I'm just curious to know. I haven't found the answer yet.

mobocracy

Among other things, they were charged with treason for ordering an attack by the mormon militia on the non-mormons including at least one death. There are numerous records of the affidavits used for their arrest which can be found and will surely be recited by other posters. In other words, Joseph and Hyrum should have faced the ultimate punishment.

These families were printing and spreading anti-Mo articles and otherwise criticizing the Mos publicly. The Mos didn't like it. Smashed a printing press, burned some building down, several people injured and I think some dead. So treason, inciting a riot, destruction of personal property.

Liberty jail was earlier - in Missouri. The smashing of the press etc. was in Nauvoo. The charge of treason was in both cases. JS was a bad apple.

JS was also still under indictment for bigamy! Yes, the charges from the previous year were still pending. Those who think polygamy was legal are wrong. However, it should be noted that the treason charges were added while they were in jail in Carthage, not being those from Missouri. JS was, of course, guilty.

According to the March 11, 1989 Church News, the charges were treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny and perjury.

As an attorney reading the evidence, it was much more than we see in criminal cases and conviction was likely.

It's unclear who shot first in Missouri. There probably were some trouble makers who started messing with the Mormons, but rather then treat it as an individual problem, the Mormons decided to see the entire state as the enemy.

At one point early on, the Governor, and most of Missouri were willing to work with the Mormons. Then Joe showed up with Zion's Camp. Faced with an invasion by a militia of religious zealots, public opinion quickly turned against the church. Joe backed off, but it was never forgotten.

Later, after still more trouble, Joe ordered the Mormons to burn all the "gentile" farms, and to loot all their belongings. The loot was then all gathered into a central location, so when the state militia showed up in force, and discovered all the loot in one place, ready to be split up under the organization of the church.

Thus they charged him with treason.

Note that the outstanding treason charges were NOT those from Missouri but new ones leveled after JS ordered the legion to free him from Carthage. Note that at the time of all this he was running for President of the United States!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Jail

Note: This article is extremely pro-Mormon - usually they are more balanced in wiki, but it gives you a reasonably good understanding.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2013 04:35PM by bc.

He who controls wikipedia controls the truth! and he who controls the truth controls the world! Go change wiki!

If you want a really good book on the subject, check out Stephen C. LeSueur's "The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri." It's well-documented, even-handed, and it doesn't suffer from Mormon tampering like Wikipedia.

On June 7, 1844, the first and only edition of The Nauvoo Expositor was printed. In it were charges of secret polygamy, the doctrine of plural gods and the Mormons' political agenda. Besides teaching polygamy and multiple gods, Smith also had himself secretly ordained king and was planning the political kingdom of God.

One of the paper’s publishers was William Law who had become disaffected from the church after learning that Joseph Smith had approached his wife about becoming one of Smith’s plural wives while Law was out-of-town on church business.

On 18 April 1844 Law and his wife Jane and brother Wilson were excommunicated for "unchristianlike conduct." Ten days later they and other dissidents founded a separatist church, declaring Smith a fallen prophet. The group issued a prospectus for an opposition newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor.

The Nauvoo City Council, with Joseph Smith officiating as mayor, ordered the Marshal to destroy the press. The Council passed an ordinance declaring the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance, and also issued an order to me [Joseph Smith] to abate the said nuisance. I immediately ordered the Marshal to destroy it without delay. . . . About 8 p.m., the Marshal returned and reported that he had removed the press, type, printed paper, and fixtures into the street, and destroyed them.

While Mormons try to justify the destruction of the press on the basis that the paper was full of lies history has shown that the charges were legitimate. The destruction of the press caused a public uproar, and fearing a riot Smith called out the Nauvoo Legion. This led to the arrest of both Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum. While the Smiths were awaiting a hearing the jail was stormed by an angry mob and the brothers were shot to death.

http://www.i4m.com/think/history/fallen_prophet.htm

Note: This is for his arrest for Carthage jail, not Liberty jail.

