"Between one and two thousand of the people called Mormons have been driven by force of arms from Jackson County, in this State, since the first of November last, being compelled to leave their highly cultivated fields, the greater part of which had been bought of the United States, and all this on account of our belief in direct revelation from God to the children of men, according to the Holy Scriptures. We know that such illegal violence has not been inflicted upon any sect or community of people by the citizens of the United States since the Declaration of Independence.

    "That this is a religious persecution, is notorious throughout our county; for while the officers of the county, both civil and military, were accomplices in these unparalleled outrages, engaged in the destruction of the printing office, dwelling houses, etc., yet the records of the judicial tribunals of that county are not stained with a crime against our people. Our numbers being greatly inferior to the enemy, we were unable to stand up in self-defense; and our lives, at this day, are continually threatened by that infuriated people, so that our personal safety forbids one of our number going into that county on business.

    "We beg leave to state that no impartial investigation into this criminal matter can be made, because the offenders must (page 411) be tried in the county where the offense was committed, and the inhabitants of the county, both magistrates and people, were combined, with the exception of a few; justice cannot be expected. At this day your petitioners do not know of a solitary family belonging to our church but what have been violently expelled from Jackson County by the inhabitants thereof.

    "Your petitioners have, not gone into detail with an account of their individual sufferings from death and bruised bodies and the universal distress which prevails at this day, in a greater or less degree, throughout our whole body. Not only because those sacred rights guaranteed to every religious sect have been publicly invaded, in open hostility to the spirit and genius of free government, but such of their houses as have not been burnt, their lands and most of the products of the labor of their hands for the last year have been wrested from them by a band of outlaws, congregated in Jackson County on the western frontiers of the United States, within about thirty miles of the United States' military post at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri River.

    "Your petitioners say that they do not enter a minute detail of the sufferings in this petition, lest they should weary the patience of the venerable chief whose arduous duties they know are great, and daily accumulating. We only hope to show him that [in] this unprecedented emergency in the history of our country-that the magistracy thereof is set at defiance, and justice checked in open violation of its laws, and that we, your petitioners, who are almost wholly native born citizens of these United States, of whom they purchased their lands in Jackson County, Missouri, with intent to cultivate the same as peaceable citizens, are now forced from them, and dwelling in the counties of Clay, Ray, and Lafayette in the State of Missouri, without permanent homes, and suffering all the privations which must necessarily result from such inhuman treatment. Under these sufferings your petitioners petitioned the Governor of this State, in December last, in answer to which, we received the following letter." (page 412)

    "By the foregoing letter from the Governor, the President will perceive a disposition manifested by him to enforce the laws as far as means have been furnished him by the legislature of this State. But the powers vested in the Executive of this State appear to be inadequate for relieving the distresses of your petitioners in their present emergency. He is willing to send a guide to conduct our families back to their possessions, but is not authorized to direct a military force to be stationed any length of time for the protection of your petitioners. This step would be laying the foundation for a more fatal tragedy than the first, as our numbers at present are too small to contend single handed with the mob of said county; and as 'the Federal Constitution has given to Congress the power to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, or repel invasions, and for these purposes the President of the United States is authorized to make the call upon the Executives of the respective States.' Therefore, we your petitioners, in behalf of our society, which is so scattered and suffering, most humbly pray that we may be restored to our lands, houses, and property in Jackson County, and protected in them by an armed force, till peace can be restored, and as in duty bound, will ever pray.

    "Here follows one hundred and fourteen signatures;

    Signed [Residents of Clay County]:

    Edward Partridge; William W. Phelps; Thomas B. Marsh; James Lee; Abel M. Seargenten [Seargent]; Alvah Benson; Samuel Drollinger; John Cleminson; Noah Johnson ; Reed Peck; David Jones; Calvin Beebee; Isaac Morely; Solomon Hancock; Gipson Gates; Samuel Smith; John Patten; William W. Patten; Anthony Hendrix [Hendricks]; Eli Chase; David Pettigrew; John Killian; Morris Phelps; Oren Rockwell; Harvey Olmstead; Chares W. Patten; John Corrill; A. S. Gilbert; Benjamin Benson; Levi Tomlin; Jeremy M. Benson; Levi Bracken; George Nouts [Fouts?]; George Burket; John Taylor; James Taylor; James H. Rollins; Albert Jackman; D. W. Patten; Porter Rockwell; Isaac Beebee; David Bennet; Hiram Page; Sheffield Daniels; Stephen Chase; Darwin Chase; George Killian; Sam. Shepherd; Wm Egbert; Isaac Beebe Junr.; Agustus Clark; Sam. Musick; John Whitmer; Charles Allen; James Emmett; Solomon Daniels; Absolom Smithfield [Scritchfield]; George Johnson; Jabez Durphy

