John C. Bennett

“ Pratt resided, and Joe commenced discourse as follows: "Sister Pratt, the Lord has given you to me as one of my spiritual wives. I have the blessings of Jacob granted me, as he granted holy men of old, and I have long looked upon you with favor, and hope you will not deny me." She replied: "I care not for the blessings of Jacob, and I believe in no such revelations, neither will I consent under any circumstances. I have one good husband, and that is enough for me." Joe could not come it! ”

“ My affidavit, and statement, under DURESSE, were published in the Nauvoo Wasp of the 25th of June, 1842. Is it not high time that this band of murders should be made to feel the just penalty of the law? It is certainly a most alarming state of society when men are above the reach of the law, and free to perpetrate the blackest crimes of cruelty and oppression. ”

“ It is quite likely that many of the persons whom I have named in my affidavit, and many others whom I may hereafter name, will flounder, but the truth shall now come, and stand in bold relief before the world. Most of the Mormons will swear to any thing that Joe tells them to, and the public must look for it. -- All, therefore, who remain after these astounding disclosures, must be branded with infamy, as they will undoubtedly be partakers in their adulteries, thefts, robberies, and murders. ”

“ These are only some of the actings and doings of the Nauvoo Lodge, U. D., under the Supervision of Joe and his servile priest, George Miller -- the little creature that does Joe's dirty work. Let the Grand Lodge look to this. Why does not Nauvoo Lodge, U. D., deal with Joe for the attempted seduction of Nancy Rigdon, a Master Mason's daughter, and for the actual seduction of several Master Masons' wives and sisters and daughters! -- Simply because they say Joe is a Prophet, and the Lord's anointed must not be harmed; the Lord will not suffer his anointed to fall! ”

“ Some of them, however, are not in the SECRETS, -- They are taken in as blind in order to deceive the people. If they are charged with iniquity, they say, "Look at William Marks and others like him! Do they indulge!" No, gentlemen, but this is not exploited to THEM. Joe says, "Sidney Rigdon and Orson Pratt, and William Marks must never know the SECRETS, or they will apostasize." Rigdon and Pratt are not yet members, however, and I hope they never will be; and Marks has a very strong squinting at apostacy. If Sidney Rigdon will suffer a base attempt on his daughter's chastity ”

“ Great God! where is the arm of power! Where is liberty, and the rights of man? Arise, ye officers of justice, and assert the majesty of your insulted laws. Let the sound of the clarion give the alarm! and horsemen and chariots will tell the story, until one stone shall not be left upon another, or a vestige of iniquity and crime to pollute the goodly land.
2nd. THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. -- In 1841, Joe Smith predicted or prophesied in a public congregation in Nauvoo, that Lilburn W Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri, should die by violent hands within one year. ”

“ Let no man fear to speak out boldly. Remember that the White Purchase was CALLED church property, but it was and is Joe's own individual estate. He said in a public congregation in Nauvoo, a few weeks ago, "I own a million dollars in property, in this city, and around it." ”

“ And citizens of Illinois, be in readiness to sustain your laws. I furnished the State arms to the Nauvoo Legion on a legal requisition, and on a legal requisition they shall be delivered up. The public arms are in a bad situation, and suffering material injury, and they had better be placed in the hands of more deserving men, for the State is sustaining a great loss. ”

“ Orson Pratt another on his wife; and William Marks will look tamely on at these disclosures, and say nothing, I am much mistaken in the man. The public look to Rigdon, Pratt and Marks and other kindred spirits, to speak at this eventful crisis -- they have seen and heard, and FELT in their own families, the corruptions of this Smith, that soul-damning impostor. Come out NOW, or bow down and lick the dust, worship at his shrine, and chain your fate to the wheels of damnation, and the car of iniquity. The issue is made up, -- it cannot be averted ”

“ WHICH IS PAID FOR, was deeded to Thompson, Joe's Clerk, who had no property, and from Thompson to Emma Smith, (Joe's wife) and from Joseph Smith and wife to Joseph Smith, SOLE TRUSTEE IN TRUST, &c. I now call upon General Robinson and Colonel Higbee, to come out in the Sangamo Journal, over their own names, and tell what they know of Joe's swindling operations. Come out, gentlemen, boldly; the public good requires it at your hands. ”

“ Personally appeared before me, Hiram Kimball, an Alderman of the city of Nauvoo, Francis M. Higbee, who being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith that Joseph Smith told him that John C. Bennett could be easily put aside or drowned, and no person would be the wiser for it, so, that it ought to be attended to; -- and he further remarked that the sooner this was done the better for the Church, fearing, as he said, that Bennett would make some disclosures prejudicial to said Smith. ”

“ In his public speeches he says -- "hear your Lieutenant General! the greatest military commander that ever lived since the days of Washington. -- General Scott is a mere pigmy compared to me! I command all the armies of the United States! -- and the Nauvoo Legion was formed to avenge blood in Missouri!!"
Joe is a great man of the kind -- but God will damn the kind -- for, if the devil don't get Joe Smith, there is no use for any devil. But to the damnable iniquity of this base impostor, and to copy, to wit ”

“ The Constitution and the laws shall triumph, and misrule , violence, and oppression wither like a blighted flower. :et not an Executive whom he has vilified and abused, as he has Governor Carlin, both in the private circle and public congregation, fear or neglect to do his duty in this case, and deliver up this noted refugee, charged with the blackest crimes known to the laws, who now boldly stalks abroad in our public ways. If Joe is innocent, let him be acquitted ”

“ It would be wicked to approach her unless I had permission of the Lord, but as it is, it is as correct as to have a legal wife in a moral point of view." It may be so, said I, but you must see her yourself ”

“ Another in the same book (I.) page 243, from Daniel H. Wells and wife to Joseph Smith, jr., (Joe's son) , executed May 5th, 1841, and recorded May 6th, 1841, for lots 1 and 4, block 22, in Wells' addition to Nauvoo, for the consideration of one hundred dollars.
Another in the same book, page 354, from Robert B. Thompson and wife to Emma Smith, (Joe's wife) , executed July 24th, 1841, and recorded July 27th, 1841, for south-east fractional quarter of section 2, north 6, 9 west, containing 123 43/100 acres, for the consideration of ($4,000) , four thousand dollars. ”