Preamble and Resolutions, 14 January 1845, as Published in Times and Seasons
Source Note
People’s Meeting, Preamble and Resolutions, , Hancock Co., IL, 14 Jan. 1845. Version published in “Meeting of the Citizens,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1845, 6:774–775.
from a malignant design to palm upon us their own crimes, and thereby draw us under the lash of persecution. And whereas, it can be proved that individuals, in order to swell the list of Mormon depredations, have reported property to be stolen, which at another time they have acknowledged, they sold the same property and received pay.
And whereas, bee yards have been robbed, the hives left at the Mormons doors, to palm the theft upon us, when the honey has been found in the houses of our enemies; and whereas, an inumerable number of such infamous tricks have been played upon us, by our enemies, as we believe, for the purpose of blackening our character in the eyes of honest men; and whereas, our is nightly infested with a set of outlandish men, who, we believe, visit us for no good purpose, who do not appear to have any lawful business, but rather as we believe, are endeavoring to scatter amongst us, their bogus and counterfeits, prostitute the virtue of the place, deposite stolen goods, or steal from us, and by every means in their power, sow the seeds of discord, strife, confusion, mobocracy, and murder, that in the end, they may uproot our beautiful ; and whereas, that in some instances, when the ministers of justice, have visited our , at the dark hour of midnight, for the purpose of making legal arrests, as they say; we believe what is reported to us, that they have employed runners to steal the saddles and bridles from their own horses, while in our , for the purpose of damning us in the eyes of the community.
And whereas, the Chief Magistrate of this , after a second and protracted visit to this , and much pains taken to investigate the charge of promiscuous stealing, reports to the Legislature as follows:
“Justice, however, requires me here to say, that I have investigated the charge of promiscuous stealing, and find it to be greatly, exaggerated. I could not ascertain that there were a greater proportion of thieves in that community, than in any other of the same number of inhabitants; and perhaps if the city of , were compared with , or any other western city, the proportion would not be so great.”
And whereas, The printing office of our open and avowed enemy, , was set on fire, in this by himself, or by his instruction as we believe, to fan the flame of mobocracy, which fire was only prevented by our vigilant police.
And whereas, we firmly believe, that our enemies in this , have several times attempted to fire their own buildings and have only been prevented by the diligence of our officers.
Therefore, be it resolved, unanimously, That we will use all lawful means in our power to assist the public to prevent stealing and bogus making, and bring the offenders to justice.
Resolved, that to prevent further depredations in our , by lawless desperadoes from abroad, we approve the raising of 500 Police by this .
Resolved, unanimously, That we invite all honest men to watch closely their property, and arrest all thieves; and if they shall catch a thief in the act of stealing, challenge him to stand, and if he refuses so to do, and flees, so far as the Mormons are concerned, we will be satisfied if the owners of the property shall speedily send after him a writ of sealed with lead to arrest his progress, but after all, should the thief prove to be a mobocrat, alas! alas!! O what a pity!
Resolved, unanimously, That 50 delegates be sent to the surrounding country to inform the people of the designs of our enemies now concocting in their secret and public meetings, so that the honest part of the community, may unite with us, to prevent stealing and secure peace.
Resolved, That these proceedings be published in the papers at , with a request that other papers copy them.