JOE SMITH.—We find the following in the St. Louis New Era of the 1st inst: A gentleman from Peoria reports that Joe Smith passed through that place on Wednesday last, for Springfield. He was in a carriage, in the custody of officers, and they crossed the ferry without stopping in town. The steamboat Maid of Iowa passed Peoria on Tuesday, and could not have reached Ottowa until after Smith had started for Springfield.
We are told, and it is stated on the authority of a leading Mormon preacher now in this city, that half a dozen citizens of Missouri participated in the arrest of Smith ; that when this was accom-plished, Joe procured writs to be issued against them, which were executed ; and, not being able to give bail, they were put in prison; that the Missourians sent an express to their neighborhood for aid, and declared that one hundred men would come to their rescue, and secure the person of Joe Smith ; and that it was to meet this body of men that large numbers of the Nauvoo Legion were despatched for Ottawa, by land and water.