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/findingaids/fulltext/rg005_01-B02_F01-15.asp?rid=b02_f10_f01-02

"On Tuesday last we commenced the examination of

the alleged crimes (being treason, murder, bur:

:glary, arson & larceny) against Jo. Smith and

his Co leaders, & also forty six others who oc:

:cupy less space, amongst their people, but

many of whom are equally guilty. "


http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/findingaids/fulltext/rg005_01-B02_F25-30.asp?rid=b02_f27

"Enclosed I sind you the

conclusion and judgment of

the court on the prisoners char

=ged &c – I think it very impor

=tant that it should accomp

=any the evidendc, I will be

glad also that the note appen

=ded to it should be published

If it is convenient

please sind me a copy

when published –

Respectfully

Austin A King



At this point the testimony or both

sides closed.

And the Court being satisfied that

there is no probable cause for charging

a portion of said prisoners with the

offences alledged against them to wit

King Follet, [Benj ], George W

Harris, Elijah Newman, Moses Clawson

& Daniel Shearer they are accordingly

discharged.

On Motion of the Circuit Attorney and

it appearing to the Satisfaction of the

Court that the offences herein before

named, have been committed and so that

there is probable cause to believe that

said prisoners are guilty thereof

That is to say that there is probable cause to

believe that Joseph Smith, Jr Lyman

Wight, Hiram Smith, Alexander McRay

& Caleb Baldwin are guilty of Overt

acts of Treason in Daviess County (and

for want of a Jail in Daviess County)

said prisoners are committed to the

Jail in Clay to answer the charges

aforsaid in the county of Daviess-

on the first Monday in March next"

Liberty is in Clay County.

What no one seems to be bringing up in the Mormon Missouri War of 1838 was that Joseph Smith and buddy Sidney Rigdon were at war with their own people not just the Missouri neighbors. The Salt Sermon given by Rigdon on July 4, 1838 was also directed at dissenters. Cowdry, WW Phelps, David and John Witmer, Lyman Johnson and other prominent Mos were excommunicated and threatened literally with death. Read up on the Danite Manifesto. ..."for you there shall be no escape; for there is but one decree for you, which is depart, depart, or a more fatal calamity shall befall you." These were important Mos in the church. They ran out of the county and had to petition for help from the authorities from their once Mormon friends, co-conspirators and buddies.

Scumbag Joe and Rigdon had run out of Kirtland escaping prosecution for the Kirtland Safety Society bank fraud. Smith was out of cash and wanted land turned over to him.

Such a legacy to be proud of: three Mormon wars with the United States within a period of twenty years.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2013 01:29AM by No Mo.

In some ways it's a shame he died. Had he have been tried there is a chance he could have spent 30 years in prison. What would have happened to the church in that instance? Probably collapsed through the infighting and power vacuum.

The trial records and newspaper reports would have made good reading, see how he defends himself and if he comes out with any more phony prophecies to threaten the courts with.

yeah. I was just thinking that killing him only made him a martyr and is probably the main reason the church grew and still exists today.

Had js not died he would have brought the church to ruin, anyway, He was fast deterirating into narcissisim/egotism and was about to implode in self aggrandizement--yes, too bad he got killed, martyrs fare better.

What I find amusing in this post is that people are getting Liberty and Carthage mixed up, because, you know, God chose a really good-hearted, humble servant like Joseph Smith to restore The One True Church on Earth.

Then was he in trouble so much? Could it be.......Satan??

Very good point. Joseph Smith had legal problems most of his adult life, starting with his glass-looker trial in 1826. A fine choice to lead the Lord's Church in the final dispensation of times.

God always chooses the most honest and upstanding, trustworthy citizens to lead his churches and restore his gospel. Duh! And God can never seem to be decisive so he restores a lot of different churches. One can never be too cut and dried, not even God.

"Sandra Tanner on the Character, Motivations, and Death of Joseph Smith": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OhLHz2aDRk

It was the nearest one at the time and they really just couldn't keep them out- with all they were doing- and let them run the streets, and towns, [and "churches"] (And, at times, at least in Joseph's mind, be found king of the country- U.S.A.) so wildly and blatently unlawfully. Both guilty by association or relation: Hyrum by birth/ "luck"; Joseph by the "SSV", the devil, or his ego, or himself... whichever he was at the time. Maybe they liked bars.

The guy had creditors chasing him, families who's daughters were seduced chasing him, he was being pursued for various treasonous acts. It's only because of the rudimentary justice systems and his constant hiding and crossing state lines that he wasn't in prison permanently. He managed to stay out of the clutches of the legal authorities most of the time but in places where the law is not efficient, the people often take it into their own hands. Joe's demise was at the hands of vigilante frontier justice.

