For they stole horses and cattle and
all sorts of things belonging to other settlers. And once anything
was stolen by the Mormons, it was impossible to get it back. For if
a stranger went to their city, and showed by his questions that he
had come to look for something he had lost, he soon found himself
followed by a Mormon who silently whittled a stick with a long sharp
knife. Soon the man would be joined by another, also whittling a
stick with a long knife. Then another and another would silently
join the procession, until the stranger could stand it no longer
and hastily departed homeward.
So as time went on the people grew more and more angry with the
Mormons. And at length their anger burst into fury, and, in 1844,
Smith and one of his brothers were lynched by the mob.
The Mormons were greatly cast down at the death of their Prophet,
but they soon found a new leader in Brigham Young, one of the twelve
apostles.
But this change of leader brought no peace between the Mormons and
their neighbours. Complaints of theft grew more and more frequent.
Both sides went about armed, murders were committed, and the settlers
burned many of the Mormon farms.
At length the whole of the Mormons were expelled from Illinois,
and one March day a great caravan started westward. Slowly day by
day they moved onward through unknown wildernesses, making a road
for themselves, and building bridges as they went, and only after
long trials and hardships they reached the Great Salt Lake.
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