Factors in the Destruction of the Mormon Press in Missouri, 1833

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. 35, 1967, No. 1

Factors in the Destruction of the Mormon Press in Missouri, 1833

BY WARREN A. JENNINGS

0 n July 20, 1833, a throng of western Missourians, acting in premeditated concert, demolished the Mormon printing establishment in Independence, Missouri. Two formally endorsed documents were released to the world in an effort to exonerate those who had participated in this affray. Both statements declared that, among other factors, the Mormon attitude and conduct in relation to the Negro — both bond and free — justified such stringent action. But was this an authentic reason or an adroit rationalization?

On August 2, 1831, Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, dedicated and consecrated Jackson County, Missouri, as the Land of Zion and as a gathering place for the Mormons. He then returned to Kirtland, Ohio, where in September a church conference was held. At this time the matter of a church newspaper was discussed. The Mormons were beginning to receive unfavorable coverage in the national press, and they wanted a paper of their own to counteract this invective. A paper would also serve as a means of keeping in contact with the membership which was expanding geographically as well as numerically. It was resolved, therefore, that William Wines Phelps, who had been editor of a partisan political paper in New York and who was a recent convert to Mormonism, should become editor of a church paper to be called the Evening and Morning Star. Phelps was instructed to stop at Cincinnati upon his return to Missouri and purchase a press and type. Soon thereafter this directive was carried out.

To house the printing plant Edward Partridge, the first Mormon bishop, acquired a two-story brick house which was located on South Liberty Street in Independence. In the upper rooms of this structure the press was installed, and the Phelps family moved into the lower part of the house. Oliver Cowdery, the scribe to whom Smith had dictated much of the Book of Mormon, was appointed assistant editor.The prospectus of the new paper informed the potential subscriber:

As the forerunner of the night of the end, and the messenger of the day of redemption, the Star will borrow its light from sacred sources, and be devoted to the revelations of God as made known to his servants by the Holy Ghost, at sundry times since the creation of man, but more especially in these last days, for restoration of the house of Israel.

The monthly, royal quarto in size, had a subscription price of $1.00 per year.

In June 1832 the first number was issued. It contained the following notation: "The Star office is situated within twelve miles of the west line of the state of Missouri; which at present is the western limits of the United States, . . . and about 120 miles west of any press in the state." Portentously, it carried an essay by Phelps on "Persecution." Another article, by the same author, was entitled "To Man" and informed its readers: "The Star comes in these last days as the friend of man, to persuade him to turn to God and live, before the great and terrible day of the Lord sweeps the earth of its wickedness." This issue, like those that followed, had some theological essays.

The Star throughout its brief existence contained little general news that would be of interest to the Gentiles. What there was could usually be found under a heading of "Worldly Matters." There were some articles on self-improvement topics such as "Writing Letters," "On the Government of Thoughts," and "Cultivate the Mind." There were also some reasonably well-written original poems, mostly composed by the editor. Some of these, like "Redeemer of Israel," were set to music and became favorite Mormon hymns. Still others vividly expressed Mormon fears and expectations:

When the earth begins to tremble, Bid our fearful thoughts be still; When Thy judgments spread destruction, Keep us safe on Zion's hill.

Or:

The rays that shine from Zion's hill Shall lighten every land; Her King shall reign a thousand years, And all the world command.

The news that was reported in the paper tended to be concerned with the catastrophic, natural or man-made, as if to emphasize that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were riding hard. Every earthquake, every great storm, every plague, and every fire were recorded with care. At the end of such an item there would often be found an editorial comment to the effect: "It is a day of strange appearances. . . . The end is nigh." One student of Mormon journalism has observed:

Through his eagerness to support the missionary arm of the Church, the Star's editor, W. W. Phelps, neglected from the beginning to represent the interests of the community in general. The Star's columns were largely limited to whatever events or developments held a particular interest for Latter Day Saints. Phelps seldom essayed to write in detail about the national scene. . . . Busy monitoring the activities of Latter Day Saints, [he] had not troubled to feel the pulse of the older inhabitants. The new religious movement was an aggressive one, and Phelps as its editor-spokesman felt no compulsion to explain its peculiarities or justify its excesses to the unsympathetic.

