Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 February 1834
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Source Note
, Letter, , MO, to “Dear Brethren” (including JS) [, Geauga Co., OH], 27 Feb. 1834. Featured version published in “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1834, 139. For more complete source information on The Evening and the Morning Star, see the source note for Letter, 30 Oct. 1833.
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Historical Introduction
sent this 27 February 1834 letter to JS and other leaders in , Ohio, to update them on the situation in . This account was the first news Kirtland church leaders had received since the fall of 1833 of the continued attacks and violence against members of the in Missouri. In November 1833, leaders of the Mormon exiles in Missouri initiated criminal proceedings against their opponents. On 24 November 1833, , judge of Missouri’s Sixth District Circuit Court, informed , a circuit attorney and member of the Mormon legal counsel, that Missouri governor wanted Ryland to “take steps to punish the guilty & screen the innocent.” Ryland asked Rees whether “the Mormons [were] willing to take legal steps against the citizens of Jackson Co.” Mormon leaders did not want to immediately pursue an inquiry, according to , because their potential witnesses were scattered across several different counties and because they believed that “the rage of the mob” would endanger the lives of anyone going to , Jackson County, to testify. In December, church leaders informed Dunklin that they wanted a court of inquiry to be convened after “arangements are made to protect us in our persons and property.” Even then, most church leaders were skeptical that they would receive justice.On 5 February 1834, instructed Captain , the leader of the Liberty Blues, a volunteer militia unit of about fifty men, to protect Mormons who would testify at an upcoming grand jury hearing in , presided over by . Dunklin also dispatched Robert W. Wells, the state attorney general, to assist at the hearing. On 24 February 1834, the Liberty Blues escorted approximately a dozen Mormon witnesses into Independence. After waiting for three hours the following morning, the witnesses were informed by Wells and Rees that “the Grand Jury were composed exclusively of such as had been concerned in the recent outrages! and that consequently it would be useless to prefer bills before such a Jury.” In other words, the jury was composed of Missourians who had committed the violence against the Mormons, and thus attempting to bring charges at that hearing would prove fruitless. The constitution indicated that members of a jury were to be from the same area as the accused: “The accused has the right . . . to an impartial jury of the vicinage.” Thus it is unclear whether it was possible for the Mormons to change the venue of the hearing. Eventually, the witnesses were escorted out of Independence.In the meantime, violence and malice against Mormons in escalated. Several families who had been evicted in November 1833 returned to their homes in February 1834. On 20 February 1834, a group of Jackson County residents attacked these individuals, threatening them with guns, beating several with whips and sticks, and informing them that they would lose their lives if they did not again abandon their homes. wrote the letter featured here to inform church leaders in of these developments. After Kirtland church leaders received this letter, published it in the March 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star.
Footnotes
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1
John F. Ryland, “Near Lexington,” MO, to Amos Rees, 24 Nov. 1833, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
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2
Sidney Gilbert, Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, 29 Nov. 1833, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
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3
William W. Phelps et al., Petition to Daniel Dunklin, 6 Dec. 1833, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
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4
“Mormon Difficulties,” Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser (Columbia), 8 Mar. 1834, [1].
Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser. Franklin, MO, 1819–1827; Fayette, MO, 1827–1830; Columbia, MO, 1830–1835.
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5
“The Mormons,” Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser (Columbia), 8 Mar. 1834, [2], italics in original.
Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser. Franklin, MO, 1819–1827; Fayette, MO, 1827–1830; Columbia, MO, 1830–1835.
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6
Missouri Constitution of 1820, art. 13, sec. 9. John Corrill, one of the Missouri church leaders, interpreted this passage in the Missouri Constitution to mean “that criminals shall be tried in their own county.” If they had to be tried in their own county, then changing the venue to another location, which would have decreased the possibility of having a jury that was involved in the conflict, may have been impossible. (“From Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 126.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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7
Abigail Calkins Leonard, Affidavit, Hancock Co., IL, 11 Mar. 1840, Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845, CHL; Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 165–168.
Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845. CHL. MS 2703.
Tullidge, Edward W. The Women of Mormondom. New York: Tullidge and Crandall, 1877.
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