To the honorable or either of the Judges of the Supreme Court for the state of .

your Petitioners , , , , and Joseph Smith Junior beg leave respectfully to represent to your , that Joseph Smith Junr is now unlawfully confined and restrained of his Liberty, in Clay County (Mo) That he has been restrained of his liberty near five Months, your Petitioners claim that the whole transaction which has been the cause of his confinement is unlawful from the first to the last, he was taken from his Home by a fraud being practised upon him, by a Man by the name of , and one or two others, thereby yr.Petitioners respectfully show that he was forced contrary to his wishes, and without knowing the cause, into the Camp which was commanded by of , and from thence to , sleeping on the Ground, and suffering many insults, and injuries, and deprivations which were calculated in their nature to break down the Spirits and constitution of the most robust and hardy of Mankind, he was put in Chains immediately on his being landed in , and there underwent a long and tedious exparte examination, not only was it exparte but your Petitioners solemnly declare that it was a mock examination that there was not the least shadow of honor or justice or Law administered toward him but shear prejudice, and the Spirit of persecution, and malice, and prepossession against him on account of his Religion, that the whole examination was an inquisitory examination, Your Petitioners show that the said Joseph Smith Junr. was deprived of the priviledge of being examined before the Court as the law directs, that the Witnesses on the part of the were taken by force of Arms and threatened with extermination, or immediate Death, and were brought without Subpoena or Warrant under this awful and glaring anticipation of being exterminated, if they did not Swear something against him, to please the Mob, or his Persecutors, and those Witnesses were compelled to swear at the muzzle of the Gun, and that some [p. [1]]