[MarginOfError]

Thomas B. Marsh, formerly president of the Twelve, having apostatized, repaired to Richmond and made affidavit before Henry Jacobs, justice of the peace, to all the vilest slanders, aspersions, lies and calumnies towards myself and the Church, that his wicked heart could invent. He had been lifted up in pride by his exaltation to office and the revelations of heaven concerning him, until he was ready to be overthrown by the first adverse wind that should cross his track, and now he has fallen, lied and sworn falsely, and is ready to take the lives of his best friends. HC 3:167

Of this testimony and the action of Marsh and Hyde the late President Taylor in his discourse on Succession in the Presidency, makes the following pertinent remarks: "Testimonies from these sources are not always reliable, and it is to be hoped, for the sake of the two brethren, that some things were added by our enemies that they did not assert, but enough was said to make this default and apostasy very terrible. I will here state that I was in Far West at the time these affidavits were made, and was mixed up with all prominent Church affairs. I was there when Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde left there; and there are others present who were there at the time. And I know that these things, referred to in the affidavits, are not true. I have heard a good deal about Danites, but I never heard of them among the Latter-day Saints. If there was such an organization, I never was made aware of it." HC 3:167-168

Schuyler Colfax, vice-president of the United States, in his discussion with the late President John Taylor on the "Mormon Question," quoted this Marsh-Hyde affidavit, and Elder Taylor in reply said: "I am sorry to say that Thomas B. Marsh did make that affidavit, and that Orson Hyde stated that he knew part of it and believed the other; and it would be disingenuous in me to deny it; but it is not true that these things existed, for I was there and knew to the contrary; and so did the people of of Missouri, and so did the governor of Missouri." HC 3:168

Finally, the affidavit was made to Henry Jacobs, a justice of the peace in Ray county, Missouri, where mobs were gathering as tensions between Mormons and Missourians grew. It was recorded "Fourteen citizens of Ray county, one of whom was a Mr. Hudgins, a postmaster, wrote the governor and inflammatory epistle. Thomas C Burch, of Richmond, wrote a similar communication. Also the citizens of Ray county, in public meeting, appealed to the governor of the state, to give the people of Upper Missouri protection from the fearful body of "thieves and robbers;" while the fact is the Saints were minding their own business, only as they were driven from it by those who were crying thieves and robbers" (HC 3:166). Those in Ray county had already made up their minds about the Mormons, and weren't exactly the most objective of people. A lot of the statements on both sides are of questionable objectivity and truthfulness.

A great deal of the third volume of History of the Church deals with the troubles in Missouri. Reading this volume might enrich the context of the affidavit in the initial post.