| 738 arrest of Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Green, Stephen Perry, D. B. Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, Jonathan Harmon, J. P. Harmon, John Lytle, J. W. Coolidge, H. D. Redfield, Porter Rockwell, and Levi Richards, on a charge of riot.
Joseph Smith sued out a writ of habeas corpus in the Municipal Court of Nauvoo and was, after due investigation, discharged by that tribunal. Subsequently all the others named in the writ took the same course and were also acquitted.
On the 14th the mayor made a detailed report of the Expositor case to Governor Ford, and stated that if the Governor had any doubts about the legality of the proceedings, he had only to signify it and all who were implicated would go before any legal tribunal at the State capital and submit to an investigation; that he need not go to the trouble or expense to issue a writ, as they would respond upon the receipt of his expressed wish.
Upon the advice of Judge Jesse B. Thomas, those named in the warrant for riot, again submitted to arrest. They were rearrested by Constable Joel S. Miles on a writ issued upon the complaint of W. G. Ware, by Daniel H. Wells, justice of the peace.
They had a lengthy examination before Esquire Wells, who was not then a member of the church, and they were again acquitted.
During all this time mobs were collecting in different parts of the county; inflammatory speeches were being made from pulpit and rostrum. The press, especially the Warsaw Signal, were opening their columns to the most slanderous reports that could be invented. So with traitors within and foes without times were very perilous in Nauvoo.
What favor they had secured from the Democratic party by their support of Mr. Hoge in the election of 1843, was now withdrawn, because of their action in putting out an independent ticket for the ensuing election. This action served notice to both parties that the
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