tion of Mormons went to Lexington, Missouri, the next day to ask protection of the circuit court, but it was denied. Other Mormons applied to a justice of the peace in Independence without results.

These conflicts increased the excitement on both sides, and many wild rumors were afloat in the county. The Mormons heard that they were to be massacred, and the residents of Independence were told that the Mormons were preparing to destroy the town.

The residents took possession of a ferry across the Blue river, belonging to the Mormons, November 4, 1833, but soon abandoned it and assembled in greater numbers at a store one mile west of the ferry. A party of about thirty Mormons started from an adjacent settlement to assist their friends on the Big Blue river, but when they heard of the assembly at the store they fled through the corn fields. Later in the day there was a conflict on the prairie, twelve miles southwest of Independence, in which two of the Gentiles, Hugh L. Brozeal and Thomas Linville, were killed and one Mormon mortally wounded.

The conflict created great excitement, and the following day the citizens assembled to the number of several hundred from all parts of the county. The Mormons also rallied their forces. A bloody conflict was imminent, but the Mormons began to disperse, realizing that they were outnumbered and that they could not expect justice from the courts or any of the other county officials.

The Saints were driven from the county, most of them going north into Clay county, where they found temporary refuge, taking such of their moveable property as the haste of their flight permitted. Some went into Van Buren county, from which they were again driven, some into Lafayette county, from where they were soon expelled.

The work of the mob was complete. Every one of the Latter Day Saints was driven from the county. The local officers were appealed to by the Saints, but they were told to defend themselves. It may be said to the honor of Governor Daniel Dunklin and Attorney General Robert W. Wells that their official attitude, whatever may have been their personal feelings toward the Mormons, was one of fairness and liberal interpretation of the law. Attempts were made by these officers to have some of the perpetrators of the outrages indicted; but the local feeling in Jackson county against the Mormons was too intense. The residents had their way.

The flight of the Mormons from their homes before an enraged populace, in the inclement season of the year, many of them destitute-barefooted and improperly clad for the winter-constitutes a picture that no fair-minded Missourian can look upon with other than shame, no matter what provocation the Mormons may have given. Before the spring of 1834

had far advanced every Mormon had left the county. Attempts were made to compromise the trouble, and make some adjustment with the Mormons concerning their abandoned property; but all attempts at general compromise failed. What adjustments were made were individual matters.

The majority of the Mormons who left Jackson county went to Clay county, where temporary refuge was found. Trouble soon arose, however, and the band went to Caldwell county. Still later they left Missouri and fled to Illinois, where they founded the town of Nauvoo. They rapidly increased in numbers. In 1844, however, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, presidents of the church, were murdered by a mob in Carthage jail, Illinois, and soon the church membership was torn by contentions of aspirants to the mantle of the slain leader and prophet. In 1846 and in subsequent years Brigham Young, one of the aspirants for the leadership, president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles at the time of the death of Joseph Smith, lead away thousands of the Saints into the Rocky Mountains and settled in Utah, where they have increased until now they number about 350,000. Many refused to acknowledge Brigham Young, and followed other leaders. James J. Strang led some into Wisconsin, and on Beaver Island founded the Court of St. James. Charles B. Thompson gathered some in western Iowa, and at Preparation founded a communistic society. Lyman Wight led others to Texas. Another faction, lead by Granville Hedrick, became known as "Hedrickites."

One faction "reorganized" the church in 1851 and 1852 and denounced Brigham Young as the successor to Joseph Smith, pronounced polygamy and other doctrines introduced by Brigham Young as heresies and not in the doctrine of the church in Joseph Smith's life time, and in 1860 elected Joseph Smith, the eldest son of Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, as the president of the "Reorganized church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." This church is the strongest one of the factions except the Utah church, and twice has been declared in court to be the church in true succession to the one founded by Joseph Smith. Its headquarters is at Lamoni, Ia., although most of its membership is in Jackson county. The largest congregation is in Independence.

The differences between the Utah Mormons and the members of the Reorganized church are marked. The Reorganized Latter Day Saints denounce polygamy, Adam-God worship, and other prominent and characteristic doctrines of the Utah Mormons, and teach obedience to the laws of the land and good citizenship in general.

Now for the Mormons' return to Independence. The latter part of the '60's and the early '70's several families of the Reorganized church came to Jackson county. The family of Albert W. Noble settled in Rush Bottom

about 1867. This family soon was followed by others. A small band of Saints, under the leadership of Granville Hedrick, moved into Independence in 1867, from Bloomington and other points in Illinois, and in June, 1868, resumed the publication of Truth Teller, a newspaper that had been founded in Bloomington. A small congregation of these people have since remained in Independence, although the followers of Mr. Hedrick have never been numerically strong. At present the Hedrickites are in possession of the famous Temple lot on which they have a two-story frame building in which they hold meetings and from which is issued occasional numbers of the Evening and Morning Star.

