  A JOURNAL KEPT BY DON C. SMITH, WHILE ON A MISSION WITH GEORGE A. SMITH, HIS COUSIN. At a meeting of the High Council held in Adam-ondi-Ahman, I was appointed, in company with my cousin, George A. Smith, Lorenzo D. Barnes and Harrison Sagers, to take a mission to the east and south, for the purpose of raising means to buy out the mobbers in Daviess county, Missouri; also to effect an exchange of farms between the brethren in the east, and the mobbers in our immediate neighborhood. On the twenty-sixth of September, 1838, we took leave of our friends, and started on our mission, in company with Brother Earl, who proposed taking us in his wagon as far as Richmond, a distance of seventy miles. We stopped at Far West to see Brother Joseph. He sanctioned our mission, and bid us God-speed. On our way to Richmond, we stayed over night with Captain Alpheus Cutler, formerly of the United States army. He and his family treated us with much kindness. We also called on John Goodson, who a few days previous had shared freely in the hospitality of my uncle's house, yet he had not the politeness to ask either cousin George or myself to take breakfast with him. When we got to the landing, we found the river very low, and but one boat up, which was the Kansas. Whilst waiting for this boat, we had an interview with David Whitmer. He had not confidence to look us in the face, for he had become our enemy; yet, when we parted, he shook hands with us quite cordially, and wished us success. On the thirtieth of September, we went on board the Kansas; this was a very slow conveyance, for one of the wheels was broken; besides, the river being very low, and full of snags and sand bars, we got along but slowly on our journey. Here we traveled in company with General Wilson and Samuel Lucas, besides many others who had taken an active part in the expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County, in 1833. General Atchison was also on board. On arriving at De Witt, we found about seventy of the brethren with their families, surrounded by a mob of about two hundred men. When the boat landed, the women and children were much frightened, supposing that we also were mob. We would have stopped and assisted them what we could, but we were unarmed, and, upon consulting together, it was thought advisable for us to fulfil our mission, so we returned to the boat, and proceeded on our journey. From this onward, the "Mormons" were the only subject of conversation, and nothing was heard but the most bitter imprecations against them. General Wilson related many of his deeds of noble daring in the Jackson mob, one of which was the following: "I went in company with forty others to the house of one Hiram Page, who was a 'Mormon,' in Jackson county. We got logs and broke in every door and window at the same instant; and pointing our rifles at the family, we told them, we would be God d—d if we didn't shoot every one of them if Page did not come out. At that, a tall woman made her appearance with a child in her arms. I told the boys, she was too d—d tall. In a moment the boys stripped her, and found it was Page. I told them to give him a d—d good one. We gave him sixty or seventy lashes with hickory withes which we had prepared. Then, after pulling the roof off this house, we went to the next d—d 'Mormon's' house, and whipped him in like manner. We continued until we whipped ten or fifteen of the God d—d 'Mormons' and demolished their houses that night. If the Carroll boys would do that way, they might conquer; but it is no use to think of driving them without about four to one. I wish I could stay, I would help drive the d—d 'Mormons' to hell, old Joe, and all the rest." At this, I looked the General sternly in the face, and told him that he was neither a republican nor a gentleman, but a savage, without a single principle of honor. "If," said I, "the 'Mormons' have broken the law, let it be strictly executed against them; but such anti-republican and unconstitutional acts as these related by you, are below the brutes." We were upon the hurricane deck, and a large company present were listening to the conversation. When I ceased speaking, the General placed his hand upon his pistol, but I felt safe, for Cousin George stood by his side, watching every move the General made, and would have knocked him into the river instantly, had he attempted to draw a deadly weapon. But General Atchinson saved him the trouble by saying, "I'll be God d—d, if Smith ain't right." At this, Wilson left the company rather crest-fallen. In the course of the conversation, Wilson said that the best plan was, to rush into the "Mormon" settlement, murder the men, make slaves of the children, take possession of the property, and use the women as they pleased. There was a gentleman present from Baltimore, Maryland; he said he never was among such a pack of d—d savages before; that he had passed through Far West, and saw nothing among the "Mormons" but good order. Then, drawing his pistols, he discharged them; and re-loading, he said, "If God spares my life till I get out of Upper Missouri, I will never be found associating with such devils again." Shortly after this, we were invited to preach on board. Elder Barnes