CHAPTER XIV.

EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY.


In this small history, an account of all that happened in Missouri during
those cruel times can not be given; but enough can be told to show you what
the Saints had to endure in the early days of the Church. If you will but
think of the sufferings the boys and girls must have gone through when the
mobs tore the roofs from their houses, drove them out on the prairies to go
hungry and cold, and killed or whipped their fathers, you may then
appreciate God's blessings to you who live in peace and comfort.

The persecutions, which began in earnest October 31st, 1833, continued day
after day. On November 2nd a mob attacked a settlement on Big Blue River.
They unroofed one house and were beating a brother by the name of Bennett,
who was sick in bed, when a party of brethren came to the rescue. There was
some firing of guns between them, and a mobber was wounded in the leg.

On November 4th as a band of mobbers started out to make a raid on the
Saints, word was sent to the brethren, and thirty of them soon gathered to
withstand the mob. A battle ensued in which two of the mobbers were killed.
One of the brethren was so badly wounded that he died the next day. Brother
Philo Dibble was shot and severely wounded, but he was administered to and
soon got well.

The whole country was now aroused. Word was sent broadcast that the
"Mormons" had got the Indians to help them, and that they had taken the
town of Independence.