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Show Page 68 now dedicated themselves to the realization of its promise. Nauvoo was drained, planted and surveyed, and all were hopeful in their quasi-Biblical refuge "over Jordan." At the same time, however, the legacy of Missouri continued to rankle - Orson's brother Parley still sweltered in the Columbia jail with no prospect of release. While absent in New York, his own family had been spared the full outrage of the Missourians, so Parley's suffering and captivity weighed heavily on Orson. The town of Columbia lay nearly two hundred miles from Nauvoo in the dead center of Missouri, but he knew that Parley's deliverance would not come of itself. A new resolution formed in his mind, a plan that would take him - this time alone - deep into the territory of his bitterest enemies. At twenty-seven, Orson was in full vigor of manhood; he knew the land and had implicit confidence in the protection of his apostolic calling. As June turned to July and the miasmic fever season, Orson once again hit the Missouri bluffs and set out on the long, perilous ride southwest. The Columbia jail was a two-story blockhouse on the town square, 39 shimmering in hot sun when Orson arrived July 1 on horseback. Quietly he arranged with the jailers to spend Independence Day visiting his brother, and he was lodged with the prisoners. Their story was a painful one. Along with Parley P. Pratt, several others had endured the seven-month indignity of the state of Missouri without trial- Morris Phelps, King Follett, and Luman Gibbs. Phelps, a wily wrestler, enjoyed the company of his wife, who had arrived for a visit about the same time. Gibbs was considered a bawling apostate and feared as an informer. Parley and the others saw in their imprisonment a trial analogous to those of the ancient prophets and apostles - complete with a set of "Gadianton robbers," |