gave them a good lecture, and I bore testimony. The rest of the way we were treated more civilly, but, being deck passengers, and having very little money, we suffered much for food. On one occasion we paid twelve and a half cents for one dozen ears of [Indian] corn; and after grating it, we paid a woman twelve and a half cents more for baking it into bread, although it was badly done, being neither sifted, nor the whole kernels taken out; but we were so hungry that we were glad to get it. We continued our journey together through every species of hardship and fatigue, until the eleventh of October, when Elder Barnes and H. Sagers left us, after our giving them all the money we had; they started for Cincinnati, and we to visit the churches in West Tennessee, Soon after this, Julian Moses, who had fallen in company with us on the way, gave us a five franc piece, and bade us farewell. This left cousin George and myself alone and in a strange land; and we soon found that the mob spirit was here as well as in Missouri, for it was not long before we were mobbed by near twenty men, who surrounded the house in the night, and terrified the family very much; however, we succeeded in driving them away. After which we continued our journey until we arrived at Brother Utley's, in Benton county, a neighborhood where Brothers Patten and Woodruff were mobbed some years ago. We soon made our business known to all the Saints, who said they would use every effort to be on hand with their money and means—some in the fall, others in the spring. We received from Brother West twenty-eight dollars to bear our expenses; and also from others, acts of kindness which will never be forgotten. About this time our minds were seized with an awful foreboding—horror seemed to have laid his grasp upon us—we lay awake night after night, for we could not sleep. Our forebodings increased, and we felt sure that all was not right; yet we continued preaching until the Lord showed us that the Saints would be driven from Missouri. We then started home, and, on arriving at Wyatt's Mills, which was on our return, we were told that, if we preached there, it should cost us our lives. We gave out an appointment at the house of sister Foster, a wealthy widow. She advised us to give it up; but, as she had no fears for herself, her property or family, we concluded to fulfil our appointment. The hour of meeting came, and many attended. Cousin George preached about an hour, during which time a man named Fitch, came in at the head of twelve other mobbers, who had large, hickory clubs, and they sat down with their hats on. When Cousin George took his seat, I arose and addressed them for an hour and a half, during which time, I told them that I was a patriot—that I was free—that I loved my country—that I loved liberty—that I despised both mobs and mobbers—that no gentleman or Christian at heart, would ever be guilty of such things or countenance them. At this the mob pulled off their hats, laid down their clubs, and listened with almost breathless attention. After meeting, Mr. Fitch came to us and said that he was ashamed of his conduct, and would never do the like again, that he had been misinformed about us by some religious bigots. We continued our journey until we reached the town of Columbus, Hickman county, Kentucky. Here we put up with Captain Robinson, formerly an officer in the army, who treated us very kindly, assuring us that we were welcome to stay at his house until a boat should come, if it were three months. While here a company of thirteen hundred Cherokee Indians encamped on the bank of the river, to wait for ferry privileges. They felt deeply wounded at leaving their native country for the west. They said they were leaving a fine country, rich in mineral, but the whites knew very little of its value. They excited our sympathies very much; little did I think that my own wife and helpless babes were objects of greater sympathy than these. At length a boat came along, and we went on board. We had to pay all our money (five dollars) for fare, and eat and lie among negroes, as we took a deck passage. About ninety miles from St. Louis, our boat got aground, where it lay for three days. During this time we had nothing to eat but a little parched corn. They finally gave up the boat and left her. We went to the clerk and got two dollars of our money back, after which we went on board of a little boat that landed us in St. Louis the next morning. Here we found Elder Orson Pratt; he told us that Joseph was a prisoner with many others, and that David Patten was killed, giving us a long and sorrowful account of the sufferings of the Saints, which filled our hearts with sorrow. The next morning we started again on our journey. When we arrived at Huntsville, we stopped at the house of George Lyman, to rest, he being uncle to Cousin George, whose feet had now become very sore with traveling. Here we heard dreadful tales concerning our friends in Daviess county, that they were all murdered, and that my brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, were shot with a hundred balls. We had not been long in Huntsville till the mob made a rally to use us up with the rest of the Smiths, and, at the