would be made known in due season. To every question of the saints, who is the prophet, replies were made in substance that the saints would know in due season, but that nothing could be done till the Twelve got home, because the appointment of a prophet and the directions for salvation of the Church from the perils they were in was contained in sealed packages directed to them. Orson Hyde and others of the Twelve who were then in the east, stated in public congregations in New York, Philadelphia and other cities that Willard Richards had written to them that the appointment of a prophet was left with him under seal to be opened on the return of the Twelve. This assertion was so often made that the whole Church was daily expecting to hear a new prophet proclaimed. On the 8th of August, 1844, when Sidney Rigdon endeavored to obtain authority to lead the Church, John P. Green, marshal of the city of Nauvoo, told them 'they need not trouble themselves about it, for Joseph had appointed one James J. Strang, who lived up north, to stand in his stead.' The sudden death of John P. Green, immediately after this declaration (under very, extraordinary circumstances), left Willard Richards and John Taylor sole repositors of all documents on this subject, except this letter. They had simply to suppress documents in their hands to set themselves up in power, or overthrow themselves and their pretensions by publishing them."
The great exodus of Mormons across the Mississippi and into the wilderness of the west began early in February, 1846. Long before this, however, the knot had been tightening around the doomed city of Nauvoo. Every man's hand was uplifted against the Mormons, and conflicts frequently occurred between the Saints and their neighbors outside the fold. Strang's prolific press at Voree turned out thousands of copies of what he termed "the first pastoral letter of James, the
