Warrant, 2 August 1842–B [City of Nauvoo v. Thompson]
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Source Note
JS as Mayor and Justice of the Peace, Warrant, to Nauvoo City Marshal [], for William Thompson, , Hancock Co., IL, 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson (Nauvoo, IL, Mayor’s Court 1842); handwriting of ; certified by JS, 2 Aug. 1842; notation by , [, Hancock Co., IL], 2 Aug. 1842; two pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes seal and notation.Single leaf measuring 6⅝ × 7⅝ inches (17 × 19 cm). The top edge of the recto has the square cut of manufactured paper. The left, right, and bottom edges of the recto were unevenly cut, perhaps from a larger sheet. The leaf was trifolded, and Nauvoo city constable inscribed a notation on the verso.The warrant, along with other records of the mayor’s court, was likely included among the municipal court records listed in early inventories that were produced by the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL). It was cataloged as part of the Nauvoo, IL, Records in 2006. The document’s probable inclusion in Historian’s Office inventories suggests continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
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“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1]; “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
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Historical Introduction
On 2 August 1842, JS, acting as mayor and a justice of the peace for , Illinois, signed a warrant for the arrest of William Thompson, which , the city recorder and clerk of the municipal court, had created on JS’s behalf. Earlier in the day, Warren Smith, a citizen of Nauvoo, had approached JS with an accusation that Thompson had attempted to rape , his stepdaughter. In response, JS wrote out a warrant for Thompson’s arrest, charging him with attempted rape. Rape and attempted rape were felonies, however, meaning JS, as a justice of the peace, had authority to hear evidence for the alleged crime only in a preliminary examination. If JS found probable cause that a crime had occurred, the case would be sent to the Circuit Court in , Illinois, for trial. Likely due to these jurisdictional issues, the charge against Thompson was changed to disorderly conduct. This second warrant, which replaced the warrant composed by JS, reflects the revised charge.With the change in the charge from “attempted rape” to “disorderly conduct,” Thompson could be tried by JS in the mayor’s court instead of the Circuit Court. These changes were probably introduced to ensure local justice—a common practice in the in cases involving charges of rape or attempted rape. While such changes often benefited the accused, they also ensured that the victim would not face the stress and embarrassment of testifying on such a sensitive topic multiple times. Along with changing the charge, added standard language used in warrants, identified JS as a justice of the peace, noted the date of the alleged crime, and provided directions for the constable—all details missing from the warrant JS had written earlier.After JS signed the second warrant on 2 August, Constable served it to Thompson and escorted him to the mayor’s court for trial. JS also issued a summons for the witnesses and victim to appear in court. The witnesses testified to hearing screams and seeing Thompson place his hands on . Then, although likely shaken by the ordeal that had taken place only hours earlier, Woolsey personally testified. Warren Smith stated that Thompson “did not appear intoxicated,” but Woolsey testified that he “had been drinking.” She explained that he had put his “Arm round her or over her shoulder” and had threatened to kiss her. James Brown, a neighbor, had testified that Thompson was seen “pulling up her Clothes.” Placed in the uncomfortable position of testifying against her stepfather, Woolsey personally could not say whether he “was in the Act of endeavoring to pull up her Clothes” when Brown arrived on the scene.Although the charge had changed, JS’s ruling shows that he passed judgment with the accusation of Thompson’s attempted rape in mind. JS found Thompson guilty of “disorderly Conduct” and sentenced him to pay the court costs of the case, indemnify the , keep the peace, and exhibit “good behaviou[r]” for a year, “especially towards .” The sentencing included a recognizance, which stipulated that Thompson and , acting as his surety, would owe the city thirty dollars if Thompson failed to meet the requirements of the judgment. JS also ruled that if Thompson could not give security, he would be required to “labour forty days at hard labour.” After the sentencing, created a bail bond for $200, which, once signed by Thompson, Warren Smith, Constable , and Sheriff , would release Thompson on the condition that he appear the following morning “to abide the Judgment of said Court.” Thompson, who was apparently illiterate, marked the bond on 2 August, but court documents suggest that the others did not sign the bond until the next day at the earliest. Furthermore, even though JS delivered the judgment on 2 August, the needed to be prepared and executed. Thompson remained in Sherwood’s custody overnight and probably signed the recognizance on 3 August, though it appears that Morrison did not sign until March 1843. The case officially ended in July 1843, when Morrison paid the mayor’s fees, indicating that Thompson did not pay all of the stipulated court fees. Further, it does not appear that Thompson paid the thirty dollars for failing to abide the judgment or that he labored forty days for failing to give security. He may have left within a few months of the trial.
Footnotes
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In addition to his work for the city and Nauvoo Municipal Court, Sloan kept the docket book for the Nauvoo mayor’s court for JS. (See Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, Nauvoo Mayor’s Court, ca. 5 July 1842.)
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Illinois law required that felonies be tried in supreme or circuit courts. JS did, however, have jurisdiction over “all cases of assaults, and of assault and battery, and affrays.” (An Act to Extend the Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace [29 Dec. 1826], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 415, sec. 1; An Act Regulating the Supreme and Circuit Courts [19 Jan. 1829], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 171, sec. 20.)
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.
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The ordinance referenced in the warrant prohibited a range of misdeeds, including disorderly conduct, vagrancy, public drunkenness, indecent behavior, and profanity. The ordinance had been published with other city laws in pamphlet form in July. Other Illinois city charters gave local officials power to pass similar laws. (Minutes, 13 Nov. 1841; “An Ordinance concerning Vagrants, and Disorderly Persons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1841, 3:622; City Charter, 30; An Act to Incorporate the Town of Marion [24 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 336, sec. 10.)
