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Source: Church History Vol. 1 Chapter 15 Page: 418 (~1834)

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418 On April 24 the elders in Clay County again wrote the Governor as follows:-

"Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, April 24, 1834.

"Dear Sir:-In our last communication of the 10th inst., we omitted to make inquiry concerning the evidence brought up before the court of inquiry in the case of Colonel Pitcher. The court met pursuant to adjournment on the 20th February last, and, for some reasons unknown to us, we have not been able to obtain information concerning the opinion or decision of that court. We had hoped that the testimony would have been transmitted to your Excellency before this, that an order might be issued for the return of our arms, of which we have been wrongfully dispossessed, as we believe will clearly appear to the commander in chief when the evidence is laid before him.

"As suggested in your communication of the 4th of February, we have concluded to organize according to law and apply for public arms, but we feared that such a step, which must be attended with public ceremonies, might produce some excitement, and we have thus far delayed any movement of that nature, hoping to regain our arms from Jackson that we might independently equip ourselves and be prepared to assist in the maintenance of our constitutional rights and liberties as guaranteed to us by our country, and also to defend our persons and property from a lawless mob when it shall please the Executive, at some future day, to put us in possession of our homes, from which we have been most wickedly expelled. We are happy to make an expression of our thanks for the willingness manifested by the Executive to enforce the laws, as he can consistently 'with the means furnished him by the legislature,' and we are firmly persuaded that a future day will verify to him whatever aid we may receive from the Executive has not been lavished upon a band of traitors, but upon a people whose respect and veneration for the laws of our country, and its pure republican principles, are as great as that of any other society in the United States.

"As our Jackson foes and their correspondents are busy in circulating slanderous and wicked reports concerning our

(page 418)

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