Closing Argument of Onias Skinner, 29 May 1845, Copy [State of Illinois v. Williams et al.]
Source Note
, Closing Argument, [, Hancock Co., IL], 29 May [1845], State of IL v. Williams et al. (Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court 1845). Copied [29 May–20 June 1845]; handwriting of and printed text; thirty-one pages; Wilford Wood Museum, Bountiful, UT; images in Joseph Smith Murder Trial Papers, 1844–1845, CHL.
on the [s]tand, so ba[se]ly corrupt and isissued forth lies so glaring that even was forced to withdraw his testimony from the jury & admit that he is unworthy of belief. Now, , when you go down to your have the candor to tell him that the premises upon which he has unadvisedly acted are wholesale falshoods— that the man with with whom he has counselled & whose tale he has wantonly taken for true, is a purjured villian & that the men who have vouched for his statements & backed up Mormon slanders in order to give them credence with the his are influenced & impelled by their private interests, piques & malice.— that their course is wilfully designed to gratify their insatiable malice & personal revenge by the shedding of innocent blood— by blood shed through the forms of the law exercised in the sacred halls of justice— through the secret weapons of cool & deliberateperjury. It is appalling to reflect on this bold attempt to desecrate our Courts of justice to the base purposes of privatemalice & personalrevenge— to convert them into <a> guillotine— <a> Diet of Worms. But, thank God, there are few men amongst us capable of conduct so glaringly base & detestible [p. 23]