He Didn't Do Right By The Founder Of The Mormon Church: Judge Richard M. Young

RICHARD MONTGOMERY YOUNG born 1798 in Kentucky and moving to Illinois in 1817 wore many hats in his lifetime. He was an Attorney, Captain of the Illinois State Militia, Land Office Commissioner, and U.S. Senator. For those who have heard of him though, he was most remembered for his role as the presiding judge at the 1844 murder trial of the accused murderers of the founder of the Mormon Church Later Day Saint's movement Joseph Smith Jr. and his brother Hyrum. This infamous charade, held in Carthage, Illinois, is known today as the "Carthage Conspiracy".
  One of the most consequential crimes in United States history occurred on a summer day in 1844 when a mob stormed a jail in Carthage, Illinois and murdered two of its occupants, Joseph Smith, Jr. and his brother, Hyrum. The killing of Joseph Smith, the charismatic founding prophet of the Church of Latter Day Saints, America's most important homegrown religion, led to a schism among Mormons and the trek west to Utah of Brigham Young and his followers. The story of the 1844 murders (or "martyrdoms," as they are often called in LDS accounts) and the trial that followed is much less known than it deserves to be--largely owing to the over-sensitivity of American textbook writers on all matters religious. Events so pivotal in the history of the Mormon Church, which today boasts a worldwide membership of over 14 million and exerts an important influence on debates of moral issues ranging from same-sex marriage to gambling to euthanasia, deserve a broader understanding
   The growing Mormon economic and political influence in Hancock County did not sit well with all county residents. In 1841, Thomas C. Sharp of Warsaw, Illinois organized an anti-Mormon political party and began publishing vitriolic editorials in his Warsaw Signal newspaper attacking Joseph Smith's concentration of power, the creation of a Mormon military force called The Nauvoo Legion, and Mormon land speculation. From within the Mormon population there was dissension too, with former church leader John C. Bennett publishing charges that Smith and other church officials were practicing polygamy.  Conflict further escalated in 1843 following the arrest of Joseph Smith by Illinois deputies who sought to send Smith back to Missouri to face charges pending there. Following Smith's rescue by the Nauvoo Legion, the Mormon-dominated Nauvoo City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing review by the mayor of all legal process issuing from outside the city. The city council's action inflamed anti-Mormon sentiment, with Sharp and others complaining that Smith "was above the law."
  In the spring of 1844, tensions finally overflowed into violence. In May, a group of about 300 dissenting Mormons headed by former Mormon counselor William Law started holding meetings to voice their outrage over the practice of polygamy and Smith's ever-growing theocratic power in Nauvoo. Among the actions advocated by the group was repeal of the Nauvoo Charter, the state document empowering Nauvoo to exercise legal authority. On June 7, William Law and six associates published what would be the first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper created to expose the "abominations and whoredoms" of Smith and other high church officials.Publication of the Nauvoo Expositor prompted an emergency meeting of the Nauvoo City Council to consider what if any action should be taken against what most city council members considered to be a libelous and incendiary newspaper. On June 10, the Council adopted an ordinance ("Ordinance Concerning Libels") that declared the Expositor to be a public nuisance. Immediately following the Council's action, Nauvoo Mayor Joseph Smith issued an order authorizing the destruction of the paper's publications, press equipment, and type: "You are hereby commanded to destroy the printing press from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor, and to toss the type of said printing establishment in the street, and burn all the Expositors and libelous handbills found within said establishment." At about eight o'clock that evening, Smith's order was carried out.
  The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor whipped anti-Mormon feelings in Hancock County into a frenzy. In Carthage, citizens met and adopted a resolution expressing outrage with Smith's order and with a decision of the Nauvoo Municipal Court dismissing an arrest warrant for Smith, on the charge of inciting a riot, that had been issued the day before by a Hancock County judge. The resolution castigated "the wicked and abominable Mormon leaders" who were behind the destruction of the paper and warned that "a war of extermination" might be necessary. In response to the resolution issuing from Carthage, Smith wrote to Governor Thomas Ford inviting him to come to Nauvoo to help resolve the growing controversy and met with the Nauvoo Legion instructing them to resist if a mob of anti-Mormons attacked the town. Governor Ford declined the invitation. Rumors of an imminent assault on Nauvoo circulated in the town.
   Four days after giving a final speech to the Nauvoo Legion in which Smith declared, "I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation," he and his brother Hyrum and a small band of followers crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa, their first stop on a planned journey that would take them to safety in the Rocky Mountains. The next day, however, Smith aborted his journey and returned to Nauvoo after becoming convinced that his surrender to Illinois authorities was the only hope for preventing an anti-Mormon mob from attacking Nauvoo. On June 25, after meeting with Governor Ford in Carthage, Joseph and Hyrum agreed to voluntarily submit to arrest on the charge of inciting a riot at the building housing the Nauvoo Expositor. Later in the day, a second charge was added--treason!--and Justice of the Peace Robert Smith ordered the two Smiths to be held without bail in the Carthage Jail until a hearing, scheduled for June 29, could be held.
While Joseph and Hyrum Smith waited in their jail cell, a number of men broke into the jail and, firing pistols, killed both brothers in their cell. After a complicated array of events, a grand jury handed down indictments against nine men for conspiracy to murder Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The three indicted men most closely linked to the actual shootings fled the county and were never arrested. An eyewitness to the murders, Jeremiah Willey, said that John Wills, Gallaher (a man whose first name has fallen out of the historical record), and William Voras were among the men that broke into the jail room. Willey reported that Gallaher shot Joseph Smith in the back as he ran to the window.  In the end, just five of the nine indicted men would face trial: Levi Williams, Thomas Sharp, Mark Aldrich, Jacob Davis, and William Grover. In accordance with an agreement reached by the prosecution and the defense, that trial would not begin until the May 1845 term of court.
   On the morning of May 21, 1845, in a two-story brick courthouse in Carthage, the case of People v Levi Williams was called. Standing trial before Judge Richard M. Young were five Hancock County residents accused of conspiring to murder Joseph and Hyrum Smith. After nine days of testimony by anti-Mormon witnesses, the Defense suggested to the jury that by the acquittals of the Defendents they will "restore peace" to the county and prevent "a bloody and terrible war" that could result from their decision to convict.  At 11:30 on May 30, 1845, the jury began its deliberations. Two hours later, the jury reported its verdict: acquittals for all five defendants. Few Mormons in Nauvoo were surprised with the jury's decision. Brigham Young wrote in his journal that the verdict was just as he "had anticipated." A story on the trial in the Nauvoo Neighbor noted that convictions never are to be expected in "martyr cases." The trial outcome, to a large extent, vindicated the prediction that the Defense Attorney made in his closing argument: it restored a measure of peace to Hancock County.

   Shown above from my personal collection is a letter signed by Richard M. Young, addressed to Joel Wright of Quincy, Illinois dated 1835. Young had sold his farm and wanted to move to Quincy to set up his law practice. This move would begin his first of many contacts with various Mormon figures who, like Richard M. Young, have faded into the abyss of history.