Footnotes

1. [1]

   Ordinance, 5 July 1842. For more on habeas corpus, see Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 5 July 1842.  

2. [2]

   Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842. Boggs’s affidavit was made amid accusations from John C. Bennett that JS had conspired with Orrin Porter Rockwell to assassinate Boggs. Bennett’s claims were included in his letters to the editor printed in the 15 July and 22 July issues of the Sangamo Journal. (John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, St. Louis, MO, 15 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 22 July 1842, [2].)  

   Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

3. [3]

   The United States Constitution stated that “a person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.” Congress and then the Illinois state legislature subsequently passed statutes that enacted this provision in their respective jurisdictions and specified procedures to be followed. (U.S. Constitution, art. 4, sec. 2; An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons Escaping from the Service of Their Masters [12 Feb. 1793], Public Statutes at Large, 2nd Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 7, pp. 302–305; An Act concerning Fugitives from Justice [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], pp. 318–320.)  

   Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

   The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

4. [4]

   An influential nineteenth-century law dictionary defined an accessory as “he who is not the chief actor in the perpetration of the offence, nor present at its performance, but is some way concerned therein.” An accessory before the fact was defined as “one who being absent at the time of the crime committed, yet procures, counsels, or commands another to commit it.” (“Accessary,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:36.)  

   Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

5. [5]

   Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842. Boggs created two affidavits on 20 July 1842. The first accused Rockwell of assaulting him with attempt to kill, and the second accused JS of being an accessory before the fact. Relying on Boggs’s two affidavits, Reynolds wrote two requisitions, one for Rockwell and another for JS. The requisition for Rockwell is not extant, but it is referenced in Carlin’s 2 August warrant for Rockwell, which was copied into Rockwell’s 8 August petition for habeas corpus. The fact that Boggs did not mention Rockwell in his affidavit for JS was a mistake. Reynolds complicated the problem by including Rockwell’s name in his requisition for JS, rather than insisting that Boggs correct the underlying affidavit. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; Affidavit, 20 July 1842 [Extradition of Rockwell for Assault], JS Office Papers, CHL; Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842.)  

6. [6]

   Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.  

7. [7]

   Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 5 Aug. 1842, 37.  

8. [8]

   An Act Regulating the Proceeding on Writs of Habeas Corpus [22 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 323, sec. 2.  

   The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

9. [9]

   Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.  

10. [10]

    Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 37. The city council had passed an initial ordinance regarding writs of habeas corpus on 5 July 1842. Then on 5 August, John Taylor introduced an ordinance to regulate proceedings in the Nauvoo Municipal Court. His proposed ordinance was referred to a committee composed of Taylor, Orson Spencer, and William Law. On 8 August, the committee reported its findings and introduced a new ordinance that laid out the process to be used for an individual to receive a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo Municipal Court. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 5 and 8 Aug. 1842, 37.)  

11. [11]

    Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 37; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 98; see also Ordinance, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Aug. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.  

12. [12]

    See An Act Regulating the Proceeding on Writs of Habeas Corpus [22 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], pp. 323–324, sec. 3. While this 8 August ordinance gave the municipal court broad powers, some Nauvoo citizens acknowledged that the municipal court could not pass judgment on the individual who had been brought before the court by a habeas corpus petition. An editorial published in the 15 August 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons granted that “habeas corpus can only test the validity, not the virtue of a process, (as testimony to prove the guilt or innocence of a person—under an investigation by habeas corpus, is inadmissible).” (“Persecution,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842, 3:888–889, italics in original.)  

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

13. [13]

    The mayor and aldermen of the city council constituted the municipal court. Sections 16 and 17 of the Nauvoo charter granted both the mayor and aldermen jurisdiction over appeals for alleged violations of city ordinances. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)  

14. [14]

    Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 99. The city council’s rules of order specified that the vice mayor would “serve as President pro tempore, who shall preside during the absence of the Mayor.” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 22 Jan. 1842, 46.)  

15. [15]

    Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 8 Aug. 1842, 6 (second numbering). Although Emmons apparently was not admitted to the bar until 1843, he acted as a lawyer on Nauvoo City Council business on a few occasions in 1841 and 1842. In such settings, he was referred to as “Judge Emmons.” (Perrin, History of Cass County, Illinois, 239; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 30 Oct. 1841, 26; 1 Nov. 1841, 28; 1 Jan. 1842, 38.)  

    Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Cass County Illinois. Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882.

16. [16]

    Writ of habeas corpus for JS, 8 Aug. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Writ of habeas corpus for Orrin Porter Rockwell, 8 Aug. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.  

17. [17]

    JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1842; “The Arrest,” Wasp, 13 Aug. 1842, [2]; Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842. In a letter to Emma Smith in September 1842, Carlin argued against the municipal court’s decision to grant a writ of habeas corpus to JS and Rockwell, since the charges against them were not governed by Nauvoo’s ordinances. (Thomas Carlin, Quincy, IL, to Emma Smith, [Nauvoo, IL], 7 Sept. 1842.)  

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.