This was a doubly dangerous policy because the non-Mormon in Jackson County had only two choices: he could read the Star or he could go without a paper. Many, of course, chose to read it and were unhappy with its contents. Young Alexander Majors, a Gentile, recalled that the Star's material "was very distasteful to members and leaders of other religious denominations."

The press was too valuable a possession, moreover, to limit its use to the printing of a monthly newspaper. The church was in need of new publications if it were going to inform and educate its growing body of adherents. The first, almost imperative, need was to get Smith's revelations into the hands of the membership, especially the priesthood. Since these manifestations contained an important segment of the doctrine of the church, it was urgent that they be made accessible. Some were published from time to time in the Star, but this was, at best, a temporary expedient. At a church conference in Hiram, Ohio, on November 1, 1831, it was determined that the prophet would correct and prepare his revelations for publication in book form under the title of Book of Commandments. The care of the manuscript was entrusted to Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer, who personally carried it to Missouri since it was felt that the mail was too uncertain.

Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and several other Mormon leaders returned to Independence on April 24, 1832, bringing with them newsprint they had purchased in Wheeling, Virginia. At a conference held in Zion under their supervision, it was voted that 3,000 copies of the Book of Commandments should be printed and that Phelps, Cowdery, and John Whitmer should "review and prepare such revelations as shall be deemed proper for publication." It was also directed that Phelps should correct and print the hymns which had been selected by Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet, in accordance with an earlier revelation. It was further decided that a store should be set up under the direction of Algernon S. Gilbert. This became known among the Mormons as the "storehouse."

Almost from the first it was there, a low, dark cloud rising on the horizon. Hardly visible in the beginning, it became more and more apparent that a storm was coming, threatening to engulf the religious-communitarians in their western paradise. Friction between Gentile and Mormon continually increased. Emily Austin, a young Mormon settler, recalled:

On several occasions we received intelligence that the inhabitants of Jackson county were displeased at the idea of so many coming into the county. They said the range for their county would be taken by the Mormon cattle, and the "shuck" devoured by Mormon pigs; and they boldly declared they would not suffer this to be so.

As the Mormons grew in numbers, so did the hostility. The Mormons later asserted in a memorial to the Missouri Legislature that "soon after the settlement began, persecution began, and as the society increased persecution also increased." Josiah Gregg, the famous Santa Fe trader who resided in Independence, stated:

In proportion as [the Mormons] grew strong in numbers, they also became more exacting and bold in their pretentions. In a little paper printed at Independence under their immediate auspices, everything was said that could provoke hostility between "saints" and their "worldly" neighbors, until at last they became so emboldened by impunity, as openly to boast of their determination to be the sole proprietors of the "Land of Zion."

The rapid influx of Mormon disciples (they eventually numbered 1,200) alarmed the Jackson Countians. John Corrill, who was to leave the church in 1838, wrote:

The "old citizens" began to be highly displeased. They saw their county filling up with emigrants, principally poor. They disliked their religion, and saw also, that if let alone they would in short time become a majority, and of course, rule the county. The church kept increasing, and the old citizens became more and more dissatisfied, and from time to time offered to sell their farms and possessions, but the Mormons, though desirous, were too poor to purchase them. The feelings of the people became greatly exasperated, in consequence of the many false and evil reports that were in constant circulation against the church.

Overt acts against the Mormons began to be committed "and the uneasy, restless spirit of the people would occasionally manifest itself. ,: "

It should be noted that one of the irritants that produced friction originated in a misconception, first on the part of the Mormons themselves, and next on the part of their opponents. The Mormons had a problem : how were they to gain possession of Jackson County? They could not purchase it. They were too poor. But they believed it to be essential that only Saints reside in the New Jerusalem and that no Gentiles be found within its walls. In a revelation given on his first trip to Missouri, Smith had told his followers:

The Lord willeth that the disciples, and the children of men, should open their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of country, as soon as time will permit. Behold here is wisdom; let them do this lest they receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood.

What had the prophet meant by this? Clearly this perturbed some of the Mormons because this theme was elaborated upon further in another revelation given in Kirtland a short time later:

I the Lord willeth, that you should purchase the lands, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger: For satan putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood: Wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase, or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you. And if by purchase behold you are blessed: And if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance.

