FREEMASONRY AND THE LYNCHING AT CARTHAGE JAIL

Mervin B. Hogan

The question may well be asked: Why discuss the lynching of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail? And the query may equally well be answered by another question: Why has the recounting of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ been a most viable topic for almost two thousand years? Jesus had Judas Iscariot while the Mormons had Thomas Coke Sharp.

John Taylor and Willard Richards were innocently present as friends and brothers in the jail cell with Joseph and Hyrum at the time of the murders. Each of the four had been made a Mason in Nauvoo Lodge. Taylor was severely wounded by four balls while a fifth was stopped by the watch in his left vest pocket. Richards was unmarked except for one ball which removed the lower tip end of his left ear.

As the physically fit survivor of the murderous attack, Richards at once wrote the only contemporary account by a participant in the fighting within the jail. It is titled "Two Minutes In Jail."(1)

Recent research of Dr. Dean C. Jessee(2) has determined that prior to August 7, 1856, John Taylor wrote his own lengthy and comprehensive report on The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith. Sir Richard F. Burton‑‑ another Mason‑‑ first published this account in 1861 as Appendix III of the English edition of his reputable volume, The City of the Saints.(3) Apparently Burton was furnished a copy of the manuscript while he was in Utah Territory between August 25 and September 26, 1860.

Dr. Charles Hay was a member of Warsaw Lodge No. 21 at Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, and also surgeon of the Warsaw regiment of militia. His son, John Hay, had a distinguished career which included serving as Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. He was an intimate and esteemed friend of the author of The Education of Henry Adams, which amply attests to his intellectual and scholarly abilities. As a young but mature scholar, John Hay published his classic "The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy," Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 24, No. 146, December 1869, pp. 669‑678.

John Hay was reared as a boy in Hancock County and must have had word of mouth accounts from many participants at Carthage as well as others fully and intimately knowledgeable of all the related events. It is most sobering to note that writing after more than a quarter of a century following the event, Hay states:

Joe Smith died bravely. He stood by the jamb of the door and fired four shots, bringing his man down every time. He shot an Irishman named [John] Wills, who was in the affair from his congenital love of a brawl, in the arm; [William] Gallagher, a Southerner from the Mississippi Bottom, in the face; [William] Voorhees, a half‑grown hobbledehoy from Bear Creek, in the shoulder; and another gentleman, whose name I will not mention, as he is prepared to prove an ali and besides stands six feet two in his moccasins.(4) (P. 675)

Hay further notes:

The case was closed. There was not a man on the jury, in the court, in the county, that did not know the defendants had done the murder. [my italics] But it was not proven, and the verdict of NOT GUILTY was right in law.

And you cannot find in this generation an original inhabitant of Hancock County who will not stoutly sustain that verdict. (p. 678)

In 1880 Thomas Gregg published his History of Hancock County, Illinois, wherein he states of the above:

Here is a fling at the jury, the Judge, and people; and we venture to characterize it as extremely unjust. We know the writer intended to perpetrate no wrong. He was too intimately connected with some of the accused‑‑indeed, with all concerned‑‑to desire them wrong; but he aimed to produce a readable story for the Atlantic, which he did, though at the expense of candor and justice.

Gregg also declares:

It has been the custom for sensational writers to treat this trial and verdict as farcical and an outrage. One of these writers, Col. John Hay, now of the State Department at Washington, though then a mere boy [5‑3/4 years of age], was yet raised in the county, and had within his reach correct sources of information. In the Atlantic Monthly for Dec. 1869, he has a lengthy article, abounding in extravagant and sational statements and surmises,... (p. 330)

In the Warsaw Signal, Thomas Coke Sharp expressed the regional conscience as he boasted of his personal involvement:

If my influence helped to produce the state of feelings that resulted in the death of Joe Smith, why I am, in common with some hundred others, guilty not of murder, but of an extra judicial execution.

