Alexander and Eunice McRae, 3rd installment

In September of 1837, the McRaes moved to Far West, Missouri, the center of the Church. Alexander was elected a captain in the 23rd Regiment of the Missouri Militia. [Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:620.] During the persecutions and mobbings of 1838 he was very active in defending the members of the Church. Trouble had been building up for a long time between the Mormons and the Missourians. On October 25, a band of Missourians, led by a Captain Bogart, and seventy-five Mormons clashed at Crooked River, and one of the Missourians was killed. Two days later Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a proclamation, which gave the Mormons a choice between leaving Missouri and being exterminated. Mobs and state militia began to gather around Far West. The Mormons in outlying settlements had moved into Far West for protection, and six hundred had armed themselves to defend the city. On October 30 the mob attacked the Mormon settlement at Haun’s Mill. Two thousand men arrived at Far West and surrounded the town.

On the 31st, several of the leaders of the Church met with General Lucas of the Missouri militia, thinking they were having a conference for settling the problem peaceably. But Colonel George M. Hinkle, in charge of the Mormon forces, surrendered them to the Missourians, and they were made prisoners. Alexander McRae was one of the Saints betrayed by Hinkle. [Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:620.] The Missouri forces expected to court martial the Mormon prisoners and have them shot, but they were stopped from this by the action of General Doniphan on November 2nd. Governor Boggs ordered that they be delivered to the civil authorities. Fifty-six were turned over to the court of inquiry of Judge Austin A. King of the 5th Judicial Circuit at Richmond, Missouri. The remaining Mormons in Far West surrendered their arms, after which the mob pillaged the town.

The prisoners were marched the sixty miles from Far West to Independence, and four days later were marched thirty miles further to Richmond, arriving on November ninth. [Joseph A. and Eunice H. McRae, Historical Facts Regarding the Liberty and Carthage Jails, page 8.] Charges of high treason, murder, burglary, arson, robbery and larceny were brought against 53 of them. The preliminary hearing began before Judge King, on November eleventh. The first act of the court was to send out a body of armed men, without a civil process, to obtain witnesses. [Joseph Smith, History of the Church, volume 3, pp. 208-15.] Thomas C. Burch began to present the case for the prosecution on the thirteenth. Sixty-one pages of testimony were given, claiming the Mormons were trying to overthrow the government of Missouri, form a band of Mormon avengers, and anything else the apostates, who were the main witnesses, wished to claim. The case for the prosecution continued until November 18th, when the prisoners were called on for their witnesses. The names of 40 or 50 were given, and these were arrested and put into prison. Finally the attorneys for the defense advised against naming any further witnesses if they wished to have any left for the final hearing. Some witnesses did appear, but they were intimidated, to some extent. The testimony for the defense occupied less than four pages. Most of the time, while the hearing was going on; the prisoners were kept in chains. It was at this time that Joseph rebuked his guards for their blasphemous utterances.

On the 24th of November, twenty-three of the prisoners were discharged as having nothing proved against them. On the 28th the remaining ones were released or admitted to bail, except Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, Sidney Rigdon, and Joseph Smith, who were sent to the jail in Liberty, Clay County, to await trial, there being no jail in Caldwell County, where the men had been living prior to their arrest. Parley P. Pratt and four others were sent to the jail of Ray County, at Richmond, to await their trial. All were charged with treason and murder. Joseph Smith said that the treason consisted of having driven the mob out of Davies County, and the murder in having killed a man at the Crooked River battle in October. [Joseph Smith, History of the Church, volume 3, pp. 208-15. Entry for November 28.] The prisoners were angry at Judge King. Their lawyer, Doniphan, declared that King had determined from the beginning to cast them into prison. [Joseph Smith, History of the Church, volume 3, pp. 208-15. Entry for November 28.]

On the 29th a wagon drove up to the jail in Richmond and a blacksmith entered with chains and handcuffs. King had made out a mittimus [a warrant of commitment to prison] to keep them from getting bail. The blacksmith said that the judge intended to keep them in jail until all the Mormons had left the state, and that if he let them out before that, there would be another d----d fuss kicked up. The smith put the chains on them and they were ordered into the wagon and were driven to Clay County, where they were put in close confinement in the Liberty Jail. [Letter of Hyrum Smith, 1843, quoted in history written by Regina McRae.]

Most of the time they were kept chained together. Joseph wrote: “We are kept under a strong guard, night and day.... our food is scant, uniform and coarse. We have been compelled to sleep on the floor, with straw and blankets insufficient to keep us warm; and when we have a fire we are obliged to have almost constant smoke.” [Thomas C. Romney, “Liberty Jail”, in N.B. Lundwall, The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith. pp. 206-206.] The jail was 20 feet by 22 feet, and was built of limestone. There was a small barred opening a foot and a half square in the south side. [B.H. Roberts, “Mormonism Survives Liberty Jail”, Improvement Era, July, 1928.] The ceiling wasn’t much above five and a half feet high, while Alexander was six foot four or six foot six. [Statement of Zina McRae Irving vs. letter of Regina McRae, Feb. 14, 1966.]