Though it is apparent that Smith at no time contemplated taking Jackson County by force, some of his more fanatical adherents (they were laboring under a millennial excitement) undoubtedly conceived the idea that strength might be employed. At least they taunted their neighbors along this line. Evidence for such an assertion is found in an article in the Star in that fateful issue of July 1833.

But to suppose that we can come up here and take possession of this land by the shedding of blood, would be setting at naught the law of the glorious gospel, and also the word of our great Redeemer: And to suppose that we can take possession of this country, without making regular purchases of the same according to the laws of our nation, would be reproaching this great Republic.

Aside from this article, however, the editors of the Star did little to correct the erroneous opinions of their readers. One issue — that of June 1833 — carried the observation that "the time is short for the Gentiles."

In March 1832 the first concerted action by the Missourians was taken to rid Jackson County of what one later termed "this tribe of locusts that... threaten [ed] to scorch and wither the herbage of a fair and goodly portion of Missouri." John Whitmer, church historian by divine decree, recorded that "the enemies held a council in Independence ... [as to] how they might destroy the Saints." It appears that General Marston G. Clark, a subagent for the Indians in the area west of Missouri, on hearing of this council rode in from his agency a day or two before the meeting and let "certain influential mob characters" know that no unlawful action would be tolerated. That same spring some persons, "in the deadly hours of the night, commenced stoning or brick-batting some of the [Mormons'] houses." In the fall "some one, burned a large quantity of hay in the stack; and soon after commenced shooting into some of [the] houses, and at many times insult [ed] with abusive language." Cowdery later commented on this conduct of the Missourians:

Many threats were thrown out by certain low, degraded, unprincipled persons; but it was pretty satisfactorily ascertained, that they were only put forward and excited to desperation by a still more influential set, that kept secreted behind the scene for fear of public censure and contempt.

Ordinarily one would tend to discount such a statement as the product of a paranoid personality. However, considering the organized manner in which anti-Mormon activity was coordinated and carried out, this charge by Cowdery appears to be true. In this connection John C McCoy, a young Gentile resident, years later asserted:

One mile west of the Blue, on the old road from Independence to the state line . . . there was a country store kept by one Moses G. Wilson, a brigadier general of militia, a restless partizan, very prominent and influential with a certain class. This store was, during 1833, the rendezvous for the anti- Mormons, where they were want to meet to discuss the situation and form plans, and to organize raids upon the Mormon settlements up toward the state line.

About this same time a report was spread that the Mormons were persuading the slaves to be disobedient, rebel, or run away from their masters. Samuel D. Lucas, perennial opponent of the Mormons, commented in 1837: "But the Lord waxed wroth with the Mormons [in Jackson County], for they had communed with the men-servants and the maid-servants of the people in whose land they were sojourning, seducing them from the obedience and the duty they owed to those who gave them food andraiment?' A Protestant minister noted that "threats were occasionally made to throw down houses, &c; their printing office, and their store house in Independence were considered most in danger, but the Mormons were not much intimidated." This type of activity ceased with the onset of winter.

On April 6, 1833, the church members met together at the ferry one of them owned on the Big Blue River to celebrate the birthday of the church. Newel Knight observed: "This was the first celebration of thekind and the Saints felt their privilege and enjoyed themselves." It was a day many of the participants were to remember with nostalgia, as occasions for celebration were to be few thereafter. Spring had come to Jackson County with its usual burst of splendor. The woods were aglow with redbud; the prairies were "covered with a profusion of pale pink flowers, rearing their delicate stalks among the rough blades of wild grass." Elias Higbee, who had moved with his family from Cincinnati in March 1833, later sent an address to the Congress of the United States. He stated:

Though often persecuted and vilified for their difference in religious opinions from their fellow citizens, still [the Mormons] were happy. They saw their society increasing in numbers; their farms teemed with plenty; and they fondly looked forward to a future big with hope. That there was prejudice existing against them, they deplored: yet they felt that these things were unmerited and unjust.

From the festivities the Mormons went back to hauling rails and planting crops — crops they would never harvest.

