zeal of mobs found frequent expression; numerous charges, trivial
and serious, were made against the leaders of the Church, and
they were repeatedly brought before the courts, only to be
liberated on the usual finding of no cause for action. Meanwhile
the march to the west was maintained. Soon thousands of converts
had rented or purchased homes in Missouri--Independence, Jackson
County, being their center; but from the first, they were
unpopular among the Missourians. Their system of equal rights
with their marked disapproval of every species of aristocratic
separation and self-aggrandizement was declared to be a species
of communism, dangerous to the state. An inoffensive
journalistic organ, _The Star_, published for the purpose of
properly presenting the religious tenets of the people, was made
the particular object of the mob's rage; the house of its
publisher was razed to the ground, the press and type were
confiscated, and the editor and his family maltreated. An absurd
story was circulated and took firm hold of the masses that the
Book of Mormon promised the western lands to the people of the
Church, and that they intended to take possession of these lands
by force. Throughout the book of revelations regarded by the
people as law specially directed to them, they are told to save
their riches that they may purchase the inheritance promised them
of God. Everywhere are they told to maintain peace; the sword is
never offered as their symbol of conquest. Their gathering is to
be like that of the Jews at Jerusalem--a pacific one, and in
their taking possession of what they regard as a land of promise,
no one previously located there shall be denied his rights.

A spirit of fierce persecution raged in Jackson and surrounding
counties of Missouri. An appeal was made to the executive of the