History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day...

The damages which your petitioners have sustained in consequence of this outrage and stipulation are, at present, incalculable. A great number of industrious inhabitants who were dependent on their labors for support, have been thrown out of employment, and are kept so by the threatenings of those who compose the mob. [See their resolutions as published in the Western Monitor, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, August 2, 1833.] In estimating the damages which have resulted from {414} the beginning to this time from those illegal and inhuman proceedings against your poor and persecuted petitioners, were they to name many thousands of dollars, it would be short of a remuneration. Most of the mechanics' shops have been closed; two pair of blacksmith's bellows have been cut in pieces; our merchant, as you will see by the foregoing stipulation, has been forbidden to import or bring into the country any more goods, by which his business has been ruined.

Soon after the above stipulation was made, some of your petitioners proceeded to make a new location in Van Buren county on the south, but the settlers in that county drew up an agreement among themselves to drive us from that county, after we had commenced laboring there; they threatened to shoot our cattle, and destroy our labor, and in fact, "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but we have no where to lay our heads." We were obliged to return.

Since the stipulation was entered into, some of our houses have been broken open, and the inmates threatened to be shot if they stirred; and also some of our houses have been stoned or brick-batted.

Also, that since some publications have appeared in the Western Monitor and other papers, censuring the conduct of the mob, the leaders have begun to threaten life, declaring that if any of the Mormons attempted tempted to seek redress by law or otherwise, for character, person, or property, they shall die!

Now therefore, for ourselves, as members of the Church, we declare, with the exception of poverty, which has not yet become a crime by the laws of the land, that the crimes charged against us, so far as we are acquainted, contained in the documents above written, and those in the proceedings of the mob, as published in the Western Monitor of August 2nd, are not true. In relation to inviting free people of color to emigrate to this section of country, and other matters relative to our society, see the 109th, 110th, and 111th pages of The Evening and Morning Star, and the Extra accompanying the same, dated July 16th, which are annexed to this petition. Our situation is a critical one; we are located on the western limits of the state, and of the United States; where desperadoes can commit outrages, and even murder, and escape in a few minutes beyond the reach of process; where the most abandoned of all classes from almost every state may too often pass to the Mexican states, or to the more remote regions of the Rocky Mountains to escape the grasp of justice; where numerous tribes of Indians, located by the General Government amid the corrupting influence of mid-day mobs, might massacre our defenseless women and children, with impunity.

Influenced by the precepts of our beloved Savior when we have been smitten on the one cheek, we have turned the other also; when we have {415} been sued at the law, and our coat been taken, we have given them our cloak also; when they have compelled us to go with them a mile, we have gone with them twain; we have borne the above outrages without murmuring; but we cannot patiently bear them any longer; according to the laws of God and man, we have borne enough. Believing with all honorable men, that whenever that fatal hour shall arrive that the poorest citizen's person, property, or rights and privileges, shall be trampled upon by a lawless mob with impunity, that moment a dagger is plunged into the heart of the constitution, and the union must tremble! Assuring ourselves that no republican will suffer the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, and the liberty of conscience, to be silenced by a mob, without raising a helping hand to save his country from disgrace, we solicit assistence to obtain our rights, holding ourselves amenable to the laws of our county whenever we transgress them.

Knowing as, we do, that the threats of this mob, in most cases, have been put into execution, and knowing also that every officer, civil and military, with a very few exceptions, has pledged his life and honor to force us from the county, dead or alive; and believing that civil process cannot be served without the aid of the executive; and not wishing to have the blood of our defenseless women and children to stain the land which has once been stained by the blood of our fathers to purchase our liberty, we appeal to the Governor for aid, asking him to raise by express proclamation, or otherwise, a sufficient number of troops, who, with us, may be empowered to defend our rights, that we may sue for damages for the loss of property, for abuse, for defamation, as to ourselves, and if advisable try for treason against the government; that the law of the land may not be defiled, or nullified, but peace be restored to our country. And we will ever pray.

This petition was signed by Edward Partridge and nearly all the members of the Church in Jackson county.