With a brief introductory comment, John Hay quotes a further expression from Sharp's pen:

It is, curious to note the sudden change of the anti‑Mormon journals from the fierce and aggressive tone which they held the week before, to the sullen attitude of self‑defense they assumed the week after the Carthage tragedy. Here is an extract from 'an article by Sharp in the 'Signal,' which may show how much easier it is to kill a man than to justify the killing:‑-

'The St. Louis 'Gazette' says that the men that killed the Smiths were a pack of cowards. Now our view of the matter is, that instead of cowardice they exhibited foolhardy courage, for they must have known or thought that they would bring down on themselves the vengeance of the Mormons. True, the act of an armed body going to the jail and killing prisoners does appear at first sight dastardly, but we look at it as though these men were the executioners of justice; and their act is no more cowardly than is the act of the hangman in stretching up a defenseless convict who is incapable of resistance. If any other mode could have been devised, or any other time selected, it would have been better; but as we have heard others say, we are satisfied that it is done, and care not to philosophize on the modus operandi. [Italics as quoted.] (pp. 676‑677)

Accustomed as we are to instant communication, we are apt to overlook the difficulties and problems encountered when communication is slow or lacking. Springfield is but a hundred miles from Nauvoo, and yet a week after the murders only rumors had reached the capital of Illinois. The following short note appeared in the Sangamon Journal for July 4, 1844:

Notwithstanding all the rumors which are 'afloat,' we are unable to state anything very definite in relation to affairs at Nauvoo, or 'in the region round about' that city. It is certain that the Governor has called out some of the neighboring militia—that bodies of armed men had collected without waiting a call from the Governor‑‑that the Governor had accepted the services of the militia at St. Louis under certain contingencies‑‑that he had demanded of Smith the State arms at Nauvoo‑‑that it had been reported that they were given up‑‑that Smith and his Council had given themselves up to be tried by our laws for alleged offences. Thus far our news seems to be certain. Rumor says further, that on Thursday of last week Joe Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Dr. Richards were shot by a mob at Carthage. We are incredulous in regard to the truth of this rumor. We cannot think that under the circumstances of the case‑‑the excitement against these men among the anti‑mormons‑‑Gov. Ford would have received them as prisoners, to be tried under our laws—-had pledged himself for their protection‑‑and then placed them in a situation where they would be murdered. The rumor is too preposterous for belief.

We await with much anxiety to hear the truth on this subject; and, this feeling is general in this community.

The lynching of the two blood brothers, Joseph and Hyrum "Smith, at Carthage Jail by a blacked‑faced mob caused many factors and conjectures to be advanced and weighed in extreme detail as to what the contributing elements underlying those two deaths actually were. The subject has been pursued with some degree of diligence more or less continuously ever since that time.

A highly complex intensely emotional and unrelenting determination arose among a certain segment of the Illinois citizenry to rid the State of the two Mormon leaders. That Freemasonry was involved in the murders has never been questioned. That individual Masons were aggressive proponents, instigators, and executors of the scheme to incarcerate the two brothers by deceit and literally cage them in a defenseless and impotent position,‑‑then to proceed as a lawless mob to murder them in cold blood‑‑ seems equally well authenticated. It will be seen that the publications of the Illinois Grand Lodge amply implicate Illinois masonry of involvement in the unsavory deed.

One deep‑seated emotional irritant of more than two years' duration among an organized element of Illinois society was the regular, recognized introduction of the Mormons into Illinois Masonry. This strained association appeared to be without end and without solution. The imposed circumstance provoked many of the Illinois non‑Mormon Masons to an antagonism and impatience which induced them to a point of ill‑considered action. They were eager to precipitate what they previewed as the dissolution of a situation in which they had had no voice and over which they had no influence or control.

Such a widespread frustration held the potential of a highly combustible emotional situation, possibly stirring to violence a portion of the membership of the Illinois non-Mormon subordinate lodges. These deeply aroused Masons foresaw a sudden, final, and most satisfying solution of their Masonic unrest in the lynching of the brothers Smith by unidentifiable and ambiguous participants.

The distorted community thinking anticipated the early downfall and disappearance of the Mormon Church as the inevitable consequence of the death of its leader and administrative head, the Prophet Joseph Smith. In a parallel sense the disaffected Masons probably experienced an emotional reaction of retribution and vengeance in the death of Hyrum Smith for their continued Masonic irritation due to his being the prominent incumbent Worshipful Master of Nauvoo Lodge.

There is probably no document extant that reveals Masonically the reputation attached to the name of Abraham Jonas by Missouri Masonry more explicitly than the following communication which Reynolds fortunately preserved in his History: (5)

COLUMBUS LODGE

The dispens ation for this Lodge was granted by Bro. S.W.B. Carnegy, Grand Master, and was dated June 3d, 1839; naming Breth. Abraham Jonas, Master; Daniel Harrison, S.W., and John G. Driskill, J.W.

Palmyra, 3d June, 1839.

