The mittimus, signed by Justice of the Peace Robert Smith (who presided over the proceedings in which the bonds were taken in the riot case), justified incarcerating JS and Hyrum on the grounds that their trial for treason had to be postponed because material witnesses were absent. The mittimus commanded the jailor to receive JS and Hyrum into custody “in the jail . . . there to remain until discharged by due course of law.” (“Statement of Facts,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:562.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

JS’s legal counsel Hugh Reid protested the mittimus on the grounds that its contents, “so far as they relate to the prisoners having been brought before the justice for trial, and it there appearing that the necessary witness of the prosecution were absent, is wholly untrue.” Rather, Reid reported, Robert Smith had adjourned his court after the bonds were received in the riot case “without calling on” JS and Hyrum Smith “to answer to the charge of treason, or even intimating to their counsel or the prisoners, that they were expected to enter into the examination that night.” Illinois law required judges in criminal cases to “inquire into the truth or probability of the charge” before committing to jail someone who had been charged with a crime. (“Statement of Facts,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:562, 564; An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [1 July 1827], Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 238.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.

Woods had gone with Thomas Ford to Robert Smith, “who gave as a cause of issuing the warrant of committal, that the prisoners were not personally safe at the hotel” where they had been staying. According to Hugh Reid, Ford “did not think it within the sphere of his duty to interfere” with Smith’s mittimus. Ford later wrote that Smith and Bettisworth “were acting in a high and independent capacity, far beyond any legal power in me to control.” (James Woods, Hugh Reid, “Statement of Facts,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:562, 564; Ford, History of Illinois, 338.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

Dunn was accompanied by “some twenty men.” (“Statement of Facts,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:564.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Possibly Wall Southwick. (JS, Journal, 20 June 1844; Richards, Journal, 26 June 1844.)

John S. Fullmer also accompanied JS and the others to jail, and Gilbert Belnap reported that he stayed with JS this night. (John S. Fullmer, Preston, England, to George A. Smith, Utah Territory, 27 Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; Belnap, Autobiography, chap. 8.)

Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

Belnap, Gilbert. Autobiography, 1856. CHL. MS 1633.

Thomas Ford later wrote that JS and the others were transferred out of the cell “upon their remonstrance and request, and by my advice.” The debtors’ room was on the first floor of the building. (Ford, History of Illinois, 338; Stephen Markham, Fort Supply, Utah Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, 20 June 1856, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.)

Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

No manuscript copy of the mittimus written in the hand of any of JS’s associates has been located. Hugh Reid included a transcript of it in his “Statement of Facts” published in the Times and Seasons. (“Statement of Facts,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:562.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.