SALT LAKE AND THE MORMONS 65 



their government, until it became known as one of 

 the most despotic hierarchies the world has ever 

 known. Allegiance to the Church was first before 

 all earthly governments. Events moved quickly. 

 The destruction of a gentile newspaper, in Nauvoo, 

 by the orders of Smith, precipitated a conflict. 

 Joseph, his brother Hyrum, and two others, finally 

 surrendered, under a solemn assurance of Gov- 

 ernor Ford that they would be protected and have 

 a fair trial. They were taken to Carthage and 

 there, on the night of June 27, 1844, were taken 

 from jail, by the troops sent to protect them, set 

 against a wall of the jail and shot without trial. 



The expulsion from Nauvoo followed. Without 

 trial or hearing, without even the form of law, 

 they were driven out of their homes in midwinter, 

 and their property confiscated, accompanied by 

 circumstances of oppression, cruelty and insult 

 that seem incredible. 



Not long ago, the American conscience was 

 revolted by Russian persecution of the Jews. But 

 here in this fair land of ours, in the middle of the 

 nineteenth century, those very crimes were par- 

 alelled upon people of our own blood. 



