For instance, in 1835 Newell filed a complaint alleging that JS assaulted Calvin Stoddard, JS’s brother-in-law. (See Introduction to State of Ohio v. JS for Assault and Battery.)

A former employee of Newell’s, James Thompson, related how Newell would travel through the region buying up Kirtland Safety Society banknotes and then bring large quantities to the bank to redeem for specie in an effort to drain the reserves held by the Safety Society. Newell may also have organized runs on the bank or incited the mob that threatened to destroy the society in late January 1837. When Samuel Rounds brought a lawsuit against JS, Sidney Rigdon, and other temporary officers of the Kirtland Safety Society in February 1837, Newell also appears to have been involved in the charge. He purchased the judgment in the case from Rounds after the trial and later took credit for initiating the litigation. (“James Thompson’s Statement,” Naked Truths about Mormonism [Oakland, CA], Apr. 1888, 3; Documents, Volume 5, Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837; Henry Holcomb, “Personal Experience’s after the Civil War,” in “Personal and Family History 1865–1903,” p. 52, Henry Holcomb Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH; Introduction to Rounds qui tam v. JS.)

Naked Truths about Mormonism: Also a Journal for Important, Newly Apprehended Truths, and Miscellany. Oakland, CA. Jan. and Apr. 1888.

Holcomb, Henry. Papers, 1864–1919. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland.

Although Newell’s complaint against JS is not extant, it likely reflected the language of an Ohio statute that made it “lawful for any person to make complaint on oath or affirmation, before a justice of the peace, stating amongst other things, that the person making such complaint, has just cause to fear, and does fear that another will beat, wound, or kill, him or her.” (An Act Defining the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables, in Criminal Cases [27 Mar. 1837], Acts of a General Nature [1836–1837], p. 89, sec. 9; see also Introduction to State of Ohio v. D. P. Hurlbut; Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 10 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life]; and State of Ohio v. Chester Stocking [Geauga Co. C.P. 1837], Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, Criminal Record, vol. T, pp. 47–48, microfilm 1,636,848, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

Acts of a General Nature, Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-Fifth General Assembly of the State of Ohio; Begun and Held in the City of Columbus, December 5th, 1836. And in the Thirty-Fifth Year of Said State. Columbus: S. R. Dolbee, 1837.

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Woodruff, Journal, 13 Apr. 1837; see also Historical Introduction to Letter from Newel K. Whitney, 20 Apr. 1837. JS was unable to officiate at Woodruff’s wedding to Phebe Carter on 13 April 1837 because of these threats on his life.

Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

JS’s whereabouts while absent from Kirtland in April and May 1837 are largely unknown. He appears to have returned to Kirtland by 19 May. (Historical Introduction to Letter from Newel K. Whitney, 20 Apr. 1837; Bill of Goods from Rigdon, Smith & Co., between 19 and 24 May 1837.)

Account of Hearing, between ca. 3 and 9 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

Flint listed Jared Carter, Quartus Clark, Oliver Cowdery, Solomon Denton, Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, Warren Parrish, David Whitmer, and Newel K. Whitney as witnesses for the prosecution. Defense witnesses included Elijah Able, Almon Babbitt, Abner Balster, Oliver Granger, Jonathan Herrington, Lory Holmes, Cornelius P. Lott, and Hyrum Smith. Flint identified Sidney Rigdon and Reynolds Cahoon as witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense. Marvel Davis and Vinson Knight “were in attendance as witnesses 1st day,” possibly referring to 30 May 1837, but they apparently were not present on 3 June. (Docket Entry, between 13 Apr. and 3 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].)

Account of Hearing, between ca. 3 and 9 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

Account of Hearing, between ca. 3 and 9 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life]; see also Documents, Volume 5, Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837; Articles of Agreement for the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company, 2 Jan. 1837.

Account of Hearing, between ca. 3 and 9 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

Docket Entry, between 13 Apr. and 3 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life]; An Act Defining the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables, in Criminal Cases [27 Mar. 1837], Acts of a General Nature [1836–1837], p. 89, sec. 12.

Acts of a General Nature, Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-Fifth General Assembly of the State of Ohio; Begun and Held in the City of Columbus, December 5th, 1836. And in the Thirty-Fifth Year of Said State. Columbus: S. R. Dolbee, 1837.

Docket Entry, between 13 Apr. and 3 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 10 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

Letter, Grandison Newell to Editor, 30 June 1837 [State of Ohio v. JS for Threatening to Take Life].

The newspaper described Newell as “a man who has for years been doing all he could to injure his neighbors, merely because they do not think and act as he does in religious and political matters.” (“The Mormon Persecutor,” Painesville [OH] Republican, 6 July 1837, [2].)

Painesville Republican. Painesville, OH. 1836–1841.