Arthur Morrison, Merchant and County Office Holder
Arthur Morrison's Store
Arthur Morrison was a member of the church who first gathered to Missouri in 1832. Following the expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County, he resided in Clay County, finally relocating with other church members to Caldwell County, in 1836-37. In Caldwell he served in the county militia, was elected a county judge, and operated a merchandising store. The first mention of Morrison's Store in Far West appears in testimony gathered during the preliminary hearing against church leaders held in Richmond, Missouri. [See: Document
Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &C. in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons; and the Evidence Given before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-house in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High
Treason and Other Crimes Against the State. Published by Order of the General Assembly. Printed at the office of the Boon's Lick Democrat. Fayette, Missouri: 1841.]
Allen Rathbun, a witness for the state, produced, sworn, and examined, deposeth and saith: On the day before the battle with Bogart, I was in Far West; and early in the morning Daniel Carn, one of the defendants here, asked me to help him grease his wagon. I did so, and asked him where he was going. He said he was going out to Raglin's, in Daviess county; that there were about forty bee stands there that they were going for. Directly after, I was down in Morrison's store, in Far West. There was a company of ten or a dozen men there, with two or three wagons. I heard Mr. Huntingdon ask for brimstone. Some of the company said they had two pounds. Huntingdon said that would do. Mr. Hunter, of the defendants, here gave the word of command, and they marched off. Mr. Daniel Carn was in the wagon with them. Late that evening I saw Mr. Carn's wagon at his grocery down in Far West. I saw Carn and Huntingdon unloading it. The wagon was loaded with one bee gum, and household stuff; consisting of beds, or bed clothes, kinder tied up; also, there were onions in the wagon. Mr. Carn that evening remarked that there would be in that evening a considerable number of sheep and cattle; and further remarked, that it looked to him sometimes, that it was not right to take plunder, but that it was according to the directions of Joseph Smith, jr., and that was the reason why he did it. The next morning I saw a considerable number of sheep on the square, in Far West -- near about one hundred. I then left Far West and returned home, (in the east part of Caldwell county,) having been summoned to Far West by my militia captain, but performed no military duties while there. And further this deponent saith not.
ALLEN RATHBUN.
Arthur Morrison related his own story in his redress petition [original spellings retained].
"Arthur Morrison emigrated to Jackson County in the State of Missouri in the fall Winter of Eighteen hundred and thirty two Shortly after which time the persecution of the Saints began and still increased and grew untill I with the Body of the Church was compelled to leave My house and home property and evry thing I possessed to a ruthless banditty of Ruffians Who swore if I did not leave the County immediately with out dely the[y] would not spare life I also complied with there unreasonable requests and left in the dead of Winter not Knowing where to go to find a place to lay my head or a Shelter for my family yet notwithstanding the unhallowed persecution in that Section of Country I found a Situatio[n] in Clay County the most Heathenish Creature of the West could not forbear to give us a place after the expulsion from Jackson County after Seeing how we was and had been treated by the inhuman wretches therefore we found a place in Clay County for a little season untill we could right up and gete in tolerable circumstances once more but after residing there until Some 3 year or about the year Eighteen hundred and thirty five the persecution in the aboved named County began to rear its head and still kep increasing untill it became irresistable and I tike With the ballance of the Church of Latter day Saints Was compelled to leave house and home & property and was located my self in the County of Caldwell there I for the third time Suffered a loss with the rest of Said church Which is unparelled in the history of ancients or Moderns. There I commenced Merchandising and after I had been there Som 2 year or about the year Eighteen hundred and thirty Eight and Nine the persecution] again began to Show its self in the above named County Mobs arose Stolle Robed Plundered and Murdered around in the outor parts of our County I being a Commissioned officer in that County and Subject to the command of the Colonel of Said County I was ordered out to defend his wrights and likewise did youse my bst expersions So to doo Shortly after which time the Elections for came and I being duly elected and Commissioned by Lilburn W. Boggs a County Judge from that time persecution began to prevail pretty universly and the State of Missouri and the Governor issued an order for anumbered thousand of Troops to be raised and immediately take up the line of March for Far West and he also issued another order which Was for the [e]xter [page 294] mination of the Whole body or church of Latter day Saints they arrived and captured the place and give us our choice Either to leave or Be massacred and we of corse chose to leave the State, and there I left My all when Neatly stimated will amount to ten thousand I was also deprived of Citisen Ship which Gentleman I hope and trust you will realize is so near and dear to all therefore I most humbly trust you will restore at the riske of all yea it is only that which you are bound to define. A Morrison"
[Sworn to before C. M. Woods, C.C.C., Adams Co., IL, 1 Nov. 1839.]
[Clark V. Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions: Documents of the 1833 - 1838 Missouri Conflict (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 293-94.]
Morrison was also played a role in the surrender to the Militia. "On the 31st of October, 1838, Colonel Geo. [George] M. Hinkle, W. [William] W. Phelps, and, we believe, Captain Arthur Morrison, went out of the city, with a white flag, and had an interview with General Samuel D. Lucas, who was then in command of the army. General Lucas informed them that his army was the state militia ordered out by the governor, and he demanded the presence of Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, and Geo. [George] W. Robinson, as hostages, (as he states in his report to the governor,) with the declaration that if they did not come by "one hour by sun in the evening, he would make an attack upon the town."
Colonel Hinkle and companions returned to the city, and reported the result of their interview to President Joseph Smith, Jr., and the other brethren named above, who, after a serious, deliberate consultation, concluded to go to the army, but instead of being treated as hostages were taken into custody, and treated as prisoners of war."
[Ebenezer Robinson, The Return, 2 (February 1890), 209.]
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