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Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 March 1843

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Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 March 1843

Source Note

[JS], Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, St. Louis Co., MO], 17 Mar. 1843. Featured version drafted 17 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; one page; Truthiana, 1843, CHL. Includes dockets.
Single leaf measuring 13 × 8½ inches (33 × 22 cm). Before inscribing the letter to featured here, —using the pseudonym of “Viator”—wrote the final page of a draft of a 17 March 1843 letter to the Boston Bee on this leaf. Richards used the verso of the draft letter to the Bee to draft the letter to Blennerhassett. The document was folded for filing. The document has undergone conservation.
added dockets for the two letters on both sides of the leaf. The document was presumably retained among the church’s records. In 1983 it was processed as part of the holdings of the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The early dockets and later processing suggest that it has remained in continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Truthiana, 1843, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 17 March 1843, JS composed a letter in , Illinois, for , an attorney in , regarding the arrest, incarceration, and forthcoming trial of . Blennerhassett had written to leader on 7 March offering to defend Rockwell, who was being held in state custody on the charge of having attempted to assassinate former governor in May 1842. The attorney apparently learned of Rockwell’s situation from an estranged Latter-day Saint, attorney Joseph Wood, although Blennerhassett did not mention Wood in the letter to Whitney. Blennerhassett, an Irish immigrant, was admitted to the bar in 1835 and was considered one of the best criminal attorneys in St. Louis by 1842.
received ’s 7 March 1843 letter in by 17 March, when Whitney delivered it to JS at JS’s home at 4:00 p.m. After reviewing Blennerhassett’s missive, JS immediately dictated a response to his scribe . The draft includes emendations in the handwriting of Willard Richards, which may have been dictated by JS or made by Richards, acting on assignment. Richards presumably made a fair copy of the letter that was sent to Blennerhassett. Letters took approximately a week to travel between Nauvoo and . JS asked Blennerhassett to read the letter to and requested that Blennerhassett write back regarding any further developments in Rockwell’s case. No response to JS’s letter is known. Ultimately, the prominent attorney represented Rockwell. The letter sent to Blennerhassett is apparently not extant. The draft of the letter, preserved among church records, is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; see also Historical Introduction to Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843; and “Part 1: March 1843.”

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

  2. [2]

    Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843; Letter from Joseph Wood, 14 Mar. 1843.

  3. [3]

    See Scharf, History of Saint Louis, 2:1477; Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843; and Letter from Joseph Wood, 14 Mar. 1843.

    Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 17 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    For example, Blennerhassett mailed his 7 March 1843 letter on 10 March, and it arrived in Nauvoo by 17 March. (Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.)

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

  6. [6]

    See 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]

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March 17th 1843.—
Sir—
your letter of the 7 inst, in relation to was <​is​> received this hour <​day​>, and in reply, I would state that his friends have been advised of his situation, and will make all due prepeation [preparation] for his defence. has done has acted wisely in imploying council, and it is important he should have some one near the scene of action who will cause the trial to be deferred till Prepertions are made. but <​X #​> in the multitude of councillors there is safety & his friends will retain, in addition to his council. the for the District of , or of , <​as council in his behalf—​> & you must not suffer the trial to go forward till one or the other is present.— His friends have a flood of testimony— some of which he is not aware of, which must be gathered by affidavit. & some of the most important is in the state of and it will take some time to to collect the whole <​# X​> your communication to the was an <​wise,​> important <​& wise​> move, and if you will continue to take such furether steps as the nature of the case demands for his personal safety and comfort, till further inteligence may be received and also convey their inteligence to , to your client, you will find all things well in the end. <​#​>
<​X​> I answer your letter at sight, without waiting to consult s friends about reta[i]ning you for council, It is sufficient for me to say to you that has friends and any assistan[ce] you may render him as your client will be duly appreciated by them.— Do your duty as councillor— & you have nothing to fear conce[rn]ing your clients poverty. <​X #​> The whole farce is a trick of — to be revenged on the mormons for exposing his rascality and whoredoms to the world & turning him out of decent society.— and if in the end it should appear that was the instigator of the base plot against the life of no one need be frightened.
If all knew all of s, threats against the peace & happiness of their they would not keep him quite so close to their hearts as they now do.— but more on, its proper place, will appear. <​Read this to ​>
You will advise us, at the earliest date, of any new move, concerning the matter, & when there will be any <​a​> probability of a the day of trial.— [p. [1]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 March 1843
ID #
5089
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:62–66
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

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

  2. [2]

    Word of Rockwell’s arrest reached Nauvoo on 13 March 1843. (JS, Journal, 13 Mar. 1843.)

  3. [3]

    TEXT: “but” was canceled using “X #”.

  4. [4]

    See Proverbs 11:14.

  5. [5]

    Justin Butterfield was the United States attorney for the district of Illinois, and he represented JS before the United States circuit court in Springfield, Illinois, in the January 1843 hearing held to evaluate whether Missouri officials could extradite JS as being an accessory before the fact to Rockwell’s alleged assault on Boggs. Bennet was a New York attorney and philanthropist with whom JS had corresponded since 1842. (See Historical Introduction to Letter from Justin Butterfield, 17 Dec. 1842; “Part 1: March 1843”; Historical Introduction to Letter to Justin Butterfield, 18 Mar. 1843; and Historical Introduction to Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 Mar. 1843.)

  6. [6]

    JS was likely referring to information that Bennet promised to supply regarding John C. Bennett’s allegations, in particular that Bennett had reportedly admitted to Bennet that “the charge [of being accessory to the assault] could not be brought home” against JS. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 10 Apr. 1843.)

  7. [7]

    After learning of Rockwell’s situation, Blennerhassett wrote to Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds “demanding the protection of the laws for Rockwell against personal violence.” (Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU, underlining in original.)

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

  8. [8]

    TEXT: The phrase “to Prisoner” was canceled first, after which the entire line, “and also convey their inteligence to Prisoner, to your client, you,” was canceled. Minor emendations were also made three lines above the canceled portion. Subsequently, three lines above and one line beneath the deleted line were canceled with a downward stroke. Finally, editorial markings were used to designate more precisely the text that was to be canceled.

  9. [9]

    Rockwell had been in hiding since August 1842 and presumably had few, if any, resources when he was arrested in St. Louis in early March 1843. (See Historical Introduction to Letter from Sybella McMinn Armstrong and Orrin Porter Rockwell, 1 Dec. 1842.)

  10. [10]

    TEXT: This passage was initially canceled using a diagonal downward stroke. Editorial markings were then used to more precisely designate the text to be canceled. This second block cancellation may have been made to preserve the paragraphing in the initial draft.

  11. [11]

    In spring 1842, Bennett was accused of sexual misconduct, which led to his excommunication from the church, his resignation as mayor of Nauvoo, and his subsequent departure from the city. (“Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; see also Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, chap. 7.)

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  12. [12]

    Writing under the pseudonym “Joab, General in Israel” in late 1840, Bennett condemned Missouri’s past treatment of the Saints, predicted divine retribution upon the state, and called for armed military resistance to the ongoing efforts to extradite JS to Missouri to stand trial for crimes allegedly committed during the 1838 conflict. (John C. Bennett [Joab, pseud.], to Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:165–167; Editorial, Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:875.)

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

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