Edward Stevenson's 1888 Visit to Liberty Jail

Prisoner in Liberty Jail

    [Excerpt of] Jenson and Stevenson Letter 8, Liberty, Clay Co., Mo.
    Daviess Co. Missouri, Sept. 18, 1888.
Editor Deseret News:
    ... This morning early we took train for Cameron, a fine city in Clinton County, where we changed cars and continued our journey to Liberty, Clay County, arriving here at 11 a.m.
    Without any difficulty we found the old jail where Joseph and his brethren were incarcerated from November, 1838, to April 1839. By the assistance of a colored neighbor we soon succeeded in gaining an entrance to the interior of the half-tumble-down building, which we found very filthy indeed, filled with cobwebs and insects of numerous kinds which had their abode in the rotten timbers. Mr. Theodore Shively, who has charge of the property for the present owner (Mortimer Dearing, a wealthy banker of Kansas City), told us that the jail had not been opened and entered until today for many years. The small from the decaying timber and dead insects was something sickening, and a couple of minutes' stay there made us wish for the fresh air outside. How the Prophet and his fellow-prisoners could endure life in such a hole for upwards of five months is more than we can comprehend. Of course it was not so filthy then, but the openings for ventilation and light seem to have been so small that it cannot possibly have been a healthy abode for human beings at any time. We found the space inside to measure about 14 1/2 feet from east to west, and 14 feet from north to south. From the basement floor to the ceiling we should judge it to be about 14 feet, two feet of which is under ground. The middle floor, which, while Joseph and his fellow-prisoners were there, divided the space into an upper and lower story, has been torn away, but we could see where it had been, and should say that the cell or lower room at the time measured 6 1/2 feet, and the upper about 7 feet from floor to ceiling.
    Joseph and his fellow-prisoners were confined in the upper [sic] room. The only openings giving light and ventilation to the cell part are two very small grated windows through the ball, one on the south and another on the north side. These openings, each of which has a heavy square iron bar running horizontally through the middle, are two feet wide and six inches high. Above them there are, near the roof, two larger opening, two feet in width and one foot in height, giving light and air to the upper story. In each of these two upper windows there are five square iron bars standing perpendicularly and fastened very securely in the timbers of the building. In fact the whole structure is a double building, the inner being built of hewn oak longs about a foot square and the outside of rock. The floor and celing are constructed of the same material, this making a huge wooden box. The rock walls are two feet thick, and in building them a space of about one foot was left between the rock and timber, [page 26] which space was filled up with loose rock. Thus it will be seen that the prison wall are virtually four feet thick. Several loads of rock were also placed on top of the log ceiling, in order to make escape through the roof impossible. The outside dimensions of the building are: 22 1/2 feet long, 22 feet wide and 12 feet high to the square. The door is on the east end, facing the street, and is 5 1/2 feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide, and opens to what was the upper apartment. The west gable and most of the west wall have tumbled down, and also part of the north wall, thus leaving the timber or inside structure partly exposed. The east wall and gable are in a good state of preservation, and only one corner of the south wall is torn down. The building stands back from the street about 20 feet, on an uncultivated acre lot, which the owner has offered to sell for $2,500, but no one seems to care for purchasing the property. To reach the building from the street we had to make a path through the thick growth of grass and weeds. Some of the latter, being more than six feet high, partly hid the building from view. We also learned from official sources that the old jail continued to be used as a prison until about the year 1856, when it was deemed unsafe, and for a couple of years and more Clay County criminals were sent to Platte County, in the neighboring county on the west, for safe keeping. In 1856 the present Liberty courth house was erected, with apartments for prisoners. For years afterward the old jail was utilized as an ice-house, but has not been used for any purpose whatever during the last decennium or more. The roof fell in years ago, and the rock wall is crumbling down more and more every season, so ther is every reason to believe that in a few years, even if permitted to stand as it does noe, there will be nothing but a heap of rocks and rotten timber left to designate the place where this historic building stood. We secured the aid of a photographer, who took a very good negative, showing the ruins as they stand at the present time.
