After a series of escalating threats and ultimatums that failed to dislodge the Mormons from their "promised land," the old residents of Jackson County resorted to systematic mob violence, forcing 1,200 Saints to flee for their lives across the Missouri River into nearby Clay County. Despite repeated Mormon appeals to local and state authorities, the government stood by and did nothing while Mormon property was stolen and destroyed, and Mormons were killed, whipped and raped.