David Bennet Beaten by a Mob

During the violent expulsions in Jackson County, Missouri, in November 1833, a mob launched a targeted attack against a settlement of Latter-day Saints living along the Big Blue River, approximately six miles west of Independence. On the night of Saturday, November 2, a party of mobbers descended upon the settlement to drive out the inhabitants. They began their assault by tearing the roof off one dwelling and damaging the furniture inside. Splitting into two groups, they proceeded to further dismantle roofs and break into other homes. In one of these houses, they found David Bennet, who was sick in bed. The mob dragged him out and beat him inhumanly. During the assault, a member of the mob drew a pistol and swore he would blow out Bennet’s brains; he fired the weapon, and the ball struck Bennet’s head, laying bare the skull without fracturing it. Bennet narrowly escaped with his life, suffering injuries that left him physically incapacitated for years afterward. A group of Saints nearby, hearing the disturbance, arrived at the scene. The mob opened fire on them, and the Saints returned fire. While the exchange of gunfire was not general, a young man from the mob was shot in the thigh, causing the attackers to disperse.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 14, No. 36 (30 October 1852), 572.):

On the night of the 2d of November, a party of mobbers went to the settlement of the Saints, on the Big Blue, and began to tear off the roof of a house, and break in the doors and windows. They broke into one house, and found David Bennet, who was sick in bed; they dragged him out, and beat him most inhumanly, and one of the mobbers swore he would blow out his brains, and discharged a pistol at him, the ball of which cut a gash across the top of his head, and laid the skull bare, but did not fracture it. He narrowly escaped with his life, and was unable to do any work for a long time. The mob then went to another house, and began to tear off the roof, when some of the brethren, who had collected to protect their families, fired upon them, and wounded one of the mob in the thigh, which caused them to retreat.