Introduction to State of Missouri v. Worthington et al. for Larceny and State of Missouri v. JS for Receiving Stolen Goods
State of Missouri v. Worthington, Lott, JS, and Wight for Larceny
Fifth Judicial Circuit of Missouri, 29 November 1838
Daviess Co., Missouri, Circuit Court, 11 April 1839
Boone Co., Missouri, Circuit Court, 5 August 1840
State of Missouri v. JS for Receiving Stolen Goods
Fifth Judicial Circuit of Missouri, 29 November 1838
Daviess Co., Missouri, Circuit Court, 11 April 1839
Boone Co., Missouri, Circuit Court, 5 August 1840
Historical Introduction
Around 10 April 1839, a grand jury in , Missouri, indicted JS, James Worthington, , and on a charge of for allegedly stealing and carrying away various items of personal property in October 1838. In addition, the grand jury approved a separate indictment that charged JS alone with receiving a stolen saddle. The indictments were part of the long and complicated legal aftermath of the 1838 conflict between the Latter-day Saints and their antagonists in . In November 1838, state officials developed a list of crimes, from treason to perjury, that Latter-day Saints had allegedly committed during the conflict. Over the next five months, the officials sought to identify and prosecute church members for these crimes. Some defendants, such as JS and Wight, were identified early in the process and brought into state custody. Others, such as Worthington and Lott, were not identified as defendants until April 1839, when they were indicted for larceny.
During summer 1838, violence broke out between church members and their antagonists in northwestern . Latter-day Saints were expelled from in Carroll County, Missouri, in early October, making it clear that civil authorities would not protect church members from extralegal violence. Having forced the Saints from De Witt, the church’s opponents turned their attention to and other settlements in . In response, church members in , Caldwell County, decided to engage in aggressive self-defense. In ’s words, the Saints planned to “scatter the mob” and “destroy those places that harbored them.” On 18 October 1838, apostle led about eighty Latter-day Saint men to , Daviess County—a suspected mob haven—where they expelled vigilantes opposed to the church, burned buildings owned by vigilantes and their sympathizers, and confiscated essential goods as wartime appropriations.
governor , responding to exaggerated reports of this raid and other skirmishes, branded all Latter-day Saints “enemies” and ordered that they be “exterminated or driven from the state.” The “ring leaders of this rebellion,” including JS, were to be arrested and tried for crimes allegedly committed during the conflict. In late October and early November 1838, more than three thousand state militia troops occupied Latter-day Saint settlements in and counties. Church members were given until spring to leave the state, while JS and more than fifty other Latter-day Saint men were taken into custody under the authority of Major General , who had the prisoners moved to his headquarters in , Ray County. On 10 November, Clark explained to Boggs that he had “made out charges against the prisoners” based on information garnered primarily from Latter-day Saint dissidents. He identified “treason, murder, , , robbery and and ” as their offenses, all committed “under the counsel of Joseph Smith jr, the prophet.”
arranged to have Judge of ’s fifth judicial circuit preside at a criminal court of inquiry in , which lasted from 12 to 29 November 1838, to determine whether there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury. Rather than first hearing sworn complaints against the prisoners and issuing warrants “reciting the accusation,” as required by Missouri law, King accepted Clark’s formulation of the charges, minus perjury, apparently without question. Circuit attorney served as the prosecutor, while , , and served as defense attorneys.
The Saints’ October 1838 expedition to , including their confiscation of goods, was a significant topic at the hearing. The prosecution viewed these acts as larceny, which law defined as “feloniously stealing, taking and carrying away, any money, goods, right in action, or other personal property, or valuable thing whatsoever.” Patrick Lynch, clerk of ’s store in Gallatin, testified that he witnessed Latter-day Saint men removing goods from the store on 18 October. In addition, George Worthington, who lived in Gallatin, testified that a group of Latter-day Saint men came to his home and stole a saddle that belonged to .
Witnesses testified that JS gave a sermon on 15 October 1838 in , just prior to the expedition, that justified stealing under specific circumstances. The prosecution presumably asked witnesses about this discourse in order to show that those who committed larceny had done so under JS’s direction. Disaffected church member testified that JS spoke “in refference to stealing,” stating that “in a general way he did not approve of it” but that under certain circumstances it was necessary, such as when the “Saviour & his disciples stole corn in passing thro’ the corn fields for the reason that they could not otherwise procure any thing to eat.” , who was disaffected from the church at the time, testified that JS gave the speech because “when they went out to war it was necessary to take spoils to live on.” Jeremiah Myers, a Latter-day Saint who participated in the expedition, explained that the goods removed from ’s store were “considered consecrated property & that they were to be dealt out by the bishop to those who stood in need.”
