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Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844

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Press in — and [illegible]— who abated the press, by his own arm,— & for Libel & the courts decided on prosecution no cause of action. And we do know that it is common for police in &c to destroy scurrilous <​libellus​> prints, and we think the Loss of chara[c]ters by Libels, & the loss of life— by mobocratic prints,— to be a greater loss than a little prope[r]ty, all of which Your “says we are wrong life alone excepted, we have sustained,— brought upon us by the most unprin[c]ipled outlaws. Gamblers, countefeters, & Such characters as are seen have been standng by m[e] & probably are now standing around your durig the <​namely those men who have brought these evils upon us​>
We are compelled to
We have no knowledge of men’s being Sworn to pass our , and upon the recipt of your last message. the was disba[n]ded— and the left to your s disposal
How it could be possible for you <​us​> now to be tried constitunaly [constitutionally] by the same who first issued the writ at we cannot see, for the Constitutin expressly says no man shall twice be be put in jeopardy of life & limb <​for the same offenc​> and all you <​the ◊​> refer to have since the issure of the been complied of <​with​> by for the same offence, & tried before Justice of Peace for , and after a full investigatin ware discharged;— but notwithstanding this we would not hisstitate to stand another trial according to your s wish, were it not that we are confident our lives would be in danger, we dare not come.— Writs, we are assured, are issued agnst us in various parts of the , for what? to drag us from place to place, from court to court across the creeks & prairis— till some blood thirsty villain can find his opportuny to shoot us.— We dare not come, though your promises protectin, yet at the same time you have exprssd fears that you could not control the Mob— in which case we are left to the mercy of the Merciless— Sir we dare not come, <​for our lives would be in dagr [danger]​> And in takig a view of— And we are gu[i]lty of no crime
You say “it will be aginst orders to be accmpanid [accompanied] by others,” if we come to trial.— This we have been obliged to act upon in — and when our witnesses were sent [p. [3]]
Press in — — who abated the press, by his own arm,— for Libel & the courts decided on prosecution no cause of action. And we do know that it is common for police in &c to destroy scurrilous prints, and we think the Loss of characters by Libels, & the loss of life— by mobocratic prints,— to be a greater loss than a little property, all of which life alone excepted, we have sustained,— brought upon us by the most unprincipled outlaws. Gamblers, countefeters, Such characters as have been standng by me & probably are now standing around your namely those men who have brought these evils upon us
We have no knowledge of men’s being Sworn to pass our , and upon the recipt of your last message. the was disbanded— and the left to your s disposal
How it could be possible for us now to be tried constitunaly [constitutionally] by the same who first issued the writ at we cannot see, for the Constitutin expressly says no man shall twice be put in jeopardy of life & limb for the same offenc and all you refer to have since the issure of the been complied with for the same offence, & tried before Justice of Peace for , and after a full investigatin ware discharged;— but notwithstanding this we would not hisstitate to stand another trial according to your s wish, were it not that we are confident our lives would be in danger, we dare not come.— Writs, we are assured, are issued agnst us in various parts of the , for what? to drag us from place to place, from court to court across the creeks & prairis— till some blood thirsty villain can find his opportuny to shoot us.— We dare not come, though your promises protectin, yet at the same time you have exprssd fears that you could not control the Mob— in which case we are left to the mercy of the Merciless— Sir we dare not come, for our lives would be in dagr [danger] — And we are guilty of no crime
You say “it will be aginst orders to be accmpanid [accompanied] by others,” if we come to trial.— This we have been obliged to act upon in — and when our witnesses were sent [p. [3]]
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