    Having made all the observations we wanted around the jail, we visited a number of the old settlers of the town, among whom were Col. Luke W. Burris, a county official, Ben. H. Stean, a bright business man, James H. Ford, an ex-official, Dr. Marsh and others. Mr. Ford is 72 years old, served as deputy sheriff of Clay County in 1838-39, and had Joseph Smith and fellow-prisoners under his charge during their incarceration, acting under the direction of Samuel Hadley, the county sheriff. On many occasions we had taken the prisoners out one at a time for walks around town, in order to give them an opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and get better meals than the jail fare allowed. On these walks he had often had lengthy conversations with the Prophet, who to him appeared to be far above the average man in intelligence, and seemed to be very deep and thoughtful, although good-natured and even jocular in his manners. He had never looked upon Joseph Smith and his friends in prison as real criminals, but ascribed their incarceration [page 27] mainly to the excitement and bigotry of the times. Mr. Ford remembered the time when the prisoners tried to break jail, and said he discharged his pistol on that occasion, but hoped he did not hurt anybody. This is evidently the shot fired after Cyrus Daniels, one of the visiting brethren, who fell into a hole just as the report of a postol was heard, and a ball came whistling by. Mr. Ford said that in stopping the prisoners from getting out he also struck a heavy blow at the head of a boyish looking man, whose name he believed was Snow.
    Mr. Ford also accompanied the prisoners to Gallatin, Daviess County, in April, 1839, and said when they arrived there, they were handled over to some half-a-dozen of the strongest and roughest men of Daviess County, who at first crowded the prisoners into a corner of a room, refusing to allow them any liberties at all, but after a little, when they began to converse with the prisoners, they became quiet sociable with them, and a reputed champion wrestler of Daviess County wanted to try strength with the "Mormon" Prophet. Joseph excused himself, saying he was a prisoner and could not engage in exercises of that kind under the circumstances; but finally, through the solicitations of the guard and the man promising not to get angry if he was thrown, Joseph consented to wrestle with him. Consequently a ring was made and the two stepped forth. The Missourian took recourse to all the trickery known to him in the art of wrestling, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to throw Joseph. Finally the latter gathered up his strength, made a first real attempt and threw his opponent flat upon his back in a pool of water. This made the fellow mad, although he had agreed not to get offended if thrown, and he wished to fight, but the guard interfered and the Daviess County champion was much humiliated afterwards in being made the object of considerable ridicule on the part of his companions, he having previously boasted that he could easily throw Joseph Smith.
    We asked Mr. For if he knew anything about human flesh having been offered the prisoners. He answered emphatically no. So far as his knowledge went, such a thing was not even thought of, much less done. We suggested that it might possibly have been done without his knowledge, but he thought not. Samuel Tillery, he said, was the man who boarded the prisoners, and he did not believe him guilty of such an act. Mr. Ford was satisfied that the prisoners were treated humanely throughout, and given all the attention and privileges the law and circumstances would allow.
    Liberty is now a town of 2,500 inhabitants. There was a boom here a few years ago, but it has gone down and with it the price of property. Two weekly papers, one democratic and the other republican, are published here; there are a number of substantial brick stores and handsome private residences. On a hill immediately east of the court-house stands the William Jewell College, claimed to be one of the best institutions of learning in Western Missouri. We did not here find that animosity of feeling toward the Saints among the old settlers that we did in Ray and Daviess Counties, and in alluding to this we told some of the leading men, with whom we con- [page 28] versed, that the Saints in Utah always remembered with gratitude the kind treatment the "Mormons" received by the citizens of Clay County in the years 1833-34, after their expulsion from Jackson County. This seemed to please them, and they told us in return that they had no ill-feeling toward the "Mormons"....
    EDWARD STEVENSON,
    ANDREW JENSON,
    JOSEPH S. BLACK
    [Collection of letters by Andrew Jenson and Edward Stevenson, Infancy of the Church (Salt Lake City, 1889), 24-28.] See also: Andrew Jenson, Autobiography of Andrew Jenson (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938); Andrew Jenson, ed., The Historical Record, Vol. 6 (Salt Lake City, 1888).]

    Note: This account provides valuable information about the Liberty Jail.
    While the travel narratives of these historians provide an invaluable historical record of great benefit to subsequent generations, some observations voiced in above recital, are not now recognized as reflective of advanced scholarly understandings. Jenson, Stevenson and Black adopt a polemical perspective that has negatively influenced the use of history by subsequent generations of followers of Joseph Smith, Jr.
    Underlying events, of the "Mormon War" era represent a tragic episode in American Religious history. Viewed at its best of possibilities, it may be seen as "a testament to an enduring need for greater understanding and tolerance between peoples of differing ideologies, including religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds." [Haun's Mill Stone Interpretive Marker, Breckenridge City Park, Caldwell County, Missouri.]