In December, the legislature of Missouri appropriated two thousand dollars "to be distributed among the people of Daviess and Caldwell Counties." The "good" people of Daviess were very "generous" and felt that they could do without their portion of this appropriation, and let it be given to the people of Caldwell. They could well afford to do such a thing, for they had robbed the "Mormon" people of nearly all they possessed. They had ransacked their homes and carried off their household furniture and goods, and otherwise enriched themselves at the expense of the Saints who had dwelt among them. This sum, so it was pretended, was distributed among the people in Caldwell. Judge Cameron and others attended to the "distribution." The way they did it was to drive off the hogs belonging to the "Mormons" and shoot them, and without further bleeding, cut them up and deliver them to the Saints, at four or five cents a pound. They also "gave them a few calicos," and the "sweepings of an old store," charging them an extra price for the goods, and thus was the "munificient" sum of two thousand dollars distributed among the "Mormons." Later the same legislature appropriated two hundred thousand dollars to pay the troops for their work in driving the "Mormons" from the state. In this manner were law and justice administered in Missouri in the years 1838 and 1839.
The total value of the property destroyed in Missouri, which belonged to the Saints, is beyond our knowledge. It was estimated to be not less than two million dollars, from the time they first settled in that state until their expulsion. About twelve hundred members of the Church were driven from Jackson County in 1833, and all their property was lost to them. When again they were forced to leave Clay County, though they went peaceably at the request of the other citizens, they left behind them a vast amount of property for which no remuneration was ever received. When they were expelled from the state in the winter of 1838-9, the Saints numbered between twelve and fifteen thousand souls. All their property, except the little they were able to gather hastily and carry with them, was either destroyed or stolen by their enemies. In the appeal made to Congress and the President of the United States, in 1839, the amount of their losses was estimated at two million dollars. Claims against Missouri for the losses were presented to Congress in the sum of $1,381,044.00, and this represented only 491 individuals; many others who lost property, entered no claims for damages against that state.