We’re continuing our conversation with Dr. Alex Baugh. We’ve already discussed some of the issues between Mormons and Missourians in Jackson County, but things were about to get worse. We’ll tackle why Bishop Edward Partridge and W.W. Phelps were beaten severely and find out why Missourians expelled Mormons from Jackson County in 1833.
GT: Well, apparently the there were a bunch of mobs in Missouri that attacked the press.
Alex: Yeah, right, on the 20th.
GT: The 20th of?
Alex: Of July, I’m sorry, 1833. Okay, They tarred and feathered Partridge. He said, “Hey, now hold it.”
GT: Bishop Partridge.
Alex: Of course, they went to church leaders. He’s right there in Independence. He’s the figurehead leader of the church there and, they said, “We have some ultimatums here.” There were four or five ultimatums. Of course, he didn’t want to agree to any of them. He said, “Give us a little time.” They refused to allow that.
GT: They said, “Just get out.” They’d already destroyed the press.
Alex: They said, “If you don’t sign this, you’ll suffer some consequences.” He utterly refused. He asked for some time so they could consult with Joseph. They gave him no time. They hadn’t even given him time to consult with other leaders and other settlements in Jackson County, the Lyman Wight/prairie settlement at Colesville. He’s in Independence. He’s 9-10, 12 miles away from these other groups of Mormon settlers. He’s just given, “Sign or else.” He’s just saying, “No way.” So they took more aggressive action and went and got him and pulled him into the north part of the town square and northwest corner and tarred and feathered him and another Latter-day Saint and then went over to Phelps’s printing press, just walked away, and ransacked the building and destroyed the press and type. They were going to do some other damage to some of the local properties of the church, and fortunately, again, things kind of settled down. But three days later, the Mormon leaders agreed that they would leave–half of them would leave Jackson County by the first of January 1834. Then the rest would leave by the latter part of April 1834. So they were giving us time to get our crops in, sell their properties and so on. Unfortunately, and this could go into a whole ‘nother discussion, but immediately, of course, the church leaders dispatched messengers to Kirtland to try to find out what to do.
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