Joseph and the company arrive in Nauvoo triumphantly about noon [from his arrest]. The whole town turns out to give them a hero's welcome, including a brass band, cannon fire, a line of decorated carriages, and streets lined with cheering people. Joseph has a feast at his home with fifty friends. He seats Reynolds and Wilson [who had arrested him] at the head of the table. The Nauvoo Municipal Court convenes that afternoon, and Reynolds is forced to turn over his prisoner, Joseph, to the city marshal. At 5 P.M., 10,000 people assemble at the grove to listen to Joseph's tale of the adventure. Joseph exuberantly states, "I feel as strong as a giant. I pulled sticks with men coming along, and I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up, and I continued to pull mentally, until I pulled Missouri to Nauvoo. . . . Thank God, I am now a prisoner in the hands of the municipal court of Nauvoo, and not in the hands of Missourians. . . . But before I willbear this unhallowed persecution any longer - before I will be dragged away again among my enemies for trial, I will spill the last drop of blood in my veins, and will see all my enemies in hell! To bear it any longer would be a sin." ["I wish the lawyer who says we have no powers in Nauvoo may be choked to death on his own words. Don't employ lawyers, or pay them money for their knowledge, for I have learnt they don't know anything. I know more than they all. . . . You speak of lawyers; I am a lawyer too, but the Almighty God has taught me the principle of law; . . ."] He claims that the Nauvoo court has power to free him, and while he is speaking, Reynolds and Wilson leave for Carthage, threatening to raise a militia to again arrest him.
[Source: Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
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