteen years.” Illinois law required that felonies be tried in supreme or circuit courts. JS did, however, have jurisdiction over “all cases of assaults, and of assault and battery, and affrays.” (Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 29, 127–130, 145–146; An Act Relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 206, secs. 48, 52; see also “Carnal Knowledge” and “Rape,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:156, 2:323–324; An Act Regulating the Supreme and Circuit Courts [19 Jan. 1829], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 171, sec. 20; An Act to Extend the Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace [29 Dec. 1826], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 414–415, sec. 1.)

      Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

      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.

      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: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.

    8. [8]

      For allegations of rape and other major felonies, two justices of the peace were required to preside at the preliminary examination. (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, p. 238, sec. 3.)

      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.

    9. [9]

      Relying on local justice was a common practice in the United States in cases involving charges of rape or attempted rape. Even after most states did away with capital punishment for rape in the early nineteenth century, local justices often charged offenders with lesser crimes to maintain local control over sentencing. While such changes often benefited the accused, they also ensured that the victim would not face the stress and embarrassment of testifying on such a sensitive topic as part of a public trial. Even if the case before the Nauvoo mayor’s court was appealed, the appealed case would go to another local court, the Nauvoo Municipal Court, rather than the Hancock County Circuit Court. (See Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 143–147, 160–161.)

      Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

    10. [10]

      The witnesses were Elizabeth Berkett, James Brown, Warren Smith, Alexander Stevens, Homer Jackson, and Stephen Page. (Subpoena, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].)

    11. [11]

      Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]. James Brown testified that he saw through an open window as he approached the house that Thompson had his left arm around Woolsey’s neck and that he was “in the Act of pulling up her Clothes.” (Minutes, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].)

    12. [12]

      Recognizance, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]. The cost of the case came to $4.25. (Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].)

    13. [13]

      Recognizance, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].

    14. [14]

      The verso of the warrant in JS’s handwriting includes a notation by Sherwood, noting a fee for “Extra trouble in taking care of the prisoner over night and taking bonds.” Sloan created a bail bond specifying that Thompson was required to appear the following morning “to abide the Judgment of said Court.” It appears that Arthur Morrison did not sign the recognizance until March 1843. (Warrant, 2 Aug. 1842–A [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]; Bond, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson]; Recognizance, 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].)

    15. [15]

      Thompson sold lot 2 of block 66 to Isaac C. Haight in October 1842. (Haight, Journal, 2 Oct. 1842; Book of Assessment, 1842, Second Ward, p. 8, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.) In July 1843, Morrison rather than Thompson paid the mayor’s fees for the case. (Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson].)

      Haight, Isaac Chauncey. Journal, 1852–1862. Photocopy. CHL. MS 1384.

      Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.