[ Full-text transcription of: Letter from L. B. Fleak, Iowa to Governor Reynolds, Jefferson City, Mo. ]
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Keokuk I.T. Augt 3rd 1843
His Excellency Gov Reynolds
Dear Sir, Herewith I send you a copy of
an affidavit that is now in my office although there
is nothing definite in it yet you may rely upon it that if those
Mormons do not give you trouble on your Western & Northern
lines this Fall it will be because they cannot get enough of
Indians to fall in with their diabolical schemes. They have
numbers of emissaries among the Indians at this time who repre=
sent to the Indians that they are Englishmen. They are also
scattering English medals among the Indians & represent to
them that Smith holds a commission under the British govern=
ment. This may all look like a hoax to you but the time will
come when it will not be felt as a hoax. Hitchcock the deponent
has long been acquainted with Pottawattomies, speaks their language
as fluently as he does the English language. He is well known here
and has been known, always as a man of undoubted veracity
I myself know that those Chiefs (as they call themselves)
were there at the time he mentions in his affidavit & I
also know that they returned at the time that says they told
him they would & that they brought their own interpreter
with them [this] last time. The following is a true
copy of the Affidavit, many of the expressions are awkward
but he says it is a literal translation of their conversation so far
as it goes
Justice of the Peace for
who being duly sworn according to Law, deposeth & sayth
“That about the first of April last, three Pottawattomie Chiefs, the
oldest was Waugh-bz-he-she, the next oldest Apa-guch-a-bn & the
youngest Na-am-west came to Montrose and enquired of the
deponent for the British Captain that talks with the Great Spirit
a Mormon took them across the River to Nauvoo about 10 oClock
A.M. & about 2 oClock P.M. Jos Smith (the Prophet so called) sent a
Request
request for the deponent to come to Nauvoo which the deponent
complied with. when the deponent arrived at Smith’s, said
Chiefs were before Smith’s house surrounded by about one hundred
Mormons. After the lapse of some minutes, Smith ordered the
deponent & Chiefs to appear before him in his room. This was before
the deponent began the interpretations. The house of Smith was
then closed and no one allowed to enter the room but Hiram Smith
Joe’s Brother & three other Mormons. The Chiefs requested the deponent
to tell the British Capt (Joe Smith) that many of his men were
among them on
white streak seen in the West two & a half moons past, signified
the great white prophet (Brittish Capt Joe Smith) that talked with
the Great Spirit and that he Ů
Smith would tell them how to settle
all of the abuses of the Whites and how to get
redress
for their wrongs. The Chiefs then said that ten tribes
had already smoked the pipes of Peace & were then ready
to receive & obey his (Smith’s) orders. The Chiefs also re-
quested Smith to send some of his [big] men home with
them. They then showed Smith two Brittish medals to prove
to him that they were true friends as they said. All the
reply that Smith made to them through the deponent was my hands
are tied by holding a Commission under the
said to them that he wished the ten tribes to stick closely together.
Hiram Smith told the deponent to say to them that they should
not send any one with them but if brother Dunham was willing
to go with them he might go. The next morning about sunrise
the Chiefs came back to Montrose, when this deponent asked
them when they would return to Nauvoo, they replied when
corn comes knee high. The Chiefs earnestly requested this
deponent to keep their talk a secret & further the deponent
saith not. Signed Emanuel Hitchcock
Sworn to & subscribed before me on this 27th day of July 1843
Signed J. A.Clark J. P.
The above is a true copy of the affidavit &with my knowledge of
those fanatics together with the fact of the return of those Chiefs
at the time specified and other circumstances. Its
fully clear that there will be an attempt made on the frontier
of
Allen of Fort Rackoon, some 250 miles up the Desmoines [sic] River
He states that there had been one or two hundred Pottawatto=
mies incamped in that vicinity & that the Sac & Fox Indians
had furnished them with some 80 or 100 horses, he says in
his letter that he does not apprehend any difficulty, but at the
same time he will be on the alert, always in readiness
and keep his eye closely on any whites that may
be passing. It is not my wish to create any unnecessary
alarm but I do think that the inhabitants on the border of the
State should know what facts there are in the case, That the
Mormons have a fixed hatred against
well aware. One of the principal articles of their creed
is the destruction of
yet I expect without calling for the vengeance of
Heaven on Missourians. Well I claim to be a Missourian and
glory in the name & I hope the Mormons will make their
intended invasion, then the extermination of them would take
place beyond a doubt, I said I was a Missourian, I am not
by birth but by adoption, I have resided in the State for several years
& intend being there shortly again, as soon at least as I finish closing
my business which will be in two or three months
I now am offering to pay the reward for Smith that you
offered provided he is delivered to me in Clark Co Mo
five miles from this place. There is nothing on earth would
give me more pleasure than to make my appearance at
of success as he keeps a body guard near him all the while
I send you a paper to day containing Hiram Smith’s Testimony
As given before the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, at Smith’s last
exparte examination Very Respectfully
Your Obdt Servt
[L. B.] Fleak
Fleak
1843. Augt
Mormons
Keokuk I.T.)
Augt 4 ) Free. L.B. Fleak P.M.
His Excellency Gov Reynolds
River Mail) MO