“Thomas Sharp, editor of the ‘Warsaw Signal,’ devoted his entire time to slandering, to lying against and misrepresenting the Latter-day Saints.” — B. H. Roberts¹

Thomas C. Sharp was the editor of the Warsaw Signal, a newspaper in Hancock County, Illinois.¹ He founded the Anti-Mormon Political Party and ran and lost a state election against William Smith.^2,3 Sharp was aggressive in his attacks against the Church in his paper, writing inflammatory articles about Joseph and eventually calling for citizens to rise up against the Saints with “powder and ball.”⁴ He was indicted for the murders of Joseph and Hyrum but was acquitted.²

1. History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 489, archive.org

2. “Sharp, Thomas Coke,” josephsmithpapers.org

3. “Growing Conflict in Illinois,” Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual, 265-267, churchofjesuschrist.org

4. Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 43, 530; Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 43, 536