“Lacking sufficient means to remove his family from the state, Anson decided to return to Three Forks to reclaim some property, though Joseph Smith Sr. and Brigham Young advised him against it. When Anson arrived in Three Forks, he discovered that a man by the name of George Washington O’Neil had taken possession of his farm and property.
“Anson went to Mrs. Day, a neighbor, who told him that O’Neil and a man named Culp said they would shoot Anson if they ever saw him again. While Anson was conversing with Mrs. Day, O’Neil and Culp showed up and said they supposed Anson had come to get his property but that there was none for him. Seeing that it was useless to retrieve his property, Anson left the house and walked toward his horse. O’Neil and Culp followed him, and O’Neil picked up the end of a hoop pole from pieces of a barrel lying nearby and struck Anson on the head.
“Anson wrote of the event: ‘He [O’Neil] repeated the blows, and my having on my head a thick woolen cloth cap saved my skull. Mrs. Day threw the door open. … I started for the door. He then hit me in the face and repeated the blows two or three times before I reached it. … I clenched the door post, when he gave me a blow over the eye, the scar of which I carry to this day.’
“Once Anson got inside the house, Mrs. Day shut the door and, seeing the men run past the window, said they had gone to get their guns. Anson opened the door, quickly mounted his horse, and escaped.
“Describing what happened upon his return to Far West, he wrote: ‘I … made up my mind that I would not let anybody know what had happened to me from the fact that Father Smith and Brigham had told me not to go. … In the morning I sprung out of bed, and I instantly found myself lying on the floor. … I then returned to bed and found myself under the necessity of telling [my wife] what had happened but sought to keep it from my family. Father Smith soon found it out and came to see me, telling me it would do me good but he was glad they didn’t kill me.’
“This beating was only one of several that Anson suffered at the hands of mobbers in Missouri.”
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