'To Bros. Jonas, Harrison, Driskill, Clarkson, Neil, Touzalin, Touzalin, McGorian and Griffin, petitioners for a dispensation to form a Lodge at Columbus Ills., &c.

'Gentlemen: ‑‑The dispensation for which you have petitioned is herewith enclosed, and I avail myself at the same time of this opportunity to express to you my brothers, and through you to those who may in future be associated with you in the glorious undertaking in which you have embarked, the very heartfelt pleasure which I have in contributing my little aid for the advancement of the ancient fraternity of Masons. Allow me, my brothers, at the same time to express my great solicitude for the honor and happiness of the Craft. Those that bear the high honor of being members among those who have entered into covenant with the fraternity, passed the square, and seen suspended the initial of the name of our celestial G.M., and been raised to the honor of bearing the emblem of power, and of using the trowel‑‑those, permit me to say, should be holy, harmless, and undefiled. ‑Having separated themselves from the common mass of men, and taken their stand in front ranks of those who would be useful, charitable, and moral, let me urge you by every consideration, the honor of the name of Mason‑-the claims of our fellow men upon us, for examples of charity, frugality, temperance, fortitude, justice and patriotism‑‑by our high and holy origin‑‑our honorable connections here, and our glorious destiny hereafter‑-to guard well the entering in of the sanctuary, and house of Masonry. Let no one that is immoral, or in the least degree predisposed to intemperance, so much as enter even the outer courts of your glorious temple. There are but very few in the world worthy of a knowledge of our art, and there ought to be but few Masons, therefore, and so long as we are but few in number, and consist of the true, the moral, and temperate, we are safe, and may be happy. The best evidence of speedy ruin to any Lodge, is that they increase very fast‑‑that they are very numerous.

'Hoping that none but the worthy will ever receive from your Lodge admission into our mysteries, and that you may now in this far western hemisphere and newly settled country, in this favored region, far removed from the storm of anti‑Masonry which has with so much bigotry, hatred, and zeal swept over the eastern Lodges, so lay the foundation of the edifice, deep and strong, that in due time we may 'bring forth the cape stone with shouting and praise,' that we may receive the appellation of 'good Master' each for himself, that we may at last in that character 'lay aside the level and plumb‑line, the gavel and trowel, the compass and square,' and be greeted and welcomed to the Temple of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, is the anxious wish of your friend and brother.

(Signed.) 'S.W.B. Carnegy'

The record of the first meeting, aside from the letter just given, is of no more than ordinary interest. (pp. 129‑130)

An explanatory perspective of the many unique and startling administrative decisions, directives, and actions made by the first two Grand Masters of the second Illinois Grand Lodge which were concurred in by the first Deputy Grand Master and a Past Grand Master of Vermont has been published in recent years.(6) Illinois Freemasonry and its Grand Lodge had always hoped that the recorded reality of the active, regular, association and participation of the Mormon Masons in Illinois Masonry could be totally expunged from its history and be forever forgotten. There is the further pertinent fact that a number of vital pieces constituting the overall picture have not been known nor the seriousness of their underlying significance fully grasped.

One is struck more often than not by the utterly amazing Masonic machinations of Grand Master Jonas. One is forced to speculate on what he had in mind when, in all probability, he caused the Mormon Masons of Nauvoo to proceed to Warsaw to constitute the Lodge in the latter town. In his closely packed History of Masonry in Illinois, H. G. Reynolds recorded the event a quarter of a century after its occurrence in his usual cryptic style as follows:

WARSAW LODGE NO. 21.

The first meeting of this Lodge was held January 9, 1843, under a dispensation granted by Meredith Helm, Grand Master, at Warsaw, Hancock county. The following brethren were present: A. J. Chittenden, W.M.; John Montague, S.W.; James Moss, J.W.; Mark Aldrich, Sec.; M. Plumb, S.D.; L. B. Adams, J.D.; German Andrews, Tyler.

The Lodge being opened on the third degree, was 'duly constituted' and the officers installed, the following brethren officiating as grand officers: Louis Ervin, D.G.M., p.t.; L. N. Scovill, S.G.W., p.t.; D. S. Hollister, J.G.W., p.t.; S. Comer, G. Treas., p.t.; C. Robinson, G. Sec., p.t.; B. L. Gallup, S. G. D., p.t.; W. Folshaw, J.G.D., p.t. E. H. Spinning, G.S.B., p.t.; J. A. Forgis, G.M., p.t.; E. B. Baldwin, G.T., p.t.

