| 666 State, which was for about six months in the year 1838; I being also a resident in said State during the same period of time, and I do know that said Joseph Smith, Sr., never was subject to military duty in any State, neither was he in the State of Missouri, he being exempt by the amputation or extraction of a bone from his leg, and by his having a license to preach the gospel, or being, in other words, a minister of the gospel; and I do know that said Smith never bore arms, as a military man, in any capacity whatever, whilst in the State of Missouri, or previous to that time; neither has he given any orders or assumed any command in any capacity whatever; but I do know that whilst he was in the State of Missouri, that the people commonly called Mormons were threatened with violence and extermination, and on or about the first Monday in August, 1838, at the election at Gallatin, the county seat in Daviess County, the citizens who were commonly called Mormons were forbidden to exercise the rights of franchise, and from that unhallowed circumstance an affray commenced, and a fight ensued among the citizens of that place, and from that time a mob commenced gathering in that county, threatening the extermination of the Mormons.
"The said Smith and myself upon hearing that mobs were collecting together, and that they had also murdered two of the citizens of the same place, and would not suffer them to be buried, . . . went over to Daviess County to learn the particulars of the affray, but upon our arrival at Diahman, we learned that none were killed but several were wounded; we tarried all night at Colonel Lyman Wight's. The next morning the weather being very warm and having been very dry for some time previously, the springs and wells in that region were dried up; on mounting our horses to return, we rode up to Mr. Black's, who was then an acting justice of the peace, to obtain some water for ourselves and horses. Some few of the citizens accompanied us there, and after obtaining the refreshment of water, Mr. Black was asked by said Joseph Smith, Sr., if he would use his influence to see that the laws were faithfully executed and to put down mob violence, and he gave us a paper, written by his own hand,
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