traced to but and that no citizen could enter our to search for thieves & stolen goods because the thief & goods would be screened from detection by the mormon fraternity & the person in search would be in jeopardy of his life; and wherea[s] thieves & Counterfeiters have in some instances fled to our either under the mistaken apprehension that we would screen them or from a malignant design design to palm upon us their own crimes & thereby draw us under the lash of persecution, & whereas it can be proved that many in individuals in order to swell the list of Mormon depredations have reported property to be stolen which at another time they have acknowledged, they sold the same property & receivd pay; and whereas the chief magistrate of this after a second & protracted visit to this & much pains taken to investigate the charge of promiscuous stealing, reports to the Legislature as follows, “Justice however requires me here to say; that I have investigated the charge of promiscuous stealing and find it to be greatly exaggerated. I could not ascertain that these were a greater proportion of