Nauvoo Neighbor cites St. Louis Organ’s reporting of Joseph Smith receiving majority of votes in a steamboat election.
Nauvoo Neighbor (Nauvoo, IL) May 8, 1844, 2
Hurrah for the General.!! The following which we extract from the St. Louis Organ, shows how [the] public min[d] is turning, and what their feelings are in regard to the Prophet, his views, and theirs also in regard to the Presidency.
“Forbear awhile—we’ll hear a little more.”—The matter is now settled with Mr. Clay, Tyler, and Van Buren! Let Mr. Clay return, at once from his political perambulation in the South; Mr. Tyler abandon his hopes of re-election. by aid of “immediate annexation” o[f] Texas; and let Mr. Van Buren be quiet at Kinderhook, that he may watch the operations of the “sober second thougt” of the people! General Joseph Smith, the acknowledged modern prophet, has got them all in the rear, and from the common mode of testing the success of candidates for the Presidency, to wit—by steamboat elections—he, Smith, will beat all the other aspirants to that office, two to one. We learn from the polls of the steamboat Osprey, on her last trip to this city, that the votes stood for Gen. J. Smith, 29 gentlemen & 5 ladies. Henry Clay, 16 “ 4 “ M V Buren, 7 “ 0 “