The following additional brethren were present: L. B. Stoddard, J. W. Collidge, J. B. Nobles, and Benjamin Avise. Of these, all except Ervin and Avise were members of the Mormon Lodges at Nauvoo.

The petitions of Joseph Wilkinson and H. G. Reynolds were received, referred, and by authority of a dispensation from Grand Master Helm, acted on instanter, and the petitioners elected. January 10, Joseph Wilkinson and H. G. Reynolds were initiated, passed and raised, Past Grand Master Jonathan Nye presiding.[my italics]

The additional raisings during the year 1843, were as follows: H. G. Stephens, Jan. 27; William A. Bacon, Aug. 21; C. E. Dodge and J. Cochran, Nov. 7; R. E. Hill and William A. Baker, Nov. 20.

January 27, on motion of H. G. Reynolds, the Grand Lodge was requested to appoint Bro. Nye as a delegate to the Baltimore convention. July 4, the Lodge 'formed a procession and marched to the bower prepared for the occasion, where Bro. H. Stevens delivered an oration suitable to the occasion, after which the brethren partook of a sumptuous repast prepared by the citizens.' Sept. 1st, the Lodge buried with the usual honors, Bro. Joseph Wilkinson, the first brother upon whom the Lodge conferred the Master's degree. Oct. 12, the following officers were elected: A. J. Chittenden, W.M.; John Montague, S.W.; James Moss, J.W.; L. B. Mitchell, Treas.; H. Stevens, Sec.; L. B. Adams, S.D.; William Bacon, J.D.; B. F. Marsh and M. Aldrich, Stewards; German Andrews, Tyler.

Nov. 20, Breth. Wm. A. Baker, William Bacon and R. E. Hill were demitted in order to assist in the formation of a new Lodge at Alexandria, Clark county, Missouri. (pp. 218‑219)

Under its dispensation issued October 15, 1841, Nauvoo Lodge held organizational meetings on December 29 and 30 of that year and convened its third recorded meeting on January 3, 1842. An ominous note presaging the catastrophe of June 27, 1844 surprisingly intruded on this last occasion in the person of the Lodge's first visitor. The minutes of that date include the statement: "Mark Aldrich, of Warsaw, from Detroit, No. 1, Michigan, visiting brother." Little could the Masons of Nauvoo imagine, as they welcomed this unexpected and uninvited intruder, the intensity of evil hatred that then likely rankled in the soul of Mark Aldrich. It was he who would later prominently play on that fateful day the despicable part of one of the very foremost, vigorously driving participants in the brutal murders of the two Mormon Masons at Carthage.

In the personal relation of his life and career as a politician in pioneer Illinois which he titled A History Of Illinois, Thomas Ford records:(7)

On the 23d or 24th day of June, Joe Smith, the mayor of Nauvoo, together with his brother Hyrum and all the members of the council and all others demanded, came into Carthage and surrendered themselves prisoners to the constable, on the charge of riot. They all voluntarily entered into a recognizance before the justice of the peace, for their appearance at court to answer the charge. And all of them were discharged from custody except Joe and Hyrum Smith, [my italics] against whom the magistrate had issued a new writ, on a complaint of treason. They were immediately arrested by the constable on this charge, and retained in his custody to answer it. (pp. 336)

It is important to note that the ruse to separate Joseph from his Nauvoo friends and colleagues was applied at the same time to likewise separate Hyrum and keep him and Joseph closely together in custody.

Part of the pent‑up frustrations of the non‑Mormon Masons were the ill feelings against Jonas kindled and sustained by his arbitrary dictatorial actions. While he was in office and after he left office, they all realized they were restrained from speaking out or acting against him. Probably foremost in their consideration was the fact that Illinois had already had a Grand Lodge. This earlier organization had been formally constituted in 1823 under distinguished leadership. No acceptable explanation has ever been advanced as to just why this first Grand Lodge had most quietly and inconspicuously expired shortly after 1827. There was no dramatic demise or any unusual act or incident which might have alerted the attention of concerned Illinois Masons. It seems that its existence or presence was more or less taken for granted until someone looked for it and found it was no longer there.

Other historical milestones which doubtless related to the situation was the awareness of the respective ages of neighboring and surrounding Grand Lodges. Several, each with its year of founding, are: Kentucky, 1800; Ohio, 1808; Louisiana, 1812; Tennessee, 1813; Indiana and Mississippi, '1818; Missouri, 1821; Texas, 1837; and Arkansas, 1838. Clearly, Illinois was well behind some of the adjacent states insofar as a recognized Grand Lodge was concerned.