    [Second Sheet of Signatures]:

    Newel Knight; Joseph Knight Jun.; Ezekiel Peck; Ira F. (?) Wiley; Caleb Baldwin; Wm. Stringham; Benjamin Slade; Rial Eames; Benjamin Covey; Wm. Aldridge; Peter Whitmer; Philo Dibble; Wm. Whiting; Francis Hulet; Sylvester Hulet; Jacob Whitmer; John Poorman; Josiah Sumner; Elias Higbee; James Newberry; Isaac Higbee; Peter Dustin; Alpheus Gifford; John Higbee; John Black; Martin Miller; Alanson Cleavland; Clarke Slade; Freborn Demill; Morgan L. Gardner; Lewis Abbot; Ruggels Eames; Norman Chatfield; Alva[h] Hancock; Ormon Butler; James H. Aldridge; David Whitmer; Nathan West; Amos Tubbs; Christian Whitmer; Hezekiah Peck; King Follett; Lyman Leonard; William Legg; John Corrill [second time]; Alvin C. Graves; James W. Newberry; Solomon Ketchum; Owen Batson; [blank line]; John Lowry; William E. McLellin; Selah Griffin

    [Madeline R. McQuown Collection, MS 143, Box 40, f19, Universtiy of Utah, Special Collections].

    "Liberty, Clay County, Mo., April 10, 1834.

    "To the President of the United States: - We the undersigned, whose names are subscribed to the accompanying petition, some of the leading members of the Church of Christ, beg leave to refer the President to the petition and handbill herewith. (See Times and Seasons, volume 6, page 881.) We are not insensible of the multiplicity of business and numerous petitions, by which the cares and perplexities of our chief ruler are daily increased; and it is with diffidence we venture to lay before the Executive (page 413) at this emergent period, these two documents, wherein is briefly portrayed the most unparalleled persecution, and flagrant outrage of law that has disgraced the country, since the Declaration of Independence; but knowing the independent fortitude, and vigorous energy for preserving the rights of the citizens of this republic, which has hither to marked the course of our chief magistrate, we are encouraged to hope that this communication will not pass unnoticed, but that the President will consider our location on the extreme western frontier of the United States, exposed to many ignorant and lawless ruffians, who are already congregated, and determined to nullify all law that will secure to your petitioners the peaceable possession of their lands in Jackson County. We again repeat, that our society are wandering in adjoining counties at this day, bereft of their houses and lands, and threatened with death by the aforesaid outlaws of Jackson County.

    "And lest the President should have been deceived in regard to our true situation, by the misrepresentations of certain individuals, who are disposed to cover the gross outrages of the mob, from religious, political, and speculative motives, we beg leave to refer him to the Governor of this State, at the same time informing that the number of men composing the mob of Jackson County may be estimated at from three to five hundred, most of them prepared with firearms.

    "After noting the statements here made, if it should be the disposition of the President to grant aid, we most humbly entreat that early relief may be extended to suffering families, who are now expelled from their possessions by force of arms. Our lands in Jackson County are about thirty miles distant from Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri River. With due respect, we are Sir,

    "Your obedient servants,
    "A. S. GILBERT.
    "W. W. PHELPS.
    "EDWARD PARTRIDGE.

    "P. S. - In February last a number of our people were marched under guard furnished by the Governor of the State, (page 414) into Jackson County, for the purpose of prosecuting the mob criminally; but the Attorney General of the State, and the District Attorney, knowing the force and power of the mob, advised us to relinquish all hope of criminal prosecution to effect anything against the band of outlaws, and were turned under guard, without the least prospect of ever obtaining our rights and possessions in Jackson County, with any other means than a few companies of the United States' regular troops to guard and assist us till we are safely settled."

    [RLDS Church History, Vol. 1, citing Times and Seasons, Vol. 6, pp. 1041, 1042, 1057].