| 204 eleven bloodthirsty fellows; viz., Congreve Jackson, Larkin H. Woods, Thomas Jackson, Rolla M. Davies, James Jackson, Jr., Johnson Jackson, John L. Tomlin, Sidney S. Woods, George Crigler, W. L. Banks, and Whitfield Dicken, wrote a most inflammatory, lying, and murderous communication to the citizens of Howard County, calling upon them as friends and fellow citizens to come to their immediate rescue, as the 'Mormons' were then firing upon them, and they would have to act on the defensive until they could procure more assistance.
"A. C. Woods, a citizen of Howard County, made a certificate to the same lies, which he gathered in the mob camp; he did not go into De Witt, or take any trouble to learn the truth of what he certified. While the people will lie and the authorities will uphold them, what justice can honest men expect?
"Tuesday, 9th. General Clark wrote the Governor, from Boonville, that the names subscribed to the inclosed [enclosed] paper (as before-stated, 7th instant) are worthy, prudent, and patriotic citizens of Howard County; men who would leave their families and everything dear, and go to a foreign county to seek the blood of innocent men, women, and children! If this constitute 'worth, prudence, and patriotism,' let me be worthless, imprudent, and unpatriotic.
"The messenger, Mr. Caldwell, who had been dispatched to the Governor for assistance, returned, but instead of receiving any aid or even sympathy from his Excellency, we were told that 'the quarrel was between the Mormons and the mob,' and that 'we might fight it out.'
"About this time a mob commanded by Hyrum Standly took Smith Humphrey's goods out of his house, and said Standly set fire to Humphrey's house and burned it before his eyes, and ordered him to leave the place forthwith, which he did by fleeing from De Witt to Caldwell County. The mob had sent to Jackson County and got a cannon, powder, and balls, and bodies of armed men had gathered in to aid them from Ray, Saline, Howard, Livingston, Clinton, Clay, Platte, and other parts of the State, and a man by the name of Jackson from Howard County was appointed their leader.
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