Members of the Reorganized church established the Independence branch of the church in May, 1873. The membership has grown steadily by accretion, by baptism and the return of the Saints to "Zion" to build up the "waste places" thereof, until now (1908) the Independence congregation numbers about two thousand souls. Their stone church on West Electric street is one of the finest church buildings in Independence. But Independence has not received all the returning Saints; in Greater Kansas City there are eight or nine regularly organized branches or local churches of the Reorganized church, besides several regular "Missions." These are the congregations: First Kansas City branch, Second Kansas City branch, Third Kansas City branch, Fourth Kansas City branch, Central Kansas City branch; Armstrong, Kansas, branch; Argentine, Kansas, branch; Chelsea Park, Kansas, branch; Grand View, Kansas, branch. The Central branch purchased the old building of the Central Methodist church, South, at Ninth street and Lydia avenue, in 1908.

The Utah Mormons for a number of years have maintained mission headquarters of the Central States Mission in Jackson county; being in Kansas City until March, 1907, when they purchased and moved into new mission quarters at the corner of Kansas and Pleasant streets in Independence.

The Mormons in Independence are engaged in numerous successful business enterprises. The Utah Mormons, besides their mission headquarters, rent a hall for regular meetings, and from other rented quarters publish their mission paper, The Liahona; the Elders' Journal, with a circulation of about 10,000. They also built near the Missouri Pacific depot a large plow factory that supplied plows mostly for Utah. Only a few families of the Utah Mormons have moved into Jackson county, but one cannot long talk with any Utah Mormon without learning that he expects to return to Independence some day to help build the great temple. The Hedrickites, as an organization, own little or no property except the Temple lot, although some of them are in business.

The Reorganized Latter Day Saints own the most property, by far, and are the strongest of any other faction in Independence. Besides the large stone church with its annex, just opposite the Temple lot, the church owns a building near the corner of Osage and West Lexington streets in which is one of their church printing plants, from which is issued a weekly church paper called Zion's Ensign, with about 7,000 circulation. The members of the Reorganized church control the following business enterprises in Independence: A state bank, two planing mills, one coal mining company, two coal and feed stores, one foundry, one casket factory, one stationery store, three real estate firms, two firms of contractors and builders, one blacksmith, two millinery stores, two cement construction companies, six grocery stores, one bakery, one sewing machine store, three attorneys' offices, two candy factories, one jewelry store, one publishing house, one house moving firm, two deep well drilling companies, one meat market, one undertaking establishment, one nursery, one laundry, three dental offices, two barber shops, one furniture company, two tailors, one hardware store, three physicians one plumbing company, two shoe shops, one machine shop, and one wagon factory.

On a five-acre tract on Blue avenue near the western limits of Independence, the church erected a large sanitarium at a cost of about $50,000. Surrounding it are the homes of a number of the Saints, built since the sanitarium was established. Some of the finest residences in Independence are owned by the Saints.

The sanitarium had its inception in a revelation. The General conference of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints was holding an annual session in Independence in April, 1906. Late one afternoon, after a busy session, there was a lull. Joseph Smith, the venerable president of the church, a son of the original prophet and founder of Mormonism, arose and with much apparent emotion began to address the assembly.

The big church was packed with delegates from all parts of the world. All felt that something extraordinary was about to happen. The congregation listened in dead silence as the president spoke. It was a "revelation" to the head of the church. The Saints believe that direct revelations from God to His servants are just as possible and reasonable now as in apostolic times. The president told how the Lord had revealed to him that a sanitarium for the healing of the sick should be established at Independence. It created a profound impression. Plans were made at once to carry the revelation into effect. A year was spent in collecting money in the various congregations of the church, and in selecting a site.

The sanitarium accommodates one hundred and fifty patients. It is built primarily as a church institution and preference is given to church

members who are unable to pay for treatment. The Saints frequently use the Scriptural methods of healing-praying for the sick, anointing with oil and the laying on of the hands.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TOWN OF KANSAS.

The Missouri river landing, near Chouteau's warehouse, where the merchants of Westport had their goods brought ashore, was part of the two hundred and fifty-six acre tract owned by the estate of Gabriel Prudhomme, a Frenchman who died in 1836. The only buildings near the landing in 1838 were Isaac Richard's saloon where the trappers and Indians resorted, a store owned by a Frenchman whose name has been forgotten and several small shanties. When steamboats arrived small crowds of traders gathered at the landing, and teamsters went there with their wagons to receive freight. The land adjacent to the river, for the most part, was a wildwood, and is described by John C. McCoy at a meeting of the old settlers of Jackson county, December 30, 1871:

"I recall a clearing of a few acres, lying on the high ridge between Main and Wyandotte streets, and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a mountain trapper. A few old dead trees were standing in the field that was surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence. On all sides was a dense forest, the ground covered with vines, underbrush and fallen timber, and in several places there were deep, impassable gorges. A narrow, crooked roadway wound from a point at Twelfth and Walnut streets down the west side of a deep ravine, across the present public square, to the river at the foot of Grand avenue. A narrow path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, led along the river bank under the bluff, winding its way around fallen timber and deep ravines. An old log house on the river bank at the foot of Main street was occupied by a lean, cadaverous specimen of humanity named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on a sharp lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and squatters with whom to swap a tin cup of whiskey for a coon skin. Another old ruined log house stood on the point below the Pacific depot. The French mountain trappers had several small dwellings and clearings in the Kaw bottom, now West Kansas. Everywhere else in this locality was the solitude of the native forest, unbroken except by the snort of the startled deer, the bark of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the