The striking point is that by his masterful invocation of Masonic authority, jurisprudence, practice, and tradition, Jonas had fully achieved his personal intentions within the Grand Lodge of Illinois, despite all protests and efforts to the contrary exerted by the non‑Mormon Masons comprising the jurisdiction. His wholesale multiplication of Mormon Masons and the accompanying increase in the number of Mormon Lodges in Illinois and Iowa had created a tenuous and highly inflammable situation between the two Masonic camps.

At all times, there was the founding date of April 6, 1840 to be protected. This is the key point!

If the legality or regularity of any administrative act by Jonas or Helm were to be questioned, particularly in the disregard of custom and traditional restricted member admission, then the legality or regularity of the founding of the second Grand Lodge would be immediately raised. In all probability, such a query would result in the loss of the declared founding date of that Grand Lodge of Illinois. The minimum time involved was almost four years. This was a time period of great criticality when compared with the succeeding founding dates of adjacent Grand Lodges: Wisconsin, 1843; and Iowa and Michigan, 1844.

Dr. T. Edgar Lyon, Historian of the Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., informed me in a personal conversation that he had carefully scrutinized each issue of the Warsaw Signal, under the editorship of Thomas Coke Sharp, and on not a single occasion did Sharp print any criticism of the Mormons which in any way touched on their involvement with Illinois Freemasonry. There may be explanations for this sustained, continuous policy of Sharp's, which stands out as a singular position, since there is nothing else one can think of that he failed to link with or lay at the steps of the Mormons in fiery denunciation.

The rationale underlying this surprising exception, on Sharp's part, appears to be his informed awareness that to question in print the Mormon Masons' position relative to their sister jurisdictional Blue Lodges would cast a forthright Masonic and public doubt as to the authority and regularity of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. Obviously, Sharp could scarcely afford to antagonize and estrange his non-Mormon Masonic readers and supporters, whatever may have been his personal inclinations.

In the Comprehensive History of the Church, the Mormon historian, Brigham H. Roberts, states in a footnote:

Sharp was once an anti‑Masonic editor of western New York. He invented the name 'Jack‑Mason,' for all such persons as refused to take part in the anti-Masonic movement of that day and neighborhood, according to a correspondent to the Illinois State Register, writing under date of November 1st, 1844. He it was, also, according to this same authority, who coined the phrase 'Jack‑Mormon,' an opprobrious epithet applied to such non‑'Mormons' of Illinois who did not favor the illegal procedure and mob violence of Sharp and his associates against the 'Mormons.' He is also described as having made himself the 'organ of a gang of town lot speculators at Warsaw, who are afraid that Nauvoo is about to kill off their town and render speculations abortive.' (The State Register article is copied into the Nauvoo Neighbor of Nov. 13th, 1844). [Vol. 2, p. 322]

After the murders at Carthage, Masonry was called upon to face its involvement in the odious affair. The Illinois Grand Lodge Proceedings yield traces of relevant events.(8)

On Wednesday, October 8, 1845 at the Grand Lodge Communication in Jacksonville, Illinois,

Brother Watson offered the following preamble and resolution, which were read and adopted:

Whereas, It is reported that Warsaw Lodge, No. 21, did initiate, pass, and raise to the sublime degree of Master Mason, a person or persons under indictment for crime at the time they were so initiated, passed and raised; therefore;

Resolved, That the Committee on Returns and Work of Lodges Under Charter be instructed to examine into the matter, and report to this Grand Lodge during this communication. (p. 178)

(As will be seen below, this veiled reference is to the three mobbers Jacob C. Davis, Thomas Coke Sharp, and Levi Williams, who with Mark Aldrich‑‑a member of the Lodge‑‑were among the nine indicted for the murders.)

The next day,

The Committee on Returns and Work of Lodges Under Charter, to whom was referred the resolution in relation to Warsaw Lodge, No. 21, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report: That as Warsaw Lodge has failed to make her regular returns to this Grand Lodge, the committee are unable to give positive information on the subject. (p. 224)

Then,

Brother Ralston submitted the following resolution, which was read and adopted:

Resolved, That a select committee of two be appointed to apply to Warsaw Lodge, No. 21, for its returns, to examine the same upon the points usually investigated by the Committee upon Returns and Work of Lodges Under Charter; also to ascertain, by any means in their power, whether said lodge has conferred any of the degrees upon any person or persons, while under indictment, and to report to the M.W.G. Master, who shall, at his discretion, suspend the charter of said lodge, till the next Annual Communication of this Grand Lodge.