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.
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Even after most states did away with capital punishment for rape in the early nineteenth century, local justices often charged offenders with lesser crimes to maintain local control over sentencing. (See Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 143–161.)
Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
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JS as Mayor, Summons to City Marshal, 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
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For a summary of the other testimonies, see Historical Introduction to Warrant for William Thompson, 2 Aug. 1842–A.
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At times, the gender dynamics of the period placed women in a position where they felt forced to testify. Woolsey may have felt compelled to speak because her neighbors had reported the crime and her husband or another male relative was not present to seek justice on her behalf. (See Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 100–102.)
Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
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Notes of Evidence, 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
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Recognizance for William Thompson and Arthur Morrison, [between 2 and 3 Aug. 1842], City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. The cost of the case came to $4.25. JS delivered similar sentences in two other cases involving violence against women. The first was a late 1842 case in which Albert Clements and Nathan Tanner were accused of assault and battery and convicted of disorderly conduct. JS fined each defendant $10 and ordered him to pay the court costs, indemnify the city, and enter into a recognizance of $50 to keep the peace, “especially towards” the victim, Adah Clements, for six months, or, if unable or unwilling to provide such security, to be imprisoned for thirty days. In 1843, JS sentenced “A. Field,” who was charged with “drunkenness & abusing his wife,” to pay a $10 fine and court costs and to sign a bail bond of $50 to keep the peace for six months. (Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 31; Docket Entry, ca. 19 Dec. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Clements and Tanner [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 42; JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1843.)
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Recognizance for William Thompson and Arthur Morrison, [between 2 and 3 Aug. 1842], City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Morrison rented a house on Nauvoo’s block 11. (Miller, “Study of Property Ownership,” 11; see also 1840 U.S. Census, Hancock Co., IL, 166.)
Miller, Rowena J. “Study of Property Ownership: Nauvoo; Original Town of Nauvoo, 1839–1850,” ca. 1965. In Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., Corporate Files, 1839–1992. CHL.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
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Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 31. This sentence followed the disorderly conduct ordinance, which stipulated that those convicted “be required to enter into security for good behavior for a reasonable time, and indemnify the corporation against any charge, and in case of refusal or inability to give security, they shall be confined to labor for a time not exceeding ninety days; or be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars; or be imprisoned not exceeding six months; or all; at the discretion of said Mayor or Court.”a The mayor’s court and municipal court dealt with several cases of disorderly conduct. When an individual was convicted of using abusive language or drunkenness, the courts usually sentenced the guilty party to pay either the court costs or a small fine or both.b In March 1842, Amos Davis, who was found guilty by the municipal court of using “abusive Language About Joseph,” was sentenced to indemnify the city and provide security of one hundred dollars to keep the peace for six months.c
(a“An Ordinance concerning Vagrants, and Disorderly Persons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1841, 3:622. bSee Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 21 Nov. 1841, City of Nauvoo v. Edwards [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1841]; Docket Entry, 5 July 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Rhodes [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842]; Docket Entry, ca. 6 Dec. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 14, 29, 40–41; JS, Journal, 7 Apr. 1843,; and JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1843; 1–2 Jan. and 1 Apr. 1844. cJS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1842; Docket Entry, ca. 10 Mar. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 4 [second numbering].)Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book / Nauvoo, IL, Mayor’s Court. Docket Book, 1843. In Historian’s Office, Historical Record Book, 1843–1874, pp. 12–50. CHL.
Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book / Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court. “Docket of the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” ca. 1843–1845. In Historian's Office, Historical Record Book, 1843–1874, pp. 51–150 and pp. 1–19 (second numbering). CHL. MS 3434.
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William Thompson et al. to City of Nauvoo, Bail Bond, ca. 2 and 3 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
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The verso of the warrant in JS’s handwriting includes a docket in the handwriting of Sherwood, noting a fee for “extra trouble in taking care of the prisoner over night and taking bonds.” The verso of the recognizance includes a docket dating the document to 2 August 1842. It might have been prepared on 2 August and signed and delivered to the marshal on 3 August. (JS, Warrant to City Marshal or City Constable, [2 Aug. 1842], City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842]; Recognizance for William Thompson and Arthur Morrison, [between 2 and 3 Aug. 1842], City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
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Docket Entry, ca. 2 Aug. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Thompson [Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1842], Nauvoo Mayor’s Court Docket Book, 31.
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Thompson sold lot 2 of block 66 to Isaac Haight in October 1842. Lovina Patterson Woolsey and her children were abandoned by her husband, James. Lovina and the children traveled to Utah with James’s brothers, Thomas and Richard Woolsey. Lovina is listed with her three surviving children, Joseph, Brigham, and Abigail, in the 1850 census of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. (Haight, Journal, 2 Oct. 1842; Book of Assessment, 1842, Second Ward, 8, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; “Death of Nauvoo Veterans,” Deseret Evening News [Salt Lake City], 16 Oct. 1903, 9; 1850 U.S. Census, Pottawattamie Co., Iowa Territory, 141; Whitaker, Chronology of Joseph Woolsey, 6.)
Haight, Isaac Chauncey. Journal, 1852–1862. Photocopy. CHL. MS 1384.
Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Whitaker, Wilford W. Chronology of Joseph Woolsey 1771–1839 and Abigail Schaeffer 1786–1848 Our Mormon Pioneer Ancestors. Murray, UT: W. W. Whitaker, 2013.
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| State of Illinois) | ss. |
| City of ) |
Cite this page
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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1
Ss. is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, namely.” (“Scilicet,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:379.)
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.
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Signature of JS.
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TEXT: “Seal” enclosed in a hand-drawn representation of a seal.
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