Soon afterward, three departing members (William Jones, one of Morris's first converts, John Jensen, and Lars C. Geertsen) vowed revenge after what they perceived as an unfair reckoning, and they seized a load of wheat en route from Kington to Kaysville for milling.

Word reached John F. Kinney, who had been appointed two years earlier by James Buchanan as chief justice of the Utah Territory,[6] that the Morrisites were illegally holding prisoners.

Marshal Judson Stoddard brought the writ to Kington Fort and read it to the Morrisite leaders, who refused to receive it.

[2] Robert T. Burton, as deputy marshal, led the posse, which gathered strength along the way and was somewhere between 500[2] and a 1000[5] strong when it reached the settlement on June 13.

They situated cannons on two small ridges looking directly into the fort,[9] which in order to accommodate the hundreds of followers was really a makeshift enclosure.

As soon as he received the message, Morris left his associates and soon returned with a new revelation, promising his people that the posse would be destroyed.

[citation needed] When the group did not respond within thirty minutes, Burton ordered two warning shots fired "to speed up the decision.

Historians differ as to what initiated the events of June 15,[1][5] but at some point, Burton rode into the fort with a small contingent.

Burton took ninety men prisoner and marched them back to Salt Lake City the next morning to stand trial before Judge Kinney.