Brothers Levi Lusk, of Rushville, and John H. Holton, of Quincy, were appointed the committee contemplated in the above resolution. (p. 225)

On Tuesday, October 6, 1846,

The Committee on Returns and Work of Chartered Lodges made the following additional report:

'The Committee on Returns and Work of Chartered Lodges beg leave to report: That they have examined the returns and work of Lodges No. 1, 3, 4, 18, 19, 21, 23, 26 and 28, and find them correct and dues paid.

'William Mitchell,

Wm. McMurtry,

C. Jackson,

Committee.

'On motion, the report was accepted.' (p. 308)

On Thursday, October 8, 1846, Grand Master William F. Walker reported to the Grand Lodge in session:

On the 22d of the same month [March] I called the attention of the committee on the subject of Warsaw Lodge, No. 21, to their duties, and soon after received the statement and report which are hereto appended:

'Your committee beg leave to suggest to the M.W. Grand Master, that perhaps it will not be necessary to inflict punishment to the extent of his authority; that although the lodge erred, and greatly erred, yet they conceive the error was an error of the head and not of the heart; that all the harm has been done in the case that can be done; the men have been since tried by the laws of their country and a jury of their peers, and acquitted

'All of which we most respectfully submit.

‘L. Lusk,

J. H. Holton,

Committee.'*

The Grand Secretary, Levi Lusk, P.G.M., appended the following footnote to the above:

*The letter of Brother Montague, approved by Warsaw Lodge, and upon which the committee based their report and suggestion to the M.W. Grand Master, admitted that the Lodge had received and acted upon the petitions of individuals who were under indictment for crime, and that the lodge was apprised of the fact; that the propriety of their admission was made a question; and after mature deliberation and discussion, it was considered that the individuals did not stand as in ordinary cases of indictment. They were men of good standing in society, and respected by their fellow citizens, and against whom no objection existed except the charge of the indictment, and that that had been obtained by perjured witnesses, suborned for the purpose. The proceeding against the individuals was considered a persecution rather than a prosecution.‑-GRAND SECRETARY.

The Grand Master continued his report on this subject with the following concluding statement:

I adopted the recommendation of the committee with respect to the infliction of punishment upon the lodge, and deemed that, attention having been called to the subject of caution and circumspection in all proceedings, and especially in the introduction of members into the Masonic family, a great end had been answered, and with this it would be well to let the lodge off. . . .

At the same date I addressed the secretary of Warsaw Lodge, No. 21, upon the same subject [enjoining said lodge to make immediate payment of its dues to the Grand Secretary, and to make its returns to me]… The reply of Brother John Montague is hereto attached:

'Your letter of the 22d inst. was duly received on the 29th, directing the attention of Warsaw Lodge to the amount due the Grand Lodge. I enclosed the amount to Brother Grand Secretary on the 29th inst. We have Brother Warren's receipts for our dues for the year 1844. 1 forwarded the amount to him shortly after my return from the Grand Lodge in 1844, but did not get a receipt until the 25th inst.

'Fraternally,

JOHN MONTAGUE.

'To M.W. Grand Master.‑‑April 1, 1846.' (pp. 335-337)

Writing a quarter of a century after the events, in his detailed voluminous History, Reynolds(5) preserves the following relevant facts:

WARSAW LODGE NO. 21

This Lodge, during the year 1845, raised as follows:

W. W. Chittenden and L. Prentice, Jan. 22; J. W. Aldrich, Jan. 23; J. Aldrich and C. Cole, Jan. 24;‑‑ E. F. Chittenden, and S. W. Brown, Jan. 27; D. Linsley, Jan. 28; Robert Miller and J. M. Charles, Feb. 18; George Rockwell and H. Comstock, Feb. 19; John Scott, March 4; Levi Williams, March 17; S. Warner and J. Mussellman, March 19; Charles C. Stephens, Sept. 8; J. Galloway, Dec. 8.

June 24, annual election: M. Aldrich was elected W.M.; W. H. Roosevelt, S.W.; Robert Miller, J.W.; George Rockwell, Treas.; E. F. Chittenden, Sec.; J. W. Aldrich and S. W. Brown, Deacons; John Scott and C. Cole, Stewards; German Andrews, Tyler.

