In January 1843, Joseph Smith was, in many ways,
the high point of his experience in Illinois.
He had just been discharged by Nathaniel Pope,
and he was free--he thought, at least--from these attempts
by the Missouri government to have him extradited.
But little did he know, John C. Bennett
was already laying plans to have a third attempt by the Missouri
government to have him extradited.
So it was June of 1843 that this grand jury
met and indicted Joseph.
The governor of Missouri at the time, Thomas Reynolds,
sent this document to the governor of Illinois, Thomas
Ford.
And Ford honored the requisition by issuing
a warrant for Joseph Smith.
Now, Joseph Smith was unaware that any of this was happening.
He and his wife Emma had gone up to visit relatives
in Dixon, Illinois.
Suddenly, Joseph's clerk, William Clayton,
appeared and warned him that a warrant
had been issued for his arrest.
Before they knew it, two men appeared at the house
that Joseph was staying in.
One of them was Joseph H. Reynolds.
He was the sheriff of Jackson County, Missouri.
So these men seized Joseph.
He had tried to run out the back door,
but they caught up to him.
According to Joseph's accounts, they
hit him with their pistols.
They told him that there was no escaping this time,
that he was going to Missouri.
They got Joseph into a wagon, and they were taking him
to the nearby town of Dixon.
While in Dixon, Joseph was able to call out and say that he
was being falsely imprisoned.
And there were some local attorneys
who heard this and intervened on Joseph's behalf.
They were able to get what is known
as a writ of habeas corpus from the circuit court in Dixon.
This writ of habeas corpus is designed
to protect prisoners from arbitrary or false
imprisonment.
He was also able to file civil charges
against his two captors, Joseph Reynolds and Harmon T. Wilson.
And these civil charges led to those two men
being arrested by the sheriff of Lee County, where Dixon was.
Joseph spoke with his attorneys and explained to them
that the Nauvoo municipal court also had power
to issue writs of habeas corpus and that that court could
review Joseph's detention.
And so while they were going down
in the same direction of Quincy, there
were men from the Nauvoo Legion who
began intercepting the party.
And there were dozens who, around 27 June,
began to surround Joseph.
And Joseph was quoted as saying, "I am not
going to Missouri this time.
These are my boys!"
And so Joseph, over the protests of the officers who held him
in custody, was able to get to Nauvoo, where
he petitioned and received a writ of habeas corpus
on June 30.
Well, the municipal court sided with Joseph
and discharged him from arrest.
This caused a tremendous outcry in Illinois.
Joseph Reynolds, the sheriff who was supposed to take him back
to Missouri, went around to the surrounding communities
and said that Joseph Smith was defying the law.
The sheriff asked Governor Ford to dispatch the Illinois state
militia to retake Joseph.
Ultimately, Governor Ford looked at the situation, decided
that the Illinois officers had done their duty in the matter,
and if Joseph Reynolds lost his prisoner en route to Missouri,
then that was the problem of the state of Missouri.
So he declined to send the militia to retake Joseph Smith.
This set off a chain of events that ultimately
led to great conflict in Illinois
and indirectly led to the Prophet's death in June of 1844
a year later.