Before the month ended there were renewed evidences of hostility. A group of over 300 Missourians assembled in Independence "to consult upon a plan, for the removal, or immediate destruction, of the church in Jackson County." 32 They spent "the day in a fruitless endeavor, to unite upon a general scheme for 'moving the Mormons out of their diggins.' " 33 Joseph Smith, and others, later claimed that so much confusion was generated by several "knock-downs" after the participants had partaken of a plentiful supply of whiskey that this meeting "broke up in a regular Missouri 'row.' " 34 In June Phelps took notice of the malevolence. He chided the Missourians that "no coffins filled with arms and ammunition have arrived here since the gathering commenced."

The element that seeded the gathering clouds and unleashed the fury of the storm upon the Mormons was an item in the July 1833 issue of the Star entitled, "Free People of Color." What prompted Phelps to print such an article is something of an enigma. It has been asserted that soon after the Mormons had begun settlement in Missouri they had sent missionaries into the border slave states and that "among their early converts were a number of free Negroes, whom they invited to join them in Zion." These missionaries, purportedly, were embarrassed to find that a Missouri statute forbade these social outcasts to move into the state without a certificate of citizenship from some other state. However, the evidence to support the contention that any free Negroes at this time had joined the church is slight. Parley P. Pratt subsequently claimed: "In fact one dozen free negroes or mulattoes never have belonged to our Society in any part of the world, from its first organization to this day, 1839." Perhaps some free Negroes had indicated an interest in removing to Zion. Certainly there would have been no objections on the part of the majority of the Mormons to their doing so; the Mormons were committed to an acceptance into Zion of all peoples. Their revelations told them:

And there shall be gathered unto [Zion] out of every nation under heaven: . . . And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion singing, with songs of everlasting joy.

Phelps stated in the aforementioned article that his desire was "to prevent any misunderstanding among the churches abroad, respecting free people of color, who may think of coming to the western boundaries of Missouri, as members of the church." He proceeded then to quote two sections from the laws of Missouri. The first stipulated that any free Negro or mulatto moving into the state had to have with him a certificate "attested by the seal of some court of record in some one of the United States, evidencing that he is a citizen of such state." Failure to produce this certificate upon demand would lead to his expulsion from the state within 30 days or confinement to a common jail to await trial. The second section provided that any person bringing a free Negro or mulatto into Missouri without such a certificate could be fined $500.00. Phelps then editorialized:

Slaves are real estate in this and other states, and wisdom would dictate great care among the branches of the church of Christ, on this subject. So long as we have no special rule in the church, as to people of color, let prudence guide; and while they, as well as we, are in the hands of a merciful God, we say: Shun every appearance of evil.

In another part of the same issue Phelps noted:

Our brethren will find an extract of the law of this state, relative to free people of color, on another page of this paper. Great care should be taken on this point. The saints must shun every appearance of evil. As to slaves we have nothing to say. In connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing towards abolishing slavery, and colonizing the blacks, in Africa.

The reaction of the Missourians to this issue of the Star was prompt and vigorous. Being apprised of their adverse response, Phelps dashed off an Extra on July 16. In the form of a handbill this was distributed as rapidly as possible. The full text read as follows.

Having learned with extreme regret, that an article entitled, "Free people of color," in the last number of the Star, has been misunderstood, we feel in duty bound to state, in this Extra, that our intention was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to this state, but to prevent them from being admitted as members of the church. On the second column of the hundred and eleventh page of the same paper, may be found this paragraph: "Our brethren will find an extract of the law of this state, relative to free people of color, on another page of this paper: great care should be taken on this point. The saints must shun every appearance of evil. As to slaves we have nothing to say, in connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing towards abolishing slavery, and colonizing the blacks in Africa."

We often lament the situation of our sister states in the south, and we fear, lest, as has been the case, the blacks should rise and spill innocent blood: for they are ignorant and little may lead them to disturb the peace of society. To be short, we are opposed to having free people of color admitted into the state; and we say, that none will be admitted into the church, for we are determined to obey the laws and constitutions of our country, that we may have that protection which the sons of liberty inherit from the legacy of Washington, through the favorable auspices of a Jefferson and Jackson.

Phelps certainly did not have the authority to commit the church to such a position in regard to Negroes. He probably felt, however, that he was forced to extraordinary measures in order to deal with an extraordinary situation. But, the Extra had no discernible effect. The smoldering malignity of the Missourians had been fanned to a white heat. Some explanation of their attitude on the subject of the free Negro, therefore, is necessary.