Sept. 8, Bro. John Montague was appointed delegate to the Grand Lodge, and directed to vote for Jacksonville, as the place of holding the meeting of the Grand Lodge, and to vote for an appropriation from the Grand Lodge to each subordinate Lodge for the support of common schools. (p. 315) [my italics]

WARSAW LODGE NO. 21.

Brother T. L. Barns, March 17, was the only raising reported by this Lodge during 1846.

It will be remembered that the Grand Lodge, at its session of 1845, directed an investigation to be made into certain action of Warsaw Lodge, in conferring the degrees of Masonry upon persons under indictment for crime. Bro. Lusk, then Grand Secretary, addressed the Lodge a communication in regard to the matter. The letter was referred to Bro. John Montague for answer, who reported the following to the Lodge on the 14th of March:

'Warsaw, March 9th, 1846

'Brother Lusk:‑‑Sir, your letter of the 5th inst., referring me to resolutions passed by the Grand Lodge, at the last regular communication‑‑also making inquiry concerning the initiation of certain individuals into the Lodge, who were at the time under indictment, was duly received. At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 9th inst., I laid your letter before the Lodge for their consideration. On motion of Bro. C. Hay, the Lodge requested me to answer that part of your letter making inquiry in relation to initiating, passing, and raising certain individuals under indictment. The facts were as follows:

'At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 23d Sept. 1844, the petition of J.C. Davis was received, read, filed, and ordered to lie over until the next regular meeting of the Lodge. Bro. Stephens and Aldrich were appointed a committee‑to inquire into‑the character and standing of the applicant. At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 21st of Oct. , 1844, the committee reported favorable. On motion the ballot was taken and found clear. On motion, Mr. Davis was introduced and initiated. At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 4th Nov. , 1844, at the request of Bro. Davis, to be passed to the second degree‑‑on motion the ballot was taken and found clear. On motion, he was introduced and passed. At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 18th Nov.‑‑on motion, the ballot was taken to raise Bro. Davis, and found clear. On motion, he was introduced and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason.

'At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 18th Nov., 1844. The petitions of T.C. Sharp and Levi Williams were received, read, filed and ordered to lie over until the next regular meeting of the Lodge. Bros. Aldrich and Stephens were appointed a committee to inquire into the character and standing of the applicants. At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 16th of Dec., 1844, the ballots were taken separately for Messrs. Sharp and Williams, and found clear. On motion, Mr. Williams was introduced and initiated. At an adjourned meeting of the Lodge, on the 28th Dec. 1844, on motion, Bro. Williams was introduced and passed to the second degree. At an adjourned meeting of the Lodge Feb. 18th, 1845, the ballot was taken to raise Bro. Williams to the degree of Master Mason, and found clear. And at a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 17th of March, 1845, on motion, Bro. Williams was introduced and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, agreeable to ancient form.

'At a regular meeting of the Lodge on the 16th Dec., 1844, the ballot was taken to initiate Mr. Sharp, and found clear. On motion, he was introduced and initiated. At an adjourned meeting of the Lodge on the 6th Jan., 1845, on motion, the ballot was taken to pass Bro. Sharp, and found clear. At an adjourned meeting of the Lodge on the 9th of Jan., 1845, on motion, Bro. Sharp was introduced and passed to the second degree.

'We believed at the time we balloted for candidates to be passed and raised, at adjourned meetings, we were not violating any of the ancient landmarks of the institution. We see the Grand Lodge recommend a different course. We are not disposed to violate any regulation of the Grand Lodge by which a subordinate Lodge shall be governed.

'At the time said petitions were presented, the fact of these individuals being under indictment for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, was referred to, and the question of the propriety of their admission fully discussed. It was admitted that those individuals were worthy members of society, and respected by their fellow citizens‑‑no objection to their initiation therefore existed, except the fact of the pending of the aforementioned indictment. In relation to the matter, it was argued that the indictment was no evidence of crime; in this instance, particularly, it was publicly known that the indictment against said applicants had been procured by the testimony of perjured witnesses who had been suborned by the Mormons, for the purpose of procuring indictments against certain prominent men of the county, who had become obnoxious to them. The standing of those individuals in the community had not been at all impaired by the indictment, but, on the contrary, they were regarded with greater consideration than before, from the fact that they had been particularly selected as the victims of Mormon vengeance. The community regarded the proceedings against them as a persecution rather than a prosecution, and the event of the final trial proved the correctness of the conclusion. Under these circumstances, it could not be considered that those individuals should be regarded in the light that persons ordinarily are, who are arraigned for crime‑besides this, Bro. M. Aldrich, who has held an honorable standing in the Fraternity for upwards of twenty years, was also under indictment for the same offense. There would there e seem to be equally as good grounds for his suspension, as for rejecting the petitions of the individuals referred to. But to do this when there was no evidence of his guilt, would be to reverse the fundamental principles of the Order, and cast off a brother because he was in trouble. The action of the Lodge in the case referred to, was not without due deliberation. If we have erred, we were not aware we were infringing any of the usages or regulations of our ancient and honorable Order. Yet, if we have erred, we do not feel disposed to shrink from any responsibility that may rest on our Lodge, touching the subject under consideration. We hope the above will prove satisfactory to yourself and the Most Worshipful Grand Master. [my italics]

