Mormon History
The Escape of Joseph Smith - 1839
Daily Missouri Republican – May 2, 1839
The Mormon Prisoners Escaped.
The
Columbia Patriot of the 27th , a paper printed in Boone county, has the
following important paragraphs:
The Mormon prisoners
were taken from the gaol in Clay county, where they have been confined since
last fall, in Daviess or Caldwell, for the purpose of having indictments found.
This being done, the change of venue to Boone county was granted and they were
immediately put under the charge of a guard to be brought to the gaol at
Columbia.
Whilst passing through Linn, they stopped to spend the night, at a cabin which
is said to be elevated by means of blocks some distance above the ground. When
morning came Joe Smith and his followers were missing, and upon examination it
appeared that they had escaped by raising a puncheon of the cabin floor and
letting themselves down through the opening thus made. They have made a
successful escape.