As early as 1820 the sentiment of the people of Missouri toward the free Negro was decidedly hostile. This is seen in Article III of the first constitution of Missouri which was adopted that year. It was designed to prevent free Negroes and mulattoes from settling in or even coming into the state under any pretext. This animosity was not due to their largenumbers; there were only 347 in the state at that time. It was predicated upon the fear that they would increase rapidly by immigration. Some Missourians felt that their mere presence in a community where slavery existed was apt to make slaves dissatisfied with their condition. Free Negroes, therefore, were held in suspicion and contempt even where few in number.

This clause in the constitution had precipitated the second debate over the admission of Missouri into the Union. After a compromise worked out by Henry Clay was accepted by Congress, Missouri became a state with this clause still a part of her constitution. "Subsequent legislationregarding the free negro showed how she interpreted her rights under it." In the next 10 years Missouri's population more than doubled, but the United States census of 1830 disclosed that there were only 569 free Negroes in the state. In Jackson County there was a total of 5,071 inhabitants in 1832 — 360 of these being slaves, but there were no free people of color. The census of 1830 had revealed that there were 62 slave holders in the county. The largest was William Hudspeth, who had 25 slaves; the next was Roland Flourney with only 8.

Typical, perhaps, of the attitude of the Jackson Countian toward free Negroes is that of James Aull, a trader of considerable prominence in western Missouri, with stores in Independence, Lexington, Liberty, and Richmond. He wrote a letter in 1835 to a Quaker firm in Philadelphia which had refused to trade with any business that owned or dealt in slaves. Aull noted:

We are the owners of Slaves. ... It would gratify me exceedingly to have all our negroes removed from among us, it would be of immense advantage to the State, but to free them and suffer them to remain with us I for one would never consent to. I once lived in a town where one-tenth of the whole population was free negroes and a worse population I have never seen. ... At our August elections it will be proposed to our people the propriety of calling a convention, if the convention meets one of the most important subjects to be brought before it will be the gradual abolition of slavery. . . . Many of our Slave holders are the warm advocates of the doctrine but I have not conversed with a man who would consent to let them remain amongst us after they are free.

Phelps's articles in the Star had precipitated a crisis. The Missourians "arose in their fury." A set of propositions, known as the "Secret Constitution," was covertly circulated in the county for signatures. Whitmer recorded that the citizens signed this document on July 15, the day before the Extra was issued. 48 Among the nearly 80 signatures appended to it were those of most of the county officials including Samuel Owens, county clerk, who also managed for Aull a general merchandise store on the southwest corner of the square opposite the Mormons' "storehouse," and Samuel D. Lucas, a judge of the county court, who was later a general of the Missouri militia which drove the Mormons from the state in 1838-39. The "Secret Constitution" was a lawyer's brief. Russel Hicks, an attorney and deputy county clerk, later admitted that he was the author. It is one of two lengthy documents that the Jackson Countians released to the public in an effort to justify their subsequent conduct. For this reason, one must be careful in accepting as truth all that it contains. But it comes as near as anything available to being a definitive statement of the Missourians' point of view. Among the catalogue of charges was the following.

More than a year since it was ascertained that they had been tampering with our slaves, and endeavoring to sow dissentions and raise seditions amongst them. Of this their mormon leaders were informed, and they said they would deal with any of their members who should again, in like case offend, but how specious are appearances, in a late number of the Star, published in Independence by the leaders of the sect, there is an article inviting free negroes and mulattoes from other States to become mormons and remove and settle among us; this exhibits them in still more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their society, to inflict on our society an injury that they know would be to us entirely insupportable, and one of the surest means of driving us from the county; for it would require none of the super-natural gifts that they pretend to, to see that the introduction of such a cast amongst us would corrupt our blacks and instigate them to bloodsheds. . . . We believe it a duty we owe ourselves, to our wives and children, to the cause of public morals, to remove them from among us, as we are not prepared to give up our pleasant places, and goodly possessions to them, or to receive into the bosom of our families, as fit companions for our wives and daughters the degraded & corrupt free negroes and mulattoes, that are now invited to settle among us. . . . We will meet at the court house at the town of Independence, on Saturday next, 20 Inst. to consult ulterior movements.

