Ep 210 – First Night in Carthage Jail

Naked Mormonism Podcast

Bryce Blankenagel

Ldschurch, Christianity, Latterdaysaints, Religion, Ldschurchhistory, Mormons, Religion & Spirituality, Mormonhistory, Bookofmormon, Mormonism, Josephsmith, Mormon

4.7 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2020

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode, Jo and company spend their first entire day in the city of Carthage, one of the twin cities of anti-Mormonism. Governor Ford does his best to keep the peace and does so by marching Jo and Hyrum down the line of the various militias in Carthage shaking hands and providing proper introductions as “Generals Smith”. The Carthage Greys commit a brief bit of mutiny before Governor Ford brings them under control. Jo tells Ford about the vulnerability of Nauvoo with the Prophet’s absence and Ford elects to send a trusted advisor to Nauvoo to guard against a vigilante mob descending on the city and burning it to ash. Charges of treason are filed against Joseph Smith and his older brother, Hyrum Smith, for declaring martial law in Nauvoo to shut down riots across the city. A hearing takes place in Carthage to determine if there is enough evidence for the circuit court at Carthage to pursue criminal convictions on the initial charges of riot. 16 of the arrested city councilors are released on bail and the hearing is scheduled for June 29th when the state and defense attorneys can call witnesses and collect evidence. After most of them head for Nauvoo that afternoon, Jo and Hyrum are arrested and interred in Carthage Jail for their own protection. Jo and friends spend the night “laid promiscuously on the floor”.

Links:

Willard Richards journal extract June 23-27
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-3-willard-richards-journal-excerpt-23-27-june-1844/1#full-transcript

History of Illinois by Governor Ford
https://archive.org/details/ahistoryillinoi00shiegoog/page/n336/mode/2up/search/treason

Posse Comitatus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

Warsaw Signal archives
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/IL/sign184x.htm

SUNSTONE!!!
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/2020symposium/

Show links:

Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com
Twitter @NakedMormonism
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311
Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism
Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/
Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/
Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I am Ryan McKnight. I'm Kara Santa Maria. I am Christopher Smith. Hi, I'm Andrew Torres.
0:06.0	This is Naked Mormonism. The Serial Mormon History podcast.
0:16.1	Joseph Smith has been here before. He's brought a state to the edge of an all-out civil war before. He's been
0:24.2	charged with treason and conspiracy to murder before. He's been in jail before. He's undergone a
0:30.4	court-martial which sentenced him to death before. He resisted the will of state militias
0:36.2	commanded by state's governors before. He's riled up his followers into a frenzy befitting a revolution before. He's been arrested for being a criminal kingpin before, after surrendering to prevent a total war. Everything that happened in Navu happened before in Missouri,
0:56.3	but the scale was far larger and the stakes far higher.
1:00.8	After Joe had repeatedly defied an arrest warrant for over two weeks' time,
1:06.9	he and his 17 co-conspirators who caused the expository printing press to be destroyed were
1:12.7	finally in the city of Carthage, surrendering to the Illinois state legal system.
1:18.1	They arrived the night of June 24th, five minutes before midnight, to a crowd of howling anti-Mormans
1:24.7	who consider this surrender the first battle victory in a larger impending
1:29.6	Illinois Mormon war. The people in Carthage at this time consider Joseph Smith and his criminal
1:35.0	friends to be the greatest enemies to the peace and tranquility of their lives. Before the Mormons
1:40.8	started arriving in 1839, everything was just peachy. Then thousands of refugees streamed into the state from Missouri to take advantage of Illinois hospitality, or some people say Illinois hospitality.
1:53.0	I don't know which way is right.
1:54.7	And since their arrival, things haven't been the same.
1:57.8	The Mormons were terrible neighbors.
1:59.4	They're having rager parties late into the night, and finally the neighbors got the cops to shut down the party. The Mormons were terrible neighbors, having rager parties late into the night, and finally
2:02.4	the neighbors got the cops to shut down the party. Now, the initial charges, which landed Joe,
2:07.6	Hiram, and their 16 city councilmen in state custody were simply inciting riot from the destruction
2:13.3	of the expositor. There would be other charges worked out by the state prosecutor in the coming
	...

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