To the Honorable Judge of the Court, in the Town of Van Buren, State of Arkansas, May 12, 1857
Dear Sir—Whereas I have been arrested upon a charge of larceny, and dragged by civil and military officers and soldiers before the gaze of populace and the court as a prisoner, and being remote from my means of travel, in a land of strangers, without clothing, money, or friends, and being coolly told to depart, that there is nothing found against me,–
And whereas, my brethren, the Latter-day Saints, have been driven by mob law from the land of their birth, having no hope of justice from the government or civil courts of the United States, I now take an appeal to the Court of Heaven, and lay my complaint before the Judge of all the earth,–
And whereas, Hector H. McLean has, by a false oath, in addition to many years of cruelty practiced upon myself and children, rendered himself unfit for the society of all holy beings, I pray God my eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, that he may wither from the earth, even as a green leaf fades before the blighting frost of coming winter; and that he may go to his own place, no more to oppress innocence or afflict virtue.
And for my children I pray, in the name of Jesus, that they may be preserved from the vices of the world, the powers of darkness, religious bigotry, and the desolations that are coming upon the earth, even until they are restored to me. And for them I will endeavour to prepare an eternal habitation, over which evil men, demons, death, hell, and the grave can have no power, and into which they, my children, may come, no more to go out forever!
For all my kindred who, in word, deed, or spirit, persecute the Saints of God, I ask God to forgive them, for they know now what they do. Amen.
E.J. McLean
P.S.—Since I wrote the above, the blood of innocence has freely flowed to stain the soil of the fair State of Arkansas; but I say, let it be upon the head of him who shed it for ever.
May 15, 1857.
[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, May 13, 1857, 9]
[Millennial Star, 19:417]