  A PROPHET'S REBUKE. It is time now that we turn our attention to what befell Joseph Smith and his fellow-prisoners. The first day from Far West they made twelve miles, camping at night on Crooked River. A strong guard was placed around the prisoners, who watched them closely. The next morning the Prophet Joseph had a word of comfort for his brethren. He spoke to each one quietly saying: "Be of good cheer, brethren, the word of the Lord came to me last night that our lives should be given us; and that whatever we might suffer during this captivity, not one of our lives should be taken." [A] [Footnote A: Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, page 210.] The reader will pardon me if I anticipate sufficiently to say that this remarkable prophecy was verily fulfilled: not one of their lives was sacrificed. The same day this prophecy was made, the prisoners reached the Missouri River, and were hurried across into Jackson County, for General Clark had sent word to Lucas to bring the prisoners to him at Richmond; but Wilson was determined to exhibit the prisoners at Independence. On the journey Wilson became more friendly towards his prisoners and conversed freely with them in relation to the disturbances which had taken place in Jackson County, in 1833. General Wilson, it must be remembered, was the man who kept a store about one mile west of Big Blue, and seven or eight miles west of Independence; and who was active in driving the saints from Jackson County and burning their homes. Of the part he took in these proceedings he boasted as if it was some laudable work he had accomplished, though he admitted that he and his associates then, and now, were the aggressors, and that the manner of life followed by the saints was blameless. On the fourth the prisoners and their guards arrived at Independence, and though it was raining, the prisoners were driven about the streets for the purpose of exhibiting them to the crowds which had come together to see them. They were placed in an old, vacant house where many came to see them during that and the following day. Among those who came on the first day was a lady, who innocently inquired which one of the men it was the "Mormons" worshiped. Joseph was pointed out to her as the one, and she inquired of him if he professed to be the Lord and Savior. To which he replied that he "professed to be nothing but a man, and a minister of salvation, sent by Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel." This astonished the lady and her eager questions brought from the prophet, ever willing to preach the gospel either in freedom or in bondage, a discourse on the principles he was sent to teach. The lady broke down in tears, and left their dingy prison with a prayer for their safety and deliverance. Joseph's native eloquence and the truth he advocated had gained another triumph, for not only was the lady overcome with what she heard, but it had its effect upon all who listened. In a day or two the prisoners were removed from their miserable quarters where the floor had been their bed and blocks of wood their pillows, to the best hotel in the city, where they were treated kindly and allowed to move about pretty freely, with a small guard to watch their movements. Subsequently, however, they had to pay their own expense at this hotel, and exorbitant charges were made for every comfort afforded them. During the few days that Joseph and his fellow-prisoners remained at Independence, several messages were sent from General Clark's headquarters at Richmond to have the "Mormon" leaders sent there immediately. General Wilson, however, found it difficult to secure a guard to accompany them, as no one would volunteer, and when men were drafted they refused to obey orders. At last three men were obtained as a guard, and on the morning of the eighth of November they set out for Richmond. They traveled down the south bank of the Missouri River to a ferry kept by a Frenchman by the name of Roy. Here they crossed the river, and after going about a half a mile lodged for the night at a private house. The guard who accompanied the prisoners came more as a protection to them than to hinder them from escaping, and the people in and about Independence appeared willing for the prisoners to escape. The guards had been drinking during the day, and not infrequently the prisoners were sixty or eighty rods in the rear or ahead of them. When night found them at the private house before mentioned, sleep so overpowered the guards that they gave their arms into the hands of the prisoners that they might protect themselves if occasion to do so should occur; and that was quite likely since they were in a neighborhood filled with their most bitter enemies. The night passed, however, without any disturbance, and the next morning the journey to Richmond was continued. Before starting a number of armed and rough-looking men, gathered about the prisoners with curses and threats, and the guards alarmed for their safety, sent a messenger to Richmond to obtain a stronger guard. Without waiting for its arrival, the little company proceeded on its journey, but had not gone far when they met Colonel Sterling Price and a guard of seventy soldiers. Arriving at Richmond, Joseph and his brethren were thrust into an old, vacant house under guard. Soon afterwards they were visited by General Clark who was introduced to them. The prisoners made an effort to find out the charges against them, but Clark evaded their questions and shortly withdrew. Clark had left the room but a few minutes when Colonel Price came in accompanied by a blacksmith of the name of John Fulkerson, carrying a log chain and a number of pad-locks. The windows to the house were nailed down, and the seven prisoners from Independence were chained together by the ankles; Price's guard of ten men standing with guns poised, and their thumbs on the hammers for instant use. In the meantime General Clark was searching for authority to try the prisoners before a court-martial, and it would appear from the testimony of a brother, by the name of Grant, that he had concluded to so proceed, and had even given the sentence of the court before an investigation had occurred; for this young man by the name of Grant, (given name not known), but a brother-in-law to William Smith, brother to the Prophet Joseph, lodged at the hotel where Clark made his headquarters. He saw that general select the men who were to shoot the "Mormon" leaders on the morning of the twelfth of November. He saw these men choose their rifles and load them with two balls in each; after which Clark said to them: "Gentlemen, you shall have the honor of shooting the "Mormon" leaders on Monday morning at eight o'clock." [B] [Footnote B: Testimony of Hyrum Smith, Times and Seasons, volume 4, page 252.] Some of the friends of the captive brethren intimated to the general that he had no authority to try the prisoners by court-martial; whereupon he sent to Fort Leavenworth to obtain the military code of laws, which he searched for several days for authority to try the prisoners as he had proposed, by court-martial. At last he had to give it up, but he did it with great reluctance. He visited the prison where Joseph and his brethren were confined, and told them he had decided to deliver them to the civil authorities; and informed them they were accused of "treason, murder, arson, larceny, theft, and stealing." The prisoners then were delivered into the hands of the civil authorities, and an investigation was begun before Austin A. King, the circuit judge, and Thomas C. Birch, the prosecuting attorney for the State. The examination of the witnesses for the State continued from the eleventh of November to the twenty-sixth. Each night after the day's examination the prisoners who had been brought down from Independence were taken to their gloomy prison and chained together, while about fifty of their brethren and fellow-prisoners, who had been brought from Far West, were kept under guard in an open unfinished, court-house, exposed to the excessive coldness of that inclement season. The constitution of Elder Rigdon was so delicate, that in consequence of the exposure and hardships he was forced to endure under this cruel persecution, his health broke down and at last he lost his reason; yet he was chained to his companions and compelled to remain in the presence of a noisy and unruly and unfeeling guard. His daughter, who was the wife of George W. Robinson, one of the prisoners fastened to the same chain with her father, was at last permitted to come to the prison and care for her afflicted father. Lovingly, tenderly this delicate young woman with her first born babe at her breast, nursed her afflicted father through those gloomy days, and through her tenderness and anxious care nursed him back to health and reason. The guard, under Colonel Price, was perhaps the most foulmouthed and villainous that could possibly be brought together. They related to each other their deeds of murder and rapine, and boasted of raping virtuous wives and maidens, until the prisoners were heart-sick with the disgusting details of their crimes. Parley P. Pratt relates an incident that occurred in the prison one night when the guards were unusually obscene, which we give entire in that writer's own language:
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