'Very respectfully,

'JOHN MONTAGUE.’

'At an adjourned meeting of the Lodge on the 14th inst., the foregoing report was submitted to the Lodge for their consideration. On motion of Bro. J. Berry:

'Resolved, That the report of Bro. Montague be received and adopted, and he be requested to forward a copy to Bro. Lusk.

'Warsaw, Hancock County, Ill.'

'I, E. F. Chittenden, Secretary of Warsaw Lodge No. 21, do certify that the foregoing report is a true copy, as appears from the record book of said Lodge, and unanimously adopted at an adjourned meeting of the Lodge on the 14th of March, 1846.

'E. F. CHITTENDEN, Secretary.'

June 6, the following officers were elected: John Montague, W.M.; W. H. Roosevelt, S.W.; R. Miller, J.W.; G. Rockwell, Treas.; E. F. Chittenden, Sec.; S. Brown and C. C. Stephens, Deacons; German Andrews, Tyler. Sept. 28, the delegate to the Grand Lodge was instructed to vote against all the proposed amendments to the constitution and by‑laws. (pp. 350‑352)

These records show that Grand Secretary Levi Lusk either with or without the concurrence of some of his highly placed Grand Lodge associates‑‑successfully suppressed the historically significant report of John Montague. By this means the detailed facts relating Illinois Masonry with the murders of the brothers Smith were effectively withheld from the individual Masons of Illinois, from the universal Masonic Order, and from the general public‑‑as well as from the Mormons.

In all accounts of the foul deed, the names of Mark Aldrich, Thomas Coke Sharp, Jacob C. Davis, and Levi Williams are always tightly linked together as the principals in the Carthage lynching. The above records prove that Warsaw Lodge No. 21 was unquestionably involved in the entire undertaking. These same records further show that the Lodge hastened to recognize the indicted Mark Aldrich individually on the first possible occasion by electing him the Worshipful Master of the Lodge. The Lodge also lost no time in making Masons of his three indicted associates in the murders: Davis, Sharp, and Williams.

There is an unpublished factor which explains the linked murder of Hyrum Smith. The Minutes of Nauvoo Lodge leave no question as to the fact that Abraham Jonas had a basic plan which would continue to involve Masonry with his personal political ambitions. He intended to establish a concurrent competing Illinois Grand Lodge composed of the Mormon Lodges. Human nature is always human nature among Masons as it is with other members of the human race. For that reason, doubtless some of the Mormon Masons taunted the non‑Mormon Masons with their Masonic independence under Past Grand Master Jonas. Actually, when the Illinois Grand Lodge formally dissociated itself from the Mormon Lodges it unwittingly created a formidable schism in Illinois Masonry. This fact, I believe, contributed to the undeclared factors, adding highly flammable emotions directed especially at Hyrum Smith‑‑who, as the able Worshipful Master of Nauvoo Lodge, was the personified epitome of the hated and detested Mormon Masons.

One salient fact must be recognized as it relates to this short‑sighted and lethal mob fury: Freemasonry is an estimable and durable philosophical and religious institution founded on high ideals and noble principles; its inherent weakness is that fallible human males constitute its membership.

NOTES

(1) "Two Minutes In Jail" appeared first in the four‑page Nauvoo Neighbor, Vol. 2, No. 13, Wednesday, July 24, 1844, P. 3. It was immediately reprinted in the Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, No. 14, Thursday, August 1, 1844, pp.598‑599. It is reproduced for convenient reference in the Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 619‑621. It served as the basis for the religious presentation of the martyrdom by the Mormon Church in its scripture The Doctrine and Covenants, Section 135, pp. 252‑253.

(2) "Return to Carthage: Writing the History of Joseph Smith's Martyrdom;" Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 8, 1981.