At the conclusion of the hearing on 29 November, held there was “probable cause to believe” that twenty-four Latter-day Saints had committed “Arson, Burglary, Robbery and Larceny” in . He ordered that they be released on bail, conditioned on their appearance at the next session of the Daviess County Circuit Court for trial. Neither JS nor was included in this list, likely because King had earlier found probable cause to believe that they had committed treason against the state of . As treason was a nonbailable offense, JS, Wight, and others were confined in the in , Missouri, to await the spring term of the court. James Worthington and were not among the defendants at this stage in the process.
On 6 April 1839, JS, , and the other prisoners were removed from the in and transported to , where the April 1839 session of the Daviess County Circuit Court was held at the home of Elisha B. Creekmore, just southeast of . Judge of the recently formed eleventh judicial circuit presided, and acted as the prosecuting attorney. and represented the defendants. Sheriff William Morgan impaneled twenty county residents as a grand jury to review, with the assistance of Clark, evidence for crimes allegedly committed by JS and other Latter-day Saint men during the 1838 conflict.
presented an indictment to the grand jury laying out the prosecution’s case that larceny had been committed during the conflict. For unknown reasons, Clark did not identify any of the twenty-four men whom had named in November 1838 in relation to the larceny charge. Rather, Clark named JS, , James Worthington, and as defendants. The indictment was divided into three counts. The first asserted that on 1 October 1838, Worthington, Lott, and JS had stolen and carried away various items that belonged to Lynch, ranging in value from five to twenty dollars, with most of the values exceeding the ten-dollar threshold dividing petty and grand larceny. The next count alleged that JS and Wight had received unspecified stolen goods on 2 October. The final count charged that JS received a stolen saddle on 2 October. The inclusion of JS’s name in the first count was suspect, as no witness at the November 1838 court of inquiry had claimed that he participated personally in the 18 October 1838 raid on . In addition, the dates that the alleged crimes occurred were problematic given that JS was in on 1–2 October. Clark wrote on the wrapper of the indictment the names of , Allen Rathburn, Lynch, George Worthington, and John Stokes as witnesses. Around 10 April, when the grand jury hearing concluded, foreman Robert P. Peniston Sr. wrote “” on the document, indicating that at least twelve of the grand jurors approved the indictment.
also presented to the grand jury a separate indictment laying out the prosecution’s case that JS had received the stolen saddle, valued at twenty dollars, on 1 October 1838. Although George Worthington had testified in the November 1838 hearing that the saddle stolen from his property had actually belonged to , the indictment omitted this point and simply stated that it was stolen from Worthington. In addition, the date of the alleged receipt of the stolen saddle was problematic for the same reasons as the dates provided in the larceny indictment. On the wrapper of the indictment, Clark identified as the sole witness. Around 10 April, when the grand jury hearing concluded, Peniston wrote “true Bill” on the document.
The grand jury submitted indictments for larceny and receiving stolen goods to the circuit court on 11 April 1839. Of the defendants named in the indictments, only two—JS and —were present in the circuit court on 11 April, because James Worthington and had already departed in forced compliance with ’s expulsion order. Citing his previous service as the prosecuting attorney at the November 1838 court of inquiry, issued orders that changed the venue of the larceny and receiving stolen goods cases for JS and Wight to in the second judicial circuit. The prisoners left on 12 April 1839, along with Sheriff Morgan and four guards, but escaped en route to Boone County on 16 April with the guards’ complicity.
Notwithstanding the escape, in the ensuing months Circuit Court clerk made certified copies of the indictments and the other records in his docket for the larceny and receiving stolen goods cases and forwarded them to the Circuit Court. However, perhaps due to the escape of the prisoners, Wilson was evidently uncertain whether Daviess County maintained jurisdiction in the cases. On 30 May 1839, more than a month after he had made the certified copies of the indictments to send to Boone County, Wilson issued a writ of ordering the Daviess County sheriff to arrest JS and the other defendants named in the larceny indictment. On motion of the prosecuting , the larceny case was continued on the Daviess County Circuit Court docket during the August 1839 term, but presumably only for Worthington and , the defendants who were not named in the order changing the venue. When it became apparent that the defendants were not going to appear, the larceny case was dismissed at the December 1839 term. As JS was the only defendant named in the receiving stolen goods indictment, Wilson presumably did not issue a writ of capias for that case. The clerk did not include such a writ in the docket book with the August 1839 continuance or the December 1839 dismissal.
In contrast, , clerk of the Circuit Court, evidently believed that his court held jurisdiction over all the men named in the larceny and receiving stolen goods indictments, regardless of whether they were specifically named in the change-of-venue orders. On motion of the prosecuting attorney, the larceny and receiving stolen goods cases were continued on the Boone County court’s docket until August 1840. During that term, as it was apparent that the defendants were not going to appear for the trial, Judge John D. Leland ordered that the cases be dismissed.
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.
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