enteen others were arrested, tried before a court in Nauvoo, and
acquitted; but this did not satisfy the mobbers. On the advice of the
United States judge for that district, Joseph and his brethren allowed
themselves to be arrested again and have a trial before Justice Daniel H.
Wells, then not a "Mormon." They were again discharged as innocent of
crime.

Now mobs began to threaten again, but the Nauvoo Legion was ready to defend
the city. As the Legion was drawn up in front of Joseph's house one day--it
was the 18th of June--he got upon a platform and spoke to the soldiers.
That speech was long remembered by those who heard it. It thrilled them
through and through and at the word they would gladly have marched and met
the mob in battle; but that was not Joseph's way. He was always willing to
have the laws carried out even if he suffered thereby, so that his enemies
could have no just excuse. That was the Prophet Joseph Smith's last public
speech.

During the excitement Governor Ford arrived at Carthage, a town about
eighteen miles from Nauvoo, and the county seat of Hancock county. The
governor sent word to Nauvoo that he wanted some explanation of the
trouble, so Joseph sent some of the brethren to him. The governor treated
his callers rudely. Carthage was full of mobs, and the governor seemed to
believe all they told him about the "Mormons." He organized the mobs into
troops. Joseph asked the governor to come to Nauvoo and investigate the
whole matter; but no: Joseph must go to Carthage. The governor said he
would protect him if he would go.

It was on the evening of June 22nd. Joseph and Hyrum had called some
brethren together: "All they want is Hyrum and myself," said the Prophet.
Joseph and Hyrum both seemed certain that if their enemies got them in
their power again they would be killed. Joseph then proposed that he and
Hyrum should escape to the Rocky Mountains. Preparations for this trip were
made and they were rowed over the river to Iowa, when Joseph's wife sent
some of the brethren to plead with him to return. Some brethren also found
fault with him in running away to "leave the flock to the wolves."

Joseph replied, "If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to
myself." So they went back, Joseph saying, "We shall be butchered."

On the morning of June 24th Joseph and eighteen brethren set out for
Carthage to be tried again on the old charge. As he rode out the Prophet
made many expressions