Persenally appeared before me , a Notary Public within and for said , Joseph Smith Senr. who being duly sworn, says that in the year 1838, he removed with his family to the State of — that he purchased land and became a resident of , that he was an Elder and teacher of the church of Latter Day Saints, that the religious society of which he was an Elder, numbered several thousand peoples, who were remarkably industrious in their habits, quiet in their manners and conscientious observers of the laws— that they had been for some years prior to his removal thither, purchasing and improving lands, and were possessed of a vast amount of property, probably to the value of $3,500,000 of real and personal estate:— that prejudices had for a long time existed in the minds of the rough and uncultivated people, by whom his people were surrounded, on account of their peculiar religious views, and their different habits of life— that in the summer of 1838, the prejudice of the people against the deponant and his associates became great— that while in the peaceful pursuit of their labors upon their own farms, without any violence or aggression on their part, they were frequently attacked by armed mobs, their houses burned— their cattle stolen— their goods burned and wasted— many inoffensives people murdered— whole families driven out and dispersed over the country, at inclement seasons, and every barbarity which the ingenuity and malice of a mob could devise, inflicted upon them. These scenes of violence raged unchecked by the civil authorities, of and many officers of the State of , were open leaders of the Mob, and shared in its crimes. The armed militia of the were arrayed without authority of law, for the purpose of driving the deponant and his inoffensive people out of the [p. [1]]