Source Note
David W. Kilbourne, Letter, Montrose, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Laban B. Fleak, Keokuk, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, August 12, 1842. Published in Warren A. Jennings, “Two Iowa Postmasters View Nauvoo: Anti-Mormon Letters to the Governor of Missouri,” BYU Studies 11, no. 3 (1971): 281.
Historical Introduction
Laban B. Fleak was the postmaster in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa Territory, and was a known antagonist of the Saints. During July and August of 1842, Fleak wrote at least two letters to Governor Thomas Reynolds, conveying his certitude of Joseph Smith’s involvement in the assassination attempt of Lilburn Boggs and encouraging him to “break up this horde of villany and murder by removing its head.”1 Fleak, a former citizen of Missouri, eventually became so frustrated at Smith’s supposed evasion of legal justice that he attempted to bring Smith to Missouri himself.2 His plan ultimately failed, but he remained avidly antagonistic towards Smith and the Latter-day Saints for the rest of his life.
Document Transcript
Montrose Iowa
Aug 12 th 1842
Friend Fleak
It is next to impossible to get correct news from across the river. The Sheriff returned from Quincy yesterday & demanded Joe of the Marshall of Nauvoo into whose hands he had committed him for safe keeping; but he was not forthcoming, the Marshall Saint had let him go.3
The fact is the Mormons defy all the force that can be brought against them & swear in their strength that Joe Shall not be taken to Mo. Does not his conduct show the despot guilt [sic]? They are all in a great stew—Every old Rifle, Pistol, Cutlass, Knife etc among them is being put in order.
If Joe does not appear I suppose the next step will be to offer a reward for him as a fugitive from justice—as he has now escaped from an officer of justice.
If that is done I’ll be bound justice will overtake him.
Will Mo now give up the chase? Will Gov Boggs be willing to rest & let a man who would murder him any moment go “unwhiped of Justice”?—for the good of the country & the peace of Society I hope not.
D. W. Kilbourne
1. L. B. Fleak to Gov. Reynolds, July 12, 1842, pp. 375–78 herein.
2. L. B. Fleak to Gov. Reynolds, August 3, 1843, pp. 398–401 herein.
3. The sheriff Kilbourne is referring to is Adams County undersheriff Thomas King, who arrived in Nauvoo on August 8, 1842, to arrest Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell. Warrants for their arrest had been issued by Thomas Carlin, governor of Illinois. However, the Nauvoo City Council had passed its first habeas corpus ordinance about a month earlier, and when King came to arrest Smith, Smith applied for a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo Municipal Court and was granted it. King, surprised by this, left Smith and Rockwell in the custody of Dimick B. Huntington, Nauvoo marshal, and took the arrest warrants to Quincy to consult Carlin. King had also been involved in an attempt the year before to bring Smith to Missouri to stand charges of treason, which attempt ended when judge Stephen A. Douglas released Smith on a legal technicality. Morris A. Thurston, “The Boggs Shooting and Attempted Extradition: Joseph Smith’s Most Famous Case,” BYU Studies 48, no. 1 (2009): 11–16.