William Law, the First Counselor in the First Presidency, was approached by Joseph Smith, who told him that Emma would sleep with him if Law's wife would sleep with Joseph. This is TRUE. Joseph wanted to swap, and Emma agreed. This is fact. Law declined, and then determined that Joseph had "fallen". With Robert Foster, the Higbee brother, and a few others, they founded the NAUVOO EXPOSITOR newspaper. They planned the following:

1) Publicly expose Joseph Smith as a fallen Prophet who publicly condemned polygamy, but secretly practiced it.

2) Install David Whitmer as the new Prophet of The True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The NAUVOO EXPOSITOR had one edition. Joseph Smith read it, and approached the Nauvoo City Council, and said "I want to close it down". Another Council member, a non-Mormon, asked if Joseph Smith was practicing polygamy. Joseph Smith denied it, and said that he had preached it, but it pertained to the future, not now. A vote was taken, and all but the non-Mormon did as Joseph Smith said, and he ordered the Town Marshall to close the newspaper, and to take the printing plates and destroy them with a sled hammer in the street. This was done. This caused outrage in Carthage and nearby towns, and when Govenor Thomas Ford of Illinois heard this, he ordered Joseph Smith to be arrested for illegally closing down the newspaper and destroying its property. Joseph Smith then fled to a small island in the Mississippi to hide, with plans to move to Iowa, but many of his closest friends told him he should come back and face the charges, and that the Nauvoo City Charter allowed him to do what he did. So, he came back, and was arrested. Hyrum Smith was no under arrest. He was by his brother's side. The other two men in the jail, Willard Richards and John Taylor, were also not under arrest. Joseph Smith wrote letters asking for the Nauvoo Legion to come rescute him, but the leader of the legion read them, and then ignored them. Why? Don't know. Perhaps he thought the charges against Joseph were true. Perhaps he was scared of a blood bath. Don't know. He refused to take action. Later, he either committed suicide, or he was killed. The POINT is....what the NAUVOO EXPOSITOR "exposed" about Joseph Smith was the absolute truth, Joseph Smith was boffing up to 32 women not including Emma, including his own foster daughters, the Lawurence sisters, and the wives of some men he sent on missions to England. Read "The Secret Diary of Joseph Smith" which is also called "The Secret Diary by William Clayton". Joseph Smith kept two diaries: one he intended to publish, and a secret one. The secret one, published by Utah Lighthouse Ministries, for a I think about 8 dollars, has daily entries where Joseph (via Clayton) says: "Saw Sister Jones today, and did he a good turn" or "Saw Sister Adams today, and did her a good turn". In Joseph Smith's day "Did her a good turn" was a way to say: "I boffed her brains out". Mormon apologists have attacted William Clayton over the years, as reporting rumor as fact, but there is NO evidence he ever did that. He was a reliable reporter of what Joseph Smith said and did.

Curse of Cain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> William Law, the First Counselor in the First
> Presidency, was approached by Joseph Smith, who
> told him that Emma would sleep with him if Law's
> wife would sleep with Joseph. This is TRUE.

Source?

> Joseph
> wanted to swap, and Emma agreed. This is fact.

Source?

Oh my gawd yes baura.

Wouldn't we just love to hear the salacious details of this tawdry topic?

And most especially satisfying would be any provenance from reliable sources.

I've long suspected that Emma wasn't the prim and proper longsuffering spouse of God's second son we all know, she of popular legend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2014 04:11AM by Shummy.

Having unlawfully ordered the destruction of the Expositor press and the destruction of the building,when an arrest warrant was issued for them, they fled across the river. Fearing that the governor was going to order the militia to invade and destroy Nauvoo runners were sent to convince them to return. Upon their return they were arrested and confined in Carthage.

At Carthage they were sent there to die for stirring up the Gentiles to wrath, and for breaking the law or rather making it as they went to suit themselves.

They knew they were going to their death at the hands of vigilantes.

The times they were imprisoned otherwise was for breaking the law of the land. Then Joey would schmooze his way out until the next run-in with the law. He brought about his own calamities, and ultimately downfall. Hyrum went along for the ride.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2017 01:46AM by Amyjo.

And people are *still* confusing Liberty and Carthage.

Liberty. Missouri. 1838-39. Escaped.
Carthage. Illinois. 1844. Died.

Jailbird Joseph.