July 20, 1833, was hot under sunny skies. Out on the prairies "flowers of red, yellow, purple and crimson, were scattered in profusion among the grass, sometimes growing singly, and at others spreading out in beds of several acres in extent." In Independence there was none of the usual Saturday activity in a farming community. A strange quiet prevailed when, unexpectedly -— "to the surprise and terror of the Mormons," there gathered suddenly in the town "between four and five hundred persons." One Protestant minister proudly reported that "they assembled . . . according to appointment without noise or riot, or drunkenness, but with a deliberate purpose." This meeting, one of the participants later recalled, convened at the new, brick courthouse "to devise some means to put a stop to [the Mormons'] seditious boasts as to what they proposed to do." In democratic fashion — this was the Jacksonian era -— the meeting was called to order and a chairman was chosen. A committee composed of Russel Hicks, Thomas Hudspeth, and five others was appointed to draft a set of resolutions. These resolutions were passed by the assembly and constitute the second document which the Missourians released to the general public. In part it read as follows.

We are told [by the Mormons], and not by the ignorant alone, but by all classes of them, that we (the Gentiles) of this country are to be cut off, and our lands appropriated by them for inheritances. . . . Some recent remarks in the "Evening and Morning Star," their organ, in this place, . . . show plainly that many of this deluded and infatuated people have been taught to believe that our lands are to be taken from us by the sword. . . . One of the means resorted to by them in order to drive us to emigrate, is an indirect invitation to the free brethren of color in Illinois to come up like the rest to the land of Zion. True, the Mormons say this was not intended to invite but to prevent emigration; but this weak attempt to quiet our apprehension, is but a poor compliment to our understandings. The invitation alluded to, contained all the necessary directions and cautions to enable the free blacks, on their arrival here, to claim and exercise the rights of citizenship. Contemporaneous with the appearance of this article, was the general expectation among the brethren here, that a considerable number of this degraded class were only waiting this information before they set out on their journey. With the corrupting influence of these on our slaves and the stench both physical and moral, that their introduction would set off in our social atmosphere, and the vexation that would attend the civil rule of these fanatics, it would require neither a visit from the destroying angel, nor the judgments of an offended God, to render our situation here insupportable.

The resolutions required the Mormons to cease publication of the Star, to stop immigrating into the county, and to agree that those already residing therein would remove "within a reasonable time."

A committee of 13 was delegated to call upon the Mormon leaders to ascertain their response to these proposals. They approached Phelps, Partridge, Gilbert, John Whitmer, Corrill, and Isaac Morley. The citizens' committee demanded to know, "Will you leave the County or not?" It also required of the Mormons that they "shut up [the] printing office store, mechanical shops &c. immediately." "The message was so terrible, so unexpected, the 'saints' asked time for deliberation, for consultation." The elders, one of them remembered, "asked for three months, for consideration — They would not grant it — We asked for ten days — They would not grant it but said fifteen minutes was the longest, and refused to hear any reasons."

When the Mormons then declined to comply with the proposals, the conversation was broken off immediately. The committee quickly returned to the assembly which had been waiting for almost two hours. The citizens were informed that the Mormon leaders refused "giving any direct answer, to the requisitions made of them, and wished an unreasonable time for consultation, not only with the brethren here, but the prophet in Ohio." When this answer was given to those at the courthouse, they unanimously "voted to raze the printing [office] to the ground."

The printing establishment was assailed by a group of men under the leadership of Gan Johnson and John King, who "knocked the door in." "Mrs. Phelps, with a sick infant child and the rest of her children, together with the furniture in the house, were thrown out doors." "The press was thrown from the upper story, and the apparatus, book work, paper, type, &c, scattered through the streets." The press was broken by the fall and lay in the street until the following February. The type was scattered "there in the street for years," a plaything for little boys. The roof was pulled off and the walls razed. There were approximately 100 men employed at this task and in an hour the project was finished. The destruction of the printing office brought a permanent end to the publication of the Book of Commandments', the last verses which had been set in type read:

The willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days; And the rebellious shall be cut off out of the land of Zion, and shall be sent away and shall not inherit the land: For verily I say the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim.