earnest request of our friends, we thought best to push on. The wind was in our faces, the ground was slippery, it was night, and very dark, nevertheless we proceeded on our journey. Traveling twenty-two miles, we came to the Chariton river, which we found frozen over, but the ice too weak to bear us, and the boat on the west side of the river. We went to the next ferry. Finding that there was no boat here, and that in the next neighborhood a man's brains were beat out for being a "Mormon," we returned to the first ferry, and tried by hallooing to raise the ferryman on the opposite side of the river, but were not able to awaken him. We were almost benumbed with cold, and to warm ourselves we commenced scuffling and jumping, we then beat our feet upon the logs and stumps, in order to start a circulation of blood; but at last Cousin George became so cold and sleepy that he said he could not stand it any longer, and lay down. I told him he was freezing to death; I then cut a stick and said I would thrash him. At this he got up and undertook to thrash me, this stirred his blood a little, but he soon lay down again; however, the ferryman in a short time came over, and set us on our own side of the river. We then traveled on until about breakfast time, when we stopped at the house of a man, who, we afterwards learned, was Senator Ashby, that commanded the mob at Haun's Mill. That night we stayed at one of the bitterest of mobocrats, by the name of Fox, and started the next morning without breakfast. Our route lay through a wild prairie, where there was but very little track, and only one house in forty miles. The northwest wind blew fiercely in our faces, and the ground was so slippery that we could scarcely keep our feet, and when the night came on, to add to our perplexity, we lost our way. Soon after which, I became so cold that it was with great difficulty I could keep from freezing. We also became extremely thirsty; however, we found a remedy for this, by cutting through ice three inches thick. While we were drinking we heard a cow bell, this caused our hearts to leap for joy, and we arose and steered our course towards the sound. We soon entered a grove, which sheltered us from the wind, and we felt more comfortable. In a short time we came to a house, where George was well acquainted; here we were made welcome and kindly entertained. We laid down to rest about 2 o'clock in the morning, after having traveled one hundred and ten miles in two days and two nights. After breakfast, I set out for Far West, leaving George sick with our hospitable friend. When I arrived, I was fortunate enough to find my family alive and in tolerable health, which was more than I could have expected, considering the scenes of persecution through which they had passed. LETTERS OF DON C. SMITH TO HIS WIFE, AGNES.
Agnes M. Smith. In the month of June, 1839, Don Carlos came from McDonough county to Commerce, for the purpose of making preparations to establish a printing press. As the press and type had been buried during the Missouri troubles, and were considerably injured by the dampness which they had gathered, it was necessary to get them into use as soon as possible; and in order to do this, Carlos was under the necessity of cleaning out a cellar, through which a spring was constantly flowing, for there was no other place at liberty where he could put up the press. The dampness of the place, together with his labor, caused him to take a severe cold, with which he was sick some time; nevertheless, he continued his labor, until he got the press into operation, and issued one number of the paper. He then went to McDonough, and visited his family; after which, he returned to Commerce, but found the distress so great that no business could be done. Upon his arrival in Commerce, he wrote to his wife the following letter, which shows the situation of the Church at that time, as well as his affectionate disposition, which was breathed in every word he spoke to his family, and stamped upon every line he wrote to them when absent.
While Don Carlos was at work in the before mentioned cellar, he took a severe pain in his side, which was never altogether removed. About a fortnight prior to his death, his family were very sick; and in taking care of them, he caught a violent cold—a fever set in, and the pain in his side increased, and with all our exertions, we were unable to arrest the disease, which I have no doubt was consumption, brought on by his working in a damp room, in which he printed his paper. ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF THE DEARLY BELOVED AND MUCH LAMENTED FATHER IN ISRAEL, JOSEPH SMITH, SENIOR, A PATRIARCH IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, WHO DIED AT NAUVOO, SEPTEMBER 14 1840. By Miss E. R. Snow.
LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF GEN. DON CARLOS SMITH By Miss E. R. Snow. "Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain."
THE ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH, FIRST PRESIDENTS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, WHO WERE MASSACRED BY A MOB IN CARTHAGE, HANCOCK COUNTY, ILL., ON JUNE 27, 1844. By Miss E. R. Snow.
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