Skip to main content

Letter to Justin Butterfield, 18 March 1843

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter to Justin Butterfield, 18 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, Cook Co., IL], 18 Mar. 1843. Featured version drafted 18 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; signature of JS by ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket and archival marking.
Single leaf measuring 13 × 8½ inches (33 × 22 cm). The draft letter was folded for filing. Wear at the crease of a fold resulted in partial loss of some text.
The letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest that the letter has remained in continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 18 March 1843, JS composed a letter in , Illinois, to attorney in requesting assistance in the defense of . Rockwell was charged with the 6 May 1842 attempt to assassinate former governor and was being held in Missouri state custody. JS claimed that Rockwell was innocent, and, because of his own history with the Missouri legal system, he was skeptical that Rockwell would receive a fair trial. Butterfield, the attorney for the district of , represented JS and secured his discharge during the January 1843 proceedings before the United States circuit court in , Illinois, when Missouri officials attempted to extradite JS from Illinois to stand trial as an accessory before the fact to Boggs’s shooting.
This prior legal success caused JS to hope that would represent . JS had already corresponded with , a prominent attorney in who had offered to represent Rockwell. On 18 March, JS wrote the letter to Butterfield featured here, reviewing Rockwell’s situation, summarizing the contents of the dispatch to Blennerhassett, and requesting Butterfield’s legal counsel.
JS probably dictated the letter, as was his custom, to his scribe . The rough quality of the inscription suggests that the letter featured here is the dictated copy or at least an early draft. As noted in the letter, JS composed it on 18 March and intended to send it via courier the following day. Richards may have made a fair copy of the letter on 19 March, before the departure of the courier, with the intention of keeping the featured version as a file copy. When Richards docketed the letter, he misdated it to 19 March, which suggests that he revisited and revised the text on the day the letter was sent. On 19 March, Latter-day Saint left for ’s residence in with the missive. Huntington arrived on 27 March, and Butterfield replied that same day that although he would not be able to represent personally, he would provide legal consultation as the case developed.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843.

  2. [2]

    See “Part 2: 8 July–29 October 1838”; “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; and JS, Journal, 23 Aug. 1842.

  3. [3]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Justin Butterfield, 17 Dec. 1842; and “Part 1: March 1843.”

  4. [4]

    See Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    This is further supported by the fact that JS and Richards also made a rough draft of the 17 March 1843 letter to Blennerhassett, which was then preserved as a file copy. (See Historical Introduction to Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 Mar. 1843.)

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 19 Mar. 1843.

  7. [7]

    Letter from Justin Butterfield, 27 Mar. 1843. In August 1843, the court appointed prominent Missouri attorney Alexander Doniphan, who had represented JS and other church members during the 1830s, to defend Rockwell. (Transcript of Proceedings, 18 Nov. 1843, State of Missouri v. Rockwell [Clay Co. Cir. Ct. 1843], [6], Historical Department, Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents Collection, CHL.)

    Historical Department. Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents Collection, ca. 1825–1890. CHL. CR 100 339.

Page [1]

Go to next page 2
March 18th. 1843
Esqr—
Dr Sir.—
Your letter of the 3d ultimo was received after the rapid Journey of one month, I. E. It it has just arrived. So The information it has containd was is satisfactory but a new subject having re[c]ently arisen. I purpose to dispat[c]h a messenger to you on the morrow, with this, the mails are so tardy.— , (whom you well know, has been reported as the author of <​of the outrage on​> — last year, & myself as instigator) has been <​was​> taken <​on the 6th inst​> and lodged in jail at Missisour— and on the next day— took his departure for , according to the letter of . Esqr of — Dated; March 7. Just receved, <​in this place —​> stating that had called on him for council, & he had advised according to the nature of the case & the information in his possession, that he had written to the , demanding protection of the Laws for , agist [against] personal violence &c.— & proposing in his letter to promise a change of venue to from to some adjoining county, & waiting for instruction from his friends &c.— has been informed that the it is wished by s friend that he should take such measures as will secure the personal safety of the prisoner and defer trial until such time as preperation can be made by the collection of affidavits & the presence of the — for the Discrt [District] of , or of <​Gen​> , of — (one or both.) are prese[n]t, of is in possession of some important testimony <​sufficient, he said says said, to destroy testimony in relation to will be important in s.— <​in defense of ​>​> necessary to be joined with what can be obtained here—to destroy the testimony of who will [be] the principel witness against & if possible— shall endeavre to have him attend the trial with yourself— for I wish you to defend friend , & I will be responsible for your compensation.— is innocent, & must be defended.—
Having the facts before you in my case, you [p. [1]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [1]

Go to next page 2

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Justin Butterfield, 18 March 1843
ID #
1581
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:72–75
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Butterfield’s 3 February 1843 letter is apparently not extant, and its contents are unknown.

  2. [2]

    Following his 1842 excommunication from the church, John C. Bennett alleged in various publications that JS hired Rockwell to assassinate Boggs and that Rockwell was in Independence at the time of the shooting. Bennett supplied affidavits designed to support his claims. (“Further Mormon Developments!! 2d Letter from Gen. Bennett,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; “Gen. Bennett’s 4th Letter,” Sangamo Journal, 22 July 1842, [2].)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  3. [3]

    Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Despite the date Blennerhassett gave, Rockwell was more likely arrested in St. Louis on 5 March 1843. He was transported to Jefferson City, Missouri, en route to Independence, on 8 March. (“Orrin Porter Rockwell,” Daily Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 6 Mar. 1843, [3]; see also Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843.)

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

    Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

  4. [4]

    Thomas Reynolds.

  5. [5]

    Justin Butterfield.

  6. [6]

    Bennet was a prominent New York educator and attorney. Although not a Latter-day Saint at the time of the featured letter, Bennet was a frequent correspondent and adviser to JS. (See Historical Introduction to Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 Mar. 1843.)

  7. [7]

    Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 Mar. 1843.

  8. [8]

    TEXT: Wear at the fold resulted in partial loss of text.

Go to page