The Star was transferred to Kirtland, Ohio, for publication where Oliver Cowdery assumed the editorship. The remaining 10 issues of the second volume were published and then a new paper, the Messenger and Advocate, was launched.

After demolishing the printing establishment, the Jackson Countians turned their attention to the storehouse. It was broken into and some of the goods tossed into the street. Men took the bolts of cloth by the end and ran off with them until they were unwound. "The streets were almost covered with these pieces of cloth that were unrolled in that manner, and other goods scattered around." Gilbert finally persuaded them to cease this destruction and promised that he would pack the goods and close the store by the following Tuesday. Robert Rathbun's blacksmith shop was also raided and his tools strewn in the street.

While this was taking place, some of the Jackson Countians under the leadership of George Simpson took Partridge and Charles Allen to the public square. There, in the presence of a numerous crowd, they were partially stripped and smeared with a quantity of tar from head to foot. This first coat was followed by a second of feathers.

It was now late in the day, and no doubt many were tired from the strenuous activity under a July sun. It was formally proposed that the citizens adjourn until the 23rd, at which time they would reconvene to determine whether or not Gilbert had carried out his promise. The motion passed and the weary citizens departed for their homes.

Where was that traditional western guardian of justice, the sheriff, while these events were taking place? Arrangements had been made in advance to remove him from the scene of action. Whether this was done in concert with the official himself, or whether it came as a complete surprise to him probably will remain unknown. Sheriff Jacob Gregg was to testify 60 years later:

I was not in that affair in any way; the first movement that was made was when they tore down the printing office of the Mormon people. When I came in town one morning I saw a crowd of men standing by the courthouse; saw that one of them had a rope in his hand, when I got up about half way to them, two men came up to meet me; said they had some business back at the tavern. They took me back in a room there, and one of them went out and locked the door after him, and left me with the other one, and I know nothing about what was going on outside until I got out of there. They had torn down the printing office, and dispersed before I got out to see what was being done. After I was let out of the house all was quiet.

On July 23 the citizens congregated again in Independence and this time extorted a pledge from the Mormon leaders that they and all their followers would be out of the county by April 1, 1834. Before then, however, a new eruption of violence occurred, even more severe than the first, and the Mormons were forcibly expelled from the county in November 1833.

Any student seeking the causes of conflict between Mormon and Missourian in Jackson County in 1833 soon comes to realize that these were manifold. Considering the number of persons involved — each with his own motive — this was inevitable. But clearly a primary cause was the relationship of the Mormons to a group the Missourians held in contempt, the Negro — free and slave. It has already been shown how "free people of color" played a part in this tragic affair. But what role did slavery play? One historian has stated that "the unpardonable sin of the Mormons in Jackson County was opposition to slavery." Samuel D. Lucas alleged in 1837 that the eviction of the Mormons, "although a strong and violent [measure], was fully justified, and indispensable, in consequence of the impertinent and mischievous interference of the Mormons with the slaves in the county." However, the difficulty with a ready acceptance of this as an explanation is that there is no concrete evidence that the Mormons ever incited, conspired, or tampered with the slaves. Thomas Pitcher, who was court-martialed by the state in 1834 for his conduct as commander of the Jackson County militia when the Mormons were expelled from the county, admitted years later that the Mormons "did not interfere with the negroes." Certainly there would have been evidence if they had done so. The "black codes" which regulated the institution of slavery would have been used against them. Alexander Majors remembered :

All the offices of the county being in the hands of [the Mormons'] enemies, ... if one [of the Mormons] had stolen a chicken he could and would have been brought to grief for doing so; but it is my opinion there is nothing in the county records to show where a Mormon was ever charged with a misdemeanor in the way of violation of the laws.

Certainly none of the surviving documentary material written prior to the troubles in July makes reference to Mormon involvement with the slaves. While this type of material is scarce, the absence of any such references therein is significant. This is not to contend, however, that none of the Jackson Countians believed the accusation. Unquestionably some had been convinced — or had convinced themselves — that it was true.

It should be noted that those who took the leadership in arousing opposition to the Mormons could not have found a more effective dart than antislavery activity to hurl at their opponents, one more calculated to wound fatally. Nat Turner's rebellion, the most sanguinary slave uprising in American history, had occurred in Virginia only two summers previously. An almost irrational fear of slave revolts had swept over the areas of slavery, a fear that had not completely subsided by July 1833. It is true (as Cowdery claimed) that there were only a small number of slaves in Jackson County, but fear has never been predicated solely upon numbers. On no occasion did the Mormon leaders appear to have contemplated using the slaves against the Missourians, though some fanatics may have talked of it. These charges were most likely a shibboleth, used by the instigators of the violence to win the support of the ignorant within the county and to secure favor with public opinion elsewhere.

An evaluation of the testimony and an analysis of the facts, therefore, lead one to the conclusion that the Mormons did not constitute a "clear and present danger" to slavery in Jackson County in 1833. However, they probably did represent a potential threat. The distinction may be a fine one, but it is, nevertheless, an important one. The majority of the Mormons definitely "had some sentiments that were antislavery," and a few were foolish enough to let these sentiments be known. Alexander W. Doniphan, western lawyer and military leader, recalled:

[The Mormons] were northern people, who, on account of their declining to own slaves and their denunciation of the system of slavery, were termed "free soilers." The majority of them were intelligent, industrious and law abiding citizens, but there were some ignorant, simple minded fanatics among them. . . . They established a newspaper at Independence, ... in which they set forth that they had been sent to Jackson county by divine Providence, and that they, as a church were to possess the whole of the county, which then embraced what is now Jackson, Cass and Bates counties. These assumptions were evidently made use of for the purpose of exciting the more ignorant portions of the community. . . . But I think the real objections to the Mormons were their denunciation of slavery, and the objections slave holders had to having so large a settlement of antislavery people in their midst.

David Whitmer, a Mormon resident of the county, agreed:

What first occasioned these difficulties I am unable to say, except that the church was composed principally of Eastern and Northern people, who were opposed to slavery, and that there were among us a few ignorant and simple-minded persons who were continually making boasts to the Jackson county people, that they intended to possess the entire county.

Most of the Mormons in the early years of the- church were from the same stock and from those same areas which supplied the abolition movement with its drive and many of its adherents. The Jackson Countians, in turn, "were of the same class, and in some cases the same families, who were to participate in the bloody raids against Kansas." It is probable that the pro-slavery element in Jackson County felt that extensive immigration from the North and East — such as that of the Mormons — might eventually carry the day for abolition in Missouri.

But in a sense, the truth or falsity of the allegations does not matter. "Whether real or alleged, activity relative to slavery on the part of the Mormons was used by the western Missouri people during the thirties as a campaign slogan, and the issue must therefore have been vital and important." In 1836 Missouri Governor Daniel Dunklin, who at first had been sympathetic toward the Mormons, wrote Phelps:

The time was when the people (except those in Jackson county) were divided, and the major part in your favour; that does not now seem to be the case. Why is this so? Does your conduct merit such censures as exist against you? It is not necessary for me to give my opinion. Your neighbours accuse your people, of holding illicit communications with the Indians, and of being opposed to slavery. You deny. Whether the charge, or the denial, is true, I cannot tell. The fact exists, and your neighbours seem to believe it true; and whether true, or false, the consequences will be the same. . .

The consequences were certainly the same that July day in Independence when the printing establishment was razed to the ground.

WILLIAM WINES PHELPS

William W. Phelps, editor of the Evening and Morning Star, had a checkered career as a Mormon, being twice excommunicated and twice reinstated. Born February 17, 1792, he was baptized in 1831, after a special revelation to Joseph Smith. In 1838 Phelps was excommunicated from the Mormon Church, but by 1841 the differences were resolved, and Phelps was reinstated.

In Nauvoo Phelps became a member of the city council and Council of Fifty, and following the death of Joseph Smith supported Brigham Young. He came to Utah in 1848 in Brigham Young's company and became very active in public affairs. Phelps accompanied Parley P. Pratt in his explorations of southern Utah. He served as a justice of the peace, a notary public, and.a legislator — for a time he was a senator in the State of Deseret. He died in Salt Lake City, March 7, 1872.

Phelps will be remembered as the writer of many Mormon songs and hymns, 19 of which are still in the Hymns, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, 1961).

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